Xbox Live is down

Image: The VergeIf you’re trying to play online games on your Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, or even Xbox 360 right now, you might be running into some issues, as Xbox confirmed there was a “major” Xbox Live outage on its status page as of 6:57PM ET.“You may not be able to sign-in to your Xbox profile, may be disconnected while signed in, or have other related problems,” according to a status message. “Features that require sign-in like most games, apps and social activity won’t be available.” For players who could sign into their accounts on consoles, online-connected games couldn’t connect and showed their own Xbox sign-in errors, while other people reported issues with features like remote play.“We are aware that users may be unable to sign in at the…

Allie Carlson
Ireland

Windows updates are already bad, but even worse when Microsoft uses my PC to update yours

Windows Update has always been one of those things that you tolerate instead of enjoying. Every month, Microsoft brings out a fresh batch of fixes and improvements, and every month, an increasing number of users find that the update has broken their PCs in new and unique ways. Keeping Windows...

Silke Petersen
Denmark

The USB-C port on your phone supports much more than controllers, and these are the best uses for it

One of the great things about USB-C becoming so popular in all kinds of devices is that it's an incredibly capable port — plus it's more durable than the micro-USB of old — so it has enabled all kinds of accessories to be paired with modern phones. A popular option...

Emily Brown
Houston

WiiM expands its whole-home ecosystem with a new soundbar

The $479 WiiM Bar includes a 2.1-inch touchscreen on its front. | Image: WiiM WiiM, the audio company that's challenged the idea that audiophile-level performance requires a small loan, is expanding its whole-home ecosystem with the WiiM Bar, which releases in July. Much like its other speakers and audio components,...

Sophia Wilson
Atlanta

Remote monitoring is the 3D printing feature I can’t live without now

Remote monitoring sounded like a nice bonus when I first started taking 3D printing more seriously. It felt like one of those features made for people who leave the house, start long prints before work, and want to make sure their printer hasn't turned a 10-hour job into a plastic...

John Doe
New York

This beastly gaming laptop just dropped in price and packs a Ryzen AI 9 HX, 32GB RAM, and an RTX 5080

The ideal laptop is going to be thin, light, and powerful. The coveted combination of hardware exists, but often comes at a steep cost. While you're going to get what you pay for, we always think it's a good idea to wait if you can to see if retailers will...

Wania Martins
Brazil

Nvidia is already planning N2X and N3X chips — the goal is the Star Trek computer

Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp. | Bloomberg via Getty Images Just in case you were wondering, Nvidia's RTX Spark isn't supposed to be a one-off. The company is not just flirting with becoming the fifth high-profile vendor of consumer laptop chips to see if people bite. At...

Murat Bademci
Turkey

My favorite alternative to OneNote isn’t Notion or Obsidian: It’s something way cooler and productive

If you have been searching for the ultimate OneNote alternative, the internet will probably point you toward Notion or Obsidian. But for power users who just want to capture ideas without the friction of endless setup, those platforms often miss the mark.

John Doe
New York

Need a compact charger for cheap? This one from Ugreen costs just $6 right now

Chargers are an essential part of everyday life, and while I have a beefy 140W model that is my primary go-to, I don't always like to lug it around if I'm just going on a quick trip, especially if I just need to charge up my phone and other smaller...

Faas Spelt
Netherlands

Apple is bringing age verification to Texas this week

Apple will introduce age verification in the App Store for users in Texas starting on Thursday, June 4th. The move, as spotted by MacRumors, comes just days after a federal appeals court allowed Texas' App Store Accountability Act to go into effect while a lawsuit against it proceeds. People in...

Jane Smith
Los Angeles

Windows 11’s AI Action tools made me stop opening Photoshop for quick edits

You know what they say: if you want to hide something, do it in plain sight. That’s exactly what Microsoft did with the AI Action tools in Windows 11 File Explorer. For who knows how long, I right-clicked images and somehow just ignored the AI actions menu right there. Whenever...

Roboredo das Neves
Brazil

Plex’s new social features don’t make its recent price increase easier to swallow

Following a massive Plex Pass Lifetime subscription price hike, tripling the cost to $750 from $250, the self-hosting media platform has revealed several new, questionably useful social features in what feels like an effort to justify the price increase. This feels like yet another misstep by the self-hosting streaming app.

William Garcia
Boston

The AI boom crushed PC building, but it’s the best thing that happened to home labs

The AI boom has made building a competitive new PC genuinely painful. Memory and storage prices have surged to levels we haven't seen in years, and the parts that used to be afterthoughts now dominate the budget. So it feels almost contradictory to say that the same boom has made...