DirecTV is trying to break up the pay TV bundle this year with cheaper, genre-based packages, but one genre in particular is standing in the way. When you look at DirecTV Stream’s new MySports, MyEntertainment, and MyNews packages, they all have one thing in common: Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC are included whether you want them or not. Those mandatory cable news offerings are likely adding around $5 per month to each package based on reported per-subscriber carriage fees. Cable news is still a lucrative part of the pay TV ecosystem, so programmers may be unwilling to break them off from any TV package. But the result for DirecTV is a trio of bundles that still feel a bit bloated. Breaking down DirecTV’s new bundles DirecTV has a web page showing all its new bundles, with channel lists for each one, but here’s the gist: MyEntertainment ($35 per month) includes a broad mix of entertainment channels and cable news, but no local or sports channels. Disney+ and Hulu (with ads) are also included, and Max will be added soon at no extra charge. Notable channels include HGTV, History, Discovery, and Bravo. MyNews ($40 per month) has the big three major cable news networks along with local NBC and Fox stations, plus CNBC, CNBC World, Fox Business, CNN International, i24, and Newsmax. MySports ($70 per month) has local ABC, Fox, and NBC channels; plus, ESPN channels, Fox Sports channels, Turner channels (TNT, TBS, and TruTV), all four league-specific channels, and USA, along with cable news. ESPN+ is included as well. DirecTV is also selling a $35-per-month MiEspañol package and some optional add-ons, including a $10-per-month MyCinema package and a $13-per-month MySports Extra package with NFL RedZone. You’re allowed to mix and match different genre packs, but DirecTV also still offers larger channel bundles (which it now calls “Signature Packages”) that start at $90 per month. Because cable news is included in each of the three main packages listed above, you’re paying for them even if you never watch them. Fox News was seeking per-subscriber fees of around $3 per month as of 2023 according to Vanity Fair, while CNN’s carriage fees were $1.01 in 2020 according to Variety and have surely increased since then. Assuming similar fees for MSNBC, the three channels combined likely add around $5 per month to every pay TV package. Who are DirecTV’s new bundles for? It’s hard to imagine the ideal customer for DirecTV’s MyNews pack at $40 per month when its three most popular cable news channels are included in every other DirecTV English-language package. DirecTV’s MyEntertainment package, for instance, is $5 per month cheaper, yet it includes Disney+, Hulu, and Max (a $17-per-month value on their own); plus, a bunch of entertainment channels. Compared to MyNews, it’s only missing some less popular cable news channels, such as CNBC and Fox Business. While MyNews does include local Fox and NBC stations, it’s missing ABC and CBS, so it’s not a complete replacement for basic cable. You might be better off trying to get local channels with an antenna, signing up for a bigger bundle, or looking at other ways to get broadcast TV programming. DirecTV’s $70 per month MySports package is more compelling for sports fans, or at least it will be if DirecTV manages to add CBS stations. An option to add regional sports—the package’s other big missing piece—will come to select markets by the time baseball season starts. Still, it’d be a stronger package if sports fans didn’t have to pay a cable news tax as well. Everyone gets cable news DirecTV isn’t alone in having to carry cable news. In January, Comcast launched its own “Sports and News” package for $70 per month, the same price as DirecTV MySports. Though it omits sports programming from Warner Bros. Discovery (including TBS and TNT), it still includes Warner’s CNN along with Fox News and MSNBC. Meanwhile, Fubo is planning its own “Sports & Broadcast” bundle, with sources telling TheDesk’s Matthew Keys that it will cost between $50 and $60 per month. That package will reportedly include Fox News and Fox Business as well, because Fox is still requiring distributors to bundle its sports and news channels together, one source said. (Fox, for that matter, plans to include both sports and news in its forthcoming standalone streaming service.) Cable news still represents some of the most popular programming on cable, with MSNBC and Fox News routinely landing in the top 10 for total annual viewers, so some folks might appreciate that it’s part of every emerging skinny bundle. But for those who get their news elsewhere—be it via free streaming news channels or, dare I say it, print journalism—cable news is an unnecessary expense that stands in the way of more flexible and more affordable packaging. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice. Read...

The film has a stripper as the lead chacacter. Those in adult entertainment and sex work industries pointed out what the film did well, and didn`t. Read...

TV antennas are having something of a renaissance in the U.S. Buoyed by the ever-increasing costs of cable and streaming subscriptions, and additional channels enabled by the advent of digital TV, roughly one in five U.S. homes now rely on an antenna for their television. Beyond the cost of the antenna, all the channels are free, and you might even get a better picture than through a pay TV service. When it comes to choosing an antenna, the selection is almost as wide as the programming you can receive, but if you do a little homework, you should be able to buy with confidence and ensure a good picture. We’ll walk through the steps required to figure out what kind of antenna you need and what you might receive, then you can use PCWorld’s buyer’s guide to help narrow down your choices when you’re ready to shop. The first step is figuring out what TV programming is available where your live. What can I tune in with a TV antenna? The quantity and selection of TV channels depends on where you live. In general, the closer you are to a large metro area, where the broadcasters’ towers are generally located, the more channels will be broadcast. In rural areas, the opposite is typically the case. If you live near the Canadian or Mexican borders, you might be able to receive additional channels from those countries. Most parts of the U.S. have access to the four major commercial networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) and a local PBS station. Many of these stations broadcast additional digital networks dedicated to a particular theme, such as children’s shows on PBS Kids and classic TV on MeTV, Cozi, and Antenna TV. If you find yourself limited to an indoor antenna, you’d be best served by one that includes a signal amplifier. These draw electrical power from a USB adapter or an open USB port on your TV.Winegard To figure out what’s available, we recommend navigating to Rabbit Ears. This website models TV reception based on the location of the antenna and TV transmitter data from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The Signal Search Map page is where you need to be. Enter your address (street, city, and state) When the map updates to show your house, click “Move pushpin to center of Map View” in the panel below the map Set the approximate height your antenna is above ground level Click “Go” The site will display its best prediction of the TV channels available in your location, along with an estimate of the strength of their signal levels (higher numbers are better). Take a look at the channels and networks and figure out what you want to receive; make a note of the predicted signal level. Use the website RabbitEars to discover the TV broadcast tower locations in the vicinity of your home address. The signal strength it reports will help you determine whether an indoor antenna will be strong enough to pull in the channels you want to see, or if you’ll need to buy an attic or roof-mount model.Michael Brown/Foundry As a rule of thumb, an indoor antenna will be sufficient for channels with a good signal level, an attic or outdoor antenna will likely be required for stations marked fair, and a larger outdoor antenna with an amplifier will be required for those marked poor. Stations marked as bad will likely be difficult to receive without extreme measures. Finally, take a look at the direction of the transmitters from your location. If they are all in roughly the same direction, a single antenna should be fine. If they are wide apart, an antenna on a rotator—a motor that can turn the mast the antenna is mounted to to change the antenna’s orientation—might be required, especially if the signals strengths are poor. Choose an antenna Now you’re armed with everything you need to make an informed decision. PCWorld’s antenna picks are divided into several categories, from cheap indoor antennas to substantial roof-mounted ones. In general, an outdoor antenna will always deliver the best performance, no matter the signal level. They’ll provide much more reliable reception than indoor antennas, which are always a compromise. If an indoor antenna will fit your needs, this transpartent Ultra-Vizion model virtually disappears when attached to a window.Martyn Williams/Foundry That said, not everyone can install an outdoor antenna, so we have several indoor antennas, from basic, thin antennas that can be put in a window so better amplified antennas that should provide a step up in reception. A further level up are smaller outdoor antennas, many of which can easily be installed on the side of a house, on a balcony, or inside an attic space. Many of these are also amplified. Finally, we have tested a number of roof-mounted antennas that are the gold standard in TV reception. A roof-mounted antenna will provide the most reliable reception and should pull in the greatest number of channels. If you are planning to install one yourself, please use safety precautions when on a roof and ensure the system meets local building code requirements, especially for grounding. Warning! Don’t believe the claims If you browse online shopping sites or look at the advertising for antennas, you’ll see lots of dubious claims. The first rule is to ignore anything about antenna range claims. Reception depends on a multitude of factors, including the transmitter frequency and power, the location of the transmitter, the immediate environment around your house, and more. There is simply no way an antenna can guarantee its claimed number of miles. Use the method outlined above, that takes all these factors into account. Don’t fall for the specious claims some TV antenna manufacturers make for their products. It’s highly unlikely that any indoor antenna will be capable of pulling in signals from a broadcast tower 130 miles away. Nor will one be capable of streaming ESPN.Jared Newman / Foundry The second thing to remember is that there’s no such thing as an HD, 4K, or NextGen TV antenna. An antenna simply receives signals and isn’t dependent on the format being broadcast, so ignore those claims as well. PCWorld’s antenna reviews are conducted under real-world conditions with the same equipment and at the same location, so we can give an honest and measured comparison of every antenna we test. Attention renters, HOA residents, and apartment dwellers If you rent a house or apartment or live under the terms of an HOA (Homeowners Association), don’t let anyone tell you you cannot install a TV antenna. In the U.S. federal law gives you the right to do so under the FCC’s “OTARD” regulations. In short, you have the right to install a TV antenna for reception of local broadcast signals in an area you rent or have exclusive access to. If you’re facing resistance, read the FCC page, linked above, and quote the OTARD rule. Connecting the antenna to your TV A length of coaxial cable cut and ready for a connector to be attached. Martyn Williams/Foundry Most indoor antennas come with a small cord attached that can be connected directly to a TV or amplifier, if one is supplied; other antennas might come with a cable or require you to supply your own. TV antenna cable is called coaxial cable, or coax for short. It has a center wire that carries the signal, a plastic insulator, an outer braid that shields the center cable from interference, and an outer sheath protects the cable from the elements. The standard for TV antennas is called RG-6. It’s important to use a good quality coax because cables result in signal loss. You can minimize this by using a good cable and keeping the length as short as possible. If you need to run a very long cable, consider an amplifier, ideally at the antenna end of the connection. And that’s how to choose a TV antenna That should be everything you need to choose and install a TV antenna. TV reception is mostly a science but can be a little bit of an art; so, if you don’t get satisfactory reception, go over the steps again. Try moving the location of the antenna to see if that improves picture quality. If you get a lot of interference, consider adding an amplifier. Most of all, don’t give up! A good antenna will provide thousands of hours of free entertainment for many years, so invest a bit of time and money into getting it right. Still unsure which one to buy? Check out PCWorld’s most highly recommended TV antennas. Read...

A poll of the 18 club captains has revealed some surprising results, as Max Gawn is crowned the owner of the best haircut in the league and Justin Bieber gets a vote for pre-grand final entertainment. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Excellent color gamut and contrast High HDR peak brightness Great motion clarity Offers USB-C with 90 watts of Power Delivery Cons SDR image quality doesn’t stand out from QD-OLED peers Adaptive Sync support only officially lists G-Sync Similar to competitive monitors Our Verdict The MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED is yet another excellent 32-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor.   Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED Retailer Price $981.78 View Deal $982.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED is yet another 32-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor that delivers excellent sharpness, vibrant color, and outstanding motion clarity. While it provides a few less common features, like a USB-C port with 90 watts of Power Delivery, it struggles to stand out from the competition. Even so, it remains a solid pick if you want a 32-inch 4K OLED monitor.  Read on to learn more, and then see our roundup of the best USB-C monitors for comparison. MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED specs and features The MSI MPG 321URXW has a 31.5-inch Samsung QD-OLED panel with a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz. It’s not a new panel (many models were released through 2024), but it often scores well in our testing. Display size: 31.5-inch 16:9 widescreen Native resolution: 3840×2160 Panel type: QD-OLED Refresh rate: 240Hz Adaptive sync: Yes, Nvidia G-Sync Compatible HDR: Yes, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 Certified Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-C with DisplayPort and 90 watts of Power Delivery, 1x USB-B 2.0 upstream, 2x USB-A 2.0 downstream, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack VESA mount: 100x100mm Audio: None OLED Panel warranty: 3-year warranty including panel burn-in Price: $999.99 MSRP There are a few features that make the MSI stand out, however. First, it provides a USB-C port with DisplayPort and up to 90 watts of Power Delivery. Although it’s becoming more common, USB-C is still not found on some competing 32-inch OLEDs. MSI also provides a strong 3-year warranty, which is better than the 2-year warranty provided by some brands, such as LG. MSI lists the monitor with an MSRP of $999.99, and it’s currently selling at that price online. The price is mid-pack for a 32-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor. Slightly older designs, like the Alienware AW3225QF, are available for $899.99. But some new models, like the HP Omen Transcend 32, are several hundred dollars more than the MSI. MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED design You’ll immediately notice the MSI MPG 321URXW’s most distinctive trait: It uses bright white plastics alongside silver metal accents for a distinctive, yet still professional, look. It’s an attractive monitor, though I prefer the look of Samsung’s Odyssey OLED monitors, which have a more cohesive and luxurious all-silver finish. Matthew Smith / Foundry The rear of the panel is etched with MSI’s distinctive dragon logo and provides RGB-LED accent lighting for a touch of flair. MSI also sells the MPG 32URX, which is identical to the MPG 321URXW but has a stealthy ultra-black look. MSI ships the monitor with an ergonomic stand that adjusts for height, tilt, and swivel. Pivot is limited to 10 degrees either way, meaning it’s not possible to put the monitor in portrait mode with the included stand. A 100x100mm VESA mount is available for use with third-party monitor stands and arms. MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED connectivity The MSI MPG 321URXW has two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4a, and one USB-C port with DisplayPort, for a total of four video inputs, all of which support the monitor’s maximum resolution and refresh rate. That’s a good range of video input, though common for a high-end monitor. Less common is the USB-C port which, in addition to DisplayPort, can also handle up to 90 watts of USB Power Delivery. That’s enough to power and charge most mid-range Windows laptops and 2-in-1s. The availability of USB-C is an advantage for the MPG 321URXW  as many 32-inch 4K OLEDs, like the Alienware AW3225QF and Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 (2024), don’t provide it. However, the more expensive HP Omen Transcend 32 has USB-C with 140 watts of power delivery, and its higher wattage pairs better with high-end laptops.     The Alienware AW3225QF, meanwhile, offers eARC, a feature more commonly found on HDTVs that makes it easier to use with some home theater equipment. I’d take USB-C over eARC any day of the week, so I prefer MSI’s approach, but eARC might be preferable if you want to use a monitor as part of a compact gaming and home theater setup. The MSI also has an internal power board. That’s notable, as many monitors with USB-C power delivery use an external power brick that takes up extra space under your desk. MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED features Owners can access the MSI MPG 321URXW’s features with a joystick centered behind the monitor’s bottom-right bezel. It provides quick, easy access to most monitor features. MSI’s menus tend to be well organized and readable, as well. I did notice one thing I must nitpick: Some options, like brightness, changed rather slowly. It’s a minor point, but one MSI should consider fixing in a firmware update. The menus provide a typical range of options for a high-end monitor. There are multiple image quality presets, but the range of precise image quality adjustment is limited. The monitor doesn’t have multiple gamma presets, which is odd for this price tier, and color temperature settings offer vague presets (like “Warm”) instead of presets that target specific color temperature values. KVM switch functionality is included, as well. Matthew Smith / Foundry MSI also supports the usual range of gamer-centric features like an on-screen cross hair, a black equalizer (which boosts dark areas of the screen to reveal more detail), and aspect ratio modes that simulate a 24.5-inch or 27-inch monitor (which can be useful for competitive gamers). Monitor features can also be accessed with the MSI Gaming Intelligence app. It’s not the most attractive app I’ve seen, but it does the job and is even designed to look similar to the monitor’s on-screen menu, which is a nice touch. Speakers aren’t included. That’s always a bit disappointing, but it’s not uncommon for high-end gaming monitors. Most decide to ditch audio and assume owners will use a headset. The MPG 321URXW includes an easy-to-access headphone jack for audio pass-through, at least. MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED SDR image quality As mentioned, the MSI MPG 321URXW has a 31.5-inch Samsung QD-OLED panel with a maximum resolution of 3840×2160. This panel has appeared in several previous monitors and has always scored top marks. The MPG 321URXW is no exception. Matthew Smith / Foundry Brightness is usually a weakness for OLED monitors, and the same is true of the MSI MPG 321URXW. Still, its maximum sustained SDR brightness of 254 nits is typically for a QD-OLED monitor and, more importantly, is bright enough for use in most rooms. The monitor’s gloss finish can be an issue if you have a light positioned opposite the monitor, however, and the monitor will seem dim if used in a bright, sunlit room with no shades or other light control. Matthew Smith / Foundry Contrast is always a strength for OLED monitors. The MSI MPG 321URXW, like its peers, can hit a minimum brightness of zero nits in dark scenes. As a result, it has an effectively infinite contrast ratio and provides outstanding depth and immersion. The benefit really stands out when watching HDR films or a game with a cinematic look, like Cyberpunk 2077. The only problem? All of MSI’s competitors offer the same perk. This is a strength, but not an advantage over the competition. Matthew Smith / Foundry It’s a similar story with the monitor’s color gamut. QD-OLED monitors offer an incredible, highly saturated color gamut that rank among the best available in any consumer display. The MSI MPG 321URXW’s color gamut spans 97 percent of DCI-P3 and 94 percent of AdobeRGB, which makes it great for both entertainment and professional content creation. But, again, competitors with QD-OLED panels have similar strengths. The MSI MPG 321URXW can deliver punchy, vivid, and detailed HDR highlights, like explosions. Matthew Smith / Foundry The MPG 321URXW’s color accuracy is rather good. Although it doesn’t match the best performers in its category, the level of color accuracy it provides is far more than adequate to deliver a realistic, lifelike image. With that said, the MPG 321URXW has two minor downsides typical of QD-OLED panels. The default gamma curve came in at 2.3 instead of the target of 2.2, which means content tends to look a bit darker than intended. It also has a color temperature of 6200K, which is noticeably warmer than the target of 6500K. While the variance is noticeable, it’s not a problem for games and entertainment. However, you’ll need to calibrate the monitor if you’re trying to home in on a gamma curve of 2.2 and color temperature of 6500K, which are typical expectations for a computer monitor. The monitor’s lack of fine-grain gamma and color temperature adjustment doesn’t help matters. Sharpness is a big advantage, as you might expect. The 32-inch 4K looks incredible when fed high-quality 4K content like AAA games or lightly compressed 4K video. Small fonts and high-contrast edges show minimal pixelation or aliasing. Overall, the MSI MPG 321URXW provides outstanding, yet not exceptional SDR image quality. Like many QD-OLED monitors, it sits in an odd spot. On the one hand, it’s objectively among the very best SDR computer monitors ever made. But, on the other hand, its direct competitors all provide great SDR image quality. The MSI MPG 321URXW’s SDR image is certain to impress you, but it’s not a reason to buy it over another 4K QD-OLED display. MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED HDR image quality The monitor’s HDR image, on the other hand, just might get you off the fence. Matthew Smith / Foundry Although the MSI MPG 321URXW is only VESA DisplayHDR True Black certified, it also has a “peak brightness 1000” mode which, in fact, did deliver a maximum HDR brightness of 1,025 nits in a 10 percent window (meaning just 10 percent of the display was lit). HDR brightness was more typical for an OLED monitor when large portions of the panel were lit. Still, these results show the MSI MPG 321URXW can deliver punchy, vivid, and detailed HDR highlights, like explosions. Watching my personal favorite HDR test clip, the “Into the Storm” scene from Mad Max: Fury Road, confirmed the measurements. The scene’s lightning strikes and explosions feel appropriately cinematic. That’s not to say it’s perfect. As the graph shows, HDR brightness is still very low when large portions of the display are lit. So, if you’re viewing a very bright scene—like a snowy level in an HDR game—the monitor can look less impactful. Still, the MPG 321URXW’s overall HDR performance is great for a PC monitor and better than average for QD-OLED. MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED motion performance Though it offers a tack-sharp 4K image, the MPG 321URXW can also hit a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz. That’s not unusual for a 32-inch 4K QD-OLED, but it’s still fantastic. Fast-moving objects are clearly defined, scrolling text is usually legible, and quick camera pans in 3D games preserve good detail. All of this is good news for gamers, of course, but also makes the monitor look crisp when scrolling through web pages or documents. The MPG 321URXW also supports adaptive sync, but it only lists official support for Nvidia G-Sync. That doesn’t mean it won’t work with other adaptive sync solutions, as I had no problems using AMD FreeSync with the monitor connected to an AMD Radeon 7800 XT video card. I always prefer to see monitor makers list broad support for all flavors of adaptive sync, as it’s less confusing for shoppers.  Should you buy the MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED? The MSI MPG 321URXW is yet another excellent 32-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor. Its SDR image quality and motion performance, though excellent, are similar to competing monitors. The MPG 321URXW scores small wins in maximum HDR brightness and connectivity, as it provides a USB-C port with 90 watts of Power Delivery, but its design isn’t quite as attractive as competitors like the Samsung Odyssey G8 OLED. Read...

If you’ve had it up to here with dumb responses from Alexa, get ready for a big change.  At a glitzy event in New York City on Wednesday, Amazon unveiled–again–its AI-enhanced and “completely re-architectured” Alexa, and we’ll all soon have a chance to kick the tires ourselves. Starting next month, Amazon will kick off a public preview for the new Alexa, which it’s calling Alexa+. The public preview will begin gradually, with more users gradually being added to the group. This news is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers. The revamped Alexa will indeed cost extra: think $19.99 a month, in line with paid “plus” memberships for ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude. That said, Alexa+ will be free for Amazon Prime members. Amazon has previously promised that “classic” Alexa would remain available for free, but there was no mention of that during today’s presentation. Ben Patterson/Foundry The new AI-enhanced Alexa (which will offer new phone and web apps) will have a variety of tricks up its sleeve, including “agentic” abilities (autonomous AI is the new hotness in artificial intelligence). For example, Amazon says Alexa+ will be able to go shopping, book travel tickets, text contacts, suggest recipes, and fine-tune your smart home routines, weaving all those tasks within a single interaction. Most importantly, the revamped Alexa will be able to “reason and take action,” such as following up on conversations to set reminders. During a demo, Amazon devices head Panos Panay chatted with Alexa+, carrying on an animated conversation reminiscent of ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode. The new Alexa also showed off its multimodal capabilities by “looking” at a live video feed of the assembled audience at the presentation, and then describing the scene, the size of the crowd, and the “wowed” reaction. Panay said Alexa+ will be able to create routines based on natural language prompts. He also showed how the new Alexa could pluck the music track “Shallow,” from the A Star is Born soundtrack, off Amazon Music in response to a vaguely worded query, and then asked Alexa to “jump to that scene” in the movie streamed on Amazon Prime Video. (It worked.) Showing off a new Alexa Ring integration, Panay asked Alexa+ “what’s happening at my house,” and Alexa promptly put up a live feed of a Ring security camera on the screen, accurately describing it what was happening. Other notable smart home and home entertainment integrations include Wyze, iRobot, Govee, Shark, Sonos, and Vizio. With Alexa+, “there’s no more Alexa speak,” Panay promised. We also got a peek at the Alexa+ user interface, including a new “expressive” blue animation that will replace the classic Alexa blue line) that changes shape as you talk. Other features including the ability to share lengthy documents with Alexa+, which the AI can remember, analyze, and summarize. (Experienced LLM users will be familiar with such “RAG” functionality.) The new Alexa can also do things like add calendar events based on information in the files shared with it. Amazon also promised new Alexa+ features for children, showing a video of the new assistant telling on-the-fly stories and otherwise engaging with the tykes. We also saw Alexa+ answering questions about sports and other current events. Ben Patterson/Foundry Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon’s Alexa and Echo divisions, explained how Alexa+ is powered using a mixture of models from Amazon and Anthropic. Alexa+ can also switch models in the background depending on the task at hand, Rausch said. We’ll still getting the scoop on Alexa’s new AI-infused abilities, so stand by for more details on that score; plus, my hands-on impressions.  Amazon first showed off the new Alexa during its September 2023 hardware event, and at the time it promised a public preview “early” in 2024.  Instead, the year came and went without a public beta for the revamped Alexa. What we did get were insider accounts of a hallucination-prone Alexa that gave lengthy and frequently inaccurate answers, while also having trouble with basic smart home capabilities.  Of course, those AI-related troubles aren’t unique to Amazon. Google has taken a careful approach when it comes to allowing Gemini to interact with smart devices, while Apple has yet to open its Home app to Apple Intelligence. Read...

Need another flash drive for transferring files between devices, backing up data, and more? Right now, this 128GB Samsung Fit Plus is only $14 on Amazon. That’s 39 percent off its original price. This tiny flash drive gives you the opportunity to rely on good old physical storage rather than cloud services. With read speeds of up to 400MB/s, you’ll speedily transfer files on a dime. And this Samsung Fit Plus really is tiny. About the size of a Bluetooth dongle, you won’t even notice it plugged into your laptop. There’s even a chance you might lose it, so it’s good that it has a lanyard hole for safe carrying. Its USB-A connector means it’ll work fine with laptops, PCs, car entertainment systems, smart TVs, gaming consoles, and more. Despite its size, this flash drive is also durable as it was built to resist water, shocks, extreme temperatures, magnets, and more. It’s even X-ray-proofed, so you won’t lose your data while going through TSA. Seriously, a 128GB Samsung Fit Plus for just $14 is an absolute steal. If you need a flash drive, don’t miss this chance! This absolutely tiny yet fast USB flash drive is only $14Buy now at Amazon Read...

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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Solid antivirus protection Comprehensive protection against online threats Cons Notable performance impact on some PCs User interface is a little scattered Many of the tools and services feel a bit underbaked Password manager is difficult to use Our Verdict McAfee+ Ultimate offers strong antivirus protection and a vast array of online protections, but its apps, services, and tools could use more polish. Its scans also can tangibly decrease performance on mid-range and budget PCs. As attractive as this comprehensive all-in-one package is, it’s currently a hard sell. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Among the top-tier antivirus software plans, McAfee’s version is an especially loaded offering—and less common in how it bundles together an extraordinary number of online protections. Many rivals have a premium antivirus suite, then offer services like a VPN, password manager, and identity protection and recovery as separate subscriptions. McAfee instead stuffs everything into one package. This simplifies how much you have to think about, of course, but there’s just one problem—this security suite lacks the polish you’d expect of such a premium product. Further reading: See our roundup of the best antivirus software for Windows PCs to learn about competing products. What does McAfee+ Ultimate include? The full list of features in McAfee’s flagship subscription is exhaustive. Antivirus, link screening, and firewall protection are just the start. You get other major online protections as well—password manager, VPN, web link screening, identity monitoring on the dark web, tracker removal, and if you’re signed up for a family plan, parental controls. McAfee next throws in its Social Privacy Manager, which offers privacy settings suggestions for social media services; Scam Protection, an AI-powered tool to help screen for risky links in text messages; Online Account Cleanup, which helps you find and delete unused accounts; Personal Data Cleanup, which scans data broker sites and helps you remove yourself from them; and live assistance in setting up your plan’s privacy and identity protections. McAfee+ Ultimate’s list of online protections is exhaustive. Finally, on top of all that are financial protections. McAfee+ Ultimate will keep tabs on your bank and credit card transactions, investment and loan account activity, potential bank takeovers, possible payday loans taken in your name, and your credit reports and score. It also offers a centralized interface for locking your credit and placing security freezes on credit, banking, and utilities. And the company provides direct assistance with identity theft restoration, as well as up to $25,000 of coverage for losses related to ransomware and up to $2 million related to identity theft losses and restoration efforts. McAfee even helps with replacing identification, credit, and debit cards for a lost wallet. Family plans allow you to share these benefits among a maximum of six people—two adult accounts and four child accounts. Each adult account gets its own loss coverage, for a total of $50K ransomware and $4 million for identity theft.) And only adult accounts have access to the data broker and financial protections. How much does McAfee+ Ultimate cost? When you buy McAfee+ Ultimate through the McAfee website, an individual subscription is $200 for the first year, then goes up to a full price of $280 afterward. A family plan costs $250 for the first year, and then reverts to $425 per year thereafter. Plans come with a 30-day money back guarantee. Be aware that McAfee enrolls users into auto-renewal by default—and charges for the next year a whole 30 days before your current subscription ends. McAfee+ Ultimate (Unlimited devices) $200 for the first year (Individual plan) $280 per year thereafter (Individual plan) $250 for the first year (Family plan) $425 per year thereafter (Family plan) All McAfee+ Ultimate plans let you protect an unlimited number of devices, with software support for Windows, Windows for Arm, macOS, ChromeOS, iOS, and Android. (Not all features are multiplatform, however.) Family subscriptions offer up to six seats, split between two adult and four child accounts. Unfortunately, you can’t bring down the cost of a McAfee+ Ultimate plan further by purchasing it from an online retailer. You can only get it through McAfee. Key features of McAfee+ Ultimate Installation and user interface The McAfee app has a clean and modern look, but it feels oddly disorganized despite its simple aesthetic. On the home screen, you get just four shortcuts to main features—antivirus, VPN, Tracker Remover, and Personal Data Cleanup. A fifth helps you add McAfee to more devices, and the sixth leads off to McAfee’s protection score, which rates how completely you’ve set up your plan’s protections. The main menu for accessing most of McAfee+ Ultimate’s features. To access all of McAfee’s major features, you must use the left navigation bar. Clicking on the icon with four squares opens a slide-out menu with scanning and web protection options; access to the VPN; firewall info; shortcuts to tools; and links to identity and privacy monitoring, as well as the password manager. The bottom-most icon in the left navigation bar leads to subscription info, general settings, app updates, help, and privacy and legal terms. These are very simple, and there’s not much you can configure. Frustratingly, the most premium parts of the McAfee+ Ultimate subscription are nowhere to be found within the app. Instead, you must to head to the McAfee Protection Center portal site (protection.mcafee.com). There you’ll find the links to financial transaction and credit monitoring, parental controls (if you have a family plan), and the Social Privacy Manager browser extension. The McAfee Protection Center website. Until you’ve poked around thoroughly, remembering if a feature is located in the McAfee app, a separate app, one of three McAfee websites, or a web browser extension can take a while. The apps and the websites don’t always behave quite as expected, either. When I set up Identity Monitoring, adding a second email address triggered new findings (alas), but those results wouldn’t show until I’d refreshed the website. Nothing was wrong, per se, but the experience lacked the kind of polish I expected from an expensive, top-tier security suite. Unfortunately, this vibe extends through much of McAfee+ Ultimate’s features—not just the methods that you access them through. Virus, malware, and threat protection Real-time protection As you use your computer, McAfee+ Ultimate continually evaluates the files you open and also monitors apps for unusual behavior. While the program does a good job on this front (it earns high marks in independent testing—more info on that below), you’re largely removed from the process, as you never get to see behind the curtain. Unlike with major rivals, you can’t do things like specifically select folders to protect from ransomware, change settings related to email attachment and script scanning, choose which apps have access to your webcam, or see how external drives are handled. The interface is so simplified that you only have the choice of leaving real-time scanning on, or turning it off. (Presumably only for troubleshooting purposes—otherwise, you lose much of the software’s point.) For protection while surfing the web, you must install the McAfee WebAdvisor browser extension, which scans for dangerous links and content as you browse online. It gives search engine results safety ratings, warns you about clicking on a possible bad site, and blocks malicious content on compromised but legitimate sites. It works well enough, but oddly, Bing is not on the list of supported search engines. (Sorry, Bing fans.) The McAfee WebAdvisor extension in action—those green checkmarks are its safety ratings. Scheduled and manual scans By default, McAfee+ Ultimate scans your system once a month, during the wee hours of the morning. You can change the day to another of the three presets, or create your own custom schedule that runs weekly, every other week, or the first week of the month. If you want to run a manual scan, you get just two options: Quick and Full. Quick focuses just on PC locations typically targeted by threats, while Full examines all the drives and folders on the PC (except for network drives). You can also scan individual files and folders by right-clicking on them and choosing Scan in the context menu that appears. Firewall Rather than replace Windows’ built-in firewall, the Advanced Firewall feature works alongside it. It lets Windows screen incoming connections, while McAfee evaluates outgoing connections. If an app tries to connect to what McAfee believes is a bad site, it’ll put it on the block list—at which point you can leave it there, or choose to allow the connection. Scam Protection McAfee recently launched a new AI-based tool to help screen text messages for fraudulent links. For it to work, you have to install the McAfee Security & Wi-Fi Privacy app (iOS) or the McAfee Security: VPN Antivirus app (Android). Afterward, it runs in the background, screening messages. To see any that are flagged as dangerous, you’ll have to go to your filtered messages for iOS. On Android, you can see reports about questionable text messages within McAfee’s app. Scam Text Protection in the Android app. VPN On PC, you can access McAfee’s VPN in two ways—through the McAfee app, or by separately downloading and installing McAfee Safe Connect. The main difference between them is their interfaces. In the McAfee app, the controls are consolidated onto one screen. You can turn the VPN on or off, select or change your location, choose auto-connect settings, and turn on the safe reconnect feature (aka kill switch—it automatically shuts off the internet if your VPN connection is disrupted). If you instead use the McAfee Safe Connect app, it separates VPN use from the settings, putting them on different screens. You can view usage stats and help files related to Safe Connect as well. The Safe Connect VPN works on PC, Chromebooks, and smartphones, with a limit of five devices connected simultaneously. When using the Safe Connect app, I ran into some bugs. After I installed it and connected to a server for the first time, I couldn’t disconnect afterward—it was only fixed after a reboot. Safe Connect also behaved erratically if I tried starting it before my Wi-Fi finished connecting. A pop-up notification appeared saying I had to upgrade, and then wouldn’t clear. I had to force-quit the program and restart to resolve the issue. The VPN interface within the McAfee app is cleaner and more modern. This VPN offers servers in 47 countries, which span Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Password Manager McAfee’s password manager, True Key, covers the basics and not much more. Presumably, the company kept things simple on purpose, but it’s at the expense of better security. For example, your two-factor authentication methods are limited—there’s no way to use OTP software codes, much less a hardware key. More damningly, True Key’s login protections are flawed. New devices require verification through an emailed link before you can log in. However, McAfee doesn’t always send that email before the login request expires, which happens after about a minute. Sometimes the email wouldn’t hit my inbox until ten minutes after the login attempt. I almost gave up at one point, and then the system worked for a brief moment and I managed to successfully complete the process. This isn’t a new issue, either—look at McAfee’s forums and you’ll see complaints about this dating back years. McAfee True Key is a simple, basic password manager, but its weaknesses make it feel unreliable.PCWorld You’re also only able to use True Key through a web browser extension or a mobile app (iOS and Android). If you’re ever in a position where you can only log into a website for access, you’re out of luck. Plus, when you first setup the service, you have to manually enter an activation code—and if you can’t find the email with that information, you’ll have to dig into McAfee’s account portal (head to Downloads & devices) or McAfee’s Protection Center (My protection) to find it. All this to say, True Key doesn’t feel like a reliable feature. You’re better off using a standalone service—even a good free password manager outperforms McAfee’s offering by a lot. Parental controls  Parental controls are managed through a separate piece of software called Safe Family. You install it on the device(s) used by the child, but also on a device managed by the guardian—no web interface exists for monitoring your kid’s usage. Each child gets their own profile, so you can tailor your restrictions based on age and needs. Safe Family automatically applies default rules based on the stated age of the kid—for example, the app automatically blocked my (imaginary) 13-year old from viewing dating, gambling, and sexually explicit sites, but let them use search engines and view streaming, entertainment, and shopping sites. You can further refine (or overhaul) the default settings, though. McAfee’s parental controls may look a bit outdated, but they’re easy enough to navigate. App rules can be created as well, which let you allow or block specific apps on Windows, Android, and iOS. (These are the only devices compatible with Safe Family.) Screen time limits can also be put in place, though you only get two different rules. One’s meant for the weekdays and the other for the weekends, but you can adjust as you see fit. You can track device location for phones as well, including visits to known places (as set in the app), though I had trouble getting it to work consistently on Android. Identity and financial protections McAfee+ Ultimate’s premium features—that is, the reason you pay so much more for this plan compared to the others below it—lie in its identity and financial protections, and they cover quite a bit of ground. Identity Monitoring scans data from breaches and leaks for your personal information. You have to provide your details to McAfee, which allows you to add credit cards, bank accounts, email addresses, usernames, and phone numbers (up to 10 each); tax IDs, passports, driver’s licenses, and health IDs (up to two each); and your social security number (SSN) and date of birth. The results aren’t always as helpful as they could be; for one email address, several of the listed breaches didn’t give the name of the breach or circumstances, making it harder to know what specific follow-up steps to take. McAfee only gives general advice on how to protect yourself, which is helpful for security newbies but less so for more seasoned internet users. Personal Data Cleanup helps you find which data brokers have you in their system, and assists with removing you from those sites. Data brokers comb public records and other databases to collect info like your name, current and past addresses, birthdate, phone number, and the names of your relatives. In order for the scan to work, you’ll have to provide your name, birthdate, and full physical address. (You can also optionally add an email address and up to three phone numbers.) McAfee will send removal requests on your behalf, too, but the results can take anywhere from 30 to 45 days. However, for some data brokers, you may have to still follow up on your own. McAfee’s identity monitoring helps keep track of your leaked personal data on the web. Investment, 401(K), bank, and credit card transaction tracking is done through Envestnet Yodlee, which handles this monitoring for McAfee. It centralizes the types of alerts you may already be receiving (provided you set them up) from your financial institutions. You must log into your accounts via McAfee’s Protection Center portal to link them to Yodlee. Credit monitoring keeps track of changes to your credit reports at the three major bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax). McAfee also gives you access to your daily credit score, lets you lock and unlock your credit, and helps set up security freezes for credit, banking, and utilities as desired. Identity theft coverage includes the previously mentioned $2 million to cover losses and restoration expenses, as well as $25,000 for losses related to ransomware. (Again, the family plan offers this coverage to each adult account, for a total of $4 million identity theft coverage and $50,000 ransomware coverage.) Identity theft assistance includes access to “identity restoration experts,” or agents who help clean up the aftermath of identity theft. (Note: You must grant a limited power of attorney to McAfee in order for agents to act on your behalf and handle the bulk of the work.) McAfee also offers lost wallet protection, where the company helps cancel and replace identification, credit, and debit cards that are lost or stolen with your wallet. Additional features Browser extensions McAfee+ Ultimate isn’t complete if you don’t install its affiliated browser extensions—though arguably, only one of them is vital. As mentioned above, McAfee WebAdvisor scans for risky links and content while you browse online, though it won’t evaluate Bing search results. You won’t see a safety rating for any of the links, the way you would for a search through Google. (Yahoo and AOL are still supported, though.) You also won’t immediately see them for the Chrome extension—I had to go into the extension’s settings, scroll down to Secure Search, and choose Tell me if a search result is safe in any search engine. In Chrome, I had to manually change the extension settings to show the safety ratings for search engine results. Meanwhile, McAfee True Key—the password manager in the security suite—won’t work on PC unless you install the extension. You can’t log via a website, as you might another service. That said, True Key isn’t my pick for a good password manager, as explained above. I recommend going with a different password manager and installing its browser extension instead. (It makes using a password manager less cumbersome.) For strengthening your online privacy, you can also install McAfee’s Social Privacy Manager extension. It screens the privacy settings for Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google accounts, then suggests improvements. McAfee’s findings are pretty decent—but asking the extension to apply the changes doesn’t always work. File shredder To prevent someone from recovering a deleted file, McAfee offers a built-in tool called File Shredder, which overwrites the data using the Department of Defense (DoD) standard. You can use the tool to blanket-erase whole batches of files at once (Recycling Bin contents, temporary internet files, or a custom folder of your choosing), or individual files. However, this tool comes with one big caveat—you should only use it for files and folders stored on a hard-disk drive. This method of secure erasing doesn’t work as well on solid-state drives (SSDs), which are found in most modern laptops and desktops. It can also shorten their lifespans. You’re better off using other methods for securely wiping an SSD. Online Account Cleanup Unused online accounts can hold data you might not want to leave on file—like your credit card details or home address. Data breaches are just too common these days, and when they happen, you could end up losing sensitive data. It can be hard to keep track of the riskiest sites to leave unattended, though. McAfee tries to speed up the process of cleaning up dormant accounts with its Online Account Cleanup tool, which you’ll use through the McAfee Protection Center portal. It scans one email address from Microsoft, Google, or Yahoo for associated online accounts, then flags the ones it thinks are vulnerable. If you no longer need the account, you can have McAfee delete it for you—or at least, try to. I found that, like McAfee’s other privacy tools, Online Account Cleanup is helpful for pointing you in the right direction, but doesn’t always eliminate as much work as it’s supposed to. Social Privacy Manager The Social Privacy Manager actually suggests useful changes to privacy settings. If you need help locking down your social media accounts—that is, keeping your private life out of the hands of advertisers and random snoops—McAfee offers a browser extension that scans five different services (Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google), then suggests privacy changes. The proposed changes are generally good, but the issue I ran into was having the extension automatically make them. I also had some problems manually finding the settings in order to do the updates myself. Customer support If you need help with McAfee+ Ultimate, you can find it on McAfee’s support website (either through the knowledge database or the virtual assistant), community forums, social media (Facebook, X/Twitter, and YouTube), or by contacting the company though chat or phone. You can reach out to McAfee at any time of day, though the support pages are generally an easy place to start. However, one problem with McAfee’s support is that their help files can be out of date—some don’t accurately reflect how the interface looks and behaves now, making it harder to figure out what’s a currently available feature (and how to access it). Updates and maintenance  By default, updates run automatically in the background. For best protection, it’s best to leave this setting as-is. However, if for some reason you’re on a limited internet connection, you can also choose to tweak the settings so that updates are downloaded automatically but not installed automatically, or only be notified when updates are available. You can also perform a manual check for updates by heading to Help and then Update App.  Performance For online protection, McAfee performs well in tests performed by leading security research institutes. In AV-Test’s zero-day attack and malware tests for November and December 2024 (the most current results released by the organization), McAfee’s engine caught 99.5 percent of the 389 zero-day malware samples. For widespread and prevalent malware, it caught 100 percent of the 12,159 samples. In AV-Comparatives’ real-world protection test for July through October 2024, McAfee detected 99.8 percent of the 471 test cases, with 10 false positives. (A false positive is when the antivirus software blocks a legitimate website or download.) The samples cover exploits like drive-by downloads, malicious web addresses, and URLs linking directly to malware. The software performs similarly in AV-Comparatives’ September 2024 malware protection test, which tests the ability to detect and block malware locally on a PC. When connected to the internet, McAfee does a good job of on both fronts, with a 97.1 percent online detection and 99.94 percent online protection rate of the 10,078 samples. AV-Comparatives’ real-world test results for July through October 2024. AV-Comparatives However, McAfee’s weakness is its offline detection rate in the same malware protection test—it caught threats only 68.4 percent of the time. Put another way, McAfee won’t protect your system well without an active internet connection, and it has a slightly higher chance of mistakenly detecting a threat. For comparison, Microsoft’s Windows Defender (which is free) has an offline detection rate of 68.8 percent, while the top performers clock in at 94 percent and above. In AV-Comparatives’ October 2024 Advanced Threat Protection Test, McAfee scored an 8 of 15—meaning that it’s currently weaker than rivals like ESET and Bitdefender against targeted threats like fileless attacks and malicious scripts. While none of the antivirus software evaluated in this test hit perfect marks, you’ll have to still tread a bit more cautiously online and not trust McAfee to save you from everything. (Which, in fairness, is a smarter attitude to take in general.) AV-Comparatives’ malware test results for September 2024. AV-Comparatives When running heavy scans, McAfee can notably affect performance on mid-range and budget PCs. Running a continuous full scan during PCMark 10’s benchmark, which simulates web browsing, video chatting, gaming, and editing in open-souce programs like GIMP and LibreOffice for images and documents, dropped the test scores by about 21 percent. More dramatically, our UL Procyon scores dropped by 41 percent. This particular benchmark simulates using Microsoft Office apps—constantly working in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, with a fair amount of editing and updating multiple documents. Meanwhile, in Handbrake, the time it took to encode a large video into a smaller 1080p30 file increased by almost 29 percent. That’s not the whole picture, though. McAfee isn’t a complete killer of performance. When the app was quietly hanging out in the background, watching for threats, benchmark scores in PCMark, Procyon, and Handbrake were virtually the same as before McAfee was installed. And these numbers don’t show how McAfee usually handles full scans. After an initial thorough examination of all files on a PC and any attached external drives, subsequent ones look for new or altered files, which speeds up the scan time considerably. (That then reduces the impact on system resources.) All this to say, if you don’t transfer or update a ton of files on your system often, you won’t see as much of an effect. But if you do, and you’re running mid-range to budget hardware, then you could feel the impact of a scan while working. McAfee does schedule its full scans for off-hours by default, though. This error window popped up randomly and frequently enough to be irritating. Instead, I’d say McAfee’s biggest performance issue is a bit different right now—and relates to how it behaves in Windows. After completing my hardware benchmarks, a Windows error notification began to pop up periodically (“mc-wns-client.exe – This application could not be started”) while I evaluated the software features. The steps suggested by McAfee’s help forums—updating the Windows App SDK, uninstalling and reinstalling McAfee+ Ultimate, and manually downloading and installing the latest Windows App Runtime package—did not solve the problem, either. When I spoke to the company about the issue, McAfee said it was still working with Microsoft, and that a resolution was expected in “early 2024.” That’s a long time to wait for a pretty annoying issue to go away. How private is my data when using McAfee? With the amount of sensitive details McAfee asks for—social security number, addresses, birthdate, etc—you might wonder how safe it is to hand over the whole set to one entity. McAfee outlines how it handles your info in its privacy and legal terms, but I also asked the company who specifically sees the data and the protocols used to safeguard it. McAfee says that it partners with Transunion (one of the three major US credit bureaus) for matters related to identity theft and power of attorney, and Yodlee for transaction monitoring. As for the data itself, McAfee says AES-256 encryption is used, and the engine that monitors for threats keeps only a hash of the values. (That is, it stores the result of encrypting your social security number or full name, etc, rather than the details themselves.) It’s only decrypted when a user views reports related to these sensitive pieces of information. McAfee says those unencrypted, plaintext versions of the data is only ever kept on the backend server, and “never exposed to the front end.” While this methodology is reasonable enough, you’ll have to decide for yourself how comfortable you are with it—as well as the general principle of having your most sensitive info so centralized. Conclusion With more polish, McAfee+ Ultimate would be an ideal security suite for someone who wants an easy-to-understand yet still comprehensive set of online protections. Its interface has a look and feel that’s friendly toward people less familiar with online security; the antivirus protection is solid; and its features span everything you’d want to safeguard. But until its tools and services can nail their promises, and the performance glitches are resolved, McAfee+ Ultimate is a hard sell right now—especially at full price. Editor’s note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article. Read...

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