I recently spotted a small, colorful ring icon on WhatsApp. I already had a feeling what was coming—and sure enough, tapping it brought me straight to “Meta AI.” Just a few days earlier, I had kicked Copilot out of office and had disabled “Aria” (Opera’s built-in AI). The fact that my insurance company first routed me to a (rather dumb) chatbot didn’t help my mood either. Is it even possible to avoid AI anymore?
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Chrome is the dominant browser—but those who recently opened it often encountered an unpleasant surprise. Many popular extensions, including the widely used uBlock Origin (with over 50 million installations), no longer work. Others have received new versions with limited functionality and fewer customization options. The reason for this is the new Manifest V3 for Chrome extensions, which is currently being rolled out. What does this mean, what are Google's goals, and what alternatives do you have? Find out here!
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Long-time Windows users are familiar with the suspense of system startups: Will the computer boot without hiccups today? Even if you were convinced that you hadn’t changed anything, the screen could stay black or be filled with error messages. This often led to desperation, frustration, time-consuming repair attempts, or even a complete reinstallation. Over the years, I had almost forgotten about all that, but now the suspense is back with a vengeance, bearing names like KB5035853 or KB5035849!
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When battery life starts to wane and security updates stop coming, a phone enters its twilight years—time for something new! My requirements were clear: I didn't want a phone that felt like a brick in my pocket, I wanted an exceptionally good camera, and I wanted a clean operating system without bloatware! This ruled out 90% of phones, which now aim for the size of a chocolate bar or, like many Chinese phones, bug you with ads or unwanted software. So, I checked out the Google Pixel 8, which has dropped to a more reasonable price a few months after its launch. Will it shine where it matters to me?
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Recently, I retired my old computer. For 7 years, it had bravely held its own, with only the graphics card being modestly upgraded–and its age gradually starting to show. With the new system, my attention turned to my equally aged monitor. Not only was it unable to display the higher resolutions my new graphics card could display, it also couldn’t handle more than 60 Hz–and had a dead pixel that had been annoying me for quite some time. So, I started looking for a value-oriented replacement and came across the KOORUI 27-inch QHD gaming monitor. Wait a second, QHD resolution, 1 ms response time, and 144 Hz for under $200? It was worth a try–and I got to explain a few technical terms along the way!
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