Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s with video games included many different kinds of fandom. One of those fandoms that was closely tied to games was wrestling, especially with the WWF and WCW promotions that were big at the time. Multiple wrestling games were developed and released throughout the 90s and 2000s, with a following that grew to support a variety of platforms as the popularity of wrestling continued to grow. But while there were classic wrestling games that people fondly remember, not all of them were champions in the eyes of fans. Some wrestling games were just flat out terrible, and viewed as jobbers to other games that were better overall.

I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of my life chasing down the ghosts in my machines. You know, the intermittent stutter, dropped frames, and the File Explorer crashes. The times when your once-snappy PC build feels like it's wading through swampy waters muddied by temporary files and redundant Registry entries. Worse, these slowdowns are so gradual, they often fly under the radar, but the realization comes suddenly.

The new LaCie Rugged SSD4 is compatible with computers, tablets, and smartphones. | Image: Seagate Neil Poulton succeeded in elevating the design of external drives two decades ago with the introduction of LaCie’s Rugged line, which features a bright orange bumper to protect data from drops. Today, Seagate announced an updated version of the LaCie Rugged Mini SSD with a few small design tweaks and a big boost to transfer speeds.The drive is now called the LaCie Rugged SSD4 and is available starting today in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities (Seagate is dropping the 500MB option) for $134.99, $249.99, and $479.99, respectively.The Rugged SSD4 is exactly the same size as its predecessor but now features a brushed aluminum finish and a centered USB-C port. It now supports transfer speeds up to 40Gbps with 4,000MB/s read speeds and 3,000MB/s write speeds. Seagate’s older Rugged Mini SSD had a USB-C port that was slightly off-center, a smoother aluminum finish, and read speeds that maxed out at 2,000MB/s.The new drive isn’t quite as fast as the LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 that was introduced earlier this year at CES with 6,700MB/s read and 5,300MB/s write speeds, but when it’s connected to a USB-C iPhone, the Rugged SSD4 is fast enough to capture ProRes 4K footage at 120fps.As with the previous version, the new Rugged SSD4 has an IP54 rating against dust and water, but it’s definitely not waterproof so while splashes are okay, a complete dunking would not be. Its orange bumper also protects it from drops as high as nearly 10 feet, but that’s definitely not an invitation to casually toss it around.

Nintendo is often embroiled in a battle against pirates and individuals who emulate its games. Every new hardware generation, Nintendo adds some new countermeasures to protect its systems, and people find a way to circumvent them. It ends up being an arms race until Nintendo pulls out the strongest counter-attack it can muster: full-blown legal action.

When I was thinking about getting my first e-reader, I kept coming back to the same question: why not just get a tablet? After all, a tablet, like an iPad, can do a lot more than an e-reader. And what about e-ink notepads like the ReMarkable tablet? They’re more expensive than e-readers, but offer more versatility for note-taking and annotating what you’re reading.

Over the past six months, I've transitioned almost every piece of software I use from a commercial platform to an open-source alternative. Microsoft Office was one of the first to go, with WPS Office taking its place. At first, it worked great. It replaced all the functionality of MS Word with a familiar interface and made switching between documents and spreadsheets as easy as clicking a button. And then things started to go downhill.

After relying on Pocket for years, I found myself in a familiar dilemma when it announced its shutdown: finding a new home for my endless "to-read" list. I tried dozens of alternatives, from big-name apps to smaller services, but nothing felt right. They were all either too messy, too confusing, or they just didn't have the features I needed. It seemed impossible to find a service that truly felt like my own.

It's not all that often you get to play around with an operating system as unique as TempleOS. Developed by one man, Terry A. Davis, TempleOS is a 64-bit open-source operating system that, while on the surface, may seem simplistic and messy, is actually a very impressive amalgamation of one man's inspiration from god, combined with great programming prowess, and ultimately forever tied with tragedy. It's definitely the weirdest OS I've ever tried on my PC, but I don't regret it in the slightest.

We've seen a few good sales on Steam lately (such as this popular military sim going as low as $3), but when you're talking pure value for money, you really can't go wrong with free. Steam often hosts "play for free" events, where people can try out a game without paying a cent, with the caveat that it's only available for a short amount of time, after which you'll need to buy it. However, very rarely, we'll see a game go "free to keep", which means that if you grab it during its promotional window, you own it—forever.

Earlier this year, I decided to try out Donetick to help me with my chores. While my experience with the app was positive, I often find that I stop using many self-hosted services after some time. This is partly due to my becoming overwhelmed when switching between too many apps and my general resistance to changing my routine.

Apple’s 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max. | Image: Apple Alongside its new iPhone 17 lineup, Apple casually launched a world’s first last week inside the very dull sounding “Apple 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max.” It’s the first charger to support the USB PD 3.2 AVS protocol, giving you some of the benefits of a more powerful 60W charger in a compact 40W package.AVS — which stands for Adjustable Voltage Supply — provides granular voltage options allowing the power source to offer more precise and efficient charging of devices like smartphones and laptops. You can see it listed on the charger specs from Apple Insider’s hands-on.For reasons of safety, efficiency, and longevity, the batteries in our phones and laptops do not charge at their maximum possible input for the entirety of the charging cycle. Instead it’s regulated at predefined voltages to slow down charging as the battery fills. With AVS, the power source can provide a very specific voltage that is closer to the ideal needed for the device being charged, speeding up charging without overheating.However, unlike a true 60W charger, Apple’s little 40W GaN charger can not maintain that peak 60W rate forever — only 18 minutes as demonstrated by Privaterbok over at the r/UsbCHardware subreddit. That makes it suitable for fast charging a new iPhone 17 but not a MacBook Pro, which is why Apple sells it as a 40W charger “with 60W Max” and not a 60W charger.It also means that you might need Apple’s $39 Dynamic Power Adapter if you want to match Apple’s fast charging claim for the iPhone 17 models (“up to 50 percent in 20 minutes”) or wait for Anker and others to provide a compatible USB PD 3.2 AVS charger of their own.

Just like old PCs and laptops, there are plenty of ways to repurpose an old smartphone. If it has a functional camera, you could turn it into a makeshift webcam for your PC, or even a full-on surveillance system using a Frigate server. Alternatively, you could use its touchscreen display to build a reliable Home Assistant dashboard. Or, if you’re as much into productivity as I am, you could even repurpose it into a Stream Deck.