New Year’s resolutions can be difficult to stick to. Luckily, these handy tech ideas can help you stay focused on your goals. Renpho Smart Scale Need Help Keeping Your Resolutions? These Tech Gadgets Make Sticking With It Fun The road to success is paved with good intentions, and while good intentions are admirable, they’re not enough to guarantee the results we want. As 2024 draws to a close and we ponder the year ahead (after consuming our body weight in festive treats), many of us will look to make some positive lifestyle changes to feel healthier in 2025....

Quick Links Summary Debian Linux uses theAPT package managerwhich depends on a list of repositories to install packages. If you want to use software packages not included in the official Debian repositories, you’ll need to add them yourself. If you’re in that situation, this tutorial will show you how to add third-party repositories to your Debian system. We’ll be covering multiple methods here. you’re able to choose the one that seems most convenient to you....

You might think that booting a Linux live USB is the only way to test a distro out on your computer. There are actually several ways to try out a new Linux distro that are easier than booting to a USB. Here are three methods you may use to trial various Linux distros on your current computer. 3Virtual Machine Virtual machinesare a great way to test an operating system on your desktop....

Quick Links The photographer of the famous Windows XP desktop background landscape picture didn’t anticipate it becoming one of the most iconic Windows images of all time. This realization inspired me to look back through time at some of the designs that have adorned our screens. Windows 95 Anytime I see this teal color—with the hexadecimal code #00807F—it reminds me of the Windows 95 desktop background. While this choice of color might seem unpleasant and unimaginative by today’s standards, it offers a certain nostalgic vintage appeal that takes me back to the early days of the Windows desktop setup with those clunky PC units and monitors that were deeper than they were wide....

Summary Amazon Fire Tablets are an incredible deal just to get a tablet in your hands, but there’s no doubt that the Fire OS software holds them back. But now, it seems the company is finally ready to ditch its old ways and build a proper Android tablet. I say “proper” Android tablet because you may not recognize it, but Fire Tablets do actually run the same Android you find on a Samsung or Pixel tablet....

Summary TheApple Vision Prois the sleekest virtual reality headset ever, but Apple has higher ambitions for it than to be lumped in with VR as we’ve known it up until now. Apple is selling the Vision Pro as a new kind of computer that you work and interact with more intimately. And, frankly, right now, it needs to be a high-end computing product to justify its $3,499 starting price. When new devices introduce paradigm shifts in how we use them, it’s easy to get caught up in all the possibilities that come along with that....

Summary Mac gaming is better than ever, but is Mac gaming good enough to give that gaming PC a skip? Spoiler alert—no!However,that might not be true for long, and if you already have a modern Mac, you might not need to buy a gaming PC to supplement it. A (Brief) State of Mac Gaming So let’s recap where Mac gaming is right now as I write this: The long and short of it is that if you have a modern Apple Silicon Mac right now, there are hundreds if not thousands of native macOS games, and countless Windows titles that will run using solutions like Whiskey....

Crucial set out to do something impressive with itsX10 Portable SSD—make a drive that was tiny, rugged, and blazing fast. Somehow, they actually achieved all three. The drive is ultra-compact, hits 2,095MB/s read speeds, and is even IP65 rated, making this affordable SSD one of my favorites that I’ve ever used. Crucial X10 Portable SSD The Crucial X10 Portable SSD features read speeds of up to 2,100MB/s using its USB-C 3....

Quick Links Dark Sky was a popular weather app that was acquired by Apple and discontinued. iPhone users still kinda have Dark Sky functionality built into the stock Weather app, but what about Android? You just have to know where to look. What Happened to the Dark Sky Weather App? Apple acquired Dark Sky in 2020 and the iPhone and Android apps were subsequently shut down. While the iPhone (and iPad) Weather app isn’t a one-to-one replacement, it contains some of the “hyper-local” features that made Dark Sky so popular....

With the weight thatDell’s XPS lineupcarries, one expects greatness when a new model debuts. And, with its understated design, speedy processor, and phenomenal display, I’d say the2023 Dell XPS 15 (9530) laptopupholds the acclaimed title. Dell dubs its XPS 15 (9530) a “prosumer” laptop, and its latest XPS release is indeed a device of greatness. But like anything extraordinary, some specs are less than perfect, like the 720p integrated camera, the slightly uncomfortable build, and the lack of integrated USB-A ports....

Quick Links Whenever I’m watching a movie at home with a friend or girlfriend, I stare in astonishment as they get up and walk out of the room to grab a snack or go to the restroom. “Do you want me to pause it?” I ask. “Not necessary,” they respond. It doesn’t matter whether the movie is good or not. They could love it and yet can still traipse out of the room for several minutes without a care in the world, and then return to their seat without even asking what they missed....

Summary The worst part of some scams lies in their ability to disguise themselves as harmless tasks. But how do you spot them and protect yourself? Cybercriminals Are Tricking People Into Scamming Themselves When you think of a cybercriminal or a hacker, you may think of sophisticated hacking software being used to break into your accounts or a phisher (an email scammer) pretending to be the Prince of Nigeria. However, there are other ways that cybercriminals target victims—by getting them to scam themselves....

Summary TheEcovacs Deebot T30S Comborobot vacuum and mop sort of admits defeat by coming with a manual handheld vac. But I really like that it’s dealing in reality rather than fantasy since robots can’t climb stairs and they can’t get to certain areas. Most people will still need a secondary vacuum of some kind. So it might as well be part of the base station. In practice, the experience worked well enough, but the idea is spot on....