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Sep 25, 2018
"I see a festival that never ends, where you can be whatever you want to be. It's not your dream holiday anymore. It's your dream life." Those lofty words are your introduction to Forza Horizon 4, and then you're barreling down the road at 180 miles per hour, soundtrack thumping in your ears.
It's an appropriate intro for a series that's become as much about a lifestyle as anything else. If Forza Motorsport represents love for car racing—tuning the vehicle, nailing a tight sequence of turns, pushing your driving to its limits—Forza Horizon's about a love of cars period. In an era where the automobile feels increasingly endangered (or even for many irrelevant) it's Forza Horizon 4 that clings to the fantasy of driving a sports car down a sun-dappled road.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 25, 2018
No matter which platform you use, we all have one thing in common: our PCs never have enough USB ports. Whether you need to charge or transfer files, Amazon has four different options from Sabrent on sale todayRemove non-product link, so you'll be able to add as many ports as you need for super cheap.
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Sep 25, 2018
No matter which platform you use, we all have one thing in common: our PCs never have enough USB ports. Whether you need to charge or transfer files, Amazon has four different options from Sabrent on sale todayRemove non-product link, so you'll be able to add as many ports as you need for super cheap.
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Sep 25, 2018
Laptop deals are harder to come by than the seemingly endless flow of SSD, graphics card, and display deals. But we've got a doozy of a notebook sale today. Staples is selling the 14-inch Lenovo Ideapad 530s for $550Remove non-product link, complete with a powerful 8th-gen Core i5 processor and a 1080p display.
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Sep 25, 2018
Vacuuming is one of the most hated household chores. Here are your best choices for outsourcing it to some automated help.
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Sep 25, 2018
Fitbit's multi-day battery life isn't just about lasting longer, it's about tracking valuable data while most Apple Watches are sitting on their chargers.
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Sep 25, 2018
Don't miss a postseason pitch, read our cord-cutter's guide to the 2018 MLB playoffs and the World Series.
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Sep 25, 2018
14TB, the amount of data that can be held by Seagate's latest flagship $600 IronWolf Pro, is a whole lot of digital stuff. Way more than most users need, unless of course, said user is capturing raw 4K or 8K video. In that case, the more the merrier.
Seagate's BarraCuda Pro and non-pro IronWolf are the only other drives in the consumer space that can fit that much (WD has a 14TB enterprise drive), but guess what? The IronWolf Pro is a bit faster. A bit more expensive, of course, but top banana is top banana no matter how you slice it.
Design and features
The IronWolf 14TB is a helium-filled (drag and vortex reduction) 3.5-inch hard drive rotating at 7,200rpm with 256MB of onboard cache. It runs off the SATA (6Gbps) interface, and employs PMR (Parallel Magnetic Recording) to create its superior areal density (more stuff in the same amount of space.)
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 25, 2018
Fitbit's multi-day battery life isn't just about lasting longer, it's about tracking valuable day while most Apple Watches are sitting on their chargers.
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Sep 25, 2018
The hulking Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 shows how Nvidia's graphics card partners can still stand out from the crowd in an era when Nvidia's making it harder than ever to shine.
Last generation, all customized GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards plateaued at virtually the same level of performance. Custom cards were notably better than Nvidia's own GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition, though, because Founders Edition cards were restrained by reference clock speeds and a subpar single-fan, blower-style cooler.
This generation, it's looking like power limits will impose a new ceiling on GeForce RTX 2080 performance—but now, Nvidia's vastly improved RTX Founders Edition cards pack a dual-fan cooler, a gorgeous design, and an 80MHz out-of-the-box overclock. Nvidia's competing against its own partners something fierce.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
It happened again. Another major web service lost control of its database, and now you're scrambling to stay ahead of the bad guys. As much as we hate them, data breaches are here to stay. The good news is they don't have to elicit full-blown panic no matter how sensitive the pilfered data might be. There are usually some very simple steps you can take to minimize your exposure to the potential threat.
Here's how.
Step 1: Determine the damage
Thinkstock
The first thing to figure out is what the hackers took. If they got your username and password, for example, there's little point in alerting your credit card company.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
Microsoft's not the only company using AI to improve the quality of its services. Google, in marking the 20th anniversary of Google search, announced its own plans to tap artificial intelligence, including enticing you to interact more with its rebranded, deeper Discover activity feed and other services.
Ben Gomes, the vice president in charge of Search and the Google Assistant, outlined several changes the company is making to enhance Google's search algorithm. Interestingly, the majority of the changes seem slated to appear within Google's mobile app. Most also seem to involve getting you to interact more with Google's services, so the search algorithm can learn more about you—and make smarter guesses about what you'll engage with more, for instance. Gomes wrote that a full 15 percent of everyday queries are completely unknown to the Google search algorithm.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
When it comes to spreadsheet software, few programs match the functionality—and popularity—of Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. On the surface, they're simple spreadsheet programs, but they can be incredibly powerful tools when used correctly. Many professions require at least a rudimentary understanding of how Excel and Sheets work, so learning them can be advantageous during your job hunt.
If you want to learn the inner workings of these tools, you can refer to this $19 Excel & Google Sheets Mastery Bundle, which features tips and tricks spreadsheet practitioners should know how to use.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
Microsoft Office is the king of office productivity suites, but it doesn't inspire warm, fuzzy feelings in all users. Parsing the ever-expanding list of features—many of which you'll never use—can feel like stepping into a cockpit without a pilot's license. The ribbon interface, introduced a decade ago, has many fans, but others pine for the static menus of the early aughts. And then there's Office's hefty price tag.
Fortunately, alternatives abound, ranging from web apps to freemium and open source desktop installations, many of which are compatible with Microsoft Office docs. We compared six of the most popular free office suites to see how well they replicate the most commonly used features of Microsoft Office.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
In years past, the release of a new Microsoft Office suite would be a momentous event. But with Microsoft shifting toward a subscription service model, even Microsoft seems lukewarm about Monday's general release of Office 2019.
Right now, Office 2019 is being made available to commercial users, with consumer versions arriving in the "coming weeks," Microsoft said Monday. Microsoft's positioning is made clear in an accompanying FAQ: Office 2019 is described as a "one-time purchase," versus the ongoing subscription model that is Office 365. There's one big system requirement, though: Windows 10.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
Google's Chrome 69 hides a disturbing twist: if you log into Gmail or another Google service, Chrome seems to automatically log you into the browser as well. Theoretically, that means that you will automatically begin sharing data with Google, like it or not.
The confusion comes from a new way in which Google shows your "logged in" status. Previously, if you were signed in to Chrome, an icon would appear in the upper right-hand corner, indicating that you were signed in and sharing data. The same icon now appears if you're logged into a Google service like Google.com or Gmail, but not necessarily to Chrome.
What does all this mean? Most people associate signing in to your Google account with signing into the Chrome browser, but that's not always the case.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
Any new parent will tell you how important a video baby monitor is for keeping an eye on your child when you're in another room. The choices can be overwhelming, however, but we've already done all of the testing for you and our top pick, the Arlo Baby smart video monitor, is on sale today for $170Remove non-product link, $30 off and the lowest price we've seen.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
It's a great time to get a new graphics card with new options from Nvidia and AMD Radeon card prices dropping in response. But what about that ancient monitor on your desk? A new card deserves a display upgrade as well, and we've found a great deal. Staples is selling a Dell 27-inch 1440p monitor with HDR for $220Remove non-product link. The Dell S2718D launched at $700 last year, and costs $380 elsewhere.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
Roku is expanding its streaming video player lineup with a 4K player that is half the price of its current 4K offering. The Roku Premiere will launch ahead of the year-end shopping season when 4K TVs are likely to be big sellers.
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Sep 24, 2018
Microsoft is refining its plans for its next-gen Surface Hub 2 collaborative display, separating the product into two distinct "experiences" that will require users to install an upgraded hardware module to enable. But here's something that may rile some businesses: certain basic features like rotating the display will be reserved for the new, upgraded Surface Hub 2X model due in 2020.
The two new models—the basic Surface Hub 2S, and the upgraded Surface Hub 2X — will share the same common hardware, according to Microsoft. To upgrade to the 2X experience, administrators won't buy a separate device. Instead, they'll be asked to buy a dedicated swappable "processor cartridge" that also contains the operating system for the second 2X experience. But there's a catch: The 2X experience will support dynamic screen rotation, multi-user authentication, and other features that will not be permitted within the 2S.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
Smarter searches don't necessarily need to live in a search engine. This week, Microsoft will debut two tools that will live in Office: Microsoft Search and Ideas, designed to assist workers trying to dig out the document that they need, now.
Microsoft hosts its Microsoft Ignite conference this week, and the company promises literally dozens of announcements—most pertaining to its Azure cloud and related services. But Microsoft also plans a few key developments at the user level, including final rollouts of features the company has announced previously, such as the ability to blur backgrounds within Microsoft Teams video chats and transcribe meetings.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 24, 2018
This competent cleaner boasts laser navigation and Google Home and Amazon Alexa integration at a fraction of premium-model prices.
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Sep 24, 2018
FreeOffice is the no-cost version of SoftMaker Office, a full-featured Office alternative to Microsoft Office. It included its own takes on Microsoft's trio of productivity apps: TextMaker (Word), PlanMaker (Excel), and Presentations (PowerPoint). FreeOffice includes many of the features of the paid product, but omits some key ones you can only get by upgrading to SoftMaker's Office program, which starts at $39.95 per year. It's available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. An Android tablet version is available for $20.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 23, 2018
It all started with a slide-out keyboard. Long before camera notches, wireless charging, and confectionery-themed code names, Android was a humble operating system that ran on a single phone: the Google-HTC T-Mobile G1, later known as the HTC Dream. And we got our first look at 10 years ago today.
Released on September 23, 2008, the world's first Android phone had one mission: to challenge the iPhone. And in that goal, it succeeded. It was chunky (17mm), had a low-resolution display (320x480), and didn't have a virtual keyboard, thus forcing users to bang away on the tiny pop-out keyboard. It also utilized a quirky trackball and physical buttons for navigation. Still, T-Mobile sold more than a million G1s in its first six months of availability.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 22, 2018
There are numerous ways to judge a Destiny 2 expansion, but I've found it's easiest to count the days I kept playing. After Curse of Osiris, I stuck around for about two weeks. After Warmind, it was about two days. But Forsaken? It's been the better part of a month now, and I don't see myself quitting anytime soon.
I doubted it was possible, but Bungie's turned Destiny 2 into the hobbyist game people wanted. Does that mean you owe it another shot? Absolutely not. But if you've been looking for a reason to revisit the Tower, Forsaken's a compelling one.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 21, 2018
Dash cams are already essential in many countries because of scam artists who try to create accidents so they can sue you. They've also proven useful for catching cars flying into buildings, or the occasional meteor, as happened in Thailand and in Russia a few years ago.
But while auto con artists aren't as common here, recording your excursions is a reasonable precaution to take—especially if you're driving professionally.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 21, 2018
Garmin's Dash Cam 45 shares all the advanced features found in its Dash Cam 55 and Dash Cam 65W siblings, such as driver alerts, Wi-Fi offloading via an app, integrated GPS, and red light camera tracking. It also sports the same compact design and a clever magnetic mount.
But its night captures aren't as good as they are on the other two models, and in our tests, the video stabilization doesn't deal well with large bumps or stiff suspensions.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 21, 2018
THQ Nordic bought up the rights to Alone in the Dark this week, so the betting's on. Which once-great-but-now-disgraced-or-discarded series will be next? Eternal Darkness? Fez? Alan Wake? Metal Gear Solid? Jade Empire? So many possibilities.
That news, plus Capcom's Tokyo Games Show presence, Return of the Obra Dinn gets a release date, Frostpunk's first expansion, Telltale closes and cancels Wolf Among Us 2, and LawBreakers goes to an early grave.
This is gaming news for September 17 to 21.
Weekend warrior
As per usual, kicking off the round-up with the games you could be playing this weekend—for free, of course. First up is Ghost Recon: Wildlands, which I wasn't too fond of last year but which is definitely big enough to keep you occupied for three days. Head here and log into your Uplay account to get temporary access.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 21, 2018
Intel just introduced its largest Optane-based SSDs yet, but the shocker may be that one comes in the rarely seen U.2 interface.
Intel on Thursday announced its Optane 905P drives with three flavors:
A 905P in PCIe add-in card, or if you're into the nomenclature thing: HHHL (half height, half length) trim. It'll come in capacities of 960GB and 1.5TB.
A 905P M.2 "gumstick" drive in capacities of up to 380GB.
A 905P in U.2 in capacities of 1.5TB, 960GB, and 480GB.
The last drive is probably a surprise to those who don't read Obscure SSD Quarterly, (Editor's note: not a real media outlet) because it's only the third U.2 drive to be introduced. Ever. The previous two—the 900P and the 750—were also made by Intel, so it's a very rare form factor.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 21, 2018
Whether you're waiting for the FedEx truck to bring your shiny new iPhone XS Max or are just trying to get a squeeze more months out of your Galaxy S7, there's one thing you both have in common: the charger that comes in the box isn't good enough. So if you're looking for a better way to juice up your phone, Amazon has you covered today with some all-time lows on Anker's excellent line of high-speed charging accessories
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Sep 21, 2018
The Lenovo Legion Y920, with its full-on GTX 1070-calibre graphics, a bright 17-inch screen, and a mechanical keyboard, makes for a solid—and quite hefty—gaming laptop. Besides its premium mechanical keyboard, the Y920 boasts some enticing amenities that its competitors lack, such as a one-touch Turbo mode and Dolby Atmos sound.
It's a good machine, but shop wisely. Gamers focused purely on the visuals may balk at the Y920's hefty price tag, particularly given that a similarly configured version of the Alienware 17 R5Remove non-product link (not the maxed-out version we reviewed) currently costs many hundreds of dollars less. You'll also see 17-inch gaming laptops with newer CPUs than its 7th-generation overclockable part.
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Sep 21, 2018
Apple is dropping the Back To My Mac remote access feature, and in a recent support document they urge you to be prepared by looking for alternatives.
RemotePC by iDrive is a full-featured remote access solution that lets you connect to your work or office computer securely from anywhere, and from any iOS or Android device. Right now, their 50 computer package is 90% off or just $6.95 for your 1st year. So if you need an alternative to Back To My Mac, or have been thinking about remote access, now is a good time to consider RemotePC. Learn more about it here.
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Sep 21, 2018
An increasing number of businesses are adopting IT infrastructures to support their networking and security, making the job market for IT professionals more attractive than ever. There are dozens of IT certification vendors that specialize in their specific IT solutions, but few carry the weight that Cisco does. With this $39 Cisco Networking & Cloud Computing Certification Bundle, you can expand your knowledge of Cisco's tools, prep to certify your training, and ultimately impress on the job hunt.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 21, 2018
Nvidia's powerful GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti landed this week, and it's good news for Radeon fans. Or at least their wallets. Because now that Nvidia's luxury-priced titans are here, you can finally find enticing, all-too-rare deals on Radeon Vega graphics cards selling at or even below retail prices.
The PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX Vega 64 costs $500 on NeweggRemove non-product link right now. But if you're willing to send in a rebate form, you can snag a Vega 64 for even less: The Gigabyte Radeon RX Vega 64 costs
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Sep 21, 2018
Apple Watch Series 4 isn't just the best wearable Apple has ever made, it also has the highest entry-level price tag. Here's why the Series 3 is a much better buy.
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Sep 21, 2018
"What graphics card within my budget gives me the best bang for my buck?"
That simple question cuts to the core of what people hunting for a new graphics card look for: the most oomph they can afford. Sure, the technological leaps behind each new GPU can be interesting on their own, but most everyone just wants to crank up the detail settings on Battlefield and get right to playing.
Gaming GPU cheat sheet
Our quick-hit recommendations:
Best budget GPU: MSI GTX 1050 2G OC [amazon.com]
Best 1080p GPU:
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Sep 21, 2018
What's the opposite of sticker shock? It's hard to believe these speakers are this inexpensive.
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Sep 21, 2018
Two and a half long years after the launch of the GeForce GTX 10-series, Nvidia's next generation of graphics cards is finally here, and the GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti top our performance charts. But should you upgrade to the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ($1,200 on GeForce.com) if you already own a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti? As always, the answer is, "it depends."
It's easier to explain than the decision to buy a GeForce RTX 2080 or GTX 1080 Ti, though, since those graphics cards offer virtually identical performance. Let's dig in.
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Sep 20, 2018
At one time, Skype seemed to be the one thing Microsoft was holding back in reserve from its Cortana-Alexa partnership. That no longer seems to be the case.
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Sep 20, 2018
Call of Duty: Black Ops fans, if you want all the pieces of flair for your PC, Asus has your back.
The company has unveiled just about every imaginable thing you can think of to coincide with the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 on October 12. Besides a keyboard, mouse, monitor and mouse pad, Asus is also offering a Call of Duty: Black Ops 4-branded monitor, PC, motherboard and router.
Yup. A router. No, we're not making that up.
ASUS
You're not a superfan if you don't have a Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 router. No word on whether it blocks packets for Battlefield V.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 20, 2018
If you have a tablet or older laptop with just a tiny bit of storage available, pay attention: Microsoft's upcoming Windows 10 October 2018 Update may cause you some headaches unless you tidy up.
In a support document, Microsoft acknowledges that Windows 10's Windows Update fails to check PCs for adequate storage before it kicks off, an oversight that may cause the upcoming feature update to repeatedly fail unless the PC has enough space to download and install it.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 20, 2018
Amazon is selling the RavPower wireless charging stand for 20 percent off today.
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Sep 20, 2018
"Do be warned, detective…some men find this place hard to leave." It's meant as a threat, but I laughed. Even for the Rusty Lake series, this is one hell of a wink-nod, fourth-wall-breaking moment.
Yes, one of the most prolific game development teams is back for its second game of 2018, Cube Escape: Paradox—and perhaps the most ambitious of the series, thanks to a 20-minute short film that's integral to the plot. Just when you think Rusty Lake can't get any weirder, it does.
Empty the mind
You'll note of course that this is titled Cube Escape: Paradox, not Rusty Lake: Paradox. A bit confusing, no? To recap, the Rusty Lake games (Hotel, Roots, Paradise) spun out of a series of browser-based escape rooms, titled Cube Escape. Until now the main distinction has been that the Cube Escape games are both shorter and free, while the Rusty Lake entries are longer, more complex, and sold through Steam.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 20, 2018
In this episode of the Full Nerd, Gordon Mah Ung, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Adam Patrick Murray discuss our exhaustive review of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti, the first graphics cards built around ray tracing and AI-enhanced image processing.
Unfortunately, none of those technologies are available in any games yet, but Nvidia sent reviewers some canned demos to try them in action, and well, if Deep Learning Super Sampling works anywhere near this well in shipping games, it'll be black magic. The gang dives deep into the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti's performance in traditional games and whether Nvidia's new graphics cards perform better in HDR than the older GTX 10-series, before diving into a flood of questions by live viewers.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 20, 2018
Budget SSD maker Adata won't be found among our selections for the top SSDs of 2018. But if you haven't ditched your pokey hard drive yet, the ludicrously low prices of Adata's 2.5-inch Ultimate SU655 SSDs on Amazon make them pretty irresistible.
To start, the 120GB version of the drive costs just $25. We're in pizza pricing territory here folks. True, this low capacity drive has been dropping in price for weeks, but it's the lowest we've seen it go. You won't fit much media on a 120GB drive, but it's a great option for a boot drive.
To read this
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Sep 20, 2018
Online retailer Newegg on Wednesday confirmed that credit card information from customers had been stolen using a sophisticated attack.
"Yesterday we learned one of our servers had been injected with malware which was identified and removed from our site," the company said in a statement on Twitter. "We're conducting extensive research to determine exactly what info was obtained and are sending emails to customers potentially impacted. Please check your email."
This makes Newegg the latest company to get hit by black hat hacker groups collectively called Magecart. Security researchers at RiskIQ said the attack worked by injecting malicious JavaScript onto Newegg's page to skim credit card information and sent it it to a domain registered as Neweggstats.com. RiskIQ said a very similar "Magecart assault" was also used against British Airways and Ticketmaster earlier this year.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 20, 2018
Switching from a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 to an LG Stylo 4 is analogous to going from a Ferrari 812 Superfast to a Kia Optima. They're both 2018 smartphones with styluses built in, and they both run the same version of Android (Oreo 8.1). But other than that, they couldn't be more different.
Where the Note 9 has sex appeal and a high price tag, the Stylo 4 is basic and affordable—even cheap. The Stylo 4 has a quarter of the Note 9's internal storage (32GB versus 128GB), is made of plastic instead of glass, and is powered by a far slower processor. And it doesn't have wireless charging or a dual camera or a WQHD Infinity display.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 20, 2018
The long-awaited GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti are finally here, new "RTX" moniker and all, and well, they're mighty impressive pieces of kit. Nvidia infused the radical Turing GPU at their hearts with dedicated RT and tensor cores to (hopefully) ignite a gaming future brimming with ray tracing and AI-enhanced graphics. The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is the fastest graphics card ever, full stop. But I've heard plenty of people wondering: Should I buy a GeForce RTX 2080 or a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti?
Nvidia's new RTX graphics cards cost significantly more than their predecessors. But prices for the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti—Nvidia's powerful, previous-gen flagship—have started relaxing in recent weeks after spending most of 2018 inflated by wild cryptocurrency demand.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 20, 2018
AirTV now offers subscription-free DVR for cord-cutters, though its Sling TV app integration still needs work.
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Sep 19, 2018
Though features within upcoming Windows updates come and go during the beta Insider builds, one that many were looking forward to—a Smart Updater feature that would hopefully cut back on awkwardly timed Windows 10 updates—is now in doubt.
Microsoft representatives said Wednesday that they had "nothing to share" regarding the feature, which Microsoft first introduced in Build 17723, in late July. Then, Microsoft promised that the feature would reduce the trauma caused by spontaneous reboots during Windows Update process—especially during times when a user was actively working on the PC.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 19, 2018
Though features within upcoming Windows updates come and go during the beta Insider builds, one that many were looking forward to—a Smart Updater feature that would hopefully cut back on awkwardly timed Windows 10 updates—is now in doubt.
Microsoft representatives said Wednesday that they had "nothing to share" regarding the feature, which Microsoft first introduced in Build 17723, in late July. Then, Microsoft promised that the feature would reduce the trauma caused by spontaneous reboots during Windows Update process—especially during times when a user was actively working on the PC.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 19, 2018
Stay on top of the latest tech with PCWorld's Digital Magazine. Available as single copies or as a monthly subscription, it highlights the best content from PCWorld.com—the most important news, the key product reviews, and the most useful features and how-to stories—in a curated Digital Magazine for Android and iOS, as well for the desktop and other tablet readers.
In the September issue
In the September issue we go deep on the new Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Find out what it's like to hold a $1,250 phone, what its biggest problem is, and whether Samsung will fix it. We have a 19-page review of the new Microsoft Surface Go; compare how it stacks up against other tablets.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 19, 2018
The reviews for the Apple Watch Series 4 are in and everyone loves it.
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Sep 19, 2018
When it comes to creative software, Adobe is king. With programs like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Lightroom being used by photographers, designers, and editors across the globe, you should expect to master these tools if you hope to make it as a creative professional. Thankfully, doing so is much easier with the Complete Adobe Mastery Bundle, which contains 11 courses on some of Adobe's top creative tools; and it's on sale for only $39 today.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 19, 2018
Home weather stations are getting more accurate and sophisticated all the time. Follow our buyer's guide to ensure you're not left in the cold or soaking wet.
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Sep 19, 2018
Join The Full Nerd gang as they talk about the latest PC hardware topics. Today's show is all about the Nvidia RTX launch! First up we cover the official PCWorld review of the RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti, next we'll answer the question of whether you should buy a RTX 2080 or GTX 1080 Ti, and lastly we look over to AMD to see if it's better to buy a Radeon card instead. As always we will be answering your live questions so speak up in the chat.
If YouTube is not your thing uou can also watch us on Twitch, Facebook, and Twitter!
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 19, 2018
Keys are yesterday's tech, your smart home needs a smart lock.
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Sep 19, 2018
Amazon's Fire 7 tablet is just $35 for Prime members today—$15 off its list price and the lowest it's been since last holiday season. It's a killer deal on one of the most popular tablets out there. If you're not a Prime member, you can sign up for a free trial here.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 19, 2018
Find the best soundbar for music and movies and that's the perfect fit for your budget.
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Sep 19, 2018
Today's a good day to turbocharge your local backup with one of our favorite external SSD drives. The 500GB Samsung T5 portable SSD is on sale for $100 at Amazon today. This drive was sitting around $120 just a few weeks ago, and this is the lowest price we've seen for it. The T5 is also close to $30 cheaper than the SanDisk external SSD sale we looked at last week.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 19, 2018
The GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti aren't like any other consumer graphics cards. Nvidia built these cards for the future. So much so, in fact, that we're going to take the unusual step of not rendering a final, rated verdict today.
Unlike existing graphics cards, these include dedicated RT cores to vastly improve real-time ray tracing performance, putting the Holy Grail of gaming graphics within reach. Also unlike existing graphics cards, the GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti include dedicated tensor cores to leverage the awesome power of machine learning and a Saturn V supercomputer in the games you play. Nvidia's new hardware is the first designed specifically for the 4K, 144Hz HDR era, with a revamped architecture that increases performance in traditional games, and they're the first graphics cards equipped with GDDR6 memory or a VirtualLink connector. Our Nvidia Turing GPU deep-dive explains all.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Sep 19, 2018
Setup headaches and operational flubs dampen our enthusiasm for this professionally monitored security system's minimal price tag.
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Sep 19, 2018
You can't build an entire PC out of Gigabyte and Aorus components, but that goal just got one step closer. On Tuesday, the company announced that it's wading into the PCIe M.2 SSD game, after a positive reception to its SATA SSDs in May.
Three PCIe NVME M.2 drives will be available initially, in capacities of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, the company said.
The drives carry a three-year warranty. The 256GB drive is rated at sequential read speeds of 1,200MBps and 800Mbps sequential writes. The 128GB drive will hit 1,100MBps sequential reads and 500MBps sequential writes.
Gigabyte officials said the 128GB SSD should sell for $50, while the 256GB drive will be listed at $70. The two lower-capacity drives are expected to be on sale in the US next week. Pricing and availability of the 512GB drive wasn't available, but if the pricing of the smaller drives is any indication, it'll be competitive.
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Sep 18, 2018
With models based on Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana, and others to come, we'll help you find just the right model for you.
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Sep 18, 2018
The new Series 4 represents the biggest update to the Apple Watch since the original.
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Sep 18, 2018
Occasionally, for whatever reason, we browse parts of the web we know could be dangerous, where malicious pop-ups, ransomware or other malware could infect our PCs. While no solution is totally safe, Microsoft now has a free, specialized version of its Edge browser specifically designed to protect you online: Windows Device Application Guard, or WDAG.
WDAG was originally developed for Windows 10 Enterprise, protecting companies with billions of dollars at stake. Now that same protection has migrated to Windows 10 Pro—sorry, Windows 10 Home users—as an optional feature that you can turn on within Windows, for free. It debuted on Windows 10 Pro as part of the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, and will receive some new features as part of the October 2018 update, too.
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Sep 18, 2018
In 2015, when Microsoft unveiled the very first public iteration of the HoloLens, product managers demonstrated the augmented reality headset by asking users to re-wire an actual light switch, live, guided by a remote professional. Three years later, Microsoft has finally commercialized that demo with a HoloLens-enabled version of Microsoft Dynamics.
Microsoft is commercializing two Dynamics apps with HoloLens: Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, which allows a remote viewer to assist a front-line worker, and Dynamics 365 Layout, which uses the HoloLens spatial-mapping abilities to help lay out a retail space or factory floor.
Remote Assist is what Microsoft originally wowed journalists with, and here's how it works: Imagine building a PC, wearing a HoloLens, but you forgot to insert the memory with the proper spacing, or some other error. HoloLens Remote Assist would allow a remote support tech to see what you're seeing via your HoloLens, with the ability to highlight what you should be doing. In addition, the remote assistant could use Skype to tell you to tighten the proper bolts, for example, or not to mix CPU pastes.
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Sep 18, 2018
Everyone's talking about how great the new iPhone XS and XS Max are but I'm not so sure they're going to feel the same way after a few weeks have gone by. The fall season is jam-packed with flagship Android releases, and several of them have the potential to beat Apple at its own game. I talked about three of the best Android phones coming later this year as part of my new show, Android Confidential:
Huawei Mate 20: The Huawei Mate 20 and newer P20 are already two of the best phones you can buy, but the Mate 20 could beat them both (along with the iPhone XS). Rumor has it that Huawei will be using a triple-Leica setup on the Mate 20, an impressive array that has already shown tremendous results on the P20, the current Last Cam Standing reigning champ. Add to that the Kirin 980 chip and a 6.9-inch screen, and you've got a maxed-out Android phone that can beat the iPhone XS Max.
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Sep 18, 2018
A boom in wireless security cameras is inspiring a movement in DIY home surveillance. Follow our buying guide and read our reviews to find the best option for you.
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Sep 18, 2018
Dash cams come in all shapes and sizes, but they're a must-have gadget you want to keep a close eye on the road ahead of you. Today you can get a popular one on the cheap: Anker's Roav Dash Cam C2 is $47.59, down from a list price of $120Remove non-product link and very close to an all-time low.
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Sep 18, 2018
The fate of the world is at stake, and I haven't even made it out of the starting city. The Bard's Tale IV seems long, to say the least—I'm ten hours in as I write this, and I feel like I just finished the prologue. Suffice it to say, we're not slapping a score on this one yet.
And perhaps that's a good thing, because The Bard's Tale IV ($35 on Humble) is a fascinating game that desperately needs polishing up.
A looming high-resolution shadow
Let's just deal with performance first, because it really is abysmal. Listen, I'm running a PC with an overclocked i7-5820K and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. It is absolute overkill for even the most cutting-edge games, and The Bard's Tale IV isn't one of them. Art direction is strong, but you wouldn't look at it and go "Wow, what a technical feat." Indeed, the recommended specs on the Steam page are a fairly reasonable i5-4590 and a GTX 970.
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Sep 18, 2018
You know it's a great day when you can get a solid entry-level graphics card and three free games for under $200. That day is today. Newegg has an 8GB MSI Radeon RX 580 for $190Remove non-product link after a $30 mail-in rebate, and this card is eligible for AMD's Assassin's Creed: Odyssey free game bundle.
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Sep 18, 2018
Update 9/18/18: This article has been updated with comments from Wtithings CEO Eric Carreel.
Withings couldn't have picked a more opportune time to make its return. With the Apple Watch Series 4 set to release in just a few days, interest in wrist wearables couldn't be higher, and to celebrate its re-arrival, Withings is launching a new Sport version of its popular Steel HR wearable.
And whether it was good planning or a happy coincidence, CEO Eric Carreel couldn't be happier that Withings chose this week. "With the relaunch of Withings, we are as enthusiastic as ever to deliver on our original mission to help people better manage healthy lifestyles. So the new Apple Watch and Apple's new focus on health is great news for us."
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Sep 18, 2018
This soundbar features immersive audio for movies, Chromecast for multi-room audio, and Google Assistant support for voice control.
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Sep 18, 2018
Free-to-play naval combat game World of Warships will make a drastic and controversial U-turn and add submarines to the mix next year, Wargaming officials announced Tuesday morning.
Gamers can get a taste of the silent service October 31. The company will let players sample submarines for the first time as part of a temporary Halloween gag, where ships and subs take on spooky themes.
Submarines, however, aren't just a short-term gag. Wargaming officials said submersibles will be added as the permanent 5th class of vessels alongside World War II-era battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft carriers. World of Warships is known for its meticulously modelling of ships such as the H.M.S. Hood, Bismarck, and U.S.S. Missouri.
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Sep 18, 2018
Garmin's Dash Cam 65W has all the latest fancy features, such as voice command, red light camera warnings, bad driver alerts, GPS, and Wi-Fi connectivity. It also packages them in a nice compact design that sports a very clever magnetic mount.
The $250 65W is basically the same camera as the Garmin Dash Cam 55 that I gave four stars to over a year ago, except that it sports a wider-angle 180 degree lens. It's also "limited" to 1080p (which is fine) rather than 1440p video. Note that the wider lens, while capturing a larger swath of action, does impart a noticeable fish-eye effect. Regardless, a very nice dash cam on the whole.
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Sep 18, 2018
Withings couldn't have picked a more opportune time to make its return. With the Apple Watch Series 4 set to release in just a few days, interest in wrist wearables couldn't be higher, and to celebrate its re-arrival, Withings is launching a new Sport version of its popular Steel HR wearable.
Apple fans are intimately familiar with the French maker of high-end devices such as scales, baby monitors, and sleep trackers, but for the past two years the company has been languishing under the Nokia Health umbrella with no new product to speak of. Now that the company is independent again, it's putting a renewed focus on design and intelligence, and the Steel HR Sport is the first fruits of the company's new direction. A hybrid watch with a classic style and swappable bands, the Steel HR gives you the benefits of a smartwatch without any of the drawbacks: It has 25-day battery life, an analog display, heart-rate monitor 50M of water resistance, and connected GPS, a first for the line.
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Sep 18, 2018
The iPhone Xs can be thought of as an upgrade to the iPhone X, and just enough of one to catch the eye of those who skipped last year's model.
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Sep 17, 2018
Today's best laptops bask in the glow of Intel's 8th-gen Core CPUs, which at last bring quad-core performance to mainstream machines. The only thing missing is Oprah shouting, "and you get an 8th-gen quad-core laptop!"
There's plenty of good news with this new generation. Our favorite convertible laptop, HP's Spectre x360 13, sports a quad-core 8th-gen chip while maintaining its diminutive size. It's really the total package.
But let's be honest: You probably don't need a quad-core powerhouse, especially if the hottest application you run is Microsoft Excel. Check out our budget favorites, like the Acer Aspire E 15 and Asus ZenBook Flip, whose dual-core CPUs do just fine with mainstream fare. Or read about the Asus Chromebook Flip, a well-priced and versatile laptop for living on the web—or delving into the wide, wide world of Android apps.
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Sep 17, 2018
Every computer user has a password problem. The meteoric rise in the number of websites visited on a daily basis, combined with our ‘there's an app for that' mentality, have created the need to remember - or write down - literally hundreds of login and password combinations for everything from Amazon to Zappos.
Until now, users could either create easily-remembered passwords, or write them on sticky notes taped to their monitors - not a great strategy if password strength is your objective. In a world where cybercriminals are eager to gain access to every user's logins, how can you be safe - without having to remember arcane, unique passwords for every site and application and on every computer and browser used at home or on the job?
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Sep 17, 2018
Finding an open outlet to charge multiple devices can be a pain, even in your own house. That's where multi-port USB chargers can save the day, and today you can get one big enough to charge everything in your house for cheap: Amazon is selling Sabrent's 10-port desktop USB charger for just $17Remove non-product link, down from a list price of $45 and just pennies off an all-time low.
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Sep 17, 2018
Finding an open outlet to charge multiple devices can be a pain, even in your own house. That's where multi-port USB chargers can save the day, and today you can get one big enough to charge everything in your house for cheap: Amazon is selling Sabrent's 10-port desktop USB charger for just $17Remove non-product link, down from a list price of $45 and just pennies off an all-time low.
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Sep 17, 2018
In this episode of the Full Nerd, Gordon Mah Ung, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Adam Patrick Murray dig deep into the beast at the heart of the GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti.
We kick things off with more details about Nvidia's radical new Turing architecture, pulling the most pertinent details from Brad's massive Turing GPU deep-dive. (And we do mean massive.) What makes it faster in traditional games? How can it handle ray tracing? What the heck are tensor cores? We explain it all.
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Sep 17, 2018
Sometimes prices on Amazon get a little on the ridiculous side. If you're looking for a new SSD, today is one of those days. The 250GB Samsung 860 Evo is just $58Remove non-product link while the 1TB version is $170Remove non-product link. The 1TB version is also available for the same price in the
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Sep 17, 2018
Shake your money maker with the middle of JBL's Link series of smart speakers.
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Sep 17, 2018
Maybe you didn't notice, but it's not just the iPhone Xs Max that's crazy expensive. Apple has raised prices on nearly every one of its new products.
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Sep 17, 2018
D-Link delivers another solid camera, but its app's emphasis on smart-home automation may limit its appeal.
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Sep 17, 2018
If your Kindle has ads or "Special Offers" showing onscreen, it's because you made a deal. You chose to save money on your Kindle's purchase price by accepting the "With Special Offers" discount. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now you're sick of the ads.
The good news: You can back out of this deal. The bad news: It's going to cost you.
Why does my Kindle have Special Offers?
You might not have given this much thought when you bought your Kindle, but Amazon offers a lower price for the E-reader if you accept Special Offers. As Amazon explains, "If your Fire tablet or Kindle e-reader includes Special Offers, you'll receive Sponsored Screensavers and special offers, including personalized advertising, from Amazon directly on your device."
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Sep 17, 2018
Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th Gen) continues its tradition as a premier, though pricey, business laptop that weighs as little as some tablets. Quite simply, it exudes quality.
Around the very good 14-inch display can be found a variety of ports, including a pair of high-speed Thunderbolt connectors ideal for driving external displays. Battery life is also very good, though that's assisted by the somewhat basic 1080p display that accompanied our review unit. Under the hood, there's an 8th-gen Intel Kaby Lake-R processor that accomplishes quite enough for most business tasks. It may be be a few hundred dollars more than the competition, but that hasn't prevented it from earning our Editors' Choice award. Read on for why.
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Sep 15, 2018
Playerunknown's Battlegrounds is its own worst enemy. Only a year ago it was a phenomenon the likes of which the games industry only sees once or twice a console generation, but a rough transition out of Early Access, an ill-planned lawsuit against Epic, a flood of cheaters, and persistent bugs have chipped away at that impregnable position despite its ongoing popularity.
I don't enjoy Fortnite though, and so far that's kept me in the PUBG camp. There just haven't been any alternatives that kept the same realistic aesthetic, the slow pace, the aspects I did like about PUBG—until now, that is. Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII is running a beta for its "Blackout" battle royale mode this weekend, and it's a lot like PUBG.
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Sep 15, 2018
Nvidia's flagship RTX graphics card will miss its own birthday party. The GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti were supposed to land on store shelves and the doorsteps of preorder customers on September 20, but as The Tech Report first spotted, Nvidia quietly delayed the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti's launch in a forum post Friday night.
"GeForce RTX 2080 Ti general availability has shifted to September 27th, a one week delay," moderator ericnvidia80 wrote. "We expect pre-orders to arrive between September 20th and September 27th. There is no change to GeForce RTX 2080 general availability, which is September 20th."
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Sep 14, 2018
A big part of my job is doing research online. That means from time to time the autocomplete function in my browser's address bar gets filled with mistyped URLs and sites I visited once but never will again. If you've ever spent a boring night surfing around the web chances are your browser's autosuggest function tosses up similar unwanted ghosts.
Erasing all autosuggested URLs from your browser is easy, but it would slow you down even more than a few bad suggestions. Deleting just the unwanted URLs, however, really streamlines the browsing experience.
Here's how to dump the annoying addresses while keeping all the good stuff in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera.
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Sep 14, 2018
Join Adam Patrick Murray, Dan Masaoka, and Hayden Dingman on Player Ready, PCWorld's weekly PC gaming stream! This week we are playing the Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout PC BETA that just launched today -- which is their version of a battle royal mode. Playing on a Maingear F131 equipped with an Intel Core i9 7980xe and dual Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti's!
Watch live video from PCWorldUS on www.twitch.tv
Follow PCWorld's Twitch channel (or YouTube) so you don't miss out on this or future live streams. Tune in every week for podcasts such as The Full Nerd as well as new and old games alike!
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Sep 14, 2018
Join The Full Nerd gang as they talk about the latest PC hardware topics. Today's show is all about the Nvidia RTX launch! First up we'll deep-dive into the Turing GPU, next we'll cover Nvidia's new one-click overclocking tool called Scanner, then move to a quick discussion about how there will be no ray tracked games at the launch of these new graphics cards. As always we will be answering your live questions so speak up in the chat.
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Sep 14, 2018
With the amount of news out of Japan this week, you'd think Tokyo Game Show had already started. Nope! It's next week. That didn't stop a flood of trailers though, including new footage of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Project Judge, a new game from the Yakuza devs.
Other than that, an avalanche of weirdness this week: Alan Wake's headed to TV, Pathologic 2 showed off its creepy village, Katamari Damacy's coming to PC, Assassin's Creed III is getting a remaster (for some reason), and Tencent brought a literal avalanche with its snowboarding battle royale game Ring of Elysium.
This is gaming news for September 10 to 14.
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Sep 14, 2018
Portable Bluetooth speakers help you bring your tunes along wherever you go, and today you can get a popular option on the cheap. Anker's SoundCore Bluetooth speaker is just $26Remove non-product link, down from a list price of $80. It's not an all-time low, but it's tantalizingly close.
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Sep 14, 2018
It's a September to Remember according to Newegg's deal mailer today, which is promoting the retailer's one-day graphics card saleRemove non-product link. Overall, we'd say this sale isn't really one to remember, but we did find a few smoking-hot deals amid the ho-hum prices. Here are our top picks from the sale.
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Sep 14, 2018
In a cryptic message posted to its website Friday, Samsung invited us all to a "Galaxy Event" on October 11. The message simply reads "4x fun," and "Samsung's newest Galaxy device is bringing more ways to express yourself than ever before," a thinly veiled message to a phone sporting four cameras.
Back in July, notable Samsung leaker Ice universe predicted on Twitter that "there will be a four-camera phones in the second half of this year," and later qualified that all four lenses would be "at the back." Samsung only just debuted its first dual-camera Galaxy handset with last year's Note 8, while Apple and others have been selling dual-camera phones for years. And Huawei recently launched a triple-camera phone in the P20 Pro and is rumored to be putting three lenses in the upcoming Mate 20 as well. But four would be an industry first, and we all know how much Samsung likes being first.
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Sep 14, 2018
There are so many smart thermostats to choose from today. We'll help you pick the right one.
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Sep 14, 2018
TiVo Roamio OTA vs. Tablo vs. Channel Master vs. Plex: None are ideal, but one might work for you.
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