This deal had me rubbing my eyes because I couldn’t believe it was real. Right now, it’ll only cost you $549 for a touchscreen 2-in-1 laptop with an Intel Core 7 processor and 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM. I’m talking about the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 that’s currently 39% off at B&H. We’ve seen affordable laptops of this type before, but at this price point you’re usually only getting a Core 5 CPU and maybe half the RAM. If you want to run Windows 11 plus other apps smoothly, you’re going to want at least 16GB of memory and a speedy processor like this. It’s a solid combo that’ll carry you through the day, whether you have emails to write, doomscrolling to do, or shopping to get done. The IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 has a 16-inch IPS touchscreen display with a crisp 1920×1200 resolution and an office-level 60Hz refresh rate. With it being a 2-in-1, you can quickly shift between tablet and laptop modes thanks to the 360-degree hinge, and you can even prop it up like a tent for an angled display that’s perfect when streaming Netflix or reading PDFs. Connectivity won’t be an issue with this laptop either, which features two USB-A and two USB-C ports as well as an HDMI. Quit hemming and hawing and grab this Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 for $549 while it’s still on sale because this deal is bonkers! The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 for $549 is a bargainBuy now from B&H Read...

What’s the easiest way to protect your Windows-based PC? Aside from the usual stuff about keeping your security updated, you really shouldn’t be logged in as an administrator if all you’re doing is watching Netflix. An upcoming tweak to Chrome will keep it from launching with administrator privileges, and that’s a good thing. Microsoft’s own Edge browser, which is based on the open-source Chromium project, has been doing this since 2019. The code that attempts to relaunch Edge without the (typically unnecessary) elevated permissions was recently committed back into the base version of Chromium, which means we’ll see it in a future update to the world’s most popular browser. Running a browser with elevated permissions is generally a bad idea, as BleepingComputer explains. It’s just about the easiest way to get a sketchy download to lead to a full malware infection. This is a surprisingly good example of Edge contributing back into Chrome to everyone’s benefit. The change will be a subtle one for most users, and there are smart little touches that will keep things running smoothly. For example, it’ll add a command line switch after an automatic relaunch to prevent an infinite loop of the browser restarting itself, and the change won’t apply to Chrome processes launched in automation mode, which some programs need for critical functions. But overall, it’s a good thing. Again, the less you can use Windows with administrator privileges, the safer you’ll be — and that’s coming from a Microsoft security vice president. It’s unclear when this change will be in Chrome builds, but it could be before the year’s end. That is, provided Google retains ownership of Chrome by then. Read...

The firm says hackers have obtained customer information by paying off employees. Read...

Back in March, one Twitter user leaked a new Windows 11 24H2 feature that tells you whether your PC hardware is powerful enough to handle demanding tasks like gaming and video editing. Now, that feature is being tested via Windows Insiders and will roll out to all regular Windows 11 24H2 users in the coming weeks, reports Windows Latest. This new feature can be found in the Settings app as a special FAQ section in the About page (accessible via Settings > System > About). In that FAQ area, you’ll see expandable questions like: “Am I running the latest version of the Windows OS? What is the latest Windows version?” “How does having 8-16 GB of RAM impact my PC’s performance? Can I run modern applications smoothly with this RAM capacity?” “What is a GPU? I don’t have a dedicated GPU, how does its absence impact gaming and graphical performance?” “Is my GPU sufficient for high-end gaming and video experience? How can having a dedicated GPU enhance my experience and productivity?” When you expand a question, Windows provides answers that are personalized to the very hardware in your system and will flat-out tell you if it’s sufficient or insufficient for various scenarios. They’re pretty generic, as you can tell, but the fact that they’re tweaked and customized for your PC makes this feature pretty useful potentially. Further reading: Windows 11’s May update has cool new features Read...

Ever stumbled across something so perfect that you can’t remember living without it? For me, it’s these frighteningly satisfying, OCD-fueling cable ties, and I’m a bit panicky because I’m running out.  I got hooked on cable management when building my first PC, which came with a baggie of those little plastic cable ties that need to be trimmed with scissors. I got a kick out of bundling my PC cables with those super-thin plastic ties, but something about them was a tad off—the plastic was too stiff, larger bundles were tough to tie together, and once secured, the plastic ties could only be snipped off, not readjusted.  Beautiful (at least I think so).Ben Patterson/Foundry Then I switched to fabric cable ties, but the first ones I chose were misfires. The strips were long enough to encompass larger bundles of cables, and the loop-and-hook fasteners allowed for adjustments and reuse. But you had to hold the end of the strip in place as you pulled it taught, making it easy for the fabric to slip before the fasteners could hold. Very frustrating.  Finally, I discovered these guys. These Velcro-style cable ties are just right—they’re long enough, they have sturdy hook-and-loop fasteners, and best of all, they’ve got a slot in the tail for threading the front end though. Just wrap, pull, and press, and your cables will be tied tight as ticks, and ready for readjustment if need be.  In the kitchen, in the dining room, everywhere!Ben Patterson/Foundry I use them everywhere now, and there’s practically no length of cable in our apartment that isn’t secured with a cable tie. They’re under our computer desks, wrapped in different configurations around monitor cables, speaker cables, ethernet cables, USB cables, power cables, all bundled and looped together. They’re in the living room, keeping all our A/V cables tied together and off the floor. In the dining room, they keep our smart speaker power cables tucked out of sight. And in our bedroom, the cable ties are taming our tangle of chargers.  Am I getting a tad obsessive about my cable ties? Perhaps, and that might explain my growing anxiety over my rapidly dwindling supply.  Fortunately, they’re cheap; the brand I’m getting (Nettbe) offers a pack of 60 for $7, or you can get some official Velcro ties if you don’t mind paying nearly double. Read...

Doom is here. Not that Doom ever really leaves us, even if all you have on your PC is a PDF reader. But more specifically, Doom: The Dark Ages is here and the breathless shooter classic has gotten a medieval makeover. And as Nvidia is wont to do with many major game releases, the company is slapping graphics on hardware and giving it away. MSI In a breathless promotional post (hey, I guess I can’t judge, I’m writing about it), Nvidia and its hardware partners showed off custom in-game skins, the freebie copy of Doom: The Dark Ages that you can get if you somehow manage to buy a new GeForce RTX 50-series card, and a bunch of customized designs plastered with the Doom Slayer’s obscured mug. Colorful Falcon Northwest has a Doom: The Dark Ages gaming PC, and so does MainGear, and so does Origin. MSI has a Doom: The Dark Ages gaming laptop. And Colorful has my personal pick for best of show: a colorful greenified RTX 5080 card. These are all one-of-a-kind, mind you. Nvidia’s post is a bit rambling, so here are the links to enter for a chance to win each of these custom designs. United States: Falcon Northwest Doom: The Dark Ages PC MainGear Doom: The Dark Ages PC Origin Doom: The Dark Ages PC MSI Doom: The Dark Ages gaming laptop France: Cybertek Doom: The Dark Ages PC To get that swanky RTX 5080 from Colorful, you’ll need to be in (deep breath) Australia, New Zealand, India, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines or Vietnam. To enter, you’ll need to track down Nvidia’s official regional channels on Twitter/X, Facebook, and Instagram. I’m not going to do that, but I wish you luck if you do. Read...

Alienware is a hot brand for gamers, whether we’re talking about laptops, desktops, or monitors. But that hotness comes with a price! So when you see a great discount on a great piece of equipment, it’s worth jumping on—especially with tariffs threatening future price hikes. And right now, the Alienware AW2725DM gaming monitor is $220 on Amazon for the first time ever. The best price before this was $255! What’s not to love about this display? It has the gaming sweet spot resolution of 2560×1440 on a beautiful and color-accurate IPS panel, with a wide viewing angle and a fast 180Hz refresh rate. The 27-inch diagonal works well as either a primary or secondary display, and it has a 1ms response time plus support for Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync. Connecting this monitor to your laptop or PC won’t be a problem as it comes with two HDMI ports and a DisplayPort for wide compatibility. The two USB-A ports along the bottom edge are also useful for hooking up your keyboard and mouse (or whatever other peripherals). Alienware gear doesn’t usually fit into the “affordable” category, but this one does. Snagging this 27-inch 1440p 180Hz monitor for $220 almost feels like Black Friday come early. But if this particular model isn’t the right one for you, check out these other great monitors we’ve tested. Get this 27-inch 1440p 180Hz Alienware monitor for $220Buy now at Amazon Read...

Is your desk feeling overcrowded? Your laptop is taking up more space than you’d prefer? Not to mention it’s aging out, slowing down, and struggling to handle your everyday tasks? Maybe what you need is a decently specced mini PC that won’t break the bank to replace it. Right now, this Bosgame E2 mini PC is only $190 on Amazon. That’s a dirt cheap deal considering what you get in the machine. It was already a pretty good grab at its original $240 price tag, but the extra $50 off almost makes it worthy of an impulse buy. Even if you have a solid main PC, you could set this up as a home media server or something. (Sign up for a free Prime trial to score this Prime-exclusive deal price.) For less than $200, you’re getting a PC that fits in your hand. You can tuck it away under a monitor and still have easy access to its many ports, or use the built-in VESA mount to attach it to the backside of a monitor and put it way out of sight. As small as it is, it supports triple monitor output (dual 4K@60Hz via HDMI plus 1080p@60Hz via USB-C video) along with four USB-A ports, a LAN port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Under the hood, it’s equipped with an adequate AMD Ryzen 5 3550H processor and a surprising-for-the-price 16GB of RAM, a 512GB M.2 SSD with Windows 11 Pro pre-loaded, and Radeon Vega 8 integrated graphics for mild gaming. What takes this one step further, though, is that you can manually upgrade the memory to 64GB and storage to 4TB, so it’ll last and you won’t have to toss it in a year. All in all, this is a brilliant budget buy that’s cheap even for a market that’s already quite affordable. Get the Bosgame E2 for just $190 on Amazon while this special Prime deal lasts. And remember, if you don’t have Prime, you can still get it with a free 30-day Prime trial. Get this decently specced mini PC for dirt cheap right nowBuy now at Amazon Read...

If you’re into trying out new AI tools, you’ll dig this– the latest Windows 11 24H2 update brings some cool upgrades to the Photos app. Microsoft added AI-powered editing that makes touching up your pics super easy. One standout feature is the “Restyle Image” option. It lets you apply different artistic styles to your photos. For example, transforming your photos into lovely watercolor paintings. This feature really opens up a whole world of possibilities. In the following sections, we’ll show you how to use each of them step-by-step: 1. Opening the photo viewer First, open Windows Photo View. You can do this by searching for it in the Start menu or by double-clicking a JPEG or PNG file in File Explorer. IDG 2. Open photo The photo will appear in a single view. Here, you can use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to browse through other images in the same folder. Use the zoom slider at the bottom of the window to zoom in and out of individual pictures. IDG 3. Switch to edit mode To enter edit mode, click the “Edit” button at the top of the Photos app. Copilot+ PCs will have an “AI” button on the far right of the toolbar, which offers AI-powered editing tools that will restyle your photo or remove unwanted elements from the background. IDG 4. Using the AI function When you click on the AI feature for the first time, a prompt will guide you through the process. You’ll need to sign in with your Microsoft account to use it, though. If you don’t have a Microsoft account, the prompt will offer an option to create one. 5. Change style In edit mode, you’ll find loads of various design options on the right-hand side of the window. Choose from styles like “Watercolor” or describe your own style. Moving the creativity slider (as illustrated in the below photo) to the right results in more dramatic changes while sliding it to the left keeps the edits more subtle. IDG 6. More options Click on the “Redesign ALl” option to see additional choices like “Background Only” and “Foreground Only.” This lets you apply the new style to just the background or the main subject. Once you’re all set with your changes, click the “Save” button to save the edited photo. IDG 7. Remove distracting areas On PCs running Windows 11 24H2, the Photos app includes advanced AI capabilities, which allow you to remove distracting elements and have the background seamlessly filled in. To use this feature, open the image as described in step one. Let’s use the picture of the knife below as an example. To remove the unwanted light reflection on the upper blade, switch to edit mode by clicking the “Edit” button, then select the brush icon to access the “Generative Erase” feature. A new window will pop up, displaying your image on the left and the “Generative Erase” options on the right. Adjust the brush size and choose whether to apply those changes automatically. Brush over the area you want to remove, and the AI will intelligently fill in the space to match the background. IDG If you want more control, you can disable the “Auto Apply” option. This allows you to select multiple areas to erase before applying the changes. Read...

NTT DATA launches Smart AI Agent Ecosystem to boost business transformation with intelligent automation and industry-specific AI solutions worldwide. Read...