You could also opt for the $35 family plan, which is meant for households with a bunch of people who want their own accounts. It lets up to eight people play online for a year.
Get more out of your tech
Learn smart gadget and internet tips and tricks with CNET’s How To newsletter.
Online multiplayer isn’t all you get. The Nintendo Switch Online service also gives you access to a library of classic SNES and NES games, support for cloud backup of game data, access to the Nintendo Switch phone app and a few exclusive offers. All of these can be found under the Nintendo Switch Online icon that was added to the console’s home screen in a Dec. 1 firmware update.
Let’s take a look at the service’s features, so you can wring every drop of value out of your subscription.
Online play
If you want to visit a friend’s island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons or battle a team in Pokemon Sword and Shield, you’ll need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. However, one major multiplayer game will work without a subscription: Fortnite is playable online even if you don’t have an active online subscription.
Subscribing to Switch’s online service lets you access a library of old games, like Netflix for Nintendo games. These are all found within the “Nintendo Entertainment System — Nintendo Switch Online” and “Super Nintendo Entertainment System — Nintendo Switch Online” apps, which you can download from the eShop. Within the apps, you’ll find wallpaper spreads of classic video game box art. Select one, and you’ll be instantly dropped into the game.
It’s a-me, old school Mario.
Nintendo
Much like the NES Classic and SNES Classic retro consoles, you can switch between visual filters in the apps’ menus — a 4:3 mode, pixel perfect and a fuzzy scan-line-filled CRT mode for the true retro experience.
Less retro is the cheeky rewind feature — if you want to try something again, you can press and hold ZL and ZR to jump back a few frames, and it’ll be like your mistake never happened.
Nintendo has also added an online multiplayer mode, even in games that don’t have multiplayer modes — you can pass the second player controller to a friend over the internet, so you can take turns. You can also try SP versions of some games, which add special features.
The initial September 2018 selection included 20 NES games, and it ballooned as Nintendo added two or three a month after that. A set of 24 SNES games brought it into the big time in August 2019, and it’s been adding to both consoles’ libraries periodically since then.
You’ll also lose access to your NES and SNES libraries if your console is disconnected from the internet for more than a week — the console needs to check in with the service every seven days to make sure you’re still subscribed.
There are two SP versions of Metroid, and one lets you skip straight to the battle with space dragon Ridley.
Nintendo/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
Here are the lists of games available within each app, with SP versions highlighted.
Classic NES games
SNES games
The Japanese library is a little different.
Nintendo
The Japanese library
You can access more classic games via the Japanese eShop, at no extra cost. Here are the steps for this:
1. Create a second Nintendo Account and set Japan as the region. You’ll have to use a different email address than the one linked to your regular account.
2. Create a new profile on your Switch and link it to your Japanese account.
3. Download “Family Computer — Nintendo Switch Online” and “Super Famicom — Nintendo Switch Online” apps from the Japanese store. Don’t worry about the language barrier; you’ll spot the English “Nintendo Switch Online” option.
These apps are similar to the NES and SNES ones, in Japanese. They also contain that country’s versions of games and a few that aren’t available in the West:
Japanese NES (Famicom) exclusives
Japanese SNES (Super Famicom) exclusives
There are also some SP versions that’ exclusive to Japan. There are some regional differences in games, beyond the language. The Japanese version of The Legend of Zelda was released on the Famicom Disk System, a Japan-only console expansion that never got an NES equivalent. So it has a more complex soundtrack, offering richer music with more audio channels and instruments than the Western release.
The Japanese (Famicom) version of Super Mario Bros. 3 isn’t as forgiving as the Western one — a hit drops Mario back to his initial form. pic.twitter.com/ukluVpnnBb
The Japanese release of Super Mario Bros. 3 is also slightly harder. When Raccoon Mario gets damaged in that version, he drops all the way back down to small Mario. In the Western one, Raccoon Mario drops into Super Mario, so you can take an extra hit before losing a life.
The Japanese Super Famicom selection is presented with that region’s vertical box art.
Nintendo/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
Your main Nintendo Account’s subscription will give you access to the apps from the Japanese store, so you won’t need to pay for a separate subscription. If you can overcome the language barrier — all the text will be in Japanese — it’s worth giving these games a try.
Cloud-save data
For Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, game data will automatically be backed up to Nintendo servers if you have an internet connection. If you sign in to your account on a new console, you’ll be able to download that data and pick up right where you left off. It’s an easy, simple way to protect the time you’ve invested in Nintendo Switch games.
You can back up most games’ save data in the cloud.
Nintendo
Certain titles aren’t compatible with this feature, to prevent cheating. On the surface, that seems to make sense — players can’t hack their Pokemon Sword and Shield data to get all the starters — but it means that competitive multiplayer games with a single-player component aren’t protected. If you lose your Switch and want to pick up where you left off in Splatoon 2’s single-player campaign, you’ll be out of luck.
If you cancel, you have six months to resubscribe before your cloud data is potentially deleted, Nintendo told IGN. That’s the same amount of time Sony gives PlayStation Plus users.
Playing through A Link to the Past in Japanese might be a bit too challenging.
Nintendo/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
Voice chat and the Nintendo Switch app
Online multiplayer is great, but without the ability to talk to other players, it’s a weirdly solitary social experience. That’s why voice chat is so important. Unfortunately, Nintendo’s solution to voice chat is a little strange.
Most game consoles allow you to plug a headset in to the console’s USB port or audio input jack and talk to players directly through the game. But most Nintendo Switch games that support voice chat require the user to piggyback off a phone, using the free Nintendo Switch Online app, available on Android and iOS.
Voice chat isn’t as straightforward as it should be.
Nintendo
To chat with other players in Splatoon 2, you’ll need to download the app on your phone, invite your friends to a Skype-like VoIP chat in the game, then fire up the app and, finally, connect to your match. You’ll be talking with your team on your phone while playing the game on your console.
An update made it a little better, in certain games. If you start a multiplayer session in the Switch’s NES library, the phone app will automatically detect your play session and connect you to your friend. Some games will even let you chat with other players who aren’t on your friends list: Mario Kart 8 will tell you that other users are in voice chat, prompting you to open the app.
Super Mario Kart is a retro treat on the Switch.
Nintendo/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
If you want to have a traditional console experience, you’ll need to buy a complicated audio splitter to literally tether your Switch to your smartphone.
It isn’t a user-friendly experience, which is why some games sidestepped it — you can chat in Fortnite by plugging a headset in to the console and playing.
The app also let you access special features in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Splatoon 2.
The NES controllers let you get truly old school.
Nintendo
Special offers
Nintendo Switch Online members will get access to special offer, like discounts, in-game items or the ability to play a Switch game for free during a set period.
From Dec. 30 to the end of Jan. 5, subscribers can play Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled — including single player modes, local multiplayer and online multiplayer — for free.
Mario-themed battle royale game Super Mario Bros. 35 throws you into a 2D arena with 34 other players, all battling it out to be the last survivor. It’ll be available to subscribers until March 31, 2021.
Prior to the June 2019 release of Super Mario Maker 2, Nintendo introduced its Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers promotion, which let you download two qualifying Switch games for a set price of $100, instead of paying $120 to buy them separately. Nintendo updates the list of eligible games regularly; this offer applies to the recently announced Paper Mario: The Origami King.
Puzzle game Tetris 99, exclusively for subscribers.
Nintendo
It’s also offered free original games, like Tetris 99, which came out in February 2019. A physical version has since become available for $30, in a bundle with a 12-month Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
If you subscribe for a year, you’ll get in-game items for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Super Kirby Clash.
If you want to feel extra retro when playing the console’s retro library, Switch-compatible NES and SNES Controllers for Nintendo Switch are available only to subscribers. It’s $60 for a pair of NES ones and $30 for a single SNES pad, but they’re currently sold out.
You’ll have to link your Nintendo account to your Switch profile.
Screenshot by CNET
You’ll need a Nintendo account to sign up
Your Nintendo Switch has individual user profiles for each user. The company also has a Nintendo account to manage your profile and purchase-history on the website, console devices and phone apps. To use Nintendo Switch Online, you’ll need both.
Just make sure you link your profile to the right account — any Switch profile linked to a Nintendo account will be permanently locked in.
There’s a free trial
If you want to sample the goods before shelling out any money, Nintendo is offering a one-week free trial. The seven-day trial offers almost all the benefits of the core service, but it won’t let you access special offers, like those retro NES and SNES controllers.
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is monstrously tough, with its poison mushroom betrayals.
Nintendo/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET
If you don’t like the service, however, you’ll have to manually disable auto-renewal to avoid being charged a $3.99 monthly fee at the end of your trial.
How do I sign up?
Prepaid subscription cards are available at select retailers, but the easiest way to buy the service is simply to try to play a multiplayer game on your Switch — it’ll take you directly to the eShop to complete the sign-up process.
This post will be updated as more features, games and offers are added for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.
Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.
The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.
Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.
The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.
Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.
On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.
The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.
More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.
Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:
You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!
Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.
Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.
There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.
Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.
Successful people tend to be secretive.
Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.
Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.
Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.
TORONTO – A new survey says a majority of software engineers and developers feel tight project deadlines can put safety at risk.
Seventy-five per cent of the 1,000 global workers who responded to the survey released Tuesday say pressure to deliver projects on time and on budget could be compromising critical aspects like safety.
The concern is even higher among engineers and developers in North America, with 77 per cent of those surveyed on the continent reporting the urgency of projects could be straining safety.
The study was conducted between July and September by research agency Coleman Parkes and commissioned by BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX division, which builds connected-car technology.
The results reflect a timeless tug of war engineers and developers grapple with as they balance the need to meet project deadlines with regulations and safety checks that can slow down the process.
Finding that balance is an issue that developers of even the simplest appliances face because of advancements in technology, said John Wall, a senior vice-president at BlackBerry and head of QNX.
“The software is getting more complicated and there is more software whether it’s in a vehicle, robotics, a toaster, you name it… so being able to patch vulnerabilities, to prevent bad actors from doing malicious acts is becoming more and more important,” he said.
The medical, industrial and automotive industries have standardized safety measures and anything they produce undergoes rigorous testing, but that work doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be carried out from the start and then at every step of the development process.
“What makes safety and security difficult is it’s an ongoing thing,” Wall said. “It’s not something where you’ve done it, and you are finished.”
The Waterloo, Ont.-based business found 90 per cent of its survey respondents reported that organizations are prioritizing safety.
However, when asked about why safety may not be a priority for their organization, 46 per cent of those surveyed answered cost pressures and 35 per cent said a lack of resources.
That doesn’t surprise Wall. Delays have become rampant in the development of tech, and in some cases, stand to push back the launch of vehicle lines by two years, he said.
“We have to make sure that people don’t compromise on safety and security to be able to get products out quicker,” he said.
“What we don’t want to see is people cutting corners and creating unsafe situations.”
The survey also took a peek at security breaches, which have hit major companies like London Drugs, Indigo Books & Music, Giant Tiger and Ticketmaster in recent years.
About 40 per cent of the survey’s respondents said they have encountered a security breach in their employer’s operating system. Those breaches resulted in major impacts for 27 per cent of respondents, moderate impacts for 42 per cent and minor impacts for 27 per cent.
“There are vulnerabilities all the time and this is what makes the job very difficult because when you ship the software, presumably the software has no security vulnerabilities, but things get discovered after the fact,” Wall said.
Security issues, he added, have really come to the forefront of the problems developers face, so “really without security, you have no safety.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
As online shoppers hunt for bargains offered by Amazon during its annual fall sale this week, cybersecurity researchers are warning Canadians to beware of an influx of scammers posing as the tech giant.
In the 30 days leading up to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, there were more than 1,000 newly registered Amazon-related web domains, according to Check Point Software Technologies, a company that offers cybersecurity solutions.
The company said it deemed 88 per cent of those domains malicious or suspicious, suggesting they could have been set up by scammers to prey on vulnerable consumers. One in every 54 newly created Amazon-related domain included the phrase “Amazon Prime.”
“They’re almost indiscernible from the real Amazon domain,” said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point in Canada.
“With all these domains registered that look so similar, it’s tricking a lot of people. And that’s the whole intent here.”
Falzon said Check Point Research sees an uptick in attempted scams around big online shopping days throughout the year, including Prime Days.
Scams often come in the form of phishing emails, which are deceptive messages that appear to be from a reputable source in attempt to steal sensitive information.
In this case, he said scammers posing as Amazon commonly offer “outrageous” deals that appear to be associated with Prime Days, in order to trick recipients into clicking on a malicious link.
The cybersecurity firm said it has identified and blocked 100 unique Amazon Prime-themed scam emails targeting organizations and consumers over the past two weeks.
Scammers also target Prime members with unsolicited calls, claiming urgent account issues and requesting payment information.
“It’s like Christmas for them,” said Falzon.
“People expect there to be significant savings on Prime Day, so they’re not shocked that they see something of significant value. Usually, the old adage applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Amazon’s website lists a number of red flags that it recommends customers watch for to identify a potential impersonation scam.
Those include false urgency, requests for personal information, or indications that the sender prefers to complete the purchase outside of the Amazon website or mobile app.
Scammers may also request that customers exclusively pay with gift cards, a claim code or PIN. Any notifications about an order or delivery for an unexpected item should also raise alarm bells, the company says.
“During busy shopping moments, we tend to see a rise in impersonation scams reported by customers,” said Amazon spokeswoman Octavia Roufogalis in a statement.
“We will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe.”
Falzon added that these scams are more successful than people might think.
As of June 30, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said there had been $284 million lost to fraud so far this year, affecting 15,941 victims.
But Falzon said many incidents go unreported, as some Canadians who are targeted do not know how or where to flag a scam, or may choose not to out of embarrassment.
Check Point recommends Amazon customers take precautions while shopping on Prime Days, including by checking URLs carefully, creating strong passwords on their accounts, and avoiding personal information being shared such as their birthday or social security number.
The cybersecurity company said consumers should also look for “https” at the beginning of a website URL, which indicates a secure connection, and use credit cards rather than debit cards for online shopping, which offer better protection and less liability if stolen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
