When planning a new PC build, most of us will be working to a strict budget. That means some aspects will have to fall into compromises, given that graphics card pricing is out of control and will likely take the most significant portion of the budget. The problem is that, while many budget components might seem like a good deal to begin with, they're also more likely to cause issues later on. That $20 you save could end up costing you many times that in repairs or replacements, and then your budget has crept past what you wanted to spend. If you have to compromise on anything, try reducing the capacity of storage or memory, things that you can easily upgrade later, so your initial build still has quality components.

Barely over a week after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk's public killing at a Utah campus, speech attacks in the name of the self-proclaimed free speech advocate are piling up.Law enforcement officials have custody of suspected shooter Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah who prosecutors allege was in a relationship with a transgender woman and opposed Kirk's "hatred." Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said last week that officials believe Robinson acted alone and that they didn't anticipate further arrests.But to many of Kirk's friends and defenders, any past or present critic of him - or anyone on the left in general - is implicated in the ac …Read the full story at The Verge.

I’ve been using Linux for several months now and haven’t regretted it for a second, but it does come with some drawbacks. When I left Windows behind, I also had to move on from my long-time favorite writing app, Scrivener.

A banner depicting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer masquerading as President Donald Trump is held up in a crowd as South Korean workers, detained in an ICE raid at Hyundai’s Georgia EV plant, are expected. | Image: Getty For years, foreign automakers have been sending their employees to the US to open advanced manufacturing and battery plants in states like South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. These plants eventually employ thousands of American workers who build vehicles for both the US market and overseas. And they pump billions of dollars into the state and federal economies, providing jobs for Americans in more rural areas. So it didn't raise any eyebrows when two South Korean companies, Hyundai and LG Energy Solutions, sent hundreds of their workers to Ellabell, Georgia, to oversee the construction of a $7.6 billion EV battery factory. …Read the full story at The Verge.

Starting Monday, the US government will get another crack at convincing a federal judge to break up Google, after a different judge decided to keep it intact despite finding it to be a monopolist.Lawyers for Google and the Justice Department will return to a federal courthouse in Alexandria, VA for a roughly two-week trial about how to restore competition to the advertising technology markets that Google illegally monopolized. It comes just weeks after DC District Court Judge Amit Mehta - who issued a historic ruling deeming Google a monopoly in online search - delivered his prescription for restoring competition to the online search marke …Read the full story at The Verge.

A three-month Kindle Unlimited subscription is free for Amazon Prime members right now. A cool new perk recently became available for Prime members: for a limited time, you can get a three-month subscription to Kindle Unlimited. If your ebookshelf is looking bare, Amazon is currently offering a three-month subscription to Kindle Unlimited for free. The service typically costs $11.99 per month, so the deal saves you $35.97 over the course of the trial. Keep in mind that your subscription will automatically renew once the trial period is over. The discount is one of Amazon’s early Prime Big Deal Days deals (that’s a mouthful), dropping well ahead of the October 7th event. We’ll be on the hunt for more early deals as that date approaches.Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service that gives you access to a library of over four million books, thousands of audiobooks, and an assortment of magazines. You can download items from the Kindle Unlimited library onto — you guessed it — a Kindle, or any device with the Kindle app. The library is large enough that you should be able to find books in your favorite genres (perhaps by your favorite author, too) and three months is plenty of time to tear through a full series or two. You can browse the Kindle Unlimited library before subscribing to see if there’s any books you’re interested in. It has some must-reads, like The Canterbury Tales and the entire The Expanse series. If you’re reading on a device with a color screen, you can use Kindle Unlimited to read manga and comics, like Watchmen, The Batman Who Laughs, and Doomsday Clock: The Complete Collection, and get the full experience.  More deals our readers loved this weekThe entire iPhone 17 lineup (plus the iPhone Air) has been released, and we highly recommend getting a screen protector for your new phone. You can get a two-pack of amFilm’s OneTouch Screen Protector for the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, and iPhone 17 Pro for $4.49 ($7.50 off) at Amazon with promo code EUZWG92J. The same code lets you get an iPhone 17 Pro Max screen protector for $4.99 ($7 off). AmFilm’s screen protector is made from tempered glass, has an anti-fingerprint coating that’ll keep your display looking sharp instead of smudged, and comes with an alignment guide to help you install it properly. Motorola’s budget-friendly Moto G Power 2025 has returned to its all-time low price of $249 ($50 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. The unlocked smartphone has a 6.8-inch 120Hz LCD display, a 5,000mAh battery, and wireless charging support. It even has a 3.5mm headphone jack. The device has a combination IP68 and IP69, which offers full protection from dust, submersion under water, and exposure to high pressure water jets and steam.The latest Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet is down to $89.99 ($50 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. The tablet has a 10.1-inch 1080p display, 32GB of storage (you can pop in a microSD card for more space), and a battery that Amazon says lasts up to 13 hours. It’s also compatible with Amazon’s Stylus Pen and Bluetooth Keyboard Case, which are helpful if you want to use the tablet for sketching or long-form writing. The tablet has lockscreen ads, which won’t interrupt you when you’re using it, but you can pick up a model without advertisements on sale for $104.99 ($50 off) at Amazon.If you have a speedy internet connection, Nvidia’s GeForce Now lets you play PC games you own through an app — no expensive gaming rig required. Through September 25th, if you subscribe to the streaming service’s Ultimate tier ($199.99 per year), you can get a free copy of Borderlands 4 with purchase (redeemable on Steam). A GeForce Now Ultimate membership lets you play games in up to 4K and 240 frames per second, and gives you first priority access to machines so you can start playing quickly. The virtual PC you’re connected to will have either GeForce RTX 4080 or RTX 5080 graphics card, and will allow you to play over 4,000 compatible games across services, including Steam, Epic Games Store, and more. The 11-inch iPad Air (M3) with 128GB of storage is back to its all-time low price of $449 ($150 off at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart. It lasts up to 10 hours per charge, and its M3 processor is powerful enough to play games and run creative apps like Final Cut or DaVinci Resolve. It’s also a great choice if all you want is a nice screen for binging TV shows and movies on the couch, or in bed. If you need an even larger screen, the 128GB 13-inch M3 iPad Air is also on sale for $649 ($150 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. Read our review.Anker’s 622 Magnetic Battery can keep your devices charged without a cable, and it’s on sale for $27.99 ($20 off) at Amazon and from Anker with promo code WS7DV2P3I2ZP. The 5,000mAh MagSafe-compatible power bank has a maximum charging speed of 7.5 watts, and Anker says it holds enough juice to top up an iPhone 15 from zero to 84 percent. The battery’s built-in kickstand allows you to stand your phone up while it charges. Anker includes a USB-C to USB-C cable with the battery pack. 

Anker’s Soundcore Sleep A30 earbuds. Anker's latest Soundcore Sleep A30 sleep buds do what its A20 buds promised but couldn't deliver: mask snoring. It accomplishes this with the inclusion of Active Noise Cancellation in the buds and a microphone inside the charging case that actively adjusts masking audio to cancel out the sound of sawing logs.Of course I want that! said my monkey brain when I first saw those specs attached to slightly smaller earbuds, which should make them even more comfortable for side sleepers. But after testing them every night for the last month, I've come to a different conclusion. Then again, my bedtime buddy doesn't usually snore.Anker Soundcore Sl …Read the full story at The Verge.

I’ve spent the last couple of months trying to replace as many paid, cloud-based platforms with private, FOSS utilities that can run on a local server. Airtable is one of these services, and while it’s one of the best spreadsheet management platforms on the block, I’m not very fond of the limited number of users, records, and automations on the free versions. Throw in the fact that all my data is stored on Airtable’s servers, and my privacy-loving self had no choice but to look for a self-hosted alternative.

We all have gadgets that seemed helpful once but ended up shoved in a drawer. A Raspberry Pi has a way of making those forgotten items feel important again. With the right combination of hardware and software, clutter can quickly be transformed into functional tools. Here are just a few examples of how gadgets you’ve been thinking about recycling can come in handy with your Raspberry Pi.

In Henry Halfhead, you play through the life of a person named Henry. But there are a couple twists. Henry is only half of a head - just eyes, ears, nose, and the top of their head - meaning they move around by sliding on the floor and jumping up and down. Also, Henry can possess everyday objects. It's a strange concept, but the developers at Lululu Entertainment use the goofy ideas to tell a poignant story and have a lot of fun along the way.The game starts with Henry as a baby in their nursery, bouncing around the room to wreak havoc. As you play, you'll progress to different rooms and age up through different stages of Henry's life, and …Read the full story at The Verge.

Are you looking for a new RPG to pour a ton of time into? If so, then do I have the games for you. Back in 2019, Square Enix shook up the JRPG scene with Octopath Traveller, a game that combines 2D sprites with 3D worlds. It did so well that Square Enix would go on to make Octopath Traveler 2, which kept the unique art style.

They’ll Need A Crane. You’d be forgiven for assuming the iPhone Air would snap like a twig under pressure. It’s almost impossibly thin at just 5.6mm. But, its titanium frame is not only stronger than aluminum, it’s also more elastic. YouTuber JerryRigEverything demonstrates this with his usual bend test. While he’s able to get some slight bowing by pressing his thumbs into the center of the screen with all his might, it doesn’t crack and immediately returns to its original shape. Not content to be thwarted by Apple’s engineering team (and perhaps feeling a little disappointed that the last several devices on his channel survived the bend test), JerryRigEverything takes a trip out to his garage. With the help of a crane scale and some metal bars he’s able to find out exactly just how much pressure it takes to crack the iPhone air — 216 pounds.