Using a virtual private network (VPN) is a great way to protect yourself from prying eyes. Whether you want to get around some geo-blocking for video streaming or protect your privacy, a VPN is a must-have in today's digital world. Most of the best VPN services have easy apps to install on devices, which connect to servers worldwide and shield your connections. Not all ISP-provided routers can be configured with a VPN. If you're looking to build your own firewall/router, there's a way to hook up your VPN for all connections made outside your network.

Many of us have to use a Windows 11 PC day in and day out for work, and while that's just a standard for modern society, it doesn't mean it's good for your health. Looking at a screen all day is going to wear down your eyes and cause discomfort, so you need to take some preventive measures.

Fear the Spotlight. | Image: Blumhouse Games More than most genres, survival horror feels rooted in time. It started with the methodical Resident Evil on the original PlayStation and is defined in part by limitation — a slow pace, grimy visuals, and scant resources to help amplify the scares. Many of those elements stemmed from the early, awkward days of 3D gaming, whether it was Resident Evil’s clunky controls, which made zombie chases more terrifying, or Silent Hill’s fog, which lent an iconic atmosphere while also letting the developers get around technical limitations of the time.And a few decades later, developers are still finding ways to bring the most important elements of those games — namely, the mood and scares — to modern horror without feeling dated.The most obvious... Continue reading…

Have you given Android handheld gaming a shot yet? If you're a fan of all things portable gaming, you really owe it to yourself to give it a try one day. While using your phone as a gaming device may not have the same powerful specs as a dedicated handheld, the battle between PC and Android handhelds is closer than you think. If you fancy giving it a try, this new controller from 8BitDo brings Hall Effect control sticks to your Android device, and it comes in at a pretty great price point.

Image: Remedy Entertainment Remedy’s latest release is connective tissue for its growing video game universe. Continue reading…

Image: Loops The fediverse answer to TikTok is on its way. Signups opened this week for Loops, a short-form looping video app from the creator of Instagram alternative Pixelfed, reports TechCrunch. Users who’ve signed up can post up to 60 seconds of video, according to details shared by developer Daniel Supernault on Mastodon. He added that using sounds and remixing others’ videos is coming, as are pinned profile videos, and that users will be able to “curate” their comment sections. Videos can be categorized, but hashtags and mentions aren’t yet supported.The Loops Pixelfed account has posted videos like the one below of Loops in action. Supernault has posted screenshots and screen recordings, as well. Creating an account isn’t instantaneous... Continue reading…

The graphics processing unit (GPU) or graphics card is vital for your gaming PC. It's the part that handles all the heavy work in games, allowing you to enjoy all your favorite titles. The more powerful (and expensive) the GPU, the better your PC will be able to play games at higher resolutions. The goal is to have as many frames per second at your desired resolution as possible with no frame drops and low latency. This creates the best gaming experience, but you'll need to buy a discrete GPU. This is where our collection of the best GPUs for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K comes into play.

It feels like every week we see someone try to squeeze an operating system on an unorthodox device, and this one is no different. This time around, someone has documented how they managed to get macOS on a Steam Deck, showing off their progress in a YouTube video. The best part is, this isn't even the first time he has done something like this.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple got a mixed victory in a patent infringement lawsuit against medical device maker Masimo. On Friday, a federal jury determined that Masimo had infringed on some Apple patents, and as part of the verdict, Apple was awarded $250 — yes, just $250 — as a statutory remedy for Masimo’s infringement.$250 is the statutory minimum damages for the alleged infringement and Apple had sought that figure, Bloomberg Law reports. “We’re not here for the money,” Apple attorney John Desmarais said to jurors in closing arguments, according to the publication.Masimo’s W1 smartwatch, Freedom smartwatch, and health module infringed on one patent, while Masimo’s charger infringed on another, per the verdict form. The jury also found that Masimo’s... Continue reading…

The HP Omen series are some of the best gaming PCs that you can buy. So it makes complete sense why the Omen 35L scored so high in our review, offering the perfect balance of style and substance. This particular model is available at Best Buy and is powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 processor that's paired with an Nvidia RTX 4080 Super. As you can imagine, this PC is going to be able to handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. And while it normally comes priced at a whopping $2,450, you can now score $400 off in this limited-time deal, as the price falls down to its lowest to date.

If you're looking to build a NAS (or buy one) and want to make sure that your data is safe and secure, then there are a few ways to approach that while making sure that your data is okay no matter what happens. There are different ways to approach it, but they all basically achieve the same thing in backing up your NAS.

Everyone generates a huge amount of data daily, and it needs to be stored securely in our devices' storage. But whether that's an external drive used on a Mac, a hard drive inside a NAS, or an SSD inside a Windows PC, our storage drives won't last forever, even if we want our data to. There are many utilities for checking the built-in S.M.A.R.T. monitoring data that every hard drive and SSD produces, but how often should you check that data to avoid failing drives? Let's answer that, and show you which tools to use to check your hard drive's health.