Latest news with #controller
CNET
4 days ago
- CNET
The GameSir Cyclone 2 Has One Thing That Keeps It From Being a Great Nintendo Switch Controller
GameSir has made a name for itself over the past few years by building solid gaming controllers with top-notch features, often at lower prices than the competition. One of its latest controllers, the Cyclone 2, offers a lot of great things including support for multiple platforms, several connectivity options and solid triggers and joysticks. But the lackluster buttons and janky software make it hard to recommend when there are dozens of other great controllers for around the same price. What I like about the GameSir Cyclone 2 The first thing I love about the Cyclone 2 is how it feels to hold. Ergonomically the Cyclone 2 feels similar to the standard Xbox controller from Microsoft, which is a good thing. It's also got a decent amount of weight to it, which feels reassuring without getting tiring. There are vibration motors in both sides, which almost makes the controller feel more premium than the price might suggest. The Hall Effect triggers are nice, and can be toggled to become a micro switch hair trigger. You can also turn on a Hair Trigger mode via software which lets you still use the full Hall Effect trigger, yet still get the hair trigger action if you prefer. I personally prefer the physical micro switch, but if you need the extra milliseconds, you do you. GameSir The rear paddles are well-positioned for my hands, and they and the bumpers are quite tactile and responsive. However, the rest of the hardware is a mixed bag. The face buttons, for example, just feel mushy. During my testing I was always worried for a split second that my actions wouldn't register. While the triggers are Hall Effect, the joysticks are GameSir's own proprietary Mag-Res TMR which they claim are even more durable than Hall Effect Sticks. I couldn't find much technical information about them other than they have a 1,000Hz polling rate and a 4,096 sampling resolution. They felt fine to use and I didn't notice much a difference compared to other joysticks. One of my favorite things about the Cyclone 2 is its broad cross-platform support, letting you use one controller for just about everything. You can use the Cyclone 2 with Nintendo Switch, PC, Android and iOS (oddly, there's a slot on top for a mobile mount to hold your smartphone, but GameSir confirmed to me that they don't sell that accessory anymore). GameSir Cyclone 2 Jason Cockerham There's no official Xbox or PlayStation support, but you can play both consoles remotely from a PC, which the Cyclone 2 supports just fine. I tested this out and had no issues, both streaming from each console and playing my Xbox games directly on my PC via Game Pass. You'll need to use something like reWASD or PSPlay to remap the buttons on the Cyclone 2 for use with the PlayStation, which should work fine. My favorite feature of the Cyclone 2 is enabled by the included charging stand. Simply lift the controller off the stand and it automatically turns on and reconnects to your last connected device. It's beyond convenient to literally pick up the controller and without doing anything else, by the time I've sat down in my chair, it's ready to go. The one big letdown Sadly, the Cyclone 2 has one glaring missing piece: its supporting software. GameSir has always been behind the competition with its software, and that holds true with its PC app, GameSir Connect. To be fair, it does work and does what it's supposed to, but the whole UI is a bit janky and feels way too crowded. Overall, $56 ($49 without the charging stand) isn't an unreasonable price for a decent controller, but truthfully, there are several others I would recommend instead.
Forbes
29-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Controller Or CFO: How To Know When You're Ready For Either
Kyle Hollenbeck, Cofounder of Blt Kitchens and Family of Brands. Deciding to hire a controller or CFO isn't easy—and it certainly isn't cheap. But for many growing businesses, it might be the most impactful investment you can make. Not having the right financial leadership in place can cost far more in the long run through missed opportunities, inaccurate reporting and poor strategic planning. I know this from experience: We waited too long. For a while, we leaned on what we thought were enough—a solid accountant, a diligent in-house bookkeeper. Our P&L looked fine on the surface. But underneath, there were cracks. No one was guiding the financial strategy. No one was questioning assumptions, modeling cash flow accurately or making sure we were optimizing for profitability and growth. Here's the truth: Your accountant might keep you compliant. Your bookkeeper might keep you organized. But neither is responsible for thinking like an owner. That's where a controller or CFO comes in—and they're not the same. A controller focuses on accurate financial reporting, internal controls and ensuring the books are tight and clean. They're tactical, ensuring compliance and reliable data. A CFO (chief financial officer) is strategic. They turn numbers into insight, help you forecast the future and often sit at the leadership table to steer the company's financial direction. They think big-picture—margins, fundraising, expansion, debt strategy, tax posture—and they ask the hard questions. Industry standards suggest that when your company hits $10 to $20 million in annual revenue, it's time to bring on a controller. For us, we didn't even start having serious conversations about it until we were doing over $11 million across the board—and not with the best profit margins. That delay cost us. At our shared kitchen and commissary business, the need was clear. We were essentially operating as a real estate and property management company, and with that came complex financials and significant tax opportunities tied to owning buildings. Getting someone in place who could help us navigate that was a no-brainer. But with my other business, it was a different challenge. We needed to understand what kind of marketing spend we could really afford. Did it make sense to launch into a new market? Could we support a seasonal push or innovation? Without clean data and strong financial forecasting, those decisions felt like guesswork. It was all about knowing the numbers—and having someone who knew how to interpret them. The good news? You don't have to go all-in immediately. Fractional CFOs and controllers are more common—and more powerful—than ever. They bring high-level experience without the full-time salary. Sometimes, a few hours a week of the right person's time can dramatically shift your business trajectory. Looking back, one of our biggest financial mistakes wasn't bad budgeting—it was waiting too long to put someone in place who could see around corners and help us move with confidence. If you're unsure whether it's time, it probably is. Take a step back and audit your current financial setup. Are your reports accurate? Are your decisions backed by clear data and forecasting? Who's truly responsible for financial strategy? Explore fractional options, even if it's just for a diagnostic or cleanup. The earlier you invest in clarity, the better prepared you'll be for growth, risk and opportunity. Because the numbers matter—but only if you know what they're really telling you. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Android Authority
25-05-2025
- Android Authority
The Backbone Pro is the best mobile controller that you absolutely don't need
Backbone Pro The Backbone Pro is the most versatile mobile gaming controller you can buy, with excellent ergonomics and full-size sticks for use as a telescopic controller with your phone, or a Bluetooth gamepad for your tablet, PC, or anything else. Just be prepared to pay for it. It's hard to believe that it's already been nearly five years since the Backbone One controller hit the market (or three for us Android users), but the company has finally launched an upgraded version with an upgraded price. I honestly didn't find too many faults when I reviewed the new Xbox edition of the Backbone One earlier this year, but the Pro version promises to be much, much more than just a mobile controller. But after spending some time with the device, I can't help but feel like the Backbone Pro is almost too much more. Sure, it's the best mobile controller I've ever used, but it's also a great Bluetooth controller for your PC or a dedicated cloud streaming controller. Is this too much for one controller to handle? The everything controller Nick Fernandez / Android Authority Starting with the basics, the Backbone Pro is a telescopic controller, just like the original Backbone One. It has a USB-C port to plug your phone into, plus another USB-C port on the bottom for passthrough charging. There are two sets of phone holder attachments in the box, and now they're big enough that you probably won't have to remove your case. Unlike some alternatives, it doesn't extend wide enough for tablets like the iPad Mini, but phones of all shapes and sizes will fit. The Backbone Pro is compatible with both wired and wireless connections via BLE. The biggest difference is that the Backbone Pro also has Bluetooth. As far as I know, this is the first telescopic controller with both USB-C and Bluetooth connections, which in theory widens the compatibility to… just about any device you have that can play games. The internal battery charges while plugged into your phone, and the BLE connection can last for 40 hours on a single charge, which is insane. For normal use, this means it can replace two controllers in my travel bag. Gone are the days of having a telescopic controller for my phone and a standard Bluetooth controller for my laptop and tablet. This controller can competently cover both roles. Nick Fernandez / Android Authority However, it also allows you to quickly switch between devices, which comes in handy for things like streaming via Xbox Cloud Gaming. Using the same controller, I can seamlessly hop between playing Oblivion on my phone and my PC. The controller needs to be plugged into the phone to make the transition, but once you swap to your PC, you can unplug it and the Bluetooth connection will persist. One notable exception is PlayStation Remote Play. Only the PlayStation Edition of the Backbone One is compatible, and I suspect it has to do with the buttons' labeling. Blame that one on Sony, though you can unofficially get around this limitation if you get the premium version of the PXPlay app (which is absolutely worth it). For every other platform, using a telescopic controller as a standard Bluetooth controller isn't as uncomfortable as I thought it might be before getting my hands on the Backbone Pro, and a big part of that is the improved ergonomics and controls. The Backbone Pro has full-size sticks, which makes a huge difference compared to the smaller sticks on the Backbone One. There's a nice range of motion, similar to a standard Bluetooth controller. It's also more rounded on the back, breaking from the Joy-Con-like flatness of the Backbone One. The only thing that's really missing from the Bluetooth controller experience is any kind of haptic feedback as it lacks rumble. Nick Fernandez / Android Authority The Backbone Pro also takes queues from premium controllers like the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 with programmable back buttons. These sit where my ring finger rests, and while most people will use them for first-person shooters, I found them very useful as hotkeys for my favorite emulators. They're much more difficult to hit by accident, but still conveniently placed so they don't interrupt gameplay. Controls are very comfortable, and the full-size sticks are game-changing. One thing that is easy to accidentally hit is the right joystick. It's placed just a little too close to the face buttons, so my thumb bumped it when hitting the X button. It's a minor annoyance in most games, but in some retro games like Super Mario 3, pressing the X and A buttons at the same time is required to jump while running. Nick Fernandez / Android Authority Apart from that, the sticks, D-pad, buttons, and triggers are all excellent. My only complaint is that I wish Backbone had used Hall-effect sticks for better longevity, especially at this price. These standard ALPS potentiometer sticks are certainly fine, but Hall-effect sticks would help extend the lifetime of the controller by avoiding drift over time. Considering the Backbone Pro will likely be thrown in your travel bag, it will be subject to wear and tear. There's a simple solution to this, which is to buy a case. The official Backbone case has a nice felt finish and a very protective design, but it will run you an additional $25 on top of an already expensive controller. If you're already spending the money on the Backbone Pro, buying the case is probably worth it. The everything app Nick Fernandez / Android Authority The thing that really facilitates the Backbone Pro's role as a controller for every device is the Backbone app. While the app was mostly optional for the Backbone One, it's required to access all of the features of the Backbone Pro. As mentioned above, it's used to swap between devices instantly, although you can use the small button on the bottom of the controller to connect Bluetooth manually. The Backbone app tries to do far more than it needs to. You'll also need the Backbone app to install new firmware updates or create controller profiles for specific games. These are great features that are included for free, and if the app had stopped there, I would have been happy. Instead, it does even more. It can be a catalog of all of your games, as well as a recommendation engine for more games you should download. The Netflix-like layout features your installed games in the first line, then mix of news, popular games, free games, streaming services, highlight clips from other players, and more. There's even a built-in emulator for select retro consoles and a rotating library of free games. Nick Fernandez / Android Authority To be honest, it feels like overkill. I say this as someone who sets up an emulation frontend (ES DE) on every Android device that I own because I love having a console-like experience when I connect a controller. There are parts of the Backbone app that I think are useful, but for the most part, I missed the option to remove sections entirely. What's more, these extra features are all tied to a paid subscription. After a seven-day free trial, you're looking at spending $39.99 a year to turn the app into a hub for all of your games and services. You may be able to get a special offer that brings that down to $30 for the first year, but it's still a lot of money for a little convenience. Granted, you also get an extended warranty, one-button screenplay recording, social features, and discounts on accessories like the case mentioned above. Backbone Pro review verdict: The best telescopic controller… but at what cost? Nick Fernandez / Android Authority While I have a few minor nitpicks, the Backbone Pro is still the best telescopic controller I've ever used. It's exceptionally comfortable, and the option to use it as a Bluetooth controller makes it more versatile than competitors like the Razer Kishi Ultra ($149.99 at Amazon) or Kishi V2 ($92 at Amazon). Unfortunately, it's also far more expensive than any of its competitors. It's nearly twice as expensive as the already-excellent Backbone One ($99.99 at Amazon), and at $170, it's roughly the same price as buying both a Backbone One and a DualSense controller. This is positioned as a competitor to premium controllers like the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2, which was recently bumped up to $200. For this kind of price, no matter how good the Backbone Pro is at everything else, it's fair to expect luxury additions like Hall effect sticks, haptic feedback, tablet support, and more. If budget is no concern, the Backbone Pro will elevate your mobile gaming experience, for everyone else, just get the Backbone One. It's also worth pointing out that we're in the middle of a major shakeup in game pricing, with the Switch 2 slated to cost $450 when it comes out in a few weeks and similar price increases in PlayStation and Xbox consoles. It's hard to say how much of the Backbone Pro's pricing is tied to wider changes in the gaming market, tariffs, or just an inflated marketing budget. While the ticket price will price out most gamers, a $25 case and a $40 annual subscription are also key to getting the most out of the Backbone Pro. That brings the whole kit to the same price range as a full gaming console like the Nintendo Switch Lite ($197 at Amazon) or a capable emulation handheld like the Retroid Pocket Flip 2 ($229 at Manufacturer site). Still, if budget is no concern, the Backbone Pro will elevate your mobile gaming experience. The fact that it's compatible with just about any device you can play games on means it might be the last controller you'll ever need. How much that's worth is a question for you and your wallet. Backbone Pro Great ergonomics • Wired and wireless compatibility • Easy setup and device swapping MSRP: $169.99 A telescopic controller with full-size sticks and Bluetooth compatibility. Need a telescopic controller and a Bluetooth gamepad? The Backbone Pro has you covered. See price at Manufacturer site Positives Great ergonomics Great ergonomics Wired and wireless compatibility Wired and wireless compatibility Full-size sticks Full-size sticks Easy setup and device swapping Cons Expensive Expensive No Hall effect sticks No Hall effect sticks Not compatible with tablets Not compatible with tablets Pricey subscription (optional)
The Verge
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
GuliKit's new Elves 2 Pro updates the Sega Saturn's gamepad with joysticks.
The follow-up to its original small and light Elves controller looks strongly influenced by the Sega Saturn's gamepad with its rolling D-pad, although GuliKit has opted for four face buttons instead of six. The $49.99 Elves 2 Pro also features Hall effect joysticks, Bluetooth connectivity with PCs, the Switch, and iOS and Android devices, up to 20 hours of battery life, and the ability to record and replay up to 10 minutes of button presses. If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission.
The Verge
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
The one controller to (almost) rule them all
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 82, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope you're caught up on Andor, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about AI prophets and ChatGPT cheaters and the lives of NFL prospects, watching the new season of Taskmaster and a whole bunch of Mulan, playing PGA Tour Pro Golf on my iPhone and the original Mario Golf on my Switch, finally getting into Barbarians at the Gate, and doing a lot of eBay shopping for vintage gadgets. For work, I swear. I also have for you a great new gaming controller, a podcast about emojis, a new super-high-end fitness tracker, a whole bunch of GTA VI content, and much more. Fun, gadgety week this week! Let's get into it. (As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / reading / playing / listening to / learning on the harpsichord this week? What should everyone else be into right now, too? Tell me everything: installer@ And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.) The Drop The Backbone Pro. I've had and loved a Backbone controller for a while — it's a terrific gaming accessory for your phone. The new model is even more ambitious; in addition to your phone, it can also connect wirelessly to iPads, Steam Decks, smart TVs, and more. No Switch or Xbox or PS5, for annoying reasons, but still a great cross-device idea. ' Emoji Law.' An instant classic of a 99 Percent Invisible episode, about how a thumbs-up emoji in response to a contract proposal turned into a huge lawsuit over what a thumbs-up emoji actually means. A wonky story in the absolute best way, and a great listen. The Microsoft Surface Pro 12. I remain slightly skeptical that any Windows on ARM device can be truly great, but it looks like Microsoft got the spec sheet right with this one. The Pro is thin and light, powerful enough, with good battery life, and starts at $800… I have high hopes for this one. Poker Face season two. This show never quite got its due, I assume mostly because it's on Peacock and nobody really cares about Peacock. (Disclosure: Comcast, which owns Peacock, is a minority investor in Vox Media.) But it's a terrific mystery show, and the second season is just as surprising and bizarre as the first. Amazon Kindle for iOS. This is mostly a PSA: thanks to the recent ruling against Apple, developers like Amazon can now include links to buy stuff on the web. Amazon's one of the first I've seen to take advantage — you can just click to buy a book! What a world! Delta and other apps are also already changing how you pay for stuff, and there's surely more to come soon. ' Handhelds (and Games) I'm Playing Right Now.' A fun Retro Games Corp tour of a bunch of interesting and fun handheld consoles — including a couple I didn't know about before — and some fun games to play on them. I have trouble keeping all the retro handheld stuff straight, and this video was super helpful. Whoop 5.0. Whoop has always been a little too much for me. It's a great fitness tracker for, like, pro athletes, but it's more than most people need. The new one, though, is smaller and longer-lasting and more focused on overall health tracking. It's still a lot of metrics, though, and you'll pay up to $359 a year to get all of them. ' GTA 6 TRAILER 2 REACTION & BREAKDOWN.' Two full hours of frame-by-frame review of a two-minute trailer for a game that's not coming out for a year, from a big name in GTA streaming, who spends half the stream just being blown away by the graphics? Yes, please. I watched the whole thing without even meaning to. Screen share I've mentioned this before here, but I have a real weakness for notebooks. On some level this makes no sense: I type all day, I write by hand hardly ever, and my handwriting is horrific. And yet there's nothing I love more than the look and feel of a really nice notebook. I've been a fan of the Sidekick Notepad from Cortex for a while, and was very excited to see the launch of the Sidekick Pocket this week. There are three flavors of the new mini notebook: one with lined paper, one with a dot grid, and one just for writing checklists. The correct answer is all three. One half of the Cortex team is Myke Hurley, who you might also know as the cofounder of the Relay podcast network and the host of tech-focused shows like Connected and Upgrade. I've been a fan of Myke for a long time, and wanted to see how a guy who makes lovely notebooks thinks about his phone. Here's Myke's homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why: The phone: iPhone 16 Pro in Desert Titanium. I am in the No Case Club with my iPhone (although I love my MagSafe Popsocket to help with grip), so I like to have a phone with as much color as Apple will give me. The wallpaper: This is a photo of the wallpaper in The Beverly Hills Hotel, which I took while on holiday in LA last year. This wallpaper gives me joy, even though my friends REPEATEDLY tell me that it makes my homescreen too busy. But it's my phone! The apps: Apple Notes, ChatGPT, Citymapper, Mango Baby, Photos, Instagram, Messages, Readwise Reader, Todoist, Notion, Safari, Overcast, GameTrack, Owlet Dream, Kindle. As you can see, I love widgets on my homescreen, and I use stacks quite a bit. So you see Carrot and Due there, for instance, but they are hiding widgets for Fantastical and Reminders, respectively. I find myself using ChatGPT more and more to replace Google Search. Being able to ask follow-up questions about what I'm searching for is very powerful, and often helps me find what I want. My wife and I recently had our first child, and we have been using Mango Baby to track all the important things you need to track for baby health. It's made by a single developer, it looks great, and it supports all the new Apple technologies like interactive widgets and live activities. I have recently taken all text-based social media off my phone, and am trying to do these things on work devices only, in an effort to be less distracted. So I have started saving articles to Readwise Reader. I really like the way the app looks and works — but I especially like its highlighting features. I really love Widgetsmith's photo widgets. The built-in widget from Apple is good, but you never know what it's going to show you. I also asked Myke to share a few things he's into right now. Here's what he sent back: The Studio on Apple TV Plus is my absolute favorite show right now. It's an incredibly fun and entertaining show that's also a technical masterpiece. Everything I see about how this show is made just makes me love and respect it more. Kinda Funny Games is a gaming-focused YouTube channel / podcast network that brings me so much joy. It's an 11-person company based in San Francisco, and they produce multiple shows every day. The gang has such great camaraderie I feel like I am hanging out with friends when I tune in. If you're not listening to The Rest is History, you should change that. It's an incredible history podcast hosted by Tom Holland (not that one) and Dominic Sandbrook. They have a way of bringing history to life that I find so compelling. There are so many amazing series of episodes to go through, but I recommend the episodes on the Assassination of JFK as a good place to start. Crowdsourced Here's what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you're into right now as well! Email installer@ or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we'll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky. 'I've started playing another daily word game called Raddle. It's a word ladder where you have to get from one word (or phrase) to another, but instead of just changing one letter like in a traditional word ladder there are a series of clues like 'replace the middle letter with a double letter to get a time of day.' The catch is that the clues are in a random order so you need to figure out which clue applies right now.' — Kyle ' The Seat on Netflix, despite the very cringe WhatsApp sponsoring, is a fascinating watch of a prodigy kid still living with his parents who's about to join one of the top F1 teams. What Drive to Survive could have been.' — Greg 'Just got done with Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, and enjoyed it.' — Hobie ' Pocket Casts launched transcripts finally! Only for Plus and Patron members, it looks like, but if I wasn't already a Plus member, this would've instantly made me one. This will help my constant struggle of wanting to switch to Apple Podcasts significantly.' — Omesh 'After Omnivore shut down, I got stressed and started looking into self hosting. Struggled until I set up YunoHost to self host Wallabag and Miniflux on a Raspberry Pi.' — Ronin 'I've been playing Kero Kero Cowboy for Game Boy, which just got released after a successful Kickstarter. It has strong Kirby vibes and has been a blast so far.' — Justin 'I'm looking at the Alfred Field Guide from MacSparky, and trying to see if I can fit it into my budget this month. Been a Powerpack user for years, but I've never learned the ins and outs.' — Ben ' The Pitt on Max is the best new show I've seen this year.' — Yury 'I've basically sunk my week into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I don't want to sound overly dramatic, but I think it's the biggest jump in mature video game storytelling since The Witcher 3. Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur's Gate 3 improved on The Witcher, but CO feels like something entirely new.' — Laszlo Signing off I've gotten a couple of emails in the last few weeks that all say basically the same thing: dude, you need to jailbreak your Kindle. The pitch makes a lot of sense! The Kindle is a lovely piece of hardware that is annoyingly tied to all of Amazon's weird ideas about software and books. I've spent some time this week on YouTube watching people jailbreak their e-readers — Dammit Jeff has a great explainer, as does Simon Feilder — and they all show that the Kindle can be a much more interesting and versatile device. Also, people really like KOReader. Amazon, of course, does not want you to do any of this; it already patched some of the jailbreak exploits, and I assume this cat-and-mouse game will continue forever. But I will be jailbreaking my Paperwhite as soon as I can, and I will report back.
