A $2,000 video card for consumers shouldn't exist. The GeForce RTX 5090, like the $1,599 RTX 4090 before it, is more a flex by NVIDIA than anything truly meaningful for most gamers. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said as much when he revealed the GPU at CES 2025, assuming that it'll be for hardcore players who have $10,000 rigs. Personally, I don't know anyone who actually fits that bill, not unless you count parasocial relationships with streamers. (My own setup doesn't even cross $5,000.)
But we all know why NVIDIA is hyping up the unattainable RTX 5090: It lets the company show off benchmarks that AMD can't touch, once again cementing itself as the supreme leader of the high-end video card market. It's not just about gaming, either. The RTX 5090 is also being positioned as an AI workhorse since it's powered by NVIDIA's new Blackwell architecture, which leans on the company's Tensor Cores for artificial intelligence work more than ever. Realistically, though, the $549 RTX 5070 is the GPU more gamers will actually be able to buy.
I'll admit, I went into this review with a mixture of excitement and disgust. It's astonishing that NVIDIA was able to stuff 91 billion transistors and 21,760 CUDA cores in the RTX 5090, and I couldn't wait to see how it performed. Still, I find it genuinely sad that NVIDIA keeps pushing the bar higher for GPU prices, in the process making the gaming world even more unequal. A $2,000 graphics card, in this economy?!
But after hours of benchmarking and playtime, I realized the RTX 5090 wasn't much of a threat to gaming accessibility. Wealthy PC gamers have always overspent for graphics performance I've seen people (unwisely) pay thousands more than consumer GPUs just to get extra VRAM from NVIDIA's Quadro cards. But the rise of PC handhelds like the Steam Deck, which are a direct offshoot of the Nintendo Switch's success, is a clear sign that convenience matters more than raw power to mainstream players today. I don't think many Switch 2 buyers are saving up for an RTX 5090.
For the few who can afford it, though, NVIDIA's new flagship sure is a treat.
Hardware: Leaning more on AI
In many ways, the RTX 5000 GPU family is the convergence of NVIDIA's decades-long GPU expertise and its newfound role powering the AI hype train. Sure, they'll run games faster than before, but what makes them unique is their ability to tap into "neural rendering" AI for even better performance. It's at the heart of DLSS 4, the company's latest AI upscaling technology, which can now generate up to three frames for every one that's actually rendered by the RTX 5090.
That's how NVIDIA can claim this GPU is twice as fast as the RTX 4090, or that the RTX 5070 matches the speed of the 4090. Does it really matter if these frames are "fake" if you can't tell, and they lead to smoother gameplay?
Before I dive further into the AI side of things, though, let's take a closer look at the RTX 5090. Once again, it features 21,760 CUDA cores, up from 16,384 cores on the 4090, as well as 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM instead of the 4090's 24GB of GDDR6X. (I thought I was future-proofing my desktop when I equipped it with 32GB of RAM years ago, but now that video cards have caught up I'm almost convinced to go up to 64GB.) The 5090 also sports 5th-gen Tensor cores with 3,352 of AI TOPs performance, while the 4090 had 1,321 AI TOPS with last-gen Tensor hardware.
RTX 5090
RTX 5080
RTX 5070 Ti
RTX 5070
RTX 4090
Architecture
Blackwell
Blackwell
Blackwell
Blackwell
Lovelace
CUDA cores
21,760
10,752
8,960
6,144
16,384
AI TOPS
3,352
1,801
1,406
988
1,321
Tensor cores
5th Gen
5th Gen
5th Gen
5th Gen
4th Gen
RT cores
4th Gen
4th Gen
4th Gen
4th Gen
3rd Gen
VRAM
32 GB GDDR7
16 GB GDDR7
16 GB GDDR7
12 GB GDDR7
24 GB GDDR6X
Memory bandwidth
1,792 GB/sec
960 GB/sec
896 GB/sec
672 GB/sec
1,008 GB/sec
TGP
575W
360W
300W
250W
450W
I tested the RTX 5090 Founders Edition GPU (provided by NVIDIA), which is dramatically slimmer than its 4090 counterpart. The 5090 has a sleek two-slot case that can actually fit in small form factor systems. The three-slot 4090, meanwhile, was so massive it felt like it was going to tear my PCIe slot out of my motherboard. NVIDIA also added another cooling fan this time around, instead of just relying on a vapor chamber and a single fan. The 5090's main PCB sits in the center of the card, and it's connected to other PCB modules at the PCIe slot and rear ports (three DisplayPort 2.1b and an HDMI 2.1b connection).
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget
DLSS 4: The real star of the show
While multi-frame generation is the defining feature for the RTX 50 cards, there are several other DLSS 4 features that should help games look dramatically better. Best of all, those capabilities are also trickling down to earlier RTX GPUs. RTX 40 cards will be more efficient with their single-frame generation, while RTX 30 and 20 cards will also see an upgrade from AI transformer models used for ray reconstruction (leading to more stable ray tracing), Super Resolution (higher quality textures) and Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing (DLAA).
These transformer models should also fix some rendering artifacts present in earlier versions of DLSS. At NVIDIAs Editors Day earlier this month, the company showed off how the updated version of Ray Reconstruction made a chainlink fence in Alan Wake 2 appear completely sharp and clear. An earlier version of the feature made the same fence look muddy, almost as if it was out of focus. In Horizon Forbidden West, the new version of Super Resolution revealed more detail fromthe texture of Aloys bag.
DLSS 4 will be supported in 75 games and apps at launch, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Cyberpunk 2077, according to NVIDIA. For titles that havent yet been updated with new DLSS menu options, youll also be able to force support for the latest features in the NVIDIA app.
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget
In use: An absolute powerhouse, with fake frames and without
I could almost hear my motherboard breathe a sigh of relief when I unplugged the RTX 4090 and swapped in the slimmer 5090. Installation was a cinch, though I still needed to plug in four PSU connectors to satisfy its demand for 575 watts of power and a 1,000W PSU. If youre lucky enough to have a new PSU with a 600W PCIe Gen 5 cable, that will also work (and also avoid tons of cable clutter).
I tested the RTX 5090 on my home rig powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and 32GB of RAM, alongside a 1,000W Corsair PSU. I also used Alienwares 32-inch 4K QD-OLED 4K 240Hz monitor to get the most out of the 5090, and honestly, you wouldnt want to run this GPU on anything less.
Once I started benchmarking, it didnt take long for the RTX 5090 to impress me. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad test, which is a demanding DX12 demo, it scored 14,239 points, well above the 9,250 points I saw on the RTX 4090. Similarly, the 5090 hit 15,416 points in the 3DMark Speedway benchmark, compared to the 4090s 10,600 points. These are notable generation-over-generation gains without the use of frame generation or any DLSS sorcery its just the raw power you see with more CUDA and RT cores.
None
3DMark TimeSpy Extreme
Port Royal (Ray Tracing)
Cyberpunk (4K RT Overdrive DLSS)
Blender
NVIDIA RTX 5090
19,525
36,003/166fos
246fps (4X frame gen)
14,903
NVIDIA RTX 4090
16,464
25,405/117fps
135fps
12,335
NVIDIA RTX 4080 Super
13,168
18,435/85fps
80fps
8,867
NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti Super
11,366
15,586/72fps
75fps
7,342
Once I started gaming and let DLSS 4 do its magic, my jaw just about hit the floor. But I suppose thats just a natural response to seeing a PC hit 250fps on average in Cyberpunk 2077 while playing in 4K with maxed-out ray tracing overdrive settings and 4x frame generation. In comparison, the 4090 hit 135fps with the same settings and single frame generation.
Now I know most of those frames arent technically real, but its also the first time Ive seen any game fill out the Alienware monitors 4K 240hz refresh rate. And most importantly, Cyberpunk simply looked amazing as I rode my motorcycle down rain-slicked city streets and soaked in the reflections and realistic lighting from robust ray tracing.
Like Cypher in The Matrix (far from the best role model, I know), after suffering through years of low 4K framerates, I couldnt help but feel like ignorance is bliss when it comes to frame generation. I didnt see any artifacts or stuttering. There wasnt anything that took away from my experience of playing Cyberpunk. And the game genuinely looked better than Id ever seen it before.
And if youre the sort of person who could never live with fake frames, the RTX 5090 is also the only card Ive seen that can get close to 60fps in Cyberpunk natively in 4K with maxed out graphics and no DLSS. I hit 54fps on average in my testing, whereas the 4090 chugged along at 42fps in native 4K. You could also compromise a bit and turn on 2x or 3x frame generation to get a solid fps boost, if the idea of 4x frame generation just makes you feel dirty.
And if you cant tell, I quickly got over any fake frame trepidation. When I used the NVIDIA app to turn on 4x frame generation in Dragon Quest: The Veilguard, I once again saw an average framerate of around 240fps in 4K with maxed out graphics. Ive already spent over 25 hours in the game, but running through a few missions at that framerate still felt revelatory. Combat sequences were clearer and easier to follow, possibly thanks to better Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution, and I could also make out even more detail in my characters ornate costumes. On the 4090, I typically saw around 120fps with standard frame generation.
The 5090s DLSS 4 performance makes me eager to see how the cheaper RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti cards perform. If a $550 card can actually get close to what I saw on the $1,599 4090, even if its relying on massive amounts of frame generation, thats still a major accomplishment. It would also be great news for anyone who invested in a 4K 120Hz screen, which is tough to fill with other mid-range GPUs.
Outside of gaming, the RTX 5090 also managed to convert a minute-long 4K clip into 1080p using the NVENC H.264 encoder in just 23 seconds. Thats the fastest conversion Ive seen yet. In comparison, the RTX 4090 took 28 seconds. Add up those seconds on a much larger project, and the 5090 could potentially save you hours of repeated rendering time. Naturally, it also saw the fastest Blender benchmark score weve ever seen, reaching 14,903 points. The RTX 4090, the previous leader in our benchmarks, hit 12,335 points.
3Dmark
Throughout benchmarks and lengthy gaming sessions, the RTX 5090 typically reached around 70 degrees Celsius with audible, but not annoying, fan noise. The card also quickly cooled down to idle temperatures between 34C and 39C when it wasnt under load. Aiming to push the limits of NVIDIAs cooling setup, I also ran several stress test sessions in 3DMark, which involves looping a benchmark 20 times. It never crashed, and achieved over 97 percent accuracy in most of the tests. There was just one Steel Nomad session where it scored 95.9 percent and failed 3DMarks 97 percent threshold. That could easily be due to early driver issues, but its still worth noting.
The only time I really got the RTX 5090 cooking was during an exploration of the Speedway benchmark, where I could move the camera around the ray traced scene and look at different objects and characters. The card hit 79C almost immediately and stayed there until I quit the demo. During that session, as well as typical gaming, the 5090 drew between 500W and 550W of power.
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget
Looking ahead: AI NPCs and neural shaders
On top of DLSS, NVIDIA is also planning to tap into its RTX cards to power AI NPCs in games like PUBG and ZooPunk. Based on what I saw at NVIDIAs Editors Day, though, Im more worried than excited. The companys Ace technology can let NPCs generate text, voices and even have conversational voice chats, but every example I saw was robotic and disturbing. The AI Ally in PUBG makes a lot of sense on paper who wouldnt want a computer companion that could help you fight and find ammo? But in the demo I saw, it wasnt much of a conversationalist, it couldnt find weapons when asked and it also took way too long to hop into a vehicle during a dangerous firefight.
As I wrote last week, I'm personally tired of being sold on AI fantasies, when we know the key to great writing and performances is to give human talent the time and resources to refine their craft. And on a certain level, I think I'll always feel like the director Hayao Miyazaki, who described an early example of an AI CG creature as, "an affront to life itself."
NVIDIAs Neural Shaders are an attempt to bring AI right into texture shaders, something the company says wasnt possible on previous GPUs. These can be implemented in a variety of ways: RTX Neural Materials, for example, can use AI to render complex materials like silk and porcelain, which often have nuanced and reflective textures. RTX Neural Texture Compression, on the other hand, can store complex textures while saving up to 7 times the VRAM used from typical block compression. For ray tracing, theres RTX Neural Radiance Cache, which is trained on live gameplay to help simulate path-traced indirect lighting.
Much like NVIDIAs early ray tracing demos, its unclear how long itll take for us to see these features in actual games. But from the glimpses so far, NVIDIA is clearly thinking of new ways to deploy its AI Tensor Cores. RTX Neural Faces, for example, uses a variety of methods to make faces seem more realistic, and less like plastic 3D models. Theres also RTX Mega Geometry, which can help developers make up to 100x more ray traced triangles, according to NVIDIA. Demos show it being used to construct a large building as well as an enormous dragon.
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget
Wrap-up: The new unattainable GPU king
The $2,000 GeForce RTX 5090 is not meant for mere mortals, that much is clear. But it points to an interesting new direction for NVIDIA, one where AI features can seemingly lead to exponential performance gains. While I hate that its pushing GPU prices to new heights, theres no denying that NVIDIA has crafted an absolute beast. But, like most people, Im more excited to see how the $549 RTX 5070 fares. Sure, its also going to lean into frame generation, but at least you wont have to spend $2,000 to make the most of your 4K monitor.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5090-review-pure-ai-excess-for-2000-140053371.html?src=rss
Google and Apple are having a bad day. The tech giants are facing a new investigation into their mobile ecosystems from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and growing pressure to adopt a new app store initiative in India.
Let's start with the probe, which comes one day after the CMA named a former Amazon executive as its interim chair. The CMA is investigating whether Apple and Google's mobile ecosystems should have Strategic Market Status (SMS) and thus can be subjected to greater regulation and pro-competition directives. However, they're not fully clear what aspects exactly are being investigated. This new designation stems from the UK's Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act, which went into effect on January 1. Google is also the subject of the first SMS investigation, launched earlier this month and focusing on possible antitrust practices around the company's search services.
The CMA's SMS investigations can last up to nine months, with both cases currently accepting comments on the investigation and possible interventions. The regulator is accepting submissions around the joint Google and Apple probe through February 12.
Now to Apple and Google's other headache. In India, the technology ministry is pushing Apple and Google to offer the state-backed GOV.in app store in their marketplaces, Bloomberg reports. The Indian government also wants the suite of apps to be pre-installed on all mobile devices, available for third-party downloads and not labelled with warnings such as "untrusted source." It is billing the push as a means for further distributing public-welfare services. These apps are currently available on Apple and Google's app stores, but as separate entities.
The initial request reportedly came in a meeting last month but, as it stands, Google and Apple are unlikely to say yes. The Indian government is reportedly discussing using mandates or taking legal steps to force compliance. In 2021, Apple began offering a similar option for Russian users due to regulations. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/uk-investigating-google-and-apples-mobile-ecosystems-135204025.html?src=rss
Google is paying HTC $250 million in cash for a deal that will give the bigger company's plans for Android XR a boost. Under the terms of their agreement, some members of the HTC Vive engineering team will be joining Google, which describes them as an "incredibly strong technical team with a proven track record in the VR space." HTC released the consumer version of its first Vive VR headset, designed in partnership with Valve, back in 2016. Last year, it launched the Vive Focus Vision more than a year after it released its first standalone headset for consumers, the Vive XR Elite.
In addition to absorbing certain Vive team members, Google will also get a non-exclusive license to use HTC'S extended reality technologies. HTC can still use its own IPs, and it vows to continue developing and supporting its XR headsets. The companies will also "explore future collaboration opportunities." Google says the deal will help "its acceleration across the headset and glasses ecosystem." The company laid out its vision for a unified Android XR ecosystem in December, which will span a range of virtual and mixed reality headsets and glasses. We're bound to see the first Android XR devices this year, including one codenamed Project Moohan from a Google-Samsung collaboration.
Google's and HTC's agreement is still subject to customary closing conditions and will be finalized sometime this first quarter.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-buys-part-of-htcs-vive-vr-team-for-250-million-130046567.html?src=rss
Xbox is hosting its Developer Direct showcase today, and you'll be able to watch along live on YouTube, Twitch or our handy embed below.
The stream starts as 1PM ET / 10AM PT and is supposed to feature updates from the developers of South of Midnight, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Doom: The Dark Ages. Xbox is also promising to "visit a surprise location to see another studios brand new game." Windows Central reports the mysterious unannounced game is "a new entry in a legendary Japanese IP which has decades of history," which certainly sounds intriguing. At the very least, the rest of the games featured are slated to launch in 2025.
Xbox spent most of 2024 adjusting its strategy around releasing games, delaying some titles to this year, and bringing some formerly exclusive games to the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. The company seems like it's favoring timed exclusives over hoarding everything for Xbox and PC, so the job of this Developer Direct is a little bit different this time. Besides letting developers sell their games, the real test of the show is if it can get you excited about games that are coming to Xbox first, rather than only coming to Xbox at all.
You can watch the Xbox Developer Direct showcase on YouTube, Twitch, or right here in the embed above when it starts at 1PM ET / 10AM PT.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/how-to-watch-the-latest-xbox-developer-direct-showcase-110013502.html?src=rss
Canon announced that it has created a new 410-megapixel, 35mm full-frame CMOS sensor, "the largest number of pixels ever achieved" in a sensor of its size.
Because of the level of detail the new sensor can capture, Canon expects it to be used by"surveillance, medicine and industry," where there's demand for "extreme resolution." With 410 megapixels, Canon's sensor has a resolution of 24K, 198 times greater than HD, and 12 times greater than 8K. That makes it simple to crop and then enlarge a photo captured by the sensor without losing detail.
Typically, sky-high megapixel counts are limited to cameras with medium-format sensors. But the beauty of Canon cramming this many pixels into 35mm is that it should be able to be used "in combination with lenses for full-frame sensors."
Canon had to make more than a few design changes to make this happen. The new sensor has a redesigned circuitry pattern and a "back-illuminated stacked formation" where "the pixel segment and signal processing segment are interlayered." That translates to a readout speed of 3,280 megapixels per second, and video at eight frames per second. A monochrome version of the sensor can bin four pixels together at once to shoot even brighter images and capture "100-megapixel video at 24 frames per second," Canon says.
It doesn't sound like this kind of sensor is going to make it into a consumer camera anytime soon, but the fact this level of miniaturization is possible means one day it could, for the photography sickos who want it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/canon-has-developed-a-410-megapixel-full-frame-sensor-001851969.html?src=rss
Extremely OK Games has cancelled its upcoming game Earthblade. The followup to the team's beloved indie sensation Celeste was announced in 2022 and expected to release last year. Maddy Thorson announced the news on the studio's website today.
"Noel and Ibegan to reflect on how the game has felt for us to work on day-to-day, and realized that it has been a struggle for a long time," she wrote. "Sure, working on one project for so long is bound to become a slog, but this feels like a deeper problem. Celeste's success applied pressure on us to deliver something bigger and better with Earthblade, and that pressure is a large part of why working on it has become so exhausting."
The studio, led by Thorson and Noel Berry, parted ways with EXOK co-founder Pedro Medeiros in November. However, Thorson was clear in her message that the rift between team members was not the reason for cancelling Earthblade. In fact, all of the public conversation between the former colleagues thus far has remained amicable. Thorson offered firm support for Medeiros and his new game project Neverway in her post: "If you were excited about Earthblade and angry about its cancelling, Pedro and the Neverway team aren't the enemy and anyone who treats them as such isn't welcome in any EXOK community."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/extremely-ok-games-has-cancelled-its-follow-up-to-celeste-000352550.html?src=rss
Ten video games have received nominations for the 36th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. This program celebrates media works that feature "fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community and the issues that affect their lives." There are nominees for television, film, music, theater, journalism and comics as well as video games.
One of the 2024 nominees for outstanding video game is the re-release of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door for the Nintendo Switch. The original Japanese version of the GameCube title included a minor character named Vivian who was transgender. The game contained dialogue about her challenges being misgendered and her journey to understanding her own identity. However, the 2002 international translations of the game, including the English version released in the US, erased that side to the character, removing language around Vivian's gender and pronouns. Last year's Switch re-release restored the character's original lines and story arc for English-speaking players to finally experience.
The video game nominees also include Dragon Age: The Veilguard. BioWare has a long history of portraying queer characters and romance options in their games, and it's great to see them continuing that practice with the latest title. Horror film outfit Blumhouse's first foray into games, the fascinating indie project Fear the Spotlight, also received a nod. Here is the complete list of game nominees:
Caravan SandWitch (Studio Plane Toast / Dear Villagers)
Dragon Age: The Veilguard (BioWare / Electronic Arts)
Dread Delusion (Lovely Hellplace / DreadXP)
Dustborn (Red Thread Games / Spotlight by Quantic Dream)
Fear the Spotlight (Cozy Game Pals / Blumhouse Games)
Life is Strange: Double Exposure (Deck Nine / Square Enix)
Minds Beneath Us (BearBone Studio)
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
Sorry Were Closed ( la mode games / Akupara Games)
Until Then (Polychroma Games / Maximum Entertainment)
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/glaad-media-awards-nominates-paper-mario-after-nintendo-restored-trans-representation-232157090.html?src=rss
Sega has introduced a new system for player accounts. A Sega Account will connect all of a player's games and services from both Sega and Atlus. It will also be a place for the two studios to share news, events, updates and promotions about their titles. The accounts are free and anyone can register.
To sweeten the pot, Sega will also offer bonuses and goodies to account members. The first reward people can unlock is a Kazuma Kiryu Special Outfit DLC for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which is due out next month. The ensemble can be redeemed by anyone who sets up a Sega Account before March 7.
With so many studios turning to games as a service, it's becoming standard practice to require players to create accounts or online profiles. Sega is a little slow to hop on this train, and there are some industry standard features in that are still in development for Sega Accounts, such as a page for records related to games played. There's no language on the website now about if or when an account might be required.
In announcing this platform, Sega said there will be "various new services and features coming soon." We already know that Sega is working on a brand new Virtua Fighter game, but we've also said good-bye to other old-school classics from the company. Seems like Sega is in a phase of transition, so it should be interesting to see what else they've got in store for this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/sega-unveils-a-player-account-system-221029962.html?src=rss
Dozens of subreddits have opted to block links to X in their communities over the last 24 hours in a movement that appears to be gaining momentum across Reddit. Hundreds more appear to be actively discussing or considering a similar move with their members.
Engadget counted more than two dozen subreddits, which collectively have millions of members, that have already restricted their communities ability to post content from X in some way in recent days. These include large subreddits, like r/formula1, which has nearly 5 million members, and smaller communities like r/ultraman, which has 30,000.
The movement seems to have been popularized, at least in part, by r/newjersey, whose mods announced a ban on X links Tuesday. Fuck this guy. X links are now banned from r/newjersey, they shared in a post that now has more than 65,000 upvotes. Accompanying the post was a photo of Elon Musk extending his arm, Musk made two apparent Nazi salutes during a speech at Donald Trumps inauguration which have been widely celebrated by fascists online.
A number of other subreddits quickly followed suit, with many sharing a link to the r/newjersey post. X links have been barred from r/military (489,000 members), r/comics (2.7 million), r/casualnintendo (184,000), r/spiderman (1 million), r/pcgaming (3.8 million), r/rupaulsdragrace (1 million), r/KingdomHearts (345,000), r/therapists (142,000), and many others. We weren't trying to start a trend, and we never expected to go viral, the mods of r/newjersey said in a statement to Engadget. Not everyone will agree with our choice, but Reddit has always been a place where each community gets to decide these things individually. If our announcement has inspired discussions about the role social media is playing in our current times, we think that's a good thing.
Many mods, in announcing their ban on X links have also cited the fact X has made it increasingly difficult for users to view posts if they arent logged in. Theres no doubt that over the past years Twitter has become a low-quality source: the login requirements, the flood of bots, the prioritization of content from paying users and promotion of sensationalist content, r/formula1s mods wrote in a post. But unlike with news sites in our source-rating system, for Twitter there wasnt really an alternative.
The subreddit is instead encouraging members to share content from Bluesky, which doesnt require a login to view posts. The mods said they will allow screenshots of relevant posts by teams, drivers & F1 when the same content isnt available elsewhere.
Moderators for r/antiwork, which has 2.9 million members, noted that their rules prohibit links and screenshots to X and all other social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram and even LinkedIn. We'd prefer for the message of antiwork to come organically from you, here, in OC form, but if it comes from a picture or post of something else, that catches hold, we want that, too, they wrote. Just not Twitter.
Many other subreddits are considering similar measures. Mods of r/dnd (4 million members), r/baseball (2.8 million), r/AlanWake (80,000) and r/Xmen (270,000) are currently running polls among their members. Moderators in r/hockey (2.7 million), r/georgia (237,000) and r/popheads (2.8 million) have also shared that they are discussing a potential ban.
Not all moderators have been receptive when such a ban has been raised. A mod in r/chess said that such a ban would pose a bit of a logistical problem for the community. The unfortunate reality is that Twitter is the source of a big portion of content on the subreddit, they wrote. A ban would thus require some rule changes. We're open to suggestions, but can't promise anything at the moment. Likewise, a moderator of r/fauxmoi, a subreddit dedicated to gossip, noted that we do prefer to still have the link so we can ensure that people are not submitting fake or doctored screenshots.
While this is far from the first time that Redditors have joined together in a form of protest, its notable that so many are calling to remove a popular source for Reddit posts.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/dozens-of-subreddits-are-banning-x-links-from-their-communities-215441510.html?src=rss
Samsung just held its Unpacked event and the company announced all kinds of new products. The most notable of the bunch, however, was likely the Galaxy S25 Ultra flagship smartphone. It's the most powerful of the just-announced S25 line and Amazon is offering a pretty swell pre-order bonus, to the tune of a $200 gift card.
Thats right. If you pre-order a Galaxy S25 Ultra handset, you get a $200 Amazon gift card that can be used on just about anything. This can help shave off some of the sticker shock of that $1,300 price tag.
If the price still isnt right, Amazon is offering similar promotions for the standard S25 and the slightly beefier S25+. However, the gift card amount shrinks to just $100. The regular S25 starts at $700 and the S25+ starts at $1,000.
Pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S25 series are open right now. Deliveries should start going out on February 7. We have full reviews of all three phones coming soon, if you want to wait make sure the handsets are worth the cost.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/amazon-includes-a-200-gift-card-when-you-pre-order-the-samsung-galaxy-s25-ultra-195455473.html?src=rss
