Friday, February 18, 2022

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The Morning After: Our verdict on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 04:15 AM PST

The Galaxy S22 Ultra is Samsung's new Note. That's the simplest way to put it. With a different design to the rest of the S22 family — which admittedly looks a little dated in comparison — and the return of the S Pen, this is the power-user flagship many Samsung fans have been waiting for.

Reviews Editor Cherlynn Low spent a week testing the S22 Ultra, and its familiarity means many users will feel totally at home with Samsung's biggest new phone. The S22 Ultra is the best premium Android flagship around, with an excellent display, solid cameras and useful software. Nothing here is revolutionary, but with the onboard S Pen, the spirit of the Galaxy Note lives on. We scored it 89 — read on for why.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

The director of 'Oldboy' is filming a fantasy movie on iPhones

Apple commissioned Park Chan-wook.

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Apple commissioned famous Korean director Park Chan-wook to create a short film as part of its Shot on iPhone campaign. Park, perhaps best known for the action thriller flick Oldboy, used an iPhone 13 Pro to shoot a 20-minute fantasy martial arts movie entitled Life is But a Dream, which the tech giant has released on YouTube. Take a look for yourself.

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Intel delays its first Arc desktop gaming GPUs until spring

The company's cloud GPUs will come later this year.

As previously announced, Intel's Arc gaming GPUs will debut in laptops from partner companies this quarter, presumably alongside 12th-gen Alder Lake CPUs. However, desktop gamers will need to wait a little longer before they can plug Arc GPUs into their rigs. Intel says those graphics cards will ship in Q2. At an investor meeting, Intel also revealed plans for a service that will enable access to Arc GPUs via the cloud. It says Project Endgame, which will be available later this year, is "an always-accessible, low-latency computing experience."

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Why 'Horizon Forbidden West' works well on the PS4

Even if the game shines brightest on the PS5.

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Horizon Forbidden West developer Guerrilla was well aware of the PS5 and much of its capabilities when it started working on Forbidden West in 2018. But, the company also planned to make the game work on the PS4, a console that turns nine this fall. In an interview with the creators, we learn exactly how they were able to make a game that works well on both platforms. Two factors that helped? COVID-19 and game streaming.

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Ford's Mustang Mach-E ousts the Tesla Model 3 as Consumer Reports' top EV

Reliability and ease of use gave Ford's EV the edge.

Tesla's Model 3 has been Consumer Reports' top EV choice for the past two years, but the publication is ready to declare a new champion. CR has revealed that Ford's Mustang Mach-E has ousted the Model 3 as its EV Top Pick.

The Mustang crossover is not only "more practical," according to editors, but has better first-year reliability and a "far easier" infotainment system, which doesn't require multiple steps for basic tasks.

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This livestream of planes landing in a storm has derailed our day

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 03:53 AM PST

Landing a jetliner in a strong crosswind is no joke, as any pilot (or passenger) can attest. If you crank those winds up to 60-70 MPH plus, then you have not only a supreme test of pilot skill, but pure YouTube entertainment. A site called Big Jet TV has 90,000-plus people watching the butt-puckering action as planes come in nearly sideways, engines howling, trying to get down on London Heathrow runway 27L. 

The commentary itself is pure entertainment, with the announcer doing his utmost to keep his gear and himself from blowing away. It's become a notable enough happening that he's even fielding requests for interviews from the BBC and other media outlets. It can be a bit hard to watch at times and is not recommended for anyone squeamish about flying — tune in above, if you dare. 

'The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask' joins Switch Online next week

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 03:42 AM PST

Nintendo is addingThe Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask to the Switch Online Expansion Pack lineup on February 25th. The classic title was first released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000, was the second Zelda game to feature 3D graphics and became one of the best-selling games at the time. It also received critical acclaim for its gameplay, writing and visuals that showed an improvement from its predecessor, Ocarina of Time.

Majora's Mask picks up from where Ocarina of Time left off, with Link finding himself in a parallel world to Hyrule called Termina. There, he learns that the mask is being used to summon the moon and destroy the world within three days. 

Nintendo launched Expansion Pack in October 2021 as a higher subscription tier for Switch Online. It costs $50 a year for an individual membership, or $30 more than a basic subscription. In addition to being able to enjoy the perks of basic Switch Online, Expansion Pack members are also able to access the Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles the gaming giant adds to its library. Plus, it gives them access to a copy of Happy Home Paradise, a $25 Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC.

Ocarina of Time was one of Expansion Pack's launch title. Players reported experiencing emulation issues, such as bad input lag, shortly after the tier's debut, but Nintendo has released some improvement updates since then.

Meta says its VR platform has grown by ten times since December

Posted: 18 Feb 2022 02:47 AM PST

Facebook rebranded itself as Meta in order to fully embrace virtual reality via the Oculus platform, so how is that actually going? The company reportedly told employees that its primary social VR platform for the Oculus Quest headset, Horizon Worlds, has grown ten times to since December, according to The Verge.

Meta's chief product officer Chris Cox said that since Horizon Worlds was rolled out widely in early December in the US and Canada, its monthly user count has expanded to 300,000 people. That includes both Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues, a separate live event VR app with the same mechanics, a company spokesperson confirmed. It doesn't include the VR conferencing app Horizon Workrooms, however.

Horizon Worlds was first launched as an Oculus social platform called Facebook Horizon back in 2019, and launched into beta later on. Users appear as avatars with an upper body only, and can build their own custom worlds. Earlier this week, Meta announced that 10,000 of those worlds have been built so far and its Facebook group for creators numbers over 20,000. 

The company seems intent on avoiding issues like harassment rampant in Facebook, having introduced "personal boundaries" to Horizon Worlds and Venues earlier this month. It's also dealing with technical issues as some users couldn't access Horizon Venues during a virtual Foo Fighters concert. 

Still, growth so far seems solid, given that access to the site currently requires an Oculus Quest headset, with the latest Quest 2 model priced at $299. However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta planned to bring a version of Horizon Worlds to mobile phones later in 2022 in a bid to expand the user base. Depending on how well that works, it could provide a big boost to membership. 
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