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NewGenIvf to invest $30m in Solana staking strategy
NFT Gaming

Solana indicators point north, bulls test $165 target

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Solana rallied nearly 5% on Friday, down almost 10% in the past week. The Ethereum competitor will likely rally towards its $165 target, a 13% rally within the next week. While Ethereum draws the interest of institutional investors, Solana is competing through partnerships and decentralized applications on the blockchain. 

Solana price forecast 

According to technical indicators on the SOL/USDT daily price chart, Solana (SOL) could soon observe a trend reversal. SOL is trading at $149.92, and the Ethereum (ETH) competitor could rally 13% and test resistance at $170, the upper boundary of the FVG on the daily price chart. 

Above $170, there are two key resistances: R1, which is the psychologically important price level of $200, and R2, which is the lower boundary of an FVG on the daily price chart, at $218.40. 

The RSI on the SOL/USDT price chart reads 39 and slopes upwards. MACD flashes red histogram bars under the neutral line. The OBV indicator shows a bullish divergence, with the price heading downwards while the OBV indicator slopes upward. The divergence is typically a sign of a potential trend reversal. 

In this case, the consolidation likely ends and SOL price changes in the coming week. 

SOL/USDT daily price chart | Source: Crypto.news

Conversely, SOL could find support at $143.25, the lower boundary of an FVG on the daily price chart. 

SOL could rally for these three reasons 

Bybit, one of the key crypto exchanges, has partnered with Circle, Tether, Solana, and Sui to introduce a collaborative blockchain ecosystem. The project, Ecopedia, is set to provide structured and accessible crypto education. 

Solana’s meme coin ecosystem tanked in response to the tussle between U.S. President Donald Trump and Tesla Chief Elon Musk. In the past week, the past 24 hours, and on Friday, the sector’s market capitalization has declined. 

The market cap of the Solana meme coin ecosystem has fallen 5% in the past 24 hours to nearly $10 billion. 

It is likely that once the tussle settles, Solana could resume its uptrend. 

According to data from The Block, the seven-day daily average of the number of transactions on the Solana blockchain has been steadily upward. 

Number of active addresses on the Solana Network | Source: TheBlock

Solana derivatives analysis 

Solana derivatives analysis data from Coinglass shows nearly $40 million in long positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours. Less than $5 million in short positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours. 

The options volume has climbed nearly 50% in the same timeframe, while open interest slips nearly 7%. The long/short ratio exceeds one on Binance and OKX meaning traders are taking more bullish bets on Solana, expecting the token’s price to rally. 

Solana derivatives data analysis | Source: Coinglass

How Trump-Musk tussle influenced Solana price 

The public spat between the U.S. President and Tesla Chief made headlines for its impact on Nasdaq, Tesla stock price, and Bitcoin (BTC), among other things. Solana’s price slipped, alongside other altcoins, as traders turned risk-off. Sentiment shifted from neutral to fear in the past day. 

Solana has made strides with gains on Friday, it remains to be seen whether the token can wipeout the losses from the past seven days, in the coming week. 

The Trump-Musk tussle’s impact is felt in the Solana meme coin ecosystem, with a steep decline in market capitalization. A 5% drop within a 24-hour timeframe is significant, and a recovery is less likely unless led by a catalyst. 

Solana: A one-trick pony or not 

Analysts at Standard Chartered, the banking giant, labeled Solana a one-trick pony for the meme coin ecosystem’s role in pushing SOL’s price and value higher in the past year. However, it is likely that there is more to SOL with stablecoins, DeFi protocols and partnership announcements in 2025 alone. 

Standard Chartered meme coins have stress-tested the blockchain in the past, proving its scalability and throughput are effective and paving the way for higher adoption and partnerships. 

In their report, Standard Chartered suggests Solana expand to other sectors to boost its utility, however SOL generates higher volume and utility from meme coin transactions in the past year. While usage may have declined since the peak of the meme coin rally. 

Meme coin utility peak | Source: Standard Chartered 

Solana trades at $150 at the time of writing on Friday. Depending on the catalysts, the price could steer upwards or downwards and end the state of consolidation, bordered by resistance at $187 and support at $141. 

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.



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Activision claims Call of Duty loadout ads for microtransactions were a test it published accidentally following intense community outrage
Game Updates

Activision claims Call of Duty loadout ads for microtransactions were a test it published accidentally following intense community outrage

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Activision has claimed advertisements for microtransactions Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone players were seeing on their loadouts were added by mistake, following intense community fallout.

This announcement came from the official Call of Duty Twitter account, which posted, “A UI feature test that surfaced select store content in the Loadout menus was published in the Season 04 update in error. This feature has now been removed from the live game.”

Reactions to this post aren’t exactly glowing in positivity. Twitter users expressed their disbelief in the statement, unconvinced that a feature like loadout ads were accidentally implemented, rather they were pulled down following negative feedback. One user wrote, “this some soviet era level gaslighting”.

You can watch the Season 4 trailer here, if you need a catch-up on what’s new.Watch on YouTube

This controversial addition at the weekend came alongside the game’s fourth season, and essentially meant that every time you swapped weapons you’d see a billboard-style poster shilling a premium skin. This, as you can imagine, went down like a lead balloon among the Call of Duty community, with one player on Reddit writing, “actively witnessing call of duty become the krusty krab”.

The Season 4 update also brought with it the returning Verdansk map to Warzone, widely believed to be the best map the game has ever had, with a variety of new additions to mix things up for older players.

At the same time, Activision continues its years-long struggle against cheaters, recently allowing players to turn off crossplay in order to help avoid cheaters, a nasty group of ne’er-do-wells Activision admits are most prominently found on PC.



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D&D summons Baldur’s Gate 3 energy with new psion test class
Game Updates

D&D summons Baldur’s Gate 3 energy with new psion test class

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Dungeons & Dragons makers Wizards of the Coast has put a strong focus psychic powers since 2023’s Baldur’s Gate 3 pitted adventurers of the Forgotten Realms against a mind-flayer invasion. WotC embraced the game’s success in its 2024 ruleset with an emphasis on psionics, with aberrant sorcerers, psychic warriors and soulknives all appearing in the Player’s Handbook. And Thursday’s Unearthed Arcana continued that trend, putting out rules for the psion class for the first time since 4th edition.

The psion dates back to earliest days of and D&D, mentioned in the first edition Player’s Handbook and fully developed with the 1991 release of The Complete Psionics Handbook. While a version of a psion called a mystic was tested for 5e in a 2017 Unearthed Arcana, it was never officially published. The amount of psion-focused art shared in a 9-minute video with the designers makes it feel more likely that this class is a keeper, possibly debuting in Forgotten Realms Players Guide releasing later this year.

The psion is a devoted spellcaster, like a wizard, but doesn’t speak arcane words or use special material components. Their spells are enhanced by a well of internal energy that manifests as bonus dice in the same way as the soulknife and psychic warrior subclasses. At first level, a psion can expend the dice to telekinetically propel creatures around the battlefield or extend their natural telepathy. The number and size of their dice expand as they level up along with the ways a psion can use them to attack or defend themselves.

The playtest offers options for four subclasses. The telepath is the most classic psion, a defensively strong class focused on psychically linking their party to bolster them. They can also subtly infiltrate thoughts to gather information. Psykinetics are good at utilizing forcefields and blasting people with telekinetic energies while psi warpers manipulate the battlefield by repositioning themselves and their allies. The metamorph is the most twisted option, letting the psion turn their body into a weapon by growing bone blades, extending their limbs, and flinging bolts of bile.

Players who just want a taste of psionics without fully committing to a dedicated class or subclass can try one of the 10 new wild talent feats. The empath gains emotional sense they can use to influence others along with the ability to psionically cast charm person and calm emotions, while a pyrokineticist can change the damage of their attacks and spells to fire and cast some fire spells. The playtest also introduces a few new spells, including the chance to summon a psionic entity.

Players can download the psion rules for free on the D&D Beyond website and offer feedback through June 3.



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Bitcoin faces key support test at $108k amid $211m in liquidations: analysts
Crypto Trends

Bitcoin faces key support test at $108k amid $211m in liquidations: analysts

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Bitunix analysts have highlighted the latest data on crypto liquidations near the $108,000 support zone, warning that more liquidations could follow if Bitcoin breaks below this level.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent volatility has created a notable liquidation pocket, analysts at crypto exchange Bitunix told crypto.news. On Tuesday, May 27, total crypto liquidations reached $211 million, with a clear bias toward long positions. Specifically, $131 million in longs were liquidated, compared to $79.84 million in short positions.

Bitunix analysts interpret this imbalance as evidence of a long-side wipeout during Bitcoin’s recent dip to $108,000. As a result, they caution against entering overly aggressive long positions while BTC trades near this key support.

“Short-term attention should be paid to the effect of support at $108,500–$109,000, and it is not recommended to chase higher. Analysts advise observing whether the $110,800–$112,000 pressure band is effectively broken before considering further positions,” Bitunix wrote.

Bitcoin’s price suggests caution in the short term: Bitunix

According to Bitunix, the liquidation heat map reveals a concentrated cluster of liquidations around the $108,000 level, signaling that this zone may serve as a key liquidity support area, where buyers tend to step in.

Binance BTC/USDT liquidation heat map | Source: Coinglass

However, Bitunix analysts still believe that traders should exercise caution. Specifically, a drop below the $108,000 zone could lead to more liquidations, which could trigger further breakdown of its price.

“A drop below $108,000 could trigger a new round of liquidations. Traders are advised to exercise strict risk control as the market could weaken again if capital inflows do not resume,” Bitunix.

Despite short-term risks, there are signs that Bitcoin’s long-term outlook is strong. A May 25 report by UTXO’s Guillaume Girard and Will Owens showcases that Bitcoin’s institutional demand is currently outpacing the supply. Effectively, buyers are entering the market faster than miners can mint Bitcoins, which could escalate in the coming years.



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Physics-based survival city-builder All Will Fall is having an open beta test in June
Product Reviews

Physics-based survival city-builder All Will Fall is having an open beta test in June

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All Will Fall – Steam Open Beta Trailer | tinyBuild Connect 2025 – YouTube

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PC Gamer’s Lauren Morton said All Will Fall is nearly all of her videogame things stuffed into a single package: It’s a building game, it’s a survival game, and it’s a physics game. And in just under two weeks, it will also be a game that’s in open beta, so you’ll finally be able to see for yourself what it’s got going on.

What it’s got going on from a narrative angle is the end of the world: The oceans are rising, humanity is dying, and you, the leader of a small group of survivors on a rusty boat, are given the job of saving a small chunk of what’s left by building a ramshackle city on one of the few small chunks of remaining land.

The problem—aside from the whole “humanity on the verge of extinction” thing, I mean—is that this isn’t SimCity, where you can slam down buildings on a happily flat Earth and call it a day. The nature of the drowned world in which you’re trapped means you’ll be building vertically as well as horizontally, and it all looks, well, pretty delicate. The Steam page says “you’re essentially playing Jenga with human lives at stake,” which is nicely illustrative and also a reminder that people—tiny, digital people—will be living in whatever sort of city you build, or dying in it as the case may be.


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The good news is that shoddy construction standards won’t be solely responsible for the untimely deaths of your citizens—you’ll also have the opportunity to get Frostpunk on their asses now and then.

(Image credit: All Parts Connected)

And in the end, we’re probably all doomed anyway: “Each colony you build will deal with unique challenges, foundation layouts, circumstances and random events—like storms, mysterious structures emerging from the ocean, political coups, unexpected newcomers, food shortages, and more. Learn from your mistakes, unlock new locations on the global map, and embark on the next dangerous adventure once the inevitable calamity comes to destroy the city.”

Ah well, I’m sure we’ll all do our best nonetheless. All Will Fall doesn’t have a release date yet but it’s set to come out sometime in 2025. The open beta will begin on June 9 as part of the upcoming Steam Next Fest, and will run until June 16.



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How to watch SpaceX's ninth Starship flight test on Tuesday
Product Reviews

How to watch SpaceX’s ninth Starship flight test on Tuesday

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The FAA last week cleared SpaceX’s Starship to fly again after concluding its review of the previous flight, which ended in an explosion, and the next test could now take off as soon as Tuesday. SpaceX is eyeing May 27 for Starship’s ninth flight test, with a launch window opening at 7:30PM ET (6:30PM local time for the Texas Starbase). This launch will mark the first time SpaceX reuses a Super Heavy booster; the booster for flight nine previously flew with Starship’s seventh flight test earlier this year. While single-use parts have been replaced, SpaceX says it’s reusing 29 of the booster’s 33 Raptor engines.

As always, viewers at home will be able to watch along by tuning into the livestream, starting about 30 minutes before Starship launches. That will be available on SpaceX’s website and in a broadcast on its X profile.

SpaceX conducted Starship’s eighth flight test back in March, but the vehicle ran into some issues a few minutes after launch. The Super Heavy booster was able to return to the launch site after separation from the upper stage and be successfully caught by the tower’s “chopstick” arms, but as for the ship itself, several Raptor engines shut off, causing it to tumble and ultimately blow itself up.

SpaceX says the issue was likely due to “a hardware failure in one of the upper stage’s center Raptor engines that resulted in inadvertent propellant mixing and ignition.” It’s since made some changes to prevent that from happening again. SpaceX said in an update on May 22 that “engines on the Starship’s upper stage will receive additional preload on key joints, a new nitrogen purge system, and improvements to the propellant drain system.”

For flight nine, the Super Heavy booster won’t return to the launch site, but will instead splash down in the ocean. The Starship upper stage will attempt to deploy eight Starlink dummy satellites, and SpaceX is otherwise looking to this flight to test “several experiments focused on enabling Starship’s upper stage to return to the launch site.”



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Post-ATH Crash Incoming? XRP on Verge of Major Trend Test Now, Solana's (SOL) $200 Surge Looms
GameFi Guides

Post-ATH Crash Incoming? XRP on Verge of Major Trend Test Now, Solana’s (SOL) $200 Surge Looms

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  • XRP prepares for fight
  • Solana can smell $200

With its recent all-time high of almost $112,000, Bitcoin has sent the market into a state of euphoria. The top cryptocurrency, however, is now displaying signs of exhaustion at the same rate that it rose, with a possible reversal emerging on the daily chart. Long upper wicks on the most recent candlesticks indicate rejection from higher levels.

Already the price has fallen below $110,000, and the volume is beginning to decrease. There may be an impending deeper correction as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is trending lower from overbought levels above 70. Bitcoin might return to the $102,000 breakout point if it loses $107,000-$108,000. If that support were broken, the bearish momentum would probably get stronger. The technical risk is compounded by a major macroeconomic development.

On June 1, 2025, a new 50% tariff on goods imported from the EU is scheduled to go into effect. The action aims to address alleged trade imbalances and may spark a round of economic reprisals from EU countries. This increases the level of uncertainty for global risk assets such as cryptocurrency and raises the possibility of capital flight from unstable positions.  

BTC/USDT Chart by TradingView

A tariff war, however, might harm liquidity and halt institutional appetite in this situation. Bitcoin may not be safe from geopolitical pressure if capital moves into safer asset classes or if conventional markets falter. In fact, it might be particularly susceptible to a steep correction given the speculative nature of its current rally.

A steep pulldown could be triggered by a weakening trend dropping volume and increasing trade-related macro tension. Traders should closely monitor the $102,000 level because a crash landing could end the post-ATH party if it breaks.

XRP prepares for fight

As Bitcoin continues to take center stage and advance into new markets, XRP seems to be falling behind, not keeping up with the general optimism that is propelling the cryptocurrency market. Although the price of XRP has technically recovered its key exponential moving averages and broken out of its descending channel, the momentum has stalled, particularly in contrast to Bitcoin’s spectacular rally.

With bullish structure still present, albeit marginally, XRP is currently trading close to $2.45 and has established a local support zone between $2.30 and $2.35. Although the price action has moved above the 100- and 200-day EMAs, it is still erratic and cautious. With the RSI hovering around neutral, there is little indication that a breakout push is imminent. Moreover, volume levels have not encouraged a long-term rally. 

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The increasing market dominance of Bitcoin is one of the main factors hurting XRP. As Bitcoin’s dominance grows, altcoins are losing money. Bitcoin usually becomes the main force behind cryptocurrency capital flows during times of high dominance, leaving altcoins like XRP to struggle for inflows. The reason why XRP can hardly sustain post-breakout gains while Bitcoin is easily exploring price discovery around $111,000 is due to this dynamic. There is pressure on the altcoin market as a whole as well. 

A lot of layer 1s and DeFi tokens are trailing behind, failing to hold breakouts or acquire traction. With its regulatory baggage and erratic on-chain metrics, XRP is not positioned as a top beneficiary in the current risk-on cycle, and Bitcoin’s gravitational pull is stifling the alt season narrative. XRP might keep lagging unless BTC levels off and dominance declines. For the time being, XRP is still on the sidelines of the bull market party, but that could change with a strong volume surge and a reclaiming of $2.60. 

Solana can smell $200

As the price of Solana rises to $186 and approaches the psychologically significant $200 mark, it is clearly demonstrating renewed momentum. The asset has recently confirmed the strength of the local uptrend by breaking out of a short-term consolidation pattern. More significantly, if the right circumstances materialize, technical indicators are beginning to flash signals that could support the next leg upward. 

The 26-day EMA crossing above a number of significant moving averages, such as the 50 and 100 EMAs, is among the most telling developments. Despite not being a golden cross in the conventional sense, this crossover is nevertheless a significant indication of growing local momentum. It displays short-term strength and heightened bullish interest, which may serve as the basis for a long-term rally toward $200. 

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The larger context adds some caution even though the short-term outlook seems bright. The 200 EMA, in particular, and the longer-term moving averages are still well below the current price movement. The bullish structure will stay locally confined until these lagging indicators start to turn upward and close the gap with the spot price. Additionally, volume patterns support the breakout. 

Solana is just beginning what could be a long-term breakout if local momentum keeps increasing. The $200 goal is easily attainable, but longer-term support catching up will determine whether SOL can maintain its position above it. Until then, traders should avoid chasing a move that is still maturing by closely monitoring volume and trend confirmation.



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Venom spikes after achieving 150K TPS in closed-network stress test
Crypto Trends

Venom spikes after achieving 150K TPS in closed-network stress test

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Venom Foundation’s crypto spiked after a successful closed-network test, revealing significant throughput.

Scalable blockchain Venom claims that it can handle more throughput than Solana. On Friday, May 23, the Venom Foundation announced a successful closed-network beta test. Specifically, the network achieved 150K transactions per second, more than Solana’s theoretical limit of 65K TPS.

For the Venom Foundation, this is a key step ahead of its mainnet launch, set for the third quarter of 2025. According to the foundation, this would make Venom one of the blockchains with the highest throughput out there.

For instance, Solana advertises a theoretical limit of 64,000 TPS, while the payment giant Visa can support 24,000 TPS. Following the successful test, Venom’s token spiked 2%, reaching a daily high of $0.1031.

Venom Foundation prepares for enterprise use cases

According to the Venom Foundation, the goal of this stress test was to ensure that the blockchain is ready for enterprise use cases in DeFi. This includes payment providers, crypto exchanges, and games, among other DeFi users. Specifically, these are the types of platforms that require a reliable and scalable blockchain that doesn’t break down under network stress.

“Throughput only matters if it can remain reliable under pressure,” said Christopher Louis, Chief Executive Officer at Venom. “Our new stack can handle enterprise‑scale workloads without spiking fees or compromising decentralization, which is exactly what payment providers, exchanges, and game studios need.”

Venom uses directed acyclic graph technology, which is different than traditional blockchains, which record transactions sequentially one after another. Unlike blockchains, transactions can be confirmed in parallel, as long as they don’t conflict with each other.

Based in Abu Dhabi and registered in the Cayman Islands, Venom Foundation is a non-profit supporting the development of its layer-1 blockchain. Their focus is on building a scalable blockchain for DeFi use cases.





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Test Out Hairstyles and Avoid Regret With This AI Tool
Gaming Gear

Test Out Hairstyles and Avoid Regret With This AI Tool

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I’m a sucker for those ’90s rom-com makeover movies, and whenever I’m getting my own hair done, I always envision that “big reveal” scene. But when I’m going to spend $400 plus tip to get a color and cut (a luxury experience in this economy), I want to be sure I’ll love it. So I tried out Facetune, an artificial intelligence app that promises a collection of hair change images in seconds, to “try on” a few cuts and colors.

At the very least, I’d have better photos to show my hairdresser during the consultation. 

Facetune is a product by AI company Lightricks, which was founded in 2013. You can use Facetune to change hairstyles, makeup, outfits, skin tone and facial hair, and as a “personal fashion stylist.”

There’s a free and paid version of Facetune, including a seven-day free trial with access to all the premium features. 

So, Facetune, can I pull off bangs? 

Setting up Facetune’s AI features

I downloaded the Facetune app, accepted the terms and conditions. 

The Facetune interface is easy to navigate. I like its sense of humor, with options such as asking Facetune’s AI assistant to “roast my style.” 

I followed the prompts: 

1. I toggled “I edit for personal use” but there are other options for influencers and businesses. 
2. I set my photo and video editing experience to basic.
3. I selected my goal of “color hair” (ignoring the options to smooth skin, whiten teeth and clear blemishes). 
4. I activated my free trial. (I also put a reminder in my phone to cancel before the due date, because it charges the $60 annual fee at once, not monthly.)
5. I had to give Facetune access to my photo library, then I selected the first photo to test run. No selfies needed! Like my AI headshots and baby face generator, the photo quality is critical. Pick a few photos where you’re looking at the camera, hair down, without sunglasses on. Follow my golden AI rule: The better the input, the better the output. 

There are 36 color tones to choose from, but I decided to test only the ones I liked: blonde, brunette and pink (because I’ve been wanting to try that). 

I always feel better and more myself when I’m blonder. Maybe it’s my skin tone or the fact that I’m from Australia, so my hair always had natural highlights. Now that I live in New York, and the seasons are distinct, I’m more inclined to explore color palettes. 

I wanted to see if Facetune could get close to my current color preference, which is a dark blonde. 

Here’s the original photo:

The “before” photo.

Amanda Smith/CNET

And Facetune’s versions (gold tips and brown): 

Created by Amanda Smith using Facetune AI

I liked both colors. They were natural looking, which is what I always aim for in my hair coloring. 

A second attempt with the AI hairstylist

For the last picture, I wanted to test out its haircut capabilities. This time, I kept the color but went straight to the “hairstyles” option. 

Here’s the original photo, and the various styles and cuts to choose from. 

Screenshot by Amanda Smith/CNET

Facetune’s “hair stylist” turned me into a ’60s housewife, and I’m not mad about it. But this is when things started getting weird with my hand.

Created by Amanda Smith using Facetune AI

I noticed there was a text prompt feature under “Custom,” so I asked the AI to make my hair like a 1960s hippie. Things got a tad weird — both with my hair and whatever the AI tool did to my poor hand. 

Created by Amanda Smith using Facetune AI

I still hadn’t figured out if I could rock bangs, so that was my last prompt. 

Created by Amanda Smith using Facetune AI

While I didn’t hate it, I wasn’t 100% convinced I could pull it off. Maybe I need to use different photos. 

Just when I was starting to feel game to try out a swept fringe look, this happened. It just wouldn’t be AI without one super weird photo. My hand and chin are doing something even funkier than in the ’60s hippie attempt. But I got to the end without a major glitch, so I was happy about that. 

Created by Amanda Smith using Facetune AI

AI as a hairstylist: the verdict

Facetune was a lot of fun to play with. I don’t know if the color labels in the app are true to the hairdresser tones, but it does give the stylist a good starting point. 

Even if I don’t feel comfortable divulging to my stylist that I used AI, it gives me a good sense of how I’d look, so I can search for similar pictures to present. 

I’ll likely do the latter, unless my hairdresser best friend from home is doing my color, so we can have a good giggle about AI first. 

The Facetune app is super easy to set up and use, and it generates images in seconds — with various complementary features that can boost your beauty confidence. You can do the same for makeup looks and clothing styles, but I wouldn’t want to change my eye or skin color. That’s just weird! 

Can Facetune save me money and embarrassment on the wrong hairdo? I bet.  

Do blondes have more fun? On Facetune, they sure do. 



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Only press who previewed the RTX 5060 under Nvidia’s test conditions are getting review drivers, reports claim
Game Updates

Only press who previewed the RTX 5060 under Nvidia’s test conditions are getting review drivers, reports claim

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In classic me fashion, I swanned off for a few days just as another graphics card fracas has spilled out into public view. At the centre this time is the previously unassuming RTX 5060, which you may have noticed is due for launch today yet only has a handful of “hands-on previews” to tell you how big of a graphics it does. Allegedly, that’s because Nvidia have been keeping hold of the drivers needed for full reviews, only providing them at the eleventh hour to press outlets that have previously run these previews. No preview? No review, at least until the drivers release publicly later today, and what’s more, the same reports say that these previews were only offered under strict testing provisos set by Nvidia themselves.

According to VideoCardz and Hardware Unboxed, the mandated test conditions supposedly range from only allowing certain games for benchmarking – judging from the previews currently online, these were Doom: The Dark Ages, Avowed, Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy and Marvel Rivals – to the more egregious demand that RTX 5060 performance figures would focus on DLSS 4’s Multi Frame Generation (MFG). And, in turn, would only be compared to results from older XX60 GPUs that lack DLSS frame gen support entirely.

“We worked with a few chosen media on previews with a pre-release driver,” an Nvidia spokesperson told me this afternoon. No comment on the review driver situation, other than a 5pm BST release time, was given.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

RPS was not invited to take part in these previews, and I can’t imagine agreeing to such terms if we were. Although it doesn’t appear that Nvidia required previewers to give positive RTX 5060 takes, with several highlighting the shortcomings of its 8GB VRAM limit, the limited game selection and emphasis on frame-genned performance versus the much older RTX 3060 and RTX 2060 Super are clearly intended to push a particular narrative: one that at best downplays the drawbacks of frame generation and at worst misleads readers with an unhelpfully narrow view of relative performance. GameStar, a German site that took Nvidia up on the offer, said in their preview that the GPU giant even specified the in-game settings that each game should be tested with.

The sense that a big, green thumb is pressing down on the critical scales is deepened by the alleged trading of earlier review drivers for a compliant preview. Even if, by that point, reviewers are free to use their own, independently-set benchmarks, the initial wave of RTX 5060 reviews will come from publications that Nvidia has – accurately or otherwise – deemed more friendly than others. Those who refused the locked-down previews, and have thus demonstrated less of a willingness to go along with the desired messaging, will be forced to wait before sharing impressions.

I can’t claim absolute moral superiority here because again, I wasn’t invited, and thus didn’t have the chance to send a “Thanks but no thanks” email (even I hadn’t simultaneously been too busy recovering from gin-assisted groomsman duty). Still, yeah, not a fan.

I have recently noticed Nvidia PRs becoming unusually pushy about how great it would be to test such and such frame generation in such and such game, but functionally those have only ever been suggestions, and I’ve never faced even a veiled hint at retribution for ignoring them in my reviews. Nonetheless, I now find myself in the bizarre position of having had physical possession of an RTX 5060 for nearly a week (posted by Zotac, with no strings attached other than to please not lose or break it), yet don’t have the software means to test or appraise it on the day of release. Like, man, at least Bethesda didn’t send us copies of Starfield while they were withholding the activation keys.

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More disturbing still is that this isn’t even the only accusation of editorial manhandling to be laid at Nvidia’s feet today. Big-deal tech YooToobers Gamers Nexus claimed in a video (above) that Nvidia have, with varying levels of subtlety, threatened to cut off their interview access to Nvidia engineering staff in response to a perceived lack of focus on DLSS and MFG performance testing in their reviews. Gamers Nexus have, in fact, produced multiple long-form vids on these topics specifically.

It isn’t unheard of for, nor technically outside the rights of, companies to pick and choose who gets primo access for coverage. In tech media especially, there may even be a minor, ethically unbothersome quid-pro-quo involved: attending a virtual briefing, for instance, in exchange for getting onto the review list. But there’s a honking great difference between asking journalists to sit through a thirty-minute slideshow and, essentially, demanding editorial jurisdiction over how their products are evaluated. Nvidia, one of the richest, most powerful firms on Earth, should know better – and should have at least had an idea that being caught fiddling with the independent review process might cause more damage to the RTX 5060 than a few variations of “It’s not much faster than the 4060, is it?”



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