Almost 17 years ago, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto 4: The Lost and Damned, effectively hinting at a direction of prolonged support for the offline components of their future games. This direction would roughly last a whopping one and a half games — Red Dead Redemption, with the release of Undead Nightmare, and two canceled story expansions for GTA 5.

While many indie developers face immense challenges in competing with larger studios, these 10 indie games managed to break through the market. Capturing the hearts of millions, each of these games has defied expectations and left a lasting mark on the gaming industry.

When you hear the term PC upgrades, what do you imagine? — probably a GPU, CPU, SSD, RAM, or motherboard (in that order). At least, that's how I think about PC upgrades. Although I haven't made any major upgrades to my PC in almost 3 years, I never thought about upgrading my monitor in all that time. My existing monitor is an LG 27GL850, a 27" 1440p 144Hz IPS display that I purchased back in 2021.

Using a screen for extended durations is practically necessary for work and recreation. It usually takes a toll on your health and, most importantly, leads to eye strain and the associated discomfort of irritation, headaches, and dry eyes. While Windows 11 already has specific features to help reduce strain, you can take a few simple steps irrespective of the device you spend time staring at.

There are a ton of great laptops out there, but if you're looking for an absolute powerhouse, then the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is one that you'll want to take a look at. That's especially the case right now, since Samsung is offering such a big discount if you're willing to trade in an older device, offering up to $600 off the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra during this limited-time deal.

When the Steam Deck was announced in 2021, it generated a lot of buzz as a more PC gamer-friendly follow-up to the handheld hit of the pandemic, the Nintendo Switch. The Steam Deck officially launched in 2022 and received a screen bump to OLED in 2023 with some minor internal improvements, though no performance upgrade to the CPU or GPU.

Frankly, most AI tools that students swear by aren’t all that great. Half the time, they generate inaccurate information, give incorrect answers, or overcomplicate things for no reason. NotebookLM doesn’t do any of that.

Adobe software is often the go-to for creative projects. With Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro being some of the most popular Adobe tools, you might wonder if there are other better tools available elsewhere. There are plenty of features in Adobe that make me wish I used open-source toolsinstead, but open-source isn’t the only option if you’re making the switch from Adobe software. There are closed-source Adobe alternativesamong a mix of creative software options, including the Affinity Suite. Some of the most popular Adobe software have great alternative options that offer as good as Adobe’s results. You don’t have to forgo quality in your results just by avoiding paying for an Adobe subscription.

The taskbar is one of the cornerstones of the Windows UI, and has been for decades, with relatively small changes made throughout the years. Some changes can be for the better, and some are for the worse, but ultimately, the taskbar isn't perfect, and if you want to make the most of your Windows 11 PC, you might need to make some changes to it.

It can be difficult to find the right subscription-tracking app to manage your finances. Many options require a subscription and access a risky amount of data about your finances, so it can be tricky to find the balance between privacy and convenience.

I don’t remember when I started using Google. Google just… is. It’s the verb for internet search, it commands 10 times the market share of all its competitors combined, and it is responsible for routing a huge amount of the internet’s traffic.Almost two years ago, I got out. I signed up for a search engine called Kagi, which charges $10 a month and, in return, promises better search results, no ads, no data collection, and lots of advanced features. I’ve tried a lot of search engines and always ended up back with Google — the results elsewhere just felt somehow worse. This time, whether it’s because Kagi is great or Google is declining or both, I’ve felt no drop-off whatsoever.I’m still using Kagi, and it’s hard to imagine switching back. It’s now Google that looks bizarre and unfamiliar every time I open it. As Google has become more visual, more chaotic, and consistently less good at simply finding the things I’m looking for, Kagi has stayed simple and straightforward. It is a page full of links, and they’re usually the right ones.Kagi, as a product, is about three years old, but the company has been around since 2018. It was started by Vladomir P …Read the full story at The Verge.

I've been an ultrawide monitor convert ever since the Nixeus EDG 34 landed on my desk for review around the end of 2019. I love the additional space for productivity and the immersiveness of games, but I'd be lying if I said it was all smooth sailing. The 21:9 aspect ratio has been around since LG launched the EA93 Series in 2012, but even the best ultrawide monitors still suffer from a common core of annoyances. To be fair, none of them are dealbreakers, and I'll happily live with them for the extra real estate to put two browser windows side-by-side, but it's worth knowing what you're getting into when you decide to go for an ultrawide monitor.