May 2025 – Page 5 – Laptop Batteries, Chargers and AC Adapters

Some Fire TV devices are about to lose Netflix — see if you’re affected

Your Fire TV device might lose Netflix support soon

(Image credit: Amazon)

Fire TVstreaming devices are great. They’re consistently among thebest streaming devicesand come loaded with features and apps for all thebest streaming services.

They’re so good that you might still use some old versions ofAmazon’s streaming devices. If you are, thenNetflixmight have bad news for you.

In an email to select subscribers, Netflix announced that it was ending support for first-generation Fire TV streaming media players (h/tHeise).

“According to our usage data,” the email begins, “you have used Netflix on a first-generation Fire TV streaming media player in the past 12 months. Netflix will discontinue support for these streaming media players on June 2, 2025.”

Fire TV (2014)
Fire TV Stick (2014)
Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote (2016)

First, let’s get into the bad news. If you have a first-generation Fire TV streaming box or a first-generation Fire TV Stick, including models with voice remotes, you’re going to lose the ability to watch Netflix starting June 2.

The good news is that these devices areold. They launched in 2014 and lost software and security update support from Amazon years ago (Amazon only guarantees support for devices for four years from their date of sale).

So chances are, you either aren’t using these devices anymore, or you had some idea this day could come.

Unfortunately, if you are still using your first-gen Fire TV devices, there’s nothing you can do to avoid Netflix ending support for your version of its Fire TV OS app. You’ll need to buy a new streaming device if you want to keep watching Netflix.

That might be a blessing in disguise, though. Right now, everynewFire TV streaming stick is on sale, so there’s never been a better time to upgrade.

To replace your old first-gen Fire TV, you could go with the Amazon Fire TV Stick HD.Right now, you can get it at Amazon for $19.99, which is 43% off the list price.

The Fire TV Stick HD will give you everything you had with your first-generation Fire TV device and more, but if you’re looking for an upgrade, you could go with the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K instead.

Right now, you can get it at Amazon for $19.99, which is 40% off the list price.

Or get a serious upgrade andget the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $39.99. It’s pricier, but it’s the Fire TV Stick I use and the one I recommend to anyone with a 4K TV.

3 years later, Sony kills PlayStation Stars loyalty program where redeeming a single ‘free’ game could require over $1,000 in other purchases: “We’ve learned a lot”

“This version of the program” is dead as a doornail, but Sony’s considering other ideas

(Image credit: Sony)

PlayStation Stars, the loyalty program thatSonyrolled out in 2022 largely as a way to reward regular players with digital collectibles andveryoccasional game redemptions, is “winding down.”

Here are some key things to know as these changes take place:

Starting today, PlayStation Stars will no longer accept new members for this version of the program.
If members choose to cancel their PlayStation Stars membership starting today, it will not be possible to rejoin this version of the program, and members will lose all earned Points.
Current PlayStation Stars members can still earn Digital Collectibles, Points and level up their status until July 23, 2025 at 7:59AM PDT | 3:59PM BST | 11:59PM JST. After this date, there will be no new PlayStation Stars Campaigns available, or any additional rewards or status benefits to earn.
This version of the PlayStation Stars program will fully end on November 2, 2026 and current PlayStation Stars members can continue to redeem Points as long as their Points don’t expire before then.

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In a new post on the PlayStation Blog, Grace Chen, vice president of network advertising, loyalty, and licensed merchandise, says “we’ve learned a lot from evaluating the types of activities our players respond best to, and as a company, we are always evolving with player and industry trends.”

Chen specifies that “the current version” of PlayStation Stars is coming to an end, but when or how it or a similar program may return is unclear, so it’s a de facto shuttering. “Starting today, PlayStation Stars will no longer accept new members for this version of the program,” the post adds.

Just to make it clearer, if you cancel your PlayStation Stars membership from today onward, you’ll lose any points you’ve earned, as “it will not be possible to rejoin this version.” PlayStation Stars as we know it is dead.

Current members “can still earn Digital Collectibles, Points and level up their status” until July 23, 2025, but your account will seemingly be timelocked after that. The whole program will “fully end” on November 2, 2026, so you have until then to spend your points.

As demonstrated by its impending shutdown, PlayStation Stars was sometimes seen as a bit underwhelming. Digital collectibles like avatars and trophies did little to wow some fans, perhaps because – and don’t tell the gacha players I said this – digital collections are inherently impermanent and lack tangible satisfaction. The rewards were just kind of… there.

Some people also balked at the ideathat high-level users, who would have leveled up by spending more cash on “full” games and earning rare trophies, could get priority in customer support. I can understand catering to your biggest fans, but I also understand why the sentiment wrinkled some noses. ThePlayStation Stars FAQstill notes that “Level 4 Members in select countries will have the added benefit of Priority routing to our chat support team.”

On the rewards side, PlayStation Stars could be an extremely slow burn. It sounds good on paper, and you could genuinely get some decent stuff out of it, but a meaningful freebie requireda lotof points.

Several high-profile PlayStation games,like the rock-solid action RPG Stellar Bladeandyear-defining hit Helldivers 2, were up for grabs as redeemable rewards, but would require roughly $1,750 worth of accrued points.

Because points expired after two years, which was later changed to one year, you also had to spend that much money in a fairly short window. PlayStation has always been my first-pick console, and I don’t spend anywhere near that much in Sony’s ecosystem.

Even on the lower end, newer games could easily require over $1,000 spent. A free game is a free game if you were gonna spend that money anyway, but free games felt like a pretty small part of the program, and I think some folks expected a little somethingmore.

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“As we explore new ways to evolve our loyalty program efforts for the future, we’ll continue to celebrate all of our players through the various community activities we have planned,” Chen concludes. “The programs we create are all inspired by you, and we look forward to bringing you compelling new experiences for many generations to come.”

Intel demos running Panther Lake systems, touts performance and power efficiency improvements

Panther Lake comes screaming to market in early 2026.

Intel demoed working Panther Lake Core Ultra 300 silicon for laptops, its first chips based on its crucial18A process node, here atComputex 2025in Taipei, Taiwan. Unlike thefirst public demoes at CES 2025that merely showed the chips powered on, Intel put Panther Lake its paces in real-time rendering and AI applications, showing that the silicon is healthy and on-track for retail availability in early 2026. Intel also shared more information about its performance and power consumtpion expectations for the new chips.

As you can see in the image above, Intel also had a Panther Lake chip on display, enabling us to see how the CPU, GPU, I/O tile, and SoC tile are arranged on the package. These chips are thought to come with Cougar Cove P-cores and Darkmont E-cores (you can see theunconfirmed leaked specifications of some of the chip models here).

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Intel says the Panther Lake chips blend the power efficiency of Lunar Lake with the performance of Arrow Lake-H, noting that while the chips will be in production in the second half of 2025, presumably launched at CES, full retail availability will not come until early 2026. Intel did tease that the chips will come with the next-gen integrated graphics with XMX graphics, but aside from saying the iGPU performance will be closer to Lunar Lake than Arrow Lake, the company didn’t elaborate. These iGPUs are thought to be based on the Xe3 architecture.

Intel ran its Panther Lakebenchmarkson two Reference Validation Platforms (RVP) that you can see in the above album. These platforms are used to validate the design and emulate real-world conditions. Both RVPs were equipped with a heatsink and fan, so they were presumably operating without thermal constraints.

Intel demoed one system running the newly-resurrected Clippy as a large language model to demonstrate that the chips are running AI workloads. The presenter used the system to write game code in Python code. Intel didn’t share performance metrics from the benchmark.

Intel also demoed a system running Da Vinci to edit and manipulate video using local AI processing to process the video, enabling fast manipulation of the video clip, such as changing backgrounds, clothing colors, and adding flying text to the clip.

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Intel also displayed a running developer kit that 300+ developers with ISVs are using to enable software support for the coming chips. Intel demoed the system being used for image editing with auto-coloring and upscaling features, powered, of course, by AI. As you can see in the album, the developer system is quite compact. Intel also had a host of laptops on display from its OEM partners.

Intel’s Panther Lake appears to be on track for its launch schedule, which bodes well for the company’s immensely important 18A process node. Intel teased that the next steps are to release concrete speeds and feeds along with more information about the various chip models. We expect those to come trickling our over the next several months.

You can finally make Google Translate the default on iPhone and iPad

For people who prefer Google Translate, this is big news

If you use an iPhone or iPad and prefer to useGoogle Translateinstead ofApple’s built-in translate tool, then you’re in luck, because OS-level support is here. Users with the Google Translate app installed on their iOS device can change the default translator just like they would any other default app.

Anyone with the app should head to theApp Store to updateto the latest version. Additionally, be sure you haveiOS or iPadOS 18.4or later installed, as changing the default translation app will only work with that version of iOS.

The feature was added with the release of iOS 18.4, and it seems Google is the first to take advantage of it.

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If you’re interested in using Google Translate as your default translator app, here’s what you need to know:

Download or update Google Translate

If you don’t already have the app, head to the App Store to download it. If you have it, follow the procedure to update an iOS app to ensure you have the latest version.

Go to default apps

You’ll need to head to the Settings app on iOS to change the default translation app (you can’t do it from Google Translate’s app).

First, tap Settings, then Apps, followed by default apps.

Change default translator

Once in the default apps section, tap Translation to open the screen with your installed translation apps. If you have the latest version of Google Translate installed, it’ll appear on this screen with Apple’s built-in translator. Tap Google Translate and you’re done.

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It’ll be interesting to see if other translation apps make their way to iOS in the future. Having them integrated at the OS level makes them much more useful, so hopefully, we will see a bunch take advantage of iOS 18.4’s new level of flexibility.

Microsoft open sources the Windows Subsystem for Linux — invites developers to help more seamlessly integrate Linux with Windows

After years of feedback, Microsoft is finally open-sourcing the Windows Subsystem for Linux, allowing developers to easily modify the feature.

Ubunutu 24.04 running on WSL 2 on Windows 11 inside Windows Terminal.

The Windows Subsystem for Linux makes running Linux code on Windows a breeze.

Microsoft has announced that it’s open sourcing theWindows Subsystem for Linux, and is inviting developers in the community to contribute and help make Windows the best OS for cross-platform app development.

“We are opening up the code that creates and powers the virtual machine backing WSL distributions and integrates it with Windows features and resources for community contributions,”says Pavan Davuluri, CVP of Windows & Devices at Microsoft.

The company says it has done a lot of work to decouple the Windows Subsystem for Linux from the Windows core so that it can be open-sourced. It’s now a standalone application, making it easier to open-source.

Developers will be able to access the source code for the Windows Subsystem for Linux on Github, and make enhancements and changes based on their needs by contributing pull requests to the WSL repository.

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Microsoft has announced a number of new features and experiences as part of itsBuild 2025developer keynote, includingModel Context Protocolsupport that will make it easier to build AI agentic experiences in Windows 11 apps. The company is also making it free for individuals to submit and publish apps on the Microsoft Store for the first time.