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When it comes to versatile tech, microSD cards are certainly near the top of the list. You can use these with just about anything, from smartphones to cameras to drones to handheld gaming consoles. It’s good news then that the 512GB Samsung PRO Plus card is now just $30 on Amazon, a solid 40% off its normal price—and it comes with a USB adapter! This tiny memory card works with tons of devices. You can use it with your smartphone or tablet, you can put it into a drone you want to take photos with above the lake, you can pop it into the GoPro you mount on your helmet as you go skiing, and so much more. It’s also compatible with laptops, PCs, and nearly anything else with the USB reader. With 512GB of storage space, you can record plenty of photos and videos before offloading them, and the USB reader makes transferring easy between microSD devices and USB devices. The card itself supports read speeds of 180 MB/s and write speeds of 130 MB/s, which is more than enough to capture burst shots and 4K videos. Whatever it is you want to capture, this card will handle it for you. Don’t delay any further. Take advantage of this sweet deal and grab the 512GB Samsung PRO Plus for $30 on Amazon, the cheapest price it’s ever been. That’s an incredible bargain with the USB reader! Save 40% on Samsung`s 512GB microSD with USB adapter includedBuy now at Amazon Read...

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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Wonderfully faithful to the original Can run custom games from USB HDMI and multiple USB ports Cons No power adapter included Difficult controls for some Games can be difficult Our Verdict The Spectrum faithfully recreates the 80s original with its rubber keys and classic games, delighting older gamers, while younger players may face a steep learning curve due to tricky controls and tough gameplay. However, modern features like save and rewind help mitigate that frustration. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today 1982 saw the arrival of the ZX Spectrum, a British home computer from Sinclair that was both small and cheap. It was made with as few components as possible and connected easily to the TV. Programs ran from compact cassettes, some of you may remember listening to music from these before the advent of CDs. It was possible to program in Basic and play some games. The ZX Spectrum’s competitor was the Commodore 64, a popular machine that Retro Games had already recreated. Nowadays we’ve got The Spectrum, which is ready to take you back to the 80s (but with a modern twist). The Spectrum: Feeling true to the original The Spectrum is incredibly similar to the original. Best of all, Retro Games has managed to recreate the feel of everything from the rubber keys to the gaming experience. However, I wouldn’t recommend playing on a large modern TV, as it just feels wrong. Go for a smaller screen with HDMI instead. The cables that come with it aren’t long enough to sit comfortably with the computer on your lap on the sofa anyway. The press release comes with a thick and comprehensive manual, which is gratifying. It describes all the games, including their controls, as well as explanations of the missions. I was able to navigate more difficult games thanks to this manual. I’m also grateful that The Spectrum has modern features like the ability to save (four slots per game). There’s even a feature that lets you rewind 40 seconds to correct mistakes. Note the faithfully recreated details. The rubber keys give just the right 80s feel and the Basic commands are printed at every key.Ida Blix You get 48 classic games built into the machine, but you can also run your own from USB sticks. The Spectrum supports USB hand controllers (though you may have to program the buttons yourself), but everything can be run directly from the keyboard. I was a little to young to have experienced this machine when it first came around, so the controls were an adventure to master. In the box you’ll find an HDMI cable (provides 720p at 50 or 60 Hz) and a USB cable (power adapter not included). It may look modern with USB-C, but you need to choose a simpler power adapter with 5V and 1A. My modern GAN charger did not work, but an older iPhone charger did. On the back are the home and power buttons along with HDMI and USB for charging and connecting controllers or USB sticks.Ida Blix The Spectrum: Not for everyone As with all retro consoles that are re-launched as a new edition, The Spectrum isn’t for everyone. For new users, there’s a steep learning curve. I don’t have any memories of Sinclair’s wonderful little home computer, but my first gaming memories have the same graphics and feel, so it was a pleasure to take on this experience. For those who had a ZX Spectrum and want to experience it again, The Spectrum is a fun purchase where you get a lot for your money. Specifications: The Spectrum Product: The SpectrumManufacturer: Retro GamesTested: February 2025In the package: Console, HDMI cable, USB cableConnections: 1 USB-C (for power), HDMI, and four ports for hand controllers or USB sticksNumber of games: 48Price: Rating: 4 out of 5 Included games Alien Girl: Skirmish Edition Ant Attack Army Moves Auf Wiedersehen Monty Avalon Bobby Bearing Cosmic Payback Devwill Too Exolon Fairlight Firelord Football Manager 2 Freddy Hardest The Great Escape Head over Heels Highway Encounter The Hobbit Horace Goes Skiing Jack the Nipper Knot in 3D The Lords of Midnight Manic Miner Match Day II Movie Nodes of Yesod Penetrator Phantis (Game Over II) Pheenix Pyracurse Quazatron Robin of the Wood Saboteur! Remastered Shovel Adventure Skool Daze Snake Escape Spellbound Starquake Starstrike II El Stompo Stonkers TCQ Target: Renegade Technician Ted – The Megamix Tenebra Trashman The Way of the Exploding Fist Wheelie Where Time Stood Still Read...

Cloud gaming demands low latency and smooth visuals, and a free plugin for Microsoft Edge helps achieve that: Better XCloud, which I’d say is a must for anyone trying to play Xbox Cloud games via the web. Better XCloud is an open-source, free plugin for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and other Chromium browsers specifically for use with Xbox Cloud Gaming. While the code can be downloaded and examined via Github, you’ll want to begin on the more user-friendly Better XCloud installation page, which details what you’ll need to get started. Let’s take a step back. Most people are used to downloading and installing games locally, from Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud, Steam, Epic, or some other marketplace. Games do run their best when stored and run on your PC (or Xbox), too. But there’s an alternative: not downloading them, and instead playing them on a cloud server. The advantage is that you don’t have to waste time downloading and installing the game; you can play almost instantly. Those of you with bandwidth caps might appreciate playing games at bandwidths that approach streaming movies, which are far less than a typical game install. And if you have older hardware, running the game on a cloud server may negate that disadvantage. The problem? Streaming a game via the cloud can be relatively slow: It takes a few hundred milliseconds or so for the game to render a scene, send it over the internet to you, and for you to react; then it takes a small bit of time for your input to be sent up to the cloud and for the game to respond. All that can make a game stutter and jerk, meaning that it might not be as fun to play. What Better XCloud tries to do is use a number of tricks to improve your game experience. First, you can choose your server, ensuring that it’s nearby. A server in close proximity means less latency, or lag. Second, you can ask for the maximum bandwidth from the server, kind of like paying Netflix for a 4K option — but for free. Finally, you can even use your PC’s GPU to improve the rendering quality. In this case, though, only AMD GPUs seem to be explicitly supported. If you’d like to compare and contrast Better XCloud and how it improves cloud gaming, you can visit https://www.xbox.com/play without having installed Better XCloud. Just make sure to have a subscription to Xbox Game Pass. How to set up and run Better XCloud It’s easiest if you begin with the Better XCloud installation page, which facilitates the process. (Editor’s Note: Part of the benefit of open-source software is that anyone can download and examine the code. That doesn’t necessarily mean that anyone has, or that an updated version doesn’t hide malware. Use at or your own risk.) To set up Better XCloud, you first need to install Tampermonkey, a plugin that allows you to run your own “userscripts” on top of websites. Install that first with a click. The Better XCloud setup page warns that you may need to enable developer mode on your browser, which you can do on the Edge extensions page by flipping the “Developer” toggle on the left. I found I needed to do that to allow Better XCloud to work.) Loading Better XCloud on top of Tampermonkey will give you this screen, which you can either pore through or skip.Mark Hachman / Foundry After you install Tampermonkey, you can install Better XCloud. Better XCloud is really just a script run on Tampermonkey, which shows up in the Tampermonkey window when enabled from the Better XCloud installation page. There’s really nothing to it. You’ll just need to ensure that Edge’s own visual aid, Clarity Boost, is turned off, since Better XCloud takes over and replaces it. Once it’s installed, head to https://www.xbox.com/play to begin playing. In Edge, Microsoft’s own cloud gaming options are found at the upper left-hand corner of the screen, behind a tiny Xbox logo. With Better XCloud installed, those options are at the upper right-hand corner, behind a small icon that the installation creates. Better XCloud offers a number of options, many preselected to help you improve gameplay.Mark Hachman / Foundry There are a ton of options, and you can select the ones you want. Personally, I tried to maximize my gaming experience by playing with the server options, and selecting the maximum resolution possible and available bandwidth. Notice, too, that the visuals can also be improved by selecting the app’s own Clarity Boost, which is available for PCs with AMD Ryzen processors. Does Better XCloud work? I’ve run Xbox Cloud Gaming on a PC before, and I reacquainted myself with three Xbox Game Pass games: the gorgeous Sea of Thieves, Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders, and Sniper Elite: Resistance. Snow Riders is a fairly sedate game about skiing down a 3D mountain. Sniper Elite is mainly just skulking about a 3D recreation of WWII France, though the game can be quick and frenetic during its combat sequences. I honestly didn’t see much difference in Snow Riders, and I’m guessing that’s because of the relative simplicity of the game. It’s worth noting that the Xbox Cloud Gaming app hides metrics that can provide a numerical assessment, with the amount of data you’re downloading, the “ping” and frame rate, and more, all available at the top of the screen. You’ll have to zoom in (click the image) to see the Xbox performance metrics in the upper right.Mark Hachman / Foundry Sniper Elite had a tendency to hitch or stutter on the basic Xbox Cloud gaming settings, possibly because there wasn’t as much information being reliably streamed. Turning on Edge’s native “Clarity Boost” settings didn’t seem to make that much of a difference. But on Better XCloud, the hitching noticeably decreased, and the downloaded bitrate seemed to increase from 8Mb/s to about 17 Mb/s. Everything else remained the same, though: the frame rate stayed pegged at 30 fps, and the ping was about the same. Visually, though, there was a tradeoff; on Sniper Elite, Edge’s Clarity Boost offered a grainier though more detailed image, while Better XCloud smeared some of that detail but delivered smoother performance. On Sea of Thieves, though, Better XCloud shone. The differences were immediate, and obvious: The improved antialiasing eliminated the “jaggy” edges. Sea of Thieves has been a visually stunning game since launch, with an ocean that you simply want to swim in. But on the basic Xbox Cloud Gaming, simply moving about was slow and stuttery, even though it was at a nominal 60 frames per second. It’s possible that Better XCloud smooths out a lot of the detail that would normally appear on your screen. (The sea was calm here.) But the performance definitely improved.Mark Hachman / Foundry With Better XCloud turned on, the game proved buttery smooth, and an absolute joy to play. (I can’t really provide comparison shots, since one game launched my character during the evening, and another during the morning light. But it really made a difference.) To be fair, I did try out the game on two different PCs: The default laptop, running the basic Xbox Cloud Gaming, did include a discrete GPU. The other used an AMD Ryzen AI 300 processor inside of it, running just on its integrated graphics. But especially on Sea of Thieves, the Ryzen/Better XCloud laptop looked and played significantly better. Better XCloud is free and open source, and improved my gameplay while cloud gaming. I’m leaving it installed, and I’ll use it in the future when playing games via the Xbox Cloud. I recommend you do the same. Read...

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