There are several platforms game developers can use to create those fantastic time-wasters, I mean hand-eye coordination boosters, that we all know and love. The most well-known are Unreal Engine, Unity, and Godot. But sometimes, a developer decides to go off the beaten path and build their game in something totally unexpected like Microsoft PowerPoint.

Canva is an easy-to-use, browser and app-based digital marketing and content creation tool. There are some great hidden features in Canva, and it's one of the most commonly used design tools for non-professional designers. However, there are some awesome alternatives if Canva just isnt your style.

PowerShell has been out for years now, and in that time it has almost entirely eclipsed the old cmd.exe shell and become increasingly powerful. It's tightly integrated with many core functions of the Windows OS, and can help you script almost any function in Windows. PowerShell hasn't always been the most popular language (though many Windows admins swear by it), but in recent years it has been on a rampaging comeback, aided by a general push to improve developer tooling on Windows with the likes of the new Windows Terminal and WSL.

Tim Cook and then-President Donald Trump, speaking to the Press in Austin, Texas in 2019. | Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images Apple CEO Tim Cook managed to forge a personal relationship with Donald Trump during his first Presidential term that other tech firms struggled to replicate. Now, others are trying to follow his template, says a Wall Street Journal report today.Cook used direct appeals to influence Trump’s 2017 tax policy and to get him to dial back his 2019 tariffs in ways that benefitted Apple. In exchange, Trump got to look good; as the Journal points out, Cook didn’t correct Trump when claimed responsibility for Apple opening an Austin manufacturing plant that had already been around for years and wasn’t even owned by Apple.Part of Cook’s strategy was keeping things simple, according to the Journal:Instead of sending government relations... Continue reading…

Storing data backups is an exercise in common sense. Having multiple copies of mission-critical data is imperative, whether it's a family photo album or essential work documents. There are several backup types to choose from, but they usually fall into two different flavors: hot and cold storage. Hot storage backup is for data you need to access regularly, and cold storage is for data you seldom need to access.

Transferring files within the same ecosystem has always been a breeze. There's AirDrop on the Apple side of things, while Quick Share handles file transfer between two Android devices or between Android and Windows too now. But, have you ever tried transferring files across operating systems that don't play well with each other? I'm talking Windows to Mac, iPhone to Windows, etc. If you've ever given it a shot, you know how many hoops you have to jump through just to send a simple photo or video. Well, not anymore.

Black Friday is one of the best times of year to buy some technology, like a TV, a new phone, or a pair of headphones, but is it the right time to buy a CPU? You can buy processors just about anywhere these days, whether it's Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, or Micro Center, so the chance of finding some deals is definitely high on Black Friday. But are you getting the best possible price?

The Steam Deck has made a huge impact on PC gaming. Taking cues from the Nintendo Switch, it brought portable gaming to PC fans, which in turn started a huge wave of Steam Deck alternatives, each with its benefits and drawbacks compared to Valve's offering. Valve has been pretty quiet on the topic of a Steam Deck 2, but certain developments hint that Valve may be in the process of prototyping something.

Internal and external SSDs have been tumbling in price over the last few years, with great deals on 2TB SSDs available year round (and especially on Black Friday). Due to this, it has become more and more viable to keep an external drive around effectively in place of a USB stick. They may be a little smaller, but USB sticks are far more expensive per GB. The widespread adoption of USB-3/C and Thunderbolt has also given us more performance to play with, making a small external SATA SSD a sensible buy in 2024.

Getting the most performance out of your PC is essential for everyone, especially gamers. There are plenty of tips and tricks to optimize Windows 11 for gaming; but for those not on Windows, or for Windows users who may be looking for a bit more, there are also programs out there that have been specifically designed to help. Optimizing your PC performance for gaming has never been easier and, in a lot of cases, can be done with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Over the last couple of years, audiobooks and podcasts have exploded in popularity. Whether you want to hear some words of wisdom on your commute or just prefer the convenience of narrated literature, there are thousands of unique creations from every genre imaginable that can cater to your needs.

Wow, where did November go? It feels like we've only just cleared away the Halloween stuff and we're already looking at December starting next week. In the tech news sphere, it's that time of year when businesses pull down the shutters and go into a holiday-induced hibernation before it all pops off again in 2025 with January's CES. However, that didn't mean we saw a shortage of cool stuff to report on, so here are the top five news pieces from the past week.