While Adobe Creative Cloud has been the undisputed king of creative software, it’s not exactly pocket-friendly due to a hefty price tag of around $700 per year. As a passionate photographer and an entry-level graphics designer, I was determined to find a way to unlock my creativity without breaking the bank. Here is where I found several powerful, open-source alternatives that rival Adobe’s offerings and saved myself from recurring subscription fees.

So it turns out that if you release a product for a DIY-centric community, they'll create accessories and tools for it in a matter of days. Who knew? Regardless, if you've picked up a shiny new Raspberry Pi Monitor released a couple of days ago and need something to keep it upright, this 3D printable stand is just the trick.

I think my calendar organization skills improved when devices learned what addresses and event times look like. I no longer need to remember to make an entry; just highlight the important bit, and the operating system will create a new calendar entry. If you liked how Windows 11 handled this feature, we have some bad news for you: it's going away, and we're still unsure why.

While some people like to upgrade their PC with the latest and greatest hardware every chance they get, most people buy a PC hoping to keep it for 3–5 years, if not longer. For most, a PC is an investment, and just like any other investment, people want a decent return on the money they have spent on it. The problem is that most people forget to look after their PC or just don't know how.

Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, most meetings have moved to online mediums. Because online meetings save a ton of time normally spent traveling or commuting, they are both effective and efficient. While you can attend these online meetings in the comfort of your home office, it's also important to look and sound good on video calls. A blurry video or muffled audio ruins the experience for everyone on the call. It's even more critical if you're attending an online interview or a call with your boss.

If you've been thinking about buying a new monitor, going with an OLED model should be at the top of your list. Not only are you going to get excellent colors and contrast, but the performance numbers on some of the best models are going to go unmatched.

Illustration: The Verge Meta’s Threads is getting another feature seemingly inspired by Bluesky: curated groups of accounts that you can follow all at once. They basically sound like Meta’s take on Bluesky’s handy starter packs.Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announced Thursday that Meta is starting to test the feature, and he said that you’ll see the collections “when signing up for Threads and within the For You feed.” A “handful” of “Threads community leaders” curated and shared the current collections.People will be able to find collections built around topics like “basketball, style and fashion, food, books, pop culture, and more,” Meta spokesperson Alec Booker tells The Verge. “We’ll iterate on this feature based on learnings from the test, and hope to expand the functionality to more people soon.” Image: Meta Image: Meta Meta has upped the pace of Threads feature updates after users really started flocking to Bluesky last month — Threads introduced its own take on custom feeds just five days after announcing the feature in testing, for example.While I personally think Bluesky is the heir apparent to Twitter, Threads is still significantly larger. Meta saw 35 million Threads signups in November, but Bluesky user growth has seemingly slowed to a crawl: as I write this, Bluesky is on the cusp of surpassing 25 million users, a five million user jump from nearly a month ago.

If you've got an old CPU, you can squeeze out some extra performance by turning up its clock frequencies. However, navigating the BIOS to tweak different parameters may sound like a challenging endeavor. Thankfully, you can utilize the Ryzen Master tool to make overclocking extremely simple.

If you're looking for a mouse that won't let you down, even in the most intense situations, the Logitech G502 Lightspeed is going to be it. You're getting excellent tracking, customizable buttons, and a price that now falls way below its MSRP. At 51% off its original price, it's an absolute no-brainer, so get this deal from Amazon while you still can.

Routers are essential for use at home, but most default firmware that comes with a router leaves a lot to be desired. From a lack of features or software updates, you won't really get a lot of control. However, DD-WRT or OpenWrt are two different types of custom firmware you can install on a lot of different routers. If it supports your hardware, it could be a big upgrade, and here are a few reasons why.

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Telefónica, one of the largest carriers in the world serving the UK, Spain, Germany, and Latin America with the O2 and Movistar networks, will begin preinstalling the Epic Games Store on every new compatible Android phone it sells — including Samsung phones. It’s part of a “long term partnership” to bring the store and smash hit Fortnite to “millions” of the carrier’s devices, according to Telefónica and Epic. It’ll be the first time the Epic Games Store is preinstalled on consumer phones, and it could be the next big step in realizing Epic’s dreams of challenging Google’s app store monopoly and increasing its cut of revenue.Last December, a federal jury unanimously sided with Epic Games in Epic v. Google, finding that Google had turned its Android app store and Google Play Billing service into an illegal monopoly. Epic originally sued in 2020, alleging that Google had “blocked” or “bribed” phonemakers and cellular carriers to keep games like Fortnite and alternative app stores from being preinstalled on phones. But now, roughly a month after Judge James Donato barred Google from any further potential blocks or bribes, one of the world’s largest carriers will begin those preinstalls, adding an entire rival game store (one that may also carry non-game apps in the future) to Google’s own.Technically, Epic only launched its Epic Games Store on mobile this past August. Previously, it wanted nearly every phonemaker and carrier to preinstall one of a couple different types of Fortnite installer apps to bring the game to their phones. It offered a variety of deals to tempt them, and Samsung, LG, OnePlus and Huawei all initially agreed to do so. But OnePlus only ever managed to do so in India, allegedly because it needed permission that Google wouldn’t grant. (Google disputes that reasoning.) LG apparently backed out because of a Google contract as well. Telefónica wasn’t one of the carriers that Google “bribed,” Epic spokesperson Natalie Muñoz confirms to The Verge, so it’s not like Judge Donato’s order is making this newly possible.In fact, Telefónica has partnered with Epic in the past. In 2020, it began letting Movistar customers in Spain tack their Fortnite purchases onto their phone bill. That year, court documents revealed Telefónica could expect to earn five percent of the proceeds from those Fortnite players as a result. Verizon and Hutchison (Three, Wind Tre) were offered similar deals, but we don’t know if they’ll now follow suit.I wonder what Samsung thinks about Telefónica preinstalling the Epic Game Store on its phones — this September, Epic sued Samsung as well.

You know, at least Microsoft tried. In June, it pushed to make Recall a keystone of the Copilot+ experience, but it received much negative feedback about privacy. The company then did the right thing and delayed the Recall rollout until it resolved all the nasty privacy issues that came with it. Now, the company is rolling Recall back out again... except it's still harvesting people's private data, even when it's explicitly told not to.