The review team has been working hard to get rid of some ancient products around our office. We donated or dropped some real prehistoric gadgets. But there was one device, and the moment I saw it, I knew I needed to save it. That’s the Razer Firefly, a 7-year-old mousepad with a glowing RGB strip around the edges. It’s a very stupid and extra piece of equipment, I know it’s made for me.
I’ve been using the Razer Firefly on my desk at The Verge right now Worked in the Manhattan office for several weeks. It offers 16.8 million customizable color options. It sits beside me all day, flashing purple, pink, red, yellow, blue, and everything in between. “But what does it do ?” Various people asked me as they walked by. I told them it did squat awkwardly. It’s an aesthetic, an atmosphere. But some days, that vibe is everything.
Hate the nasty RGB settings of course it’s fun. (And I know to do it myself, because I insist that some tinted products are really overdone – ASUS ROG Strix series, I’m looking at you.)
But I use Firefly every day, and I’m more Love the (slightly) idea of colored settings. For those of us who often work alone (because we’re remote, or because most of our coworkers are), existence feels a bit like a hamster wheel – we work and work, work continues, and while collaborating – work People and friends exist as names and icons that exist on our screens, and there are places where it’s hard to convince yourself that it’s all going to happen anywhere, and anyone’s listening.
So while I know I can no longer be a mid-2010s basement gamer, I will continue to allow myself to use the mouse pad. While the solar cycle and capitalist conventions have become so instinctive that they feel monotonous, one can never predict which color a firefly will appear next.
The offices around me may be grey and empty, but the fireflies are bright, happy to be here, and very active. On a desk full of utility, that LED strip is a pointless pleasure, and this sting is a reminder that there’s little fun, there’s surprising joy, and there’s a world beyond these walls .
Twitch’s SVP of Creators is leaving the company.
Twitch’s senior vice president of global creators, Constance Knight, is leaving the company in search of new opportunities, according to Bloomberg’s
Cecilia D’Anastasio. Knight shared her departure with employees on the same day Twitch announced it was about to cut revenue from its largest streaming subscription.
Has the Windows 11 2022 Update stuttered your gaming PC?
Nvidia GPU owners have been complaining about stuttering and poor frame rates with the latest Windows 11 update, but luckily there is a fix. Nvidia has discovered issues with its GeForce Experience overlay and Windows 11 2022 update (22H2). A beta fix is available on Nvidia’s website.
If you use collision detection on your iPhone 14, buy a really good phone mount.
Motorcycle owner Douglas Sonders has a cautionary tale in
Jalopnik
Today about the new crash detection feature for the iPhone 14. He was riding a LiveWire One motorcycle at about 60 mph on the West End Highway when he hit a bump that caused his iPhone 14 Pro Max to fly off the handlebar mount. Shortly after, his girlfriend and parents received text messages saying he had suffered a horrific accident, sparking hours of panic. The phone even called the police, all because it fell off the handlebars. All thanks to crash detection.
Riding a motorcycle is extremely dangerous, the last thing anyone needs is to think that their loved one has had a terrible car accident and they haven’t. This is obviously an edge case, but it makes me wonder what other types of false positives we might see as more phones adopt this technology.
Welcome to the new edge
Revolutionizing Media with Blog Posts
Nilai Patel September 13
Ford ran out of its own blue oval badge.
Running out of semiconductors is one thing, but running out of your own iconic nameplate is downright brutal. The Wall Street Journal reported that , a shortage of badges and nameplates is affecting the automaker’s popular F-Series pickup lineup, delaying deliveries and causing general confusion.
Some executives have even come up with a 3D printing solution, but they don’t think the alternatives will clear the road. All in all, it’s been a terrible summer of supply chain setbacks for Ford, which has led the company to restructure its org chart to bring some relief.
The Spanish transport Urbans de Sabadell owns La Bussí.
The U.S. is lagging again in transportation — call it the Bussí gap. There’s a hole in our infrastructure, if you will.
Do more with less (luxurious holiday party).
According to CNBC, Sundar Pichai this week fully addressed employee questions about Google’s spending changes.
“Maybe you’re planning to hire six more people, but you might have to hire four, how are you going to do that?” Pichai sent workers a note on hiring slowdown in July ‘s memo.
In all respects, Google’s treasurer also asked employees to try not to “overdo it” at holiday parties.
Nvidia’s latest AI models generate endless 3D models.
Need to fill your video game, VR world or project rendering with 3D chaff? Nvidia’s latest AI models may help. Trained on 2D images, it can generate customizable 3D objects that can be imported and adjusted.
This model looks rudimentary (the quality of the rendering is not amazing, and it looks limited in variety), but generative AI models like this will only improve and speed up work of various creative types .
Japan will fully reopen to tourists in October after two and a half years of travel restrictions.
Good news for those who have been waiting to book their dream Tokyo vacation: Japan has finally eased its October 11 Covid-19 border controls for visa-free travel and individual travelers.
Tourists are still required to get 3 vaccinations or submit a negative COVID-19 test result before travel, but can take advantage of the depreciation of the yen and on the same date. Sugai!
Sony starts selling the Xperia 1 IV with a continuous zoom lens.
How much does it cost to buy a smartphone that Apple, Google, Samsung smartphones can’t? Sony’s answer is $1,599.99: The focal length of this camera lens can be moved anywhere between 85mm and 125mm.
Here’s what Alison had to say about Sony’s continuous zoom lens when he tested the prototype Xperia 1 IV in May:
Sony put a good point-and-shoot zoom in a smartphone. This is an impressive feat. In actual use, it’s a little less impressive. It’s essentially two lenses with the same function: portrait photography. The fact that they have optical zooms attached doesn’t make them any more versatile.
But it’s Sony, like the rest .
If God sees everything, so do these apps.
Some churches require congregations to install so-called “accountability apps” to prevent criminal behavior. A Wired survey found that they monitor nearly everything users do on their phones, including taking regular screenshots and flagging LGBT search terms.
