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Showing posts from April, 2025

The Nintendo Switch 2 Is Boring, and That’s OK

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The Nintendo Switch 2 is the first Nintendo console to be a direct successor to a predecessor, number and all. Sure, everyone knew what “Super Nintendo” meant, but now more than ever, Nintendo is looking to competitors like Sony for cues, aiming for a simpler and more straightforward next-gen upgrade this time around. It makes sense—the Switch was its most successful home console yet, and when Nintendo tried to follow up the Wii with the more out-of-left-field Wii U, it flopped. So why mess with success? But that strategy does leave the Switch 2 in a precarious position, especially given its hefty $450 price point (which, it turns out, might not even be final , as the company has delayed pre-orders to attempt to come up with a response to the US' recent global tariffs, which could result in an ever higher sticker price). Is there really enough new here to justify an upgrade? After going hands-on, I’d say yes (at least until we know the final, post-tariff price...

How to Decide Between a New, Used, Refurbished, or Rented Peloton Bike

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. When my cheap Amazon spin bike broke, I wanted to upgrade to something better. But even though I was already following along with Peloton videos on the company's app, I thought getting an actual Peloton was out of reach. Yet as I shopped, I began to change my mind: Even a good off-brand spin bike will start in the high triple digits, and it turns out Pelotons can be rented, or even purchased used. Thus began my quest for a cheaper Peloton, and in the end, I bought a used model I’m very happy with. Mine cost $950 through a Facebook Marketplace sale in 2022. If I had taken the time to shop around and negotiate more, I likely could have found one for less. (Used Pelotons are also a lot cheaper now than they were then.) But before I could find a bike to buy, there were a lot of questions that needed answering. Let me take you on a tour through my shopping process. Peloton Indoor Exercise Bike ...

How to Disable ACR to Stop Your TV From Tracking What You Watch

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If I told you that your TV watches everything you do in the name of data collection and advertising, it likely wouldn’t shock you. It’s 2025, after all; we're used to a general lack of privacy. Still, it’s not cool, and it turns out you can stop it (even if your TV manufacturer has opted you into it). So, how do you stop your smart TV from tracking what you watch, so you can go back to the days of watching Netflix or playing video games in peace? You need to turn off ACR. How does your TV track what you watch? Meet ACR: This technology, short for automatic content recognition, allows your smart TV to watch what you watch, identify what you watch, and use that information to both recommend new content and serve you more relevant ads. Your TV observes moments in a show or movie ( sometimes including audio ), and will send that information to a database to match it against a library of content. ACR does this by literally taking screenshots of what is happening on your s...

How to Play Original Switch Games on the Switch 2

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Around November of last year, when readers were certainly not paying attention to anything else , Nintendo briefly shared that the Nintendo Switch 2 would be backwards compatible with games for the original Nintendo Switch . Fast forward to this year, and it turns out that’s not so clear cut. According to Nintendo, the Switch 2 can play the vast majority of Nintendo Switch 1 games, but there are some caveats to keep in mind. The Switch 2 uses emulation to play Switch 1 games As Nintendo posted to its site yesterday and confirmed in a developer roundtable I attended, the Switch 2 does not have any Switch 1 hardware inside. This means that, unlike the Nintendo DS did with the Game Boy Advance, it can’t play Switch games “natively,” meaning it’s not able to run them exactly as they might work on original hardware. Instead, it uses what Nintendo said is a mix of hardware compatibility and software emulation to essentially trick these games into thinking they...

I Wore Two Oura Rings to See If the Finger You Use Actually Matters

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. I’ve always preferred to wear my Oura ring on my ring finger. The company says that “for optimal performance and accuracy,” it’s best to wear it on your index finger, but that any finger can work. And if you ask longtime Oura users, you’ll get a variety of opinions. Does it really matter which finger you use? I realized I have the perfect way to test this—I have two gen 3 rings that fit my index and my ring fingers. I wore both for nearly two weeks to compare their readings and answer the question once and for all.  Oura Ring 4 $349.00 at Amazon ...