When it comes to purchasing or building a new gaming PC, one of the crucial decisions you face is which company's hardware you’ll use: Nvidia, Intel, or AMD. Despite being seen as an underdog in the tech sphere, AMD stands as a fierce competitor in the gaming market, challenging industry giants like Nvidia and Intel simultaneously.

Microsoft has introduced some solid improvements to its Copilot tool in Windows 11 by adding new automation features and the ability to manage more system settings.

This blue medium-size Amazon bag has handles just like a reusable grocery store bag. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge As skeptical as I am of Amazon the company, it knows its packaging. Its paper-tape cardboard boxes are wonderfully easy to rip apart for recycling, its paper mailers are promising (though missing firm commitment), and its gift bags are far too good to toss in the trash. Especially these new blue bags with integrated shopping bag handles. We just got three of them in the mail for my daughter’s birthday. Was this some sort of experiment? Nope! They’re legit, Amazon spokesperson Nicole Pampe confirms to The Verge. The new gift bags with handles are available in both the US and EU.“We’re pleased to offer customers a convenient way to wrap various sizes of gifts in our store, including our new medium-sized gift bags with handles. The gift... Continue reading…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Fujifilm’s X100V became so wildly popular that it felt like the camera was endlessly backordered at every camera retailer around. On the secondary market, prices for the rangefinder-style mirrorless camera shot up into truly silly territory after it had a big viral moment on TikTok. The X100V was so in demand that Fujifilm could’ve taken the easy route for a successor and still been guaranteed to have a hit on its hands. The new model, being announced today, looks practically the same on the outside, but the X100VI includes meaningful improvements that will make it a more capable camera — in far more shooting environments — than any previous entrant in the X100 series. The flip side to those upgrades is that the price has climbed by... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This year’s first Direct will take place Wednesday morning at 9AM ET, and, according to Nintendo, the 25-minute presentation will feature Switch games “coming in the first half of 2024 from our publishing and development partners.”We didn’t need to consult the video game oracles to know a Nintendo Direct was on the way. Not only have Microsoft and PlayStation shared their upcoming release schedules, but taking a look at the dates of the last handful of Directs revealed that Nintendo is fond of the first week of February. A #NintendoDirect: Partner Showcase is coming! Watch on-demand via YouTube on 2/21 at 6am PT for around 25 mins of info focused on #NintendoSwitch games coming in the first half of 2024 from our publishing and... Continue reading…

Selecting the ideal CPU cooler is necessary not only for maintaining your processor at a safe operating temperature but also for enhancing your system's overall performance, prolonging the lifespan of your PC components, and aligning with your personal preferences and computing needs. As such, it's important to choose the right kind of cooler for your machine, whether that's air cooling, all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooling, or custom water cooling setups, and we're here to help you make that decision.

Image: Porsche Porsche announced two new plug-in hybrid Panameras, as the German automakers looks to hedge its bets by offering a broader set of electrified options. Late last year, Porsche unveiled the third generation Panamera, which included the Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid as the first of four Panamera E-Hybrid models that will eventually be offered. Today, the automaker is adding two more: the Panamera 4 E-Hybrid and the Panamera 4S E-Hybrid. The fourth model will be announced at a later date.Porsche says it is responding to “significant demand for efficient and dynamic E-Hybrid powertrains” with the release of these two new variants. Indeed, hybrids are increasingly in demand in a variety of markets, even as sales growth of pure battery-electric... Continue reading…

You can now play many of your favorite PC games on the go, thanks to the rise of the PC gaming handheld. They differ from consoles or smartphones, running on the Windows 11 or Linux operating systems, and can access a vast library of PC games from various platforms such as Steam or GoG. While the trend started mostly with the Steam Deck, there are now plenty of excellent alternatives. We weighed the selections based on their performance, design, battery life, and price. Whether you are looking for a powerful machine that can handle the latest AAA titles or a budget-friendly option for playing the newest indie games, there is something for you.

In modern gaming, two fundamental aspects compete for attention: visual fidelity and framerate. Visual fidelity refers to the graphical quality of a game, encompassing details such as texture resolution, lighting effects, and overall graphical realism. On the other hand, framerate denotes the number of frames per second (FPS) displayed on the screen, directly influencing the smoothness and responsiveness of gameplay. Balancing these elements is crucial for developers to deliver an immersive and enjoyable gaming experience.

Getting water on phones happens to the best of us. Lucky for us, there’s one household staple the internet consistently suggests will draw that liquid out and save phones: uncooked rice. But contrary to popular advice, Apple, like most people in tech support, explicitly advises against putting your wet phone in a bag of rice. “Don’t put your iPhone in a bag of rice. Doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone,” Apple support documents said.The support documents first spotted by Macworld are technically addressing what to do when you get the liquid detection alert on your iPhone. They’re not just out to put a long lingering internet myth to bed. To that end they also suggested avoiding using an external heat... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Samsung has detailed its expanded support for a range of audio technologies including Auracast, 360 Audio, and Auto Switch in a new blog post. None are appearing on Samsung’s devices for the first time, but we now know how broadly they’ll be supported across the lineup. Samsung says updates will be progressively available from the end of this month for Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 and Buds FE, in addition to the Buds 2 Pro.Take Auracast, for example — a relatively new Bluetooth technology that allows one device to broadcast an audio stream to a theoretically unlimited number of endpoints like speakers and headphones. Last year Samsung announced support for the technology for its Galaxy Buds 2 Pro earbuds and latest high-end TVs, and it came... Continue reading…

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Sony’s new PlayStation Portal has been hacked by Google engineers to run emulated games locally. The $199.99 handheld debuted in November but was limited to just streaming games from a PS5 console and not even titles from Sony’s cloud gaming service.Now, two Google engineers have managed to get the PPSSPP emulator running natively on the PlayStation Portal, allowing a Grand Theft Auto PSP version to run on the Portal without Wi-Fi streaming required. “After more than a month of hard work, PPSSPP is running natively on PlayStation Portal. Yes, we hacked it,” says Andy Nguyen in a post on X. After more than a month of hard work, PPSSPP is running natively on PlayStation Portal. Yes, we hacked it. With help from xyz and @ZetaTwo p... Continue reading…