Women tech leaders are reshaping AI and the workplace, proving diverse leadership is now a core driver of innovation, resilience and growth. Read...

You might as well try to keep your current laptop or desktop going for another year. Or two. Or three. Upgrades are going to be prohibitively expensive for the foreseeable future, so it’s a good time to make sure your accessory game is on point. For example, you can find an MSI OLED gaming monitor for just $400 right now. With a 27-inch, 1440p OLED panel and 240Hz of refresh, this monitor is hitting the sweet spot for gaming-grade OLED displays at the moment. It’s also compatible with both G-Sync and FreeSync, so you’re covered for smooth play at intense graphics with either team green or red. It even includes a USB-C port that supports video… though it only charges at 15 watts. That means you’ll still need to plug in a gaming laptop in order to keep it charged, though the monitor can handle a phone or tablet without issues. At 240Hz and .03ms, this monitor is fast enough to handle all but the twitchiest of PC gamers, and deliver upgraded visuals with its sharper resolution. Newegg is offering it at $429.99 plus a $30 coupon code (SSF3686), which it says is a “limited offer.” So this deal may not stick around forever, though Amazon is offering it at only a slightly higher price. If you’re looking for something bigger or cheaper, be sure to check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best monitors. Get an MSI OLED gaming monitor qwith 240Hz for $400View Deal Read...

Following in the wake of the Discord age verification controversy, over 350 security experts (comprising researchers and academics) from 30 countries have signed an open letter [PDF] warning of the risks of introducing age verification protocols without careful consideration. “We share the concerns about the negative effects that exposure to harmful content online has on children, and we applaud that regulators dedicate time and effort to protect them. However, we fear that, if implemented without careful consideration of the technological hazards and societal impact, the new regulation might cause more harm than good,” the open letter states. Our most recommended VPN NordVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $3.39 at NordVPN (Monthly) A broad rollout of age verification would also lead to increased use of VPN services, and if those were to be banned, it would be a severe blow to privacy-conscious users living in authoritarian countries. According to Politico, France will introduce an age limit of 15 for social media as early as September, with Germany, Denmark, and Spain next in line. Further reading: The best VPNs, rated and ranked Read...

Buying a cheap PC may soon become significantly more difficult. According to research firm Gartner, sharply rising memory prices are expected to make computers more expensive in the short term and could cause the entry-level PC market to “disappear” by 2028. The market chaos is largely driven by the growth of AI, with newly planned AI infrastructure gobbling up all the RAM it can get its hands on, leaving little-to-none for the consumer market. Prices for DRAM memory and SSD storage are expected to jump around 130 percent by the end of 2026, driving PC prices up an average of 17 percent. As PCs become more expensive, both businesses and individuals are expected to hold on to their current sysetms for much longer than they might’ve anticipated. Gartner estimates that consumers may use their computers up to 20 percent longer before upgrading. The budget segment is particularly vulnerable. Gartner believes that PCs in the entry-level range (under $500) may wind down and disappear altogether as early as 2028. At the same time, the development of so-called AI PCs is expected to slow down as higher component costs make it more difficult to produce at reasonable prices. Read...

Out of the frying pan but into the fire: That’s the scenario HBO Max is facing following Netflix’s sudden about-face in its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. With Paramount now primed to scoop up Warner Bros. and its various studio and streaming properties, all eyes are turned on what might eventually happen to the HBO Max and the iconic HBO brand. Speaking during an investor call Monday morning, Paramount CEO David Ellison made it clear that he intends for HBO itself to stick around and “operate with independence,” adding that he personally counts Game of Thrones among his favorite HBO shows, according to Variety. “Our viewpoint is HBO should stay HBO.” At the same time, Ellison said that “we do plan to put the two services together,” and that “by bringing the platforms together, all of our content will be able to reach even a broader audience than we can do standalone.” While Warners and Paramount have agreed to the broad terms of a merger, the deal is still subject to federal regulators.  The agreement between Warners and Paramount was announced late Friday, stunning Hollywood and the streaming industry. But while the players may have changed, the game remains the same: one streaming gobbling up another, resulting in fewer competitors and–almost certainly–higher streaming prices. It’s still way too early to tell what a combined Paramount+-HBO Max streaming service would look like or what it might cost. During Monday’s investor call, Ellison didn’t specifically say whether HBO Max would be swallowed up by Paramount+, the reverse, or somewhere in between. He also didn’t reveal (as Variety notes) whether there would be an “HBO Max” tile in the new combined streamer. A more likely scenario would be prominent HBO branding, in the form of a tile or a row, within the new Paramount streaming app. Beyond the presentation issues, the bigger deal is that following a successful Paramount-Warners merger, streamers who want to watch Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, or other HBO shows would also have to pay for Landman, Lioness, Tulsa King, 1923, and other Paramount+ originals, whether they want them or not. The price of HBO Max’s priciest tier currently stands at $22.99 a month, while the top Paramount+ plan goes for $14 a month. If the merger goes through, it’s easy to imagine a combined Paramount/HBO Max streaming service costing more than $30 a month. Ouch. Read...

Well, well, well. If it isn’t my very own mouse—one of my favorites for how reliable it is—on sale for 25% off on Amazon. Logitech devices rarely go on sale, and when they do, they don’t drop very much. That’s what happens with products that are well-made and well-liked, often becoming favorites and widely recommended via word of mouth. Today is one of those rare Logitech sale days. If you’re quick, you can snag the Logitech M705 for just $29.99 (was $39.99), which is a fantastic price for a simple wireless mouse that doesn’t get in your way. Now, this mouse isn’t some UFO-type gadget with a million buttons and a sensor that’s sensitive enough to have your pointer flying across the screen at the smallest movement. Instead, it’s just a reliable day-to-day mouse that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. I’ve had this model for a couple of years now and I have zero complaints about it. Designed for efficiency and comfortable extended use, the M705 comes with exceptional power management. In fact, I’ve only ever put batteries in this thing exactly once—when I first got it. The Logi+ app shows that my battery is only about halfway done, although no clear percentage is mentioned. I’m definitely not worried about it. I’ve used this mouse on just about any surface and gotten good results, while the ergonomic design makes it comfortable to use for long hours. There are 5 programmable buttons on it, which is just enough to be practical but not overwhelming. I’ve loved this mouse since I got it and can’t recommend it enough for anyone who doesn’t want a ton of bells and whistles. Get it now for just $30 before this awesome sale goes away! I love this wireless mouse! It`s a steal now that it`s only $30Buy now at Amazon Read...

One of the tools that ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini use to keep you around is by remembering tidbits gleaned from your conversations, ranging from your name and where you live to your hobbies and pet peeves. Sometimes, it’s helpful when your AI knows what you do for a living and how you like to be addressed, or when it knows your work style and the daily “blockers” you face. But it can also be unnerving when your AI chatbot butts in with an odd piece of personal trivia or gets pushy about other aspects of your life, such as connecting an everyday request with an unrelated project you previously asked it about (“This ties in perfectly with your Manhattan apartment renovation!”). Most of the big AI providers offer ways to manually add “memories” about you that you want it to store, and they may also have tools for letting you see (or delete) the personal details they’ve learned about you over time. You can also use prompts to pry into an AI’s memory banks; Anthropic, parent company of Claude, recently shared a very effective one. Anthropic’s prompt comes in the context of a memory import tool that it’s recently unveiled, with the tool aimed at ChatGPT switchers or anyone else who wants to jump ship from their current AI provider. Many AI users are considering switching, spurred by the furor over OpenAI’s contract with the Pentagon to use ChatGPT models in the military. The Defense Department inked its $200-million deal with ChatGPT after Anthropic, balking at the use of its models for domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons, dug in its heels about the military’s demand for nearly unfettered use of its models. For its part, OpenAI insists its Pentagon contract includes safeguards against domestic spying and robot weapons without human oversight. Looking to capitalize on the influx of ChatGPT switchers, Anthropic (which had to deal with a brief but widespread Claude outage early Monday) rolled out its AI memory import tool–and at the same time, it shared a prompt (you can find it below) that offers a revealing look at what your current AI chatbot knows about you. While Anthropic’s memory-import tool can only be used by paid Claude users, anyone can copy the associated prompt and paste it into their own AI chatbox, and the results can be fascinating. I tried the prompt with Gemini, and found a mix of memories that were alternately obvious and weird.  In the “obvious” category, Gemini knows my middle name, it knows the neighborhood where I live, where I work, my job title, and what I write about. It also knows the names of my wife and daughter, what computer hardware I have in my office, and that my family is planning on moving soon. Then there’s the weird stuff. Gemini remembers that I went to SeaWorld two years ago, as well as where we plan to go for spring break. It thinks my favorite musical genre is synth-pop, and specifically Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk. (I’m pretty sure I know the chat that gave Gemini that idea.) And it also remembers that I’m a fan of “Hot Ones” hot sauce, “The Last Dab” in particular. ChatGPT, meanwhile, recalls many details about my homelab setup as well as knowing that I like Twinings English Breakfast tea. It also remembers that I saw “Alien” on VHS when I was 13 (we must have chatted about that at some point) and that I enjoy dry white wines, grilling, and tortilla chips. More worrisome is that it knows my family’s gross household income. While the Anthropic prompt does a fairly thorough job at culling an AI’s memories about you, it isn’t perfect. Checking the ChatGPT’s “Saved memories” feature revealed many more details that the Anthropic query failed to shake loose, such as my Raspberry Pi’s user name, specifics about my daughter’s Minecraft server, and the fact that I don’t like sweet potatoes. Still, the prompt provides a quick way to take a peek at what an AI knows about you, and particularly those that don’t make it easy to peer into their memories. And here’s the Anthropic prompt (it’s geared toward AI switchers, but should work fine for anyone): I`m moving to another service and need to export my data. List every memory you have stored about me, as well as any context you`ve learned about me from past conversations. Output everything in a single code block so I can easily copy it. Format each entry as: [date saved, if available] - memory content. Make sure to cover all of the following —  preserve my words verbatim where possible: - Instructions I`ve given you about how to respond (tone, format, style, `always do X`, `never do Y`).  - Personal details: name, location, job, family, interests.  - Projects, goals, and recurring topics.  - Tools, languages, and frameworks I use.  - Preferences and corrections I`ve made to your behavior.  - Any other stored context not covered above. Do not summarize, group, or omit any entries.  After the code block, confirm whether that is the complete set or if any remain. Read...

Microsoft’s problematic updates in January 2026 and even late 2025 apparently haven’t put a damper on Windows 11’s growth. The latest figures from Statcounter reveal that there’s still significant growth happening for Windows 11 into February 2026. Statcounter The worldwide market share of Windows 11 users increased by 10.16 percentage points in February 2026, from 62.41 percent to 72.57 percent. At the same time, Windows 10’s market share fell from 35.77 percent to 26.45 percent (down 9.32 percentage points). Windows 7 saw a slight uptick at the end of 2025, but now that ancient operating system has fallen to a user share of 0.62 percent. Further reading: Microsoft is banning people who say “Microslop” Read...

Mobile World Congress 2026 is just ramping up over in Barcelona, and Lenovo has arrived with a cadre of new laptops, tablets, and other gadgets. While I’m sure there are plenty of people glad to see a new Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition, the company’s most interesting hardware probably isn’t coming to a Best Buy anytime soon. For one, there’s that folding gaming tablet-handheld-thing. The Legion Go Fold combines a similar layout to the ThinkPad X1 Fold with explicit gaming sensibilities: an 11.6-inch folding screen, an iPad-style folio keyboard case (with somewhat cringey “urban camo”), and a set of controller grips that turn it handheld with an enormous screen. You can also play it with the screen folded in half backwards, making it a smaller “traditional handheld when space is tight.” (Weird to call it “traditional” in a market segment that’s not even 5 years old yet, but okay.) Lenovo This is a genuinely cool idea! Not only can it fold down to be a lot more compact than some other giant handhelds, it can use that folding screen as a natural splitscreen mode, gameplay on top and a secondary window (like, say, a guide or a live chat) on the bottom. It’s also packing some novel hardware under the screen. The Intel Core Ultra 7 258V makes this one of the only Intel-based handhelds on the market (the only other one from a major brand is the MSI Claw), and the incorporation of the Legion Go’s mouse-style “FPS Mode” controller is neat. But alas, this is only a concept—and considering how expensive the Legion Go 2 is, it seems unlikely that Lenovo would add to that issue with a complex and pricey folding screen. Lenovo Another one announced at MWC is the AI Work Companion, an evolution of smart home-style displays that Lenovo has made in the past. This little bonus screen sits on your desk, mostly looking like a retro clock or an animated doodle, and activates an “AI” agent of your choosing with a big red button. It also doubles as a charging dock. Even as an “AI” curmudgeon, I have to admit that this is probably an ideal way to interact with such things in a tangible way (instead of a dozen mini-apps or sidebars). But just like the Legion Go Fold, this is a concept. Lenovo Lenovo also has a version of this that’s actually a little Pixar-ish robot, the “AI Workmate Concept,” which… no. Just no. Don’t make stuff on my desk move on its own, please. I’m clumsy enough! I don’t need things swinging and swatting around. Check out the Yoga Book Pro 3D (the lead image above), which uses a lenticular glasses-free 3D display for its primary screen and a full OLED display on the keyboard deck (well, the spot on a laptop that would normally be a keyboard) to give you a dual-screen layout. I really like its creator-focused vibes, accented by the sleek but functional kickstand that puts the bottom screen at an ideal angle for using a stylus to draw. Look at those little physical button thingamabobs you can stick to the bottom screen! I want those SO BAD!Lenovo You can even use “snap-on pads” to add physical controls, great for 3D modeling or art software, without covering the entire display with a keyboard. This is a great idea for on-the-go creators, who want some physicality when using those tools. It’s powered by a Core Ultra 7 and an RTX 5070, giving it plenty of juice for all that work. But again, this is just a concept. If you’re tired of hearing that, you’re not the only one! Lenovo makes a lot of concept devices—you can see the expanding rolling display on a Legion gaming laptop from CES for an example. They generally create several every year. But with the possible exception of the Legion Go Fold, all of these seem doable, if not exactly mass market (especially with prices for nearly all consumer tech going up and up). And to be fair, there are sometimes wild Lenovo designs that do make it into consumers’ hands, like the aforementioned ThinkPad X1 Fold or any number of ThinkBook Plus designs that push the envelope every year. I only wish more of Lenovo’s wild hairs would get the same treatment, so we can see which would work and which wouldn’t out in the real world. Read...

Generative AI is fuelling a sharp rise in intimate image abuse, outpacing weak platform responses and patchy global legal protections. Read...