Month: September 2023
How to watch the Washington vs. Arizona game without cable
These are the best streaming services for watching the Washington Huskies vs. Arizona Wildcats college football game without cable.
These are the best streaming services for watching the Washington Huskies vs. Arizona Wildcats college football game without cable.
Counter-Strike 2 Lacks Mac Support, Update Breaks CS:GO for macOS
Valve this week released Counter-Strike 2, the highly anticipated free upgrade for owners of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but Mac owners were left in the lurch on launch day, with the upgrade breaking the game and no macOS version of the game seemingly forthcoming.
The title’s release on Wednesday forced a 26GB update for everyone with CS:GO, including Mac users, but after installation those on macOS soon discovered that the update essentially makes the game unplayable, because Steam then attempts to launch an executable file for Windows. Some users have had to employ a workaround to reverse the change and access CS:GO, but it’s less than ideal.
Valve quietly removed the macOS symbol on Steam’s Counter-Strike product page, while the only reference to this omission for Counter-Strike 2 appears in Valve’s official FAQ. A question about Mac support says: “No. CS2 is not available for Mac at this time,” but provides no additional information.
Regardless, Valve apparently failed to adequately warn Mac users, many of whom have racked up thousands of hours on CS:GO and spent hundreds of dollars on inventory purchases. One Mac gamer on Reddit wrote:
I have around 6000 hours in the csgo about 500$ worth inventory and I am supposed to leave all that behind now. Just cherish them as memories of the past never to be experienced again? I really believed Valve would have released a MacOS version CS2 too. They have publicly denounced windows gaming monopoly in the past. With MacOS Sonoma, powerful apple silicon chips and Apple making strides to make gaming possible on Mac and Valve’s commitment to making their games available to everyone I guess we didn’t see this coming. Or maybe we did but we were stubborn. I guess with Valve’s darling steam deck MacOS became redundant to them as a way to challenge windows gaming monopoly. I am sorry you guys had to hear this but I feel so disappointed right now. In myself and in Valve. I’m sure most of you CSGO players were as excited and hopeful as I was for the games launch.Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the most popular and long-running games on macOS, with a large community following, so the lack of support and transparancy from Valve for Mac users upgrading to Counter-Strike 2 is all the more bewildering.
Based on recent updates to the CS2 macOS depot, some users believe a Mac version is in development, but this would likely relate to Rosetta 2 rather than a version that natively supports Apple silicon. With no word on the subject from Valve, this remains purely speculation.
The long-rumored game, officially announced in March, updates many much-loved maps, and uses Valve’s in-house Source 2 engine, featuring sharper textures, more realistic lighting, and new geometry. We’ve reached out to Valve for comment on this story and will update readers if we hear back.
(Thanks, Scott!)Tags: Valve, SteamThis article, “Counter-Strike 2 Lacks Mac Support, Update Breaks CS:GO for macOS” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
Valve this week released Counter-Strike 2, the highly anticipated free upgrade for owners of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but Mac owners were left in the lurch on launch day, with the upgrade breaking the game and no macOS version of the game seemingly forthcoming.
The title’s release on Wednesday forced a 26GB update for everyone with CS:GO, including Mac users, but after installation those on macOS soon discovered that the update essentially makes the game unplayable, because Steam then attempts to launch an executable file for Windows. Some users have had to employ a workaround to reverse the change and access CS:GO, but it’s less than ideal.
Valve quietly removed the macOS symbol on Steam’s Counter-Strike product page, while the only reference to this omission for Counter-Strike 2 appears in Valve’s official FAQ. A question about Mac support says: “No. CS2 is not available for Mac at this time,” but provides no additional information.
Regardless, Valve apparently failed to adequately warn Mac users, many of whom have racked up thousands of hours on CS:GO and spent hundreds of dollars on inventory purchases. One Mac gamer on Reddit wrote:
I have around 6000 hours in the csgo about 500$ worth inventory and I am supposed to leave all that behind now. Just cherish them as memories of the past never to be experienced again? I really believed Valve would have released a MacOS version CS2 too. They have publicly denounced windows gaming monopoly in the past. With MacOS Sonoma, powerful apple silicon chips and Apple making strides to make gaming possible on Mac and Valve’s commitment to making their games available to everyone I guess we didn’t see this coming. Or maybe we did but we were stubborn. I guess with Valve’s darling steam deck MacOS became redundant to them as a way to challenge windows gaming monopoly. I am sorry you guys had to hear this but I feel so disappointed right now. In myself and in Valve. I’m sure most of you CSGO players were as excited and hopeful as I was for the games launch.Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the most popular and long-running games on macOS, with a large community following, so the lack of support and transparancy from Valve for Mac users upgrading to Counter-Strike 2 is all the more bewildering.
Based on recent updates to the CS2 macOS depot, some users believe a Mac version is in development, but this would likely relate to Rosetta 2 rather than a version that natively supports Apple silicon. With no word on the subject from Valve, this remains purely speculation.
The long-rumored game, officially announced in March, updates many much-loved maps, and uses Valve’s in-house Source 2 engine, featuring sharper textures, more realistic lighting, and new geometry. We’ve reached out to Valve for comment on this story and will update readers if we hear back.
(Thanks, Scott!)
This article, “Counter-Strike 2 Lacks Mac Support, Update Breaks CS:GO for macOS” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Discuss this article in our forums
Using fMRI scans on 19 lonely fans of “Game of Thrones”, researchers discovered that they processed their favorite characters similarly to real friends in their brains. This suggests that lonelier people may be thinking of their favorite characters in the same way they would real friends
submitted by /u/giuliomagnifico [link] [comments]
submitted by /u/giuliomagnifico
[link] [comments]
ICYMI: the 7 biggest tech stories of the week, from Meta Quest 3 to Raspberry Pi 5
Been away on a tech news detox? Fear not – we’ve picked out all the best stories so you can get right back up to speed.
The tech launches show no sign of slowing down as we head into October, with this week serving up another generous round of tech treats to help us wash down last week’s helpings of Microsoft Copilot, Amazon’s Alexa AI and iOS 17.
This time, it was Meta’s turn to take to the stage at Meta Connect, where it made the unsurprising full announcement of the Meta Quest 3, alongside some big AI news. You can read about both of those below, alongside our verdict on DJI’s new Mini 4 Pro drone (spoiler: it’s great).
In between all of that, we were sorely tempted to pre-order a new Raspberry Pi 5 so that it can sit on our shelf collecting dust again, and we also found time to celebrate Google’s 25th birthday. So if you were too busy this week living in actual reality rather than virtual reality, let us fill you in on all the tech news you missed…
7. Google turned 25 – and we celebrated in style
(Image credit: Google)
Okay, most birthday celebrations include party hats, candles and awkwardly fighting co-workers for a slice of cake. But for Google’s 25th birthday this week, we decided to honor it in the only way we know how – by writing a series of features delving into the big G’s biggest successes, mistakes and exciting future projects.
We looked back on how on earth we survived before Google (if you remember Altavista, Hotmail and Netscape, make sure to give that a read), praised our favorite unsung Google apps and services, and lamented the Google graveyard projects that we wish still existed.
Naturally, we also ranked the best Google Doodles of all time and also the best Google Easter egg surprises hidden in its various apps and services (including, most recently, Android 14). And as a nightcap, we looked ahead to the next 25 years of Google and its most promising future projects.
Read more: Check out all of our features for Google’s 25th anniversary
6. The Raspberry Pi 5 arrived to power your DIY projects
(Image credit: Raspberry Pi Foundation)
Partial to a DIY coding project? The Raspberry Pi has always been a great board for the hobbyist tinkerer – and now a powerful fifth version has just been launched with a new CPU and more.
Okay, there may be some issues with availability despite pre-orders kicking off ahead of an October launch, but it looks like the Pi 5 will be worth waiting for. The main boost is a quad-core Arm Cortex-A76 CPU running at 2.4GHz, and a major upgrade from the Pi 4’s 1.8GHz chip.
But you also get a new VideoCore VII GPU for a boost in graphical performance, Bluetooth 5.0 and two HDMI outputs (alongside a pair of USB 3.0 ports) that let you hook up it up to two 4K displays (at 60Hz, with HDR support). Not bad at all for the $60 / £60 / AU$125 (4GB version) and $80 / £79 / AU$95 (8GB) price tags.
Read more: Raspberry Pi 5 is a seriously supercharged new brain for your DIY projects
5. Dune became our next Netflix must-watch
(Image credit: Warner Bros. / HBO)
Well, we didn’t expect Dune, one of 2021’s best movies, to take an Ornithopter-based trip to Netflix, but that’s exactly what’s happening very, very soon.
That’s right, one of the best Max movies is joining the world’s best streaming service on October 1, meaning more of us can stream Denis Villeneuve’s epic film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal book whenever we want. You can find out if it’s worth watching by reading our Dune review first.
Will it make it onto our best Netflix movies list? Most likely, but Dune’s arrival on Netflix would’ve been so much better if its sequel was still set to arrive in early November. Unfortunately, Dune Part Two has been delayed until March 2024, meaning you’ll have to get your spice-laden fix of Arrakis via the first film for the next few months.
Read more: Dune is heading to Netflix very soon, and its arrival would’ve been perfect but for one issue
4. The iPhone 15 ran into a few teething issues
(Image credit: Apple)
This week we saw the first iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro phones delivered to their new owners – and while most were excited to receive their new pocket companions, some discovered a few small issues with the first batch of Apple’s new phones.
Apple responded to a couple of the issues, namely an iOS bug that made the phones freeze when directly transferring data from another iPhone, plus an issue with fingerprint smudges on the Pro models’ new titanium finish. An iOS update (17.0.2) sorted out the former, while Apple updated its support page for cleaning the iPhone 15 series.
Yet anecdotal evidence suggests other small niggles are persisting for some, including the odd manufacturing defect and, later in the week, reports of overheating incidents. We haven’t discovered any of these issues during testing and there’s no suggestion that they’re widespread, but it’s something we’ll be keeping an eye on (and asking Apple about) in the week ahead.
Read more: Buying an iPhone 15? Look out for these 3 widely-reported issues
3. Meta revealed its new AI assistants for WhatsApp and more
(Image credit: Meta)
Meta’s quietly been making significant strides in the world of artificial intelligence –and at this week’s Meta Connect event, it revealed a bunch of AI-powered tools that are coming to the likes of WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.
The most useful is arguably a new AI image generation and editing feature for Instagram, which will soon help you apply effects like a watercolor filter or convert it to black and white. But Meta is also baking a lineup of 28 AI characters into its three messaging ups, making them more like a ‘social’ version of ChatGPT.
These characters are inspired by celebrities like Kendall Jenner, Mr. Beast, Paris Hilton, and Snoop Dogg. You’ll be able to have direct conversations with these ‘personas’ and even inquire about Paris Hilton’s favorite lip gloss. As you chat with these characters, their profile images dynamically animate, adding an engaging visual element that’s often lacking in conversations with typical AI chatbots.
Read more: Meta AI is coming to your social media apps – and I’ve already forgotten about ChatGPT
2. The DJI Mini 4 Pro landed and became our favorite small drone
(Image credit: DJI)
If you’re looking to get into aerial photography and videography, then the DJI Mini 3 Pro has long been our recommendation for beginners – and this week it was succeeded by (you guessed it) the Mini 4 Pro.
Okay, not a lot has changed on the camera front, with the Mini 4 Pro offering the same 24mm f/1.7 camera as before – it has a 1/1.3in sensor for shooting 48MP photos and 4K video.
But what has been upgraded is the drone’s obstacle-sensing, which is now omnidirectional for safer flying, plus the inclusion of Ocusync 4.0 connectivity and waypoints (for pre-determining a route for your drone to fly through). Not a major upgrade, then, but the Mini 4 Pro still does enough to inherit the crown of being the best drone for most people.
Read more: DJI Mini 4 Pro unveiled – meet the drone that DJI fans are calling the ‘Air 3 mini’
1. The Meta Quest 3 became the best VR headset you can buy
(Image credit: Meta)
Alongside its new AI personalities, Meta finally unveiled the Meta Quest 3 – and based on our experiences with it so far (which you can read more about in our hands-on Meta Quest 3 review) it’s the best VR headset you can buy.
Thanks to its Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, the Meta Quest 3 boasts a 2.5x better graphical performance than the Quest 2, plus it has full-color mixed reality that’s higher quality than what we’ve seen from its rivals – even the Meta Quest Pro. Best of all, the Quest 3 is a reasonable price at just $499.99 / £479.99 / AU$799.99 for the 128GB version.
Sure it could have higher RAM, and eye-tracking would have been appreciated, but we don’t think you’ll find a finer VR headset for this price.
Read more: The Meta Quest 3 is here, and I think it’s the best VR headset yet
NASA Opens OSIRIS-REx’s Asteroid-Sample Canister
Mike Wall writes via Space.com: OSIRIS-REx’s asteroid-sample canister just creaked open for the first time in more than seven years. Scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston lifted the canister’s outer lid on Tuesday (Sept. 26), two days after OSIRIS-REx’s return capsule landed in the desert of northern Utah. “Scientists gasped as the lid was lifted,” NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) division, which is based at JSC, wrote Tuesday in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The operation revealed “dark powder and sand-sized particles on the inside of the lid and base,” they added.
That powder once resided on the surface of an asteroid named Bennu, the focus of the OSIRIS-REx mission. OSIRIS-REx launched toward the 1,650-foot-wide (500 meters) Bennu in September 2016, arrived in December 2018 and snagged a hefty sample from the space rock in October 2020 using its Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or TAGSAM. The asteroid material landed in Utah inside OSIRIS-REx’s return capsule on Sunday (Sept. 24), then made its way to Houston by plane on Monday (Sept. 25). It will be stored and curated at JSC, where the team will oversee its distribution to scientists around the world.
Researchers will study the sample for decades to come, seeking insights about the the solar system’s formation and early evolution, as well as the role that carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu may have played in seeding Earth with the building blocks of life. But that work isn’t ready to begin; the ARES team hasn’t even accessed the main asteroid sample yet. Doing so requires disassembly of the TAGSAM apparatus, an intricate operation that will take considerable time.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Mike Wall writes via Space.com: OSIRIS-REx’s asteroid-sample canister just creaked open for the first time in more than seven years. Scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston lifted the canister’s outer lid on Tuesday (Sept. 26), two days after OSIRIS-REx’s return capsule landed in the desert of northern Utah. “Scientists gasped as the lid was lifted,” NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) division, which is based at JSC, wrote Tuesday in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The operation revealed “dark powder and sand-sized particles on the inside of the lid and base,” they added.
That powder once resided on the surface of an asteroid named Bennu, the focus of the OSIRIS-REx mission. OSIRIS-REx launched toward the 1,650-foot-wide (500 meters) Bennu in September 2016, arrived in December 2018 and snagged a hefty sample from the space rock in October 2020 using its Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or TAGSAM. The asteroid material landed in Utah inside OSIRIS-REx’s return capsule on Sunday (Sept. 24), then made its way to Houston by plane on Monday (Sept. 25). It will be stored and curated at JSC, where the team will oversee its distribution to scientists around the world.
Researchers will study the sample for decades to come, seeking insights about the the solar system’s formation and early evolution, as well as the role that carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu may have played in seeding Earth with the building blocks of life. But that work isn’t ready to begin; the ARES team hasn’t even accessed the main asteroid sample yet. Doing so requires disassembly of the TAGSAM apparatus, an intricate operation that will take considerable time.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.