Nationally, the median price dropped 1.4 percent year-on-year in March, to $790,000. Read...

Google Chrome is the most popular desktop web browser in the world by a long shot, with a current market share of about 65.7%, according to Statista. And for good reason! While it’s far from perfect, Chrome offers a simple, reliable, and seamless way to access the web for both work and play, right out of the box, with lots of power and functionality. But it doesn’t offer a lot in the way of personalization. When you install Chrome, it comes ready to use with minimal fuss, but the overall experience is standardized. Some might even call it sterile. What if you want to tweak it? Make it look different? Make it your own? Your options are pretty limited, unfortunately, but there are some things you can do. Here are some easy but effective ways to customize the look and feel of Google Chrome on Windows. Install a new Chrome theme Dave Parrack / Foundry There are two ways to change Chrome’s theme. The easiest, but most restrictive, is to change the colors that Chrome uses. To do this, simply click Settings > Appearance, then click Theme: Chrome colors. You’ll have various suggested options, plus a custom color picker. However, if you want to make more drastic changes, you can install a new theme. These are available on the Chrome Web Store’s Themes section. You can browse all sorts of themes across a range of categories. Once you’ve found one you like, click on it and Add to Chrome. Always check out the reviews before installing a theme like this. Personalize your New Tab page Dave Parrack / Foundry Normally, when you open a new tab in Chrome, you’re presented with a blank (or almost blank) New Tab page. Did you know the New Tab page can be personalized so that it works better for you? You can change themes, add/remove/edit shortcuts, and even switch the display from “My shortcuts” to “Most visited sites.” To change the New Tab display, open a new tab and click Customize Chrome in the bottom-right corner. From here, you’ll be able to Change theme and choose from a host of colorful options, change what links appear under the Google Search bar, and more besides. For more granular control over what links appear, hover your cursor over a link and click its three-dot menu. You’ll then be able to edit the shortcut or remove it entirely. You can also drag and drop the shortcuts to position them where you want them on the New Tab page. Customize new tabs with extensions Dave Parrack / Foundry If you really want to change the New Tab page, you can install extensions that alter the look and functionality in various ways. To do this, navigate to the Chrome Web Store’s Extensions section and search for “new tab” to get a list of extensions pertaining to the New Tab page. Customize your Chrome toolbar Dave Parrack / Foundry The Chrome toolbar sits above the bookmarks bar and contains shortcuts to various actions and features, including the Home button, the Print and Copy link actions, and optional extras such as a link to the Google Password Manager and your browsing history. If you find that Chrome’s toolbar doesn’t have all the stuff you want right out of the box, or if it’s too packed and you want to pare it down, then you can customize it by going to Settings > Customize your toolbar. There, you can enable or disable the various elements, which will add or remove them from the toolbar. You can also rearrange the buttons on the toolbar by dragging and dropping them into place. This is just one of the many things you can do to tweak Chrome and make everyday web browsing smoother and faster. Show or hide the bookmarks bar Dave Parrack / Foundry One of the simplest ways to change the appearance of Chrome is to hide the bookmarks bar. It’s enabled by default, but if you rarely use it, then you can free up some screen real estate by disabling it: navigate to Settings > Appearance, then disable the option labeled Show bookmarks bar. With the bookmarks bar hidden, if you want to access your bookmarks at any point, you’ll need to click the three-dot menu and scroll down to Bookmarks and lists. Switch between Light and Dark modes Dave Parrack / Foundry One of the simplest and most effective ways to change the appearance of Chrome is to switch between Light and Dark modes. I personally prefer using Light mode at all times, but I know tons of people swear by Dark mode (even in the daytime). To change from Light to Dark, or vice versa, open the Settings menu via Chrome’s three-dot menu, then tap Appearance and look for Mode. You have three options: Light, Dark, and Device, with the latter meaning the browser will match the light/dark setting of your operating system. Adjust your fonts and font sizes Dave Parrack / Foundry By default, Chrome uses certain web-safe fonts as default options (for web pages that don’t specify any fonts) as well as default font sizes for each one. You can adjust these if you want to. Open Chrome’s Settings menu, then select Appearance, then scroll down until you see Font size. You’ll have a drop-down menu allowing you to choose one of five sizes ranging from “Very small” to “Very large.” If you want to change the fonts themselves, or have more granular control over their sizes, select Customize fonts directly underneath instead. Here, you’ll be able to select fonts for several scenarios as well as the default font size and minimum font size (for accessibility reasons). Adjust the default page zoom Dave Parrack / Foundry Every web page is, by default, set to a page zoom of 100% (which is the “normal” amount of zoom). However, if you have vision struggles or if you’d prefer to shrink the size of web pages, you can adjust the default page zoom from 25% all the way up to 500%. To adjust Chrome’s default page zoom, navigate to Settings > Appearance, then scroll down to Page Zoom. Tap the drop-down menu and select the level you want. You can also change zoom on a per-domain basis by using the dedicated Zoom option in the three-dots menu. When you manually change zoom like this, Chrome remembers it and applies it to all pages on the same domain. (For example, if I change zoom to 80% on a PCWorld article, Chrome will show every page on PCWorld at 80% zoom.) Customize your Chrome profile Dave Parrack / Foundry While customizing your Chrome profile won’t change the appearance of Chrome itself, it’s still worth exploring—especially if you have multiple Chrome profiles and need to differentiate them from each other. The available options when customizing a Chrome profile include naming your profile, adding or changing your avatar, and picking a window color that applies when using that particular profile in Chrome. To customize your Chrome profile, click your profile avatar in the top-right corner of the Chrome window, then select Customize profile. You can also access the same options via Settings > You and Google > Customize your Chrome profile. Further reading: Essential tips to make Chrome more secure Read...

TL;DR: Import your data from TurboTax and file your State and Federal taxes with H&R Block Tax Software Deluxe while it’s only $32.99. Well, here we are: the last day before the tax deadline. If you’ve been putting off doing your taxes because it’s tedious, annoying, and expensive, that’s actually good news because H&R Block just dropped the price on their Deluxe Tax Software that does all the hard parts for you. It even migrates your information over from TurboTax, Quicken, and other big tax platforms. Pick it up for your State and Federal return this year for only $32.99 (reg. $59.99). H&R Block Deluxe is built for people who want to finish their taxes without all the frustration. It walks you through more than 350 deductions and credits step-by-step, helping you uncover money-saving opportunities you might otherwise overlook. It’s especially helpful for homeowners, investors, and people with a mix of income sources since it can handle everything from real estate tax breaks to stock and retirement income. The software includes five free federal e-files and one state program, with an option to e-file your state return for a small fee. It also supports importing your documents from past returns or other tax platforms. If you run into trouble, you’ll get access to H&R Block’s support center with over 13,000 searchable articles and in-person audit help at no extra charge. Use code FILEEASY by April 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT to get H&R Tax Software Deluxe on sale for $32.99. H&R Block Tax Software Deluxe + State 2024 for Windows/Mac [Online Code]See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

If you want a proper high-performance gaming laptop, then you can’t overlook the Asus ROG Strix G17 that’s on sale at B&H right now. Normally priced at $1,999, you can now snag it for just $1,529. That’s a hefty savings of $470 on a powerful machine that’ll last you years. This is an absolute beast in terms of hardware and capability, running on a 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX processor and 32GB of DDR5 RAM. You also get a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, which is more than fast enough for media and gaming. But of course it’s the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU that’s the star of this show. It can handle just about any modern 3D game with high quality settings at a decent FPS. And can we talk about the screen? It has a massive 17.3-inch IPS display with a 2560×1440 resolution and a gaming-ready 240Hz refresh rate. Simply gorgeous, and spacious enough to provide an immersive gaming experience and plenty of screen real estate for productivity benefits. Overall, this is a stellar machine for everything ranging from streaming Netflix to video editing, from creative hobbies to modern gaming. B&H has marked this one as “limited supply at this price,” and we expect gaming laptops to jump up significantly in price once we start feeling the effects of the Trump administration’s tariffs. Grab it now for $1,529 while you can because deals like this won’t last. Buy now from B&H Read...

Tenants have laid complaints with the Tenancy Tribunal and the local council about the condition of their units and whether their bonds were properly lodged. Read...

With two out of three of New Zealand’s cheapest streets, could affordable real estate put Ohai on the map? Read...

Right now, I’ve got twelve open programs on my Windows 11 taskbar, plus four more pinned apps—and even on my ultrawide monitor, they’re taking up a lot of screen real estate. On my laptop, I have to be a lot more conservative with my apps. But a new feature might fix that by automatically making taskbar icons smaller as necessary. The Windows Insider blog details the new feature on the latest Beta and Dev versions of the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build, spotted by BleepingComputer. The new tool gives you three options: icons that shrink and compress only when the taskbar is full, or smaller icons that are permanent, or completely disabled. Given that it’s appearing in two Insider builds simultaneously, I’d say that it’s a pretty solid bet that this will show up in the general release of Windows 11 sometime this year. That’s on top of a lot of changes to the Start menu that are currently in the testing phase and somewhat less likely to get the green light. While I appreciate that Microsoft continues to improve the experience… I feel like they’re also tweaking a lot while ignoring core functionality that existed back in Windows 10. Three and a half years after the release of Windows 11, I still need a registry tweak or a third-party program just to get my taskbar on the top of my screen. Read...

If you’re still on a 1080p monitor, it’s high time you upgraded to something bigger, better, and badder. I’m talking about a proper 4K monitor from a reputable brand—and it doesn’t even have to be expensive, not when you can score a deal like this one. Right now, Samsung’s 32-inch 4K monitor is only $220 on Amazon. That’s a solid 35% discount off its typical $340 price, representing a savings of $120 on a large, gorgeous, yet affordable display. At 32 inches, the ViewFinity UJ59 provides ample screen real estate but isn’t so large that you’ll have to crane your neck or strain your eyes to look your way around it. It’s all the space you need for working on documents, playing games, watching movies, or browsing the web. That’s doubly true with its 3840×2160 resolution, giving you a crisp 4K visual experience that elevates everything you do on your computer. And this monitor has built-in upscaling tech that automatically converts whatever you’re watching up to near-4K quality. Just note that this monitor’s refresh rate caps out at 60Hz, so you’ll have to make do with at most 60 FPS when gaming. The ViewFinity UJ59 does come with a Game Mode, though, which selectively boosts and optimizes screen contrast, allowing you to see more detail in dark areas. That means easier spotting of your enemies in multiplayer games and finding of items on the ground in RPGs. AMD FreeSync helps sync up your monitor with your PC hardware, and there are several ports to connect with, including two HDMI and a DisplayPort. This is a fantastic monitor for the price. If you’ve been waiting to upgrade your workstation to 4K, jump on this deal before it expires and get this 32-inch Samsung display for just $220! Save 35% on Samsung`s 32-inch 4K monitorBuy now at Amazon Read...

A former head of Jellis Craig will be appointed the AFL’s general manager of football operations. Read...

It’s tiny, it’s powerful, and it’s on sale! We’re in the middle of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale event and this Geekom AX8 Max mini PC is down to $569 with Prime. The listing is slashed down by 20%, plus there’s an extra 5% discount at checkout. Don’t have Prime? You can still score this amazing deal if you sign up for a free 30-day Prime trial. Whether you need a home media center, a productivity workstation, or a compact gaming setup, this mini PC can do it all. The Geekom AX8 Max is packed with an AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS processor, a solid 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and plenty of storage space thanks to its 1TB SSD. And it’s pretty decent for gaming, too, with its ?AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics with 8GB of RAM. Just don’t crank your settings up too high. What’s notable about the Geekom AX8 Max is how future-proof it is. Not only are the memory and storage upgradeable—up to 96GB RAM across two slots and up to 4TB SSD in a single slot—but it has two cutting-edge USB4 ports capable of 8K@30Hz each, plus two other full-sized HDMI 2.0 ports that can handle 4K@60Hz each. That’s a quadruple high-resolution display setup that’ll maximize your screen real estate. You also get four more USB-A ports on the front and two more on the back alongside two 2.5Gbps Ethernet connections. This thing has more than enough connectivity for all your peripherals and more. Take advantage of this fantastic Prime Spring Deal and grab the Geekom AX8 Max mini PC for $569! That’s an absolute bargain. The Geekom AX8 Max is at the lowest price it`s ever beenBuy now at Amazon Read...