Video emerged of a 2023 gig appearing to show a band member saying: `The only good Tory is a dead Tory.` Read...

In 2004, we got the famous “You Wouldn’t Steal a Car” anti-piracy public service announcement urging the public not to illegally download files like movies and music. The campaign compared file-sharing to stealing handbags, televisions, and cars, and it frequently appeared before films in theaters and on commercial DVDs. Now, TorrentFreak points out that the font used in the ads may have been pirated. Instead of using the original font called “FF Confidential,” which was designed by Just van Rossum in 1992 and requires licensing for commercial use, it appears that the anti-piracy campaign used a font called “XBAND Rough” instead. XBAND Rough is a free clone of FF Confidential, created by Catapult Entertainment in 1996. How can you tell the difference? Well, one Fediverse user found the XBAND Rough font embedded in a PDF file that was hosted on the official campaign website. TorrentFreak confirmed that XBAND Rough is embedded in both an official brochure (PDF) and an official flyer (PDF). However, TorrentFreak cautions against drawing any direct conclusions, as it’s entirely possible that the campaign still used a licensed version. “I knew my font was used for the campaign and that a pirated clone named XBAND Rough existed. I did not know that the campaign used XBAND Rough and not FF Confidential, though. So this fact is new to me, and I find it hilarious,” said Just van Rossum to TorrentFreak. Van Rossum says he has no plans to follow up on the whole thing as he is no longer the font’s official distributor. The licensing of FF Confidential is currently handled by Monotype. Read...

What’s the point of dropping four figures on powerful gaming PC parts if you’re just going to show off its polygonal power on a 1080p screen? Today, you can give your rig the upgrade it deserves with a Samsung 49-inch OLED ultrawide gaming monitor. At $949.99, it’s not exactly cheap, but it’s $650 off the original price. Samsung’s G93SC gets discounted pretty frequently—maybe its standard price is more aspirational than realistic—but that doesn’t mean it’s any less impressive as a monitor. With an enormous 5120×1440 resolution on its curved OLED panel, it’s basically two 1440p screens smooshed into one. And the size and resolution aren’t its only superlatives, with it also rocking a 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time. Trying to push that resolution at that speed will bring even the most powerful machine to its knees on any recent 3D game. This massive ultrawide monitor also includes USB-C video with 65 watts of charging for laptops and plenty of adjustments for gamers, along with a pair of speakers that you absolutely shouldn’t use. It also has VESA mounting for a monitor arm, though you’ll need a beefy one to handle its weight. For all the details, be sure to check out PCWorld’s full review. You can also check out our roundup of the best gaming monitors. Amazon has marked this one as a “limited time deal,” so this price might not stick around for long. That said, this model does go on sale on the regular, so if you’re a little light on disposable income at the moment, I wouldn’t be too put out if you have to let this deal pass you by. Get this giant Samsung OLED ultrawide gaming monitor for $950Buy now on Amazon Read...

OpenAI is releasing a new lightweight version of the “Deep Research” feature in ChatGPT, which should be cheaper to run—and that makes it possible for the company to make it available to ChatGPT’s free users. ChatGPT’s Deep Research feature can perform multi-step research using sources across the internet, then generates detailed reports with clear citations and summaries of its research process and results. It’s particularly useful for complex tasks in knowledge-heavy fields such as economics, science, law, and technology. The lightweight version will be as in-depth as the standard version but will produce shorter answers, according to OpenAI. Free users will have access to five Deep Research tasks per month, while Paid Plus and Team users will have access to 15 tasks per month. These will start to be used after the first 10 standard Deep Research tasks are used up. Meanwhile, Pro users will have access to 125 tasks with standard Deep Research and 125 tasks with the lightweight version. When we reviewed ChatGPT Pro, we found that Deep Research was the best feature included in the ultra-premium subscription, with other AI assistants currently trying to mimic it but none offering anything that comes close to matching it. But ChatGPT Pro is extremely expensive—about $200/mo as of this writing—and it’s hard to justify that even if Deep Research is that good. So it’s nice to be able to have a lightweight version of it, especially without even having to pay for it. Read...

You’ve got a Steam Deck and you’re perfectly happy with it, but you find yourself eyeing the slightly newer OLED model with lascivious envy. What’s a gamer to do? Well, if you also happen to have a 3D printer and an OLED USB-C monitor, you get to printing! That’s what one Deck owner did, slapping a 13-inch screen on top of Valve’s portable gaming powerhouse, making it a lot less portable in the process. Printables user djared says, “I didn’t want to get a new Steam Deck just to have an OLED screen, so I made this… lol.” Lol, indeed. The 3D-printed bracket clamps onto the front screen of the Steam Deck, like a gigantic version of those phone mounts for a console controller. It’s made specifically for this Innocn 13.3-inch portable USB-C monitor, accounting for its unique rotating kickstand while leaving plenty of room to connect the USB-C cable. djared/Printables Thanks to the Steam Deck’s easy compatibility with USB-C accessories and external displays, it should be easy enough for it to output to the 1080p screen and take advantage of that luscious OLED color saturation. But when the Steam Deck needs to power both its own operation and a laptop-sized screen at the same time? Expect any similar setup to suck down its battery faster than a teenager going through a 7-Eleven Slurpee. I also wonder if djared is a bodybuilder because holding a Steam Deck and a portable monitor at once must be quite the workout. The design is available as a free STL file if you want to try printing it out for yourself or adapting it to your own portable monitor. Have fun—and once you’re done, don’t skip leg day. Read...

If you’ve ever found it frustrating to force-close a program in Windows 11, there’s now a quicker alternative to the old Ctrl + Alt + Delete method. Microsoft has introduced a simpler option that lets you end tasks directly from the taskbar. To enable this feature, go to Settings > System > For Developers, and select End Task (sometimes it’s called End Activity). Now you can right-click any app in the taskbar and choose End Task from the menu. This new shortcut can save you both time and frustration, especially when an app stops responding. Instead of waiting for the Task Manager to load or dealing with laggy windows, you can now nix the unresponsive program with just a couple of clicks. Read...

I appreciate and respect what the GDPR was trying to accomplish. The hours of corporate training and “please let us track you with cookies, we pinky-promise we need them” messages that appear on nearly every website? Not so much. Now, the latest version of the Brave browser hopes to get rid of them—the pop-ups, not the training—with a new tool. The developers are calling it “Cookiecrumbler,” a method for detecting and blocking the ubiquitous cookie consent notices across the web with a variety of approaches. The thing is, blocking these pop-ups was already built into Brave… but blocking the pop-ups wasn’t the biggest problem. According to the announcement post (spotted by BleepingComputer), it’s doing so without breaking the page afterward. It requires an approach that’s almost tailored to each individual site, as these notices are similar but not identical across the web. Cookiecrumbler aggregates auto-detection with large language models (“AI”), combined with human reviewers who can iron out the wrinkles where the LLM makes mistakes in detection or automatic translation. The tool is running on Brave’s backend servers at the moment so it can crawl the web and set up rules on a site-by-site basis. The team says it wants to switch things into a browser-based version eventually. The best news? Brave is publishing Cookiecrumbler as an open-source tool, so it could be implemented and iterated by other teams. If you prefer another alternative browser (like my personal fave Vivaldi) or you’re uncomfortable with some of Brave’s (ahem) less altruistic moves, you could see Cookiecrumbler pop up in your browser of choice soon. Read...

If you’ve been holding out for a fantastic gaming laptop deal, we found it for you: this Lenovo LOQ for $300 off at B&H! This limited-time deal makes this stellar gaming laptop available for a mere $849, a fantastic price point for what the device has to offer. First off, this is a laptop that can handle pretty much anything, from your daily workload to the creative hobbies you love, from kicking back with Netflix all day to boring spreadsheet stuff. This Lenovo laptop runs on a 13th-gen Intel Core i5 processor and 16GB of RAM, which is enough power to run Windows 11 plus apps without choking. The Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9 is also gaming-ready with an RTX 4060 graphics card, good enough to run most modern games at decent settings at great frame rates. The 15.6-inch IPS display makes content pop with accurate colors, and it’s able to deliver 1080p visuals at a 144Hz refresh rate. Whether you like slow-paced games or action-packed ones, this laptop has you covered—and it’s a winner for the price. Stop wasting time and don’t miss this chance to get the Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9 for $849 at B&H before this deal vanishes! Snag this Lenovo gaming laptop with RTX 4060 for $849Buy now from B&H Read...

Working with a single monitor can be such a chore. But what are you to do when you’re mostly on a laptop on the go? Well, the answer is to get yourself a portable travel monitor—like this 15.6-inch Arzopa S1 Table that’s now on sale for $65 on Amazon (41% off its MSRP). This Arzopa display has an IPS panel so you can expect great color accuracy and wide viewing angles, complete with its 1080p resolution and anti-glare coating. The 15.6-inch size of the display is a great match for modern laptops, offering a similar visual experience whether you’re at home or when you’re out and about. The monitor comes with a built-in stand that doubles as a cover for the screen, protecting it from bumps and scratches while in your backpack. You don’t need apps or drives to make this screen work—just a USB-C cable that connects it to your laptop. Weighing 1.7 pounds and measuring just 0.3 inches in thickness, this monitor is truly portable and can slip right next to your laptop in your backpack. Of course, it doesn’t just work with laptops but other gadgets, too! From your PC to your Mac, smartphone to gaming console, including your Nintendo Switch. Besides the USB-C port with DP support, there’s a second USB-C port and a Mini HDMI. Snag the Arzopa S1 Table for $65 at Amazon before this deal expires! Get this travel-friendly 15.6-inch portable monitor for 41% offBuy now at Amazon Read...

The free and open-source smart home platform Home Assistant got another vote of confidence today, with the IoT manufacturer Xthings announcing that its Ultraloq U-Bolt series of Z-Wave smart deadbolts will be integrated with it. Both the U-Bolt Z-Wave ($180) and the up-market U-Bolt Pro Z-Wave ($220) smart locks are getting the Home Assistant treatment; both locks are already compatible with Samsung SmartThings and other Z-Wave smart home hubs, as well as Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, and IFTTT. Both of Xthings’ Ultraloq U-Bolt Z-Wave smart deadbolts will be getting Works with Home Assistant certification. The U-Bolt Z-Wave model is shown here, and the U-Bolt Pro Z-Wave is pictured up top.Xthings “We’re thrilled to renew our partnership with Xthings and expand the certified ‘Works with Home Assistant’ Ultraloq products in the coming months,” said Miranda Bishop, Partnership Manager at The Open Home Foundation. The cheaper U-Bolt Z-Wave is equipped with a key cylinder and a semi-circular PIN pad, while the pricier U-Bolt Pro Z-Wave adds a fingerprint reader. Both models come with a plug-in Z-Wave-to-Wi-Fi bridge and a door sensor that can inform you when the door has been left ajar. This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart locks. When incorporated into a Home Assistant or other smart home platform, either Ultraloq model can arm your security system when you leave—and disarm it when you arrive home and unlock the door; trigger smart lights to illuminate your path into the home when unlocked—or turn them off when you leave; command your smart thermostat to kick your HVAC system into high gear when you arrive home—or to go dormant when you depart, and more. Xthings says its latest Z-Wave smart locks deliver 40-percent faster response time and longer range for deployments in larger homes. Read...