Piltch Point (Video)

For some of us, procrastination is a way of life. A lot of times, we can manage to pull out a win in the end, like working all night before a presentation. However, when it comes to getting a gift during the holidays, it can be a real nightmare. It's currently too late to get gifts delivered in time, and getting into a store can be difficult or even impossible. But, there are options for gifts that are quick and easy, while still showing thought and care.

Of course, you can always get someone a gift card for Amazon or Walmart, but something more specific can be more meaningful. For the gamer in your life, you can get a subscription to a gaming service, like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, PlayStation Plus, or Google Stadia Pro. You could also purchase in-game currency for a game they play, like Minecoins for Minecraft or Robux for Roblox. You could also purchase an actual game code. Just make sure you know what platform they play on (PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch). There is also the option to subscribe to Loot Crate, where they can get any number of cool gaming-related items every month.

For the maker in your life, you can get a subscription to a service like HackerBoxes or Adabox. If you are a maker yourself, you could also consider making a gift. There are a lot of holiday-inspired items that can be printed on a 3D printer, like ornaments. While they may take a little time to print, they will certainly show that you considered your recipient and their interests.

There are other options, of course. Depending on who you are buying for, you might have to reconsider slightly. But these can give a good starting point for considering how to handle your last-minute buying.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

It's the end of the year, and that means that it's time to look back on the last 12 very strange months and see what positives we can pull out with Tom's Hardware's Best of 2021.

While AMD has been making huge advances in processors, Intel was falling behind. This year, however, the company came back strong in its newest offering - the Intel Alder Lake lineup. These new processors created two channels of cores - high performance and high efficiency. This allowed low-intensity tasks to be routed to the high-efficiency cores, while high-demand tasks got routed to performance cores. The end result is a processor that uses less electricity, creates less heat, and performs better in all scenarios. We went into more depth in Episode 273 when they premiered.

2021 was a rough year for video cards, as manufacturing and supply chain issues made it nearly impossible to get ahold of (though we have recommendations in Episode 256 and Episode 276). But, one of the shining stars has been the Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB. This massively powerful graphics card came in at an impressive MSRP of only $329 (when you can get it at all). For that price you got a ton of GDDR6 RAM and is more powerful than the last generation's next level card (RTX 2070).

There are always a lot of new monitors, but none stood out quite like the MSI Optix MPG321UR-QD. This 32" monitor uses quantum dot technology to produce an impressive picture. In fact, in Tom's Hardware tests, the monitor produced 117 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, while also managing to be over 600 nits of brightness. If you have followed our screen conversation in the past, you know that a bright and colorful screen can be a hard ask, but MSI does it. And, the company has made the monitor available on sales throughout the season for as low as $799.

Avram is nothing if not picky about his keyboards. He once detailed his search for the perfect laptop, comparing different units of the same laptop model that all had different keyboard hardware. So, for the Akko 3098B to win Best of 2021, you know it's going to be a killer keyboard. He showed it off briefly in a recent episode while he was in the middle of his product review, and has really taken to it. The keycaps are comfortable and the hot-swappable switches make this a favorite. It can be used wired or wireless, over RF or Bluetooth. When used with Bluetooth, you can pair multiple devices to it at once and switch between them in less than a second.

Of course, there are a lot more categories,and Avram details them in this episode. They include the Best Mouse (Razer Basilisk V3), Best Raspberry Pi Product (Raspberry Pi Pico), and Best Webcam (Dell Ultrasharp Webcam). Together they represent the very best that the year 2021 has had to offer in the PC component and peripheral space.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

We know that the supply chain issues have made all sorts of products hard to come by, at this point ranging from cards and trucks to food and drink. The product category that has been the hardest hit, it would seem, is the video card industry. Every card from every manufacturer, representing both the AMD and NVIDIA side of the industry, is sold out across the board. However, some inventory is available and can be found in the wild. Here are some of the ways to find a video card this holiday season.

The way that is most likely to return a positive result, though far from the most direct, is to purchase a PC with the card you want in it. It's a bit like buying a car to get new tires, but unfortunately, right now it is the fastest and easiest way to get to your goal.

If you are intending to build a PC from scratch, then this might be a good option. Many of the PCs that are available on the market with the high-end graphics cards in them also have options for other quality components. That means that you could put together a PC in the specs you want, or close to it, for about the price you could expect to find the components today. The benefit, in this case, is that you get the components you need and you don't have to do any real work. The downside, of course, is that the price is going to be inflated since it's a built PC.

If you are upgrading an existing PC, this isn't going to be as great of an option. Essentially, you would be looking to do something similar to when a portable hard drive is less expensive than an internal one. The term is "shucking" where you treat the hard drive like corn and remove the husk for the insides. The benefit here is that you do still get the graphics card. The problem, though, is obvious - it's going to be far more expensive. But, you could always put your old card in it and try to sell it on the Facebook Marketplace and recover some of your costs.

There are some services that you can use to get inventory. Newegg has their Product Shuffle lottery service. This service gives you a better chance of getting a card, but the price is going to be inflated, but lower than buying a whole PC. You're not guaranteed to get one, though, so it's a literal gamble. The best way is to get HotStock, which will alert you when inventory becomes available at different retailers.

To find one for yourself, you can check out the Tom's Hardware guides for RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and RTX 3060.

You can always go to places like eBay and give in to the scalpers. The biggest problem here is that it will continue to encourage the scalpers to keep doing this, making the problem worse for a longer period of time. But, it's also generally more expensive (or really close to the same price) than buying a whole PC.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

It's that time of year - Black Friday season. While Black Friday used to be the day after Thanksgiving, in recent years it has expanded into a whole season. Starting this week through the next few weeks, products ranging from processors to clothing are going to be on sale. Finding the best prices can be a real pain, but Avram and the Tom's Hardware team have been spending their time rounding up the best deals so you don't have to. The site has a general roundup, as well as dedicated pages for monitors, computers, SSDs, and more.

Of course, there are other ways to find the best deals on the internet. No group can find everything, so Avram has a few other great ways to find hidden gems. If you are looking for PC components, one of Avram's favorite places to check is on Reddit at /r/buildapcsales/. This board is a place where users can post about deals they have found. Crowdsourcing data collection at its best, bringing extra value to your holiday shopping needs.

If you are looking for a specific part, component, or accessory, then you might want to check out PCPartPicker. We have discussed this site in the past, as it is the best way to design and build a computer. You can search for components and create a PC with compatible parts. But, there is also a feature where you can see recent price drops, sorted by category. Sometimes you'll find small discounts, like $2 off of an Aerocool PC case. Other times, you'll find bigger deals, like $150 off of the JBL Quantum One headset. It all depends on what you're hoping to find.

Of course, you'll want to keep checking back with Tom's Hardware and these alternate sites, as prices, deals, and availability are constantly changing.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

The past 18 months have added a new piece to our daily lives: face masks. Whether you are excited about wearing them or annoyed by their existence, the reality is that they are here and likely here to stay for many people. Unfortunately, they are uncomfortable, they can irritate when they touch our faces, and it prevents us from seeing one another's faces, making communication more difficult. Very little innovation has happened in this arena, though - until now. The Razer Zephyr is a unique take on the traditional face mask.

The Razer Zephyr is definitely a product from Razer, in that it is fully RGB. Razer is known for integrating RGB into every product, and the Zephyr is no exception. The device has two sets of lights: one on the inside and one on the outside. Each one can be turned on and off independently, and each can be controlled independently. The app UI allows you to choose a solid color or one of several preset color patterns. The internal lights are described as RGB, but the outer lights are described as Chroma RGB, meaning it should be controllable through the Razer ecosystem.

From a mask perspective, there are a couple of interesting aspects. The first is that the mask is designed to take pressure off of the face. Unlike cloth masks or even the blue medical masks that people often wear, there is no pressure on the front of the nose or mouth. Instead, it sits similar to a KN95 mask, where it sits away from the face. This is accomplished by making it an active breathing mask, meaning it has fans to move air into and out of the mask.

The design is similar to a computer case, in that airflow is purposeful and planned. Air enters through two side vents, pulled in through fans. The air runs through a circular filter, which can be replaced. Razer describes the filters as N95 grade, which suggests that the filters have not actually been certified to be N95 (which is the US standard for a 95% effective mask). The filters also seem to have not been tested by any experts, despite Avram's best efforts to do so.

The lack of certification isn't the only concern, though. We also don't have any information on how physically secure the filters are within the body of the mask. They do not have a deep body and have no way to fully seal them into the cylinder.

Adding to the problems is the fact that the mask isn't terribly comfortable. To wear it all day would likely get irritating, as it is fairly heavy. A short burst might not be a problem, but long wear will be exhausting. Avram's recommendation after wearing it for a while, and seeing it on others, is that it is probably a pass. While a cool concept, the unknown effectiveness and lack of comfort make it difficult to recommend. However, if you're looking for a great rave or steampunk costume mask, this might be worth consideration.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

While it may be November, the impact of Techtober 2021 is still in full swing. This week, Tom's Hardware published its Alder Lake processor reviews, specifically the 12th Generation Core i5 12600K and 12900K processors. These new processors have taken Intel in a new direction, finally catching up with their long-time rivals - AMD. New features, new powers, and new peripherals are all part of this new generation.

The biggest change in the processor is the physical infrastructure. Intel has run on 14nm infrastructure for a long time, but the 12th Generation has finally moved to 10nm architecture. While this is technically the second Intel processor family to run on 10nm architecture, it is the first family for desktop use. This change means that more transistors can fit on the same amount of space.

These new process, thanks in part to the new architecture, are showing some real power. In the gaming department, the Alder Lake processors nearly always exceed the performance if their AMD Ryzen counterparts. When it comes to productivity tasks, the two brands go back and forth depending on the task. But, despite these major improvements in performance against AMD, these new processors come in with a more AMD style price than an Intel price point.

Along with the architecture change comes a lot of new benefits. The biggest benefit is the addition of two different types of cores: Performance cores and Efficiency cores. The concept is an expansion on an old Atom processor idea - some cores are really powerful for high need tasks like gaming or video rendering, while others are low power for tasks like antivirus scans.

Adding these dual purpose cores required more than just a re-architecture of the processor - it required some changes to the operating system. Microsoft made changes to Windows 10 and Windows 11 in order to implement task scheduling. This new Windows feature is what allows for routing of certain tasks to the portion of the processor most suited to handle the task.

It's a shame that the processor itself is not capable of identifying what type of task it is receiving, but it makes sense that this level of information is not quite available at that level. Either way, it is a far more powerful version of the Atom infrastructure that was developed for netbooks in the early 2010s. Those processors suffered from multiple personalities - having two totally different modes, and switching between them depending on the load on the processor. This design was more for battery performance than overall performance.

These new processors are the first to support DDR5 RAM. There are some issues, though, as using DDR5 requires special motherboards, as would be expected. But, there are still some compatibility concerns when it comes to this new RAM and individual motherboards.

In addition, Alder Lake supports PCIe 5. While there is little that supports the new standard, you can know that your new machine will be able to support it when it gets popular. For now, it will also support PCIe 4, so the existing super fast SSDs will be compatible.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a bit of a roller coaster over at Raspberry Pi. Most recently, last week the organization announced that Raspberry Pi 4 boards would be going up in price by $10. But, this week, they are back with some good news - a brand new entry in the Zero family: the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.

This is an upgrade over the existing Raspberry Pi Zero and Zero W. All three have the same board layout with the same ports and structure. This is important to the Raspberry Pi family, as it allows for one model to be switched out for another as new hardware is introduced, or inventory is made available. These days, the inventory levels would be the biggest concern. All of the boards support an SD card for storage and booting, mini HDMI for external display, and USB for power.

The original Zero, which sells for $5, comes with no wireless connectivity. The Zero W adds Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to the mix and brings the price to $10. The new Zero 2 W maintains the wireless options, though only Wi-Fi N 2.4 GHz, but improves the on-board processing. This board takes the processor from a single-core processor to a quad-core ARM Cortex 853. Clearly, this is going to add a lot of new capabilities to the small form factor board that was simply not available before. This upgrade will only bring the price to $15. Unfortunately, the upgrade in processor does not come with an upgrade in RAM, leaving you at 512 MB.

For example, while the older boards were simply not powerful enough to do any on-board AI processing, the new Zero 2 W can. In fact, it can process more than a single frame per second in object and facial recognition. The older boards were capable of some minor game emulation, but the new board is capable of getting up into the realm of a PlayStation 1. This makes it great for small game systems, even portable and handheld systems.

But, why a Zero rather than the more powerful Raspberry Pi 4? The Zero family uses a lot less power, both in idle and in stressed circumstances. This means that your portable game system can run longer. It is also smaller, so it can be used in tight spaces, such as in a robot. It's also significantly cheaper, with the new model coming in at $15, versus the current $35 for the 1GB model of Raspberry Pi 4.

The Zero 2 W joins a growing list of boards from the Raspberry Pi family. Currently, they have sold over 40 million of these boards around the world in the last 9+ years, since they first board debuted. As they grow in popularity, it is expected that the number will grow quicker. Avram has long said that everyone interested in electronics should own a Raspberry Pi, and this new model is in a great sweet spot for capabilities and price.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

NVIDIA GeForce Now is a cloud game streaming service that launched in 2015 as a beta, and finally went public in 2020. The service is unlike others in the industry. Rather than essentially renting a game and having it stream to your device using whatever technology the system believes is most appropriate, GeForce Now works on your existing library. You sign in to a computer instance, choose your game from your own Steam, Epic Games, Ubisoft, or another game catalog, and stream the game that way. The platform supports several hundred games, but some high-profile titles, such as Microsoft's Minecraft are completely unavailable.

The company has offered 2 tiers of service since launch: a Free tier and a {riority tier. Now, the company is adding a dedicated RTX 3080 tier to help support those who do not have an RTX 3080 video card on their computers but want to game as if they do. This new tier allows you to take advantage of the card's processor to produce a higher quality video stream, but there will be some costs associated.

The Free tier is, obviously, free. There is no guarantee of which video processor you'll get (though it is definitely not going to give you a 3080). You get streaming at 720p and your session ends after 1 hour. The Priority tier costs $50 per 6 month block (about $8 per month) and upgrades just about everything. Your video quality is upgraded to a card in the range of an RTX 2080. Rather than 720p, you get moved up to 1080p at 60 FPS, as well as offering ray tracing. Your session grows from 1 hour to 6 hours before the session is ended. In addition, if a Free tier player is waiting to get a slot and a Priority player gets in line, you will get the slot first.

The new RTX 3080 tier comes in at $99 per 6 month block, and gives a number of new upgrades. Clearly you are guaranteed an RTX 3080 video chip for your gaming experience. Your video jumps up to 1440p at 120 FPS, but can go even higher. If you have a NVIDIA Shield set top box, you can opt in for 4K UHD HDR at 60 FPS instead of the 1440p. Your session length jumps to 8 hours from 6 hours, so you can play all night without interruption. The new tier is currently available for pre-order, but you must be either a Priority or Founder subscriber to be able to upgrade.

The new tier is going to cost you in bandwidth, though. The company requires a 5GHz Wi-Fi connection and recommends a 1 Gbps internet connection to play. This is because the RTX 3080 tier uses 25 Mbps just for the game. If you have a data cap, such as the one coming from Comcast, this could cause an issue. Comcast's data cap is 1.25 TB per month, which works out to just about 100 hours of gameplay, so be careful before you sign up.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

This week has been a big part of what we're calling Techtober. New product announcements were made by both Apple and Google, plus an exciting new partnership from Raspberry Pi.

Apple announced the next generation of MacBook Pro, complete with some significant changes over the last generation. The company has seemingly done a good job of listening to customer feedback, for the most part, and returned some of their customers' favorite features. Most notably, the new MacBook Pros have said goodbye to the much-maligned Touch Bar. In its place is the more traditional Function Key row, which had existed before the Touch Bar was implemented.

In addition, some old standards have returned. A full HDMI port and SD card slot are built into the computer, which will be a bonus for media producers and business people alike. But, the addition that has Mac fans excited is MagSafe 3. Charging the computer over USB-C will still be possible, but MagSafe, the connector that breaks away when you trip over it, will also be an option.

But, one new feature that goes against customers' wishes is the addition of a screen notch for the webcam. Customers absolutely hate the notch on the iPhone, so it is a surprise that they would bring such a hated feature to the MacBook. At least the webcam has gotten better.

These new computers are powered by a new generation of Apple's custom processors, the M1 Pro and M1 Max. The M1 Pro has 8 or 10 CPU cores and 14 or 16 GPU cores, depending on the model of computer. The M1 Max always has 10 CPU cores and can have 14 or 16 GPU cores. The new laptops can also support up to 64 GB of RAM, again, depending on the model. New models run $1999 to $2499 for the M1 Pro models, and starts at $2899 for the M1 Max models.

Google also took this week as an opportunity to show off new hardware. While the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have been the worst kept secret in the industry, we did learn a lot of new information. The newest generation of Pixel is also powered by a unique processor, this time from Google. The Tensor processor is supposed to be more powerful than a Qualcomm, though Qualcomm disagrees.

This custom processor allows for onboard AI processing, because it is based on the company's existing Tensor Flow technology. This means things like language translations and computational photography can be quicker and will not require an internet connection.

The cameras have also been enhanced, including a 50 MP main camera, though the phone will store the photos at 12 MP. The added overhead allows for better digital zoom, error correcting, and AI features. Some of these capabilities are background people removal, facial stabilization, and more.

The new phones will run only $499 for the Pixel 6 and $899 for the Pixel 6 Pro.

Our good friends at Raspberry Pi announced a new partnership with LEGO. This partnership resulted in the Build Hat, an add-on that makes it possible to use existing LEGO LPF2 devices, like motors and sensors, on the Raspberry Pi. This will be a great transitional technology for kids who have experience with LEGO electronics. Education kits will come with a mounting plate, but you can also 3D print your own plate.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

Since Microsoft officially took the wraps off of Windows 11 earlier this year, the response has been mixed. The most divisive aspect of the new interface is the massively changed Start Menu. In the past versions of Windows, we have had a semi-consistent experience. Windows 8 introduced Live Tiles and highly customizable geography for them. That continued into Windows 8.1. The concept followed into Windows 10, but the Menu aspect returned, rather than a Start Screen (though you could use a full-screen option).

Windows 11 has done away with every aspect of that Start Menu evolution and, instead, has changed the paradigm entirely again. First, the Start Menu defaults to the center of the screen, which is neither attractive nor functional. Fortunately, you can fix it in the settings. The menu is also oddly structured, somehow managing to take up more physical screen real estate while feeling too small to be useful. A lot of this feeling comes from the "Recommended" area, which takes up almost half of the popover. You get 3 rows of 6 apps, but also get 3 rows of recommended files. You can turn off this feature, but you do not get that real estate back. Instead, you get a reminder that it's turned off.

On the positive side, Windows 11 has worked hard to unify the interface. Windows 10 had a mixed experience, with large parts of the operating system still looking like Windows 7 (File Explorer), some parts looking like Windows 8 (media controls), and some looking like Windows 10 (Settings app). Windows 11 has worked to bring all of it into a single design style, with File Explorer, the media controls, and the Settings app all getting overhauls. In fact, even Microsoft Paint got its own new coat of paint for the first time in years.

In addition, Avram's favorite new feature is the Snap Assistance. Mousing over the maximize button on the titlebar of a window will bring up a collection of options for Snap. In Previous versions, you could drag a window to the edge of the monitor and half-screen snap. But, in Windows 11, you get a lot more choice, including 3 sections, quarters, and more.

If you've decided that it is time to upgrade, it might be a challenge. Microsoft is rolling out the upgrade over several months, so you might not immediately get the "offer." But, you can get the Upgrade Assistant and upgrade right now. There is another issue at hand, though - the strict upgrade rules. If your computer is not running entirely supported hardware, there is still a way to install Windows 11.

It is important to note, though, that following these instructions can cause issues. Microsoft has said that unofficial installations will not receive official support. As of right now, we don't entirely know what that means, but there has been suggestion that Windows Update will not work and services like Microsoft Defender might also fail, so take these steps with consideration.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.