TechNews
Logitech’s smaller MX Keys Mini ditches the numpad for other useful keys
Logitech’s MX Keys Mini is a compact, platform-agnostic wireless keyboard that lacks the numpad found on the standard MX Keys. It costs the same amount at $99.99 despite its smaller size, yet there might be enough additions to make this one the preferable option (you know, if spending $100 on a keyboard is feasible).
Logitech added a dedicated emoji key to the top row of Mini’s function keys that lets you add some personality to your messages, in addition to a voice dictation key and a mic mute key that mutes on a system level, not per application. Joining them on the function row are media and volume keys, along with an option to adjust the brightness of the keyboard backlighting.
The MX Keys Mini charges via USB-C and can flip between three Bluetooth devices via keys that easily let you switch. But something you should know about this model is that it doesn’t ship with Logitech’s unifying USB receiver, and it won’t work with one you might already have. It’s a Bluetooth-only affair, though it is compatible with Logitech’s new $14.99 Bolt USB receiver that lowers latency and adds more security.
The MX Keys Mini shares a number of other features in common with the MX Keys. Its concave, matte-textured keys offer a pretty great typing experience. It also has backlighting that kicks on automatically when your hands appear over the keyboard, turning off a few seconds after you pull away.
The default version of the MX Keys Mini shows both Windows and macOS commands, and it’s also compatible with Chrome OS, Linux, Android, iOS, and iPadOS. It comes in three colorways: rose, pale gray, and graphite. If you’re a dedicated Apple user who’d rather not have start and alt buttons, Logitech makes a version that’s just for macOS and other Apple products. It’s the same price, but it comes in just the pale grey colorway, which resembles Apple’s older desktop keyboards.
Logitech claims that the MX Keys Mini can deliver up to 10 days of battery life with the backlighting turned on, as it is by default. Though, it can apparently last up to five months with the backlighting off.
You certainly don’t need to spend $99.99 to get a decent wireless keyboard with scissor switches. But the price for the MX Keys Mini might be easier to justify if you use multiple devices at your setup, and especially if you use the MX Master or Anywhere mouse. When used alongside one of those, Logitech’s Flow feature lets you move files between macOS and Windows PCs.
Random: The Song In This Metroid Dread Japanese Commercial Is A Certified Banger
Nintendo Japan has released a new commercial for Metroid Dread and the song in it seems to be getting a lot of attention on social media. Don’t be fooled, this isn’t some fan-made clip with popular music over the top of it, it’s actually an official advertisement for the upcoming Switch release.
Twitter user @ScrewyClassic noted how the Japanese commercial for the game had a song in it “that goes way too hard” – otherwise known as a “certified banger” in the music industry. It’s the kind of track we imagine would fit right in at the start of anime. Have a listen yourself:
Unfortunately, the same user has had no luck tracking the song down. While there was also some speculation it might be in the game, the recent Nintendo Direct appears to have confirmed this music will not be featured:
It seems the song has been commissioned as promotional material. Although there’s no other way to listen to it, it’s still pretty cool and great to see Nintendo going all out with the marketing of this game in the lead-up to its release.
Can you imagine playing a Metroid game with a song like this in it? Are you hyped for this upcoming Switch release now that you’ve heard this song? Leave a comment down below.
Face ID on the iPhone 13 stops working if a third-party replaces the phone’s display
With the addition of features like a 120Hz display on some models, Apple’s iPhone 13 lineup is many ways a step above the phones the company shipped last year. But when it comes to the question of repairability, the story is more complicated. Conducting a teardown of the device, iFixit found it couldn’t get the iPhone 13’s Face ID feature to work if replaced the phone’s display. No matter what workaround it tried, iFixit could not get Face ID to work again. By its estimation, the display on the iPhone 13 lineup is serial-locked to the device. “Right now, if you replace your screen, Apple kills your Face ID, unless they control the repair,” the company warns.
While obviously not a good look for Apple, there may be a simple explanation for what’s happening. iFixit says it spoke to a licensed repair technician who said they were told by Apple support that the issue is a bug the company plans to fix in a future iOS release. We’ve reached out to Apple for more information. If it turns that limitation is not a mistake, it would be a brazen move on Apple’s part given that the FTC, at the , recently voted unanimously to .
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Hide My Mail creates temporary email addresses
New Apple iPhone 13 smartphones on display in the re:Store shop. The iPhone 13 went on sale on 24 September in Russia.
Artyom Geodakyan | TASS | Getty Images
The newest version of the iPhone operating system, iOS 15, has new privacy features for people who pay for iCloud storage.
One of the handiest new features is the ability to create a temporary email address — an email address that’s not linked to your identity but still forwards messages to your inbox. It’s called “Hide My Mail.”
These burner emails are good for signing up in forms on the web that you might not want to share your main email address with, Apple said when it announced the feature in June. Users can spin up as many burner email addresses as they need and delete them when it’s convenient.
However, there’s a catch: Users have to pay for iCloud storage. Hide My Email is part of iCloud+, a new set of privacy features for people who pay Apple for iCloud storage.
Here’s how it works:
Making a new email address
- Make sure you are subscribed to get additional iCloud storage. Hide My Mail works with any iCloud subscription, even the 50GB plan that costs $0.99 per month.
- Launch the settings app. It’s the one that looks like gears.
- Tap your Apple ID name at the top of the screen.
- Tap iCloud — it should say which storage plan you’re on next to it.
- Tap Hide My Email.
- Tap Create new address.
- Fill out the form — you can give each burner email a label, and ask for a different randomly-generated burner email address.
- When you’re done creating the email, you can use it anywhere, and it will forward messages to your Apple ID email account.
Change forwarding address
- If you’d like to forward emails from burner emails to another email address, that’s easy too.
- Launch the settings app.
- Tap your Apple ID at the top of the screen.
- Tap iCloud, then Hide My Email.
- Scroll to the bottom of the screen. You should see a box called “Forward To.”
- You might have to set up a new email address in your iCloud account — you can’t just plug in any email address.
Twitch To Enable Streamers To Limit Commenters By Phone Number
Twitch streamers may soon be able to restrict who can or cannot hop into the chat. According to Twitch observer Zach Bussey, the streaming giant is planning on adding expanded features that would allow streamers to require phone or email verification from the commentariat.
For most of the summer, Twitch streamers have grappled with a scourge of “hate raids.” Thanks to the platform’s “raid” feature, which allows streamers to redirect viewers to another channel, bad-faith streamers can send droves of commenters to other channels in coordinated harassment campaigns. Most of these users show up with the worst possible intentions, and often flood channels with waves of sickening slurs and insults. The Washington Post reported that these campaigns are organized off Twitch, on clandestine Discord servers.
Streamers told Kotaku that requiring users to register with a phone number would be one of the most effective methods for putting a stop to hate raids, far more effective than email verification, which already exists on the platform. It’s easy to create alternate email addresses, so while requiring email verification for chatters is a speed bump, it doesn’t stop the hate raids in their tracks.
The way things stand now, since it’s so easy to create new accounts on Twitch, banned streamers can simply create a new account and pop right back into the chat. Sometimes, they do so with brazen insistence. For instance, Twitch filed suit earlier this month against two anonymous users it claims organized hate raids. One of those users, who’s believed to operate under the handle CreatineOverdose, allegedly returned with screen names such as CreatineReturns, CreatineBanEvades, and CreatineReported.
Though this user would be able to return as a hypothetical CreatineFrakensteinsMonster, these new channel-level tools could prevent CreatineFrankensteinsMonster from commenting on specific channels.
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Here’s how it’d work: Once these tools are live, if you’re a streamer, you’ll be able to require viewers to verify a phone number or an email address before leaving comments. You could make it so they’d need to do so if they’re chatting on your stream for the very first time, if their account hasn’t been active for long, or if they followed you within a specific time frame (say, a matter of hours or days). You can also set exceptions for VIPs, moderators, and subscribers.
The German streamer Dracon shared a screenshot of what those options would look like on Twitch’s UI. Bussey obtained a screenshot as well, citing an anonymous source.
It’s not clear when these anti-harassment measures would be implemented on a wide scale, or if they’re officially in the works. Twitch declined to comment to Kotaku on the record.
Resident Evil 4 VR Hands-On Preview – IGN
- Resident Evil 4 VR Hands-On Preview IGN
- Resident Evil 4 VR is launching October 21st on Oculus Quest 2 The Verge
- Resident Evil 4 VR Gameplay, Release Date Trailer (Capcom, Armature, Oculus Studios) Oculus Quest 2 UploadVR
- Resident Evil 4 VR Release Date Announced IGN
- ‘Resident Evil 4’ for Quest 2 to Release October 21st, Extended Gameplay Trailer Here Road to VR
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Backbone offers 3D-printed solution for iPhone 13 Pro camera bump issue
Backbone Labs has acknowledged the issue that hampers the use of its excellent iPhone gaming controller with the new iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max. As we noticed last week, the iPhone 13 Pro’s thicker camera bump means the phone doesn’t sit neatly in the Backbone One controller, either sticking out on one side or causing the bridge on the back to slightly buckle. It’s not unusable, but it’s not great.
“We spent a tremendous amount of time meticulously crafting every surface of Backbone One (both bits and atoms) and even designing universal support for the iPhones available when it was released,” a Backbone representative wrote in an official post on Reddit. “As a result, we’re disappointed in the situation at hand. Several folks on the team even upgraded to 13 Pro Max for a better gaming experience, and while the fit may be acceptable for some users, it’s not as good as we’d like it to be.”
To address this, Backbone has designed an adapter that is intended to improve the experience with the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max. Unfortunately, the company says it isn’t able to mass-produce them right away because of supply constraints and COVID-19, so the adapter design will be released as an open-source 3D printable file. If you don’t have access to a 3D printer, Backbone says “we’ll do our best” to send an adapter to users who contact the company’s support team.
The printable files should be posted online “in a matter of days;” we’ll let you know how well the solution works when we can.
Naughty Dog on The Last of Us Multiplayer Project: ‘In Short, We’re Working On It’
While Naughty Dog may not have revealed any new details on the upcoming The Last of Us multiplayer project, it took the time on The Last of Us Day 2021 to ensure fans that it is actively working on it and that it will “reveal more when it’s ready!”
Naughty Dog’s Rochelle Snyder shared the news in a community update after thanking the fans and the team who have all collectively made The Last of Us into the success it has become. Jokingly, Naughty Dog then included this question as a fan would write;
“Yeah, that’s lovely and great Naughty Dog, but what are you doing with The Last of Us right now?”
“In short, we’re working on it,” Naughty Dog answered. “We see the community comments as many of you clamor for multiplayer and want updates. For now, we’ll say that we love what the team is developing and want to give them time to build out their ambitious project, we’ll reveal more when it’s ready!
“To that end, we’ve been busy growing our team inside the kennel since The Last of Us Part II launched and are currently in full swing of hiring for MP-related positions (hint hint), so if you or somebody you know qualifies for anything you see on our jobs page, apply!”
For those who are unaware or may not remember, Naughty Dog announced that it had made the “difficult choice” to not include an online multiplayer mode in The Last of Us Part 2 after the scope and ambition of the game’s single-player campaign reached a level even the team had not anticipated.
However, considering the love many have for The Last of Us’ Faction mode, Naughty Dog reassured fans that it would be returning in some form in the future.
While we still don’t know if this will be a standalone game, part of a future collection of The Last of Us games, and or part of a new game, we do know that Naughty Dog is hard at work at making it a reality. In our opinion, a standalone The Last of Us multiplayer game is actually a great idea.
Even though that wasn’t the most substantial update, Naughty Dog and HBO did share the first look the upcoming The Last of Us series, which gave us our first look at Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Daily Deals: Save on New 2021 iPads at Amazon
This Sunday has brought with it a nice selection of tech and home deals. Looking to get the latest iPad? You’re in luck, as several models are currently on sale over at Amazon. We’ve also got some handy deals on fun RGB Smart Lights, gaming mice from Razer, a great air purifier and more!
Daily Deals for September 26th, 2021
Back in Stock (Including 1TB Model): WD Black SN850 M.2 SSD with Heatsink
The Western Digital official storefront has all models of the SN850 SSD with heatsink in stock right now, and that includes the extremely hard to find 1TB model. This is currently the most popular (and probably the best) SSD to get for your PS5 storage upgrade. It’s blazing fast drive with transfer speeds rated at up to 7,000 MB/s and a PCIe Gen4 interface and it comes preinstalled with a heatsink. It’s also confirmed by Western Digital themselves to be compatible with the PS5.
Video Game Deals
More Daily Deals for September 24
