Wireless connectivity to the internet is ubiquitous, and to some, it's as necessary as breathing or staying hydrated. I can't exactly argue against that, as I realize how many times an hour I check my smartphone or rely on Wi-Fi for work, but I'm past caring about which standard I'm using. Wi-Fi 7 is still barely supported by devices, requires expensive routers, and isn't a significantly meaningful upgrade over Wi-Fi 6E.

Microsoft’s Copilot advertising has been criticized by an industry watchdog for its productivity claims and confusing use of Copilot branding. The Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division (NAD) has reviewed Microsoft’s Copilot advertising, and recommended that the software giant discontinues or modifies productivity claims about Microsoft 365 Copilot and more clearly disclose the limitations of its Business Chat feature.Microsoft has been claiming that Copilot has productivity and return on investment (ROI) benefits for businesses that adopt the AI assistant, including that “67%, 70%, and 75% of users say they are more productive” after a certain amount of Copilot usage. “NAD found that although the study demonstrates a perception of productivity, it does not provide a good fit for the objective claim at issue,” says the watchdog in its review. “As a result, NAD recommended the claim be discontinued or modified to disclose the basis for the claim.”Alongside the recommended productivity advertising changes, NAD also suggests that users of Copilot could be confused by Microsoft’s wide use of the Copilot branding across multiple products — including Business Chat. “NAD concluded, based on the context of the claims and universal use of the product description as ‘Copilot,‘ that consumers would not necessarily understand the differences.” NAD has recommended that Microsoft now “modify its advertising to clearly and conspicuously disclose any material limitations related to how Business Chat assists users.”Microsoft has had years of confusing branding for Copilot. Microsoft relaunched its Copilot for business with free AI chat and pay-as-you-go agents earlier this year, in an attempt to simplify some of its branding woes. Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat as it’s known now, started off as Bing Chat Enterprise before Microsoft then rebranded it, confusingly, to just Copilot. Somewhere in the middle of all this rebranding, Business Chat — which was originally a chatbot in Teams — is now Business Chat for Microsoft 365 Copilot.As I wrote in Notepad almost a year ago, Microsoft has been rebranding Copilot in the most Microsoft way possible. It’s all part of trying to make businesses use Copilot more, and then pay extra for the Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription.Microsoft says it disagrees with NAD’s conclusions, but that it “will follow NAD’s recommendations for clarifying its claims.” Hopefully that means that Copilot branding is going to be clearer in the future.

A few weeks back, I took my annual trip to Taipei to attend Computex, which is on the other side of the world from where I live. It's a 13-hour time difference for me and around a 20-hour travel day. The goal is always to pack light, powerful, and comfortable, particularly when it comes to the tech I bring. I need something to work, something to play, and something that won't break my back or leave me red in the face at a TSA checkpoint. So, when the Asus ROG Flow Z13 showed up at my doorstep a few weeks before my trip, it was almost literally a godsend.

I’ve used Microsoft 365 and Google One for years, and now I'm more convinced than ever that I should cancel my Microsoft 365 subscription. For a while, I kept both subscriptions, one out of habit and the other out of necessity. However, over time, I found myself using Google’s apps for almost everything, while Microsoft's apps sat there collecting dust.

I often call Windows 11 the "latest and greatest" operating system from Microsoft. It's a cliché phrase to refer to the newest version of something, but I also use it because I generally believe that Microsoft does deliver some good with new versions of its OS. But as positive as I like to be when talking about Windows, it's hard to overlook the fact that many aspects of the Windows experience seem to get worse with every other update. Microsoft can't go a few months without trying to shove something annoying down users' throats, and it gets frustrating.

Mario Kart World is an excellent evolution of the series, with exciting new modes like Knockout Tour and drastic changes to the formula, like doubling the number of racers in each race. While it took some time for me to acclimate to these big changes, partially because it's been over a decade since the last time a new Mario Kart was released, some choices don't work as well. The Free Roam mode is a complete miss, between lackluster activities and terrible tracking for those activities. Some of the interconnected races from the Grand Prix feel more like driving on the highway than racing around a Mario Kart track, but every track can be played in the traditional lap-based mode. While it's not the single-player epic I wanted with the Switch 2 launch line-up, Mario Kart World is an essential purchase for the new Nintendo console.

It's no secret that Microsoft recommends Windows 11 users to use a Microsoft Account instead of local accounts to log in to PCs. Not only that, but the software giant has even gone so far as to force people to use its online account instead of the local one on PCs. While there are plenty of benefits to using a Microsoft account instead of a local account, especially if you're subscribed to Microsoft 365, you might need to think twice before using it as your primary source of cloud data storage.

From the time I started watching Pewdiepie's videos on Amnesia: The Dark Descent, I've known for a fact that horror games become less scary and more fun with friends — whether they're watching through a screen or playing right alongside you. There's something inherently hilarious about getting hunted by unspeakable monsters while you and your friends are yelling and running in all directions, or when your squad is crouched in silence but someone sneezes and gets everyone killed.

I’ve been a diehard Proxmox fanboy for a long time, and have used the platform for everything from makeshift Hackintosh VMs to gaming-oriented virtual machines. After all, Proxmox brings a solid set of virtualization features, top-tier performance and massive compatibility with software packages and hardware components. If you’re a part of the container faction, you can even run LXCs on top of the virtualization platform.

Even though NotebookLM is new to the productivity market, it has quickly become a crucial tool for managing information, sparking ideas, and building a deeper understanding of complex topics. But simply dropping a few documents and weblinks into it isn’t enough to truly unlock its power. Over dozens of projects, I have refined my workflow and discovered specific techniques that make my NotebookLM notebooks genuinely effective.

There's a big war going on right now between Microsoft and the Linux community. While neither side is making direct blows at the other, both of them are fighting to win over the hearts and minds of Windows 10 users. Despite its end-of-life date rapidly approaching in mid-October, Windows 10 is still the most dominant Microsoft operating system, with Windows 11 lagging slightly behind. As such, a lot of people are going to be left high and dry in terms of security updates in four months time, and both sides wants to convince you that either Windows 11 or Linux is the way to go.

Once you start using a 3D printer for practical projects, it changes how you view everyday objects. Many items that once seemed like automatic purchases are now easy to create at home. Over time, I have found that printing these small things saves money and gives me exactly what I want. Here are seven everyday items I now 3D print instead of buying.