Author: Press Room

When I was a kid, my parents were concerned that I spent too much time playing on my Commodore 64. They needn’t have worried. I spent many hours in tiny 8-bit universes, but none were designed to break my brain. About the most shocking title I recall was Barbarian. Its ‘flying head chop’ got the game banned in Germany. Frankly, it was less violent than much of what you’d see in comics back then. And it looks positively quaint today as a little goblin drags the headless corpse away while booting the head off screen. What’s not quaint: the technology today’s kids are…

In 2024 Apple announced Apple Intelligence as part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. In true Apple fashion, it wasn’t called AI – rather, we’ve got Apple Intelligence. It’s designed to be something that’s more personal. That sounds pretty wishy-washy – but it’s very impressive. However, some bits of it never emerged, despite promises – like a new version of Siri. Now, two years later, Apple has announced Siri AI as part of iOS 27, macOS 27, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27 and visionOS 27 and, while it doesn’t look groundbreaking, it should provide a step-change in the way…

HDMI is the default connectivity protocol for TVs, consoles, and many more device types, but not every HDMI cable is made equal. Like USB, there are different HDMI versions, and each one has its own list of specifications and supported features. In 2026, the most common cables include the HDMI 1.4, HDMI 2.0, and HDMI 2.1 versions. The older HDMI 1.4 cables can only hit 4K resolutions at 30Hz refresh rates, while the newer HDMI 2.0 cables can comfortably handle 4K video at 60Hz. HDMI 2.1 was already a major upgrade over HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 1.4, but there’s another…

HDMI is the closest thing we have to a universal video connector in 2026 — it’s used to connect TVs and A/V receivers to various input sources and output devices. However, if you’re only using the HDMI ports on your TV or A/V receiver, you might be missing out. Home theater equipment features a collection of digital and analog inputs and outputs all tailored to specific use cases. HDMI might be the best connection protocol for one kind of device, but it could be poorly suited for another. Unfortunately, many user manuals for TVs or receivers lack the proper guidance…

I love Roku because of the clean layout it used to have, but it’s getting harder to keep this affection going. This latest mandatory operating system update is another big blow, adding massive ads directly to the home screen and cluttering it up. It feels like the company is treating my attention as the actual product it sells to advertisers. If you’re tired of navigating a maze of sponsored rows just to find your applications, you can do some things to fight back. Related Roku’s new home screen promises less clutter, but I’m not convinced Promotional content is still everywhere…

This past May at the Google I/O conference, Google unveiled a new search function for YouTube: “Ask YouTube” will incorporate the Gemini AI assistant to, in the words of CEO Sundar Pichai, make “information much more digestible and easy to navigate.” If you ask a question using Google’s ordinary search function, it will present you with a series of videos that purport to answer it. If you use “Ask YouTube,” you’ll get textual explanations alongside groupings of YouTube videos and shorts. And if you click into those videos, they’ll start at the point when the video is answering your question.…

Wherever you’re going and no matter how long for, there’s one part of flying I’m convinced that everyone hates: the airport security line. Having to dig through your perfectly packed travel backpack for that one bottle that’s only just over the liquids limit, or discovering this particular airport insists on removing your power bank as well as your laptop? Infuriating. Émigré, the multi-national luggage brand, has actually done something about it. The firm’s Hardcase Carry-On was designed to remove as much of the security stalling as possible, so you can speed straight through to the airport lounge and get some…

We have all had that piece of tech that we were extremely excited about. Maybe yours was a new iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, a tablet, or a TV. I’ve had a lot myself, including a Nintendo Switch, some new smart home gadgets, and a 2-in-1 laptop. You tend to research when it’s coming out to find out the features that excite you the most and when you can snag it. You might have seen a video or photo from a show like CES that excited you about what the future of technology is like. Those kinds of showcases are great for…

I was always perfectly happy with my PC’s built-in audio. My setup was expensive enough to assure me that it used premium components with noise shielding and hi-res playback support, so a separate audio device was way down my list of priorities. However, since spending an increasing amount of time creating various media, gaming, and listening to music through expensive speakers, I figured it was time to see what all the fuss was about. I went ahead and bought a used Steinberg UR22 mkII audio interface, and everything changed. This is a no-frills model that has been in production for…

When you hear the words “period drama,” you might be tempted to think of something set in ye olden times, with castles and battles and clothes with lots of ruffles on them. But here in the 2020s, even shows and movies set 20, 30, or 40 years ago qualify as history, even though we can see more clearly how we got from there to here. Mrs. America is a fantastic period drama set in the United States in the 1970s, chronicling the failed attempt to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). This nine-episode limited series landed on Hulu in 2020,…