Steam is a great service to download and play games on most computer builds. There are a ton of great games to dive into, and new ones to discover when browsing through the Steam store to see what has been newly added. Because of this, many people like to have access to their Steam library of games on multiple devices, such as another laptop or other device capable of running the Steam application. This is why one may think it's a smart idea to install Steam onto a MacBook laptop you may have just purchased, especially a new model with current hardware updates. But it may not be the smartest move, especially when you realize how Steam is on the Mac operating system.

We love our mini PCs here at XDA. In fact, one of our editors, Joao, never wants to go back after getting into mini PCs (although he really wishes companies didn't make bad ones). And while they come in all shapes and sizes (well, as long as they're mini sizes), it's not often that you can call one "cute."

Gears of War multiplayer has always been a fun part of going online with the Xbox 360 back in the day. As one of the marquee game releases for the console and an original franchise for Xbox, many people believed it was a big reason to get the console and be part of Xbox Live. Since the game came out in 2006, the series has grown exponentially, with more than five entries being released across multiple Xbox consoles. Now that Gears of War: Reloaded is finally out on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, even more people can dive into the gritty and harsh world of the Gears universe. But the multiplayer that began back then has changed very little since.

Even when your PC is doing nothing, it’s still using more power than you might think. Idle draw contributes to higher temperatures, louder fans, and unnecessary strain on your components. In an effort to mitigate this, I made these 4 small tweaks to my system that decreased idle power draw, and reduced overall system temperatures.

Until very recently it wasn’t clear what usage limits were placed on Gemini at the various tiers. Thankfully Google has finally updated its Help Center article detailing “Gemini Apps limits & upgrades for Google AI subscribers.”Gone are the useless descriptors like “limited access” or vague statements like “we may at times have to cap the number of prompts and conversations you can have, or how much you can use some features, within a specific timeframe.” Instead it clearly states that you get up to five prompts a day with Gemini 2.5 Pro on a free account, 100 with an AI Pro plan, or 500 with AI Ultra. Free accounts are also limited to five Deep Research reports and 100 generated images a day. If you need to make more than 100 AI generated images in a day, A: For what? B: Upgrading to a Pro or Ultra account will get you 1,000 images. You can check out the full breakdown here.

Although I know my way around shooting photos on my Sony A7 II, the art of videos has always eluded me. Still, with the fall colors soon to grace Ontario, I thought I’d take up shooting videos for once. This means I’ll need a new set of editing tools besides Adobe Lightroom. While the clear default options are Adobe Premier and Davinci Resolve, I wanted to learn FFmpeg as a complementary post-production for its incredible versatility.

Fans of Metal Gear Solid are getting the chance to dive back into the world of Metal Gear Solid 3:Snake Eater with the release of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater on current-day consoles. The game keeps the same story as the original Hideo Kojima game, but presents it with a completely new coat of paint, rendering every character and environment in stunning detail. For many, this is the best way to experience the story of the first chronological entry of the series. Big Boss and his allies have never looked this good before.

Switching to Linux has always been hyped up as a leap of faith in computing circles, as though using anything besides Windows and macOS would cost you dearly. Sure, it costs you time to set up Linux perfectly and figure out the right distro that offers the desired level of control, but you cannot truly shake the ghost of Windows past, even today. Several programs are optimized for the OS of the masses, and some run on that OS alone.

I don't know about you, but the words mini PC don't usually conjure up something with enough power to beat desktop workstations at AI or productivity tasks. Nor does it make me think of something that can fit almost any locally hosted LLM (Large Language Model) that you could care to run, in VRAM, no less.

Note-taking in Obsidian doesn’t always have to be serious. Some of the plugins are helpful for little tasks, while others are there mostly to make your notes more fun. They can be distracting at times, but that’s part of what makes them enjoyable.

I'm currently a student majoring in Computer Science, and as much as I love learning new stuff, one thing you'll never catch me agreeing to is that studying is easy or fun. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s chugging endless cups of coffee, scrolling through pages and pages of PDFs, lecture slides, and research papers, and pulling endless all-nighters.

When was the last time you heard Microsoft compliment Apple? Given how the pair of them have been bitter rivals for decades now, I wouldn't be surprised if you can't remember the last time you saw Microsoft pass a nice word over to its biggest competitor. I can't even remember a single time.