theverge--2020-06-09--How to choose the right printer for your home office

The need for a home / office printer has increased as more of us are working or schooling from home .
You could be a parent who needs to print out workbooks for your child .
Or you may find that it ’ s easier to make notes on a business report using a pen or pencil rather than a keyboard .
Or you ’ ve suddenly discovered that a government office is demanding that you snail mail a form to them .
Or your local office supply store , which you normally use for printing out occasional forms , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comfortable place to visit .
Whatever the reason , if you find yourself in need of a printer , it ’ s not difficult to find one .
Printers have not changed a lot over the past few years ; they ’ ve just become more efficient and less expensive .
You still will be choosing between laser and inkjet printers ; color and black-ink-only printers ; and print-only and multifunction devices .
Because of all these decisions that need to be made , it ’ s a good idea to figure out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Buy ” at your favorite shopping site .
In this article , I won ’ t be telling you which specific printer to buy .
But I will go through some of the choices you are going to be faced with and some of the features that you may want to make sure you ’ re getting .
If you haven ’ t bought a printer lately — or if you haven ’ t needed a printer until now — you may want a quick refresher on the difference between inkjet and laser @ @ @ @ @ @ @ simplification , but it will give you a general idea of how they work .
Inkjet printers spray tiny droplets of liquid ink onto a page .
There are several types of inkjet delivery systems , but most consumer systems use separate ink cartridges , each fitted with a printhead that separates the ink into the nearly microscopic droplets .
( Professional-level inkjets will usually have separate printheads that can be replaced on their own . )
Colors are created by combining different colored inks .
The number of ink cartridges that a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least expensive printers usually use only two cartridges — one with black ink and one that contains cyan , magenta , and yellow ink .
Most lower-to-medium priced inkjet printers offer four separate cartridges — cyan , magenta , yellow , and black ink .
More upscale printers will have a different black cartridge for text ; printers used by photographers or businesses will have a wider selection of colored inks .
But even the least expensive inkjets can end up running into serious money .
The printer itself may not cost more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but a single set of cartridges can cost nearly as much .
And because most color inkjets will not run at all if any one of the cartridges is out of ink ( for example , you can ’ t just print in black if the cyan cartridge runs out ) , you ’ ll need to replace any spent cartridges .
( We ’ ll deal more with ink costs later . )
There are a few inkjet printers out there known as supertank printers , which have refillable tanks that offer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ traditional ink cartridges .
They are sold by a few manufacturers such as Brother , Canon , and Epson , and can be a consideration if you plan to do a lot of color printing .
These devices use lasers to create static electricity on a rolling drum inside the printer .
The static electricity attracts toner ( ink in the form of powder ) , which is melted onto the paper .
While toner cartridges initially cost more than ink cartridges , they also last far longer than liquid ink ; as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be less .
Laser printers also tend to initially cost more than inkjet printers — but they can save money over the long term .
Laser printers have several other advantages over inkjet printers — unless you need color .
They are faster than inkjets ( especially low-end inkjets , which can be very slow ) , and the quality of their text printing is more precise ( although current inkjets are certainly precise enough to suit most documents ) .
Color laser printers are also more available than they used to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pricey , and unless they are professional-level printers , the color will not be as good as an equivalently priced color inkjet .
So which should I buy ?
There are several other factors that you should consider before purchasing a new printer .
Here are some questions to ask yourself while deciding what to buy .
What am I using it for ?
One way to decide whether to buy a laser or an inkjet printer is to look into what you want to do with it .
If color is not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s a no-brainer — a laser printer will be more cost-efficient and faster .
But if you want to print out your kids ’ computer artwork in color , or print the occasional photograph , then you ’ re probably in the market for an inkjet .
If you see yourself working from home for the foreseeable future — or even if you don ’ t — you may want to consider a multifunction ( also known as an all-in-one or AIO ) printer .
These devices don ’ t just print from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scan existing documents and either copy them or save them as files .
( Some also let you fax a scanned document , but since faxing has become much less necessary , this feature is quickly disappearing . )
They are very handy for keeping the paperwork around your home to a minimum , since you can save PDFs of most of your papers ( especially the ones you ’ ve had sitting around for years ) and then dispose of the actual hardcopy .
Most consumer-level multifunctions will let you copy anything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( popularly known as letter-sized ) , but you can also buy printers that will let you handle an 8.5 x 14-inch ( legal size ) paper .
If you see yourself doing a lot of copying or scanning , you should look for a multifunction with an automatic document feeder ( usually referred to as an ADF ) that lets you move a number of pages through the system quickly .
Most current printers work by pulling paper in from the front , running it around the drum or roller , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tray .
However , if you ’ re printing on heavier stock , you don ’ t want to bend the paper ; in that case , you may want to look for a printer that has an input tray coming from the back of the printer , so that the paper is pushed through on a straight line .
Some printers also allow you to have more than one paper tray in front , letting you choose different colored paper , for example , or having one tray hold letter-sized paper and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want to know how many sheets of paper your input and output trays are capable of holding .
If you plan to , say , print out a 200-page manuscript , you don ’ t want an output tray that is only capable of handling 50 pages , or you could find 150 of your pages strewn over your floor .
The ability to duplex — to print on both sides of a single page — is more common than it used to be , but not all lower-priced printers include this feature @ @ @ @ @ @ @ especially if you do a lot of printing and want to save on the cost of paper .
Of course , most printers let you print on both sides of paper by manually re-feeding the paper into the printer after the first side has been printed — but it can be a real pain in the neck .
Without a doubt , the biggest expense for a printer isn ’ t the printer itself or even the paper — it ’ s the ink .
There is a way to figure out how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the long term : calculate the cost per page by dividing the price of an ink cartridge by the cartridge ’ s page yield , or the number of pages you ’ re expected to get out of each cartridge .
You can usually find the page yield among the stats published by a printer manufacturer for that printer .
For example , take two multifunction printers from the same manufacturer , one a color inkjet and one a black-only laser printer .
The biggest expense for a printer isn ’ t the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s the ink The yield of the HP Envy Photo 7155 All-in-One , which sells for about $ 180 , is about 200 pages for a standard black ink cartridge and about 165 for its standard tri-color ink cartridge .
The black ink cartridge costs about $ 19 and the tri-color about $ 29 .
So that ’ s about 10 cents a page for the black ink and about 18 cents for the color .
A similarly priced black-and-white laser printer , the $ 169 HP LaserJet Pro MFP M148dw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ standard toner cartridge , at a cost of about $ 47 .
That comes out to about 4 cents a page .
So assuming that you pump out about 1,200 text-only pages in a year ( and excluding the cost of the paper ) , that means you ’ ll have paid a total of $ 47 more for the laser printer and $ 114 more for the inkjet .
One more thing to throw into the mix : a black ink tank for the Brother LC3033BK , a supertank printer , costs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 3,000 pages , or about a penny a page .
( Because supertanks tend to use a differing number of tanks for color printing , it ’ s difficult to figure out an equivalent comparison for color printing . )
There are , of course , a lot of “ ifs ” here .
For example , when you ’ re looking at lower-cost printers , some major printer manufacturers don ’ t publish the page yield .
In addition , even when the page yield is available , you have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offered by the manufacturer — so the number of pages you get per cartridge is usually optimistic .
Still , this can give you a fair idea of what you ’ re facing .
When you ’ re purchasing a printer , make sure that it is capable of wireless connectivity via Bluetooth , NFC , and / or Wi-Fi — and make sure that it is compatible with whatever computer or mobile device you plan to use with it .
If you ’ ve got a Mac computer , an iPad and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your printer is compatible with Apple AirPrint .
If you ’ re using a Chromebook , make sure your printer is Chrome OS compatible by checking the manufacturer site ( for example , Epson has a page that lists all its Chrome OS-compatible printers ) .
Until recently , another alternative was to use Google ’ s Cloud Print service , which let you easily print from computers and Android phones .
Unfortunately , with its usual disregard for well-loved features , Google is going to be shutting down its Cloud Print service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The company ’ s rather unsatisfactory advice ( “ we recommend the respective platform ’ s native-printing infrastructure or working with a printing partner ” ) will probably not be much help for those with older printers or phones that depend on Cloud Print .
You can check to see if your printer ’ s manufacturer has a mobile app that will allow printing from devices wirelessly in lieu of Cloud Print .
Unless you plan to fill up several albums with physical photos , a photo printer is probably not necessary .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ability to remove red-eye in photos of people , but this same functionality is commonly available in a number of photo apps ( and is probably easier to deal with in software ) .
There are exceptions .
For example , there are small , portable printers such as the HP Sprocket Portable Photo Printer that let you immediately print small ( such as 2 x 3 inch ) pictures .
These are fun for family gatherings and parties .
And if you ’ re a professional — or would-be professional — photographer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a high-level photo printer .
But otherwise , most midlevel color printers will — if you use good photo paper — do quite an adequate job .
If you ’ re intending on printing a lot of photos , you ’ ll spend less and get better results from a photo printing service such as Shutterfly .

The need for a home / office printer has increased as more of us are working or schooling from home. You could be a parent who needs to print out workbooks for your child. Or you may find that it’s easier to make notes on a business report using a pen or pencil rather than a keyboard. Or you’ve suddenly discovered that a government office is demanding that you snail mail a form to them. Or you’re tired of trekking to your local office supply store for printing out occasional forms.
Whatever the reason, if you find yourself in need of a printer, it’s not difficult to find one. Printers have not changed a lot over the past few years; they’ve just become more efficient and less expensive. You will still be choosing between laser and inkjet printers, color and black-ink-only printers, and print-only and multifunction devices. Because of all these decisions to make, it’s a good idea to figure out what you want before you click “buy” at your favorite shopping site.
In this article, I won’t be telling you which specific printer to buy. But I will go through some of the choices you are going to be faced with and some of the features you may want to make sure you’re getting, including inkjet versus laser, multifunction versus single function, and how to decide what to buy and where to buy it.
So let’s start.
Inkjet versus laser printers
If you haven’t bought a printer lately — or if you haven’t needed a printer until now — you may want a quick refresher on the difference between inkjet and laser printers. What follows is a vast simplification, but it will give you a general idea of how they work.
Inkjet
Inkjet printers spray tiny droplets of liquid ink onto a page. There are several types of inkjet delivery systems, but most consumer systems use separate ink cartridges, each fitted with a printhead that separates the ink into the nearly microscopic droplets. (Professional-level inkjets will usually have separate printheads that can be replaced on their own.) Colors are created by combining different colored inks.
The number of ink cartridges that a color inkjet printer uses varies. The least expensive printers usually use only two cartridges — one with black ink and one that contains cyan, magenta, and yellow ink. Most lower- to medium-priced inkjet printers offer four separate cartridges — cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink. More upscale printers will have a different black cartridge for text; printers used by photographers or businesses will have a wider selection of colored inks.
But even the least expensive inkjets can end up running into serious money. The printer itself may not cost more than $50 or $100, but a single set of cartridges can cost nearly as much. And because most color inkjets will not run at all if any one of the cartridges is out of ink (for example, you can’t just print in black if the cyan cartridge runs out), you’ll need to replace any spent cartridges. (We’ll deal more with ink costs later.)
There are a few inkjet printers out there known as supertank printers, which have refillable tanks that offer a lower cost per page than the traditional ink cartridges. They are sold by a few manufacturers such as Brother, Canon, and Epson, and could be a consideration if you plan to do a lot of color printing.
Laser
These devices use lasers to create static electricity on a rolling drum inside the printer. The static electricity attracts toner (ink in the form of powder), which is melted onto the paper.
While toner cartridges initially cost more than ink cartridges, they also last far longer than liquid ink; as a result, your cost per page will be less. Laser printers also tend to initially cost more than inkjet printers — but they can save money over the long term.
Laser printers have several other advantages over inkjet printers — unless you need color. They are faster than inkjets (especially low-end inkjets, which can be very slow), and the quality of their text printing is more precise (although current inkjets are certainly precise enough to suit most documents).
Color laser printers are also more available than they used to be. However, they are pricier, and unless they are professional-level printers, the color will not be as good as an equivalently priced color inkjet.
So which should I buy?
There are several other factors to consider before purchasing a new printer. Here are some questions to ask yourself while deciding what to buy.
What am I using it for?
One way to decide whether to buy a laser or an inkjet printer is to look into what you want to do with it. If color is not important to you, then it’s a no-brainer. A laser printer will be more cost-efficient and faster. But if you want to print out your kids’ computer artwork in color or print the occasional photograph, then you’re probably in the market for an inkjet.
Multifunction printers
If you see yourself working from home for the foreseeable future — or even if you don’t — you may want to consider a multifunction (also known as an all-in-one or AIO) printer. These devices don’t just print from your computer, but they allow you to scan existing documents and either copy them or save them as files. (Some also let you fax a scanned document, but since faxing has become much less necessary, this feature is quickly disappearing.) They are very handy for keeping the paperwork around your home to a minimum since you can save PDFs of most of your papers (especially the ones you’ve had sitting around for years) and then dispose of the actual hard copies.
(Yes, you can use your phone’s camera to scan and upload documents, and if you only occasionally need to scan a document, that could be enough for you. However, the quality of a phone-scanned document doesn’t come up to the quality of a good scanner.)
Most consumer-level multifunctions will let you copy anything up to an 8.5 x 11-inch paper (popularly known as letter-sized), but you can also buy printers that will let you handle an 8.5 x 14-inch (legal size) paper. If you see yourself doing a lot of copying or scanning, you should look for a multifunction with an automatic document feeder (usually referred to as an ADF) that lets you move a number of pages through the system quickly.
Input and output trays
Most current printers work by pulling paper in from the front, running it around the drum or roller, and then popping it out to the output tray. However, if you’re printing on heavier stock, you don’t want to bend the paper; in that case, you may want to look for a printer that has an input tray coming from the back of the printer, so that the paper is pushed through on a straight line.
Some printers also allow you to have more than one paper tray in front, letting you choose different colored paper, for example, or having one tray hold letter-sized paper and the other legal-sized.
You also want to know how many sheets of paper your input and output trays are capable of holding. If you plan to, say, print out a 200-page manuscript, you don’t want an output tray that can only handle 50 pages, or you could find 150 of your pages strewn over your floor.
Duplexing
The ability to duplex — to print on both sides of a single page — is more common than it used to be, but not all lower-priced printers include this feature. It’s very useful, especially if you do a lot of printing and want to save on the cost of paper. Of course, most printers let you print on both sides of paper by manually re-feeding the paper into the printer after the first side has been printed — but that can be a real pain in the neck.
Price per page
Without a doubt, the biggest expense for a printer isn’t the printer itself or even the paper — it’s the ink. There is a way to figure out how much a printer will cost you over the long term: calculate the cost per page by dividing the price of an ink cartridge by the cartridge’s page yield, or the number of pages you’re expected to get out of each cartridge.
You can usually find the page yield among the stats published by the printer’s manufacturer. For example, take two multifunction printers from the same manufacturer, one a color inkjet and one a black-only laser printer.
The biggest expense for a printer isn’t the printer itself or even the paper — it’s the ink
The yield of the HP Envy Photo 6055e All-in-One, which sells for about $160, is about 240 pages for a high-yield black ink cartridge and about 200 pages for its high-yield tri-color ink cartridge. The high-yield black ink cartridge costs about $24 and the tri-color about $25. So that’s about 10 cents a page for the black ink and about 12 cents for the color.
A similarly priced black-and-white laser printer, the $170 HP LaserJet M209dwe, cites about 1,100 pages for a standard toner cartridge, at a cost of about $48. That comes out to about 4 cents a page.
So assuming you pump out about 1,100 text-only pages in a year (excluding the cost of the paper), that means you’ll have paid a total of $48 more for the laser printer and $110 more for the inkjet, a difference of $62. (And that doesn’t take into consideration the fact that, using a color inkjet, you can’t print black-only unless all the ink cartridges are useable. In other words, if your kids use up your color cartridges, you won’t be able to print unless you replace them — even if you’re just printing in black.)
One more thing to throw into the mix: a black ink tank for the $400 HP Smart Tank 7001 Wireless All-In-One Inkjet Printer, which uses storage tanks instead of ink cartridges, costs $17 for a yield of up to 6,000 pages, well under a penny a page. (Because these types of printers — there are several — tend to use a differing number of tanks for color printing, it’s difficult to figure out an equivalent comparison for color printing.)
There are, of course, a lot of “ifs” here. For example, when you’re looking at lower-cost printers, some major printer manufacturers don’t publish the page yield. In addition, even when the page yield is available, you have to keep in mind that it’s being offered by the manufacturer — so the number of pages you get per cartridge is usually optimistic. Still, this can give you a fair idea of what you’re facing.
Wireless connectivity
When you’re purchasing a printer, make sure it is capable of wireless connectivity via Bluetooth, NFC, and / or Wi-Fi — and make sure it is compatible with whatever computer or mobile device you plan to use with it.
If you’ve got a Mac computer, an iPad, and / or an iPhone, make sure your printer is compatible with Apple AirPrint.
If you’re using a Chromebook, make sure your printer is Chrome OS-compatible by checking the manufacturer site. (For example, Epson has a page that lists all its Chrome OS-compatible printers.)
Until recently, another alternative was to use Google’s Cloud Print service, which let you easily print from computers and Android phones. Unfortunately, with its usual disregard for well-loved features, Google shut down its Cloud Print service as of December 31st, 2020. The company’s rather unsatisfactory advice (“we recommend the respective platform’s native-printing infrastructure or working with a printing partner”) will probably not be much help for those with older printers that depended on Cloud Print. You can check to see if your printer’s manufacturer has a mobile app that will allow printing from devices wirelessly in lieu of Cloud Print.
Finally, some printers have NFC capabilities. This lets you connect one to your phone by simply touching the phone to the NFC label on the printer.
Touch and non-touch LCDs
Most printers today, even the most basic, come with LCDs that allow you to easily connect to your wireless network and tweak the printer settings — for example, if you want to always print double-sided, or to pull paper from a specific paper cassette.
Unless you’re really into saving money, you’ll find it easier to deal with a touchscreen. Non-touchscreens usually mean having to hit a combination of buttons to navigate to the feature you want to access, selecting the feature, navigating to the setting, selecting it, and then getting back to the main menu. Touchscreens make that process a lot simpler.
Photo printers
Unless you plan to fill up several albums with physical photos, a photo printer is probably not necessary. Some photo printers offer features like the ability to remove red-eye in photos of people, but this same functionality is commonly available in a number of photo apps (and is probably easier to deal with in software).
There are exceptions. For example, there are small, portable printers such as the Canon SELPHY QX10 photo printer that let you immediately print small (2.7 x 2.7-inch) pictures. These are fun for family gatherings and parties. (Although be aware that you will have to buy special photo paper and ink for this one.) And if you’re a professional or would-be professional photographer, you may want to invest in a high-level photo printer. But otherwise, most midlevel color printers will — if you use good photo paper — do quite an adequate job. If you’re intending on printing a lot of photos, you’ll spend less and get better results from a photo printing service such as Shutterfly.
Where should I buy it?
Printers are available at almost any online or in-store venues that sell laptops and other computer equipment, such as Amazon, Best Buy, or B&H. You can also usually purchase a printer directly from the manufacturer — for example, HP, Canon, and Epson all sell from their websites.
As with any tech device, it’s always a good idea to check out the product in person before you buy — you may decide, for example, that the inexpensive printer you saw online feels too cheap when you examine it on the shelf. But for the most part, if you’ve checked all the specs online and read a few reviews, you’re pretty safe in ordering your printer remotely.
Update May 13th, 2021, 10:25AM ET: This article was originally published on June 9th, 2020. Prices have been updated, some printers have been named to replace those that are no longer available, and sections on NFC-capable printers, LCDs, and where to buy have been added.


theverge--2020-06-09--Panasonic is making it easier to use its mirrorless cameras as webcams

Panasonic is making it easier to use its mirrorless cameras as webcams via a USB cable , thanks to a new beta version of its Lumix Tether app ( via Engadget ) .
Using a mirrorless camera should make you look significantly sharper on video calls , especially compared to the typical picture quality from a laptop ’ s built-in webcam .
The Lumix Tether app already allowed you to connect your camera to a laptop or desktop for tethered shooting .
That lets you see a live view from the camera on your computer with a focus box and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sending photos to your computer soon after you shoot them on your camera .
With this update , though , Panasonic is letting you remove the UI elements so that you can pass a clean video feed to an app like Open Broadcaster Software ( OBS ) and then onto your videoconferencing software .
Here ’ s a video showing how to set it up : The new version of the app is only for Windows , though .
Panasonic says the app is compatible with its DC-GH5 , DC-G9 , DC-GH5S , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Canon and Fujifilm also have apps that let you use their cameras as webcams over USB , though they have the added benefit of letting you output directly to a Zoom call without having to go through OBS .
Canon ’ s app works for both Mac and Windows , while Fujifilm ’ s is Windows-only .
If you want to use your Sony or Nikon camera as a webcam , though , you can ’ t do so just with a USB cable — you ’ ll need to have some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ guide on how to set up a DSLR or mirrorless camera as your webcam .

Panasonic is making it easier to use its mirrorless cameras as webcams via a USB cable, thanks to a new beta version of its Lumix Tether app (via Engadget). Using a mirrorless camera should make you look significantly sharper on video calls, especially compared to the typical picture quality from a laptop’s built-in webcam.
The Lumix Tether app already allowed you to connect your camera to a laptop or desktop for tethered shooting. That lets you see a live view from the camera on your computer with a focus box and some on-screen controls, in addition to sending photos to your computer soon after you shoot them on your camera. With this update, though, Panasonic is letting you remove the UI elements so that you can pass a clean video feed to an app like Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) and then onto your videoconferencing software.
Here’s a video showing how to set it up:
The new version of the app is only for Windows, though. Panasonic says the app is compatible with its DC-GH5, DC-G9, DC-GH5S, DC-S1, DC-S1R, and DC-S1H cameras.


theverge--2020-06-09--3M sues Amazon storefront that allegedly sold fake N95 masks for $23 apiece

The 3M corporation has filed suit against a third-party Amazon seller called KMJ Trading Inc , which allegedly sold more than $ 350,000 worth of N95 respirator masks , as first reported by The Wall Street Journal .
The products were listed for as much as $ 23 per mask — a huge markup from the list price of $ 1.27 .
Amazon has struggled with counterfeit mask sales since the beginning of the novel coronavirus outbreak , when N95 masks became an urgent necessity for essential workers .
Amazon warned Marketplace sellers against price gouging as early as February @ @ @ @ @ @ @ masks and hand sanitizer on March 11th .
KMJ ’ s alleged price-gouging took place before those restrictions went into effect , beginning on February 24th .
KMJ itself used multiple accounts to make those sales , offering 45 different products across three different storefronts .
“ Ten-pack of fake N95 mask for $ 150 is just crooked ” The lawsuit cites a number of customer complaints about the masks , which appear to have been both deceptively labeled and occasionally defective .
“ I think these are fake N95 Mask , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ retail price , ” one complaint reads .
“ Ten-pack of fake N95 mask for $ 150 is just crooked during this pandemic.
” 3M hasn ’ t raised its price for N95 masks , and the US supply has been tightly controlled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency .
That combination of high demand and restricted supply created the perfect conditions for price-gouging , and KMJ is far from the only company to take advantage of the situation .
As part of its filing , 3M says it has filed eleven other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gouging during the pandemic .
Reached for comment , Amazon applauded the lawsuit and emphasized its anti-counterfeiting efforts on Marketplace .
The company says it has removed more than 500,000 pandemic-related products from the marketplace since the outbreak began .
“ We ’ re proud to be working with 3M to hold these bad actors accountable , ” said Dharmesh Mehta , Amazon ’ s VP in charge of customer trust and partner support .
“ When we find a bad actor violating our policies , we work quickly to remove the products @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as we ’ ve done here , and we welcome collaboration from brands like 3M.
” 3M has asked for statutory damages as high as $ 2 million dollars and a permanent injunction against the defendants from selling goods identified with 3M .
“ By selling and delivering to customers counterfeit , damaged , deficient , or otherwise altered respirators and engaging in price-gouging , Defendants caused irreparable damage to 3M ’ s reputation , ” the complaint reads .
“ There is no adequate remedy at law for these injuries.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Amazon .

The 3M corporation has filed suit against a third-party Amazon seller called KMJ Trading Inc, which allegedly sold more than $350,000 worth of N95 respirator masks, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The products were listed for as much as $23 per mask — a huge markup from the list price of $1.27.
Amazon has struggled with counterfeit mask sales since the beginning of the novel coronavirus outbreak, when N95 masks became an urgent necessity for essential workers. Amazon warned Marketplace sellers against price gouging as early as February, ultimately restricting sales of both face masks and hand sanitizer on March 11th. KMJ’s alleged price-gouging took place before those restrictions went into effect, beginning on February 24th.
KMJ itself used multiple accounts to make those sales, offering 45 different products across three different storefronts.
“Ten-pack of fake N95 mask for $150 is just crooked”
The lawsuit cites a number of customer complaints about the masks, which appear to have been both deceptively labeled and occasionally defective. “I think these are fake N95 Mask, and seller price gouged me 20 times the retail price,” one complaint reads. “Ten-pack of fake N95 mask for $150 is just crooked during this pandemic.”
3M hasn’t raised its price for N95 masks, and the US supply has been tightly controlled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. That combination of high demand and restricted supply created the perfect conditions for price-gouging, and KMJ is far from the only company to take advantage of the situation. As part of its filing, 3M says it has filed eleven other lawsuits related to counterfeit products and price gouging during the pandemic.
Reached for comment, Amazon applauded the lawsuit and emphasized its anti-counterfeiting efforts on Marketplace. The company says it has removed more than 500,000 pandemic-related products from the marketplace since the outbreak began.
“We’re proud to be working with 3M to hold these bad actors accountable,” said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s VP in charge of customer trust and partner support. “When we find a bad actor violating our policies, we work quickly to remove the products and take action on the bad actor, as we’ve done here, and we welcome collaboration from brands like 3M.”
3M has asked for statutory damages as high as $2 million dollars and a permanent injunction against the defendants from selling goods identified with 3M.
“By selling and delivering to customers counterfeit, damaged, deficient, or otherwise altered respirators and engaging in price-gouging, Defendants caused irreparable damage to 3M’s reputation,” the complaint reads. “There is no adequate remedy at law for these injuries.”


theverge--2020-06-09--Asus ZenBook Duo review: two screens, too many compromises

There is one — and only one — reason to buy the Asus ZenBook Duo .
If you ’ ve seen a picture , you know what that reason is : there are two screens .
Specifically , there ’ s the primary display , a 14-inch 1080p matte screen .
There ’ s also another display , a 12.6-inch IPS panel called the ScreenPad 2.0 , built into the top half of the lower deck .
Both are touch-enabled , and both support Asus ’ active stylus .
It ’ s sort of hard to explain what this looks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ once you see it .
The $ 1,499 ZenBook Duo isn ’ t quite the only laptop like this — last year ’ s ZenBook Pro Duo ( of which this is a pared-down , portable version ) offers the two-screen setup in a $ 2,500 workstation form , and some similar concepts , such as Lenovo ’ s ThinkPad X1 Fold , are slated for release later this year .
For the moment , though , the ZenBook Duo is the best laptop for most users who want more than one display @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the extra screen because the trade-offs you have to make are significant .
Unlike the MacBook Pro ’ s Touch Bar , or previous ZenBooks like the Pro 15 that have experimented with touchscreen trackpads , the ScreenPad has a number of obvious use cases , and they work as well as they should .
I mostly kept distractions like Slack , Twitter , and Spotify on the bottom screen so they were out of my way while I did my primary work on the top , but I also sometimes kept notes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You can easily message a friend while watching Netflix , edit video with the timeline on the bottom , or stream a YouTube tutorial on the bottom while running a game up top .
I ’ m sure you can see your own uses for this ; it ’ s like having a miniature , built-in monitor .
Note , though , that the ScreenPad is small and has a very narrow aspect ratio , making it best suited to running streams in the background or stealing a glance at Twitter here @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing any actual work on it is pretty cramped .
In Asus ’ Launcher menu , which you open by tapping the left side of the ScreenPad , you can access a handful of nifty features that take advantage of the Duo ’ s form factor ( as well as adjust the ScreenPad ’ s brightness and lock and unlock the keyboard ) .
There are a couple apps , including Quick Key ( where you can access shortcuts to commands like cut , copy , and paste ) , Number Key ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Handwriting ( where you can scribble with the stylus and the text will show up wherever your cursor is — it ’ s quite accurate ) .
You can create “ task groups ” of up to five apps or tabs ( two on the main screen and three on the ScreenPad ) , which you can then open up later with a single click .
And you can add whatever apps you want to the Launcher ’ s main menu , so it can function as a secondary dock .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ other is as easy as moving them to an external monitor .
But there are some neat tricks , too .
Whenever you click and drag a window , a small menu pops up with options to send it to the opposite display , pin it to the Launcher , or extend it to occupy both screens .
There ’ s also a handy button above the touchpad that immediately swaps the contents of your top and bottom screen and automatically resizes them to fit .
The only ScreenPad feature I ended up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made a group of “ work ” tabs to open in the morning and a group of “ leisure ” tabs to open at night .
But everything else did work as advertised .
The main takeaway here is that Asus has done the work .
The ScreenPad isn ’ t a gimmick ; it ’ s useful .
That said , there are problems .
For one , the keyboard deck is an uncomfortable location for a screen .
You have to crane your head downward to read anything on the ScreenPad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sore after a full day of using the Duo .
Then , there are trade-offs you have to make to achieve this form factor .
For one , I never realized how nice wrist rests are until I had to use this laptop , which doesn ’ t have any .
I felt like a T. rex using this on my couch , with my arms crunched against my stomach .
There ’ s also the ErgoLift hinge which props the ScreenPad off the ground at an angle .
I don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on my lap , but this one is quite sharp .
It was so uncomfortable that while I worked on the couch , I ended up holding the Duo between my knees .
You really want to stick with using this laptop on a table or desk , not your actual lap .
And then there ’ s the touchpad which , thanks to the ScreenPad , has been crammed into the bottom right corner of the keyboard deck .
It ’ s useless .
It ’ s too small ( 2.1 x @ @ @ @ @ @ @ precision gestures or to scroll without quickly hitting the chassis .
( Also , good luck if you ’ re left-handed ) .
I don ’ t like to use third-party peripherals in my review process , but if I ’ d just purchased the Duo , I would have immediately plugged in a mouse and never looked back .
I ended up using Asus ’ stylus ( which is smooth and quite responsive ) for much of my daily work and almost all of my scrolling .
I wonder if it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this device ; I seriously can not imagine anyone using this one regularly .
In terms of standard “ laptop stuff , ” the Duo is a capable computer , but there ’ s nothing that will blow you out of the water — again , the ScreenPad is the reason to buy it .
I have the only currently available configuration , which is $ 1,499 and comes with Intel ’ s quad-core Core i7-10510U processor , 16GB of RAM , and a Nvidia GeForce MX250 GPU .
The system was just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tabs , Spotify streaming , Slack , YouTube , and other tasks .
The midrange Comet Lake CPU isn ’ t the best choice for encoding videos or other demanding creative tasks , however — most power users will be better suited to the ZenBook Pro Duo , which comes with an eight-core Core i9-9980HK and a more powerful graphics card .
The Duo ’ s battery life was surprisingly good , given that it has to juice two screens .
I got just over 10 hours of web browsing on the Battery @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brightness .
And the machine kept itself decently cool throughout testing ( just the bottom got occasionally toasty ) .
The fans only fired up during gaming , and you can turn on a Silent profile in Asus ’ control center if they bother you .
The Duo is far from a gaming machine Ports get a passing grade : there ’ s a USB 3.1 Type-A port , a microSD card slot , and an audio jack on the right , as well as an HDMI , another USB 3.1 Type-A , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ No Thunderbolt 3 , though , which is a glaring omission on a $ 1,499 laptop , ScreenPad or no ScreenPad .
Finally , the Duo is far from a gaming machine .
As GPUs go , the MX250 is close to the bottom of the barrel .
Integrated graphics on many modern processors ( including Intel ’ s Iris Plus that comes with the Ice Lake generation , and the new Vega graphics in the AMD ’ s Ryzen 4000 mobile series ) perform comparably — so buying laptops with underpowered graphics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That was reflected in my testing .
The Duo only managed an average of 26fps on Civilization VI ’ s highest settings .
( I got 40fps bumping it down to medium ) .
Those are better frame rates than you might get with integrated graphics , but they ’ re certainly nothing to write home about .
The MX250 feels like a bit of a half measure to me — either you want a GPU or you don ’ t .
If you don ’ t want a GPU , then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; if you do want a GPU , I doubt you ’ ll be happy with these results .
The ScreenPad is handy for gaming , particularly if you want to keep a reference guide open or run a YouTube video while you play .
Note , though , that when you click on the bottom display you ’ re essentially tabbing out of the game — audio stops , and you have to click back in to resume playing — so using the ScreenPad for operations like Discord chats or live-tweeting is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you want to game on two screens , you might want to wait for Asus ’ ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 , a gaming-specific Duo that ’ s supposed to come out later this year and can be configured with up to an RTX 2080 Super .
Asus says it ’ s working with developers to create special interfaces and controls suited to the dual-screen setup .
The truth is : I can ’ t see myself buying this computer .
The cramped touchpad , the sharp hinge , and the lack of wrist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use .
And the MX250 ’ s incremental improvement over integrated graphics isn ’ t enough to tip the scales in its favor .
But if you ’ re looking specifically for a two-screen device , this one works .
It ’ s more than a party trick ; it ’ s useful and there are cool things you can do .
But I think the form factor is better suited to a workstation ( like the ZenBook Pro Duo ) which is likely to spend most of its life at a desk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ m not sure if there ’ s a way to make a Duo that ’ s also good at being a portable laptop .
If there is , Asus hasn ’ t quite found it .

There is one — and only one — reason to buy the Asus ZenBook Duo. If you’ve seen a picture, you know what that reason is: there are two screens.
Specifically, there’s the primary display, a 14-inch 1080p matte screen. There’s also another display, a 12.6-inch IPS panel called the ScreenPad 2.0, built into the top half of the lower deck. Both are touch-enabled, and both support Asus’ active stylus. It’s sort of hard to explain what this looks like; you’ll get it once you see it.
7 Verge Score Asus ZenBook Duo $ 1499.9 The Good Useful extra screen
10-hour battery life
Stylus support The Bad Sharp fold-under hinge
Clunky touchpad
No Thunderbolt 3
Weak GPU isn’t worth it $1500 at Microsoft Store$1500 at B&H Photo How we rate and review products
The $1,499 ZenBook Duo isn’t quite the only laptop like this — last year’s ZenBook Pro Duo (of which this is a pared-down, portable version) offers the two-screen setup in a $2,500 workstation form, and some similar concepts, such as Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold, are slated for release later this year. For the moment, though, the ZenBook Duo is the best laptop for most users who want more than one display.
Just be sure you really want the extra screen because the trade-offs you have to make are significant.
Unlike the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar, or previous ZenBooks like the Pro 15 that have experimented with touchscreen trackpads, the ScreenPad has a number of obvious use cases, and they work as well as they should.
A fold-under hinge lifts the ScreenPad slightly off the ground.
I mostly kept distractions like Slack, Twitter, and Spotify on the bottom screen so they were out of my way while I did my primary work on the top, but I also sometimes kept notes or other information down there for reference. You can easily message a friend while watching Netflix, edit video with the timeline on the bottom, or stream a YouTube tutorial on the bottom while running a game up top. I’m sure you can see your own uses for this; it’s like having a miniature, built-in monitor. Note, though, that the ScreenPad is small and has a very narrow aspect ratio, making it best suited to running streams in the background or stealing a glance at Twitter here and there; reading in depth or doing any actual work on it is pretty cramped.
It’s like having a miniature, built-in monitor
In Asus’ Launcher menu, which you open by tapping the left side of the ScreenPad, you can access a handful of nifty features that take advantage of the Duo’s form factor (as well as adjust the ScreenPad’s brightness and lock and unlock the keyboard). There are a couple apps, including Quick Key (where you can access shortcuts to commands like cut, copy, and paste), Number Key (which pulls up a virtual numpad), and Handwriting (where you can scribble with the stylus and the text will show up wherever your cursor is — it’s quite accurate). You can create “task groups” of up to five apps or tabs (two on the main screen and three on the ScreenPad), which you can then open up later with a single click. And you can add whatever apps you want to the Launcher’s main menu, so it can function as a secondary dock.
The ZenBook Duo lacks a Thunderbolt 3 port, which is frustrating at this price point.
Moving apps from one screen to the other is as easy as moving them to an external monitor. But there are some neat tricks, too. Whenever you click and drag a window, a small menu pops up with options to send it to the opposite display, pin it to the Launcher, or extend it to occupy both screens. There’s also a handy button above the touchpad that immediately swaps the contents of your top and bottom screen and automatically resizes them to fit.
AGREE TO CONTINUE: Asus ZenBook Duo Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate. To use the ZenBook Duo, you have to agree to: Request for your region and keyboard layout
Windows 10 License Agreement
Microsoft account
Windows Hello PIN
Register for an Asus account The following agreements are optional: Connecting to Wi-Fi
Windows Hello facial recognition
Activity history
Sync an Android phone
OneDrive backup
Microsoft 365
Set up Cortana
Privacy settings, including online speech recognition, find my device, inking and typing, advertising ID, location, diagnostic data, and tailored experiences
Register for a McAfee account with your Asus credentials
Save your email address on your device Final tally: six mandatory agreements and 16 optional ones
The only ScreenPad feature I ended up using frequently was task groups — I made a group of “work” tabs to open in the morning and a group of “leisure” tabs to open at night. But everything else did work as advertised. The main takeaway here is that Asus has done the work. The ScreenPad isn’t a gimmick; it’s useful.
That said, there are problems.
The ScreenPad isn’t a gimmick; it’s useful
Asus calls the color “celestial blue.”
For one, the keyboard deck is an uncomfortable location for a screen. You have to crane your head downward to read anything on the ScreenPad — the back of my neck was sore after a full day of using the Duo.
Then, there are trade-offs you have to make to achieve this form factor. For one, I never realized how nice wrist rests are until I had to use this laptop, which doesn’t have any. I felt like a T. rex using this on my couch, with my arms crunched against my stomach. There’s also the ErgoLift hinge which props the ScreenPad off the ground at an angle. I don’t usually have a problem holding fold-under hinges on my lap, but this one is quite sharp. It was so uncomfortable that while I worked on the couch, I ended up holding the Duo between my knees. You really want to stick with using this laptop on a table or desk, not your actual lap.
Asus ZenBook Duo specs Processor: Intel Core i7-10510U
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen3 x2
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce MX250
Screens: 14-inch touchscreen, 1920 x 1080; 12.6-inch touchscreen
Ports: one USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A, one HDMI, one audio jack, one microSD card reader, one power port
Cameras: 720p IR webcam
Weight: 3.3 pounds (1.5kg)
Dimensions: 12.72 x 8.78 x 0.78 inches
Operating system: Windows 10 Pro
And then there’s the touchpad which, thanks to the ScreenPad, has been crammed into the bottom right corner of the keyboard deck. It’s useless. It’s too small (2.1 x 2.7 inches) to realistically use for precision gestures or to scroll without quickly hitting the chassis. (Also, good luck if you’re left-handed). I don’t like to use third-party peripherals in my review process, but if I’d just purchased the Duo, I would have immediately plugged in a mouse and never looked back. I ended up using Asus’ stylus (which is smooth and quite responsive) for much of my daily work and almost all of my scrolling. I wonder if it’s even worth having a touchpad on this device; I seriously cannot imagine anyone using this one regularly.
I do like the typing experience of the keyboard, even though it’s very hard to use on my lap.
In terms of standard “laptop stuff,” the Duo is a capable computer, but there’s nothing that will blow you out of the water — again, the ScreenPad is the reason to buy it.
I have the only currently available configuration, which is $1,499 and comes with Intel’s quad-core Core i7-10510U processor, 16GB of RAM, and a Nvidia GeForce MX250 GPU. The system was just fine for my daily load of Chrome tabs, Spotify streaming, Slack, YouTube, and other tasks. The midrange Comet Lake CPU isn’t the best choice for encoding videos or other demanding creative tasks, however — most power users will be better suited to the ZenBook Pro Duo, which comes with an eight-core Core i9-9980HK and a more powerful graphics card. The Duo’s battery life was surprisingly good, given that it has to juice two screens. I got just over 10 hours of web browsing on the Battery Saver profile with both panels at medium brightness. And the machine kept itself decently cool throughout testing (just the bottom got occasionally toasty). The fans only fired up during gaming, and you can turn on a Silent profile in Asus’ control center if they bother you.
The Duo is far from a gaming machine
Ports get a passing grade: there’s a USB 3.1 Type-A port, a microSD card slot, and an audio jack on the right, as well as an HDMI, another USB 3.1 Type-A, a power port, and a USB-C. No Thunderbolt 3, though, which is a glaring omission on a $1,499 laptop, ScreenPad or no ScreenPad.
Finally, the Duo is far from a gaming machine. As GPUs go, the MX250 is close to the bottom of the barrel. Integrated graphics on many modern processors (including Intel’s Iris Plus that comes with the Ice Lake generation, and the new Vega graphics in the AMD’s Ryzen 4000 mobile series) perform comparably — so buying laptops with underpowered graphics cards is making less and less sense.
The ZenBook Duo has a microSD card slot, instead of a full-size option.
That was reflected in my testing. The Duo only managed an average of 26fps on Civilization VI’s highest settings. (I got 40fps bumping it down to medium). Those are better frame rates than you might get with integrated graphics, but they’re certainly nothing to write home about. The MX250 feels like a bit of a half measure to me — either you want a GPU or you don’t. If you don’t want a GPU, then you don’t need an MX250; if you do want a GPU, I doubt you’ll be happy with these results.
The ScreenPad is handy for gaming, particularly if you want to keep a reference guide open or run a YouTube video while you play. Note, though, that when you click on the bottom display you’re essentially tabbing out of the game — audio stops, and you have to click back in to resume playing — so using the ScreenPad for operations like Discord chats or live-tweeting is a bit of a pain.
At 3.3lbs, the ZenBook Duo is more portable than the ZenBook Pro Duo, which has a similar dual-screen setup. The unique second screen is positioned right above the keyboard’s function row.
If you want to game on two screens, you might want to wait for Asus’ ROG Zephyrus Duo 15, a gaming-specific Duo that’s supposed to come out later this year and can be configured with up to an RTX 2080 Super. Asus says it’s working with developers to create special interfaces and controls suited to the dual-screen setup.
The truth is: I can’t see myself buying this computer. The cramped touchpad, the sharp hinge, and the lack of wrist rests just made it too uncomfortable to use. And the MX250’s incremental improvement over integrated graphics isn’t enough to tip the scales in its favor.
The trackpad is small, awkwardly placed, and just frustrating to use.


theverge--2020-06-09--Bungie outlines next two years of Destiny 2, says no plans to make another sequel

Game developer Bungie detailed the future roadmap of its sprawling online shooter Destiny 2 on Tuesday in a Twitch live stream packed with news about where the game is going this fall and how the studio plans to support it once Microsoft ’ s and Sony ’ s new consoles arrive .
Perhaps the biggest news was the announcement of not just one , but three new major expansions keeping the game active until at least 2022 .
Typically , Bungie ’ s Destiny series , which first launched back in 2014 as the first new property from the creator @ @ @ @ @ @ @ consistent release cadence .
It has involved smaller updates that are peppered in once every few months , all leading up to a major fall expansion .
For Destiny 1 , the cycle lasted four years .
The same has stayed true for Destiny 2 , which launched in 2017 and has had two major fall expansions since and a seasonal update model that Bungie has been tweaking to find the right formula .
That appears to be changing , at least in a big picture sense .
Bungie has rarely talked about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But game director Luke Smith announced today that Destiny 2 will see the Beyond Light expansion this fall , releasing September 22nd , as well as The Witch Queen in 2021 and Lightfall in 2022 .
There are no release dates for those last two expansions , but we can assume they ’ ll also be in the fall , and Smith said Bungie will continue revamping how it keeps the game active and engaging in the months in between .
All three expansion names were shown on-screen as being part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not explicitly announced that it is not planning to release another proper sequel — which in turn forces many players to migrate to a new game and lose all of their progress on the existing one — it does seem fairly certain there is no Destiny 3 on the horizon , at least not until well after 2022 .
Although in a Q & A with streamer Ben “ DrLupo ” Lupo following the reveal , Smith did say , “ We ’ re not planning to make one , ” when asked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ point of the fall expansion , Beyond Light , is players gaining control of the Darkness , a kind of primordial evil that is the series ’ primary antagonist and the antithesis to the protagonist ’ s source of supernatural powers ( called the Light ) .
It will involve a new destination , the icy Jovian moon Europa , and a new enemy to face that is in some way intertwined with the ongoing Darkness narrative .
It will also bring back a popular Destiny 1 character , the Exo Stranger , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ story threads that Bungie has been building for some time now .
Bungie is not planning to make a ‘ Destiny 3 ’ Players won ’ t have to wait too long to start getting a taste of where Bungie is taking the game this fall .
The next seasonal update , called the Season of Arrivals , launches today for all major platforms , and it will include a dungeon going live this evening and a series of story beats and activities that presumably transition the narrative toward Beyond Light in September @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expansion-related news , Bungie announced it would be supporting the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles for Destiny 2 , including free upgrades for current owners of the game on the platform they play on and performance guarantees of 4K and 60fps .
There was also a reveal of the “ Destiny Content Vault , ” which will let Bungie cycle out old content and bring back fan favorites from Destiny 1 into a new , separate experience that will live alongside the main game .
Bungie says the goal is to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , keep file sizes down , and allow the studio to better prioritize newer content .
It will start with a revival of the series ’ first raid , the Vault of Glass .
All of these updates mark a pretty serious new direction for Destiny starting this fall , and it all mirrors Bungie ’ s substantial changes it made to the structure and business of the game last year after it broke with publishing partner Activision and made Destiny an independent franchise .
Those changes involved support for cross-save and a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have made the game far more accessible to new players and have made Bungie an industry leader in supporting movement between platforms .
So it ’ s good to see that Bungie will continue doing so when new consoles arrive .
Bungie has yet to announce an exact date for when Destiny 2 will be available on the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 .
And it ’ s unclear right now how the upgrade process will work for current players who plan on playing the Beyond Light expansion on release to transition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all their progress and purchases .
But given how smoothly cross-save was implemented , it ’ s likely Bungie will have a cohesive system in place come November when the new consoles are expected to launch — or at the very least , some time in early 2021 .

Game developer Bungie detailed the future roadmap of its sprawling online shooter Destiny 2 on Tuesday in a Twitch live stream packed with news about where the game is going this fall and how the studio plans to support it once Microsoft’s and Sony’s new consoles arrive. Perhaps the biggest news was the announcement of not just one, but three new major expansions keeping the game active until at least 2022.
Typically, Bungie’s Destiny series, which first launched back in 2014 as the first new property from the creator of Halo, has followed a somewhat consistent release cadence. It has involved smaller updates that are peppered in once every few months, all leading up to a major fall expansion. For Destiny 1, the cycle lasted four years. The same has stayed true for Destiny 2, which launched in 2017 and has had two major fall expansions since and a seasonal update model that Bungie has been tweaking to find the right formula.
That appears to be changing, at least in a big picture sense. Bungie has rarely talked about its plans beyond the immediate year ahead. But game director Luke Smith announced today that Destiny 2 will see the Beyond Light expansion this fall, releasing September 22nd, as well as The Witch Queen in 2021 and Lightfall in 2022. There are no release dates for those last two expansions, but we can assume they’ll also be in the fall, and Smith said Bungie will continue revamping how it keeps the game active and engaging in the months in between.
Image: Bungie
All three expansion names were shown on-screen as being part of Destiny 2. So while Bungie has not explicitly announced that it is not planning to release another proper sequel — which in turn forces many players to migrate to a new game and lose all of their progress on the existing one — it does seem fairly certain there is no Destiny 3 on the horizon, at least not until well after 2022. Although in a Q&A with streamer Ben “DrLupo” Lupo following the reveal, Smith did say, “We’re not planning to make one,” when asked about another sequel.
The big focal point of the fall expansion, Beyond Light, is players gaining control of the Darkness, a kind of primordial evil that is the series’ primary antagonist and the antithesis to the protagonist’s source of supernatural powers (called the Light). It will involve a new destination, the icy Jovian moon Europa, and a new enemy to face that is in some way intertwined with the ongoing Darkness narrative. It will also bring back a popular Destiny 1 character, the Exo Stranger, and pull together a number of other story threads that Bungie has been building for some time now.
Bungie is not planning to make a ‘Destiny 3’
Players won’t have to wait too long to start getting a taste of where Bungie is taking the game this fall. The next seasonal update, called the Season of Arrivals, launches today for all major platforms, and it will include a dungeon going live this evening and a series of story beats and activities that presumably transition the narrative toward Beyond Light in September.
In additional to all of this expansion-related news, Bungie announced it would be supporting the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles for Destiny 2, including free upgrades for current owners of the game on the platform they play on and performance guarantees of 4K and 60fps.
There was also a reveal of the “Destiny Content Vault,” which will let Bungie cycle out old content and bring back fan favorites from Destiny 1 into a new, separate experience that will live alongside the main game. Bungie says the goal is to help better manage updates to the game, keep file sizes down, and allow the studio to better prioritize newer content. It will start with a revival of the series’ first raid, the Vault of Glass.
All of these updates mark a pretty serious new direction for Destiny starting this fall, and it all mirrors Bungie’s substantial changes it made to the structure and business of the game last year after it broke with publishing partner Activision and made Destiny an independent franchise. Those changes involved support for cross-save and a new free-to-play model, both of which have made the game far more accessible to new players and have made Bungie an industry leader in supporting movement between platforms.


theverge--2020-06-09--Bungie details Destiny 2’s next-gen future, including free PS5 and Xbox Series X upgrades

Destiny 2 is coming to the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 , and today Bungie has given additional details on just what that transition will look like when the ports release this holiday season .
First off , Bungie is promising the next-gen versions of Destiny 2 will support 60fps and 4K resolution on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X , marking a significant jump from the 30fps / 1080p version of the game on current-generation consoles .
Despite those improvements , Bungie is promising that the cross-generation versions will still be fully compatible with each other : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ play Destiny 2 with friends on the PS4 version , and Xbox Series X customers will have cross-play with the Xbox One version .
More importantly , Bungie also teased that it was working on cross-platform play for sometime in 2021 , which would finally make it possible for Xbox and PlayStation players to enjoy Destiny 2 together .
As part of that commitment to supporting Destiny 2 on both current-generation and next-gen consoles , Bungie has also announced that current Destiny 2 owners on PS4 and Xbox One will get free upgrades @ @ @ @ @ @ @ X versions of the game for all existing content .
The Xbox version will rely on Microsoft ’ s Smart Delivery program ( which offers cross-purchasing for the two console generations for participating titles ) .
But the news is particularly notable for PlayStation fans , as it marks the first developer commitment toward offering some sort of similar cross-buy program for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 .
That said , it ’ s still not clear whether Sony will be offering a formal program for developers to offer free upgraded versions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Cyberpunk 2077 or Assassin ’ s Creed : Valhalla , both of which have pledged support for Microsoft ’ s Smart Delivery program ) .
The free-to-play nature of Destiny 2 makes it harder to tell if this is some kind of official Sony program or if Bungie is just relying on the fact that it operates a live-service game similar to Fortnite that allows the company to be more generous when it comes to honoring play purchases across console generations .
It ’ s also important to note that Bungie ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ families — buying the upcoming Beyond Light expansion on Xbox One will get you the Xbox Series X copy for free , but you ’ ll still need to pay again if you want to play it on the PlayStation consoles , PC , or Stadia .
Bungie also teased more about the future of how Destiny 2 will work for players as the game continues to grow , showing off its next three years of major expansions , including this year ’ s Beyond Light , 2021 ’ s The Witch Queen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Additionally , though , Bungie announced a new “ Destiny Content Vault , ” which will see current and past Destiny and Destiny 2 content cycled in and out of the game over time .
For example , this fall will see the Cosmodrome area from the original Destiny return to the live game , with classic content including original strikes and the Vault of Glass raid set to join it over the next few months and into 2021 .
Some less current content — like the Curse of Osiris campaign — will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year to make room for the continual waterfall of new areas and modes .

Destiny 2 is coming to the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, and today Bungie has given additional details on just what that transition will look like when the ports release this holiday season.
First off, Bungie is promising the next-gen versions of Destiny 2 will support 60fps and 4K resolution on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, marking a significant jump from the 30fps / 1080p version of the game on current-generation consoles.
Despite those improvements, Bungie is promising that the cross-generation versions will still be fully compatible with each other: PlayStation 5 owners will be able to play Destiny 2 with friends on the PS4 version, and Xbox Series X customers will have cross-play with the Xbox One version. More importantly, Bungie also teased that it was working on cross-platform play for sometime in 2021, which would finally make it possible for Xbox and PlayStation players to enjoy Destiny 2 together.
60fps and 4K resolution on next-gen consoles
As part of that commitment to supporting Destiny 2 on both current-generation and next-gen consoles, Bungie has also announced that current Destiny 2 owners on PS4 and Xbox One will get free upgrades to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game for all existing content.
The Xbox version will rely on Microsoft’s Smart Delivery program (which offers cross-purchasing for the two console generations for participating titles). But the news is particularly notable for PlayStation fans, as it marks the first developer commitment toward offering some sort of similar cross-buy program for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
That said, it’s still not clear whether Sony will be offering a formal program for developers to offer free upgraded versions for other games (like, say, Cyberpunk 2077 or Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, both of which have pledged support for Microsoft’s Smart Delivery program). The free-to-play nature of Destiny 2 makes it harder to tell if this is some kind of official Sony program or if Bungie is just relying on the fact that it operates a live-service game similar to Fortnite that allows the company to be more generous when it comes to honoring play purchases across console generations.
It’s also important to note that Bungie’s cross-purchasing will only apply within console families — buying the upcoming Beyond Light expansion on Xbox One will get you the Xbox Series X copy for free, but you’ll still need to pay again if you want to play it on the PlayStation consoles, PC, or Stadia.
Bungie also teased more about the future of how Destiny 2 will work for players as the game continues to grow, showing off its next three years of major expansions, including this year’s Beyond Light, 2021’s The Witch Queen, and 2022’s Lightfall.


theverge--2020-06-10--What Windows can teach the Mac about the switch to ARM processors

We knew ARM-based Mac processors were coming , but Mark Gurman is reporting at Bloomberg that Apple will announce the transition at its online-only WWDC later this month .
Back in April , I called on Apple to announce as early as possible and to provide as much detail as possible to both developers and users .
The main thrust of that piece was taking a brief look at the potential pitfalls of the transition .
The biggest one is how Apple will handle apps coded for Intel ’ s x86 processors .
The going assumption is that there will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as John Gruber noted yesterday Apple went with a more technically complicated fix for its last processor transition .
As it so often has over the past decade , Windows offers a roadmap of where things could go awry for the Mac .
Windows on ARM still has unacceptable compromises for most users when it comes to software compatibility and expectations .
I say this as a person who walked into those compromises eyes wide open , buying a Surface Pro X. I essentially use it as a glorified Chromebook and it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but there ’ s no way Apple would want that for its Mac users .
Speaking of things Apple wouldn ’ t want : ARM-based Windows computers are slower .
Unless you ’ re able to stay within those Chromebook-esque constraints , things get real chuggy real fast .
We ’ ve all been assuming that Apple ’ s much-vaunted prowess at making fast ARM chips for iPads will translate well to Macs , but there ’ s no guarantee that ’ s true until we get to test them ourselves .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that using a Windows computer with an ARM processor actually requires a higher level of technical expertise , because you need to know what won ’ t work and why going in .
Basically , 32-bit Windows apps can be emulated in ARM , but more modern 64-bit apps can not .
And short of Googling ( or , uh , Binging ) around for a decent chunk of time , it ’ s difficult to know if an app you need will work .
That ’ s surely something Apple will want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ technical gotcha may simply be unavoidable — so clear and direct communication will be essential .
Apple is less practiced than it used to be at admitting that its products aren ’ t perfect when it announces them .
I ’ ll be watching closely to see how it handles these issues at WWDC — especially since it ’ ll be online-only .
Yet another thing we can take away from Windows is the idea that ARM and Intel versions can co-exist .
It ’ s within the realm of possibility that Apple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ based Mac for the foreseeable future instead of just managing a transition .
Gurman ’ s report , however , says that “ the company plans to eventually transition the entire Mac lineup to its ARM-based processors , including the priciest desktop computers.
” Windows is sticking to a plan to support both x86 and ARM ( though there may be some secret plan to sunset x86 someday , who knows ? )
.
When ARM-based laptops and tablets started getting released , the message was “ Here ’ s a cool new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but the reliable old thing isn ’ t going anywhere.
” That ’ s the Windows way .
If Apple were to take that tack , it would mean a sigh of relief for everybody who needs to buy a Mac for the next year or three .
But it would also mean another potential pitfall .
Windows on ARM simply isn ’ t getting the developer attention and support that standard Windows gets , both within Microsoft and outside it .
It was the same with many of Microsoft ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many times it has rebooted its app framework strategy .
Apple , too , has more than one bet on the table when it comes to developing apps for the Mac .
Without getting too deep into the weeds , there are lots of different ways Apple could go .
It could limit ARM Mac to iPad-like Catalyst apps .
It could try to offer emulation for any app that expects an Intel processor .
It could offer a relatively easy transition for developers using existing APIs .
It could sunset some APIs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It could do a lot of different things .
Steven Sinofsky has a long Twitter thread getting into some of the potential issues facing developers depending on what choices Apple makes .
He knows of what he speaks when it comes to the difficulties of transitioning a platform to a new processor architecture .
If Apple goes the Windows route and declares that it has no plans to sunset x86 support , then it needs to ensure that both ARM and x86 Macs feel equally supported .
If it goes the classic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Mac is on ARM , then it needs to assuage concerns that every Mac in existence right now will become obsolete before its time .
┏ Sonos Arc review : an immersive soundbar that home theater enthusiasts can love .
The lesson I learned from Chris Welch ’ s review is that there is no such thing as plug-and-play in home audio .
The Arc gets as close as it can , though , and the sound ... sounds ... amazing .
Oh , and if you ’ re a current Sonos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sonos app and S2 update are available now .
┏ Razer ’ s Kishi turns your phone into a Nintendo Switch that can play Google Stadia .
Cameron Faulkner reviews .
I ’ ve been vaguely looking for almost exactly this thing ever since Stadia came out .
For $ 80 , though , I expect excellent buttons and he says these are not .
┏ Asus ZenBook Duo review : two screens , too many compromises .
Monica Chin realizes how many personal sacrifices you have to make to join the Keyboard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wi-Fi 6 mesh router is the easiest way to get the most from gigabit internet .
Dan Seifert looks at Wi-Fi 6 .
Not worth it unless you have gigabit internet , and even then it ’ s still a bit of a crapshoot .
My setup is a wire running into an Eero Pro node for the computer I need to be fast but can ’ t wire all the way to the original router , and it ’ s working quite well for me .
┏ Big tech companies are responding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never did for Michael Brown .
Jay Peters looks over the statements now ( of which there are many ) and then ( of which there are ... few ) .
┏ Facebook tells group admins to consider adding people of color as moderators .
Ashley Carman : ┏ Inside Nextdoor ’ s ‘ Karen problem ’ .
Nextdoor is fun to mock , but the stories Makena Kelly has here are no laughing matter : ┏ If you see the cops , start recording .
TC Sottek points out that “ justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” but nevertheless , it ’ s another tool .
An important one .
┏ How to secure your phone before attending a protest .
┏ How to hide faces and scrub metadata when you photograph a protest .
┏ Google says foreign hackers targeted emails of Trump and Biden campaign staffers .
Say phew about this , sure .
But also know that it ’ s highly likely there will be successful hacks before voting begins .
Let ’ s all do a better job responding to the information that comes out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not get played again .
┏ Senators ask FCC to redefine Section 230 after Trump ’ s executive order .
Adi Robertson has been on the “ government officials do things related to the internet that seem like they ’ re legal but they ’ re not ” for a little while now .
┏ Instagram says sites need photographers ’ permission to embed posts .
It hasn ’ t hit the level of arguing about fair use yet , but up to now it seemed as if embedding was a way to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may not be the case anymore .
┏ Instacart tweaks tipping system after tip-baiting outcry .
This is late and , in my opinion , not enough : More from The Verge ┏ How do you make Fortnite fair ?
.
Even if you don ’ t play Fortnite , this is an absolutely fascinating look at how subtle interface changes , cross platform play , and culture collide .
Bijan Stephen on aim assist : ┏ 5G : everything you need to know .
This explainer and video from Chaim Gartenberg is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it for whenever anybody asks you what the heck it actually means .
┏ The pandemic has made it harder to buy a new laptop .
Monica Chin looks at the state of the supply chain :

The main thrust of that piece was taking a brief look at the potential pitfalls of the transition. The biggest one is how Apple will handle apps coded for Intel’s x86 processors. The going assumption is that there will be some sort of emulation, but as John Gruber noted yesterday Apple went with a more technically complicated fix for its last processor transition.
You are reading Processor, a newsletter about computers, software, and tech by Dieter Bohn. Dieter writes about consumer tech, software, and the most important tech news of the day from The Verge. You can read an archive of Processor newsletters here and subscribe to all of The Verge’s great videos here! Subscribe
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As it so often has over the past decade, Windows offers a roadmap of where things could go awry for the Mac. Windows on ARM still has unacceptable compromises for most users when it comes to software compatibility and expectations. I say this as a person who walked into those compromises eyes wide open, buying a Surface Pro X. I essentially use it as a glorified Chromebook and it’s very good at being that thing, but there’s no way Apple would want that for its Mac users.
Speaking of things Apple wouldn’t want: ARM-based Windows computers are slower. Unless you’re able to stay within those Chromebook-esque constraints, things get real chuggy real fast. We’ve all been assuming that Apple’s much-vaunted prowess at making fast ARM chips for iPads will translate well to Macs, but there’s no guarantee that’s true until we get to test them ourselves.
Another thing I’ve learned is that using a Windows computer with an ARM processor actually requires a higher level of technical expertise, because you need to know what won’t work and why going in.
Basically, 32-bit Windows apps can be emulated in ARM, but more modern 64-bit apps cannot. And short of Googling (or, uh, Binging) around for a decent chunk of time, it’s difficult to know if an app you need will work.
That’s surely something Apple will want to avoid, but some kind of technical gotcha may simply be unavoidable — so clear and direct communication will be essential. Apple is less practiced than it used to be at admitting that its products aren’t perfect when it announces them. I’ll be watching closely to see how it handles these issues at WWDC — especially since it’ll be online-only.
Yet another thing we can take away from Windows is the idea that ARM and Intel versions can co-exist. It’s within the realm of possibility that Apple intends to support both x86 and ARM based Mac for the foreseeable future instead of just managing a transition. Gurman’s report, however, says that “the company plans to eventually transition the entire Mac lineup to its ARM-based processors, including the priciest desktop computers.”
Windows is sticking to a plan to support both x86 and ARM (though there may be some secret plan to sunset x86 someday, who knows?). When ARM-based laptops and tablets started getting released, the message was “Here’s a cool new thing you can get if you want, but the reliable old thing isn’t going anywhere.” That’s the Windows way.
If Apple were to take that tack, it would mean a sigh of relief for everybody who needs to buy a Mac for the next year or three.
But it would also mean another potential pitfall. Windows on ARM simply isn’t getting the developer attention and support that standard Windows gets, both within Microsoft and outside it. It was the same with many of Microsoft’s other Windows gambits — simply witness how many times it has rebooted its app framework strategy.
Apple, too, has more than one bet on the table when it comes to developing apps for the Mac. Without getting too deep into the weeds, there are lots of different ways Apple could go. It could limit ARM Mac to iPad-like Catalyst apps. It could try to offer emulation for any app that expects an Intel processor. It could offer a relatively easy transition for developers using existing APIs. It could sunset some APIs while beefing up newer ones like Swift. It could do a lot of different things.
Steven Sinofsky has a long Twitter thread getting into some of the potential issues facing developers depending on what choices Apple makes. He knows of what he speaks when it comes to the difficulties of transitioning a platform to a new processor architecture.
If Apple goes the Windows route and declares that it has no plans to sunset x86 support, then it needs to ensure that both ARM and x86 Macs feel equally supported. If it goes the classic route and declares that the future of the Mac is on ARM, then it needs to assuage concerns that every Mac in existence right now will become obsolete before its time.
Neither path is easy.
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Tech Reviews
┏ Sonos Arc review: an immersive soundbar that home theater enthusiasts can love. The lesson I learned from Chris Welch’s review is that there is no such thing as plug-and-play in home audio. The Arc gets as close as it can, though, and the sound ...sounds... amazing. Oh, and if you’re a current Sonos user, you should know the new Sonos app and S2 update are available now.
The Sonos Arc is a success from a performance standpoint, but the experience you get will depend heavily on what TV you have. It’s an unfortunate reality of home theater that you’ll have to spend time mucking with your TV’s settings for this $800 soundbar to receive the right audio signal and sound its best. But if you’ve got a TV that supports Atmos over HDMI ARC — and if that TV is in a conventionally shaped room — the Arc delivers immersive sound that will help enhance your favorite movies and TV shows far beyond the lower-priced Beam.
┏ Razer’s Kishi turns your phone into a Nintendo Switch that can play Google Stadia. Cameron Faulkner reviews. I’ve been vaguely looking for almost exactly this thing ever since Stadia came out. For $80, though, I expect excellent buttons and he says these are not.
┏ Asus ZenBook Duo review: two screens, too many compromises. Monica Chin realizes how many personal sacrifices you have to make to join the Keyboard In the Front Club:
Then, there are trade-offs you have to make to achieve this form factor. For one, I never realized how nice wrist rests are until I had to use this laptop, which doesn’t have any. I felt like a T. rex using this on my couch, with my arms crunched against my stomach. There’s also the ErgoLift hinge which props the ScreenPad off the ground at an angle. I don’t usually have a problem holding fold-under hinges on my lap, but this one is quite sharp. It was so uncomfortable that while I worked on the couch, I ended up holding the Duo between my knees. You really want to stick with using this laptop on a table or desk, not your actual lap.
┏ A Wi-Fi 6 mesh router is the easiest way to get the most from gigabit internet. Dan Seifert looks at Wi-Fi 6. Not worth it unless you have gigabit internet, and even then it’s still a bit of a crapshoot. My setup is a wire running into an Eero Pro node for the computer I need to be fast but can’t wire all the way to the original router, and it’s working quite well for me.
Bad neighbors
┏ Big tech companies are responding to George Floyd in a way they never did for Michael Brown. Jay Peters looks over the statements now (of which there are many) and then (of which there are ...few).
┏ Facebook tells group admins to consider adding people of color as moderators. Ashley Carman:
Groups, which are essential to Facebook’s business strategy, have struggled to moderate discussions about the Black Lives Matter movement and injustice in the US, with many admins and moderators deleting posts they consider “political.” The deletion decisions prompted members to leave groups they’d been in for years, argue with each other, form splinter groups, and sometimes temporarily shut the groups down entirely.
┏ Inside Nextdoor’s ‘Karen problem’. Nextdoor is fun to mock, but the stories Makena Kelly has here are no laughing matter:
Nextdoor may have launched as an app to “spread the word about a lost dog” or “find a new home for an outgrown bicycle” — and for many, it works pretty well as a hyper-local forum, a more accessible and less spammy alternative to Craigslist — but the company needs to ask itself: how useful is it if black members don’t feel safe on the platform? As the threats of violence and racist posts become increasingly prevalent and dangerous, black users are being forced off the app altogether. What is the value of a community-based social network that excludes people?
┏ If you see the cops, start recording. TC Sottek points out that “justice is not guaranteed by taking video,” but nevertheless, it’s another tool. An important one.
Everyone in the United States — citizen or resident — has a constitutional right to record police who are performing their public duties. The police don’t have the right to stop you as long as you’re not disrupting their business, and they aren’t allowed to confiscate your phone or camera just because you were recording them. This is the consistent opinion of federal courts and the Supreme Court, which affirmed in 2014 (in a 9-0 decision) that cops need a warrant if they want to seize and search your cellphone.
Policy
┏ Google says foreign hackers targeted emails of Trump and Biden campaign staffers. Say phew about this, sure. But also know that it’s highly likely there will be successful hacks before voting begins. Let’s all do a better job responding to the information that comes out from those hacks. Let’s not get played again.
Shane Huntley, the head of Google’s Threat Analysis Group, tweeted that the hackers had made phishing attempts on campaign staffers’ emails, but there had been “no sign of compromise.”
┏ Senators ask FCC to redefine Section 230 after Trump’s executive order. Adi Robertson has been on the “government officials do things related to the internet that seem like they’re legal but they’re not” for a little while now.
In reality, Section 230 applies to any “interactive computer service” regardless of whether it has a political slant or produces editorial content of its own. Courts have taken an expansive view of Section 230, but they’ve also interpreted it fairly consistently over the past couple of decades. The FCC can’t simply redefine the accepted scope of a short and straightforward law — serious changes would need to come through Congress, where lawmakers have proposed several changes to Section 230, including one “anti-bias” bill from Hawley.
┏ Instagram says sites need photographers’ permission to embed posts. It hasn’t hit the level of arguing about fair use yet, but up to now it seemed as if embedding was a way to not get jammed for copyright. That may not be the case anymore.
┏ Instacart tweaks tipping system after tip-baiting outcry. This is late and, in my opinion, not enough:
Instacart now says it will shorten the window a customer can alter their tip from three days down to 24 hours. It’s also now requiring customers leave feedback for removing tips and pledging to deactivate any customer who “consistently and egregiously engages in this type of behavior.”
More from The Verge
┏ How do you make Fortnite fair?. Even if you don’t play Fortnite, this is an absolutely fascinating look at how subtle interface changes, cross platform play, and culture collide. Bijan Stephen on aim assist:
The real problem here is balance. It’s very hard to balance a cross-platform game because each platform has its own advantages and limitations — playing Fortnite on mobile is not the same as playing the game on mouse and keyboard, even if it is superficially the same experience
┏ 5G: everything you need to know. This explainer and video from Chaim Gartenberg is an excellent introduction to 5G. Bookmark it for whenever anybody asks you what the heck it actually means.
┏ The pandemic has made it harder to buy a new laptop. Monica Chin looks at the state of the supply chain: