Tech - Febspot (Page 41)

Tech

A collection of 1931 posts

Seagate's 5TB Astro Bot external drive gives PS5 large storage for $159.99 — Cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net

Seagate's 5TB Astro Bot external drive gives PS5 large storage for $159.99

The Seagate Astro Bot Limited Edition 5TB Game Drive is on sale for $159.99 at Best Buy and PS Direct US, according to Gamesradar. The drive provides 5TB of extra space for PS5 games, PlayStation Plus downloads, screenshots and clips, and has remained at its $159.99 launch price

Microsoft projects large rise in data-center water use as A.I. expands — Static01.nyt.com

Microsoft projects large rise in data-center water use as A.I. expands

Microsoft is projecting a sharp increase in water use at its data centers worldwide as demand for artificial intelligence grows, with internal forecasts last year showing annual needs rising to about 28 billion liters by 2030 from 7.9 billion liters in 2020. After The Times contacted the company, Microsoft

Meta spent $6.4 million on TV ads promoting data centers and jobs — Static01.nyt.com

Meta spent $6.4 million on TV ads promoting data centers and jobs

Meta ran a $6.4 million television ad campaign in November and December, placing spots in the markets of eight state capitals — including Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Tallahassee — and Washington, D.C., to promote data centers and the jobs they create. One ad featured scenes from Altoona, Iowa, where

ZDNET reviewer finds DeWalt 60V Max electric snow blower a capable alternative to gas model — Zdnet.com

ZDNET reviewer finds DeWalt 60V Max electric snow blower a capable alternative to gas model

A ZDNET reviewer in Cleveland tested DeWalt's 60V Max single-stage electric snow blower after their gas-powered two-stage Troy-Bilt failed to start while they were preparing for an incoming storm. The reviewer noted several design features, including an all-steel auger, electronic paddle controls for chute rotation, and a control

Lego reveals five Star Wars Smart Play-compatible sets ahead of March 1 launch — Static0.polygonimages.com

Lego reveals five Star Wars Smart Play-compatible sets ahead of March 1 launch

Polygon reports Lego will launch its Smart Play system on March 1 and has put five additional Star Wars sets up for preorder; these new sets are Smart Play–compatible but do not include the Smart Brick that powers lights and sounds. The new models include Luke's Landspeeder

Apple’s second‑generation AirTag enhances tracking for Belkin Switch 2 case — Cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net

Apple’s second‑generation AirTag enhances tracking for Belkin Switch 2 case

Gamesradar reports Apple has unveiled a second‑generation AirTag, a change that makes the Belkin Charging Case for the Nintendo Switch 2 more useful by taking advantage of a small hidden pocket in the case designed to hold a tracker. Apple says the new AirTag uses a second‑generation Ultra

Hideki Konno, veteran Nintendo developer, left the company last summer — Kotaku.com

Hideki Konno, veteran Nintendo developer, left the company last summer

Kotaku reports that Hideki Konno, a longtime Nintendo developer who worked on games ranging from Sim City for the SNES to Mario Kart 8, left the company last summer. Game*Spark said Konno signalled the departure at the time with a Facebook status update, but fans have only been noticing

Physical failures and DNS faults drove more than 180 internet disruptions in 2025 — Zdnet.com

Physical failures and DNS faults drove more than 180 internet disruptions in 2025

Cloudflare reported it observed more than 180 internet disruptions worldwide during 2025, with outages ranging from short local incidents to multiday national failures affecting major cloud providers and networks. The report said the most dramatic outages stemmed from physical infrastructure failures, especially submarine cable breaks and national power grid problems.

Proton Mail named top email encryption pick in ZDNet's 2026 roundup — Zdnet.com

Proton Mail named top email encryption pick in ZDNet's 2026 roundup

ZDNet's reviewer tested leading email encryption solutions and selected Proton Mail as the top pick for 2026, citing end-to-end encryption and usability for high-stakes business communications. The reviewer highlighted Proton Mail's AES-256 equivalent symmetric encryption combined with RSA asymmetric cryptography, a zero-access architecture, PGP compatibility and

Screeps: World updated after alleged remote-code exploit, developers dispute claims — Kotaku.com

Screeps: World updated after alleged remote-code exploit, developers dispute claims

Kotaku reports that Screeps, LLC updated Screeps: World "in order to protect both players" and their "own reputation" after the discovery of an alleged "remote code execution vulnerability" that would enable players to take control of other players' computers. Security researcher Isaac King

Jury Selection Set in First Trial Claiming Social Platforms Caused Teen Addiction — Static01.nyt.com

Jury Selection Set in First Trial Claiming Social Platforms Caused Teen Addiction

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in California Superior Court of Los Angeles County for the first of a series of trials alleging that Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube designed addictive products that harmed young people. The lawsuits, filed by teenagers, school districts and states, claim the companies encouraged

ZDNet updates Linux VPN guide; Private Internet Access named top pick — Zdnet.com

ZDNet updates Linux VPN guide; Private Internet Access named top pick

ZDNet has overhauled its guide to the best Linux VPNs in a January 2026 update and names Private Internet Access (PIA) as its top choice for Linux users. According to the guide, PIA offers open-source GUI apps for distributions including Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, Fedora and Arch, while also supporting CLI

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ is a powerful ultraportable with long battery life — Zdnet.com

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ is a powerful ultraportable with long battery life

MSI's Prestige 14 Flip AI+ is available now for $1,299 and, according to ZDNET, delivers significant processing power in a sleek, productivity-focused ultraportable design. The 2.9‑pound 2‑in‑1 features a 14‑inch touchscreen OLED, an included "Nano Pen," and hardware that includes

Writer replaces Tarkov friends with AI bot, finds experience unsettling — Kotaku.com

Writer replaces Tarkov friends with AI bot, finds experience unsettling

Kotaku reports that Matthew Gault, a games and tech writer at 404 Media, tried replacing his friends with an AI chatbot after failing to convince them to play Escape from Tarkov with him and found the result disturbingly convincing. Gault, who calls himself a "certified AI hater," said

Google explores turning Gmail into a relationship-aware AI assistant — Zdnet.com

Google explores turning Gmail into a relationship-aware AI assistant

Google is exploring reworking Gmail into a proactive, relationship-aware AI assistant, according to a ZDNET interview with Blake Barnes, Gmail's vice president of product. The company and Barnes described these ideas as exploratory and not product commitments. Barnes told ZDNET that Google wants Gmail to do more than

Trials begin alleging Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube built addictive products — Static01.nyt.com

Trials begin alleging Meta, TikTok, Snap and YouTube built addictive products

Beginning this week, Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube will stand trial in Los Angeles over claims that their platforms are addictive and have harmed young users. Plaintiffs’ lawyers are testing a legal theory that the companies caused personal injury through defective products, arguing features such as infinite scrolling, algorithmic recommendations,

AirPods Pro 3 vs Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: how the earbuds compare and who they suit — Zdnet.com

AirPods Pro 3 vs Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: how the earbuds compare and who they suit

ZDNET's Christian de Looper compared Apple's AirPods Pro 3 and Samsung's Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and found a strong first‑party advantage: each pair delivers more functionality when used with its maker's ecosystem. The two models differ on key specs. Apple quotes

Iftop offers a simple command-line way to monitor Linux network traffic — Zdnet.com

Iftop offers a simple command-line way to monitor Linux network traffic

ZDNET's article says the iftop command is an easy way to monitor incoming and outgoing network traffic on Linux, presenting bandwidth usage by host in a readable table. According to the piece, iftop listens to traffic on a specified network interface (or the first interface it finds) and

Tech workers and leaders split after Minneapolis protester killings — Static01.nyt.com

Tech workers and leaders split after Minneapolis protester killings

Top technology executives gathered in Washington this weekend for a screening of the documentary "Melania," while many in Silicon Valley publicly criticized the Trump administration after federal agents in Minneapolis shot and killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Executives at the screening included Andy Jassy of Amazon, Tim

Small thermostat changes can cut energy costs without reducing comfort — Zdnet.com

Small thermostat changes can cut energy costs without reducing comfort

ZDNET's Maria Diaz says making small thermostat adjustments can lower energy bills without making a home uncomfortable. The article notes that changing a thermostat by a single degree can save about 1–3% on energy costs. Diaz explains that HVAC systems run periodic cycles and that a larger

Rising RAM costs push buyers toward refurbished PCs, DDR4 and ChromeOS — Zdnet.com

Rising RAM costs push buyers toward refurbished PCs, DDR4 and ChromeOS

RAM prices have surged recently, with PCPartPicker reporting the average price of a 2x32GB DDR5-6000 kit reached nearly $800 in December 2025 — more than the current listed price of Sony's PS5 Pro at $749 — and RAM rising another 50% in Q1 2026 alone, the outlet said. ZDNET noted

Six practical tips for choosing a snow blower from someone who built them — Zdnet.com

Six practical tips for choosing a snow blower from someone who built them

Taylor Clemons at ZDNET, who spent several years building and refurbishing snow blowers at MTD Products, outlines six tips to help buyers choose the right snow blower for their needs. Clemons breaks down four main model types: single-stage machines use one auger and are compact for light snow; two-stage models

Solid-state batteries outperform lithium-ion but aren’t in iPhones yet — Zdnet.com

Solid-state batteries outperform lithium-ion but aren’t in iPhones yet

Solid-state batteries offer higher energy density, improved safety and longer lifespan, but they are not yet used to power iPhones and most portable devices. Solid-state cells use solid materials for the electrolyte instead of the liquid or gel electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries. The dry electrolytes — various ceramics — are non-flammable, can

Origami Linux blends COSMIC desktop with an immutable Fedora base — Zdnet.com

Origami Linux blends COSMIC desktop with an immutable Fedora base

Origami Linux is a relatively new distribution, conceived in 2021, that pairs System76's COSMIC desktop with an immutable Fedora base, and it is available to download and install for free, ZDNET's Jack Wallen reported. Wallen noted the distro can also be built on an Arch base