June 1 2018

PC Magazine

The PC Magazine Digital Edition provides compelling feature stories, lab-tested reviews, how-to guides, tips and tricks, and the latest tech trends to help you at work, home, and on the road.

PC Magazine2 min readTech
OTA Power? Bring It On!
During the holidays last year, I visited family in Pittsburgh. I’m fortunate, because I can do just about every part of my job remotely. So I brought along my work laptop—a MacBook Pro—to work on a few projects while I was there and stay a bit longer
PC Magazine2 min read
What’s Your Backup?
In May, we ran a story about how the ExtremeTech staff backs up their personal data. We discovered that home backup solutions may be almost as numerous and varied as our readers.
PC Magazine2 min read
The End of the Attention Economy
Fast Forward is a series of conversations with tech leaders hosted by Dan Costa, PCMag’s Editor-in-Chief. The idea that “the media is dying” is so clichéd that a Twitter account chronicling the media’s alleged demise is now 10 years old. But this ti
PC Magazine2 min read
Goodbye SMS? Google Makes a Push for ‘Chat’ Standard
Google is making a big push for unified messaging on Android, an effort now known simply as “Chat.” Chat, or Rich Communication Services (RCS), seeks to do away with SMS and replace it with RCS, which allows for features SMS cannot currently handle,
PC Magazine2 min read
Lego Makes Learning Fun With Duplo Stories Alexa Skill
Lego has launched an Amazon Alexa skill that’s designed for children aged 2 to 5. The free skill, which is available via any Amazon Alexa-enabled device including the Echo and Echo Dot, offers fun stories that encourage your kids to participate using
PC Magazine3 min read
Microsoft Adaptive Cards Let You Interact Inside Email
Announced at Build 2018 in May, Adaptive Cards in Outlook let developers present actionable information panels and even support payments inside the email reader. I attended a session at the conference titled “Adaptive Cards in Bots, Windows, Outlook
PC Magazine1 min readPsychology
What We Love Most This Month
DELUX DESIGNER I’m a designer, and I depend on keyboard shortcuts when I’m using design programs. As I switch between the Wacom and keyboard, this tool, with its 27 customizable keys to help set up shortcuts and command sequences, could help me avoi
PC Magazine4 min read
You’re Not Using a VPN? Bad Idea
In the past few years, PCMag has seen VPN services morph from fringe security utilities to red-hot, must-have cyber accessories. The popularity (and necessity) of the once-lowly VPN is certainly due to the ever-growing legal and technological challen
PC Magazine2 min read
Microsoft Needs a Modular Version of Windows 10
What if you don’t ever intend to use 3D imagery? What if you don’t want a Timeline that records everything you do on your PC? Too bad: Windows 10 now includes this and many other capabilities a large number of users will never need or want. Don’t ge
PC Magazine3 min readTech
AI Is (Also) a Force for Good
In 2017, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a devastating neurological disorder, robbed Pat Quinn, the founder of the famous Ice Bucket Challenge, of his ability to speak. In 2018, artificial intelligence helped him get it back. Thanks to advance
PC Magazine8 min read
Oculus Go: Affordable, Accessible Virtual Reality
Oculus Go $199.00 4/5 Stars PROS Relatively affordable. No phone, PC, or game system required. Cable-free. Crisp, fluid display. CONS Doesn’t track position. Just one motion controller. Underpowered compared with tethered and flagship smartphone-
PC Magazine5 min read
Garmin Forerunner 645 Music: A Wealth of Metrics
Garmin Forerunner 645 Music $449.95 4/5 Stars PROS Excellent accuracy in testing. Lots of useful sensors. Advanced fitness metrics. Holds up to 500 songs. Swimproof design. Long battery life. CONS Expensive. Steep learning curve. There’s no shor
PC Magazine7 min read
Acer Aspire E 15: Best-Value Desktop Replacement
Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576G-5762) $599.99 4/5 Stars PROS Excellent value. Comfortable keyboard. Bright 15-inch full HD display. Nvidia graphics card. DVD burner. Very long battery life. CONS Lacks fingerprint reader, touch screen, and SD card read
PC Magazine4 min read
BenQ EW3270U: Solid Color and Grayscale Performance
BenQ EW3270U $699.00 4/5 Stars PROS Crisp Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) picture. Handles HDR content. Accurate colors. Good grayscale performance. Solid in our gaming testing. CONS Stand adjustability is limited to tilt. Ports out of sight and har
PC Magazine6 min read
Acer Predator Orion 9000: Top-End Performance
Acer Predator Orion 9000 Starts at $2,499; $7,999 as tested 3.5/5 Stars PROS Performance monster, including greater-than-60fps 4K gaming. Tons of RAM and storage. Clean, well-designed interior. CONS Huge and heavy. Plastic build. Case style won’
PC Magazine5 min read
Cool New Features in Windows 10 April 2018 Update
Microsoft Windows 10 April 2018 Update $119.99 Price 4.5/5 Stars PROS Fast startup. Rich software and device ecosystem. Touch-screen support. Biometric login with Windows Hello. Timeline gets you back to earlier tasks. Improved gaming features. B
PC Magazine8 min read
Affordable Philo Streams Entertainment, Lifestyle Channels
Philo $16.00 or $20 per month 3.5/5 Stars PROS Inexpensive. 37+ channel lineup. Solid performance. Good iOS app. CONS No sports content and few news channels. Includes ads. Does not support offline playback. No native Android app. Many video str
PC Magazine14 min read
Wireless Power Is Coming
Mobile World Congress is one of those events that make you realize the thin line between civilization and barbarism is the width of a single charging cable. Anyone who’s attended MWC (or any massive trade show) is familiar with the creeping dread cau
PC Magazine9 min readTech
AI Has a Bias Problem, and It’s Our Fault
In 2016, researchers from Boston University and Microsoft were working on artificial intelligence algorithms when they discovered racist and sexist tendencies in the technology underlying some of the most popular and critical services we use every da
PC Magazine6 min readTech
6 Ways You’re Using Your Headphones Wrong
Let me guess: You don’t spend much money on headphones or earphones, because they always break, and you end up buying a new pair every year or so. Variations on this theme are regularly presented to me, often as an excuse for not buying a decent pair
PC Magazine4 min read
How to Check Your Hard Drive’s Health
Your hard drive hasn’t been acting the same lately. It’s starting to make clicking or screeching noises, it can’t seem to find your files, and it’s moving really slowly. It might be time to say farewell—but here’s what you should do before it goes to
PC Magazine9 min read
12 Simple Things You Can Do to Be More Secure Online
These tips for being more secure in your online life may be reminders rather than revelations for most of our readers, but they’ll all help keep you safer. 1. INSTALL AN ANTIVIRUS AND KEEP IT UPDATED We call this type of software antivirus, but it
PC Magazine2 min read
Cord Cutting Is Great, Except for Those Live Events
My first choice for TV service is Dish Network; I like the quality of the signal and the selections. For internet, I have Comcast. Recently, a huge windstorm knocked out a few of my channels, including TNT, which broadcasts games from our local baske

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