The console wars are a little weird right about now. Decades ago, each console would be lined up and inspected from head to toe to gauge which one was the most powerful and feature-rich, and then people would spend hours on internet forums arguing which one was better. Flash forward to today, and we have the PS5 powerhouse, the portable Switch 2, and the Xbox, which is trying its best to assimilate every device on the planet and turn them into consoles.

If you spend a lot of time working with numbers, you might have tried several apps and programs to process data, only to realize that Microsoft Excel is the undisputed king. There are lots of factors that contribute to this notion, including cross-platform support, a handy mobile app, built-in templates, and powerful features that enable you to create dashboards, compare databases, etc. Excel also supports integrations with programming languages, which means you can use Python with Excel to further enhance its capabilities. While that's already a boon for power users, I recently discovered another integration that takes working inside Excel to the next level. It's a Jupyter extension that can ease your workflow and save you a significant amount of time and effort.

Polypropylene, or PP, filament offers durability, chemical resistance, and flexibility that make it perfect for a range of functional 3D prints. Unfortunately, most YouTube guides stop short of covering the frustrating parts that come with it. If you've been trying to get good results and running into problems with warping, adhesion, or finish, you’re not alone. Whether you’re new to 3D printing or just want to expand your material repertoire, these lesser-known tips can help you get much more consistent and successful prints with polypropylene.

Video games have been getting more expensive in recent years, both at a base price and for the more expensive versions of games. Not only has the base price of games risen to $70, but some games like Mario Kart Worldand The Outer Worlds 2 cost $80, and some games don't even actually come on the disc, if there is even a disc to buy. One aspect of this has been the increase in $100 "premium" editions of games. While the name might make this sound like the expensive collector's editions that have existed in the past, these are quite different, and those differences make it clear that these versions only exist to increase the average sale price of the game.

It feels like Linux is reaching an inflection point. That's not a new sentiment, but for probably the first time since Valve introduced Proton, it's felt like the stars are aligning for the Linux curious to become full-on converts. Support for Windows 10 is ending, and Windows 11 is slowly morphing into a dumping ground for whatever AI features Microsoft wants to push. If there's ever been a time to try out Linux, it's now. Even JayzTwoCents, one of the most popular mainstream PC hardware YouTube channels around, recently published a video about switching to Linux.

When the RTX 20 series was announced, the gaming community was beyond stoked about the real-time ray tracing support on consumer GPUs. While photorealistic lighting was (and still is) a game-changing feature, my nerd self couldn’t stop gushing over DLSS. The initial implementation of Nvidia’s deep learning utility only supported upscaling, but it seemed like the ideal way to get some extra FPS when the Turing series cards grew obsolete.

My Raspberry Pi Zero W may be old, but it’s far from obsolete. With the right Linux distro, it still has real value in low-power projects and dedicated tasks. I chose DietPi because it maximizes the potential of limited hardware without requiring me to go through unnecessary hoops. It’s small, efficient, and purpose-built for exactly the kind of tinkering I want to do.

The European Union is piloting a blueprint for age verification apps in Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, and Italy that aims to make it easier for online platforms to comply with rules that require them to protect minors. The app prototype was announced on Monday alongside guidelines that online platforms are recommended to adopt in order to comply with the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA).“Making sure our children and young people are safe online is of paramount importance to this Commission,” said EU tech policy leader Henna Virkkunen. “The guidelines on the protection of minors for online platforms, combined with the new age verification blueprint, are a huge step forward in this regard. Platforms have no excuse to be continuing practices that put children at risk.”The age verification app is designed to allow users to prove they are over 18 when accessing restricted adult content online, helping the EU to crack down on platforms that are failing to meet obligations under laws like the DSA, and enabling companies to adopt the bloc’s verification toolbox instead of developing their own. The EU Commission says that app users will retain full control over their personal information, such as their exact age or identity, and that the online content they view will remain private.The verification app prototype will be “tested and further customized in collaboration with Member States, online platforms and end-users,” according to the EU Commission, with Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, and Italy aiming to launch national age verification apps. It’s positioned as a temporary solution that will be superseded by the EU Digital Identity Wallet that’s expected to launch in 2026, which aims to provide a way for “European citizens, residents and businesses to prove who they are when accessing digital services” and a place to “safely store, share and sign important digital documents.”While the bloc’s DSA rulebook doesn’t impose specific age verification requirements, websites and online platforms are obligated to protect the “health, physical, mental, and moral development” of minors who use their services, and provide them with the “highest level of privacy, safety, and security.” The new guidance urges online platforms to address concerns around exposing children to harmful content, cyberbullying, unwanted interactions with strangers, and addictive design features.In May, the EU launched investigations into four large adult content websites — Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos — over concerns that they were failing to have appropriate age verification tools in place to prevent children from accessing pornographic content. The Commission said at the time that it was open to accepting commitments that would remedy these concerns, which may include the implementation of the EU age verification app.

It's fair to say that Windows 11 comes with a lot of stuff that most people don't need, but it wouldn't be correct to say that everything Microsoft has added to the operating system is useless. There are many apps Microsoft bundles with Windows 11 that are actually quite useful, and many of them can be severely underrated due to the stigma that everything included in Windows 11 is fluff.

As a DIY enthusiast, I was aware that maintaining a smart home requires time and attention to detail. I use a lot of affordable smart devices that operate over the Zigbee protocol with Home Assistant. Most of my IoT and smart devices utilize the MQTT protocol, also known as Message Queuing Telemetry Transport, to communicate with each other over a network. I chose it since MQTT is lightweight, ideal for low-power devices, and efficient for enabling smart devices to communicate in real-time.

Google's AI-powered research assistant, NotebookLM, is one of the few tools that truly gets AI right. I've been using it since before most people even knew about it, and it's completely transformed my workflow. Though I haven't stopped testing new AI tools since discovering NotebookLM, none of them have fit into my workflow quite like it does.

I've admitted — multiple times, in fact — to not being a fan of RPGs (role-playing games) for the longest time. Sure, every once in a while, a title came along that I loved despite its RPG elements, but by and large, I wasn't all that sold on the genre, knowing full well that it was a personal issue. Now, however, things couldn't be more different. Playing Elden Ring, and subsequently, the entire Soulsborne collection, I've grown a deep love for the genre.