Growing up with games meant growing up with some incredible rituals. Things I waited for. Things I shared. Things that felt communal, physical, and fleeting in the best possible way. The industry and this medium we all love have changed significantly over the years, but somewhere between faster internet and infinite content, plenty of traditions have quietly gone off into the sunset.

Anker’s 521 PowerHouse can power up to six devices. Winter storms across the country are bringing heavy snow, rain, and — in some cases, as this Californian who briefly lost power a few days ago can attest — outages. If you want to prepare, Anker’s 521 PowerHouse can help keep your essential devices running and it’s on sale for $129.99 ($120 off) at Amazon. That is about $2 shy of its all-time low price and the best price we’ve seen since Black Friday.Anker 521 PowerHouseWhere to Buy: $249.99 $129.99 at AmazonWhat’s impressive about the 256Wh power station is the range of devices it can handle. You can charge smaller electronics like phones, tablets, cameras, and laptops multiple times using its two USB-A ports and single USB-C port, but it also features two AC outlets and a car socket. That means it can power low-wattage appliances such as a mini fridge, portable fan or heater (on low), electric blanket, and other gear that draws up to 300 watts. You don’t need to worry it’ll die, either — Anker says the battery is designed to last up to 10 years and offers a five-year warranty.There are a few thoughtful extras, too. Small and weighing about eight pounds — roughly the same as a gallon of water — it’s relatively easy to carry thanks to its integrated handle. Anker also includes a built-in display for checking remaining battery life at a glance, along with a car charging cable. And if you’re outdoors or dealing with an extended outage, you can even recharge it using compatible solar panels — though you’ll need to buy those separately.Three more deals worth a lookGoogle’s TV Streamer (4K) is once again on sale for $74.99 ($25 off) at Amazon and Target, which matches its best price to date. The streaming device is Google’s best yet, allowing you to stream in 4K with support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.  Beyond streaming, it also doubles as a smart home hub, with built-in Matter support and a Thread radio that lets you control compatible smart home devices directly through the TV screen. Read our review.The PlayStation 5 version of Silent Hill 2 is down to a record low price of $27.39 ($23 off) at Amazon. You can also buy it on Xbox and PC for $34.99 instead of $69.99 from Konami and Steam. The remake of the 2001 survival horror classic features a new design, new puzzles, a reworked combat system, and a range of quality-of-life improvements, making the experience feel even scarier than before. It’s an especially fitting time to return to the foggy town with the film adaptation of Silent Hill 2 set to arrive this January.The portable Garmin inReach Messenger has dropped to a new low of $165.50 ($135 off) at Amazon. The water-resistant satellite messenger lets you stay connected when you’re off the grid, allowing you to send and receive messages, share your location, get weather reports, and trigger interactive SOS alerts even without cellular service — though a satellite subscription is required. It also supports reverse charging via USB-C, so while it’s not meant to be used as a power bank you can technically top off your phone in an emergency.

The US Cyber Trust Mark Program, an Energy Star-style certification for smart home security, could be winding down less than a year after it launched. Safety testing company UL Solutions has announced that it is stepping down as the program's lead administrator, just a few months after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began investigating it over ties to China. The Cyber Trust Mark Program hasn't been officially shut down yet, but the loss of its lead administrator leaves it in limbo. It wouldn't be the first security program the FCC axed this year. In November, the FCC rolled back cybersecurity regulations for telecom companies …Read the full story at The Verge.

As another year comes to a close, it's time to remind ourselves that not every tried-and-tested PC hardware tip remains that way forever. Times change, components evolve, and some older rules no longer apply. PC building involves mastering multiple aspects of PC components. From performance scaling and stability trade-offs to value for money and the role of non-core components, it can be a lot to take in. If you're building a PC for the first time or re-entering the market after a hiatus, knowing and ignoring these outdated PC hardware rules will probably help you build a better system.

Folding OLED displays are still most commonly found on premium smartphones and laptops, but One-Netbook is bringing the tech to a new gaming device. Its new OneXSugar Wallet is reminiscent of the company's folding OneXSugar Sugar 1 handheld that launched earlier this year. But instead of two screens, the Wallet handheld unfolds to reveal just one big 8.01-inch OLED screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio, as spotted by Retro Handhelds.The OneXSugar Wallet was announced on China's Weibo yesterday, but with few details about its features and capabilities. That folding OLED screen has a resolution of 2480 x 1860 pixels, and the handheld will be powere …Read the full story at The Verge.

GameSir is no stranger to experimenting with unique controller features - its Tarantula Pro can automatically swap its face button labels to accommodate alternate layouts, and its Pocket 1 clamps Game Boy controls onto your phone. What sets its new Swift Drive controller apart is a small steering wheel located smack-dab in the middle of the gamepad that's connected to what GameSir calls the "world's smallest direct drive motor" providing force feedback effects for racing games.Pricing and availability hasn't been announced yet, but GameSir has revealed plenty of details about the Swift Drive's features and functionality. The steering wheel …Read the full story at The Verge.

Two former employees at cybersecurity firms - one of whom was a ransomware negotiator - have pleaded guilty to carrying out a series of ransomware attacks in 2023. The Department of Justice announced the guilty pleas on Tuesday, saying 40-year-old Ryan Goldberg and 36-year-old Kevin Martin extorted $1.2 million in Bitcoin from a medical device company and targeted several others.Goldberg, Martin, and an unnamed co-conspirator were indicted for the attacks in October, which involved using ALPHV / BlackCat ransomware to encrypt and steal data from their victims. As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, Martin and the third conspirator worked as …Read the full story at The Verge.

Package management is one of Linux's greatest strengths. A robust, reliable way to update your PC's software and core libraries that doesn't come with a lengthy terms and conditions statement. On the surface, comparing Linux's package managers to the Microsoft Store on Windows feels pretty unfair, and that's because it is. One is a decades-old system for managing all software on your system, and the other is an app store. Windows treats its apps like a storefront, which speaks to the philosophical gap that continues to widen between the two operating systems, but even when it comes to real-world use, package managers on Linux beat the brakes off of the Microsoft Store, and it's not even close.

LibreOffice, an open source alternative to Microsoft's increasingly expensive Office 365 suite, is an excellent way to view and edit documents across pretty much any device, whether it's a Mac, PC, or even an Android device or an iPhone.

An f/1.2 aperture is a beautiful thing. Canon's new EOS R6 Mark III is an excellent camera. It's not a groundbreaking upgrade to the 3-year-old R6 Mark II, but it takes the same body with great ergonomics and adds more resolution, video that now goes up to 7K with open-gate filming, and improved autofocus performance. If you're in need of an impeccably good all-around camera for anything from wildlife photography to weddings and videography, you can't go wrong. It's an easy recommendation, especially if you already shoot Canon and are due for an upgrade. (But a used R6 Mark II is also very appealing if the higher $2,799.99 price is too lofty.)But the lens Canon launched alongsid …Read the full story at The Verge.

The Gardyn Studio is that rare piece of tech that looks good inside my home. I can't grow anything. Multiple attempts to create a cottage garden, first in Idaho and now in South Carolina, have brought disappointment. Both are challenging climates, but where others have succeeded, I've been left with little more than a pile of cherry tomatoes for my vast efforts (those things are bulletproof). I'd all but given up on the idea of ever successfully growing my own food - I can't even keep those pots of herbs you buy at the grocery store alive for more than a week - until I met the Gardyn Studio 2.A smart indoor garden, the Gardyn Studio 2 is an automated growing platform that deploys AI to do what I failed to do: w …Read the full story at The Verge.

For the longest time, all of my notes were spread across Notion, OneNote, and Google Docs. Each tool solves a specific problem and is powerful in its own way. But using them together can create quite a bloated setup, not to mention, none of my data is actually my own. This is what’s been pushing me to more privacy-focused and local-first tools for taking notes.