5 Buried Settings in Your TV that Are Ruining Your Sound
Modern televisions embed multiple audio‑processing features that often degrade sound quality, from auto‑volume compression to aggressive EQ presets. Misaligned output formats, such as sending Dolby Digital to a basic soundbar, can produce thin dialogue and muffled bass. Enabling both TV speakers and external audio devices creates echo and unfocused audio, while improperly configured HDMI ARC/eARC results in dropouts and loss of high‑resolution formats. Simple adjustments—disabling internal speakers, turning off enhancements, and selecting PCM or proper ARC settings—can dramatically improve clarity without new hardware.
I Stopped Using My PS5 After Discovering These Steam Big Picture Features
Dave Meikleham’s guide highlights Steam Big Picture’s hidden tools that make PC gaming feel like a console. The mode lets users remap any controller, pull up screenshots instantly, record up to 120 minutes of gameplay, and set custom startup movies....
These 4 Smart Home Devices Promised to Save Me Time — They Did the Opposite
Tech writer Chris Hachey tested four smart‑home gadgets—a thermostat, an outdoor motion sensor, a universal controller, and a touchless paper‑towel dispenser—and found each added more hassle than convenience. The thermostat depended on Wi‑Fi, leaving the home vulnerable during outages, while...
Your Passwords Are Officially Obsolete, According to Britain's Top Intelligence Agency
Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre announced at CYBERUK that passwords are now obsolete and recommends passkeys as the primary authentication method. The agency cites passkeys’ speed—up to eight times faster than traditional login—and their resistance to phishing. Around 50% of...
5 USB-C Tricks that Feel Wrong Until You Try Them
USB‑C’s versatile standards—Power Delivery, Alt Mode, and USB4—enable a suite of hidden tricks beyond simple charging. Users can reverse‑charge devices, attach gigabit Ethernet adapters, power‑draw monitors with a single cable, charge laptops from high‑wattage power banks, and record 4K ProRes...
I Stopped Reaching for ChatGPT when Excel Could Do It Three Times Faster
In a recent MakeUseOf column, author Yadullah Abidi argues that Excel often outpaces ChatGPT for routine data tasks. He demonstrates how pivot tables, conditional formatting, Flash Fill, and macros deliver instant results without the back‑and‑forth of prompting an AI model....
Xbox Game Pass Is About to Get Less Expensive — Is Microsoft Actually Listening to Us?
Microsoft announced a significant reduction in its Xbox Game Pass subscription fees, cutting Game Pass Ultimate to $22.99 per month and PC Game Pass to $13.99. The price cuts follow a controversial 50% increase in October 2025 that reportedly drove...
Cloud Gaming Got so Good so Fast that I Genuinely Regret Buying My Gaming Laptop
Nvidia’s GeForce Now Ultimate tier now streams RTX 5080‑class performance for $20 a month, or $200 for six months, effectively matching high‑end gaming laptops. The service caps streaming at 100 hours per month and demands at least 45 Mbps for 4K 120 FPS, with latency...
I Didn’t Buy a Raspberry Pi or Mini PC — I Used This Instead for My Home Server
A MakeUseOf writer shows how to run a full Linux desktop on an Android phone using Termux and Termux X11, turning the device into a functional home server. The method requires no rooting, bootloader unlocking, or extra hardware, and can host...
I Didn’t Expect These Earbuds to Win Me over with Such a Rare Feature
Google’s Pixel Buds 2a introduce a rare, user‑replaceable charging‑case battery secured by two Torx screws, allowing owners to swap the battery in minutes. The replacement battery is sold for $30 on iFixit, making a practical repair option available shortly after launch....
I Wanted a Simpler Brave Alternative, and This New Browser Surprised Me
Helium is an open‑source browser built on Ungoogled Chromium that strips away Google’s data‑collection services while keeping Chrome‑compatible extensions. It launches with a minimalist setup wizard, offering DuckDuckGo as the default search engine and a split‑view mode that places two...
7 Devices in Your Home that Really Shouldn’t Be on Wi-Fi
The article argues that seven common home devices—TVs and streaming boxes, PCs and game consoles, printers, storage servers, and mesh router nodes—should be connected via Ethernet instead of Wi‑Fi whenever possible. While Wi‑Fi 7 promises up to 46 Gbps, real‑world constraints keep...
I Was Using My Steam Deck Wrong Until I Made This One Change
Dave Meikleham discovered that pairing his Steam Deck with a $40 Baseus dock dramatically expands the handheld’s capabilities. The dock provides HDMI output, USB ports, and a built-in stand, letting users connect keyboards, mice, and the 8Bitdo Ultimate 2 controller. In...
I Encrypted My DNS with a Free App and It Works Brilliantly
Cloudflare has released a free app, 1.1.1.1 + WARP, that encrypts DNS queries on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. The client offers two operating modes: a lightweight DNS‑only mode that protects lookups, and a full‑WARP mode that tunnels all traffic through...
I Use a Thunderbolt Dock without a Laptop, and It’s More Useful than You’d Think
Technology journalist Brady Snyder explains how a Thunderbolt 4 docking station transforms his Mac Mini M4 and Windows 11 mini PC into a fully connected workstation. By routing all peripherals—monitors, audio gear, MIDI keyboards, SD card readers, and more—through the Ugreen Revodok Max 313, he...