Who remembers the games that shipped with classic iPods? You could have a pixel war in Parachute, smash blocks in Brick, play cards in Solitaire, and test your knowledge of your own iPod’s library with Music Quiz. Of course, Apple has since discontinued the iPod, but they seem to have trouble letting go of the past. Music Quiz lives on as a hidden iPhone game.
The hidden music quiz hasn’t been around forever, but isn’t all that new either. Apple first added it to the iPhone not as a game but as a shortcut, back in 2020 with iOS 14. The game was part of a small series of “Starter Shortcuts”—the idea, I assume, was to offer users a quick look at what was possible with shortcuts (even though the app launch two years prior with iOS 12). Either way, it doesn’t seem to have been a wholly effective marketing campaign—I had no idea this music quiz existed. It’s just the kind of hidden feature that’s a pleasant surprise to discover.
How to play Apple’s hidden Music Quiz on your iPhone
If you haven’t deleted any shortcuts from your iPhone before, Music Quiz should be on your device right now. To find it, you can swipe down on the home screen or lock screen to pull up a spotlight search, type “Music Quiz,” then tap the purple music icon that appears. You can also find it in the Shortcuts app in the “Starter Shortcuts” folder, or by searching for Music Quiz if you deleted it in the past.
To play the game, you’ll need to add songs to your Music library. Any songs will work, whether you bought them from iTunes, imported them from your library, or downloaded them from Apple Music. Music Quiz will randomly pull songs from your library for a five-round game. The game will play one song per round, and you’ll need to guess which it is from the song titles that Music Quiz offers you.
Screenshot: Jake Peterson
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For any Shortcuts tinkerers out there, take a look at how intricate this simple game is. You can see the entire build of the shortcut by tapping the (•••) icon on the Music Quiz tile. Apple certainly took some time to build the game. Too bad not many people seem to know about it.
Back in August, Dr. Lisa Su introduced the world to AMD’s newest iteration of CPU technology, the Ryzen 7000 Series–but she didn’t stop there. We got an announcement for an announcement: RDNA 3, AMD’s next generation of GPU technology. Well, today is November 3rd, and we now know more about AMD’s answer to the RTX 40 Series.
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Dr. Su began the presentation by reflecting on the Ryzen 7000 Series release and stating AMD’s ambitious goals, much like she did during the previous presentation. For RDNA3, she reiterated the company’s commitment to energy efficiency and performance.
“At the forefront of what we’re doing, it’s all about power and energy efficiency. We want to make sure that we continue to innovate around performance-per-watt leadership to enable all of the gamer upgrades with fantastic performance, but at a reasonable power.” – Dr. Lisa Su
Starting with the new chiplet design, RDNA 3 takes a modular approach with the intention of optimizing the efficiency of the overall GPU design. Much like the Ryzen CPU family, RDNA3 will utilize a mixed chiplet architecture. With a 5nm graphics die (GCD) compute unit containing all of the shaders, display engines, and updated media engine, the GCD is paired with a 6nm Memory Cache Die (MCD) that consists of the GDDR6 controller as well as 96 MB of AMD’s Infinity Cache–2nd Generation Infinity Cache, that is!
With this new design, the RNDA 3 chiplet will have an interconnect speed of up to 5.3 TB/s (a 2.7x increase over RDNA 2), enabling up to 61 TFLOPS of compute. All of this will be supported by up to 24 GB of GDDR6 with a memory bus up to 384-bit (not the GDDR6X we saw in the RTX 4090) and, according to Dr. Su, will enable RDNA 3 GPUs to achieve up to 54% greater performance-per-watt over the previous generation.
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So, what is this magical mystery GPU? Well, it’s actually two GPUs: the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT.
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX comes with 24 GB of GDDR6 and Radeon RX 7900 XT comes with 20 GB of GDDR6. Engineered as both 4K and 8K gaming GPUs, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT have a number of updates over the previous generation that will help push it into the future of gaming.
Starting with dedicated AI acceleration, RDNA 3 is said to improve AI-based functions of the GPU by 2.7x and ray tracing instructions by 1.8x over RDNA 2. In rendering applications–including ray tracing, this new architecture is said to obtain up to 50% more performance per compute unit and double the instructions per clock. This is a much-needed leap for Radeon graphics to compete within this particular space of graphics processing!
Screenshot: AMD
But, there’s more:
AMD’s new Radiance Display is the engine pushing all of that data into the display. The engine will support 12 bit-per-channel color with up to 68 billion colors as well as higher refresh rates. Thanks in no small part to DisplayPort 2.1 and HDMI 2.1 adoption, the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT will support refresh rates of up to 900 Hz at 1440p, 480 Hz at 4K, and 165 Hz at 5K.
Alongside of the Radiance Display engine, AMD also unveiled a new dual media engine for simultaneous encode and decode for both AVC and HEVC formats. This engine will also support AV1 encoding and decoding, with a max resolution of 8K60. Later on in the presentation, AMD teased future support for AV1 encoding support within OBS as well as other popular video streaming and editing software. This teaser also included a future feature called SmartAccess Video, which will leverage Ryzen CPUs and Radeon GPUs together to supposedly provide up to a 30% uplift in 4K multi stream encoding.
When it comes to gaming performance, the RX 7900 XTX is purported to operate up to 1.7x better than AMD’s former flagship GPU, the Radeon RX 6950 XT, in rasterization and up to 1.6x better in ray tracing games. Using FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), the charts AMD showed for the 7900 XTX showed several titles running at frame rates far exceeding 200 FPS at 4K. One standout was Valorant, which showed the RX 7900 XTX running at 704 FPS! Lots of bold claims here, but we’ll have to see for ourselves once the cards are in the hands of 3rd-party reviewers!
When it comes to the actual specifications, the RX 7900 XTX will have 96 compute units with a game clock of 2.3 GHz. All of this is said to run at a total board power draw of 355 W. For context, that is 95 W less than NVIDIA’s RTX 4090 Founder’s Edition while hovering close to the RX 6950 XT’s typical board power. The RX 7900 XT will have 84 compute units with a game clock of 2 GHz and a total board power of 300 W.
Oh yeah, and neither one of them will require a special cable to power them.
This is just the hardware, though. AMD took some time to talk about FSR adoption, the uplift in performance seen within FSR2, and how well RDNA 3 operates with it enabled. One example the company showed off was Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla running at 96 frames per second at 8K. It was a short clip, but pretty wild to see all the same. But AMD wanted us to know that FSR isn’t stopping at FSR2. There’s a new iteration, FSR3. At the time of the announcement, AMD said that Radeon users can expect up to 2x more frames per second over FSR2 and that the technology would be available in 2023.
Continuing the conversation about software, AMD’s Frank Azor shared updates to Radeon Adrenaline software, including a new feature coming in the first half of 2023 called AMD HYPR-RX. This feature will be a one-button optimizer to give AMD systems the best possible performance without having to make all of the adjustments yourself.
Screenshot: AMD
Team Red also shared its commitment to providing the best CPU and GPU unified experience by working with system integrators to bring the AMD Advantage line to the desktop platform. This means pairing AMD GPUs and CPUs together in system configurations carefully curated by AMD for the supposed best possible AMD experience.
The Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT will be available on December 13th, 2022. And the price? $999 and $899 USD, respectively. This is an amazing distinction from NVIDIA’s $1599 flagship.
We look forward to seeing just how these GPUs perform out in the wild! Let us know in the comments what you are most excited for in AMD’s announcement today and if you plan on making an upgrade before the year is through.
Call of Duty is a grind, and Modern Warfare 2 is no exception. The latest entry in the hit war crime simulator series is full of passes to rank up and boondoggles to unlock. Want to play with a fully customized M4? It’s gonna take a while. Fortunately, players have discovered an incredibly lucrative weapon XP farm to speed things up. The only problem is it’s far from the easiest maneuver to pull off.
The trick requires hopping on top of an enemy armored vehicle and tossing a suppression mine inside. Succeed and you’ll be rapidly rewarded with over 40,000 XP. Fail and you’ll have stunted your kill death ratio and wasted an entire match for nothing. Here’s the XP farm exploit, discovered yesterday on Reddit, in action via MW2CODHub:
Basically, the suppressor is constantly re-triggered by any inhabitants driving the tank, giving additional XP each time. There are obvious problems though. First of all, you need to find an enemy tank. Second, you need to successfully place the mine, which has a long cooldown in-between uses. Finally, you need to do it all without getting killed by any number of enemies just waiting to pick you off.
The tanks spawn in Invasion mode, and since those matches litter AI-controlled allies and opponents across giant maps, it’s a bit easier to find openings amid the chaos. Still, you have to get a lucky with when and where the tanks spawn. The one bit of good news is that Invasion is already one of the most efficient modes for farming XP in the game. Even if you don’t have luck with the tanks, you can try to find spawn points and pick off big groups of AI enemies for a decent amount of XP.
And if you do see a tank during your travels, you now know what to do. The tank XP farm might not be the most practical, but it definitely seems like one of the best feeling ways to level up. At least until Activision potentially patches it out.
Perhaps the over-sized, power-hungry, and highly-priced 4000-series graphics cards from Nvidia are a bit too hot of a product right now. After one user posted photos of their charred 12-volt, high power (12VHPWR) connector on Reddit, Nvidia responded with an investigation into at least two cases.
Yesterday, Reddit user reggie_gakil shared photos of a freshly seared cable and power connector on their RTX 4090 graphics card, titled “RTX 4090 Adapter burned” with a caption that reads “IDK [how] it happened but it smelled badly and I saw smoke.” Though the card reportedly still works, reggie_gakil was not alone. Another Reddit user began their reply with, “You aren’t the only one. This happened to me today as well.” This follows reports that PCI-SIG, the consortium that sets standards for PCI, PCI-X, and PCI-Express connections (the ones used in said graphics cards), was aware of potential “safety issues under certain conditions.” According to The Verge, Nvidia is now investigating these cases.
In a statement to Kotaku, Nvidia said it is “in contact with the first owner and will be reaching out to the other for additional information.”
With the increased power draw of these new graphics cards and new ATX power standards that have raised eyebrows, this might not be so much of a surprise. Indeed, YouTube channels like JayzTwoCents are doing a bit of an “I told you so” victory lap.
The 12VHPWR cable is DANGEROUS! But NVIDIA doesn’t agree…
As mentioned in JayzTwoCents’ video, Brandon Bell, senior technical marketing manager for Geforce at Nvidia dismissed early fears over unsafe power cables as “issues that don’t exist” and that “it all just works, man.” While the results of Nvidia’s investigation have yet to determine if the initial Reddit post that sparked alarm is an outlier, there’s certainly cause for concern.
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Nvidia’s competitor, AMD, also responded to reggie_gakill’s melted-cable story. AMD Radeon’s senior vice president replied to a Tweet staying that “the Radeon RX 6000 series and upcoming RDNA 3 GPUs will not use [the 12VHPWR] connector.”
Times have been tough.Image: Kotaku / San Francisco Chronicle / Hearst Newspapers (Getty Images)
And now for something that no one saw coming: EVGA, one of the most prominent third-party PC graphics card manufacturers, and a favorite brand among PC gamers for quality parts and reliable warranties backed by solid customer service, is terminating its longtime relationship with Nvidia. What’s more, the company reportedly said that it won’t be pursuing partnerships with competing silicon giants like AMD or Intel, either. It seems like EVGA is just done with GPUs.
Kotaku has reached out to EVGA for comment.
News of EVGA’s seemingly sudden decision to stop manufacturing GPUs broke via the popular YouTubers GamersNexus and Jayztwocents. Personalities from both channels say that they were invited to a private meeting with EVGA staff, including CEO Andrew Han. In the meeting, EVGA reportedly laid out its desire and intention to break away from Nvidia, citing multiple frustrations with the partnership.
These sore spots mostly concern what Han describes as Nvidia’s reluctance to share essential information about its products with partners until that same information is made available to the public, often onstage at a press conference; that it believes Nvidia is undercutting partners like EVGA by selling its own “Founders’ Edition” cards at a lower price; and a sense among partners that Nvidia just doesn’t value their patronage.
GamersNexus has a very thorough breakdown of the meeting and this news in its video.
GamersNexus
EVGA’s most senior management made its decision to break away from Nvidia back in April, but kept the decision strictly confidential. Though EVGA, a company that is so often known and valued for great GPUs and reliable customer service, is leaving the GPU market, the company reportedly intends to stay in business. However, it won’t be expanding into new product categories, GamersNexus reports. And while the company does make and sell other PC components such as motherboards, cases, and power supplies, the loss of the GPU side of its business is likely to pose challenges for its 280 worldwide staffers.
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GamersNexus’ Steve Burke reports that EVGA is looking to reallocate staff to different projects to keep everyone employed. The company laid off 20 percent of its Taiwan employees earlier this year, and now several people whose jobs solely revolved around GPU manufacturing and development don’t have an obvious job to perform.
While EVGA will continue to sell RTX 30-series cards, it expects to run out of stock by the end of the year, and will be hanging on to an additional stock to service warranties and repairs. EVGA’s pledging to honor warranties for existing customers of those cards.
Today is a bittersweet day for PC gamers, as EVGA’s presence in the GPU arena will be sorely missed. On the flip side, the crypto-mining craze that has plagued the industry by buying up countless cards for mining rigs seems to be coming to an end. The prominent crypto Ethereum has finally, finally moved away from the GPU-hungry “proof of work” algorithms that contributed to the virtual decimation of available GPU stock over the last two years. As you’ve probably noticed, GPUs are once again available to buy and pricing has finally started to fall back to Earth. With the Ethereum switch, hopefully that trend will only accelerate.
While many a collector can claim to have any number of rare video games and memorabilia, few, if any, actually own a majority of every console variation manufactured in the last 50 years. But that’s exactly what one France-based collector has just put up for auction, some 2,400 different consoles—from standard-issue to special editions to variations never officially for sale—for the cool asking price of €984,000.00, or around a million U.S. dollars.
Listed on French eBay and spotted by Consolevariations.com, video game uber-enthusiast Kaori30’s sale includes some 2,400 consoles, “from the first to the very last,” a number of games for said consoles, and a bunch of fun statues and other video game collectibles. While the current price “Buy It Now” price of nearly one million Euros might be well outside of your budget (not to mention how much storage space you’d need), the pictures and videos of Kaori30’s collection are more than worth a look. Check out their Sega collection, for example
KAORI30
Kotaku has reached out to Kaori30.
A Google translation of the eBay listing reveals that Kaori30 began collecting in the early ‘90s, before collecting might’ve been considered a thing. The road to this current mega collection was not without some back and forth, as they sold their entire ‘90s collection at the turn of the century.
Though they kept collecting during the ‘00s, it came to an end in 2011 when they stopped for “lack of time” and the difficulty in finding rare items. But the story doesn’t end there.
Read More:Someone Paid Over $750,000 For The World’s Largest Video Game Collection
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In 2018, they “fell back into the trap” of collecting after visiting Tokyo, where they acquired almost everything they sold off previously. That twist is what leads them to this gargantuan collection of a majority of consoles ever made all in one place. And it is a sight to behold. As they say on their eBay auction, they do not believe it’s possible to find some of these items anymore, even if one had the financial means. They also suggest that their stunning collection might be a good fit for a museum.
I have neither the wallet nor the space to even think about something like this, but it sure is fun to peruse the pictures and videos and imagine the wild logistics. There’s stuff in there I never knew existed!
The more time I spend with Valve’s Steam Deck, the more I’m fascinated by it. While it’s obviously rad for the incredibly rich selection of games it plays, I’ve found it’s actually a really solid mini-PC for work, creation, and just everyday PC-related tasks, so today I’ll show you how to get started using your Deck as a powerful little PC in its own right.
Don’t worry, none of this involves installing weird software, arcane Linux witchery, or using another OS. While SteamOS has some room for improvement, Valve’s initial offering is very impressive, making for a fun, experimental little computer that’s great for taking a first taste of Linux. It’s cool to also have that in a device that plays AAA games. And indie games. And weird art games. And it’s also a possible peek into the future of PC gaming itself. Valve seems to be all-in on Linux, so maybe it’s a good idea to start learning on this thing.
Let’s see what it has to offer.
Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku
Getting In And Out Of Desktop Mode
Accessing the Deck’s full-featured Linux “Desktop Mode”—which is what many users call its “desktop” functionality—is easy: After booting into the default Gaming Mode, just hold the power button and select “Switch to Desktop” and a few short loading screens later you’ll be in. You can’t launch directly into this mode when powering up the device, which is a shame, but switching is quick.
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From Gaming Mode, you can also access Desktop Mode by hitting the Steam button (or the touchscreen equivalent on the lower left-hand corner), navigating to “Power,” and selecting “Switch to Desktop”.
If you want to jump back to Gaming Mode, simply reboot.
Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku
Welcome To Linux, Expect A Few Hiccups
Steam Deck runs on SteamOS, which is Valve’s spin on a Linux-based OS. For those outside the dominion of the penguin, Linux presents a compelling alternative to the likes of Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s MacOS. It’s excellent, and has an endless variety of use cases; desktop computing is just one.
No, we’re not entering the year of the Linux desktop (yet). But the last decade has seen incredible advances in there nonetheless, bringing us some very reliable and functional operating systems. Some even feature style and character. SteamOS’s Desktop Mode is kind of a greatest-hits of different developments in this sphere of computing. Most of the time it looks and performs like Windows: There’s a recognizable file management system, it comes with Firefox for web browsing, and you can run Steam and play games in Desktop Mode just as you would on a PC.
But you should still expect some…Linuxisms. For example, installing apps isn’t as straightforward. It’s best to use SteamOS’s “Discover” app store for finding and installing apps. Beyond that it’ll be hit or miss, and you’ll likely need to learn some Linux tips and tricks.
Obsidian, for example, is a fantastic (the best, even) note-taking app you can download from the internet, but the website will only give you an “Appimage” for Linux. We can skip the details of what that means, but know that it’s not a simple .exe or .msi. Installing it this way leads to a strange icon in the taskbar, and can leave the app tricky to launch. Obsidian is also in the app store, however, and installing it that way guarantees it’ll show up like any other app.
In general, using SteamOS in Desktop Mode won’t be too different from switching to a smartphone OS you’re not as familiar with. Things will be in different places; certain features will work in surprising ways. Discovering these differences is often the fun of learning a new OS, but sometimes a Linux desktop can behave in ways you’re not yet used to. Fortunately, SteamOS includes a lot of modern OS comforts to deal with common problems.
Valve has included an auto-launching “this program isn’t responding” prompt to deal with stubborn, unresponsive apps, for example. The System Monitor will also allow you to kill frozen programs just as Task Manager does in Windows. You can find that in the Deck’s equivalent of the Start Menu.
But don’t expect a buggy OS where apps are crashing left and right. SteamOS is one of the most stable Linux desktop environments I’ve tried in a long time. You’re far less likely to burn down the install by doing something you didn’t know you weren’t supposed to in the Terminal—a common enough Linux accident that’s worryingly easy to do even in a very popular and user-friendly Linux distribution like Ubuntu.
If you’re okay getting your hands a little dirty with learning a new OS’s quirks, you’ll be fine. That said, there are a few items you should set up immediately. Like, don’t use the Deck as a desktop computer until you do these things.
Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku
Set Steam To Launch On Startup
Having Steam running while in Desktop Mode is absolutely essential, but by default, Steam does not launch alongside Desktop Mode. Valve should actually change this.
If we’re going to get the most out of the Steam Deck as a computer, then we need to make sure that Desktop Mode works as efficiently as it can without requiring an external monitor or a physical mouse and keyboard.
That’s where running Steam comes in. Steam, the app, provides you the ability to bring up a virtual keyboard, move the mouse around with the touchpads, and activate other useful SteamOS commands. If you don’t have any peripherals attached and Steam is closed, the Steam Deck is just a tablet with a touchscreen—one that’s not as accurate as your smartphone’s.
You can set this in Steam itself. Enter Desktop Mode, launch Steam, then navigate to Steam’s settings. In “Interface,” check “Run Steam when my computer starts.” While you’re there, uncheck the box at the bottom labeled “Notify me about additions or changes to my games, new releases, and upcoming releases.” That’ll shut off the Steam app’s annoying store deals pop-up. If you didn’t know how to do that yet, you’re welcome.
You can also make Desktop Mode apps accessible through the Deck’s main Game Mode interface (the one that looks similar to Steam’s “Big Picture”). Simply right-click on an app you want to show up in your Steam library and select “Add to Steam.” Some programs won’t launch this way, while others might have some interface issues, so you’re likely to go through a bit of trial and error from app to app. Any apps you add to Steam Deck’s Gaming Mode this way will show up under “Non-Steam Games” in your library.
Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku
Set The Displays Appropriately
If you connect an external display to the Steam Deck in Gaming Mode, it will switch over automatically. It takes a second longer than it probably should, but it’s pretty seamless. This isn’t the case on Desktop Mode, however. Setting up your displays here can be a little tricky at first. Fortunately, that’s a setting away from being fixed.
In Desktop Mode, the Steam Deck will default to its own little screen as primary and will use your external monitor as a secondary display. In System Settings, you’ll find it refers to its own display as a “Laptop Screen” (aww, it thinks it’s a computer!).
If you want to use your external screen as the main display, complete with the actual main desktop and taskbar, set your external screen to “Primary”. You might also want to consider unchecking “Enabled” for the Laptop Screen, as this will give the smaller screen a break by shutting it off.
Have some patience when connecting and fiddling with display settings. Desktop Mode seems to get confused easily and might flip back and forth between both screens before stopping on one. This is typically just a quirk of setting it up. Once you’re up and running, your selected screen should stay put while in use. And if you switch back to Gaming Mode while an external monitor is plugged in, usually that external monitor becomes the main, and only, display.
Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku
Set A User Password
Steam Deck’s Desktop Mode doesn’t have a password by default. If you’re planning on using this device as a computer, you should change that. Search for “System Settings” in the “Start Menu” and under “Personalization” > “Users,” you’ll find the ability to edit your account information, including the option to set a password.
You’ll use this password in “Konsole,” SteamOS’s equivalent of a basic Linux “Terminal.” Even if you won’t be doing any Terminal work, a password is a pretty wise thing to set up. Just don’t forget it. (And while we’re at, it’s the Year of our Lord 2022, so you do use a password manager, right?)
Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku
Cover, Not Auto-Hide: The Essential “Taskbar” Setting
Steam Deck’s Desktop Mode has a Windows-like “taskbar” running along the bottom that shows you the various apps you have open. There’s a tray of options in the bottom right-hand corner with a clock, as well as a menu reminiscent of a Windows Start Menu on the left. The taskbar has one mission-critical setting that’s remarkably easy to miss.
Right-clicking on the taskbar will reveal an option titled “Enter Edit Mode.” Here you can thoroughly customize its appearance and add widgets, etc. But it’s essential to navigate to the right part of the screen in Edit Mode and under “More Options,” enable “Windows Can Cover” in the Visibility section.
This lets you make the most out of the Steam Deck’s small screen by allowing apps to expand over the “taskbar.” You might be tempted to select “auto-hide,” but if you don’t have a mouse and keyboard connected and Steam ends up crashing or doesn’t start up when entering Desktop Mode, well, you’ll have no “taskbar” on the desktop as it auto-hides, and you won’t be able to launch the main menu with the touchscreen. This essentially leaves SteamOS in a broken state until you physically plug in a mouse or keyboard.
Letting app windows cover the “taskbar” guarantees that the critical options it provides are always accessible when you minimize or move a full-screened app window, regardless of what input methods are connected or activated.
Photo: Kotaku
Get Some Essential Peripherals
Perhaps taking design inspiration from Apple, the Steam Deck has just a single USB-C port, forcing you to work around this constraint for all your connectivity needs. The Steam Deck is still quite young and doesn’t have a whole bunch of peripheral options available yet. For reasons I’ll explain, you may wish to opt for a comprehensive USB hub over a sleeker (or more home-theater friendly) custom dock. (If you’re really ambitious with peripherals, you might need to find a hub that plugs into the wall and has its own power.)
I’m currently using the Jsaux Steam Deck dock and, well, it’s fine. It holds the Deck and provides two USB-A 2.0 ports (gross), an Ethernet port, an HDMI out, and power in. A right-angle USB-C cable plugs into the top of the device and sends everything through there.
Docks, like the upcoming one from Valve itself, are very much a “set it and forget it” device. For computing uses, however, you may find yourself needing to pick the device up from time to time, so having everything anchored down to a single spot is just a little too inconvenient. I’ve found that the Steam Deck just needs to be picked up sometimes, especially when used without an external monitor. And a Nintendo Switch-like dock kind of interferes with that.
If the dock life’s not for you, a USB-C hub with a ton of great ports can do the trick, perhaps alongside a structural dock that is useful if you still want to stand the Deck up. Otherwise the Deck can lay flat well enough, provided you don’t obstruct its heat vents.
Moving on to input, you’ll likely want a keyboard with a small footprint. Any tenkeyless or 75%/60% layouts will probably do fine. You may also want to consider a keyboard that has extra USB ports for a mouse, freeing up the USB hub or dock’s limited ports for other uses.
I recommend a trackball over a traditional mouse. You might be computing in some cramped spaces with the Steam Deck, and not needing to drag a physical mouse around can make life much easier.
You should also keep an audio cable around to connect the headphone jack to speakers; the Deck has a 1/8-inch output jack. This will come in handy if you’re having issues getting audio out of the device over USB-C for whatever reason.
Finally, consider getting a good set of Bluetooth headphones. Bluetooth connections are pretty reliable on the Deck (especially in Game Mode) though there can be a touch of audio latency if you’re using more performance-intensive applications.
With a set of headphones, a hub or dock, small keyboard, and trackball or mouse, you can hole up in a corner at a coffee shop or library and use the Deck like you would a laptop. People may want to talk to you about this setup, but you’ve no time for them; you’re living in the future.
Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku
Embrace Light Mode
Hang on, you vampires. Yes, I too have giant blackout curtains and am surrounded by screens typically featuring user interfaces set to dark mode. When using the Steam Deck’s small screen, though, you might want to switch to light mode, as it really improves visibility and readability. With light mode, I find myself squinting at the screen far less often, and I can even get away with lower brightness settings for the most part.
You can find this option in the System Settings: Just search for “Themes” and navigate to the “Global Theme” setting. Here you can try “Breeze” or “Breeze Twilight” as some pretty good light-mode options. You can also download some new themes from the app store…but remember when I said to expect some “Linuxisms?” Yeah, right now, at least for me, themes appears to be a bit buggy. They won’t crash or anything, but display elements don’t seem to always render or behave correctly.
Photo: Kotaku
Have A Backup Plan (Just In Case)
I’m kind of surprised I haven’t completely broken SteamOS yet; Compared to more typical LInux distributions, Valve’s operating system seems to have a few extra guardrails that prevent inadvertent software destruction. Still, I’d expect it’s easier to accidentally break this OS than a Windows or a Mac installation. As is the case with computing in general, have a good backup plan for your data, but also plan to have a backup of SteamOS itself should events take an unexpected turn.
Fortunately, Valve provides some pretty straightforward documentation on recovering the Deck. It seems a good idea to get a compatible USB drive and dedicate it to storing a copy of the OS should you find yourself needing recovery in a place where you can’t create a bootable disk from another computer.
Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku
Don’t Temper Expectations, Set Effective Use-Cases Instead
So once you have the right peripherals and you’ve made all the software tweaks to maximize the Deck’s desktop efficiency, what’s next?
This is where the fun begins (sorry). First, the Steam Deck’s Desktop Mode does basic computing without worry. Email, IM, web browsing (watch the tab count though), playing music, watching videos, text editing…it’s all here.
One of the most immediate benefits of the Deck’s Desktop Mode, however, is that it’s a great opportunity to start using Linux. Given how many games are playable on the Deck through the Proton compatibility layer, it’s not so farfetched to see a future when a gaming PC running Linux alone will satisfy most needs. The Deck offers a way to start planning for that exodus. Fire up a few Linux tutorials and gain some familiarity with using the Terminal (called Konsole on the Deck), package managers, sudo commands, all of it. As a PC replacement (or complement) the Deck offers a ton of computing capability in an amazingly tiny package.
Out in the wild, folks are using the Deck to program code and play around with music production. Other brave souls are finding workflows to develop games directly on the device too. But if those are beyond your computing needs or interests, the Deck could serve easily as a lightweight computing device for daily productivity tasks and it doesn’t take up much space. And if you can find an art program you like that runs on Linux, drawing tablets aren’t too hard to set up, with some being just plug-and-play.
There are also a variety of great productivity and multimedia apps that run on SteamOS’s Desktop Mode without much issue. For music, I highly recommend Bitwig; it can be challenging to learn, but it’s a genuine piece of music creation software. VCV Rack 2 is also a great piece of music software that runs well, but as it’s a simulated modular synthesizer, it requires a whole other set of knowledge to even use effectively. Also, that program will introduce you to the confusing world of audio on Linux and you might easily crash the program by selecting the wrong audio driver. The learning process can be fun though.
Other great programs include KdenLive for video editing, Krita for art, and even Blender for 3D stuff. SteamOS’s Discover app is very well populated, so you’re very likely to find apps that fit your needs.
The Steam Deck’s software and hardware will only improve over time. But I know that moving forward, my interests in the device as a portable computer are starting to edge out my need to run Cyberpunk 2077 while waiting for a bus.
Desktop Mode is so versatile and usable that I could very plausibly see a future in which the Deck is my go-to portable computing device, which just so happens to also be great at playing games. Sure, I may have to carry around a few more peripherals than I would a laptop, but I think that’s kind of a “feature,” if you will, of what you can do with it.
The Steam Deck is, in the playful sense of the word, a “hacking console” as much as it is a “gaming console,” the sort of fun Linux-project box I’ve been wanting for years now. I’m excited to see what else we can accomplish on this wonderfully open and flexible device. What do you plan to do with yours?
Google CEO Sundar Pichai is reportedly calling on his staff to implement a “Simplicity Sprint” initiative meant to crowdsource employee ideas around product development, drive up efficiency and, “get better results faster.” The proposal comes on the heels of a hiring freeze and a series of worrying emails that has some Googlers concerned over the potential for layoffs.
The so-called Simplicity Sprint, first reported on by CNBC, reportedly came up during a company all-hands meeting last week. Pichai reportedly told employees they could share ideas for the sprint up until August 15 through an internal survey. The survey reportedly includes questions that probe areas where the company could potentially make cuts, according to a copy viewed by CNBC.
Pichai reportedly made it clear that efficiency at the company isn’t where executives want it, particularly in light of disappointing Q2 results. Google’s overall revenue was slightly below analysts’ predictions while revenue growth slowed to 13%, down from 62% during the same period the previous year.
“I wanted to give some additional context following our earnings results, and ask for your help as well,” Pichai reportedly told staff. “It’s clear we are facing a challenging macro environment with more uncertainty ahead.”
On the question of layoffs, Google’s Chief People Officer, Fiona Cicconi, said the company is still hiring for some critical roles and has no current layoff plans, but did not entirely rule out layoffs down the line.
“We’re asking teams to be more focused and efficient and we’re working out what that means as a company as well,” Cicconi reportedly said. “Even though we can’t be sure of the economy in the future, we’re not currently looking to reduce Google’s overall workforce.”
Google did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.
Last week’s meeting marks the latest in a series of alarming, at times cryptic communications between Google executives and staff alluding to potential tougher times ahead. Early last month, Pichai reportedly sent an email to staff urging employees to be “more entrepreneurial,” and said the company would shift its focus to hiring for “critical roles” moving forward. Just weeks later, Google reportedly sent a follow up email where it announced the company would implement a two week hiring freeze. That freeze came after the company reportedly brought on around 10,000 new workers in Q2.
“We’ll use this time to review our headcount needs and align on a new set of prioritized Staffing Requests for the next three months,” Google Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan reportedly said in the email obtained by The Information.
Google’s warning to its staff reflects a broader sense of unease across the tech industry. A recent Crunchbass analysis found the tech industry has lost more than 30,000 jobs this year as of late July. Those have come from nearly every corner of the sector, from electric vehicle giants like Tesla to cryptocurrency heavyweight Coinbase.
There’s signs that pressure could be coming for the Big Tech giants as well. Last month, a senior Meta executive advised managers to “move to exit,” poor-performing employees. A month prior to that, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly considered slashing the hiring of its engineers by 30% for the remainder of the year, according to a leaked Q&A. Zuckerberg reiterated that glum sentiment during an all hands meeting last week where he reportedly said the company had hired too aggressively during the pandemic, Reuters notes.
While the recent tech industry downturns mark the clearest explanation for Google’s recent cautionary language, Pichai has faced criticism from some who’ve said his leadership at the company is linked to a decline in performance. 15 current and former Google executives speaking to the New York Times last year blamed Pichai for not moving quickly enough on business decisions and creating an environment paralyzed by bureaucracy. Some former Google executives, like Noam Bardin, accused Pichai of lacking the appetite for risk so symbolic of tech industry executives.
“The innovation challenges,” Bardin wrote in a blog post , “will only get worse as the risk tolerance will go down.”
Photo: Joby Sessions / PC Gamer Magazine/ Future (Getty Images)
The crypto market is continuing to fall, which has led a ton of miners to exit the market or to downscale their operations, thus finding themselves in possession of valuable computer components that they now no longer need. Some such miners, many from China and South Asia (where electricity is cheaper), are now taking that hardware and dumping it on e-commerce websites. As a result, GPUs that usually go for $500 to $600 are selling for around half that price on the secondhand market.
As noted by PC Gamer, GPUs are suddenly flooding the market, a trend likely driven by several factors. The major one is how cryptocurrency prices have been plummeting since this winter. Now that it seems like the market won’t make a turnaround anytime soon, miners are jumping ship. And these aren’t pristine, out-of-the-box GeForce RTX 3060s that they’re selling. These graphics cards have been used to mine crypto, which uses tons of electricity. Buyers have found that these RTX 3060s were cheap for a reason—many of them are defective after prolonged use. So the common wisdom seems to be that you shouldn’t be too eager to score some used GPUs from an unknown buyer.
However, there’s been some contention in the tech community about how degraded these graphics cards really are. PC World claims that buying a used graphics card from an experienced miner beats buying one from a gamer (who tends to “overclock” their GPUs). Tech YouTuber Linus Sebastian tested some mining GPUs on camera and found that the used graphics cards can still perform well—if they were carefully maintained by their previous owner. So if you must buy a GPU from a miner who wasted a ton of electricity on speculative currency, then you should at least find a reputable seller. Good luck with that, by the way.
If you ask me, I think it’s funnier to let miners languish with a bunch of expensive graphics cards that they can’t even get rid of. It is annoying, though, that Nvidia benefited hugely from the crypto boom, so much so, in fact, that the company got hit by a federal fine for trying to hide how crypto boosted its profits. Hey, at least this crypto nightmare is finally over *knocks on wood* and we’ll all no doubt be seeing far more reasonable graphics card prices very, very soon.
Today, Valve released a highly-anticipated update to its portable PC. SteamOS 3.2 brings a lot of fun changes to both the operating system and the Steam client itself, enabling Remote Play Together, tweaks to some visual and UI elements, and the ability to change the screen’s refresh rate The updates to the fan noise, however, are bound to be hotly (sorry) debated around corners of the internet.
Essentially, an ongoing problem with the Steam Deck has been that, in order to keep this pocket PC from bursting into flames, its fan is usually on. And by usually I mean: All. Of. The. Time. And it’s loud! It easily blows past my heavy metal-induced tinnitus to produce enough sound to actually hit an audible pitch. I’ve gotten used to it (I also have hearing damage), but others haven’t been as happy.
The noise inspired iFixit to sell new fans which are, if you’re of the DIY spirit, rather easy to replace and offer a quieter solution. But for those of us who’d rather not break open the device, SteamOS 3.2 allows adjustment of the fan curve, bringing it down so the device doesn’t start singing in its mezzo-soprano range.
Here’s where things are likely to get heated (again, sorry) online. By dropping the speed of the fan, the device is going to get hotter. How much hotter? Well, PC Gamer measured the change as being as high as 10°C (that’s an 18° change in Freedom units) a few weeks ago in just one example. It was enough for them to consider this update as not being worth it given the potential impact on the Steam Deck’s lifespan.
Photo: Kotaku
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Digital Foundry had a bit of a more nuanced take; essentially, fan speed, temperature, and utilization, all mix to deliver different results. So you’re likely to see increases in temperature from 4° or 5° to as much as 10° C. It was of their opinion (as well as mine, to be honest) that, since this is still within the expected operating temperatures for the device, you’re probably not going to run into any problems.
This isn’t too dissimilar to debates over whether you should leave your computer on all the time or shut it off when you’re not using it. As a science professor once told me, “Heat is real,” so yes, running the device at hot temperatures isn’t nothing. But technically speaking, unless we’re pushing the device into temperatures it wasn’t designed to run at, why should we have a problem?
I don’t want to dismiss this debate too quickly. According to an old military handbook on the expected lifespan of electronics, 10°C could halve the expected lifespan of a device. Of course, there are so many factors to consider that this is likely to be a debate we’ll continue to wage on Twitter and Reddit.
I guess the only real way to know is to buy about a dozen Steam Decks, have them run the same scene in something like Cyberpunk 2077 for four or five years, set half to the lower fan curve, while the other half uses the original settings. We’ll then see which ones die first. Until such science can be achieved, maybe it’s best to leave the old fan curve settings on if the sound isn’t that big of a deal to you. You are more than likely to come across a fountain of opinions and facts, filled with anecdotes and internet math out there about this one detail. Until we’re a couple of years into the life of the Steam Deck and we start seeing actual results, we’re just not gonna know one way or another.
I leave it to the comment section to, respectfully I assume, discuss further.
Correction 05/27/2022 1:45 p.m. ET: Fixed a math mistake.