I've been in the 3D printing hobby for a long time. Back then, you had a choice between industrial machines that cost more than your car or hacked-together machines built by hobbyists from assorted parts. MakerBot was making open-source printers housed in wood, which were more approachable as kits, and then the singularity hit. Josef Prusa iterated on several different designs, and the Prusa i3 was born. Built to open-source ideals, it was quickly copied by plenty of other companies, and the era of cheap 3D printing kits began.

Microsoft Windows includes a vast array of front-facing features. However, some features are hidden or not enabled by default, and I wish they were. When you get a new laptop or do a clean installation of Windows 11, you want the things you need readily available. You must install apps, transfer files, and set up everything. Unfortunately, many features aren’t ready to go. These may be features a beginner may not notice, but if you are a power user, you need them. Even if you aren’t skilled in the Windows environment, not having specific features can be confusing, so here are some things that I think should be ready.

The Persona series is one that has only seemed to increase in popularity as time has gone on. Persona 3 received a full-blown remake last year as Persona 3 Reload while Persona 4 and 5 were treated to an expansion of sorts in the form of Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal. Despite Persona 4's enhanced port for the Vita, it has been rumored for months that a remake of the iconic game was in development. A recent update to a website domain now heavily suggests these rumors to be true and that an announcement may be coming sooner than you think.

The consoles don't rage in the same way they used to. Each major gaming platform sticks to its own way of doing things. Sony sticks to exclusive titles, Microsoft works with multiple companies to deliver gaming experiences on all platforms, and Nintendo sticks to what it knows best: nostalgia. The only platform that has stuck out over the years is PC, and there is a reason many call it the master race. PC typically has some of the best games, including both triple-A and indie titles, as well as the power to play anything. Against all odds, Nintendo could actually compete with PC and truly stand a chance.

As a PC user, keeping the system temps low is always high on my priority list. I'm sure many of you have struggled with the obsession surrounding CPU temperatures despite the fact that they're within spec most of the time. Still, reducing the CPU and GPU temps inside your PC is never a bad thing, and many of us resort to adding extra fans or high-quality fans to improve airflow on our PCs.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the newest and hottest RPG on the block, brought to you by the small teams at Sandfall Interactive and Kepler Interactive. The surrealist adventurelaunched on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC on Thursday (April 24th), and early impressions of the game have been stellar so far.

Google Photos is a great tool for cataloging, storing, and viewing all your photos and videos. Using Google Drive, you have a good portion of the company's cloud infrastructure reserved for just your data, but it's not perfect. You will need to pay for an optional subscription should you wish to store more than the free tier allows. The best experience also requires Android since it's all baked in, much like Apple and iCloud, though Google is more open with its ecosystem. Then there's the whole privacy issue.

The Kuxiu S2 magnetically attached to the MagSafe-compatible case on my iPhone 15 Pro.Solid-state batteries are the future. They're more powerful, compact, safe, and sustainable than Lithium-ion alternatives, but true all-solid state batteries can't be mass-produced cost-effectively. That's why Kuxiu has gone semi-solid state for what it calls the "world's safest" power bank, while calling dibs on it being a world first.Kuxiu's $79.99 S2 Qi2 5000mAh MagSafe Solid-State Power Bank supports Qi2 for 15W wireless charging. And with a 5,000mAh (19Wh) capacity, it holds enough energy to easily charge the latest iPhone 16 models - with batteries ranging from 3,561mAh to 4,685mAh - from zero to full at least once. And despite using the truncated "solid state" in the S2 name and product page, the company confirmed to me that it's built around a semi-solid state battery and that distinction matters. I've been carrying the Kuxiu S2 for the past few weeks. While I didn't hammer, pierce, or tear the battery apart or expose it to fire like Kuxiu did, I can at least confirm that it otherwise works as expected."Solid state" ambiguityIt's not just you, the battery industry itself can't seem to agree on what qualifies as a solid-state battery. There's all-solid state, se …Read the full story at The Verge.

When I first started using Obsidian, it felt like a blank canvas. While its core functionality is robust, the true power of Obsidian lies in its incredible community-built plugins. These add-ons have transformed my barebone vaults into a highly customized and efficient personal knowledge management powerhouse.

A little while back, I covered how the Snipping Tool on Windows 11 was getting a new OCR feature. At the time of writing, it's still in the preview channel, so only those who opt into Windows beta builds can access it. However, it shouldn't be too long until it arrives on the release branch.

It's been a busy week for Alien: Earth's marketing team, having released three new teasers over the last few days. The longest of them - titled "Gestation Complete" - spends two whole minutes on the gestation and birth of an alien creature. Another, "Crate," gives hints that Earth could be facing more than just a xenomorph, the franchise's shiny, acid-spitting ancient aliens. Both teasers were released today, following a goofy nature documentary-themed Earth Day teaser earlier this week. "Gestation Complete" is worth sitting through if you were a fan of the look of the 1979 Alien movie that kicked off the franchise. After the creepy alien birth, you're treated to shots of the inside of the Weyland-Yutani ship that's carrying the alien, complete with the retro-future CRT-style displays and blinking buttons from the ship's Mother's chamber - the room housing the ship's AI computer system interface. On one of the displays, an ominous message reads: "NEW SPECIES DETECTED." The other, shorter trailer hints at what else the series might have in store, with a narrator speaking over footage of shadowy aliens behind foggy yellow containment module windows:This ship collected fiv …Read the full story at The Verge.

I've always been a proponent of building a PC ever since I built my first one over 15 years ago. You're in full control, you can almost always save money, and it's just more fun. However, custom PCs aren't for everyone, and this was especially true for my best friend when he finally decided to move to PC gaming this year. I could have easily built a custom rig for him when he handed me $1,500 and asked me to arrange a gaming PC for him. Considering the kind of guy he is, however, I realized a pre-built machine would work best for him. Plus, with the GPU market we're dealing with right now, pre-built PCs are more relevant than ever.