Though the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct proved to be exciting, what wasn’t was the revelation that the base console will cost $450, and its headliner title, Mario Kart World, is going to be $80. Fans are understandably upset, as this is the first time a non-deluxe version of a game will retail for that price on release day. Nintendo appears to be standing firm on the price, and though they can make the argument that $80 is fair to pay for the game, it will be an uphill battle for them.

Bioware fans have been waiting quite some time to return to Mass Effect, the studio’s stalwart sci-fi franchise. After 2012’s Mass Effect closed out Commander Shepard’s story on a polarizing note and 2017’s Mass Effect Andromeda disappointed, the franchise has remained dormant. We know a new Mass Effect is in development, but we don’t know much about the game yet.

I sometimes struggle to pay attention to the task at hand, especially when sitting at a desk in front of the screen and typing away. This is what led me to seek an app that would allow my creativity to flow without any distractions to make me want to dip out and waste a few minutes doing something unrelated. That's when I discovered Apostrophe. I've used Gnome extensively but never came across this app while shopping around Gnome Circloe, yet after trying it out, I've not been able to go back to anything else, including Obsidian.

Duolingo will soon be able to help you learn another new skill: chess. The platform’s new chess course will use short puzzles, such as moving a knight to the correct spot to practice its L-shaped movement or checkmating a king that’s stuck in a corner, to help teach you the game. You’ll also be able to play “mini-matches” or full games against Duolingo’s Oscar character, who serves as your coach through the lessons.Duolingo gave me a brief demo of the chess course on a recent video call, and it looks like it could be a lot of fun. The team’s approach was to “make chess as accessible as possible,” Duolingo group product manager Edwin Bodge tells The Verge, and the course will offer lessons for a wide range of skill levels so that people can jump in at whatever level of familiarity they already have for chess.Chess joins topics like music and math that aren’t language-based but can still be practiced via Duolingo. I asked if the company plans to build courses around other games, and staff software engineer Sammi Siegel says that “while we don’t have any plans to share right now, I think we’re just seeing how this launch goes and then we’ll go from there.”The chess course is launching in beta testing on iOS in English, according to Monica Earle, Duolingo’s PR director. Earle estimates that in four to six weeks, more people on iOS will be able to try it, and then it will head to Android and be available in other languages down the line.

As soon as the topic of renting consoles and games crops up, I feel like an old curmudgeon discussing how things were better "back in my day." Anyone who remembers renting PlayStation 1 games from their local Blockbuster store would likely feel the same. However, as people shifted from renting games and consoles to purchasing them, rental stores suffered a decline and eventually closed down.

If you ever have the urge to see Windows 11 squished into the strangest devices you'll ever see, then you need to check out what NTDev is doing. They're the person behind Tiny11, the fan-made version of Windows 11 that removes a lot of non-essential features in exchange for a much smaller file size. Now they're showcasing the Arm64 version of Tiny11 running on an iPad Air M2, and it performs better than you might expect.

When it's time to choose a PC case for a new build, you can either go with a small form factor case, a standard mid-tower, or one of the largest cases on the market. While each form factor is suited to different builds, picking a spacious case is seldom associated with anything other than limitless compatibility and enhanced upgradability. Spacious cases are beneficial in many more ways when you consider things like heat dissipation, cable management, PC cleaning, and larger case fans. If you're in the market for a new case, take these factors into account before choosing your case form factor.

I rode the first wave of smart home devices but immediately quit when I learned that smart speakers record my talks (and snores). For far too long, I've treated those smart lights and smart TVs as dumb devices. That recently changed when I discovered how my esteemed colleague, Adam Conway, used Home Assistant with Zigbee to set up smart home automation in his home. The premise of using software to automate all kinds of smart devices without any expensive hardware sounds amazing!

Earn one mile per dollar spent on Uber rides to the airport. | Image: UberDelta SkyMiles members can now link their accounts to Uber, earning miles for money spent on rides and food delivery, the companies announced today. The news kicks off a partnership between Uber and Delta Air Lines that was first announced earlier this year. Once a customer’s accounts are linked, they can earn one mile per dollar spent on UberX rides to the airport, two miles for every dollar spent on premium rides like Uber Comfort and Uber Black, and three miles per dollar on Uber Reserve trips. For Uber Eats, customers can earn one mile for every dollar spent on orders over $40 from restaurants and grocery stores. Likewise, Delta customers can now use the airline’s smartphone app to book an Uber ride to or from the airport. And later this year, SkyMiles members who log in to the in-flight WiFi will receive a special offer of 30 percent off to book an Uber Reserve ride for pickup when they land. Uber is the latest to team up with Delta for expanded loyalty earnings. The airline has also formed partnerships with Starbucks, Hertz, and Ticketmaster.Delta had previously teamed up with Lyft on a similar deal to earn miles from ridehail trips. Now, the airline has dropped the smaller rival in favor of Uber, which is significantly larger in terms of market share, ride volume, and revenue. Uber is also announcing the launch of an airport shuttle in Atlanta, after launching similar shuttles for JFK and LaGuardia airports in New York City. (The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is a major hub for Delta.)Introductory pricing will be $10, which rises to $18.50 after the promotion. Starting in May, Uber will offer multiple routes from Downtown and Midtown locations to and from the airport, with service every 30 minutes from 6:00am – 10:00pm, 7 days a week. The company says it said it’s currently in talks with Boston’s Logan International Airport about bringing its shuttle service there.

Pinterest is testing a new pop-up prompt it will display to minors in the US and Canada during school hours, encouraging them to close the app and turn off notifications until the end of the day.“Focus is a beautiful thing,” the prompt says. “Stay in the moment by putting Pinterest down and pausing notifs [sic] until the school bell rings.”The pop-up will only appear to minors aged 13 to 17, and only between 8AM and 3PM, Monday to Friday. It’s a large-scale test, which Pinterest says will reach “millions” of school-age users. It claims to be the first tech company testing this sort of “proactive” feature to help students focus, after CEO Bill Ready announced support for the Kids Online Safety Act and phone-free school policies.New York is close to implementing a statewide ban on phone use during the school day, and several other states already have policies limiting or prohibiting phone use. In Europe, countries like Denmark and the Netherlands have already banned phones in schools and France recently announced that teens will have to lock their phones away while at school from the next academic year.Pinterest has also announced a $1 million grant to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to “support school leaders in creating a healthy digital culture in their schools.” The money will fund task forces across 12 US school districts to develop policies that “improve students’ digital wellbeing.”“At Pinterest, we believe that schools can take advantage of all that technology has to offer students, while minimizing the harms and distractions,” said Wanji Walcott, Pinterest’s chief legal and business affairs officer. “Tech companies need to work together with teachers, parents, and policymakers to build solutions that ensure in the hands of our students, smartphones are tools, not distractions.”

Plex is a platform that offers both a free streaming service with movies, TV shows, and live TV, and a software solution to organize and stream your personal media collection. While the former isn’t particularly appealing to most users, Plex excels as a media server. It allows you to set up a server from which you can stream your media library to multiple devices and share content with others. If you’re tired of streaming service price hikes, plan changes, and password-sharing crackdowns, self-hosting and maintaining a home media library through Plex offers plenty of value, beyond the obvious privacy and cost-saving advantages.

Making Windows more accessible has been one of Microsoft's top priorities in the past few years, and Windows 11 is no exception. While a lot of the accessibility features on Windows 11 aren't talked about much, voice access is one of the more well-known ones.