At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Over 24 hours of battery life (in our standard test) Solid build quality Snappy desktop performance 2-in-1 experience with pen Cons On the expensive side Lunar Lake’s low multithreaded performance is an issue for some workflows Our Verdict The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is a business laptop that combines long battery life and good desktop performance with a convenient 2-in-1 experience. If you’re looking for this type of machine, the only real downside is the price. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is a 14-inch business laptop that combines Intel’s Lunar Lake CPUs with a proven ThinkPad convertible design. This is a high-quality business laptop for people who want a snappy desktop experience in a 2-in-1 form factor with a pen. It’s optimized for getting things done. While it may be a bit pricey, it’s typical of business laptops. If this machine fits your budget and you prize battery life and portability, it’s difficult to argue with what Lenovo has put together here. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Specs Lenovo offers the 14-inch ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 in various configurations, and all of them are branded “Aura Edition.” The base model starts at $2,125 and includes an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of SSD storage, and Intel Arc graphics. At the time of writing, the model we reviewed costs $2,336 and features an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD, and faster Intel Arc 140V graphics, along with an upgrade to Windows 11 Pro. (The model I got my hands on only had 512 GB of storage but was otherwise equivalent to that version — Lenovo offers a “Build Your PC” tool so you can customize the hardware when you order.) These machines come with various Intel Lunar Lake processors, and we know what to expect from Lunar Lake by now: The Intel laptop boasts an incredibly long battery life, an NPU for AI tasks capable of running Copilot+ PC features, and a surprisingly strong graphics performance for integrated graphics. However, the big downside with Lunar Lake is the low multithreaded computing performance due to the fewer cores. They deliver snappy desktop performance, but these chips are better for office work and portability than they are for heavy compute workloads, as we always see in our standard benchmarks. But the laptop is a portable, productivity-focused machine — not a blazing-fast workstation with maximum battery-draining CPU power. Model: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V NPU: Intel AI Boost Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 IPS display with 60Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness Storage: 512 GB PCIe Gen4 SSD Webcam: 1080p webcam Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C), 2x USB Type-A (USB 5Gbps), combo audio jack, HDMI 2.1 out Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Fingerprint reader, IR camera for facial recognition Battery capacity: 57 Watt-hours Dimensions: 12.31 x 8.57 x 0.64 inches Weight: 2.97 pounds MSRP: $2,336 as tested The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 is a solid business machine. You’re getting great build quality, extreme battery life, a 2-in-1 experience with a pen, and a “future-proof” machine that supports everything from Wi-Fi 7 to Windows 11’s Copilot+ PC AI features. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Design and build quality IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is a solid 14-inch laptop made of metal. As it’s a convertible 2-in-1 machine, you can rotate the laptop’s hinge 360 degrees to lay it flat. The hinge feels great, as it has on previous convertible ThinkPads I’ve used. Lenovo includes a pen to complement the touchscreen experience. Last year, I reviewed the the previous version of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1, and this model closely resembles that machine from the exterior. It’s a gray metal design with the classic red ThinkPad nub in the middle and a bar at the top of the screen where the webcam sits. At just under three pounds, it’s fairly light but isn’t the absolute lightest laptop—2-in-1 machines tend to be a bit heavier than the absolute lightest options out there. The weight is actually rather nice — it feels like a solid-but-not-too-heavy piece of metal. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Keyboard, trackpad, and pen IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 has a high-quality keyboard — ThinkPads are known for that. It may not be quite as snappy as more expensive high-end ThinkPads like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but it feels great to type on. There’s no “mushy” feeling as you press the keys. The layout works well, and you can activate multiple levels of white keyboard backlighting. The trackpad feels great to slide your finger over, and you’ll feel a pleasing “thunk” when you press down on it to click. The surface is nice and smooth, and the physical buttons are nice to see — most laptops don’t come with a physical right-click button on the trackpad! I do prefer haptic touchpads, but the action on this still feels satisfying. If I had to nitpick, I would point out that the inclusion of the physical buttons reduces the size of the trackpad’s surface compared to what it could be — therefore, individuals who desire a larger trackpad and do not intend to use the physical buttons may prefer the trackpad on a different machine. As a 2-in-1 machine, this device includes a Lenovo Yoga Pen. It’s an active pen with a customizable shortcut button, and it works well for sketching on the screen. You can input text with handwriting, draw, sketch, sign documents, or whatever else you might want to do. The classic red ThinkPad TrackPoint “nub” is here in the middle, too, and you can use it to control the mouse cursor. That’s good to see considering Lenovo has started removing the TrackPoint from certain ThinkPad-branded laptops. People like me might be one reason why — I was never a big TrackPoint user, so I don’t find myself using it on these machines. But the TrackPoint has a devoted audience of people who love it — and, if nothing else, it gives the ThinkPad’s keyboard a unique aesthetic that I do love. So yes, I do want to see the TrackPoint stay on ThinkPad keyboards — even if I don’t personally use it much. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Display and speakers IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Aura Edition has a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS display with a 60Hz refresh rate, 500 nits of brightness, and a touch screen. Lenovo calls this a “low power” display in its specs list, and that low power usage isn’t just a marketing promise — it absolutely shows in the machine’s long battery life, as we’ll see in the results of our battery life benchmark below. (You can also get this machine with a 2880×1800 display with HDR and a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz. That sounds nice, but the higher-end display will eat into the machine’s battery life.) The display looks great. Lenovo says it has an antireflective coating, and I can tell — it works really well. You don’t see the kind of extreme reflections you often do on a laptop with a glossy display when it’s in bright lighting. It’s a good-looking display with a decent amount of brightness, but it’s focused on real-world usage and long battery life. There are no issues with this choice — it’s an appropriate choice for this device. The ThinkPad X1’s speakers are a lot better than you might expect from a 2-in-1 14-inch laptop focused on portability. They can get surprisingly loud while maintaining clear audio quality, and the sound is “fuller” than I might expect — they even have more bass than I would have expected. (That said, a machine like this one can never deliver the kind of bass you’d get from a pair of headphones or external speakers.) Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Webcam, microphone, biometrics IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 has a 1080p webcam with a physical privacy shutter at the top of the machine, which is always nice to see. The image quality is quite good — the quality you’re more likely to find in a business machine than the average consumer laptop, as it should be on a productivity-focused business machine where the webcam might be used in quite a few video calls. The microphone setup delivers solid audio quality and noise cancellation. Although it is not a studio-quality external microphone, this laptop’s microphone significantly outperforms the average laptop microphone for voice and video calls. This ThinkPad has a fingerprint reader to the left of the arrow keys on the keyboard, and you can rest your finger on it to authenticate with Windows Hello and sign in. It also has an IR camera for facial recognition, and they both work well. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Connectivity IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Aura Edition includes a solid selection of ports. On the left side, you’ve got two Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C ports) and a USB Type-A port. On the right side, this machine has a second USB Type-A port, an HDMI 2.1 out port, and a combo audio jack for headphones. That’s about what you’d want from this laptop — although people who want a built-in SD card reader won’t find it here. As always, you could get a dongle. My biggest nitpick: This machine charges over USB Type-C. It would be nice to see a USB Type-C port on each side of the laptop so you can plug in either side to charge it. Thanks to Lunar Lake, this machine also supports the latest wireless standards: Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 both come standard on this machine. As usual, Intel’s wireless hardware works well. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Performance The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 delivers snappy desktop performance. With a Lunar Lake CPU (specifically the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V in our review unit), this machine performs well in day-to-day desktop apps like web browsers and office applications. As always, we ran the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 through our standard benchmarks to see how it performs. IDG / Chris Hoffman First, we run PCMark 10 to get an idea of overall system performance. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 delivered an overall PCMark score of 7,626, which is a respectable score for this hardware. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that focuses on overall CPU performance. It’s a quick benchmark, so cooling under extended workloads isn’t a factor. But, since it’s heavily multithreaded, CPUs with more cores have a huge advantage. There are no surprises here — with a Cinebench R20 multithreaded score of 3,913, this machine struggles along with other Lunar Lake-powered systems on this type of benchmark. When it comes to multithreaded compute tasks, Intel’s Lunar Lake CPUs have fewer cores and come in well behind other systems with more cores, like the AMD Ryzen AI 300 series. IDG / Chris Hoffman We also ran an encoder with Handbrake. This is another heavily multithreaded benchmark, but it runs over an extended period. This test demands the laptop’s cooling kick in, and many laptops will throttle and slow down under load. The ThinkPad X1 completed the encode process in 1,589 seconds, which is a bit over 26 minutes. Benchmarks like this aren’t representative of normal desktop performance, which doesn’t demand this level of sustained multithreaded compute performance, but it may be an issue for some professional workflows that require this sort of thing. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop, but it’s still good to check how the GPU performs — especially since the Intel Arc graphics in Lunar Lake are surprisingly good for integrated graphics. We run 3DMark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. With a 3DMark Time Spy score of 4,386, this machine delivers the surprisingly good graphical performance we’d expect to see from Lunar Lake hardware — but is still far behind gaming PCs and workstations with more power-hungry GPUs. Overall, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 delivers good Lunar Lake performance: The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 offers a swift desktop experience, impressive graphics performance, and albeit subpar multithreaded performance. However, the complete picture becomes clear when considering the battery life. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Battery life The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 includes a 57 watt-hour battery, which is a little on the small side in terms of hardware. That’s one reason why I was absolutely floored by the battery life in our benchmark. IDG / Chris Hoffman To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled until the laptop suspends itself. We set the screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmark. This amount of time is a best-case scenario for any laptop since local video playback is so efficient, and real battery life in day-to-day use is always going to be less than this. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 lasted for an average of 1,478 minutes before suspending itself. That’s over 24 hours of battery life—and closer to 25 hours than 24 hours. That shocked me a little bit considering the size of the battery, but obviously Lenovo has made some smart decisions here — aside from the efficient Lunar Lake hardware, I bet that low-power display is helping a lot, too. And, although real-world battery life will be substantially shorter if you’re actually using the machine rather than just looping a video in airplane mode, this is still extremely impressive. (For context, last year’s ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 machine lasted 1,055 minutes — or 17 and a half hours—in our benchmark. This represents a significant improvement compared to the previous year.) Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Conclusion The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 is a solid business machine. You’re getting great build quality, extreme battery life, a 2-in-1 experience with a pen, and a “future-proof” machine that supports everything from Wi-Fi 7 to Windows 11’s Copilot+ PC AI features. It’s a little expensive, but business machines tend to have higher-end pricing. And I like this machine more than I expected to, honestly: even the selection of the low-power display and its nice anti-reflective coating are decisions you’ll really appreciate if you’re looking for this kind of PC. Yes, a glossy 4K display is more impressive at first glance. But battery life and readability in direct sunlight and brighter rooms are more important for getting work done. If that all sounds good, this may be the machine for you. But I really do wish Lunar Lake had better multithreaded CPU performance — if you need that for your workflow, that will be one reason you might look for a more power-hungry laptop. Still: You won’t get this kind of battery life if you do go looking for a beefier CPU. Read...

People in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch reported problems with internet access between 7 - 8.30pm. Read...

Internet is back up and running across New Zealand after a brief outage in places on Tuesday night. Read...

Customers across the country began reporting problems about 7.30pm. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Large server network Dedicated IP available Broad app support Cons Short-term plans are expensive Pushes you to buy extra features Dubious privacy record InConsistent streaming unblocking Our Verdict PureVPN offers a decent base set of features which can be extensively upgraded for a price. It boasts a large server network and is based in a privacy-friendly location. But previous privacy snafus, inConsistent streaming unblocking, and its pushy sales strategy means there might be better options elsewhere. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today PureVPN in brief: P2P allowed: Yes, on some servers Simultaneous device connections: 10 Business location: British Virgin Islands Number of servers: 6,500 Number of country locations: 78 Cost: $12.95 per month, $47.88 for 1 year, $51.36 for 2 years, or $129.60 for 5 years PureVPN is a service based out of the British Virgin Islands—formerly Hong Kong—that comes with a clean interface, broad server network, and large feature catalog.  The service might not offer any novel or revolutionary technology, but it tries to make up for this by striving to perfect the basics: privacy, security, and accessibility. I put the service to the test to see if it can stand out in a saturated market and whether it’s worth your time and money. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best VPN services for comparison. What are PureVPN’s features and services? PureVPN allows up to 10 simultaneous device connections. This is likely enough for most people, however there is a growing trend among top providers to provide unlimited simultaneous connections and that would’ve been more ideal. The service currently offers a total of 6,500 servers to choose from across 78 country locations. That’s quite good for any VPN, and is one of the best reasons to choose the service over other competitors. Unfortunately, unlike other services such as Windscribe Pro, which offers only physical servers, some of PureVPN’s server locations are virtual. VPNs typically employ these virtual servers in countries or regions where it would otherwise be difficult to safely maintain a physical server—think countries like China and Russia. Virtual servers are a kind of stopgap measure to offer these country locations without the physical infrastructure. Thankfully, PureVPN listened to its users and recently decided to scale back its use of virtual servers. While there isn’t anything inherently wrong with virtual servers, they are sometimes known to have reliability and speed issues compared to physical servers. A highlight of PureVPN is that it offers broad platform support including Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, Linux, browser extensions, and smart TVs. This, and its large server network seem to be the biggest draws for the service. PureVPN’s app is well designed, so long as you ignore the upgrade recommendations on the sidebar.Sam Singleton When you first open the Windows app you’ll encounter a pleasing white-and-purple user interface with a simple Connect button in the middle and a list of options on the left. It’d be a very slick interface if not for the addition of a side menu on the right unnecessarily serving you a bunch of upgrade recommendations. This type of upselling is actually one of my biggest gripes with the service. Not only can you seemingly not get rid of these recommendations, but the service also bombards you with marketing emails once you sign up. I personally counted eight unwarranted emails within the first few days of using the service. But I digress. Back on the home screen, along the left side rail you’ll find options for server locations, as well as (upgradable) data removal, dark web monitoring, and password manager tools, and the Settings menu. Broad platform support and a large server network seem to be the biggest draws for the PureVPN. PureVPN offers all of your basic VPN features, including ad- and tracker-blocking, a kill switch, and split tunneling.Sam Singleton Under the Settings menu there are personalization options along with standard VPN features. These include a kill switch to block internet traffic in the event of an accidental disconnection, auto-connect features, and an ad- and tracker-blocker. Here you can also change the connection protocol and enable split-tunneling, which allows you to pick and choose which apps you wish to run through the VPN and which to keep separate. That is about the extent of what is on offer for Standard plan users. Pretty cut and dry as far as VPNs go. I can’t say that I feel like I’m getting a lot of value for my money with the Standard plan considering it’s around the same price as other top VPNs such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN that offer way more features.  There are plenty of addons offered by PureVPN if you decide you want to upgrade the service. Sam Singleton It is worth noting, though, that PureVPN does offer a plethora of add-ons for various fees. There are the options for a dedicated IP, Port Forwarding, a dedicated server, residential network, and additional simultaneous device logins. You can also choose to upgrade to the Plus or Max plans if you’d prefer to have extra security features such as a password manager, data removal, or dark web monitoring. How much does PureVPN cost? PureVPN’s pricing is convoluted to say the least. Not only are there three different plan tiers, but also four different contract lengths to choose from: month-to-month, 1-year, 2-year, and 5-year. Then once you finally decide on your plan, you’ll be offered a bevy of extra services that you can add on for extra fees. Those who love customization will revel in the options, but those who want simplicity are likely to come away feeling overwhelmed. The service offers Standard, Plus, and Max tiers. The Standard plan provides just the VPN and tracker blocker. The Plus plan adds a password manager in addition to those. Then the Max tier adds additional access to a data removal service and dark web monitoring. PureVPN’s Standard plan costs $12.95 per month, which is more expensive than most premium VPN services. The Plus plan jumps sharply to $17.95 per month and the Max plan is $19.95 per month. Thankfully, the service offers all of these plans for steep discounts if you opt for long-term subscriptions instead. The Standard plan drops to a much more reasonable $47.88 for one year at $3.99 per month, or $51.36 for two years at $2.14 per month. PureVPN also offers a 5-year plan but the Standard plan monthly rate curiously increases a bit, with additional savings only available on the Plus or Max tiers at this term length. PureVPN accepts payments via credit card, PayPal, Bitcoin, and some other cryptocurrencies. How is PureVPN’s performance? When testing a VPN’s speeds I measure connection speeds across its servers in different countries all around the world and then compare them to my baseline internet speed. I carry out these tests across multiple days to establish a more consistent average. PureVPN’s speeds overall performed well. Testing with WireGuard connections produced the best results where the service was able to manage 61 percent of the base download speed. Upload averages were even better with an impressive average of 79 percent of the base speed. While these speeds were done over the WireGuard protocol, testing other protocols did slow down the connection to varying degrees. Regardless, I recommend that almost everyone use WireGuard as their default protocol for the best speed and security anyways. These results put PureVPN into the top half for speeds of all VPNs on the market. Users should find that they’ll have no issues with everyday browsing or streaming, and high speed torrenting or video chats should also work well while connected. When it comes to unblocking streaming content, PureVPN is a mixed bag. I found that even with the recommended streaming servers—listed under Shortcuts in the locations menu—I still wasn’t able to consistently access the sites they claimed to work with. For example, when trying to access Netflix U.S., I used the recommended server but was still met with the dreaded “connection blocked” screen. However, some of the other recommended servers unblocked streaming sites without a hitch. I even found that random PureVPN servers not specifically recommended for streaming could successfully unblock streaming sites. So all in all, the VPN’s unblocking capabilities felt very hit-or-miss and as a result I can’t truly recommend it for streaming. How is PureVPN’s security and privacy? PureVPN offers multiple protocols including WireGuard. Sam Singleton PureVPN offers three protocol options: IKEv2, OpenVPN (both TCP and UDP), and WireGuard. It also provides a feature called Connect to Fallback which, if turned on, will automatically connect to a different protocol should the original protocol connection fail to connect. While this feature seems like a good idea, I believe that users should always opt for WireGuard and I don’t particularly like the idea that a VPN would change the connection to a less secure protocol without a user knowing it. The potential issue here being that PureVPN might rely on this as a quick fix rather than a last resort. Regardless, this feature can be turned off, which I recommend. The app comes with a kill switch that will block all internet traffic in the event that your VPN accidentally disconnects. My kill switch tests found that the feature worked as intended, successfully blocking my internet when I needed it.  Also, DNS leak tests showed that while connected to PureVPN’s servers, there were no leaks of my original IP address.  In regards to PureVPN’s privacy policy, there are a few concerns. In the past, PureVPN caught some flak for cooperating with law enforcement. While the intentions were good in this instance, it doesn’t bode well for a VPN company in the business of user privacy to be breaching that trust. Additionally, according to PureVPN’s Privacy Policy, the service collects individual timestamps, dates of last connections, and individual bandwidth usage. However, the service does maintain a “no-logs policy” and it does not collect browsing activity, customer IP addresses, or identifiable connection logs, among other things. I do appreciate that PureVPN has undergone two independent audits on its no-logs policy in recent years. Unfortunately, it has yet to publish either of those audits publicly which is curious considering it’s common practice for most other VPN services. PureVPN has switched to an “always-on” open-door auditing system that allows security firms to drop in and conduct an audit anytime. Sam Singleton PureVPN provides regularly updated Transparency Reports detailing outside data request statistics. It also promotes what it calls an “always-on” approach to auditing where outside security auditing firm KPMG can conduct surprise audits of PureVPN without any prior notice—although beyond the two audits I mentioned previously, it doesn’t seem like they’ve been taken up on this offer. PureVPN has recently relocated from Hong Kong to its new homebase in the British Virgin Islands. This is good news as there are no mandatory data retention laws in the British Virgin Islands, nor is it a member of any international data sharing alliances such as Five, Nine, or Fourteen Eyes. Is PureVPN worth it? PureVPN is a worthwhile, if slightly underwhelming, VPN service that provides the basics for an affordable price. It has seemingly grown leaps and bounds in recent years, expanding its server network, improving its speeds, and updating the interface. It should also be commended for moving in the right direction to absolve itself of any privacy concerns. That all being said, I feel like there are other services out there that offer better value for the money and provide more consistent streaming unblocking capabilities. It isn’t a bad VPN, and there is an argument to be made that it could suit novice users well, but other services do the same things better. Editor’s note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article. Read...

Google Chrome has a built-in feature called Safety Check, first introduced in 2020 and regularly improved ever since, with its most recent revamp happening back in September 2024. Safety Check runs in the background and proactively keeps tabs on your passwords, your Safe Browsing settings, your Chrome version, your site permissions, your extensions, and potentially unwanted and/or abusive notifications. When Safety Check spots issues or areas with room for improvement, it’ll let you know along with instructions. Here’s how to use Safety Check: Joel Lee / Foundry Navigate to Chrome’s Settings page by clicking on the three-dot menu at the top right and selecting Settings. In the left-side panel, navigate to Privacy and security. Then, in the right-side main area, look for the “Safety Check” section and click on the button labeled Go to Safety Check. Joel Lee / Foundry At the top of the Safety Check page, you’ll see a section called “Safety at a glance” along with some alerts. number of alerts. For example, you can see if Chrome is up-to-date, if you have any compromised passwords, and whether Safe Browsing is on. Anything with a green tick is good; anything with a red exclamation warrants your attention. Below that, in the section labeled “Safety recommendations,” you might see other security issues that Chrome wants to raise. For example, it might tell you about some websites you haven’t visited in a long time and have thus lost their authorizations. Read...

Computer mice are silent killers. For years I struggled with wrist pain, elbow pain, and shoulder pain, and I staved it off with stretches, exercises, ergonomic changes, and what have you—but it always kept coming back. Turns out, it was because of my mouse. About a year ago, I was at my wit’s end, scrambling for web advice on why I’m hurting and what I could do about it. Reddit users talked about how switching to a trackball mouse made all the difference for them, and I was intrigued. Hopeful, even. Sure, I was reluctant because I didn’t want to waste my money or relearn how to work a mouse, but the pain was bad enough that I sucked it up and took a chance. Joel Lee / Foundry So, I spent $38 on a ProtoArc EM03, telling myself I could just return it if I didn’t like it. (The EM03 has since been discontinued, but the Nulea M505 is similar in design and price.) And you know what? I hated it for the first week or so. It was foreign, cumbersome, and weird. It had a learning curve, and it was frustrating, to say the least. Then something magical happened: around the fourth week, I found myself zipping through my usual work without fumbling or struggling, without any of my usual pain. Wrist, elbow, shoulder—all gone. And using the trackball mouse? Second nature. I was having a good time with it, and I dare say I now prefer it to traditional mice. Buy trackball mouse on Amazon I should note that my mouse is a finger trackball, not a thumb trackball. I’ve tried the thumb variant before, and I find it less precise and more prone to hand fatigue and repetitive strain. Being able to control the trackball with both index and middle fingers makes for a more pleasant experience with minimal wear on a single digit. I love that there’s close to zero body movement when using a trackball mouse, meaning I can place it wherever I want with no regard for space or need of a mouse pad. I can put it on top of my desktop tower, under my monitor, or down on my lap, and it’s heavy enough to stay anchored while I’m using it. It doesn’t slide around. Other things I love about it? The ergonomic shape conforms to my hand. The mouse buttons are large, tactile, and quiet. The “Soft Touch” material is gentle and cooling. I can connect it to three devices, two via Bluetooth pairings and one via wireless dongle. It lasts about 3 to 4 months on a full charge, and it recharges in an hour or so. Joel Lee / Foundry As far as I can tell, there are only three downsides to using a trackball mouse. First, they aren’t suitable for games with lots of mouse movement. Traditional mice still excel for FPSes and the like, so maybe keep a backup mouse just for gaming. Second, the socket that holds the trackball gets gunked up over time (like older mice used to do back before optical and laser tech) and needs occasional cleaning. Third, finding a left-handed version might be tougher than with traditional mice. I can put up with all of that. As far as I’m concerned, the benefits outweigh the inconveniences, and the buy-in cost was absolutely worth it. The day my trackball mouse dies, you can bet I’m ordering a replacement right then and there—most likely the Nulea M505, but maybe the Kensington Expert if I want to try something more unusual. Buy trackball mouse on Amazon Read...

TL;DR: AdGuard VPN gives you advanced privacy protection for five years for only $39.97. Tired of seeing your most recent Google search advertised back to you? AdGuard VPN is like locking your browsing in a digital vault without slowing you down. This VPN’s no-logging policy keeps your data as private as a secret diary, and with Threat Protection and DNS leak safeguards, it’s built to handle whatever the internet throws your way. Hurry and grab this deal for a five-year subscription on sale for $39.97 (reg. $359.40). AdGuard VPN puts global servers at your fingertips, so you’re free to explore all the content that used to be locked away. Say hello to high-speed, low-fuss browsing with a five-year AdGuard plan that’s as secure as it is smooth. Its performance-focused protocols also mean you won’t experience annoying lag while streaming, browsing, or downloading. Beyond its VPN capabilities, AdGuard offers a complete security suite with Threat Protection and DNS leak prevention, helping shield your data from potential online threats. It’s only $39.97 to get an AdGuard VPN five-year subscription, but it won’t stay that way. Sale ends June 1 at 11:59 p.m. PT. AdGuard VPN: 5-Yr SubscriptionSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Kore.ai partners with Amazon Web Services to integrate AI platforms, aiming to boost enterprise AI adoption via AWS Marketplace and cloud infrastructure. Read...

Hun Min Im faced 91 charges related to his attempts to claim close to $2m from schemes set up during the pandemic. Read...