Although keyboards don't go out all that often, it can happen. And when it does happen, you don't want to be left struggling to find a replacement. Now, you could go out and buy your dream keyboard, but most folks will want to stick to something affordable to quickly get back on their feet.

So you've already checked out your Spotify Wrapped, and you've realised you've listened to that one song way more times than you thought you had. But what did the past year look like for yourself, your gaming static, and all those Discord servers you're a part of? Well, now you can check out your Discord Checkpoint and see what you got up to, for better or for worse.

The first reviews of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond are in, and the results are a relief. It's not the best Nintendo Switch game ever made, but Retro Studios' long-in-development latest avoided catastrophe with positive reviews. A day before launch, it sits at an aggregate score of 80 on Metacritic and 82 on OpenCritic. Metroid Prime 4 is the perfect game to cap off the Nintendo Switch era, bookending what was started by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

I always wanted a working PokéDex as a kid. Something about having a portable computer in your pocket that you could open up and scan things with a moment's notice was really magical to me. Of course, I never actually considered what exactly I would scan with a PokéDex in a world with zero Pokémon in it, but it was the thought that counted. Plus, these days I can whip out my phone and identify stuff using Google Gemini, so I guess I got what I really wanted in the end.

Smart TVs age in strange ways, and the experience often slowly becomes less pleasant even if the panel itself still looks great. I found that a few focused DIY upgrades were enough to transform how mine works and make it feel like something new again. None of these projects requires buying a new television or replacing your streaming box, and most of them cost only a few dollars or use gear you may already have. Together, they breathe new energy into the hardware you already own and make daily viewing feel more modern.

The European Union has launched a formal investigation into Meta over antitrust concerns with AI restrictions in WhatsApp. The probe aims to “prevent any possible irreparable harm to competition in the AI space” according to the EU, and follows Meta announcing changes to WhatsApp’s terms for businesses in October that will prohibit companies from using the platform’s API to distribute third-party AI chatbots.“As a result of the new policy, competing AI providers may be blocked from reaching their customers through WhatsApp,” says the European Commission’s announcement. “On the other hand, Meta’s own AI service ‘Meta AI’ would remain accessible to users on the platform.”The updated WhatsApp policy went into effect on October 15 for AI providers that don’t already have services on the platform, and will apply to existing AI providers on WhatsApp starting January 15th, 2026. OpenAI and Microsoft responded to the policy changes earlier this year by announcing that ChatGPT and Copilot would be removed from the platform.The investigation will assess whether Meta violated the EU laws that “prohibit the abuse of a dominant position” to make it harder for smaller providers to compete with its own services. There is no deadline for the investigation. If Meta is ruled to have breached the bloc’s antitrust rules, it may face fines up to 10 percent of the company’s global annual revenue, working out at $16.45 billion (per Meta’s 2024 earnings).“AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond,” European competition commissioner Teresa Ribera said in the announcement. “We must ensure European citizens and businesses can benefit fully from this technological revolution and act to prevent dominant digital incumbents from abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors.”

When songwriter Patrick Irwin moved to Nashville last year, he was entering a lottery. Each day hundreds of sessions take place where writers create a song demo to pitch to a publisher. Publishers then share those songs with labels and managers, who may share those songs with the artists. Even if a major country star records ("cuts") the song, it still takes a stroke of luck for that song to become a No. 1 hit. The odds of winning are extremely low. Recently, Irwin was in a room where his cowriters Sam Fink and Duane Deerweater tried something new. Instead of booking studio time or calling a "track guy" to produce a demo, one cowriter open …Read the full story at The Verge.

I love NotebookLM’s Mind Map feature, it’s one of my favorite parts about the AI and makes the learning process a lot more fun. Every time I create a new notebook with fresh sources, one of the first things I do is create a mind map to get a visual overview of all the documents and links. As a visual learner, it just makes sense that mind maps would be such an integral part of my NotebookLM experience. And the best part is how interactive the mind maps are - NotebookLM is very accurate with how it breaks down topics.

If you're into SBCs, you have probably pushed your Raspberry Pi to the limit with countless DIY projects. A Raspberry Pi is a powerful microprocessor that can replace entire appliances and become the core of your smart home. An Arduino microcontroller, on the other hand, might not be as powerful, but it's perfectly suited to simpler yet equally helpful projects. An inexpensive Arduino board can actually solve tons of real home problems, from bolstering your home security and watering your plants to feeding your pets. You just need to be comfortable with a bit of coding and breadboarding, and the world is your oyster.

While the tools you’d rely on in marketing look nothing like the ones you’d use in finance (and the list keeps going for every other field), there's one category of tool every professional finds themselves opening almost daily: spreadsheets. And while there are now a bunch of options out there, Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets remain the default.

iPhone 17 Pro models have been left in the dark. | Image: The Verge iPhone 17 Pro users have fewer ways to take photographs in low-light conditions compared to those using older iPhone models. Specifically, the option to select Night mode when taking snaps in Portrait mode — which gives the camera app an artsy depth-of-field effect — isn’t supported on iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max devices, per a support guide on Apple’s website.The support page, seen via 9to5Mac, includes a list of models that are compatible with various Night mode features. While Night mode is still available for the standard Photo mode, selfies, and time-lapse videos on iPhone 17 Pro devices, the model isn’t included in the compatibility list for Portrait mode. Here’s the full list of compatible models:iPhone 16 Pro / Pro MaxiPhone 15 Pro / Pro MaxiPhone 14 Pro / Pro MaxiPhone 13 Pro / Pro MaxiPhone 12 Pro / Pro MaxiPhone 17 Pro users on Reddit reported that the feature wasn’t there last month. My colleague Tom Warren also says that Night Mode is missing from the Portrait mode on his own iPhone 17 Pro — something he thought “was a bug.” Apple hasn’t explained why it removed the feature on its latest Pro models, or if it will be added in the future.We have reached out to Apple for comment.iPhone 17 Pro users can still take Night mode photos and videos across other camera modes. Portrait mode users who enjoy the sharper subject focus and blurring background effects will be missing out, however, making low-light photography feel like a downgraded experience on Apple’s current flagship phone.

Every year there are countless laptops that get released. And while I'd love to upgrade every single year, that just isn't necessary. So it's a pretty big investment when you're thinking about buying something new. Not only are there financial considerations, but you also have to take time and effort to find the one that's right for you.