Brian Fagioli

Just when you thought outdoor lighting couldn’t possibly get any more interesting, GE Lighting launches its Cync Dynamic Effects Smart Café Lights. These new string lights are officially on sale just in time for backyard weather. If you’ve been itching to upgrade your deck or garden, it might be worth a look.

Forget those boring bulbs you might remember from your last barbecue, folks. These café lights use a unique corkscrew filament to put out bold, saturated color. Each bulb can be customized individually using the Cync app, so you can get creative and mix up patterns, colors, or brightness for any event. There’s even a music-sync feature that lets the lights react to whatever is playing, whether you’re throwing a summer party or just winding down after a long day.

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In another twist for streaming subscribers, Warner Bros. Discovery is scrapping the “Max” brand and reviving the “HBO Max” name this summer. The company made this move official at its Upfront event today in New York, touting it as a way to double down on what works best: the HBO brand and its reputation for quality programming.

Executives point to billions in profit improvements and millions of new subscribers, insisting that shifting the focus back to HBO will help the company hit a projected 150 million global subscribers by 2026. But as someone who follows streaming trends closely, I can’t ignore the constant rebranding.

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For years, NordVPN made Linux users live in the terminal. Sure, the command-line interface technically worked, but let’s not pretend it was ideal for everyone. Meanwhile, competitors like Surfshark and ExpressVPN had already given their Linux users full graphical interfaces. Now, NordVPN has finally caught up by launching its very own GUI for Linux.

So, what exactly does this mean? Well, instead of typing in commands, users can now click their way through connection options, settings, and even theme preferences like light or dark mode. This will arguably make using the service on Linux much easier.

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The latest version of Nobara has officially landed, and it’s packed with many thoughtful changes that continue to make it one of the most user-friendly Linux experiences around. With version 42, the Fedora-based distribution receives GNOME 48, KDE 6.3.4, Nvidia driver version 575.144, and Linux kernel 6.14.6.

One of the most noticeable changes, however, is the web browser switch. Firefox is surprisingly out, and Brave is now the default. That might sound controversial at first, but there’s actually solid reasoning behind it.

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Wow… it’s actually happening. ESPN has officially announced that, for the first time ever, fans will be able to subscribe directly to its full lineup of live sports and studio shows. In other words, there will be no cable or satellite provider required! The direct-to-consumer service is simply being called “ESPN,” and honestly, I’m pretty excited about it. That said, the pricing might make some fans do a double take.

Currently slated to launch in early fall, the new ESPN app will offer two subscription tiers. The top-tier option, ESPN unlimited, will cost $29.99 per month and includes everything: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN on ABC, and more. It also folds in ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, ACCNX, thousands of on-demand replays, and original content like 30 for 30. That’s around 47,000 live events every year. Still, thirty bucks a month isn’t exactly pocket change.

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Plugable is back with a new docking station, and this one is sort of unique. You see, the UD-7400PD supports up to five connected monitors at once -- four running at 4K resolution and a fifth capable of going all the way up to 8K!

Built on the new DisplayLink DL-7400 chipset from Synaptics, this dock also provides up to 140W of Power Delivery, which should be enough for most high-performance laptops. It’s compatible with both Windows and macOS, so it can fit into just about any office environment.

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Spring has sprung, and with it comes a new Xbox controller. PowerA has officially launched the Advantage Plus Wired Controller -- Night Blossom for Xbox Series X|S, and it’s clearly designed for the ladies. Covered in soft pinks and purples with floral accents, the controller looks more like a woman’s spring fashion accessory than a traditional piece of gaming hardware.

But make no mistake -- this isn’t just a pretty face. PowerA packed plenty of substance into this feminine shell. It includes the company’s Quick-Twist Thumbsticks, which let you change the stick height instantly. No tools, no swapping pieces -- just twist and choose between three height settings. It’s a clever feature, especially for the girls who switch playstyles between games.

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Apple is expanding its accessibility efforts in a very big way. You see, the company just announced a collection of new accessibility features coming later this year, and they’re designed to improve the experience for handicapped users across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro.

One of the most interesting changes is the launch of Accessibility Nutrition Labels on the App Store. These new labels will give users key details about an app’s accessibility features before downloading. That includes VoiceOver support, color contrast, captions, and more.

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It’s pretty hard to get excited about a CPU coolers nowadays, but a new offering from Cooler Master has actually piqued my interest. You see, the company has officially launched the Hyper 612 APEX, and this cooler should please both performance enthusiasts and style-conscious builders. In other words, this new air cooler doesn’t just do its job well -- it looks good doing it too.

The Hyper 612 APEX is built around six superconductive composite heat pipes that Cooler Master developed in-house. These heat pipes are designed to handle heavy thermal loads, making this cooler a solid pick for overclockers, gamers, and creators who routinely push their hardware. Pair that with the Mobius 120P fan (engineered for high-pressure airflow with minimal noise) and you’ve got yourself a dependable and efficient cooler.

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If you’re looking for a new Android smartphone and don’t want to break the bank, TCL might have just the thing you need. You see, the company has released its new K32 smartphone, and it’s already available from Metro by T-Mobile here. Impressively, it costs only $119.99 and still manages to bring 5G speeds and Android 15 to the table. Wow!

The K32 features a roomy 6.75-inch HD+ NXTVISION display, which means you get decent visuals for things like YouTube, social media, and video chats. It isn’t going to rival a flagship phone, of course, but for this price point, it’s pretty impressive. Around back, there’s a 13MP hybrid camera that handles casual photos, while the front-facing 5MP shooter should be fine for selfies and video calls.

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Today, Kingston launches its new Fury Renegade G5 PCIe 5.0 NVMe solid state drive. This high-speed SSD is designed to eliminate bottlenecks with some of the fastest read and write speeds currently available to consumers. Seriously, folks, this drive is insanely fast.

The drive is powered by a Silicon Motion SM2508 controller and paired with 3D TLC NAND and low-power DDR4 DRAM cache. The Fury Renegade G5 delivers sequential read speeds of up to 14,800MB/s and write speeds up to 14,000MB/s. Random performance is equally impressive, with up to 2.2 million IOPS for both reads and writes depending on the capacity.

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President Trump just pulled off what might be one of the biggest wins of his second term, and it could have major implications for the tech world. After some high-stakes negotiations in Geneva, the United States and China have struck a trade deal that could reshape the global electronics industry. While the full details should be revealed tomorrow, what we know today already has industry insiders buzzing.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer both confirmed that meaningful progress was made, thanks in part to the productive setting provided by the Swiss. But let’s not kid ourselves; this deal wasn’t born in the Alps.

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The new Nintendo Switch 2 is almost here. Next month, eager fans will finally be able to get their hands on the highly anticipated follow-up to the wildly popular hybrid console. But before you line up (or frantically refresh your browser for a preorder), you might want to read the fine print, because Nintendo might be able to kill your console.

Yes, really. That’s not just speculation, folks. According to its newly updated user agreement, Nintendo has granted itself the right to make your Switch 2 “permanently unusable” if you break certain rules. Yes, the company might literally brick your device.

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TCL is back again with yet another affordable Android device, and this one will make your eyes thank you. The 50 XL NXTPAPER 5G is now officially available through Verizon and Total Wireless, giving more people access to what TCL is calling its most eye-comfortable smartphone yet. If the name sounds familiar, it technically launched already -- on Boost Mobile back in April.

This isn’t your typical budget phone. TCL has loaded it with a 6.8-inch FHD+ NXTPAPER 3.0 screen that cuts down on glare and blocks up to 61 percent of harmful blue light. What makes it stand out, though, is that it still keeps the colors punchy and the screen crisp. For folks who binge videos or spend hours reading, this phone aims to be easier on the eyes without going full e-ink.

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ADATA is moving beyond its usual consumer gear and entering the enterprise solid state drive market. The company today announced a new brand called TRUSTA -- this is ADATA going all-in on enterprise SSDs built for real-world AI, data center, and server demands.

The new TRUSTA lineup arrives with two series of SSDs: the high-performance T7 and the more efficiency-focused T5. These drives are built to handle heavy workloads like AI training, vector databases, virtualization, and server booting. That’s a pretty wide range, and ADATA’s clearly betting that TRUSTA can fill in the gaps for businesses trying to keep up with rising storage demands.

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