DirectStorage was heralded as a "game-changing" technology four years ago. Intended as a direct link between the storage and GPU, it claimed to dramatically lower loading times, reduce CPU overhead, and boost the bandwidth available to the GPU. Over time, we saw some of these claims come to fruition in a handful of titles, but by and large, DirectStorage joined the ranks of revolutionary PC innovations that disappeared from the consumer consciousness. Due to developed struggles with GPU decompression and API restrictions, DirectStorage hasn't fulfilled its promise, at least not yet. However, as game developers optimize newer titles for faster SSDs, DirectStorage will undoubtedly affect which SSD specs consumers value the most. Gen5 SSDs may finally make sense for gaming, and drives with high-end controllers and DRAM cache could further boost overall performance.

While mini PCs are great, they do have limitations if you're not careful. Although it's usually not possible to upgrade a lot of the hardware in a mini PC, we do try and highlight some good examples if you're looking to make a purchase. With that said, this one from GMKtec is now on sale, dropping to $370 for a limited time, which is $160 off the usual retail price.

VRAM has been a hot topic in the PC community for the last 5–6 years. I remember when YouTubers were casting doubts on the RTX 3070's longevity due to its 8GB VRAM. At the time, the majority of gamers didn't pay much heed to VRAM capacity, but fast-forward to 2026, and the discussion has certainly become more complicated. The average gamer still underestimates the importance of GPU VRAM, considering it's possible to run out of 8GB VRAM even at 1080p, given the right game and graphics settings. That said, the other extreme, which dictates that 24GB of VRAM be the minimum, is also not rooted in reality. It's important to consider VRAM capacity when buying a GPU, but don't be tricked into spending more than you realistically need for the games you play the most.

Amid a weekslong conflict with the Pentagon, resulting in a blacklist and a lawsuit, Anthropic is shaking up its C-suite and research initiatives. The company announced Wednesday that it's launching a new internal think tank, called the Anthropic Institute, that combines three of Anthropic's current research teams. It will focus on researching AI's large-scale implications, such as "what happens to jobs and economies, whether AI makes us safer or introduces new dangers, how its values might shape ours, and whether we can retain control," per the company. The news comes with C-suite changes, too. Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark is moving int …Read the full story at The Verge.

The S26 phones feel awfully familiar. While Samsung has treated its Flips and Folds to a few major hardware upgrades over recent years, the Galaxy S flagships have often felt like a long, unbroken line of minor spec refreshes. The S26 and S26 Plus do nothing to change that trend.The Galaxy S26 Ultra at least benefits from the company's new privacy display, but the two smaller S26 phones lack a killer hardware feature. They both have new chipsets, and the S26 gets a bigger battery while the Plus has faster wireless charging, but these are tiny tweaks, not wholesale upgrades. Perhaps most disappointingly, Samsung hasn't followed Google in adding magnetic Qi2 charging to the phon …Read the full story at The Verge.

Google Drive has been my go-to cloud storage locker for years. It's convenient, deeply integrated into the Google Workspace ecosystem, and since everyone already knows how it works, it helps me avoid unnecessary hand-holding when sharing files. Documents, photos, invoices, assorted PDFs, anything that I might need on the go makes it there. Drop in a file, share a link directly, open it anywhere. All of that sounds and is simple. However, that convenience makes it easy to forget what the trade-off actually is.

Mini PCs make excellent home servers. They're usually incredibly efficient for their size, pack a punch, and are often a turnkey solution for people looking to get started with self-hosting. An old laptop probably won't compare in size or performance, but it has one key advantage over mini PCs most people don't think of. Your laptop makes a great home server because of its battery. Even when battery health becomes significantly degraded, the presence of a battery at all acts as a form of UPS in the event of power loss, and that can be invaluable for a home server.

AI agents feel like a double-edged sword. On one hand, they can automate tasks that we find laborious by taking a single command and acting upon it. On the other hand, they can do untold amounts of damage to your data if left unchecked, so you really have to be careful with what you say to them and what you allow them to do.

Meta is adding more scam detection tools to Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp that can help users protect their accounts. In its announcement, Meta says the new features aim to alert users about suspicious activities before they engage with them, such as unrecognized friend requests and device linking notifications, because "we know that scammers try to avoid our detection and may not immediately use accounts maliciously."WhatsApp users will now receive a warning when red flags are detected in the behavioral signals for device linking requests, helping to prevent scammers from linking other WhatsApp accounts to their own device. Meta says …Read the full story at The Verge.

I'm starting to believe that the ultimate combo for tinkerers is some kind of computing device and a 3D printer. Once you mash the two together, there's really no limit on the kind of stuff you can make, and we've seen some wild inventions already. However, I think this Simpsons TV powered by a Raspberry Pi 4B is one of my favorite examples of a 3D printed shell getting a digital enhancement in recent memory, and it can even function as a games machine.

Let’s play a game of “spot the crease.“ The first thing most people seem to do when they try out a foldable phone I'm reviewing is look for the crease in the screen. In the case of Oppo's Find N6, it might take them a while.Oppo claims that the Find N6, launching in full next week on March 17th, has the world's first "zero-feel crease" foldable display. Let's get one thing out of the way early: "zero" is pushing it. You can feel the crease on this phone, but only barely, and only when you're really thinking about it. You can see it too, but only in the right light, at the right angle, and you sort of have to squint a little to spot it. This is the least obtrusive crease I've f …Read the full story at The Verge.

We've talked a lot in the past about why a wired network for your home or office is a good idea. Sure, it's not for everyone, especially when wireless is so much easier to set up, but if you have special needs that require a more reliable connection, having a wired network can be an absolute game-changer.