Summary If you’re the type of person who rarely upgrades their phone, you’re not alone. And sure, buying the latest flagship phone might help it last a little longer, but not as much as you think. Here’s why you shouldn’t buy an Android phone expecting it to last 5–7 years. The 7-Year Update Promise Doesn’t Matter It’s no secret that Android has a poor reputation regarding software updates. Since the first smartphones arrived, Google has struggled to keep pace with Apple....

Summary Sony’s DualSense PS5 controller seems to be a hit with many, but it’s certainly not for everyone. If you’re not enjoying the DualSense, you’re able to pick up a custom controller for a more enjoyable experience. What Makes a Good Custom PS5 Controller? A good custom controller, whether for the PS5 or otherwise, should make your gaming experience better and more comfortable. After all, a third-party or custom PS5 controller will likely cost considerably more than a normal DualSense controller, so you want to get what you pay for....

Quick Links Styles are to Microsoft Word what gridlines are to Microsoft Excel—you’re able to’t have a fully functioning file without having them. They save time, help you to cut out bad Microsoft Word habits, and secure your document’s structure. Let’s look into what they are, what they do, and how to use them. Why Use Styles? Whether you apply them to headings, captions, or the main body of your document, styles define how your text is formatted, spaced, and positioned....

Quick Links you may wipe Windows and start fresh or even buy new hardware, but before you go to extremes, sit down and audit your startup programs to speed up your Windows PC. Why Audit Your Startup Programs? The longer you’ve had your current installation of Windows up and running, the more likely it is that your PC launches a veritable armada of apps every time you restart the machine....

Summary You might not notice Gmail ads a lot—the few ads we do getare made to blend in like emails, so they tend to be a non-issue for many. But now, you’re about to. Google is playing around with a brand new ad format for Gmail, and it might grind some people’s gears. Google is apparently trying out a new, highly visual advertising format within Gmail that, once it rolls out, might convert the Promotions tab into an integrated, miniature shopping hub of sorts....

Summary If you’re still using an old Android smartphone or tablet, we have some potentially bad news. Select models running vastly outdated software will lose access to Google Chrome later this summer. Google recently announced that Chrome will only support Android 10.0 or higher starting this August. Many Android phones and tablets are still running old software for various reasons. Device manufacturers often don’t issue enough updates, carriers can abandon devices, and so on....

Summary Google’s Gemini AI chatbot might be one of the best ones you may use if you’re not willing to pay for a chatbot. Its free version is pretty good, and Google doesn’t put huge limits to it. Now, it’s getting one extra feature that was only available for Advanced users—Saved info. Google is now rolling out its “Saved Info” feature to free users of Gemini Advanced. Saved Info, if you haven’t used it, acts as a memory bank for Gemini, allowing users to store crucial details about their lives, work, preferences, and communication styles....

Summary A lot of Android phones have so far received their respective update to Android 15, but if you have something Android-powered that’s not a smartphone or a tablet, your mileage may vary. TVs are still on Android 14, but it’s increasingly looking like Google might just skip the Android 15 update for Google TV and Android TV-powered devices. Google is apparently hard at work preparing Android 16 for TV, but in the meantime, it might not launch the latest version of Android on TVs and streaming devices....

Quick Links Whenlooking for the best VPN, you’ll quickly notice that all VPNs, from the very best to the very worst, promise that they are “no-log,” “log-free,” or some variation of these words. How do these services get rid of logs, though, or do they even avoid creating them at all? What Are Logs? To figure out what happens to them, let’s first recap what logs are. When you make a connection between two devices—it doesn’t have to be through a VPN, or even via the internet at all—a record is created that records, or logs, that connection....

Summary The internet in Australia sucks. Large swathes of it are built on half-century old copper phone lines, making it both unreliable and slow. After years of suffering with this, I decided to try Starlink. I was actually surprised at just how well it works. A Lot Of People Are Stuck With 1990s Internet Speeds This isn’t (much of) an exaggeration. While many countries were enjoying high-speed broadband internet way back in the early 2000s, as of 2024 there are still huge areas even in developed nations that just have really, really slow internet....

Summary You can automatically download your health records to the Health app on your iPhone and iPad for easy viewing and understanding. Here is how to set it up and why it may be better than your medical network’s native app. How to Connect Your Medical Account to the Health App Connecting your account from your doctor’s medical network to the Health app is simple. It’s the same process as logging in to your network’s native app....

Quick Links Summary If you have a filename with spaces on a Linux system, wrapping your filename in quote marks lets Bash treat it correctly. Tab completion makes entering filenames on the command line easy, even if they contain spaces. Like most operating systems, Linux supports filenames with spaces in them. But using these filenames on the command line isn’t always straightforward. Here are several ways you can handle filenames containing spaces....

Quick Links You may have noticed in recent years that tech product announcements often come with claims about eco-friendliness. It can be tough to know what’s genuinely green and what’s just trendy marketing. We’ll help you cut through the noise and find out what’s real. On the surface, it would seem good that we’re seeing more and more tech companies touting their sustainability efforts. From carbon-neutral smartphones to energy-efficient smart home devices, the push for greener tech has seen an upswing....