Image: NZXT Gamers Nexus has released a video deconstructing NZXT’s defense of its Flex gaming PC purchase and rental program. In it, host Steve Burke says the company is still misleading customers, despite adjustments made in response to his previous video in which he called the program “a scam.”NZXT said in its response this week that it would clarify details about its Flex program, which Gamers Nexus had criticized for having specs that would change sometimes “day-to-day.” The company has appeared to update specs and performance numbers for its purchase builds. But Gamers Nexus reports it still spotted issues like inconsistent FPS numbers and a FAQ that implied NZXT’s for-sale Player: Three Prime build uses an RTX 4090 graphics card, despite its specs saying otherwise. The FAQ entry Burke mentions seems to be gone now, but as of this writing, there’s still an entry titled “What GPU is right for me?” that lists the RTX 4090 and its benefits. Such inconsistencies are a problem for potential customers, Burke says.The fact that NZXT misrepresented its product, even after its statement, as having a 4090 when it still had a 4080 Super ... seemingly indicates that even NZXT can’t keep up with its own specs changes. If NZXT can’t keep up with it ... how are they expecting the customer to keep up with it?Gamers Nexus offers other criticisms of the company’s rental program, from “improper packaging” damage fees with upper bounds that exceed the cost of equivalent non-rental versions of the PCs to the creator-based ad videos that continue to exist, despite the company saying it had “pulled all influencer-led Flex advertising.” NZXT did not immediately respond to our request for comment on the new video.Gamers Nexus said Thursday that it’s working on a deeper investigation, and its video today ends with Burke saying he’s received “a number of very concerning tips” from former employees and customers.

The universe is a mysterious place. Nature abounds with questions that cry out to be answered. What is the nature of dark matter? Where does consciousness arise from? What is written in the Voynich manuscript? And, most importantly, what the heck has been pooping on my porch for the past year? I can’t find the answer to all of these questions, but I can find the answer to at least one of them by using a Raspberry Pi to build an infrared camera trap.

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 63, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, it’s a lot of stuff to watch this week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about clog crime and bright headlights and Robert Pattinson, starting my 564th rewatch of Community, testing Sill as part of my news reading flow, taking copious notes on Mrwhosetheboss’ new office setup, watching a lot of videos about sports stadiums for some reason, trying out all of Esquire’s best podcasts of 2024, and continuing to eat too much Swedish candy. For journalism, I swear.I also have for you a great new feature for a great to-do list app, a new Peloton app, a comic book series worth your time, a couple of good tech-culture documentaries I think you’ll like, and lots more. We’re definitely in “new stuff to watch on cold evenings” season rather than “new apps and gadgets” season, but I’m not mad at it. It is cold out there. (As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be playing / reading / watching / eating / building / doing... Read the full story at The Verge.

There is no shortage of Excel alternatives out there. Every time a new Excel challenger arrives in the market, they come with tall claims to replace Microsoft’s legacy software. Declared dead countless times, Excel stubbornly refuses to fade away. Because beneath its seemingly simple interface lies a powerhouse of versatility and functionality that continues to prove invaluable for individuals and businesses alike. In this post, I will explore key reasons why Excel will never truly be replaced.

If you're looking to build a gaming PC on a budget, this AMD Ryzen 7 5700X CPU is going to be a great starting block. While there are plenty of different ways to go about it, we think the Ryzen 7 5700X CPU is going to provide the best bang for your buck, especially at its newly discounted price.

Sony’s PSVR2 controller support may be coming to the Vision Pro through a special partnership. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Vision Pro could gain support for Sony PSVR2 controllers soon, according to Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. Apple and Sony apparently planned to announce support for the controllers “weeks ago” but have pushed back the rollout. Under this rumored partnership, Apple would begin selling Sony’s controllers, which aren’t currently available on their own.Sony has apparently been working on adding the support for months, while Apple has asked third-party developers if they would take advantage of Sony’s VR controllers. That’s potentially great news for Vision Pro owners who wish the headset had more gaming chops. (There are precious few good, native visionOS games — Thrasher, a mesmerizing game where you fling a giant worm / dragon thing around a psychadelic space using just hand movements, comes to mind.) Gurman writes that Apple also wants to use the controllers for more than gaming — the controllers will be able to navigate visionOS, and would offer more precise controls in apps like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Photoshop. Right now, you can pair a standard Bluetooth controller and navigate visionOS — tapping buttons to select things, scrolling with the analog sticks, and so on. They also work for gaming, but you’re mostly limited to iPad and iPhone games with controller support or made-for-iOS emulators or that native Virtual Boy one.Will this partnership bear fruit and help games actually flourish on the platform? I’m not immediately hopeful, given the Vision Pro’s sales and Apple’s track record of support from game publishers.Still, the Vision Pro is fundamentally different from Apple’s other devices, and VR is its own landscape. And there are signs the community wants this, with at least one fully-funded Kickstarter project to develop Meta Quest 3-style controllers, called the Surreal Touch, for the Vision Pro. Maybe the Vision Pro will get some great VR games — whether anyone will be around to buy them is another question entirely.

Armed with a ton of virtualization-centric tools, Proxmox is a solid platform for your home lab experiments. Be it wacky projects or highly pragmatic ideas, there’s a surprising amount of cool things you can pull off with the help of Proxmox. What’s more, you can even virtualize every aspect of your home lab using Proxmox, and here are four reasons why doing so is a great idea.

There’s a lot we don’t know about what’s coming for tech in 2025. AI could save the world, or ruin it, or do pretty much nothing interesting at all. A new US president could change priorities and policies on antitrust fights and privacy rules. Will TikTok get banned? Will the fediverse take off? Will it be the year of Matter? Will Grand Theft Auto VI change society forever? Will the next Mission: Impossible movie be awesome? Look, I didn’t say the stakes were always super high. But there are lots of questions.On this episode of The Vergecast, we try and offer some answers — with absolutely no evidence. Nilay, David, and Wall Street Journal columnist (and forever friend of The Verge) Joanna Stern take turns offering their predictions for the year to come. We start with our mildest, most milquetoast takes on tech in 2025, before ramping up to our biggest, hottest, spiciest thoughts. And because we need to be held accountable for our actions, we make a game out of it.Here’s how the game works: Each host offers a prediction, and the other two get a chance to either agree with or reject the prediction. At the end of the year, whoever is right about that prediction gets a point.... Read the full story at The Verge.

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is one of the top occupational hazards in the workplace. Whether it's typing on a keyboard or moving a mouse around, the small, low-impact movements add up to deep aches and pains over time. Recovery can be a long process, but there are things you can change to reduce the effects before they start.

DDR5 RAM is the latest standard for system memory inside desktop and laptop PCs, replacing DDR4. This new standard promises higher capacities, better efficiencies, faster speeds, and advanced features not typically found on older DDR4 RAM modules. If you're on the fence about deciding between DDR4 and DDR5 or want to know what you can enjoy by upgrading to a CPU and motherboard supporting DDR5, we've rounded up some reasons why DDR5 is better than DDR4.

Many aspects of Windows have remained relatively untouched for years, even in Windows 11. For instance, while other operating systems have made better and more visually helpful battery indicators, Windows has had the same old for who knows how long now. Fortunately, a hidden feature within the Windows 11 Dev build shows us what we might expect in the future, and it looks great.

If you're a big fan of Ubisoft games, you may have had a rough time getting them to run properly on Windows 11 recently. Users reported that the 24H2 update caused a wide range of issues with select Ubisoft games, including a black screen It got so bad that Microsoft delayed Windows 11 24H2 for affected PCs. Well, if your PC didn't get its 24H2 update because of this weird issue, it seems that Ubisoft and Microsoft are finally making progress, and some—but not all—gamers can now get the update.