As much as upstanding people like us love to take advantage of Black Friday sales, scammers love to take advantage of their desire to shop. Black Friday is an incredibly busy time for scammers, who are always looking to make a buck. This year, you’ll want to keep an eye out for these scams. 1Account Verification Scams Account verification scams are pretty common, and usually involve a scammer sending you a message via text oremail claiming that there was a suspicious login attempton some account of yours....

Quick Links There are numerous great video game accessories—flight sticks, steering wheels, VR headsets, and many more. However, for every awesome accessory there are ten that come across as just a little silly. While I could probably fill a book with them, these are some of the most (in)famous examples. 1The Nintendo/Mattel Power Glove Even if you have no idea what it’s all about, you’ve most likely seen the Power Glove....

Summary A smart lock makes it easy to unlock your door when you arrive home, but they offer a number of less obvious benefits too. This ranges from ensuring you may never be locked out to remotely granting access to visitors. How Do Smart Locks Work? A smart lock (generally) replaces an interior latch with a motorized version. In other cases, the motor unit fits over the top of the existing latch....

Read update Summary Google announced the Pixel 9a last week, but there was one very important bit of information left out: the release date. Rumors suggested a few possible technical issues were contributing to the delay. We finally have a solid release date for this super solid $499 phone, and it’s coming up soon. Typically, when a new phone is announced, at the very least, we will know when pre-orders begin....

Quick Links We’ve finally reached a point where drones are affordable. Still, enthusiasts insist that you need to spend $1,000 to buy anything decent—a drone of this price may be overkill for you, but frankly, some cheap drones are genuinely awful. So, when is a cheap drone worth the money, and how cheap can you go? This article specifically focuses on photo and video drones, which are highly stabilized and relatively slow....

Summary Apple recently released its highly anticipated iOS 18.4 update for iPhone users, which includes new emojis, AI goodies, priority notifications, and several changes to CarPlay. Unfortunately, those changes seem to be doing more harm than good, and we’re seeing several complaints that CarPlay is nearly unusable for some. The iOS 18.4 update was supposed to finallyfix some major CarPlay problems, especially for EV owners. The main CarPlay change is three rows of icons on the home screen, along with the ability to set a default navigation app in the EU instead of only Apple Maps....

Summary We’re just a few months away from the launch of Google’s next flagship phone, the Pixel 9. But if you want a great Google phone, you don’t need to wait for the next flagship—you’ll be just as happy with the $500 Pixel 8a. Pre-orders for the Pixel 8a beganon May 6th, with orders shipping on May 14th to line up with I/O 2024. You can find the phone at theGoogle Storeand most third-party retailers....

Duolingo is best known for helping you learn another language for free, whether you want to pick up a few keywords before a holiday or you’re aiming a little higher. Now, the company has announced the release of a piano to accompany the app’s recently added piano-learning capability. Withover 103 million monthly active users, it’s no surprise that Duolingo decided to expand its offering. Indeed, in October last year, the self-learning appintroduced a free music coursethat teaches people “music literacy, including reading and identifying notes and playing familiar songs” using the teaching style that Duolingo is famous for—“game-like exercises that keep you focused and engaged....

Alienware AW2725DM 27-inch Gaming Monitor The Alienware 27" Gaming Monitor has an QHD display with a 180Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time. Its IPS panel supports NVIDIA G-SYNC, AMD FreeSync, and VESA AdaptiveSync for tear-free visuals. The matte screen reduces glare, while DCI-P3 95% color coverage and VESA DisplayHDR 400 make sharp images. The Alienware 27" Gaming Monitor has hit an astonishingly low price, now available for just$189 on Amazon....

Quick Links Google released Android 16 on June 10th far earlier than anyone expected, and it’s packed with changes and countless new features. A similar update is coming soon for your OnePlus phone in the form of OxygenOS 16. With OnePlus busy releasing Android 16 betas, here’s what you need to know and what to expect. Thanks toAndroid 16’s earlier-than-usual arrival, other manufacturers are working hard to do the same for their users....

Summary If you happen to own both an iPad and a MacBook, you have one of the most potent mobile work setups on the market today. Thanks to the unique way Apple’s two lightweight gadgets work together, you might not need anything more when being productive on the go. A Portable Dual Screen System Like No Other It’s easy enough to buy a portable USB monitor andturn any laptop into a dual-screen system, but if you already have an iPad, you don’t actually need to do that....

Quick Links Whether you have a fancy Motorola Edge 40 Pro or a budget-friendly Moto G, you’re likely looking forward to the next version of Android. And while the Android 15 beta is in full swing after kicking off in February, the Motorola Android 15 update won’t start until later this year. Here’s what you need to know. Google delayed the initial Android 15 update from August until Q4, but it’s still expected to arrive for many phones in the coming months....

Summary For streaming your collection, Plex is an excellent tool, but it can do even more by acting as a middleman to your streaming services. It’s so handy that you’ll find yourself opening Plex more than the other apps. Quick Links How to Connect Streaming Services to Plex Searching For Content From Other Streaming Services Now, with your streaming services connected to Plex, open up the “Discover” tab. See the streaming services under “Your Selected Services?...