If you own a Steam Deck, you're already aware of how expensive some of the official or third-party accessories can be. As a maker at heart who often turns to 3D printing for my projects, I decided to skip spending money on every little add-on and fire up my 3D printer instead. 3D printing has always saved me from buying expensive things, and this time was no different. Not only did it save me a ton of cash, but the process was also a lot of fun. Here’s a look at the accessories I 3D printed for my Steam Deck.

I'm not averse to paid apps. A commercial app points to a certain amount of polish and support. However, the constant nickel-and-dime to-and-fro over subscription prices and AI-enshitification of some of the most popular paid apps has made me look for open-source alternatives wherever possible. But that's not always the easiest task when it comes to creative tools. Industry experts and tutorials always point to Adobe's suite as the top option for getting professional-level results. It makes sense since Lightroom and Photoshop are deeply entrenched in the world of photography and image editing. The tools are polished, powerful, and considered essential for anyone serious about giving their photos a professional edge. However, as polished and powerful as these apps are, sometimes the most popular tool isn't the best tool for the job. And ever-so-often, it might just be the niche, understated option that nobody is talking about.

Just because you built a project yourself doesn't mean it has to look rough. There are plenty of kits available that create a handy gadget while also looking incredible, and those are always my favorite. Such is the case of the ESPTimeCast, which comes with a ton of features and looks good doing so.

Building a powerful home lab is a great way to sharpen your IT skills, but the cost of new equipment can be a major roadblock. While consumer-grade hardware is an option, it often lacks the features, durability, and performance needed for a serious lab environment. The good news is you don’t have to break the bank to get professional-grade gear.

If you listen to music the way a lot of people do these days - with a pair of wireless earbuds, from a Bluetooth speaker, or just blaring directly out of your phone - you will never notice a difference between Spotify's high-quality 320Kbps streams and its lossless audio. But, if you usually listen with wired headphones while working at your desk, or have a quality speaker from the likes of Bose that supports Spotify Connect, there actually is something to be gained here.Comparing Spotify's normal quality streams (96Kbps) with the new 24-bit / 44.1kHz lossless FLAC files feels unfair. Even a relatively untrained ear should be able to hear …Read the full story at The Verge.

When building a new PC or server, or upgrading your existing build, your first instinct is to make sure you've got a quality CPU and GPU, with a good motherboard and VRM to take full advantage of your processors. You'll also want to make sure you've got a good cooling solution, particularly if you plan to get deep into overclocking and adjusting your memory timings.

Still rocking your ISP router? I don't blame you if you don't have the time to sort out your own firewall and access point solution. ISP-provided hardware is usually pretty good by today's standards, but it can oftentimes limit what you can achieve with your local area network (LAN). Your Wi-Fi may feel sluggish or inconsistent. Advanced features such as virtual LAN (VLAN) and access control lists may not be available, and the whole thing may feel slightly underwhelming.

I think one of my favorite features that arrived with the gigantic wave of new AI tools is the translation tools. You may have noticed that, for some videos, YouTube will replace the voices of people speaking a foreign language with AI voices speaking in your native language. It's not exactly elegant, but it does make watching videos outside of my very minimal foreign language range a lot more enjoyable.

Few video game adaptations understand their source material quite like the Exit 8 film. It takes the rules and structure of the game - which strands players inside of a looping hallway in a Tokyo subway station - and then builds on them with actual characters and a story. And according to director Genki Kawamura, one of the reasons that the movie feels so fresh could be because of how he approached it. "I wasn't necessarily thinking about a film adaptation of a video game," he tells The Verge. "I was thinking about how to create a new cinematic experience that blurs the lines between video game and cinema."The two are very similar, and the …Read the full story at The Verge.

While Windows is Microsoft's most famous software, it's likely not a huge money-maker for the company. I don't have its books on hand, but I can't imagine that people buying a new PC with a Windows 11 license once every three to five years is keeping it afloat. And that's not including the people who upgraded from Windows 10 to 11 for free.

I've clocked my fair share of hours into Arma 3 with my friends. It may be 12 years old, but it's one of the more in-depth military simulators I've ever played. In fact, with so many years under its belt, its community has been hard at work developing mods and unique experiences that make it better than ever before.

Imagine if George Cukor's The Women was a modern, Spanish-language telenovela set in Ecuador rather than a 1939 dramedy about the lives of wealthy Manhattanites. Now imagine if the series was directed by Pedro Almodóvar and its characters were brought to life with stop-motion animation instead of being portrayed by Hollywood heavyweights like Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer. Now, think about how transgressive that show would be if it treated queerness as the norm and told a politically charged story about the relationship between colonialism and capitalism. That show would be a lot like Adult Swim's Women Wearing Shoulder Pads.When I recen …Read the full story at The Verge.