Data brokers are constantly harvesting your personal information, mostly without your consent. Your name, address, phone number, and more are all being bought and sold behind your back by marketers, scam artists, and brokers of all varieties. Removing your presence from the internet isn’t an easy process, nor is it a one-off event. Removing yourself from the internet is a constant struggle to remove your data as it’s collected in order to keep you safe....

Quick Links Summary To speed up your Steam downloads, ensure your internet connection is fast enough, turn off Steam’s download limiter, disable download throttling in the app, switch the app’s download region, quit other apps using your bandwidth, turn off metered connections on Windows, disable your VPN, or clear your Steam download cache. Is Steam downloading games at a slow speed on your computer? If so, here are some easy Steam app and computer tweaks to help speed up your downloads....

Electric cars and trucks are quickly gaining popularity on roads, job sites, or in luxury garages, and now they’re coming for your outdoor adventures. I’m talking about the all-new Jeep Recon 4xe, an electric SUV that could give the king-of-the-hill Wrangler a run for its money. Jeep has a storied history of making rugged and capable vehicles on and off the road, but will that legacy continue with the switch to electric motors?...

Quick Links The Amazon Kindle is one of the most popular e-readers, but there’s also the Kindle Kids. When it comes to Kindle vs. Kindle Kids, the latter is the better option for children because it comes with a bundle of features and perks tailored to young readers. Same Device, Different Package There areseveral different types of Kindle. But, at first glance, theKindle Kidsand the regular Amazon Kindle seem to be identical....

Microsoft Authenticator, a popular app for generating 2FA codes and storing passwords, has supported password autofill for years. However, that is all going by the wayside. Here’s how to save your passwords, and what you can use instead. Back Up Your Authenticator Passwords Before August Microsoft isn’t just removing autheticator’s ability to autofill passwords, it is completely removing its ability to even store them. Starting in August, passwords previously saved to Authenticator will only be accessible via your Microsoft account....

Available today for $200, theNook GlowLight 4 PluseReader combines modern features with big bezels and physical buttons. While competitors like Kindle and Kobo continue making their eReaders more complicated, Barnes & Noble’s Nook is sticking to an old-school design philosophy that’s very appealing, even if the pricing is a bit rough. Nook GlowLight 4 Plus previously opened topre-ordersin July of 2023. The Nook GlowLight 4 Plus features a 7.8-inch 300PPI display, which is larger than any previous Barnes & Noble eReader, and it has a higher resolution, too....

NVIDIA’s G-Assist chatbot, a context-aware in-game assistant that provides walkthroughs and graphics setting tweaks, can now interact with external services like Spotify through a new plugin system. It’s an odd idea, but it may be useful to those who don’t want to open a browser window while gaming. G-Assist is an eight-year oldApril Fool’s jokethatbecame a real piece of softwarein 2024. The sales pitch is pretty simple—instead of navigating away from your game to look up walkthroughs, tips, or other info, you can just pull up the G-Assist chatbot and ask it for guidance....

Quick Links Summary Switching between a gaming headset and the built-in speakers on a laptop is easy, but it can be trickier if you’re running a desktop PC. Easily switching between a headset and speakers is a key feature of NZXT’s Relay line of audio products, and theNZXT SwitchMixlies at the heart of the system. At first glance, it’s easy to look at the SwitchMix and see a simple headphone stand, but it’s much more....

One of my favorite gaming pastimes that has become more popular over time is base-building. The best games make you feel like an architect without limits and that’s why I love them. The lasting appeal of base-building in gaming lies in its sense of ownership and accomplishment. Ultimately, games that add base-building as a core mechanic rather than a superficial addition tend to offer the best experiences. 10Valheim Valheim’sbase-building system is unique because it includes physics that acts a lot like LEGO....

Quick Links If you want to try your hand at building a smart home, but you don’t want to research which smart home hub to use, I’ll save you the effort—go with Samsung SmartThings. Here’s why it’s the perfect base station, even if you use a Pixel smartphone and iPad. Samsung Has the Best Matter Support There are various competing standards that can make building a smart home feel like more effort than its worth....

Quick Links With each new release of One UI for Samsung phones and tablets, we get more personalization and customization options. Samsung’s new One UI 7 update (Android 15) has a lot to offer, and I love the new “Now Bar,” but it could be so much better. What Is the Now Bar on Galaxy Phones? We got our first glimpse of theNow Bar with the One UI 7 beta, and then it fully arrived with the Galaxy S25 series in February....

Microsoft has started testing a new combined game library in the Xbox PC app. This new feature lets users open games from different PC stores, like Steam and Battle.net, directly from the Xbox app. This is a big step toward making the Xbox app the central place for all PC gaming. This combined library is a big deal for PC gamers. For years, players have had to deal with a split-up system, needing multiple apps to open their games from different places....

Quick Links iPhones have seen several notable upgrades over the years, both on the hardware and software side of things. But even if you’re a long-time iPhone user, there’s a good chance you’re not aware of (or have ignored) some of its lesser-known features. From augmenting your device’s functionality and automating trivial actions to simplifying everyday tasks and improving the overall user experience, these iPhone features are a game-changer. Let’s check them out....