Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images The New York Times’ tech employees, who are behind Wordle and Connections among other games and features, will go back to work on Tuesday following a weeklong strike. In a statement published on Monday, the New York Times Tech Guild said union members will “march into the office together in the morning as a symbol of what’s to come for The Times.”The Tech Guild represents the over 600 workers who manage technology across the digital paper. Union members went on strike the day before the US election, raising concerns about whether the NYT’s vote-tracking tech, like the Needle, would hold up on Election Day. The union and the NYT will continue negotiating on a contract.“The systems and digital products that worked over the election did... Continue reading…

Image: Bluesky Bluesky gained more than 700,000 new users in the last week and now has more than 14.5 million users total, Bluesky COO Rose Wang confirmed to The Verge. The “majority” of the new users on the decentralized social network are from the US, Wang says. The app is currently the number two free social networking app in the US App Store, only trailing Meta’s Threads.People posting on Threads, on the other hand, have raised complaints about engagement bait, moderation issues, and, as of late, misinformation, reports Taylor Lorenz. And like our very own Tom Warren, I’ve come to dislike the algorithmic “For You” feed that you can’t permanently escape, and it certainly seems like we’re not alone in that opinion.But the Instagram-bootstrapped... Continue reading…

Monitors can be expensive, especially if you're looking for one that provides lots of screen real estate and offers great performance. So if you're in the market and aren't looking to spend a lot, we recommend going with this Samsung Odyssey G5 ultrawide monitor. It features a 34 inch ultrawide panel, that's now down to a ridiculous price of just $229. This monitor normally has a retail price of $550, but in this limited time deal, you can score 58% off, dropping it down to its lowest yet.

While working on your Windows device, you probably receive frequent notifications about OS updates. These notifications, although harmless, can appear at very inconvenient times, like when you are attending an online meeting or seminar, finishing a project, playing your favorite game, enjoying the best scene of a movie, or other such situations, causing you frustration. Many users pause or completely stop Windows updates in order to counter such situations. But have you ever wondered why Windows updates appear so frequently? Is it even okay to pause or stop Windows updates?

Google’s Learn About website. | Image: Google Google has launched an experimental new AI tool called Learn About, which is different from the chatbots we’re used to, like Gemini and ChatGPT. It’s built on the LearnLM AI model that Google introduced this spring, saying it’s “grounded in educational research and tailored to how people learn.” The answers it provides have more visual and interactive elements with educational formatting.We tested Learn About and Google Gemini with a simple prompt: “How big is the universe?” Both answered that “the observable universe” is “about 93 billion light-years in diameter.”However, while Gemini opted to show a Wikipedia-provided diagram of the universe and a two-paragraph summary with links to sources, Learn About emphasized an image from the... Continue reading…

Image: Nintendo Nintendo is finally ready to show off the next phase of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. In a Nintendo Direct today, the company gave the first proper look at the Donkey Kong Country-themed expansion for the theme park, which includes a mine cart rollercoaster and a real-life, three-player version of the Donkey Konga rhythm game. The expansion opens on December 11th.To get to the new area, attendees go through a tunnel seemingly made with rocks, that leads to a jungle-themed locale. There’s a towering tree house, a golden temple spewing steam, and lots of banana-flavored deserts. And just like in the games, you can find — and collect — giant letters hidden around the area using the park’s NFC bracelet.... Continue reading…

During the initial stages of your home lab journey, youll experience a lot of thrills when trying out new ideas. But as your collection of self-hosted services, containers, virtual machines, and hardware starts to pile up, youll have to contend with hours of troubleshooting and dabbling through config files.

People often like to say that PC building is like putting Lego blocks together. While the statement rings true in essence, it highlights a tendency to oversimplify many aspects related to building PCs, reviewing components, and the impact of individual components on overall performance. Compounded over decades, this tendency leads to common misunderstandings about PC hardware, with many users believing in things that are half-truths or entirely false.

Sometimes charging devices can be a pain, especially if you're someone that has a lot of them. And while you might be a person who has a power strip with a ton of adapters plugged in, we recommend ditching that clunky setup in order to get something more streamlined, efficient, and more powerful. That's where this Anker Prime charging station comes into play, with its eight ports and up to 240W of charging power.

Image: Valve Nearly three years to the day after teasing the world with a white version of the Steam Deck, Valve has finally decided to release the normally black handheld gaming PC in that color too. The limited-edition white model is going on sale for $679 on November 18th at 3PM PT / 6PM ET, everywhere the handheld is sold, including Australia and the various regions of Asia served by Komodo. It’s no different on the inside than a normal model, says Valve: Steam Deck OLED: Limited Edition White has all the same specs as the Steam Deck OLED 1TB model, but in white and grey. It also comes with an exclusive white carrying case and white microfiber cleaning cloth.Since the 1TB OLED normally costs $649, you’re effectively paying $30 for the color.... Continue reading…

Nuki says its new Smart Lock Ultra is a third the size and three times as fast as previous models. | Image: Nuki Popular European smart lock maker Nuki has announced the fifth generation of its smart lock. The Smart Lock Ultra is a third the size of the original Nuki, features a new brushless motor for faster operation, and promises at least six months of battery life. Plus, for the first time, the new lock has been designed to work with US deadbolts. The Nuki Smart Lock Ultra (€349) will be available in Europe in December and is the company’s first full-replacement door lock. Previous Nuki models could be retrofitted over an existing lock, so you could keep using your existing keys. This one requires swapping out the entire cylinder and comes with three new keys. However, the US model, coming next year, will work as a retrofit lock and only... Continue reading…

A pretty book that costs a pretty penny. | Image: Apple Music / Assouline You can now buy a physical version of the 100 Best Albums list that Apple Music released this year — if you have some serious cash to burn, that is. Apple Music: 100 Best Albums, a 208-page coffee table book produced by luxury print company Assouline, is available to preorder today for $450, with an estimated shipping date of November 25th. Shipping itself is thankfully free.One explanation for the high price tag is that availability is extremely limited — only 1,500 copies are up for grabs, each numbered on the rear and inside the book. The design of the book itself is also very luxurious, featuring a “custom-designed translucent acrylic slipcase etched with the Apple Music logo” that protects the white linen hardcover, and gold... Continue reading…