Ryan Whitwam
Recent posts
The 2024 Paris Olympics Games are underway, and so is Google's Gemini advertising blitz. You can hardly tune in without seeing a commercial for Google's generative AI tools, but you won't be seeing one of the ads anymore. Google has decided to pull one of its spots following a bit of a scolding from the internet at...
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Reddit has grown to become one of the most popular websites in the world, and the company is leveraging that position to change the way online search operates. After forging deals with Google and OpenAI for access to its data, the site now wants other companies to pay up as well. Until they do, you won't see very much...
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It can be hard to fathom the scale of Nintendo Wii hysteria if you didn't try and fail to buy one. Nintendo's 2006 console release was so successful you couldn't reliably find a Wii in stock for more than a year after release. Many gamers still have fond memories of the device, and some like to mod the console to make...
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CrowdStrike, along with Microsoft, ruined many a weekend plan recently when an update to the former's security suite crashed millions of computers around the world. The outage has crippled airports, hospitals, and more. Naturally, IT pros are less than happy with this situation, but CrowdStrike hoped it could smooth...
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Google has moved up its Pixel unveiling for 2024, which will take place in August instead of October. At that event, Google will show off a raft of new hardware, including an updated foldable and flat phones in various sizes. At the top of Google's flat lineup will be the Pixel 9 Pro XL, and this device is a bit less...
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Motorola Razr and Razr+ (2024) - Available for $699.99 and $999.99 The new Motorola Razrs for 2024 perform well, are well-designed and they are downright fun to use. Sleek, stylish design Big external screens with useful features Foldable display crease is barely visible Starts at just $700 Solid performance, even for...
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Google has a Pixel hardware event coming up in August, two months earlier than it has traditionally unveiled new devices. The company will reveal new Pixel phones, of course, but we're also expecting a third-generation Pixel Watch. No need to wait for the full reveal—some details have leaked courtesy of the FCC.
As...
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Mark Zuckerberg's power on the internet continues to grow whether you like it or not. After a year of operation, Zuck's X/Twitter alternative Threads has reached a whopping 175 million monthly active users. The Meta CEO made the announcement this week on, you guessed it, Threads.
This new metric comes as Threads...
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There are plenty of reasons to factory reset a phone. Perhaps the time has come to sell or give it away, or maybe you got bitten by some nasty malware. Regardless of the reason, you'd reasonably expect the phone to work after being reset, but that's not the experience some Pixel owners have been having. The latest OTA...
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In years past, cryptocurrency enthusiasts who correctly navigated the volatile ups and downs of the market could net a lot of money without paying a dime in taxes. Those days are over. The US Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have announced new rules to ensure crypto traders pay taxes on...
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Google's Chrome browser is the dominant way to browse the web on both desktop and mobile platforms, so even minor changes can alter the way people use the internet. Anyone using Chrome to navigate the web on a smartphone or tablet is about to get a raft of new search enhancements. Some individual features are...
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Watching shows like Tulsa King and Star Trek is about to get more expensive. For a brief, shining moment, content owners almost defeated piracy. Instead of bringing the content to where people were streaming, popular movies and TV series have become increasingly siloed in various streaming platforms, each of which...
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A few years ago, PC firmware switched from the aging BIOS system to the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface standard, more commonly known as UEFI. This system is more secure than the legacy BIOS was, but it's not perfect. Cybersecurity firm Eclypsium reports the discovery of a serious bug in UEFI that could affect...
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Microsoft paid $7.5 billion to acquire game publisher Bethesda Softworks, giving it access to a raft of popular franchises and whatever the company was working on. To Microsoft's dismay, it owns Redfall first-person shooter crashed and burned upon release last year. Microsoft opted to shut down developer Arkane Austin...
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Asus has pledged to improve its warranty RMA process after being taken to task for what could only be described as extortion. A series of reports, including an investigation by Gamers Nexus, showed that Asus repair centers have a nasty habit of demanding obscene fees to repair minor damage. The company says it's...
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The unannounced Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has broken cover once again, this time in the flesh—sort of. A retail dummy model has fallen into the wrong (right?) hands, giving us a look at how the phone will compare to the current model. Separately, we also have a few more hardware details and a price tag, which is even...
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It feels like we've been talking about Spotify's lossless streaming option for years, because we have. The leader in streaming music has gotten by with the same compressed tunes since its inception, even as some competitors have started offering lossless music. A new report claims Spotify's higher-quality subscription...
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In 2020, HP released the business-oriented HP ProBook 455 G7, an AMD-powered laptop that retailed for about $1,000. Owners used this device happily for several years, but now these machines are dying in droves. Users suspect HP of bricking the laptop with a bad BIOS update, and so far, HP doesn't have anything useful...
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Adobe rankled creators this week when it prompted Photoshop users to agree to new terms of service. The mandatory policy included some troubling provisions about Adobe's supposed ownership of user content, and prompted fears that the work of creators would be fed into the company's AI models. Adobe has issued a...
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Samsung Kazakhstan is in trouble. It appears someone uploading assets to the company's Kazakhstani website clicked the wrong file and revealed the unannounced Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6. The promo graphic doesn't provide much detail, but this is the first verifiable look at the design of Samsung's upcoming...
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Microsoft has put an expiration date on Windows 10—in a mere 16 months, the aging OS will run out of support. That's a problem for Microsoft as the majority of Windows users are still on version 10. The company is apparently hoping to annoy Windows 10 users into upgrading with a number of new nag screens, but it's...
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You go to YouTube to watch videos, but Google hopes you might want to play some games while you're there, too. A raft of online games within YouTube is being rolled out widely after being tested with YouTube Premium subscribers over the last few months. The "Playables" collection includes some 75 games, including...
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