Windows

Cash isn't the only way customers have been paying for Xbox Game Pass subscriptions. Microsoft Rewards has been fueling gaming addictions since 2005. Sadly, the program will soon become less generous for faithful Xbox supporters.

Microsoft's first-party Xbox controller is widely used on many platforms, but it's not without some drawbacks. The upgraded Sebile controller has returned in a new leak, with features similar to the DualSense.

Although there seem to be supply issues in multiple markets, the new GeForce RTX 5070 Ti already received support in a new driver package. Additionally, the Game Ready Driver 572.47 features DLSS 4 support with Multi Frame Generation for the latest update of Marvel Rivals.

Lenovo continues to outfit its affordable E series ThinkPads with bad screens. This really should not be the case in 2025, and it also shows that Lenovo does not really understand the target audience for this series.

The Epic Games Store has updated its free game offering with two new titles. Worth a combined total of nearly $70, Garden Story and World War Z Aftermath arrive as the storefront's penultimate giveaways in February for Windows.

Satechi has launched a new hub that can add three displays to Mac and Windows systems. The Satechi 13-in-1 USB-C Triple Display Multiport Adapter also offers a variety of other connections.

Blizzard is not ready to concede hero shooter supremacy to Marvel Rivals. The recent Overwatch 2 update makes matches less predictable and more rewarding. How have these changes impacted the game's Steam rating and player counts?

A new generative AI model from Microsoft called Muse can understand game physics and controller inputs to generate gameplay. It has been trained with over a billion images and controller actions, showing impressive results.

A new activation method called TSforge allows permanent activation of Windows and Office by modifying Microsoft’s Software Protection Platform. It's integrated into MAS 3.0, and supports Windows 7 (and later), as well as Office 2013–2024.

The Epic Games Store is set to give away at least another three games later this week. In the meantime, the storefront has revealed the extent of last year's giveaways, as well as its plans for 2025.

The Chuwi AuBox 8745HS mini PC comes with the 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS CPU coupled with a 12-core Radeon 780M GPU to power through heavy multitasking with ease. The AuBox can play many games at high frame rates, too.

CheckMag The market for gaming handhelds is booming. New devices are springing up everywhere and more and more manufacturers are venturing into the segment. Too much choice can be paralyzing, so knowing what makes a good handheld is certainly worthwhile.

In a world that brings together high-end technology and classic puzzles, AI Confidential allows players to take advantage of an intuitive emoji-driven dialog system to solve everyone's problems as a robo technician. There is no release date yet, but interested parties can add the game to their wishlists to be notified.

Microsoft rolled out the Windows 11 24H2 update in October last year, but just recently, the company has made some changes to the compatible CPU list. Many previously eligible Intel CPUs aren't officially supported anymore, but this only affects OEMs wishing to roll out a new Windows 11 laptop or computer.

Officially announced in December, Elden Ring Nightreign will launch across multiple platforms on May 30th. Select players can already access a test version, yet many technical details remain veiled for now. The game delivers three-player co-op survival action set within the Elden Ring universe.

In addition to day-one support for Avowed, Sid Meier's Civilization VII, the DLSS Frame Generation updates for Wuthering Waves and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver package also sports support for five new G-Sync Compatible displays and four optimal settings presets.

The AstoCAD development team has announced the first release of the FreeCAD soft fork, which aims to drastically redesign the UI of the free, open-source 3D design software to "make FreeCAD sexy."

Released back in 2016, Hearts of Iron IV has been continuously updated ever since. A new country pack expansion, "Graveyard of Empires," is on the verge of release on March 4th. The countries this update focuses on are Iran, India, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Wacom has unveiled the Intuos Pro pen tablets for artists and designers in three sizes. The tablets come with an updated digitizer and the Wacom Pro Pen 3 for improved pen accuracy.

According to a leak, Lenovo is preparing to launch a completely new ThinkPad model. The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s 2-in-1, a convertible version of the popular Lenovo ThinkPad T14s, seems to be replacing the ThinkPad X13 2-in-1 - is another small laptop series going the way of the dodo?

With 65 "very positive" reviews so far, Aethermancer is off to a great start. Unleashed yesterday on Steam in a public demo, this title from German indie developer moi rai games brings together monster taming and the roguelite formula in strategic 3v3 turn-based battles. The full game will hit Windows, macOS, and SteamOS+Linux.

Acer has announced that it will unleash a new 16-inch gaming laptop on the market from the second quarter of 2025. The Predator Helios Neo 16 AI is the only OLED-capable machine of its series, and will boast up to RTX 5070 Ti graphics to go with its Intel Arrow Lake HX platform. It is backed to revolutionize the gaming experience in its price-tier with its eponymous AI capabilities.

According to Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, sales of the Snapdragon X-based Windows machines reached a double-digit market share in December 2024 in the US in the >$800 pricing category. This development seems to be a marked improvement over the sales of the Snapdragon laptops in the previous months.

Project ARC, a somewhat mysterious new project from the developers and publishers behind PUBG: Battlegrounds, has officially been added to the growing PUBG spin-off family, now renamed as PUBG: Blindspot. The new installment to the PUBG universe is a 5v5 tactical shooter that will blend strategy, tactical gunplay, and tight indoor environments.

Before a little-publicized Windows update went live, private browsing was less secure than most users realized. How have Microsoft and Google stopped the OS from recording passwords and other sensitive data?

The Epic Games Store has now revealed its intentions for next week's free game giveaway. Not only will the company be offering another title for free worth $34.99, but it will also be providing a new unlock bundle for a popular battery royale shooter.

Epic Games has kicked off a new game giveaway for another indie title. While the game can be picked up for $0.00 for the time being, it will return to $19.99 just before Valentine's Day.

Xbox’s newly launched Pulse Cipher Special Edition wireless controller is 15% off on Amazon, reaching its first all-time low price. With a transparent red aesthetic, the Pulse Cipher wireless controller features red diamond-shaped rubberized grips, dark red accents across the bumpers, buttons, and two-tone thumbsticks. It offers up to 40 hours of playtime on a single charge.

In addition to smaller changes such as credit card information autofill, certificate transparency enforcement, or additional language support for Firefox Translations, the latest version of Mozilla's web browser comes with AI chatbot access. This optional feature rolls out progressively, so it might not be available for many users yet.

In a world where online news and notifications often become overwhelming, Opera Air comes to help its users slow everything down and focus on their well-being instead. The list of features includes breathing and neck exercises, meditation sessions, guided full body scans, and more.

It seems Microsoft has indeed changed its stance about running Windows 11 on unsupported PCs. Just recently, it removed the official TPM bypass guide, and now, it's flagging a free system requirements bypass tool as a potential malware.

In addition to supporting the new GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs, GeForce Game Ready 572.16 comes with DLSS 4 optimizations for roughly 75 games and apps, including Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts Legacy, as well as support for 19 G-Sync Compatible displays alongside one-click optimal settings for six more titles.

With the release of Windows 11 21H2, Microsoft offered an official workaround to bypass the TPM and CPU requirement of the OS. This guide has now been removed.

CheckMag The impending end of Windows 10 support (October 2025) means that many users may have to switch to a different OS. Alternative operating systems such as Linux and ChromeOS Flex can be tested on your own PC without affecting the existing Windows installation.

CheckMag There are a number of tools which allow you to leverage your own AI image generator without relying on cloud services, which are often paid and come with a whole host of limitations. However, Invoke AI lets you run a range of models and tools including Stable Diffusion, enabling you to generate pretty much anything you can think of. Decent results can be achieved with modest hardware and a relatively recent GPU. Here's how to get started.

The Epic Games Store has updated its free game program with a new $19.99 title. Available throughout the rest of the month and until early February, Undying is principally a survivor game set in a zombie apocalypse.

Users who own a Windows PC and Apple iPhone can now connect their devices more seamlessly. Microsoft is giving users the ability to integrate their iPhone directly into the Start Menu, which allows them to check the battery level or read messages, and more.

Lenovo's ThinkPad P14s with AMD CPU is still using Ryzen 8000, but we expect an update to Zen 5 soon. With the next model, Lenovo should use Strix Halo no matter what instead of the normal Strix Point chips, as the compact workstation urgently needs more GPU performance.

The Asus ProArt PZ13 might be the ideal choice for users undecided between a laptop and a tablet. The hybrid features a 13.3-inch OLED touchscreen with stylus support, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X1P-42-100 chipset, a 1 TB SSD, 16 GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel camera on the back, and a pair of USB4 ports.