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Not all Fire TV Sticks are created equal. After testing numerous models, we’ve narrowed down the best. Check out our top picks to find the perfect Fire TV Stick for you.

Scientists have pointed out that extreme heat is particularly dangerous for older people. A new study shows that young, healthy people are also dying too often in extreme weather.

(Image credit: ULISES RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)

The WHO has sent epidemiologists to the country to uncover the cause of the illness, which has killed more than 70 people, half of them children.

It's not worth upgrading if you have the original Scribe, but the 2024 version has some modest note-taking improvements I appreciated.

If you haven't rolled up your sleeve for the jab, you're not alone. In fact, you're in the majority. Here's why doctors think the shot is important.

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With its one-of-a-kind cover, this memory foam bed provides excellent comfort. But is it the best mattress for you? Our sleep experts tested it to find out.

A Pennsylvania coroner's office said investigators believe they have located the body of 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard, who was last seen four days earlier near a sinkhole above a shuttered coal mine.

(Image credit: Matt Freed)

Upgrading to a full-fledged mesh system is the best way to eliminate Wi-Fi dead zones from your life.

It started in the Eisenhower era: Every year, Wisdom, a Layan albatross, has returned to her nesting grounds on the Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

(Image credit: Dan Rapp)

The court acknowledges the ban would require TikTok's millions of users to find alternatives but is justified by the threat China poses to US national security.

Apple’s leaders claim the company wasn’t late to generative AI, but instead following what has become its familiar playbook: try to be the best, not the first.

All Italian residents can now digitalize their identity documents with a single application.

The IT-Wallet is Italy's iteration of the EU Digital Identity Wallet scheme, created to "provide a safe, reliable, and private means of digital identification for everyone in Europe," explains the European Commission.

The European initiative passed last year despite strong criticisms from privacy experts warning against a potential increase in surveillance and security risks.

IT-Wallet: the privacy and security conundrum

Starting from December 4, 2024, Italians can use the IT-Wallet feature to digitally scan their driving license and health card directly from the IO app, Italy's public services application.

The project is set to expand and accept other documents, like ID cards and passports, while also integrating new functionalities, such as the possibility to make payments, book medical appointments, or transport.

The launch follows the pilot that started at the end of October and involved 50,000 citizens. Other European countries are currently testing their own iterations of the EU digital wallet at the time of writing, including France, Germany, and Luxembourg.

While the European Union argues that ID Wallets will provide a simpler and safer way for citizens to prove their identity, the ongoing implementation continues to spark concerns among commentators.

I’m extremely worried about the direction of the #eIDAS trilogue negotiations. We see a massive attack on core privacy principles in the text proposed by the @EU_Commission and @eu2023es Presidency. The EU ID Wallet risks becoming a privacy nightmare that is not safe to use!!!September 3, 2023

Italian journalist Martina Pastorelli, for instance, has described the IT-Wallet as "the EU digital cage, which will reduce governments into platforms and citizens into users, transforming rights into concessions and services into products."

The EU ID Wallet has been a contentious issue since the beginning, creating a lot of friction among policymakers.

It's certainly more convenient to have all your identity references in one single app, but this could also "enable governments to surveil citizens more effectively," Udbhav Tiwari, Mozilla's Head of Global Product Policy, told TechRadar back in September 2023.

The fact that member states need to develop their own application is also reason for concern among experts.

As per Bart Preenel, a cryptographer professor at Leuven University, "This makes adding privacy much harder because it means that every member needs to pay attention to this effort and adds privacy [protection] to the design," he told TechRadar in February. Features like anonymization of credentials, noted Preenel, are optional requirements, in fact.

There's also the issue of security, especially considering that data breach incidents have become almost a daily occurrence lately, with medical records being a constant target of hackers.

Italians can decide for themselves whether or not to start using the IT-Wallet, however, as the service is voluntary at the time of writing.

The EV1 was the first modern, mass-produced electric vehicle from a major automaker — pioneering some technologies you can still find in today's EVs. But the model was controversial, and short-lived.

(Image credit: General Motors Co.)

David Sacks, a member of the infamous “PayPal Mafia,” will lead a group of advisers tasked with steering AI and crypto policy under the Trump administration.

• Windows 11 will soon allow easy webcam resolution adjustments in settings without extra software
• A hidden feature in Windows Insider build lets users manually select webcam resolution and frame rate
• New options include multi-app webcam use and a ‘basic’ mode for troubleshooting camera issues

Adjusting your webcam’s resolution on Windows 11 PCs is about to get a lot easier - without needing to install extra software. The operating system already offers several webcam settings, which can be found by going to Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Cameras. Here, you can change webcam settings like brightness, sharpness, and contrast, and soon you’ll be able to control your webcam’s resolution too.

Signs of the new addition to Windows 11’s webcam settings were picked up and shared by reliable Windows leaker @PhantomOfEarth on X. In a recent Windows Insider Canary Channel preview build of Windows 11, they found a hidden feature ID that could be enabled that adds an option to modify your webcam’s image resolution. According to Neowin, this option will allow you to let Windows 11 choose the best resolution for your webcam automatically or manually select a fixed resolution and frame rate.

Recent Canary builds include an additional advanced camera option: media type, which lets you choose a specific camera resolution. (ID is disabled by default, 27744+)vivetool /enable /id:52142480 pic.twitter.com/vZxAmv7RqkDecember 4, 2024

If you enable this hidden feature ID, new options will be added to the camera settings menu. There, your webcam will (hopefully) now be listed with an ‘Edit’ option. Upon selecting this, you’ll be met with a list of resolutions available for your webcam, as well as two other new options, including letting multiple apps use your webcam at the same time and a ‘basic’ mode you can turn on if your webcam seems like it’s malfunctioning - not unlike booting Windows in ‘Safe Mode’ to debug OS problems.

When we expect to see the new settings and how you can get it now

If your computer is running one of the latest versions of Windows 11 (build 27744 or newer), you can enable this new setting for yourself, although you have to use ViveTool to do this. I would recommend you check out Neowin’s explanation of how to do this if you’re eager to test out this new feature early.

Overall, this is a positive update to Windows 11 (something that has been… a little rare of late), especially since more in-depth customization of your webcam has often required the use of third-party apps. This could be especially useful while you’re in video calls or meetings or if you want to quickly switch video quality while making a recording.

This change is still a hidden feature in a preview version of Windows 11, but if it’s made it this far, I expect that we’ll see it in a future update for the live public version of the OS fairly soon.

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The Acer Nitro 16 is already one of the best laptops for gamers on a budget, and right now you can pick it up for under $1,000.

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• America’s sanctions limiting China’s access to semiconductors criticized
• Huawei and its partners are all subject to different rules
• Letter calls for the preservation of documents for Trump’s analysis

Despite very public efforts to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductors and chipmaking equipment, a leading House Republican has accused Biden’s administration of leaving loopholes that companies like Huawei are benefiting from.

The concern comes from none other than Representative John Moolenaar, the chair of the chamber’s China Select Committee, who expressed his concerns in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

Acknowledging that some restrictions, like curbs on high-bandwidth memory chips, have been largely successful, Moolenaar argued that other measures have created opportunities for Chinese firms to bypass America’s sanctions, rendering them ineffective.

US restrictions on China deemed ineffective

Moolenaar highlighted rules that impose varied restrictions on different production facilities belonging to Huawei’s chipmaking partner, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC).

He criticized licensing policies allowing “case-by-case” sales to some SMIC facilities in Shanghai despite denying other shipments to its Beijing operations, and questioned why some Huawei-linked firms like Shenzhen Pensun Technology Co and SwaySure are subject to less stringent policies compared to others, such as Qingdao Si’En.

An extract from the letter (via Bloomberg) reads: “There is no national security justification for these loopholes.” All of this, he says, “raise[es] real questions about the culture at [The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security] and why BIS continues to facilitate shipments of US technology.”

Moolenaar has been instrumental to the US’ efforts to limit China’s access to advanced technologies – he and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi were the driving force behind adding many of the latest companies to the so-called entity list, announced earlier this week.

In his letter to Raimondo, Moolenaar is asking the Department of Commerce to “preserve all documents and communications” related to the restrictions so that US President-elect Donald Trump “can properly identify any other loopholes.”

A Commerce spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter, adding that it “will respond through the appropriate channels.”

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