This was a busy week in tech, from the first reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2 to TikTok’s looming ban in the United States. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.
The Big News
The Nintendo Switch 2 Is Finally Real
Nintendo Switch 2 has been officially announced with a tentative 2025 release date. More details about the company’s next console will follow at an event in April. Continue reading…
General Motors Ordered to Stop Selling Car Data
Many modern cars have the ability to track usage data, and General Motors was recently caught selling that data to oher companies. Now the US has ordered GM to stop that. Continue reading…
You Can Now Get All-Black PlayStation 5 Accessories
Sony is about to release black versions of its PlayStation 5 accessories, and you can pre-order them starting now ahead of release next month. Continue reading…
Apple is Temporarily Disabling its Broken AI News Summaries
The Apple Intelligence features rolled out as part of iOS 18 are cool on paper. Like all generative AI, though, it’s not perfect—especially not at first. Apple’s AI summaries have produced weird results, and it seems like the issues are so widespread Apple is just choosing to pull them. Continue reading…
Microsoft 365 Is Going Up in Price, and It’s Because of AI
The Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans are going up in price, in part because they now include Copilot AI features. Existing subscribers can opt out if they are on recurring billing. Continue reading…
Apple’s Trade-In Program Just Got Worse
Apple’s trade-in program allows you to save a lot of money when it’s time to get a new iPhone every year. The values aren’t the best, but it allows you to get a new phone straight from Apple and save some money by sending the company your older one. Now, though, the company’s trade-in program just became slightly worse. Continue reading…
Linux Mint 22.1 Is Now Available
Linux Mint 22.1 “Xia” has now been released, with software updates and security fixes promised until 2029. You can download it now on your PC. Continue reading…
The Insta360 Flow 2 Pro Stabilizer Is Built for Any Phone
The Insta360 Flow 2 Pro is a new smartphone stabilizer that uses AI called Deep Track 4.0. This new feature allows for better tracking of subjects compared to older models. Continue reading…
Your Android-Powered Car is About To Get a Lot More Apps
The next step in Android’s continuing expansion has been a slow-cooking one: our cars. Android Automotive is available in a lot of cars, but even if you got one, you might find the app selection to be not great compared to what you have on your phone. Now, this is about to change. Continue reading…
You Might Want to Skip the 2025 Moto G Phones
Motorola’s original Moto G was a big hit, as well as one of the best-sold Android phones in history. Its star has faded under Lenovo ownership, but it’s still a decent range of budget phones. The 2025 models have arrived, although there’s a few downsides you’ll want to know before buying. Continue reading…
Xbox Consoles Will Suck Up Less Power While Playing Media
Xbox consoles aren’t just for playing games: they can be great media centers and streaming boxes, too. Microsoft has been making some tweaks to reduce power usage for those use cases. Continue reading…
Start11’s Vertical Windows 11 Taskbar is Now Live For Everyone
One of the biggest limitations with Windows 11 has always been the fact that the taskbar is not as flexible as it was in previous Windows versions. It’s horizontal-only, and you can’t move it to the side like you could in, say, Windows 10. Start11’s latest version is fixing that, and it’s now rolling out to everyone. Continue reading…
Xbox Console Repairs Just Got a Lot Easier
Microsoft is finally making Xbox console repairs more accessible. You’ll be able to take your Xbox Series X or S to “nearly 700” uBreakiFix locations for in-person repairs or buy some replacement parts yourself. Continue reading…
Google Home Now Works Better With Smoke Alarms
Google is adding new features to its Google Home app. You can now manage Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and have better support for Matter-certified smart locks. Continue reading…
GMK’s AD-GP1 is a Tiny External GPU
External GPUs are an option if you want to give your otherwise thin and light laptop a boost for video games. The best ones, however, are big and heavy. If you don’t really need a gigantic RTX 5090 powering your games on your laptop while you’re on the go, this one by GMK is as compact as it gets. Continue reading…
DJI No Longer Prevents Its Drones from Entering Restricted Airspace
DJI drones will no longer enforce a geofenced No Fly Zone system. If an operator chooses to fly their DJI drone into restricted airspace, they will receive a warning, but they will not be diverted away by an automated system. Continue reading…
NVIDIA Says DLSS Is Popular, but Is It Really?
NVIDIA recently revealed that more than 80% of RTX GPU users (from the 20, 30, and 40 series) are using DLSS in their games. This announcement comes just before the release of DLSS 4. Continue reading…
DLSS 4 Improvements Are Coming To All NVIDIA RTX GPUs
NVIDIA’s RTX 5000 range of graphics cards pack a huge punch. But one of the biggest improvements of the new GPU range is the addition of DLSS 4, which promises better frame generation and upscaling to make your games feel as native as possible. You might now even be able to enjoy some of these improvements, even if you don’t have an RTX 5000 card. Continue reading…
Microsoft Office Apps Soon Won’t Be Supported on Windows 10
Microsoft will stop supporting Office apps on Windows 10 beginning October 14, 2025, coinciding with the operating system’s upcoming end of support. Continue reading…
Bing Has Stopped Pretending to Be Google, Following Backlash
Microsoft recently got rid of a misleading design in its Bing search engine. If someone searched for Google on Bing, they would be treated to a result that was eerily like Google itself. Continue reading…
Microsoft Excel Finally Has a Dark Mode on Windows
A long-awaited display feature of Microsoft Excel has finally arrived—Dark Mode. You can now work on your spreadsheets with a darker theme on Windows PCs. Continue reading…
You Can Now Make Reminders and Tasks With ChatGPT
OpenAI has released a new feature called “Tasks” for ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers. This feature lets you set reminders and schedule regular tasks within the ChatGPT interface. Continue reading…
This Is DOOM and Tetris Inside A PDF Document
You might think of PDFs as static documents, intended for just words, pictures, and occasionally forms. However, modern browsers can unlock more features for PDF documents, as proven by new ports of Tetris and DOOM. Continue reading…
DirecTV MySports Could Mark the Beginning of the Sports Streaming Era
DirecTV is now offering MySports, a streaming service for “hardcore” sports fans. The service provides access to over 40 live channels, including local affiliates. More notably, it doesn’t require a satellite TV subscription. Continue reading…
GPD’s New Gaming Handheld is Not Just Another Steam Deck
The Steam Deck led to a surge of handheld gaming PCs, but GPD has been making its own options since before Valve entered the scene. Now the company has revealed a new laptop-handheld hybrid, the GPD Win Mini 2025. Continue reading…
Parallels Can Now Run x86 Windows and Linux on Apple Silicon Mac
Parallels Desktop, a popular application for running Windows and Linux virtual machines on Mac, can now run 64-bit x86 operating systems on Apple Silicon Macs. That means more versions of Windows and Linux can run on the latest M1, M2, M3, and M4 Mac computers. Continue reading…
The New DJI Flip Vlog Camera Drones Have Landed
DJI released a new family of palm-sized drones for vlogging, called Flip, with a dedicated privacy mode and other features, starting at $439. Continue reading…
Nokia-Branded Android Phones Might Be Gone for Good
After Microsoft bought Nokia’s smartphone division, then shut it down after Windows Phone collapsed, some former Nokia executives formed HMD to sell Android-based Nokia phones. Now, HMD might be done with Nokia-branded smartphones. Continue reading…
Amazon is Killing Its Try-Before-You-Buy Program
Amazon previously allowed people to get select clothing and accessories shipped to them before actually buying anything, mirroring how many in-person stores work. Unfortunately, this is now going away. Continue reading…
DOOM 2 Now Runs on an Avengers Pinball Machine
DOOM and its sequel have been ported to countless devices, to the point where “can it run DOOM?” is a rite of passage for nearly every electronic capable of running custom code. Now, DOOM II is up and running on a pinball machine. Continue reading…
The Other Stuff
The United States Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the ban of the popular social media platform TikTok can proceed, rejecting an appeal from ByteDance (TikTok’s owner) that said the ban violated the First Amendment. However, it’s still not clear if the ban will go into effect, and President-elect Donald Trump may reverse it. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act currently requires TikTok to be banned in the United States unless it is divested to another company.
The looming TikTok ban, combined with recent policy changes at Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms that allow more types of harassment, has sparked another social media migration wave. Another social media app from China, Xiaohongshu or ‘RedNote,’ has surged in popularity. PixelFed, a decentralized social media platform using the same ActivityPub network as Mastodon, is also taking off with its new official iPhone and Android applications.
