Microsoft Office is still the go-to productivity suite for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more. You can get it as a downloadable software package or as the cloud-based Microsoft 365 suite. But if youre looking for alternatives for your new laptop, whether because its too pricey or you want something that doesnt require a Microsoft account, there are plenty of options out there. The best Office alternative, though, isnt LibreOffice or Google Workspace its MobiOffice (formerly OfficeSuite). It offers an interface thats almost identical to Microsoft Office, includes all the tools you need, and comes at a much lower price.

With their superb data sharing, backups, and archiving facilities, Network-Attached Storage devices are perfect when you want to add extra TBs to your computing setup. But just like everything else in the tech landscape, not all NAS devices are built the same. If youre having a hard time choosing a pre-built storage server from the endless number of options in the NAS market, youve come to the right place. In this article, well go over some of the most essential features to look for when buying the NAS enclosure of your dreams.

Image: Tesla Robin Zeng, the founder of the world’s largest EV battery company, says Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s big bet on 4680 cylindrical cell technology “is going to fail and never be successful.” Zeng, the chairman of China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), tells Reuters that when Musk visited China in April, “We had a very big debate, and I showed him. He was silent. He doesn’t know how to make a battery.”Tesla’s “tabless” 4680 cells, which are used in some of its cars, including the Cybertruck, are supposed to have “five times” more energy capacity, and the company announced in September it had produced 100 million of them. A recent report by The Information said Musk had given the team working on the batteries an end of the year deadline... Continue reading…

PayPal is making it easier to collectively pool together funds on the platform. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images PayPal is introducing a new money-pooling feature that aims to make it easier to collect and pay for things as a group. The feature is free and allows PayPal users to create a pool online or via the platform’s app, invite friends and family to contribute, track contributed funds, and transfer that cash to their own PayPal balance.Provided you trust the pool organizer who will hold the power to spend or withdraw those funds, the pooling feature should provide a simple way to gather cash for things like gifts and group traveling collectively. Pool organizers can share pool joining links via “text, email, WhatsApp, and more” to people regardless of whether they have a PayPal account or not. Contributions can be made using a PayPal balance... Continue reading…

Successful content creators need to be on top of their time management. With social media marketing, graphic design, and video editing, its difficult to know how to prioritize your time. Fortunately, there are many tried and tested tips you can benefit from using so that you don't feel bogged down and lose hours of your day.

Encryption is one of the best ways to prevent unauthorized access to your important data. Whether it's your work laptop, personal laptop, or even home desktop, encrypting your storage drive can make it next to impossible for someone to view your sensitive information by stealing your device or drive, or by gaining access to it virtually.

There's just something really cool about Raspberry Pi projects you can physically wear. There are a ton of cool projects out there that are well worth your time to admire or make, but being able to put them on your body and do something cool with them gives a sort of Cyberpunk vibe, even if you're just chilling in your room with an SBC, some wires, and a pair of 3D-printed glasses. We've had the fortune of covering some really cool Raspberry Pi wearables, so here's a select choice of the best.

Disney Though the remainder of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur’s final season is set to hit the Disney Channel and Disney Plus some time next year, the studio is reportedly keeping one episode from airing because of its focus on a transgender character.Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur has often touched on ideas about race, class, and issues like gentrification as it followed the adventures of genius 13-year-old Lunella Lafatette (Diamond White) and her pet dinosaur, Devil (Fred Tatasciore). But according to now-deleted social media posts from animators who worked on “The Gatekeeper” — an episode about Lunella and other members of her school’s volleyball team being terrorized by a transphobic adult — Disney has chosen to keep the episode from... Continue reading…

The Verge Google has added some new travel and shopping features to Maps that aim to make it easier to find local products and stay on time during busy periods. Starting today, Maps now allows users to search for items like home goods, clothing, and electronics, and find stores nearby that sell them — a useful feature to have for any last-minute holiday shopping.The search results in Maps will display individual product listings alongside locations where generic examples of desired items can be found (showing nearby stores that sell “holiday sweaters,” for example). The product listings are presented similarly to products in Google Shopping, only with useful information like store distance and if the item is currently in stock. G... Continue reading…

If you've built a gaming PC at any stage in your life, then chances are you've heard about games being CPU-bound or GPU-bound. Some games will benefit from CPU upgrades, and others will benefit from GPU upgrades, but why is that? Why is it that some games, no matter how much you tweak their settings, won't get any more performance? These are typically CPU-bound games, but there's more than meets the eye here.

While shopping for a great new laptop, you might have noticed that among the sea of clamshells and convertibles, most of them are pretty similar when you compare the specs sheet. That's because, for the longest time, there were three companies making the CPUs and GPUs inside laptops: AMD, Intel, and Nvidia. Now, we also have Arm-powered laptops running Windows, and every MacBook is also running Arm-based chips.

Regardless of whether youre a data hoarder, movie aficionado, or just a cautious user who wants to preserve important files, a self-assembled Network Attached Storage rig can be a worthy addition to your computing environment. Once you're putting all the hardware pieces in place, the next step involves choosing an OS that suits your specific needs.