Blog

Spotify will ‘pause’ airing political ads in early 2020

[ad_1]

“At this point in time, we do not yet have the necessary level of robustness in our process, systems and tools to responsibly validate and review this content,” a spokesperson for Spotify said. “We will reassess this decision as we continue to evolve our capabilities.”

Politicians and groups like Bernie Sanders and the Republican National Committee had used Spotify to share their message. Spotify didn’t tell Ad Age how much it was making off of politicians, but it doesn’t appear to be a significant source of revenue for the company.

Over the last couple of months, several tech companies have taken different approaches to address how manipulative political ads can be. Twitter, for instance, stopped running them altogether, while Google rolled out ad-targeting limits. Spotify’s move puts Facebook in an even more awkward position than it was before. The social media giant is one of the few tech companies that has yet to put any restrictions on political advertisements — though it was reportedly considering targeting restrictions as of last month. With Spotify’s move, Facebook may now feel even more pressure to act.

[ad_2]

Source link

Save $30 on the Apple Pencil from Amazon and Best Buy

[ad_1]

Besides a much-improved design and a new touch-sensitive area, the best feature of the new Apple Pencil is that it can magnetically attach to the iPad Pro, making pairing and charging the accessory much easier. We thought the updated Apple Pencil was one of the highlights of the iPad Pro when we reviewed it last year.

Just keep in mind that it only works with the 2018 iPad Pro. If you own an older iPad Pro, a new iPad Air or iPad mini, you’ll need to buy the first-generation model. That’s the one you have to charge by awkwardly plugging it into the Lightning port of your iPad.

Buy Pencil (2nd generation) on Amazon – $99

[ad_2]

Source link

Corinna Kopf is the latest top streamer to jump to Facebook Gaming

[ad_1]

While the specific terms of the deal weren’t available, Kopf indicated that she would create content for other platforms in addition to streaming on Facebook. In other words, it’s like other deals that leave streamers free to post YouTube videos and otherwise control the rest of their fate.

It’s not surprising that Facebook would recruit Kopf when she has nearly 2.8 million followers on Twitch, and over 1.6 million subscribers on YouTube. The social network’s share of livestreaming is still small, but growing rapidly — it jumped from just 1 percent of viewing hours in 2018 to 3 percent in 2019, according to a StreamElements report. Kopf could help Facebook keep that momentum.

The company might not have much choice as it is. There’s a free-for-all as streaming services promise more money and flexibility to streamers like Ninja, Ewok and CouRage. Twitch itself is spending big bucks to hold on to streamers like DrLupo and TimTheTatMan. If Facebook didn’t court stars like Kopf, it risked watching them drift to rivals.

[ad_2]

Source link

The best ultrawide monitors | Engadget

[ad_1]

Why you should trust us

I’ve written about and tested computer hardware for nearly a decade. In that time I’ve worked on 4K monitors and dual-monitor setups. I spent two months working on an ultrawide monitor to get a feel for what—if any—productivity improvements you might see from using an ultrawide monitor.

Our monitor guides benefit from the expert advice of Wirecutter senior staff writer Chris Heinonen—AnandTech’s former monitor guru and the guy a number of other reviewers go to for display-testing advice. He helped us figure out the best hardware and software to use for our testing, and he designed the evaluation process.

Who this is for

Ultrawide monitors

Photo: Rozette Rago

Ultrawide monitors are useful for multitaskers who like to have multiple application windows open side by side, for anyone who’s looking to replace a dual-monitor setup with a single monitor, or for anyone who likes to have a ton of information on screen at once. That said, a good ultrawide costs more than two typical monitors. On top of that, all ultrawides have minor but noticeable color and backlight issues, and their curved screens can cause problems for some kinds of professional work.

Whereas a traditional monitor has an aspect ratio of 16:9—16 horizontal pixels for every 9 vertical pixels—an ultrawide is 21:9. That aspect ratio makes the monitor much wider than a normal monitor, giving you more horizontal screen real estate to work with. On an ultrawide monitor, you can have three full-size browser windows open side by side. If you work in massive spreadsheets with a lot of columns, you can see more of those columns at once. If you’re working with video, or any other format with a timeline, you can see more of that timeline on the screen. We found ultrawides perfect for the type of research-intensive work we do, where we often have dozens of tabs open across several browser windows.

The experience isn’t always perfect, though. Full-screen mode in some apps, such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs, looks absurd, with massive blank space on the sides. Videos on sites like YouTube don’t scale properly to the wider display, sometimes showing black bars on the top, bottom, and sides.

If you currently have a dual-monitor setup, an ultrawide isn’t inherently better. Many people like the visual separation they get from two monitors. An ultrawide is one huge screen, and although many ultrawides support a picture-by-picture mode that simulates two monitors, the effect is not the same as having two monitors, where you can turn one off to focus on a task. The picture-by-picture mode also often requires some troubleshooting to get a computer to work with the unconventional resolution.

An ultrawide monitor can offer a more immersive experience in games, provided the game you’re playing supports it. Gaming ultrawides with refresh rates of 144 Hz or higher are a category of their own, but regular ultrawides can still be used for gaming, especially if they support AMD’s adaptive sync technology, FreeSync, which prevents screen tearing in games; Nvidia has a similar feature called G-Sync but it requires special hardware in the monitor and it’s usually supported only in more expensive gaming-specific models. FreeSync can work with either Nvidia GPUs or AMD GPUs, while G-Sync works only with Nvidia cards.

Ultrawide monitors

The majority of ultrawide monitors are slightly curved. Photo: Rozette Rago

If screen real estate is all that matters to you, an ultrawide isn’t cost-effective. A pair of our 24-inch monitor picks gives you more horizontal pixels (3840×1200) for around $200 less than a single ultrawide. But two monitors take up more physical space and require more cords, and their bezels prevent them from matching the seamless visuals of an ultrawide.

Most ultrawide monitors are curved, allowing you to see the whole screen without turning your head. This design makes ultrawides inaccurate for certain precision tasks that require straight lines, such as drawing, photo editing, or similar design work. We asked one of our photo editors to use one for a day, and although he liked the additional screen space, he found the curve too distracting when editing. For that type of work, a 4K monitor is likely the better option.

Ultrawide monitors usually use IPS panels with excellent viewing angles, but with the monitor’s curve, you may find little pockets of odd color variations if you don’t keep your head directly centered (which is how we tested each monitor’s color accuracy). For example, on every monitor we tested, blacks and whites appeared as a washed-out gray in the corners. The effect never bothered us during the workday, and we never noticed it when playing games, but the backlight bleed might be noticeable during dark scenes in a dark room. We also found that notifications in macOS—which appear in the top-right corner—often appeared washed out and hard to read if we didn’t sit perfectly. When you get your monitor, we suggest loading up this YouTube video in full-screen to see if the bleed bothers you.

Ultrawide monitors

Even next to a big, 27-inch 4K monitor, a 34-inch ultrawide feels gigantic. Photo: Rozette Rago

Make sure to measure your desk before you get an ultrawide monitor. These monitors are massive: A 34-inch model, for example, consumes 32 inches of horizontal desk space and up to 10 inches in depth.

How we picked

Ultrawide monitors

Photo: Rozette Rago

What makes an ultrawide monitor great isn’t all that different from what makes a regular-size monitor great.

  • Resolution: Unless you’re using your monitor exclusively for gaming or movie watching, an ultrawide should have a resolution of 3440×1440 or higher. The text on every 2560×1080 ultrawide we tested was pixelated and hard to read, and the lower resolution negates the extra screen space that makes an ultrawide appealing. 4K- and 5K-equivalent ultrawide monitors aren’t widely available yet.
  • Size: Most ultrawide screens are 34 or 35 inches diagonal. You can buy a smaller option, but we found that below 34 inches the advantages aren’t noticeable enough to justify the higher price. If you need something smaller, you’re likely to be happier with the resolution and picture quality of a 27-inch 4K monitor or a 24-inch monitor than with a lower-resolution 29-inch ultrawide monitor. On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve seen 38-inch ultrawides as well, but they require a lot of desk space and are much more expensive, often more than $1,000.
  • Panel: Ultrawide display panels come in two varieties: IPS (in-plane switching) and VA (vertical alignment). IPS is the better all-around choice, with accurate color reproduction and solid viewing angles. VA panels have better contrast ratios but suffer from significant color issues when viewed from an angle, which is problematic for a curved display. With few exceptions, 34-inch ultrawide monitors are curved slightly so that they bend inward toward you. The curve is measured by the radius; the smaller the radius value, the higher the monitors curve. For example, a 4000R monitor is barely curved, and an 1800R is more noticeably so. Most ultrawides are 1800R or 1900R.
  • Color accuracy: Monitors that come calibrated from their manufacturers have better color accuracy than ones that don’t. And since most people don’t calibrate their own monitors, out-of-the-box color accuracy is key. For the best image quality, a monitor should cover as much of the sRGB color gamut as possible; the more gamut coverage a monitor provides, the wider the range of colors it can accurately represent. No ultrawide we tested offered amazing color accuracy—if accuracy is key to the type of work you do, we suggest skipping an ultrawide for now.
  • Price and value: An ultrawide monitor with a 3440×1440 resolution typically costs between $600 and $800. When you pay less that that, you end up with a lower resolution, an HD display, or a smaller screen size. Spend more, and you’re paying for features you might not need, like a larger screen, G-Sync, or refresh rates over 75 Hz.
  • Design and adjustability: Most ultrawides are over 23 pounds, so we expect one to have a strong, sturdy stand with some kind of cable-management feature and relatively thin bezels around the display. The stand should be adjustable up and down so you can align the monitor ergonomically; a good ultrawide also supports forward and backward tilt, as well as swivel from side to side. VESA support is useful if you plan on mounting it on a monitor arm. And the general look of a monitor shouldn’t draw too much attention.
  • Ports: An ultrawide monitor should have at least one HDMI 2.0 port and one DisplayPort 1.2 or newer. This article on How-To Geek is useful for determining which ports to look for. If you have a newer MacBook Pro or other laptop with USB-C ports, it’s nice to have a USB-C port on the monitor, since USB-C allows for the transmission of video, data, and power on a single cable.
  • USB hub: If you want to minimize the number of cables sitting on your desk, a USB hub in a monitor can make your workspace more organized. With a hub, you can plug a few USB devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, and hard drive, into the monitor and then run a single USB cable to the computer. Some monitors have KVM switches, so you can connect two computers to the same monitor and switch between the connected USB devices depending on the input.
  • On-screen display: The monitor’s on-screen display should make changing brightness, contrast, and other settings easy; customizing any additional features a monitor might have, such as a KVM switch or adaptive sync, should be simple too. The buttons should be easy to access.
  • Screen splitting: Ultrawides have a split-screen mode that helps them simulate the dual-monitor setups they’re meant to replace, but the mode is useful only if you connect two computers. Due to the nonstandard resolution, we had mixed results getting this feature to work on the monitors we tested.
  • Warranty and customer service: A warranty policy that protects your purchase from pixel defects is important to consider. Three-year warranties are standard for ultrawide monitors, but some companies offer less-expansive coverage. Responsive customer service is important if you do have issues.

We combed through monitor manufacturer websites, such as those of Acer, BenQ, Dell, HP, and LG, and collected a list of 50 monitors worth considering. We then eliminated any models that didn’t meet our criteria and separated out the majority of more expensive “gaming” monitors for a later article. That left us with five models to test in 2018, namely three 3440×1440 models (Acer XR342CK, Dell U3417W, and LG 34UC88-B) and two lower-resolution, 2560×1080 models (LG 25UM58-P and LG 34WK650-W). In early 2019, we tested two new models (an updated version of Acer’s XR342CK, and Dell’s U3419W).

How we tested

Most people don’t change their monitor settings—and even fewer calibrate their displays—so default performance is critical. We worked with Chris Heinonen, senior staff writer for Wirecutter, to test the color accuracy of each monitor’s display using two measuring devices, the i1Publish Pro 2 spectrophotometer and the i1Display Pro (which is better at measuring black levels than the i1Publish Pro 2). We used customized tests in the CalMAN 2017 software calibration suite.

The CalMAN tests produce DeltaE 2000 numbers for each screen that show how close the displayed color is to what it’s supposed to be; the lower the number, the better. A DeltaE value under 1.0 is perfect. Under 2.0 is good enough for print-production work. Ratings above 3.0 mean you’d probably see a difference with your naked eye.

Color gamut, or the range of colors that a device can accurately represent, is also important—color accuracy doesn’t mean much if your screen shows only a portion of the colors meant to be displayed—so we used our CalMAN tests to determine how much of the sRGB color gamut each monitor’s screen could reproduce. The ideal score is 100 percent. Our numbers don’t go past that because reporting numbers larger than 100 percent can give the impression of full gamut coverage even in cases where that isn’t true—for example, if the monitor displays many colors outside the gamut without displaying all of the ones inside it.

For each round of tests, we adjusted the monitor’s brightness to 140 cd/m²—a good value for everyday use—and set its contrast as high as it could go without losing white details. We left every other setting at the default value. While we tested for picture quality, we used each of our finalists for a few days to get a feel for their features.

Our pick: Acer XR342CK Pbmiiqphuzx

Ultrawide monitors

Photo: Rozette Rago

With its 3440×1440, color-accurate, 34-inch IPS screen, the Acer XR342CK Pbmiiqphuzx is the best ultrawide monitor. It usually costs less than $700, the stand lifts, tilts, and swivels, and it has plenty of ports, including a USB-C port. But you’ll have to deal with Acer’s lackluster warranty, which doesn’t cover common problems like dead pixels, as well as a poorly designed on-screen display that makes it easy to press the wrong button.

The Acer XR342CK monitor’s panel has an overclocked 100 Hz refresh rate, faster than the Dell U3419W display’s 60 Hz. This isn’t very noticeable for desktop use, but you can see a difference in video games. Unlike the Dell, the Acer has FreeSync support, which makes it a fantastic option if you play games. We tested the XR342CK with both an AMD graphics card and a Nvidia graphics card, and FreeSync worked in both cases without issue. FreeSync’s low frame-rate compensation turned on as expected in graphics-intensive titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, while the adaptive sync worked fine in higher frame-rate titles like Overwatch. This makes it one of the most affordable, best options for gaming as well as basic productivity. The XR342CK also has an HDR compatibility mode, but in our tests the mode failed to make HDR-compatible content look any better and usually made everything look worse.

Ultrawide monitors

This chart shows the Acer XR342CK’s grayscale accuracy across a spectrum of blacks and whites. The majority were below a DeltaE 2000 value of 2.0, which is very accurate.

The XR342CK’s contrast ratio was 851:1, the second closest to our target of 1000:1 of any ultrawide we tested. The U3419W came in at 947:1, but we didn’t notice a difference between the two when we placed them next to each other. A poor contrast ratio is most noticeable when you’re watching dark scenes in movies, and the Acer and Dell monitors both performed admirably (except in the corners, where ultrawides exhibit higher-than-usual amounts of backlight bleed).

We tested color quality by analyzing DeltaE 2000 values, which indicate how far away a displayed color is from what the color should be. A value under 1.0 is nearly perfect, while under 2.0 is sufficient for print-production work; around 3.0, you begin to see a difference between the screen and a reference photo.

Ultrawide monitors

In our tests, most of the Acer XR342CK’s colors were accurate to a DeltaE 2000 value around 2.0, so they’ll look color-accurate to the naked eye. But some oranges and reds peaked, which means those colors may look less accurate.

The XR342CK had a gamma of 3.4979, a higher result than we like to see; it could cause some shadows to appear too dark. The Dell U3419W performed better than the Acer XR342CK with a value of 2.3464, though the difference won’t matter to most people. The LG 34UC88-B was noticeably darker with less pop in the colors.

As for grayscale color error, the XR342CK’s average DeltaE 2000 value was 1.3237, which is excellent. This score—the best of any ultrawide monitor we tested—means that its colors are neutral, lacking a blue, green, or red tint. Colors don’t appear washed out, and there’s not much of a difference between brighter highlights. The Dell’s DeltaE 2000 value was higher at 2.6654, but anything lower than 3.0 is still perfectly fine for most people.

On our ColorChecker test, which assesses values through more than 100 colors, the XR342CK had an average DeltaE 2000 value of 1.8035, very similar to the Dell’s value of 1.7552. It had some red and orange peaks, which means that images with lots of red and orange tones may look less accurate than others, but that effect wasn’t noticeable when we used the monitor. It covers 99.19 percent of the sRGB color gamut, similar to what we saw on the Dell.

The Acer XR342CK usually sells for under $700, about the same price as the Dell U3419W, but around $150 more than the LG 34UC88-B. The Acer’s improved colors, adjustability, and wider selection of ports make it worth the extra money over the LG, and its color accuracy and USB-C port make it better for most people than the Dell.

Ultrawide monitors

The three-point stand takes up a lot of space but prevents the massive monitor from wobbling. Photo: Rozette Rago

You can adjust the height of the Acer XR342CK up and down within a 5-inch range, tilt it forward and backward, and swivel it left and right. The Dell U3419W offers the same adjustments, but the vertical range is a half inch less. The Acer’s quasi-futuristic three-point stand adds to the overall depth of the monitor, so you’ll need a deep desk to fit it comfortably. The Dell’s stand, in contrast, is much smaller, so you can push that monitor farther back on a desk. Both monitors have an area to route cables through the stand, and Acer includes a panel to cover up the inputs on the back if you can’t handle the idea of ports being potentially visible to passersby. The XR342CK is VESA compatible if you want to connect it to a mount or monitor arm; Acer also includes a wall-mounting bracket it you don’t want to deal with the stand at all. On the back of the monitor you can install an optional headset hook, which gives your headphones a permanent place to live when you aren’t using them.

Ultrawide monitors

An optional headphone stand on the back can help keep your desk organized. Photo: Rozette Rago

The XR342CK includes most of the ports you need on the back, facing down, including two HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2A, and a DisplayPort output if you want to connect it to another monitor. On the rear are four back-facing USB ports for connecting USB devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, or storage device. With the USB Type-C port you can connect a laptop (such as a MacBook Pro or Dell XPS 13) to the display with one cable that can also charge the laptop. The USB-C port outputs 60 W of power and also connects the computer to the XR342CK’s USB hub. The XR342CK doesn’t have a USB-A upstream port, so if your computer lacks a USB-C port you’ll need a USB-A–to–USB-C cable. Acer includes an HDMI cable, a DisplayPort cable, and a USB-C cable in the box.

Ultrawide monitors

Most of the ports on the XR342CK are standard for ultrawide monitors, but the USB-C port is especially handy for owners of a MacBook Pro or other ultrabook that charges via USB-C. Photo: Rozette Rago

The XR342CK has some oddball features that most people will want to turn off, such as a color-changing ambient light below the display; although you can select the color, the novelty wears off quickly. The XR342CK also has built-in speakers, but we found them too heavy in the bass with thin highs. They’re inadequate for listening to music or watching TV shows or movies, but they’re fine for system sounds or the occasional YouTube video.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

As on every ultrawide we tested, we saw a lot of backlight bleed on the Acer XR342CK, especially at the corners.

Acer offers a three-year limited warranty under which it will either repair or replace the unit at its discretion. Unlike Dell and some other monitor companies, Acer doesn’t offer a bright-pixel or dead-pixel policy, so you should check for dead pixels as soon as you get your monitor and return it to the retailer if necessary. And although Acer offers phone and chat support, its support library, forums, and documentation aren’t as detailed as Dell’s.

The on-screen display of the XR342CK provides easy access to adjustments for brightness, color, and other settings; although you can adjust hue, saturation, and color temperature, we found that the display was accurate out of the box. The controls reside on the back of the monitor and consist of three buttons and a joystick. In our tests, the joystick was responsive and made it easy for us to move between menus, but the buttons on the back weren’t perfectly lined up with the digital menu, so more than a few times we found ourselves turning the monitor off when we meant to select the first on-screen display option.

Ultrawide monitors

Even after hours of troubleshooting, we were never able to display two computers side by side properly on the XR342CK. Photo: Rozette Rago

The picture-in-picture (PIP) mode on the XR342CK works just as it does on a TV: You can make one input the primary image and overlay another in a corner. We didn’t have as much luck with picture-by-picture (PBP). When we connected two computers to the Acer monitor, PBP mode was awful and unusable. First enabled, it retained the original aspect ratio, producing two, tiny ultrawide ratios for us to squint at. When we changed it to read the inputs as full-screen, it stretched the resolution out, squishing everything into an unreadable mess. On both Mac and Windows, we were unable to force the 1720×1440 resolution (half the width but the same height as the full-size 3440×1440) required to make this mode work. After some finangling, we did get the corresponding mode working on the Dell and LG ultrawides, but neither of those competitors provided a smooth experience.

Runner-up: Dell U3419W

Ultrawide monitors

Photo: Rozette Rago

If the Acer XR342CK is unavailable, if you want to connect two computers and display them side by side, or if you want a monitor with a KVM switch so you can use the same peripherals with both computers, the Dell U3419W is a good option. It offers the same size, resolution, and 1900R curve as the Acer but is typically a little more expensive. The U3419W is just as adjustable, it has a ton of ports for connecting multiple computers, including a USB-C port that can output up to 90 W of power, and Dell’s warranty is more comprehensive than Acer’s.

As on the Acer, the Dell’s IPS panel offers excellent viewing angles, but it has a lower, 60 Hz refresh rate. This is the standard for most monitors, though if you plan on playing games the 40 Hz difference between the Acer and the Dell is noticeable. The Dell also lacks FreeSync, so if you play games, the Acer is a better choice. We had the same backlight-bleed problems with the U3419W as we did with the XR342CK (and with most ultrawide monitors that we’ve tested so far).

Ultrawide monitors

In our tests, the Dell U3419W monitor’s grayscale often registered below a DeltaE 2000 value of 3.0, which means colors should display accurately.

The Dell has a contrast ratio of 947:1, very close to the Acer’s 988:1. The Dell’s DeltaE gamma value was excellent at 2.3464, better than the Acer’s 3.4979. Its DeltaE grayscale color error was 2.6654, higher than the Acer’s 1.3237, but still an accurate result and most people won’t notice the difference between the two.

The Dell performed well in our ColorChecker test. It had a good DeltaE value of 1.7552, slightly better than the Acer, and it was capable of rendering accurate colors in skin tones, sky, and other naturally occurring hues. Like the Acer model, this Dell monitor covers more than 99 percent of the color gamut. And like the Acer and LG ultrawides we tested, the Dell has visible backlight bleed that’s most noticeable in its four corners.

Ultrawide monitors

The Dell performed well in our ColorChecker test with an average DeltaE 2000 value below 2.0.

The Dell is usually more expensive than the Acer but still within the range we expect for this size and resolution of ultrawide monitor. Their adjustability is similar as well; on the Dell you can adjust the height within a 4½-inch range (half an inch less than the Acer), tilt the monitor forward and back, and swivel it left and right. Like the Acer, the Dell is VESA compatible, so you can attach it to a wall mount (an accessory that Dell doesn’t include, unlike Acer) or a monitor arm. The Dell is well-built, and its stand is small, taking up less desk depth than the Acer’s stand. A hole in the stand’s center allows for cable routing, and overall the stand has a simple design, especially next to the Acer monitor’s aggressive-looking three-pronged stand. The Dell’s simple gray and black plastic looks more subdued and professional than the Acer.

Ultrawide monitors

The two USB upstream ports and USB Type-C port work as a KVM switch between two computers. Photo: Rozette Rago

When it comes to ports, the U3419W has a USB Type-C port, DisplayPort 1.2, and two HDMI 2.0 ports. The back also includes an audio output, two USB 3.0 ports (plus two more USB 3.0 ports on the side of the panel), and two USB 3.0 upstream ports so the monitor can operate as a KVM switch (you can also use the Type-C port for this), sharing the USB ports between two computers. The Acer model can’t do this at all. Dell includes an HDMI cable, a DisplayPort cable, a USB Type-C cable, and a USB 3.0 upstream cable in the box.

The on-screen display of the Dell is much better than that of the Acer and easier to use. The buttons are located at the bottom on the right side, and unlike on the Acer, they’re properly lined up with the on-screen display so you don’t accidentally select the wrong thing. Navigation is easy to understand and use, and adjustments for hue, saturation, brightness, and contrast are readily available.

Ultrawide monitors

Unlike on the Acer, you can set up two computers to properly display side by side on the Dell. Photo: Rozette Rago

PIP works the same as on the Acer, but we had much better luck with the Dell in the PBP mode. Using the full-screen option in the Dell’s on-screen display menu and this workaround from the Dell forums, we were able to finally get two Windows computers, as well as a Windows computer and a Mac, to display side by side as two 1720×1440 displays taking up the full screen.

It includes two speakers, but as on the Acer, they’re thin sounding and unusable for music, movies, or games.

Dell offers a three-year warranty and has a much better policy than Acer for replacing the panel if you run into issues during the warranty period, promising to do so even if a single pixel is dim.

What to look forward to

The LG 34WK95U-W is the first 5K ultrawide, with a 5120×2160-resolution display. But it comes with a hefty retail price of $1,500. We plan on testing it, but due to its massive resolution it doesn’t work with many computers.

The Samsung C34J791 34-inch 1440p ultrawide was announced at the CES 2018 trade show and is now available. Its Thunderbolt 3 port, fast 100 Hz refresh rate, AMD FreeSync, and VA panel suggest that it’s better suited for gaming and media consumption than productivity, but we plan to test it in our next update.

The competition

There aren’t a lot of 34-inch, 3440×1440 ultrawides available. And many models are specifically for gaming and include additional features that add to the price but aren’t essential for most people.

Our previous pick, the Acer XR342CK bmijqphuzx, looks identical to the current Acer XR342CK model we recommend, but has a different panel with a 75 Hz refresh rate. It’s still a great monitor; if you can find it on sale cheaper than the newest version, it’s still worth picking up.

Our previous runner-up, the Dell U3417W is still a great monitor, but Dell tells us it won’t be available for long. It lacks the USB-C port of the U3419W and has a blue tint but is otherwise very similar.

The LG 34UC88-B is an affordable 34-inch ultrawide monitor, but it was the least color-accurate model we tested, and it had the fewest ports. The gamma was high, so shadows appeared too dark and highlights seemed washed out.

The Dell U3415W is the precursor to the U3417W and U3419W and it tends to be well reviewed by the likes of PCMag, Engadget, and Tom’s Hardware. It’s not clear how much longer this model will be available, though, and we weren’t able to get one to test alongside the U3419W.

LG’s 25UM58-P was too small—and its resolution was too blurry—to use for any type of work. The benefits of an ultrawide monitor don’t start showing up until you hit the 3440×1440 resolution found on 34-inch models.

We found the 2560×1080 resolution of the LG 34WK650-W unusably blurry for any type of work. At 34 inches, a 1080p screen isn’t a good investment, as the lower resolution means you don’t get the benefits of the added screen space you’d expect from an ultrawide monitor. This size and resolution combination is fine for games or media consumption, but you should skip it for work.

The BenQ EX3501R is typically $100 to $200 more expensive than the Acer XR342CK and the Dell U3419W, and its 100 Hz refresh rate and VA panel are better suited for games or movies than for general work.

This guide may have been updated by Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commissions.

[ad_2]

Source link

The tech CEOs’ year of reckoning

[ad_1]

We were blind, and our eyes were opened by zeros and ones. The tech utopia was at hand, and we should just sit back and not ask too many hard questions.

Then things went sideways. Social networks that were the catalyst of the Arab Spring were suddenly being used by nation-states, shit posters and bot armies to destroy democracy and fuel racial violence. Using public roads to beta test software resulted in deaths and of course billions of dollars were essentially wasted. The messiahs thought-leaders innovators disrupters run-of-the-mill ultra-capitalists who promised a better tomorrow crumbled under the slightest scrutiny.

People started asking questions, and the answers weren’t what tech promised.

As the year came to a close, The Verge revealed that Away (which makes suitcases with batteries in them. I guess that means they’re a tech company) CEO Steph Korey was abusing employees via Slack. After the usual mealy-mouthed apology, Korey was fired.

There have been the usual back-and-forth articles and think pieces about whether Korey was targeted and/or if the dismissal was warranted. The reason some people might feel like treating employees badly shouldn’t be a fireable offense is that a long time ago most of us excused the behavior of Steve Jobs. There are far too many stories of Jobs’ cruelty to employees. We allowed it because “OMG, look at that shiny new iPhone” and “Wow, the MacBooks are so great.” Oh also, he saved Apple from complete collapse.

A generation of tech CEOs believed that this is how you manage a company. It’s not, and now their bad behavior is being called out by employees that work long hours in high-stress situations all hoping they’ll make it big via an eventual IPO. Dear CEOs, You’re not Steve Jobs. Stop trying to be Steve Jobs.

By the end of 2019, on the other side of the spectrum was the tech CEO who thought everything was a party. WeWork CEO Adam Neumann burned through billions of Softbank’s (and other investors’) money. The “visionary” offered up shared office space for thousands of startups and a few publications. Subletting space to those in need seems like a good idea. Hotboxing private jets and buying the real estate that your company is leasing, not so much. Ahead of its IPO, investors took a good look at Neumann’s company and realized that it was incinerating cash: $1.9 billion last year to be precise. In the first half of 2019, it lost $904 million. The real estate wunderkind was let go and for all his failures he got a sweet golden parachute of $1.7 billion in shares and loans. Meanwhile WeWork employees have been let go in the wake of his management decisions.

Tossing other people’s money into a pit of snake oil-fueled flames was the basis for the HBO documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, about the rise and fall of Theranos and, more importantly, its CEO Elizabeth Holmes. We all knew the story thanks to the Wall Street Journal’s John Carreyrou’s investigation of the company way back in 2015. But seeing this unfold on our TVs in 2019 was a reminder that even though things didn’t seem right at the company, Silicon Valley’s sway as the answer to all the world’s ills blinded established companies, reporters and members of the US government.

The blinders that allowed companies like Theranos continuing to bilk people and companies out of money are not just turned outward. Sometimes, the person in charge seems to have no sense of what’s going on. Jack Dorsey wants to be the cuddly “woke” CEO of tech. At the end of 2018 Dorsey tweeted about his silent retreat in Myanmar. The country that has committed genocide and spread hateful propaganda via social media. He issued the usual non-apology apology. Then his account was hacked via an SMS SIM hijack.

This type of hack has been around for a while but it wasn’t until the CEO was compromised that the company put the brakes on the ability of Tweet via SMS. It felt like things were only worth fixing or updating if it affected the boss.

Twitter’s been a headache for another CEO. After some rather weird, unlawful and downright dangerous tweets about his company, reporters and individuals, Musk seems to have tamed his tweets as of late. His company is making a profit, and Tesla is building test vehicles at the new China factory. But, his past Twitter behavior came back to haunt him in the form of a lawsuit brought by the diver he called a “pedo guy.”

The jury found that Musk was not guilty of libel. But being hauled into court for calling someone a child molester via a tweet is never a good look. It’s ridiculous. Also, because of the trial, we found out that Musk hired a private investigator that was a convicted felon to dig up dirt on the diver. Musk’s fans truly believe he will save the world. If that’s his plan, awesome. But maybe concentrate more on climate change and less on hurt feelings and Twitter fights.

Lost money, angry tweets, unsafe medical practices and being blind to the woes of the world should not be something that shows up on the resume of a CEO. But the actual coup d’etat is the destruction of democracy.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress again in 2019 (the litany of misleading statements he gave in his 2018 appearance concerning election tampering and Cambridge Analytica kept fact-checkers busy) to answer for his company’s Cryptocurrency scheme Libra and paid political ads on his platform. It didn’t go well. But he still insisted that his company would continue to allow politicians to lie in ads on his platform.

Zuckerberg always mumbles something about Facebook not policing free speech, which is a hilarious shield for a company that’s kicked abuse survivors off its platform for using pseudonyms or, worse, changed their names without their consent making them targets. The company has also policed and banned accounts and ads which it deemed has violated its nudity guidelines for ridiculous reasons. Like an ad for a breast cancer nonprofit.

Oh also this year he rewrote the history of Facebook during a college commencement speech laughably citing the first Iraq war as a reason he built his social network. In reality, he built a “Hot or Not” clone for Harvard classmates then decided to expand it for dating.

After years of essentially lying to the press, investors and the government, Mark Zuckerberg and his company continue to make a staggering amount of money on the backs of those lies.

Most of these CEOs are still rich. Golden parachutes, expensive lawyers and great quarterly numbers mean we’ll see these folks again. Some will fail upward. Some might get better. Others won’t.

What’s important is that, maybe once and for all, we’ll see that tech CEOs are not going to save the world. Like CEOs in other industries, they care more about making themselves and their investors rich. 2019 showed us that we’re not better off because of these folks. If anything, things have gotten worse. Technology and billionaires won’t make the world better. It’s up to us.

[ad_2]

Source link

UK regulator opens probe into Amazon’s Deliveroo stake

[ad_1]

After its own takeout and delivery service failed in the UK, Amazon decided to join its competition Deliveroo and take on the likes of Uber Eats and GrubHub. Amazon became the largest investor in a $575 million Deliveroo funding round, reportedly acquiring a 16 percent stake in the company.

CMA fears that Amazon and Deliveroo could “cease to be distinct” or merge in the future, which could, theoretically, lead to customers facing higher prices or lower-quality services. According to The Guardian, CMA has the authority to block the investment completely or demand specific remedies from the companies, though it seems Amazon has not complied with CMA’s initial demands.

In a statement provided to The Guardian, an Amazon spokesperson said:

“A homegrown UK business like Deliveroo should have broad access to investors and supporters. Amazon believes that this investment funding will lead to more pro-consumer innovation by helping Deliveroo continue to build its world-class service and remain competitive in the restaurant food delivery space by creating more highly skilled jobs, innovating in the restaurant food delivery sector, and developing new products for customers.”



[ad_2]

Source link

Tesla will deliver its first Chinese-made Model 3 on December 30th

[ad_1]

Tesla began construction on the plant this past January and started making vehicles there in October. The company told Reuters it plans to manufacture approximately 250,000 cars per year at Gigafactory 3 once it ramps up production. In addition to the Model 3, it also plans to make Model Y crossovers at the plant.

While the deliveries likely won’t affect Tesla’s Q4 financials, China could be a significant driver of Model 3 sales starting next quarter. Despite a recent slowdown in demand, the electric vehicle (EV) market in China is the largest in the world. According to Reuters, Chinese consumers bought approximately 1.3 million new EVs in 2018. With help from the Chinese government, which will offer new EV subsidies to Chinese consumers who want to buy the vehicle, Tesla is in a good position to succeed in the country. And success in China would help the company while it works on new vehicles like the Cybertruck.

[ad_2]

Source link

YouTube’s burnout generation | Engadget

[ad_1]

For mental health YouTuber Kati Morton, finding some kind of stability has meant using Patreon, which contributes about half of her monthly income and is her most consistent revenue stream. She’s been on it for the past four years; her channel has existed since 2011.

Patreon is a service for fans to pay monthly subscriptions to online creators in return for certain benefits. Morton has more than 400 patrons, half a dozen of which pay her $250 each month. That gives them — among other things — a monthly one-on-one Skype session with Morton just to shoot the shit.

Morton, 36, has reason to feel secure. She has specific expertise as a trained clinical psychologist, which also means a backup plan in private practice should the videos not work out. Patreon provides a stable living, but she also has close links with her “partner manager” at YouTube, whom she can consult if a video is not getting views. She has a solid 820,000 subscribers, puts out one video per week and has a published book. Like both Slade and Marie, she also has help: Her husband, Sean, used to run a film production company — reality TV, corporate-training videos on how to use medical devices — and now spends most of his time shooting and editing Morton’s videos. Morton has an assistant, her upstairs neighbor.

But it’s rare to find this kind of niche. The dream of merging passion and commerce, getting paid to simply live your life on camera, has for a long time been misrepresented — usually by the people on camera themselves. Now more kids in the US want to be YouTubers than athletes or astronauts. The fact that traditional employment and social mobility appear so fragile today can make the idea of overnight fame even more appealing — the quickest or at least most visible route to some kind of good life.

More kids in the US want to be YouTubers than athletes or astronauts.

Yet most people don’t make it. A recent study showed that about 85 percent of YouTube views go to three percent of channels. Based on a sample of 19,000 channels observed over a decade, the study showed that a video in 2016 got a median number of 89 views whereas in 2006 it got more than 10,000. Meanwhile, major channels like Ryan’s World are reported to make eight-figure annual incomes.

“My sense is it’s very much a kind of winner-takes-all economy, which can only sustain so many people aspiring to do this,” Duffy, the Cornell academic, said.

Ironically, the surge of influencers sharing their tales of mental health struggles online has drawn a lot of eyeballs to their accounts. Social media, after all, rewards authenticity, and this kind of raw vulnerability feels genuine. The recent rise of candid burnout discussion on YouTube has certainly helped unveil the cost of participating in the online micro-fame game. And unless you’re a superstar, it’s become increasingly clear that the key to finding career stability as a YouTuber is to look beyond YouTube.

That’s why some of the channel’s most recognizable faces peddle merch, set up Skype sessions with fans and toss sneakers in the air for the ‘gram. In fact, Slade, Marie and Morton know they’re the lucky ones. They do this job full time, they have regular income outside YouTube and they’ve made backup plans if the streaming service were to disappear tomorrow. Still, when Engadget got them together to discuss burnout, we asked them how secure they felt on YouTube on a scale of one to 10, and they all gave us the same answer: five.

They discussed how even the fortune of rising to the top can breed a certain insecurity. “This is not a path that we chose for ourselves: ‘I’m gonna be the best sneaker unboxer,’ or ‘I’m gonna be the funniest comedian’ or ‘I’m gonna be the coolest therapist on YouTube,’ said Slade. “It’s kinda something that we fell into, and now we’re trying to make the most of it. … And if we’re gonna keep it totally 100, we get paid outrageous amounts of money to do things that other people [who] work a lot harder don’t.”

Credits:
Reporters: Edgar Alvarez, Chris Ip
Editor: Aaron Souppouris
Copy editor: Megan Giller
Images: Edgar Alvarez
Video:
Executive Producer: Kyle Maack
Director of Photography: Brian Oh
Editor: Brett Putman
Color grading: Chris Schodt
Writer: Chris Ip

[ad_2]

Source link

Volkswagen sets new EV production target of 1.5 million by 2025

[ad_1]

The company has announced a bold aim of one million electric cars produced by the end of 2023, which is two years earlier than the previous target of 2025. By 2025, it aims to have produced 1.5 million electric cars.

These electric vehicles will be led by the ID.3, a compact EV to be first released in Europe which will be available in an affordable basic version for less than $30,000 as well as mid- and long-range versions. Volkswagen says it has received 37,000 pre-orders for the ID.3 to date, and that it will make the platform on which it is built, the Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB), available to other manufacturers too which could help to popularize EVs in the mainstream.

Other electric vehicles in the pipeline for VW include MEB-based microbuses, dune buggies and crossovers, although these vehicles don’t have release dates yet.

It’s important to note that manufacturing targets are not the same as actual sales, and that the ID.3 is not expected to make it onto Europe’s roads until summer 2020. So VW’s figures might best be described as an optimistic estimate for the popularity of the vehicle. However, with the announced increase in production, the company is clearly expecting high demand for its EVs in the coming years.

[ad_2]

Source link

The FAA wants to track all drones flying in the US

[ad_1]

UAVs only flying within 400 feet of their operators don’t have to broadcast that information but will still have to transmit it to the system via the internet. To note, operators can choose between their drone’s serial number or a randomly generated alphanumeric code to use as their machines’ ID, if they want to protect their privacy. All UAVs that require FAA registration — recreational drones under 0.55 pounds aren’t included — will have to comply with the new regulations within the next three years after they go into effect.

While a system that can “track” drones may sound like a bad thing, its implementation is actually a necessary step to achieve widespread use of drones for commercial purposes. “This is an important building block in the unmanned traffic management ecosystem,” the proposal reads. Amazon and UPS, for instance, can’t deploy delivery drones until there’s a comprehensive system that would allow authorities to ID drones that go rogue or those that may pose a security threat.

In fact, Congress asked the FAA way back in 2016 to create a system to track drones. Lisa Ellman from the Commercial Drone Alliance also thinks giving operators three years for implementation is too much. “Our main concern is the implementation period, which is needlessly up to 3 years. Until remote ID is implemented, the American public will be deprived of many of the vast safety, humanitarian and efficiency benefits of commercial drones. We need implementation yesterday, not 3 years from now,” she told CNBC.

The FAA will open a 60-day comment period for its proposal in the next few days and will use your feedback to write the final version of the new rules.

[ad_2]

Source link