Gadgets

Gadgets

YouTube Premium subscribers who were promised an ad-free experience for $13.99 a month were met with jarring mid-playlist advertisements this week, in what appears to be an apparent Google snafu. The glitch was first flagged by premium users who were listening to YouTube Music on their Google Home and Nest devices, Android Authority reported. On the Google Home subreddit on Feb. 20, users reported ads appearing consistently even after resetting their devices, suggesting the issue was at the account level.

Entrepreneurs need to be efficient. If you're using an older PC, it's time to bring it up to speed with an operating system (OS) that's built for the modern professional - Microsoft Windows 11 Pro. Right now, you can give your device this impressive upgrade for an amazingly low price - just $12.97 - now through March 22. This Windows upgrade could make your workday a lot smoother.

On iOS, users could use Wispr Flow through a dedicated keyboard. On Android, the interface is a bit different, as you can access the dictionary through a floating bubble. You can hold the bubble and dictate, or press once to start, and then press the close button to stop the process. Just like on other platforms, in addition to dictation, the app cleans up the filter words and also formats the text based on the context of the app and spoken content.

Reading seriously on a tablet means fighting the device as much as the text. Notifications creep in, brightness is calibrated for apps rather than paper, and the browser is always one tap away. E-ink devices have been solving that distraction problem for years, but most are sized for novels rather than the dense PDFs, research papers, and annotated books that require space to actually work on.

When Falcon initially debuted the FragBox in 2004, it was notable for being a genuinely small PC that used full-sized parts. That's still a main selling point today: It can still fit in large NVIDIA GPUs, including the beefy RTX 5090, as well as either Intel's latest Core Ultra chips or AMD's Ryzen 9000 CPUs. A huge 280mm radiator sits at the top pulling out hot air, and it also serves as an All-in-One (AIO) liquid cooler for the CPU.

Last year, Samsung made the controversial move of removing Bluetooth capabilities from the Galaxy S25 Ultra's S Pen and if you were hoping for some restitution with the S26 Ultra, we have some unfortunate news. A new hands-on video of the S26 Ultra shows that its S Pen will once again lack Bluetooth functionality and will simply function as a stylus.

On the outside is a wind- and wear-resistant knitted nylon/spandex/lycra layer, and on the inside is a soft, moisture-wicking acrylic/polyester layer. Lastly, a waterproof and breathable Artex membrane is sandwiched between, keeping your hands dry no matter what. This creates a thin yet warm glove that's ideal for milder winters. I've worn these down to about 23°F in hail and winds hitting 50 miles per hour, and my hands were warm enough.

The MagHub Quad Max has a different idea entirely. Rather than giving your laptop one extra screen, it gives you three, each measuring 18.5 inches, unfolding from a single sleek unit to transform your laptop into a true multi-screen workstation anywhere you go. One cable connects the whole system. Four screens total, counting your laptop display. A setup that looks less like a productivity tool and more like mission control at a small space agency.

The answer is to run a wired network connection to your home office. Wi-Fi is great for mobility, but a wired connection offers many advantages when it comes to working from home. It's faster and more reliable, with lower latency, all of which matters if you regularly share large files, participate in high-quality video meetings, or even (ahem) play games.

The US Army is taking lessons from Ukraine's drone war and pushing soldiers to design, build, and 3D print their own systems. At the Army's first annual Best Drone Warfighter competition held this week at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the participating soldiers were encouraged not only to bring their own drone builds and modify them on-site but also to share tips and tricks across the service.

Samsung's next flagship devices will offer Perplexity as part of an expansion to support multiple AI agents in Galaxy AI. Perplexity's AI agent will work with apps including Samsung Notes, Clock, Gallery, Reminder and Calendar, according to the announcement. And, some third-party apps will support it, though Samsung hasn't yet said which. The news comes just a few days before Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event, so we can expect to find out more about that integration and how it fits in with Samsung's revamped Bixby

Younger folks are snapping up old point-and-shoots because they view the aesthetic as more authentic and more appealing than smartphone images. Companies are even rereleasing old tech at new prices. And there are cameras like the original Camp Snap: a $70 single-button point-and-shoot with no screen, designed as a modern take on a disposable film camera. It's cheap enough to send off with a kid to summer camp and accessible enough for just about anyone to enjoy its lo-fi aesthetic.

While you can toss a laptop into just about any bag, the best laptop backpacks are specially tailored to pamper what is probably one of your most expensive (and delicate) possessions. That means a padded pocket lined with soft non-scratch material, easy access to your computer without unpacking everything and lots of extra pockets for portable mice, chargers and other accessories.

The Supersonic ripped up the hair-dryer rulebook, with its distinctive design, lightweight feel and quiet operation. Eight years after the original, Dyson launched the Supersonic Nural: an upgraded version with new tricks up its sleeve. Upgrading to one of the best hair dryers is still one of my top beauty tips: they're better at controlling heat levels and dry hair faster.

High-quality cables have long been marketed as a key way to get the most out of high-end equipment, such as expensive studio-grade monitor speaker cables and gold-plated HDMI cables for cutting-edge TVs. In the high-end audiophile world, which is renowned for eye-bulging prices, cables can cost tens of thousands of dollars for ultra-pure copper with silver plating, specialized insulation, and dozens of individual conductors that manufacturers claim will squeeze the most out of a luxury-grade sound system aimed at the uber-wealthy.

According to a new rumor, Realme is working on the C83, which will be positioned under the C85, just like the naming scheme implies. The C85 made its debut in November. The C83 is said to arrive in three RAM/storage combos: 4/64GB, 4/128GB, and 6/128GB. Their prices in India are rumored to be INR 13,499, INR 14,499, and INR 17,499, respectively.

The packaging immediately signals that RAK took this seriously. Everything is clean and thought-out, you open the box and you get the device, a charging cable, and a lanyard. That lanyard might seem like a small detail, but it comes included at the same price point as other EDC-style devices. In other words, this isn't a cost-cutting compromise or a cosmetic extra, it's a well-considered, user-focused design choice.

In footage circulating online, a Unitree G1 robot loses balance while performing in front of a crowd in China. As it hits the ground, it uncontrollably thrashes its limbs in all directions, hitting a man in the nose. The man, who appeared to be the robot's operator, had tried to grab the humanoid machine to stop it from tipping over. Later in the video, he can be seen squatting on the ground nursing a bleeding nose.

The Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro is too weird to exist. It takes the excellent 4K projector and karaoke microphones from Anker's Nebula X1 and stuffs them inside a powerful five-speaker Google TV party on wheels. It's so absurd that it feels like a gadget fever dream - and I'm here for it. At the heart of this system is the same liquid-cooled, triple-laser, auto-image-correction-everything projector I reviewed last summer.

EDC used to mean something very specific. Ask any survival enthusiast and they'll tell you it stands for EveryDay Carry, the essential tools you keep on hand at all times. A Swiss Army knife. A multi-tool. A compact flashlight. Things built for the unpredictable, the inconvenient, and the emergency. The whole point was physical survival, and the design language to match: rugged, matte, built to last.

Four years after its release, Valve's Steam Deck is still the most popular handheld PC around and for good reason. The portable gaming device is easy to use, can play most 2D games you install on it with ease, handles 3D games fairly well, and can even be modded and tweaked if you so desire. It's a marvelous machine, and if you are here, you likely own one or are about to buy one and want some video game recommendations.

However, each individual watch has its own unique selling point - and for the Flint (as its name rightfully suggests), it's the waterproof flint-rod that's integrated into the watch's body. Unscrew it when you want to start a fire, scrape on the rod using a pocket knife, and sparks immediately shoot off, igniting any form of tinder, creating a tiny fire that can then be harnessed to light a campfire, an old-fashioned torch, or an emergency signal in a time of distress.

A celestial projector if you want a night-light that is ~out of this world.~ This has a bunch of different colors and comes with a timer, so it will shut off after you or your little one has drifted off to sleep. The little astronaut projector makes great daytime room decor, too.

No longer does your sponge squat flatly beside the faucet, on the counter, or in the bottom of your sink bottom, where it wallows in that residue and water. It instead drains through the 30-plus holes, of varying sizes, carved into the bottom of this device. That keeps your sponge well-drained and dry between each use, helping to avoid bacteria buildup and associated odors.

The Android gaming handheld dubbed Pocket Super Knob 5000 has a knob that can be turned to select from one of the four performance profiles in games where the function is supported. One advantage that dedicated gaming handhelds have over a phone-controller setup is the freedom of a full-blown set of physical controls. This handheld is another example of a gaming console with a specific set of control inputs targeted at a niche set of gamers.

The Game Boy family of handheld consoles was groundbreaking, making gaming more accessible to millions worldwide. Nintendo's portables beat off technologically superior competition from the likes of Sega's Game Gear and Atari's Lynx. They became home to foundational moments for the medium, from what is still arguably the definitive version of Tetris to the birth of Pokémon. Yet with the iconic gray monolith launching in 1989, it's now pushing 40-and playing those important classics gets tougher every year.

The viral AI personal assistant, formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot, has dominated the feeds of AI boosters over the past few weeks for its ability to perform everyday tasks like sending emails, managing calendars, booking appointments, and complaining about their meatbag masters on the purportedly all-agent forum known as MoltBook. More level-headed voices have already flagged a wave of security vulnerabilities.