GPD announced the Win 5 handheld last week, which is poised to take over as the most powerful gaming handheld on the market. The GPD Win 5 keeps to the handheld tradition of going for an AMD processor, but unlike most handhelds, GPD skipped the Ryzen Z series handheld APUs and opted instead for AMD's most powerful mobile flagship processor. Yes, the Ryzen AI Max APU (code-named Strix Halo) will power GPD's upcoming handheld.

USB-C is a bit of magic. The near-universal connection can deliver power, data, or both, and that capability makes it extremely flexible. You can plug in yet another flash drive, or, lord forbid, a regular USB-C cable into a spare port. But you're really not getting the most out of it. There are a bunch of gadgets you can keep near your desk that require little more than a USB-C port to function.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Smartwatch is on sale starting at $299.99 ($50 off). If you’re looking to upgrade an older Android smartwatch, or want to give wearables a try for the first time, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 8 is a compelling choice. It has a new design, lets you access Google’s Gemini AI from your wrist, and has a handful of new health and wellness features. It launched on July 25th, but you can already get the 40mm model on sale for $299.99 ($50 off) from Samsung. Amazon has the watch for full price, but is offering a $50 promotional credit toward a future purchase if you use the code APSUE5MBXB6Y at checkout.Samsung Galaxy Watch 8Samsung’s latest smartwatch features a new squircle design, Gemini, and some new health features like an Antioxidant Index and Running Coach.Where to Buy: $349.99 $299.99 at Samsung (40mm) $429.99 $379.99 at Samsung (44mm) $349.99 $299.99 at Amazon (40mm With Code APSUE5MBXB6Y)The Galaxy Watch 8 is squircle shaped, which may be divisive, but allows it to lay flatter and Verge reporter Victoria Song found it fit more more comfortably on her wrist in her review. The change also let Samsung make the watch thinner than the Galaxy Watch 7, and yet we still found it can still last more than a day on a charge. While it’s not a huge departure from its predecessor, it could be a good upgrade for anyone with a Galaxy Watch 5 or below, and Samsung’s new discount counteracts the $50 price increase means you’re not paying any more than the Galaxy Watch 7 cost at launch. If you’ve gotten used to Google Gemini on your smartphone or computer, the Galaxy Watch 8 will let you access it from your wrist – we created playlists, checked the weather, and have previously asked Gemini whether it’s necessary to scrub a sweet potato before peeling it. On the health and wellness side, the Galaxy Watch 8 can track steps, your heart rate, blood oxygen level, steps, and activity. If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone, you use the smartwatch to take an EKG or detect sleep apnea. A new feature called Running Coach will put you through a 12-minute run test, give you a grade from one through 10, and create a workout program based on your performance. It also includes sensors designed to detect whether you’re eating enough fruits and vegetables, but we found it can be fooled by colorful objects, including a Cheeze-It. The Galaxy Watch 8 is also available in a 44mm size, and that model is also on sale for $379.99 ($50 off) from Samsung.Three more great dealsIf you need a new wireless controller to pair with your Nintendo Switch 2, Gamesir’s Super Nova is $39.99 ($10 off) at Best Buy. The gamepad has a long list of features you might not expect given its price, including drift-resistant Hall Effect joysticks and two-stage Hall Effect triggers, a pair of customizable back buttons, removable face buttons that let you switch between an Xbox and Nintendo Switch layout, built-in gyroscope, RGB lights, and a 1000hz polling rate. It supports wireless connectivity via Bluetooth or an included 2.4GHz adapter, and can be used as a wired controller using a USB-C cable. These connectivity options make it compatible with both generations of Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS and Android devices. JBL’s Tour Pro 3 earbuds are currently around $249.95 ($80 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. I’ve tested the earbuds, and was impressed with their comfort, audio quality, active noise cancellation performance, and battery life. The buds are great on their own, but they come in a charging case with a 1.57-inch touchscreen. You can use the display to switch between listening modes, adjust your volume, and check the earbuds’ battery without reaching for your phone. The case can also be used as a USB-C audio receiver, so you can listen to music from a wired source (like an airplane’s entertainment system) on the earbuds.Want a charger with some personality? Ugreen’s Uno 30 Watt Charger is around $17.99 at Amazon and from Ugreen, an all-time low price. It has one USB-C port, which is fast enough to charge an iPhone 15’s battery from zero to 60 percent in half an hour. An LED screen on its front side shows different pixelated faces when it’s currently charging your device, and when it’s done. It’s a nice touch that lets you know when your device is ready to be unplugged at a glance, and shouldn’t  impact its performance.

You don’t need to be a full-time maker to find a 3D printer useful. In a smart home, it’s one of the best tools you can have on hand. From replacing a busted sensor mount to designing something that simply doesn’t exist yet, it’s hard to overstate how much convenience and customization it adds. What started as a hobby has now become one of the most practical parts of my home automation toolkit.

If you want to give your Raspberry Pi a clean and functional home, 3D printing a case is one of the easiest and most satisfying upgrades. There are thousands of designs out there, but these seven cases from MakerWorld stand out for their style, practicality, or clever use of space. Each one prints relatively quickly and is well-suited to the capabilities of hobbyist printers. Whether you're going for retro flair, maximum airflow, or compact organization, there's something here for just about every project.

Google's AI-powered research assistant, NotebookLM, is easily my favorite productivity tool. I started using it shortly after it was announced at Google I/O 2023 as an experimental project, and I've been obsessed with it ever since. For the longest time, I only used NotebookLM for college. It helped me cram for exams, taught me concepts better than a lot of my professors, and its Audio Overviews feature (which launched a year later) allowed me to study in a format I knew I learned best with: by listening.

There are so many different video games that get released within a given year. And yet, one can imagine how many games are released over a five-year period across different platforms. With so little time available to us, there's never enough to sit down and play every single game that is released. This is why it's so annoying when you play a game that ends up being incredibly disappointing. Whether it's because of poor mechanics, technical issues, or even just a bad ending to the experience, disappointing games can end up feeling like a waste of time. Nobody likes it, and nobody wants to find themselves in that position with the games they play.

There's no question about it. AMD's new Threadripper 9980X is insanely fast. It's so fast that I'm comfortable saying, outside the data center, you're not going to find a faster chip. That's due not only to the excellent Zen 5 architecture, which we've seen at play with chips like the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, but also its massive array of 64 cores and 128 threads. You'd assume that it would be a monster at just about any task you can throw at it, but that's not the case. Despite being $5,000, packing 64 cores, and making even flagships like the Core Ultra 9 285K look like embedded chips, the Threadripper 9980X is a pretty bad gaming CPU.

Choosing the correct platform while building a media server is essential for your setup. I have already tried using a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W as a Plex media server and a Jellyfin media server, and both delivered satisfactory results; therefore, it would be wrong not to try Emby. When choosing a low-powered device, such as the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, the focus is more on building a server to access your library on portable or handheld devices, rather than a large 4K screen. With that in mind, I considered building a power-frugal media server to serve files with a streaming service like UI.

Over the past few months, I've been experimenting more and more with alternatives to Windows 11, specifically trying a handful of different Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and even Arch. One thing I've realized is that I can't really make Linux my primary operating system for work because it doesn't have all the apps I need, so I've stuck to my Mac Mini for that.

I know it's common to always look at the newest technology with fond longing, or at least it is for me, but a home router can be just as powerful with the right settings. Even an older router can be used for many other tasks, and you might not know that some of these are possible, especially if you haven't given it a second thought since the ISP set up your connection. And if you're looking for a new Wi-Fi router, these powerful features are some of the things you should be keeping an eye out for, as they make your home network more versatile.

Ever since I started 3D printing, I've saved quite a lot of money by printing daily objects and accessories to be used around the house. In fact, it has also helped me upcycle broken stuff like door stoppers, utensil handles, shelves, etc. Essentially, my 3D printer has paid for itself in the few months that I've had it by printing useful items for my home office, car, and kitchen. Apart from saving me money, 3D printing has also become a fun hobby that lets me experiment with various types of prints. I recently printed a bunch of laptop accessories that I carry with me all the time in my backpack. That's when it struck me that if I could print accessories for my laptop, I could also print custom parts for my PC.