Quick Links It’s never a great feeling when you suspect a PC component is failing, and it’s a particularly bad feeling if you suspect it’s the PSU. Here are some telltale signs your PSU is not long for this world. When In Doubt, Test Your PSU When there’s a pop sound and bunch of smoke wisps upward out of the back of your PC directly from the PSU fan exhaust, you don’t exactly need an advanced degree in the subject to deduce that your PSU is dead....
Quick Links Android phone in a bit of a lull? Before you give it a kick and toss, a small change here and some optimization over there can dramatically improve the speed, performance, and efficiency of your smartphone. I do this on my LG K41S every few months and they really do help, but only to a point. Eventually, you’ll need to upgrade an old phone to get better performance, but following these tips should delay that moment as long as possible....
A recent study by the BBC found major inaccuracies in the news answers provided by AI assistants. Researchers tested four well-known AI assistants—ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity—by allowing them to use the BBC website for their responses. The studyrevealed that those popular AI assistants often gave incorrect information and distorted the facts in their replies. A set of 100 questions was asked to AI assistants about different trending news topics. BBC journalists evaluated the answers based on seven criteria: accuracy, giving proper sources, being unbiased, distinguishing between opinion and fact, avoiding personal viewpoints, providing context, and including BBC content appropriately....
Late last week, we learned that Google Assistant is on borrowed time and will soon get replaced by Gemini on Android phones. And while Google said it’ll continue to invest in and improve Assistant, we recently learned that it’ll slowly start losing several key features. Yes, your Google Assistant is about to get worse, and this isn’t the first time. Google retired nearly 20 different Assistant features across Android, smart speakers, and smart displays early last year....
Quick Links A vital aspect of any music streaming app is the extent of collaboration that you can participate in. Making music a shared experience is always fun, and Spotify has many features that help you do this. 1Stay Social Spotify is beyond just music streaming. With features likeSpotify Wrappedthat are easy to share on social media platforms, you can get in touch with the exciting social aspect of music....
August has finally arrived, and it’s brought plenty of excellent deals along with it. Whether you’re looking to get a jump on your back-to-school shopping or simply looking to save big, you won’t want to miss out on these deals on the 2nd Gen Apple Watch SE, Acer’s Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop, wireless noise-cancelling headphones from Beats, and much more. Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) For $219 ($30 Off)—Best Price Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen, 40mm) From the same chip as the Series 8 to the lower price than its predecessor, the newestApple Watch SE (2nd Gen)has a lot going for it....
Summary There’s never been a greater variety of seriously cool PC cases and hardware inside of them. However, there’s one small detail that even the most discerning PC builder often forgets about, and that’s how you mount the GPU. I say every GPU should be mounted vertically, and here’s why. Graphics Cards Are Seriously Heavy Now GPU sagis a serious issue. It occurs when a graphics card is too heavy, causing it to droop over time....
Summary Fans and historians alike are actively working towards preserving console and PC games, but many mobile games are in immediate danger of disappearing altogether. Unfortunately, many have already been lost. Mobile Games Are Underappreciated Mobile game preservation is often overlooked, though it’s not difficult to understand why. Thousands of new mobile games are released on app stores every month, many of which arecheaply-produced shovelwareorshort-lived live service games. Even so, mobile games are worth preserving for a variety of reasons....
Summary Solid-state drives (SSDs) are an easy way to speed up old computers. For external storage, however, their faster transfer rates may not matter much against hard disk drives (HDDs). Here are a few factors to consider before deciding. SSDs (May) Satisfy the Need for Speed Thunderbolt4 ports go up to 5,000 GB/s, theoretically at least. USB offers a range of speeds, with the latest USB 4 specifications keeping up with Thunderbolt 4....
Quick Links Summary Wireless earbuds are more popular than ever, yet some people strongly oppose them. They hate the idea of charging or losing your earbuds, and they think that wired earbuds are more durable. If you share the same opinion, I have five reasons to convince you otherwise. 1. Wireless Earbuds Are Incredibly Convenient When my first pair of wireless earbuds broke, I immediately ordered a new pair. While waiting for the new earbuds to arrive, I resorted to my old Sony earbuds....
Google’s Gemini Live, the AI feature that lets people have natural conversations with its AI assistant, is rolling out to more people. Initially, the feature was only available for Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 users, but it will soon be available to all Android devices. The exclusivity of the update was to make sure that Google could test the features with a smaller group, gather feedback, and make improvements. The early response was very positive, so Google decided to speed up the rollout and release it to more people....
Google Chrome is currently experimenting with a feature called “process sharing.” This feature would help Chrome’s performance by allowing multiple tabs from the same website share a single renderer process, instead of each tab having its own dedicated process. Most web browsers use sandboxing to isolate different tabs and windows for improved security, but that comes with the disadvantage of increased memory usage. Google is now looking for ways to reuce that, at least for tabs with the same site open (which would presumably be less of a security issue)....
Generative AI has come a long way over the past few months, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Google had a rough start in the generative AI scene, but the newly-announced Gemini 2.0 family of models is changing that. Google has announcedGemini2.0, its most advanced AI model yet, though the release is staggered for now. Building on the success of Gemini 1.0 and 1.5, this new model boasts enhanced multimodal capabilities, including native image and audio output....
