Email is one of those things that most people use daily without much thought about how, where, or why those messages get to where they're supposed to be. Even though I know Gmail is scanning my inbox to serve me ads, and that email delivery is insecure and complicated, I put that to the back of my mind and soldier on, because the alternative is much, much worse.

Typically, when you hear “cloud storage service,” the same few names come to mind. Google Drive. OneDrive. iCloud. Maybe Dropbox. If you're on the open-source side of things, you might also think of Nextcloud and Syncthing. Nonetheless, it’s clear that a few big names have dominated the space for years.

With the RAM crisis now affecting auxiliary industries like storage and GPUs, PC parts and laptops are flying off shelves. I've had several people reach out asking me if they can get a mini PC with equivalent specs on paper to substitute for a full-fledged desktop. It is incredibly tempting to look at those sleek, palm-sized anodized aluminum boxes and imagine a future where your desk is free of mid-tower mayhem. I get the allure because I alternate between a mini PC and a mid-tower on the same desk setup, but you need to know some things before taking the plunge.

If you have ever tried to manage a massive library of documents using only Windows File Explorer, you know the struggle is real. Standard folders are where PDFs go to be forgotten, and even the best naming conventions eventually break down once you hit triple digits.

When you finish your PC build and manage to successfully boot it, you're still not quite ready to get to your tasks. There's a matter of installing the software that you'll need, and you probably already know which ones you'll be installing. I do too, but outside the common stuff that most users install, there are more underrated tools that not everyone knows about.

When I first started buying gaming mice, I obsessed over the DPI spec the same way many beginners do. Every new model seemed to one-up the last, and I assumed a higher DPI automatically made it better. Back then, if a mouse advertised 12,000 DPI, I was immediately sold because nothing else mattered to me. It took me at least a couple of years of playing first-person shooters regularly to realize that pushing the DPI setting beyond 1600 wasn't really improving my aim in any way.

Having covered various aspects of Windows over the past few years, I always advise against third-party driver update tools. I have tried several of these out of curiosity, and not once did I feel that they offered any real benefit. Once, a third-party driver updater even broke my perfectly fine PC by making changes to the Registry Editor. That's when I realized that driver update tools are more of a scam designed to prey on naïve and unsuspecting users, much like most performance optimization apps and Internet speed booster software.

Mini PCs are great: they are small, efficient, and often powerful. If you find yourself in the market for one, there's no need to overthink which one you should buy. But some features are worth paying more for than others.

If you're getting a Nintendo Switch 2, you're getting it with Mario Kart World. Okay, sure, it's very possible to get a Nintendo Switch 2 without Mario Kart World, but given how you can purchase the bundle that includes both products and a decent discount on the game, people usually just get the pair.

In a surprise to no one, Valve announced a few months ago that it'd support only the 64-bit version of its Steam Windows client from next year. It also made it amply clear that its policy change will take effect from January 1, 2026. Valve hasn't backtracked from what it said about the Steam Windows client previously. In fact, it's delivered on its promise a few days earlier than the previously announced date.

Whenever you want to combine a retro device with modern-day luxuries, you can always install some hardware that's small enough to fit within the original shell, yet powerful enough to get the job done. Previously, we've seen people use SBCs to bring new life into old tech, such as that one time someone put a Raspberry Pi into a jukebox.

If you know me, then you'll know that I really like e-ink displays. If you don't know me, well...I really like e-ink displays. There's just something about e-ink tech in particular that I really like, and it's cool that there are plenty of use cases for its displays in the DIY world. Basically, if you want something that doesn't need a rapid refresh rate and has minimap power drain, an e-ink display is exactly what you're looking for.