I love using VS Code. It's my favorite integrated development environment (IDE) and my top Microsoft software pick. Obsidian is great, but it's no IDE replacement, at least not for me. That said, VS Code still needs a few tweaks to make it even better. I rounded up a few setting adjustments I always make before writing a single line of code in a new project. Some may alter the way you work while others are simply cosmetic.

I've had a Sony STR-DH520 driving the same pile of speakers since 2011, and every time I test a new soundbar, I land on the same conclusion. It's not even close, and you can buy a used AV receiver for the price of a cheap soundbar to hear it for yourself. A real center channel, real surrounds, and a subwoofer I can park wherever the room likes. It beats beamforming tricks and up-firing drivers.

What if your wireless earbuds - or audio glasses - could stream high-quality lossless audio that doesn't cut out when you leave your phone on the bedside charger or buried in the couch? Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 is its first to integrate "micro-power Wi-Fi 6E" right into the chip, so they can connect directly to your home Wi-Fi network, and from there to the cloud.If that sounds like a familiar promise, it's probably because Qualcomm promised something similar back in 2023 with the "S7 Pro sound platform" and its Expanded Personal Area Network (XPAN) tech, saying that Wi-Fi earbuds can do what Bluetooth alone cannot. Name …Read the full story at The Verge.

At this point, I'm sure we all know that 4K has four times as many pixels as 1080p. That's why we've spent the better part of the last decade treating 4K as an obvious upgrade, whether we're buying a TV, a monitor, a console, or even paying more for a streaming plan that actually supports it. Sure, resolution matters, but when you're streaming 4K content on platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, or Hulu, a lot more happens behind the scenes to get that picture on your screen.

My first encounter with the Windows Subsystem for Linux was when I had to install it to run Docker containers for uni projects. For the longest time, WSL was merely the backend engine for my Windows-powered containerization experiments, while a dedicated Ubuntu partition was responsible for housing typical Linux apps.

Meta's lawyers have argued that certain evidence should be withheld from public view on the grounds of attorney-client privilege in the ongoing lawsuits over alleged harm to teens' safety and mental health. Lawyers suing the company said this week that the label has been applied far too broadly, while pointing to a recently unsealed document showing that the team behind launching Instagram's Teen Accounts in 2024 put in an order for baseball caps that simply said "a/c priv."The lawyers suing Meta argue the Project Nido (an internal name for the Teen Accounts team) swag is part of "culture of privilege abuse at Meta" aimed at keeping the re …Read the full story at The Verge.

Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith. | Image: Getty Images Microsoft is moving its communications group out of marketing and into its Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) organization. The surprise change will see Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith oversee communications, while the company searches for a replacement for Frank Shaw, chief communications officer, who is departing later this year.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella thanked Shaw "for everything he has done for Microsoft" in an internal memo announcing the communications changes. Shaw announced earlier this month that he's leaving Microsoft after nearly three decades supporting the company's communications.Brent Colburn, …Read the full story at The Verge.

Building a PC from entirely new parts in the current hardware landscape is a tall ask if you're on a budget. RAM is the headline cost, with kits costing double or even triple what they used to for the same capacity, but GPUs have also become incredibly pricey, and it's easy to feel numb to that if you're an enthusiast. GPUs have been selling for well above MSRP far more than they've been selling near those prices, but there's one card in particular that stands out. It, too, sells at above its launch MSRP, but it's impossible to ignore the value proposition.

On paper, Qualcomm's Arm-based Snapdragon X2 series chips seem like a solid fit for a high-end dedicated gaming handheld, given their strong CPU/GPU performance and battery-life efficiency. So far, though,we've only seen Snapdragon G-Series chips in Android-focused handhelds from companies like Retroid, OneXPlayer, and Ayaneo.

Something very interesting is happening over in Europe in the world of FOSS. Governments are realising that having all of their eggs in a non-EU basket leaves them susceptible to losing accounts and data due to geopolitical tensions. To tackle this, some countries are fighting to claim 'digital sovereignty', a concept where a country has control over its own digital infrastructure.

Free video editors almost always come with some sort of catch. The most annoying one is probably a watermark stamped on the export because you often only find out after doing the edit. CapCut used to be the easy answer for quick edits, but more of its basics are now paywalled. Premiere Pro is the opposite of that - it's a fantastic editor but paying Adobe every month to stitch clips together is a waste of subscription.

You crack the bedroom window on a cold morning, then get pulled into your day. An hour later, it's still open. If your smart thermostat has open window detection, you'd assume it has this covered. It only covers part of that hour.