Ronald.phillips

Being able to play Final Fantasy VII Remake PC has been a dream for many non-console gamers ever since Square Enix announced this title for PlayStation 4 back in 2015. That's understandable, as the original Final Fantasy VII is still considered one of the most influential and acclaimed games ever made, even twenty-four years on.

The game took quite a while to come out, of course. PlayStation 4 gamers were the first to get their hands on the title about one year and eight months ago, thanks to an exclusive deal between Square Enix and Sony. Still, even with the prospect of having to wait a considerable amount of time before getting Final Fantasy VII Remake PC, the highly positive reception of the PS4 version certainly did nothing to diminish the hype. Francesco rated the base game 9.3 out of 10 and called it 'a a masterful modernization of the series' classic formula'. More recently, he enjoyed the Intergrade DLC and PS5 upgrade even more.

Following the surprise announcement at The Game Awards 2021, Final Fantasy VII Remake PC is finally here, six months after the PS5 release, which already provided a significant boost to visuals and performance compared to the PS4. We've been able to test it these past few days, and we're happy to report that it runs well. There are no built-in benchmark tools, so we had to record data manually using NVIDIA's FrameView tool. We chose the initial city section where Cloud is split from the team as they try to reach the train station; we've embedded a full capture of the session at the end of the article.

GPU

CPU

Resolution

Runtime

Avg FPS

Min FPS

Max FPS

90th %

95th %

99th %

Time (ms)

RenderPresentLatency (ms)

GPU Clk(MHz)

GPU Util%

GPU Temp (C)

GPU NV Power (Watts) (API)

CPUClk(MHz)

CPU Util %

CPU Temp (C)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9900K CPU @ 3.60GHz

3840x2160

D3D12

119.40

12.56

922.55

111.12.

110.44

103.32

2155.20

18.46

1411.27

93.32

77.48

253

4485.48

21.51

67.03

As you can see, the average frame rate is very nearly at the 120 frames cap. That's even with the slight performance impact of the NVIDIA Shadowplay capture. Overall, there were only a couple of sporadic hitches that didn't really mean much for the gameplay experience. For the most part, playing Final Fantasy VII Remake PC felt very smooth. However, as you may have surmised from the headline's tone, the port as a whole is nonetheless less than exciting. While a PC port that runs well is never exactly guaranteed, sadly enough, anything less than that would have been shocking given the game's linearity and minimal interactivity with the environments.

To begin with, graphics settings in Final Fantasy VII Remake PC are very limited, as you can see in the screenshot above. There is no exclusive full screen mode; you can only pick between high and low options for both textures resolution and shadow resolution, and the frame rate is capped at 120 frames per second (though we imagine that might be fixed shortly by modders).

Beyond brightness and HDR settings, the only other graphics option lets users tweak 'the number of incidental character models displayed at any given time'. Upon first launching the game, that was set to 8, with a maximum possible value of 10.

It is unfortunately clear that no major effort was made here to make it the ultimate version of the game, as it should always be the case with a PC release. Sure, you can play it at a higher frame rate if you have the hardware for it. PS5 users can only choose between a 4K@30 mode and a Performance Mode that drops the rendering resolution to 2688x1512 (according to Digital Foundry's test) to reach 60 frames per second. As per our test, PC users with a top-of-the-line rig can easily expect to play at a locked 4K@120 target.

That said, such a high profile release warranted something more. Looking back, Square Enix itself demonstrated what that meant a few years ago with Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition. Game Director Hajime Tabata eloquently said it was well ahead of the console versions, explaining how the partnership with NVIDIA had allowed the studio to realize its vision on PC.

Those weren't empty words, as FFXV Windows Edition came literally packed with advanced features:

• Optional High Resolution 4K Textures Pack
• NVIDIA HairWorks for realistic hair simulation
• NVIDIA VXAO for high quality voxel-based ambient occlusion
• NVIDIA HFTS for high quality shadows
• NVIDIA Turf for realistic grass simulation
• NVIDIA Flow for realistic fluid, fire, and smoke simulation

Most of those effects have been rendered obsolete by ray tracing, which is precisely what a PC gamer could have expected to get in Final Fantasy VII Remake PC alongside upscaling technologies like NVIDIA DLSS and/or AMD FSR. It would have been even easier with this title since it was developed with the Unreal Engine, which offers integrated plugins and tools for all these technologies. The developers of Final Fantasy XV didn't have the same luxury, as that game was powered by the in-house Luminous Engine. That's not all, as they went to the extra trouble of adding a built-in benchmark tool, Dolby Atmos support, a first-person camera mode, and even actual modding tools (though these came after launch, as did support for NVIDIA DLSS 1.0). None of this is available in Final Fantasy VII Remake PC.

Square Enix could still add NVIDIA DLSS and/or AMD FSR to the game post-launch. In fact, we've seen many games doing it without much fanfare, dropping support for these upscaling technologies in regular game updates. However, Final Fantasy VII Remake PC already runs well, so there wouldn't be much point in that. On the other hand, if Square Enix had made an effort to introduce ray tracing features to substantially enhance the game's visuals, DLSS and/or FSR could have been critical to maintaining smooth performance. Sadly, it seems like we'll have to wait for Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2 to (hopefully) see the world of Gaia in all its glory with cutting-edge graphics features such as ray traced shadows, ambient occlusion, reflections, and global illumination.

The post Final Fantasy VII Remake PC Version Runs Well But Leaves Us Wanting by Alessio Palumbo appeared first on Wccftech.

San Francisco-based designer Nick Acosta spent his Friday night upconverting the trailer for the Star Wars Holiday Special into 4K Ultra-HD at 60 frames per second. The result is somehow bother crisper, and more uncanny valley, than the original low-quality TV broadcast. — Read the rest

There is no doubt about it. You can debate all you want, but the greatest movie car of all time is the 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 from 1985's "Back to the Future." I mean, yeah, there's the Batmobile and Bumblebee, but really, the crazy doors, the OUTATIME license plate, and the fact that it's clearly responsible for Christopher Lloyd never ageing means it's the cream of the crop. (Seriously, that man has been the same age since the 1980s. Exactly. The. Same!

There is now a documentary out called "88MPH: The Story of the DeLorean Time Machine" that you can watch in full on YouTube. We've even got it conveniently located for you, right below the description. Here is the key info:

The 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 "Time Machine" Hero Car used in the hit 1985 time-travel movie "Back to the Future" is an international cultural icon. The car's legacy transcends borders and generations as one of the world's most recognizable and beloved automobiles. Attesting to the impact of the DeLorean "Time Machine" and the movie, enthusiasts the world over have built countless replicas of the movie car out of stock DeLoreans. It is likely among the most replicated film car in history.

Sections of this documentary contain material from "OUTATIME: Saving the DeLorean Time Machine", a movie dedicated to the restoration of the A-car "Time Machine" used in the "Back to the Future" franchise.

OUTATIME

Now, I haven't watched "88MPH" yet, and it's just gone up on YouTube today. It's directed by Tom Quigley (and this is the only credit listed for him on IMDb) and features Tamir Ardon, who appeared as himself in the film "Framing John DeLorean" with Alec Baldwin. It comes to us from the Hagerty Drivers Foundation and features Claudia Wells among its cast list. If you recall, she was the first person to play Jennifer Parker in the "Back to the Future" franchise. They replaced her with Elisabeth Shue when Wells had to leave acting to take care of her mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer. 

This documentary is almost two hours, and I will be planting myself somewhere this weekend to watch. As a child of the '80s, I love this car with my entire heart. As a resident of Los Angeles, I have seen many, many obnoxious producer-like people climbing out of them on Ventura Blvd. I say "climbing," because it's never graceful. I want one, but if I ever manage to get one, I will practice, so I don't look like an idiot.

Read this next: Sci-Fi Box Office Bombs That Deserve A Second Chance

The post Watch 88MPH, a Documentary on the Greatest Movie Car of All Time appeared first on /Film.

Microsoft’s Surface devices are about to get a bit more repairable to end-users thanks to a collaboration with iFixit. If you’re not familiar with iFixit, it’s a company that sells all kinds of tools and provides tutorials on how users can conduct self-repairs on electronic devices. Additionally, the company often reviews the repairability of devices like PCs, where Microsoft’s Surface PCs have historically obtained very low scores due to most components being soldered or glued in place. Now, Microsoft and iFixit are making Surface repairs a bit easier by offering three new tools that help repairers carry out repair jobs more easily.

That makes this partnership all the more interesting, as Microsoft is actively giving independent repair shops and commercial customers the ability to conduct more repairs on their own, without forcing customers to go through Microsoft’s own support service. It’s not a perfect solution yet, but there are three tools being launched today:

• Surface Display Bonding Frame (Surface Pro 7, Pro 8 and Pro X) – This is an essential part of the process needed for replacing the screen. The bonding frame is used along with weights that press the display assembly into the chassis of the device so it’s properly attached.
• Surface Display Debonding Tool (Surface Pro 7, Pro 8, and Pro X)  – For the reverse process, this tool allows repair workers to remove the display without causing damage to other components by inserting the opening pick to the precise length required to detach the display.
• Surface Battery Cover (Surface Laptop 3 13-inch and 15-inch, Surface Laptop 4 13-inch and 15-inch, Surface Laptop Go, Surface Laptop SE, Surface Laptop Studio) – This covers the device to protect its internal components.

These tools are not available to the average customer, but authorized service providers by Microsoft or iFixit can use them, so you no longer have to go to Microsoft directly to get your Surface repaired, which could mean lower prices. For commercial customers, they might even have IT admins or other staff managing repairs and using these tools internally. It goes a long way in making repairs more accessible.

This move comes at just the right time, seeing as we’ve seen the push for the right to repair gain some strength over the past year. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission recently opened an investigation into repair restrictions imposed by some device manufacturers, which might have prompted Microsoft to offer some options ahead of any potential legal enforcement. Of course, it might just be a coincidence.

The post Microsoft and iFixit launch official repair tools for Surface devices appeared first on xda-developers.

Microsoft is changing the default command line experience in Windows 11 to be the new Windows Terminal app. This will replace the traditional Windows Console Host that’s been the standard for many years, and it means you’ll get a much more modern and capable experience out of the box.

Windows Terminal itself isn’t exactly a new app. Microsoft first announced it back in 2019, and it’s been available as a stable release since May of last year. This is a big evolution of the typical command line experience, allowing you to run multiple instances on command lines in the same window, while also combining different command line experiences into one. Windows Terminal allows you to run the Command Prompt, Windows PowerShell, Windows Subsystem for Linux distributions, and more all in the same app.

Different instances and profiles can be open in different tabs, but you can also tile multiple instances next to each other so they’re all visible at the same time. On top of that, Windows Terminal offers loads of customization options, including transparency settings for the window, custom backgrounds for each profile, choosing a default profile, and so on. Early versions of the app had to be configured using a JSON file, but Microsoft has since implemented a GUI for the app settings, so it’s much easier to set up now. In fact, Windows Terminal gets updates frequently, so it’s gotten a lot better since its debut.

With Windows 11, Microsoft started bundling Windows Terminal directly with the operating system, so you can already try it out without installing anything. Windows 11 also introduced the ability to choose your preferred terminal experience as the default, so instead of the Windows Console Host, you can already make Terminal your default terminal experience. However, you still had to do this yourself.

In 2022, Microsoft will be setting Windows Terminal as the default command line experience on Windows 11, starting with users enrolled in the Windows Insider Program. As program manager Kayla Cinnamon explains, the change will “move through the rings” of the Insider program until it reaches all Windows 11 users. This doesn’t clarify whether the change will be rolled out as part of a cumulative update or if we’ll have to wait for the feature update next fall, but nothing is stopping you from changing your default terminal right now.

The post Windows Terminal will become the default terminal experience in Windows 11 appeared first on xda-developers.

There's no doubt that smart home technology has made life easier and more comfortable for many homeowners. From controlling your home's climate to turning on the lights with just a touch of a button, there are countless ways to make your home smarter.

Cybersecurity researchers have demonstrated a new attack technique that makes it possible to leverage a device's Bluetooth component to directly extract network passwords and manipulate traffic on a Wi-Fi chip, putting billions of electronic devices at risk of stealthy attacks. The novel attacks work against the so-called "combo chips," which are specialized chips that are equipped to handle

Far too long ago (for our impatient souls), boutique console maker, Analogue, teased something exciting. A retro handheld that mimicked multiple classic systems, including: All the Game Boys, the Sega Game Gear, the Neo Geo Pocket and the Atari Lynx. Oh and more recently announced: the TurboExpress, too. In other good news, Analogue also just announced that orders for the Pocket will open again on December 14th (tomorrow). The slightly less good news is that at $220, it'll cost $20 more than originally planned, but you can blame the virus for that and its impact on supply chains.

Finally, it’s here and it’s… still just as exciting. So much so that the short time I've had with the Pocket isn't enough to give it the deep dive review it deserves. You have to remember, this thing not only plays old games from original cartridges. It does so using a party trick called field-programmable gate arrays (or FPGA). All you need to know is that FPGAs effectively mimic old consoles at the hardware level. When you plug in a game, it thinks it’s in an original Game Boy (or whichever system for the relevant adapter you might be using). Couple that with a display custom-designed to replicate vintage screens, quirks and all, and this has all the ingredients to be the most authentic retro handheld you can find. Our early testing with Game Boy (original) and Game Boy Advance games indicates this really is one of the most authentic experiences you can find.

Pretty much the moment you pick this thing up you know you’re in for a treat. If the original Game Boy had been released today with a Scandinavian design, this is what it would look like. The clean lines and monochrome aesthetic tell you this is all about the game; there are no garish colors of cliche nods to the '90s here. Just one dash of color on the left-hand side for the power button and that’s as flashy as things get.

The general layout broadly matches the first-gen and Game Boy color, with the screen up top and controls underneath. Though there are four thumb buttons instead of two as you’ll be able to create games for this yourself either with GB Studio or via the spare FPGA core Analogue added just for developers. There are shoulder buttons, too, as per the Game Boy advance.

Fortunately, the display is thoroughly modern and not like the squinty, if much loved, one from back in 1989. It’s also handily 10 times the resolution on both axes so it can serve up pixel-perfect renditions of your favorite original Game Boy titles. The way it reproduces original Game Boy games is quite remarkable.

Turn the Pocket on and the minimalist interface leads you straight to the good stuff: Playing games.

I won’t lie, firing up Tetris for the first time and changing the Pockets display mode to the original green-and-black game boy mode was quite the dash of nostalgia. I’ve played Game Boy games on several “modern” handhelds and none of them looked like this. Even the pixel grid of the original is here, the motion blur (if you want it), the sound. Everything felt just as it did all those years ago.

The same goes for Game Boy Advance games. If you ever owned the first model of GBA, you’ll (painfully) remember that it still didn’t have a lit screen. The Pocket does, but everything else matches, including a preset for that slight washed-out look that comes with just colors on a non-illuminated LCD. You can, of course, choose a more modern display mode if you like, but purists are going to love the attention to detail here.

The authenticity doesn’t stop at the fidelity of the games. The “link” port on the Pocket happens to be the same as the one found on the Game Boy Color and onwards. That means if you have the original hardware (or another Pocket) you can play with friends just like you would have back in the proverbial day. I do have the original hardware, and we’re testing those features right now which you’ll see in our full review.

In terms of compatibility, so far the only glitch we've had is with a very unofficial Game Boy Advance multicart, everything else has worked a charm — including fund stuff like the Game Boy Camera. The same goes for Game Gear titles, which is the only other platform we can try right now.

There’s so much more to cover here we kinda can’t wait to show you it all. There’s the dock accessory for playing on a TV with real controllers, there’s the aforementioned music-making app, there’s Analogue’s own operating system which hides more than a few perks and then there are the adapters for all the other consoles.

For now, we’re excited to say that the Pocket appears to deliver on its key promises. The hardware feels fantastic and we keep going back for more Tetris even when it's way past our bedtime. You’ll just have to wait a few more days for our comprehensive review.

Split tunneling is a feature of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that let you route your internet traffic through two different tunnels, one of which is encrypted while the other one is your open network.

Linux has a bunch of useful commands to simplify certain operations on the system. df, for instance, helps you determine how much free disk space you have on a drive, whereas du shows the estimated file space usage on your system.

Cyber threats used to be less threatening. While nobody wants their customers' credit card numbers stolen in a data breach, or to see a deranged manifesto plastered over their company website, such incidents can almost seem quaint compared to ransomware attacks that bring all of your critical information systems to a dead halt. The frequency of these attacks increased more than 150% in the U.S.

Scrapland Remastered is now available on GOG.com and Steam, offering the chance to revisit this sci-fi adventure from MercurySteam originally released in 2004. As the name states, this includes...

Red Hat became the largest open source company in the world before being acquired by IBM, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the company’s primary offering. This Linux-based OS has shown how much money a company can make by developing free software and supporting it through paid contracts.

Attention soda and juice drinkers: If that beverage you’re about to crack open is a Coca-Cola product, you’re going to want to check the label before taking a sip. That’s because some Minute Maid juices, Sprite, and Coca-Cola are part of a company-issued recall.

Read more...

When it comes to candy making, I tend to favor confections that can be made without a candy thermometer, and ideally in the microwave. Haystacks, cheater’s fudge, lazy caramels, and gin balls are a few of my favorites treats to make, eat, and give, but this year I’m adding peanut brittle to my repertoire (and to my…

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The global pandemic has certainly made travel abroad more complicated, not least because of the additional paperwork demonstrating your vaccination and testing status that is required to leave and reenter the country. But the reality is that you’ve always needed certain essential documents for international…

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Is your home network fast enough? We're going to venture that it isn't - but why? Is it the position of the router, your cabling, or something else?

You can blame the supply chain for late packages, but there’s still time to get a few presents for the holidays.

I did. I was happy it existed, but wished that the sensibility was Douglas Adams’s.

The annual festive season will be in full flow soon, and we can’t wait! No Christmas is complete without watching a marathon of the best Christmas movies, but which is the best of the best?

According to pop culture experts Zavvi, it’s not Elf, or Home Alone, but Disney’s Frozen which takes the crown of Ultimate Christmas Movie of all time.

There may be some movies in the list that you may not consider to be Christmas movies at all, and while some may prove to be controversial, many of the holiday films will give you a seasonal cheer. Whether it’s your first time watching or the umpteenth time, you’re going to love the festive viewing.

Sit back, relax and enjoy a festive evening of hot chocolate, snacks, and Christmas films. Read on to find out the top 10 ultimate Christmas movies of all time.

The Ultimate Christmas Movie of All Time

1. Frozen (2013)

Taking the number spot is Disney’s Frozen. The movie, set to the toe-tapping “Let It Go”, sees Queen Elsa overcome every obstacle in her path. No longer feeling ashamed and afraid of her magic ability to create ice from her fingertips, Elsa, steps back from the idea of perfectionism. The story may be set during the Summer, but one cannot deny the themes.

We’re certain Frozen will be the family hit this Christmas season.

2. Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Coming in second place is The Nightmare Before Christmas. In this scene, the Pumpkin of Halloweentown, Jack Skellington, stumbles upon Christmastown and becomes fascinated with the festive holiday and decides to kidnap Santa Claus. However, this does not go to plan.

This classic enrich the Christmas tradition and is sure to be a hit for a family of all ages.

3. Elf (2003)

In third place is Elf. This witty holiday movie stars Will Ferrell as one of Santa’s not-so-little helpers. The movie follows Buddy the elf embarking on a journey to find his biological dad after finding out he actually isn’t an elf.

Oh what a wonderful film to kick off the holiday season.

Most Popular Movie According to Search Data

From action-packed ‘Die Hard’ to the heart-warming love story ‘Edward Scissorhands’, would you believe these movies are in the most searched for Christmas film category? By using Google search data and Wikipedia views, Zavvi discovered Elf took title for the most searched for Christmas film 2021, with an impressive score of 56%, followed by The Nightmare Before Christmas (50%) and The Holiday (41%). While Frozen takes eighth place (17%) as most searched for.

Most Popular Movie According to World Box Office Gross

By analyzing the worldwide box-office gross (adjusted for inflation), Zavvi has been able to compile the US domestic rankings for the 10 most popular Christmas movies. This provides a fair and accurate picture of which movies have remained popular throughout the years.

Here are the top five: Frozen, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and Batman Returns.

In 2013, Frozen boasted a worldwide revenue of $1,281,508,100. When adjusted for inflation (as of 2021), this totalled $1,508,993,020. Home Alone, on the other hand, went from $476,684,675 to $1,000,454,271 — a substantial increase.

Most Popular Movie According to Critics

According to critics, Frank Capra’s classic It’s A Wonderful Life (99.6%) has become the greatest Christmas movie of all time, followed by Die Hard (97.7%) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (96.3%). This score is based on Rotten Tomatoes critics and audience and IMDb score.

[insert ultimate Christmas movie according to critics infographic here]

Finally, Read on to find the overall Top 30 Christmas Movies of all time combining 30 movies and six criteria together –  https://us.zavvi.com/blog/features/the-ultimate-christmas-movies-to-watch-this-festive-season/

Methodology

We compiled a list of 30 of the most popular Christmas movies with an IMDb score of five. We then looked at six key areas: Rotten Tomatoes critics, Rotten Tomatoes Audience, IMDb score, Google searches, Wikipedia page views, and Worldwide box-office gross (adjusted for inflation.) Using a weighted ranking system, each movie was given a score out of 100 and combined with the six criteria which then gave us the final score.

Written on behalf of https://us.zavvi.com/ by Jenny Ho

The post Disney’s Frozen Beats Elf as the Ultimate Christmas Movie appeared first on ForeverGeek.

Web infrastructure company Cloudflare on Wednesday revealed that threat actors are actively attempting to exploit a second bug disclosed in the widely used Log4j logging utility, making it imperative that customers move quickly to install the latest version as a barrage of attacks continues to pummel unpatched systems with a variety of malware. The new vulnerability, assigned the identifier 

Every now and then, The New York Times gives us an awesome new personal-finance tool. Back in 2007, they created an amazing rent vs. buy calculator, which they've diligently updated and maintained over the past fifteen years. A couple of weeks ago, they unveiled their where should you live? tool. [Warning: possible paywall, which is unfortunate.]

Here's how it works:

We created a quiz using data for almost 17,000 places across more than 30 metrics. Realtor.com shared housing prices with us; Yelp contributed tallies of restaurants, music venues and gay bars; and AccuWeather helped us collect statistics on temperature, sunshine and snowfall, to name just a few of our sources.

We want the quiz to be useful to anyone who’s thinking about moving — not just affluent, highly educated people who are working remotely because of the Covid pandemic. We’ve included data on affordability, jobs and abortion rights, which could be relevant to young people deciding where to start their careers. And we’ve quantified health care quality, snowfall and crime rates — criteria that might be top of mind for retirees.

To use the tool, you select from 35 different factors that matter to most people, factors ranging from population density to climate to racial diversity to political affiliation. You can even emphasize the qualities that matter most to you. The tool tells you which American cities best match your preferences.

If you'd like, you can refine the results by specifying a region of the country (West, Midwest, South, or Northeast) and/or average cost of living.

Once you're satisfied with the search results, you can click on indvidual cities to get a detailed description of their demographics. If you like a place, you can “heart” it to save it as a favorite. Then, once you've finished, you can click “Compare &heart;” to view a table that places all of your favorite cities side by side.

Here, for instance, are the results of my own personal living preferences.

I don't know anything about my top match (Vestal, New York), but the rest of the results are pretty much spot-on. In order to get better matches for me, a tool like this would need to include some sort of stat to measure downtown vitality (it was important for me to find a city with a solid downtown instead of one where commerce clung to highways and freeways) and a stat to measure education level.

If this tool had existed when Kim and I were searching for new places to live last summer, we would have used it to help filter possible locations. As it is, we did a reasonable job picking a place to live. As you can see, Corvallis is a 75% match for my preferences.

And three out of the top ten results on my list — Sequim and Port Angeles in Washington, Florence in Oregon — were towns we considered seriously during our search. Two additional towns in my top ten (Grass Valley and Eureka in California) were on my list to look at, but Kim ruled them out because she doesn't want to live in California.

I realize that for most folks, this tool is just a fun diversion. Unless you're actually looking to make a move, there's nothing you can do with the results at the moment. Still, I think it's worth bookmarking for the next time you are trying to decide where to live.

If you'd like to see the raw data behind this tool, check out the piece that explains the methodology: “How we calculated where to live”.

[The New York Times: Where should you live?]

Windows Terminal, Microsoft’s modern command line tool that make its debut on Windows 10 two years ago will become the default terminal experience on Windows 11 PCs. Microsoft announced yesterday that the change will hit the Windows Insider Program next ... Read more

Microsoft is once again sounding the alarm on a state-sponsored cyberattack, this one making makes use of a Java logging library know as CVE-2021-44228 or the Log4j2 ("log forge") bug. Microsoft believes state sanctioned hacks from countries such as Iran, ... Read more

Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is currently serving multiple life terms in a high security federal penitentiary. He was captured in 2013 by law enforcement while using his laptop in a public library. Agents managed to distract him and grab his laptop before he could erase any of the incriminating information on it. — Read the rest

Sometimes it's hard to disassociate rap music with the masculine bravado and gang culture that's defined it for decades, but the genre is clawing itself from the mire of toxic masculinity to become more diverse and eclectic. Progress is glacial.

Rap's current packaging is even more jarring when looking at the prototypes that helped sire the artform. — Read the rest

Making the jump from Windows to Linux isn't always a walk in the park for long-time Windows users. That isn't to say the experience isn't a great one. It's just that there are certain things you take for granted in Windows that are quite different in Linux.

A new JavaScript-based remote access Trojan (RAT) propagated via a social engineering campaign has been observed employing sneaky "fileless" techniques as part of its detection-evasion methods to elude discovery and analysis. Dubbed DarkWatchman by researchers from Prevailion's Adversarial Counterintelligence Team (PACT), the malware uses a resilient domain generation algorithm (DGA) to identify

Life is never easy for Peter Parker, whether he's a comic book character, the lead in an animated series, or a flesh and blood person. Director Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" movie trilogy threw everything but an actual kitchen sink at Tobey Maguire's iteration of the web-slinger, including the deaths of friends and family, economic hardship, and Peter's need to keep secrets, even when it meant doing harm to his most treasured relationships. And although Tom Holland's Peter Parker has had it relatively easier in the lead-up to his return in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," he has also had to deal with the loss of loved ones and seen relationships shattered due to him prioritizing his super-heroic duties over his personal happiness.

Out of all the live-action Spider-Men so far, however, none have led a life as rough as that of Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker in the "Amazing Spider-Man" movies. With Dr. Curt Connors, aka Lizard, from "The Amazing Spider-Man" and Max Dillon, aka Electro, from "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" crossing over into the MCU thanks to the multiversal story in "No Way Home," let's look back at the tragic tale of Garfield's superhero so far.

The Truth About Peter's Parents

As with Maguire's web-head, Garfield's Peter Parker was raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben since he was a kid. But where Raimi's films never showed Peter's parents, "The Amazing Spider-Man" opens with young Pete being separated from his father and mother, Richard and Mary Parker, after they discover someone broke into their home. They leave Peter with May and Ben for what Richard promises will only be "a little while." Years later, though, Peter has grown up into a moody teenager who avoids socializing with others, the painful memories of his parents inexplicably abandoning him still fresh in his mind.

In time, Peter begins to unravel the mystery behind his parents' disappearance, discovering his father did genetic research with Dr. Connors for Oscorp. Yet, in trying to reconnect with his parents through Connors, Peter accidentally gives the latter the information he needs to complete his experiments, transforming him into The Lizard. It's not until "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" that Peter finds Richard's secret lab and learns the truth: Richard refused to make bio-weapons for Oscorp and fled with Mary, realizing the corporation would use Peter to get to him.

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" also includes a prologue that confirms Peter and Mary died after an assassin hired by Oscorp hijacked their personal jet and caused it to crash. But even without that knowledge, Peter finally gains some closure at the end of the movie by accepting he will never see them again.

Uncle Ben And Harry Osborn

Uncle Ben's tragic death and Peter's tumultuous friendship with Harry Osborn were major parts of Raimi's "Spider-Man" movie trilogy and factored into the stories for all three entries. The "Amazing Spider-Man" films, on the other hand, played things a little differently.

Where Peter and Harry were high school besties in Raimi's "Spider-Man," Harry hasn't been present in Peter's life for years when "The Amazing Spider-Man" picks up and doesn't even appear in the film. As "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" reveals, Harry's father Norman sent him off to boarding school when was eleven to focus on finding a cure for retroviral hyperplasia: the genetic terminal illness that's long plagued their family. It's only upon becoming a legal adult and taking control of Oscorp after his father's death that Harry rekindles ties with Peter (who knows a thing or two about having an absentee dad) — at least before things take a dark turn, which we will touch on later.

By comparison, Ben's demise in "The Amazing Spider-Man" hits the same general beats as his death in Raimi's "Spider-Man," with Ben getting shot after Peter allows an armed thief to escape in retaliation for the burglar's victim screwing him over minutes earlier. But where Maguire's Spider-Man had confessed his role in Ben's fate to May and forgiven his uncle's true killer by the end of Raimi's trilogy, the "Amazing Spider-Man" films concluded before Garfield's superhero got the chance to do either of those things.

Peter And Gwen's Love Story

After Raimi's "Spider-Man" movies featured Mary Jane Watson as Peter's love interest, the "Amazing Spider-Man" films brought in Peter's first romantic interest from Marvel's comic books: Gwen Stacy. "The Amazing Spider-Man" follows Peter and Gwen as high schoolers who fall in love, only for tragedy to strike when Gwen's father is mortally wounded during Peter's final showdown with the Lizard and, having only just learned he's Spider-Man, he begs Pete to protect Gwen by staying away from her before dying.

Peter, being a teenager, tries but quickly fails to honor that promise. Still, he can't escape his guilt, which leads to him constantly breaking up then getting back together with Gwen until she ends their relationship herself after they graduate high school in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." But just as it seems they're done for good, with Gwen headed to Oxford, Peter professes his love to her and agrees to follow her to England.

By this point, though, Harry — who becomes the Green Goblin after Peter (as Spider-Man) refuses to let him use his blood to treat his illness — and Electro, an ex-Oscorp employee with a grudge against Spidey, have teamed up, forcing Peter and Gwen to do battle. Recalling her infamous comic book fate, Gwen is killed during their fight, leaving Peter to mourn her for months ... until he watches a recording of her graduation speech (which he missed seeing in-person) and finds the strength to resume his crime-fighting duties.

Read this next: Spider-Man Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

The post The Tragic History of Andrew Garfield's Amazing Spider-Man, Explained appeared first on /Film.

(Superhero Bits is a collection of stories, updates, and videos about anything and everything inspired by the comics of Marvel, DC, and more. For comic book movies, TV shows, merchandise, events, and whatever catches our eye, this is the place to find anything that falls through the cracks.)

In this edition of Superhero Bits:

• DC spreads some holiday joy, yule log style.

• Zack Snyder shares a new look at Joker from "Justice League."

• A big trailer for a big Marvel movie leaked online.

• Highlights from the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" red carpet.

• All that and more!

The Flash Season 8 Episode 6 Promo

Here is the promo for the upcoming sixth episode of the eighth season of "The Flash" on The CW. The network has not yet released a title or synopsis for the episode, but that makes sense, given that it won't be arriving until March 2022. Following the conclusion of the "Armageddon" arc, the show is taking a pretty long break.

Venom: Lethal Protector Miniseries Announced By Marvel

Marvel Comics has announced a new miniseries centered on none other than Venom that will take the character back to his early days. "Venom: Lethal Protector" is set to bring writer David Michelinie, who introduced Venom to Marvel with Todd McFarlane, back to the fold for a five-issue series. Artist Ivan Fiorelli is also on board. Per the publisher, here's what to expect:

Before Carnage and space gods, clones and toxins, and the revelation that he was a father, Eddie Brock was a down-on-his-luck reporter who had tried to take his own life before being saved by an extraterrestrial alien. In the spirit of hit titles like "X-Men Legends" and "Maestro," explore an earlier era of Marvel Comics for an all-new, horrifying tale that not only revisits the wicked web-slinger's past, but hints at what's to come in his future!

"Venom: Lethal Protector" #1 hits stands on March 23, 2022.

DC Yule Log Video

The yule log has become an annual tradition around Christmastime, and we occasionally get a variation on the same old log in a fireplace idea. The folks at DC have offered up something for the holiday season in the form of a ten-hour yule log video (seen above), which contains some little DC window dressing, with the company saying in the description that Superman is the one that lit the fire. Something potentially amusing to have on in the background during your holiday festivities.

Zack Snyder Shares Unused Look At Joker From Justice League

While I will not use this opportunity to re-litigate the inclusion of Jared Leto's Joker in Zack Snyder's "Justice League," am here to simply pass along information. As we can see in the above tweet, the filmmaker recently took to social networking site Vero to share a new still of Leto rocking his Joker look from the so-called Snyder Cut. Do with that information what you will, dear reader.

Beware, The Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Trailer Leaked

Alright Marvel fans, be warned. As reported by Comic Book Resources, a version of the "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" trailer is said to have leaked online. We will not be posting any links to it here and encourage fans to be patient and wait for it to arrive when the time is right. For those looking to avoid possible spoilers or lesser versions of the trailer, this is more of a PSA. Be aware, as these links are floating around. But we'd expect that the genuine article will be online sooner rather than later, so be on the lookout.

James Gunn Got A Sweet Guardians Of The Galaxy Xbox

James Gunn, the director of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies, is now going to be able to play the franchise's recently released game in style. Taking to Instagram, the filmmaker revealed that the folks at Xbox sent him a cool "GOTG" edition of an Xbox Series X, along with a copy of the game, which Gunn intends to play. It should be interesting to get his thoughts on it, given that it recently won big at "The Game Awards," and given how tied to the characters Gunn is.

The Ms. Marvel Cast Got Matching Tattoos

As we can see in the above video clip, it turns out the cast of the upcoming "Ms. Marvel" series on Disney+ actually got matching tattoos. Star Laurel Marsden showed hers off to Variety, with a red lightning bolt representing the main character's familiar logo. This is a sweet gesture and seems to imply that everyone had a great time making the show, which is set to arrive on the streaming service next year.

Spider-Man: No Way Home Red Carpet Highlights

Marvel recently held the premiere for "Spider-Man: No Way Home," and as is typically the case, the stars gathered to walk the red carpet for the much-anticipated flick. Marvel conveniently decided to put together the above video, collecting some of the highlights from many who attended the premiere. So, for those who don't feel like perusing the internet and watching hours of red carpet interviews, this is a fine substitute that should do well to scratch that itch for those who have it.

No Way Home Doctor Strange From Hot Toys

Last, but certainly not least for today, the folks at Hot Toys have revealed a new Doctor Strange 1/6 scale figure based on the iteration of the character appearing in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." As is always the case with Hot Toys releases, this thing is impressively loaded with detail. But as is also the case, that comes at a cost. Pre-orders are live now, with the figure going for $315. It is expected to ship sometime between January and March 2023. Those who are interested in seeing more photos or ordering one up can do so by clicking here.

Read this next: Joker's Wild: Ranking The Cinematic Versions Of The Clown Prince Of Crime

The post Superhero Bits: The Spider-Man: No Way Home Red Carpet, A Major Trailer Leak & More appeared first on /Film.