One thing I really like about the Switch range is that it's really easy to swap between handheld and TV mode. Just put the Switch into its dock when you want to play on the TV, then remove it again when it's time to travel. It's a pretty elegant design that ensures you're not fiddling with cables every time you want to swap modes.

The release of Ghost of Yotei will have players exploring the fields of Ezo while on a quest for revenge in a land filled with samurai in the 1600s Japan. Many aspects of its story and visual presentation are inspired by classic Japanese cinema, more specifically stories about samurai and their many exploits in the olden days of Japan. Tales of revenge and honor, sword fights, and politics are part of the drama, with unique visuals that everyone instantly tie to samurai films. Even its predecessor, Ghost of Tsushima, had many of the same influences and inspirations from these types of stories, despite other aspects of the era being part of the larger plot. But Ghost of Yotei and its prequel aren't the only video games that players have been able to dive into a samurai-inspired experience.

PowerToys is one of those apps that are easy to install and forget about. I only really started using it a while ago to boost my graphics work, and it was the right move. But, of course, PowerToys offers more than graphics-related features, so I’ve been exploring it a lot more and eventually figured out which tools are best suited to my PC workflows. I also love how nicely it plays with Windows – the OS I’ve been using my whole life.

After using regular 16:9 monitors for years, I finally bought an ultrawide monitor last month. The Alienware AW3423DWF is a fantastic ultrawide OLED display, especially for the price I got it for. However, using an ultrawide monitor as-is comes with its own peculiarities. The 21:9 form factor of my monitor doesn't play well with some games, and the extra resolution is an added strain on my 5-year-old graphics card. Besides, the physical footprint of the monitor is a bit too much for my 4-foot desk. Hence, I had to make some adjustments to make my new monitor slightly more enjoyable.

Despite existing in an era where cloud storage has largely taken over as the primary choice for casual file sharing, transferring files over your local network is still essential for any home with multiple devices. Whether it's a NAS, home lab, or workstation PC, you'll likely encounter SMB or NFS—the two primary ways to share files locally. They both perform the same function, but take very different approaches to doing so. NFS is significantly faster than SMB, and depending on the workload, it's not particularly close. The trade-off is that it's a bit of a pain to get going, but once you do, it can be a game-changer if your situation is well suited for it.

PlayStation gamers got a heavy dose of action and strong narrative with Ghost of Tsushima on the PlayStation 4 from Sucker Punch Productions. The reception of the game was so positive that the Japanese government made the developers honorary ambassadors for the island of Tsushima, because of their attention to detail and historical accuracy of Tsushima within the game. So there were a lot of expectations for the next game that Sucker Punch Productions would release as their follow-up. And luckily for everyone, they managed to put together a game that was equal parts new and refreshing aspects from their previous hit. But instead of returning to Tsushima for a new tale in the old days of Japan, a new location provides the backdrop for what ends up being a story of family ties and brutal revenge.

With every tech firm and software developer slapping artificial intelligence onto their products, it’s easy to get burned out of these so-called AI features. But as much as I despise the AI bubble, I have to admit that machine-learning tools have their own niche uses. Take locally-deployed LLMs and image generators, for instance. While they may seem like standalone services that can only generate soulless text and images, you can use them to bolster the capabilities of a handful of apps and services.

I've mentioned a few times before that one of the biggest hurdles for me to switch to Linux is not having access to Adobe Creative Cloud, and specifically things like Photoshop and Lightroom. I've tried some pretty creative solutions, including apps like WinApps and Wine, on top of trying alternatives like GIMP and RawTherapee. Unfortunately, virtualization and real-time translation don't work all that well for something this complex, and as I've mentioned before, free alternatives to Photoshop only remind me why paid options exist.

Operating systems come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and just a few decades ago, it wasn't uncommon to run an operating system on a computer with a clock speed of a few hundred megahertz paired with RAM anywhere in the range of 4-512 kilobytes. Yet, nowadays, our computers can pack tens of gigabytes of RAM, with CPU speeds in the several thousands of megahertz. Tactility, an operating system for the ESP32, reminds us that those older constraints aren't as limiting as they may appear on the surface.

It's not every day that a critically-acclaimed game goes completely free for a short period of time, but today is our lucky day. The Epic Games Store is no stranger to giving away great games, and today, Epic has decided that Gravity Circuit is the next title to get the legendary 100% discount. So, if you're on the hunt for a 2D platformer with stellar reviews, you can do a lot worse than claim Gravity Circuit on your Epic Games account at zero cost to you.

The Steam Autumn Sale may be over, but that doesn't mean the deals have to stop. In fact, a few games have gone back on sale for a second round, and some are even cheaper than they were the first time around. For instance, if you've been looking for a new FPS to play on Steam, then Wolfenstein: The New Order definitely fits the bill. Not only is it currently $4 until October 16th, but it's also on a steeper discount than it was during the Steam Autumn Sale, making it the cheapest price ever.

If you’ve been in the 3D printing game for a while, you're familiar with the hobbyist arc that starts with a boatload of Benchys, moves on to articulated dragons, and then you discover the intoxicating world of practical prints. You print cable clips, headphone hangers, and a mountain of custom Skadis pegboard accessories. I went down that road and was impressed by how many prints help keep my desk in order, but then the excitement plateaus again, since there are only so many drawers, organizers, and cable managers you need.