At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Dual lenses cover wide-angle and zoomed-in views Smooth pan-and-tilt movement Very affordable price Cons Conspicuous industrial design Dependent on a wired power supply Built-in power-surge protection Generic third-party app with pushy upsells Our Verdict The Annke WCD600 offers impressive coverage and durability, making it a smart choice for broad outdoor monitoring, provided you’re comfortable with its wired power requirement and a less-than-polished app experience. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Annke WCD600 Retailer Price Annke $39.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The Annke WCD600 is a dual-lens outdoor security camera built for people who want to cover a lot of ground without cluttering their space. Each lens captures a three-megapixel view—one wide-angle, one telephoto—helping reduce blind spots across driveways, yards, and side lots. This camera connects to your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network (i.e., it’s not a dual-band camera), is weatherproof, and costs far less than most cameras that offer similar coverage. The Annke WCD600’s dual-lens setup gives you two complementary perspectives rather than one stitched panorama. Design and features The WCD600 isn’t designed to blend into the background. With its two exposed antennas, bulbous lower housing, and rings of LED lights around each lens, it’s something intruders will notice immediately, and some people will consider that part of its appeal. The white-and-black shell feels solid, weather-sealed, and built to handle the elements. It carries an IP66 rating for protection from the elements, meaning it’s dustproof and can withstand powerful jets of water, such as from a pressure washer, from any direction. (Read our IP code guide to learn more about that topic.) An unusual feature that will be of interest to homeowners living in areas with frequent lightning storms is the camera’s built-in surge protection (up to 2kV). The WCD600’s dual-lens setup gives you two complementary perspectives rather than one stitched panorama. The top 3MP lens delivers a static wide-angle view of your overall scene, while the lower 3MP lens is mounted to a pan/tilt motor to follow movement. The lower camera pans 300 degrees horizontally and tilts 90 degrees vertically. Together they provide context and close-up detail simultaneously, so you see both the big picture and what triggered an alert. At night, the WCD600 switches to its dual-light system: a pair of infrared LEDs for discreet video capture in low light. It also has red-and-blue strobe lights and a built-in siren that trigger on motion. Those deterrents can be set to run automatically or manually from the app, giving you the option to scare off trespassers or just light up the driveway when you step outside. The WCD600’s two lenses capture wide and telephoto views for contextual coverage. Annke The camera can detect both general motion and human activity. When it identifies a person, the lower lens automatically pans and tilts to follow them, keeping the subject centered as they move. You’ll get an instant notification through the iCSee app, and tapping it opens a live view so you can see what’s happening in real time. Video can be saved locally to a microSD card up to 128GB, letting you store footage directly on the camera without a subscription. The camera also supports cloud backup via the iCSee app, with subscription plans that start with 7- or 30 days of storage at a cost of $3.99 or $6.99 a month respectively.  The camera also integrates with Alexa and Google Home, allowing you to pull up live video on a smart display or control basic functions with voice commands. Setup and performance Everything you need to get started is in the box, including a mounting bracket and screws and a power supply. Because the camera draws power from a 12-volt adapter, you’ll need an outlet nearby or a weatherproof extension cord. The WCD600 uses the iCSee mobile app for setup, live viewing, and storage management. iCSee isn’t exclusive to Annke—it’s a third-party platform used by several budget and midrange camera makers. Once you create and account and start the pairing process, the camera’s booming voice prompts guide you through the steps to connect the camera to your network. The app displays both camera views at once, stacked vertically in portrait mode or side by side when you turn your phone horizontally. The daytime image quality is very good, and the twin lenses capture a broad, balanced view without visible distortion. The camera automatically switches between day and night modes based on ambient light, or you can adjust it manually in the app. Night Mode activates the infrared LEDs for clear black-and-white video, while Day Mode disables light enhancement entirely. The third-party ICSee app makes it easy to control the camera and manage its settings, but it feels generic compared to Annke’s own software. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry Human detection worked well in my testing. The camera reliably distinguishes people from moving trees or passing cars, and motion tracking keeps subjects centered without excessive motor noise. You can configure the app to frame people with a yellow box for easier visibility on playback, and there are several options for taming notifications including interval settings and detection sensitivity. The iCSee app handles everything from pairing to live viewing, video playback, notifications, and the camera’s many settings. But it also doubles as a storefront for iCSee’s “value-add” services. Once you open it, you’ll see prominent prompts to activate “AI” functions and cloud storage, along with a countdown timer on any free trial. It’s functional and responsive, but the upselling can feel a bit aggressive—especially if you just want to use the camera’s local recording features. Should you buy the Annke WCD600? The Annke WCD600 normally lists for $79.99, but as of this writing Annke has discounted it to $39.99. That low price makes it an easy gamble. My main reservation is the third-party iCSee app. It’s functional and responsive, but it pushes add-on services too aggressively for my taste, and the interface lacks the polish of Annke’s own software. Still, this camera delivers strong performance and flexibility for the price, making it a smart, affordable option if you want broad outdoor coverage without overcomplicating your setup. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best home security cameras. Read...

If your TBR list is longer than Santa’s naughty list, then you need a proper way to tackle all those books. Luckily, Kindles are on sale! Pretty much every model is available at a nice discount, making it easy to snag the perfect gift for yourself or someone you love. I’ve had several Kindles over the years, and I use mine every chance I get, especially now with my reading nook all decorated and fluffy blankets mandatory in this chilly weather. If there’s one gift I’d recommend to anyone, it’s a Kindle. The Kindle Paperwhite is my personal favorite, and you can get the newest model for 16 percent off–that’s just $135 right now. The 7-inch screen and perfect brightness make reading at any hour of the night effortless. Want to go a bit fancier? The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is 20 percent off at $160. It comes with double the storage at 32GB, wireless charging, and an auto-adjusting front light. These features are all handy, though the auto-adjusting light is probably the one you’ll really notice. Even the regular Kindle has seen some upgrades, including improved screen brightness. If you want to spend less, this 6-inch model at $90 is a solid choice. Looking for something bigger? The Kindle Scribe is 33 percent off at $280. This large e-ink tablet is perfect for note-taking as well as reading. And for the comic book lovers among us, the Kindle Colorsoft might be your best bet. With its color screen and the fact that it’s currently 24 percent off ($190), it’s a vibrant way to enjoy your favorite stories. Ready, set, read! Get the Kindle Paperwhite 16GB for 16% offBuy now at Amazon Get the Kindle 16G for 18% offBuy now at Amazon Get the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition 32GB for 20% offBuy now at Amazon Get the Kindle Scribe 32GB for 33% off Buy now at Amazon Get the Kindle Colorsoft 16GB for 24% offBuy now at Amazon Read...

There’s this spot at the back of my house where the Wi-Fi signal just isn’t right. The connection is patchy, the signal is weak, and you can never reliably finish a game of Hearthstone without getting disconnected. I’ve thought about upgrading my router, but I’ll probably just get one of these nifty little Wi-Fi extenders, especially since it’s only $19 (that’s 30 percent off). This little device gets plugged into any outlet and expands your wireless network coverage by up to 12,000 square feet, so you get proper internet everywhere in your home. The extender operates on dual bands, delivering combined speeds that are suitable for almost anything you need to do, from streaming content to gaming and yes, even browsing without interruption. It features three adjustable external antennas that help to optimize coverage and maintain stable connections. It’s the most straightforward way to boost your signal. There’s even a Gigabit Ethernet port you can use to give a more stable wired connection to a device of your choice, like a TV. So go ahead and grab the TP-Link AC1200 Wi-Fi Extender on Amazon for $19 before this deal runs out. Grab this 30% discount from TP-LinkBuy now at Amazon Read...

With gift season here, why not treat yourself to a gaming upgrade? This 27-inch LG UltraGear monitor is just $157 right now, which is 37 percent off of the original price. View at Amazon This LG monitor is more than ready for your favorite games, thanks to its 180Hz refresh rate and 1ms GtG response time–that’s extremely fast for smooth gameplay. The 2560×1440 resolution is equally impressive, delivering sharp visuals whether you’re gaming or streaming content. Think that’s great? But wait, there’s more. This monitor features a 1000R curvature, wrapping the screen around your field of view for deeper immersion. It also has a sleek borderless design for an even better experience. Plus, the LG UltraGear includes AMD FreeSync technology to minimize screen tearing and stuttering. Frankly, at $157, the LG UltraGear gaming monitor is an absolute gem, so add it to your collection sooner rather than later. The perfect deal exists — it`s 37% off for the LG UltraGearBuy now at Amazon Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Very compact form factor with a fully-fledged i9 platform Many connections including USB4, 2.5 Gbit LAN, and triple 4K support Strong single-core performance also for development and light rendering 32GB RAM and 1TB NVMe SSD ex works, second M.2 slot for upgrades Cheaper than many current AI mini PCs with Core Ultra or Ryzen AI Cons CPU and GPU performance noticeably below the latest HX-370 and Core Ultra systems, especially for 3D and AI Chassis and cooling seem less high-quality and service-friendly than some competitors SSD somewhat slow for PCIe 4.0 level Our Verdict The Acemagic M1 with i9-13900HK is a very fast, surprisingly compact mini PC that brings classic desktop performance and near silent operation. Although it lacks an NPU and some GPU power compared to the latest AI mini PCs, it impresses with a powerful processor, many ports and an attractive price. If you mainly run office, development, and moderate media workloads, you’ll get a lot of computing power in a small form factor. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Acemagic M1 Retailer Price $599 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Acemagic M1: The specs Processor: Intel Core i9-13900HK, 14 cores (6 Performance 8 Efficiency), 20 threads, base 2.6/1.9 GHz (P/E), turbo up to 5.4 GHz, 24 MB L3 cache Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Memory: 32 GB DDR4-3200 (2 × 16 GB SO-DIMM from the manufacturer Kinsotin), dual-channel, expandable up to 64 GB Internal storage: 1 TB NVMe SSD Biwin M350 (PCIe 4.0 x4), an additional M.2-2280 slot is available (expandable up to 4 TB) Front connections: 1 × USB4 Type-C (40 Gbit/s, DP 1.4, PD output), 2 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 × 3.5 mm audio, power button Rear connections: 4 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1 × 2.5 Gbit/s RJ45 LAN, 1 × HDMI 2.0, 1 × DisplayPort 1.4, 1 × DC-In Connectivity: 1 × 2.5 Gbit/s LAN (Realtek RTL8125), Wi-Fi 6E (MediaTek MT7922), Bluetooth 5.2 Operating system: Windows 11 Pro (64 bit) Power: external 19 V power supply unit with 6.3 A (approx. 120 watts) Dimensions: 128.2 × 128.2 × 41 mm (W × D × H), 1.18lbs The manufacturer Acemagic is known for providing compact, powerful mini PCs that combine desktop performance and ease of use with an attractive price-performance ratio. On Amazon, Acemagic offers several models in the entry-level to mid-range segment, often with good ratings for price, features, and simple plug-and-play installation. Let’s see if the M1 can prove itself to be a good value in our review. The Acemagic M1 with i9-13900HK is a classic old-school performance mini PC: excellent single-core performance, very decent multi-core performance and a usable iGPU for everyday 3D and media acceleration. Acemagic M1: Design As soon as you open the box, it becomes clear where the journey is heading: as much notebook hardware as possible in as little volume as possible. The mini PC itself, the pleasingly compact 120 watt power supply unit, an HDMI cable, VESA mount with screws and a brief quick start guide are included in the box. In principle, the setup is as simple as with a notebook dock: connect the power, connect it to a display via HDMI/DP or USB-C, plug in the peripherals, and switch it on. With its housing, the Acemagic M1 with Intel Core i9-13900HK is more visually appealing than the often angular barebones from classic PC manufacturers. The flat, square housing measures 128.2 × 128.2 × 41 millimeters and weighs around 1.18lbs. This means that the computer disappears effortlessly under a monitor or on a VESA mount behind the display. The M1 is only slightly larger than the Sapphire Edge AI 370. Christoph Hoffmann The top is simply printed with the Acemagic logo. The rounded edges give the device a much less “gaming box” look in the office than you would expect from an i9 system. The chassis is made of plastic on the outside and a metal core on the inside. Although this structure reduces the weight, it does not make the surface look quite as high-quality as the milled aluminum blocks of a Geekom A9 Max or Minisforum AI X1 Pro. A USB-C port (USB4), two USB-A ports, the combined 3.5 mm jack and the power button are located on the front. The arrangement is well thought out: headphones, a USB stick, or an external SSD can be plugged in quickly without the desk becoming cluttered with cables. Christoph Hoffmann At the rear, the M1 offers the rest of the ports: four additional USB-A sockets, 2.5 Gbit/s Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4 and the DC input. Large ventilation slots are located on the sides. The computer is clearly designed to be operated horizontally – therefore, anti-tilt rubber feet are only available on the underside. Christoph Hoffmann In practice, the computer remains relatively silent in idle mode, and in normal office operation the operating noise disappears behind any normal ambient volume. Under prolonged full load, the fan revs up and is then audible, but not shrill – more like the typical hissing noise of a compact notebook cooler. Acemagic M1: Features The centrepiece of the system is Intel’s Core i9-13900HK – a mobile high-end chip with 14 cores and 20 threads based on Raptor Lake (Intel 7), which reaches up to 5.4 GHz in Turbo mode. It was launched at the beginning of January 2023 and is therefore no longer the youngest member of the i9 series. Nevertheless, it still ranks in the upper class in practice – more on this later. Christoph Hoffmann In our configuration, it’s flanked by 32GB DDR4-3200 in dual-channel mode and a 1TB NVMe SSD (Biwin M350). Christoph Hoffmann It’s exciting that Acemagic accommodates two M.2 slots despite the compact 128 mm design: both in 2280 format – both support NVMe storage with up to 4 TB capacity. Mentioned in this article Sapphire Edge AI 370 Read our review The combination of 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD is sufficient for typical office and development workloads. Those who maintain large media databases, for example, can simply add a second SSD without an external housing – although access is somewhat more fiddly than with mini PCs with a magnetic lid such as the Sapphire Edge AI 370 due to the housing design. When it comes to connections, the M1 is surprisingly generous: six USB-A ports (two of them with 10 Gbit/s), a USB4 port with up to 40 Gbit/s and DisplayPort Alt mode, plus HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4. In total, three 4K monitors can be operated in parallel – a scenario that is quite realistic in practice, for example for creative professionals or in the software development environment. On the network side, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and a 2.5 Gbit/s LAN port are available. This puts the M1 slightly behind the latest AI mini PCs with Wi-Fi 7 and dual 2.5 Gbit LAN, but offers more than enough reserves for typical desktop use. A direct comparison with devices such as the Geekom IT15 or Geekom A9 Max clearly shows the difference in focuses: While these models shine with DDR5 RAM and partially integrated NPU, especially with AI PC features and ample upgradeability, the Acemagic M1 relies on a classic PC concept with a focus on CPU performance and many ports at a comparatively moderate price. For professional AI workloads and maximum future-proofing, enthusiasts are better off opting for the new HX-370 systems with Radeon 890M, while the M1 is easily sufficient for everyday office and creative work. Acemagic M1: Operating system The Acemagic M1 is supplied with Windows 11 Pro, which is automatically activated online after the first start. The basic setup is completed in a few minutes; we then update the system from Windows version 24H2 to 25H2. Christoph Hoffmann Before the benchmarks begin, we install all the latest Intel drivers for the Iris Xe graphics and the chipset (Intel Alder Lake-P) to ensure that the mini PC runs under optimum conditions and that all components can develop their full performance. Christoph Hoffmann Acemagic M1: Performance The Intel i9-13900HK is formally two CPU generations behind the current Core Ultra chips and Ryzen AI SoCs, but this is only noticeable at certain points in everyday use. In the PCMark 10 overall score, the M1 achieves 6,288 points, with 11,097 points in Essentials and 7,966 points in the Productivity category. In Digital Content Creation, the M1 is slightly lower at 7,633 points, but still clearly in an area where office, browser multitasking, light image editing and Full HD video editing run completely unproblematically. For comparison: a Geekom IT15 with Core Ultra 9 285H achieves 8,341 points, the Geekom A9 Max with Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 achieves 7,976 points – the M1 is therefore around 20 to 25 per cent behind, without dropping noticeably in typical office workloads. Christoph Hoffmann The 3DMark CPU profile confirms this impression. With 6,172 points at maximum threads and 1,082 points in the single thread, the i9 in the M1 almost reaches the single-core performance of current HX-370 systems, which are around 1,160 points, but falls well short of their 8,300 to 8,800 points in the multi-core scaling. In practice, this means that interactive applications, compilation times, and scripts continue to benefit from the high peak performance of a single processor core, while long rendering jobs or 4K transcoding simply run faster on the new AI chips – in tests with 30-minute 4K material, a Core Ultra 9 285H sometimes only encodes for half as long as the 13900HK in the M1. Christoph Hoffmann Graphically, the Iris Xe graphics used here is in the midfield of the current iGPU landscape. With 1,467 points in 3DMark Time Spy (1,283 graphics points and 7,960 CPU points) and 863 points or 6.4 FPS in Steel Nomad Light, it’s clear that we are dealing with a machine that maxes out with eSports titles and casual games, not a replacement for an RTX or RX GPU. Measurements on mini PCs with Radeon 890M – such as Minisforum AI X1 Pro or Sapphire Edge AI 370 – show a GPU performance that is around 30 to 40 percent higher with 3,500 to 3,700 time-spy points and over 3,000 points in Steel Nomad Light; Intel’s Arc graphics in the Geekom IT15 even tops this with 4,244 time-spy points. If you’re aiming for current AAA titles with high settings, it’s therefore better to use a system with a Radeon 890M or a mini PC with a dedicated GPU; however, the M1 is sufficient for 1080p eSports in medium presets. The classification of the AI performance is interesting. Geekbench AI Pro certifies the M1 with 2,740 points (Single Precision), 1,085 points (Half Precision) and 5,213 points in the Quantised test. This puts it well below the values of modern AI platforms: Minisforum AI X1 Pro with Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 achieves around 7,007 points in the Quantised score, the Sapphire Edge AI 370 is at 6,616 points, a Geekom IT15 with Core Ultra 9 285H even at 8,005 points. Christoph Hoffmann The reason is simple: The 13900HK does not have a dedicated NPU, all AI workloads run via CPU and GPU. This is still sufficient for occasional image upscaling jobs, transcription or local language models in the low-parameter range, but anyone who works with AI workloads on a daily basis will be more efficient with a current Ryzen AI or Core Ultra system. The SSD performance determined by CrystalDiskMark is solid, but not spectacular, at 3,425 MB/s read and 3,284 MB/s write. These values are roughly on a par with a good PCIe 3.0 SSD and clearly below the 5,000 to 6,000 MB/s that we measured in mini PCs such as the Geekom IT15, A9 Max, or Sapphire Edge AI 370. Christoph Hoffmann Subjectively, this is hardly noticeable: Windows starts up quickly, large applications such as Visual Studio or Lightroom load fast enough, but project folders with thousands of small files still feel a touch more responsive on some of the other competitors mentioned. Is the Acemagic M1 worth it? All in all, the Acemagic M1 with i9-13900HK is a classic old-school performance mini PC: excellent single-core performance, very decent multi-core performance, a usable iGPU for everyday 3D and media acceleration, but no specialized AI hardware and its SSD values are just below the high-end level. It clearly loses out to the latest mini PCs with Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 or Core Ultra 9 285H in synthetic benchmarks, but comes close enough in everyday office and creative work. The extra performance of its competitors should only be relevant for heavy users and professional AI workloads. Otherwise the M1 is a more than capable day-to-day or work mini PC. Read...

TL;DR: Grab this versatile open-box ASUS Chromebook CM30 Detachable 2-in-1 for $159.99 (MSRP $329.99) for a limited time. If you’ve been juggling laptops, tablets, and devices to get through work, school, or streaming, the ASUS Chromebook CM30 makes life simpler and more fun. This nimble 2-in-1 machine lets you switch between laptop and tablet — and right now, it’s just $159.99. The Chromebook’s 10.5-inch WUXGA touchscreen delivers crisp visuals, while the garaged stylus lets you sketch, take notes, or annotate with precision. Flip it into tablet mode with the magnetic detachable keyboard and versatile stand for reading, browsing, or streaming anywhere. Dual 5MP cameras handle video calls and snapshots, while Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 keep you connected wherever you go. It features a MediaTek Kompanio 520 processor, 8GB RAM, and 128GB eMMC storage, giving you fast performance for multitasking, creative projects, and web-based apps. Built tough with a military-grade aluminum chassis and 30% recycled materials, this Chromebook can survive bumps and scrapes without compromising style or portability. The 12-hour battery keeps you powered through a full day of work or binge sessions without hunting for an outlet. Its “open-box” status means it is a new item but may have been excess inventory, or returned and repackaged. This deal comes complete with all essential accessories and a 1-year warranty. For a limited time, get the ASUS Chromebook CM30 Detachable Touchscreen on sale for $159.99 (MSRP $329.99) ASUS Chromebook CM30 (2024) Detachable Touchscreen 8GB RAM 128GB eMMC (Open Box)See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Google Gemini has launched real-time, continuous translation using your phone and a pair of connected earbuds, in what looks like a powerful transformative change to the way in which we interact with speakers from other countries. Google buried its announcement in an update to Gemini voice model updates on Friday, but the additional translation features look like they could change the way in which people interact with foreign speakers. Google is launching a beta of Google Translate to accommodate both real-time translation and two-way conversations, powered by Gemini. Wander through the markets in Bangkok, and the update promises that you’ll hear the ambient conversations of vendors around you translated into English, via a pair of connected earbuds. In a two-way conversation, you’ll have the same experience, but you’ll have a chance to speak, and then your phone will play back what you’ve said via your phone’s speaker. Google is promising that Translate will auto-detect over 70 languages and 2,000 language pairs, or a direct back-and-forth translation between English, for example, and Italian. The company is also promising that the phone will filter out extraneous noise as well as preserve the nuance of the conversation using AI. Translate will even accommodate multiple languages in a single session. Those are all issues that I’ve wrestled with while traveling overseas, using various translation devices. In Taiwan, for example, I naively thought that Mandarin would be the primary spoken language, and it seems to be. But locals use others, including Hakka or Hokkien, and switched back and forth at will. I also can speak some French, but like others who lack immersion training I can speak French far better than I understand it — and probably not all that well at that. Put simply, in my experience translation apps have almost reached a level of utility where I could depend upon them. If Google’s services works as advertised, however, this could really put translation services over that critical threshold. Google published a video showing off what the new service could do, and it’s amazing in its simplicity. One of the things that I personally have loved about technology is watching its impact on culture. ReplayTV and TiVo introduced the ability to pause live TV, which was revolutionary to a generation of consumers, even those who owned VCRs. Remember GPS devices? When Google released its free Google Maps app for Android phones with GPS and directions, companies like Magellan faded from public view almost overnight. Many, many people own smartphones and headphones or earbuds, and travel overseas without fluency in the local language. A few years ago, you’d be at the mercy of a local who understood English. Google’s updated Translator app really looks like we’ve moved past that, where translators will always be available in our ear. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Fun, attractive design Super affordable Decent 400MBps reads Stands out from the crowd Cons Limited to 256GB capacity Already slow 150MBps writing drops to 80MBps after a few gigabytes Our Verdict If your younger kids need to back up or transport stored data, there’s no more enticing or entertaining way to do it than with SanDisk’s Crayola flash drive. But writes are slow, then painfully so with anything more than a couple of gigabytes. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: SanDisk Crayola flash drive Retailer Price SanDisk 18 View Deal $22.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices I’ve been accused of being a big kid, which makes me part of the target audience that the SanDisk Crayola flash drive is being blatantly marketed to. Hints of cynicism aside… Making an SSD imitate a crayon is unique, fun, and definitely makes the drive stand out from the crowd — a possibly useful trait for anyone that I’ll explain later. But it’s a very slow writer (150MBps) from the get go, and drops to 80MBps after only a few gigabytes. Yikes. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best external drives for comparison. What are the SanDisk Crayola’s features? The Crayola is, as described (mostly) — a mildly fatter rendering of a crayon. Excuse me, Crayola crayon. It measures 3.22-inches long by 0.67-inches round at the cap, and 0.62-inches around the main cylinder, which is slightly flattened on the back (See below) for stability. The cap covers a Type-C connector. While SanDisk doesn’t make any claims as to weather- or dust-proofing (there’s no IP rating), I’m guessing that with the cap on, the Crayola could stand up to most abuse. Note that the cap is not captive and and SanDisk warns that the drive is not for children under three years. SanDisk Crayola Mango Tango with cap removed. SanDisk sent me the Cerulean Blue, but the Crayola is also available in Electric Lime and Mango Tango (pink and orange). A Vivid Violet is in the works. All are distinctive and stand out from the crowd. Weight? A mere 10 grams, or 0.35 ounces. Unusually for a thumb/flash drive the Crayola carries a 5-year limited warranty, though how exactly that’s limited isn’t explained via a TBW rating (terabytes that may be written). Not to give anything away (I already have), but considering the Crayola’s slothful write speeds, there’s no way you’ll exceed the drive’s limits in anything remotely resembling the near future. How much does the SanDisk Crayola cost? Good news here: There’s no breaking the bank to entertain your youngster or young-at-heart soul! The 64GB version of the Crayola flash drive is $18, the 128GB is $23, and the 256GB version I tested is $33. Those prices include a 3-month subscription to the Crayola Create & Play app. How fast is the SanDisk Crayola? Alas, those low prices reflect the Crayola’s performance. It reads fast enough at 400MBps, but write speed starts out slow at 150MBps and drops further to 80MBps once you exceed approximately 4GB of data. For reference, a good-performing 5Gbps SSD will read and write at around 550Mbps. Even a fast 6Gbps SATA 3.5-inch hard drive manages 250MBps. Because of the low capacity and slow writes, I had to go off script for testing and with nothing similar to compare it to, didn’t create any charts. Below are the CrystalDiskMark results at several data set sizes. Note that one MiB (mebibyte) is 220, or 1,048,576 bytes, where a megabyte (MB) is 106/1,000,000 bytes. GiB (Gibibyte) is 230, or 1,073,741,824 bytes, where a gigabyte (GB) is 109/ 1,000,000,000 bytes.   Performance was hunky-dory at 512MiB. If you can call 143MBps hunky-dory. Given the low price and fun factor of the Crayola, we can live with this performance. The 1GiB data set actually saw a slight bump in speed. The 1GiB data set actually saw a slight bump in speed. The Crayola managed its “top” write rate with the 4GiB data set. 150MBps is what we’d call a tolerable write speed, but it only lasts for a few gigabytes. Good enough for a school assignment, but not much more. The 8GiB data set is where we started to see the write performance drop-off. That’s not all that much data when you’re dealing with video, etc. Note that we’ve seen slower drives off cache, such as the Addlink P50, though that drive writes at 1GBps for several hundred gigabytes before tanking. This is not the write speed you want for any sort of serious use. In terms of real-world testing, the Crayola took a hair over 11 minutes (662 seconds) to write our single 48GB file with FastCopy. That’s 10 times longer than any other thumb drive or portable drive we’ve tested over the last several years. I didn’t feel the need to test/humiliate the Crayola further. Other than to see that it read back the same file in 127 seconds, that is. Suffice it to say that the Crayola absolutely is not the drive you want to write more than a few gigabytes at a time to. SanDisk Crayola Electric Lime with the cap in place. Of course, in the real world, that actually covers a whole lot of practical tasks. In fact, I’m going to use it as my Macrium Reflect Free boot disk (I re-image my test beds quite often) simply because it’s so easy to spot among the rest of my boring (looks-wise) collection. I’ll only have to put up with the slow write once, I don’t mind any ribbing about the appearance, and its read speed is fine for a boot disk. Should you buy the SanDisk Crayola? As long as you’re aware of the severe write performance limitations, by all means, indulge. The Crayola is fun, and its distinct appearance makes it easy to spot in a crowd. As I’ve already pointed out, that could be handy in a write-once, read-many role. Strictly for kids? Maybe not. How we test Drive tests currently utilize Windows 11 24H2, 64-bit running off of a PCIe 4.0 Samsung 990 Pro in an Asus Z890-Creator WiFi (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard. The CPU is a Core Ultra i5 225 feeding/fed by two Crucial 64GB DDR5 5600MHz modules (128GB of memory total). Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 5 are integrated into the motherboard and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. Internal PCIe 5.0 SSDs involved in testing are mounted in an Asus Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 adapter card sitting in a PCIe 5.0 slot. We run the CrystalDiskMark 8.04 (and 9), AS SSD 2, and ATTO 4 synthetic benchmarks (to keep article length down, we report only the former) to find the storage device’s potential performance. Then we run a series of 48GB transfer and 450GB write tests using Windows Explorer drag and drop to show what users will see during routine copy operations, as well as the far faster FastCopy run as administrator to show what’s possible. A 25GBps two-SSD RAID 0 array on the aforementioned Asus Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 is used as the second drive in our transfer tests. Formerly the 48GB tests were done with a RAM disk serving that purpose. Each test is performed on a NTFS-formatted and newly TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that in normal use, as a drive fills up, performance may decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, as well as other factors. This issue has abated somewhat with the current crop of SSDs utilizing more mature controllers and far faster, late-generation NAND. Our testing MO constantly evolves and these results may not match those from previous articles. Only comparisons inside the article are 100% valid as those are gathered using the current hardware and MO. Read...

I recently made the switch to Gemini on my Google smart speakers and displays, and for the most part, I’m liking it. Gemini is chatty without being a blabbermouth, and it capably controls my smart home while also delivering detailed weather reports and answers to my other queries. So far, I’m impressed.  But there’s one Google Assistant feature that I miss: Continued Conversation, which allowed the Assistant to briefly keep listening after answering a question in case you have follow-ups. If you did have something else to ask, you could do so without having to repeat the “Hey Google” wake word.  Continued Conversation mode could be enabled on any of your Google Assistant-powered speakers and displays, and it came in handy for a variety of situations. For example, if you asked Google about the weather, you could quickly follow up with questions like “will it rain today?” or “what’s the weather for the rest of the week” without having to say “Hey Google” over and over.  Now that Gemini for Home is gradually taking over for Google Assistant (Google has stepped up the pace for early access Gemini for Home invites, and has promised to send invites within 24 hours to those who request one), Google smart speakers are getting a wealth of Gemini-powered features, and Google has promised that basic Google Assistant functionality will be carried over even if you don’t pay for a Google Home Premium subscription.  To my surprise, Continued Conversation mode is one Google Assistant feature that doesn’t appear to have made the cut, and I’m not the only one who’s noticed. I’ve reached out to Google for more details.  Now, if you want to chat with Gemini without saying “Hey Google” before each question, you must engage the free-flowing Gemini Live mode, which requires a Google Home Premium subscription starting at $10 a month.  Without the Google Home Premium plan, you must use the “Hey Google” wake word before each and every query, leading to such stilted Gemini chats as “Hey Google, what’s the weather? Hey Google, will it rain tonight? Hey Google, what’s the weather tomorrow?”  Continued Conversation mode does still work with Google Assistant on Google smart speakers and displays, but only as long as you stay with Google Assistant. Once you switch to Gemini for Home, there’s no going back.  Is the lack of a Continued Conversation-type mode for the free version of Google Home a dealbreaker? Not for me, I am impressed with Gemini for Home’s new abilities, and I’ll have more thoughts once I’ve performed more thorough testing.  That said, saying “Hey Google” over and over again is feeling like a step backward rather than forward.  This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers. Read...

Each December, our crew looks back on the whole year. One episode dedicated to our top hardware picks. One episode devoted to the success (and failures) of our early predictions. To ready myself, I’ve been reviewing the highs and lows of 2025.FSR Redstone’s launch really encapsulates the last 11 months. AMD first teased the arrival of its supercharged, graphics-enhancing tech for Radeon RX 9000 series cards in mid-November via Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The game’s launch contained a new machine-learning version of ray regeneration—and then just days later, the company hinted at a full release on December 10. It didn’t say much after that. It didn’t launch much, either. That’s how the situation feels, at least. Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the surprising topics on our YouTube show or latest news from across the web? You’re in the right place.  Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website!  The official debut of FSR Redstone comprises four technologies—FSR Upscaling, FSR Frame Generation, FSR Ray Regeneration, and FSR Radiance Caching. Machine learning powers the whole set. AMD touts Upscaling and Frame Gen as “new” due to the upgrade. Ray Regeneration is truly new, applying deep learning to the denoising of ray-traced scenes. Radiance Caching will also be new when it drops in 2026, striking a middle-ground approach to global illumination via projections, rather than real-time calculations.(Is a product launched if it isn’t accessible until the coming year? Perhaps I’m just a stickler.) Hit the AMD website and you’ll see about 200 games listed as supporting FSR Redstone—that is, “one or more” of the technologies. That group narrows considerably to just 32 titles for Frame Generation. And Ray Regeneration? That only exists in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 right now. You wouldn’t be wrong to look at Redstone as mainly enhanced upscaling, with the promise of further visual enhancements down the road. But you may not want them. As early benchmarks show, the relatively limited group of Radeon GPU owners who even have access to Redstone may not get much use out of it—or that much of an improvement over earlier FSR iterations. Tim Scheisser at Hardware Unboxed dissects Frame Generation’s irregular frame pacing, and how the subsequent judder likely will affect those with variable refresh rate monitors much more adversely. Meanwhile, Steve Burke and the Gamers Nexus team dug into latency, showing similar lag when using Redstone vs. FSR 3.1—so still a killer for certain games and game modes. Games look prettier with FSR Redstone tech on, but it also currently comes with performance trade-offs.AMD The situation isn’t all bad, of course. The Gamers Nexus video has a fun quiz embedded in its coverage, asking viewers to identify the FSR 3.1 vs. FSR Redstone in a split-screen comparison. I could immediately spot the Redstone version. It’s prettier. And as Hardware Unboxed’s testing showed, Redstone is capable of outperforming Nvidia’s competing DLSS tech in image quality for select details, making the tussle between the two companies closer to even. But as a value-add for existing Radeon customers (and a select group at that—remember, Redstone features only work on current Radeon 9000-series graphics cards), this Redstone launch feels underwhelming. Yes, the promise is definitely there. Yes, AMD has proved before that it can and does improve its technologies. Yes, competition is good and necessary for healthy consumer choice. At the same time, PC gamers find themselves staring down the barrel of a hardware apocalypse, where building new or even upgrading may become outright unaffordable. If software is to be our saving grace—if tech giants’ claim that newer GPU architectures will continue to show smaller rasterized performance gains—this feels like an ill omen for the future. “Enshittification” is a term we’ve used on the show before, coined by Cory Doctorow several years ago. The overwhelming majority of 2025 has felt like a turbulent version of that process, simultaneously accelerated and erratic. Redstone isn’t necessarily an outcome of enshittification, but boy, does it drive the point home. Hardware? Too expensive. Software to bridge the gap? Full of compromises and future promises. In a year full of big statements and lackluster delivery, I don’t like this launch as a capstone. But maybe that’s the era we’re in. Consumers won’t matter to businesses until they realize that, actually, we do. In this episode of The Full Nerd  In this episode of The Full Nerd, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Will Smith discuss Crucial’s unceremonious end at Micron’s hands, the return of 32-bit PhysX, and a rumored extension on B650’s lifespan. You all of course caught some of my thoughts already on Crucial last week, but both Will and Brad weigh in with very relevant points—including the affect on PC vendors like Dell and HP. The most unexpected (and maybe unwanted) revelation: Will is willing to touch poop with his bare hands and admit it live on camera. To quote one YouTube comment, “Unhinged preshow today.”  Maybe a little, yes. It was that kind of show this week.Willis Lai / Foundry Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time! Don’t miss out on our NEW shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries and The Full Nerd: Extra Edition now! And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds. This week’s offensive nerd news I exaggerate some, but Kohler’s attitude toward its toilet cam stinks. As does its crappy spin on privacy and encryption. I’m gonna be that party pooper that reminds y’all to always weigh convenience against security…and to dig into the details of any security measures. Thankfully, not all interesting news this week reeks. Well. Sort of. I … yeah. No thanks to this poop cam.Kohler Health Poo by any other name: Kohler obviously doesn’t understand what EE2E means for encryption. Or know about other, sketchier uses for toilet cams. Backup, backup, backup: An AI-flavored reminder that you should always have good backups on hand, in case of catastrophe. Or possibly predictable outcomes. JavaScript was created in 10 days? I am so unproductive compared to early internet pioneers. Speaking of bloat: Given our complaints on the show this week about Windows 11’s resource hogging, the only obvious solution to our problem is this crazy lightweight Linux distro. Or that’s what I imagine Will saying to me at some point. A case for aging gracefully: I suppose we all must accept that white plastic won’t stay white, and not interfere with nature taking its course. Are you entitled to AT&T settlement money? PSA: The deadline got extended until December 18, so get in those last claims if you qualify! So brown.Noctua/Prusa Speaking of poop brown: If you love Noctua’s commitment to earth tones, now you can replicate its exact color scheme with a 3D printer. Would I go back? Eh: Operation Bluebird wants to reclaim Twitter as a trademark, now that use of the name and the logo have been abandoned. I’m not sure if we can go back to those halcyon days where we only ever described our breakfasts in two sentences, though. “Divide by zero, go to hell”: Or so famously said one of my college’s professors. Perhaps he knew just how bad such attempts would go. Update Notepad++ if you haven’t already! Traffic jacking led to malware downloads instead of legit updates. You’ll want version 8.8.9 for the patched version, and you’ll have to do the update manually. Not a friendly rivalry: I can’t imagine having a budget that would accommodate $50,000 of computer replacements/repairs. Much less creating that amount of damage. In just a few days, I’ll be making my nominations for the best of 2025—along with the worst trend of the year. I have petitioned Adam to let us name more than one trend, because [waves hands at everything]. Catch you all next week… ~Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld. Read...