If you have watched any football – or soccer – over the past few years, you will know that the game has been consumed by controversies over its new refereeing technology. The video assistant referee (VAR) system was introduced to the English Premier League in 2019 to reduce refereeing errors and get more decisions right. Instead, it has created new kinds of uncertainty and undermined our understanding of fundamental rules like offside and handball. It has also infuriated fans, who can often be heard chanting “it’s not football any more” after a long-winded VAR check.

It is fair to say that football fans like to get irate, especially when refereeing decisions go against their team. But as I argue in my new book, I Can’t Stop Thinking About VAR, there’s more to this than meets the eye. As someone whose job involves developing new methods of measuring educational attainment, I have thought long and hard about the reasons why VAR has been so frustrating. I believe its problems relate to the challenge of pinning down objective reality, the difficulty of precise measurement and the human dislike of uncertainty.

What I have also come to realise, however, is that VAR exemplifies the limits of rationality in many walks of life far beyond the football field. As such, a brief exploration of the history of measurement more broadly – from attempts to pin down the boiling point of water in the 18th century to the struggle to accurately assess the…

The developers behind inZOI announced a 2025 early access release date on Thursday despite assurances that the hyper-realistic life sim would still launch sometime this year.

Game producer and director Hyungjun “Kjun” Kim posted an open letter to the community on the inZOI Discord saying that the game will be coming out on March 28, 2025, instead of in late 2024 so that the developers can give the game “the best possible start.”

While inZOI never received a concrete release date until Thursday, a spokesperson for the team at Krafton told PC Gamer just last month that the plan was to release it in 2024. In August, the studio released inZOI: Character Studio on Steam, a demo of its character creator. It was only up for five days, but immediately drew the attention of players who wanted to re-create fictional characters and real-life people with ridiculous amounts of detail.

Following feedback from that demo, along with various playtests, Kim said the team needed to work more to give players “the most complete experience possible.”

“It is said that among primates, raising a human child to adulthood takes the longest time because humans must be prepared to endure and adapt to their ever-changing surroundings,” Kim wrote. “The extra love and care that is required to properly nurture a child is how I see our journey with inZOI—a game that we will be nurturing together from its Early Access birth. This change in our release date represents our dedication to giving inZOI a stronger foundation, so we can embark on this journey together in the best way possible.”

InZOI is poised to be a real The Sims competitor, and is one of the few still due for release after Paradox Interactive canceled its entry in the genre, Life by You, before it could even reach early access. At the time of this writing, it’s the 12th most wishlisted game on Steam.

Smart TVs are always a great gift to pick up, no matter the holiday. And these days, good TVs are getting cheap, and expensive TVs are getting even better. In fact, the expensive TVs are leaving little reason to go to the theater to watch any type of movie. In this gift guide, we’re going to aim to bring you the best smart TVs you can buy right now, so you spend your money wisely. 

Best Smart TVs

These are the two absolute best Smart TVs that you can buy this holiday season. So if money is no object, then these two will provide you with the best picture quality on the market.

Samsung S90D OLED

The Samsung S90D is perhaps the best TV that money can buy right now. Particularly when you factor in the cost. The S90D starts at $1,397 and does go as small as 42 inches. But for all of these TVs, we will be comparing the 55-inch model which is the most popular size. At 55 inches, the S90D does go for $1,797. However, it is often on sale for cheaper than that. 

With the S90D, you’re getting a stunning OLED TV that does have a refresh rate of 120Hz but it can go up to 144Hz, making it great for watching sports and playing games. 

Like most 4K TVs, Samsung is also using 4K AI Upscaling so that your HD and FHD content look great on this incredible OLED TV. Samsung has included Dolby Atmos and Object Tracking Sound Lite, giving you 3D surround sound straight from the speakers inside the TV. Now, unfortunately, there is no Dolby Vision included with this TV or any Samsung TV. Instead, Samsung prefers to support HLG, the open-source alternative to Dolby Vision. 

This is all powered by the NQ4 AI Gen2 processor, which utilizes 20 specialized networks to drive the intuitive smart TV hub, Dolby Atmos sound, and the upscaled 4K content. 

Buy at Amazon

Sony Bravia 8

The Sony Bravia 8 is about the same price as the Samsung S90D OLED, but it does offer better sound, without a soundbar. The 55-inch Bravia 8 is normally priced at $1,799, however it is also often on sale for less. 

With the Bravia 8, Sony said they were “bringing cinema home,” and when we reviewed the Bravia 8, we agreed that they did just that. This is a stunning TV, with incredible picture quality, great viewing angles, and of course Google TV built-in. 

Having Google TV built-in means that Sony is able to run all sorts of apps like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and much more. Bravia Core is also included. Sony has also made the Bravia 8 use less power. In fact, it has also included a ton of different power saving features, so you’re electric bill doesn’t go through the roof while you’re watching TV on the Bravia 8. 

Since this is an OLED TV, that means that the colors are true-to-life, and the blacks are actually black. However, this does also get pretty bright, which isn’t always true for OLED TVs. It is also supporting Dolby Vision and Atmos, along with IMAX Enhanced. Making it great for watching all sorts of TVs at home. 

Buy at Amazon

Best TVs under $1,000

If you have a budget of $1,000 for a new TV, then you really can’t go wrong with either of these options. They aren’t quite as good as the Samsung and Sony options above. But for under $1,000, you are still getting a fantastic TV.

TCL QM7 QLED 4K TV

The TCL QM7 QLED 4K TV is a QD-Mini LED TV, which means that you’re getting a lot of the same advantages as using OLED, but it’s much brighter. This TV is actually probably one of the best that you can buy for $799, and TCL does sell it in other sizes, up to 98-inches. 

One of the main advantages that the TCL QM7 has is the amount of dimming zones it has, which is 1,500+. This allows the TV to change color more accurately, instead of giving you gray instead of black. Similar to OLED, but there’s two major advantages that QD-Mini LED have over OLED which is the brightness and no screen burn-in. 

For 2024, TCL’s TVs all use Google TV as the software (next year, it’ll be all Roku, as they do switch back and forth to support both platforms). Which means you get the Google Assistant, Cast, and all of your favorite apps built into the TV, saving you a HDMI port. 

This is an incredible value for under $1,000, and even at its regular price this does tend to go on sale quite often as well. 

Buy at Amazon

Sony Bravia 3

Also announced this year is the Sony Bravia 3, which is Sony’s entry-level TV. Which, as you likely know, Sony’s “entry-level” is still really good. This is a 4K LED TV, so it’s not Mini-LED or OLED like its other models, which is what brings the price down considerably. This 55-inch TV is $699. Sony does also sell it in 43-, 50-, 65-, 75- and 85-inch models, up to $1,098.

This TV is also part of Sony’s “Bring the Cinema home” marketing, and while it is an LED TV, it is still a really good option. For those who aren’t looking to spend a ton but still want good picture quality, this is a great option. 

The Bravia 3 supports Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos, giving you a great movie-watching experience. Sony also includes some other features for the PlayStation 5, like Auto HDR Tone Mapping and Auto Genre Picture Mode. It does also have HDMI 2.1 for 4K120 gaming. 

Buy at Amazon

Best TVs under $600

Looking for a good TV on a budget? We’ve got you covered, with two great TV options that are under $600. And during the holiday season, they are typically even cheaper.

Amazon Omni QLED

It’s still pretty surprising that you can get a QLED TV for under $600. The 55-inch model is normally priced at $599, though it is also sold in 43-, 50-, 65- and 75-inch models. 

With this being an Amazon TV, you get Fire TV built-in. Of course, that gives you tons of apps to use on the TV, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and much more. Alexa is also included for voice support and controlling smart home products. Amazon claims that there are over 1.5 million movies and TV episodes available on Fire TV, so you’ll definitely find something to watch. 

Amazon is supporting Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+ Adaptive, HDR10, and HLG for HDR content, which is going to provide a really incredible picture for watching TV and movies. Unfortunately, the Amazon Omni QLED does not support HDMI 2.1, but it does have three HDMI ports. There are two HDMI 1.4 and one HDMI ARC port, so you can toss in a soundbar if needed. 

Buy at Amazon

TCL S5 Series

Rounding out our gift guide for TVs is the very comparable TCL S5. This is a cheaper TV, coming in at $329 for the 55-inch model. TCL sells this TV in sizes ranging up to 75 inches. This would be a great TV gift to give to someone going to college or to put in a spare bedroom. 

The TCL S5 is a 2024 model, and uses Fire TV built-in. Giving you access to a ton of apps like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and much more. TCL has also been able to add support for Apple AirPlay 2 as well as Google Cast. So no matter which ecosystem your smartphone is using, you’ll be able to cast content to this TV with ease. 

It also has support for Dolby Vision and HDR PRO+. On the audio front, there’s Dolby Atmos available too. While the TCL S5 does not support HDMI 2.1 for gaming, it does have Auto Low Latency Mode or ALLM. Which TCL actually calls “Auto Game Mode”. 

For the price of this TV, it’s pretty hard to find a better value. 

Buy at Amazon

The Google Nest wired indoor camera as part of an early Black Friday deal. The cam is normally $100, so this represents a savings of 30 percent. This is close to a record low price, which is never a bad thing. The sale includes three colorways, including white, beige and light blue.

The second-gen wired device is designed for indoor use, thus the name, and is capable of capturing 1080p HDR video. It’s motion sensitive and uses a bit of AI trickery to discern between people, animals and vehicles. The camera also includes night vision and an hour of event recording on the device itself, which comes in handy in the case of a Wi-Fi outage.

Google

There’s a two-way audio function, as the camera includes both a microphone and a speaker. People can boot up the affiliated Google Home app to spark up a conversation. This app also lets you instantly call up emergency services if the conversation doesn’t go as planned, though that requires a Nest Aware subscription.

This brings us to a fairly significant caveat, though this one pops up with most modern security cameras. A whole lot of stuff is locked behind that aforementioned Nest Aware paywall, . This plan gives purchasers 60 days of video history and the ability to watch live streams on smart displays and even smart TVs. Subscribers will even receive alerts when familiar faces are recognized by the camera.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

This year, TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 showcased the incredible talent and groundbreaking ideas of our 2024 Startup Battlefield 200 cohort.

Out of thousands of applications, we selected 200 of the most promising startups, each bringing unique innovations to their respective industries. The competition culminated in an electrifying event where these startups had the opportunity to pitch and demonstrate their solutions live over three days.

From the Top 20 Finalists, TechCrunch editorial selected the top five companies who battled it out for the $100,000 equity-free prize money and the coveted Disrupt Cup. The well-deserved win went to Salva Health, with a strong runner up, Gecko Materials. 

Among the Startup Battlefield 200 companies were many industry-defining companies exhibiting and pitching on the Showcase Stage; here are the standouts: 

Best Showcase Stage pitch by industry group 

Hardware, Robotics + IoT

Avol uses autonomous drones to deliver lab samples, speeding processing up to 11x faster at lower costs.

Health Tech + Biotech

Ovum Health merges molecular diagnostics, medicine, and behavioral science for healthier moms and babies.

Security, Privacy + Social Networking  

Factiverse aids finance and media in verifying information, acting like Grammarly for fact-checking.

Fintech + Edtech  

Untapped Solutions connects justice-impacted individuals with jobs and services via an AI-driven CRM.

Sustainability, Mobility + Logistics  

Prosal helps business development teams at federal government contractors automate capture research to save time predicting contract opportunities using AI.

SaaS, Enterprise + Productivity – Session 1

Eticas.ai identifies black box algorithmic vulnerabilities and retrains AI-powered technology with better source data and content.

SaaS, Enterprise + Productivity – Session 2  

OMADEUS is a dynamic network of self-aware AI agents to replace outdated productivity software for SMEs.

Best Booth — It’s a tie! 

The Best Booth award ended in a tie.

Cloneable.ai hand-built and painted a utility pole out of Styrofoam to demonstrate their innovations in safety inspection for utility workers. Wave Therapeutics used the clever sign “In the Business of Saving Your Ass” as a nod to their tech designed to prevent bedsores.

Spirit of Disrupt Award

The Spirit of Disrupt award goes to Yasin Abbak from GroupUps, who went above and beyond to create connections and opportunities for fellow founders. The Startup Battlefield is more than a pitch competition; it’s an opportunity to build relationships with investors, potential customers, and fellow founders to support each other on their entrepreneurial journeys. 

As we celebrate the achievements of this year’s winners, we are excited to see how they will shape their industries and drive innovation in the months and years to come. Congratulations to all the participants of the Startup Battlefield 200, and a special thank you to our judges and sponsors for their support in making TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 a resounding success.