A VPN can actually offer advantages when gaming—despite some assumptions to the contrary. Here are three reasons why (and when) it can be worthwhile to use one. If you’re looking for an even more in-depth look at this topic check out our article of all the pros and cons of using a VPN while gaming. 1. Protection against DDoS attacks A DDoS attack is a targeted overload of an internet connection or server. It involves sending a large number of requests in a short period of time until the connection breaks down. For gamers, this means that online games are interrupted or cannot be started at all. For such attacks to be possible, the internet connection must be specifically targeted. In online gaming, this is possible in some cases because, depending on the game and connection technology, your own IP address is visible to other players or servers. This IP address then serves as a target for attack, directly overloading your private internet connection. A VPN prevents this by hiding your IP address. Instead of your private address, only the IP of the VPN server is visible to the outside world. Attacks no longer affect your own internet connection, and end up hitting a dead-end. Not every VPN provider is equally suitable when it comes to security and data protection. Check out our list of the best VPNs to see which services for gaming, privacy, security, and more. Our overall winner is NordVPN, and Surfshark is a great option if you’re on a budget. 2. Positive effect on ping and connection quality You read that right: there are certain situations in which a VPN can stabilize or even improve your connection. This depends primarily on the route the data takes between your connection and the game server. Internet service providers do not always route data packets via the most efficient route. Instead, they use detours or heavily congested hubs. A VPN can change this route and direct data traffic via more stable or better-connected routes. In such cases, the ping does not necessarily decrease, but the connection becomes more consistent and reliable. This is particularly noticeable with international game servers or during peak times. However, whether this effect occurs depends on several factors and can only be determined by direct comparison. Under certain conditions, a VPN can improve the connection. The quickest way to find out is to run a test.earthphotostock/Shutterstock.com 3. Access to additional servers and game regions Many online games use regional servers to keep connections stable and ensure fair competition. Players are automatically assigned to a specific region. A VPN changes the virtual location and thus enables access to game servers in other countries. This also allows you to use game regions that would otherwise be inaccessible. This is particularly relevant if you want to play with friends abroad or specifically use other server pools. A VPN also offers a direct alternative if you encounter problems with regional servers. Please note that not all games allow the use of a VPN. Some providers expressly exclude this use in their terms and conditions. Before using a VPN, you should therefore check whether its use is permitted for the game in question. When a VPN is not useful for gaming A VPN is not a “hack” for every gaming situation. In some cases, its use adds no value or even has a negative effect on the gaming experience. This is especially true for fast-paced, competitive online games where every millisecond counts. If your internet connection is already stable and the direct route to the game server is working optimally, a VPN will usually increase latency. In such cases, the additional detour via the VPN server outweighs the potential benefits. A VPN is also usually unnecessary for local or regional lobbies. If you are playing with players from your region and have no connection problems, you’ll hardly benefit from additional security at the network level. In addition, some games restrict or prohibit the use of VPNs. If you dial into other regions using a VPN, you risk restrictions or sanctions depending on the title. Especially in a competitive environment, the use of a VPN should therefore be carefully considered. In short: a VPN is not a standard tool for every game, but a situational addition. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Unique aspect ratio for extra vertical space Useful extra features Higher resolution than 4K, excellent sharpness Now has a 120Hz refresh rate Cons HDR is supported, but not great MSRP is expensive for the display size Our Verdict The BenQ RD280UG is an outstanding coding display, with a unique 3:2 aspect ratio, an ambient light sensor that can automatically adjust display brightness, and an ultra-high resolution superior to a typical 4K monitor. All of this makes for an outstanding coding display. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: BenQ RD280UG Retailer Price $699.99 View Deal BenQ $699.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The BenQ RD280UG is a monitor designed from scratch for coding. Of course, just about any display can be used for coding—but the BenQ RD280UG goes much further than most. It has a unique 3:2 aspect ratio, an ambient light sensor that can automatically adjust display brightness, and an ultra-high resolution superior to a typical 4K monitor. All of this makes for an outstanding coding display. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best monitors for comparison. BenQ RD280UG specs and features It’s hard to miss the BenQ RD280UG’s headline feature. The 28.2-inch display, which has a 3:2 aspect ratio, is instantly set apart from most monitors. It’s a sharp display, too, with a native resolution of 3840×2560. That’s a higher pixel count than a 27-inch 4K monitor, but due to the BenQ RD280UG’s larger physical display size, the pixel density is almost identical. Display size: 28.2-inch 3:2 aspect ratio Native resolution: 3840×2560 Panel type: IPS-LCD with LED edge lit backlight Refresh rate: 120Hz Adaptive sync: VRR HDR: Yes, VESA DisplayHDR 400 Certified Ports: 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and 90 watts USB Power Delivery, 1x USB-C downstream with DisplayPort MST and up to 15 watts of Power Delivery, 2x USB-A downstream, 1 USB-C downstream with 7.5 watts of Power Delivery, 1x USB-B upstream Audio: Yes, 2x 3-watt speakers Extra features: Moonhalo ambient light, KVM switch, ambient light sensor Price: $759.99 MSRP The BenQ RD280UG makes several improvements over its predecessor, the BenQ RD280U. The refresh rate has increased from 60Hz to 120Hz and VRR is now supported, though BenQ stops short of support for any particular standard (such as AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync). The new model also lists slightly more powerful speakers, up to 3 watts from 2W before, replaces one USB-A downstream port with USB-C, and lists a better contrast ratio of 2000:1, up from 1200:1. BenQ RD280UG design The BenQ RD280UG’s design is dominated by its highly unusual 3:2 aspect ratio. While there are now a couple other 3:2 monitors available, it remains extremely rare. The aspect ratio results in a display that’s almost exactly as wide as a 27-inch widescreen monitor, yet nearly as tall as a 32-inch widescreen monitor. Because of that, the RD280UG’s 3:2 aspect ratio can provide a tad more than two extra inches of vertical display space (compared to a 27-inch widescreen). This is useful not only for coding but also for writing or editing all sorts of documents. Put simply, you can see more on the display at once. The display’s size is also a great fit for viewing two vertical windows side-by-side. Matthew Smith / Foundry The 3:2 display is housed in a robust chassis with a distinct ridged design on the rear of the monitor. It sets the monitor apart from other brands, yet still looks professional. This is also where you’ll find the MoonHalo, an ambient light that can create a pleasant glow around the display in a bright environment. While the MoonHalo is meant to reduce eye strain, I like it for a more basic reason: It just looks nice. The ambient glow cast by the MoonHalo is pleasant and bright enough to be a genuinely useful light source in a dimly lit room. BenQ mounts the monitor to a hefty stand with a flat base that doesn’t cause too much disruption on your desk. The stand can adjust for height, tilt, and swivel. It can also pivot, which is an upgrade from the BenQ RD280U. A 100x100mm VESA mount is used, so the monitor can be attached to third-party monitor arms and stands. BenQ RD280UG connectivity Around back the BenQ RD280UG provides three video inputs: one HDMI, one DisplayPort, and one USB-C with DisplayPort. The USB-C port also provides up to 90 watts of Power Delivery for powering a connected laptop or tablet. The monitor also has a USB-C downstream port with 15 watts of Power Delivery and DisplayPort multi-stream transport. This feature lets you connect a second display to the BenQ RD280UG and “daisy-chain” the video signal to it. That’s useful if you have a laptop with just one video output, or if you want to reduce cable clutter on your desk. The USB-C port extends USB connectivity to two USB-A ports and one USB-C port. These ports can also be driven by a USB-B upstream connection. This makes the RD280UG a fairly useful USB hub, though it lacks some more extravagant features that can be found on some competitors. The Dell U3225QE, for example, has 2.5Gbps Ethernet. KVM switch functionality is included, too. That means you can connect multiple devices and use the monitor to switch between which has access to the monitor’s USB ports. It’s a good way to quickly swap between two connected PCs, though also included by most of the BenQ RD280UG’s competitors. BenQ RD280UG menus and features The BenQ RD280UG has several extra features aimed at programmers. My favorite is the ambient light sensor. An ambient light sensor can automatically adjust the brightness of a display throughout the day to keep the brightness at a comfortable level. That’s handy, as manually adjusting brightness is annoying and easy to forget. Most monitors in the BenQ RD280UG’s price range don’t have this feature, though a few do, including some Dell Ultrasharp, Asus ProArt, and BenQ P-Series displays. BenQ doubles down on comfort with several display modes, such as E-Paper and a Coding Dark Theme, which drastically change the image presentation. These modes are not technically “accurate” but might ease eye strain due to reduced brightness and enhanced contrast. Keep in mind, however, that the usefulness of these features can vary from person to person. The BenQ RD280UG also has a “Function Bar” on the front of the display. This is a touch-sensitive control that can be used to quickly engage or change monitor settings. The idea is that coders may want to frequently move from a coding-specific image quality mode to another, more typical mode. I would have preferred a remote or physical button for this, but the Function Bar is better than nothing. The monitor’s settings can otherwise be changed in one of two ways. You can use a joystick behind the lower bezel to control the on-screen menus or use BenQ’s DisplayPilot software. The DisplayPilot software supports Windows, Mac, and Linux, which is notable. Most competitors don’t support Linux. Whichever method you choose, you’ll find a lot of options. The monitor has many color modes and gamma modes that target precise gamma values. It also has color temperature adjustment, but those adjustments do not target precise values. The monitor provides many options for controlling special features, such as the MoonHalo, ambient light sensor, and function bar. On the whole, I think the BenQ RD280UG provides a good range of features and options for the price. My favorite feature is the automatic brightness adjustment of the ambient light sensor — manually adjusting brightness is annoying. BenQ RD280UG audio The BenQ RD280UG includes a pair of 3-watt speakers. According to the specification sheet, these are an upgrade over the RD280U, which used 2-watt speakers. And many similar monitors lack speakers at all. Still, the RD280UG’s audio isn’t great, lacking volume and depth. The speakers are okay for listening to a podcast but that’s about it. BenQ RD280UG SDR image quality I think it’s fair to say the BenQ RD280UG’s image quality is not important to the monitor’s core use case. Coding does not require a high contrast ratio or, in most cases, a wide color gamut. The BenQ RD280UG’s image quality reflects this, though it’s still decent. Matthew Smith / Foundry I measured a maximum sustained SDR brightness of 340 nits. That is a small upgrade from the older RD280U, which hit about 325 nits.As the graph shows, most competing monitors can be brighter, and some are significantly brighter. However, the RD280UG is bright enough to be comfortable in most interior rooms. It’s also clearly skewed towards use in dim rooms, as many of the monitor’s features are designed to make it comfortable when viewed in such a room. So, while the RD280UG is not that bright, it’s bright enough, and I can’t say it’s a problem for how the monitor is meant to be used. Matthew Smith / Foundry The BenQ RD280UG promises improved contrast over its predecessor, and it delivers. I measured a contrast ratio of 1980:1, which is a significant improvement over the prior monitor’s contrast ratio of 1310:1. It also compares well to similar monitors, many of which have a contrast ratio around 1000:1 to 1500:1. In practice, this means the BenQ RD280UG has a reasonably deep, rich, and immersive look. However, some backlight glow will still be visible when viewing dark images in a very dark room. Matthew Smith / Foundry Next up is color gamut, which is the range of colors the monitor can display. Here, we see a weakness of the BenQ RD280UG, and an area where the BenQ RD280UG doesn’t perform as well as its predecessor. The new RD280UG was able to display 88 percent of DCI-P3 and 82 percent of AdobeRGB, while the old model displayed 93 percent and 87 percent, respectively. This is not a major issue, as the BenQ RD280UG’s color gamut is still enough that it appears vivid at a glance. However, when compared to better monitors, it looks less saturated and alluring. You won’t notice it when coding or working with documents, but it can be noticeable in photos and videos. Matthew Smith / Foundry Color accuracy is also so-so, as the RD280UG has an average color error that’s higher than many competitive monitors—particularly those from Dell. The average color error is expressed across many colors, rather than any single color. The RD280UG is not meant to be a monitor for creative professionals, and for the price, would not be a good pick for that use. The RD280UG’s color temperature came in at 6700K, slightly off our target of 6500K. That means the image is a bit cooler than ideal, and it’s a noticeable difference, but not punch-you-in-the-face obvious. Gamma, meanwhile, was good with an on-target gamma curve of 2.2. The monitor provides a range of gamma presets in case you feel the need to change to another gamma setting. Together, these results contribute to a well-balanced presentation of the RD280UG’s image. Sharpness is a perk. The RD280UG provides 3840×2560 resolution, which is a higher total pixel count than a 4K widescreen monitor. However, because the monitor is also physically larger, this still works out to a pixel density of about 164 pixels per inch. Most 27-inch 4K monitors have a similar pixel density. Still, this is an excellent level of sharpness for a computer monitor. Small text looks crisp and detailed, which is important, since coders often view small text.The RD280UG’s overall image quality is not exceptional but seems well-suited for the monitor’s intended purpose. Programmers care most of all about sharpness when viewing small fonts and a well-balanced, reasonably accurate image. The RD280UG provides that. BenQ RD280UG HDR image quality The BenQ RD280UG is capable of HDR and is VESA DisplayHDR 400 certified, but I wouldn’t recommend it for viewing HDR. The monitor lacks the brightness and contrast to truly do HDR justice and generally won’t look much better than SDR—just different. On top of that, the monitor lacks the sort of HDR brightness and image adjustment features that you’ll find on a high-end gaming and entertainment monitor, such as the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQWP-W. BenQ RD280UG motion performance BenQ’s RD280UG can reach a refresh rate up to 120Hz. That’s an improvement over the RD280U, which could only achieve 60Hz. It also allows the BenQ to catch up with recent Dell Ultrasharp and Asus ProArt monitors, many of which achieve a refresh rate of at least 120Hz. Whether the 120Hz refresh rate is adequate will depend on your expectations. The quickest monitors can now hit refresh rates up to 1,000Hz, and 240Hz monitors are extremely common, so 120Hz is a long way from cutting edge. However, many monitors meant specifically for coding or productivity are still stuck at 60Hz, and improving the RD280UG’s refresh rate to 120Hz delivers a big improvement. Refresh rate is often thought of as a feature for PC gaming but, in this context, it provides better text clarity when scrolling through code, as well as a more responsive feel when navigating a desktop, apps, or an integrated development environment. The monitor also supports variable refresh rates. It does not state official support for VESA AdaptiveSync, AMD FreeSync, or Nvidia G-Sync. However, in my testing, AMD FreeSync did function with the RD280UG. Should you buy the BenQ RD280UG? The BenQ RD280UG is one of the most unusual monitors on the market right now, yet in many ways, it makes perfect sense. It’s designed for coding and, to that end, it provides more screen real estate, an ultra-sharp image, and multiple modes and features designed to either reduce eye strain or make working in a dark room more enjoyable. The BenQ RD280UG also provides important upgrades from its predecessor, the RD280U, including a leap from a 60Hz to 120Hz refresh rate. The RD280UG’s retail price of $759.99 is expensive, and because you can code well enough on just about any display, it won’t make sense for everyone. However, if you have strong opinions on how a display you use for coding should function and look, the RD280UG will be ideal for you. Read...

Google Aluminium will be an Android-based operating system for laptops and tablets — “built with AI at its core,” according to Google. While Google hasn’t yet announced its grand plans, the future looks like it will involve Android laptops. Google wants a shiny AI-first laptop experience sitting next to Windows laptops, MacBooks, and iPads. But, while I use an Android phone, I don’t plan on switching to an Android laptop any time soon. What is Google’s Aluminium OS? Google has spent the last year dropping hints about merging Android and ChromeOS. At Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit back in September, Google’s Rick Osterloh talked about how Android would soon serve PC users, too. Recently, Google put up a job listing for a “Senior Product Manager, Android, Laptop and Tablets.” The job-posting name-dropped “Aluminium,” describing it as “a new operating system built with Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the core” and said it was “Android-based.” Mishaal Rahman spotted it and wrote up all the twists and turns of Google’s product strategy at Android Authority. ChromiumOS is the open-source project that ChromeOS is based on. Aluminium sounds like the perfect codename for an operating system that combines Android and ChromeOS. Google doesn’t seem like it’s about to axe ChromeOS any time soon, however. The job posting described how the product manager would be “curating a portfolio of ChromeOS and Aluminium (ALOS) Commercial devices across all form factors.” Lots of businesses and schools have standardized on Chromebooks, and it sounds like Google won’t be ditching the ChromeOS experience overnight. Google’s job posting even describes hardware tiers we should expect: “Chromebook, Chromebook Plus, AL Entry, AL Mass Premium, and AL Premium.” Chromebook Plus is a higher-end experience with specific hardware requirements, and Google looks like it’s planning on offering an experience with hardware tiers for these Android-based laptops and tablets, too. Android desktop experiences already exist An Android desktop experience is nothing new. You can use an Android environment as a desktop OS today, complete with floating windows! Samsung has offered this for years as part of its DeX software. Just connect a DisplayPort cable to your Samsung Galaxy phone and connect it to a monitor — or project wirelessly — and you get an environment with floating desktop windows. You can connect a wireless keyboard and mouse and use it as a desktop environment. You could just dock your phone at your desk and use it as your desktop PC. Chris Hoffman / Foundry Android 16 has its own desktop mode based on Samsung’s DeX, and you can use it on a Google Pixel phone. You don’t need a Samsung Galaxy phone for this anymore. After years of ignoring this and letting Samsung go its own way, Google is taking an interest. Desktop mode can be a little glitchy — while Android apps can run in windows and be resizable, they really aren’t designed for this type of experience. Android’s desktop mode is technically impressive and neat in a pinch, but I don’t plan on trading my traditional desktop operating system for it. Windows, desktop Linux, or even macOS is an upgrade. IDG / Chris Hoffman I’ve even used Android on a traditional clamshell laptop form factor. I reviewed the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5, which offered both Android and Windows on one computer, swappable at the press of a button. It was a very cool concept, but it didn’t make me crave a full-time Android laptop experience. I don’t enjoy Android apps on a laptop The idea of a desktop experience full of Android applications has been tried repeatedly and just hasn’t caught on. But tech companies just keep trying to make this happen. Microsoft itself dabbled with this and got burned: One of Windows 11’s big features was the ability to run Android apps, and that feature was canned pretty quickly. Very few people cared when Microsoft discontinued it. Most people just weren’t running Android apps on their Windows desktops. You can still run Android apps on Windows PCs with other tricks. But, again: Few people do. Google itself already has Android apps running on Chromebooks. This has been available for years. Every time I use a Chromebook, I try out Android apps and always prefer web apps if I can find them. Android apps built for touch screens just don’t work that well on a laptop with a mouse and keyboard, and transforming the entire operating system into an Android experience won’t solve this problem. Heck, even Apple hasn’t had much luck here. While you can run iPad and iPhone apps on a modern M-series ARM Mac, the Mac users I know stick to Mac desktop software on their machines — not mobile apps. And, while Apple is making iPads better at multitasking, Apple isn’t discontinuing MacBooks: Most traditional computer users want a laptop experience and not just an iPad with a keyboard case masquerading as a laptop. So why would I want an Android laptop? I could already run Android apps on a laptop by buying a Chromebook. So what does an Android laptop experience buy me? Under the hood, it might be better for Google to have a single app and development platform, sure. But, as a user, I don’t get it. On a laptop, I’d rather use ChromeOS, which is designed first and foremost for mice and keyboards. An Android-based laptop experience doesn’t appeal to me. I want a traditional PC experience with traditional PC software — the whole archive of Windows PC applications and games — and applications designed with a keyboard and mouse in mind. If Google’s big pitch is that Aluminum will have “AI at its core,” I’m not sure that will really appeal to a wide audience of PC users. Every operating system is getting deep AI integration these days — aside from traditional desktop Linux distributions and SteamOS. I hope Aluminium OS laptops surprise me Who knows what will happen — maybe Android will be the next great laptop operating system. Maybe this is the moment that Android and ChromeOS fuse into a supremely powerful desktop operating system — a mass-market PC operating system alternative to Windows that’s more widely supported by device manufacturers than desktop Linux is. It was always obvious to me that some voices inside Google wished they had pushed Android as a laptop operating system, too. Those voices are clearly winning. But I remember covering Google’s ChromeOS for my World Beyond Windows column here at PCWorld more than a decade ago. While I always found the idea of a lightweight, browser-based Linux operating system intriguing, I was never a fan of taking touch-first smartphone apps and running them on a laptop. Hopefully, Aluminum OS will be more interesting than that. But I’m concerned Google is just looking for a way to roll out AI features as quickly as possible to both phones and laptops by standardizing on a single OS. We’ll see whether shiny Gemini-powered Android laptops will appeal to consumers. Maybe they will — but I doubt people will be switching from Windows laptops or MacBooks. Google’s going to have to do something seriously transformative. The “I want a laptop running a mobile OS” crowd already bought iPads with keyboard cases. Read...

The region is counting a win as the UN High Seas Treaty came into effect, while a key Pacific environment body comes to terms with US withdrawal. Read...

Most smartphone owners use the online storage (also known as cloud storage) services of Apple or Google for backing up their photos and accessing them from anywhere. Online services like Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, and Amazon Drive are similarly practical, allowing you to organize, access, and share photos, files, and other data online. Almost all cloud services offer free entry-level plans, which are sufficient for small amounts of data but quickly become expensive as storage requirements increase. Only Amazon Drive provides its Prime customers with unlimited online storage for photos (but not videos). The downside to cloud storage for photos? You have virtually no control over how securely the data is stored or who has access to it. The privacy concerns are real, especially depending on where a particular cloud platform is headquartered and/or where its servers are located. Certain authorities may be able to access your data. If you care about privacy, there are plenty of good reasons not to store your photos on the cloud. The alternative is to create your own private cloud-like storage at home with something called a NAS. NAS: Your own private cloud at home NAS stands for Network Attached Storage. A NAS is basically a device that’s loaded with one or more storage drives and sits on a network (like your home Wi-Fi network), providing a central storage location that’s accessible by other devices on the same network. So, instead of uploading to Google’s or Apple’s servers, you can just upload to your NAS that’s only accessible to your own devices. Foundry Keeping your data to yourself is the only way to make sure that no one else has access to it. What’s more, with your own NAS you always know exactly where your data is physically located. By contrast, a cloud platform with countless server farms distributed around the world could potentially keep your data in multiple locations and countries across multiple physical storage drives. In short, you have to fully trust that your cloud provider has everything locked down, protected, and secure. If you have any doubts at all, you should set up your own NAS as a kind of private cloud storage. Your first NAS: What you need to know If you’re buying a NAS for private storage of data and photos, you should opt for a NAS that has at least two drive bays. Such devices are typically called “2-bay NAS” or “dual-bay NAS” in product listings. Empty or pre-installed with drives Furthermore, a NAS can be purchased with drives already included or as an “empty enclosure.” In the latter case, you’ll need to provide and install your own compatible drives, preferably two identical drives (in terms of capacity and model) from the same maker as your NAS if possible. The Terramaster D2-320 is an affordable entry-level diskless 2-bay NAS.Terramaster Installing drives in a NAS isn’t rocket science, and the procedure is usually well-documented in the NAS’s manual. Still, if you aren’t a tinkerer and don’t want to mess with that, you can just opt for a NAS model with pre-installed storage drives. (For entry-level NAS boxes, conventional 3.5-inch HDDs and SSDs are the storage media of choice.) Photo and video management Since the NAS will be used as a private cloud for photos, look for a NAS with a built-in photo management system that makes it easy to automatically transefr photos and videos from your phone to the NAS. Many NAS manufacturers offer companion apps (both Android and iPhone) for this purpose, and these apps also give you access to all photos and videos currently stored on the NAS. Of course, you can also access your NAS photos from your PC, either via the web interface in a browser or directly via folder sharing in the network area of Windows File Explorer. Remote access Almost all NAS manufacturers now offer convenient and easy-to-set-up remote access for their NAS boxes, allowing you to access your files even while traveling. You’ll have to create a free user account with the NAS manufacturer, with which remote access to the network storage can be realized without fiddling with complicated router settings. The Synology DS223j diskless 2-bay NAS is a great option for remote access.Synology You can also use a NAS as a practical network drive and access or edit the data stored on it directly from your PC on the network. In fact, there are so many awesome ways to use a NAS at home. USB port Make sure the NAS has at least one USB port (ideally either USB 3.2 Gen 1 or Gen 2 for best performance). This USB port will allow you to connect an external USB storage device to the NAS box for making backups of NAS content or transferring data (e.g., photos, videos, documents) from the USB device directly to the NAS box. The Asustor AS1102TL is a diskless 2-bay NAS with a fast USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port in the front and a slower USB-A 2.0 port in the back.Asustor Ethernet port For entry-level NAS boxes, you can expect Gigabit Ethernet speeds, which can transfer at a maximum of 950 Mbps (or 118 MB/s). This transfer rate is sufficient for photo backups, for use as a media server, and for other common home network applications. The Qnap TS-233-US diskless 2-bay NAS has a Gigabit Ethernet port.Qnap Faster NAS boxes with multi-gigabit Ethernet ports—which can transfer at 2.5 Gbps or even 5 Gbps—are generally more expensive and also require faster hardware on the home network with multi-gigabit-capable devices (e.g., routers, switches, PCs, laptops). If you already have such devices, consider spending a little more money and investing in a NAS box with a multi-gigabit LAN port. Pricing expectations An entry-level dual-bay NAS with all the important features starts at around $130 to $200 for an empty enclosure. The entry-level price category includes dual-bay NAS devices from leading manufacturers like Qnap’s TS-233 and Synology’s DS223j as well as other affordable models like Asustor’s AS1102TL and Terramaster’s D2-320. If you want to go a step up, there’s also Ugreen’s DXP2800, which is significantly more expensive at just over $350. However, this NAS also offers significantly better hardware features with a more powerful CPU, plenty of RAM, a fast 2.5 Gbps Ethernet connection, and two additional M.2 slots for fast NVMe SSD storage. The Ugreen DXP2800 is a step up, offering a much better processor, a faster 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port, and a greater storage capacity than cheaper entry-level options.Ugreen Remember, if you go with a diskless (empty) enclosure, you’ll also need to supply drives. Grabbing two hard drives could cost an additional $150 to $300 on top of the NAS box itself. Data mirroring with RAID 1 When setting up the NAS, you’ll set up the NAS’s two drives in a so-called RAID 1 array, also known as “disk mirroring.” This makes it so that all your data stored on the NAS is mirrored on both drives—if one of the two drives ever fails, your data is still available on the other drive. For 4 TB of total storage in a 2-bay NAS with mirrored content via RAID 1, you’ll need 2 x 4 TB hard drives. Note that some NAS manufacturers work with slightly modified or extended RAID 1 features, which have slightly different names. Synology, for example, uses the term “SHR” for “Synology Hybrid RAID” while Terramaster uses “TRAID” for “Terramaster RAID.” We strongly advise you to only buy special NAS hard drives that are labeled as such by manufacturers like Seagate, Western Digital, or Toshiba. These NAS drives are designed for 24/7 continuous operation, have better vibration protection, and utilize advanced error correction, which is especially designed for use in a RAID network. For example, Seagate has NAS-optimized drives called “Ironwolf” while Western Digital has “Red Plus” and Toshiba has “N300.” Meanwhile, Synology recently started offering its own NAS storage drives that are specially designed for its own NAS boxes. Initializing your NAS box The basic setup of a NAS that’s already connected to the router via LAN cable can usually be carried out via the web menu in a browser on any home network-connected PC or the companion phone app. Browser access is usually done via a special URL, such as find.synology.com, or via a special NAS access tool that you can download from the NAS manufacturer’s homepage. As soon as you call up the uninitialized NAS for the first time in the browser, via the NAS app, or via a NAS access tool, you’ll see a setup wizard for establishing basic settings and automatically downloading the most up-to-date NAS operating system. You’ll usually also setup the main user account or administrator account of your NAS. (Take note of the login credentials on a piece of paper or save it in your password manager, as it’ll be the only way to access the web menu of your NAS going forward. You’ll also need it to access shared folders and network drives on your NAS from File Explorer on a Windows PC.) During initialization, you’ll usually be offered the opportunity to register with an account of the NAS manufacturer using an email address. You can then easily access the contents of your NAS, its settings, or the NAS photo management from outside your home network—and all this without having to fiddle with any settings on your router. This convenient access is highly recommended, especially for NAS beginners. Setting up the storage As soon as initialization is complete, you can log into the web menu of your NAS with your new login credentials. With some models, the storage on the NAS is already set up during initialization and may also have at least one shared folder—often labeled “Public”—which is available for remote access. With Synology or Qnap, however, this isn’t the case. With these, you’ll be prompted to create a storage pool first. Fortunately, another wizard is available for this, which works through the necessary steps with you. Setting up the storage with Qnap is a little tricky. With Qnap, you have to set up your storage with so-called “thick” or “thin” volumes if you want to use the snapshot feature later to quickly restore a storage image. This option is well-explained in the manual, and we recommend downloading the QTS operating system manual (PDF) from the manufacturer. When setting up a Qnap NAS, you should register for a “myQnapCloud” account. Remote access is important for being able to use your NAS as a private cloud later on.Foundry Entry-level NASes from other major manufacturers now all support the Btrfs file system, which has the snapshot feature integrated. You just need to make sure that you select the “Btrfs” file system when setting up the storage, which is usually the default option. After creating the storage volume, you can then create shared folders, which are usually already equipped with write access rights for your main or administrator account. Accessing shared folders on your NAS via File Explorer in Windows To be able to access the shared folders of your NAS box from a Windows PC on the home network, first check in the NAS web menu whether the SMB service is activated. To do this, open the system settings and enter the term “SMB” in the search field. Almost all entry-level NAS devices now have such a search mask, which makes it much easier to find certain settings in the sometimes very extensive web menus. Also make sure that the “WS-Discovery” setting is activated (if available). This setting ensures that the NAS system is displayed in File Explorer on your Windows PC without having to use any special tricks. Now, open File Explorer on your Windows PC with the Windows key + E keyboard shortcut and double-click on “Network” in the menu bar on the left. You will now see a list of all devices in your home network that have SMB folder shares, including your NAS. In the area on the right, you will find the same devices under the heading “Computer.” With Synology, the WS-Discovery option can be found in the advanced SMB settings. Network discovery is a prerequisite for identifying the NAS in a Windows environment.Foundry The first time you click on the NAS from your Windows PC to access a shared folder, you’ll be asked for network credentials. This is the login for your NAS user account that you assigned during NAS setup (with which you also use to access the NAS web menu). Enter the login credentials in File Explorer to access the folder on the NAS. Set up your network drive You’ll now also see the shared folders of your network storage in the File Explorer window on the right side. They can be used like all other drives on your PC. You can access the files stored in them, open and edit them, save them again, copy them, and so on. If you wish, you can also connect individual NAS folder shares as a network drive so that this folder share is displayed in your Windows PC as a “local” drive with a drive letter. To do this, right-click on one of the shared folders of your NAS in File Explorer and select the “Connect network drive” option in the context menu. In the following window, assign a drive letter and then confirm by clicking on “Finish”. The folder share of your NAS now appears in File Explorer as a “normal” Windows drive on the left under “This PC.” To make it easier to access a NAS directory, mount it in File Explorer and give it a drive letter. It can then be treated similarly to a local drive.Foundry The advantage is that some apps and programs have problems accessing network drives or storing data to them. However, the assigned drive letter means that the NAS drive is regarded as a local storage location and is therefore accepted. Note, however, that access only works if your Windows PC is running on the home network and your NAS is on. Manage photos on your NAS To set up photo management, first go to the NAS apps section in the web menu of your NAS, which is called the “App Center” for Qnap and Ugreen and the “Package Center” for Synology. There you can install a photo management app with a few clicks (called “Synology Photos” for Synology, “Photos” for Ugreen, and “QuMagie” for Qnap). With Qnap, the “Multimedia Console” NAS app, which is required to run the image management, is also installed automatically. Ugreen’s entry-level DXP2800 is more expensive, but with its multi-gigabit port and powerful hardware features, it’s also significantly faster for NAS tasks.Foundry Once installed, start the photo management app in the NAS web menu. Among other things, you’ll be asked whether a default shared folder has already been created for your image files on the NAS, or you’ll see a message to share an existing folder as a content source for your photos. With a Qnap NAS, you should also install “Qnap AI Core” to be able to use face and object recognition for your managed photos. If you’ve already saved photos on your Windows desktop or backed them up from your previous cloud provider, you can transfer them to the NAS folder provided for this purpose. Note: For photos in HEIC format (usually from iPhones), you should use the “Synology Image Assistant” tool to transfer the photos from your PC. Qnap, on the other hand, requires an additional paid NAS app called “CAYIN” in order to manage and display iPhone photos or videos. Ugreen and Terramaster (starting from operating system TOS 6 and later) have no problems with iPhone formats. The photo management on your NAS first creates thumbnails of new photos and then runs the AI engine over the images so it can later recognize faces and sometimes objects. This process can take a long time if you have a large number of photos. Transfer photos from phone to NAS To back up your photos from your smartphone directly to the NAS, install the NAS manufacturer’s photo app on your phone. Make sure you’re on your home network’s Wi-Fi with your phone before you start the photo app for the first time. Then, log into your NAS via the app and follow the setup wizard. This usually offers you the option of either transferring all photos already stored on your phone to the NAS, or to save only photos you’ll be taking from now on. You can also specify whether the phone photos now saved on the NAS should be deleted from your phone’s storage, allowing you to free up storage space on the phone. You’ll also want to specify whether photos should only transfer to the NAS over Wi-Fi and not mobile data. Note: To be able to access your NAS photos from outside your home network, you must log into the phone app with your NAS remote access account. You’ll see a corresponding message in the app during setup. Furthermore, remote access to your NAS photo management depends not only on the connection of your mobile phone but also on the connection of your home internet service via which the photos are transferred from NAS to smartphone. When performing remote actions, don’t expect your NAS to offer the same speed and performance as you’d get with Google, Amazon, or Microsoft cloud storage. Further reading: The best NAS drives worth getting Read...

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TechHive Editors Choice At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Hugely versatile Compact and unobtrusive New, intuitive functions like twist offer analog-like controls Cons Integration setups can be a bear Swipe function is rocky at best Somewhat expensive Our Verdict With more than 20 trigger possibilities, the broadly compatible Flic Duo is a tremendously versatile and useful control-anything smart home controller. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Flic Duo Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Flic’s smart button is a tiny device with a powerful concept, a platform-agnostic gadget that literally gives you a button that can be placed anywhere for easy, tactile control of all types of smart home devices. The all-new Flic Duo, reviewed here, builds considerably on what that original gadget can do, moving from three functions to a whopping 22. It’s a significant expansion of capabilities, although getting everything set up within the Flic ecosystem remains an endeavor that smart home novices might find challenging. Specifications Like the original Flic Button, the Flic Duo is so small it might easily be misplaced—or even consumed by an rambunctious pet. Measuring 2 x 1.25 inches overall–and roughly 1/3 of an inch thick–it’s designed to be used in the hand or mounted to the wall—or both. A magnetic back means you can slap it onto a metal backing plate (sold separately, $10) or affix it to any metal surface for a semi-permanent setup while also allowing you to remove it as needed. The Flic system can control devices across scads of third-party ecosystems, the major ones being Matter, Alexa, IFTTT, and SmartThings. As the name suggests, the Duo has two buttons instead of one, billed simply as “Big Button” and “Small Button” respectively. As with the standard Flic Button, you can assign tasks to each of these buttons with single-push, double-push, or push-and-hold triggers. Unique to this new model are hold-and-swipe and hold-and-twist triggers, both of which I’ll get to in a bit. The Bluetooth-enabled Flic Duo will work with or without a Flic Hub (either the basic, single-band-Wi-Fi Hub Mini, $30; or the dual-band-Wi-Fi Hub LR, which adds infrared blaster and ethernet ports, and Apple Home support. It costs $90.) But the Flic Duo is less capable if you choose instead to pair it directly to your phone. The Flic Duo is about the height of a stack of four quarters, and not much bigger in overall size, either.Christopher Null/Foundry A phone-centric approach isn’t ideal, as it makes the Flic Duo useless if your phone isn’t in Bluetooth range; and some features, including the twist function, don’t work at all without a hub. Either Flic Hub will do the grunt work of pushing the Flic Duo’s commands to the internet or to local smart home devices as needed. I tested the Flic Duo with a Hub Mini. However you choose to pair it, the Flic system can control devices across scads of third-party ecosystems, the major ones being Matter, Alexa, IFTTT, and SmartThings. It can also control Philips Hue, LIFX, Ikea, and Nanoleaf devices directly without an intermediary, and it can work as a remote for Chromecast and Sonos. Integration with Google Home is handled via Matter or IFTTT. A complete list of integrations can be found here. Installation and setup I’d encourage buyers to use the Flic Duo the way I tested it, in concert with either the Flic Hub Mini, shown here, or the more robust Flic Hub LR.Christopher Null/Foundry Setting up the Flic Duo is fairly painless. Presuming you’re using a Hub, the Flic app will automatically discover the Hub once it is plugged in, asking for the password printed on its backside and configuring basic Wi-Fi settings. With the Hub connected, you can now pair it with the Duo, which is a similar, albeit password-free process. It’s a quick and easy process; the much more daunting part of the experience comes next, when it’s time to set up your integrations. Using the Flic Duo Flic hasn’t changed much about the way its integration setup system works, and despite the promise that “new partners are continuously being added,” I didn’t see much of a change from the list available last year, although I’ll admit it’s impossible to keep track of every single option of the dozens available (including the “fart generator,” which is now called “fart sound”). Configuring these integrations hasn’t changed, and the process remains complex at best. For example, to set up an Alexa integration, you must add the Flic skill to Alexa, then return to the Flic app and select the desired trigger you want to set up. Next, it’s back to the Alexa app to create a routine (or use an existing one), where you assign the Flic trigger you just selected to that routine. Alexa does most of the heavy lifting, and Flic just serves as a middleman. Flic’s exhaustive list of integrations can be daunting to sift through.Christopher Null/Foundry Things like controlling lighting directly with LIFX or Philips Hue devices is more straightforward, as the Flic app can discover the lights you have set up in those apps and control them directly. Still, you need to have a strong grasp on smart home fundamentals for this to be intuitive. The real advantage of the Flic Duo comes when you take advantage of the new triggers available, including those swipe and twist functions I mentioned previously. With these, you hold down a button then swipe in one of four directions; this can be helpful for cycling through music tracks or toggling an on/off state (swipe up for on, down for off, for example). The problem is that Flic’s version of a swipe is very tough to pull off successfully. Rather than just pushing the button and moving your thumb in one direction, I found you had to kind of jerk the entire device in that direction while also sliding your thumb across it at the same time. The Flic Duo’s “twist” feature gives new life to analog-like actions such as dimming and volume control.Christopher Null/Foundry So, push the button, slide upwards while simultaneously lifting your wrist, and then let go. Rarely could I perform this successfully on a single try, often leaving me maniacally waving the Duo around to try to get a command to go through. The twist function is even more interesting. Here you press a button, then rotate your wrist left or right. “Twist” is probably a misnomer for this motion, but I found it worked a lot more effectively than the swipe function, without any trial and error at all. Twist can be used to intuitively control volume or the brightness of lights, and I found it great for dynamically cycling through color lighting options on a lamp, too. Unlike the swipe feature, twisting worked seamlessly every time I tried it. Should you buy the Flic Duo? The Flic Duo is the even more powerful big brother to the original Flic Button, and it’s also arguably more useful (albeit also less intuitive to program and use) than the Flic Twist. It’s not a device for smart home novices, who I expect will quickly become lost in the complex machinations required to set up even basic integrations. More advanced users, on the other hand, will likely find it incredibly useful—even if you find you need to build a cheat sheet to keep track of the dozens of integrations you end up creating. It’s not perfect, of course: The swipe function needs a lot of work, stickers to label the Flic buttons still cost extra ($10 pack for the Flic Duo), documentation is basically nonexistent, and certain promised features like a “find my Flic” function in the app are still pending for 2026. It’s also expensive: $59 compared to $35 for a single Flic Button. All that said, if you’re willing to invest a little time, energy, and patience, there’s almost no smart home environment where the Flic Duo won’t be useful. Read...

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Microsoft began testing Windows 11 version 26H1 for the first time with Insider Preview Build 28000. The version is only available in the Canary channel of the Windows Insider Program. Starting with this build, Windows officially displays “Windows 11, version 26H1” for the first time under Settings > System > About and via winver. Microsoft made it clear that this is not a feature update for Windows 11 25H2, but rather a new technical platform version. Here’s what’s new in Windows 11 26H1 and why you should be aware. The purpose of Windows 11 26H1 Windows 11 26H1 is preparation for new hardware platforms. Microsoft is gearing the operating system towards upcoming processors, such as Windows-on-Arm devices. Among others, that includes Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 and X2 Elite plus Nvidia N1 and N1x. These processors differ significantly from traditional x64 CPUs, so Microsoft is making adjustments to key system components for compatibility. These include power management, process planning, driver architecture, and other hardware-dependent parts of the operating system. These changes are hardly noticeable to users in everyday use, but they’re necessary to ensure that new devices will later run stably, efficiently, and at full performance. Thomas Joos For existing x64 PCs, Windows 11 26H1 offers no functional advantages and Windows 11 25H2 remains the main branch for new features. Microsoft is sticking to its familiar update strategy here, with major feature updates released once a year in the second half of the year. What is the enablement package? Windows 11 26H1, similar to 25H2 before it, will be delivered as an “enablement package.” An enablement package is not a complete operating system upgrade—instead, it’s a small activation package that unlocks existing but previously disabled system components. Thomas Joos Microsoft integrates new or modified components into the system in advance via regular cumulative updates. The enablement package then activates the new version identifier and unlocks those existing features. For users, this means shorter installation times, smaller download sizes, and no major changes to interfaces or operation. Canary channel and early development The Canary channel serves as the earliest test environment in the Windows Insider Program. The builds published there aren’t assigned to any specific Windows version and may contain features that will later be changed or discarded. Microsoft expressly says that content from Canary builds won’t necessarily make it into a final Windows version. Another important point concerns channel switching. Leaving the Canary channel is only possible via reinstallation, as switching to channels with lower build numbers is not supported. New features in the Canary channel With the latest Canary builds—for example, starting with Build 28020.1362 (KB5073095) and onwards—Microsoft has integrated numerous features into the Canary branch that were previously available in Dev, Beta, and stable versions of Windows 11 25H2. Microsoft is aligning the feature set, which includes: The Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) is now available on more devices, including desktop systems. The interface is based on a console, prioritizes games, and reduces background processes. Click to Do has been redesigned on Copilot+ PCs. The context menu appears automatically for large images or tables and offers direct access to actions such as copying, saving, sharing, and AI-assisted processing. Learn more about why Click to Do is Microsoft’s next big AI move. The Windows Settings agent now allows direct changes from the search field on Copilot+ PCs. Recommended settings can be adjusted via inline action. If a setting can’t be changed further, Windows displays a corresponding explanation. Windows Studio Effects now also support external USB webcams. They can be activated via Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Cameras or via the quick settings in the taskbar. The Drag Tray now supports simultaneous sharing of multiple files, automatically displays matching apps, and allows direct placement in destination folders. The feature can be enabled or disabled via Settings > System > Nearby sharing. Learn more about why Nearby Sharing is one of the best features in Windows. Thomas Joos File Explorer now has a more consistent dark mode. Copy, move, delete, progress, replace, and error dialogues now fully match the dark design. Chart and progress views have also been adjusted. When hovering over files in the Explorer start area, new quick actions such as “Open file location” or “Ask Copilot” appear, depending on the region and account type. There’s a new “Mobile Devices” page in the settings that can be used to manage smartphones. Windows can use mobile devices as cameras or display files directly in File Explorer. Desktop Spotlight adds options such as “Learn more about this background” and “Next desktop background” to the desktop context menu. Thomas Joos Additional settings have been moved from the classic Control Panel to the Windows 11 settings. These include the keyboard character repeat rate and cursor blink rate. Control of keyboard backlighting on supported HID keyboards has also been improved. Thomas Joos Pens with haptic support now provide tactile feedback for certain UI interactions, such as moving or docking windows. Microsoft has also fixed various bugs, including issues in File Explorer, Task Manager, Settings, Windows Update, Display and Graphics, and Sign-in. A known bug where Task Manager continued to run as a background process after being closed has been corrected. Known issues with Windows 11 26H1 Microsoft lists several known limitations in these early Windows 11 26H1 builds, which include unexpected scrolling in the new Start menu and issues with hibernation and shutdown on certain systems. Such bugs are typical for early Canary builds. Windows Home users can already test version 26H1 by registering for the Windows Insider Program free of charge and activating the Canary channel. This will let you try out new platform changes while they’re still in early development. Learn more about why you should or shouldn’t become a Windows Insider. Thomas Joos At the same time, it’s important to note that pre-release versions are not stable. Crashes, performance issues, faulty updates, or incompatibilities are possible. The Canary channel is therefore not recommended for systems that need stability and reliability. Should you use Windows 11 26H1? Windows 11 26H1 forms a technical basis for new hardware generations and paves the way for Windows 11 26H2, which is expected to deliver the actual innovations for all users in fall 2026. If stability is a concern, Windows 11 25H2 remains the better choice right now. However, those who are interested in upcoming hardware, especially Arm-based Windows devices, or who want to keep abreast of technical developments at an early stage, will gain deep insight into the future of Windows with version 26H1. Read...