ROG Strix is Asus’s performance-focused subbrand. This is where the company’s thicker, more conventional gaming laptops are found. Pricing can range widely, as it includes affordable options like the ROG Strix G16 with the RTX 5050, which starts at just $1,300. TUF Gaming is the company’s entry-level gaming laptop subbrand. These TUF gaming laptops used…
Starting today, OpenAI is rolling out ChatGPT safety tools intended for parents to use with their teenagers. This worldwide update includes the ability for parents, as well as law enforcement, to receive notifications if a child—in this case, users between the ages of 13 and 18—engages in chatbot conversations about self harm or suicide. These…
Frequently Asked Questions What Kinds of Coffee Subscriptions Are There? AccordionItemContainerButton There are two kinds of coffee subscription providers: roasters and retailers. Roasters are cafés and small-batch producers who buy raw beans from farmers all over the world and roast them to perfection. By buying from a roaster, you’re directly supporting the people who make…
Coffee is a fast-ticking clock. And the end of this stopwatch is nothing you want. Fresh coffee is all about aroma and intensity—the delicate notes of toffee or nectarine that make each bean distinct. Old coffee loses all of this. It tastes instead acrid and flabby, like a cup of wet cardboard. But freshness is…
It’s not fun to talk about, but there’s only one thing certain in life. You need to have a plan for your digital legacy, just like you make a plan for your physical assets; otherwise, your accounts, services, and logins will rot away in a data center before they’re inevitably erased by a data retention…
It’s September 29, the day that America celebrates its least guilty vice and addiction, known in the streets as “java” or “joe.” That’s right, it’s National Coffee Day—the day that thousands of people burn $2 worth of gas waiting in a drive-thru to get a free $2 cup of coffee from Dunkin‘. Or how about…
Honorable Mentions We have tested several other entrants to this nascent category, some good, some bad, and some in between. Here is the lowdown on some of your smart ring alternatives. Photograph: Adrienne So Circular Ring 2 for $349: This ring is very pretty, with rounded edges that make it slightly look more like jewelry…
It’s important to note that this was all tested on the X2 Elite Extreme configuration, which comes with six additional CPU cores over the standard X2 Elite. There were no X2 Elite systems to test, so we don’t know what those multi-core scores will be. I’ve been told that GPU performance will also scale up…
I first encountered the ideas of ultralight backpacking in 1994, in an article in now-defunct (and much-missed) Backpacker magazine. It was titled “Less is More,” by Mark Jenkins. (I still have a PDF copy I scanned years ago.) Jenkins wrote about a long trip across Europe and Africa. By the end, he and his traveling…
Things get extremely complicated when it comes to the many iterations of USB 3.0. Because all the branding has become inconsistent and unhelpful, we recommend ignoring these labels altogether and just searching for the actual speed ratings. The good news is that many USB hub and docking station manufacturers have started to give up on…
