Technologies
A Pricey PlayStation Controller That’s Perfect for Professional-Level Performance
The Nacon Revolution 5 Pro is expensive but offers unmatched performance tuning.
Pros
- Lots of hard customization options
- Solid feel in the hand
- Granular software customizations
Cons
- Expensive
- Non-standard layout
One of the great things about gaming is that there are typically tons of options to choose from, both in the games you play and in the hardware you use to play those games –- that is, unless you’re a PlayStation gamer.
Sadly, Sony is quite sparing in granting licenses for third-party controllers, so your options for upgrading from Sony’s DualSense controller to a pro controller are limited. Aside from Sony’s own DualSense Edge, there aren’t many choices, which is why I jumped at the chance to try the Revolution 5 Pro from Nacon. It’s definitely one of the best, but also one of the most unique PlayStation controllers I’ve used.
Designed different
The first thing I noticed about the Revolution 5 Pro is the asymmetrical joystick layout. It’s the only official PlayStation 5 controller I’m aware of laid out like it, which could be good or bad depending on your preferences. If you’re coming from Xbox or use an Xbox controller with your PC, you’ll feel right at home. But if you’re upgrading from something with the traditional PlayStation layout, like the DualSense or DualSense Edge, it might take some getting used to.
That’s not the only difference from a standard DualSense. The Nacon’s a bit taller, with straighter sides, and the face buttons are much larger and flatter. The grip material also features a more rubberized, distinct texture, which I prefer over most other controllers I’ve used. The triggers are also longer, feeling more like Xbox triggers than DualSense,which might take some getting used to for those who’ve never used one.
It also incorporates Hall Effect joysticks and triggers with two-stage trigger stops — the latter, honestly, is a bit disappointing. The second stage only stops the trigger pull halfway, and I’d much rather it be short or long instead of long and half-short: I couldn’t get the muscle memory down of having to pull the trigger deeper to activate it and kept missing shots. You can customize it in the app, but I’d rather have the hardware option.
To be fair, shorter trigger stops can cause issues in games with draw weapons like bows, such as the Horizon series, but I’d rather have it and turn it off than not have it.
The four remappable buttons on the back are solid and feel great, but I sometimes found myself preferring paddles like on the DualSense Edge. That controller only has two back buttons, though, and I’d much rather have four buttons than two paddles any day.
Weighty grips
The Revolution 5 Pro has one novel feature that I haven’t yet seen on any other controller (it’s available in some gaming mice). Inside the grips is space to add different-size weights, depending on your gaming preference. Nacon provides a pair of 10, 14, and 16 gram weights that you can add to deliver just the right heaviness for your play style.
A platform switch on the back lets you hop between PS5, PS4 and PC, and there’s also a button for quickly switching profiles and a switch to change from Classic to Advanced mode. In Classic mode, the controller performs like a standard controller, with a few options (like remapping the buttons) that you can customize without the app. Advanced mode lets you use the PC app for some really granular customization.
The PC app deserves a callout because it has the most granular customization options I’ve seen in a controller app. In addition to the standard set of settings you’d expect, like button remapping, profile support (up to four active), as well as joystick dead zones and trigger response times. But what sets Nacon apart is that it displays a linear graph for the dead zones and trigger responses so you can fine-tune the performance. It’s great if you want to create the perfect gameplay experience for your favorite games.
Some trade-offs
Battery life on the Revolution 5 Pro has been pretty stellar for me. Nacon promises a very conservative «more than 10 hours,» but I’ve gotten significantly longer. I’ve been able to use it for about five days in a row, with about two to three hours per day, without having to recharge. The lack of haptics and adaptive triggers certainly helps prolong battery life, but I don’t mind the tradeoff.
It comes in a few decent color choices, although the panda is my favorite, and you get some nice accessories with it, including a Bluetooth adapter for wireless headphones.
You might find $200 is a tad expensive for any controller, but I think it’s worth it, especially if you want a pro-level controller with great hardware and fine-tuning options. The asymmetrical joystick layout and lack of haptics and adaptive triggers might, understandably, be a deal breaker for some, but for me, those compromises are well worth it.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 24, #927
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Dec. 24 #927
Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is kind of tough. Ooh, that purple category! Once again, you’ll need to look inside words for hidden words. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Cash out.
Green group hint: Chomp
Blue group hint: Walleye and salmon.
Purple group hint: Make a musical sound, with a twist.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Slang for money.
Green group: Masticate.
Blue group: Fish.
Purple group: Ways to vocalize musically plus a letter.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is slang for money. The four answers are bacon, bread, cheese and paper.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is masticate. The four answers are bite, champ, chew and munch.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is fish. The four answers are char, pollock, sole and tang.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is ways to vocalize musically plus a letter. The four answers are hump (hum), rapt (rap), singe (sing) and whistler (whistle).
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Toughest Connections puzzles
We’ve made a note of some of the toughest Connections puzzles so far. Maybe they’ll help you see patterns in future puzzles.
#5: Included «things you can set,» such as mood, record, table and volleyball.
#4: Included «one in a dozen,» such as egg, juror, month and rose.
#3: Included «streets on screen,» such as Elm, Fear, Jump and Sesame.
#2: Included «power ___» such as nap, plant, Ranger and trip.
#1: Included «things that can run,» such as candidate, faucet, mascara and nose.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Dec. 24
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 24.
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I’m Irish-American, but yet 6-Down, which involves Ireland, stumped me at first. Read on for all the answers.. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword
Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.
Mini across clues and answers
1A clue: Wordle or Boggle
Answer: GAME
5A clue: Big Newton
Answer: ISAAC
7A clue: Specialized vocabulary
Answer: LINGO
8A clue: «See you in a bit!»
Answer: LATER
9A clue: Tone of many internet comments
Answer: SNARK
Mini down clues and answers
1D clue: Sharks use them to breathe
Answer: GILLS
2D clue: From Singapore or South Korea, say
Answer: ASIAN
3D clue: Large ocean ray
Answer: MANTA
4D clue: ___ beaver
Answer: EAGER
6D clue: Second-largest city in the Republic of Ireland, after Dublin
Answer: CORK
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
Technologies
Quadrantids Is a Short but Sweet Meteor Shower Just After New Year’s. How to See It
This meteor shower has one of the most active peaks, but it doesn’t last for very long.
The Quadrantids has the potential to be one of the most active meteor showers of the year, and skygazers won’t have long to wait to see it. The annual shower is predicted to reach maximum intensity on Jan. 3. And with a display that can rival Perseids, Quadrantids could be worth braving the cold to see it.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
The show officially begins on Dec. 28 and lasts until Jan. 12, according to the American Meteor Society. Quadrantids is scheduled to peak on Jan. 2-3, when it may produce upwards of 125 meteors per hour. This matches Perseids and other larger meteor showers on a per-hour rate, but Quadrantids also has one of the shortest peaks at just 6 hours, so it rarely produces as many meteors overall as the other big ones.
The meteor shower comes to Earth courtesy of the 2003 EH1 asteroid, which is notable because most meteor showers are fed from comets, not asteroids. Per NASA, 2003 EH1 is a near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun once every five and a half years. Science posits that 2003 EH1 was a comet in a past life, but too many trips around the sun stripped it of its ice, leaving only its rocky core. The Earth runs through EH1’s orbital debris every January, which results in the Quadrantids meteor shower.
How and where to see Quadrantids
Quadrantids is named for the constellation where its meteors appear to originate, a point known as the radiant. This presents another oddity, as the shower originates from the constellation Quadrans Muralis. This constellation ceased to be recognized as an official constellation in the 1920s and isn’t available on most publicly accessible sky maps.
For the modern skygazer, you’ll instead need to find the Bootes and Draco constellations, both of which contain stars that were once a part of the Quadrans Muralis. Draco will be easier to find after sunset on the evening of Jan. 2, and will be just above the horizon in the northern sky. Bootes orbits around Draco, but will remain under the horizon until just after 1 a.m. local time in the northeastern sky. From that point forward, both will sit in the northeastern part of the sky until sunrise. You’ll want to point your chair in that direction and stay there to see meteors.
As the American Meteor Society notes, Quadrantids has a short but active peak, lasting around 6 hours. The peak is expected to start around 4 p.m. ET and last well into the evening. NASA predicts the meteor shower to start one day later on Jan. 3-4, so if you don’t see any on the evening of Jan. 2, try again on Jan. 3.
To get the best results, the standard space viewing tips apply. You’ll want to get as far away from the city and suburbs as possible to reduce light pollution. Since it’ll be so cold outside, dress warmly and abstain from alcoholic beverages, as they can affect your body temperature. You won’t need any binoculars or telescopes, and the reduced field of view may actually impact your ability to see meteors.
The bad news is that either way, the Quadrantids meteor shower coincides almost perfectly with January’s Wolf Moon, which also happens to be a supermoon. This will introduce quite a lot of light pollution, which will likely drown out all but the brightest meteors. So, while it may have a peak of over 100 meteors per hour, both NASA and the AMS agree that the more realistic expectation is 10 or so bright meteors per hour.
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