My digital toolkit was overflowing, but so was my monthly expenses sheet. I found myself trapped in a cycle of paying for several tools, many of which offered features I barely used. So, I decided to do some digital spring cleaning. What I discovered was a wealth of powerful, readily available software that not only matched but, in some cases, surpassed the capabilities of their paid counterparts.

Amazon’s smallest dish teased in 2023. | Image: AmazonThe first batch of 27 Project Kuiper space internet satellites are scheduled to launch next week. Amazon has secured 80 such launch missions that will each deliver dozens of satellites into low earth orbit (LEO) to create a constellation capable of competing with Elon Musk’s Starlink juggernaut. Amazon says it expects to begin offering high-speed, low-latency internet service “later this year.”The KA-01 mission satellites — short for Kuiper Atlas 1 — will launch on an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance. It’s currently scheduled for 12pm ET on Wednesday, April 9th, assuming weather and technology cooperate at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Amazon’s other Project Kuiper launch partners include Arianespace, Blue Origin, and yes, SpaceX.As a global service offering, Amazon’s space internet service will eventually be available from “virtually any location on the planet.” Users will need terminal antennas to tap into the satellite constellation. In 2023, Amazon said that its smallest dish, a seven-inch square design weighing just one pound, would offer speeds up to 100Mbps, making it a Starlink Mini alternative. Amazon will further compete with SpaceX by offering larger dishes for residential and enterprise use offering speeds up to 1Gbps. Amazon expects to produce the terminals “for less than $400 each,” which may or may not be subsidized to attract users.Amazon’s first-generation satellite system will eventually consist of more than 3,200 LEO satellites, all flying at 17,000 mph (27,359 km/h), 392 miles (630km) above the Earth, and circling the planet in about 90 minutes. SpaceX’s Starlink constellation currently exceeds 7,000 LEO satellites, the first of which launched in 2019.Notably, the satellites flying on KA-01 are coated in a “dielectric mirror film unique to Kuiper” that scatters reflected sunlight. That should help make them less visible to ground-based astronomers, according to Amazon.Although Amazon already launched a pair of Project Kuiper prototype satellites, its upcoming mission will include a number of firsts that introduce risk. “We’ve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things you can only learn in flight, and this will be the first time we’ve flown our final satellite design and the first time we’ve deployed so many satellites at once,” said Rajeev Badyal, vice president of Project Kuiper.“No matter how the mission unfolds, this is just the start of our journey, and we have all the pieces in place to learn and adapt as we prepare to launch again and again over the coming years.”

It's no hyperbole to say that everything in the modern world runs on data, whether that's operationally or in the planning and design stages. Sometimes, that data gets lost, whether through accidents, tragedies, cyberattacks, or human error, and it's not always able to be recovered. A 2022 survey by backup provider Arcserve found that 76% of businesses that responded had suffered a loss of critical data, and 45% of those said the loss was permanent.

Owning a 3D printer brings your ideas to life, turning them into tangible objects before your eyes. If you’ve just bought one, welcome to a world of endless creativity and innovation — but be prepared for the challenges that come with it. At first, the learning curve may seem steep, and there are mistakes 3D printing enthusiasts make when starting, but as you dive deeper into this technology, you'll become more familiar with essential aspects.

Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 6 is one of the most highly anticipated video game releases of all time. With a confirmed Fall 2025 launch window, the industry is bracing for the game’s arrival, as publishers and developers carefully plan their own schedules around it. New data suggests that the sheer cultural impact of GTA could make it difficult for any competing release to gain traction.

When you jump into a video on YouTube or Netflix, a lot happens very quickly behind the scenes. Video data is rapidly downloaded to your device, which then has to unpack and normalize that information into a smooth, hiccup-free stream. The process of encoding and decoding video data has changed greatly over the years, with H.264 (AVC) and its successor H.265 (HEVC) remaining two of the most widely used codecs for streaming.But in 2015, tech giants including Netflix, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta banded together to develop video compression’s latest evolution: AV1. The companies, which are part of the overarching Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), say the video codec is around 30 percent more efficient compared to other standards like HEVC and the Google-developed VP9, allowing it to deliver higher-quality video at a lower bandwidth. AOMedia also claims that it’s royalty-free, meaning streaming device makers and video providers shouldn’t have to pay patent holders for using the technology.That all should have been enough for AV1 to take over the video landscape. But even with all these improvements and the backing of some of the biggest names in tech, the codec hasn …Read the full story at The Verge.

Google has added a new feature to NotebookLM that lets the AI note-taking tool find its own web sources to summarize and narrate. Instead of manually uploading sources like documents or YouTube links, users can now tap the “Discover” button and simply describe the topic they want to get a better understanding of, with the tool then gathering web sources around the subject.Google says the Discover feature started rolling out on Wednesday, and will take “about a week or so” to be available to all users.NotebookLM will hunt through “hundreds of potential web sources in seconds” according to Google, analyzing the most relevant options and then presenting a list of up to ten recommendations, each with a summary explaining its relevance. Users can select which of these sources they want NotebookLM to reference, and import them to use in other features, including FAQs, Briefing Docs, and podcast-like Audio Overviews that use AI hosts to discuss a topic.Sources will be saved within NotebookLM to allow users to read them directly and use them as references for citations, note-taking, and question-answering capabilities. Google says that Discover sources is the first of several Gemini-powered NotebookLM features that are being developed to make it easier for users to find relevant notebook reference materials.Another capability spun from this is “I’m Feeling Curious” — a button that prompts NotebookLM to generate sources on a completely random topic. It’s a good way to see what the feature is capable of, but also a fun way to learn about new subjects, much like Wikipedia’s random article feature.

Owning a 3D printer has been one of my most beneficial tech decisions. Beyond the novelty of printing toys or figurines, I’ve used it to solve real-world problems around the house. With some CAD work or creative remixing of existing models, my printer has saved me time, money, and frustration more than once. Let’s look at some of the ways my 3D printer proved to be more than just a gadget.

Smartphone apps that track our driving behavior may be the key to safer road conditions. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety just published a study that found that using smartphone apps to monitor driver behavior, and then providing summaries of that behavior via text message or a data dashboard, leads to safer driving. Researchers borrowed techniques from usage-based insurance (UBI) programs, in which insurance companies use smartphone apps to measure dangerous driving behaviors, like hard braking, sudden acceleration, and speeding. Rather than rely on actuarial data, like driving records and vehicle type, UBI programs use real-time data from app trackers to determine premiums. These are typically opt-in programs, marketed as a way to lower premiums. But if your driving isn’t as safe as you think, it can lead to higher monthly payments. Most people have an aversion to being tracked in real-time by their insurance company. But the AAA group was able to show that these methods can lead to safer driving — even after the tracking apps are turned off. Participants were told their data was being reviewed as part of a research study, and not being used by insurance companies to lower or raise their rates. Most people have an aversion to being tracked in real-time by their insurance company.The research team corralled 1,400 participants and split them into four groups: a control group; a standard feedback group, which were given weekly feedback via text on all behaviors monitored; an assigned goal group, which were given weekly text feedback on one behavior; and a chosen goal group, which selected their own behavior on which to receive feedback. Among the three feedback groups, 13 percent of participants showed a reduction in speeding, 21 percent showed a reduction in hard braking, and 25 percent experienced less rapid acceleration. Participants also gave their own feedback on tactics for changing their driving behavior: 67.4 percent said they would be persuaded by the potential to earn extra money; 53.9 percent liked weekly feedback via text message; and 45.8 percent preferred a weekly dashboard that provided detailed driving information for the week. The research team also monitored the groups’ use of smartphones while driving, and were surprised to find that terrible behavior remained mostly unchanged. They theorized that providing baseline safety scores at the start of the study led drivers to believe they were being safer than they actually were — and therefore, less in need for improvement. 13 percent of participants showed a reduction in speedingAfter the 12-week study, participants were monitored for an additional six weeks without any feedback to determine whether their improved driving would persist. The study found that generally they continued to drive more safely. “It’s encouraging to see that many individuals stuck with safer habits even after the study,” said Jake Nelson, AAA’s director of traffic safety advocacy, in a statement. “This shows that positive reinforcement, not just punitive measures, can lead to safer driving habits that can save lives.”In 2023, over 40,000 people died in vehicle crashes in the US. AAA says the research results point to the need for innovative approaches to educating people about safer driving behavior. Most people have an aversion to being tracked while they drive — especially when you consider that most drivers have an overinflated sense of their own behavior. But UBI programs are growing. In 2020, 16 percent of auto insurance shoppers were offered UBI and 12 percent of them enrolled, according to USA Today. In 2024, 15 percent of buyers were offered UBI, but a almost a fifth of them signed up.We already use our phones to monitor a lot of our behavior, including our steps, our sleep, and our eating habits. Why not driving?

China, Vietnam, and Cambodia are among the countries Trump has singled out for higher tariffs. | Image: Chip Somodevilla / Getty ImagesNintendo revealed its Switch 2 in full yesterday, just hours before Trump took to the White House Rose Garden for his own launch: his latest, and largest, round of tariffs yet. Unfortunately for Nintendo, the tariffs hit the countries where it builds its consoles, with new rates of up to 49 percent that it may pass on to US buyers.The company is in this position in part because it had to adapt to Trump’s trade policy before. Its manufacturing was heavily based in China until Trump’s first term, when the combination of tariffs on China, the covid pandemic, and later, Russia’s attack on Ukraine, created supply chain upheaval. That prompted Nintendo to diversify, and according to the Financial Times, more than half of its US hardware is now manufactured in Vietnam and Cambodia.Nintendo’s problem is that those are among the countries hit hardest by Trump’s new “reciprocal” tariffs, which apply in addition to existing rates. Yesterday China was hit by an extra 34 percent tariff on its exports to the US, Vietnam by an extra 46 percent, and Cambodia by an extra 49 percent.But will everyday Americans be the ones to pay the price of the new rates? Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research on the impact of tariffs on China during Trump’s first term found that “US consumers of imported goods have borne the brunt of the tariffs through higher prices,” with manufacturers and exporters passing almost the entirety of the price increase to the end consumer.When the Switch 2 launches on June 5th, it will cost $449.99. Applying some back-of-the-napkin math, if we treat the new tariffs as averaging out around 40 percent, that equates to an extra $180 — leaving a possible final price of $630. Apply the same logic to games, with Mario Kart World already set to cost $79.99, and you get a final price over $110. Use the worst case rate — Cambodia’s 49 percent tariff — and the numbers jump to $670 and $120.The good news is that there are a few factors that might mitigate the effect. The first is that Nintendo might well have priced some of this in already. The company didn’t know what Trump’s tariffs would be exactly, but it knew something was coming, and may well have included that consideration into its choice to set the Switch 2 at $449.99 — that’s 50 percent more than the $299.99 original Switch.The second is that there’s evidence Nintendo has planned for this in a different way, by stockpiling hardware in the US. The Financial Times reports that the company has already imported “hundreds of thousands” of consoles to the US to get ahead of the tariffs, with 383,000 units across five days in January alone. That’s a lot, but the first Switch sold 4.8 million units in the US during its first nine months on sale, so there’s no guarantee that Nintendo’s early imports will be enough to get the company through its first holiday season without feeling the need for a price hike.Finally, there’s an important caveat to all of this: we don’t know what’s actually going to happen with the tariffs. They’re supposed to go into effect soon, with a global 10 percent tariff starting April 5th, and the elevated rates on April 9th, but Trump’s administration is nothing if not unpredictable — and transactional. This could be a bluff, an opening gambit to start negotiations, or an empty threat, and there’s every chance that tariffs will be either delayed or altered before Nintendo ever pays a cent.

Intel isn't having the best time, with industry veteran and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates criticizing the company after missteps with Raptor Lake and Arrow Lake CPUs. However, after the exit of Pat Gelsinger, the company's new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, has admitted "past mistakes" and plans to refocus on engineering. While these are the company's long-term vision, the semiconductor giant has chalked out another plan that will have an immediate impact on both PC and phone users.

Ente Photos is a multi-platform open-source photo and video storage tool with a huge emphasis on data security and privacy. Its reliable storage uses three European data centers — one of which is in a fallout center — to ensure your memories will never get accidentally lost. Making one of the best cloud-based data storage tools, you’re in total control of your data for anything you upload to Ente Photos, and you’ll benefit from the developer minds of ex-Google employees who are responsible for such a secure and well-rounded tool. Ente Photos is enticing to use, whether it’s a free plan or a paid and shared plan, to ensure your photos and memories stay safe in storage as they do in your mind.