During today's Nintendo Indie World showcase, I had two epiphanies. The first was the realization that friendslop games are about to hit the Switch 2 like a falling piano in a Road Runner cartoon. The second was that I love that for me, because that means I can finally play them.My friends love "friendslop," the initially derisive but now descriptive nickname given to indie co-op games with a loose gameplay structure that permits the kind of chaos that can make games go viral on social media. And from what I've seen, I would love it, too. Friendslop is known for low-quality graphics (hence the "slop" part) that give a game a stylized look …Read the full story at The Verge.

Google Docs was my go-to writing tool for years. I used it for everything from article drafts and checklists to full-blown project planning. It worked well enough, but over time, I grew frustrated with the clutter, the reliance on internet access, and the growing list of features I didn’t need. What I really wanted was a more focused writing environment that put me in control of my work.

You can save $150 on various iPad Air configurations. Laptops are great, but sometimes it’s simply just more convenient to use a tablet like the iPad Air. The Air’s easier to carry, after all, and still powerful enough to handle everything from streaming to taking notes and reading. And right now, the latest version of the Air is down to a new low price. The M3-powered 11-inch iPad Air with 128GB tablet is available for $449 ($150 off) at  Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. The 13-inch 128GB model is on sale as well, starting at $649 ($150 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.As the midrange tablet in Apple’s lineup, the iPad Air combines everything we love about the entry-level iPad with many of the iPad Pro’s most useful features. It’ll support windowed multitasking when iPadOS 26 becomes available this fall. (My colleague Todd Haselton has called windowed multitasking the iPad’s “best new feature in 15 years.”) Powered by the M3 chip, the Air is more powerful than the entry-level iPad and works with both the Apple Pencil USB-C and the Apple Pencil Pro, the latter of which has features like Find My support and squeeze gestures for quickly switching tools. Plus, the Air comes with support for Apple Intelligence, so you can take advantage of extra perks like generative AI-powered writing and image editing tools.The top-of-the-line M4-powered iPad Pro is still the most powerful iPad, capable of handling demanding games and advanced creative apps. But if you’re looking for a fast tablet for everyday work and play, the iPad Air strikes the perfect balance especially now it’s cheaper than ever.Read our M3-powered iPad Air review.11-inch iPad Air M3The latest 11-inch iPad Air features Apple’s fast M3 chip with GPU upgrades like dynamic caching for smoother performance in demanding apps. It also supports the Apple Pencil Pro and the new Magic Keyboard, which features a larger build and a 14-key function row. Read our review.Where to Buy: $599 $449 at Amazon (128GB, Wi-Fi) $599 $449 at Best Buy (128GB, Wi-Fi) $599 $449 at Target (128GB, Wi-Fi)13-inch iPad Air M3In addition to the 11-inch model, the iPad Air is also available in a 13-inch configuration with Apple’s M3 processor. Where to Buy: $799 $649 at Amazon (128GB, Wi-Fi) $799 $649 at Best Buy (128GB, Wi-Fi) $799 $649 at Target (128GB, Wi-Fi)

You know, we have a ton of games where you play as someone causing havoc, but we rarely spend a thought towards those who have to clean it up afterwards. Well, maybe not if you play GTA, because you'll see the police and the fire service turn up, but you're still not playing as them.

Something’s off with that chart on the left. During its big GPT-5 livestream on Thursday, OpenAI showed off a few charts that made the model seem quite impressive — but if you look closely, some graphs were a little bit off.In one, ironically showing how well GPT-5 does in “deception evals across models,” the scale is all over the place. For “coding deception,” for example, the chart shown onstage says GPT-5 with thinking apparently gets a 50.0 percent deception rate, but that’s compared to OpenAI’s smaller 47.4 percent o3 score which somehow has a larger bar. OpenAI appears to have accurate numbers for this chart in its GPT-5 blog post, however, where GPT-5’s deception rate is labeled as 16.5 percent.who's making these graphs pic.twitter.com/Zt6yhZuUoo— Shrey Kothari (@shreyk0) August 7, 2025With this chart, OpenAI showed onstage that one of GPT-5’s scores is lower than o3’s but is shown with a bigger bar. In this same chart, o3 and GPT-4o’s scores are different but shown with equally-sized bars. It was bad enough that CEO Sam Altman commented on it, calling it a “mega chart screwup,” though he noted that a correct version is in OpenAI’s blog post. An OpenAI marketing staffer also apologized, saying, “We fixed the chart in the blog guys, apologies for the unintentional chart crime.”this screenshot from GPT-5 livestream has to be among the worst chart crimes of the century pic.twitter.com/HXsK2CWCon— Ege Erdil (@EgeErdil2) August 7, 2025OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. And while it’s unclear if OpenAI used GPT-5 to actually make the charts, it’s still not a great look for the company on its big launch day — especially when it is touting the “significant advances in reducing hallucinations” with its new model.

The Browser Company — the makers of the Arc browser — just launched a $20 per month subscription to its new AI-powered web browser, Dia, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. The new Dia Pro subscription comes with unlimited access to the browser’s chat feature, which lets you ask questions about the content in your tabs.People who use Dia for free will still have access to the same features the browser launched with, including the ability to interact with the browser’s AI chatbot and create custom skills. But free users might run into some limits if they frequently use Dia’s AI chat feature.The Browser Company hasn’t carved out specific limits for non-subscribers, but CEO Josh Miller told The New York Times last month that “the browser will remain free for those who use the A.I. tool only a few times a week.” Miller also hinted at rolling out additional subscription tiers, ranging from $5 to hundreds of dollars per month.The Browser Company first announced the development of Dia late last year before launching it in beta in June. Over the past several months, Google and Microsoft have begun knitting AI more tightly into their browsers, while the AI search startup Perplexity has released an early access version of its AI browser Comet. Rumors also suggest that OpenAI is getting ready to release an AI web browser of its own.

Corsair's updated Scimitar Wireless Elite SE mouse is a pretty standard gaming mouse designed for MMORPG players with additional buttons positioned on the thumb rest. Having used Razer's Naga V2 over the last several years, I'm pretty familiar with MMO mice. While there are often some trade-offs between one MMO mouse and another, a lot of things are the same. They're usually 12-14-button programmable mice, with low-latency and high DPI for added sensitivity.

GPT-5 has finally arrived. Along with the announcement of the highly anticipated AI model, OpenAI also previewed several updates coming to ChatGPT, ranging from visual changes to improvements to the chatbot’s performance.Here’s a rundown of all of the changes you can expect to see in ChatGPT.Say goodbye to the model pickerWith the rollout of GPT-5, OpenAI is getting rid of the model picker and retiring many of its older models, including GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, and GPT-4.5. ChatGPT now runs on GPT-5 by default, and has a “single auto-switching system” that combines its previous models into a “faster, smarter model,” theoretically eliminating the need to swap between models for different purposes.However, ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team users can still use a model picker that allows them to switch between GPT-5 or GPT-5 Thinking. Pro and Team users will also get access to GPT-Thinking Pro.OpenAI gives ChatGPT “personalities”One of the biggest updates coming to ChatGPT is the ability to select from four new “personalities” for text-based responses. Here’s how OpenAI describes each of them:Cynic: Sarcastic and dry, delivers blunt help with wit. Often teases, but provides direct, practical answers when it matters.Robot: Precise, efficient, and emotionless, delivering direct answers without extra words.Listener: Warm and laid-back, reflecting your thoughts back with calm clarity and light wit.Nerd: Playful and curious, explaining concepts clearly while celebrating knowledge and discovery.These new personalities sound like they might be fun to play around with. But if you’re not a fan, you can always switch back to ChatGPT’s “default” style.Better vibe coding capabilitiesVibe coding, or the process of having AI generate code based on natural language prompts, just got an upgrade on ChatGPT. OpenAI says GPT-5 is even better at processing complex and descriptive prompts when asking it to create an app or website. You can then see — and interact — with a preview of what the AI chatbot has built by opening Canvas.More app customizationOpenAI is rolling out new ways to customize ChatGPT’s interface. With this update, you can set an accent color that will change the appearance of your conversation bubbles, voice button, and highlighted text.To do this on the web, click your profile icon, select Settings > General. From there, select an option from within the Accent color drop-down. You can do the same thing on mobile by tapping your profile picture, heading to Personalization, and tapping Color Scheme.Advanced voice mode can “adapt” to youChatGPT’s advanced voice mode, which allows for more natural-sounding spoken conversations, is getting an update for paid users that will make it better at understanding instructions, as well as allow subscribers to tweak its speaking style.OpenAI also announced that it’s retiring standard voice mode, but it’s offering “near-unlimited” use of advanced voice mode for paid users, and bringing “hours” of extra usage to free users in exchange. Advanced voice mode now works with custom GPTs, too.Easily connect your Gmail and Google CalendarLastly, OpenAI is making it easier to link your Gmail account and Google Calendar to ChatGPT. As explained in a demo, ChatGPT will now ask you to connect your Gmail or Calendar when you enter a prompt, such as “help me plan my schedule tomorrow.” Once you link your account, ChatGPT will draw from your schedule and your emails to plan out your day, notify you about missed emails, and more.The ability to connect these accounts is coming to Pro users next week, “with other tiers coming next.”

Most network-attached storage (NAS) enclosures you can buy from brands like Synology and Asustor come with an Intel CPU and integrated graphics (iGPU). These are similar to what you'd find on a consumer-grade AMD Ryzen or Intel Core processor. The iGPU is not designed for 4K gaming, but rather offloading much of the work from the CPU itself for transcoding and other tasks a GPU can handle. It's a powerful addition to the tool arsenal and is a feature often sought out by those purchasing prebuilt enclosures. Do you need a discrete GPU for NAS? Probably not, even if it's a DIY system.

Summer's almost over, which means back-to-school sales are in full swing. If you're looking for an affordable large-screen laptop with plenty of power, this one from HP is going to be the one to go with. While it's normally priced at $630, it's now $300 off at Best Buy, dropping it down to just $330. This is a fantastic price for this laptop, which makes it a very good time to pick one up.

From their privacy-first design and secure roots to their resource-efficient nature, Linux distributions offer plenty of neat perks compared to Windows and macOS. That’s before you consider the endless customizability offered by Linux systems, with most general-purpose distros letting you modify practically every aspect of their UI, be it the desktop environment, dock, or even the terminal interface.

Out of the box, a Raspberry Pi is configured for general use, but there are several settings you can tweak to make it more secure, efficient, and tailored to your projects. Whether you're running a headless server or building a desktop-like experience, changing a few defaults can make a big difference. These adjustments don't take long but can significantly improve how your Pi performs and interacts with your network or hardware.