The Verge / Photo courtesy of Bethesda Game Studios Xbox Game Pass might have had a rather slow 2022, but its value has really paid off in 2023. There are more than 400 games to choose from, and I’ve honestly struggled to pick just 10 to recommend this year. For a monthly subscription fee of between $10.99 and $16.99, you get to play a wide range of games like Starfield, Sea of Stars, Tunic, and Inside.If you’ve just got an Xbox, here’s a list of 10 great Xbox Game Pass games that are well worth your time over the holidays.PentimentPentiment is a manuscript murder mystery set in the 16th century. In Pentiment, you play as Andreas Maler, a painter working on illustrated manuscripts in an abbey in Bavaria. The game plays out like a visual novel, where you’ll make decisions throughout... Continue reading…

One of the most popular things that Linux distributions like Ubuntu are often used for is to manage web servers. And just so happens that one of the most popular open-source web server software is Apache. It goes hand-in-hand with Linux, which means getting started with Apache is pretty easy. It is free of charge and is available in Ubuntu's default software repositories. Here's how you can get started with it.

Stress testing the graphics card that's installed on your computer is one of the best ways to check its stability under load. While running a regular GPU benchmark is enough to gauge its performance under load, a stress test will put greater load on it. There are plenty of ways to generate load to test your GPU's stability, but running a stress test is often recommended as a simple and safe way to perform the ultimate test for your GPU.

With AI advancing by the second, even the top laptop manufacturers such as Acer and Lenovo are actively focusing on improving their processors, systems, and adding on Neural Processing Units. As a matter of fact, the Acer Swift Go 14 is one of the latest ones featuring this tech. But how does it stand against the Acer Swift X? It's an interesting question because one is based on older technology, while the other is relatively new. But does that mean the former is worse? Not really.

The Verge / Image courtesy of Nintendo It’s been a fantastic year for the Nintendo Switch. We got new Super Mario games, some great remasters, ports of a few games that previously blew up on PC, and, of course, an absolutely massive sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.Even though the Nintendo Switch’s successor is likely just around the corner, there’s no shortage of great games to play on the Switch you might already own. Nintendo can take all the time it needs to launch its next console; whenever that comes out, I’ll probably still be working through quests in Tears of the Kingdom.Here are some of the best Nintendo Switch games from 2023.Advance Wars 1 + 2 Re-Boot Camp Image: Nintendo Advance Wars 1 + 2 Re-Boot Camp packages up the... Continue reading…

Apple is known for being a company that values security and privacy, and it routinely adds features designed to keep user data safe. Some benefits are enabled automatically, like end-to-end encryption for some types of data stored on iCloud. However, other tools and features need to be enabled manually before they can be used. Unfortunately, you might not realize you need a data safety feature until it's too late, which is why it's essential to be proactive when it comes to online security.

Image: Apple Apple has filed an appeal to the International Trade Commission’s decision to ban U.S. sales of Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 models, court records show. Additionally, the company is requesting an emergency stay on the ban for at least two weeks until a decision is made on redesigned versions of the banned models.“We strongly disagree with the USITC decision and resulting exclusion order, and are taking all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the U.S. as soon as possible,” Apple said in a statement to Reuters on Tuesday. Apple did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.The models, which Apple says are their most popular, were banned after the ITC found that Apple... Continue reading…

The Verge / Photo courtesy of Paramount Plus and IMDB I am a Paramount Plus apologist. I know — going by subscription numbers alone — that I have to be because people do not subscribe to the streaming service at the same rate as Netflix or Amazon Prime, but I spend more time in the Paramount Plus app than the other two. It’s got older shows like Star Trek, Frasier, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, and newer splashy shows like... everything Taylor Sheridan produces and Frasier. It has a whole mess of football (American) and football (the rest of the world), and while bigger brands like Netflix are only now experimenting with live TV, Paramount Plus has been doing it from the get-go and doing it really well.It is, I think, my desert island streaming service. A lot of new shows aired on the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Earlier this year, Amazon announced plans to start incorporating ads into movies and TV shows streamed from its Prime Video service, and now the company has revealed a specific date when you’ll start seeing them: it’s January 29th. “This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time,” the company said in an email to customers about the pending shift to “limited advertisements.” “We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership,” the company wrote. Customers have the option of paying an additional $2.99 per month to keep... Continue reading…

Image: Microsoft Microsoft has quietly launched a dedicated Copilot app for Android. The new app is available in the Google Play Store, offering access to Microsoft’s AI-powered Copilot without the need for the Bing mobile app. Spotted by Neowin, Copilot on Android has been available for nearly a week, but an iOS version isn’t available just yet.Microsoft’s Copilot app on Android is very similar to ChatGPT, with access to chatbot capabilities, image generation through DALL-E 3, and the ability to draft text for emails and documents. It also includes free access to OpenAI’s latest GPT-4 model, something you have to pay for if you’re using ChatGPT. Image: Microsoft The Copilot interface on Android The launch of the Copilot app... Continue reading…

MongoDB is a free-to-use document database that's known to be quite scalable and flexible. It's easy to use to query and index, and it even stores data in JSON-like documents. So, if you want to use MongoDB on a popular Linux distribution like Ubuntu, we have some good news. Getting started with it is as simple as using the terminal to install it. We'll guide you through the process right here.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple can no longer sell the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 in the US after President Joe Biden’s administration declined to veto the ban today.Apple pulled both devices from its website on December 21st and from its store shelves after December 24th. A statement (via CNBC) from the Office of US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the agency “decided not to reverse the ITC’s [International Trade Commission] determination” after “careful consideration.”In a statement published by Reuters, an unnamed Apple spokesperson confirmed it’s appealing the ITC decision and said: “We strongly disagree with the USITC decision and resulting exclusion order, and are taking all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to... Continue reading…