Blood stains found at a Christchurch house matched the profiles of real estate agent Yanfei Bao and the man accused of her murder, the High Court has heard. Read...

The blood of Yanfei Bao and her alleged killer was found where the pair were said to have met for a property viewing before the real estate agent vanished. Read...

A little while back, I made a big change to my desktop PC workflow — I swapped my pair of 24-inch desktop monitors for a single 35-inch ultrawide display, which stretches much further side-to-side than a traditional widescreen monitor does. Ultrawides used to be a luxury in the monitor world, but prices have come down in recent years, and even basic computers like my $300 mini-PC have become powerful enough to push an ultrawide’s extra pixels without dedicated graphics cards. My particular monitor, the (oh-so straightforwardly-named) LG 35WN65C-B, has a resolution of 3440×1440, which gives it about 34 percent more horizontal screen real estate than a more standard 2560×1440 widescreen monitor. Further reading: Best ultrawide monitors 2024: Let’s get large The ultrawide monitor I ended up getting. Learn more about how I score like-new tech devices for cheap.LG I picked one up partly out of curiosity, but also to address some specific annoyances that arose from my old dual-monitor setup. While I’m happier with the new monitor overall, it’s been a bigger change than I expected, and not fully for the better. If you’re curious about living the ultrawide life, here’s how it went for me and what you should know before you commit. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. There’s definitely a learning curve On an ultrawide monitor, apps can get uncomfortable to look at when they’re stretched out to cover the whole screen. You need to get used to running apps in smaller windows instead of maximizing them. In fact, you’ll likely benefit from leaning on the Snap feature in Windows or the Split View feature in macOS, allowing you to instantly “snap” windows to various regions of the screen or run apps side-by-side. This takes some adjustment coming from a dual-monitor setup. Jared Newman / Foundry Additional software can help, too. In Windows, I’ve become dependent on the FancyZones feature of Microsoft PowerToys to quickly place windows in a 16:9 aspect ratio in the middle of the screen. On macOS, I use Rectangle for window management. But getting used to these programs takes some extra effort as well. There may be an actual curve, too Many ultrawide monitors have curved screens, not just to make gaming more immersive but to make the side edges of the screen feel less distant from your eyes. The smaller the curve radius, the tighter the curve. I’m quite pleased with my LG monitor’s 1800R curve radius, which is subtle enough to not get in the way of work. But curved screens may not be to your tastes no matter how subtle the curves are. As one member in a photo editing forum put it: “I’ll buy a curved monitor when everyone starts hanging curved paintings and photos on their walls.” Less multitasking, more focus Jared Newman / Foundry Having just one screen has had an interesting effect on my productivity, nudging me away from having multiple apps on display across multiple screens. Instead, I have a single screen with two, maybe three, apps. I still invoke Snap when situations demand it—and the ultrawide format prevents that from feeling cramped—but multitasking has become more of an intentional decision now than the default way of things. I think that’s a positive, as far as focus is concerned. My neck really appreciates it With two monitors, I would often put my web browser and other reference materials on my right-hand screen while writing on the monitor that’s directly in front of my keyboard. This put a lot of strain on my neck and back as I’d inevitably spend large chunks of time looking off-center instead of moving the browser over to my main monitor. Ultrawide monitors solve this issue, and that was actually a big impetus for my decision to switch. I’m more inclined to keep things in the middle of the screen now, and I’m feeling less neck strain as a result. It freed up some space on my desk The difference in total screen width between my older two monitors and my newer single ultrawide wasn’t huge, so I wasn’t expecting it to help clean up my desk all that much. But with only one monitor stand and one set of bezels around the display, I’ve reclaimed a surprising amount of room on my workspace. (The monitor’s slight curvature likely helps this as well.) Also, the stand for my ultrawide monitor runs much taller than my previous monitors, so I’ve pushed my old wooden risers to the back of my desk where they’re helping to hide cables and accessories, further contributing to the cleanup. Related: Are ultrawide monitors worth it? Gaming on an ultrawide is amazing Jared Newman / Foundry Although I’ve moved my old desktop PC down to the basement for gaming purposes, it’s hard to resist playing games on this ultrawide screen. My little desktop PC isn’t powerful enough, so I’ve been using Nvidia GeForce Now, whose Premium tier can stream the latest games at full 3440×1440 resolution with every graphics setting maxed out. After experiencing games this way — with the action extending almost to the edges of my peripheral vision — it’s hard going back to anything else. While the ultrawide has changed the way I work, it turns out that it has also had a noticeable impact on play, too. Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best ultrawide monitors if you want to dip your toes in the water — it’s mighty fine, after you adjust to it. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. Read...

Nowadays, you don’t need an expensive laptop or desktop PC for enough power to get your work done and have fun. All you need is a nice mini PC, the best of both worlds (minus portability). And right now, one of our favorite mini PCs is on sale ahead of Black Friday: the Acemagic AD08 is now just $249 on Amazon, a whopping $200 off its original $449 and the lowest we’ve ever seen it. To get this price, you’ll need to clip the on-page coupon and have Prime. Don’t have Prime? You can sign up for a free 30-day trial to score this deal! Otherwise, you can just clip the coupon and snag it for $299 instead. This mini PC may be tiny, but it packs a punch. Running on an Intel Core i7-11700B processor and 16GB of DDR4 RAM, this computer is powerful enough to handle most apps and tasks. And if you ever need more RAM, you can later upgrade it to a max of 64GB — and upgrading this is as easy as flipping open its magnetic case to make the swap. But my favorite thing here is that the Acemagic AD08 supports up to three 4K displays, making it a fantastic option for multitaskers who cherish screen real estate. Connectivity options include two HDMI 2.0 (4K@60Hz) ports and one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (4K@60Hz) port. Though it doesn’t have a dedicated graphics card, the Acemagic AD08 is capable of gaming when you switch it into Performance Mode. You’ll be able to get 60+ FPS in most modern games at decent settings. This mini PC also comes with a 512GB SSD, which should be plenty for typical use, able to house all the games, apps, photos, and videos you need. Once again, the magnetic cover makes it easy to upgrade this as well, and you can swap it out for an SSD up to 2TB later if you want. If you want a high-performance mini PC at a dirt cheap price, don’t miss this opportunity to grab this Acemagic AD08 mini PC for just $249 on Amazon. Remember, you’ll need Prime for this price, but you can sign up for a free trial and still be eligible for this deal! Get this powerful gaming mini PC for cheaper than everBuy now on Amazon Read...

Ultrawide monitors are awesome, but they’re extremely expensive. If you’re on a tight budget, you could replicate a similar setup by putting together multiple monitors next to each other. And right now, you can do that on the cheap with a couple of these 21.5-inch Dell SE monitors that are only $70 each. Dell is currently selling them for $20 off, a nice discount of 22 percent. The Dell SE2225H is a 21.5-inch monitor with a VA panel that delivers great color, good contrast ratios, and wide viewing angles. It has a standard 1080p resolution that serves well as a daily driver, and it also has an anti-glare coating to reduce eye strain. But with a refresh rate of 75Hz and a 5ms response time, don’t expect top-tier gaming here. The monitor is slim and has tilt adjustability to aid in a comfortable setup, but the stand isn’t height-adjustable so there’s a bit of a trade-off here for the dirt-cheap price. Fortunately, they’re VESA-compatible so you can just mount them on monitor arms to get them in perfect position. Should you get two of these Dell monitors, it would only cost you $140 and you’d get a total resolution of 3840×1080, or about the same screen real estate as you’d get from a 45-inch ultrawide monitor — and an ultrawide 45-incher would cost you at least $500. So, you’d save a ton with a pair of these. They’re already inexpensive to begin with, but they’re even more affordable on sale. Snag these Dell SE monitors for $70 each at Dell.com while you still can! Recreate your own ultrawide setup for dirt cheapBuy now at Dell.com Read...

Police have obtained a restraining order over real estate and bank funds owned by two men allegedly involved in a $2 million fraud against the Ministry of Social Development. Read...

Police have obtained a restraining order over real estate and bank funds owned by two men allegedly involved in a $2 million fraud against the Ministry of Social Development. Read...

Several disruptions have led to delays in the trial of a man accused of murdering Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao. Read...

The trial of real estate agent Yanfei Bao’s alleged killer has been adjourned due to the accused’s poor physical health. Read...

The latest real estate figures show 32,000 homes were for sale. Read...