When looking for computer parts, it's natural to look for good deals. Whether you're looking for a pocketable and portable SSD to store your files between devices or SSD storage for your game library, you want the best value you can find. You might see listings for budget-friendly SSDs that are almost too low to be true, and in some cases, they are.

If you're a gamer, you've probably heard of high-refresh rate monitors. Your typical monitor will refresh 60 times per second or every 16.67ms. This is good enough for a decently smooth experience, but nowadays, a 60Hz monitor isn't good enough for a lot of people. With the rise of 144Hz, 240Hz, and even 360Hz monitors, you might be considering picking up one, but here's what you need to know first before you get one.

Prologue: Go Wayback. | Image: Krafton It’s been a while since we heard from Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene, best known as the creator of the global battle royale hit PUBG. But now, Greene’s studio, PlayerUnknown Productions, is detailing what it’s working on — and there are multiple games in the works, all pointing toward a big final project.First up is a game called Prologue: Go Wayback!, described as a “single-player open-world emergent game within the survival genre,” which was previously teased in 2021. The big hook, it seems, is technical, as the game is being built with “machine-learning-driven terrain generation technology, allowing the instant creation of millions of maps.” Prologue is expected to launch in early access on Steam in 2025, following a series of playtests. To showcase what players can expect, the studio is launching a free tech demo on Steam today called Preface: Undiscovered World. You can check it out right here.According to the studio, these games are building blocks on the way to a more ambitious game currently codenamed “Artemis,” which will be a “massive multiplayer sandbox experience.” Greene previously talked about Artemis back in 2022; it was originally billed as a game with NFT support, though today’s announcement has no mention of NFTs. Here’s Greene on what players can eventually expect as the studio builds toward its big game:My vision for Artemis is challenging, but we plan to take it one step at a time and the three games aim to give us a solid tech foundation on which to scale up. After Prologue, two more games are planned for release in the coming years, each addressing critical technical challenges that will bring the studio closer to the final product. With Prologue, we aim to engage players and introduce them to the emergent mechanics and expansive worlds we’re developing.Greene first stepped away from PUBG with a new studio in 2019 — it was known under the name “PUBG Special Projects” — and two years later announced that he was leaving PUBG parent company Krafton to go independent. “Today, I’m excited to take the next step on my journey to create the kind of experience I’ve envisaged for years,” he said at the time.

Anker’s Soundcore Bluetooth Speaker was recalled due to a fire hazard. Anker is recalling its Soundcore and PowerConf Bluetooth Speakers after receiving 33 reports of the speakers’ lithium-ion batteries overheating and, in some instances, emitting smoke or causing small fires. The affected models — A3102016, A3302011 and A3302031 — were sold exclusively on Amazon in 2023 and cost between $28 and $130, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Approximately 69,000 speakers were sold in the US, and an additional 9,764 were sold i Canada.Anker and Amazon have contacted all known purchasers, according to the CPSC. The affected speakers can be identified by an SN code that is printed on the underside of the speakers. To check whether your devices were affected, type the SN code on Anker’s website. Anker said it will offer free replacement speakers to those affected.Consumers who own the recalled speakers are advised to stop using them immediately, power them off, and disconnect them from chargers or other external power sources.

Hey, remember when Microsoft revealed that huge batch of Copilot features in early October? If you don't, one of the nuggets within the big list of planned tools was something called "Copilot Vision," which could scan a webpage and allow people to ask questions about it. At the time, Microsoft hadn't given an exact release date for Copilot Vision; however, the Redmond giant has now announced that a "limited number of Copilot Pro subscribers in the US" can now give it a shot.

Display technology has changed a lot in the last few years. Many of the growing pains felt by both LCD and OLED displays have come and gone, and these technical strides have resulted in more good options for the average consumer. It's an excellent time to be in the market for a new display, but there's one type of display that really hasn't aged all that well.

An administrator account on Windows 11 comes with several perks and privileges. Admins can update security settings, install or remove apps, and make other system adjustments without encountering permission errors. As a new administrator, the first thing you'll want to do is change your administrator name on your PC.

When you’re attempting to build a virtualization server, there are a myriad of operating systems to choose from, ranging from Proxmox to Hyper-V. But if you’re fond of traversing through the expansive recesses of the Internet, you may come across some truly unique platforms. Harvester is one such operating system that's typically designed for home servers and large-scale operations rather than consumer-tier experimentation rigs.

Computers and electronics have been getting increasingly harder to repair and upgrade over the past decade or so, and that's especially true of tablets. But Microsoft has been bucking that trend for a while now, with every Surface Pro since the Surface Pro 7+ in early 2021 giving you the ability to easily remove the SSD so you can install a new one. This has held up all the way through the latest Surface Pro 11, and if you have any of these devices, replacing the SSD is a breeze. We're here to guide you through the process if you're unsure.

Whether you are a student, busy professional, entrepreneur, or a remote worker, a laptop plays an essential role in your workflow. But what if your trusty device is secretly harboring malicious software? Such bogus and corrupt files can hijack your entire device, steal data, affect performance, and even render it unusable. The good news is that you don’t have to be a cybersecurity expert to spot the signs.

Average customers don't really care about advanced customization options and want simplified access to settings. This is true for pretty much every type of product, including Wi-Fi routers. While most of the best-quality Wi-Fi routers are designed to make home networking simple and easy, the new OpenWrt One Wi-Fi router is purpose-built for those who want advanced features and a more open experience at an affordable price.

Image: Getty Vodafone and Three have been cleared to create the UK’s biggest mobile operator after committing to address concerns around network upgrades and price hikes. The proposed £16.5 billion merger (about $20.9 billion) was approved by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday following months of regulatory scrutiny, and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.“Having carefully considered the evidence, as well as the extensive feedback we have received, we believe the merger is likely to boost competition in the UK mobile sector and should be allowed to proceed – but only if Vodafone and Three agree to implement our proposed measures,” Stuart McIntosh, chair of the inquiry group leading the antitrust investigation, said in a statement.The approval was subject to both companies signing binding commitments to invest billions into expanding their combined 5G network over the next eight years. The agreement also requires the new entity to cap some mobile tariffs and offer preset contractual terms to mobile virtual network operators for three years, addressing previous CMA concerns that the merger could harm competition and lead to higher prices for customers.“Today’s approval releases the handbrake on the UK’s telecoms industry, and the increased investment will power the UK to the forefront of European telecommunications,” Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle said in a statement. The plan to combine two of the country’s top four mobile operators was first announced in 2023, and will create a network with 27 million customers once complete. Vodafone will own 51 percent of the merged entity, and is expected to buy out the remaining 49 percent after three years. The deal follows similar large-scale mergers between companies like Orange and T-Mobile in 2010, and Virgin Mobile and O2 in 2021.