Social media: How can we protect its youngest users?

A psychologist says parents need to provide their children with "digital resilience".

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How critical is the weather for the SpaceX launch?

Nasa and SpaceX were due to send astronauts to the ISS on Saturday but the weather's changed their plans.

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Best gaming laptops: Know what to look for and which models rate highest

The gaming laptop landscape is experiencing an earthquake-like shift. With the near-simultaneous launches of AMD’s Ryzen 4000 and Intel’s Comet Lake-H mobile CPUs, we have a real fight for the first time ever, focusing on Ryzen 4000’s cores vs. Comet Lake-H’s clock speeds. We have to say, Ryzen 4000 is looking awfully good--check out our new top budget 15-inch laptop, the Acer Nitro 5, below. Meanwhile, Nvidia has unveiled a new generation of mobile graphics technologies. Check out our top picks immediately below, and keep reading to catch up on the latest news and reviews. 

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Robots to take on more supermarket tasks

Grocery and technology firm Ocado Group is buying two robotics firms, to boost the automation of online grocery orders.

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Coronavirus: The gamers spending thousands on loot boxes

An expert warns young people have been hit by "the perfect storm" of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Ticketmaster fined £1.25m over payment data breach

More than nine million people may have had their details stolen in the 2018 cyber-attack.

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Did you just get your iPhone 12 mini or iPhone 12 Pro Max? Do these things first!

Before you even peel the plastic off your new iPhone 12 mini or iPhone 12 Pro Max (or maybe even a new iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro), read this setup guide.

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Serena by Lutron Smart Wood Blinds review: Pretty enough, but also pretty expensive

Wood blinds look more elegant than fabric shades, but their greater mass limits the onboard motor in this smart model to tilting the slats—you’ll need to raise and lower the blinds by hand.

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The best smart shades: These luxurious window treatments blend high tech with high fashion

Smart, motorized shades and blinds cost a pretty penny, but do they ever bring the wow.

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Tested: Do high refresh rate monitors make games faster?

PC gamers know that high refresh rate monitors make games look smoother. But do higher refresh rate displays make games feel smoother, too? After getting our grubby paws on gear that measures system latency, we can definitely say that yes, fast monitors provide more responsive gameplay experiences for esports enthusiasts—though its effectiveness depends on the visual settings you’re using to play those games, and the tangible benefits taper off the faster you go.

We recently received a 1080p Asus ROG Swift PG259QNR display in our labs. This silky-smooth 360Hz G-Sync monitor runs a whopping six times faster than a typical 60Hz screen. Better yet, it comes with Nvidia’s Reflex Latency Analyzer tool. Built into select 360Hz G-Sync Esports monitors, Nvidia Reflex Analyzer can measure how long it takes for your mouse clicks to register as an action on-screen. Check out our Nvidia Reflex primer if you want to learn more about GeForce’s suite of responsiveness-focused features. 

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Vava VD009 Dash Cam review: Excellent features and video

Vava’s VD009 dash cam takes some of the most detailed video we’ve seen—day and night, front and interior. We were slightly disappointed that it doesn’t feature Vava’s usual hockey-puck form factor, but given its features and performance—we’ll get over it. That’s a joke folks; it’s a very nice dash cam, even if it is a little pricey ($180 on Amazon).

This review is part of our ongoing roundup of the best dash cams. Go there for information on competing products and how we tested them.

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Robot mimics human eye contact and other tech news

BBC Click’s Omar Mehtab looks at some of the best technology news stories.

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TikTok lives to see another day in US

US Commerce Department halts ban on Chinese owned company.

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I really really want to buy an M1 MacBook Pro. Here’s why I’m not yet

Apple's new M1 MacBooks are closer than ever to the update I've wanted for years, but I'm still saving my money.

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Aukey Basix Slim 10,000mAh review: A battery pack that offers more than what you pay for

Aukey’s accessory lineup is wide-ranging, with items like charging cables, wall adapters, and battery packs. The company’s packs have performed just okay in the past, with overall efficiency failing to crack the top half of all the portable battery packs we’ve tested.

That changes with the 10,000mAh (37Wh) Basix Slim battery pack from Aukey. This $19.99 pack punches above its price in performance, although the overall build quality leaves us somewhat disappointed.

Note: This review is part of our roundup of portable power banks. Go there for details on competing products and our testing methods.

As its name implies, the Basix Slim is rather, well, basic and slim. It’s small enough to fit into a side or front pocket on your favorite backpack, or even your pants pocket if you’re in a bind. There are four total ports on it, three of which are in the front of the pack. There are two full-size USB ports, with a USB-C port in the middle. On the right side of the housing is a microUSB port (more on that in a minute). On the left side you’ll find the power button—well, really more of a status button, as you don’t need to press it in order to start charging a device. Just plug something in and the pack automatically wakes up and starts charging. 

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AirPlay on Roku: This changes everything

Roku gets AirPlay support, and it changes everything.

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How Google's new policy affects your free storage in Photos and Drive

On Wednesday, Google announced a major change to its policy on storing photos and other documents: All will start contributing to your overall storage cap, pushing you to eventually pay for Google’s Google One cloud storage, or risk having files deleted.

The changes won’t take place immediately. Beginning on June 1, 2021, any new photo that you take with a smartphone not made by Google will count towards your cap, which is currently 15GB within Google’s free tier. The same is true of any new Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard files. Existing photos and documents, however, will not.

The change is a major one for Android smartphone users, but can affect iOS users too. Generally speaking, when you take a photo with your Android smartphone, it’s backed up to Google, as well as any other services you’ve linked to your phone, such as Box or Microsoft’s OneDrive. Likewise, iPhone users can back up their photos into Google Photos as well as iCloud.

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Social media: How might it be regulated?

A report puts forward a tranche of ideas that could help reduce the spread of misinformation.

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New Yorker fires Jeffrey Toobin for exposing himself on Zoom

Jeffrey Toobin, who is also senior legal analyst for CNN, confirmed in a tweet he had been sacked.

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'Coding error' in Scotland's Test and Protect figures

The error led to contact tracing staff overestimating the number of people contacted within 24 hours.

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