Tag:

Perfectly

Messenger is an absurdly slick, perfectly lovely free pocket world exploration game you can play in a browser
Game Updates

Messenger is an absurdly slick, perfectly lovely free pocket world exploration game you can play in a browser

by admin



Based on time of day and year, global fertility rates, and our own secret, illegal research into RPS supporter breeding patterns, I calculate that there’s a 12% chance you are reading this while carrying or cradling a small child. If that’s the case, then: what on Earth are you doing here? We post all kinds of awful grown-up things on RPS. Mark is threatening to do another salacious mod article and just this very morning, I posted a picture of a xenomorph covered in blood.


This piece should be safe for kids, however, as long as you don’t explain what a xenomorph is or what “salacious” means. It’s about Messenger, a free browser-based game in which you run around a very small 3D watercolour planet, delivering post. I suspect you and your child will enjoy it, unless we’ve already corrupted them and you’re now playing Aliens: Fireteam Elite.


Created using WebGL, Messenger is from the Short Hike school of vibes-driven pocket worlds with gentle to-do lists. The controls consist of moving with WASD and jumping – more of a lazy hop, really – with space bar. You’ve got a few deliveries to make off the bat, and you can take on more assignments by chatting to people.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Team Cherry


The dialogue writing is quite spry. I delivered a letter to a bald man which turned out to be from his past self. “Take care of your hair,” it read. Sad trombone. You don’t really need an objective, mind: it’s enough just to amble down the road and watch the horizon unroll. There’s also the option of customising your outfit, and an emoji system for communicating with the other players – yes, those are other players! – who pop into your session at random.

Find Messenger here. Try not to get it confused with The Messenger, an upsettingly hard game about ninjas. It’s ridiculous that this sort of game now hums along in a browser, isn’t it? Imagine that it’s 2000 and you found this on AOL – your head would asplode. Your modem would probably asplode, as well. “Asplode” is a reference to noted early noughties comedy website Homestar Runner, by the way – your kid likely isn’t old enough for Strongbad yet, but it’s the kind of thing they’ll love when they start school. Better than the rest of the junk you find on those modern videophones, anyway.


Among the mysteries of Messenger is who exactly made it. The creators are Abeto, who “craft interactive realtime experiences”, and have a picturesque, tastefully information-free website where you can wave away the petals that fall from a perpetually unfurling flower. Please don’t let this be a front for a seedy cryptocurrency joint, or a terrible data-harvesting exercise. Please let it just be a nice game about roaming a pleasant spherical suburb.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Small but perfectly formed, the De'Longhi Dedica Duo is my new favorite entry-level espresso machine
Product Reviews

Small but perfectly formed, the De’Longhi Dedica Duo is my new favorite entry-level espresso machine

by admin



Why you can trust TechRadar


We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

De’Longhi Dedica Duo: two-minute review

The De’Longhi Dedica Duo is an excellent entry-level espresso machine that looks great and performs extremely well, despite its modest price tag.

It has a similar appearance to its predecessor, the De’Longhi Dedica Style, but with some key improvements – including a wider drip tray that can accommodate two espresso cups. The steam wand has been upgraded with a cool-touch handle and a knurled control dial for better grip, and the machine is available in a choice of four colors (including three gelato-inspired pastel shades).

The Dedica Duo’s accessories, such as the color-coordinated portafilter handle, feel robust. It comes with two pressurized portafilter baskets, a coffee scoop, a pin tool, a descaler pack, a tamper, and a stainless-steel milk pitcher. The water tank is easily accessible at the back, with a hinged lid to keep water fresh, and it can be fitted with an optional water filter.

(Image credit: Future)

The machine is operated by illustrated buttons on top for single shot, double shot, cold brew, and steam. Colored lights on these buttons indicate the machine’s status, requiring reference to the manual for full understanding.

  • De’Longhi Dedica Duo at Amazon for $249.95

Although it takes a little while to heat up, the Dedica Duo delivers a good shot with a fine grind consistently. There is some minor dripping after the pump finishes due to the absence of a three-way solenoid valve.

The Dedica Duo’s cold-extraction mode, while slower than preparing hot espresso, is much faster than traditional overnight cold-brewing and produces a full, mellow flavor. This cold brew is versatile, suitable for drinking straight, with milk and ice, or in blended drinks and cocktails.

My only real complaint is that the system of lights to indicate the machine’s current status and any problems (such as scale, or air in the system) can be confusing, and you’ll find yourself having to refer back to the manual quite regularly while you’re getting a handle on things. Other than that, though, this is an easy machine to recommend and worthy of a full five stars.

De’Longhi Dedica Duo: price and availability

  • Released in August 2025
  • List price of $299.95 / £279.99 (about AU$600)
  • Sold in the UK and US, but not yet in Australia

The De’Longhi Dedica Duo launched in August 2025 with a list price of $299.95 / £279.99. At the time of writing (September 2025), it isn’t yet available in Australia, but hopefully that will change soon.

At that price, it’s one of the most affordable espresso machines I’ve tested in the past year. The Casabrews 5418 Pro is in the same entry-level bracket with a list price of $299.99 (about £220 / AU$460), but it’s clear that Casabrews has cut quite a lot of corners, and it can’t compete with the Dedica Duo for build quality and performance.

Today’s best De’Longhi Dedica Duo deals

De’Longhi Dedica Duo: design

  • Updated design with refined details and new colors
  • Wider drip tray to accommodate two espresso cups
  • Accessories feel substantial and well made

The De’Longhi Dedica Duo is a compact, smart-looking espresso machine. At first glance it bears a strong similarity to its predecessor, the Dedica Style. It’s almost exactly the same size, but on closer inspection you’ll notice lots of refinements and improvements.

Most noticeably, the Dedica Duo comes in an updated range of colors, with classic stainless steel accompanied by soft shades of white, pink and green, which De’Longhi says were inspired by different flavors of gelato. Candy-colored appliances have become increasingly popular in 2025, and they look good, with a satin finish rather than gloss.

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

For me, one of the most notable updates is to the drip tray, which is now considerably wider, making it easier to fit two espresso cups underneath the portafiter when pulling a double shot. If you have a particularly tall cup, you can remove the stainless steel grille and place the cup directly on a removable ridged plate at the bottom of the tray. A nice touch, and one that helps make clean-up easier.

The steam wand now has a cool-touch handle, which is a nice upgrade, and its control dial sports a knurled texture that looks good and provides extra grip. The wand doesn’t bend, but it does pivot, and its angle makes it easy to achieve a good whirlpool movement when texturizing your milk.

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

All of the Dedica Duo’s accessories feel robust in the hand, unlike those of some other entry-level coffee machines I’ve tested recently (I’m looking at you, Casabrews). The portafilter handle is satisfyingly weighty, with a textured end that matches the steam wand dial, and is colored to match the body of the machine.

You get two pressurized portafilter baskets (one for single shots and one for doubles), a coffee scoop, a pin tool for clearing the hole of the steam wand if it becomes blocked, a pack of descaler, a weighty tamper that makes it easy to put sufficient pressure on your ground, and a stainless steel milk pitcher (with a fine spout ideal for pouring latte art).

(Image credit: Future)

The machine’s water tank slides onto the back, and has a sturdy-feeling hinged lid to keep water fresh. It can also be fitted with an optional water filter, but this needs to be purchased separately. The tank lifts out easily and is simple to slot back into place. You’ll need to pull the machine away from the wall to do this, but it’s so small and light, this shouldn’t present a problem.

The Dedica Duo has a power switch on its right-hand side, and is operated using a set of illustrated buttons on top: single shot, double shot, cold brew, and steam. Pressing combinations of these buttons, or pressing and holding, provides access to certain menus, and the colored lights on them give you information about the machine’s current status, so it’s useful to keep the manual on hand for reference. For example, a solid white light on only the steam button means there’s probably air in the system that needs clearing.

De’Longhi Dedica Duo: performance

  • Steady pressure for consistently extracted hot espresso
  • Cold-extraction works well, too, producing a smooth flavor
  • System of indicator lights can be confusing

The Dedica Duo is an excellent entry-level espresso machine, providing the steady pressure necessary for preparing consistently good coffee. The Casabrews 5418 Pro I reviewed a few weeks ago was so variable, it had me questioning whether I actually knew how to make espresso at all; the Dedica Duo has restored my faith in my own abilities. It takes a little while to heat up, but once it does, and the espresso buttons on top are illuminated, you can be confident that you’re going to get a very good shot. I’ve been using a fairly fine grind for my coffee, and the results have been faultless.

There’s no three-way solenoid, so you can expect a little dripping after the pump has finished, but that certainly isn’t the end of the world.

(Image credit: Future)

The Dedica Duo’s star feature is cold extraction, and it works very well. Whereas some other espresso machines I’ve tested recently create “chilled” drinks by asking you to fill a cup with ice and then dumping a shot of hot espresso on top, the Duo’s cold brew mode bypasses the Thermoblock heater and uses ambient-temperature water direct from the tank.

This takes longer than brewing hot espresso (measured in minutes rather than seconds), but it’s still a lot faster than preparing cold-brewed coffee in the traditional way (by infusing the grounds in the fridge overnight), yet the resulting flavor profile is very similar. The flavor is full and rounded, but more mellow than the same coffee extracted hot. Whether you drink it straight, add milk and ice, or use it in blended drinks and cocktails, it’s very tasty.

Image 1 of 3

(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

It’s worth noting that the Dedica Duo isn’t a quiet machine. Unlike some advanced machines from the likes of KitchenAid or Jura, the Duo has no space in its compact chassis for sound-deadening material, so you’ll be able to hear its pump working away at full volume. Pumping water doesn’t take very long, though; but if you’re sensitive to noise then it’s something to be aware of.

For me, the only disadvantage of the Dedica Duo is the system of lights that change colour and/or blink to indicate your machine’s status or any problems. These aren’t always self-explanatory, and until you’ve learned what they all mean, you’ll find yourself referring back to the manual regularly. Perhaps it would be better to have a small row of status lights for common issues in the interest of clarity.

Should you buy the De’Longhi Dedica Duo?

Swipe to scroll horizontallyDe’Longhi Dedica Duo score card

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

Very reasonably priced, squarely in the “budget” bracket for an espresso machine of this type.

5/5

Design

Modern and stylish, with thoughtful touches such as a wide, adjustable drip tray and cool-touch steam wand.

5/5

Performance

Brews consistently well hot or cold, with steady pressure from the pump. Status lights can be confusing, though.

4.5/5

Buy it if

Don’t buy it if

De’Longhi Dedica Duo: also consider

If the De’Longhi Dedica Duo doesn’t sound like quite the right espresso machine for you, here are two alternatives in the same price bracket, both of which come highly recommended.

How I tested the De’Longhi Dedica Duo

I used the De’Longhi Dedica Duo for three weeks in place of my usual coffee machine, and brewed coffee using a blend of fresh Brazilian and Colombian arabica beans, freshly ground using a Sage Dose Control Pro grinder. I used the tamper provided with the machine to tamp the coffee. I tested the steam wand with chilled, full-fat dairy milk and oat milk.

I flushed the machine with hot water before and after brewing to make sure it was clean, and purged the steam wand and wiped it with a damp cloth after making each drink.

For more information, see how we test, rate, and review products at TechRadar.

First reviewed September 2025

De’Longhi Dedica Duo: Price Comparison



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Google Pixel 10 review: perfectly fine
Product Reviews

Google Pixel 10 review: perfectly fine

by admin


Asking the Pixel 10 to be more than what it is feels greedy.

Google’s non-Pro Pixel is priced fairly at $799, which is significantly less than the $999 Pixel 10 Pro. It comes with some handy upgrades, like Qi2 charging with built-in magnets. Its AI features finally show promise. It includes a dedicated telephoto lens for the first time. It’s a proper flagship and an all-around easygoing Android phone. But if I’m being greedy, then I do have one request: better cameras.

The rear cameras on the Pixel 10 are totally fine. For someone who’s not picky about image quality, they’d be better than fine. And maybe I’d think they were fine, too, if I wasn’t cursed with the knowledge that the cameras on last year’s model are better. And that’s because up until this year, the non-Pro Pixel came with the same main and ultrawide camera hardware as the Pro. But we can’t have everything, and when Google added that telephoto lens this year, it downgraded the other two rear cameras to essentially what’s in the midrange Pixel 9A. So the Pixel 10 has a perfectly fine camera system, as long as you’re not too greedy.

$799

The Good

  • Qi2 wireless charging with magnets is great
  • AI is actually kind of useful, finally
  • Telephoto camera is a nice addition

The Bad

  • Main and ultrawide cameras aren’t quite as good as the Pro
  • Battery life is just okay

Outside of the camera situation, the Pixel 10 comes with the same major upgrades as the Pro phones this year: a new chip and some magnets. Tensor G5 is the new processor on the 10 series, which I’ve found to run a tad cooler than previous versions. The G5 is Google’s first custom chipset made by TSMC, and it handles heavier workloads well. The regular 10 comes with 12GB of RAM compared to 16GB in the 10 Pro, and I did notice a little more stuttering on dense web pages than on the Pro. But for the non-professional phone user, it handles most tasks just fine.

Google Pixel 10 specifications

  • Tensor G5 chipset with 12GB of RAM | 128GB or 256GB of storage
  • 6.3-inch 1080p 60-120Hz OLED
  • 48-megpaixel f/1.7 main camera | 13-megapixel ultrawide | 10.8-megapixel 5x telephoto | 10.5-megapixel selfie camera
  • 4,970mAh lithium-ion battery
  • Qi2 wireless charging up to 15W; 55 percent charge in 30 minutes with wired 30W charger
  • IP68 dust and water resistant

There’s a whole lot of on-device AI running on the new chip — which you can read more about in my Pixel 10 Pro review — and I suspect it contributes to the Pixel 10’s just-okay battery life. A full day of moderate use is no problem, but if you add some intensive activities like an extended hotspot or gaming session, then you might start looking for a charger in the late afternoon. The average person probably won’t be bothered by it, but power users will want a charger or power bank handy to avoid battery anxiety at the end of the day.

AI is still hit-or-miss, but the hits are getting better.

AI is still hit-or-miss, but the hits are getting better. The Pixel 10 doesn’t offer the generative AI-assisted camera zoom feature that the Pro and Pro XL have, but you do get Magic Cue, which fetches helpful information based on what you’re doing. And it actually does work. It’s only in a handful of Google apps right now, but it can help put something on your calendar as you hash out plans in Messages or suggest a destination when you open Google Maps based on something you saved in your screenshots. I had a few more false positives while testing it on the Pixel 10 than I did with the 10 Pro; there were times when it suggested information that wasn’t relevant or it offered to create a calendar event when I told a friend I’d “be there in 30.” I still found it more useful than not, and it’s easy enough to ignore when its suggestions are off the mark.

The Pixel 10 gained a telephoto camera but lost a little image quality in the process.

The Pixel 10 has Qi2 with built-in magnets, and it’s a delight. There’s no case required (unlike with the Samsung S25 series phones), and I thoroughly enjoyed thwacking the phone onto a bedside PixelSnap charger at the end of each day. With the addition of what is essentially MagSafe, the Pixel series is looking like a pretty complete alternative to the iOS ecosystem these days. Each night when I put my phone on the charger, triggering bedtime mode, my Pixel watch followed suit and changed modes, too. That’s not a new feature, but little moments like that add up throughout the day.

I spent a week with the Pixel 10 Pro before switching to the regular 10, and there’s not much that feels radically different on the cheaper model — except the display. The standard 10 comes with a 6.3-inch 1080p screen with up to a 120Hz refresh rate, compared to the 1280p display on the 10 Pro. Its peak brightness of 3,000 nits is enough to keep the phone usable on a sunny day, and 1080p is just enough resolution for a screen that size. The screen seems more prone to dropping from its top 120Hz refresh rate, which is fine but a little jarring when you’re scrolling the NYT Games app and suddenly looking at 60Hz.

I also noticed some vignetting when using the phone in bright light — darkness around the edges of the screen, like you might see in a photograph. This turns out to be a known issue, resolved by switching to the “natural” display color profile. Overall, it’s a fine display but you definitely get more by spending more on the Pro.

On the subject of getting more for more with the 10 Pro: cameras. The Pixel 10’s 48-megapixel f/1.7 main camera doesn’t seem all that different from the 10 Pro’s 50-megapixel f/1.7 camera — until you get to the sensor size. The regular 10 uses a 1/2.0-inch type sensor that’s about half the size of the 1/1.31-inch type sensor in the Pro models. A bigger sensor will produce cleaner images with better dynamic range, and it’s a difference I felt, especially in portrait mode. Particularly if light is low, your subject is moving, and if you’re using the 2x zoom option, portrait mode on the regular 10 isn’t as good as on the Pros. Images show more noise, fine detail like hair looks crunchy, and subject isolation isn’t as precise.

A portrait-mode photo with the subject moving toward the camera at high speed is about as tough a scenario as you can throw at a phone camera, so it’s not too surprising that the Pixel 10 can’t handle it well. But it’s one way that the smaller camera sensor results in noticeably worse performance. Outside of portraits, the Pixel 10 takes perfectly nice photos. The ultrawide — also a smaller sensor than on the Pros — handles dim indoor lighting acceptably. The 5x telephoto lens is handy and definitely an upgrade over using 5x digital zoom. Maybe a telephoto lens and a killer main camera are too much to ask for in a $799 phone, but I’ll keep wishing for both anyway.

Gotta admit the blue color is nice.

Last year, the Pixel 9 felt like the phone that Android had needed for a long time: something elegant, simple, and durable. The Pixel 10 takes that same model and mostly improves it, adding Qi2 and a telephoto lens. The price stayed the same, which is nothing to sneeze at when the prices of everything else keep going up.

Losing the higher-end camera might not be a dealbreaker for most people, but it’s a little tough to swallow if you know what you’re missing out on. Most people who buy this phone won’t be burdened with that knowledge, and I think the Pixel 10 will make that group perfectly happy.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Agree to Continue: Google Pixel 10, 10 Pro, and 10 Pro XL

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.

To use a Pixel 10 series phone, you must agree to:

The following agreements are optional:

  • Provide anonymous location data for Google’s services
  • “Allow apps and services to scan for Wi-Fi networks and nearby devices at any time, even when Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is off.”
  • Send usage and diagnostic data to Google
  • Talk to Google hands-free: “If you agree, Google Assistant will wait in standby mode to detect ‘Hey Google’ and certain quick phrases.”
  • Allow Assistant on lock screen

Additionally, if you want to use Google Assistant, you must agree to let Google collect app info and contact info from your devices. Other features like Google Wallet may require additional agreements.

Final tally: five mandatory agreements and at least five optional agreements

0 CommentsFollow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.

  • Close

    Allison Johnson

    Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All by Allison Johnson

  • GoogleClose

    Google

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Google

  • Google PixelClose

    Google Pixel

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Google Pixel

  • Phone ReviewsClose

    Phone Reviews

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Phone Reviews

  • ReviewsClose

    Reviews

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Reviews

  • TechClose

    Tech

    Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

    PlusFollow

    See All Tech



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Lego version of Huntr/x smiling at something off-screen.
Game Reviews

KPop Demon Hunters Gets Perfectly Remade As A Lego Movie

by admin


Remember that scene in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse that showed a Lego version of Peter Parker living his best blocky life? If you didn’t know, that segment was animated entirely by then 14-year-old animator Preston Mutanga, who caught the filmmaker’s attention after he recreated the movie’s first trailer in the style of a Lego movie. It’s been two years, and the now 16-year-old Mutanga is still hard at work building scenes and trailers from Lego blocks. His recent projects include making the Grand Theft Auto 6 and Stranger Things trailers look like something right out of a kid’s toy box, but it’s his latest incredible videos that have really caught my eye: faithful remakes of scenes from KPop Demon Hunters, done in such spectacular fashion that they could have been an official collaboration between Sony, Netflix, and Lego.

Mutanga has uploaded two videos featuring the Lego versions of Huntr/x to his TikTok account. One is a snippet of one of the coolest parts of the movie’s first musical number, “How It’s Done,” which shows the group skydiving down onto a blocky version of Seoul and kicking some demon booty on the way down. 

The second is less action-packed but longer, and lets Mutanga add a cute nod to his Spider-Man roots. It’s a scene, maybe a third of the way into the movie, after the demonic Saja Boys boy band has started getting their flirty, sexy demon claws into the hearts and minds of the world. They’ve weakened the Honmoon barrier between the real and demon worlds, and the girls are trying to figure out what to do while maintaining their Kpop girl group cover. Their manager, Bobby, comes in to give them an update on their rivals’ newfound virality, and as he scrolls through videos of the Boys’ fans dancing to their hit song “Soda Pop,” a familiar webslinger briefly appears on his phone.

Mutanga’s incredible work speaks for itself, but I will say I sure hope someone over at Lego or Sony is ready to give this kid a job when he’s of age. 



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Close