We’ve all been there at one point: you’ll try to find a specific app or game on a digital marketplace, and for whatever reason, the search feature doesn’t seem to bring up what you want to download. Whether it’s the App Store or Steam, all digital distribution platforms can sometimes make it challenging to find the exact product you’re searching for in a given situation. With its latest Steam Labs experiment, Valve is trying to make search work better by making tags smarter.
As Valve points out, one issue with Steam currently is that it doesn’t treat tags like a human being would. Say you want to find a new real-time strategy game to play. In that situation, you may type in “RTS,” thinking that the platform will also pull up games tagged with terms like real-time and strategy. That’s not what happens with the current system. Instead, it treats all tags as separate pieces of information, and so you’ll sometimes get completely different results if you search for a game using different but related terms.
Both Sabado and Padilla agree that one of the best ways to get quality coffee at home is via the pour over method. Also known as manual brewing or hand brewing, this means pouring hot water through coffee grounds in a filter set inside a cone — either into a carafe or directly into your cup. It’s a method that they frequently use in their own homes and in the coffee shop as well.
“I love this way because I love processes!” said Sabado. “It is beneficial to control the speed of your pour, while balancing the water over the grounds to get the maximum flavors of the ground. You also don’t waste coffee, as opposed to a big pot of coffee made in the morning.”
Thankfully, there are plenty of excellent pour over devices on the market, and prices range from cheap to expensive. Sabado recommends the Hario V60 ceramic cone (she has one herself) as a good affordable option for beginners, and suggests getting the Hario filters as well. But if you don’t mind investing a little more money, she prefers the Chemex. “If you’re committed to the full coffee experience and have the extra cash, I really love the Chemex. You can get a 3 cup or 6 cup Chemex, depending on how many people you have to cater to.”
Padilla also recommended the Hario v60 and the Chemex, along with the Kalita Wave and Fellow Stagg X as other pour over options. But a proper pour over kit consists of more than just the filter and the cone. For one thing, you should also invest in a good-quality kettle.
Takahiro
“A gooseneck kettle is necessary for pouring with precision,” said Padilla. “The Takahiro kettle and Fellow Stagg have excellent precision and are my favorite kettles, but I find the Hario Buono to also be a good choice and is a little more affordable.”
Other must-haves include a scale plus a burr grinder. To a novice, they might seem like overkill, but both Sabado and Padilla highly recommend them for barista-level pour overs. “Investing in a scale will do wonders for the coffee experience,” said Sabado. “I recommend the Hario V60 Scale/Timer as it’s pretty great and has an approachable price point.”
Padilla agrees. “A scale with a built-in timer is helpful for weighing out coffee beans and measuring the amount of water in your pour over,” she said. She especially likes the Acaia Pearl, which also happens to be in our buyer’s guide for coffee geeks. “The Pearl has become a standard for a lot of coffee shops because of its quick response and accuracy in measuring weight.”
As for the ratio of bean to water, that depends on whether you prefer a stronger or weaker cup of coffee. “For pour over coffee, 1:15 is my starting point, but I like to play around with different ratios,” said Padilla. “It’s a great way to discover different flavor notes, and it’s also a great way to find what ratio you prefer the most.”
The water is important as well. “Always use hot water, preferably off-boiling at about 205 Fahrenheit,” said Padilla. “If your tap water is safe to drink, it’s fine to use that. Otherwise, bottled spring or drinking water will do. I would avoid distilled water; it tends to make bitter tasting coffee.”
The Espresso Machine (if you can afford it)
Recreating an espresso or a latte at home is a little trickier, and is often not something you can do without significant investment. Even the most affordable model often costs hundreds of dollars (The Wirecutter, for example, recommends the $400 Breville Bambino Plus as its pick for espresso beginners).
La Marzocco
Perhaps unsurprisingly, both Sabado and Padilla have high standards when it comes to their choice of espresso machines, all of which cost well over $1,000 each. Padilla likes the high-end La Marzocco Linea Mini Espresso as it’s exactly the mini version of the Linea machines you see in a lot of coffee shops. “It’s super sleek and makes coffee just like in a cafe,” she said. However, it’s incredibly expensive at over $5,000. She’s also a fan of the Rocket Espresso line of machines, but those are also very pricey at over $1,600 each.
Sabado’s first espresso machine was a Nuova Simonelli Oscar, which she still has (The newer version, dubbed the Nuova Simonelli Oscar II, is priced over $1,200). “It’s not as sexy as other espresso machines out there, with a body made out of plastic. But it does its job,” she said. If you do opt for an espresso machine, she prefers models that have a tank you can fill in manually (as opposed to the ones that you need to directly plumb into your water lines).
The Almost-Espresso Alternatives
If those exorbitantly high prices scared you off espresso machines, don’t worry, as there are other options available. “If you’re not hard-pressed on recreating the perfect espresso but want something that can help mimic it, the original Bialetti Moka Pot is a great choice for making stovetop “espresso,” said Padilla. She also likes the Bialetti Brikka as it’s a newer version of the moka pot, which she says recreates the “crema” of the espresso nicely (The crema is the light layer of tan foam that sits on top of a freshly pulled shot of espresso, and is often viewed as the sign of a quality brew).
VINCENZO PINTO via Getty Images
Another highly-recommended option is the AeroPress, a travel-friendly coffee gadget with a plunger design that’s been a favorite amongst coffee geeks for years. “If you’d like a versatile brewing device for both pour over and drip, then there is no other choice than the Aeropress,” said Padilla. “It’s super affordable and nearly indestructible. There are dozens of pour over recipes that people have created, and recreating an espresso-like concentrate with it is very simple.” To up your AeroPress game even more, she suggests getting the Fellow Prismo, an AeroPress attachment that makes the coffee even more espresso-like. “It does a pretty good job at recreating some crema,” she said.
If you want to make your own lattes or cappuccino without an espresso machine, then you might also want to invest in a milk steamer. Padilla likes the Bellman Stovetop Steamer. “It’s great at steaming milk and has the ability to produce the microfoam needed for a silky cappuccino or latte.” And if you want to try your hand at some latte art, she recommends a good-quality pitcher like the ones from Barista Hustle.
As a quick little cheat for something close to a latte, I personally recommend a cheap electric milk frother like the Aerolatte. It won’t steam the milk — you’ll have to nuke the milk in the microwave for about 50 seconds instead — and the resulting foam might not be as silky smooth, but it does the job just fine. To use it, stir the milk frother around the base of the cup until foam starts to form, then slowly raise it until it’s just below the foamy top to create even more froth. I’ve successfully used it with all kinds of milk, including non-dairy ones.
The Grinder (and the Coffee)
No matter which method of brewing coffee you choose, both Sabado and Padilla believe in grinding your coffee at home, ideally with a burr grinder. “Good coffee is near impossible to recreate without a good burr grinder,” said Padilla. “Baratza offers a wide variety of home grinders, and many are happy with getting the Baratza Encore. Capresso also makes decent home burr grinders.”
Engadget
Sabado likes the Encore grinder as well, since it has different settings for different grind consistencies. “It’s versatile as you get into it, and grow your coffee knowledge,” she said. But if you’re only making coffee for one person, she suggests getting a hand grinder like the Hario Ceramic Coffee Mill to start. “I stick to hand grinders, not only because I like the process, but I am only drinking one cup of coffee a day.”
If you’re not sure you want to invest in a grinder, Padilla said it’s okay to have the barista grind it for you, but it just might not last very long. “The coffee will age a lot quicker than whole beans,” she said. “I would recommend consuming ground coffee within two weeks.”
Last but not least, I highly recommend investing in getting some quality beans. Like Senior Editor Billy Steele said in our guide for coffee geeks, I suggest looking for local roasters as they’re likely your best option for fresh beans. Otherwise, there are plenty of coffee subscription services available that are able to roast and ship on the same day or close to it. Steele likes Counter Culture and Hatchet, while I’m a fan of YesPlz and Sightglass.
Beyond that, Motorola paid particular attention to audio — it called on a company called Waves to help tune the Edge+’s sound output, which is especially helpful since it has some really loud speakers. I could hear the YouTube videos I was playing with no trouble at all in a room packed with reporters clamoring to test one of a handful of devices. Naturally, a phone like this that focuses on audio quality packs a classic headphone jack, but since I didn’t have headphones with me, I couldn’t say how well it stacks up against phones with built-in DACs, like every high-end device LG has made for the last few years.
As far as cameras go, Motorola is swinging for the fences this time. The Edge+’s main camera features a 108MP sensor built by Samsung with an f/1.8 aperture, and by default, the camera performs some pixel binning to produce 27MP stills. The handful of shots I took in Chicago looked great on this big, punchy screen, but you’ll have to wait for our full review to see how well it actually stacks up to the competition. There’s also an 8MP telephoto camera that, unlike the OnePlus 8 Pro, actually optically zooms, and a 16MP ultrawide camera that also pulls double duty as your macro camera, and the results were quite a bit better than I expected. If video is more your bigger concern, you can shoot at resolutions at high as 6K with what Motorola calls “industry-leading” stabilization — it seemed to work well enough, but I wasn’t allowed to take that footage to show you.
On paper, the Edge+ has the chops to compete with some of the best phones out there, and our hands-on time left me feeling cautiously optimistic. If there’s one knock against the Edge+, though, it’s that the phone will be a Verizon exclusive In the US when it launches on May 14. I have to point out that Verizon is Engadget’s parent company and they have no control over what we write or say, so with that in mind, this deal seems like a real blow to people who have come to appreciate Motorola’s work on cheap, excellent, unlocked phones. These are, mind you, the folks that helped propel Motorola back into profitability as of last year. Verizon and Motorola have been very close partners for years (remember the Droid?), but that means some of the people who’d be most eager to give Motorola’s flagship a chance will simply miss out.
There’s no question that coral reefs are rapidly deteriorating due to overfishing, bottom trawling, warming temperatures and unsustainable coastal development. In order to help protect and restore reefs, scientists need more data, and Intel thinks it…
The problem, though, is that evidence is relatively difficult to find. ZecOps found its evidence through hints in iOS, and couldn’t obtain the malware as the messages had already been deleted. Jamf Software security researcher Patrick Wardle also told the WSJ that the evidence of ongoing attacks was “compelling,” but not authoritative.
We’ve asked Apple for comment. The investigators believe Apple has fixed the flaw in an iOS beta (presumably 13.4.5), though, so it may not be an issue for long. If the findings are accurate, though, they suggest that a patch is coming long after hackers dealt their damage — however limited it might have been.
“This is an astonishing feat and indicates only the beginning of what the industry is capable of,” said Dr Nina Skorupska, CEO of REA, a UK trade association for renewable energy and clean technology.
As Bloomberg reports, Germany set a 24-hour record of 32.23 gigawatts on the same day. Spain, meanwhile, peaked with 6.34 gigawatts on March 29th, according to national grid operator Red Eléctrica de España. That was 7.4 percent higher than the previous record set in February.
For one, the skies are generally clear at the moment. “There is hardly a cloud over Germany,” Andreas Friedrich, a spokeperson for the DWD weather service told Bloomberg earlier this week. “And a high-pressure system over Scandinavia will keep these conditions in place until at least Friday.”
The reduction in air pollution has likely helped, too. The coronavirus outbreak has forced many European citizens to work from home and avoid non-essential travel. These unprecedented measures have dramatically reduced traffic and, by extension, the amount of greenhouse gases being produced every day.
Springtime also offers near-perfect temperatures for photovoltaic power. Contrary to popular belief, solar panels perform better in cooler conditions. That’s because they derive power from shifting electrons between ‘rest’ and ‘excited’ states. Hotter weather raises the ‘rest’ temperature of these subatomic particles, which reduces the system’s voltage and resulting efficiency.
“Ideal weather conditions and lower levels of pollution than normal mean solar is providing record levels of cheap, clean power to the grid,” Chris Hewett, CEO of the STA said. “At a time when most of us are working remotely, we can say that solar is truly keeping the Wi-Fi on.”
The slow rise in solar installations — both in residential and commercial spaces — has undoubtedly helped, too. Capacity doubled across the continent last year, according to a report by SolarPower Europe. Spain was the market leader with 4.7 gigawatts of deployment, followed by Germany with 4 gigawatts and the Netherlands with 2.5 gigawatts.
Interest in the UK has waned, though. The government scrapped a feed-in tariff scheme last year that encouraged homeowners to buy solar panels and sell some of the energy they produced to the national grid. That decision has led to a 43 percent drop in small-scale installations, according to statistics released by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Nevertheless, a small number of homeowners are choosing solar panels as a way to protect the environment and become energy independent. As the national install base increases, it becomes easier to break historical records for solar energy generation.
“Every year there’s more installed solar, so the record gets broken nearly every spring,” Jenny Chase, a solar analyst for research organization BloombergNEF said.
Europe is a long way from abandoning fossil fuels entirely. And at some point, the coronavirus pandemic will pass, allowing more people to leave their homes and travel in gas-guzzling cars again. The records set in the last couple of months show what’s possible, though, with a concerted effort from citizens and policymakers.
Logitech has launched an improved version of its G203 Lightsync gaming mouse. The classic six-button design comes with an 8,000 DPI sensor, a 1000Hz polling rate and an RGB lighting scheme which can be customized using Logitech’s G HUB software. It’s almost a carbon copy of Logitech’s existing G203 Prodigy mouse, except that it comes with subtle RGB improvements.
Pretty much everything about the mouse is customizable, in fact — using G HUB you can calibrate its gaming grade sensor to your own preferences, and save up to five presets, and of course configure its buttons however you want. The G203 Lightsync can still match the colors of your game or chosen media, but it also comes with additional Color Wave transitions. Oh, and it’s available in both black and white, to better match your rig setup.
With so many of us stuck at home, it’s no surprise that streaming numbers spiked. On Tuesday afternoon, Netflix gave a peek at just how much, with quarterly earnings numbers revealing it added nearly 16 million customers worldwide. Going by its new standards and projections, Netflix reported some 64 million people watched the Tiger King documentary in its first month of streaming, 65 million saw Money Heist and 85 million watched at least part of Mark Wahlberg’s Spenser Confidential. Are y’all really that bored?
— Richard
‘No Filter’ review: How Mark Zuckerberg’s jealousy shaped Instagram
And the meaning of #Binghazi.
Simon & Schuster
Wonder what happened after Facebook bought Instagram? Karissa Bell has the review of Bloomberg reporter Sarah Frier’s No Filter, a book that expertly chronicles the rise of Instagram, from its early days as a fledgling Foursquare-like check-in app to the Facebook-owned behemoth that currently accounts for more than a quarter of the company’s $70 billion revenue.
And it tells how Mark Zuckerberg — who didn’t grant an extensive interview — apparently got a bit worried that its growth was coming at the expense of Facebook. Continue reading.
Intel’s NUC 9 Extreme is the new king of tiny gaming PCs
The Core i9 kit we reviewed starts at $1,639 — without GPU, RAM, storage or an OS.
Engadget
If you’d like to set up a new gaming PC but only have teeny-tiny living space, then Devindra Hardawar can explain why the NUC 9 Extreme is made for you. The only problem? That price. Continue reading.
Motorola’s Edge+ launch was spoiled a day early
Take a sneak peek.
Motorola
Later today, Motorola will officially unveil its new flagship smartphone, but Droid-Life uncovered a blog post by Verizon (the owner of Engadget’s parent company) detailing specs and apparent exclusivity of the high-end Edge+ model. The Edge+ will have a 6.7-inch 1080p OLED screen whose curved edges explain its name, a 90Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 865 processor, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of built-in storage.
There’s also 5G, a 5,000mAh battery, 6K video recording and a 108MP camera, but a reported $1,000 price tag may make its specs look ordinary next to the likes of the OnePlus 8 or Galaxy S20. We’ll find out more in just a few hours. Continue reading.
Amazon’s cloud data centers have arrived in South Africa, helping millions of people, businesses and organizations to benefit from faster connectivity and viable access to next-generation technology. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is located in Cape Town and has three separate “Availability Zones,” meaning the data centers are situated far enough apart to mitigate the risk of a single event impacting the service’s overall operations.
The launch represents the latest push by Amazon into the continent. It set up a development center in Cape Town back in 2004, and in 2015 opened an AWS office in Johannesburg. In 2017 the Amazon Global Network expanded to Africa through AWS Direct Connect, and in 2018 Amazon established its first infrastructure on the African continent, launching Amazon CloudFront locations in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
While those are very modest specs indeed, it’s fair to say they won’t give you the kind of realistic graphics and satellite-image-quality environments that Microsoft has showed off so far. To get the best results, you’ll probably want something close to Microsoft’s “Ideal Spec.” That requires much more recent Ryzen 7 Pro 2700X or Intel i7-9800X CPUs, along with high-end AMD Radeon VII and NVIDIA RTX 2080 GPUs with 8GB of VRAM at least. You’ll also need no less than 32GB of RAM, a 150GB SSD and a 50 Mbps connection, at least.
I’m on the alpha program and have played Flight Sim 2020 on both a laptop with a GTX 1070 GPU and desktop PC with an RTX 2080 Ti GPU. Suffice to say, there’s a pretty big difference in performance and graphics quality between the two machines, and the laptop is no slouch. If enjoying the incredibly detailed environment is more important than practicing your flying skills, I think it’s fair to say that you’ll have a better experience with a high-end PC and fast internet connection — just as you’d expect. .
There’s no question that coral reefs are rapidly deteriorating due to overfishing, bottom trawling, warming temperatures and unsustainable coastal development. In order to help protect and restore reefs, scientists need more data, and Intel thinks it…
