Diablo 4, the latest installment of the popular dungeon crawler, comes out in June, but players can try out some of the game in an open beta that starts Friday.
The Diablo 4 open beta is the second test for the game with the early access beta happening last weekend. Developer Blizzard Entertainment says the beta will focus on the early parts of the campaign covering the prologue and Act 1, which takes place in the Fractured Peaks zone. Players will be able to max their characters to level 25 but can still play the beta throughout the weekend beyond that. Due to the open beta being available to anyone who wants to try it, Blizzard said Thursday to expect lengthy queue times to join.
When does the Diablo 4 beta start?
The open beta available to everyone will start Friday, March 24, at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET and ends on March 27 at 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET.
How do I get a Diablo 4 beta code?
Anyone can participate in the open beta. The beta will be available for download in the PSN Store, Microsoft Store or on Battle.net for PC users.
The beta is playable on the same systems the game will be released on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S.
What are the PC requirements for the Diablo 4 beta?
The minimum requirements are:
Operating system: 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K or AMD FX-8100
Memory: 8GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon R9 280
Storage: Solid-state drive with 45GB available space
Blizzard recommends the following specs:
Operating system: 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5-4670K or AMD R3-1300X
Memory: 16GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 470
Storage: SSD with 45GB available space
What classes are available in the Diablo 4 beta?
The early access beta offered only the Rogue, Barbarian and Sorcerer classes. The open beta will unlock the other two classes, the Druid and Necromancer.
Will my Diablo 4 beta progress transfer over?
Beta testers who participated in the early access weekend can carry over their progress to the open beta weekend, but no progress from the betas will transfer to the final game.
What content will be available in the Diablo 4 beta?
As well as the prologue and Act 1, a World Boss, Ashava, will be available to check out during the open beta weekend. The boss will appear on March 25 at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. PT on March 26 at a particular spot on the map.
What is the story for Diablo 4?
Diablo 4 is the newest entry in the legendary dungeon-crawling action RPG. Players will fight against the horde of monsters controlled by Lilith, the daughter of Mephisto, one of the Great Evils, and called the “mother” of Sanctuary, the world in which the Diablo series takes place.
These days there are a lot of virtual private network providers to choose from, so it can be hard figuring out the best one for your needs. We spend a lot of time testing VPN providers across a variety of variables — including speed, security and privacy — and compiling our list of the best VPN services. One of our favorites is deeply discounted right now: You can get 26 months (two years plus two “free” months) of Surfshark access for $59.76 upfront, which breaks down to a mere $2.30 a month. After the promotional period, it renews at $59.76 annually unless canceled. This is definitely one of the best VPN deals around right now, so take advantage of this offer while you can.
Surfshark, a company based out of the British Virgin Islands, has more than 3,200 servers in 100 different countries and currently holds the No. 2 slot on our best VPN list. Surfshark can be used on a variety of devices, including Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Fire TV Sticks, routers, gaming consoles and many more. In our most recent speed tests, we noted only a 19% speed loss when connected to Surfshark — a better result than we got from the service in the previous round of testing.
It’s worth noting that there’s been a number of big changes in the VPN industry lately: NordVPN and Surfshark merged last year, but each has so far continued to operate autonomously. Our interrogation of Surfshark’s privacy policy and terms and conditions didn’t find any obligation to share user data with its parent company or sibling companies. Surfshark also recently passed an independent no-logs audit (as did NordVPN, incidentally). While NordVPN is another of our top three VPN picks right now, it doesn’t quite compete with Surfshark on price, especially when you factor in this current sale.
“I think this is likely the USB-C version of the AirPods Pro 2, with mass shipments expected in 2Q23-3Q23,” Kuo said in a tweet on Friday.
The company has been transitioning away from the Lightning charging port over the past few years. Apple does not plan to include a USB-C charging case with the second or third generation AirPods, Kuo said.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
When it comes to 3D printing, there are a lot of moving parts. Obviously, having the best 3D printer is great, but did you know specific software is also needed in order to make a 3D model ready for printing? These programs are called slicers, and they’re essential for making your 3D printer, well, 3D print.
What is a slicer for 3D printing?
A 3D printer slicer is a key part of the printing process. See, a slicer is a piece of software for your PC or Mac that can convert a 3D model file — normally with the file extension .STL, .3MF or .OBJ — into a file that is usable by your 3D printer. A printer is essentially a sophisticated plotting machine that moves to certain coordinates told to it by the slicer in the programming language G-code. That’s why slicer software is so important.
A slicer does exactly what it sounds like. It cuts a 3D model into small “sliced” layers that are printed individually but stacked on top of each other. A slicer is also responsible for:
How hot the printer should be
How fast the printer should go
Where to put the supports on the model
How much infill is required for the model
Where the print head should be at any given second
How much material to extrude in each layer
And many more settings that can be tweaked
Basically, everything that makes your printer useful is told to it by the slicer, so it’s the most important piece of software you can own.
Now that we know what a slicer does, we can talk about which ones are the best to use. The best slicers will be determined by what kind of 3D printer you have and what you use it for. Resin printers often require different slicers to FDM machines, so this article will tell you which is which.
For the best slicing experience for FDM printers, you can’t do better than PrusaSlicer. Despite being made by a 3D printer manufacturer, it isn’t proprietary to Prusa printers and has a huge array of printers to choose from. If your printer isn’t on the list, there is a way to create a custom setup for any 3D printer.
While there are a lot of excellent features to Prusaslicer, the standout feature is the support system. PrusaSlicer has paint-on supports that let you draw where on the model you want the supports to be, and they will only generate in those places. This gives a lot of fine control on where to support your model, so it doesn’t get damaged in the printing.
This slicer does support resin printers as well, but currently, only Prusa’s own machines. It does, however, give you the option to use its features for resin models, then export the edited model (complete with supports) to be used in a different slicer if needed.
PrusaSlicer is well-maintained, feature-rich and always improving in new and interesting ways. It’s the best slicer right now and should be on your rotation.
Cura has been a go-to slicer for millions of people for nearly a decade now. It’s constantly updated and improved upon, not just by UltiMaker, which created it, but by hundreds of users that actively contribute to the open-source code base. It’s also used by many 3D printing manufacturers as the base for their branded slicers that often come with their 3D printers.
While Cura’s support system is a little more crunchy than PrusaSlicer’s, it does have tree supports. These organic-looking supports are excellent at supporting a model while actively missing as much of the physical object as possible. They are also very thin, and use little material, even when they wrap around the model. I still prefer the ability to paint on the supports from PrusaSlicer, but tree supports come a close second.
Cura also has an excellent marketplace for add-ons made by the community, as well as integrations into some well-known CAD programs like Autodesk Inventor. It really is a toss between PrusaSlicer and Cura as to which is the best free slicer, so go with your gut.
Chitubox has been my go-to slicer for resin printing for as long as I’ve used a resin 3D printer. While there are many similarities between resin and FDM slicers, the biggest difference is the ability to hollow your models and the way the supports are designed and generated. Resin prints are hung upside down, so the support structures have to be placed differently.
Using Chitubox, you can easily adjust the settings of each model as well as the specific resin you are using to account for speed and exposure time. It has a huge range of printers available to choose from, as Chitu also makes motherboards for several manufacturers.
While there is both a paid and free version, the free version is usually sufficient for home users. Keep an eye out when you buy a new resin printer as well, as sometimes you can get free time with the pro version as part of the sale.
Almost all slicers are software that needs to be downloaded onto your PC or Mac. Kiri:Moto is browser-based, making it platform-independent and capable of running on something as simple as a Chromebook. This gives you the opportunity to use lower-end laptops and spend the saved money on more 3D printers.
Kiri:Moto is also one of the few slicers that can handle the Creality CR-30 conveyor-belt printer with ease. In fact, in the early days of that printer, the guy who makes Kiri:Moto was an integral part of the team pushing conveyor-belt slicers forward.
This is a simple slicer with several powerful settings that is elevated beyond others because it’s accessible from anywhere, on just about anything. It even works on my Android phone, and that’s unique.
Lychee has been a resin printing fan favorite for a long time now for good reason. Not only does it do everything Chitubox can, it also has a clever setting that will find the best orientation for your print to reduce the number of supports needed. It’s a versatile resin slicer, and its latest update puts it firmly in the big leagues.
Lychee has just expanded its slicer to include FDM printers as well as resin. So now you can use one single slicer for almost any printer you can imagine. It has profiles for every name in the 3D printing game, including the AnkerMake M5, a printer so new it’s still only available on preorder.
Some of Lychee’s more powerful tools are tucked away behind a paywall, which can cost as much as $100 per year, but if you use your 3D printer to make money, that outlay is not unreasonable. One of the new tools in the Pro version, lets you cut your models in specific ways, without cutting all the way through, something that hasn’t really been done before. It’s an impressive feat and worth the yearly money.
In 2013, when Simplify3D was released, it was an astounding jump forward for 3D printing. As a slicer, it was leagues beyond anything that was available at the time, with an intuitive interface and some of the best supports in the business. I started using it in 2017, and while it was still pretty good, it barely received any updates and other slicers were starting to catch up. It was still good at supports and produced great quality prints, but a lot of new machines weren’t available and the support had vanished.
That all changed in December 2022, when Simplify3D was finally updated to version 5.0. There are a lot of new features, and a whole array of new printers supported, so it could be time for a comeback. The company may have a way to go to win back hearts, but from what I have seen the software is looking good.
If you’ve ever owned Simplify3D you can get version 5.0 for $60, but if you’re looking to buy it new it’ll set you back $199. That’s a lot to ask for a slicer, but if the chatter around 5.0 is right, it might be worth it.
While a lot of slicers work with different machines, not all of them are compatible. It would be incredibly hard to write a universal slicer for every 3D printer in existence. That being said, most slicers will allow settings for a custom machine to be added manually. So as long as the slicer is available for the type of printer you are using (like FDM or resin), you should be able to use it.
Some slicers like PrusaSlicer and Lychee will work with both resin and FDM printers, so if you’re working with more than one printer in each medium they might be the best choices.
Why do you focus on supports so much?
When testing all the different slicers out there, I found that the way they handled supports had the most impact on the print quality. Most slicers have pretty much the same abilities, like infill patterns and speed control, but each one has a slightly different way of making supports.
Supports are the bane of any 3D maker’s life, so finding a slicer that can make them effortlessly is key.
Should I use the slicer that came with my 3D printer?
3D printers often come with their own branded slicer and, more often than not, they’re based on the open-source Cura platform. If you’ve bought a printer from Elegoo, Creality, Anycubic or Lulzbot you’ll have seen the branded slicer is based on Cura with some minor tweaks.
The problem with using a brand-stamped version of a slicer is that they’re normally slow to update. Cura is often updated extremely quickly and most 3D printing companies are not interested in spending the money to update alongside it.
While I always use the brand version when testing products, my own personal prints are normally done on PrusaSlicer or Cura. I like cutting-edge, and that’s what they give.
Google has opened up access to Bard, the company’s new and experimental AI chatbot. You can currently join the waitlist and try out the ChatGPT competitor before it’s released to the general public.
Bard uses natural language processing and machine learning to generate responses in real time. You can ask it to write an email to customer service for getting a refund or plan your six-person vacation to Spain. However, like ChatGPT, Google’s AI technology isn’t fully there yet — responses may be inaccurate or even offensive, according to Google.
And that’s why access to Bard is currently limited, so early testers can use the chatbot, provide feedback to developers and help Google improve the AI technology. If you’re interested in getting your hands on this early version of Bard, we’ll show you how to join the waitlist right now and give you a glimpse into using the AI chatbot.
To join the waitlist and use Bard for yourself, you must:
Have your own personal Google account (meaning it’s run by you and not a parent, guardian or admin)
Be 18 years of age or older
Have a supported web browser (Chrome, Chromium-based Edge, Firefox, Opera or Safari)
Also, Bard is only available in the US and UK for now.
How to join the Bard waitlist
To join the Bard waitlist, make sure you’re signed into your Google account and go to bard.google.com on your phone, tablet or computer. Next, tap or click the blue Join waitlist button, and then hit Yes, I’m in to confirm you’d like to join. You don’t need to opt in to the email updates to join the waitlist. You’ll receive an email from Google once you’ve been granted access to Bard.
You can use your mobile device or computer to sign up for Google Bard.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET
Using Bard
If you’ve received an email granting you access to Bard, you can either hit the blue Take it for a spin button in the email or go directly to bard.google.com. The first time you use Bard, you’ll be asked to agree to the terms and privacy policy set forth by Google.
Once you’ve followed the prompts, ask Bard anything you want. If you’re unsure what to enter into the AI chatbot, there are a number of preselected questions you can choose, such as, “Draft a packing list for my weekend fishing and camping trip.”
After typing a question, wait a few seconds for Bard to give you an answer. Depending on your question, your response may be very brief or rather long and descriptive. At the top of your response, you should see three different drafts, which are alternative answers to your question.
Each draft may have a different or tweaked answer.
Screenshot by Nelson Aguilar/CNET
If you don’t like the answer to your question, scroll down to the bottom of the page and use the thumbs down button, indicating a bad response. Thumbs up means you like the response. And there’s also a Google it button to check out related questions. You can use the three-dot menu button on the bottom-right to copy the response to your clipboard, to paste elsewhere. And finally, you can modify your question with the edit button in the top-right.
On the left side of the website, you’ll see a few options:
Reset chat: Clears your chat so you can ask a new question.
Bard activity: Shows you every question you’ve asked Bard. You can choose to disable this feature.
FAQ: Frequently asked questions about Bard. You’ll find information about sources, data collection, advertising and more.
Help & support: Get answers to any issues you might have. You can report an incorrect or offensive Bard response here.
You can delete individual questions or prevent Bard from collecting any of your activity.
If you ever tried asking ChatGPT about current events, you know the chatbot could only manage to spit out a limited set of answers, if at all. That’s changing.
On Thursday, the artificial intelligence company OpenAI announced that it’s gradually rolling out plugins for ChatGPT, in a move that significantly expands the chatbot’s functionality.
The first wave of plugins, which are now available in alpha to select ChatGPT users and developers, allow ChatGPT to tap new sources of live data from the web, including third-party sources such as Expedia, Kayak and Instacart. Prior to this upgrade, ChatGPT was restricted to drawing information from its training data, which ran until 2021.
“Though not a perfect analogy, plugins can be ‘eyes and ears’ for language models, giving them access to information that is too recent, too personal, or too specific to be included in the training data,” OpenAI said on its website.
For instance, ChatGPT can now pull up answers to questions such as how the box office sales of this year’s Oscar winners compare to those of other movies released recently. This new functionality is served up thanks to the browser plugin, which shows the sources the generative AI service is drawing information from before it spits out an answer.
“Plugins are very experimental still but we think there’s something great in this direction,” OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman wrote in a tweet Thursday. “It’s been a heavily requested feature.”
A video posted by OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman on Twitter demonstrates to how to use ChatGPT’s Instacart plugin to assist with meal planning. The video shows ChatGPT recommending a chickpea salad recipe and then ultimately adds the required ingredients to Instacart for purchase with just a few prompts.
A video posted on Expedia’s Twitter account shows how to leverage the Expedia plugin to essentially turn ChatGPT into your AI travel agent, empowering it letting it help travelers shop and book flights and hotels, something it previously couldn’t do, although it could identify places and create an itinerary.
“You can install plugins to help with a wide variety of tasks. We are excited to see what developers create!” Altman wrote on Twitter.
Some of the preliminary plugins on ChatGPT.
OpenAi/Screenshot by CNET’s Sareena Dayaram
Despite all the buzz around ChatGPT since its debut in November, OpenAI’s own research has shown that a chatbot with access to the internet is a risky prospect. For instance, it can have a tendency to quote unreliable sources or, as OpenAI points out, “increase safety challenges by taking harmful or unintended actions, increasing the capabilities of bad actors who would defraud, mislead, or abuse others.”
To address those risks, OpenAI said it has implemented safeguards and has limited access to a small group of users and developers to start with. Interested parties can sign up on a waitlist here.
Switching wireless providers isn’t easy. Although there are three major networks in the US, the actual number of wireless carriers and plans is significantly higher. Sifting through this big, confusing mess can be overwhelming, but we want to help make this process a little easier. Here’s how to choose a cell phone plan in 2023.
In the US there are three major networks: AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. All three offer services directly and have robust nationwide networks that offer 4G LTE (fast) and 5G (really fast) data.
The most important aspect of choosing a network is finding one that works in your area. This makes it hard for us to give a blanket recommendation of any one carrier. For example, T-Mobile’s service in New York may be excellent, but if you’re in rural Iowa, Verizon is more reliable.
While your mileage may vary, the good news is that these networks are growing and improving all the time, particularly as the three major players continue to try and blanket the US with 5G. It’s quite possible that a decade ago you left a network complaining about its sparse service, but now it has beefed itself up because of that arms race to acquire customers.
If you know any friends or family in your area that already use the carrier you’re considering, ask about their experience. You could also go to a carrier’s store and see if they offer any free ways to try out the service before switching over, such as T-Mobile’s Network Pass which lets you sample T-Mobile’s service for free for three months. Verizon now offers a similar 30-day “trial” program while the Cricket prepaid service has rolled out its own trial offering that lets you try out parent AT&T’s network.
Then, of course, there are the plans themselves. Below is a comparison of some of the latest plans from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. For this chart, we focused on each carrier’s cheapest plan, as well as their respective “middle” options that we think could make sense for most people.
It is worth noting that some plans, like T-Mobile’s Magenta and Verizon’s Play More, include streaming perks like Netflix or the Disney Bundle (Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and Hulu).
Verizon Play More and AT&T Unlimited Extra also don’t require you to have every line on the same plan, so if only one of your family plan’s lines needs extra hotspot data, you can drop the others down to cheaper options and save a little there (Verizon only needs one line on an account to be on Play More for you to be able to get its Disney perks).
If you’re looking for multiple lines on T-Mobile and its cheapest rate, you’re better off going with its regular Essentials plan. A promotion the carrier is doing has it available for $100 per month for four lines which is $20 per month cheaper than the Base Essentials option.
Wireless plans compared
Total data
Cost for one line (with AutoPay)
5G
High-speed hotspot
Cost for four lines (with AutoPay)
T-Mobile Base Essentials
Unlimited
$45
Yes
Yes (but at “3G speeds”)
$120
AT&T Value Plus
Unlimited
$45
Yes
No
N/A
Verizon Welcome Unlimited
Unlimited
$65
Yes (5G Nationwide only)
No
$120
T-Mobile Magenta
Unlimited
$70
Yes
5GB per line
$140
AT&T Unlimited Extra
Unlimited
$75
Yes
15GB per line
$160
Verizon Play More
Unlimited
$80
Yes
25GB per line
$180
Know the smaller and prepaid players
Visible, Google Fi and Mint Mobile are just a few of the many MVNOs that rely on larger networks.
Sarah Tew/CNET
While AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizonoperate the major networks, there are a number of smaller wireless providers that offer service on their airwaves. First, there are the prepaid brands each carrier owns. Verizon has Visible, AT&T has Cricket and T-Mobile has Metro (and soon Mint Mobile). All use their parent’s respective networks for service.
Smaller players also rely on the larger networks for service. Mint Mobile and Google Fi, for example, use T-Mobile’s network, while cable companies Comcast and Spectrum rely on Verizon for their respective Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile brands.
The benefit of these smaller carriers — many of which are known as mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs — is that you can get access to the larger provider’s service at a more affordable rate. If you found that Verizon works best where you live but its service is too pricey, switching to Visible, Spectrum Mobile or Xfinity Mobile could potentially allow you to keep similar coverage but pay a bit less (though you may lose out on some other perks like free streaming services).
We’ve broken down a few of these providers, including which provider uses which network and explained some of the trade-offs you’ll want to keep in mind.
Know how much you owe on your installment plan
Getting a new iPhone at a deep discount from a carrier often requires a big commitment.
Patrick Holland/CNET
Two-year contracts have largely disappeared from the US wireless market. Unfortunately, they now seem set to be replaced by increasingly longer installment plans.
AT&T and Verizon now consistently only offer 36-month installment plans for the latest devices from Apple, Google and Samsung. T-Mobile still has options for 24 months but pricier devices, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4, require a 36-month plan should you want to finance them monthly.
With these longer timelines you can get a flagship phone for significantly less, but you need to stay on that carrier (and potentially with a pricier unlimited plan) for two or three years. If you leave before that time has passed, you risk needing to pay out the balance owed on the phone, which some providers require before they “unlock” the device to be used on other networks.
Major carriers often offer several hundred dollars when you switch, which can help subsidize the price of the change. But you’ll want to check your account online or go into your carrier’s store to find out how much you might still owe on your phone before you leave.
Decide if you should keep your current phone
The modernization of phones and networks means your existing phone will probably work just fine on a new carrier. All the major wireless carriers offer a similar assortment of the latest devices, particularly when it comes to the iPhone and the Galaxy lines.
To make the most of any switch you’ll probably want to take this opportunity to upgrade your device, particularly if it’s a few years old and lacks modern features like 5G. There are often extra deals when adding or opening a new line to help pay off any installment plan or get you to a better device.
If you’d rather keep what you have, your existing device will probably work just fine so long as it’s unlocked from your prior provider.
Know your discounts
Keep in mind that all of the carriers offer additional savings, which you could be eligible for depending on your employer, military status, student status or even age. If you’re on a family plan, a family member could qualify even if you don’t.
If you’re 55 or older, you may also be eligible for a discounted plan: T-Mobile offers discounted plans nationwide for as low as $55 a month for two lines, while Verizon and AT&T offer similar options but only for Florida residents.
We break down the discounts in greater detail here, for AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.
This could save you money if you switch, or potentially lower your current rate a bit and save you the hassle of changing providers.
Understand the perks
If you have the right Verizon plan you could get free Disney Plus.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Many of the major carriers bundle in perks for using their higher-end unlimited plans, particularly streaming services. Verizon offers the Disney Bundle (Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus) to those with its Play More and Get More unlimited plans and T-Mobile offers versions of Netflix with its Magenta and Magenta Max offerings and also includes a subscription to Apple TV Plus with Magenta Max.
Even prepaid and smaller carriers like Cricket (HBO Max with Ads) and US Mobile (a variety of options) offer perks with their unlimited plans.
In addition, some Verizon plans (like the top Get More option) include Apple Music, while T-Mobile’s Magenta and Magenta Max also offer in-flight Wi-Fi and unlimited data abroad. T-Mobile’s Metro offers 100GB of Google One storage and AT&T gives six months of free gaming with an extended trial of Nvidia’s GeForce Ultimate.
If you’re already paying for one or more of these subscriptions, switching to the right provider could be a way to help you save even more.
We’ll continue to update this with more cell phone plan tips.
Sonic the Hedgehog is speeding back to game consoles this summer in a follow-up to 2022’s Sonic Origins anthology.
Sonic Origins Plus is scheduled to drop on June 23, 2023, Polygon reported, exactly 31 years after the character debuted on the Sega Genesis in North America.
It includes the four remastered Sega titles from last year’s release — Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles — plus a dozen Game Gear titles available in a special in-game “museum.”
All the games are playable in a new widescreen format, with additional player modes and missions.
You can play as Knuckles in the Sonic Origins Plus edition of Sonic CD.
Sega
In the Game Gear titles, fans can play as Amy Rose, Sonic’s self-proclaimed girlfriend. You can also take a spin as Knuckles, Sonic’s echidna BFF, in the Sonic CD.
Sonic Origins Plus will be available for $39.99 as a download or physical release for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Windows PC. (The physical game comes with a 20-page book that recounts the franchise’s history.)
If you already purchased Sonic Origins, you can upgrade to the new title with a $9.99 expansion pack.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration demanded that ByteDance, the app’s Chinese parent company, sell its stake in the app or face a possible ban. Officials are concerned TikTok could be forced to share US user data with the Chinese government, posing a national security threat. In December, US lawmakers banned the app from government devices. Other countries, including Canada, EU member states and Taiwan, have taken similar steps.
Lawmakers on Thursday repeatedly questioned Chew about ByteDance’s ties to the Chinese government, expressing doubt TikTok would be able to protect US users’ data. They also alleged that TikTok could be used by the Chinese government to influence public opinion in the US.
Though the main thrust of the hearing focused on alleged ties to China, lawmakers also touched on other concerns, including data collection and protecting teens and young people from harmful content on TikTok.
Following the hearing, TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said the hearing was “dominated by political grandstanding” and failed to address industry-wide issues.
“Also not mentioned today by members of the Committee: the livelihoods of the 5 million businesses on TikTok or the First Amendment implications of banning a platform loved by 150 million Americans,” said Oberwetter.
Here are some of the most interesting comments from the hearing:
Committee Chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, in her opening statement: “Mr. Chew, you are here because the American people need the truth about the threat TikTok poses to our national and personal security. TikTok collects nearly every data point imaginable, from people’s location to what they type and copy, biometric data and more. … TikTok surveils us all. And the Chinese Communist Party is able to use this as a tool to manipulate America as a whole. We do not trust TikTok will ever embrace American values.”
She continued: “TikTok has repeatedly chosen a path for more control, more surveillance and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned. I expect today you’ll say anything to avoid this outcome.”
Chew, in his opening statement: “We have heard important concerns about the potential for unwanted foreign access to US data and potential manipulation of the TikTok US ecosystem. We have addressed them with real action. … That’s what we’ve been doing for the last two years, building what amounts to a firewall that seals off protected US user data from unauthorized foreign access. The bottom line is this: American data, stored on American soil, by an American company, overseen by American personnel. We call this initiative Project Texas.”
Chew, on legacy US data: “We have legacy US data sitting in our servers in Virginia and in Singapore. We’re deleting those and we expect that to be complete this year. When that is done, all protected US data will be under the protection of US law and under the control of the US led security team. This eliminates the concern that some of you have shared with me that TikTok user data can be subject to Chinese law.”
Rep. Buddy Carter, on harmful viral videos like the Milk Crate challenge: “Why is it that TikTok consistently fails to identify and moderate these kinds of harmful videos? Why is it that you allow this to go on? We’ve already heard … from parents who are here with us who have lost children.”
Chew responds: “This is a real industry challenge and we’re working on our…”
Carter: “No, no, it’s not industry. This is TikTok. We’re talking about TikTok. We’re talking about why is it that you can’t control this. … Tell me why this goes on.”
Rep. Darren Soto, on ByteDance ownership: “Mr. Chew, would TikTok be prepared to divest from ByteDance and Chinese Communist Party ties if the Department of Treasury instructed you all to do so?”
Chew responds: “I don’t think ownership is the issue here. With a lot of respect, American social companies don’t have a good track record with data privacy and user security. I mean look at Facebook and Cambridge analytica, just for one example.”
Rep. Neal Dunn asks Chew directly: “Has ByteDance spied on Americans at the direction of the Chinese Communist Party?”
Chew responds: “I don’t think that spying is the right way to describe it. This is ultimately…(Dunn cuts off his response.)”
Rep. August Pfluger, on Project Texas: “Please rename your project. Texas is not the appropriate name. We stand for freedom and transparency and we don’t want your project.”
Gaming headsets aren’t just for gaming — they can also be your everyday walkaround headsets, though it’ll cost you more if you want something that’s up for both. Turtle Beach’s new Stealth Pro joins pricey models like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, Razer Barracuda Pro and others that merge the top-of-the-line gaming features with internal active-noise-canceling mics for Bluetooth connections to make them a little less conspicuous when you’re wandering the streets.
The headset is slated to ship at the end of April for $330 ( 280), although preorders start now. There are Designed for Xbox and PS4/PS5 models, but they’ll work with pretty much any platform, including the Nintendo Switch, PC and iOS. Only the platforms with apps allow you to customize settings like equalization and noise cancellation — in other words, not consoles. And it’s not exactly clear the types of connectivity you can expect with each.
Instead of a dongle, the Stealth Pro includes a 2.4GHz puck that doubles as a charging station for the two swappable batteries (rated at 12-plus hours each). Turtle Beach rates the range up to 50 feet (15 meters).
The Stealth Pro has a lot of the same features as its competitors, such as 50mm drivers, mic arrays for optimizing noise cancellation and transparency mode (which lets external sounds bleed through), detachable boom mic, leatherette and memory foam ear cushions, simultaneous 2.4GHz and Bluetooth connections, and more.
