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KeyGo keyboard
Gaming Gear

KeyGo’s hybrid keyboard brings Apple Touch Bar dreams to life with a 12.8-inch touchscreen, making every workspace instantly more versatile

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  • KeyGo 12.8-inch screen offers sharp visuals despite a compressed 1440p layout for multitasking
  • Scissor-switch keys provide a tactile typing experience suitable for serious work or long sessions
  • RGB lighting enhances visibility in low-light conditions while allowing personal customization

Small external screens have steadily become essential for those seeking flexible workflows and improved multitasking capabilities.

Yanko Design’s new KeyGo keyboard merges a 12.8-inch touchscreen monitor with a full-size keyboard.

It aims to create a hybrid device that extends the traditional workspace without requiring a full desktop setup.


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A screen built for precision

This concept is ambitious, but its practicality is limited by the absence of a built-in battery, meaning users must remain connected to a power source for extended use.

The integrated display delivers a resolution of 1920×720 at 60Hz, which might initially raise eyebrows among those accustomed to conventional 1080p monitors.

However, the design essentially compresses a 1440p screen across a wider layout, producing a pixel density that keeps text sharp and visuals reasonably crisp.

For professionals who rely on portable monitors or a monitor for video editing, this width-oriented resolution provides a usable secondary screen for reference materials, timelines, or notifications, even if it cannot fully replace a main 4K display.

The keyboard uses scissor-switch keys, which offer a responsive typing experience comparable to high-end laptops.

This design minimizes the often-criticized “mushy” feel of cheaper units, enabling fast and accurate typing.

RGB lighting is integrated with three modes, supporting work in dimly lit environments and allowing a degree of personalization.

While the visual flair may appeal to gamers, business users may appreciate the practicality of illuminated keys during extended work sessions.

Connectivity is handled through USB-C, simplifying connections to laptops, tablets, or smartphones across Windows and macOS platforms.

The single-cable solution handles both power and data, which reduces clutter and streamlines setup for mobile professionals.

Despite its thin CNC-machined aluminum build, which gives it a premium feel, the device remains somewhat limited by its dependence on external power.

It also comes with a 180-degree hinge, allowing users to orient the touchscreen above the keys or stand it fully upright as a second monitor.

While the KeyGo revisits ideas reminiscent of Apple’s Touch Bar, it expands the concept into a standalone, multi-touch interface.

Pricing begins at $538, although early backers can purchase the KeyGo for $249, representing a 54% discount.

The product also includes global shipping and a one-year warranty, and the company claims only 23 of 200 units remain.

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Tony Hawk reflects on 90s culture, celebrity and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, the game that changed his life
Game Reviews

Tony Hawk reflects on 90s culture, celebrity and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, the game that changed his life

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Most of us don’t decide our lifelong-career when we’re nine years old – but then again, most of us aren’t Tony Hawk. Born in San Diego, California in 1968, an elementary school age Tony was first drawn to skating while watching his 21-year-old brother. “I was nine years old and my older brother was skating in the alleyway,” Hawk recalls of the first time he saw a board, ” I asked him if I could ride it and he said, yeah, but you can only ride that board over there – and his old board became my first skateboard.”

Despite the 12 year age difference, a tiny Tony quickly became obsessed with his new hand-me-down. “I overtook [my brother] within the first year,” he tells me, with a grin. Riding his tattered board every day to school, it was love at first skate. Yet once he made his way down to the local skate park, Hawk’s battered board was no longer just a fun replacement for the school bus, it was an all-consuming passion.

“Once I got to the skate park and saw the possibilities, that’s when I was all in,” Hawk recalls,”I turned pro when I was 14, but back then, that just meant that when I filled out an entry form to a competition, instead of checking the amateur box, I checked the pro box, and I was competing for $100 first place prize money. It didn’t seem like a life career choice at the time.”

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, which got an excellent remake this summer.Watch on YouTube

While skateboarding was achingly cool in the 70s, by the late 80s and early 1990s, its popularity had begun to wane. With Hawk doubling down on the more niche vert skating – a skating style defined by half pipes and pulling off gravity-defying aerial feats – he tells me that he was only just scraping a living.

“I was trying to make a career as a pro skater,” Hawk recalls, “X Games was starting to rise. I was doing some exhibitions, but mostly, I was doing guest appearances at inline shows. They would have a team rollerblade exhibition, and then they would be like ‘andddd special guest star Tony Hawkkkk!’, and honestly, that paid the bills.”

Briefly appearing as a skating stunt double for the other famous Tony – Tony the Tiger – in a wonderfully 90s 1991 Kellogg’s ad, by age 23, Hawk began to wonder if his career had already peaked. “Things were getting to a point of more stability, but they were still shaky in terms of trying to make a living,” he tells me, “So, when Activision called me, I didn’t really have anything to lose. I was super excited to work on a game, so I totally immersed myself in it – the gameplay, the characters, the look, the culture, the tricks, the music – everything.”

Image credit: TonyHawk.com

Despite his career lull, Hawk shrewdly saw that with his name literally on the game, he had all the leverage. “I was never concerned about Pro Skater flopping,” Hawk explains, “In fact, I made sure [it didn’t]. I demanded that anything with my name on I have final approval over – and that was not something they were used to… not something that people generally could leverage, especially in my position. But I felt like my track record spoke for itself, and they agreed.”

In 1999, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater ollied its way into the world, becoming an instant hit. Thanks to its all-star cast of playable skaters, killer-hand-picked soundtrack and tight and endlessly compelling gameplay loop, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater didn’t just feel like a cheap tie-in, it was effortlessly cool. Racking up 350,000 sales in its first year in the US alone, by the end of 2001 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater had sold 3.5 million units – becoming a mainstay in teenage bedrooms across the globe.

“I’m proud of everything we did there,” Hawk says, on his relationship with Activision,”there really wasn’t a time where they were trying to force something on me that I didn’t think reflected skateboarding well.”

With the popularity of touring punk rock and skate boarding events like Warped tour, skateboarding-filled TV shows like Jackass, and the massive prevalence of skateboarded-filled nu metal music videos, skating boarding was suddenly cool again. As the noughties marched on,Tony Hawk was no longer playing second fiddle to rollerbladers – he was the main event.

“The evolution of our sport and our types of music reaching into the mainstream was definitely helped by warped tour, X Games and just bands that were in the culture,” agrees Hawk, “There was a rising tide, rising all boats at the time, and then when our video game hit, I think that was the tipping point.”

With Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater spawning 19 games and generating over $1.4bn dollars in revenue, these once unassuming video games changed the face of pop culture forever. With skateboarding now an Olympic sport, the words ‘skateboarder’ and ‘Tony hawk’ are so synonymous that even your grandmother knows the birdman. It’s a legacy that Hawk is all too aware of, his immortalised polygonal avatar living longer in the memory than his real face.

Image credit: TonyHawk.com

“My name is not just about me as a person anymore, it’s synonymous with a video game,” Hawk reflects, “So, sometimes that separation is not clear. A lot of times people see me and they expect to see me at the age that they’re playing me in the game.. But, time keeps passing. It’s funny, because I can see it sometimes in their faces, where it’s like, “that’s him, but he can’t be old”… but, that’s what happens!”

It’s a reality that’s launched a hundred self deprecating tweets, with Hawk’s jokes about being half recognised in public now the stuff of internet legend. “Watch what you wish for, because I’ve shared so many of those stories that now, half the time people will say it in jest and sometimes I can’t tell, and that’s when it gets frustrating…”

Another cruelty of the passage of time is that now, Hawk’s own children are in danger of surpassing him, just like a nine year old Tony did with his older brother. “Riley Hawk has his own success in skating, but he followed a different path than I did,” Tony explains, of his eldest son, “He has his own fan base, so he deserves to be in [the new Pro Skater games]. We have four other boys – all in their 20s – that all skate as well. I love that they do – but honestly? When we all travel together, they want to skate more than I do.”

There are very few people who manage to become immortalised in the cultural pantheon, as a larger than life pop culture figure, to the extent that Tony Hawk has. Let alone extreme sports stars who earn their own branded PlayStation game. For Hawk, however, he doesn’t have the time to concern himself with matters of legacy. He just wants to keep skating. “I’m just thankful to still be able to skate at my age, so I don’t really think of it in any loftier terms than that,” he reflects. “To live in this time and space where skating has permeated so much of the world and so much of mainstream culture, and the idea that I still get to do it for a living…it’s all just beyond a dream come true, and I’m just incredibly thankful.”



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Pera Coda Is A Narrative Mystery Set In Istanbul About A Man Trapped In A Loop Between Life And Death
Game Updates

Pera Coda Is A Narrative Mystery Set In Istanbul About A Man Trapped In A Loop Between Life And Death

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Pera Coda is a newly announced narrative adventure game blending time-looping puzzle solving with psychological storytelling. Set in Istanbul, Turkey, it stars a man trying to solve a mystery while trapped in purgatory.

Protagonist Deniz is an attorney trapped in a looping plane of existence between life and death. Unable to live or die, he must escape by confronting his traumatic memories to find hidden truths, engage in choice-driven branching dialogue exchanges, and solve various mysteries of the world to make emotional breakthroughs and break the cycle. The isometric point-and-click adventure promotes complex interactions through accessible mechanics, and draws inspiration from acclaimed titles like Disco Elysium and Outer Wilds.  Check out the teaser trailer below. 

 

“This is both a love letter to our city and a universal human story about guilt, regret, and the search for peace,” says art director Ahmet Kazanci in a press release. He adds that Pera Coda is “rooted in a surreal reimagining of Istanbul, real locations, rich with local nuance and emotional texture that are rarely seen in games. Istanbul becomes both a stage and a mirror, where East meets West, chaos meets calm, and each district reflects a piece of your fragmented self.”

Pera Coda is being developed by Turkish indie studio Falan, itself an internal developer within indie studio/publisher Elyzio. Pera Coda does not have a release window, but it’s slated to launch for PC via Steam. You can check out a batch of screenshots in the gallery below.  

 



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A new formula to bring pitcher wins back to life in 2025
Esports

A new formula to bring pitcher wins back to life in 2025

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  • Bradford DoolittleJun 25, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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      • MLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com
      • Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com
      • Been with ESPN since 2013

There have been 2,664 pitchers who have made at least 30 career starts since 1901.

Three of those pitchers — or one out of every 888 — own a career ERA below 2.00. Two of them are Hall of Fame deadball era greats: Ed Walsh (1.82) and Addie Joss (1.89). The third is Pittsburgh Pirates superstar Paul Skenes.

The chances of Skenes, who has made just 39 career starts, remaining in that class are slim. That’s nothing against him. It’s the reality of math and the era in which he plays. The careers of Joss and Walsh overlapped in the American League from 1904 to 1910, when the aggregate ERA was 2.61. The collective ERA in the majors since Skenes debuted is 4.04.

This season, Skenes’ 1.85 ERA leads the majors, and he’s first among all pitchers in bWAR (4.4). The latter figure is actually tops among all National League players, period. The current numbers generated by my AXE system and the futures at ESPN BET both mark Skenes as a solid favorite to win his first NL Cy Young Award.

Incidentally, Skenes’ won-loss record for the woeful Pirates is a meager 4-6. Should we care?

Yes, we should care about pitcher wins

Won-loss records for pitchers are no longer part of the evaluative conversation, so if your response to the previous question was “no” then congratulations for paying attention. If your response was anything else, then it’s almost certainly because you’re in a fantasy league that still uses pitcher wins, not because you think Skenes’ record actually tells us anything about his true value.

But what if I could tell you this and prove it: Skenes’ real won-loss record is 11-5, the win total tied for the third-most in the majors. I’m going to explain how I got there, but first, let me explain why I think it matters.

Just to illustrate how starting pitchers were written about for most of baseball history, I pulled up the 1980 MLB preview from the Sporting News and went to the page where the Pirates (defending champs at the time) were analyzed. Here’s a bit on their pitching:

“The Pirates last year won without a 15-game winner. The staff won in bunches. Five pitchers won 10 or more games.”

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There were no other pitching statistics in the staff outlook. No ERAs, no strikeout rates, nothing about walks. This was it. This is just how pitchers were discussed back then.

It’s good that we understand how to assess pitchers now at a deeper level and, even back in 1980, people like Bill James were already doing it. But pitching wins still meant something as one of the baseball statistics James might allude to as having achieved “the power of language.”

That is: To describe a pitcher as a 20-game winner had real meaning. It was an avatar for quality, and if someone was a five-time 20-game winner, that was an avatar for greatness.

Pitcher wins have always been an imperfect measure, but its flaws have ballooned over time as the game and the responsibilities of the starting pitcher have evolved. Last season, 41.3% of decisions went to relievers. One hundred years ago, that number was 18%.

A good win statistic clears away a lot of contextual noise. In every game, you have two starting pitchers, on opposing teams, pitching on the same day, at the same ballpark and in the same weather conditions. While starters will never admit they are competing against each other (“my job is to get the opposing lineup out” is the standard refrain), they actually are. Their job is to pitch better than the other pitcher, because doing so means giving up fewer runs than him and, if you do that, you win. Well, at least before the bullpens get involved, but a good win stat would filter out that factor, too.

Take anyone who has ever pitched for the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies have been around for more than 30 years and it’s still exceedingly difficult to make heads or tails of their pitchers because so much of their data has to be greatly adjusted for ballpark context. And, while park effects are necessary and sophisticated, they are also estimates.

The Rockies have never had a 20-game winner. The closest was Ubaldo Jimenez, who won 19 in 2010, when he also became one of two Rockies starters to top 7 bWAR. (The other was Kyle Freeland in 2018.) Jimenez is Colorado’s career ERA leader as well, with a mark of 3.66. Every other qualifying Colorado starter in franchise history is at 4.05 or above.

Thus, when we talk about the best pitchers of the current era, Rockies pitchers are almost always going to be left out of the conversation. Their numbers just don’t seem telling or comparable.

This is where a better win statistic would be so useful. Because whatever the precise effects Coors Field might have on a game’s statistics on any given day, a good win stat would be comparing two starters on that field in almost exactly equal conditions. If we do it that way, maybe the Rockies do get some 20-game winners on their ledger.

Is such a win stat possible?

A better way to win

For me, the pitcher win should strictly be the domain of a starting pitcher. This dictum is clouded by the use of openers to start games and bulk pitchers who are used like starters but just not at the outset of games. For now, let’s try not to think about that.

The question about each game I want to answer is this: Which starting pitcher was better in that game? The starter who becomes the answer to that question gets the win; the other gets the loss. And that’s all. It’s as simple as that. Every starter in every game gets a win or a loss and no-decisions don’t exist.

Well, the no-decisions would still exist, because I’m not proposing that we erase traditional won-loss records from the books. There’s too much history attached. Early Winn is remembered in part for clinging to his career in pursuit of 300 wins, and he finished with that number exactly. Cy Young is remembered for his unbreakable career record of 511 wins. Likewise, Jack Chesbro’s claim to immortality is that he owns the modern single-season record of 41 wins. We don’t want to erase those things — we want to add to our understanding of starting pitchers.

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Something I’ve proposed on a number of occasions is to use James’ game score method to assign wins and losses. In fact, I’ve tracked game score records for several years and for this piece, I expanded my database back to 1901 to see how the historical record might look.

There are other game score methods, but I like James’ version for its simplicity, though the modified version created by Tom Tango for MLB.com has the same virtue. With either, you can look at a pitching line and easily calculate the game score in your head, once you’ve got the formula down. (If you can’t do that calculation, study more math.)

I also would try to account for short, opener-style outings. I use James’ version but dole out a heavy penalty for going fewer than four innings. To avoid ties — when the starters end up with the same game score — you can give the W to the starter on the winning team.

Awarding pitcher wins like this isn’t perfect. The conditions for the starters aren’t truly equal because the quality of the lineups they face won’t be the same. When Skenes beat Yoshinobu Yamamoto earlier this season, for example, his task against the Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup was a bit more difficult than Yamamoto’s figured to be against Skenes’ teammates. Likewise, the quality of the defenses behind opposing starters won’t be the same in any given contest.

Despite those disparities, the mandate for both starters is identical: Out-pitch the other guy. And you know what? The game score method of assigning wins and losses to assess the success of that assignment works pretty well.

How game score wins would change history

Let’s call a game score win a GSW and a game score loss a GSL. Do you know who owns the single-season record in GSW?

It’s Chesbro, still. In fact, his 1904 feat looks just as impressive by this method. Here are the top five seasons by GSW:

Jack Chesbro, 40-11 (1904)
Christy Mathewson, 35-9 (1908)
Iron Joe McGinnity, 34-10 (1904)
Mathewson, 34-12 (1904)
Ed Walsh, 34-15 (1908)

Still all deadball guys, sure, but that’s just the top of the leaderboard. There have been 21 30-win seasons by the traditional wins method since 1901 but only three during the last 100 years: Lefty Grove (31 in 1930), Dizzy Dean (30 in 1934) and Denny McLain (31 in 1968).

By the game score method, the list of 30-game winners grows to 36 and it’s not so dusty — 12 of them land in the expansion era (since 1960) and we even get two 30-win seasons during the wild-card era (since 1994). Here are the most recent instances:

33 GSWs: Sandy Koufax (twice, 1965 and 1966) and Mickey Lolich (1971)

32: Steve Carlton (1972, for a last-place team), Denny McLain (1968)

31: Koufax (1963)

30: Whitey Ford (1961), Juan Marichal (1968), Jim Palmer (1975), Ron Guidry (1978), Randy Johnson (twice, 2001 and 2002)

The Big Unit! Johnson won the last two of four consecutive NL Cy Young Awards in 2001 and 2002, during which his combined traditional record was 45-11. His combined game score record is 60-9.

When you go down the list to 29 wins, the roster is just as interesting — and more recent. Here are the last five instances:

• Dwight Gooden (1985)

• Mike Scott and Roger Clemens (1986)

• Curt Schilling (2001)

• Gerrit Cole (2019)

I mean, are we having fun now, or what? Imagine those seasons and the coverage that would go with their pursuit of 30 wins. Schilling would be trying to match Johnson to give the Arizona Diamondbacks a pair of 30-game winners. And Cole, only a few years ago, would have been racing for 30 wins in his last season for the powerhouse Houston Astros in advance of free agency. Wouldn’t you have liked to have had this headline at ESPN to react to that winter?

Yankees sign 29-game winner Cole to $324 million deal

None of this is a product of a fantastical what-if scenario. This is all based on what these pitchers actually did, just framed and measured a little differently. And I think it adds to their accomplishment (or lack thereof in the case of Homer Bailey’s 0-20 season in 2018) and improves the conversation about pitching, which now is too bogged down by statistical complexities that many or even most fans roll their eyes at.

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Advanced measures would still matter a great deal of course, but barroom conversations about pitching would be much improved. I imagine somehow sitting down for one more baseball chat with my late grandfather, who was one of the people who taught me about the sport. If I told him something like, “Gerrit Cole had 7.8 WAR last year and a 28% strikeout rate,” it wouldn’t mean anything to him. But if I told him, “Gerrit Cole won 29 games last year,” he’d understand that and would not be misled about what it meant.

Thinking about pitcher wins in this way brings the past back into conversation with the present. For all of the differences between what was expected of Christy Matthewson in 1904 and Tarik Skubal in 2025, the core mission outlined by this framework is identical: To outpitch your opponent when you take the mound.

This becomes evident when you look at the list of those who have reached 300 career game score wins since 1901, a roster of greats that covers every period of the modern era … and is about to grow by one:

The 300 GSW Club

1. Roger Clemens (477)14. Pete Alexander (386)27. Andy Pettitte (318)2. Nolan Ryan (467)15. Christy Mathewson (379)28. Lefty Grove (316)3. Greg Maddux (453)16. Tom Glavine (376)28. Jack Morris (316)4. Walter Johnson (437)17. Ferguson Jenkins (363)30. Max Scherzer (313)4. Don Sutton (437)18. Justin Verlander (348)31. Jim Palmer (312)6. Randy Johnson (421)19. CC Sabathia (339)31. Eddie Plank (312)7. Steve Carlton (420)20. Mike Mussina (338)33. Bob Feller (310)8. Warren Spahn (409)20. Early Wynn (338)34. Dennis Martinez (306)9. Phil Niekro (408)22. Jamie Moyer (334)35. Bob Gibson (305)10. Gaylord Perry (398)23. Robin Roberts (334)36. Juan Marichal (300)11. Tom Seaver (391)24. Red Ruffing (327)11. Bert Blyleven (391)25. Frank Tanana (322)11. Tommy John (391)26. Zack Greinke (320)

Next up, at 299: Clayton Kershaw, who will join Verlander and Scherzer as active 300-game winners, at least by this method. By the traditional method, none of them are likely to reach 300.

What about Skenes?

There’s a reason we chose Skenes as our jumping-off point. As mentioned, Skenes’ 4-6 mark over his first 16 starts tells you nothing about a pitcher with a 1.85 ERA. His game score record (11-5) is a lot more on the mark. Here’s Skenes’ game score log entering his start Wednesday against Milwaukee Brewers rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski:

Paul Skenes’ 2025 Game Score Log

DateResultScoresMarch 27WinSkenes (59) vs. Sandy Alcantara, Marlins (55)April 2WinSkenes (75) vs. Ryan Pepiot, Rays (49)April 8LossSkenes (46) vs. Sonny Gray, Cardinals (61)April 14WinSkenes (66) vs. Brad Lord, Nationals (33)April 19LossSkenes (60) vs. Ben Lively, Guardians (62)April 25WinSkenes (72) vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers (50)May 1LossSkenes (43) vs. Colin Rea, Cubs (56)May 6LossSkenes (60) vs. Matthew Liberatore, Cardinals (72)May 12WinSkenes (59) vs. David Peterson, Mets (58)May 18WinSkenes (80) vs. Mick Abel, Phillies (71)May 23WinSkenes (66) vs. Freddy Peralta, Brewers (47)May 28WinSkenes (73) vs. Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks (33)June 3WinSkenes (79) vs. Lance McCullers Jr., Astros (74)June 8WinSkenes (79) vs. Cristopher Sanchez, Phillies (64)June 13LossSkenes (62) vs. Cade Horton, Cubs (65)June 19WinSkenes (62) vs. Tyler Holton, Tigers (14)** — includes opener penalty

For his career, Skenes is now 30-9 by the game score method. He’s 15-9 by the traditional formulation. Same number of losses, but double the wins. Which version is more indicative of Skenes as a pitcher?

It’s cherry-picking to home in on Skenes, but his game score log translates to this: Skenes has pitched better than his starting opponent 76.9% of the time as a big leaguer, despite the treachery of the punchless offense behind him.

Now let’s do one more list. Here are the three highest game score winning percentages, minimum 30 career starts, since 1901:

1. Paul Skenes, .769 (30-9)

2. Nick Maddox, .722 (52-20)

3. Smoky Joe Wood, .722 (114-44)

Wood is historically prominent, while Maddox, who pitched for the Pirates 115 years ago, is not. Still, since Maddox popped up, I have to share this late-in-life quote from him, because it so typifies the old-timer mindset, “These guys today aren’t pitchers — they’re throwers. Why, in my day, I’d throw one so fast past that guy [Ralph] Kiner he’d get pneumonia from the wind.”

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Skenes is a pitcher and a thrower, a budding all-time great who is in conversation with pitchers who retired decades before he was born. If Skenes stays healthy (knock on wood) and his career builds, we can marvel at his accolades and statistical achievements. But will we ever say, “Skenes has a chance to be a 60 WAR guy” and expect that to resonate?

Maybe someday. But wouldn’t it be more fun to track how many 20-win — or even 30-win — seasons he can rack up? Wouldn’t it be more fun to count down his progress to 300 wins, which he is never going to sniff by traditional wins, unless the game itself changes dramatically?

Wouldn’t it be more fun to align pitching’s present with pitching’s past? Wins have always been the currency of baseball in general, and of pitching in particular. It’s just that up until now, pitching wins have been an unstable currency.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.



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Nuclear Throne
Gaming Gear

10 years after it launched, one of the best roguelikes of all time gets a surprise update on Steam with quality of life improvements and a new controls menu

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It was 2015—10 years ago—that we called Nuclear Throne “a crowning achievement for Vlambeer, and one of the finest action-roguelikes ever made” in our 90% review. Seven years later, in 2022, we said it was still the best roguelike around. And now, in 2025, eight years after its last update, Nuclear Throne has suddenly sprung back to life.

“Good news for (future) Nuclear Throne fans: there’s an updated beta build on Steam with many quality of life improvements like 120fps support, different aspect ratios, and a new controls menu!” Vlambeer wrote in a surprise announcement on Bluesky. “Oh, and a new melting loading screen tip. 😎

Good news for (future) Nuclear Throne fans: there’s an updated beta build on Steam with many quality of life improvements like 120fps support, different aspect ratios, and a new controls menu! Oh, and a new melting loading screen tip. 😎 store.steampowered.com/app/242680/N…

— @vlambeer.com (@vlambeer.com.bsky.social) 2025-06-25T22:31:32.280Z

Vlambeer celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2020 by closing its doors, not over any discord between co-founders Rami Ismail and Jan Nijman, but simply because it felt like the “natural” thing to do at that point in their careers. Four years later, however, it was back, although without Ismail, who sold his half of the studio to Nijman. And Nijman has apparently decided to go back to where it all began.


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The studio said in a separate post that it would “be nice” to get the new update out to console versions of Nuclear Throne, but it wants to “make sure everything is rock solid on PC first.”

To give the new Steam beta a shot, you’ll need to right-click on Nuclear Throne in your Steam library, then select “Properties,” “Betas,” and “openbeta_win64” from the dropdown. Wait for the game to update, and then “enjoy your silky smooth gaming.”



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Crypto
GameFi Guides

Fake Crypto Academy Swindles Florida Investor Of Nearly $1 Million In Life Savings

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Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

According to court papers filed last week, a Florida man lost $860,000 after signing up for a crypto trading school that turned out to be a scam. He thought he had found a path to quick profits. Instead, his funds vanished into thin air.

Fake Trading School Scheme

Based on reports, the operation was run by Alpha Stock Investment Training Center, or ASITC, in partnership with a so-called exchange called CoinBridge.

The school charged students for lessons on “signal trading,” and CoinBridge claimed it had raised $10 million from 600 investors. Both names gave off an air of trust. But no real exchange existed. All trades went through the scammers’ own platform.

Phony Denver crypto school robbed Florida man of $860K, he says https://t.co/ni0vwaOjj8

— The Denver Post (@denverpost) June 21, 2025

Signals And Small Wins

According to the lawsuit, instructor John Smith gave the victim, Brian Firestone, a $500 “gift” in December. That small amount jumped to $55,000 in a short time. He saw the number on his screen and felt hopeful.

Next, he put in another $50,000 in January. Suddenly, his balance read $2 million. He messaged Smith, “I’m blown away by these results.” Those early wins convinced him the system worked.

A docket of the filing of the case. Source: Justia.

Ballooning Investments And Loans

Then came the risky part. He wired $470,000 from his bank account and borrowed $330,000 from ASITC to keep the trades going. His balance climbed all the way to $24.5 million.

He said he felt on top of the world. He believed the training had unlocked a secret. But at that point, he had lost control over his own money.

Bitcoin is now trading at $101,492. Chart: TradingView

Sudden Crash And Lawsuit

The turning point happened on March 9. A USDT trade failed, and the platform froze. “I can’t close it,” he texted Smith, blaming a glitch. Within minutes, his entire balance was gone. He discovered his funds had been drained.

Now, he’s suing CoinBridge and ASITC in a US court. He wishes to get his money back and expects the suit to bring to light the individuals behind the scam.

According to his lawyers, the school deceived him at every stage, keeping secret the information that they were in control of the exchange and the signals.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.





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From Coffee To Crypto Us Lawmakers Push To Use Bitcoin For Daily Life
GameFi Guides

From Coffee to Crypto US Lawmakers Push to Use Bitcoin for Daily Life

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Senator Cynthia Lummis and ex-Congressman Mike Rogers aim to simplify the use of Bitcoin for ordinary transactions, such as purchasing coffee or groceries. At present, even small-scale Bitcoin deals may call for tax reporting, which many find too complex and deters users from making Bitcoin an integral part of their daily lives.

They recently assisted in passing the GENIUS Act, a bill that is aimed at making stablecoins have well-defined rules. The act wants to safeguard consumers without inhibiting innovation. It makes sure that firms that issue the digital coins abide by good rules and have sufficient financial buffers.

While the GENIUS Act is a big achievement, Lummis and Rogers say it’s just the beginning. They believe Congress must also create clear definitions for different types of digital assets. Some digital assets should be treated like commodities (such as gold), while others should be treated like securities (such as stocks). This would help businesses know which rules to follow and give regulators more clarity.

States such as Wyoming and Michigan are already at the forefront of crypto-friendly legislation. Michigan just recently enacted a “Cryptocurrency Bill of Rights” and suggested establishing a state government-run crypto reserve. Wyoming has enacted more than 30 crypto-specific laws, demonstrating how states can be quicker than the federal government.

The lawmakers also want to end “double taxation” on Bitcoin, such as taxes both when it’s mined and when it’s sold. They’re pushing to fix corporate tax rules that currently hurt Bitcoin holders.

Also Read: Senator Lummis Says Flawed Tax Rules Unfairly Target Bitcoin



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Fantasy Life i might be the star of the Switch 2 launch, providing both the Animal Crossing and RPG experience it needs
Game Updates

Fantasy Life i might be the star of the Switch 2 launch, providing both the Animal Crossing and RPG experience it needs

by admin


What a strange and wonderful game. It took me about four hours to pin down what Fantasy Life is, because by turns it’s Animal Crossing and then it’s a role-playing game, and then it’s something else. The form of the game shifts and shimmies during the opening hours as a constant stream of new ideas are introduced, and it’s only as they begin to settle that you begin to appreciate what an intoxicating blend it can be.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time

Officially , Fantasy Life i is a life sim RPG, which broadly means – and you’ll know this if you’ve played Fantasy Life on 3DS of course – that you can play many roles within the game, many Lives, as they’re known. You can be a carpenter, a blacksmith, a mercenary, a paladin, an alchemist, a spellcaster, a tailor and so on. There are many Lives to choose from. But the crux of this is you don’t have to choose only one of them. If you want, you can be them all.

You can be out adventuring as a mercenary, wielding a big sword and wearing your mercenary kit, then switch instantly to being a woodcutter the moment you approach and interact with a choppable tree. It’s similar when approaching a workbench, as your carpentry Life takes over and woodworking skills kick in. The same is true of every Life skill you learn: once you’ve got them – and there’s a little tutorial to-and-fro involved in getting them (which you can skip if you know what you’re doing) – they will be available wherever you go, whenever you need them. It’s a surprisingly liberating system.

There is cloying sweetness to the game, which isn’t entirely unwelcome, and there are some genuinely funny jokes and characters to meet. There’s a strong sense of tongue-in-cheek running through it.Watch on YouTube

Why would you want so many Lives, though? Firstly because the game encourages you to have them, either through main quests or villager-given quests on the island, but also because being a woodcutter and being able to source your own wood for your carpentry Life makes sense, just as mining your own ore as a blacksmith makes sense too. But Fantasy Life i takes this a step further, in terms of motivating you, by also being a go-out-and-adventure kind of role-playing game, meaning you’re not always stuck in town, wandering around.

The story is convoluted but it involves travelling backwards and forwards in time to an island that’s either resplendent and filled with life, or destroyed, depending on whether you’re in the past or the present. A thousand years ago, the island was vibrant and populated by an eccentric cast of villagers, who you’ll slowly get to know – and some are genuinely very amusing – whereas in the present, there’s no one around. It’s in these past and present futures where you’ll build a home and make a life, but that’s not all there is to Fantasy Life i.

Well I don’t want to toot my own horn but it’s true, I do. | Image credit: Eurogamer / Level 5

There is a wider game to explore that goes as far as other worlds, and it’s one of these, Ginormosia, that you’ll keep coming back to. This place is massive and much more closely resembles the kind of adventuring land you find in a typical action-based RPG (and which will be the basis of the roguelike mode being developed for the game, by the way). It’s the sort of place with zoned biomes and packs of enemies that gradually increase in strength, and even towers and shrines to unlock that do similar things as in the recent Zelda games – reveal nearby locations, or offer puzzles.

In Ginormosia, your combat skills will be of particular use, and you’ll obviously benefit more heavily from whatever better-quality armour and equipment you’ve made or acquired. But there’s no way you can tackle Ginormosia in one go: it will take several nibbles over the course of the game, as each time you go away and level-up a bit, and equip-up a bit, and then return. This is where Fantasy Life i finally starts to come into view, in how it presents us with two game experiences stretched across our home life and our adventuring life, that compliment each other.

For instance, combat prowess: you can level up in your chosen Life while out adventuring, but you can’t increase your rank without doing jobs for the guild master, who’s back in town. And it’s only by increasing your rank that you can access more powerful skills on your skill tree, and unlock things like charged attacks, better combos, and various passive abilities, all of which make you more deadly or hardy, depending on what you want to do. It’s a similar deal for crafting abilities – yes they have skill trees too. So you see that you might want better combat abilities and equipment for your adventures, but in order to get them you’ll have to pursue several different Life paths at home first.

This is the carpentry mini-game. You have to move between the three stations and press the buttons prompted as fast as you can. It’s simple but it’s fun.

That might sound laborious but there’s an innate joy involved in pursuing them. Take carpentry for example. A mini-game springs into life when you want to make something that involves pressing button prompts as fast as you can in order to successfully craft. It’s a little more complex than that but suffice to say that it’s energetic and fun, which aren’t words I typically associate with crafting systems in games. Even chopping trees or mining ore are enjoyable, using ideas like ‘find the sweet spot’ to alleviate the boredom, whereby if you hit a sweet spot, you can greatly increase the speed you take a node down. Couple this with powerful buffs from food or potions and you can smash through resource nodes in seconds. And now you probably want to learn alchemy in order to achieve this. Do you see how it goes? One thing encourages another.

It’s as you start to nose through the skill trees in the games and overlap the Lives you’re living that Fantasy Life i really gets a hold of you, and because it’s so broad, it manages to satisfy a lot of game urges in one. Do you want to build and decorate a home like you do in Animal Crossing? That kind of peaceful island life exists here. Do you also want the thrill of adventure and story and combat?

That kind of experience exists here too. It’s a clever blend and a clever studio that can knit them together and make them work. There’s much more to Fantasy Life i than meets the eye and, for me, it’s one of the stars of the Switch 2 launch.

A copy of Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time was provided by Level-5.



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Under-$50 Tools
Gaming Gear

These seven under-$50 tools make my tech life a lot easier

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We all use different tools in our varied, harried lives, things that help us do what we need and hopefully make things easier or less stressful in the process. As someone who spends my working life running this site, testing and reviewing all kinds of consumer hardware, and building several PCs a year, most of the tools I use and love revolve around that. But I’ve also recently jumped head-first into the world of 3D printing, and when I’m not working, I’m often tinkering on some home DIY project, trying to make my small apartment a little nicer.

Below are some of my go-to tools, from my trusty Hoto screwdriver (great for PCs and putting up shelves), to an SSD cloner, my favorite minimal multi-tool, and more. Hopefully you’ll also find a few of these helpful in your own life, or good gift ideas for someone in your life. Most are less than $20, with a few in the $30-$50 range. One thing I can say for sure is that, at least for me, they are all easily worth what I paid for them, as they make tasks big and small easier and more enjoyable.

🛠 Rosewill M.2 SSD Cloner

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(Image credit: Amazon)

A family member recently asked me for help with an older PC, which was desperately trying to run Windows 10 while housing several programs on an old 110 GB SSD. I figured, sure, I could clone the boot drive onto a more spacious drive so the OS and programs had more room to stretch their legs. But then the thought of using multiple USB enclosures or shuffling drives in and out of my desktop filled me with dread as I pictured being there for hours getting everything done and the system back up and running. So I looked into getting an M.2 SSD cloner, and was surprised to see they can be found for as little as $49.

Rosewill’s NVMe SSD cloner is one of the more affordable options, and while I don’t love its glossy plastic shell, it does support both NVMe M.2 drives as well as older AHCI models. Operation is about as simple as it gets. You plug in the included USB-C power adapter, put your source drive in the left slot, the destination drive in the right slot, press the power button on the back, and a few logos light up, letting you know you’re ready to go. Press the clone button on the top, and the cloning will commence (provided your destination is the same size or larger than your source).

That’s assuming you want to do an offline clone. But because I wanted to also resize the partition between the old 110 GB and the newer Team Group 512 GB SSD, I used the second included USB-C cable to connect the Rosewill cloner to my laptop and powered up the device. Within seconds, both drives were recognized in Windows, so I fired up the excellent free DiskGenius software, cloned the old partition to the new Team Group drive with a few clicks, and then used the software to drag the boot partition to the full size of the new drive. The whole process took just a few minutes; the Rosewill cloner supports 20 Gbps USB, and I wasn’t exactly copying a huge partition.

When the cloning process was finished, it was hard to believe it was all that easy. I had expected to be at my in-laws for hours, but I was done in less than 30 minutes. Sure, unless you’re in IT, a drive cloner might not be something you use all the time, but it’s handy to have around. You can also use it to save some money by buying a laptop with a cramped SSD and swapping in something much roomier – provided, of course, the laptop’s storage isn’t soldered to the motherboard.

The Rosewill cloner is also handy for just checking the contents of old M.2 drives you may have lying around. But if that’s all you need, you can buy an NVMe enclosure or a single-drive dock. I also own this model from Fideco, which costs less than $20.

🛠 Sangabery Digital Caliper

(Image credit: Sangabery)

While I use my tape measure more often around the house, when I need something more precise, I always reach for my digital caliper. I used a plastic model from Harbor Freight for years, and while it was mostly served my needs, it always felt like a toy and didn’t have as many features as this steel model from Sangabery. Would I trust it to be as accurate as models that cost more than $100? No, but for what I use it for – mostly measuring the thickness of laptops and making sure my print models are to scale and that what I want to 3D print will fit on my Anycubic Kobra 3 V2’s print bed, it works just fine.

🛠 HOTO NEX O1 PRO 3.6V Screwdriver Set

(Image credit: HOTO)

I build a lot of PCs, and I also do some home improvement work for myself and my family. So a cordless screwdriver is a nice thing to have – and a great cordless screwdriver makes my life a lot easier. I also own a much slimmer Wowstick, but have found HOTO’s NEX O1 Pro to be useful in more ways, thanks to its extra (and variable) torque. It’s great for loosening factory-installed screws on PC cases, and also good for assembling furniture.

The HOTO won’t replace my DeWalt drill for bigger, tougher jobs. But for mostly common tasks, it’s powerful enough, easy to charge over USB-C, and even looks good on my workbench.

As the grandson of a carpenter, I sometimes work on projects involving wood (I finished the Acacia wood of my testbench, which you’ll sometimes see in my photos), and more often now I’m often tweaking plastic 3D prints. So a deburring tool is something I reach for a couple of times a week. You can get plastic-handled models for a few dollars less, but this model costs less than $10 and has a nicer-feeling metal handle. It also comes with 12 blades, and comes in three color options.

Other common uses for a deburring tool include scraping burrs off of metal or PVC pipe, cleaning up traditional scale model parts, and more. It’s a handy tool to have for many purposes, and this one gets a prime spot in my desk drawer, where I reach for it often.

🛠 iSesamo Spudger + Mini iSesamo Spudger

A must have for cracking open thin laptops, as we always do when reviewing them, a spudger lets you get in between the tight seams of modern technology and pry things apart enough to (hopefully) release the clips holding things together. You can try to use things like guitar picks or (if you’re extremely careful) a small screwdriver. But a spudger is usually the best tool for this kind of job, and this two-pack (including a keychain-friendly mini model) is well worth the $12 I spent on it in 2023 (that’s also still how much it costs).

At least once a day, I need a box opener or a screwdriver. And sure, I could just carry around a multi-tool, but it’s convenient to have these things on my keychain – and all the more comfortable when that tool is basically the size of a key, like this tiny $10 tool from KeySmart. As someone who typically keeps their keys in their back pocket, I realy don’t want anything bulky. This simple multitool is a box opener, flat head, and Philips head screwdriver. It’s designed to be added to KeySmart’s modular key organizer system, but it also works well on a typical key ring, where it’s always within reach when you need it.

🛠 Baseus 65W Flat GaN wall charger

(Image credit: Amazon)

This last pick maybe pushes the boundaries of the word tool, but so much of what I do and use every day relies on USB power, whether it’s my laptop, Bluetooth speaker, my Hoto screwdriver, even the scale I use to portion out my morning coffee (and occasionally weigh products I’m reviewing). And this 65W charger from Baseus includes USB-C and USB-A charging ports and is small and slim enough that I can slip it in any bag (or evn in a back pocket) so I’m never without a charger for nearly all my essential things.

This is also one of my favorite chargers to take on vacation or work trips, because aside from its small size, its thin shape hugs the wall, helping it stay in worn-out hotel sockets much better than larger or different-shaped chargers. It delivers up to 45W via the USB-C port and 20W over USB-A. So it’s not going to charge everything as fast as possible, but it does quite well in a pinch and I like knowing it’s almost always with me if my phone or other device needs a recharge while I’m away from home.



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Ex-Animoca exec loses life savings in Zoom hack tied to Lazarus
Crypto Trends

Ex-Animoca exec loses life savings in Zoom hack tied to Lazarus

by admin



Ex-Animoca exec had his crypto wallets drained after downloading a fake Zoom update during a phishing attack linked to North Korean hacking group Lazarus.

Mehdi Farooq, an investment partner at Hypersphere and ex-Animoca Brands exec, revealed in a post on X on Thursday that he lost a large portion of his life savings in a Zoom hack linked to the North Korean hacking group Lazarus.

The scam began when Farooq received a Telegram message from Alex Lin, a professional acquaintance. Lin asked to catch up, and Farooq shared his Calendly link to schedule a call.

The next day, shortly before the meeting, Lin messaged again, asking to switch the call to Zoom Business “for compliance reasons,” explaining that one of his limited partners, Kent — whom Farooq also knew — would be joining.

The Zoom meeting appeared legitimate. Both participants had their cameras on, but there was no audio. In the Zoom chat, they said they were having technical issues and asked Farooq to update his Zoom client. Within minutes of installing the fake update, six of Farooq’s crypto wallets were drained.

It was only afterward that Farooq realized Lin’s account had been hacked. The scheme was later linked to Lazarus, a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group.

“It was surreal and completely violating. But in the darkest moment, whitehat hackers stepped up — complete strangers offering help when I was at my lowest. Turns out I was compromised by DPRK affiliated threat know as dangrouspassword,” wrote Farooq.

This incident echoes a recent phishing attempt targeting Manta Network co-founder Kenny Li, who narrowly avoided a similar fate. Li recounted that the attackers impersonated known contacts during a Zoom call, used fake video feeds, and insisted on a suspicious Zoom update download. Suspecting foul play, Li suggested switching communication platforms, prompting the attackers to block him and erase messages.

Security analysts say that this attack vector — where hackers pose as trusted contacts, fake technical glitches, and push malware disguised as Zoom updates — is a hallmark of Lazarus operations and has been used repeatedly to steal millions in crypto.

Other crypto industry leaders, including founders from Mon Protocol, Stably, and Devdock AI, have reported similar phishing attempts, highlighting how widespread and targeted these attacks have become.

Nick Bax from the Security Alliance broke down this scam in a March 11 X post. 

Having audio issues on your Zoom call? That’s not a VC, it’s North Korean hackers.

Fortunately, this founder realized what was going on.

The call starts with a few “VCs” on the call. They send messages in the chat saying they can’t hear your audio, or suggesting there’s an… pic.twitter.com/ZnW8Mtof4F

— Nick Bax.eth (@bax1337) March 11, 2025





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