This was a busy week in tech news, from Microsoft finally rolling out its controversal Recall feature to Synology revealing new limits on NAS hard drives. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

The Big News

Your Nest Thermostat Might Soon Lose Remote Access

Google has said it will stop providing software updates for its first and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats. This affects models released in 2011, 2012, and a version made for Europe in 2014. Continue reading…

Synology May Punish You for Buying Third-Party Hard Drives

Synology confirms that its upcoming Plus-series NAS devices will restrict some software functionality if you fail to use approved hard drives. This change does not affect older Plus-series hardware. Continue reading…

Windows Recall Is Finally Rolling Out After Controversal Reveal

Microsoft’s controversial Recall feature is now rolling out to Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs, along with an improved Windows search. Recall was delayed for months after the first implementation had significant security and privacy issues, but Microsoft has supposedly fixed all the problems. Continue reading…

BOOX Introduces a Pair of Affordable 7-inch eReaders

Onyx BOOX is introducing a new pair of seven-inch eReaders, the BOOX Go 7 and BOOX Go Color 7 Gen II. Priced at a respective $250 and $280, these are the first seven-inch BOOX eReaders to support stylus input. Continue reading…

Google Pixel Notification Issues Keep Getting Worse

If you have a Google Pixel phone, you’ve probably noticed some issues with notifications over the past few weeks. The good part is that it’s not just you. The bad part is that the saga doesn’t seem to have an end in sight for now. Continue reading…

Microsoft Is Fixing a Weird Bug in Outlook

Your CPU should be flared up by intensive tasks, not by sending emails. But this is precisely what has been happening for a few Outlook users. Thankfully, though, Microsoft has finally put out a fix for this. Continue reading…

Google Photos “Quick Edit” Is Rolling Out, and You’ll Probably Want to Turn It Off

Google Photos is getting a new “Quick Edit” feature, and it doesn’t work like you would expect. The idea is to give you a final chance to edit an image before sharing, but I’m not sure that’s what people want. Continue reading…

Windows Maps Will Become “Nonfunctional” This July

Microsoft is officially killing off Windows Maps. The desktop app, which dates back to 2014, will become nonfunctional in July 2025. This change does not affect Bing Maps. Continue reading…

YouTube Is Testing a New Video UI That You Might Not Like

YouTube has quietly rolled out many design changes, but for the most part, they’ve either been inoffensive or people have quickly adapted to them. This one, however, might be the most sensitive yet, and I’m not sure many will embrace it with open arms. Continue reading…

Netflix’s New Dialogue-Only Subtitles Won’t Clutter Your Screen

Netflix now offers a dialogue-only subtitle option. Dialogue-only subtitles will first appear in the new season of YOU, available today, before appearing in other new Netflix originals. Continue reading…

The Humane Pin Is Dead, but OpenPin Wants to Bring It Back

The Humane AI Pin aimed to be a replacement for smartphones with no screen and the power of generative AI, but the company making it didn’t last long, and all existing Pin devices have been cut off from the servers powering them. A new project is hoping to make them useful again. Continue reading…

Perplexity’s Assistant Is Now on iPhones, With a Big Catch

If you don’t like Siri on your iPhone, too bad—you’re stuck with it. Even as Apple wants to sprinkle it up with Apple Intelligence, it’s still very lacking compared to other assistants. Perplexity’s Assistant is finally on iOS, and if you’re willing to do some workarounds, it’s pretty good. Continue reading…

Razer Joins the Vertical Mouse Party With New Pro Click V2

Razer has released its first vertical mouse: the Pro Click V2 Vertical Edition. This new model joins the standard Pro Click V2. While the standard Pro Click V2 has a more traditional ergonomic shape, the Vertical Edition takes a more radical approach, aiming to compete directly with well-known brands like Logitech in the vertical mouse space. Continue reading…

Anker’s New Nebula X1 Projector Is Packed to the Gills With Unique Tech

Anker sub-brand Nebula just debuted the X1 outdoor smart projector. Packed with unique technology and sold alongside a wireless speaker system, it’s honestly the most exciting projector I’ve seen this year, but it costs $2,999. Continue reading…

Spotify’s AI-Generated Playlist Feature Is Available to More Subscribers

Playlists are a big part of the Spotify experience and appeal, which is why the company spends so much time beefing up playlist features. Last year, Spotify introduced the ability to use AI to help generate playlists based on prompts. Now, it’s being expanded to more markets. Continue reading…

Anker’s New Thunderbolt 5 Dock Has so Many Ports

There are only a few Thunderbolt 5 docks available on the market, and now Anker is joining the party with its first Anker Prime TB5 Docking Station. It can turn a compatible PC into a fully-equipped desk workstation with one cable, complete with multiple monitors and fast charging. Continue reading…

Motorola Has Three New Folding Phones You Shouldn’t Buy

If you want a foldable phone in the US, you’re not left with a lot of options other than Samsung. Motorola makes some of the most popular foldable flip phones, and it has now released three more entries, though there are still some caveats you might want to be aware of. Continue reading…

BMW and Ford’s Recalls Are Practically Microscopic

Ah, automotive recalls—they’re always a bit of a grab bag. One day, they’re a fire hazard, and the next, they’re just a typo in the owner’s manual. Continue reading…

Acura MDX SUV Recalled Due to Water Intrusion Problem

Over the decades, Toyota has built a near-flawless reputation. It is known globally for crafting dependable, long-lasting vehicles. Its commitment to quality has made it a benchmark in the industry. Continue reading…

Google Is Getting Ready to Replace Assistant With Gemini on Smartwatches

Get ready to say goodbye to the familiar Google Assistant on your wrist. Google’s continued push to replace Assistant with Gemini appears to be hitting Wear OS smartwatches. The changes are small–for now. Continue reading…

Intel Arrow Lake CPUs Are Getting a Speed Boost, but You Need an Update

Your Intel Core Ultra 200-series computer might already be fast. But one perk you have by buying newer hardware is that sometimes, new optimizations are found that can make things even faster. Arrow Lake users can now enjoy faster performance—and more importantly, for free. Continue reading…

Your LG TV Is Now an Xbox

LG and Xbox have joined forces to bring Xbox games straight to your living room, without the Xbox. Some LG TVs can now stream games from Xbox Cloud Gaming. Continue reading…

Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses Now Act Like a Live Language Interpreter

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses now support live translation and visual currency conversion. These features, which leverage Meta AI, could be useful to international travelers or expats. Continue reading…

Sony Is Bringing Back the PS5’s Classic Interface Themes

Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that classic PlayStation interface designs are returning to the PS5 for good. The system software for the PS5 is getting a few other helpful improvements, too. Continue reading…

Windows 11 Fixed My Biggest Problem With The Taskbar

To close an app on Windows, sometimes it’s not as easy as hitting the Close button—the app might continue sticking around as a background process, or if an app is frozen, hitting the button might not do a thing. Now, Windows 11 is making the taskbar way, way more useful in this regard. Continue reading…

PayPal Will Reward You for Using Its Cryptocurrency, but You Still Shouldn’t

PayPal has offered its own cryptocurrency for a while, called PayPal USD, intended for peer-to-peer transfers and commerce payments. The company is now rolling out a rewards program that turns your PYUSD balance into something resembling a high-yields savings account, but most people shouldn’t use it. Continue reading…

Roku’s New Update Is All About Sports and Movies

Do you wish your Roku device had more features, like an expansive selection of sports highlights, a better mobile app, or easy-to-find movie trailers? If so, we have some good news. Along with launching two new streaming sticks this week, Roku announced several exciting new features coming to Roku OS. Continue reading…

Roku’s New Ultra-Portable Streaming Sticks Are Ready for Summer Travel

Roku just opened pre-orders for its revised Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus players. These upgraded streaming devices, which start at $30, are “over 35% smaller” than Amazon’s Fire TV Stick and may be a handy option for frequent travelers. Continue reading…

2026 Lexus ES Debuts With Comprehensive Redesign and Major Upgrades

Lexus just pulled the wraps off the 2026 ES at Auto Shanghai 2025, and it’s safe to say—nobody saw this coming. Once the understated “girl next door” of the lineup, the ES has transformed into one of the most striking sedans Lexus has ever designed. Continue reading…

Lenovo’s First 2025 ThinkPads Have AMD’s Zen 5 And Intel’s Arrow Lake Chips

Few laptops have as much of a legacy as the ThinkPad. It first started as an IBM product, and while the lineup is managed by Lenovo today, they are still awesome pieces of hardware. Now, if you need a keyboard with a nub in your life, there’s a few new ThinkPads. And they all look great. Continue reading…

Ford Hits the Brakes Again With Major New Recall

Ford has announced three fresh recalls through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The move affects various popular models, including the F-150, Expedition, and Lincoln Navigator. Continue reading…

Gmail Will Help You Manage All Your Email Newsletters & Spam

I have a huge problem with my Gmail account. It’s filled to the brim with email subscriptions, some of which I subscribed to several years back—and going one-by-one unsubscribing to each is an extremely time-consuming task. Now, Gmail might actually help me fix that problem. Continue reading…

Samsung’s Glasses-Free 3D Gaming Monitors Are Now Available

Samsung has released its 2025 Odyssey lineup of gaming monitors. The collection comes with the Odyssey 3D, Odyssey OLED G8, and the wide-screen Odyssey G9. They’re pretty pricey, but Samsung is offering $300 Samsung credit for purchasing any new Odyssey monitor until April 27. Continue reading…

Sharing your Max account with someone outside of your household? You’re not alone, and Max has a new way to handle it that looks awfully familiar. Just like Netflix, Max is now letting you add an “Extra Member” to your account, but it’ll cost you. Continue reading…

Google Fi Has a New $35/mo 5G Plan and Data-only eSIMs

The mobile carrier Google Fi is now 10 years old, and Google is celebrating with a new unlimited plan for $35 per month, eSIMs for data-only devices, and helpful updates to its other plans. Continue reading…

Scientists Catch Star Disintegrating a Planet, Creating a Comet-Like Tail

Scientists have identified a planet that has a turbulent relationship with its parent star: it is being disintegrated, and leaving a spectacular trail of dusty debris in its wake. Within a few million years, the planet will be completely destroyed. Continue reading…

Boost Mobile Is Adding Tablets And Smartwatches

You typically get phones through carriers, but with the rise of other kinds of devices with cellular support, lines are needed for those devices as well. Most carriers offer tablet and smartwatch lines, and now, Boost Mobile is joining the fray. Continue reading…

This Is Windows 11 Running on an iPad

Apple has been forced to open up its hardware and software a lot more these days due to the European Union’s increasingly stringent laws and regulations—Apple needs to comply or risk a ban on one of its biggest markets in the world. Thanks to the openness allowed by these regulations, someone appears to have gotten a Windows 11 VM running on an iPad. Not bad. Continue reading…

T-Mobile and Metro Just Overhauled Their Phone Plans

T-Mobile and its prepaid brand, Metro by T-Mobile, have rolled out major updates to their service plans. T-Mobile’s plans are expensive but feature-packed, and Metro keeps the low price points we’d expect. Continue reading…

Meta’s New Mobile Video Editor Is Gunning for CapCut

Meta has officially joined the competitive world of smartphone video editing with the global release of its new app, Edits. The app is a direct competitor to ByteDance’s very popular CapCut. Continue reading…

Duolingo Will Now Teach You How to Play Games, Too

Duolingo has been a prime choice for language learning for years, and it recently began branching out into teaching other things, too. Now, it wants to make you better at one specific skill—chess. Continue reading…

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 ‘Certified Re-Newed’ Phones Start at $620

Samsung now cells ‘Certified Re-newed’ Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra phones. The devices are refurbished with new batteries, “assembled by Samsung engineers,” and sold at a discount compared to getting a brand-new Galaxy S25 phone. Continue reading…

Google Messages Is Getting Two Huge New Features

Do you wish Google Messages had a few more features, like location sharing and blocking unwanted images? If so, you’re in luck. This week, we learned that Google is rolling out a new feature that blurs inappropriate images and is preparing to release another that’ll take it one step closer to matching iMessage. Continue reading…

Insta360’s X5 Action Camera is Finally Here (And Tougher Than Ever)

You have tons of options as far as action cameras go, but Insta360’s cameras remain solid for a few reasons. Now, the Insta360 X5 is finally here, and it’s the toughest we’ve seen to date from the company. Continue reading…

This Tiny PC Can Fit In Your Pocket

We’ve seen tons of different PCs on the smaller side, from mini-ITX-sized ones to actual miniatures. Few are as small as this one, though. Continue reading…

Rockbox 4.0 Custom Firmware Arrives for MP3 Players, Including Old iPods

Rockbox, the custom firmware for iPods and MP3 players from Archos, Samsung, Creative, and other companies, just released a new major version. Rockbox 4.0 is packed with new features and usability improvements, and it now supports a few more media players. Continue reading…

Logitech Is Quietly Increasing Its Prices

We warned you that due to the tariffs being imposed by the United States, you should expect price hikes for everything everywhere. Now, Logitech is the latest big company forced to increase its prices for mysterious reasons absolutely no one knows. Continue reading…

Reolink Is Teaming up With Home Assistant

Security camera company Reolink has joined the Works with Home Assistant program. This partnership means many Reolink devices now work smoothly with Home Assistant, and supports Home Assistant’s focus on local control and privacy. Continue reading…

The Other Stuff

Google lost its court case against the United States Department of Justice, and could end up having to sell the Chrome web browser as an anticompetitive measure. In response, several companies are lining up at the opportunity to be the court-ordered buyer: Perplexity, OpenAI, and Yahoo, to name a few. It’s too early to tell if they will even get the opportunity, though, especially after case appeals.

The Bluesky social media network is still gaining momentum, and it just started rolling out support for verified badges. Noteworthy people, companies, and other organizations will now have a blue checkmark, much like in the old days of Twitter.

Finally, the rise of 5G home internet is still making a significant impact in the United States, as evidenced by more complaints from traditional internet service providers. Comcast executives said in an earnings call this week that its internet services aren’t “winning in the marketplace,” and attributed “price transparency and predictability” as the reasons. Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and other 5G home internet providers aren’t perfect, but it’s great to see ISPs lose the monopoly they have enjoyed for decades in many areas.