GuliKit is now offering the Elves 2 wireless gamepad. It’s an surprisingly high-end controller with an affordable $30 price tag, though it’s most notable for its Switch 2 wake-from-sleep functionality, which other third-party gamepads currently lack. One of the most annoying parts of the original Nintendo Switch was its remote wake functionality. Not only was it somewhat unreliable (even with official Joy-Cons), but a lot of third-party controllers just couldn’t wake up the console....

Summary Despite often flirting with various Chrome-based browsers on my Mac, I always fell back to Safari because of its integration with iCloud passwords. However, that largely changed when the iCloud Passwords extension from Chrome became available for Mac users. It’s a must-have, even for people who still primarily use Safari. How to Use iCloud Passwords on Chrome (or Arc) I now use Arc as my everyday web browser because it hassome killer features....

Quick Links PC games have been the target of mods for almost as long as there have been PC games. I certainly fondly remember playing the Barney the Dinosaur mod for Wolfenstein 3D on my 386 laptop, but enough about my chronic back pain! Thanks to AI, we’re seeing some truly out-there mods for games, and one of the most impressive might be one that swaps out the Baldur’s Gate 3 narrator for a voice that almost (but not quite) sounds like Sir David Attenborough....

Quick Links Summary In the most common definition, FTW stands for “For The Win.” It is used to express enthusiasm or appreciation for something, such as showing belief in a sports team or love of your favorite food. “FTW!” What does it mean when you see this initialism online or in a text? We’ll explain what FTW stands for, its different meanings, and how you can use it properly in writing yourself....

Summary Smart home devices like Amazon’s Echo speakers now serve a crucial role in many homes, including answering questions, playing music, controlling connected smart devices, and even managing your schedule with alarms and reminders. But most of us don’t realize how much these devices actually know about us. ​What Data Does Amazon Collect for Alexa and Echo and Why? Alexa is Amazon’s voice assistant, available through the Alexa app for smartphones, plus hardware like the Echo lineup of smart speakers and displays....

Quick Links Summary Google was late to the AI game. The company released Bard in early 2023, behind ChatGPT and what would eventually become Microsoft Copilot. Bard was lackluster at first, but it has since had a major glow up to become “Gemini”—and Google Assistant is in its sights. What Is Google Gemini? Is It Different From Bard? Google Gemini is amultimodal, general, and flexible AI model that can understand and reason across different types of information, such as text, code, audio, image, and video....

YouTube is expanding its YouTube Premium Lite subscription service, which gives you ad-fre YouTube but without the added YouTube Music service and other features. It started in Thailand, Germany, and Australia, and now it’s available in the United States and will come to other countries soon. This newYouTube Premium Litelets you watch most videos without ads for a monthly fee of $7.99. The Premium Lite subscription noticeably cheaper than the full YouTube Premium subscription, which costs $13....

Is your Netflix watch list looking a little dry this month? The streaming platform has a huge library of content to choose from, but we all struggle with browsing (and actually streaming) titles when we’re overwhelmed by everything available. Not to fret: Netflix is always releasing new shows and movies for you to watch. From teen romances to dark comedies, there’s something for everyone to stream. Here’s all you need to know....

Quick Links Summary When I’m watching TV alone, I’ve started to turn off my soundbar and slap on my AirPods instead. While headphones are usually a compromise compared to big old speakers, in this case they might be even better. Here’s why. The Passthrough Is Perfect I love passthrough in headphones, because it lets me hear what’s going on around me without taking them off or pausing my audio. However, I can’t leave this mode on for most of the headphones I’ve tried with this feature....

Quick Links Let’s be honest: unless you’re an enthusiast, you probably haven’t thought twice about the cable that came with your keyboard. But if you’ve ever fallen down the keyboard rabbit hole (guilty), you know that something as simple as a USB cable sparks joy. 5Clean Desk Aesthetics One of the main reasons we keyboard enthusiasts geek out over coiled cables is obvious—they just look great. Coiled cables harken back to days gone by, evoking nostalgia for old landline phones....

Programming mistakes can be some of the most devastating problems in the modern world. With our lives so interconnected with technology, a simple misplaced line of code could spell disaster, costing companies millions in damage or lost time. These eight mistakes are among the worst in history. 1CrowdStrike’s Broken Update CrowdStrike’s worldwide outageis reminiscent of the threat of Y2Kfor older computer users. The outage was caused by some broken code being pushed out in an automatic update....

Android phones and tablets must now have at least 32GB of internal storage, if they officially include the Google Play Store and other Google apps. That should reduce the number of budget devices that quickly run out of room for photos, videos, apps, games, and other data. The latest version of the Google Mobile Services (GMS) agreement includes a requirement that devices running Android 15 must have at least 32GB of internal flash storage, according toAndroid Authority....

Summary Comic books are awesome, but with the rise of Netflix-style comic (and manga) subscription services, things are better than ever for those of us who like to have lots of pictures in our books. In fact, I think it’s making physical paper comics the worse choice for most people, and here’s why. There are two major branches of the comic book hobby—reading and collecting. Almost everyone reads, but not everyone collects....