All posts tagged: CNET

Dead as Disco Review – CNET

Published by skeptic

If you’ve ever reached a flow state in a beat ’em up game, you know that their large-scale brawls quickly become something akin to a combo-driven dance. If you adapt to the choreography, you’re rewarded with a symphony of violence and a high score. Developer Brain Jar Games’ Dead as Disco feels like a natural next step for the genre — a literal “beat ’em up to the beat.” And make no mistake, you’ll definitely be putting the beatdown on some eclectic characters as Charlie Disco, a former chart-topping rockstar who’s recently returned from the dead and is looking to resurrect his career by getting the band back together. There’s only one problem: His bandmates are the very people who betrayed him, left him for dead 10 years earlier and went on to sell out and sign a major record deal. Awkward. What follows is a boss rush in which Disco literally knocks some sense into his old friends one by one, dragging them back to the club they used to play at before they …

HDR TV Formats Explained – CNET

Published by skeptic

Nearly all new TVs and projectors have the ability to decode HDR, or high dynamic range, video. In most cases, HDR content looks better than non-HDR material, though an individual display’s ability to deal with the extra data can vary greatly. There are multiple HDR formats, including Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision 2, HDR10, HDR10 Plus and HLG. Most displays can only decode one or two of these. Likewise, streaming services and 4K Blu-rays typically offer only one or two. Fortunately, all HDR displays can play HDR content — just not always in the best format available. Here’s what to keep in mind when shopping for a new TV or deciding which streaming service to use for a movie or show. The basics These images attempt to illustrate, on your standard dynamic range screen, what HDR can do on HDR displays. The top left shows how the image appears on an SDR display, tuned so the shadows are visible. Notice how the highlights in the clouds are “blown out,” meaning they lack detail. The upper right shows the HDR version with detail …

Half of US Adults Who Use Social Media Want Better Labels on AI Posts, CNET Finds

Published by skeptic

Anyone who’s scrolled social media lately knows that AI is everywhere. But we aren’t always great at spotting it when we see it. That’s a big problem, and our frustrations with AI are growing. AI slop has infected every platform, from soulless images to bizarre videos and superficially literate text. The vast majority of US adults who use social media (94%) believe they encounter content that was created or altered by AI, but only 44% of US adults say they’re confident they can tell real photos and videos from AI-generated ones, according to an exclusive CNET survey. Read more: AI Slop Is Destroying the Internet. These People Are Fighting to Save It. There are a lot of different ways people are fighting back against AI content. Some solutions are focused on better labels for AI-created content, since it’s harder than ever to trust our eyes. Of the 2,443 respondents who use social media, half (51%) believed we need better AI labels online. Others (21%) believe there should be a total ban on AI-generated content on social …

TV Shoppers Want Big Screens and the Best Pictures, but Their Budget May Not Cut It, CNET Finds

Published by skeptic

The Super Bowl is less than two weeks away, and you may have your sights set on a new TV, especially if you contemplated buying one during October or Black Friday sales. But how much are you willing to pay for the TV you really want? CNET’s TechPulse findings show that US adults plan to spend an average of $1,177 on a new TV. In fact, that’s how much CNET’s TV editor, Ty Pendlebury, said he would spend. Yet 42% expect to make some sacrifices on their TV wish list, including a bigger screen (11%) and high-quality pictures (6%). Luckily, since the 2026 models will come out this spring, now’s a good time to score a deal on a 2025 model. For example, the Samsung S90F OLED TV is our Editor’s Choice for the best all-around TV. Last year, it cost $2,500 at retail price. Now, you can find the same TV for $500 to $1,000 less, depending on the size and retailer. It has top-notch OLED picture quality and fast motion. Here’s a deep dive into what else CNET’s …

CNET Is Starting to Recommend Wyze Security Cams Again. Here’s What’s Changed

Published by skeptic

It’s been over two years since Wyze’s infamous security camera issues, including an event where 13,000 customers had their private home video feeds exposed to total strangers. We stopped recommending Wyze security cameras around that time for privacy and safety concerns. Now, things are starting to change. When we reconsider recommending a security brand after mess-ups like Wyze went through, we look for several signs that the company is trustworthy and has reliable security for your home and loved ones. That includes: New improvements to security processes and protocols, specifically addressing past issues Ongoing security improvement and audits Transparency with CNET and consumers about their security processes and fixing previous flaws An extended period without any new security incidents, preferably a few years Hands-on testing of the brand’s latest devices to ensure quality and performance Wyze isn’t the first brand we’ve subjected to this kind of scrutiny. Companies like Eufy and Ring are currently on our best-of lists because they dealt with past security breaches and the associated fallout, made improvements and created a new track record of safety. Now, …

How CNET Tests Robot Vacuums

Published by skeptic

Since CNET started testing robot vacuums in the early days of the first Roomba, we’ve worked hard to craft comprehensive testing procedures to evaluate every robot vacuum for the things that matter for buyers. Our lab experts have tested over 100 robot vacuums and counting, evaluating them for cleaning performance, navigation ability, object avoidance and more. Price and special features also play a role in our overall rating and buying advice. Below, we’ve laid out our comprehensive set of lab tests that we run on each and every robot vacuum that gets sent to the lab. Our tests are also always being tweaked and refined to generate the most consistent and reliable results, but the current testing procedures are accurate as of this writing. Awarding the highest performers We weigh the results of our rigorous lab testing for cleaning performance, navigation and obstacle avoidance with our decades of editorial expertise reviewing robot vacuums. Then we evaluate the total consumer quality by factoring retail price and extra features to assess the overall value of each robot …

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All posts tagged: CNET

Dead as Disco Review – CNET

HDR TV Formats Explained – CNET

TV Shoppers Want Big Screens and the Best Pictures, but Their Budget May Not Cut It, CNET Finds

How CNET Tests Robot Vacuums