Summary A lot of historical sci-fi has some form of smart home in it. They may not say “smart home,” but the basic idea is the same: home automation. I thought, “how close have we come to these predictions of what the homes of the future will be?” So I tried to pick a variety of stories, and this is how we stack up. Ray Bradbury is of course one of the old masters of sci-fi, and has a huge body of work, but inThere Will Come Soft Rainshe tells the rather depressing story of an automated house that keeps going through the motions, despite everyone being dead thanks to a nuclear armageddon....

Windows makes it easy (although not obvious) to customize the Taskbar with custom icons. You don’t need a third-party app, just the icon files to replace the defaults. If you’re theming your desktop, it won’t feel complete until the taskbar meshes with the rest of the look. Everything You Need Technically, the only thing you need to swap the default app icons on the taskbar are the icon files. Some apps come preinstalled with extra icons that you can use....

Summary Meta has a referral code system for apps and games on the Meta Store, which can lower the cost for you and provide store credit to a friend. You can ask someone you know for a referral code, or find referral links online. When someone buys a game or application on the Meta Quest store, they can create a referral link for it from the Quest mobile app. If someone else purchases the game or application from that link (as of Feb....

Quick Links Summary To print a PowerPoint with notes on Windows, click File > Print and “Notes Pages” in the Layout drop-down box. Then, select “Print.” On Mac, go to File > Print. In the Layout drop-down box, choose “Notes” then “Print” to finish. Do you want a hard copy of your PowerPoint slideshow that includes yourspeaker notes? Maybe you want a physical copy to review on your own or with others....

Quick Links Summary Math Notes is a feature that allows you to crunch numbers in certain apps on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. You can use it for study, for work, or for personal use anywhere you need to do anything from quick sums to complex equations. Here’s how it works. Introducing Math Notes Math Notes was introduced with iOS 18,iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia, so you’ll need a device that’s updated to use this version or later....

Summary Since the quality of a mouse can make or break the PC gaming experience, the budget market has to ride a fine line between making the right sacrifices without feeling cheap. TheHyperX Pulsefire Fuseis a prime example of the wrong concessions being made. HyperX Pulsefire Fuse Wireless gaming mouse with a 1000 Hz polling rate over 2.4 GHz, a weight of 75 grams (AAA battery included), and 85 hours of battery life....

Quick Links I’ve been a Chrome user for the longest time, but I recently switched to Firefox because of its advanced security settings. If you’re considering switching to Firefox or are already using it, I recommend configuring these five security settings for optimal protection. 1Enhanced Tracking Protection Enhanced Tracking Protection is one of the main security settings that gives Firefox an edge over other browsers. When you browse online, trackers that are hidden in the websites monitor your activity and browsing habits, gathering data on the things you’re interested in....

Quick Links Summary I wasn’t a big fan of the Camera Control button on my iPhone 16 when I upgraded to the 2024 model, but regular usage over the last few months has changed my mind and trained my muscle memory. Now I’m convinced. I Avoided the Camera Control Button for Two Months I upgraded from an iPhone 13 to the iPhone 16in late September (a few weeks after its launch)....

Summary With the reveal that Switch 2 games will cost $80-$90, and speculation that the base version ofGrand Theft Auto 6might be $100, there’s a predictable (and understandable) uproar from gamers who want to keep enjoying their hobby during tough economic times. The thing is, if you don’t want games to cost $100, you should never buy games at that price. There are a couple of reasons for this, but it’s important to know that refusing to pay these prices does not mean foregoing access to the games you want....

Quick Links Summary Windows 11 requires an active internet connection to download crucial updates and create an account during the installation process. However, the installation will stall at the “Let’s connect you to a network” screen if you lack an internet connection. Fortunately, you may employ a few workarounds to bypass this network setup screen and proceed with your Windows 11 installation. 1. Check Your Connection On the “Let’s connect you to a network” screen, you’ll see the names of available connections....

Quick Links Summary The M2 iPad Air is here, bringing more powerful M2 silicon and a landscape front camera to the Air lineup for the first time. Is it enough to convince you to upgrade from your existing iPad? Let’s compare iPad Air models from 2022 and 2024 to find out. Unlike the M1 iPad Air, Apple offers the M2 iPad Air in two screen sizes. The smaller M2 iPad Air now has an 11-inch screen, thanks to slightly thinner bezels than its predecessor, which had a 10....

If you like trying new and experimental Linux distributions, you should be happy to know Manjaro Linux is officially jumping on the immutable Linux distribution bandwagon with the announcement of Manjaro Summit, in an alpha phase. Having been in development earlier as “Manjaro Immutable,” first announcedin August 2024, Summit appears to be sort of an experiment for the Manjaro development team. They’re now calling it a “semi-immutable” distribution, though, and did not share details on exactly what that means....

Meta introduced Orion, the inaugural pair of true augmented reality (AR) glasses, previously known as Project Nazare, at the Connect conference. Previously known as Project Nazare, it’s still in the prototype stage, but the company has started to show off demos. Orion is exactly what you’d think when you imagine AR glasses. The person wearing the glasses gets images projected onto the lens that are reminiscent of aMeta Quest 3in passthrough mode....