TechNews

A new Fortnite leak has revealed the game’s strangest crossover yet. Fortnite is crossing over with everybody these days. From Marvel and Star Wars to the NFL and God of War, Epic Games has been going absolutely wild with the crossovers. In this process, it’s had some odd ones, but none odder than Peter Griffin. That’s right, according to a new leak, a Fortnite x Family Guy crossover is seemingly in the works.

Of course, this is odd for a myriad of reasons. For one, Fortnite is often advertised for children. Family Guy is very much not for children. This also isn’t the mid-2000s. While Family Guy is still running, it’s nowhere near as popular as it used to be. Despite all of this, it looks like Epic Games is planning to add Peter Griffin to the game, which means you may soon have a squad of Batman, Ninja, Master Chief, and Peter Griffin running around. And if that mental image doesn’t reveal how weird video games have gotten, or at least how Fortnite has gotten, then I don’t know what will.

As for the leak itself, it comes the way of a new datamining effort, and courtesy of the new Street Fighter cosmetics added. Right now, the datamine has yet to reveal a skin, but it did pull the backbling texture below:

Family Guy Collab Soon? Eyes This backbling texture got decrypted with the street fighter cosmetics (via: @GMatrixGames) pic.twitter.com/pmHRd3fjgE

— HYPEX (@HYPEX) February 21, 2021

Now, there are only two explanations for this being in the game. The first is what the speculation above suggests is happening: Peter Griffin is coming to Fortnite. The only other possible explanation is someone at Epic Games is having a little fun and trolling both dataminers and fans.

At the moment of publishing, Epic Games has not commented on this leak in any capacity. If this changes, we will be sure to update the story with what it has to say. In the meantime, for more coverage on the free-to-play and PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile battle royale game, click here or continue to the links below:

Under normal and lightweight web browsing, Google Chrome uses 10x more RAM than Safari on macOS Big Sur, according to a test conducted by Flotato creator Morten Just (via iMore).

In a blog post, Just outlines that he put both browsers to the test in two scenarios on the latest version of macOS. The first test was conducted on a virtual machine, and the second on a 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro with 32GB of RAM. In the first round of testing, Just simulated a typical browsing pattern of opening Twitter, scrolling around, and then opening a new tab with Gmail and composing an email.

Under that test, Just found that Chrome reached 1GB of RAM usage, while Safari used only 80MB of RAM. The two-tab test was only the start, however.

With 54 tabs open, Just found that Google Chrome used 24x more RAM per tab compared to Safari. Both browsers, according to Just, were free of any extensions, and this specific test was conducted on his actual MacBook Pro, not a virtual machine. Per his findings, Chrome used 290MB of RAM per open tab, while Safari only used 12MB of RAM per open tab.

While the results are stark, Just does say that Google Chrome is likely “going out of its way to manage its memory usage across tabs,” in efforts to keep the current tab “fast and responsive.” In his tests, Just finds that his own application, Flotato, a lightweight alternative to Chrome that creates apps based on webpages, used significantly less RAM than both Safari and Chrome.

Chrome is known to being a memory hog on Mac and Windows computers, an issue Google has recently attempted to solve.

With ‌macOS Big Sur‌, Safari received significant updates that saw it further outpace Chrome. Apple says that Safari on ‌macOS Big Sur‌ is “50% faster on average at loading frequently visited websites than Chrome,” and that Safari provides up to one and a half hours longer of streaming video, and up to one hour longer normal web browsing on a single charge, compared to Chrome and Firefox.

Update: There are comments suggesting that these measurements may not be accurate. We’ll provide further updates as more information comes out.

As we reported ahead of the first developer preview’s release, one of the big new features coming to Android 12 is advanced theming features. While these new options aren’t live in the first developer preview, one clever developer was able to give us a first look at the new theme tool coming to Android 12.

Last month, we shared that Google was working on this new, in-depth theming system which can be adjusted manually or can automatically adjust to match your wallpaper. Android developer Kdrag0n shared a handful of screenshots on Twitter which show the latter option.

Pictured below as it was manually activated on Developer Preview 1, Android 12’s new theming tool picks colors from your wallpaper and adjusts the system to match, from the quick settings and notifications to buttons and sliders within the settings menu. This new tool is codenamed “monet” and, according to Kdrag0n, it works “quite well” on the first developer preview release.

Through some research of their own, our Dylan Roussel and Kyle Bradshaw found that some of the files that “monet” will depend on for its full functionality aren’t yet present in Android 12 Developer Preview 1, which is likely part of the reason why this requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work to activate (we have not been able to activate it ourselves yet).

At this point, it’s not totally clear when Google will release the Android 12 “monet” theming tool to users, but based on years past a release during the Android 12 Beta makes the most sense. This year’s schedule puts that release sometime in May.

Dylan Roussel and Kyle Bradshaw contributed to this article.

More on Android 12:

---

Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:

A group of gaming preservationists has released online a fully playable (and a bit buggy) build of Dinosaur Planet, a canceled Nintendo 64 project developed by Rare. It would eventually become Star Fox Adventures, which was released on the Gamecube in 2002.

Game preservation group Forest of Illusion uploaded the unreleased build of Dinosaur Planet earlier this morning. The group explained that this build of the game was purchased from a private game collector in Sweden. According to the group, files in the build imply it was last worked on December 1, 2000, making it a fairly late build of Dinosaur Planet.

While it does appear to be the full game, it won’t run perfectly on emulators. The group also explained that it will need some hacking before it becomes fully and easily playable to the end. Though even with these issues folks are already downloading the game and playing it via emulator.

Dinosaur Planet was announced back in 1999 and during its development, Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto decided the game would work perfectly as a Star Fox title. While some at Rare weren’t thrilled about this change, most realized how the Star Fox brand and characters could help the game be more successful. Interestingly, this leaked build of Dinosaur Planet contains Fox McCloud, indicating that this build is extremely late in the N64 development era of the game, with Rare already beginning to bring in Star Fox elements.

It’s been quite a month for fans of canceled Rare games. Earlier this month, an unreleased build of the canceled XBLA remake of Goldeneye was released online.

Related Stories

Most web browsers access your geographic location via your IP address to serve local search results. Your browser may also have permission to use your device’s built-in camera and microphone. It’s certainly convenient, but it’s a huge security risk.

Here is a list of browser security settings you need to check now.

Browser cookies, extensions, and software bugs can slow your internet connection speeds to a crawl. Use these proven tricks to speed up Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.

A browser is your gateway to the web and the cybercriminals looking to take advantage of you. If you’re ready to make a move to a more privacy-focused browser or see if yours makes my list, keep reading.

Best overall browser for privacy: Brave

If you’re fed up with trackers, ads, and data-hungry bits of code that follow you across the internet, Brave is the browser for you. Brave’s servers don’t see or store your browsing data, so it stays private until you delete it. That means your info is never packaged up and sold to advertisers.

The browser’s default settings block harmful junk like malware, phishing, and malicious advertising and plug-ins that could harm your computer.

Advertising and trackers are blocked by default. Because of all it stops, Brave says it is three times faster than Chrome overall and loads major sites up to six times faster than its competitors.

GET MORE TECH SMARTS: Sign up for “The Current.” Delivered to you twice a week. No ads. Only tech news and what it means to you.

Brave is free to use, but you can turn on Brave Rewards to give back to the sites you visit most. Once enabled, “privacy-respecting” ads will show to support the content you see. Your browsing history remains private.

What about user experience? It runs on the Chromium source code, which powers Google Chrome, so it will likely feel familiar.

Download Brave for free here. It’s also available as an app on Apple and Android devices.

Best browser for customizable privacy: Firefox

Mozilla’s Firefox bills itself as a fast browser that “doesn’t sell you out.” Detecting a theme here? Firefox collects very little data, and you don’t even need to give your email address to download it.

It also blocks trackers by default, so you don’t have any settings to change.

The customization features make Firefox stand out. You can use global protection levels, such as “Strict” or “Standard,” or go the custom route. You can choose precisely which trackers and scripts Firefox blocks to get the experience you want.

When it comes to privacy, it’s got many bells and whistles: a built-in password manager, breached website alerts, Private Browsing mode, and secure form autofill.

Firefox is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux, and smartphones to make it easy to sync across all your devices. Take Firefox for a test drive on your computer by clicking here. Or click to download for Apple or Android.

RELATED PRIVACY FIX: How to delete cookies from your phone

Best browser for maximum security: Tor

If you’re super security-focused, you probably already use a virtual private network or VPN. Want even more anonymity? Turn to Tor. This name started as an acronym for “The Onion Router,” and it’s popular among computer-savvy circles.

Tor runs your connection through multiple servers across the globe before you reach your destination. Your data is encrypted between each “node,” adding layers of protection — hence the onion logo.

Tor has been used for illegal activity online, but the software itself is perfectly legal and shouldn’t pose any problems. It’s often the route into the Dark Web. You can read about how to access it and what you’ll find.

Tor runs on a modified version of the Firefox browser. You can download Tor here.

Best browser for privacy on Mac: Safari

Many people use the browser that came with their computer as a matter of convenience. If you’ve got a Mac, this is a good thing. Safari blocks cross-site tracking that lets you enjoy the sites you use most without worrying about being followed.

Safari uses Google as its default search browser, which blocks malicious websites and protects you from malware and phishing scams. It blocks pop-ups, too.

Safari’s built-in password manager (Keychain) lets you know if a site you saved was involved in a data breach and helps you change your password. Download Safari here, directly from Apple.

Alternative option: Microsoft Edge

Microsoft said so long to Internet Explorer, and the new Edge is a robust browser with lots of built-in privacy features. It, too, runs on Chromium and feels a lot like Google Chrome.

Edge offers protection from trackers and blocks ad providers from monitoring your activity and learning more about you.

Choose the level of restriction you prefer from three settings, and you can decide which sites to block or not on a case-by-case basis. Want to know what Edge is blocking for a particular site? Click the lock icon to the left of the URL, then click Trackers for a list.

Edge’s built-in Password Monitor will alert you if you visit a compromised website and prompt you to change your password to a stronger one. You can make your own or use a suggested password.

If you’re running Windows, here are five tips to make you a pro. You likely have Edge installed on your computer. If not, tap or click here to download it.

NEED A HAND WITH A SLOW PC, SMARTPHONE ISSUES OR A SOFTWARE PROBLEM YOU CAN’T CRACK? Post your tech questions to get fast, concrete answers from me and other tech pros. Visit my Q&A Forum and get tech help now.

What digital lifestyle questions do you have? Call Kim’s national radio show and tap or click here to find it on your local radio station. You can listen to or watch The Kim Komando Show on your phone, tablet, television or computer. Or tap or click here for Kim’s free podcasts.

Copyright 2021, WestStar Multimedia Entertainment. All rights reserved.

Learn about all the latest technology on The Kim Komando Show, the nation’s largest weekend radio talk show. Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today’s digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, free newsletters and more, visit her website at Komando.com.

Nyan Cat is turning 10 years old in April (feel old yet?), and to celebrate the anniversary of one of the internet’s most wholesome memes, the artist behind the gif, Chris Torres, put a newly remastered version up for auction. On Friday, the piece sold for 300 Ether on the crypto art platform Foundation, which translates to roughly $587,000 based on the cryptocurrency’s value at the time of publication.

In an interview with the Verge, Torres said he doesn’t ever plan to sell another original image file of Nyan Cat, meaning this gif’s patron now owns a truly one-of-a-kind piece.

“I think it’s cool knowing you own the only piece in existence,” he told the outlet. “And I feel like Nyan Cat will be a really special one to own.”

Torres made a series of tweaks and changes to the almost decade-old gif, which included enlarging the gif and making minor touch-ups to the art to correct details that bugged him over the years. For example, one particular star would appear and disappear randomly in the original 12-frame animation, so he took this opportunity to just remove it entirely. Torres told the Verge that he thought the remastered version “turned out really well this time around.”

If your eyebrows shot up at that multi-thousand-dollar price tag, you should know that the crypto art marketplace is having one hell of a moment. A number of online platforms have sprung up in recent years such as SuperRare, Zora, and Nifty Gateway where artists and patrons exchange digital works worth thousands of real-world dollars. Foundation is one of the newest faces on the scene, having launched just two weeks ago, but it’s already reportedly recorded $410,00 in sales, per the Verge.

These crypto art platforms generally sell works through “non-fungible tokens,” or NFTs, blockchain-based digital tokens that represent unique assets. Since NFTs aren’t divisible and no two are alike, their ownership can be verified and tracked through blockchain. Though it should be noted that on many crypto art platforms, the actual sales, such as that of the new-and-improved Nyan Cat gif, are made with Ether, a cryptocurrency that runs on the Ethereum blockchain and is second only to Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization and volume, according to Reuters.

The crypto community has been buzzing about NFTs for a while, but traditional branches of the art world have only recently begun embracing blockchain technology. This week, Christie’s famed auction house announced its first-ever auction of a purely NFT-based collection: “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” by Beeple, a digital artist whose NFT-based series of digital works sold for $3.5 million in December. Christie’s also confirmed with Bloomberg that it plans to accept Ether as payment for the artwork’s principal price (collectors will still have to use old-fashioned dollars to cover any additional auction house fees).