If you’re looking for ways to upgrade your home office, then you might as well get a mini PC because these computers are just as powerful as laptops or PC towers, but they fit under your monitor and they cost a fraction of the price. The Bosgame P3 Lite is on sale ahead of Prime Day for a mere $349, 24% under its $459 MSRP. This is not only a superb deal but also a fantastic device with a configuration that’s absolutely not a joke. The P3 Lite comes with a Ryzen 7 6800H processor and a decent 24GB DDR5 RAM. That’s more memory than we’re used to seeing in devices within this price range, and definitely not in laptops under $1,500. There’s also a 1TB SSD on board, so you won’t get to complain about storage space anytime soon. Plus, even if you do end up having an issue, storage is fairly affordable these days, so you can always get more. As small as this mini PC is, you wouldn’t expect it to have so many ports—and yet it does. There are plenty of USB-A ports for peripherals, two LAN ports, and even an audio jack. There’s also a magic combo of HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C that makes it possible to multitask on two 4K displays and one 8K screen. There’s no reason to avoid getting a mini PC these days, and this Bosgame P3 Lite for $349 is a fantastic pick. This is, however, a Prime deal, so you’re going to need a subscription to the service to access it. Amazon Prime costs $14.99/month or $139/year, but you could also get a 30-day free trial. Since Prime Day starts next week, now’s the perfect time to subscribe. Also make sure to check out the best early Prime Day deals we found on mini PCs and our Prime Day hub for more deals. Tiny device, small price, great performanceBuy now at Amazon Read...

Nvidia has been a little circumspect when it comes to sending out review units for its newest RTX graphics cards as of late. (That’s why there’s no PCWorld review yet for the RTX 5050 or 5060 or the 8GB version of the RTX 5060 Ti.) But reviewers gonna review… and the first reviews for the new RTX 5050 aren’t great. Korean site Quasar Zone (spotted by Tom’s Hardware) has a full review and benchmark suite of the Colorful iGame version of the RTX 5050, which comes with a Blackwell processor, 2560 CUDA cores, 8GB of GDDR6 memory, a 128-bit bus, and a $250 USD price tag. (That’s the suggested retail price, anyway. As with all graphics cards at the moment, your results may vary when you get to the checkout screen.) The results of Quasar Zone’s tests are less than impressive. The RTX 5050 just barely manages to hold even with the RTX 4060 from two years ago in most straight benchmarks, losing by a small margin in some. Intel’s Arc B580 (12GB, $250 retail) beats it handily in most synthetic benchmarks, though an average of in-game testing shows it only winning out by a small sliver—there are still a lot of games where Intel’s hardware and drivers are at a disadvantage. There is a bright spot for team green, though, and it’s in frame generation. Flipping on the switch for the signature feature of the RTX 50 series allows the RTX 5050 to pull ahead of the RTX 4060 by a considerable amount—nearly double versus the older card with single-frame generation and DLSS enabled. That’s to be expected, since the Blackwell chips can, indeed, generate double or even triple the artificial frames of its predecessors. This led to some questionable claims when the series was introduced, and those who are interested in multiplayer competitive games (the “fake frames” crowd) won’t be won over. Even with the boost from frame generation, it seems that the RTX 5050 is not the budget competitor that Nvidia needs in this segment… or at least that consumers want from Nvidia in this segment. Nvidia is still making an obscene amount of profit from its wide portfolio on the AI boom, so it’s not as if it really has to compete on the lower end. And it has a virtual monopoly on desktop graphics, anyway. Read...

Everyone has a chore they hate doing. I’ll happily pull weeds, clear brush, do dishes, clean rain gutters — but when it came to scrubbing a shower, I hated it. Now, it’s almost fun. Some people use all sorts of chemicals to avoid getting on their hands and knees and scrubbing until all the grime goes away. No matter what I used, though, I’d still have to go in there and grind away, and it still never looked that great. Now I just use a drill brush. Yep, power tools! The $19 Drill Brush is a brush attachment for a cordless drill, and an absolute godsend for anyone who needs to clean a shower, sink, or bathtub. Rev the drill, the brush spins, any gunk comes off. Done. The base pack comes with three attachments: “flat” brushes with either a 2-inch or 4-inch diameter, as well as a rounded “corner brush” that allows you to get in and scrub any curves that your shower has. All three include nylon bristles, and they’re rated as safe for porcelain, fiberglass shower enclosures, and shower-door tracks. I’ve used them on all three, and haven’t noticed any nicks or scratching. Now, scrubbing a shower means spraying your shower cleaner of choice on the shower surface, then selecting the right head for the job. I wait a minute or two to let it soak in, scrub off the gunk, then rinse it with some clean water. (Just make sure to keep the drill out of the way of the rinse water to avoid the risk of shocking yourself.) I really appreciate the fact that I can just lean on the drill and let the brush do the work. Since each Drill Brush set is less than $20, you can either buy separate sets for other tasks or simply buy a three-pack for $56 if you want to use other brushes for cleaning grout, sinks, tires, or whatever. Just make sure you pay attention to which brush you’re buying — Drill Brush uses different colors to designate different levels of stiffness, so a yellow brush is best for a bath or shower, while red brushes are better for outdoor surfaces. I’ve never been too worried about burning out my drill — it’s not like I (or, let’s be honest here — my wife) waits for years before it’s time to clean the shower again. It doesn’t take too much effort for the grime to come right off. Using a drill brush does require you to get on your hands and knees, however, and use it at somewhat awkward angles. And if you are concerned about dedicating your drill to…drilling, this $30 Clelifove cordless shower scrubber offers an alternative: it includes a rotating scrubber with a 58-inch telescoping handle, eight brushes, a rechargeable battery, and it’s waterproof. I’ve never used the Clelifove scrubber, so I can’t personally recommend it. But I bought a set of Drill Brushes years ago on the recommendation of a colleague, and never regretted it. It’s one of those little gadgety things that made my life better. Buy the Drill Brush three-piece brush set for $18.95 at Amazon Read...

June’s big Patch Tuesday update for Windows 11 has caused a bit of a mess for users, so much so that Microsoft had to briefly pause the update and issue an emergency patch… that ended up causing even more issues. Microsoft now admits that the problems don’t end there. Subsequent issues that have surfaced include a bug where the Print to PDF feature no longer works, which occurs specifically on systems with Windows 11 24H2 and, according to Microsoft, isn’t dramatic because it mainly affects corporate customers. The problem occurs as follows: if you search for the “Print to PDF” option in the Settings app, you’ll no longer be able to find it. It’s normally found under the options for printers and scanners, but it’s no longer there. The option can also no longer be activated via PowerShell. Microsoft is already working on a solution for this with optional preview update KB5060829, intended to resolve PDF problems in Windows 11. However, this preview update is also raising more problems. More problems with update KB5060829 Let’s recap. On June 10th, Microsoft released Patch Tuesday update KB5060842, which caused issues. On June 11th, we got the out-of-band emergency update KB5063060, which caused more issues. Now, optional preview update KB5060829 is causing still more issues. Some users have been complaining about Windows 11 performance problems after installing the update. Others are running into cursor delays when certain key combinations are used in games. Yet others are saying it causes the Windows Firewall to go haywire, with one Reddit user reporting that they’re seeing Firewall-related system events. It appears as if Firewall is no longer working properly or trying to fend off an attack. Microsoft, however, says there’s no cause for concern. It’s a known problem that can be safely ignored by users who are getting it. Whenever the system is restarted, new Firewall-related system events are logged even without there being any real incidents. According to Microsoft, it’s due to a new feature that’s still under development, so the issue should resolve itself once the feature is fully implemented. If you don’t want to risk these problems, you should hold off on installing the optional KB5060829 update and instead wait for Microsoft’s big Patch Tuesday update in July. If you’ve already installed it, you might be able to resolve any issues by rolling back the Windows update. Read...

ChatGPT is rapidly changing the world. The process is already happening, and it’s only going to accelerate as the technology improves, as more people gain access to it, and as more learn how to use it. What’s shocking is just how many tasks ChatGPT is already capable of managing for you. While the naysayers may still look down their noses at the potential of AI assistants, I’ve been using it to handle all kinds of menial tasks for me. Here are my favorite examples. Further reading: This tiny ChatGPT feature helps me tackle my days more productively Write your emails for you Dave Parrack / Foundry We’ve all been faced with the tricky task of writing an email—whether personal or professional—but not knowing quite how to word it. ChatGPT can do the heavy lifting for you, penning the (hopefully) perfect email based on whatever information you feed it. Let’s assume the email you need to write is of a professional nature, and wording it poorly could negatively affect your career. By directing ChatGPT to write the email with a particular structure, content, and tone of voice, you can give yourself a huge head start. A winning tip for this is to never accept ChatGPT’s first attempt. Always read through it and look for areas of improvement, then request tweaks to ensure you get the best possible email. You can (and should) also rewrite the email in your own voice. Learn more about how ChatGPT coached my colleague to write better emails. Generate itineraries and schedules Dave Parrack / Foundry If you’re going on a trip but you’re the type of person who hates planning trips, then you should utilize ChatGPT’s ability to generate trip itineraries. The results can be customized to the nth degree depending on how much detail and instruction you’re willing to provide. As someone who likes to get away at least once a year but also wants to make the most of every trip, leaning on ChatGPT for an itinerary is essential for me. I’ll provide the location and the kinds of things I want to see and do, then let it handle the rest. Instead of spending days researching everything myself, ChatGPT does 80 percent of it for me. As with all of these tasks, you don’t need to accept ChatGPT’s first effort. Use different prompts to force the AI chatbot to shape the itinerary closer to what you want. You’d be surprised at how many cool ideas you’ll encounter this way—simply nix the ones you don’t like. Break down difficult concepts Dave Parrack / Foundry One of the best tasks to assign to ChatGPT is the explanation of difficult concepts. Ask ChatGPT to explain any concept you can think of and it will deliver more often than not. You can tailor the level of explanation you need, and even have it include visual elements. Let’s say, for example, that a higher-up at work regularly lectures everyone about the importance of networking. But maybe they never go into detail about what they mean, just constantly pushing the why without explaining the what. Well, just ask ChatGPT to explain networking! Okay, most of us know what “networking” is and the concept isn’t very hard to grasp. But you can do this with anything. Ask ChatGPT to explain augmented reality, multi-threaded processing, blockchain, large language models, what have you. It will provide you with a clear and simple breakdown, maybe even with analogies and images. Analyze and make tough decisions Dave Parrack / Foundry We all face tough decisions every so often. The next time you find yourself wrestling with a particularly tough one—and you just can’t decide one way or the other—try asking ChatGPT for guidance and advice. It may sound strange to trust any kind of decision to artificial intelligence, let alone an important one that has you stumped, but doing so actually makes a lot of sense. While human judgment can be clouded by emotions, AI can set that aside and prioritize logic. It should go without saying: you don’t have to accept ChatGPT’s answers. Use the AI to weigh the pros and cons, to help you understand what’s most important to you, and to suggest a direction. Who knows? If you find yourself not liking the answer given, that in itself might clarify what you actually want—and the right answer for you. This is the kind of stuff ChatGPT can do to improve your life. Plan complex projects and strategies Dave Parrack / Foundry Most jobs come with some level of project planning and management. Even I, as a freelance writer, need to plan tasks to get projects completed on time. And that’s where ChatGPT can prove invaluable, breaking projects up into smaller, more manageable parts. ChatGPT needs to know the nature of the project, the end goal, any constraints you may have, and what you have done so far. With that information, it can then break the project up with a step-by-step plan, and break it down further into phases (if required). If ChatGPT doesn’t initially split your project up in a way that suits you, try again. Change up the prompts and make the AI chatbot tune in to exactly what you’re looking for. It takes a bit of back and forth, but it can shorten your planning time from hours to mere minutes. Compile research notes Dave Parrack / Foundry If you need to research a given topic of interest, ChatGPT can save you the hassle of compiling that research. For example, ahead of a trip to Croatia, I wanted to know more about the Croatian War of Independence, so I asked ChatGPT to provide me with a brief summary of the conflict with bullet points to help me understand how it happened. After absorbing all that information, I asked ChatGPT to add a timeline of the major events, further helping me to understand how the conflict played out. ChatGPT then offered to provide me with battle maps and/or summaries, plus profiles of the main players. You can go even deeper with ChatGPT’s Deep Research feature, which is now available to free users, up to 5 Deep Research tasks per month. With Deep Research, ChatGPT conducts multi-step research to generate comprehensive reports (with citations!) based on large amounts of information across the internet. A Deep Research task can take up to 30 minutes to complete, but it’ll save you hours or even days. Summarize articles, meetings, and more Dave Parrack / Foundry There are only so many hours in the day, yet so many new articles published on the web day in and day out. When you come across extra-long reads, it can be helpful to run them through ChatGPT for a quick summary. Then, if the summary is lacking in any way, you can go back and plow through the article proper. As an example, I ran one of my own PCWorld articles (where I compared Bluesky and Threads as alternatives to X) through ChatGPT, which provided a brief summary of my points and broke down the best X alternative based on my reasons given. Interestingly, it also pulled elements from other articles. (Hmph.) If you don’t want that, you can tell ChatGPT to limit its summary to the contents of the link. This is a great trick to use for other long-form, text-heavy content that you just don’t have the time to crunch through. Think transcripts for interviews, lectures, videos, and Zoom meetings. The only caveat is to never share private details with ChatGPT, like company-specific data that’s protected by NDAs and the like. Create Q&A flashcards for learning Dave Parrack / Foundry Flashcards can be extremely useful for drilling a lot of information into your brain, such as when studying for an exam, onboarding in a new role, prepping for an interview, etc. And with ChatGPT, you no longer have to painstakingly create those flashcards yourself. All you have to do is tell the AI the details of what you’re studying. You can specify the format (such as Q&A or multiple choice), as well as various other elements. You can also choose to keep things broad or target specific sub-topics or concepts you want to focus on. You can even upload your own notes for ChatGPT to reference. You can also use Google’s NotebookLM app in a similar way. Provide interview practice Dave Parrack / Foundry Whether you’re a first-time jobseeker or have plenty of experience under your belt, it’s always a good idea to practice for your interviews when making career moves. Years ago, you might’ve had to ask a friend or family member to act as your mock interviewer. These days, ChatGPT can do it for you—and do it more effectively. Inform ChatGPT of the job title, industry, and level of position you’re interviewing for, what kind of interview it’ll be (e.g., screener, technical assessment, group/panel, one-on-one with CEO), and anything else you want it to take into consideration. ChatGPT will then conduct a mock interview with you, providing feedback along the way. When I tried this out myself, I was shocked by how capable ChatGPT can be at pretending to be a human in this context. And the feedback it provides for each answer you give is invaluable for knocking off your rough edges and improving your chances of success when you’re interviewed by a real hiring manager. Further reading: No, don’t threaten ChatGPT for better results. Try this instead Read...

Achieving that perfectly manicured lawn is a whole lot less time-consuming now that a robot can do the job for you. And over the long term, a robot lawn mower will cost less than hiring a landscaper—and it won’t expect a tip every week. Top-of-the-line models cost a pretty penny, but they can climb slopes and handle very large yards (we’re talking acres of grass). While early robot lawn mowers required you to lay down a boundary wire to prevent them from wandering out of your yard, each of mowers listed here use advanced navigation technology that eliminates the need for any wires. The good news is that we’ve already spotted some great deals on robot lawn mowers ahead of Amazon’s Prime Day sale, and we expect there will be more when the sale actually gets underway on July 8. The LawnMaster OcuMow is well-suited to smaller yards—up to 1/6 of an acre or 7,260 square feet—and it doesn’t require a boundary wire. You can pick one up ahead of Prime Day at a 19% discount at Amazon, bringing its final price to just $650. Anthbot says its Genie 600 robot lawn mower uses AI to avoid obstacles as it mows lawns up to .22 acres (9,583 square feet). And since it relies on GPS technology for navigation, it doesn’t require a boundary wire. Amazon is offering a 20% discount on the mower, bringing its final price down to $799. You’ll need a robot mower with a powerful motor and all-wheel drive–the Mowrator S1 is shown here–to tackle a sloped yard.Ed Oswald/Foundry Eufy has expanded its smart home offerings to include a line of robot lawn mowers, including the Eufy E18. This mower can tackle lawns up to .3 acres (13,068 square feet) and it can climb up to an 18-degree incline. Ahead of Prime Day, you can buy the Eufy Robot Lawn Mower E18 for $1,700–a 15% discount off its $2,000 MSRP. The Ecovacs Goat A2500 uses LiDAR navigation to eliminate the need for a boundary wire, and its suitable for large lawns up to 5/8 of an acre (27,225 square feet). Amazon is offering an 11% discount ahead of Prime Day, bringing your final price down to $1,778. If your lawn has slopes, you’ll need a robot lawn mower like the Mowrator S1—one of our favorites—that has the power and traction to climb them. This model isn’t completely autonomous—you drive it with a joystick-equipped remote control—but its all-wheel-drive motor makes short work of inclines up to 37 degrees. Amazon is offering a 10-percent discount on the Mowrator S1, bringing its price down to $3,599. The Yarbo YB-M001 is another robot lawn mower suitable for sloped yards. Like the Mowrator S1, you control it with a game console-like remote control (this one closely resembles an Xbox controller), and it can climb up to a 35-degree slope. Where the Mowrator S1 is rated for yards up to 1.12 acres, Yarbo’s bot is rated to tackle lawns up to 6 acres. Amazon has sliced 10% off the price of the Yarbo YB-M001, reducing it to $4,499. We’ll update this list as we find new deals ahead of and during Amazon’s Prime Day 2025 sale. And if you’re looking to save money on more of the latest technology, visit PCWorld’s Amazon Prime Day Tech Deals 2025 hub. Remember, you need to have an Amazon Prime membership to score Prime Day deals, but you can sign up for a free trial if you’re not. Read...

Few maintenance tasks are as tedious and time-consuming as cleaning your swimming pool. The good news is that robots can now perform that job, leaving you more leisure time to actually swim in your pool. We’ve spotted some great deals ahead of Amazon’s Prime Day sale next week, and we’ll add more as they become available. The recently reviewed Airrobo PC10 is a mid-range robotic pool cleaner that did a very good job on our test pool, and Amazon has knocked 42% off its list price, taking it down to $350. Snag an Airrobo PC10 with a steep discount ahead of Prime Day.Christopher Null/Foundry While we haven’t had an opportunity to review the Wybot C1 robotic pool cleaner, we have obtained good results with some of the company’s other products. Ahead of Prime Day, you can pick up the Wybot C1 for $450, 40% off its usual price. Aiper is another brand of robotic pool cleaner that we’ve had good experiences with, and now you can pick up the Aiper Scuba X1 for $1,000—a 33% discount. Beatbot has a wide range of robotic pool cleaners, too, and you can get the 2024 AquaSense with a 22% discount off MSRP that brings its sale price down to $1,019. If you have a larger pool—or you just want a more sophisticated bot to clean it—Amazon is offering great deals on several higher-end robotic pool cleaners. The Beatbot AquaSense Pro can dispense a water-clarification agent into the water while it cleans, and Amazon is offering a 15% discount to bring its price down to $1,909. (Note: The AquaSense Pro appears to be sold out at the moment.)   Amazon has slapped a 15 percent discount on the Beatbot Aquasense Pro.Christopher Null/Foundry Clip a coupon to get a $500 discount on the Beatbot AquaSense 2, then click a box to get another 10% off to bring its price down to $1,200. Or clip a coupon and tag a box for an additional 10% off, and you can get the brand-new Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max and caddy (pictured up top) for $1,840, a 30% discount off its $2,600 MSRP. In both cases, you’ll see the final sale price in your cart before you check out. Meanwhile, the top-of-the-line Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra is getting a 20% discount, bringing its final price down to $2,880. We’ll update this list article as we find new deals ahead of and during Amazon’s Prime Day 2025 sale. And if you’re looking to save money on more of the latest technology, visit PCWorld’s Amazon Prime Day Tech Deals 2025 hub. Read...

Word already displays the number of words in a document in its status bar for all versions. This number appears at the bottom, second to the right after the number of pages in the document. If you need more precise information though, such as the number of paragraphs or lines, you can click on the word count in the status bar. The “Word count” window then opens with further information. However, if you frequently need to know how many characters a text has, you can also display this information permanently in the status bar. To do this, simply right-click anywhere on the status bar and select “Character Count (with spaces)”. A check-mark will be displayed next to the option in the menu and you will now see the character count displayed permanently on the status bar next to your word count. In Word, the status bar at the bottom can be customized. Instead of just displaying the number of words, you can also display the number of characters.Sam Singleton Read...

What can give you peace of mind while you’re traveling away from home? Or even just making a quick grocery run while leaving your pets behind? A home Wi-Fi security camera with a remote live feed that you can check in on whenever you want, wherever you want! I’m talking about something like this Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam, which is now down to its best price ahead of Prime Day: $40 (was $80). This is an early Prime Day deal, so you’ll need a Prime sub to take advantage—but if you aren’t a Prime member, all you have to do is start a free 30-day Prime trial. With it, you’ll also be able to score Prime Day deals next week! All you need for this security camera is the Ring app. Once you’re connected, you can peek in at any time via the Live View, and you can control the camera’s position with 360 degrees of horizontal panning and 169 degrees of vertical tilting. With 1080p video and color night vision, you’ll get a clear image at all times of day—and you can even talk to whoever’s in the room via Two-Way Talk. This Ring camera also comes with Alexa support, so you can integrate with other Alexa devices (like smart displays) to pull up and watch footage. Worried about what it records when you’re chilling at home? Use the built-in privacy cover to block recording. With a paid Ring Home subscription, you can also unlock extra features like 180 days of event history, person/package/vehicle alerts, and more. Get the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam for 50% off before this early Prime Day deal expires! If you’d rather still shop around, be sure to check out our roundup of the best early Prime Day deals on security cameras! Save 50% on Ring`s full-featured 360-degree Wi-Fi security camBuy now at Amazon Read...

Prime Day is just days away and we’re already reveling in the early deals we’re spotting. Here’s one such deal: the gorgeous Amazon Echo Spot has been slashed down to just $45. That’s 44% off its $80 MSRP and matches the best price it’s ever been. The 2024 version of the Echo Spot has a sleek redesign that sets it apart from previous models. Instead of the big speaker we normally associate with the Echo line, this one is more of a proper digital display with the speaker as more of a supplement. This change in design makes it easy to spot the time, weather, or media playback at a glance. While you won’t need to ask Alexa about the time anymore since it’s all there on the display, the voice assistant is still easy to access. Voice commands are all you need to trigger Alexa and you’ll quickly get answers to all your questions. Controlling music playback, turning lights on and off, setting up reminders, and so on, are all on the “menu.” If you’ve been wanting an Echo but waiting for the right time to get one, this isn’t a bad time to jump in. Get the Amazon Echo Spot for $45 before this early Prime Day deal expires. You’ll need Prime, but you can get started with a 30-day Prime free trial if you aren’t a member yet. And be sure to check out our Prime Day deals coverage for all the best sales and discounts worth jumping on next week! Get the elegant Echo Spot with a 44% discount while you canBuy now at Amazon Read...