At this stage, you probably have an SSD in your PC. SSDs are significantly faster than HDDs, and they come in many different formats. You can get an M2 or a SATA SSD, and one M2 SSD can use a different generation of PCIe technology to another. If you have an SSD already, is it actually worth upgrading to just get a faster SSD?

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is one of the best Pixel phones we've ever laid hands on, and that's saying something. Released late last year, the Pixel 9 Pro XL truly shines with its stunning 6.8-inch Super Actua touchscreen. The phone's overall design is also gorgeous and offers some great color options. Being a flagship smartphone, you'll likely need to part with a hefty chunk of change to buy a Pixel 9 Pro XL, so I definitely suggest buying a case to protect this pricey device from costly damage. There are a ton of great cases available in different designs, colors, and sizes. Here are our top recommendations.

Kyle Paul’s ‘fake wall’ test. | Image: Kyle Paul (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KyIWpAevNs">YouTube</a>)Someone has responded to YouTuber Mark Rober’s Tesla fake wall test with a video that also tries to address the question of whether the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) features would detect a Wile E. Coyote-style road obstruction in the real world. Creator Kyle Paul posted his video Thursday and included two Teslas with FSD: a Model Y equipped with a HW3 computer and a Cybertruck that comes with the latest HW4 / AI4 system and cameras, Not a Tesla App reports.In the original video, Rober, an engineer who went viral after his package thief glitter bombs videos, tested whether Tesla’s camera-based Full Self-Driving (FSD) system can automatically stop before plowing through a wall painted as a road stretching into the horizon. It didn’t, people raised (many) questions, and we tried to answer a few of them.In Paul’s video, the Tesla Model Y with confirmed FSD (in this case, version 12.5.4.2) didn’t fare better than Rober’s — he had to manually stop the vehicle before it crashed into the fake wall that, to my human eyes, doesn’t look quite as convincing. Not all is lost for Tesla, though, as Paul’s test of the Cybertruck with FSD version 13.2.8 had a better ending. It detected the wall and slowed down to a complete stop.You can watch both videos for yourself, whether it’s to check the science or just to take note of how many people have the means to build real-world Looney Tunes ACME walls.

Congress’ least favorite law is once against facing an existential challenge by bipartisan opponents. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, are planning to reintroduce a bill to sunset Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in two years. Repealing the bill, first reported by The Information, would remove protections that web services and users have enjoyed since the 1990s, which underpins much of the way the internet as we know it today works. It’s a proposal Graham has been trying to advance since 2020, and his spokesperson, Taylor Reidy, confirms a reintroduction is “in the works.”Section 230 shields any “interactive computer service” or its users from legal liability for speech that was produced by someone else — making it possible for social media platforms, as well as blogs and even listserv operators, to moderate content without fearing lengthy litigation over each decision. But critics have argued that it either reduces the incentives for large social networks to police illegal content like abuse and harassment, or, conversely, that it gives these platforms too much freedom to remove content that’s not illegal.“Section 230, and the legal immunity it provides to Big Tech, has been on the books since 1996—long before social media became a part of our daily lives,” Durbin says in a statement. “To the extent this protection was ever needed, its usefulness has long since passed.”Section 230 had bipartisan support when it became law in 1996, when the internet was a relatively small part of many people’s lives. But it’s come under bipartisan fire as the power of tech companies has multiplied and attracted blame for a variety of societal ills. Despite that, it’s been difficult for any single proposal for reform to gain momentum, since the ways that Democrats and Republicans think the law should change has largely fallen along partisan lines. In general, past Democratic proposals have sought to make it easier to hold platforms accountable for harmful content they allow to spread on their services, while Republican proposals have sought to punish platforms for restricting certain kinds of content.The idea of sunsetting Section 230 is not new — Graham introduced a bill to repeal the law back in late 2020. When he reintroduced it in 2021, it had two Republican co-sponsors. But introducing a repeal with the backing of a prominent Democrat could give the proposal new status and momentum. The top bipartisan lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee floated something similar last year.But even with bipartisan support, passing any tech legislation has lately proved to be a Sisyphean task. That’s on top of a constitutional crisis that has thrown Congress’ power into question and raised the possibility that the Trump administration could abuse or selectively enforce any new law.Even with bipartisan support, passing any tech legislation has lately proved to be a Sisyphean taskThe theory behind a repeal of 230 is that it will force Congress (and industry lobbyists) to renegotiate if they want to retain any of the protections it provided. Graham said in a 2020 statement that the bill would give Congress “two years to find an acceptable alternative or allow the legal liability protections to go away.”Nongovernmental Section 230 critics like Digital Content Next, which represents publishers including The Verge’s parent company Vox Media, see value in putting pressure on tech companies to engage in solutions, rather than reject attempts at reform outright. “The beauty of the sunset bill is, I think it would bring platforms to the table in a more thoughtful way,” says Chris Pedigo, DCN’s SVP of government affairs.“I’m under no illusion that it will be easy to pass legislation to protect kids online and finally make the tech industry legally accountable for the harms they cause, like every other industry in America,” Durbin says in his statement. “But I hope that for the sake of our nation’s kids, Congress finally acts.”

Gaming handhelds have transformed the way we experience games on the go. Devices like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally pack a lot of power into a relatively small package, and with these advancements in retail units like these also comes inspiration in the DIY space. Building your own Steam Deck from scratch certainly isn't for everyone, but there are varying degrees of difficulty to building your own handheld.

Shrinkflation is a variant of inflation where manufacturers reduce the quantity of a product while keeping the price the same or slightly higher. This is commonly seen in consumables like soda bottles, bags of chips, soap bars, etc. What you might have missed is that shrinkflation has also been sneakily affecting GPUs, with manufacturers offering less GPU power for the same or even more money.

Lyft will let users in Atlanta catch robotaxi rides starting this summer, as reported by NBC News.“Atlanta riders will have the opportunity to be matched with a fleet of autonomous Toyota Sienna minivans equipped with May Mobility’s autonomous technology, a deployment that Lyft and May Mobility aim to scale over time across multiple markets,” Lyft spokesperson CJ Macklin tells The Verge.Macklin said the company plans to bring autonomous vehicles to Dallas next year using Marubeni cars outfitted with Mobileye technology and that “thousands of vehicles and more cities” will follow.Lyft announced its partnerships with May Mobility and Intel-owned Mobileye in November, when it indicated its intention to launch the autonomous, May Mobility-powered cars sometime in 2025. Lyft announced its partnership with Marubeni in February.Earlier this month, Alphabet-owned Waymo, which also once partnered with Lyft, announced it would be offering 24 / 7 robotaxi rides in Silicon Valley. 

Warping is one of the most frustrating issues in 3D printing. It causes prints to peel up from the build plate or distort as layers cool. This problem is pervasive with materials like ABS but can happen with almost any filament under the right conditions. Understanding why warping occurs and how to prevent it will help you get clean, accurate prints every time.

Aside from cutscenes, most of Mythic Quest takes place in the real world. But Apple’s upcoming spinoff series Side Quest will give us a much better look at what the game looks like from within.While some of Side Quest’s four episodes focus on people’s lives outside of and away from Mythic Quest, the final episode, titled “The Last Raid,” takes place within the fictional MMORPG and follows high schoolers Devon (Van Crosby), Kelly (Melanie Brook), Rory (Alice Wen), Seth (David Andrew Calvillo), and Freddie (Justin Jarzombek) setting out to fight powerful bosses. In this exclusive clip from the episode, the kids have been playing Mythic Quest for years and made an annual tradition of taking on big raids to commemorate becoming friends in the game.“The Last Raid” makes Mythic Quest (the game) look a bit like a dated World of Warcraft clone compared to cutscenes from Mythic Quest’s (the series) more recent seasons. But the episode, and the rest of Side Quest, may offer a better sense of what keeps players returning to Mythic Quest.The entire season hits Apple TV Plus on March 26th.

If you're looking for a TV that's cheap and packed with features, then you can't go wrong with the Pioneer Xumo. This 55-inch model is highly-rated, and is now just $200 thanks to an impressive $100 discount from Best Buy that brings it down to its lowest price to date. So get this deal while you can, because a discount like this won't last long.

Despite their differences, it's always nice when Microsoft and Apple products play ball with one another. Gating them off from one another does nothing but harm the consumer, so anything that helps them is a win in my book. That's why I was happy to read that iOS and iPadOS users are getting an easier time accessing shared Office documents, and they don't even need to log into their Microsoft account.

Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr said companies looking for regulatory approval should “get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” according to an interview with Bloomberg. Carr reportedly brought up Paramount’s merger with Skydance, Verizon’s purchase of Frontier Communications, and T-Mobile’s plans to acquire most of US Cellular as potential deals that could be affected.Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or DEI, has become a target of President Donald Trump’s administration, with various federal agencies ending diversity programs and pressuring major companies to do the same.“We can only under the statute move forward and approve a transaction if we find that doing so serves the public interest,” Carr told Bloomberg. “If there’s businesses out there that are still promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination, I really don’t see a path forward where the FCC could reach the conclusion that approving the transaction is going to be in the public interest.”In February, Carr announced an investigation into the DEI-related initiatives at Comcast. He later sent a letter to Verizon to express concerns over its “apparent lack of progress” in ending DEI efforts, and asked the company’s executives to contact the FCC officials overseeing its acquisition of Frontier, as reported by Bloomberg.Along with taking action against companies with DEI policies, Carr announced a “sweeping investigation” into the US operations of China-based companies previously placed on the FCC’s “Covered List,” such as Huawei, ZTE, and China Telecom. The FCC will look into each company’s “current levels of operations” in the US, as Carr says the FCC has “reason to believe… some or all of these Covered List entities are trying to make an end run around those FCC prohibitions by continuing to do business in America on a private or ‘unregulated’ basis.”Disclosure: Comcast is also an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.