Fry's Electronics permanently closes all stores

Fry’s, one of the last dedicated electronics retailers in the U.S. and a once-beloved institution on the west coast, permanently closed its doors late Tuesday night. Its Twitter feed is set to private, its Facebook page is gone, and the Fry’s website itself has been replaced by an announcement of the closure, along with information on where past customers can find help going forward.“After nearly 36 years in business as the one-stop-shop and online resource for high-tech professionals across

How to use Zoom's Video Filters to spice up your next Zoom call

If you ever wanted to change your appearance in a Zoom call without having to download plug-ins like a Zoom camera, you’re in luck. Zoom now has its own ways of changing your appearance into a pirate or a cat, right within the application, as part of its new Video Filters and Studio Effects.The new filters add the ability to surround yourself with a custom video frame using a Video Filter, or overlay the ‘Deal with It’ sunglasses on your eyes. The Studio Effects (Beta) tool is designed more t

Roon 1.8 review: An unparalleled service for critical listening and music exploration

When I reviewed Roon at its launch, back in 2015, I called it “must-have software for hardcore music fans.” I stand by that characterization, although in retrospect, I shouldn’t have restricted its appeal to the hardcore. Anyone who derives deep enjoyment from music will reap tremendous benefits from this one-of-a-kind—albeit incredibly complex—software.That said, if you don’t consider music essential to life, you’ll probably have difficulty justifying the cost of a Roon license and the relat

Acer Swift 3X review: This lightweight laptop shows Intel's Xe Max magic

The Acer Swift 3X builds upon an already-strong foundation by adding a dash of Intel’s special sauce.Our review of last year’s Intel-based Acer Swift 3 was torn. “How do you rate a laptop that you really enjoyed using, yet whose performance is otherwise disappointingly weak?” we mused at the beginning. The eminently portable Swift 3 ticked all the boxes that made for a great notebook but lagged far behind its rivals in raw horsepower.Enter the Acer Swift 3X. Moving from Intel’s 10th-gen Core

Send texts on your own time with Android's new Schedule Send feature

Google said Tuesday that it’s beginning to roll out Schedule Send, a way for you to schedule texts in Android Messages in much the same way you might schedule an email.Schedule Send is one of several new features Google announced for Android, along with Password Checkup, an improved dark mode for Google Maps, and a few enhancements to Android Auto and Google Assistant.Google designed the new Schedule Send feature to be simple to use—it’s certainly simple to explain. To trigger it, all you’ll

Google adds Password Checkup to Android

Google said Tuesday that it’s ensuring that password security straddles both your phone, your PC, and your Chromebook. The company is bringing Password Checkup, a feature it introduced to Chrome in 2019, to Android.Password Checkup simply ensures that a password you either pick or are currently using hasn’t been exposed in a password breach. Every year or so password files at major sites are breached and leaked to the web. Knowing if your password has been stolen and compromised is a signific

Samsung just out-Googled the Pixel at guaranteeing Android updates

Android updates might be the butt of many a joke, but Samsung is working hard to make sure it’s no laughing matter for Galaxy owners. Just months after promising most new Galaxy phones would be receiving three generations of Android version updates, Samsung today vowed to deliver four years of security updates to nearly every Galaxy phone made since 2019.That’s an impressive promise for a phone company that, just a year ago, wasn’t guaranteeing anything in terms of updates. Most new phone pur

Lenovo's new ThinkPads offer better screens and Ryzen 5000 CPUs

Lenovo’s new ThinkPad lineup is downright trendy, offering both the latest in display technology as well as a choice between Intel’s 11th-gen Core or AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs. Announced Tuesday, the various laptops in the lineup will roll out at different times over the coming months, as detailed below.The most noticeable change will be in the display for the ThinkPad X13 clamshell and Yoga (360-degree convertible) models: Both variations will have screens with an aspect ratio of 16:10. Taller asp


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