If you haven’t signed into your Samsung account for a couple of years, then you should probably do so if you want to keep it. Samsung has started to notify customers that it considers any accounts that haven’t been used or signed into for two years as “inactive” and they will be “subject to deletion” after a new policy comes into effect on July 31st.“If an account is deleted, access to the account will be restricted and all data linked to the account will be deleted,” reads an email issued to customers on Wednesday. “Accounts and data that are deleted cannot be restored.”That could be a pain if you were previously a Samsung user and want to switch back in the future without losing your account data. The Galaxy Store and proprietary Samsung apps for things like Health and Galaxy Wearables also require a Samsung account to sign in, meaning you risk losing access to the data connected to those services. Some data may be retained after account deletion, but Samsung says this is only in accordance with legal requirements.The new inactive account policy makes exceptions for registered family accounts, accounts with “a record of accumulating/using reward points,” and accounts used to purchase products on Samsung’s website, all of which will be considered active. For anyone who falls outside of those exceptions, account deletion is thankfully easy to evade — according to Samsung, all you have to do is have “at least one” usage or activity detected for the account every two years. This includes account creation itself, logging into the Samsung account, or using a connected service while signed in.If you have no intention of ever switching back to Samsung, however, you could allow the company to nuke your account and data instead of doing it yourself manually. Just make sure you won’t be locked out of connected apps in the process.

Who doesn’t love a great comeback? A great return isn’t just about nostalgia — it’s about understanding what made something special in the first place and pushing it forward.

Out of all the components in your computer, if you were to rank order them by their impact on performance, RAM would not be very high on the list. Its impact on performance isn't linear, and you'll start seeing diminishing returns sooner than you would with other components. Despite that, I've upgraded my system to 64 GB of memory, far beyond what I actually require for my day-to-day workflow. I can see the comments already. "What a waste!" "What a stupid upgrade!" Your cries of "too much RAM" are not being heard. I love my 64 GB of RAM for one key reason: it allows me to be lazy, and you should give it a try.

Just under a month ago, I tried out Linux Mint as a Windows fanboy. It was new, it was a little scary, and I wasn't 100% sure what I was doing. However, by the end of my little trial run, I had really come around to enjoy Linux Mint, and I can see myself using it on my old Windows 10 machines instead of crowbarring Windows 11 onto them when the end-of-support date arrives.

A few years ago, I was finally able to persuade my mother that she couldn't live alone in her house - the one in which my family had lived since the 1970s - and needed to move into a smaller co-op apartment in a nearby retirement community. But neither she nor I were aware how stressful the process of selling a house and purchasing an apartment could be. While I wouldn't presume to advise anyone on the technicalities of buying and / or selling real estate, I did come away from the experience with hard-won insights on how to deal with some of the emotional crises that can occur. Here are some of the things I learned.It's not you - it's the processIf this is the first time you've sold or bought a home, get ready - it's going to be a wild ride. A lot is involved: finding a buyer and negotiating a sale, or finding a new home and negotiating the purchase. Or both. In between, there are open houses, legalities, inspections, unexpected expenses, and tons of paperwork. So unless you're really into real estate, you may be tempted to give up and hide under your bed at some point.You may find it helpful, at least in the beginning, to consider it a research project rather than somethi …Read the full story at The Verge.

Remote access has become an essential tool, whether for troubleshooting a family member’s computer, managing a server from afar, or collaborating with colleagues across different locations. While TeamViewer has long been a dominant player in the remote desktop space, its increasing costs have left many users and small businesses searching for a viable, free alternative. Among them, two strong contenders have stood out from the crowd – RustDesk and AnyDesk.

Well, we're rapidly approaching four months until Microsoft stops supporting Windows 10. At that point, people still on the older operating system have a few choices: they can either buy a new PC, upgrade their current PC to Windows 11 (if their PC supports it), force-install Windows 11 on it (if it doesn't), truck on with Windows 10, or install a different system. And one such "different system" is Linux.

Moving can be a huge headache. Throw in a bunch of connected gadgets that you need to factory reset or uninstall, and things get even more painful. Deciding what to do with your smart home when you move adds a whole other layer of complexity to an already difficult process.Go through your entire place and decide what should stay and what should goDo you take your smart lock or leave it? Should you uninstall your smart lighting system or leave it and provide a detailed manual for your buyer? Is it better to replace the Nest thermostat with a non-smart one or leave it and buy a newer version for your new home? What about sensors? Speakers? Smoke alarms? The list goes on. You'll need to go through your entire place and decide what should stay and what should go, all while considering your new home: where your old gadgets will fit in and where you might want to buy new ones.In this guide, we'll look at which devices make sense to take with you and what is probably easier to leave behind. I'll also discuss what to do with each gadget: how to decommission it in your old place and recommission it in your new home - or how to reset it if you plan to leave it behind.Take a smart …Read the full story at The Verge.

The one company in the video game industry with an unprecedented history is Nintendo. The company, which once started as a small hanafuda playing card maker in 1889, has stood as a foundational pillar of the industry for many years. Many people, young and old, know the name Nintendo even if they've never played a video game before. However, those who grew up playing games at a very early age know of the many releases from Nintendo that impacted pop culture. Throughout the decades, different home consoles and iconic video game series have been tied to the company, and they have helped inspire generations of game designers and bring joy to many gaming fans.

I recently did something sort of unusual: I went to a preview event for a game that's been out for almost three years.I've played around 400 hours of Pokémon Scarlet, according to my Nintendo Switch, since it was released in late 2022. It's safe to say I know the game pretty well. And yet, when I was invited to preview Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on the Nintendo Switch 2 ahead of the new console's launch, I gladly took the opportunity to see three-year-old games I already own. I wanted to find out just how much they'd improved.I have a high jank tolerance with games - it builds character - but I'm well aware of Scarlet and Violet's shortcomings on the original Switch. There's lag. The frame rate is… inconsistent. There are online connectivity issues. For a lot of people, performance problems overshadowed what was otherwise a great new generation of Pokémon games. With the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, and the accompanying free performance update for Scarlet and Violet, that might finally change.View LinkStarting up the demo of Pokémon Scarlet on the Switch 2 at The Pokémon Company International's office in Bellevue, Washington, I knew immediately where I wanted to go firs …Read the full story at The Verge.

AI Darth Vader was a huge hit in Fortnite, and now Epic plans to let creators make AI-powered NPCs for their own in-game experiences. But a senior Epic exec says that creators should expect a "learning curve" when using them - something Epic had to figure out on its own.The AI Vader that Epic made lets users talk to the character using their voice and hear an AI-generated version of James Earl Jones's Vader voice talk back. It was the "culmination of a very intense effort for a character everybody understands," Saxs Persson, Epic's EVP of the Fortnite ecosystem, tells The Verge. But Epic couldn't just set an AI chatbot loose - "a lot" went into defining how Vader reacted and dialing in the voice. The work was worth it, though; in-game, Vader's voice sounds just like the movies, and when he's on your team, he's a menacing, aggressive force. Persson says that Vader was ultimately "integrated into gameplay in a way that every player could understand" and he hopes creators are able to make similar things.Vader's rollout wasn't perfect; a popular streamer, Loserfruit, was able to get Vader to swear, which Epic fixed shortly after it happened. Persson says that it was a "learning …Read the full story at The Verge.

When I take a break from my workflow, sometimes I just want some fun entertainment. During breaks, I like to play the old-school original Doom. I can play it directly in my browser, and no downloading is required. If you remember this classic or want to check out the hit game from the '90s, you can play it too. Either way, it's a fun way to unwind between workflow sessions. You don’t even need a Proton account to play it.