Tech Talk

A slim shell and a big battery help the Spin 311 make a big impression. 2020 has been the year of the best Chromebooks in more ways than I would have ever imagined back in January: the surge in distance learning and work from home have combined with supply shortages to create an unprecedented demand. As popular models sell out left and right, new models can fill the void and help buyers get a great Chromebook with a much better long-term value. Take the Acer Chromebook Spin 311. Previous generations of the Spin 311 like the CP311-2H are still regularly going for $370 or more on Amazon, so the new CP311-3H launching at $300 with eight years of support ahead of it mean you're getting a sweet deal on a brand new model, so long as the Chromebook holds up in everyday use. And after a month, I can say that the new Acer Chromebook Spin 311 definitely holds up. At a glance Acer Chromebook Spin 311 (CP311-3H) Bottom line : As a budget-minded Chromebook, the newest version of the

I want to like this game so much, but I just couldn't. Does anyone else remember Elex? It was an action-RPG published by THQ Nordic. It had some cool ideas, attempting to blend sci-fi and fantasy, but it had terrible execution. That, unfortunately, is what I thought of after playing through Biomutant, another action-RPG coincidentally published by THQ Nordic. There is so much potential, and I can see what the team at Experiment 101 was going for, but the final product ends up being a hollow shell of what could have been. Its combat is just alright , the story is forgettable, and it has some performance issues and visual glitches on PS5 (I played it through backward compatibility) that were persistent throughout my 18-hour playthrough. That's not to say it's all bad. The amount of customization it offers is immense, and the world is broken up into unique biomes that are generally fun to explore. While I love the idea that Biomutant could be more than what it is, I can d

With meaningful new features around messaging, privacy, and connected devices, Android 11 is the update we needed in 2020. The more things change, the more they stay the same. That adage is particularly true with the pandemic, and we've all had to come up with ways to restore some modicum of normalcy while we're stuck at home for the foreseeable future. I've discovered the joys of cooking. With takeout not an option, my wife and I had to learn how to make our favorite dishes at home. We tried making pizzas from scratch and eating them while watching Formula 1. It felt like things were back to normal. It's important to find these pockets of normalcy, the way things used to be in the Before Times. That's my key takeaway with Android 11 — there are many new features here, but Android 11 feels immediately familiar at its core. Google didn't make too many surface-level visual changes that stand out, so the overall experience of using Android 11 is on par with An

It's hard to imagine any router being faster than this. Wi-Fi 6E is now upon us, promising to be the biggest improvement in wireless tech in more than a decade, and Linksys is at the forefront with two brand new routers. The Linksys Hydra Pro 6E represents the more traditional single router-style line, while the Linksys Atlas Max 6E — also known as the Linksys Velop AX8400 — is the latest in the Velop family of wireless mesh routers. The Atlas Max 6E also features sufficient spectrum allocation for all bands, meaning that, unlike the Hydra Pro 6E, there's plenty of available speed for devices of all types and ages — not just newer Wi-Fi 6E devices. This tri-band triple node beast promises to deliver everything you've ever wanted — and then some — for a price that's sure to make your eyes water. While I had some initial configuration issues while migrating my home's devices to the new router, a reboot and some topology adjustments brought me straight into the fu