There's nothing louder in my apartment than my mechanical keyboard, except, well, myself, when I lose a ranked Fortnite match at 3 AM. Still, that keyboard is that clackety-clack soundtrack of my entire day, and on days when my partner stays home, it ends up being one of her biggest pain points about being around me. So, I simply switched it up for a cute low-profile board... only for her to love it so much that she stole it for herself.

We all know there's a lot of tech to potentially upgrade in your life, but for those who want to upgrade their downtime with inexpensive, relatively short video games, I have good news. 2025 has already featured a wealth of excellent titles to spend your time with, including ones from smaller and independent developers that you can complete in a few sessions. If you're looking for a good new game to play (and aren't already deep into Hollow Knight: Silksong), here are some great options from this year.Ninja Gaiden: RageboundThis new take on the classic side-scrolling versions of Ninja Gaiden from Dotemu and The Game Kitchen has gorgeous …Read the full story at The Verge.

I've been self-hosting for a very long time, whether it was an IRC bouncer to keep my nickname online and authenticated, a media server to watch movies, listen to music, and read manga from, and more recently, everything from smart home control to replacements for cloud services. I've also long been a user of DNS-based adblocking software, because I've been infected with malware from dodgy ad networks before, and I don't recommend it happening again.

Have you ever opened your list of browser extensions and realized you have way more installed than you realized? You might not even remember installing some of them, or know which ones are worth keeping or deleting. I’ve been there, and I narrowed down my list to just three essential extensions.

Windows 11 is a very popular operating system, but it is also quite bloated. Microsoft has loaded Windows 11 with a number of features that are useful to some but an absolute pain to most people. Things like Microsoft Defender antivirus being hard to disable (permanently, that is), getting toast notifications for every single application, or dealing with OneDrive's backup policy can take Windows 11 from being a great operating system to a complete and utter disaster.

When planning out a PC build or considering your next component upgrade, power draw is usually at the top of mind, ensuring your PC will have enough power to properly run all the hardware. Not having a powerful enough power supply can result in system crashes and even potential damage to components if you're not careful. It's fairly easy to work out just how much rated capacity will be required for your system build, but it's important not to tunnel vision too much on power draw and overlook other power-related factors.

I’m constantly on the hunt for the perfect knowledge management app—the one that promises to organize my thoughts, handle my to-do list, and finally make me feel in control. I have been on the journey for years and switched from one productivity tool to the next, convinced that the next download would be ‘the one.’ But after all that experimenting, I always find myself returning to a single, simple, and powerful application: Obsidian.

It's hard to resist the temptation to squeeze out every last bit of performance from a graphics card, especially when you've splurged well over a grand on a high-end model. After all, why leave free performance on the table when your GPU is capable of more with just a couple of quick tweaks? That was exactly the mindset I had when I decided to overclock my RTX 4090. Like I expected, my average frame rates went up across all the games I tested, but the downsides quickly made me realize it wasn't worth it.

In the future, Intel will make CPUs with Nvidia graphics inside — among other things, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confirmed today that Nvidia will contribute “GPU chiplets” that Intel can place alongside its x86 CPU cores instead of the Arc integrated graphics it develops in-house today.But, at least for now, Intel says that doesn’t mean Intel’s own graphics are going away. “We’re not discussing specific roadmaps at this time, but the collaboration is complementary to Intel’s roadmap and Intel will continue to have GPU product offerings,” Intel told PCWorld, reiterating the commitment that Intel’s Michelle Johnston Holthaus made before she abruptly left the company.Like PCWorld, I’m skeptical that Intel will truly push on graphics when Nvidia can do that job, particularly at a time when Intel keeps carving off pieces of itself to save on costs! Why would Intel invest $$$ into catching up with Nvidia (and AMD) when Nvidia’s no longer truly a competitor? Even if it continues, would Intel really give it its utmost? But perhaps there’s time for Intel’s existing efforts to notch another win like the B580, or the surprisingly good followup to MSI’s Claw handheld.For now, we’ll “stay tuned.”

Every time a Windows update rolls around, it doesn’t take long for Reddit posts and articles to start popping up about the update breaking yet another feature. What we don’t see as often, however, is macOS users running into similar issues.

Procrastination looks different for everyone, but for me, it’s about the friction points that make it feel impossible to get started or keep momentum. Something as simple as fact-checking can have me lost in a browser tab spiral, avoiding the original task. After upping my productivity by pairing NotebookLM with Google Keep, I thought, why not try pairing the AI with my brain?

Waymo is teaming up with tech transit startup Via to integrate its autonomous vehicles into city public transit networks, starting with a growing suburb of Phoenix. In Chandler, Arizona, Waymo’s robotaxis will soon join the town’s Flex microtransit service. Users book rides on the Chandler Flex app to be picked up by a shared vehicle and taken to their destination, often connecting to Valley Metro bus routes. Soon, users may be matched with Waymo’s fully autonomous vehicles as part of the service. The service will run Monday through Friday, 6AM-9PM, with rides booked through Chandler Flex costing just $2 for regular riders, $1 for seniors and wheelchair users, and free for middle and high school kids. (Waymo recently introduced teen accounts in Phoenix so kids as young as 14 can ride without their parents.) The partnership has the potential open up more passengers to Waymo’s driverless technology. Phoenix residents have been able to hail a Waymo via the Waymo or Uber apps for years now, with rides priced comparably to human-driven rideshare trips. But autonomous rides along a planned route for a low-cost, flat fare is sure to open up the technology to a new segment of the population. The partnership has the potential open up more passengers to Waymo’s driverless technology.Chandler Flex operates using technology developed by Via, which sells software and operational services to cities, transit agencies, schools, and other institution that want to combine on-demand ridesharing with public transit. Via’s software enables transit officials to create “flexible routes” based on passenger demand, while also complying with federal and accessibility reporting requirements, the company says. If everything goes well, Waymo and Via plan on pitching a similar model to other cities for their microtransit needs. This isn’t the first time Waymo has dipped a toe in the public transit world. Last year, Waymo tested out a system to credit customers who use robotaxis to connect to or from transit stations in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company also offered discounts to transit riders in Los Angeles. But some transportation experts worry that autonomous vehicles will siphon riders from transit, which could lead to service cuts. Most ridesharing users don’t want to transfer to another mode of transportation — they just want to get to their destination. And regular transit users, which tend to be more low-income, have difficulty affording many rideshare trips. The microtransit option is a neat way at circumventing some of these pitfalls. And Waymo isn’t the only one to have this idea. Michigan-based autonomous driving startup May Mobility also worked with Via to connect it with potential riders in Sun City, Arizona, a retirement community outside of Phoenix. Its vehicles were free to use through the week, though that partnership has since concluded.