I skipped plenty of projects because I didn’t have enough time to put them together. I might have time to create a full video overview, but not enough time to watch it from start to finish. That’s why NotebookLM’s minute-long Short Video Overview made sense to use. It takes what you’re working on and gives you the gist fast.

Most soundbars spend their first few minutes trying very hard to impress you. They advertise huge channel counts, virtual height effects (including Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization), wireless subwoofers, room-filling audio, and preset names that sound more technical than they really are. Then you plug one in, start a movie, and run into a much less exciting problem. The most useful setting probably isn’t the one designed to make everything sound bigger.

Valve's latest compatibility layer, Proton 11, which allows Windows games to run on platforms like the Steam Deck, Steam Machine, and Linux-based desktops, has officially been released in a stable version after being available in beta since April.

Meta might be the next company to make an always-on AI wearable. The company is working on prototype "super sensing" always-aware smart glasses that could continuously record audio and snap photos "every few seconds," according to the Financial Times. The wearer could then ask Meta AI about the captured audio and images.However, the images and audio might not be directly available to the user. Here's how the FT describes one way the glasses could use the data:In one proposed system, raw footage and audio would not be stored by Meta or made available to the user, several people said. Instead, the metadata from that audio and images would …Read the full story at The Verge.

Between their highly customizable nature, lack of privacy-intrusive services, and zero forced updates, there are plenty of reasons to love Linux distributions. I also adore the live boot functionality that many distros tend to ship with, as it lets me get accustomed to their quirks and tinker with their built-in tools without spending extra time installing them on the machine. Better yet, plenty of Linux flavors support persistent folders (and even partitions) capable of saving any changes I make to the live boot environment even after I shut down the system, making them perfect for portable setups.

Windows is the first operating system I tried, and I've been using it for the last 20 years. Most of my colleagues, neighbors, and family members have been using PCs with Windows and subsequently upgraded to new versions. However, the OS hardware requirements increase over time, and Windows 11 is not easy on older, weaker systems. The latest version aims to look better and offer robust security, and it requires special components like TPM and Secure Boot to work. Windows 10 never required users to enable Secure Boot or TPM and could run on most systems.

What's better than a fidget toy? A fidget toy that evolves as you play with it, that's what. With hobbyist hardware getting better and better, someone has created a fidget toy that comes with a digital pet that develops when you click a button. And the best part is, if everything goes well, you'll be able to buy your very own.

For most of the last decade, the value proposition of the DIY build was considered gospel. Pick your own parts, skip the OEM's middle-man tax, and end up with a machine that outperforms anything a prebuilt manufacturer would sell you at the price. The ongoing DRAM crisis, however, seems to have changed all of that.

Google Keep is great until you need it to do anything more than simple sticky notes. I used the app for years, but I became increasingly frustrated with its organizational features and limited note-editing tools. I also became more hesitant to use the app for any sensitive information, given Google's privacy track record.

While SteamOS on Steam devices definitely gets the job done, some people just prefer to run Windows on them instead. There's quite a lot of proof to suggest that SteamOS has much better in-game performance than Windows, but hey, it's their device, and they can install Windows on it if they want.

Just last month, the Sonos Ace headphones hit their lowest price ever. We never thought the price would go even lower, especially so soon, but that's exactly what's happening now. For a limited time, you can score the Sonos Ace headphones for just $279. This is the lowest price we've seen, and we couldn't be more excited.

Before we knew it, solid-state drives genuinely became the most important component inside a modern PC. They might not be as expensive as a big, beefy GPU inside the case, but they're certainly headed there. It's the SSD that boots up our systems, runs our apps, and decides how long we look at loading screens. SSDs truly are the unsung heroes that keep everything moving, and they most definitely handle the largest amount of load every day, too. With SSD prices climbing straight into the skies over the past year, replacing one has become a far more expensive (and scary) proposition than it used to be.