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Nintendo hasn’t confirmed what joystick technology the Switch 2 is using, but its not Hall effect sensors.

After several days of not providing a direct answer about the technology used in the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons, Nintendo has finally confirmed that the new console’s controllers do not employ anti-drift Hall effect joysticks.

When asked about the technology inside the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons that “feels so different to the original Switch's analog stick” during a recent interview, Nate Bihldorff, the Senior Vice President of Product Development & Publishing at Nintendo of America, told Nintendo Life that “the Joy-Con 2's controllers have been designed from the ground up. They're not Hall Effect sticks, but they feel really good.”

Following Nintendo’s Switch 2 presentation last week, the company shared an Ask the Developer discussion with the console’s designers that touched on technical aspects of its upgraded controllers. According to Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto, the company “redesigned everything from scratch for Joy-Con 2… Compared to the Joy-Con controllers for Switch, the control sticks are larger and more durable, with smoother movement. We’ve also made Joy-Con 2 bigger to match the larger console.”

However, while Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons aren’t relying on anti-drift Hall effect sensors, it has yet to confirm exactly what technology is in use.

Is the console still using the same potentiometer-based joysticks that contributed to the original Switch’s notorious joystick drift problems, or has it found a way to improve that technology to extend the longevity of the Joy-Con hardware? And if Hall effect joysticks aren’t in use, has Nintendo adopted tunneling magnetoresistance joystick technology that could solve joystick drift once and for all while offering several benefits over Hall effect sensors?

We’ll either find out from Nintendo itself, or have to wait until the Switch 2 finally ships and gets dissected to reveal what’s inside those controllers.

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The first season of HBOa€™s The Last of Us wasna€™t just one of the most impressive video game adaptations to date, it was also one of the most faithful. The show did a remarkable job of replicating the characters, locations, and moments of the game, to the point that it felt like it was just skipping straight to the cutscenes at times. Still, season 1 displayed flashes of its own storytelling, with episodes like a€oeLong Long Time,a€ which expanded the post-apocalyptic worlda€™s scope beyond the main story of Ellie and Joel. This helped the series feel both authentic to and distinct from its source material. Season 2 takes things a step further a€" it neatly follows a more complicated story, while also spending more time fleshing out the setting beyond its lead characters.

This piece contains light spoilers for The Last of Us show and games.

While season 1 spanned the entirety of the first game, the second season only covers a portion of The Last of Us Part II. Ita€™s seven episodes long, which covers roughly half of the gamea€™s plot; co-creator Craig Maizin previously said the split was made because a€oethe story material that we got from Part II of the game is way more than t …

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Search for a€oeSimCity 4a€ on YouTube, and youa€™ll see players constructing multilevel highway interchanges and intricate railroad networks, or maybe even a swooping flyby of a sprawling metropolis. None of these features came with the original game, which was released just after the turn of the millennium. Theya€™ve been developed slowly and painstakingly over the 22 years since its release by dedicated aficionados a€" a thriving community that continues to push the gamea€™s limits.

The work is a labor of love, and ita€™s a lot of labor and love. Modder Tarkus says that after all these years, hea€™s drawn to the deep and complex nature of the gamea€™s simulation, which he says remains unmatched by newer games like Cities: Skylines (2015) and its sequel Cities: Skylines 2 (2023) a€" and even by SimCity 4 a€™s own sequel, which was released in 2013 and simply called SimCity. Modder Ulisse Wolf says that, for him, ita€™s ultimately a question of community. Perhaps because of the gamea€™s age, he finds that SimCity 4 enthusiasts are a€oemore mature a€¦ guaranteeing you a quiet place to live in [peace] with other members.a€

SimCity 4 was released in 2003, the fourth in game company …

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In addition to a new console and lineup of games, Nintendo also revealed some sticker shock at its Switch 2 event last week. The console will cost $449.99 a€" a big jump from the original Switch, which debuted at $299.99 in 2017. Some have speculated that the price hike was at least partly due to the ongoing confusion around President Donald Trumpa€™s planned tariffs. The timing was certainly awkward; Trump announced a fresh, wide-ranging wave of global tariffs the same day as Nintendoa€™s event.

But Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser says that tariffs did not directly impact the consolea€™s original price tag. a€oePut [the April 2nd announcement] aside. Any previous tariffs were not factored into the price itself,a€oe he explained, speaking to me the day after the event.

That may be true, but the impact of the April 2nd tariff announcement is already being felt. Just two days after its event, Nintendo announced that it was delaying Switch 2 preorders, which were originally slated to begin on April 9th, in order to a€oeassess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions.a€ Therea€™s currently no new preorder date, and whether the price of the console will …

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WhatsApp is testing a new “advanced chat privacy” option that lets you control whether others you're chatting with can easily export your chats or automatically save media you send them, reports WABetaInfo . The feature appeared in a recent app beta on iOS, and WABetaInfo spotted the toggle in an Android beta on Friday as well.

The new advanced chat privacy toggle is found in the settings for both single and group chats, according to WABetaInfo. Once it’s turned on, it will keep individual users or those in a group chat from exporting the whole chat history outside WhatsApp. It will also keep images and videos in a thread from automatically saving to device galleries — it’s not clear from the article whether users can still manually save them, and Meta’s description of the feature in WABetaInfo’s screenshots doesn't mention it.

When enabled in a group chat, everyone in the chat will be notified that the advanced chat privacy setting is on. The toggle also apparently turns off Meta AI, which can be used in chats to do things like answer questions or generate images.

As WABetaInfo notes, while the new option prevents entire chats from being exported, it’s still possible to forward individual messages or screenshot them if the setting is on, so it would slow down efforts to preserve your chats, but not stop them entirely. You can lock down your chats more with WhatsApp's existing disappearing messages, which can be set to auto-delete after an amount of time you pick. The advanced chat privacy setting is only available in beta for now, and there’s no indication of when it will get a wider rollout.

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Spare laptop accessories stacked inside a Nehru Place shop that specializes in laptop and mobile repairs.

In a dimly lit, cluttered workshop in Delhia€™s Nehru Place, the air hums with the sound of whirring drills and the crackle of soldering irons. Sushil Prasad, a 35-year-old technician, wipes the sweat off his brow as he carefully pieces together the guts of an old laptop. It is a daily ritual a€" resurrecting machines by stitching together motherboards, screens, and batteries scavenged from other trashed older laptops and e-waste a€" to create functional, low-cost devices.

a€oeIndia has always had a repair culture a€¦ but companies are pushing planned obsolescencea€

"Right now, there is a huge demand for such a€˜hybrida€™ laptops," Prasad says, his hands swapping out a damaged motherboard. "Most people dona€™t care about having the latest model; they just want something that works and wona€™t break the bank."

Across India, in metro markets from Delhia€™s Nehru Place to Mumbaia€™s Lamington Road, technicians like Prasad are repurposing broken and outdated laptops that many see as junk. These a€oeFrankensteina€ machines a€" hybrids of salvaged parts from multiple brands a€" are sold to students, gig workers, and small businesses, offering a lifeline to those priced out of Indiaa€ …

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Hundreds of thousands of people signed up to attend over 1,300 “Hands Off!” protests against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk yesterday. Today, estimates from groups involved in planning the protests suggest the protesters in the US and abroad may have actually numbered in the millions.

Activist group MoveOn is “estimating millions of attendees” went to the 1,300-plus scheduled events, with more than 100,000 turning out for the Washington, DC protest, Britt Jacovich, the group’s communications director, told The Verge via email. A press release published on the official Hands Off! website yesterday tells the same story:

Millions of people flooded the streets today at over 1,300 “Hands Off!” peaceful protests across all 50 states, U.S. territories, and a dozen locations globally, demanding an end to the authoritarian overreach by Trump and Musk.

The protests were laser-focused on Musk and Trump, but the concerns that drove yesterday’s demonstrations are wide-ranging, covering everything from Trump’s trade war and DOGE’s relentless federal agency cuts and layoffs, to LGBTQ+ and other civil rights issues, to the war in Ukraine. More than 150 groups participated in their organization, including those mentioned in this story, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters, and labor unions like the AFL-CIO and those representing federal workers, such as the National Treasury Employees Union.

Indivisible, another of the more than 150 organizations involved in planning the protests, gives a similar estimate to MoveOn’s in a statement reported by Common Dreams, in which it says that “at virtually every single event the crowds eclipsed our estimates.” From Common Dreams:

"This is the largest day of protest since Trump retook office," the group added. "And in many small towns and cities, activists are reporting the biggest protests their communities have ever seen as everyday people send a clear, unmistakable message to Trump and Musk: Hands off our healthcare, hands off our civil rights, hands off our schools, our freedoms, and our democracy."

Other reported estimates from yesterday are smaller. The Guardian , The Hill , and _Al Jazeera _each put the number in the hundreds of thousands. Even so, millions doesn’t seem implausible. According to Axios, over 45,000 people gathered in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the outlet reports more than 100,000 people demonstrated both in Washington, DC and New York City. Organizers say more than 30,000 showed up in Chicago, writes WBEZ Chicago.

We’re building a #PeoplesMovement. Today, over 3 million people across the country stood up to say HANDS OFF our democracy. And history shows that when just 3.5% of the population engages in sustained, peaceful resistance—transformative change is inevitable.#50501movement #HandsOff #April5

-- 50501: The People’s Movement (@50501movement.bsky.social) 2025-04-06T00:00:04.412Z

One of the most specific numbers reported so far comes from the social media accounts of 50501, one of the most prominent protest movements that have sprung up in the wake of Musk’s actions as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The group posted late yesterday that “over 3 million people across the country stood up to say HANDS OFF our democracy.”

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Nintendo’s hoping to relieve some of the sticker shock it gave fans with its game pricing with the news that the Switch 2 upgrades for both Legend of Zelda games will only cost $10 if you already own them. The games are priced for the Nintendo Switch 2 at $69.99 for Breath of the Wild and $79.99 for Tears of the Kingdom. In an interview with IGN , Bill Trinen, Nintendo of America's VP of product and player experience, broke down the pricing situation.

“What you're looking at is for the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, that's the physical price for somebody that has not bought the base game,” he said. “For somebody who has bought Tears of the Kingdom or Breath of the Wild , the upgrade packs for those are $9.99. And if you happen to be a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack member, both of the Zelda upgrade packs are inclusive within that membership.”

Trinen did not explain if digital copies of the two games would be cheaper than their physical versions. Additionally, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour , a game that uses surprisingly fun and informative mini-games to explain the inner workings of the console, will also be priced at $9.99 although some think the game should be included with the Switch 2 akin to Astro’s Playroom for the PS5.

But it seems that, for Americans at least, the pricing conversation regarding Nintendo Switch 2 games will have to take a back seat to the more pressing matter of figuring out the exact price of the console itself. Pre-orders have started for the Switch 2 in other countries while the US is forced to wait to hear how or if the Trump presidency’s tariffs, which includes a 24 percent tariff on Japanese goods, will impact the console’s $449.99 price.

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Whether you’re wearing them for the morning commute, while traveling, or if you’re simply trying to find some peace and quiet while working at home, noise-canceling headphones are a more essential piece of kit nowadays than ever before. And you’ve got a slew of great options to pick from; it’s hard to make a bad choice.

There are longtime heavyweights like Bose and Sony to pick from. Apple has quickly carved into the market with the luxurious AirPods Max. And if you’ve got an ear that demands the best audio quality, headphones from Bowers & Wilkins and Sennheiser might appeal to you more than the mainstream contenders.

Not everyone loves the feel of earbuds, and there are scenarios where over-ear and on-ear headphones are just simpler or make more sense than wireless buds — particularly if lengthy battery life matters to you.

No matter how you’re using them, the criteria for picking the best noise-canceling headphones haven’t changed.

How we test noise-canceling headphones

We put our top picks for noise-canceling headphones through many hours of testing. Since their ability to tamp down the loudness of your surroundings is critical, we use them in a variety of environments — including busy city streets, the office, coffee shops, and public transit — and for more quiet, focused listening at home.

We sample their transparency mode to see how clearly the outside world comes through and if it’s easy to carry on conversations while wearing the headphones. We have friends and family try them on and provide feedback on the fit and comfort. And, of course, we have our favorite albums and playlists on repeat to assess how each pair sounds and how much listening time you can expect from a single charge.

Comfort

If headphones are causing a sore spot at the top of your noggin, what good are they no matter how good they sound or cancel noise? Traditionally the lighter they are, the more comfortable headphones will prove over extended listening sessions. But manufacturers can also help improve comfort by being thoughtful in the materials they choose for ear cups and the headband that wraps over your cranium. Clamping force is another important factor; some headphones will squeeze against your head firmer than others; this can be great if you want a pair to stay put for exercise, but not ideal if you’re just trying to relax and tune out the world.

Noise cancellation

Practically any of our picks will do an excellent job at providing distraction-free listening when on a flight, at the office, or if you’re traversing city streets. Noise-canceling headphones work by using built-in microphones to listen to the sounds in your environment, and they invert those soundwaves to eliminate the cacophony of everyday life.

Sound quality

Having powerful noise-canceling used to mean compromising on sound quality, but that’s simply not the case anymore. Most of today’s flagship ANC headphones provide dynamic, rich, and immersive sound. They support a variety of Bluetooth audio codecs, and some (like Sony’s LDAC and aptX HD) can deliver higher bitrates than the status quo AAC and SBC codecs. But don’t get bogged down in those details; headphones that are tuned well with the right components can make your music sound fantastic regardless of codecs.

Battery life

One benefit of buying headphones instead of earbuds is that they can last much longer on a single charge. Whereas you’ll need to plop most earbuds back into their case after five hours or so, wireless headphones can keep the music going for around 20 hours. And some recent models can even exceed that and hit 40 hours.

Multipoint pairing

We all try to do our best at multitasking, and multipoint Bluetooth connectivity is essential for headphones to meet the same challenge. Multipoint allows your noise-canceling headphones to pair with two devices at the same time. This makes it easy to take a call on your phone and get right back to the music you were playing on your laptop without fussing with Bluetooth settings menus.

Bonus features

Headphones are increasingly gaining features that are exclusive to individual manufacturer ecosystems. For example, the AirPods Max are capable of head-tracking spatial audio and other tricks like audio sharing — but only if you’re listening to them with one of the company’s other products, like an iPhone, Mac, or iPad.

The “best” headphones for you will differ based on which of those factors you prioritize and care about most, but our overall pick for the best noise-canceling headphones remains ****Sony’s WH-1000XM5. They offer a combination of sound quality, comfort, and great noise cancellation that’s hard to beat.

1. The best wireless headphones for most people
2. The best noise-canceling headphones for travel
3. The best wireless headphones for iPhone owners
4. The best-sounding wireless headphones
5. The noise-canceling headphones with the best battery life

The best wireless headphones for most people

Battery life: 30 hours / Multipoint: Yes / Audio codecs: LDAC, AAC, SBC Connectors : USB-C (charging), 3.5mm headphone jack (audio)

Sony’s WH-1000XM5 have a completely different design from their predecessors. The changes result in greater comfort when you’re wearing them on your head for extended periods of time — like on a flight or if you’re at the office.

Noise cancellation has been further improved from the already-stellar performance of the M4, putting Sony at the front of the pack compared to all major competitors. Sound quality is more detailed and balanced than the older 1000XM4; the low end is still punchy but tighter and less boomy than before. The M5 offer the best voice call performance in the 1000X series to date, and they can connect to two devices simultaneously, so you can stay clued in on what’s happening on your phone when you’re working away on your laptop or tablet.

Sony’s headphones also include unique features like “speak to chat,” which automatically pauses your music and pipes in ambient audio whenever you start talking. Or you can hold one hand over the right ear cup to activate quick attention mode, which is convenient when grabbing a coffee or listening to airport announcements. And like other high-end headphones, the 1000XM5 can detect when they’ve been removed from your ears for auto-pause.

The main downside of the WH-1000XM5 is that, at $399.99, they’re more expensive than prior models. That’s a big reason to consider the 1000XM4, which were our previous pick for the best noise-canceling headphones. They remain part of Sony’s lineup and can often be found on sale.

Read my full Sony WH-1000XM5 review.

The best noise-canceling headphones for travel

Battery life: 24 hours / Multipoint: Yes / Audio codecs: aptX Adaptive, AAC, SBC Connectors : USB-C (charging), 2.5mm headphone jack (audio)

Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are basically a blend of the company’s prior Noise Canceling Headphones 700 and QuietComfort 45 that borrow the best traits from both — while throwing in a new “immersive audio” listening mode. Like past Bose cans, they’re very light and comfortable on your head, even when worn for long stretches of time. Best of all, unlike the Noise Canceling Headphones 700, these can be folded to make them easier to travel with.

Their 24-hour battery life is more than adequate, and Bose has added support for the aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codec for improved audio fidelity on Android devices.

The immersive audio feature works well on some songs, but less so on others. It’s worth experimenting with, but even if you leave it off entirely, you’re left with best-in-class noise cancellation, pleasing sound, and a helpful “aware” transparency mode.

Read my full Bose QC Ultra Headphones review.

The best wireless headphones for iPhone owners

Battery life: 20 hours / Multipoint: No / Audio codecs: AAC, SBC Connectors : Lightning (audio and charging)

There was definitely some sticker shock when Apple introduced a $549 set of noise-canceling headphones in 2020. The AirPods Max cost significantly more money than any of our other recommendations. But Apple’s build quality is on another level: these trade the plastic you’ll find in many noise-canceling headphones for steel and aluminum, and the ear cups are a breathable mesh fabric. They’re hefty headphones, there’s no denying that. But aside from Apple refusing to include a headphone cable in the box, there’s nothing about the AirPods Max that feels cheap. And I appreciate the simplicity of using the digital crown for controls instead of relying on hit-or-miss gestures like taps and swipes.

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The Corvette concept model.

General Motors is revealing a futuristic new electric-powered Corvette concept imagined by a new UK-based design team in Birmingham, England. The team developed a hypercar design inspired by the aviation industry, with a highly sculptured, aerodynamic design; powered gullwing doors; and an augmented windshield display for the driver.

This Corvette concept comes from a “creative study” that had participation from multiple GM studios, GM’s VP of global design Michael Simcoe said in a press release. The vehicle’s upper half takes inspiration from previous designs, including the split window windshield that Simcoe says comes from the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray. “This feature emphasizes a singular vertical central spine that is also a structural element, also providing a panoramic view of the road and surroundings,” said Simcoe. GM calls this structure “Apex Vision.”

GM says that the lower half is more about function. The concept Corvette has EV battery technology embedded in the structure, and air channels incorporated into the sides that make airflow efficient, which, according to GM, would make wings and spoilers not necessary. However, on a track, the Corvette can deploy dorsal fins, and there’s spoiler venting to create aero vectoring for better cornering performance.

The UK team is also helping designers in Detroit with a new concept GMC vehicle that, from the looks of some teaser images, seems like a spacious, futuristic van that could be used for camping. The new GMC concept will be revealed later this year.

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After multiple delays, Chris McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is finally making its way into theaters this summer, and Ethan Hunt is giving his all in the movie’s new trailer.

Though it’s filled with footage from previous movies, the new trailer teases a bit of how Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is about to put his life on the line again to take down the same dangerous artificial intelligence he fought in Dead Reckoning. With the AI’s influence spreading across the globe and endangering his allies Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames), and Grace (Hayley Atwell), Ethan’s got no choice but to make some risky decisions. The trailer makes it look like Ethan is going to somehow bond with his AI enemy to gain some insight into how it works, but that doesn’t seem nearly as dangerous as the way he’s going to be jumping off aircraft carriers into freezing oceans.

While it’s hard to imagine Paramount really ending the Mission: Impossible franchise the way The Final Reckoning ’s title implies, Cruise is obviously doing his big one here with stunts designed to leave audiences stunned. That’s been the franchise’s whole deal for nearly three decades, and longtime fans are probably going to be in for a treat when the film debuts on May 23rd.

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Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is planning to hold a “hackathon” next week in order to create a “mega API” for accessing Internal Revenue Service data, reports Wired. The outlet says the API would be used to move the data into a cloud platform — potentially a third-party one — to serve as the “read center” of the agency’s systems.

DOGE’s hackathon plan includes pulling together “dozens” of IRS engineers in DC to build the API, writes Wired. Among the third-party providers the department has reportedly discussed involving is Palantir, a company known for its vast data collection and government surveillance and analysis work. DOGE is aiming to finish the API work in 30 days, a timeline one IRS employee told Wired is “not technically possible” and would “cripple” the IRS.

Wired says the DOGE operatives orchestrating the project are 25-year-old Gavin Kliger and health-tech CEO Sam Corcos. On March 1st, The Washington Post reported that Corcos had pushed the agency to lift restrictions it had placed on Kliger’s access to its systems, and proposed an agreement to share IRS data across the government.

A March 14th letter to the IRS from Senator Ron Wyden and others suggests the agency didn’t relent, as it praises their “rightful rejection” of DOGE’s requests. It goes on to cite another later Post story suggesting that Trump administration officials want to use IRS data “to power their immigration crackdown and government efficiency campaign.”

One of the sources Wired spoke with said that “schematizing” and understanding the IRS data DOGE is after “would take years” and that “these people have no experience, not only in government, but in the IRS or with taxes or anything else.”

DOGE has been winding its way through federal agencies since shortly after Trump’s inauguration in January. Recent stops include the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission. And on Friday, it gained access to data maintained by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles legal immigration.

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One of the stranger details that came out of last weeka€™s big Nintendo Switch 2 event was the existence of game-key cards. They wona€™t be used for all releases, but essentially theya€™re Switch 2 cartridges that dona€™t actually contain a game, but instead feature a a€oekeya€ thata€™s used for a€oedownloading the full game to your system via the internet.a€

As video games continue to shift away from physical releases, game-key cards understandably created some confusion among fans. I had the chance to ask Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser why they exist, and the answer was pretty simple: retail stores.

a€oeIn essence, ita€™s a digital game on a card,a€ he said. a€oeWhat ita€™s beneficial for is for our publishing partners to be able to bring games to market that may be of a significant size, and therefore they may need too large a cartridge for that game. It allows them to sell those physical games at retail.a€

That makes a certain amount of sense, as retail stores are still a notable market for Nintendo in particular. Bowser also noted that, in an attempt to make the distinction between the Switch 2 and its predecessor more clear, the company is a€oeworking with our r …

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The best Nintendo Switch controllers aren’t the ones that come with the console. While the removable Joy-Cons included with all non-Lite Switch consoles are convenient given they can be detached for wireless use, their tiny, curveless design isn’t comfortable for long gaming sessions or large hands. And while Nintendo has taken steps to address the dreaded Joy-Con drift and earlier quality control problems, some issues persist. The company claims that the Switch 2 Joy-Con 2 controllers will be more durable, but we’ll have to wait and see.

1. The best Nintendo Switch controller for TV mode
2. The best Switch controller for handheld mode
3. The best Xbox-style controller for the Switch
4. The best Switch controller that’s also great for PC and Steam Deck
5. A well-rounded Switch controller that looks like a DualShock
6. An adapter that lets you use your own controllers
7. Other Switch controllers we tested
8. What’s coming next?

In this buying guide, we focus on wireless controllers that are both comfortable and reliable, as well as a few options that come with unique features designed to match your play style. We’re not covering wired controllers that plug into the Switch’s dock, as they’re similar to each other and don’t offer substantial savings in many cases. (PowerA and PDP make decent ones that will do in a pinch, but they’re very basic. Unless you detest recharging your controllers, it makes more sense to go wireless.)

Also, if you buy a third-party wireless controller (as in, one not made by Nintendo), they likely won’t support HD rumble, motion controls, NFC for Amiibo, or be able to turn on the Switch remotely. However, there are exceptions that we feature below!

If you’re playing your Switch while docked, it’s hard to go wrong with the official Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. It’s the only traditional gamepad that includes every feature mentioned above, and it’s one of the most satisfying controllers we’ve tested. The GuliKit KingKong 3 Pro and Max, meanwhile, make for great Xbox-style controllers with exhaustive customization, while the Hori Split Pad Pro is great for those who prefer to play in handheld mode. Then there’s 8BitDo’s PC-friendly Ultimate Bluetooth Controller and DualShock-esque Pro 2 controller, both of which are worth checking out.

How we test Nintendo Switch controllers

We test Nintendo Switch controllers by playing with them with a standard grip — the same way most gamers do. We test how easy they are to connect to the Switch and other compatible platforms, as well as how reliably they stay connected. Then, we jump into a game. Since some controllers are better suited to specific genres than others, we try a variety of titles, including fighting games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate , racers like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe , and shooters like Overwatch 2. We pay attention to how buttons, triggers, analog sticks, and the D-pad feel, noting whether any of them feel mushy or stiff. For controllers that support sensitivity customization, we note how easy it is to make these adjustments and how they feel compared to their default settings.

Connectivity

Does it support Bluetooth? Can you use it in wired mode? Are there alternate wireless modes, such as 2.4GHz?

Quality

Do the buttons, sticks, and triggers feel good and sturdy? Does the controller have a satisfying, well-balanced weight? Does it use premium materials for the casing and grips? Any connection issues or glitches?

Extra features

Are there rear-facing buttons? Does it support macros? Can you use it on multiple platforms?

Customization

Can you remap buttons? Is there software support for tweaking controller settings? Does it have interchangeable buttons or sticks? Can you fine-tune vibration and sensitivity?

Value

Is it priced fairly? Are the features and quality worth the money?

The best Nintendo Switch controller for TV mode

Supported platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, Steam Deck, mobile, Apple TV / Connectivity: Bluetooth, wired / Connector type: USB-C / Mappable rear buttons: No / Software customization: No / Rumble: Yes, HD / NFC: Yes / Motion: Yes / Power: Built-in rechargeable / Console Wakeup: Yes

Ever since the Switch launched, Nintendo’s first-party Pro controller has been the best gamepad for the console. In many ways, it rivals the standard models from Sony and Microsoft in terms of comfort and build quality.

Aside from the Joy-Cons, the Switch Pro Controller is the only wireless option that includes HD rumble, gyroscopic movement support, and an NFC reader for Amiibo cards and figurines. It’s one of a few controllers we’ve tested (aside from the Joy-Con and 8BitDo’s Ultimate series) that can power on the Switch without being plugged into it. The gamepad is built like a tank, and its battery life is so good that it sometimes seems like it’ll never run out. Nintendo says that it lasts around 40 hours per charge, so it’ll likely take casual gamers a long time to run down the battery.

The buttons and triggers have a satisfying bounce, while its directional pad is responsive and clicky enough to satisfy retro gamers. The controller charges via USB-C, just like the Switch, and it’s compatible with a slew of other platforms you might game on, including PC, Android, and SteamOS. It also works with Apple devices thanks to its compatibility with the latest versions of iOS, macOS, and even tvOS and visionOS.

Given the price, we wish that it had other features, like programmable buttons or a 3.5mm headphone jack for audio, even if wireless audio transmission from the Switch to a controller isn’t currently possible. (At least you can connect a pair of wireless headphones via Bluetooth, but only if you have no more than two controllers connected to your Switch at once.)

The best Switch controller for handheld mode

Supported Platforms: Switch / Connectivity: Wired / Connector type: Joy-Con slots / Mappable rear buttons: Yes / Software customization: No / Rumble: No / NFC: No / Motion: No / Power: via Joy-Con slots / Console Wakeup: No

I’m sure there are some people who enjoy using Joy-Con controllers, but kids and small-handed folks aside, most people probably wouldn’t say they’re the most comfortable option. If you struggle with hand pain when you use the Switch, that’s where the Hori Split Pad Pro comes in.

The Split Pad Pro comes in a variety of colorways, and it both looks and feels like a Switch Pro Controller that’s split in half. One half slides into each side of the Switch console like Joy-Cons, but unlike Nintendo’s default controllers, Hori’s gamepad features big, easy-to-reach buttons and generously sized triggers and analog sticks, all of which feel great in play. It also provides a lot of grip, which is particularly useful for people who need to get a better handle on the console for fast gameplay or stay comfy over longer play sessions.

The Split Pad Pro doesn’t have batteries or sensors — or support for rumble, motion, IR, or NFC — so it’s completely useless when detached from the Switch. It’s only for handheld mode unless you purchase the Split Pad Pro Attachment seen above that turns it into a wired controller. We don’t recommend most people go that route since the attachment alone costs more than a Switch Pro Controller, which is a shame considering it doesn’t add any of the aforementioned elements (it does add a 3.5mm headphone jack, however).

The company also sells the Split Pad Compact, which is a smaller version of the Split Pad Pro that costs $50 (you can also get it with an Attachment Set for $74.99). It might be worth a look if you want something as functional as the Split Pad Pro but closer in size to a Joy-Con.

Read our Hori Split Pad Pro review.

The best Xbox-style controller for the Switch

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The step-up Studio Buds sound as great as they look.

Apple’s AirPods Pro are some of the best wireless earbuds money can buy, but only if you’re embedded in Apple’s ecosystem. If you want a cheaper pair of earbuds that play well with both iOS and Android devices, the Beats Studio Buds Plus are a great alternative. They usually run $169.95, but right now you can pick them up at Amazon for as low as $99.95 ($70 off), which matches their best price to date.

In addition to offering an eye-catching translucent color option, the Beats Studio Buds Plus feature full, rich sound that nearly rivals Apple’s pricier AirPods Pro. The water-resistant earbuds are also exceptionally comfortable, and like the Pro, they come with four swappable silicone ear tips (including an extra-small set). Their transparency mode and ANC fall a bit short of Apple’s latest pair of premium earbuds, but they can still tune out enough of the world that you should be able to focus more easily.

Plus, unlike the AirPods Pro, the Studio Buds Plus offer native support for a variety of iOS and Android tricks, including Find My and Fast Pair. Just bear in mind the flexibility comes at the cost of some iOS features, like support for head-tracking spatial audio and automatic device switching. If you lived in a mixed device household, though, we still think they’re the option to beat.

Read our Beats Studio Buds Plus review.

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Google is adding multimodal capabilities to its search-centric AI Mode chatbot that enable it to “see” and answer questions about images, as it expands access to AI Mode to “millions more” users.

The update combines a custom version of Gemini AI with the company’s Lens image recognition tech, allowing AI Mode Search users to take or upload a picture and receive a “rich, comprehensive response with links” about its contents. The multimodal update for AI Mode is available starting today and can be accessed in the Google app on Android and iOS.

“AI Mode builds on our years of work on visual search and takes it a step further,” says Robby Stein, VP of product for Google Search. “With Gemini’s multimodal capabilities, AI Mode can understand the entire scene in an image, including the context of how objects relate to one another and their unique materials, colors, shapes, and arrangements.”

Google says the update uses a “fan-out technique” that issues multiple queries about the image it sees, and any objects within it, to provide responses that are “incredibly nuanced and contextually relevant.” That allows it to do things like identify books that are displayed within an image, issue suggestions for similar titles with positive ratings, and answer questions to further curate recommendations.

AI Mode for Search serves as Google’s answer to Perplexity and ChatGPT Search, a chatbot-like experience that responds to inquiries with AI-generated summaries pulled from everything in Google’s search index.

AI Mode launched exclusively for Google One AI Premium subscribers last month, though only within Labs. Now, Google says it has started to make AI Mode available to “millions more” Labs users in the US, beyond just paying AI Premium subscribers.

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The Death Stranding movie, an adaptation of Hideo Kojima’s supernatural UPS delivery guy walking simulator, has its director. A24 has announced that Michael Sarnoski will both direct and write the project. Sarnoski’s previous work includes directing the surprisingly stunning Nicolas Cage drama Pig and monster movie thriller A Quiet Place: Day One.

Death Stranding, released in 2019, tells the story of Sam Porter Bridges (voiced and performed by Norman Reedus), a porter tasked with ferrying packages across a devastated United States. Along the way he is assaulted by oily-looking monsters called BTs, rain that makes you old, and more conventional enemies including a terrorist sect led by a man named Higgs who is played by Troy Baker. The game went on to critical success, winning several Game Awards and netting Kojima an award for best direction. A sequel, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach has been announced and launches June 26th.

The Death Stranding movie was announced in 2023. Kojima, an ardent lover of cinema, announced the feature-length production would be headed by A24 with a shirt featuring dripping letters similar to the logo for Death Stranding. A24, an independent production company, is known for championing quirky, weird, and downright disturbing films like Hereditary , Everything Everywhere, All at Once , and the forthcoming Death of a Unicorn.

Death Stranding , with its surrealist visuals and storytelling, feels like a good fit for Sarnoski.

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My home network is a small miracle of backward compatibility, slinging data across 60-plus devices that span five generations of Wi-Fi. Everything on it, from my iPhone 15 Pro all the way down to my Nintendo Wii, manages to connect to the internet, most of it wirelessly through my router, with shockingly few issues. Thata€™s possible because of Wi-Fia€™s essentially unbroken line of interoperability that stretches from its 1999 introduction in consumer products through today.

Wi-Fi devices do this by being shapeshifters. When two of them connect, the one using the newest generation of the standard will automatically switch to the highest Wi-Fi version the other one is equipped for. Making sure that works means lots of testing for compatibility, maintaining old parts of the standard, and coming up with new ways to make existing tech more viable. That approach has led to a level of backward compatibility and long-term device support that few gadgets or standards in the tech world can match.

One reason Wi-Fi operates this way is the glacial transitions between generations of the standard. It can take a long time for a new version to proliferate a€" see the 2022 Apple HomePod and it …

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Alienware’s 27-inch 4K QD-OLED , the AW2725Q, hit shelves about a month ago. It was the first of several faster, better models to launch after being announced at CES 2025, with a 240Hz refresh rate, VRR, and a high 166 pixels per inch display. In short, it rules, so I’m tickled to find it already selling at a 17 percent discount at Amazon. Normally $899, it recently sank to its all-time best price of $749

If you sat out the first couple waves of OLED gaming monitor releases, you’ll find the tech has matured nicely. On top of Alienware’s 3-year warranty that protects against burn-in, the AW2725Q sports an anti-reflective coating that looks more glossy than other OLED monitors I’ve tested (not TV levels of glossy, but somewhere between matte and glossy).

Some more context on the value here: In March, Alienware announced a 27-inch 1440p QD-OLED gaming monitor coming this summer for $549.99. The company acknowledged this price could change due to tariffs — even before the recent, stock market-crashing import taxes were announced. That means it may not actually cost $549.99 when it comes out, so consider this monitor, with its higher resolution, higher refresh rate, and more features, a very good value for just $200 more.

More deals and discounts

• The Lego Icons Atreides Royal Ornithopter set from the Dune films is down to its lowest price ever at Amazon. A 20 percent discount may not seem like much (a final price of $131.95), but it’s the cheapest we’ve ever seen for this 1,369-piece kit. It includes the Ornithopter vehicle, plus eight mini figures, from Paul Atreides and other major and minor characters to “long Baron,” a name that I’ve lovingly given the extremely silly and tall Baron Harkonnen mini figure.

• Xbox gift cards are 10 percent off at Newegg, so you can get $100 digital gift cards for $90. These gift cards can be used on anything available on the Xbox or Microsoft store, ranging from Fortnite in-game currency to snatching Game Pass, or renting a movie.

• If you’re on the hunt for a not-too-expensive gaming laptop (and you aren’t the most discerning person when it comes to specs), this Asus TUF model sports a 16.1-inch 1080p screen with a 165Hz refresh rate. As for its internal hardware, it’s packed with the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS, a Radeon RX7700S GPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Normally $1,099.99, it’s $699.99 through Best Buy’s eBay seller page.

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Breaking down the confusing world of color spaces.

The best method that we have for defining color is by using math. Specifically, mind-boggling mathematical models called color spaces that use geometry to assign colors as a fixed point that we can reference, ensuring the blue __ that I see is the same blue you see. As a creative-leaning person who can barely split a bill without a calculator app, all that math is extremely daunting.

The good news is that computing software will do all these complicated calculations for us, allowing us to rely on our eyeballs to pick whatever colors look best. The bad news is that therea€™s an equally daunting number of color spaces to choose from, and theya€™re all optimized for different tasks across web design, photography, video editing, physical printing, and more. And if you select the wrong one at any point between creating, editing, and viewing something, it can really mess with what colors are supposed to look like.

Ita€™s a lot to absorb. Thankfully, most of us will only ever need to understand the basics, and that knowledge can be useful to everyone a€" not just creative professionals. Learning about it can help you buy your next phone, TV, laptop, or computer monitor, and get the most o …

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“Hands Off” protesters in Manhattan.

People are gathering in cities all over the United States and globally to protest an “illegal, billionaire power grab” by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. They’re being put on by over 150 different organizations, including civil rights groups, labor unions, and LGBTQ+ advocates, and span more than 1,200 locations.

Last weekend, “Tesla Takedown” protests targeted Tesla showrooms around the country to show disapproval for Musk, its CEO, who has spearheaded an effort to carry out mass federal workforce layoffs and hollow out government agencies. As Tesla’s sales have plummeted this quarter, Musk has threatened to “go after” the company’s critics, while the FBI has created a task force to investigate individual acts of vandalism and other actions aimed at the company.

Rain or shine (mostly rain)

-- Mia Sato (@miasato.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T18:21:40.575Z

The scope of these protests is much broader, targeting both Trump and Musk, who the Hands Off website accuses (accurately) of “shuttering Social Security offices, firing essential workers, eliminating consumer protections, and gutting Medicaid.” The Verge ’s Mia Sato is in Manhattan’s Bryant Park in New York City, where she took the above video. She told me it wasn’t clear how many people are there, but that it’s “wall to wall everywhere” despite the fact that it’s “raining here and really nasty.”

Hands off rally in Washington, DC today

-- Lauren Feiner (@laurenfeiner.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T19:58:28.578Z

My colleague Lauren Feiner, who attended the protest in Washington, DC, said the protest there “is very big, thousands here around the Washington monument.” She described it as “very peaceful and orderly,” with attendees listening quietly to the speakers, occasionally chanting in response.

Jessica Toman, who went to the protest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, texted the above image to me. A person posting images of the same protest on Bluesky guessed that protesters numbered in the thousands.

It looks like a similar story in Boston, where “thousands” are seen in this video from today:

WOW: Thousands are currently protesting in Boston. This is just one of more than 1200 'Hands Off' protests underway today across the nation as people rise up against the Trump-Musk regime. (via Rob Way)

-- MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-04-05T16:06:41.143Z

Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul posted aerial footage of a massive crowd gathered at the State Capitol building in St. Paul, Minnesota:

Demonstrators gathered in massive numbers in Daley Plaza in Chicago, Illinois, too, where a CBS Chicago livestream showed what looked like many thousands of people streaming from one side of the street to another for many blocks while this story was being written. Protests are also taking place overseas, in cities like Berlin, Germany and London, England.

It’s not just major **** cities. Hundreds appear to have shown up to protest in cities like St. Augustine, Florida, which the US Census Bureau estimates has less than 16,000 people, and Riverhead, New York, where only about 36,000 people live. Cars honked in apparent support of a protest in Manhattan, Kansas (under 54,000 residents), according to the Bluesky user who posted this video:

4/5/25 Manhattan, KS-a college town & home of NBAF, in Sen Marshall’s district, 5 min after it was to begin & they’re still coming!😁✊🏻💜 Proud of my Blue Dot in a red state! #manhattankansas #handsoff

-- M (@snflwr6684.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T16:43:22.728Z

A similar scene plays out in this video, apparently taken in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a town of fewer than 4,000 people, today:

Here’s a gallery with some more images taken by Sato, Toman, and The Verge ’s Chris Welch:

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Today, I’m talking with Daniel Dines, the cofounder and, once again, the CEO of UiPath, a software company that specializes in something called robotic process automation (RPA). We’ve been featuring a lot of what I like to call full-circle Decoder guests on the show lately, and Daniel is a perfect example.

He was first on Decoder back in 2022, right before he moved to a co-CEO arrangement with Rob Enslin, a Google Cloud executive brought on to help steer UiPath after it went public. In January of last year, Daniel stepped down to become chief innovation officer and Rob stepped up to become sole CEO — and then, less than six months later, Rob resigned, and Daniel took his job as sole CEO back.

Founders stepping aside for outside CEOs and then returning as CEO later on is quite a trope in the tech world, and Daniel and I spent a while pulling his version of that story apart. He made some pretty key decisions along the way to relinquishing control of the company he founded — and then some equally important decisions when coming back. If you’re a Decoder listener, you know I’m fascinated by the middle part of these stories that usually gets glossed over, so we really dug in here.

Listen to Decoder , a show hosted by The Verge ’s Nilay Patel about big ideas — and other problems. Subscribe here!

But there’s a lot more going on with UiPath than C-suite shuffles — the company was founded to sell automation software. That entire market is being upended by AI, particularly agentic AI, which is supposed to click around on the internet and do things for you.

The main technology UiPath has been selling for years now is RPA, which has been around since the early 2000s. It aims to solve a pretty big problem that a lot of organizations have. Let’s say you run a hospital with ancient billing software. You could spend millions upgrading that software and the computers it runs on at great risk, or you could just hire UiPath to build an RPA system for you that automates that software and presents a much nicer interface to users. This decreases the risk of upgrading all that software, it makes your users happier because they’re using a much nicer interface, and it might provide you some efficiency by developing new automated workflows along the way.

UiPath built a fairly successful business doing that basic version of RPA; I encourage you to listen to our episode in 2022 where we unpack it in great detail. But as you might expect, that’s all getting upended by agentic AI systems that promise to automate things in much more powerful ways, with much simpler natural language interfaces. So Daniel has to figure out how UIPath can integrate and deploy AI into its products — or risk being made obsolete.

Daniel and I really got into that, and then I also wanted to push him on the practical economics of the business. The big AI startups like Anthropic and OpenAI don’t have to make any profits right now. They’re just raising mountains of investment and promising massive returns when all of this AI works.

But UiPath is a public company, and it’s licensing this technology at a cost. So I wanted to know what Daniel thought about the cost of licensing AI tech, selling it to customers, and trying to have all of that make a profit while the underlying economics of the AI industry itself remain pretty unsettled.

We also talked about what all of this might mean for our experiences at work, and whether a world of robots sending emails to other robots is actually a good goal. This one really goes places — Daniel was game to truly dig in. I think you’ll like it.

Okay, UiPath CEO Daniel Dines. Here we go.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

**Daniel Dines, you 're the founder and — once again — the CEO of UiPath. Welcome back to **Decoder .

Thank you so much for having me, Nilay.

**I 'm very excited to talk to you. I love a full circle episode of **Decoder . You were last on the show in the spring of 2022 **. It 's been a little bit of a roller coaster since then. You were just about to have a co-CEO named Rob Enslin. You hired him from Google Cloud. Then, you **stepped down a little over a year ago to focus on being the chief innovation officer. Then, Rob was the sole CEO. Then, Rob stepped down, and now you 're CEO again . You 've made some changes to the company.

Explain what 's going on there, because that's a lot of decisions. Obviously, we're a show about decisions, and there's a lot of AI stuff I want to talk about. But let's start with that little bit of history. Why step down and why come back?

Well, roller coaster is a good word. Sometimes people exaggerate with it, but in our case, it's really what happened. Why? Look, I was always trying to do what's best for this company. This company is, in a way, my baby. I spent almost 20 years [building it]. This year, 2025, is 20 years since I founded UiPath. I thought that if we can get the best talent, and especially with [Enslin’s] background in go-to-market, this is going to help us. And Rob is a nice guy. We got along pretty well. And look, it's been mostly a good ride. It gave me some time off, so I switched to chief innovation officer. I ran our product and engineering teams.

In 2023, I had my own time for reflection, especially after I moved a lot of my responsibilities to Rob. I spent that summer in reflection mode, honestly, with a bit of soul searching around "what do I want?" I would say that I missed my early 20s craziness, with people having a lot of fun and going on spring break. I had to work. In post-communist Romania, there was a lot of turmoil, so life was not that fun for me at that stage. I thought maybe I will get to experience what it means to take it a little bit easier.

It was important for me because I discovered that UiPath is actually kind of an anchor for me. It gives me a framework of mind, a direction. It's very hard for me to wake up every day and give myself something to do unless I am in this big machine and this machine is on a trajectory. It forced my mind to be there. And I'm surrounded by great people. I talk to smart investors, analysts, customers, and partners. It's a living organism. So, I discovered that this is a gift that I have, being in the position to run this company.

Then, things in early 2024 didn't go well for us, from an overall market perspective. I think the macro was pretty bad for some companies. We had some execution issues. Our initial go-to-market was “land and expand,” and we over-rotated the company to go mostly after big deals. So, our float business suffered, and paired with some of the macro challenges, it created a difficult environment. Rob decided to leave the company in May 2024. In all fairness, at the time, I was ready to take it back. It came faster than I anticipated, but mentally I was prepared after my summer and my time off.

Did you go on a spring break? Did you take a minute? Were you in Palm Beach?

No, no, I didn't go to Palm Beach, but I spent a few weeks in the Mediterranean on a boat. So maybe close to it.

Spring break is not the same in your 40s as it is in your 20s, is the thing that I’ve discovered.

Yeah, exactly.

I always want to drill into the actual moments of change. I always joke that I watch a lot of music documentaries. There 's act one where everyone's in the garage, and there's act three where they're playing Shea Stadium. And act two, where the actual moments of change happen, are often glossed over. This is one of those moments. You made a decision to come back as CEO, Rob made a decision to leave. What was that conversation like? Did you initiate it? Did he start it? Was he leaving and you already decided that you were coming back? Walk us through it.

It was simple actually. We decided to meet in New York following Q1 2024. He told me that he thought it was better that I take the company back and he resign for personal reasons. Indeed, he needed to take some time off because some members of his family were not well. I told him, "Let's reflect a bit on this. Let's think a bit.” But in the end, he was resolute in his decision.

I also realized after that discussion that there will be many changes in the company. We needed to contract a bit. We oversized the company for this elephant hunting, so there needed to be a few changes. And I realized it's actually better that I do the changes. It's going to be a lot of pain, and we've already been through some pain. The last three quarters were not easy for us by any metric.

Would you have made the change if he hadn 't volunteered? Was it obvious to you that you were going to come back as CEO?

[Content truncated due to length...]

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Promotional art for World of Peppa Pig on Netflix.

Netflix is adding a Peppa Pig game to its roster of available titles for subscribers in June, the company announced on Monday. World of Peppa Pig will be available alongside new episodes of the popular children’s show in the US.

“From spot the difference and interactive mini games to coloring books, dress up games and memory challenges, the World of Peppa Pig offers a treasure trove of creative fun and educational activities for kids and parents alike,” Netflix says in a blog post.

World of Peppa Pig seems to slot in well with Netflix’s broader games strategy, which includes kids-focused games as one of the four pillars of its strategy. The other pillars include multiplayer party games, mainstream releases, and narrative titles (though the company recently canceled its Netflix Stories interactive fiction IP).

Netflix’s games team got a new boss, former Epic Games exec Alain Tascan, in July of last year.

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Surrounding the Washington Monument Saturday were thousands of signs with messages spanning innumerable topics. a€oeSupport Ukraine,a€ a€oeBeware of DOGE,a€ a€oeProtect Trans Lives,a€ were just a few of them. Others struck a note of exasperation: a€oeWhere do I starta€¦a€

The nationwide Hands Off protests this weekend turned out millions of protesters across 1,300 different events, organizers estimate, motivated by a wide array of causes but two people: President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. In the signs they brought to the DC rally, some protesters focused on a single issue. Others tried to fit as many as they could. The throughline was a message to the US government: protect democracy, and stop messing with programs and agencies that matter.

The crowd in Washington, DC a€" more than 100,000, per organizersa€™ estimates a€" was peaceful and orderly. On a stage behind the Washington Monument, lawmakers like Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Maxwell Frost (D-FL) and organizers including AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler spoke. Attendees around them quietly listened, save for the occasional call-and-response chant, cheers, or boos for the Trump administration. Farther away, a gr …

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The Nintendo Switch may be remembered as much for repopularizing portable gaming as it will for a hardware issue that affected millions of gamers: joystick drift.

Drifting is the most common term for an issue where joysticks detect false inputs a€" even when no one is touching a controller a€" causing unwanted movements to happen in a game. The issue also affects controllers from Sony, Microsoft, and third-party accessory makers.

Hall effect sensors emerged a few years ago as a potential solution to the problem, but there's an even better option out there thata€™s easier to retrofit into existing controller designs. That solution is tunneling magnetoresistance, or TMR, a technology that revolutionized hard drives two decades ago using quantum mechanics and magnets.

Like Hall effect sensors, TMR sensors avoid the fundamental problem with more traditional joysticks: their sensors wear down as a matter of their design. The controllers that ship with the last few Xbox consoles, the PS4 and PS5, and the Switch are all built around sensors like this a€" potentiometers, a component that can be used to change or measure electrical resistance.

Solid objects rubbing against each other i …

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