If youre even remotely into computers, you must have heard of switches. By allowing you to connect all your devices within a network, switches serve as handy additions to any computing setup. But their real utility comes into play once you start dipping your toes into the world of home labs and server management and here are five reasons why you should integrate them into your server environment.

Although Skype continues to exist for some reason, Teams is Microsoft's flagship software for online communication and collaboration. The Redmond tech firm frequently adds new features to Teams during the course of the month, with recent examples being easier account management and an updated minimized meeting view, among other things. Now, the company has published a roundup of all the capabilities it introduced in Teams in the past four weeks, just like it does at the end of each month.

Thank Goodness You’re Here! | Image: Panic Outside of some notable exceptions, there haven’t been many blockbuster games this summer — but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been much to play. In fact, at times, it has felt like a never-ending flood of fascinating indie releases, thanks to games like Arranger, Animal Well, Crow Country, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.It’s been nearly impossible to keep up, but we’ve been playing through most of these games and settled on a handful of recommendations that offer a range of experiences. There’s everything from shadow-hopping puzzles to comedic platformers to a game that might help fill the Silksong-shaped hole in your heart.Here are some of our favorites.The Crush HousePCThe Crush House is one of the rare games that capitalize on... Continue reading…

Smartphones and tablets are both becoming increasingly capable of capturing great photos and videos, and the best iPhones and iPads are no exception. However, even with great file-sharing features like AirDrop, it can be difficult to export numerous photos and videos on iOS or iPadOS. Luckily, there's a way to zip photos and videos for quick and easy sharing. The process compresses the individual photos and videos and stores them in a single zip file for simplicity. To learn how to zip up photos and videos on your iPhone or iPad, check out the steps below.

Kodi is a powerful media platform for enjoying content on the same device the files are stored on. It's perfect for home theatre PCs and is more local than Plex or Jellyfin. Even though you will be rendering TV shows, music, and movies locally, you can still expand the functionality of Kodi through the installation of plugins. I'm going to run you through some of our favorites that work today and how to install them.

You'll likely be considering the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Ryzen 9 9900X when considering the most powerful processors from AMD and Intel. These two desktop processors are about as good as you'll get in 2024 without going overboard with the 14900K and 9950X. They're designed for power users and enthusiasts, those who will make full use of the available cores, but they're also pretty good for running games at 4K with a flagship AMD or Nvidia GPU. So, which should you choose for your next PC build?

When you install Windows, it comes with pre-made power plans that dictate how your computer operates and how some of the components operate. While there's an Ultimate Performance power plan that you can enable, for the most part, you don't need to enable it. Instead, we recommend turning on high-performance mode and then making some more changes on top of that too.

Samsung Food Plus can create tailored meal plans based on your nutritional needs and the food in your fridge and pantry. | Image: Samsung New features on Samsung’s AI-powered food and recipe app could make your meal planning and food management chores much easier. With Samsung Food, you can now add items to a Food List just by taking a picture. The app can then suggest recipes based on the food you have, automatically remove them when you cook a recipe using anything on the list, then add food items back to the list when you tick them off your shopping list. The Food List was previously only accessible via the SmartThings app and the built-in tablet on Samsung’s Family Hub smart fridges, limiting its usefulness. Now, as part of the cross-platform Samsung Food app, it could turn the service into a really useful all-in-one shopping, food management, meal planning, and... Continue reading…

Goliath’s Power Saber, in red and green. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge It would have been a Star Wars product — but Hasbro whiffed. Continue reading…

This is our top pick when it comes to mice the MX Master 3s. This mouse delivers when it comes to comfort and performance, with the only drawback being its relatively high price. Of course, it's worth the full price you pay for this device if you're someone that's on their computer all day, but we think it's better to get it when it's on sale. With that being said, for a limited time, you can score a fantastic discount on the MX Master 3s.

You mean it’s all copyright? | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images The huge leaps in OpenAI’s GPT model probably came from sucking down the entire written web. That includes entire archives of major publishers such as Axel Springer, Condé Nast, and The Associated Press — without their permission. But for some reason, OpenAI has announced deals with many of these conglomerates anyway.At first glance, this doesn’t entirely make sense. Why would OpenAI pay for something it already had? And why would publishers, some of whom are lawsuit-style angry about their work being stolen, agree?I suspect if we squint at these deals long enough, we can see one possible shape of the future of the web forming. Google has been referring less and less traffic outside itself — which threatens the existence of the entire... Continue reading…

2024 saw the release of the Ryzen 9000 series of processors built on AMD's Zen 5 architecture. Succeeding the Ryzen 7000 series, this latest family of chips boasts improved efficiency and performance, thanks to architectural changes and a shrinkage in the manufacturing process at TSMC. The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 9 9900X are very different processors. The Ryzen 7 is the mid-range chip with 8 cores and moderate performance whereas the Ryzen 9 9900X is for enthusiasts and creators, thanks to its impressive 12-core layout. I'll run you through all the similarities, differences, and performance numbers to help you choose the right chip for the job.