This was a busy week in the tech world, from Framework revealing its new compact desktop PC to Microsoft’s announcement of Skype’s shutdown. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.
The Big News
The Framework Desktop Might Be The Coolest Tiny PC I’ve Seen
Framework has branched out. The company made some of the most interesting laptops we’ve seen, but it has now also announced the release of a desktop computer. We had our doubts about how upgradeable this computer might actually be, but an early teardown suggests there’s more than what Framework let us on initially. Continue reading…
Clicks is Making Physical Keyboards for Android Phones
Some people feel nostalgic about those old BlackBerry phones that featured, among other things, physical keyboards. If you miss that feel, Clicks cases have been a good choice for iPhone users, and now they’re coming for some Android phones as well. Continue reading…
Google and Qualcomm Team Up to Bring 8 Years of Updates to Android Devices
There’s one problem that has followed Android around from the beginning: long-term software support. Only in the last few years has it considerably improved, but Google and Qualcomm are working together to make it even better. Continue reading…
Framework Reveals Upgradable and Affordable 2-in-1 Laptop
Few laptop makers are doing things as exciting as Framework and its modular devices. This week, the company announced a new desktop and an affordable 2-in-1 laptop with a touchscreen. Yes, the Framework Laptop 12 will be just like its larger modular siblings, but it will be more budget-friendly and portable. Continue reading…
Amazon Reveals Alexa+ with Better Language Processing, Desktop Chatbot, and More
Amazon’s Alexa assistant has struggled with both complex and basic tasks for a long time. Amazon has now revealed its revamped Alexa+ assistant, intended to be “smarter, more conversational, more capable, and free with Prime.” Continue reading…
AMD’s New RX 9000 GPUs Are for Gamers, Not AI
AMD’s partner brands will begin selling RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards on March 6th. Priced at a respective $550 and $600, these GPUs mark the beginning of the RX 9000 Series and undercut NVIDIA’s similarly-spec’d RTX 5070 Ti. Continue reading…
Plex Is Killing the One Social Feature I Actually Care About
Plex says that its updated app experience, which is slowly rolling out to users on select platforms, will not offer Watch Together functionality. However, the browser-based Plex web player will continue supporting Watch Together. Continue reading…
Waze Update Puts Maps on More Screens in the Car
Waze is rolling out a new update for Android and iOS that will make users with relatively newer cars very happy. With the release of Waze v5.4, the app now supports displaying maps, navigation, and other information on the screen behind the steering wheel and other heads-up displays. Continue reading…
This Raspberry Pi Handheld Hack Uses a Real BlackBerry Keyboard
The Raspberry Pi is a small, single-board computer that has been hacked into nearly any type of device you can imagine. But what if you could run Linux on a Pi in the form factor of a BlackBerry smartphone? Someone did just that. Continue reading…
Microsoft Confirms Skype Is Shutting Down
Skype has languished in recent years, with other apps like Discord becoming more popular for group communication, and Teams serving as Microsoft’s own successor. It’s not exactly surprising, then, to see that Microsoft might be about to kill off Skype after a long 21 years. Continue reading…
ChatGPT Gets Another Upgrade With GPT-4.5
OpenAI has released a ton of improvements for its chatbot, ChatGPT, in recent months, but it’s been a while since we’ve had a core model update. While we await for GPT-5, which OpenAI seems pretty ambitious with, the company has launched a mid-step upgrade in the meantime—GPT-4.5. Continue reading…
TikTok’s Desktop Site Just Got Some Big Improvements
TikTok has made big updates to its desktop web app to improve how users experience the platform and make it more similar to mobile viewing. These changes, released worldwide today, include a new layout, revamped navigation, and several added features. Continue reading…
Upcoming iPhone Parental Control System Hides Kids’ Dates of Birth
Apple is building new systems to encourage the use of parental controls on iOS. Interestingly, these systems are skewed toward privacy and make an effort to hide children’s birth dates from app developers. Continue reading…
Microsoft Copilot Now Has a Mac App
Microsoft’s Copilot integration has mostly been reserved for Windows computers until now. If you have a Mac and you want a way to interact with Copilot that’s not just the web version, this official app might just be what you need. Continue reading…
Minigalaxy Update Brings Easy Classic Windows Gaming to Linux
The team behind Minigalaxy, a custom Good Old Games (GOG) client for Linux, has dropped a new update with a number of tweaks and an upgrade to the Windows game installation experience. Continue reading…
PowerBeats Pro 2’s Heart Rate Monitoring Feature Is Flawed at Launch
Apple’s PowerBeats Pro 2 offer a landmark feature—heart rate monitoring. Unfortunately, early reviews show that this feature is flawed in ways that may not be resolved through firmware updates. Continue reading…
TP-Link’s New Gaming Router Has Wi-Fi 7 & RGB Lights
TP-Link has released the Archer GE650, a tri-band gaming router that uses Wi-Fi 7 technology. It’s on the cheaper side compared to other gaming routers, but it does offer a lot for the price. Continue reading…
Sony Just Fixed The Worst Thing About The PlayStation VR 2
When looking at VR headsets, many people look first at headsets such as the Meta Quest 3, but there are definitely other good options. The PlayStation VR2 is one alternative that works on both PCs and PlayStation consoles, and now Sony has given it a much-appreciated price cut. Continue reading…
DirecTV Has New Streaming Packages for Under $50
DirecTV is now offering three new genre-based streaming options for customers who want to access more content without paying a high subscription fee, the company said Thursday. Instead of getting an entire bundle of channels you’ll never watch, you can choose from low-cost news and entertainment tiers. Continue reading…
Max Announces a Sneaky Price Hike for Sports and News Fans
Ad-supported Max memberships will lose access to B/R Sports and CNN Max on March 30th. These programmatic live channels now require an ad-free Standard or Premium subscription. Continue reading…
This Life-saving Pixel Watch 3 Health Feature Is Coming to the US
Smartwatches are not just for tracking your workouts, but they can also potentially be tools to save your life. The Pixel Watch 3 was missing a key feature pending FDA approval, and now, that’s finally out of the way. Continue reading…
Samsung Finally Made a Proper PCIe 5.0 SSD
Many people swear by Samsung’s SSDs as the best ones out there, but the company has been fashionably late to the PCIe 5.0 game—maybe because, for a lot of things, PCIe 4.0 is still enough. Still, if you’ve been waiting for one, they’re finally here. Continue reading…
YouTube Claims One Billion People Watch Its Podcasts Every Month
I consume a lot of podcasts, and chances are you do too because YouTube has announced that there are more than one billion monthly active viewers of podcast content on its platform. Continue reading…
It’s Now Easier to Remove Google Search Results About Yourself
It can be frustrating to find easily accessible information about yourself on Google and feel like you have no power over it. Thankfully, Google is giving you more control over the personal information that appears in Search results. Continue reading…
New Android 16 Beta Update Rolling Out With Bug Fixes for Pixel Phones
Android 16 Beta 2.1 is here, and it’s bringing some much-needed stability to Pixel devices. If you’ve been dealing with unexpected reboots or choppy animations, this update should address those issues. Continue reading…
US Senator Pushes FTC for Guidelines in Digital Purchasing
Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon is asking the Federal Trade Commission to create clear rules about consumers’ rights when they buy digital products. This directly references the issues that many have regarding a digital future. Continue reading…
Ubisoft Says Assassin’s Creed Shadows Leaked Footage Is Real
Ubisoft has confirmed that the gameplay footage leaked for its upcoming game, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, is real. However, that doesn’t mean the footage is exactly how the game will be when it is released. Continue reading…
Razer’s Latest Gaming Laptop is an 18-Inch Powerhouse
Razer has a lot of brand recognition in the PC gaming space, and it makes some of the most popular models of gaming laptops out there. Now, Razer has announced the new Razer Blade 18, which is now available for pre-order alongside the company’s previously announced Razer Blade 16. Continue reading…
YouTube Ads Are Getting Slightly Less Annoying
No-one enjoys adverts interrupting their YouTube viewing, so you’ll be pleased to hear that mid-roll ads are soon becoming slightly less annoying. Continue reading…
OnePlus Watch 3 Delayed Until April Due to Hilarious Issue
If you’ve been eyeing the recently-announced OnePlus Watch 3 as your next smartwatch, you might need to wait a bit to get your hands on one. OnePlus is apparently delaying most shipments of its latest smartwatch, and it’s all thanks to an issue with the watch’s appearance that made it through all the way to production. Continue reading…
League of Legends Will Backtrack on Unpopular Changes
Riot Games has announced several significant reversals to recent changes made to League of Legends following widespread player criticism. This is a huge reversal of major unpopular decisions. Continue reading…
Copilot Now Provides Free Unlimited Access to OpenAI’s o1 Model
Microsoft now offers unlimited Copilot Voice and Think Deeper functionality for free users. These advanced features were already available to non-paying users, but they were bound by daily usage limits. Continue reading…
Hyperspace Cleans Up Your Mac’s Storage Without Deleting Files
Hyperspace is a new Mac application designed to save storage space. It merges data used by duplicate files, using a trick implemented by Apple in the Mac’s modern file system, giving you more storage space without any changes to your visible files. Continue reading…
AT&T and Verizon Are Testing Satellite-Powered Video Calls
While more and more phones are slowly getting satellite text or cellular calling, carriers aren’t stopping there. This week, Verizon and AT&T separately announced that they had successfully completed and tested satellite-to-phone video calls. And no, it’s not through Starlink. Continue reading…
Adobe’s New Cheapest Photoshop Plan Has a Big Catch
With the launch of a brand new version of Photoshop for smartphones, Adobe has also launched what is now its cheapest premium Photoshop plan. We’re not sure if it’s a good replacement for that 20GB Photography Plan that Adobe killed off a couple of months ago, though. Continue reading…
Call of Duty Brings Advertisements to Player Killcams
Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is advertising directly to players through the killcam. This new feature lets players add weapon blueprints and skins from the killer to a wishlist. Continue reading…
Microsoft is Testing Free Desktop Office Apps, But There’s a Catch
Microsoft is considering a new direction for its well-known Office package that could give Windows users unprecedented free access to three of its most popular apps—Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Continue reading…
Some RTX 5080 Cards Are Also Defective
Recently, we reported on some of NVIDIA’s RTX 5090 cards actually being defective and providing lower performance out of the box than what the specs would suggest. Now, it seems like that’s also happening with the company’s RTX 5080 cards as well. Continue reading…
SteamDB Will Help You Filter Out Steam’s AI Games
SteamDB has added a new filter that lets users hide games made with generative AI. This new feature comes from Steam’s rule, established in the past year, which requires developers to reveal if they have used generative AI in their games. Continue reading…
Adobe Photoshop Now Has a Full-featured Phone Version
For a while, the “mobile” Photoshop experience has been Photoshop Express, which is basically a glorified photo/filters editor. Have you ever wished you could use full-on Photoshop on your phone? That’s what Adobe is releasing now, and it actually looks pretty good. Continue reading…
My Favorite Pokémon Show Is Free on YouTube Right Now
To celebrate Pokémon Day, The Pokémon Company has made its charming stop-motion animation, Pokémon Concierge, available to stream for free on YouTube. Continue reading…
This Phone Is More Camera Than Phone
It tends to be that the best Android phones out there, or at least the most interesting ones, don’t seem to be available in the US. Case in point: Xiaomi, a Chinese company, is about to launch a phone that’s basically a dedicated camera attached to a screen. Continue reading…
Sailfish OS Linux for Phones Gets 5.0 ‘Tampella’ Update
While the war between Android and iPhone for market dominance rages on, there’s still development on alternatives to both platforms. Finland-based tech company Jolla has released version 5.0 of Sailfish OS, its Linux-based operating system for mobile devices. Continue reading…
Google Drive Now Creates Transcripts and Captions for Your Videos
Google is rolling out transcripts for videos uploaded to Google Drive. The service was already generating captions for uploaded videos, but the new transcripts are a big upgrade for quickly finding the right part of a video. Continue reading…
Bing Is Copying Google Search’s AI Overviews
Microsoft is creating a new AI-based search feature for Bing called “Copilot Search.” Instead of showing the usual blue links, this feature will present search results as summaries generated by AI. Continue reading…
Hate QR Codes? Google Will Make You Scan One When You Log In
Google is ditching SMS two-factor authentication in favor of QR codes. The new 2FA method will provide increased protection against phishing and other common threats, but it may be less convenient than SMS verification, depending on Google’s implementation. Continue reading…
This Intel CPU Has 86 Cores
Core counts for consumer CPUs have been increasing in recent years, but have you looked at what’s happening on the workstation/server side? Intel has just released a CPU with a whopping 86 cores. Continue reading…
Microsoft’s Plans to Make Games With AI Don’t Sound Great
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has recently touted how great the company’s recently introduced technology called Muse is. While this model is a big advancement, it’s nowhere near as good as the company makes it seem. Continue reading…
Samsung Galaxy S25’s First Update Is Rolling Out More Widely
The Samsung Galaxy S25 has been available for a few weeks and has now received its first seamless software update, though details on what it contains are vague. An update previously rolled out only to South Korea, but this one is launching globally. Continue reading…
AT&T Will Finally Let You Split Bill Payments With People on Your Plan
Sharing a phone plan with friends and family can be a great way to save money. However, it can also be a hassle to split the bill. AT&T’s new SplitPay feature makes it much more convenient to do that. Continue reading…
Google Gemini Can Generate Images of People Again
For a long time, Google’s Imagen image generation engine had a big issue compared to competitors such as DALL-E—it could not properly generate images of people. Now, Google is finally opening up the option to all users again. Continue reading…
The Budget OnePlus 12R Just Got a Permanant Price Cut
OnePlus has permanently lowered the price of its OnePlus 12R smartphone. The new prices are about $100 cheaper than before. Continue reading…
Apple CarPlay Gets a Helpful Update in iOS 18.4
The upcoming iOS 18.4 release for iPhone has a small, but useful, change for Apple CarPlay. However, you will need a car with a larger display and CarPlay support to try it out. Continue reading…
Nothing Officially Shows Off the Phone (3a) With Massive Camera Bump and LEDs
The Nothing Phone 3a has been popping up in leaked images and videos recently. So, to take matters into its own hands, Nothing has gone ahead and shown off the entire phone itself. There’s nothing left to hide. Continue reading…
Snipping Tool on Windows 11 Just Got a Much-Needed Feature
Microsoft has released a new update for Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3291 for users in the Dev and Beta Channels. This update includes a number of improvements, particularly for the Snipping Tool. Continue reading…
Windows 11’s Search Is Getting an Upgrade
Microsoft is rolling out some helpful improvements for the search in File Explorer and Start Menu in Windows 11. The changes are coming first to Insider Preview Build 26120.3291 for both the Dev and Beta Channels. Continue reading…
Your Hard-To-Find RTX 5090 GPU Might Be Defective
It’s always annoying when your hardware fails, but it’s even more annoying when your extremely scarce hardware fails. This is exactly what’s happening to some NVIDIA RTX 5090 buyers, sadly. Continue reading…
ASUS’ New Mouse Is an Essential Oil Diffuser (I’m Not Joking)
Computer mice should smell nice. That’s the basic idea behind ASUS’ newly-announced Fragrance Mouse MD101—yes, a mouse that radiates aromatic essential oils. You can’t stop progress, I guess. Continue reading…
Your iPhone Wants to Suggest Your Next Meal
Your iPhone already does a ton of stuff, but have you had it suggest you recipes? It’s something you probably didn’t think you needed until now, but if you want to let your phone take over and decide what you should eat, this new feature on Apple News+ might be what you’re looking for. Continue reading…
The Chromecast is Officially Dead
Google’s Chromecast range has been a popular one for years if you want to either replace your smart TV experience or make any TV into a “smart TV.” Now, Google thinks the lineup is redundant, though I would heavily disagree on that. Continue reading…
A Huge Apple Vision Pro Update Arrives This April
Apple confirms that its visionOS 2.4 update, planned for April, will bring Apple Intelligence to the Vision Pro headset. More importantly, this update packs some very useful quality-of-life features, such as remote app downloads and a refined Guest User management system. Continue reading…
The Other Stuff
We’re still seeing a massive and ongoing impact from generative AI on information access. Chegg, an education company and enemy of college textbook owners everywhere, filed a lawsuit against Google over its AI Overviews in search results. The company alleges that the feature leaves Google, “reaping the financial benefits of Chegg’s content without having to spend a dime.” We’ve seen other legal action like this too, such as The New York Times‘ ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI and its ChatGPT chatbot.
