ChatGPT is rapidly changing the world. The process is already happening, and it’s only going to accelerate as the technology improves, as more people gain access to it, and as more learn how to use it. What’s shocking is just how many tasks ChatGPT is already capable of managing for you. While the naysayers may still look down their noses at the potential of AI assistants, I’ve been using it to handle all kinds of menial tasks for me. Here are my favorite examples. Write your emails for you Dave Parrack / Foundry We’ve all been faced with the tricky task of writing an email—whether personal or professional—but not knowing quite how to word it. ChatGPT can do the heavy lifting for you, penning the (hopefully) perfect email based on whatever information you feed it. Let’s assume the email you need to write is of a professional nature, and wording it poorly could negatively affect your career. By directing ChatGPT to write the email with a particular structure, content, and tone of voice, you can give yourself a huge head start. A winning tip for this is to never accept ChatGPT’s first attempt. Always read through it and look for areas of improvement, then request tweaks to ensure you get the best possible email. You can (and should) also rewrite the email in your own voice. Learn more about how ChatGPT coached my colleague to write better emails. Generate itineraries and schedules Dave Parrack / Foundry If you’re going on a trip but you’re the type of person who hates planning trips, then you should utilize ChatGPT’s ability to generate trip itineraries. The results can be customized to the nth degree depending on how much detail and instruction you’re willing to provide. As someone who likes to get away at least once a year but also wants to make the most of every trip, leaning on ChatGPT for an itinerary is essential for me. I’ll provide the location and the kinds of things I want to see and do, then let it handle the rest. Instead of spending days researching everything myself, ChatGPT does 80 percent of it for me. As with all of these tasks, you don’t need to accept ChatGPT’s first effort. Use different prompts to force the AI chatbot to shape the itinerary closer to what you want. You’d be surprised at how many cool ideas you’ll encounter this way—simply nix the ones you don’t like. Break down difficult concepts Dave Parrack / Foundry One of the best tasks to assign to ChatGPT is the explanation of difficult concepts. Ask ChatGPT to explain any concept you can think of and it will deliver more often than not. You can tailor the level of explanation you need, and even have it include visual elements. Let’s say, for example, that a higher-up at work regularly lectures everyone about the importance of networking. But maybe they never go into detail about what they mean, just constantly pushing the why without explaining the what. Well, just ask ChatGPT to explain networking! Okay, most of us know what “networking” is and the concept isn’t very hard to grasp. But you can do this with anything. Ask ChatGPT to explain augmented reality, multi-threaded processing, blockchain, large language models, what have you. It will provide you with a clear and simple breakdown, maybe even with analogies and images. Analyze and make tough decisions Dave Parrack / Foundry We all face tough decisions every so often. The next time you find yourself wrestling with a particularly tough one—and you just can’t decide one way or the other—try asking ChatGPT for guidance and advice. It may sound strange to trust any kind of decision to artificial intelligence, let alone an important one that has you stumped, but doing so actually makes a lot of sense. While human judgment can be clouded by emotions, AI can set that aside and prioritize logic. It should go without saying: you don’t have to accept ChatGPT’s answers. Use the AI to weigh the pros and cons, to help you understand what’s most important to you, and to suggest a direction. Who knows? If you find yourself not liking the answer given, that in itself might clarify what you actually want—and the right answer for you. This is the kind of stuff ChatGPT can do to improve your life. Plan complex projects and strategies Dave Parrack / Foundry Most jobs come with some level of project planning and management. Even I, as a freelance writer, need to plan tasks to get projects completed on time. And that’s where ChatGPT can prove invaluable, breaking projects up into smaller, more manageable parts. ChatGPT needs to know the nature of the project, the end goal, any constraints you may have, and what you have done so far. With that information, it can then break the project up with a step-by-step plan, and break it down further into phases (if required). If ChatGPT doesn’t initially split your project up in a way that suits you, try again. Change up the prompts and make the AI chatbot tune in to exactly what you’re looking for. It takes a bit of back and forth, but it can shorten your planning time from hours to mere minutes. Compile research notes Dave Parrack / Foundry If you need to research a given topic of interest, ChatGPT can save you the hassle of compiling that research. For example, ahead of a trip to Croatia, I wanted to know more about the Croatian War of Independence, so I asked ChatGPT to provide me with a brief summary of the conflict with bullet points to help me understand how it happened. After absorbing all that information, I asked ChatGPT to add a timeline of the major events, further helping me to understand how the conflict played out. ChatGPT then offered to provide me with battle maps and/or summaries, plus profiles of the main players. You can go even deeper with ChatGPT’s Deep Research feature, which is now available to free users, up to 5 Deep Research tasks per month. With Deep Research, ChatGPT conducts multi-step research to generate comprehensive reports (with citations!) based on large amounts of information across the internet. A Deep Research task can take up to 30 minutes to complete, but it’ll save you hours or even days. Summarize articles, meetings, and more Dave Parrack / Foundry There are only so many hours in the day, yet so many new articles published on the web day in and day out. When you come across extra-long reads, it can be helpful to run them through ChatGPT for a quick summary. Then, if the summary is lacking in any way, you can go back and plow through the article proper. As an example, I ran one of my own PCWorld articles (where I compared Bluesky and Threads as alternatives to X) through ChatGPT, which provided a brief summary of my points and broke down the best X alternative based on my reasons given. Interestingly, it also pulled elements from other articles. (Hmph.) If you don’t want that, you can tell ChatGPT to limit its summary to the contents of the link. This is a great trick to use for other long-form, text-heavy content that you just don’t have the time to crunch through. Think transcripts for interviews, lectures, videos, and Zoom meetings. The only caveat is to never share private details with ChatGPT, like company-specific data that’s protected by NDAs and the like. Create Q&A flashcards for learning Dave Parrack / Foundry Flashcards can be extremely useful for drilling a lot of information into your brain, such as when studying for an exam, onboarding in a new role, prepping for an interview, etc. And with ChatGPT, you no longer have to painstakingly create those flashcards yourself. All you have to do is tell the AI the details of what you’re studying. You can specify the format (such as Q&A or multiple choice), as well as various other elements. You can also choose to keep things broad or target specific sub-topics or concepts you want to focus on. You can even upload your own notes for ChatGPT to reference. You can also use Google’s NotebookLM app in a similar way. Provide interview practice Dave Parrack / Foundry Whether you’re a first-time jobseeker or have plenty of experience under your belt, it’s always a good idea to practice for your interviews when making career moves. Years ago, you might’ve had to ask a friend or family member to act as your mock interviewer. These days, ChatGPT can do it for you—and do it more effectively. Inform ChatGPT of the job title, industry, and level of position you’re interviewing for, what kind of interview it’ll be (e.g., screener, technical assessment, group/panel, one-on-one with CEO), and anything else you want it to take into consideration. ChatGPT will then conduct a mock interview with you, providing feedback along the way. When I tried this out myself, I was shocked by how capable ChatGPT can be at pretending to be a human in this context. And the feedback it provides for each answer you give is invaluable for knocking off your rough edges and improving your chances of success when you’re interviewed by a real hiring manager. Further reading: Non-gimmicky AI apps I actually use every day Read...

TL;DR: Block all ads on nine devices with AdGuard’s Family Plan on sale for $15.97 (88% off) through July 20. Ads are the internet equivalent of mosquitos at a summer picnic. They’re annoying, follow you everywhere, and they literally suck. Pop-ups that try to get under your cursor, banners that block half your screen, and those unskippable video ads that plague YouTube… It sounds like you need a good ad blocker. AdGuard works on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices, and you only have to pay once to block ads on nine of them for life. It works best on browsers, and verified reviewers confirm that it blocks ads on YouTube, which seems worth the price alone. But AdGuard doesn’t just block ads. It also protects you from trackers, activity analyzers, malware, and even shady phishing websites (these are the culprits behind ads that know what you were just shopping for). It even has parental controls, so you can keep your children safe from the wild west of the internet. Don’t let ads suck the fun out of the internet. Use code FAMPLAN by July 20 at 11:59 p.m. PT to get an AdGuard Lifetime Family Plan for $15.97. AdGuard Family Plan: Lifetime SubscriptionSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Even though the crypto mining boom has largely passed, cryptocurrency scams still remain out there. Since crypto wallets often come in the form of a web browser extension, so do crypto scams—and Mozilla has spotted hundreds of them trying to get onto the official repository of Firefox extensions. Now, a new tool that automatically scans for them exists. So sayeth a new Mozilla blog post, spotted by BleepingComputer. Exactly how the automated system determines that a newly-posted extension is suspicious isn’t elucidated… but I suppose spelling it out would just give scammers an easy way to circumvent it. If the system spots enough red flags, it holds the extension for human review, after which the extension can be approved or tossed out. At the moment, the system is only applied to “wallet” Firefox extensions, though I have to assume there are other systems in place for more general threats. Firefox is one of the last major browsers that still isn’t based on the open-source Chromium, the root project for Google Chrome and Microsoft’s Edge, so extension developers already have to target it narrowly. Of course, this system only protects users who are going through Mozilla’s official repository of Firefox extensions at addons.mozilla.org. Hackers and scammers can—and often do—entice unwary users to download extensions from third-party sites. Downloading from official sources (like the Chrome Web Store for Chromium-based browsers) doesn’t automatically protect you, but it’s generally a safer bet than downloading and installing extensions from elsewhere. Read...

In the last few days, AI-generated text-to-video has taken off, with Google’s lifelike Veo 3 model generating video and dialogue that approach realism. Now Microsoft has entered the fray, by offering the video-generation portion for free with Bing Video Creator. Unfortunately, the new Bing Video Creator is accompanied by a cadre of compromises, although the premise is still true: Download the Bing mobile application for your smartphone, and you can generate 10 “fast” 5-second creations for free, although you’ll have to pay for more with credits in Microsoft’s system or just wait longer. Here’s how Bing Video Creator works, and what works…and what doesn’t. How to use Bing Video Creator Microsoft’s free Bing app for your smartphone is essentially a Start menu for all of Microsoft’s mobile services. (I’ll use the Android application for reference.) You can use it to search Bing, read news (including even a selection of paywalled news), and more. Although Google would prefer you to use its Gemini application, Microsoft’s Copilot appears prominently. First, download and open the Bing app on your smartphone and navigate to the “apps” button.Mark Hachman / Foundry For now, Microsoft has hidden its new Bing Video Creator behind the “apps” icon in the lower right-hand corner. There, you’ll find a number of little utility applications, from a stock tracker to wallpapers, selected videos, and more. “Video Creator” hides in the third rank of the “all apps” listings. Essentially, Bing Video Creator is the video complement to Bing Image Creator, and the apps work similarly. Type in a prompt, and Bing will create an image or a video, depending on which tab is selected. Only one format is currently accessible: the 9:16 portrait mode of your phone. The videos are only five seconds long, and contain no dialogue or sound at all. The “Video Creator” tool.Mark Hachman / Foundry Microsoft says that its videos are generated using Sora, the video generator from OpenAI, which was previously available just to paid ChatGPT subscribers. Because of the relative simplicity of the task, don’t really worry about adding the complexity that you might find in tutorials about how to create text-to-video, such as in Veo or even locally using Intel’s new AI Playground application. You can try something complex, such as specifying the camera or how you might like the “camera” to pan. Panning seems to work, though five seconds doesn’t give you that much time for complex instructions. Does it work? Well, kind of. You might think that a prompt like “Microsoft Clippy in a mosh pit, jumping around to the music” would be understood by Bing Video Creator. Not at all. Bing Video Creator fails somewhat spectacularly here…Bing Video Creator Poor Clippy, reduced to a garbage can. Or maybe that’s a recycling bin? A second prompt, “A leprechaun working as a bartender in an Irish pub, serving a beer” actually worked much better. There’s no “beer” in the scene, but the leprechaun otherwise looks happy and consistent with the scene. …but redeems itself with this video clip/GIF.Bing Video Creator Don’t expect to generate videos of popular figures doing meme-ish things; a quick few prompts of recent politicians and celebrities generated a content warning. Microsoft has taken pains to make its AI generation as vanilla as possible — after some early, notable mistakes — and this seems to be be consistent with that trend. There’s one more catch: You’ll need to download or otherwise save the video generations, since Microsoft will erase them after 90 days have expired. So what happens if you become hooked on Microsoft’s free video generation and want to create more and more and more? Remember that Microsoft grants you 10 free “fast” generations, which produce the video in a few minutes. You also have unlimited “Standard” generations, but those can take hours, Microsoft warns, presumably because you’ll be relegated to the back of the queue. You can also “buy” new Fast generations by “paying” for them with 100 Microsoft Rewards points, a program that if you haven’t signed up for, you really should. Will Bing Video Creator eventually arrive on Windows, Copilot, and/or Microsoft’s web pages and apps? Presumably. Microsoft’s blog post announcing Bing Video Creator shows some videos in landscape mode rather than portrait, which seems to signal that it will. Personally, I’ve found Google’s AI image generation tools to be superior to what Microsoft offers, at least recently. I haven’t yet tried out Google’s Veo 3 video generation, but that’s clearly the superior option based on the examples floating about the web. Nevertheless, Microsoft’s Bing Video Creator gives you free, “meme”-able video, and that’s something…until the competition delivers something better, for cheaper. Read...

Although Tor and VPNs both serve to protect privacy, they’re fundamentally different in the way they work. Tor encrypts your data multiple times and forwards it via three independent servers worldwide. It separates the user’s identity from their traffic path, helping protect against tracking. Tor also creates new connections every ten minutes to make it considerably more difficult to permanently allocate traffic. A VPN, on the other hand, protects your traffic through a single tunnel via a provider server that hides your IP address, but is able to know your identity. Thomas Joos Why using a VPN and Tor together can put your anonymity at risk Many users hope to achieve double security by combining VPN and Tor, but this approach actually introduces new risks. The VPN provider can see your original IP address and knows you’re connecting to Tor. If the provider keeps logs or comes under pressure, your identity could be exposed. This risk is especially significant when VPNs store personal data like email addresses or payment information, details often required during registration, which makes tracing you easier. Also, using a VPN and Tor together can actually make you less safe. VPN servers are often targeted by hackers, and if the VPN app isn’t open source, it might have junk, trackers, or hidden backdoors that can put your security at risk. Christoph Hoffmann Why VPN over Tor and Tor over VPN can undermine your privacy VPN over Tor and Tor over VPN are different setups, both with risks. VPN over Tor is complex and weakens Tor’s privacy. Tor over VPN means trusting the VPN. It’s usually better to just use one—Tor or a VPN, not both. VPN connections to the Tor network are more conspicuous Connections from VPN servers to the Tor network stand out from regular Internet traffic, drawing close attention from surveillance authorities. Even when VPN and Tor encryption are used together, these connections remain conspicuous. Advanced techniques like deep packet inspection can detect and classify VPN data streams despite encryption. Additionally, website fingerprinting attacks can analyze traffic patterns to infer which sites have been visited, meaning VPNs do not provide complete anonymity or camouflage. Thomas Joos Technical risks associated with simultaneous use VPN connections can be interrupted or incorrectly configured. Without special protection mechanisms such as a VPN firewall, your real IP address would be transmitted immediately in this case. Complex configurations such as setting up transparent proxies are also prone to errors and difficult to control. The developers of the Tor project expressly warn against such setups because they create new vulnerabilities instead of security. Paying for a VPN subscription poses a further risk. Anyone who enters personal data when registering or pays by credit card can be deanonymized by payment service providers. Only a few providers accept anonymous payment methods such as Monero. Operating your own VPN server could theoretically minimize some risks, but does not protect you from being monitored by your internet provider. Further reading: 14 VPN terms and features everyone should know When VPN and Tor could be useful together There are a few exceptional cases in which a combination can be useful. In countries with strong internet censorship in which the Tor network is blocked (like China or Iran), a VPN can help to establish a connection. However, in these cases, the VPN provider would have to be absolutely trustworthy and not keep any logs. A better solution is Obfs4 bridges, which disguises Tor traffic so that it looks like regular internet traffic. This is useful in countries with strong censorship, as they hide the typical signature of Tor traffic. Thomas Joos Whistleblowers, who place particularly high demands on their anonymity, could also benefit from additional protection in individual cases. Nevertheless, the risk remains that VPNs can be exposed by traffic fingerprinting techniques. Tor alone is often the better choice Tor is designed to achieve anonymity through diversity and distribution. Every user benefits from the fact that their data traffic is lost in the flow of other connections. If you build additional tunnels, you are more likely to attract attention and thus weaken the actual advantage of the network. It would make more sense than an additional VPN service to invest resources in the operation of a dedicated Tor relay and thus strengthen the security of the entire network. The Tor project points out that a large number of connections with standard-compliant patterns are crucial for individual users to be able to disappear into the masses. The more a connection stands out from this pattern, the easier it becomes to identify. Analyzing real cases such as the arrest of the Silk Road operator also shows that the greatest dangers lie less in technical weaknesses than in human error. A clear separation of real names, personal accounts, and anonymous surfing therefore remains essential. Rely on the strengths of Tor The simultaneous use of VPN and Tor does not make sense in most cases. Not only does it make anonymity more difficult, it also makes your connection more conspicuous and potentially more vulnerable. If you’re looking for maximum privacy, you should use Tor directly, without additional tunnels, and ensure that your own activities are properly separated. Consciously using Tor bridges and supporting the Tor network with your own relays also contributes effectively to protecting your privacy. Read...

Abuse allows Meta and Yandex to attach persistent identifiers to detailed browsing histories. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Robust design with 2-in-1 versatility Enjoyable keyboard Good battery life Plenty of RAM, storage for the price Cons Design doesn’t look appealing at first glance Display could be brighter and more vibrant CPU, GPU performance doesn’t stand out Our Verdict The Dell Plus 14 2-in-1 isn’t exciting, but it’s a well-rounded budget 2-in-1 that offers good bang for your buck. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today If you haven’t heard, Dell dropped a bombshell earlier this year. It announced the company has done away with its well-known Inspiron, XPS, and Precision brands and instead opted for an entirely new hierarchy. At the bottom of this hierarchy, you’ll find laptops like the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1. Last year, this would’ve been called a Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1, and despite the change in name, it still fills its role of providing an affordable entry point into computing. Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1: Specifications The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 that PC World received for testing is an entry-level AMD configuration with an AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 processor at its heart. Dell offers many different Ryzen AI processors, as well as Intel models, but this is among the least powerful configurations available. CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 (6 cores, up to 4.8GHz) Memory: 16GB LPDDR5x Graphics/GPU: AMD Radeon 840M NPU: AMD 50 TOPs Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 60Hz WVA 300-nits touchscreen Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe solid state drive Webcam: 1080p 30fps camera Connectivity: 2x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort, 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x HDMI 1.4, 3.5mm audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Fingerprint reader Battery capacity: 64 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.36 inch x 8.9 in x 0.65 in Weight: 3.51 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Home Price: $849.99 MSRP / $599.99 at time of testing (Best Buy) That’s reflected in the price. Although it technically carries an MSRP of $849.99 on Dell.com, which feels a bit steep, it currently sells on Best Buy for $599.99, which is among the lowest prices you can expect from a Windows laptop that has the most recent generation of AMD or Intel processor inside. While this is a sale price, the laptop was listed just a couple weeks ago—so I’d expect this “sale” to occur frequently. Despite its low sale price, the laptop doesn’t cut corners too closely. It still provides 16GB of RAM and a 512GB solid-state drive. You can expect to pay higher prices if you do decide to go with a Plus 14 2-in-1 from Dell’s website. However, some of the models available on Dell.com offer a 1TB solid-state drive, and there’s also an option for a 2560×1600 resolution display on the Intel variant, which is an upgrade over the entry-level model’s 1920×1200 display. The Dell Plus 14 2-in-1 is a good option for shoppers looking to snag a do-it-all Windows device on a tight budget. Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1: Design and build quality IDG / Matthew Smith Budget Windows 2-in-1s aren’t exactly known for their riveting or dramatic design, and the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 is no exception. It’s a simple, slim 14-inch machine that measures no greater than 0.65 inches thick, available in a silver or navy-blue colorway, neither of which is remarkable. With that said, it’s a well-executed laptop when it comes to build quality. Opening the laptop lid reveals a bit of display flex, but not enough to raise any concerns. It’s a similar story with the lower chassis, which does slightly creak if handled roughly but doesn’t visibly flex unless truly abused. I also like the materials used. I felt the plastics on the lower chassis had a nice texture to them and didn’t try to fake a metallic finish. The rear of the display panel, meanwhile, seems to be made of aluminum and offers a premium feel. Of course, as the name indicates, the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 is a 2-in-1 device with a touchscreen, and the hinge allows the display to be rotated back 360 degrees for use like a tablet. It’s too large and heavy to be comfortably used as a tablet for any length of time, but the option is useful if you want to take notes or draw. Dell doesn’t include an Active Pen with the 2-in-1, but one is available for about $40. Owners can also rotate the display partway back to use the keyboard like a kickstand, which can be handy if you want to use the laptop to watch Netflix or YouTube. Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1: Keyboard, trackpad IDG / Matthew Smith The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1’s keyboard ranks among its best traits. The keys have good travel and a definitive tactile feel with a subtle, clicky bottoming action. I found the keyboard comfortable to use for long typing sessions. The comfort is aided by a good amount of palm rest space below the bottom of the keyboard. Keyboard backlighting is standard, and it does what it says on the tin. The touchpad is less remarkable, but also competent. It measures about 4.5 inches wide and about 3 inches deep. The touchpad felt responsive in my testing and handled multi-touch gestures well. However, some competitors—most notably, Asus—offer budget models with larger touchpads. Of course, since this is a 2-in-1 with a touchscreen, it’s possible to use the touchscreen instead of the touchpad. I personally prefer having the option to touch the screen over not having that option, if it doesn’t add too much to the price, and the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 is certainly affordable. Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1: Display, audio IDG / Matthew Smith Most Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 configurations have a WVA-LCD touchscreen display with a resolution of 1920×1200 and a refresh rate of 60 Hz. A 2560×1600 upgrade is available on some models from Dell.com, but PC World did not receive that display to test. Display quality is passable. On the plus side, the 14-inch display’s 1920×1200 resolution is quite sharp. However, the display is only rated for 300 nits of brightness, and on top of that it has a glossy coating that shows quite a bit of glare. That is a recipe for problems if you intend to use the laptop in a bright room or outdoors. Color performance is also mediocre. The display looks reasonably saturated and vibrant on its own, but if compared to an OLED display (which can be found on some price-competitive laptops, like the Lenovo IdeaPad 5x and Asus Zenbook 14) the difference is night and day in OLED’s favor. The same is true for contrast, since OLED displays have an effectively infinite contrast ratio that results in a deeper, more immersive image. To put it simply, the display is not among the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1’s strong points, and it’s the one feature that cuts strongly against a recommendation. If you want a budget laptop with a great display, this isn’t it. Audio quality is better, though still mixed. The speakers deliver good volume and clarity, especially with dialogue, which is more than can be said for many budget laptops. Throw a bit of bass at them, however, and distortion can result. Even the laptop chassis itself can vibrate, creating an annoying rattle. The speakers are good for podcasts and video calls, but not for games or music. Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 comes with a 1080p webcam and a dual array microphone, both of which are common specifications for modern Windows laptops. The webcam is sharp, and the microphone picks up good audio quality with great noise rejection, especially if AI noise rejection features are enabled. The camera includes a physical privacy shutter, which is always nice to see. The one slightly unusual specification for the price point is the inclusion of a fingerprint reader on the power button in the upper left corner of the keyboard. It works well in most situations, although a bit of grime or moisture on your finger can fool it. So, don’t try to log in after taking a swig of Mountain Dew. Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1: Connectivity IDG / Matthew Smith Dell has a reputation for leaning on modern connectivity, and the 14 Plus 2-in-1 is no exception. It provides two USB-C ports, both of which offer power delivery and DisplayPort video connectivity, and both of which can be used to power the laptop with the included USB-C power adapter. They are joined by one USB-A port, an HDMI 1.4 port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Although I could nitpick about the lack of a second USB-A port, which means you’ll need an adapter if you happen to want to connect a wired keyboard and mouse, this type of connectivity is typical for a modern Windows laptop. When it comes to wireless connectivity, the laptop supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, which are the latest versions of the respective wireless standards. Although this is common for modern Windows laptops, at this price point you might end up looking at some older models from the 2024 or 2023 model years, and it’s likely they would not have Wi-Fi 7 or Bluetooth 5.4. Keep that in mind if wireless performance matters to you. Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1: Performance The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 that PC World received for testing was an entry-level model with an AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 processor. This APU has a 6-core CPU and AMD Radeon 840M graphics. As you might expect, the entry-level CPU and integrated GPU result in modest overall performance. IDG / Matthew Smith PCMark 10, a holistic system benchmark, didn’t put the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 off to the best start. While the score of 5,579 isn’t bad for a budget laptop, it’s also a long way from what systems equipped with Ryzen AI 7/9 or Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors tend to achieve. The AMD Radeon 840M, which is relatively less capable than many IGPs today, doesn’t help matters. IDG / Matthew Smith Handbrake, a heavily multi-threaded long-duration benchmark, is a bit more favorable. The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 churned through a transcode of a two-hour-long movie in 1,498 seconds using purely the CPU cores (i.e. without special encoding features enabled). That’s not a bad result for the price, and it places the Ryzen AI 5 340 in a similar league to the Intel Core Ultra 5 226V. IDG / Matthew Smith The Ryzen AI 5 340 delivers a respectable but hardly earth-shattering multi-core score of 7,993 in Cinebench R23. Although a long way from the top, this is again a decent result. The main issue here, I think, is the lack of cores. Six isn’t a lot in 2025, and Cinebench R23 does tend to make good use of available cores, whatever they might be. The Ryzen AI 5 340’s Cinebench R23 single-core score was 1,828, which is basically the same as the other processors listed in the graph above (they score between 1,700 to 1,900). This indicates the cores that are available are speedy. IDG / Matthew Smith As mentioned earlier, the AMD Ryzen AI 5 has AMD Radeon 840M graphics, which is much less capable than the more widely known and well-regarded AMD Radeon 880M and AMD Radeon 890M. Specifically, the Radeon 840M has just four graphics cores, a big cut from the 880M (12) and 890M (16). 3DMark Time Spy shows the result with a score of just 1,427. That’s much lower than an AMD Radeon 880M or 890M, as well as Intel’s Arc 140V or even 130V graphics. These solutions tend to score 3,000 to 4,000, as the graphs show. To be fair, you do often need to pay a bit more for them—and laptops with the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V are available for just a couple hundred dollars more. That’s not to say the Dell Plus 14 2-in-1 is hopeless when it comes to graphics and gaming. The 2-in-1 could comfortably play Grim Dawn, an action-RPG released in 2016, at 1080p and medium detail. If you want to play Diablo 4, though, you’re out of luck. It can technically launch and play, but in my experience no amount of fiddling with the settings made it an enjoyable experience. The Dell Plus 14 2-in-1’s overall performance is about what you should expect for the price. It’s worth mention, however, that Dell provides 16GB of RAM and 512GB of solid-state storage. It’s not uncommon for price-competitive 2-in-1s to only provide 8GB of RAM or 256GB of storage, both of which are a significant downgrade. These upgrades don’t necessarily improve benchmark performance, but do make the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 more usable day-to-day and over time. Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1: Battery life and portability A 64-watt-hour battery powers the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1. That’s an average size for a laptop in this category, and while the AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 is miserly when it’s not under heavy load, it does struggle to compete with the latest Intel and Qualcomm hardware. IDG / Matthew Smith I measured a tad over 15 hours of battery life in PC World’s standard battery test, which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel. If 15 hours sounds like a lot, I agree. However, as the graph shows, a lot of modern laptops can achieve 18 to 22 hours on this test. The test result matched my subjective experience. I spent some of my time with the Dell Plus 14 2-in-1 traveling, and I found it could easily endure a day of mixed web browsing and writing, with occasional breaks, with 40 percent of the battery (or more) left once I arrived at a destination. I think the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1’s battery life is fine, and certainly more than a typical user is likely to need. Still, it appears that AMD’s Ryzen AI 340 is behind Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus and Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 where battery life is concerned.  Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1: Conclusion The Dell Plus 14 2-in-1 is a good option for shoppers looking to snag a do-it-all Windows device on a tight budget. It offers versatile design, a nice keyboard, and well-rounded specifications while avoiding a major issue or downside that would take it out of contention. The Plus 14 2-in-1 is a particularly alluring when on sale for $599.99 at Best Buy, which is less than many comparable Windows 2-in-1s and laptops. While I would prefer to see a better display, or a slightly larger touchpad, I enjoyed my time with the 2-in-1. Read...

Some of the best reasons to use a password manager don’t involve passwords at all. Think of a password manager not just as a tool for storing your login credentials, but as a secure and searchable database for important personal info. No matter which password manager you use, chances are you could be doing a lot more with it. Here are some other types of data you can save in a password manager beyond just passwords. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. Credit cards and banking info Your web browser and phone may already be able to auto-fill credit card details when shopping online, but adding credit card info to your password manager lets you access it from any web browser on any device. That’s helpful if you’re a frequent browser switcher like me. You can also use a password manager to store your banking account and routing numbers, so you don’t have to go looking for your checkbook every time a site requires a direct deposit. Standard form info In addition to your logins and passwords, password managers can also store your addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers, allowing you to populate various web forms with just a click or two. As with credit cards, you could always just use your browser’s auto-fill feature for this purpose, but browser auto-fill can easily become infested with garbage data, requiring regular maintenance to get rid of it. Passport numbers Jared Newman / Foundry If you travel abroad, you’ll inevitably have to fill out some kind of embarkation form online. Being able to easily look up and copy your passport number will make that process much easier. Consider saving the passport’s issue and expiration dates as well, so you can quickly look up when you need to renew. You might even expand to other state-issued identification, like your driver’s license. Library and membership cards If your local library supports checking out with an account number and PIN—as mine does here in Cincinnati—you can leave the physical card at home and go completely digital. Storing your library membership details in your password manager is also helpful when signing up for apps like Libby, Hoopla, Kanopy, and Freegal, which offer free digital content with your library membership. Software licenses Jared Newman / Foundry Instead of digging through your email inbox for desktop software licenses, create a login entry for each product and enter the license key where the password would normally be. If you save the download link in your password manager’s URL field, that’ll make re-installing the software easier as well. 1Password even has a dedicated Software License item type. Wi-Fi passwords I used to take pictures of Wi-Fi passwords when visiting a friend’s house or staying at an Airbnb, so I could quickly look it up when connecting additional devices. Saving that info to a password manager is a bit more secure, and it’s much easier to reference on subsequent visits. If you run a home media server or other application that uses a local IP address, consider storing that in your password manager as well. Important instructions A password manager can also help you remember where you (or a loved one) has saved important documents, keys, or other personal items. Create a secure note with the relevant details and/or instructions, then label it in a way that’s easily searchable. If your password manager lets you share logins and notes with others, you can make sure other family members have access to the same info. Knowing what’s saved where Jared Newman / Foundry Here’s a clever idea I spotted on Reddit: for password managers that support tags, you can use them to remember what type of information is saved with each account. For instance, you can tag which accounts collect your mailing address or your credit card, so when that information changes, you can quickly look up all those accounts and update your info. 1Password, Enpass, and KeePass all have tagging support built-in. For password managers that don’t, you can always add your own hashtags to the notes or title field instead. Protect your password manager Obviously, the more kinds of information you store in your password manager, the more you’re putting at risk if access to your vault becomes compromised. Some folks mistakenly believe password managers are dangerous for this reason, but it really just underscores the importance of a strong master password and two-factor authentication. Once you’re feeling confident about the security of a password manager, there’s no limit to what you can store in it. If you aren’t using one yet, it’s time to start—for free! Get started with one of our top picks for password managers that don’t cost anything. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. Read...

It’s only been a month since Microsoft released version 136 of its Edge browser, and they’re already rolling out version 137. But according to Neowin, this update isn’t just adding new features per usual—it’s actually removing a handful of features at the same time. The Image Editor, Image Hover Menu, Mini Menu, Video Super Resolution, and Wallet Hub features have all been removed in Edge version 137. All of your personal data from the Wallet Hub has now been moved to the browser’s password manager. (Incidentally, Microsoft also killed Authenticator’s password manager last month and is transitioning those passwords over to Edge’s password manager, too.) In addition to nixing features, Microsoft has added some improvements to Edge with this update. The browser’s Picture-in-Picture mode has been boosted with new controls for scrubbing through the progress bar, and you can now set up web content filters to block inappropriate sites by selecting various filter categories. Lastly, Microsoft has fixed 8 security vulnerabilities in the browser, making it a little safer for all. Read...

The internet search bar is giving way to talking machines scouring the web to answer our queries, and this time around, its Google that’s doing the chasing. Read...