You may be familiar with the various memes detailing the fact that once you reach middle age, you’re automatically sorted, Harry Potter hat–style, into one of a handful of hobbies, such as sourdough bread making, gardening, or bird-watching. I can’t contradict this, since I’m a middle-aged person who got sorted…

Dolby Atmos is a fantastic audio format, and for many people, it’s the format to strive for. I’m in that same boat, and I have a 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos setup in my living room. The Atmos part of that setup comes from two satellite speakers that I have mounted close…

The organization behind the Academy Awards released new Oscar rules on Friday, including several that address the use of generative artificial intelligence. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said that only performances “credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent” will be…

PCs can be complicated beasts. Don’t get me wrong — in 2026, they’re a lot easier to use than they once were. In many respects they’re closer to smartphones, since you can connect a lot of accessories automatically, and hardly think twice about performing a reset if you rely on…

Ask.com, the search engine and question-and-answer service formerly known as Ask Jeeves, has shut down. Ask Jeeves first launched in 1996 and, with its focus on answering conversational questions posed in natural language, was arguably a precursor to today’s AI-powered chatbots. For most of its 30-year history, however, it’s been…

In the PC gaming world, it’s pretty much taken for granted that hardware makers are going to chase the latest specs. The games themselves are constantly getting more photorealistic, and failing to keep up with those graphics is a sure way to push PC buyers over to your rival. That’s…

I’ve been into cycling for decades—riding with grade-school buddies, kicking around in college, then city commuting in Boston, Paris, Barcelona, New York, and now Seattle. Somehow only in the last 10 years, when I became a volunteer mechanic at a bike-centric Seattle nonprofit, did I think about adjusting anything more…

Riding a properly fitting bike can not only be the difference between comfort and discomfort (which is perhaps the most major factor in how much you want to ride). It can also mean the difference between whether or not you injure yourself, as spending huge amounts of time on a…

As much as I’ve written about HDMI, it usually tends to be straightforward in practice. Got a laptop or game console? Hook it up to your TV with HDMI 2.1. New soundbar? Make sure it’s plugged into eARC if you can, or at least ARC. If it’s an older or…

Because everything runs wirelessly via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, there is also no cable clutter to deal with. This isn’t just a convenience thing. It means no wires dangling within reach of sneaky toddler hands. Where Tech Collides This is where the real test comes in. In split screen mode, the…