An Uber and Lyft vehicle in New York. | Photo: Lindsey Nicholson / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images Rideshare drivers in Massachusetts will soon get company-provided benefits, as well as a minimum pay of $32.50 per hour, starting on August 15th. That’s thanks to a new settlement between the state and rideshare companies Uber and Lyft, four years after Attorney General Andrea Campbell sued the companies, asserting their drivers ought to be considered employees under state law. The two companies also agreed to pay a combined $175 million, the bulk of which will be paid out to “current and former drivers who were underpaid by the companies,” Campbell’s office announced yesterday. The office says it will release details about who qualifies and how to apply “in coming weeks.” Despite the settlement and the original thrust of the suit,... Continue reading…

You have one of the best laptops, a great mouse, and all the accessories you need to be productive. However, once you start working, you may find yourself buried deep within the menus and features of your ultimate productivity app. Ive wasted a lot of time on apps like this, and they usually have too much going on. Apps like Notion, Obsidian, and Evernote are great on paper, but they feel like theyre more for people who fuss over productivity.

The first wave of Copilot+ PCs is finally hitting the market, and based on general opinions so far, it's been pretty well received. Laptops powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus have a lot of exciting things, including excellent performance and efficiency, and most notably a powerful NPU with 45TOPS of performance.

My original Framework Laptop 16 review unit, next to its replacement. In January, I spent two weeks with the most modular notebook ever made: the Framework Laptop 16. It’s a gadget nerd’s dream: you can swap out its keyboard, touchpad, ports — even its entire discrete GPU. You can transform it from a sleek work laptop to a decent gaming machine in two minutes flat, one which charges with the world’s first 180W USB-C power adapter.But at the time, I gave the Framework Laptop 16 a 5 out of 10. The product gave me multiple Blue Screens of Death, glitched, felt flimsy in places, and ran hotter and louder than its performance would suggest. Six months later, with a new unit and new firmware, I’m feeling a bit better! Not good enough to give it my full recommendation, but enough to raise its score to 6 out of... Continue reading…

There are a few features on Windows 11 you might consider underrated or underappreciated, and for me, one of them has to be Windows Sandbox. This feature first appeared in Windows 10, and it's basically a virtual machine you can start up at any time with a fresh environment.

It's an exciting time to be an Android user, with brands like Samsung and Motorola reinventing the smartphone with unique folding designs. Motorola just released the new 2024 Razr line, which includes the flagship-tier Razr+. The 2023 Razr+ was our favorite folding phone, but can Motorola's new clamshell pull iOS fans away from the iPhone 15? Let's pick these two smartphones apart and see how the Android flip phone compares to a classic Apple flagship.

Prior to iOS 16 and iPadOS 17, Apple iPhone and iPad owners couldn't really customize their Lock Screens. Users were limited to changing the wallpaper, and that was it. Now, iDevice owners can also add widgets, change Lock Screen font, and upload/customize photos. If you just set up a new iPhone or iPad and are looking for ways to personalize it, you can learn all about customizing the Lock Screen in this guide.

The 10th-gen Kindle Paperwhite may lack USB-C and don a smaller display, but it still nails the basics. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Lately, it seems as though the biggest happenings in the E Ink world revolve around large note-taking devices like the Kindle Scribe and color offerings such as the apt-titled Kobo Libra Colour. That said, if you’re looking for a basic ebook reader to burn through your summer reading list, there’s nothing wrong with picking up a last-gen e-reader like the 2018 Kindle Paperwhite — which happens to be on sale at Amazon (via Woot) in used condition with ads for $49.99.Amazon’s last-gen Paperwhite has become more difficult to find since the arrival of the 2021 model, even if it isn’t a dramatic step down in terms of features. It still carries an IPX8 rating for full resistance against water immersion, as well as a crisp six-inch, 300ppi... Continue reading…

Our favorite flip phone, the Motorola Razr+, just got an update. The new 2024 Razr+ refines Motorola's excellent clamshell smartphone in several ways, with a more powerful chipset, boosted RAM, a bigger cover screen, and a brighter main display. A flagship device like this deserves some premium accessories. Furthermore, the 2023 Motorola Razr+ didn't include a charger (just a USB-C cable), so you'll likely have to supply your own if you buy the new model. But worry not: we've got all the best chargers and accessories for the 2024 Motorola Razr+ right here.

A virtual machine (VM for short) is essentially what the name describes. It's a virtual machine, allowing you to install and run an operating system such as Linux, macOS, or Windows without building a separate physical system. It's possible to do this on network-attached storage but the real question is whether you should. Running an installation of Windows through a Synology or home brew NAS may sound like a good idea, but there are some caveats to consider.

Microsoft adds new features to Windows and its other popular services with every major software update, but a lot of the time, it also removes certain features that are no longer relevant or used by a very small number of people. All of this is an important exercise in software maintenance. In what looks like a part of this exercise, Microsoft is gearing up for the removal of a key feature in Windows Server Update Services (popularly known as WSUS).

New leaks may have spoiled the colors that will be available for Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 devices. | Image: Evan Blass While Samsung is gearing up to officially introduce the latest Galaxy Z foldable smartphones at its Unpacked event on July 10th, a new batch of leaked images have spoiled more of the surprise. The renders of the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 handsets come courtesy of established leaker Evan Blass and WinFuture, which show what colors may be available alongside sharing many similarities with previous leaks from SmartPrix, OnLeaks, and Ice Universe.The images show a more squared-off design for the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which was also seen in images of a prototype earlier this month. The hinge and bezels surrounding the outer display appear smaller, and black rings can be seen around the rear triple-camera lenses. Leaked specifications... Continue reading…