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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB Custom Model From GALAX Listed Online For Over $400 US, Sold Out Within Hours

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Preliminary listings of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB graphics cards have started appearing online & as expected, the card is priced way above its MSRP.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB Custom Model Graphics Cards Listed Online For A Whooping $400+ US Price & Still Sold Out

A few days ago, it was rumored that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB graphics card will have a far better supply than the GeForce RTX 3060 & RTX 3060 Ti, combined. However, 3rd party sellers, retailers, and distributors, none of them care about MSRP these days. They know they can charge extra and people will still be willing to pay the higher prices for their products. Such is the dire state of the GPU and the overall tech industry at the moment.

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Custom Models Production Reportedly Halted Amidst BIOS & Design Issues

This has once again been seen in the latest listing for the custom NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB model from GALAX. The GALAKURO Gaming ‘GG-RTX3050-E8GB/SF’ variant, in particular, was spotted listed over at Japan Amazon for a price of 50,138 Japanese Yen which converts to $440 US. While currently, the card is out of stock, a few hours ago, it was up for sale as proven in the screen capture by Momomo_US. However, it looks like the entire stock (unknown amount) was bought up at the mentioned price. It’s kind of funny and sad at the same time that this card that was officially going to launch on 27th of January went up for sale two weeks earlier.

An NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB custom graphics card was listed over at Amazon Japan for over $400 US and sold out within hours. (Image Credits: Momomo_US)

And it’s not even like this was a high-end variant or a premium design. The GALAKURO Gaming features a standard PCB, non-factory overclock design, and a plastic shroud that features just one fan in the middle. The shroud extends beyond the PCB and there isn’t even a backplate while the power is provided through a single 8-pin connector. The card rocks the standard triple DP 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 interface.

So putting things into perspective, you can expect anywhere from 50% and all the way up to 80% price inflation over the MSRP. This card in particular is 76% more expensive than the MSRP and it looks like most gamers hoping for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB to be available at around $300 US max should just forget about it. NVIDIA has said that shortages are expected to ease by 2H 2022 though this pricing issue doesn’t seem like it has much to do with shortages anymore & everyone is just trying to get that extra profit while using ‘shortages’ as a shield to avoid a major backlash from consumers. It’s just like AMD’s CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, said, ‘You can find them, you are just not willing to pay for them’.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB Graphics Card

Just like the GeForce RTX 3060, the GeForce RTX 3050 will also be featuring the GA106 GPU but a cut-down configuration. The card will feature 20 SM units and 2560 CUDA cores with a TGP of 130 Watts. The entry-level graphics card will also rock 8 GB of GDDR6 memory clocked at 14 Gbps and will be running across a 128-bit wide bus interface for a total of 224 GB/s bandwidth. The graphics card has an MSRP of $249 US and will launch in several custom flavors on 27th January.

In terms of performance, the GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB graphics card will offer over 60 FPS at 1080p in several AAA titles and further extend the performance rating through the use of 2nd Gen RT and new Tensor cores, marking a big leap over the GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 ‘SUPER’ Series Graphics Card Specifications

Graphics Card Name NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050
GPU Name Ampere GA102-350? Ampere GA102-300 Ampere GA102-225 Ampere GA102-220? Ampere GA102-200 Ampere GA104-400 Ampere GA104-400 Ampere GA104-300 Ampere GA104-200 Ampere GA106-300 Ampere GA106-150
Process Node Samsung 8nm Samsung 8nm Samsung 8nm Samsung 8nm Samsung 8nm Samsung 8nm Samsung 8nm Samsung 8nm Samsung 8nm Samsung 8nm Samsung 8nm
Die Size 628.4mm2 628.4mm2 628.4mm2 628.4mm2 628.4mm2 395.2mm2 395.2mm2 395.2mm2 395.2mm2 276mm2 276mm2
Transistors 28 Billion 28 Billion 28 Billion 28 Billion 28 Billion 17.4 Billion 17.4 Billion 17.4 Billion 17.4 Billion 13.2 Billion 13.2 Billion
CUDA Cores 10752 10496 10240 8960 8704 6144 6144 5888 4864 3584 2560
TMUs / ROPs 336 / 112 328 / 112 320 / 112 280 / 104 272 / 96 184 / 96 184 / 96 184 / 96 152 / 80 112 / 64 TBC
Tensor / RT Cores 336 / 84 328 / 82 320 / 80 280 / 70 272 / 68 184 / 46 184 / 46 184 / 46 152 / 38 112 / 28 TBC
Base Clock 1560 MHz 1400 MHz 1365 MHz TBA 1440 MHz TBA 1575 MHz 1500 MHz 1410 MHz 1320 MHz 1550 MHz
Boost Clock 1860 MHz 1700 MHz 1665 MHz TBA 1710 MHz TBA 1770 MHz 1730 MHz 1665 MHz 1780 MHz 1780 MHz
FP32 Compute 40 TFLOPs 36 TFLOPs 34 TFLOPs TBA 30 TFLOPs TBA 22 TFLOPs 20 TFLOPs 16 TFLOPs 13 TFLOPs 9.1 TFLOPs
RT TFLOPs 74 RFLOPs 69 TFLOPs 67 TFLOPs TBA 58 TFLOPs TBA 44 TFLOPs 40 TFLOPs 32 TFLOPs 25 TFLOPs 18.2 TFLOPs
Tensor-TOPs TBA 285 TOPs 273 TOPs TBA 238 TOPs TBA 183 TOPs 163 TOPs 192 TOPs 101 TOPs 72.8 TOPs
Memory Capacity 24 GB GDDR6X 24 GB GDDR6X 12 GB GDDR6X 12 GB GDDR6X 10 GB GDDR6X 16 GB GDDR6X 8 GB GDDR6X 8 GB GDDR6 8 GB GDDR6 12 GB GDDR6 8 GB GDDR6
Memory Bus 384-bit 384-bit 384-bit 384-bit 320-bit 256-bit 256-bit 256-bit 256-bit 192-bit 192-bit
Memory Speed 21 Gbps 19.5 Gbps 19 Gbps 19 Gbps 19 Gbps 21 Gbps 19 Gbps 14 Gbps 14 Gbps 16 Gbps 14 Gbps
Bandwidth 1008 GB/s 936 GB/s 912 Gbps 912 Gbps 760 GB/s 672 GB/s 608 GB/s 448 GB/s 448 GB/s 384 GB/s 224 GB/s
TGP 450W 350W 350W 350W 320W ~300W 290W 220W 175W 170W 130W
Price (MSRP / FE) $1499 US $1499 US $1199 $999 US? $699 US $599 US? $599 US $499 US $399 US $329 US $249 US
Launch (Availability) 27th January 2022 24th September 2020 3rd June 2021 11th January 2022 17th September 2020 Q1 2022? 10th June, 2021 29th October 2020 2nd December 2020 25th February 2021 27th January 2022



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Google’s push for RCS is too little too late to solve the iMessage problem

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There’s certainly nothing ‘new’ in Google’s arguments; we all understood the situation, but we’d accepted iMessage’s exclusivity and stopped questioning it every day. This new public outcry, though, succeeded in putting one more time the spotlight on Apple’s tactic and the anti-social behaviors it’s implicitly encouraging among US teenagers. It’s also the first time Google has been clear about what it’d like to see from Apple: RCS.

The problem, though, is that RCS is an older protocol that does nothing to solve any of Google’s problems with messaging.

RCS: Yay or nay?

Why wouldn’t Google want RCS? The protocol works with your phone number, is supported natively by (many) carriers, doesn’t require you to download or sign up for a specific app or service (technically), and offers several modern chatting features. Typing indicators, delivery and read receipts, rich media and location sharing, group chats, and optional end-to-end encryption are all part of its feature set. And when you don’t have a data connection or the other person doesn’t have RCS, it falls back to SMS.

In a word, RCS is like SMS, but better. Except that it isn’t. Not every operator has enabled it yet. Not all phones support it. Not every implementation is the same — especially in terms of encryption since that bit is optional. And even if you download Google Messages and use the now-supposedly worldwide ‘Chat features’ there, you’re still at the mercy of Google’s servers which can go down or become buggy any time. Which they have done rather frequently.

Check out: How to enable RCS messaging on your phone

RCS is also completely reliant on your phone number being active when you send or receive messages. This makes it intricately linked to your carrier bill (h/t Ron Amadeo for bringing this into the discussion). If you happen to miss a payment or have an issue with your carrier, or if you live in a country where number portability is difficult or inexistent, your line goes down and so does your ability to use SMS and RCS. This is unlike IP-based chat services where you can connect back at any point in the future, get all of your pending messages, and continue where you left off.

RCS is too late to the chat game

The fascination with SMS is, undeniably, US-centric at this point. The rest of the world has completely embraced IP-based messengers, like WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Signal, WeChat, and QQ. The shift didn’t happen overnight, it’s been more than a decade in the making and at this point, if you live outside the US, odds are everyone you know is using one of these apps.

These IP-based apps have made communication easy and as universal as possible. They’re cross-platform from Android to iOS (and sometimes Windows, Linux, Mac, and web) and get updated across the world without the need for an operator. Some of them use a phone number to identify you (yes, just like SMS and RCS) but allow portability across numbers; some prefer to rely on a username or email to be more open to anyone. Many of these apps offer end-to-end encryption in all chats — including groups. Many have added voice and video calls, to give you more options to communicate. And all of them are being regularly updated with new features.

See also: RCS vs WhatsApp — Thoughts from a long-time WhatsApp user

The RCS protocol, on the other hand, was announced in 2007 and gets a minor update every year or so. At best (Wikipedia). It’s been playing catch-up with messaging innovations from its IP competitors for years and will likely continue to do so. It also requires plenty of partners — carriers and device makers — to get along and implement it.

Talking about going back to the SMS app in 2022 feels a bit like talking about DVD players in 2022.

But RCS’s biggest public pitfall in my opinion is one of perception. To use it, you have to use the SMS app. For anyone who’s moved on to IP-based messengers, this sounds a little preposterous. The SMS app is where we get all our spam. It’s the same app we’ve mentally associated with 2FA codes and courier delivery notifications, and nothing else.

Talking about going back to the SMS app in 2022 feels a bit like talking about DVD players in 2022. Some people still have one, but very few people are using them. It feels antiquated, like a gigantic leap back in time and space to a technology and interface we’ve abandoned a long time ago.

Google wasted many chances to do things right

Joe Hindy / Android Authority

Google had not one, not two, but many, many, oh-so-many chances to get messaging right. Google Talk, Hangouts, Voice, Allo, Chat, Messages, not to mention the countless integrated chat features in other apps (YouTube, Photos, Pay, Maps, and so on). I’m sure I’ve forgotten dozens more.

For over a decade, the company has been throwing one strategy after the other at the wall, hoping one would stick, to no avail. The whole thing has become a sad joke, to be honest. And even the most ardent Google fans and apologists can no longer convince their entourage to give another Google chat app a try. They’ve played that ‘this is the right one, I swear’ card far too many times for anyone to believe them.

Messaging apps transcend the simple ‘it’s an app’ status. They become life, our life.

And while Google was spinning the messaging app roulette, everyone moved on. Apple users in the US are far too invested in iMessage. Android users across the world moved to IP-based messaging apps. We’ve all spent more than a decade talking to our family, friends, colleagues, and businesses on these apps. We’ve formed groups, built a chat history, fought, reconciled, joked, and shared thousands of pics and videos. Messaging apps have transcended the simple ‘it’s an app’ status. They became life. Our life. Alas, Google didn’t manage to catch any of that emotional attachment or loyalty.

Dig deeper: Why iMessage is such a big deal in the US

You can’t fabricate this kind of relationship with software. It either grows organically or it doesn’t. And for many of us, neither SMS/RCS nor Google first comes to mind when we think about our favorite digital chats with loved ones. Google missed out on being part of this conversation and it can’t will itself into the equation just because it’d very much like to.

Say Apple supports RCS…

…What will that change? Not much. Apple could very much give Google what it wants and add support for RCS. Those using Android phones will get a slightly better experience when talking with Apple users. They’ll get better-quality media, typing indicators, delivery and read receipts, and potentially end-to-end encryption. Any other feature that’s implemented by Google or Apple in their own service won’t make it over to the other side unless it’s added to the RCS protocol. At best, it could help Google retain the US-based Android users — especially teenagers — it hasn’t yet lost to Apple.

However, no one is forcing Apple to change the bubble color of RCS chats to blue. It could very much keep that color exclusive to iMessage-to-iMessage chats to signal exclusive features, and that’s the end of the conversation. Green-bubble perception wouldn’t change, no matter how many typing indicators and read receipts you see in them.

Read more: Don’t forget — A green bubble is a person too

The only solution for the bullying problem is for Apple to disable its color-coding, and that part has nothing to do with RCS support or not. It could happen if Apple released iMessage on Android, though. But that’s not what Google is asking for, publicly.

The only solution for the bullying problem is for Apple to disable its color-coding, and that part has nothing to do with RCS support or not.

That part is, frankly speaking, the one that baffles me most about this recent Google outcry. The company must be aware that there’s a big disconnect between the argument it bounced on (green-bubble bullying) and the solution it’s proposing (RCS). Why it keeps pushing for RCS is perplexing. Google should be aware that the RCS battle is all but lost everywhere except the US. It should also be aware that the US messaging perception isn’t about RCS support, either.

So why the push for RCS? It must be because all of Google’s eggs are in this basket now and doing another messaging turnabout would be laughably catastrophic.

In the messaging game, does RCS stand a chance?

182 votes



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Backdoor for Windows, macOS, and Linux went undetected until now

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Researchers have uncovered a never-before-seen backdoor written from scratch for systems running Windows, macOS, or Linux that remained undetected by virtually all malware scanning engines.

Researchers from security firm Intezer said they discovered SysJoker—the name they gave the backdoor—on the Linux-based Webserver of a “leading educational institution.” As the researchers dug in, they found SysJoker versions for both Windows and macOS as well. They suspect the cross-platform malware was unleashed in the second half of last year.

The discovery is significant for several reasons. First, fully cross-platform malware is something of a rarity, with most malicious software being written for a specific operating system. The backdoor was also written from scratch and made use of four separate command-and-control servers, an indication that the people who developed and used it were part of an advanced threat actor that invested significant resources. It’s also unusual for previously unseen Linux malware to be found in a real-world attack.

Analyses of the Windows version (by Intezer) and the version for Macs (by researcher Patrick Wardle) found that SysJoker provides advanced backdoor capabilities. Executable files for both the Windows and macOS versions had the suffix .ts. Intezer said that may be an indication the file masqueraded as a type script app spread after being sneaked into the npm JavaScript repository. Intezer went on to say that SysJoker masquerades as a system update.

Wardle, meanwhile, said the .ts extension may indicate the file masqueraded as video transport stream content. He also found that the macOS file was digitally signed, though with an ad-hoc signature.

SysJoker is written in C++, and as of Tuesday, the Linux and macOS versions were fully undetected on the VirusTotal malware search engine. The backdoor generates its control-server domain by decoding a string retrieved from a text file hosted on Google Drive. During the time the researchers were analyzing it, the server changed three times, indicating the attacker was active and monitoring for infected machines.

Based on organizations targeted and the malware’s behavior, Intezer’s assessment is that SysJoker is after specific targets, most likely with the goal of “​​espionage together with lateral movement which might also lead to a ransomware attack as one of the next stages.”

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God of War PC Closes on 60,000 Concurrent Players on Steam

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Update: As expected, God of War’s concurrent players number has continued to climb on Steam, reaching a high of near 60,000 at the time of republishing. This exceeds the record set by Horizon Zero Dawn previously. It’ll be interesting to see just how high it can climb this weekend.

Original Story: God of War has got off to a strong start on PC storefront Steam, where it peaked at almost 50,000 players earlier in the day. This, to be clear, is concurrent users based on Valve data – it means the title has presumably sold significantly better, of course, as not everyone will be playing at the exact same time. The title already has over 1,800 user reviews at the time of writing, with fan feedback Overwhelmingly Positive.

Sony has attracted plaudits for the PC version of its flagship franchise, which first launched on the PlayStation 4 in 2018. By all accounts it’s a stunning re-release of a contemporary classic, with plenty of fancy new features and great compatibility across the board. Since a slightly shaky start with Horizon Zero Dawn, the platform holder has been getting rave reviews for the care and attention it’s been putting into its PC conversions.

It’s worth remembering that God of War is also available on the Epic Games Store, so it’ll have sold a handful of copies there as well. At the time of typing, though, there are more people playing God of War on Steam than evergreens like Dead by Daylight, Warframe, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege. Obviously this is a single player title so the interest will tail off in the coming months, but clearly this will prove a shrewd investment from Sony’s hierarchy in time.



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The underground network bringing Japan’s arcades to the US

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Julian Berman

Last October, Phil Arrington precariously balanced a dream on the cargo bed of his 2002 Ford Ranger pickup. It was a stupid dream, but it did not deserve to die on a dolly behind a beige warehouse.

Arrington was hunched over the dolly, gold chain dangling over a tight gray tee. Between his arms, leaned at a 45-degree angle, was a video game arcade machine; its title, MUSECA, could be glimpsed over his shoulder. The machine had come a long way—from an arcade in Tokyo to an anonymous warehouse in Osaka and then, after a long wait on a container ship outside Long Beach, California, to Arrington’s warehouse in San Pedro. Arrington effortfully wheeled the 6-foot-tall cabinet toward the pickup’s hatch. On the concrete 3 feet below lay a thin, blue blanket. Nearby, a phone was recording.

Scuttling, repositioning, crouching, grunting, Arrington pushed the machine’s weight centimeter by centimeter, second after second. Suddenly, the dolly’s wheels slid off the edge. His whole body spilled forward, and the arcade cabinet plunged to the ground with a fractious crash. Under the video Arrington uploaded to Twitter, gamers expressed their alarm. “This is the scariest thing I’ve seen on the Internet,” said one. Said another, vividly, “I don’t think my asshole has ever puckered harder.”

Watching the video from across the country in Brooklyn, I screamed. It was my machine.

Enlarge / Phil Arrington.

Julian berman

Arrington chose his moment to explain himself, and it was a couple of days later, live on Twitch, squatting in a red bucket, fishing out the dusty remnants from a half-empty bag of Flamin’ Hot Doritos. His tone was not contrite. He had intentionally cut the video at its most dramatic moment, he said. The machine was, in fact, intact. Arrington stood up, revealing athletic short-shorts, and, tossing the bag of Hot Doritos aside, made his way over to the Museca cabinet.

Museca was a glowing anime beacon. A neon red coil shot up through its base like a spine, supporting a console of five pastel-lit buttons, each the size of an adult hand. To the rhythm of a peppy beat, a player would press and spin these buttons at just the right time to amass points—that is, if the game worked. The cabinet, thankfully, had booted into a menu screen. “When you get something like this, you’ve got to take care of it. This is not like a Cadillac from the ’60s or ’70s, where people are making parts for it,” said Arrington. He pressed Start. The display went blank. “Oh shit,” he said. But then baby-voice pop music blared from the speakers. “Nevermind.”

These days, Museca is an extraordinary find, Arrington said. Like the other machines Arrington helps import, it’s primarily sold and played at arcades in Japan. On top of that, Museca’s publisher, Konami, discontinued the game a few years ago. The machines were recalled from across Japan, and their parts repurposed into an entirely new game called Bishi Bashi. Not many Museca cabinets survived, making them a particular prize for devoted fans of Japan’s storied arcade scene.

The country’s self-sizzling pleasure palaces have attracted millions of native and foreign otaku for decades, luring them in with the promise of competition and escape for the price of just one 100-yen coin. Taito Corporation’s Space Invaders marked the industry’s launch in 1978, and in the following years, Japan’s arcade scene blossomed, giving rise to classics like Donkey Kong, Contra, and Street Fighter II. Tens of thousands of arcades sprang up, packed tight with crane games filled with wide-eyed Pokemon plushies; greasy racing sims; shimmering fantasy role-playing or strategy games; scuffed-up fighting games; and of course, the full-body high of rhythm games like Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution or Museca.

Some titles, like DDR, got officially licensed or released overseas, where they’ve become cultural touchstones. But Konami, Taito, and other arcade game makers designed their best stuff exclusively for Japan, on idiosyncratic arcade hardware that was meant to stay there. “They don’t want these machines to be sold outside Japan,” says Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese consulting company Kantan Games. A lot of machines, including Museca, stipulate on their title screens that they are only meant to be played in Japan. In recent years, publishers like Konami have enforced this by ensuring their arcade games only function when networked to their proprietary server with a proprietary protocol.

The logistics and price of licensing is a big reason why—music, distribution, and payment. It’s also a commercial calculation, Toto adds. “The arcade machines are not stand-alone anymore—they have to be connected to a server, which makes maintaining them, controlling them, and operating them more complex. They don’t want the hassle of providing that knowledge and those maintenance services to companies outside Japan.” Lately, the Japanese arcade chain Round1 has installed locations across the US; but outside of that, the typical American has almost no access to the thousands of authentic arcade machines that brought glory to Japan as the holy land of gaming.

Today, though, Japan’s arcades are in crisis. Game centers are shuttering with heartbreaking rapidity, due in part to competition from home gaming consoles and a tax hike that raised the price of a single play. Between 2006 and 2016, the number of arcades deflated from 24,000 to 14,000. Covid accelerated this trend, emptying the arcades of regulars and tourists alike. Between October 1 and November 24, 2021, 20 arcades closed in Japan.

When arcades close, their video games face one of three fates, only two of which are sanctioned by a Japanese trade association of game manufacturers. The first is getting junked in a landfill. The second is getting gutted and sold for pieces, and then junked in a landfill. (Arrington calls this “the mafia treatment.”) Finally, the third: A Japanese distributor swoops in and buys up all of a dying arcade’s machines. Some get sent around Japan to smaller arcades. Others, on the down-low, are sourced to enterprising Westerners like Arrington, a self-described “muscle guy” for the gray-market entrepreneurs who import thousands of cabinets from Japan every year.

Over the last five years, as Japanese arcade machines have become more available than ever, Western demand for Japanese machines has exploded. To support that demand, an underground network of gamers has risen to the challenge of evacuating these cabinets from Japan, hauling them across the world, and hacking their code so fans like me can finally, after all these years, play.

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Everyone Wants to Be Wordle

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In the span of three months, Wordle went from a personal gift to a viral sensation — and now, everyone wants in.

The buzz can be attributed to the spoiler-free scoring grid of green, yellow, black and white blocks that allows players to share their Wordle wins across social media, group chats and more. To play the game, players guess a predetermined five-letter word in just six tries, similar to the process in “Lingo,” a popular late ’80s game show. The yellow and green squares indicate that Wordle players guessed a correct letter or a combined correct letter and correct placement for that letter.

Josh Wardle, a software engineer, initially created the game as a gift for his partner. It was released to the public in October, and it exploded in popularity in a matter of months. Ninety people played the game on Nov. 1, according to Wardle. Nearly two months later, 300,000 people played it.

Wordle grew in popularity mostly because of Twitter. From Nov. 1 to Jan. 13, about 1.3 million tweets on Wordle have flooded Twitter, according to Siobhan Murphy, the platform’s communications lead. So far this year, the conversation on Twitter about Wordle has experienced a daily average growth rate of 26 percent, Ms. Murphy said.

Wordle is free for players and doesn’t have any ads, creating the ideal user experience. The success of nearly any product this popular is often followed by copycats, waddling behind in an effort to capitalize on the buzz. Wordle alternatives appeared just days after the original game went viral. Some of the imitators aimed to give players more guesses for a single word or several rounds of words in one day, while others just existed in the name of fun and, well, games.

Letterle, for example, gives 26 tries to guess the letter of the day. Queerdle, which calls itself the “yassification of Wordle,” remixes Wordle and includes a few “very NSFW” words. Absurdle provides unlimited guesses but continues to get harder with each word that solvers input.

However, the most notable imitator was aptly named Wordle and offered as an app, unlike the original iteration of the game, which is a web page. The app’s creator, Zach Shakked, offered players a free trial of the same game with additional options for shorter and longer words. The app also offered a $30 unlimited Pro version. Apple took down the game — and other copycats — from its App Store shortly after Mr. Shakked tweeted about monetizing his version.

For fans, the Wordle obsession is a content gold mine. In fact, Twitter users have most likely dedicated just as much time to turning their colorful grids into viral memes, paintings, cartoons and comics as they have to playing the game. The game has even caught the attention of celebrities including “The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon and the “Succession” actress J. Smith-Cameron.

In one meme, John Cusack is holding not a boombox but a Wordle grid above his head. “Say Anything…”? More like, “Say You’ll Share Your Wordle Score.”

Brands are tweeting about the trendy game, too. Lego created its own green and yellow grid out of bricks, and the Smithsonian tweeted a picture of a green, yellow and black tablecloth from its Cooper Hewitt collection.

Twitter users are also comparing the Wordle craze to the obsession with Farmville, a series of agriculture-simulation games that were released in 2009. The game, which was created and published by Zynga, practically took over Facebook, with users tending to their virtual crops and nudging their Facebook friends for help. Much like Wordle, Farmville was an internet sensation that burned brightly and brought in as many as 32 million daily active users in its heyday.

“There’s virtually no way to predict fads like this,” Will Shortz, the New York Times Crossword editor, said. “They take off for no apparent reason and then die as people move on to other things,” he added.

But Wordle does have a lot of things going for it. “What’s nice about Wordle is how simple, pleasant and attractive the computer interface is,” Mr. Shortz said. Limiting players to six guesses per day and rationing out one puzzle per day adds excitement to the solving process, he said. “It’s a great puzzle, and it doesn’t take long to play, which make it perfect for our age when people have short attention spans.”



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Halo Infinite Leak Reveals 5 Upcoming Multiplayer Maps

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A new Halo Infinite leak has revealed five unreleased maps, all of which are presumably coming to the PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S game sometime this year. Halo Infinite multiplayer has been available for roughly two months, and many players are beginning to wonder when 343 Industries will bolster the current experience with more content. Well, it looks like the studio is hard at work on at least five multiplayer maps dubbed Solitude, Bath Salts, Forbidden, Beltway, and Cataract. That said, it’s quite possible these are placeholder names, as the information comes from the game’s files, accompanied by images showing maps that are very much works-in-progress and that, in some cases, literally are stamped with “placeholder.”

As alluded, the multiplayer maps are a datamining leak, which means there’s no room to doubt the validity of the information and media, but there’s room to doubt the implications. While on the surface level it appears these are all multiplayer maps currently in development for a future update, it’s possible this is content that got cut during development. 

Below, you can check previews for some of the maps for yourself. That said, it’s important to note that the images below represent maps that are in the early stages of development, which means they are using assets ranging from placeholder to low poly. In other words, the assets you see aren’t final. They are there to provide a general idea of the map’s design, nothing more.

As always, take everything here with a grain of salt, like you would any leak. As for 343 Industries and Xbox, neither — nor anyone involved with either — have commented on any of this. We don’t expect this to change, but if it does, the story will be updated with what is provided, salient or not.

Halo Infinite is available via the PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Game Pass. For more coverage on the 2021 sci-fi first-person shooter — including not just the latest leaks, rumors, and speculation, but the latest official news as well — click here.



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5G Pixel 6 series owners, rejoice! The delayed January update is here to fix your phone

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The January update for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro is now available following a delay that prevented owners of the hot new Pixel models from installing the software that they hoped would exterminate the bugs that have impacted Google’s hot new handsets. Once the update has been installed on a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro, bugs like the one that prevented device owners from making emergency calls should be gone forever.

Software update for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

On the Google Pixel update page, Google writes, “The software update for Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro will begin rolling out to devices on January 14. This update includes all the fixes indicated below as well as all fixes for Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro in the December 2021 update post. The update will be available for all devices over the following week, but exact timing may vary depending on your carrier and country.”

So let’s go back and once again look at the issues that you can fix on your 2021 Pixel handsets:

 

Framework
  • Fix for an issue causing Pixel 6/6 Pro screen to unlock after missed call when no screen lock is set.

Network & Telephony

  • Improvements for data connectivity on certain networks and conditions.
  • Fix for issue preventing the use of Call Screen feature when phone is being used over certain wireless carriers.
  •  Fix for issue that prevented those Pixel 6/6 Pro users with Microsoft Team app installed from making emergency calls.

Power
  • Fix for issue preventing Pixel Stand setup to start apps are updated under certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue causing higher battery usage in the background under certain conditions.

System

  • Fix for issue that showed either too much data usage, or too little data usage on the network menu for some carriers.
  • Fix for issue causing device to reboot under certain conditions after installing an OTA software update.

User Interface

  • Fix for issue causing a black frame to surface when dismissing the Assistant overlay on the lock screen.
  • Fix for issue that under certain conditions, caused a memory leak in system UI.
  • Fix for issue causing navigation bar to be hidden when switching from landscape to portrait and vice versa in certain conditions.
  • Fix for issue causing PIP window to render incorrectly for certain apps.

Wi-Fi

  • Fix for issue that caused Wi-Fi network to lose connectivity under certain conditions.
  • The update, which weighed in at a svelte 215MB, can be installed on your Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro by going to Settings > System > System update.

In our previous story about owning the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, we said that if you want either phone, don’t let fears about the fingerprint scanner and battery life prevent you from purchasing either model.

Pick up the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro right now!

Whether it has been the luck of the draw or something else, the biometric gods have looked down favorably on my 6 Pro and the fingerprint scanner has worked even better over the last few days. The December and January updates are about to work their magic, so don’t miss out on buying an exciting Android handset with some of the best gimmicky features that Google has ever developed.

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Technology

The best cheap noise-canceling headphone deals right now

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With many people working from home than they used to, owning a good pair of noise-canceling headphones has become more appealing than ever. However, they can be expensive and difficult to shop for due to the range of available models, many of which cater to different lifestyles and priorities. Some are better suited for long-haul flights, while others are ideal for multitasking and marathon listening sessions.

That’s why we’ve curated this list of the best deals on noise-canceling headphones. Here, you’ll find sales on all kinds of on-ear and over-ear headphones, all of which are designed to eliminate outside noise but come with their own strengths and weaknesses. And if you want to do even more research before making a buying decision, we’ve put together a guide to the best noise-canceling headphones, which can help you determine which is right for you.

Highlights across the range

Model List Price Sale Price Retailers
Model List Price Sale Price Retailers
AirPods Max $549 $479 Amazon
Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 3 $399.99 $241 Adorama
Sony WH-1000XM4 $399.99 $348 (with a 20,800mAh power bank and a microfiber cloth) Adorama
Beats Studio 3 Wireless $349.99 $199.00 Amazon
Microsoft Surface Headphones 2 $249.99 $230.99 Walmart Microsoft
Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700 $399 $379 Amazon Best Buy
Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II $349 $299.99 Best Buy Target
Beats Solo Pro $299.95 $129 Best Buy

Sony’s 1000XM4 are the best noise-canceling headphones you can buy.
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Sony WH-1000XM4 deals

Sony’s WH-1000XM4 is our overall pick for the best noise-canceling headphones. They offer excellent noise-canceling, good sound and voice quality, and the ability to pair to two devices simultaneously. You can wear these for long periods of time as well, as their plush ear pads make them comfortable to wear for as long as you need. They can even last up to 30 hours on a single charge and can be charged via USB-C.

During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we saw the $349.99 headphones drop to $248 — their lowest price to date. They remained around that price throughout the holiday season, but, unfortunately, many retailers have since ended their sales. Some retailers, however, are offering bundle deals that are still worth considering.

Right now, Adorama is bundling the WH-1000XM4 with a 20,800mAh battery pack and a microfiber cleaning cloth for $348. Mophie’s power bank typically sells for $39.95, so this bundle is valued at around $390. If you don’t care for the battery pack or prefer to shop elsewhere, however, Amazon and B&H Photo are also selling the headphones for $348. Read our review.

Sony WH-1000XM4

These over-ear headphones are some of the best noise-canceling headphones you can buy right now. They can last up to 30 hours on a single charge and provide a comfortable listening experience with plush ear pads.

The AirPods Max is a good pick for those deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem.
Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Apple’s AirPods Max deals

If you’re looking for the best sound quality you can get in a pair of noise-canceling headphones, we recommend the AirPods Max. The headphones pair seamlessly with other Apple devices and sound superb, especially combined with Apple’s surround sound-like Spatial Audio feature, which allows for a more immersive experience when listening to or watching select content. They also tout the best transparency mode of all the headphones on our list while boasting incredible build quality thanks to a luxe design that takes opts for aluminum, steel, and fabric over plastic.

At $549, these headphones are expensive, but we’ve been seeing a lot of discounts lately. Right now, Amazon is selling the AirPods Max for $479, which is about $50 shy of their best price to date and their standard sale price. B&H Photo is offering the same discount but only on the silver and pink models. The green and blue versions are $489, while the space gray set is $499. Read our review.

Apple AirPods Max

Apple’s AirPods Max feature exemplary build quality, sound phenomenal, and keep up with the best at noise cancellation.

The third-generation Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones sound great and integrate with Tile.

Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 3 deals

If you’re a non-Apple user looking for a pair of noise-canceling headphones that sound fantastic, Sennheiser’s Momentum Wireless 3 is your best option. We found that they boast detailed, bass-rich sound, a stylish, retro-inspired design, and are extremely comfortable to wear — even when you’re donning glasses. Although their noise cancellation might not rival other models on our list, they make up for it with convenient software features like ambient passthrough and a customizable EQ. Plus, unlike many other headphones, they integrate with the location tracking device, Tile.

The headphones typically retail for $399.99, but several retailers have been selling them for $241 since Black Friday. Right now, however, only Adorama has them for $241 (and only in black). That’s nearly half their usual price, saving you $159. Read our review.

Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless

Sennheiser’s premium noise-canceling headphones offer lush comfort, rich sound with plenty of bass, and a timeless design.

Microsoft’s Surface Headphones 2 are great for multitasking.
The Verge

Microsoft Surface Headphones 2 deals

Multitaskers will appreciate Microsoft’s Surface Headphones 2 as they offer terrific, reliable multipoint Bluetooth support. You can seamlessly pair them with multiple devices, allowing you to juggle content and switch back and forth at the same time. These headphones also offer intuitive dial controls for volume and noise cancellation, with far better quality and battery life than their predecessor. While the noise canceling isn’t quite as effective as Bose’s and Sony’s, they still adequately silence outside noises so you can focus.

During Black Friday, Microsoft’s $249.99 Surface Headphones 2 dropped down to $162.49, which is almost half their typical retail price. We’re not currently seeing any similar big deals on them, but you can still a pair for $230.99 from Microsoft, Walmart, and Amazon. Note, however, the deal available from Walmart is sold and shipped by Microsoft. Read our review.

Microsoft Surface Headphones 2

Microsoft’s Surface Headphones 2 have the same intuitive dial controls as the originals for volume and noise cancellation. But the sequel offers better sound quality and battery life at a cheaper price.

Bose’s Noise Canceling Headphones 700 boast excellent voice quality.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700 deals

If you plan to frequently use your headphones for voice calls, Bose’s Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are the best option on this list for doing so. They boast excellent voice call quality, meaning everybody on your Zoom call will be able to hear you loud and clearly, and they offer great noise cancellation with satisfactory sound. Like the QC45, the over-ears can also connect to two devices simultaneously, but they can’t be folded and only offer 20 hours of battery life, which is also less than other headphones on this list provide.

We’ve seen several discounts on the 700s over the past year or so, with the best reaching an all-time low of $299. Lately, however, we haven’t seen any sales that steep. Amazon has been selling them for $379 instead of $399 for the past six months, and Bose and Best Buy are currently selling the headphones for the same price. Read our review.

Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700

The Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700 are the company’s top-of-the-line noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones. In addition to excellent noise cancellation, they have up to 20 hours of battery life between charges and can connect to two devices at the same time.

Other great noise-canceling headphone deals worth checking out

The Beats Studio 3 are nearly half off and thus a good alternative if you’re looking for a more budget-friendly pair of headphones.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Beats Studio 3 deals

While we couldn’t recommend these to anybody outside of the Apple ecosystem, the Beats Studio 3 Wireless could be a decent alternative if you want a pair of over-ear headphones from Apple but find the AirPods Max to be too expensive. The Beats Studio 3 are comfortable to wear, fold inward for easy stowing, and feature Apple’s last-gen W1 wireless chip, which allows you to quickly connect and switch between Apple devices. Note, however, unlike those built with Apple’s newer H1 chip, the headphones lack hands-free Siri support. They also charge via a Micro USB port instead of a Lightning port or USB-C.

They’re certainly showing their age at this point — they launched 2017, after all — but they’re currently on sale starting at $199 at Amazon in select colorways. Read our review.

Beats Studio 3 Wireless

The Beats Studio 3 feature Apple’s W1 wireless chip, allowing them to quickly connect and switch between any Apple devices you may own. The wireless, over-ear headphones connect via Bluetooth and also support 3.5mm for a wired connection.

Bose’s Quiet Comfort 35 II headphones are as comfortable and lightweight as newer models.

Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II deals

If the newer QuietComfort 45 are out of your budget, their noise-canceling predecessor remain a great, affordable alternative. Like newer Bose models, the QuietComfort 35 II are both comfortable and lightweight. They also come with a number of praiseworthy features, including good sound quality and the ability to seamlessly switch between two paired devices.

While their sticker price is $349, the QC35 II are frequently on sale for far less. In fact, until just recently, we saw them for as low as $179. Right now, however, Target is only selling the headphones for around $299, about $30 less than Bose QC45 are currently selling for.

Bose’s QuietComfort 35 II

These lightweight, over-ear wireless headphones have one of the best active noise cancellation effects to silence distractions.

The now-discontinued Beats Solo Pro offer good durability and lengthy battery life.
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Beats Solo Pro deals

When we first reviewed the Beats Solo Pro in 2019, we found the nicely designed Apple headphones offered effective noise cancellation, good durability, lengthy battery life, and a balanced sound profile. While its sticker price was $299.95, Best Buy is currently selling them in blue and red for $199.99. Note, however, these headphones have since been discontinued. As a result, Apple no longer sells them, and the retailers that do — like Best Buy — are not likely to continue stocking them in the future.

Beats Solo Pro

The Beats Solo Pro are ideal if you need a durable pair of headphones while you work out.

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Technology

It’s time to get a purple PS5 DualSense controller (if you’re into it)

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The PlayStation Direct online store is selling Galactic Purple DualSense controllers today, ahead of a wide release on February 11

Sony recently announced a new wave of colors for PS5’s DualSense controllers, and if you’re looking for something with extra flair, the time has come. While the Nova Pink and Starlight Blue controllers are available at retailers like Amazon, today’s the day for my fellow Galactic Purple admirers — that colorway is in stock “early” if you buy directly from PlayStation. Otherwise, it’s a few more weeks before the wide release on Feb. 11.

Anytime we can recapture a bit of the “nothing is off the table!” energy from the Nintendo 64 days, I’m here for it. That said, $75 sure feels steep for a gamepad, even a nice one.

As someone who already has two white controllers and cannot possibly justify getting another DualSense just because I prefer a more vibrant look, I am jealous of anyone who’s in the market for a purple, blue, or pink DualSense controller — they really pop!

Informally, I feel like purple is the crowd favorite, but I’d be curious to see a breakdown once the dust settles. Maybe Midnight Black is all you ever wanted. It’ll age well!

While I can see a lot of PS5 owners eventually picking up a spare controller (whether that’s willingly or begrudgingly) to facilitate co-op play, I wonder how many people will feel the urge to get an alternate console cover — red and black will be in stock on January 21, by the way. I’m not inherently against the idea for ~aesthetics~ reasons, but I also don’t want to swap out the parts and then have to deal with finding a safe home for the original white cover. Things got real funky with loose Xbox 360 faceplates, you know?

To everyone groaning at this article amid struggles to even find a PS5, period: I feel you.

Jordan Devore

Jordan is a founding member of Destructoid and poster of seemingly random pictures. They are anything but random.

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