If the (hang on, let me count) 16 different Lego sets in my office alone are any indication, then PC gamers and Lego fans have a big overlap in the middle of their Venn diagram. Alienware knows this, and has released an official, adorable set that lets you recreate an Area 51 gaming desktop in miniature. According to the promotional page, the set is made of authentic Lego bricks. I assume the company is sourcing them wholesale, since the packaging doesn’t have any Lego logos on the box. It’s 5.3 inches (13.2 centimeters) long and contains 318 bricks. But it’s a pretty cool little kit, replicating the exterior features of the case and a nicely detailed rear panel, with a transparent window showing off the motherboard, CPU, GPU, and even some tiny round pieces that stand in for cooling fans. There are even some piping elements that show off liquid cooler lines going to the “radiator.” Dell If you want one, you’ll need to engage in a little band loyalty. The Dell subsidiary isn’t selling the kit on its own, instead exchanging it for 3500 Alienware Reward Points (ARP). You can earn ARP by installing the Alienware Arena app and competing in various challenges and community activities. It doesn’t look fun, frankly, and I’d rather just send Dell $30 for a teeny-tiny gaming desktop kit. Alternately, if you’ve got a shoebox full of spare Lego parts like I do, you could just throw together your own. There are plenty of examples to choose from out there. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Sharp 2K video Spotlights enable good color night vision Easy to set up Local storage via up to 512GB microSD Cons No support for Apple Home Onboard mic doesn’t mask wind noise very well Our Verdict The Tapo C410 Kit is a very good home security camera, especially for folks looking to avoid the necessity of paying for a subscription to get its most important features. It’s also a great pick for those looking to avoid wires and needing to dismount the camera to charge its battery. But the absence of Apple Home support will be a bummer for some. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today I’ve had a full set of security cameras set up around my house for many years, but none of them was oriented in such a way that I could see over the fence to check on the car or who was on the other side of the fence. Since my existing system can’t support any additional cameras, I figured I might as well get a smart solar-powered security camera. That’s when TP-Link’s affordable Tapo C410 Kit caught by eye. This bullet-style, battery-powered camera is completely wireless; it comes with a solar panel to keep its lithium-ion battery topped off; and the presence of a microSD card slot means it can accommodate up to a user-provided 512GB memory card–and that means you don’t really need to pay for a subscription to store video recordings in the cloud (TP-Link does offer optional subscriptions, of course, which I’ll discuss later). The solar panel is the star of the show here because it’s what gives us so much freedom. Design and features The cylindrical Tapo C410 itself has a clean and modern look that we’ve come to expect from security cameras. When triggered by motion after dark, a pair of LED spotlights enable color night vision, and there’s an onboard microphone for two-way audio. There’s a power button on the back of the camera, as well as a USB-C port for charging its battery (the included solar panel plugs in here as well) and the slot for the previously mentioned microSD card slot. In other words, it offers all the features we think you should look for in a budget-priced security camera. Gabriela Vatu The included mount accommodates both the camera and the solar panel, simplifying physical installation. You’ll also find several rubber elements in the box you can use to make camera’s ports watertight even after plugging the solar panel into the camera. The camera carries a weatherization rating of IP65, which–according to our IP code guide–indicates it is impervious to dust ingress and that it’s protected from water jets sprayed from any direction, although it probably wouldn’t stand up to a pressure washer at close distance. The camera delivers 2K resolution (defined as 2304 x 1296 pixels) at 15 frames per second, which means the image is sharp enough to capture great details, from license plates to faces. The solar panel is the star of the show here because it’s what gives us so much freedom, making it possible to set it up anywhere we need it as long as it’s exposed to sunlight. Gabriela Vatu The camera also delivers a slew of features that many smart cams come with, including two-way audio, general motion detection, and person detection. The camera uses motion detection to send you alerts when activity is noticed, and it can smartly distinguish between people, pets, and vehicles. You decide which notifications to get and which to ignore. The camera connects to your local router easily (2.4GHz networks only). Whether or not you avail yourself of the camera’s microSD card slot, an optional Tapo Care subscription enables you to store video recordings in the cloud (with a 30-day history), and it adds a rich notification feature that includes a snapshot of the motion that triggered the camera to send you an alert. Tapo Care plans start at $3.49 per month or $34.99 per year and are one of the least expensive security subscriptions out there. But remember: don’t buy just any microSD card for a security camera–make sure its specs are suitable for the job. Setup and performance The Tapo C410 Kit is extremely easy to set up. Everything you need is in the box, including screws to mount it on your wall. All you’ll need to do is to figure out where to set it up so it gets enough sunlight to keep its battery charged. Tapo says the camera needs at least 45 minutes of direct sunlight for all-day monitoring, so make sure you pick a good spot. A longer USB-C cable is also in the box in the event you need to mount the solar panel further away from the camera to get enough exposure to the sun. Gabriela Vatu The whole process was relatively painless and took 15 minutes at most, including all the time spent going up and down the ladder. Connecting the camera to the app is also extremely easy. To take things one step further, I integrated the Tapo app with Google Home. In less than two minutes I could say “Hey Google, show me the front yard” and have the footage displayed on my Nest Hub. If Alexa rules your smart home, you can do the same with an Echo Show. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best home security cameras. The quality of the two-way audio is great, although I found the microphone to be a bit susceptible to wind noise I feel there’s quite a bit of extra noise when it’s windy, despite Tapo claiming there’s some noise cancellation. One thing I love about the camera is that you can define activity zones or black out your neighbor’s windows for privacy, for instance. Should you buy the Tapo C410 Kit? Frankly, there’s no reason not to get the Tapo C410 Kit. It’s super easy to set up—both physically and via the app—and it delivers great video quality, as well as plenty of smart features. It’s a great pick for anyone who doesn’t want to spend a fortune on security cameras, wants one they can set up and forget about, and wants the ease of mind of always getting notifications about what’s happening outside their home. Since this is a solar-powered camera, this may not be the best pick for folks who live in areas with limited sunlight or who have an Apple Home setup. Read...

Come October 14th, Microsoft is officially ending support for Windows 10. That means no more new features or improvements, no more security fixes, and the gradual loss of apps as they also stop supporting Windows 10. Microsoft wants you to upgrade to Windows 11—and if your PC doesn’t meet the requirements, then Microsoft wants you to trade it in or recycle it and get a brand-new Windows 11 machine. But maybe you don’t have the money for that. Or maybe you’re repelled by Windows 11. Or maybe you just don’t want to waste a perfectly good PC that still works fine. In that case, you might be interested in KDE’s latest campaign that encourages Windows 10 holdouts to try switching to Linux with the user-friendly Plasma Desktop (spotted by Windows Latest). The campaign is called KDE for Windows 10 Exiles, which highlights the fact that while many older PCs can’t be upgraded to Windows 11, there’s no need to create unnecessary e-waste. The smarter and more eco-friendly move is to switch to Linux—and KDE is, of course, flying the flag for its own Plasma solution. Plasma Desktop is a free, simple, and easy-to-use desktop environment that’s meant to be an accessible Windows alternative. It includes an app launcher, system tray, notifications, and software repositories, plus lots of customization options to make it as comfortable as you like. Plasma isn’t itself a Linux distribution. It’s a user interface for the OS that works with most popular KDE-compatible Linux distributions, including OpenSUSE, Fedora, Manjaro, and Kubuntu. If you don’t want to give up your machine and want to try switching to Linux, consider installing OpenSUSE with Plasma. The OpenSUSE Installation Quick Start Guide walks you through the process. Otherwise, learn more about how to save your Windows 10 PC after end of life. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Impressively svelte for a 16-inch gaming laptop Surprising battery life Gorgeous display Cons Huge trackpad fumbles palm rejection More sluggish on battery power Trails cheaper competitors at every turn Our Verdict The Razer Blade 16 is sleek but sacrifices performance, with its RTX 5090 model often trailing RTX 5080 laptops despite a higher price. Lower-end configurations may offer better value. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today The 2025 Razer Blade 16 continues the shaky tradition of packing some top-of-the-line PC gaming hardware into a laptop chassis that can almost be considered thin and light. For a 16-inch laptop, the Razer Blade 16 impresses at well under five pounds and under 0.7 inches thick, and yet it’s still rocking a solid aluminum design, a fantastic display, and more ports than you’d expect.  There are always some downsides to this formula, as the new Blade 16 ranges in price from $2,399 to $4,499 as tested here in a high-end configuration and yet lags behind some cheaper competitors where performance is concerned. It’s that awkward balance of performance, price, and design that sees the Blade 16 struggle with value. Those who want the most performance can get it from something like the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 instead. But where slimness, weight, and battery life for a gaming laptop are concerned, this new Blade 16 still has something to offer.  Razer Blade 16 2025: Specs and features Model number: RZ09-05289EN9-R3U1 CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Memory: 32GB LPDDR5 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5090 (175-watt TGP) Display: 16-inch 2560×1600 240Hz OLED Storage: 2TB PCIe Gen4 SSD Webcam: 1080p + IR Connectivity: 2x USB 4 with DisplayPort 1.4 (from iGPU only) and 100W PD input, 3x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x SDcard reader, 1x 3.5mm combo audio Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 90 watt-hours Dimensions: 13.98 x 9.86 x 0.69 inches Weight: 4.65 pounds MSRP: $4,499 as-tested ($2,399 base) At the time of testing, the 2025 Razer Blade 16 started out at $2,799 to get you a configuration with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU, 32GB of memory, 1TB of storage, and an RTX 5070 8GB GPU. Since then, Razer introduced an even lower configuration for $2,399 that drops to an RTX 5060 and 16GB of memory. Razer allows some different customization options but links many of them with other adjustments. So even though you have the option to select a different GPU up to the RTX 5090, can swap for a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, and can increase storage to 4TB and memory to 64GB, you may not get to mix and match these elements as you please.  For instance, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is tied to the RTX 5090. If you want one, you’re also getting the other. Some of the other adjustments are perplexing. For instance, if you choose 64GB of memory, you must also select 4TB of storage unless you opt for an RTX 5080. If you want 2TB of storage, you have to select at least an RTX 5080. If you want 4TB of storage, you have to get a max-spec system. Just about every option you select in the configuration tool will change other options, making it a mad game of guess-and-check to see if you can get the specific configuration you want. On the bright side, the high-speed OLED display comes standard on all models.  Every time I’ve tested a high-end Razer Blade, I’ve seen it sacrifice performance in its pursuit of a slimmer, lighter design. That’s true again here, putting it at odds with the kind of high-performance parts you can configure the 2025 Blade 16 to include. Razer Blade 16 2025: Design and build quality The 2025 Razer Blade 16 maintains the minimalist, understated design that has been a hallmark of Razer’s laptops. It’s truly a hunk of deep black aluminum with very tightly rounded corners and edges and almost perfectly flat surfaces. The big tells that it’s a gaming laptop are the illuminated three-snake Razer logo on the lid and the per-key RGB keyboard. While prior models we’ve tested have had only slight flex in the chassis, the 2025 model has some more noticeable bending in the display and flex on the keyboard deck. It’s still quite firm, and I’ve never been concerned while holding the laptop up at one corner.  IDG / Mark Knapp The difference is perhaps stemming from how much is packed into this model. The 2024 Razer Blade 16 measured in at 5.4 pounds and 0.87 inches thick, but this model has trimmed that way down to just 4.65 pounds and 0.69 inches thick. While both models feature the highest-end mobile GPU available to them at the time (and both at 175 watts), this new model uses a lower-wattage CPU than the Intel Core i9-14900HX found in the 2024. Therefore, it may have gotten away with lighter cooling. As thin as the Blade 16 manages to be for the most part, there is a raised area on the underside to provide more room for the motherboard and cooling components. While the prior model had impressively thin bezels around the display, the 2025 unit mostly does as well; the bezel below the screen is considerably thicker. The all-black design helps it blend in at least. The display sits on a firm, wide, smooth-moving hinge that stretches most of the width of the laptop. It only has a little wiggle to it, and it opens easily using a single hand.  The surface of the laptop is largely occupied by the keyboard, which has been slightly expanded to include an extra column of shortcut keys along the right edge. Rather than go for a number pad, which would have been squished anyway, the Razer Blade 16 has a pair of speaker grilles at each side of the keyboard. The grilles are the same height as the keyboard, though they’re only packing a pair of tweeters inside. A second set of speakers sits on the underside of the laptop.  The system pulls air in through grilles on the bottom of the laptop and vents it out of a heatsink fin stack at the back. That fin stack is not only quite small but also only has a small amount of clearance between it and the display hinge. Moving as much heat as this system can produce makes for fans that are a little noisy while running at full blast, but they’re not shrill or annoying. They blow with more of a calm, breezy tone to them.  Altogether, the Blade 16 2025 is an impressively built machine, considering its size and weight alongside the fact it’s packing in an RTX 5090. But the tight confines certainly raise concerns about the performance potential. Razer Blade 16 2025: Keyboard, trackpad The Razer Blade’s keyboard is a mixed bag. On the one hand, Razer has stabilized its keycaps somewhat well, and they have a clean, poppy travel. Unfortunately, Razer has gone the route of the Dell XPS line of late, opting for keycaps that are flat and perfectly square. There’s at least a bit more space between keys to provide a little tactile sense of where one key ends and the next begins, but I still find it hard to type away with my fingers centered. As a result, I find I hang up after a typo and take just enough time to correct my position that I can’t sustain a typing speed much above 100 words per minute in Monkeytype. If I’m lucky and don’t make (or notice) my mistakes, I can hit 110-115 words per minute, but I didn’t feel comfortable going beyond that.  IDG / Mark Knapp The keyboard’s layout is a little curious. Razer took advantage of the laptop’s extra space, but only slightly. It added a single extra column at the right edge of the keyboard with a few shortcut keys. This may be handy for those that use them, but it makes finding the Delete and arrow keys just a little more tedious. Razer also had an opportunity to use full-size arrow keys without needing to shrink the right Shift key too much but didn’t take advantage of that extra space.  And this being a Razer machine, the keyboard naturally has full, per-key RGB backlighting that’s highly customizable in Razer’s software. While the RGB lighting illuminates all of the primary legends on the keycaps, it doesn’t do so for any of the secondary legends. And for the function row, that means you’ll only get the F1-F12 legends lit up and not the helpful shortcuts tied to them.  Razer’s trackpad is properly huge. It takes up almost all of the space available to it on the vertical axis, leaving just a narrow strip above and below. It’s also almost as wide as the alphanumeric keys on the keyboard. This is great for mousing around the system, as I almost never have to deal with repositioning my finger. I have run into a couple small hiccups with multi-finger gestures and even more with very frequent palm rejection failures, with the trackpad registering unintended touches that are hard to avoid due to its size. But overall, its size is a benefit. The trackpad has a short and firm physical click. It’s pleasing to the touch, though it takes just enough force that I find I often fail to get it on the first attempt.  Razer Blade 16 2025: Display, audio The Blade 16 offers an excellent display. It’s exceedingly sharp with a 2560×1600 resolution on a 16-inch panel, and that can spin up to 240Hz for ultra-fast motion. Combine that with the fact that it’s an OLED panel, and you get not only the speed of the refresh but also the quick pixel response time. The display could hit 411 nits of fullscreen brightness, plenty for most environments except bright outdoors. Razer claims this is an anti-glare display. And it is, to a degree. I can clearly see reflections in it, so don’t expect a matte quality. But outside, in the daylight, the glare is slightly subdued. The display’s brightness combines with pitch blacks for infinite contrast, and the screen can deliver 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space alongside a high degree of color accuracy (average dE1976 of 0.69 and max dE1976 of 1.44). IDG / Mark Knapp The speakers can get pretty loud, but at max volume, they’re overbearing and distort some, especially with strong bass, and they produce a bit of resonance in the laptop chassis. At lower volumes, they put out pretty clean and clear sound with bright treble and pronounced mids. Bass is a little weak, but not entirely absent, as it can be on many laptops. Razer Blade 16 2025: Webcam, microphone, biometrics You’ll get a serviceable webcam and microphone setup on the Blade 16. In good lighting conditions, the camera captures a decently sharp picture and avoids too much noise or poor exposure. If you’re just trying to rely on overhead lights, though, the picture will end up a fair bit grainier.  The mics have somewhat unusual processing, even in a quiet room. This makes for a loud and present voice but has minor artifacts. The flipside of that processing is that background noise is almost obliterated. Even with a fan running at full speed underneath the desk I had the laptop on, the mics captured only my voice. Even more wild, I began snapping my fingers and clapping while I spoke into the mics, and they completely neutralized the snapping and clapping. Good if you want to be sure your voice is captured, but maybe not so good if you want someone to hear your clapping. While the Blade 16 certainly has space for a fingerprint scanner, it doesn’t include one. The webcam does work with Windows Hello for quick facial recognition, though. Razer Blade 16 2025: Connectivity At first glance, the 2025 Razer Blade 16 might appear to have the same ports as its predecessor, albeit with a slight shift to their positioning (the SD card reader is now closer to other ports on the right side). But this model has upgraded ports. While its predecessor had a single Thunderbolt 4 port, the new Blade 16 has two USB4 ports. It keeps one on each side (a plus for flexibility), and they both support DisplayPort 1.4 and can receive 100 watts of PD charging in case you don’t want to bring the 1.77-pound charging brick with you everywhere.  The laptop still has three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports — two on the left and one on the right — as well as a 3.5mm combo jack, HDMI 2.1 port, and full-size SD card reader. There’s a Kensington security lock slot as well.  IDG / Mark Knapp Interestingly, the USB-C ports may support DisplayPort, but only for video signals coming from the CPU’s integrated GPU. Since you’ll want to game on the discrete GPU, you’ll have to use the HDMI port to get the most out of the system’s performance.  For wireless connections, the Blade 16 still supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, and both have proven reliable in my testing.  Razer Blade 16 2025: Performance This test unit of the Razer Blade 16 is geared up to be an extreme performer. But the chassis thinness doesn’t allow the same sort of heat management you might expect from big and beefy gaming laptops. So even though you’re getting some of the most premium internals you can for a laptop, you shouldn’t necessarily expect them to outpace rivals. While we haven’t yet tested other RTX 5090-powered laptops, the Razer Blade 16 shows itself only worthy of competing with RTX 5080-powered laptops anyway. On many fronts, it struggles to contend with the $3,599 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10, $3,299 Asus ROG Strix SCAR 16 (G635LW), $3,769 HP Omen Max 16, and $4,059 Lenovo Legion 9i (Gen 9).  IDG / Mark Knapp The Razer Blade 16 is a potent machine. Scores upwards of 8,000 points in PCMark 10 don’t come easily, but the Blade 16 managed it well. This holistic benchmark provides an idea of how well the system can handle all sorts of common workloads, and this kind of score leaves little doubt that the Blade 16 can keep up with much of what the average user will throw at it. That said, Razer is trailing the pack here. And as we dig into more targeted performance tests, it’ll become pretty clear why.  In practice, the Blade 16 does manage everyday use well. But this can see the system handing off display management between the dGPU and iGPU, and it’s not seamless. It may be quick, but it tends to happen right in the middle of me doing something, so I frequently feel the momentary freeze of the display as it switches over. IDG / Mark Knapp The Razer Blade 16 may sport a high-end CPU, but it’s not leading the pack by any measure. Across Cinebench R15, R20, R23, and R24, the Razer Blade 16 and its AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU (which has a 4+8 core configuration) lag behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (which has an 8+16 core configuration) found in three of these other laptops. Across the board, it falls short in single-core and multi-core performance. Only against the Legion 9i’s Core i9-14900HX does the Blade 16 score any wins, and even there it’s only in single-core performance. This isn’t to say the Blade 16 is a weak system, but if you’re looking for the most raw power, these other systems generally have it beat. And sure enough, this raw CPU brunt bears out in Handbrake as well, where the Razer Blade 16 takes more than 50 percent longer to complete its encoding tasks next to the Intel Lunar Lake-equipped laptops and even falls over a minute behind the Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 9 with its older (though no slouch) Intel Core i9-14900HX. IDG / Mark Knapp That CPU deficit comes back to bite the Razer Blade 16 again when it comes to less-demanding 1080p gaming. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the Blade was largely bound by its CPU, so even though it was the only system in this pack with an RTX 5090, it performed at the back of the pack. It was so CPU-bound, in fact, that bumping the resolution from 1080p to 1440p saw performance drop only to an average of 161 FPS. IDG / Mark Knapp Unfortunately, even as more weight is put on the GPU, the Razer Blade 16 doesn’t manage to speed away from the competition. Metro Exodus remains quite demanding even at 1080p. Here, the Razer Blade 16 is offering undeniably excellent performance, but it’s simply no more excellent than the other systems here, and the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10’s performance is good for an almost eight percent lead.  IDG / Mark Knapp Ray tracing appears to be a big equalizer for these systems. Running Cyberpunk 2077 at its Ultra preset without any ray-tracing effects, the Blade 16 again falls way behind. But with the RT Overdrive preset, all of the systems drop to within a frame or two of 40 FPS (except the Legion 9i, which was not tested with Cyberpunk 2077).  IDG / Mark Knapp 3DMark’s Port Royale benchmark further shows this equalizing effect. Where the Blade 16 had been trailing in other tests, it’s back in the game when heavy ray-tracing effects are called for. It gets a minor lead over the ROG Strix Scar 16 and HP Omen Max 16, but it’s an incredibly marginal improvement over the RTX 4090 seen in the Lenovo Legion 9i. But more crucially, the Blade 16 still lags behind the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 and its RTX 5080.  Razer Blade 16 2025: Battery life To the Razer Blade 16’s credit, it at least does a good job managing its battery. Some gaming laptops struggle to wrangle their discrete GPUs when operating on battery power, and that can see them rip right through their battery. In my testing, the Blade 16 generally managed to disable the GPU and lean on the iGPU when it was away from its charger. That paid off in our battery test, running a local 4K video with the display set between 250 and 260 nits and the system in airplane mode, where the Blade 16 managed to run for a bit over 10 and a half hours.  IDG / Mark Knapp That performance saw the Razer Blade 16 almost double the runtimes of its competition here. Only two of these other machines managed to break 5 hours, and neither exceeded 6 hours. The Blade 16 even managed to hold up well in everyday use, generally making it through most of the day. On at least one occasion, I did notice the discrete GPU remaining active on battery power, but I was able to manually end applications that were using it, and then it deactivated.  Despite having some of the most extreme-performance hardware you can find for a laptop today, I found the Razer Blade 16 frequently holding me up while trying to do simple things in Windows while operating on battery power. It frequently stalled out while trying to get into various settings menus, and casually browsing with videos running would occasionally see the video sputter or have the display freeze entirely (a not uncommon experience on laptop iGPUs). Razer Blade 16 2025: Conclusion Every time I’ve tested a high-end Razer Blade, I’ve seen it sacrifice performance in its pursuit of a slimmer, lighter design. That’s true again here, putting it at odds with the kind of high-performance parts you can configure the 2025 Blade 16 to include. The Blade 16’s RTX 5090 falling behind other systems running RTX 5080 and RTX 4090 GPUs is a bad look, especially when the Blade 16 hits such a lofty price to provide that RTX 5090. For those seeking extreme performance, the Blade 16 just doesn’t stand out as sensible.  The lower-tier models of the Blade 16 may actually be where it begins to make sense. The Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 that has harried the Blade 16 so thoroughly through our benchmarking suite has a base price of $2,849 and comes with an RTX 5070 Ti. The Blade 16, meanwhile, comes with an RTX 5070 for $2,799 (though the CPU also drops to a slightly slower Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU), or you can bump it to $2,999 to get an RTX 5070 Ti. With closer-matched internals and prices, the Blade’s slimmer design, lower weight, and longer battery life can help buoy its value next to the Lenovo system. And with any luck, the Blade 16’s thermal and power designs may be better able to cope with the lower-tier internals to actually run them at their full potential. Read...

Want to clear out your old posts on X (formerly Twitter) without deleting your entire account? That’s where Cyd comes in. It doesn’t use X’s API, so instead of relying on third-party permissions, it works by simulating how you’d manually delete content yourself. The free version is super straightforward. It deletes all your tweets in one go and even lets you back up your posts, retweets, likes, and DMs to your PC. Everything’s saved as an HTML file, so you can easily read through it in your browser later. The free Cyd tool deletes all your tweets and saves your posts, likes, and DMs in an archive.IDG If you’re looking for more control, the premium version ($36 per year) lets you delete posts from specific time frames. You’ll also get extra tools to unfollow people, remove likes, bookmarks, and direct messages. For teams or group accounts, there’s Cyd for Teams ($60 per year), which comes with extended features for collaborating. Simple, private, and effective, Cyd makes it easy to tidy up your X (Twitter) account without losing what matters. Read...

Contractors have offered a sneak-peak at two of the main features of Te Ara o Te Ata - the Mt Messenger Bypass on State Highway 3 in Taranaki. Read...

Intel documentation has revealed additional code names in the context of the company’s future roadmap: Wildcat Lake, Bartlett Lake, and a 12-core variant of the Bartlett Lake chip made up entirely of performance cores. Interestingly, the source is a public one: a guidance document on how to use Intel’s platforms for real-time computing. The most recent “gold deck” presentation has been taken down after a Twitter user, InstLatX64 (via Videocardz), noticed it. Intel’s March 2025 version remains in place, though without the roadmap details that the most recent version provided. The key is a slide that discusses “Intel offerings enabling the (Time Coordinated Computing) TCC Experience. The slide lists several cores “in development:” first, there’s Panther Lake and Nova Lake, both of which Intel has discussed publicly as the flagship CPU offerings from 2025 and 2026, respectively. But the slide also lists Bartlett Lake-S, Bartlett Lake S 12P, and Wildcat Lake, all names that Intel hasn’t discussed publicly. About all we know of Bartlett Lake is that Intel lists it as an Intel Core (though not Core Ultra) Series 2 chip, possibly inferring that it will end up in the mobile space. As Tom’s Hardware pointed out earlier, the Bartlett Lake embedded chips shipped this year at CES 2025. Intel has also published a Bartlett Lake-S product brief, showing that Bartlett Lake S features up to 24 cores and 32 threads, PCIe 5.0 connectivity, and DDR-5600 memory support. The edge processors can hit a P-core turbo frequency of 5.6GHz, Intel says; the Core 7 version features up to 24 cores (8 performance cores, 16 efficiency cores, 32 threads). On this chip family, Intel uses the Xe graphics architecture with up to 32 EUs. Intel refers to Bartlett Lake-S as a member of its 14th-gen Core family, paired with a 600-series chipset. A block diagram describing Intel’s Bartlett Lake-S. That brief doesn’t mention an all performance-core version, however, which is what the updated Intel slide indicates. Could Intel be prepping a challenger to AMD’s X3D architecture? Intel’s brief doesn’t mention Bartlett Lake-S in the context of the PC, however—just industrial, healthcare, and infrastructure applications. Wildcat Lake has also cropped up before, possibly as a processor for thin-and-light PCs or tablets, said to be possibly built on the 18A process. Will Bartlett Lake and Wildcat Lake turn out to be processors you’ll buy? Right now it’s looking kind of iffy. But with Intel facing competition from both Qualcomm (long battery life) and AMD (high performance), it’s not unlikely that Intel is splitting its forces to take on these new adversaries. Read...

TechHive Editors Choice At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Vastly improved installation procedure Integrated Wi-Fi frees you from the external bridge Lockly Home app is significantly improved, with lots of new features Cons Integrated Wi-Fi significantly reduces battery life (by about half) We experienced some app-disconnect issues Still quite bulky on the exterior Our Verdict Integrated Wi-Fi is the major upgrade in this revamp of Lockly’s well-aged Secure Pro lock, making it a winner on all fronts. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Lockly Secure Pro 2025 Version (model PGD728WMBE1) Retailer Price $299.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The Lockly Secure Pro isn’t a new lock, but rather an upgrade to an old one: The original Lockly Secure Pro came out way back in 2019, hence this release’s full (and rather awkward) name: Lockly Secure Pro 2025 Version. The two locks have roughly the same industrial appearance (though the new lock is reportedly 25 percent smaller), so you’ll need to pay close attention when shopping to ensure you’re getting the current version. While Lockly’s website includes the 2025 indicator in the name, many vendors, including Amazon, do not. Look for Lockly model number PGD728WMBE1 to be sure. Specifications The biggest difference between the two locks is indeed a biggie: The 2025 Version has a built-in 2.4GHz Wi-Fi adapter and no longer requires an external hub to bridge to your internal Wi-Fi network. (Lockly says the fingerprint scanner on the lock has also improved, but this isn’t nearly as important: Lockly has long had some of the best fingerprint scanning tech on the market, so any improvements are minuscule). Lockly’s PIN Genie makes it impossible to guess a PIN by observing someone or by dusting the touchscreen for fingerprints. Other changes are incremental, and many are part of wider industry shifts, such as the move from a 9-volt battery terminal at the bottom of the exterior escutcheon to a USB-C port that can provide emergency power from a power bank if needed. The interior escutcheon and thumbturn have been redesigned to be more appealing and easier to grasp, and the fingerprint reader has been moved from the side of the device to the front, just above the touchscreen and set at a slight angle. Lockly’s PIN Genie randomizes the arrangement of numbers on its PIN pad, so no one will be able to observe the code you tap out or discover your code by looking at the locations of your fingerprints.Lockly Lockly’s PIN Genie keypad is still in effect, and if you’ve never seen it, it does take some getting used to. Instead of being organized in numerical order, digits are grouped into four sets of three, which are shuffled each time the lock is used. This makes it functionally impossible to guess a PIN by observing someone or by dusting the touchscreen for fingerprints, since the numbers move around every time it’s used. The lock is also built to ANSI Grade 2 standards, according to Lockly, but it is not certified as such. Installation and setup I’m happy to report that Lockly has made great strides in improving its hardware and installation process in the last six years. The disconnected crossbar that connects the exterior and interior escutcheons is now built into the exterior escutcheon, making setup far easier than in previous incarnations of Lockly hardware. The whole kit comes together with two long bolts that connect a standard interior mounting frame to the exterior escutcheon, plus three more screws attaching the interior escutcheon to that frame. It’s by and large a process that’s fairly standard in the smart lock industry, and while I didn’t have any major issues getting things connected, I will offer a pro tip: Make sure the deadbolt is extended when you attach the interior escutcheon, or the system will not be able to calibrate, an important step for setting whether the door is left-handed or right-handed. (This calibration is done by pressing the red button located under the cover of the interior escutcheon, after which the lock opens and closes a few times before finalizing setup.) All told, installation was smooth—and even Lockly’s manual has been greatly improved since the original Secure Pro launched, should you need extra help. The built-in wired door sensor informs you if the door is open or closed.Christopher Null/Foundry The lock is still powered by four AA batteries, and after they’re installed, you’re directed to the newish Lockly Home app, which replaced the old Lockly app earlier this year, for onboarding. The new app a big upgrade, too: It’s straightforward and painless to initially configure the app, and once everything is configured, it’s equally easy to use. The primary screen offers a standard, front-and-center button for lock/unlock operations; the button doubles as an icon to show whether the door is locked, unlocked, open, and/or closed. (A built-in wired door sensor that sticks out from the bottom of the interior escutcheon is still standard, though its use is optional.) In addition to support for using a physical key or the app to open the lock, the lock (still) supports PIN and fingerprint-based access. The lock supports a maximum of 52 users, with support for a total of 99 fingerprints and 49 access codes. I don’t get the math on those numbers either, except that users are not required to have both fingerprint and PIN, so it sort of makes sense. Lockly has made significant improvements to its app.Christopher Null/Foundry Users can be configured with full-time access, as “sub-admins” who can also create new accounts, with time-limited access that either expires at a set time or recurs each week, or one-time access (which can also be set to expire). Up to three one-time or limited-time access codes can also be configured, though note that there are specific instructions that must be followed (involving certain button presses and entering the code twice) for these codes to work. All told, I didn’t encounter any issues with user setup or management—or using PINs or prints to open the lock. As with previous Lockly products, all access methods were wholly reliable. Logging is robust, though Lockly includes a second, slightly confusing “notification center” that duplicates some but not all of the information in the logs about lock openings, closings, and failed access attempts. These notifications (not the log entries) are what are pushed to your phone—reliably so, in my testing. You can open the Lockly Secure Pro 2025 with a physical key in addition to using the app, the PIN pad, or your fingerprint.Christopher Null/Foundry A bevy of settings options are available for those who wish to dig deeper, including three power modes designed to extended battery life (5 months is specified by Lockly, about half what the old lock offers), automatic locking (customizable by time, or settable to lock whenever the door is closed), and Lockly’s somewhat maddening “random mode” which shuffles the digits on the PIN Genie keypad each time a button is pressed instead of just once per use. Support for Alexa and Google Assistant are also included (though not Siri). This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart locks. Should you buy the Lockly Secure Pro 2025 Version? The few non-trivial issues I encountered with the lock were connectivity related. The app would sometimes take a few seconds to connect to the lock, and on more than one occasion it didn’t connect at all, forcing me to quit the app and try again. The open/closed door status condition also didn’t update reliably in my testing, though it was accurate more often than not. In general, the unit was plenty reliable and its few connection hiccups were easily resolved with a little patience. At $310, the lock isn’t significantly more expensive than the 2019 model, which is still available for $260. Still, both are on the high side for Wi-Fi-capable smart locks, though not egregiously so. If you’re sold on Lockly, especially its unique touchpad interface and slightly dystopian design, the 2025 Lockly Pro sees the outfit performing at its best. Read...

Nvidia is reportedly on the cusp of launching its first Arm-based APU for laptops, with a release planned in partnership with Dell-owned Alienware towards the end of 2025 or early 2026, reports The Verge. An APU (or “accelerated processing unit”) is a central processor with extra features, like an integrated graphics processor. Combining the central processor and the graphics processor in the same circuit increases the transfer speed between them and reduces power consumption. The new APU is said to be co-developed with MediaTek and combines a powerful Arm processor with graphics based on Nvidia’s latest Blackwell architecture. The APU is also anticipated to have a low power consumption of between 80 watts and 120 watts, which is significantly lower than today’s systems. The launch could be a potential breakthrough for the Arm architecture in PC gaming, which has previously been dominated by x86-based systems from Intel and AMD. Read...

Although Tor and VPNs both serve to protect privacy, they’re fundamentally different in the way they work. Tor encrypts your data multiple times and forwards it via three independent servers worldwide. It separates the user’s identity from their traffic path, helping protect against tracking. Tor also creates new connections every ten minutes to make it considerably more difficult to permanently allocate traffic. A VPN, on the other hand, protects your traffic through a single tunnel via a provider server that hides your IP address, but is able to know your identity. Thomas Joos Why using a VPN and Tor together can put your anonymity at risk Many users hope to achieve double security by combining VPN and Tor, but this approach actually introduces new risks. The VPN provider can see your original IP address and knows you’re connecting to Tor. If the provider keeps logs or comes under pressure, your identity could be exposed. This risk is especially significant when VPNs store personal data like email addresses or payment information, details often required during registration, which makes tracing you easier. Also, using a VPN and Tor together can actually make you less safe. VPN servers are often targeted by hackers, and if the VPN app isn’t open source, it might have junk, trackers, or hidden backdoors that can put your security at risk. Christoph Hoffmann Why VPN over Tor and Tor over VPN can undermine your privacy VPN over Tor and Tor over VPN are different setups, both with risks. VPN over Tor is complex and weakens Tor’s privacy. Tor over VPN means trusting the VPN. It’s usually better to just use one—Tor or a VPN, not both. VPN connections to the Tor network are more conspicuous Connections from VPN servers to the Tor network stand out from regular Internet traffic, drawing close attention from surveillance authorities. Even when VPN and Tor encryption are used together, these connections remain conspicuous. Advanced techniques like deep packet inspection can detect and classify VPN data streams despite encryption. Additionally, website fingerprinting attacks can analyze traffic patterns to infer which sites have been visited, meaning VPNs do not provide complete anonymity or camouflage. Thomas Joos Technical risks associated with simultaneous use VPN connections can be interrupted or incorrectly configured. Without special protection mechanisms such as a VPN firewall, your real IP address would be transmitted immediately in this case. Complex configurations such as setting up transparent proxies are also prone to errors and difficult to control. The developers of the Tor project expressly warn against such setups because they create new vulnerabilities instead of security. Paying for a VPN subscription poses a further risk. Anyone who enters personal data when registering or pays by credit card can be deanonymized by payment service providers. Only a few providers accept anonymous payment methods such as Monero. Operating your own VPN server could theoretically minimize some risks, but does not protect you from being monitored by your internet provider. Further reading: 14 VPN terms and features everyone should know When VPN and Tor could be useful together There are a few exceptional cases in which a combination can be useful. In countries with strong internet censorship in which the Tor network is blocked (like China or Iran), a VPN can help to establish a connection. However, in these cases, the VPN provider would have to be absolutely trustworthy and not keep any logs. A better solution is Obfs4 bridges, which disguises Tor traffic so that it looks like regular internet traffic. This is useful in countries with strong censorship, as they hide the typical signature of Tor traffic. Thomas Joos Whistleblowers, who place particularly high demands on their anonymity, could also benefit from additional protection in individual cases. Nevertheless, the risk remains that VPNs can be exposed by traffic fingerprinting techniques. Tor alone is often the better choice Tor is designed to achieve anonymity through diversity and distribution. Every user benefits from the fact that their data traffic is lost in the flow of other connections. If you build additional tunnels, you are more likely to attract attention and thus weaken the actual advantage of the network. It would make more sense than an additional VPN service to invest resources in the operation of a dedicated Tor relay and thus strengthen the security of the entire network. The Tor project points out that a large number of connections with standard-compliant patterns are crucial for individual users to be able to disappear into the masses. The more a connection stands out from this pattern, the easier it becomes to identify. Analyzing real cases such as the arrest of the Silk Road operator also shows that the greatest dangers lie less in technical weaknesses than in human error. A clear separation of real names, personal accounts, and anonymous surfing therefore remains essential. Rely on the strengths of Tor The simultaneous use of VPN and Tor does not make sense in most cases. Not only does it make anonymity more difficult, it also makes your connection more conspicuous and potentially more vulnerable. If you’re looking for maximum privacy, you should use Tor directly, without additional tunnels, and ensure that your own activities are properly separated. Consciously using Tor bridges and supporting the Tor network with your own relays also contributes effectively to protecting your privacy. Read...