Every Wi-Fi generation tends to have a slow start, with devices released before the specification is complete, expensive routers for early adopters, and driver issues often take a while to sort out. Even then, I was a big believer in Wi-Fi and was excited to see what Wi-Fi 7 would bring. But reality has hit hard, and I'm not entirely sure most people need Wi-Fi 7.

Say what you will about the Need for Speed series, but it is certainly gaming royalty. One of the longest-running franchises in gaming, especially in the racing genre, Need for Speed has seen a lot of peaks and troughs over the last three decades. Of course, it's not what it used to be, is it? The series hasn't been tasting the success it once did, and it definitely no longer occupies the top spot in the genre it did during its glory days.

Although it doesn't get nearly enough attention, your PSU is probably the most important component in your PC. Without it, nothing works, and a bad PSU can even leave you with damaged or underperforming components. It's the worst area of a PC to cheap out, which has led me to spend up on expensive, high-wattage PSUs for years, even though I didn't need them.

Obsidian is a popular personal knowledge management app — and for good reason. But when I started using it earlier this year while exploring desktop productivity apps, it did not feel like it was a good fit due to its use of a Markdown editor. I often find many productivity solutions overwhelming, so having to change the way I write and format notes was just another obstacle to tackle.

TikTok will now let songwriters highlight tracks they’ve written or co-written directly on their profiles. The list of songs will live within the “Music” tab on their profile, similar to the one TikTok already offers for artists on the platform. Users who register as songwriters will also get a “Songwriter” label beneath their account name.These new features build upon some of TikTok’s existing tools for songwriters, including the “New” tag that appears on newly released music and the ability for users to save a song on a music streaming service. TikTok also rolled out a “BehindTheSong” hub in 2023, where songwriters, artists, and producers can share more about the making of their music, in addition to the more recently launched “Off the Record” series with artists like Shakira, Charli XCX, and Meghan Trainor.Music is a huge part of TikTok, with the platform helping boost the popularity of songs and even drive TikTokers to stardom. It has also worked with artists like Taylor Swift to build hubs to promote their music, and added the ability for users to save songs to their SoundCloud accounts in May. In 2023, it launched a standalone music streaming app, but shut it down in 2024. For now, TikTok is launching its new songwriter features in a closed beta with a “limited number” of publisher partners. Songwriters and publishers can sign up for a waitlist to gain access to these features in the future.

What's better than a game going on sale on Steam? A game that's going on the steepest discount it has ever seen on the platform before. Not only can you save yourself some cash, but you score a game at the most affordable it's ever been. Seems like a win to me.

If you're looking to build a new PC with tons of power at a great price, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is an absolute beast of a CPU, delivering on all fronts, but especially potent when it comes to games and creative projects. While this CPU used to cost a small fortune when it was first released, it can now be had for much less, with Amazon offering a discount that drops it down to just $275 for a limited time.

I just got done playing Death Stranding 2, and it left me a sobbing mess at the end of fifty hours. An absolute masterpiece from start to end, Death Stranding is a must-play, generational experience, and I said as much in my excellent review of the PlayStation 5 exclusive game.

Roblox is introducing a way to let trusted friends chat more freely among themselves, but it will require that they use a new age estimation tool to verify that they’re over 13.The platform is renaming Friends to Connections, and people can only use unfiltered text chat and the Party social feature with a more exclusive group of “Trusted Connections.” The new age estimator tool prompts users to take a video selfie, “which is analyzed against a large and diverse dataset to estimate their age,” according to a blog post from chief safety officer Matt Kaufman.“If the system is not able to estimate the user’s age with high confidence, then the user’s age will remain unconfirmed and the user won’t be able to access Trusted Connections,” Kaufman says. If a user doesn’t pass the age estimation tool but they are actually over 13, they will be able to confirm their age via ID verification “and, in the future, verified parental consent.”Roblox partnered with identity verification company Persona on the age estimation technology, Roblox’s Ryan Ebanks said in a call with reporters, and he says biometric data will be deleted 30 days after collection “except for a few exceptions where legally required.” Persona is “providing the core age estimation and ID verification services to Roblox,” spokesperson Juliet Chaitin-Lefcourt tells The Verge, and “Persona’s model is integrated into the Roblox app with additional UI and logic that has been customized by Roblox.”Users 13 through 17 who have their age confirmed will be able to add each other as Trusted Connections. Teens will only be able to add someone older than 18 as a Trusted Connection if they know them in real life, Kaufman says, and they can do that by scanning a QR code in person or using Roblox’s Contact Importer feature.Although chats with Trusted Connections can be unfiltered, Roblox will monitor the conversations for “critical harm.”“This includes, but isn’t limited to, any predatory behavior aimed at manipulating or harming minors, the sexualization of minors, engaging in inappropriate sexual conversations with or requesting sexual content, and any involvement with child sexual abuse material,” Chaitin-Lefcourt says.Last year, a Bloomberg report highlighted issues with predators on the platform, and the company introduced safety tools like letting parents block and report people on their child’s friend list and has banned kids under 13 from accessing “social hangout” spaces. Age verification has growing momentum behind it — platforms like Bluesky and Reddit also recently rolled out age verification tools in the UK to comply with the Online Safety Act, and the EU is testing a prototype age verification app.Roblox is also introducing new features intended to support users’ well-being. A new option will let people control who sees whether they’re online. (Before, they could only hide which experience they were in.) Users can also set a Do Not Disturb timeframe to silence Roblox’s push notifications, and teens will be able to set their own screentime limits (a feature previously limited to parents).

For a long time, Obsidian was my go-to for daily journaling. It's incredibly powerful, and I loved the idea of building my "second brain". However, as a tech blogger, I'm always looking for ways to streamline my workflow, and I found myself craving something more intuitive for daily reflection. That's when I stumbled upon Logseq. Yes, it has its quirks and perhaps a slightly different learning curve, but the more I used it for my daily notes, the more I realized its distinct advantages. Here are the key reasons Logseq has become my best companion for daily journaling, even after my time with Obsidian.

Sometimes there's a 3D printed project which I don't believe was actually 3D printed, regardless of how much evidence there is to suggest the opposite. Not to call the creator a liar, but I simply can't wrap my brain around it. The last time I was stumped was when someone 3D printed the entire Doomguy armor using a model supplied by Bethesda, making it as accurate to the source material as one can realistically get.

OPNsense and pfSense are both forks of m0n0wall and FreeBSD. While they may work similarly, there are some notable differences between the two firewall solutions. I made the switch from pfSense to OPNsense due to a variety of reasons, namely more frequent updates, a better user experience, and questionable support from Netgate, closing down access to various parts without paying.