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Mar 02, 2021
Intel's 11th-gen Rocket Lake-S chip, which touts faster gaming performance than AMD's Ryzen 5000 chips, will hit the shelves on March 30, a new report says.
The new chip will lift off at 6 a.m. PT on March 30, according to a report from editor Andreas Schilling of Hardwareluxx.de. Hardwareluxx broke the news this morning after a disastrous situation in Germany where retailer Mindfactory apparently began selling the 11th-gen CPUs a month before their official release.
Schilling also received comment from Intel about the sales, and the company doesn't sound happy.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 02, 2021
Samsung's pricey MicroLED line is about to get more affordable, but it certainly won't be cheap.
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Mar 02, 2021
The days when you could overclock your Intel "K" or "KF" chip with impunity, while liquid nitrogen vapor wafted through the long tresses of your hair, are over. On Monday, Intel abruptly ended its optional overclocking warranty plan.
The end of life for the Performance Tuning Protection Plan was initially covered by Zhiye Lui of Tom's Hardware. Intel said existing plans—which usually ran about three years—would be honored through their durations but as of Monday, March 1, you could not purchase a new plan.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 02, 2021
Microsoft's determined march to make Microsoft Teams the dominant platform for online videoconferencing and collaboration continued on Tuesday with new presentation modes for Teams, certifications for new Teams monitors, and even a formal announcement of intelligent speakers that can be used to supplement Microsoft Teams.
Predictably, the limited consumer focus at the virtual Microsoft Ignite conference this week will be on what Microsoft can add to the work-at-home experience, either on the PC itself or via a cloud service. This conference supplements the virtual Ignite conference Microsoft held in September, and the company provided some updated timelines to features it announced then.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 02, 2021
Microsoft may have given up on smart speakers for the consumer, but the company hasn't given up on letting others build intelligent devices based on its own technologies and hardware.
On Tuesday Microsoft launched Azure Percept, a platform of hardware and services that's built around Microsoft-designed hardware and Microsoft's Azure AI platform. They're part of what's known as "edge computing," intelligent devices that can process data on their own but are best when combined with the cloud. To get started, Microsoft unveiled Azure Percept Vision, a smart camera; plus Azure Percept Audio, an intelligent audio system at its virtual Microsoft Ignite confernece. They can connect to the Azure IoT Hub.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 02, 2021
Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides have traditionally been the cornerstone of Google Workspace Essentials. Now you can add Chat, Jamboard, and Calendar, too.
Google made a number of additions and changes to its Google Workspace on the eve of Microsoft Ignite this week. Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, is being beefed up with the addition of a number of notable features, including the ability to use a Nest Hub Max as a second screen for a Google Meet meeting, even in the home. Google is adding its Google Assistant to Workspace, and it's generally available to respond to questions like "When's my next meeting?"
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 02, 2021
It's tax time again, not that you needed reminding. It shows up at the same time every year, ready, willing, and able to escort you down a financial memory lane.
When it comes to filing income taxes, this year, more than any other, is likely to throw some curveballs. There were stimulus payments, and employment payments; you may have made more or less income than you did in the previous year. Sad to say, but bankruptcy, the death of a loved one, or the loss of job may factor into your financial situation more this year than at any other time in your personal history. Your tax software needs to be up to the task of getting every tax break possible.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 02, 2021
The Asus ROG Flow X13 is a laptop that breaks all the conventions. It looks like a typical ultraportable, but its CPU performance rivals or surpasses that of many laptops twice its weight. And while most thin-and-light laptops make serious sacrifices in performance, the ROG Flow X13 is actually one of the fastest gaming laptops in town.
If all this sounds great, we have two caveats. First, this unique take on a thin and powerful laptop does come with a few compromises, which some will gladly accept in exchange for its impressive performance and versatility. Keep reading before you decide whether the ROG Flow X13 laptop is the one for you. But second, even if you do accept the compromises, good luck: The bundle we tested, which is $2,800 from Asus, is currently sold out, as is the laptop alone (without the eGPU), which would be $1,500 from AsusRemove non-product link if you could actually buy it. Sigh.
To read t
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Mar 02, 2021
This affordable opener can detect your car's presence and automatically open your garage door, but it's too rough around the edges to recommend.
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Mar 01, 2021
Both Nvidia and AMD switched from blower-style to axial-fan coolers for their in-house reference cards in recent years, and it was a good decision. Axial designs offer better cooling performance and lower noise levels in the single GPU setup used by much gamers. But blower-style coolers remain popular in workstations that use GeForce graphics cards for getting things done, leading Nvidia partners like Asus and MSI to release blower-style GeForce RTX 3090 editions to satisfy those professional needs. There's just one problem: All those RTX 3090 blower cards are disappearing.
Videocardz found that not one, not two, but five different custom RTX 3090 blower cards have been scrubbed from their vendors' respective websites: the Emtek GeForce RTX 3090 24GB Blower Edition, the Asus GeForce RTX 3090 24GB Turbo, the Galax GeForce RTX 3090 24GB Classic, the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3090 24GB Turbo, and the MSI GeForce RTX 3090 24GB Aero.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 01, 2021
Intel's newly released 670p M.2 NVMe SSD will offer better performance for "real world" usage loads that regular nerds care about, the company said on Monday. If that promise holds true, this new drive could wind up on our list of the best SSDs.
The Intel 670p is built on 4th-gen, 144-layer quad-level cell (QLC) NAND that increases the density over the previous 96-layer QLC by 50 percent. Besides the enhanced density, the drive features an updated controller and firmware, along with an improved Dynamic SLC caching algorithm that writes data using faster single-bit storage as much as possible. Together, the advancements should give the Intel 670p an advantage over competing QLC drives on low queue depth workloads.
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Mar 01, 2021
It's glad tidings that the Intel 670p SSD finally makes 4-bit QLC NAND perform well enough to compete with TLC NVMe drives. The drive had no issues with synthetic benchmarks and even managed a livable pace when it ran out of secondary cache—about three times what its predecessor, the 660p, managed. Now if the company could just explain the unusually low TBW ratings, we'd be all good.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Mar 01, 2021
Create stronger, more secure passwords: We are nagged to do it all the time, but few of us actually make the effort. Meanwhile, passwords continue to be stolen, leaked, and cracked on a regular basis. So this time we're hoping to get your attention by looking at it from the attacker's side! We'll show you how passwords are cracked and even how to do it yourself, so you can see exactly why a strong password matters.
As our brief foray with a cracking tool will show you, your only protection against a determined password-cracker is—you guessed it—a long, complex string of 10 or more characters. Anything shorter, let alone simpler, is too easy to crack. Know that, and suddenly using a password manager looks a lot easier than trying to create passwords all by yourself.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 27, 2021
It's hard to tell the difference between the new M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, so we've broken them all down for you.
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Feb 26, 2021
An upgradeable laptop has long been the Holy Grail of laptop features. And much like the famed Grail, it's never been found.
Many have tried and all have failed. The most recent attempt was Alienware's Area 51m R1, which launched with lofty goals but ultimately never offered meaningful upgrades.
Enter Framework, which pledges to finally bring the Holy Grail home to Camelot with a modular, do-it-yourself and upgradeable laptop. Being a witness to all of the prior quest failures, well, we have our doubts. Many of them.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 26, 2021
In this episode of The Full Nerd, Gordon Ung, Brad Chacos, and Adam Patrick Murray talk about new graphics cards you probably can't buy anytime soon.
Not that you'd probably want to at today's wildly inflated prices. We kick things off by talking about Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060, which launched this week. It ostensibly costs $330, and several custom models were revealed at that point, but most RTX 3060 graphics cards cost $470 or more at retail. Oof. We explain everything you need to know about this particular GPU and the bleak state of the graphics card market.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 26, 2021
Editor's Note: PCWorld originally published this story in 2014. This year, 2021, marks the 25th anniversary of Charles O'Rear's iconic photo in 1996, which became the basis of the Windows XP desktop wallpaper. The vineyards are still there today.
It's not too far-fetched to believe that a billion people have viewed the "Bliss" image that defines the desktop view of Windows XP, the seminal OS that Microsoft is retiring Tuesday. But you'd barely notice the real-world "Bliss" scene if you stepped out of your car and gazed at it today.
Driving anywhere in California's wine country can be treacherous. Roads curve back and forth, well, drunkenly. Bicyclists are common, and the next bend could hide an entrance to one of Napa's finest wineries, a tour group jaywalking across the road, or even a couple on horseback, exploring the area.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 26, 2021
Over the past couple of months I've been gaming with an eGPU enclosure that had Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3080 stuffed inside of it. While the limitations of Thunderbolt 3 are well documented, I was curious to see just how limited that monster card would be in such a setup. In the above video you can check out the results from over 10 of the hottest games of the past year, including Cyberpunk 2077 and Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020).
Getting the whole system up and running required a bit of work due to the power requirements of the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming GPU and its trio of 8-pin power connections. I had to hook up a separate power supply to juice the card! Once it was up and running it worked great--it just looked silly.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 26, 2021
Impeccable sonic goodness in an itty-bitty box.
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Feb 26, 2021
Watching Fry's Electronics finally shut down this week was truly the end of an era for me.
When I was younger, I'd cobble together a PC by combing through ads placed in the local computer weekly newspaper (yes, they had those) and driving to some non-descript industrial building in Silicon Valley.
After getting the stink-eye from the person eating lunch in the lobby, I'd leave with some ISA sound card or motherboard. It felt more like I was buying illegal fireworks than building a PC.
Fry's in its glory days
Fry's Electronics was truly glorious by comparison. With its big-box approach, bright lights, and endless aisles of components, printers, monitors, and software, along with soldering irons, heat shrink tubing and power supplies, Fry's made PC building a legit lifestyle worthy of being out in public.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 26, 2021
Watching Fry's Electronics finally shut down this week was truly the end of an era for me.
When I was younger, I'd cobble together a PC by combing through ads placed in the local computer weekly newspaper (yes, they had those) and driving to some non-descript industrial building in Silicon Valley.
After getting the stink-eye from the person eating lunch in the lobby, I'd leave with some ISA sound card or motherboard. It felt more like I was buying illegal fireworks than building a PC.
Fry's in its glory days
Fry's Electronics was truly glorious by comparison. With its big-box approach, bright lights, and endless aisles of components, printers, monitors, and software, along with soldering irons, heat shrink tubing and power supplies, Fry's made PC building a legit lifestyle worthy of being out in public.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 25, 2021
Learn how to set up the Terminal in macOS so you can install and run smartmontools, a utility that provides data on the health of your SSD.
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Feb 25, 2021
Nvidia's next-gen "Ampere" GPU architecture finally goes mainstream today with the launch of the $329 GeForce RTX 3060. Normally, the release of Nvidia's 60-class graphics cards spark a lot of excitement. They tend to be the best-selling card of a GeForce generation. This time around, graphics cards are mired in a months-long shortage driven by a mixture of sky-high demand, logistics woes caused by the pandemic, a cryptocurrency boom that's driving miners to gobble up GPUs, and some component shortages. It's a perfect storm, and things are so bad that Nvidia brought the ancient GTX 1050 Ti out of retirement.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 25, 2021
At a time when version updates are becoming less of an issue and major phone makers are finally beginning to guarantee years of updates, Google might have found a way to end Android fragmentation once and for all: by turning it into a service.
The signs are there. On February 11, Google announced that several "Pixel-first" features in Google Photos—Portrait Blur, Portrait Light, and Color Pop—won't actually be coming to all Android phones as expected. Instead, Google is offering them as a benefit to Google One subscribers, effectively putting them behind a paywall along with what Google calls "other new machine learning-powered effects."
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 25, 2021
Installing an M.2 or SATA SSD in your desktop is an essential part of every PC build, or an easy upgrade to make your PC feel faster. Luckily, installing an SSD is easier than finding the best one (we have a roundup for that!) or even understanding how they work. I'm not going to cover any of that here, but I'll walk through installing both kinds.
The steps below should apply to almost any model. I'll start with the M.2 SSD because it's a bit more tricky to install, and there are some things to research before you do it. Click this link to jump to the section on SATA SSDs.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 25, 2021
These planar ribbon headphones sound fantastic, especially in the sub-bass region, but they could use more padding on the headband.
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Feb 25, 2021
Does your streaming video get too loud or too quiet? Here's why, and what you can do about it.
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Feb 24, 2021
The dogpile of new laptop technologies—AMD's Ryzen 5000 and Intel's Tiger Lake CPUs, plus Nvidia's RTX 30-series mobile GPUs—are leading to a welcome rain of faster, better portable PCs, the latest of which we've just started reviewing. It's still a tight market, as pandemic-fueled sales remain strong. But if you yearn for the latest and greatest, this is your time. Keep reading for the latest news and reviews. (Psst: We also have a list of the first laptops available with RTX 30-series.)
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 24, 2021
There are great laptops available now (as pandemic-fueled sales remain strong), and you can see our tested favorites below. But if you yearn for the latest and greatest, check out our news and reviews of laptops with AMD's Ryzen 5000 and Intel's Tiger Lake CPUs, and Nvidia RTX 30-series mobile GPUs. (Psst: We also have a list of the first laptops available with RTX 30-series.)
Here are the latest news and reviews, along with our top picks below.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 24, 2021
Facing a headwind of short supply and customer frustration, AMD will debut its latest Radeon RX 6000 graphics card to dejected and beaten-down gamers next week.
The company announced via Twitter to save the date for March 3 at 8 a.m. PST to see "Where gaming begins: EP. 3." The company also included an image of a full-size dual-fan GPU, which many expect will be a lower-cost Radeon RX 6700 XT built on its Navi architecture.
The card will likely go head-to-head with Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060, which is expected to hit the streets soon as well.
While AMD Radeon and Nvidia GeForce announcements were once met with excitement by gamers, more recently they have been punctuated with groans, face-palm memes, and pure exasperation.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 24, 2021
Intel's 11th gen Rocket Lake-S is still sitting on the launch pad, but the company isn't wasting any time in promoting it. On Tuesday, Intel teased storage performance results that show a Rocket Lake-S outperforming a Ryzen 9 5950X by 11 percent.
The results were tweeted by Intel's Ryan Shrout, who works as Intel's Chief Performance Strategist. You can see the 11 percent delta below.
Intel
Intel says the upcoming 11th gen Core i9 will outperform AMD's Ryzen 9 5950X in PCMark 10's storage test of PCIe 4.0 storage.
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Feb 24, 2021
HP is already one of the top PC vendors in the world, but now it wants to become a big player in the devices you plug into your PC as well. On Wednesday, the company announced that it is buying the HyperX brand of gaming peripherals from Kingston for $425 million.
HyperX crafts a wide array of PC accessories, including our favorite overall gaming headset, the HyperX Cloud Alpha. The company also creates gaming-focused keyboards, mice, microphones, earbuds, and even Qi wireless chargers. We've reviewed many HyperX keyboards and headsets over the years and they're ranged from good to great. They'll be a good fit for HP, which has offered its own peripherals in the past (like the radical, ear-chilling Mindframe headset) but seemingly hasn't struck gold with its in-house gear. HyperX's peripherals will be a no-brainer upgrade to offer alongside prebuilt HP systems and gamer-grade Omen desktops.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 24, 2021
If M1 Macs are performing too many writes on the SSD, that could lead to drive problems down the road.
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Feb 24, 2021
Fry's, one of the last dedicated electronics retailers in the U.S. and a once-beloved institution on the west coast, permanently closed its doors late Tuesday night. Its Twitter feed is set to private, its Facebook page is gone, and the Fry's website itself has been replaced by an announcement of the closure, along with information on where past customers can find help going forward.
"After nearly 36 years in business as the one-stop-shop and online resource for high-tech professionals across nine states and 31 stores, Fry's Electronics, Inc., has made the difficult decision to shut down its operations and close its business permanently as a result of changes in the retail industry and the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic," the website now reads.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 24, 2021
The "Premium only" error that Spotify Free users saw while trying to cast music to Google Assistant-powered speakers was just a bug, Spotify says.
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Feb 24, 2021
When I reviewed Roon at its launch, back in 2015, I called it "must-have software for hardcore music fans." I stand by that characterization, although in retrospect, I shouldn't have restricted its appeal to the hardcore. Anyone who derives deep enjoyment from music will reap tremendous benefits from this one-of-a-kind—albeit incredibly complex—software.
That said, if you don't consider music essential to life, you'll probably have difficulty justifying the cost of a Roon license and the relatively steep hardware requirements you'll need to run it. In addition to the client software that you'll run on a smartphone, tablet, or personal computer, you'll need to run server software (the Roon Core) on some other computer on your home network. Developer Roon Labs recommends the server have a least an Intel Core i3 (Ivy Bridge architecture or later) CPU, and it strongly recommends that the Roon database be installed on an SSD.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 24, 2021
If you ever wanted to change your appearance in a Zoom call without having to download plug-ins like a Zoom camera, you're in luck. Zoom now has its own ways of changing your appearance into a pirate or a cat, right within the application, as part of its new Video Filters and Studio Effects.
The new filters add the ability to surround yourself with a custom video frame using a Video Filter, or overlay the ‘Deal with It' sunglasses on your eyes. The Studio Effects (Beta) tool is designed more to add to your appearance, with fake lipstick, mustaches, and a beard. Both are fun, and more than a little weird.
Here's how to launch both. (Note that if you're accessing Zoom via a university, or via a call that someone else administers, these options may not be available to you.)
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 24, 2021
The Acer Swift 3X builds upon an already-strong foundation by adding a dash of Intel's special sauce.
Our review of last year's Intel-based Acer Swift 3 was torn. "How do you rate a laptop that you really enjoyed using, yet whose performance is otherwise disappointingly weak?" we mused at the beginning. The eminently portable Swift 3 ticked all the boxes that made for a great notebook but lagged far behind its rivals in raw horsepower.
Enter the Acer Swift 3X. Moving from Intel's 10th-gen Core processors to the latest 11th-gen Tiger Lake offerings alone provides a significant speed boost, but the ‘X' in the name hints at the true star of this show. The Swift 3X is the first Acer laptop with Intel's new Iris Xe Max discrete graphics chip inside, complete with "Deep Link" software tricks that lets it join forces—sometimes—with Tiger Lake's integrated Xe graphics to boost performance in productivity tasks. It's also the first Intel Iris Xe Max laptop to cross our test bench.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 23, 2021
If M1 Macs are performing too many writes on the SSD, that could lead to drive problems down the road.
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Feb 23, 2021
Google said Tuesday that it's beginning to roll out Schedule Send, a way for you to schedule texts in Android Messages in much the same way you might schedule an email.
Schedule Send is one of several new features Google announced for Android, along with Password Checkup, an improved dark mode for Google Maps, and a few enhancements to Android Auto and Google Assistant.
Google designed the new Schedule Send feature to be simple to use—it's certainly simple to explain. To trigger it, all you'll need to do is long-press the Send button in Messages. That will open up the scheduling menu, and you'll be able to pick a date and time to send your message. You'll need an updated version of Messages to enable this, as well as a phone running Android 9 and above.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 23, 2021
Google said Tuesday that it's ensuring that password security straddles both your phone, your PC, and your Chromebook. The company is bringing Password Checkup, a feature it introduced to Chrome in 2019, to Android.
Password Checkup simply ensures that a password you either pick or are currently using hasn't been exposed in a password breach. Every year or so password files at major sites are breached and leaked to the web. Knowing if your password has been stolen and compromised is a significant part of maintaining your online security.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 23, 2021
Android updates might be the butt of many a joke, but Samsung is working hard to make sure it's no laughing matter for Galaxy owners. Just months after promising most new Galaxy phones would be receiving three generations of Android version updates, Samsung today vowed to deliver four years of security updates to nearly every Galaxy phone made since 2019.
That's an impressive promise for a phone company that, just a year ago, wasn't guaranteeing anything in terms of updates. Most new phone purchases were good for a year or two of updates, but only the Pixel, which is made by Google, and Android One-based phones were on the record about how long you would be receiving updates.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 23, 2021
Fitbit is launching a new Mindful Method series featuring sessions from Deepak Chopra as part of its Premium subscription.
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Feb 23, 2021
Lenovo's new ThinkPad lineup is downright trendy, offering both the latest in display technology as well as a choice between Intel's 11th-gen Core or AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs. Announced Tuesday, the various laptops in the lineup will roll out at different times over the coming months, as detailed below.
The most noticeable change will be in the display for the ThinkPad X13 clamshell and Yoga (360-degree convertible) models: Both variations will have screens with an aspect ratio of 16:10. Taller aspect ratios like 16:10, 4:3, and 3:2 are believed to be a better fit for productivity work than wider ratios like 16:9, which has been the dominant option for many years.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 23, 2021
Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system is constantly being updated, with major feature drops such as the Windows 10 October 2020 Update, plus smaller enhancements to new, built-in apps. Meanwhile, new builds are being tested as part of the Windows Insider updates.
We've built this guide to present you with the most recent Windows 10 review, notify you about new Windows 10 Insider (beta) news, and list a number of new tips, tricks, and other hints to help you get the most out of Windows 10. Bookmark this guide and check back, as we'll be updating it with new information as it comes in.
In this update, we've added new information about Windows 10 21H1, the end of the old Edge browser, and updates to our best Windows antivirus solutions.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 23, 2021
Android 11 makes numerous changes throughout the OS, including some tweaks to system navigation. Starting in Android 11, almost all devices will default to Google's new gesture navigation, which might take a little adjustment on your part. There are a few ways you can make navigation on Android 11 more to your liking in just a few taps.
The quick-switch gesture
Ryan Whitwam/IDG
Android 11's quick-switch gesture lets you swipe quickly between apps without going to the overview screen.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 23, 2021
The luxurious HP Spectre x360 14 is back with some new bling—Intel's Tiger Lake CPU. The results are as impressive as we'd hoped, with some of the fastest multi-core benchmark scores we've ever seen.
The features spoil you as much as the speed. With its roomy display, powerful graphics, and exceptional battery life, the Spectre x360 14 will please productivity mavens and content creators alike. Facial and fingerprint recognition, a physical camera shutter, and a Thunderbolt 4 port round out the perks.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 23, 2021
Just because you have an aging TV that lacks HDMI ports doesn't mean you can't upgrade its audio with a soundbar.
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Feb 22, 2021
Microsoft will add predictive typing, also known as text prediction, to Microsoft Word beginning in March.
As Neowin noted, the feature has been added to the Microsoft 365 public roadmap and is due to arrive next month. Microsoft rolled out text predictions for Outlook for the web last November, and is in the process of rolling them out for Outlook for Android this month. This new feature does seem to be tied to Microsoft 365, though, and it's not clear whether it will be part of the newly announced Office 2021.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 22, 2021
No internet? You'll still have new videos to watch thanks to Netflix's "Downloads For You" feature.
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Feb 22, 2021
Security researcher Red Canary has discovered a new malware target at Macs running both Intel and M1 chips but there's a twist: It doesn't actually do anything.
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Feb 22, 2021
The laser navigation and cleaning customization features show promise, but this robot vac's inconsistent performance and fussy app keep it from fulfilling its potential.
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Feb 22, 2021
Some of the greatest features in Photoshop are the text, object, and image effects such as Textures, Patterns, Gradients, and Styles.
Styles are those amazing special effects that you see rolling across the screen on movie titles and popping off book covers, posters, and billboards. They are made from textures and gradients, in addition to text, shapes, photos, illustrations, and other objects, plus loads of colors and special effects. Styles make text and objects beautiful, chilling, outrageous, fantastic, and even scary.
Check out these book covers I created for several published authors. You can do this, too. Let's dive in and create some awesome textures, patterns, and gradients.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 22, 2021
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is a new kind of value proposition from Samsung. It's not just bigger than the lower-end models with a better camera, like last year's Ultra. You're also getting a much better screen, Wi-Fi 6E, S Pen support, and way more RAM. Whether you need those things is still up for debate, but if you want them, the S21 Ultra is well worth the upgrade from the S20 Ultra or the $200 step-up from the S21 .
Michael Simon/IDG
The Galaxy S21 Ultra has Samsung's best display ever.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 19, 2021
The SSUPD Meshlicious delivers just about as much mesh as you'd expect from its name. This 14L mini-ITX case sports three panels of metal mesh, with a fourth tempered-glass panel that lets you show off your graphics card. Or you can choose to show off your CPU and power supply instead, as the panels are easily swappable—and can also be purchased separately to get the exact look you want. But for now, this model as described is the first one to launch from Lian Li's new sub-brand.
We went hands-on with it, and as you'll see in the video above, you can configure the Meshlicious in a number of ways. It's compatible with ATX power supplies and full-length graphics cards, and you have the option of two different styles for GPU mounting. Overall, this SFF case has a lot going for it, though its quirks make working in it less than straightforward and thus a little more complicated for folks new to sub-20L builds.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 19, 2021
Microsoft has announced plans to release a consumer version of Office 2021, a standalone version of Microsoft 365 that will have some, but not all of the features of Microsoft's perpetually-updating cloud productivity service. This may be the first standalone version of Office to ship with Microsoft Teams as a standard feature.
Microsoft will release Office 2021 for personal and small business users "later this year," Microsoft said in a blog post late on Thursday. Microsoft said it did not plan to change the prices for this new release, meaning that the cheapest version of Office 2021 will be $150, the price Microsoft charges for
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Feb 19, 2021
In this episode of The Full Nerd, Gordon Ung, Brad Chacos, and Adam Patrick Murray talk about hot topics on the tongues of enthusiasts this week.
First up: Are AMD Ryzen 5000 desktop chips failing at a high rate? That was the concern after system builder PowerGPU claimed as much in a since-deleted tweet. Our investigation reality-checking the Ryzen claims suggests you have nothing to worry about if you're looking to buy one, but tune in to hear our deeper thoughts.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 19, 2021
Owlcam 5.0 is the premium dash cam that's ready to move forward from a troubled past. Announced Friday and available for preorder (due to ship March 19), it reboots a promising product that nearly died when its originator, startup Owl Cameras Inc., untidily dissolved about a year ago. Enterprise IoT firm Xirgo Technologies acquired the assets and forged a partnership with yet another company, CallPass, to revive the consumer Owlcam business. After further delays due to supply shortages, Owlcam 5.0 is finally ready to fly.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 19, 2021
Q: Should I still buy Intel CPUs? Seems like most recommended DIY builds use AMD parts nowadays.
A: AMD may have claimed many hearts in the DIY community, but Intel still brings plenty to the table—so the answer to your question really depends on your needs, what's available in your area, and what you can buy at a reasonable price.
Content creators benefit more from going with AMD, as its high-end chips offer more cores to work with. Same for enthusiasts seeking no-compromises performance, as the company's new Ryzen 5000 series tops the charts in both gaming and multithreaded tasks. And prior to the pandemic, people on a budget could rely on AMD for affordability, especially those interested in doing later CPU upgrades without having to replace their existing motherboard.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 19, 2021
Nanoleaf's smart LED lightstrip comes loaded with promise, although you'll need a HomePod Mini to unlock its full potential.
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Feb 19, 2021
Gigabyte's Aorus 17G gaming laptop, with its high-end parts and sharp-angled design, looks like it should be loud, but it's not. It's amazingly quiet, actually.
How quiet? On its default fan profile we registered the laptop at barely 38 dB. That's barely louder than the background noise of our office in the daytime. Cars driving by on the street registered more noise than the Aorus 17G looping a graphically intense stress test. We've heard ultraportable laptops produce more noise under a load than the Aorus 17G does while gaming.
It may spoil your fun a bit to know that Gigabyte achieved this feat by taking the RTX 3080 mobile GPU down a notch in performance. If you always want the ultimate gaming machine, you'll invest in a good pair of gaming headphones and put up with a shrieking hair dryer shaped like a laptop. But if you wished gaming laptops weren't so loud, the Aorus 17G grants your wish with a modest tradeoff.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 19, 2021
The company's first wireless headphone sounds and feels great, but it has no ANC or passive noise isolation.
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Feb 18, 2021
Antivirus software is nearly as crucial as a PC's operating system. Even if you're well aware of potential threats and practice extreme caution, some threats just can't be prevented without the extra help of an AV program—or a full antivirus suite.
You could, for example, visit a website that unintentionally displays malicious ads. Or accidentally click on a phishing email (it happens!). Or get stung by a zero-day threat, where an undisclosed bug in Windows, your browser, or an installed program gives hackers entry to your system.
We're not suggesting that PC security software is fool-proof. Antivirus software often can't do much to stop zero-day exploits, for example. But it can detect when the undisclosed vulnerability is used to install other nasty bits, like ransomware, on your machine. Anyone who actively uses email, clicks on links, and downloads programs will benefit from an antivirus suite.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 18, 2021
"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 Cyberpunk 2077 and get right to playing.
Gaming GPU cheat sheet
Our quick-hit recommendations:
Best budget GPU: GeForce GTX 1650 Super [amazon.com]
Best 1080p GPU: GeForce GTX 1660 Super [newegg.com]
Best 1440p GPU: GeForce RTX 3060 Ti [bestbuy.com]
Best 4K GPU: GeForce RTX 3080Remove non-product link [bestbuy.com]
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Feb 18, 2021
We are terrible at passwords. We suck at creating them (the top two most popular remain "123456" and "password"), we share them way too freely, and we forget them all the time. Indeed, the very thing that can ensure our online security has become our biggest obstacle to it. This is what makes a good password manager essential.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 18, 2021
If you're a Surface tablet owner or simply someone who prefers inking over a keyboard, you may be searching for an app that prioritizes the pen. For that, there's a new Microsoft app: Journal.
Journal matters for two reasons. One, Microsoft is trying to offer everything pen and paper does, plus more. And second, Microsoft tends to migrate features—or gestures in this case—it develops inside individual apps to the greater Windows and app environment. It's possible that Journal represents some future version of Windows.
Technically, Microsoft Journal is part of the Microsoft Garage, an app incubator that sometimes (but not always) produces a full-fledged application. Journal's noteworthy because Microsoft designed it as an ink-first application. In reality, that means eliminating certain conventions: erasing e-ink by flipping the pen over or pressing a button, for example. Journal's UI is also page-based. Finally, Journal "looks" at what you write, tries to figure out what it is you're inking, and offers suggestions to manipulate that text.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 18, 2021
For months now, it's been damned near impossible to find a graphics card—even a used one—at a sane price. I won't get into the laundry list of reasons, but the recent Ethereum cryptocurrency boom has poured gasoline on the problem. It's so bad that the five-year-old GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is being called in as backup. But today, a week before the launch of the mainstream-priced GeForce RTX 3060, Nvidia outlined steps it's taking to keep GeForce GPUs in the hands of gamers, while still keeping miners supplied.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 18, 2021
For months now, it's been damned near impossible to find a graphics card—even a used one—at a sane price. I won't get into the laundry list of reasons, but the recent Ethereum cryptocurrency boom has poured gasoline on the problem. It's so bad that the five-year-old GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is being called in as backup. But today, a week before the launch of the mainstream-priced GeForce RTX 3060, Nvidia outlined steps it's taking to keep GeForce GPUs in the hands of gamers, while still keeping miners supplied.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 18, 2021
Nothing says security and trust like German quality. At least that's the pitch for Germany-based G Data. The company's tag line is "Trust in German Sicherheit (safety)." The idea being that modern Germany is known for "solid German quality" and strict privacy laws, which G Data must adhere to, thereby shielding its customers from malware and privacy-busting breaches.
Besides the German-ness, G Data has a long history in antivirus protection, and its current AV product relies on not one, but two detection engines (Bitdefender and an in-house engine).
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 18, 2021
Are Ryzen 5000 chips failing? We looked into the original story and the issues around quality control at system vendors, and the problem may not be as bad as it initially appeared. Read on to learn more.
The kerfuffle kicked off on Sunday, when system builder PowerGPU Tweeted to its 222,000 followers: "The failure on the new AMD CPUs are still too high." The company said that of the 320 Ryzen 5000-series CPUs it had received, 19 were "DOA" (dead on arrival), an eyebrow-raising six-percent failure rate. The company also said it had seen three to five failing B550- and X570-based motherboards a week.
HotHardware's Paul Lilly initially covered the tweet, which became even more controversial when PowerGPU deleted the Tweet on Monday. PowerGPU then tweeted that "We just had a chat with AMD. We are going to work together testing out some CPUs and motherboards."
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 18, 2021
Amazon's new Fire TV experience: What works, what doesn't, and when you'll get it.
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Feb 18, 2021
Excellent navigation and solid cleaning performance make this household helper a great value.
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Feb 17, 2021
Microsoft announced the next feature release of Windows 10, Windows 10 21H1, on Wednesday afternoon, with just a single feature. Okay, maybe two.
No one quite expected Microsoft to release a major Windows 10 feature update in the spring of 2021, given the the work Microsoft has been putting into the forthcoming Windows 10X. Still, no one probably expected this: just two consumer-facing features, with only one of them something that a typical user might do. The rest is bug fixes.
In a blog post, John Cable, Microsoft's vice president of program management, listed the new features inside Windows 10 21H1:
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 17, 2021
Consumers snapped up Chromebooks in 2020, enough so that Google's Chrome OS is now the second most popular operating system in the PC space—easily surpassing Apple's Mac OS.
Data from both IDC and Strategy Analytics independently confirmed that trend. SA reported that Chromebooks outsold MacBooks during 2020 and especially during the fourth quarter. Research firm IDC (Disclosure: IDC and PCWorld are owned by the same parent company), which included desktops in its analysis, reported similar findings. A third analyst firm, Canalys, compiled data showing that total worldwide Chromebook shipments nearly quadrupled in 2020 to 11.2 million units, compared to just 2.9 million in 2019. SA's data is shown below.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 17, 2021
Parents, teachers, and students using Google Classroom and Google Meet for their distance learning have some key changes in store: an improved means to upload pictures of homework, Meet transcripts, a "mute all" feature, and an end to Google's unlimited storage policy. Even the name is changing.
What was once referred to as Google's G Suite for Education is now being renamed Google Workspace for Education. The basic tier—with Classroom, Meet, Gmail, Calendar, Sheets, Drive, Docs, and more—will remain free, but will now be referred to as Google Workspace for Fundamentals. There are also paid options: Google Workspace for Education Standard, Google Workspace for Education Plus, and something called The Teaching and Learning Upgrade—a labyrinth of names and prices that education admins will need to study and budget for.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 17, 2021
Amazon has launched a Kickstarter-like program to gauge interest in niche Alexa concepts starting with a cuckoo clock, nutrition scale, and sticky note printer.
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Feb 17, 2021
Tax filing season is here again and, apparently, not "resting quietly at home" due to COVID-19. Disappointing as that is, beginning February 12, 2021, the IRS is accepting e-filed tax returns. So at least you can file without having to leave the house.
Word has it there's another stimulus check on the way, but what you may not know is that due to regulations associated with this stimulus check, you may need to file a 2020 tax return if you haven't filed a tax return in prior years.
Thankfully, many tax filers are eligible for the IRS' Free File program, which lets you file taxes online for free—thanks to a public-private partnership between the IRS and online tax services that's been available for a couple of years now. There are a couple of eligibility requirements, but for the most part, if you made $72,000 or less in 2020, you're likely to qualify to file your taxes for free.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 17, 2021
A new, smaller Move speaker could become a reality at a Sonos product event next month.
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Feb 17, 2021
You need a password manager. Data breaches are now commonplace, and that flood of stolen data has made cracking passwords even easier—and not just the "password12345" variety, but also those that use strategies like variations on a single password or substituting numbers for letters. Even if you're using unique, random passwords, storing them in a document or spreadsheet leaves you vulnerable to prying eyes.
While paid password managers offer nice extras, even a free password manager protects you from the risks of using weak passwords (or worse, using the same one everywhere). You just have to remember one password to access a single, secure place where all your other passwords are stored.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 17, 2021
Voice response is the key new feature of Alfred's second effort.
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Feb 16, 2021
It's pretty amazing how far dash cams have come in just a few short years. Aukey's 4K UHD DRS1 offers great 4K UHD/WDR day and night video captures, is easy to use, easy to install, and costs $120. Not long ago, a dash cam of that price would have delivered undersaturated day captures and weak night captures prone to headlight flare. Good riddance to the bad old days.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 16, 2021
It's pretty amazing how far dash cams have come in just a few short years. Aukey's 4K UHD DRS1 offers great 4K UHD/WDR day and night video captures, is easy to use, easy to install, and costs $120. Not long ago, a dash cam of that price would have delivered undersaturated day captures and weak night captures prone to headlight flare. Good riddance to the bad old days.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 16, 2021
Once I had the Jomise K7 Dash Cam up and running, I was impressed with the high quality of its video captures, and most especially its ease of use. I've never before described using a dash cam as fun, before, but I'm saying that about the K7.
Alas, having to connect to a phone to initialize the camera not only rubbed me the wrong way, it proved a bit finicky about phone compatibility. Why this strange requirement, when the rest of the dash cam's operation is phone-independent, I can't say. But it puts a huge crimp in what was otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Design and features
The K7 ($169.97 on Amazon) is married to a semi-permanent sticky mount, both solid and attractive, with full articulation on both axes. I used the word ‘married' on purpose—the camera doesn't detach from the mount. As it's also attached to the window via semi-permanent adhesive, once it's installed, you won't be removing it easily. That it sat in my convertible parked on a city street for several weeks without being stolen was a minor miracle.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 16, 2021
Sylvania is relatively new to the dash cam game, but the $140 Roadsight Pro ($140 on Amazon) is a pretty good place to start. Then again, I was predisposed upon installation to like it—it's one of the very few systems to feature an optional, removable rear camera ($50 on AmazonRemove non-product link). More on that later. Most people will be more interested in the stylish looks and very good captures.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 16, 2021
Microsoft plans to add a "Kids Mode" to the Microsoft Edge browser, with child-friendly themes and protected content, the company said on Tuesday.
In a somewhat unusual move, Microsoft didn't announce Kids Mode as a feature that will be shipping soon. In fact, Microsoft announced Kids Mode as entering the company's daily "Canary" builds, typically the home for brand-new, somewhat untested code. Kids Mode will then enter the "alpha" testing phase as part of Microsoft's "Dev" releases, then release as part of Edge's stable code sometime in the future. It's early enough that Microsoft hasn't yet shared any screenshots of Kids Mode in action.
Kids Mode will roll out as two related modes: one designed for kids 5 through 8, and another for pre-teens aged 9 through 12. In each, Microsoft will offer a variety of protections to allow kids an onramp onto the web with some guardrails against the web's less savory aspects.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 16, 2021
If you couldn't quite open your wallet far enough to buy a pair of Microsoft's pricey Surface Headphones, there's an alternative: the new Xbox Wireless Headset, available for consoles and PCs alike. It has a nifty little feature that should be useful both when fragging friends and taking a Teams or Zoom call, too.
The $99 Xbox Wireless HeadsetRemove non-product link is far cheaper than the $250 Surface Headphones 2
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Feb 16, 2021
Everyone should use a password manager, and LastPass is the best password manager around. One of its most appealing features is going away though. Currently, even free users can use the service on all their devices, but starting March 16, you'll be able to use it only on a single class of device (computer or mobile) at no cost. If you want to use Lastpass's saved passwords on your laptop and your phone, you'll need to pay up for a premium account.
It's a bummer to be sure, but not a shock. What's really surprising is that LastPass let free users log in on any device for as long as it has, given that being able to sync your login information across devices is the core feature of a password manager. Rival Dashlane limits free users to a single device, by comparison, and LastPass itself used to restrict free users to either computers or mobile devices—not both—before opening the flood gates to all in 2016. Now the company is returning to that model.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 16, 2021
Despite impressive suction specs, this stick vacuum struggled to to leave floors spotless.
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Feb 16, 2021
PC component availability stinks right now. Even worse are the prices of what is available. Scalpers aren't the only problem—rising costs for shipping and the expiration of U.S. tariff protections at the start of 2021 have lead to manufacturers and retail stores now charging a premium.
You need not spend months waiting out the storm or throw down ridiculous amounts of money, however. Provided you're willing to put in a little work, you can still get your hands on hot parts like Ryzen 5000 CPUs and almost any graphics card launched in...the last four years.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 16, 2021
Should I buy a Chromebook or a Windows laptop? Whether you're seeking out the best computer for your child or just weighing which inexpensive computer would make a great gift, we can help you choose the right one for the school year or a gift, too.
Our latest update includes a new gaming option for Chromebooks: Google Stadia. (Gaming on a Chromebook? Who knew?) We've also explained some of the options available to you to personalize your PC or Chromebook. Read on for our up-to-date buying recommendations and more.
Who should buy a Windows PC?
A notebook PC powered by Microsoft Windows offers several advantages. Windows offers the most flexibility to run just about any app, your choice of any browser, and configure antivirus options, utilities, and more. You can tweak and configure your PC as you choose.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 16, 2021
Caixun's model EC55S isn't a great 55-inch TV, but for the price, you get a pleasing picture with no real annoyances--and that's not a given in this price class.
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Feb 15, 2021
A new rumor claims that Apple will bring an always-on display to the next iPhone thanks to LPTO display technology.
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Feb 15, 2021
If you have an NZXT H1 case, stop using it, power it down, and request a repair kit. That's the latest guidance according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which issued a recall for the H1 case for fire hazard, along with NZXT and Health Canada.
The formal recall covers all CA-H16WR-W1 white cases and all CA-H16WR-B1 black cases sold in the United States and Canada. "Metal screws that attach the PCIe riser assembly to the chassis can cause a short in the printed circuit board and overheating, posing a fire hazard due to the circuit board's design," the CPSC recall said.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 15, 2021
iCloud Keychain is a handy free tool Apple has built into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS to
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Feb 15, 2021
By naming this Windows tablet the Surface Pro 7 , Microsoft mistakenly implies that it's some sort of minor upgrade from the Surface Pro 7. Nothing could be further from the truth: We rarely see such massive upgrades in CPU and GPU horsepower, as well as battery life. It also offers an LTE option and an absolutely dead-silent, fanless chassis.
Sure, a few decisions made us scratch our heads. Why do we have to choose between an integrated microSD slot or the LTE option? Thunderbolt still isn't here, either. But even these flaws really can't mar an exciting leap in performance. This is the best Surface Pro of several generations, and for the moment the best Windows tablet on the market, too.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 12, 2021
Google's making a play to turn Chromebooks into gaming platforms, stating this week that new Chromebooks will ship with the Google Stadia cloud gaming service pre-installed.
"Did you know Chromebooks now come with @GoogleStadia already installed?" the official "Made by Google" account tweeted this week. "Start playing games without waiting for downloads or updates. Click the Stadia icon in your app menu to get started."
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 12, 2021
Switching to a solid-state drive is the best upgrade you can make for your PC. These wondrous devices obliterate long boot times, speed up how fast your programs and games load, and generally makes your computer feel fast. But not all solid-state drives are created equal. The best SSDs offer solid performance at affordable prices—or, if price is no object, face-meltingly fast read and write speeds.
Many SSDs come in a 2.5-inch form factor and communicate with PCs via the same SATA ports used by traditional hard drives. But out on the bleeding-edge of NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) drives, you'll find tiny "gumstick" SSDs that fit in M.2 connections on modern motherboards, SSDs that sit on a PCIe adapter and slot into your motherboard like a graphics card or sound card, futuristic 3D Xpoint drives, and more. Picking the perfect SSD isn't as simple as it used to be.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 12, 2021
When Nvidia announced the $329 GeForce RTX 3060, the first mainstream graphics card in the company's new RTX 30-series family, it was saddled with an obscure "late February" launch date. Today, Nvidia dropped PCWorld a note stating that the card will hit the streets on February 25 at 9 a.m. Pacific time, just a hair under two weeks from now.
The $400 (well, theoretically) GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is an almost perfect 1440p graphics card but the cheaper RTX 3060 is a very different beast. It uses a new "GA106" graphics chip with 3,584 CUDA cores clocked at a 1.78GHz boost speed, paired with an ample 12GB of GDDR6 memory over a 192-bit bus.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 12, 2021
Here's a classic PC-building horror story: You need to access to your CPU and go to remove its cooler. But unbeknownst to you while you're extracting that cooler, your processor remains stuck to it and violently rips free from the motherboard socket. At best you're staring at a few lightly bent pins on either your CPU or motherboard, and at worst you've got broken pins and a shattered heart.
You can usually avoid this issue by following a few easy steps before unmounting CPU cooler, but accidents still happen. Enter Gelid's new CPU protection bracket for Ryzen processors. AMD's popular chips tend to be more susceptible to accidents during CPU cooler removal, so this $1.50 accessory adds an extra layer of insurance by physically restraining the CPU in its socket. In theory, after installing this bracket your Ryzen processor should remain in place when it would've been otherwise yanked free.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Feb 12, 2021
Q: When should I choose a console over a graphics card upgrade? I'm having a horrible time getting my hands on a new graphics card.
A: This very question can set off firestorms of debate among PC gamers. But sometimes, it does make sense to choose a console as an alternative—or at least, a short-term response to current component shortages.
Choosing a console works best for people who have a GPU so old or underpowered it can't play new blockbuster games, live in an area with spotty or slow internet connections, find Microsoft or Sony's catalogs of games satisfactory, and don't mind switching (or at least adapting) to a whole new ecosystem. You'll also need to be comfortable paying extra for access to online multiplayer, as applicable.
To read this article in full, please click here
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