Gaming PCs tend to have a reputation for sounding like they could lift off any second, and for the longest time, I assumed that was simply the price of pushing modern hardware. The obvious solution here has always seemed to involve spending money on quieter fans, a bigger CPU cooler, or even a new case that allows more airflow. Spending money, however, wasn't on the table, considering my NZXT H9 Flow already has ten fans in it, including the three on the AIO cooler.

If you're a gamer, you probably need no introduction to Discord. It's the app most of us use to stay in touch with our online friends or hop into a voice channel before launching an online game. In fact, I use it so often that I automatically start it with Windows, just in case I need to get on a call before joining a ranked match in Valorant.

I have a hard time trusting the responses I get from AI models. Recent releases have become far more accurate, and hallucinations have reduced considerably. That is a welcome change, but I still don’t trust a standalone AI response as much as something I can verify through Perplexity.

When I first started hearing people talk about vibe coding, I couldn't understand why so many developers were excited about it. The idea of describing what you wanted and letting AI generate most of the code felt completely opposite to how I'd learned software development. I always believed good developers should understand the code they write, not simply accept whatever an AI suggests. To me, programming was about solving problems, thinking through the architecture, debugging issues, and knowing exactly why a solution worked. AI-generated code seemed more like a shortcut than a better way to build software.

Two minutes and thirty seconds into the title track of Rachika Nayar's Heaven Come Crashing, an absolutely massive drum and bass beat drops. As a fan of Nayar's debut record Our Hands Against The Dusk, it caught me off guard. That album has no percussion on it at all. Heaven Comes Crashing is almost entirely drum-free, too. There are some rapid-fire mechanical hi-hats on the second track, "Tetramorph," and the back half of track six, "Gayatri," has what sounds like a snare buried deep in the mix. But it isn't until track seven that Nayar delivers an unexpected drum explosion, before immediately retreating to the soothing wash of "Sleepless," …Read the full story at The Verge.

I've used a lot of password managers over the years, but none come anywhere near the functionality and ease of use of Proton Pass. Outside of Proton Pass, Google Password Manager (Chrome's built-in option) is probably my most-used alternative, but that's just because Chrome is my primary browser. It suffers from a few drawbacks that Proton Pass doesn't. And while Proton Pass is more intuitive and has a nicer interface than most other managers, it has another major draw: it does more than just store passwords.

There are now at least half a dozen serious code editors built on top of VS Code's open-source core. It has quickly turned into a highly competitive space, with big names backing the most popular editors. SpaceX recently signed a deal to buy Anysphere, the company behind Cursor; Google's Antigravity was released last year; AWS is sunsetting Amazon Q Developer and pushing everyone toward Kiro; and Cognition bought Windsurf before renaming it to Devin Desktop. There are a handful of other powerful companies with a hat in the ring, too, but the aforementioned editors are the ones that caught my attention.

When Microsoft announced its latest round of Xbox price bumps in June, it only gave US pricing. Now we know the pricing increases for the EU and UK, and they're dramatic. Depending on the model, Xbox prices are increasing by up to €200 or £170. The 1TB Xbox Series X with a disc drive is going up by over 30 percent from £499.99 / €599.99 to £669.99 / €799.99. The 512GB Xbox Series S is getting a price increase of over 43 percent, jumping from £299.99 / €349.99 to £429.99 / €499.99.While other consoles have received price bumps as RAM and storage prices skyrocket due to demand from the AI industry, none have been quite as dramatic as Microso …Read the full story at The Verge.

Jellyfin gives server owners a lot of control over individual users, but the way those users are presented still feels strangely formal for a media server running in someone’s house.

Edward “Bud” Cole speaks in Japan in 2023. | Image: Jun Sato/WireImage Fender CEO Edward "Bud" Cole gave an interview to T3 in May celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Telecaster with comments on AI and music that initially flew under the radar. But it has started making the rounds recently, pouring more fuel on an already raging fire of bad PR following the company pissing off basically the entire guitar-playing community by sending cease-and-desist letters to builders, claiming copyright of the Stratocaster body shape.Some influential guitar YouTubers have even said they're done buying Fender gear in the wake of the controversy. And Cole's resurfaced comments comparing cover songs and bandmates to a sort …Read the full story at The Verge.

The 15-inch Skylight Calendar 2 can stand on a table or mounted to the wall. | Image: Skylight The start of a new school year can feel hectic, as parents juggle their kids’ classes, extracurriculars and sports on top of work, appointments, and other responsibilities. It’s easy for things to slip through the cracks, but Skylight’s shared smart calendars can help keep everyone on track, and from August 2nd through August 9th they’re up to $90 off.The sale includes the 10-inch Skylight Calendar for $119.99 ($50 off), the 15-inch Skylight Calendar 2 for $259.99 ($20 off), and the 27-inch Skylight Calendar Max for $479.99 ($90 off). The 10-inch model takes up the least amount of space, though the newer, larger 15-inch Calendar 2 features faster performance, a brighter display, and swappable magnetic frames. The 27-inch Calendar Max, meanwhile, offers the sharpest and largest screen and must be mounted to the wall (the other models can stand on a table or be mounted), making it the easiest option for large families to view from across the room. The Skylight CalendarWhere to Buy: $169.99 $119.99 at Skylight (10-inch) $279.99 $259.99 at Skylight (15-inch)Regardless of which model you choose, every Skylight Calendar includes the same set of organizational features. Each member of your household can have their own color-coded profile, and each can sync events from Google, Outlook, Apple, Cozi, or Yahoo calendars. You can also create shared lists for groceries, chores, and other to-dos that everyone can access from the calendar or the companion mobile app, and even send your grocery list to Instacart with a couple of taps. Built-in weather forecasts also can help you plan around upcoming events, and you can also share calendar access with family members and trusted contacts. Skylight Calendar MaxWhere to Buy: $629.99 at Best Buy (27-inch model) $599.99 $479.99 at Skylight (27-inch model)You get even more perks if you subscribe to the $79 per year Plus Plan (the first month of the service is free to try). Skylight uses AI to automatically turn emails, photos, flyers, and spreadsheets into calendar entries. It also adds meal planning, tools for assigning and rewarding completed chores, and a mode that displays your photos like a digital picture frame.Read our Skylight Calendar Max review.

One of the first things we do after building a PC is boot into the BIOS and make sure XMP is enabled so that our RAM runs at its rated speed. I clearly remember doing just that when I first built my current PC with a Ryzen 9 5900X in 2020. After that, I never gave my RAM speed another thought. Usually, you have almost no reason to. But then, when I eventually upgraded to the 5800X3D, I had to update the BIOS before swapping the CPU.