To say my gaming setup is outdated is an understatement. My build is filled with old PC components, some of which are almost a decade old. Meanwhile, the general appearance of my rig betrays the truth that it has been updated and expanded over time with mostly second-hand accessories and components.

Microsoft is famous for its groundbreaking products like Windows and Office, which set the standard and are preinstalled on the best laptops because of their capabilities. These and other Microsoft products, like the latest AI tools and Outlook, get all the attention, and it's easy to forget the ones that didn't do well for one reason or another.

Back in late 2023, Microsoft announced Python integration in Excel. Like many, I was skeptical at first and continued to rely on VBA and built-in Excel formulas for data analyses and visualization. However, after hearing whispers of its potential on the forums, I finally dove into the world of Python within Excel, and the combination far exceeded my expectations.

A mockup of the iPhone 17 Air from YouTube channel iDeviceHelp.Apple is expected to release its thinnest phone yet later this year with the iPhone 17 Air. Rumors have held that the phone will be thinner than the 6.9mm iPhone 6 was, but recent leaks give us a better idea than we’ve had before of what to expect.Rumors of the iPhone 17 Air’s dimensions have ranged over the last several months, but a recent one from leaker Ice Universe puts it at just 5.5mm thick, something that Ming-Chi Kuo predicted in January. Another analyst, Jeff Pu, said before that it would be more like 6mm. But where Kuo said the phone will have a 6.6-inch screen, Ice Universe says it’ll actually be 6.9 inches like the iPhone 17 Pro Max — they say both phones will have the same “length, width, screen size, and bezel” as the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Later, they posted a video showing an apparent render of the device.Exclusive: iPhone 17 Air will take my money away, which is very attractive and can be used as a great queen model. pic.twitter.com/hdctu3mtXr— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) March 7, 2025On Friday, YouTuber iDeviceHelp posted a video in collaboration with leaker Majin Bu, who published similar-looking renders last month. iDeviceHelp claims to be showing mockups of the standard, Pro Max, and Air models “based on internal documents.” The video lingers on the edge of the phone at moments, and I was immediately struck by how much seeing it reminded me of looking edge-on at the 5.1mm 13-inch M4 iPad Pro, the one Apple device thinner than this is rumored to be. It’s hard not to also notice the Google Pixel-like camera bar stretching left-to-right on the back of iDeviceHelp’s mockups of the iPhone 17 Air and Pro Max. It’s unclear whether the bar is functional or just Apple trying out some new aesthetic, but I welcome it all the same, if for no other reason than my iPhone 15 Pro is so dang floppy when laying on its back on my desk. iDeviceHelp demonstrated with the 17 Pro Max mockup that the bar seems to help there. But in both cases, the rear cameras themselves still stick up out of the bar, so it may not be perfect. Oh well, maybe next year.As for the rest of the design, these renders and mockups appear to show it with buttons in all the same places as current iPhones (not counting the iPhone 16E, which lacks the Camera Control button), along with a USB-C port and speaker holes on the bottom. The phone is also expected to have a Dynamic Island and Face ID on the front. We won’t likely know for sure how close the renders are until September, when Apple typically reveals its latest batch of flagship iPhones.

You're looking to flesh out your storage capacity and just checked your favorite online retailer for prices. After recovering from shock, one easily learns just how expensive this hobby can become, with drive prices reaching the thousands, depending on specs and storage type. It doesn't have to cost you a small fortune as there are some ways to save money without missing out on anything vital. Purchasing external enclosures with installed drives for "shucking" is one way, which involves extracting the drive and using it in a network-attached storage (NAS) device or server.

The PS5 version of Forza Horizon 5 will require you to link a Microsoft account to your PlayStation Network account in order to play the game, according to a FAQ on the game’s official website. The FAQ says that players will be prompted to link the two the first time they load the game. And if you unlink later, you “will be constrained to relinking to only that specific and originally linked” Microsoft account. The requirement stings given that there’s no cross-platform saving, so the progress you make in the PS5 version isn’t reflected in the Xbox version. It’s the same situation for the Steam version, as the FAQ points out. As the page also notes, Horizon 5 players will need a PlayStation Plus subscription to access the game’s multiplayer feature, and there are “no plans for a disc release.” When Forza Horizon 5 releases on the PS5 on April 29th, it will be the latest Xbox exclusive to make the leap to Sony’s console, joining games like Sea of Thieves, which also requires you to link a Microsoft account before you can play.Gamers haven’t been keen on required account linking when Sony has done it in the past. The company actually removed a requirement for you to sign in with your PSN account for some PC versions of some games, including Helldivers 2 and, more recently, God of War Ragnarök and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.

If you’re looking to breathe life into an older beloved game, there’s no better way to do so than by slapping on a VR headset and getting as immersed in the world as possible. While there are some incredible VR native games out there, you might find the selection to be a bit slim if there’s a classic game you’re looking for.

Microsoft confirmed that Skype will be closing its doors for good on May 5, with Microsoft Teams, one of the most popular collaboration tools, officially taking its place. With Microsoft Teams potentially getting a bigger audience, you'd expect it to expand its features. Interestingly, the complete opposite is happening. It's actually losing one, albeit a lesser-known one.

The second-generation Chromecast was a colorful delight.Reports are cropping up today that second-generation Chromecasts and music-streaming Chromecast Audio devices are failing, displaying an error on the device they’re trying to cast from that seems to imply the streamers may no longer be supported, reports 9to5Google.Text from screenshots of the error posted to Reddit reads, “Untrusted device” and continues, saying the device “couldn’t be verified. This could be caused by outdated device firmware.” Understandably, people are concerned that Google has decided to send the streaming pucks, both quite old now, to the Google graveyard. As 9to5Google points out, the company hasn’t said it is deprecating the two, as it did for the original Chromecast in 2023. At least one member of the Chromecast community says they have reached out to Google support and were told that the company is aware of the issue and is awaiting a fix. Google didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment.Google discontinued the Chromecast line in August last year but said that it was still offering “continued software and security updates to the latest devices.” If we are approaching the end of the line for the two devices being affected today, it would be a small bummer, especially when it comes to the Chromecast Audio. There are better alternatives to it these days, but none, I’d say, with quite as much charm as Google’s little vinyl record-shaped music streamer.

Deciding between SSDs and HDDs for your network-attached storage (NAS) can prove challenging if you're just starting out or are looking to do some upgrades. I've considered the move from HDDs to SSDs a few times now, but I always come back to the trusty mechanical hard drive. My reasoning involves costs, capacities, performance, and longevity (depending on workload). Here are some that prevent me from making the switch, though I'm sure I will do eventually.

The Start menu is an essential part of the Windows experience, but it's not always the most efficient and customizable. To counter this, Microsoft introduced a sleek and modernized Start menu in Windows 11, but not everyone is still a fan of the changes.

With Windows 10 support ending in October 2025, selecting your next operating system will be an important decision. However, switching to a new OS isn’t always smooth. It requires a learning curve and adjustments in workflow, and at times, you may need to deal with rival software to get the job done. While there is no shortage of Windows 10 alternatives, I highly recommend avoiding the options below.