One of the first steps after setting up a PC and optimizing the BIOS/UEFI is installing all the programs you need. This can include the browser, Steam, MSI Afterburner, VLC, and PowerToys, among others. While these programs are essential on any gaming PC, some users can get carried away and install performance-hungry bloatware that does little to help their PC. Whether they are first-party bundled programs or needless third-party apps, you're better off without them. After building PCs for almost 20 years, I've learned not to waste my time with 5 particular types of PC programs.

Looking back at the blur that was 2025, it was a banner year for artificial intelligence. We saw models get faster, "agents" become more than just a buzzword, and multimodal capabilities explode. Yet, amidst the noise, Google’s NotebookLM remains largely unrivaled in its specific niche. The second half of the year also brought several important changes for users, such as Gemini 3 support, Infographics, Slide Decks, and Deep Research that scours the web so we don't need to. The core reason for this tool's success over all others remains unchanged: an AI fiercely loyal to the supplied documents, and nothing else.

Buddy’s in space. When your kid starts showing a preference for one of their stuffed animals, you're supposed to buy a backup in case it goes missing. I've heard this advice again and again, but never got around to buying a second plush deer once "Buddy" became my son's obvious favorite. Neither, apparently, did the parents in Google's newest ad for Gemini.It's the fictional but relatable story of two parents discovering their child's favorite stuffed toy, a lamb named Mr. Fuzzy, was left behind on an airplane. They use Gemini to track down a replacement, but the new toy is on backorder. In the meantime, they stall by using Gemini to create images and vid …Read the full story at The Verge.

AI isn't new to Hollywood - but this was the year when it really made its presence felt. For years now, the entertainment industry has used different kinds of generative AI products for a variety of post-production processes ranging from de-aging actors to removing green screen backgrounds. In many instances, the technology has been a useful tool for human artists tasked with tedious and painstaking labor that might have otherwise taken them inordinate amounts of time to complete. But in 2025, Hollywood really began warming to the idea of deploying the kind of gen AI that's really only good for conjuring up text-to-video slop that doesn't ha …Read the full story at The Verge.

Whether you're waiting for a product to get back in stock or for a sale, you've probably wanted a tool that lets you know when there are updates to a certain website. And that's just one of the more typical use cases; there could be many more reasons you might want to be notified of any changes to a website, whether it's because you're waiting for some news to drop or anything else.

There's no shortage of ways to write down your notes, journals, and knowledge bases on your computer. A popular tool is Obsidian, which saves your notes in Markdown format, though there are plenty of other tools using Markdown if you want something different.

Old laptops tend to sit in drawers once their batteries fade or their keyboards get a little mushy, but they are rarely truly finished. Underneath the worn keys and scuffed lid, there is usually a perfectly capable CPU, enough RAM for modern workloads, and storage that can be expanded or replaced. You’ll also typically find the needed built-in Wi-Fi, a keyboard and trackpad, and a display you don’t need to lug around. That combination makes them surprisingly good candidates for home servers, especially if you mostly think of servers as loud towers in a closet or tiny Raspberry Pi boards. Once you look at what a home server actually does, rather than what it looks like, the idea starts to feel much less unusual. In many cases, an old laptop is not just good enough for the job, but also a smarter choice than what people usually buy. The trick is recognizing its strengths and working within its limits, rather than assuming it is obsolete.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve added pretty much every computing system I could lay my hands on into my home lab. Heck, I’ve even gone out of my way to purchase spare GPUs, RAM sticks, and even full-fledged rigs, just so I could add them to my experimentation paraphernalia. With old Xeon systems available for dirt-cheap prices, I’ve also spent a few bucks on enterprise-grade hardware.

I have built just enough PCs in my lifetime to know that while I don't have all the answers about what you must do, I am painfully familiar with what you shouldn't do. One mistake that I do keep seeing in builds is skimping out on the SSD that runs the operating system. It's an understanding temptation given the state of the hardware market recently, and some budget drives do look good on spec sheets and make perfect sense for bulk storage. So, what's the harm in saving a few bucks?

The holiday season is when many different sales on video games start to pop up. The Steam Winter Sale is one of the best ones for gamers looking to increase the number of titles in their library, especially when the deals are fantastic and too good to pass up. For PC players, there's an abundance of sales on classic and new Star Wars video games that have ridiculous discounts for those who may have missed playing them before. But the best one that Star Wars fans can get now is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor while it's on sale on the Steam Winter Sale.

After covering a lot of DIY electronic projects, one thing I've realised is that people really, really like recreating the classics. Sure, there are companies out there that try to replicate the exact look and feel of old gaming hardware, but DIY enthusiasts often put a really cool spin on it. Like, for instance, a really big Game Boy that still tries to capture that old-school feeling.

The talk of the town right now is RAM. Thanks to memory shortages, DRR5 kits are at an all-time high price point and that's if you can get your hands on a set of sticks at all. If you're hoping to upgrade to 64GB of RAM or pick up a brand-new gaming rig or laptop with a whole load of 'future-proofed' memory, then let me stop you right there.