Well, it had to happen eventually — ChatGPT is now showing ads. “Our goal is for ads to support broader access to more powerful ChatGPT features while maintaining the trust people place in ChatGPT for important and personal tasks,” the company said. Only the Free and Go tiers of ChatGPT will see ads, OpenAI said. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education tiers will not have ads. Ads will not influence the answers ChatGPT provides, and conversations won’t be disclosed to advertisers. When ads do appear, OpenAI says they’ll be clearly labeled as sponsored and visually separated from organic answers. Still, it’s a bum deal for users who don’t want to see ads, or who rely on ad-blocking software to avoid them. The only way out is upgrading to a paid ChatGPT tier (ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per user per month) or settling for “reduced messages.” Unfortunately, that’s been left deliberately vague. OpenAI isn’t saying how many messages you’ll get, whether limits will vary by user or time of day, or how many ads you’ll actually see. The company says ads are necessary to keep providing “broader access to AI.” Just a year ago, OpenAI raised a massive $40 billion funding round. But a paid ad for an enchilada kit is going to keep the lights on? Okay. Read...

At this point, I’m about ready to give up on Microsoft Copilot entirely. It’s not just the “Microslop” tag that some have pinned on Microsoft or a dogmatic objection to artificial intelligence as a whole. More and more, Copilot just seems like a garbage buffet of artificial stupidity, licensing issues, and design decisions that don’t put users first. For years, all I have wanted to do was for some program to scan my Microsoft OneDrive account and search for duplicated files and photos. I’m well aware that there are “dedupe” services out there, but I’m still very leery of giving a third-party service access to the entirety of my cloud backups. So, when I saw that Microsoft now offers the ability to send Copilot agents into your OneDrive files (version 1.0!), I thought, hey, this was worth checking out. It was time for a good spring cleaning of my cloud storage. If only. This came just a day after Copilot supposedly gained the ability to set reminders (spoiler: while it claims it can, it can’t), following an effort last year to humanize the assistant by giving it a face and letting it remember things about you. On one hand, Microsoft wants this to be the next Cortana — after killing off the far more amiable Cortana — but in business, the focus is simply on making the tool as effective as possible, even as those subscriptions are constantly being tweaked. But I wasn’t focusing on that. All I needed, Microsoft told me, was OneDrive on the web… what else? A Microsoft 365 Copilot license. That meant switching from a work machine to a personal laptop, one with a paid Microsoft 365 family plan. Did I have a Copilot plan? I asked Copilot. “No. There is no email, file, or personal record in your Microsoft 365 data confirming that you have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license assigned to your account.” Okay, that was straightforward. But was it right? Apparently not? I discovered that yes, Copilot could search my OneDrive account. I quickly turned up my file containing my benchmarks for Intel’s Core Ultra 300 or “Panther Lake” chips that I’d run at CES 2026. So, if that worked, Copilot should be able to see my Pictures folder and I could begin searching for duplicated files, right? Wrong. OK, let’s confirm… What? I went back and forth. Can you see this file? Yes. But you can’t see this folder? No. As it turns out, Copilot apparently could see everything on my “Home” page of OneDrive for the Web — with a bunch of recent, individual files — but it couldn’t see the folder structure of the “My files” tab on OneDrive.com. At all. Performing a quick edit of a photo in the Pictures folder to bring it into the home page didn’t work, either. So is Copilot an expert in finding random documents floating around the top level of my OneDrive account? Well, no, not really. As it happened, I had about a dozen files from 2023 in that space, so I asked OneDrive to find “all files from 2023.” It couldn’t find a single one. But it did dig through my Outlook and Calendar and give me a list of files from 2023 or referencing the year. Great. Solid work. Remember, this was all preliminary work, just to see if I could eventually create an agent to search for duplicate photos. Could I? Probably not. Microsoft’s example, below, shows off OneDrive’s ability to create an agent, something my version of OneDrive.com does not. But even if I could make it work, Microsoft’s example asks you to select a number of files, then use Copilot to analyze them. I wanted something different: analyze all my files, then pull out a few duplicates to be managed or discarded. Could I? I still don’t know! Cynically, I bet I wouldn’t have been able to. When it comes to Microsoft, “intelligence” doesn’t really equal choice. Microsoft still has PTSD from insane AIs proposing marriage to journalists, and everything still feels very limited and managed. It’s just a shiny new AI personality leading you through the same phone tree while you futilely shout “talk to agent!” I was left with many questions. Was this feature not yet available? Was it not yet available to me? Did I have the right subscription or did I need yet another one? Was Copilot working as intended, or was I prompting it incorrectly? I knew I had given Copilot permission to search my OneDrive, and it had done so. But why was it fixated on OneDrive.com’s Home screen and not the deeper “My files” structure? And why was I wasting so much time on something that clearly wasn’t going to work? At some point, trying to untangle the knot became exhausting. I hate having to accept when Microsoft says a new feature is available, it may still be gated behind a subscription, stuck in a preview, or simply not offered in a particular geography or to a specific customer. It’s so damn annoying to realize that Apple may have chosen the correct strategy by largely sitting AI out. An hour later, all I wanted to do was reincarnate Sam Kinison, march him into Microsoft’s offices, and have him yell “Fix it fix it FIX IT” until someone finally made it work. Sure, Copilot is fine for some things: advanced search, image generation, maybe some research. It works for some people. But for everything else? I think I may look elsewhere. ChatGPT dominates AI use, anyway. In the end, I wasn’t able to actually test-drive Microsoft’s agentic AI within OneDrive. I never got to that point. Instead, I found that the seatbelts didn’t latch and the door wouldn’t close, all before I even tried starting the engine. So why continue? Time to maybe just walk away. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Enjoyable keyboard with spacious layout Lots of connectivity including Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, Ethernet Can be a good performance value when laptop is on sale Long battery life Cons Boring design Mediocre touchpad Only 512GB of solid state storage Our Verdict The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is a competent business notebook with good battery life, but it doesn’t offer much to get excited about. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices If you’re looking for a portable business laptop you’re likely to turn first to something like a Lenovo ThinkPad, HP EliteBook, or Dell Pro… but the price could well scare you off, as business laptops tend to carry a substantial price premium. The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is also expensive on paper, but competitive retail pricing makes it more alluring. Which is good, because the laptop’s design won’t get your pulse racing. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Specs and features as-tested The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s basic specifications won’t set your hair on fire. This is a business portable with a focus on battery life and productivity, so it sticks to modest hardware including an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor. It also has 16GB of RAM, a 512GB solid state drive, and a 1200p display. Model number: TMX414-51-579T CPU: Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 226V Memory: 16GB LPDDR5x-8533 Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 130V NPU: Intel AI Boost (40 TOPS) Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 IPS-LCD 120Hz Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid state drive Webcam and microphone: 1080p FHD IR camera with privacy shutter Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C, 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB-A 2.0, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Ethernet, 1x 3.5mm audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 65 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.28 x 8.89 x 0.64 inches Weight: 2.75 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Pro Price: $1,199.99 MSRP, $650 to $850 typical retail The TravelMate X4 14 AI lists an MSRP of $1,199.99, which seems like a lot for a laptop with these specifications. However, the laptop tends to sell for less than that, as I saw pricing down to $687.99 on CDW. It’s also $842.99 on Insight. If you’re curious why it’s not sold on Amazon or Best Buy, that has to do with its business focus. CDW and Insight are retailers that focus on business and enterprise customers. Connectivity is the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s greatest strength. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Design and build quality Foundry / Matthew Smith The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI uses a familiar design language which leans on simple silver or gunmetal colorways, angular features, and a mix of metal and plastic construction. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this approach but Acer’s competitors, most notably Lenovo and Asus, are more aggressive on design with more interesting colorways and more unique finishes. This leaves the TravelMate X4 14 AI feeling a bit too familiar. Build quality, meanwhile, is a bit above average for the price point at which this laptop actually sells, which is usually around the $650-$850 range. There’s very little flex in the chassis, even when it’s handled roughly. The same can be said of the display and the large, smooth hinge provides easy actuation so you can open the laptop with one finger with no trouble at all. Unfortunately, I had one serious quality issue. When I removed the plastic film that protects the camera and other sensors from damage in shipping, the permanent plastic inlay beneath it came along for the ride. It was still a bit tacky, so I was able to slip it back into place, but it didn’t leave a good impression. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Keyboard, trackpad Foundry / Matthew Smith I found the keyboard to be one of the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s better traits. It is a reasonably spacious keyboard that’s nearly edge-to-edge, with large keys in a standard layout. Key travel is good and keys activate with a crisp, clicky feel. Most modern Windows laptops have at least an acceptable keyboard even in this modest price range, but I’d say the TravelMate X4 14 AI keyboard is above average. The touchpad is less impressive, though still OK. It’s reasonably large, measuring about five inches wide and about three inches deep, which is large enough to handle even the more elaborate Windows multitouch gestures. The surface of the touchpad has a rather plastic texture that didn’t please my fingertips. It does the job, but no more. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Display, audio Foundry / Matthew Smith A typical 14-inch IPS-LCD display with a resolution of 1920×1200 is available on the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI, and aside from the refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, there is not much about the display that is remarkable or stands out from the crowd. It has a maximum brightness of about 350 nits and it does not support HDR, so it is definitely not the easiest display to read and use in bright settings, and it’s not going to be the best choice for games or entertainment. The display is otherwise good enough. It provides vivid color, and while the 1920×1200 resolution is nothing special for a laptop sold in 2026, on a 14-inch display it still results in good sharpness with a pixel density of approximately 162 pixels per inch, which is high enough to look crisp. Audio performance, on the other hand, is a disappointment. The built-in speakers are downward-firing, so they will be muffled by some surfaces depending on what you place the laptop on. The speakers aren’t loud even at their maximum volume, and despite that lack of volume, the speakers still suffer some muddiness and distortion when handling movies and music. You will probably want to have headphones or external speakers handy. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Webcam, microphone, biometrics Like most midrange Windows laptops, the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI has a built-in webcam with 1080p resolution that can record up to 30 frames per second. It offers decent sharpness but can look grainy in a dim room. In general, it’s fine, but not any better than the competition. I can say the same for the dual microphone array, although compared to the webcam, it’s slightly better overall. The microphones picked up clear, crisp audio when I used them to record. They are still clearly laptop microphones with a hollow, distant sound, but they are well suited for video conferences. Biometric login is supported through Windows Hello facial recognition, made possible by the IR camera on the device, and it works about as expected, providing smooth, quick logins. Also like many modern Windows laptops, the TravelMate X4 14 AI supports presence detection to automatically turn off the display or put the laptop to sleep if the webcam sees that you’ve moved away. A fingerprint reader is not available, so if you prefer that over Windows Hello facial recognition, you’re out of luck. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Connectivity Foundry / Matthew Smith Connectivity is the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s greatest strength. The laptop has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, which of course also support USB-C, as well as two USB-A ports—one of which is USB 3.2 Gen 1 and the other is USB 2.0. The laptop also has an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm combo audio jack, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The Ethernet port is unusual for a thin and light business laptop, as many such systems no longer provide it, and the overall combination of Thunderbolt 4/USB-C and USB-A ports provides a lot of options. The Thunderbolt 4 ports can also support DisplayPort output and can handle up to 100W of USB Power Delivery, so they can be used to charge the laptop or to connect to an external USB-C monitor or to HDMI or DisplayPort monitors with the proper adapter. Wireless connectivity is also strong, as the laptop supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. A lot of new laptops do support these standards, but I would point out that Wi-Fi 7 is a little less common in laptops that are sold at $1,000 and below, and this laptop indeed does typically sell for quite a bit under $1,000 even though the MSRP is $1,199.99. So it’s good to see Wi-Fi 7 is included. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Performance The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI that I received for review had an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V chip inside. This chip has an eight-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, as well as a maximum turbo boost frequency of 4.5 GHz. The Intel chip is paired with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive. As you might’ve heard, Intel’s Panther Lake chips sold under the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 branding are starting to become available, and as you can see in the graphs below, that puts the older Intel Core Ultra Series 2 powered laptops at a disadvantage. Foundry / Matthew Smith Let’s start things off with PCMark 10, a general system benchmark that runs a variety of tests and strains multiple aspects of the laptop.  Here the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI puts in a respectable score of 6,962. Although that’s obviously not the best result included in this graph (the Asus ExpertBook Ultra B9 with new Intel Core Series 3 chip handily beats it), it’s not bad. Indeed, the Acer is competitive with laptops that have Intel chips from a higher performance tier, such as the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 and the MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Cinebench 2024, a heavily multi-threaded CPU benchmark.  This benchmark doesn’t run well on Intel Core Series 2 chips, as shown by their relative performance against the entry-level AMD Ryzen 5 and Qualcomm Snapdragon X.  However, the Acer is once again competitive with laptops that have Intel Core Ultra 7 inside, so this is another decent result for the Acer. Foundry / Matthew Smith Handbrake is another multi-thread CPU benchmark, and one that tends to have a long run duration that stresses a laptop’s cooling system. Here we perhaps see why the Acer performs well, as it increases its advantage over the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 and MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is 3DMark. It would be reasonable to expect the Acer to fall behind here because the Intel Core Ultra Series 5 226V only has Intel Arc 130V graphics with seven Xe cores. This is a downgrade from Intel Arc 140V, which has 8 Xe cores. However, the Acer continues to punch above its weight. It nearly matched the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 and beat the MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo, both of which had Intel Arc 140V. Of course, the new Asus Expertbook Ultra B9 with the latest Intel Arc B390 runs away from the pack, but that’s to be expected. On the whole, then, the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI can prove to be a good performance value depending on the price you pay for it. This level of performance is not impressive if the laptop is sold at MSRP. But if you pick it up for closer to $700 or $800, the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is a good all-rounder. With one unfortunate exception: the solid state drive. Acer equips this laptop with a mere 512GB of solid state storage. Many price competitive laptops will offer 1TB of storage, so the 512GB SSD is a bummer. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Battery life and portability A 65-watt-hour battery is found inside the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI. This is a typical size of battery for a 14-inch business laptop. However, the combination of an Intel Core Ultra Series 5 chip with an IPS display keeps the power draw fairly low, and so the laptop is able to achieve very respectable battery life. Foundry / Matthew Smith I’ve reviewed laptops that were able to last long on a charge, to be sure, but over 20 hours in our standardized test (which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel with the display at 200 nits of brightness) is nothing to scoff at. Real-world battery life will be less, as is true for most laptops, but anywhere from 14 to 18 hours seems reasonable if you’re working at modest display brightness and running apps like Microsoft Office, an IDE, or a web browser. Excluding battery run-down tests, I only had to charge it three times in my week with the laptop. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Conclusion The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is one of the more generic laptops I can remember testing in the last year. It’s not exciting to look at and doesn’t have a particular design trait or feature that stands out. On the upside, however, the laptop has strong performance for the price and delivers lengthy battery life. This laptop is impossible to recommend at its $1,199.99 MSRP, but if you see it at retail for under $800, it can make sense. The TravelMate X4 14 AI is also inexpensive for a laptop with Windows 11 Pro, which can be important if you need the features that operating system provides. Read...

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TL;DR: Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows is available for a limited time at $19.97 (MSRP $229), offering a one-time purchase with no ongoing subscription and all the core Office apps included. If you’re tired of paying month after month for Microsoft Office, this deal lets you stop the cycle. For a single $19.97 payment, you get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows. It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access, and OneNote, all unlocked permanently — no renewals, no surprise fees, and no expiration dates. This is one of Microsoft’s most widely used Office versions for good reason. It’s stable, streamlined, and packed with the features that everyday users, business owners, freelancers, and spreadsheet wizards rely on. Whether you’re managing invoices, writing your next presentation, editing a résumé, or organizing your inbox like a boss, Office 2019 is built to make your life easier. Plus, this version’s got some sweet upgrades: better inking across apps, more data analysis in Excel, improved email handling in Outlook, and sleek new transitions in PowerPoint. Once installed on your Windows PC, it’s good to go with — no recurring costs, no cloud dependency (thank goodness), and no fuss. Don’t miss getting lifetime access to Microsoft Office 2019 while it’s just $19.97 (MSRP $229). No coupon is needed. Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for WindowsSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

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Two months after teasing us with the prospect of skinny bundles, YouTube TV is spilling the beans on its upcoming—and marginally cheaper—genre-specific plans, with a sports-focused bundle among the first on the runway.  Among other details, we’re finally pricing for a quartet of the new “YouTube TV Plans,” with rates ranging from $71.99 a month to $54.99/month for existing YouTube TV subscribers, while new subscribers will get limited-time discounts.  Overall, we can expect more than 10 of these skinnier YouTube TV Plans, which are slated to roll out over the “next several weeks,” YouTube says.  The main offering is the YouTube TV Sports plan, which will include sports networks such as FS1, NBC Sports Network, and all the ESPN networks for $64.99 a month, with new subscribers paying $54.99/month for the first year.  The YouTube TV Sports plan will include local TV affiliates such as ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, while ESPN Unlimited access will be added this fall.  Also coming soon is a pricier Sports + News Plan, which includes everything in the sports bundle while adding news networks such as CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, CSPAN, Bloomberg, and Fox Business. The bundle will cost $71.99 a month, while new subscribers will get a discounted $56.99/month rate for the first three months.  Then there’s the Entertainment Plan, which offers Comedy Central, Bravo, Paramount, Food Network, HGTV, and “many more” entertainment-focused networks for $54.99 a month, or $44.99/month for new subscribers for their first three months. Local TV affiliates will also be included in the package.  Finally, the News + Entertainment + Family plan serves up news and entertainment channels while also adding family-oriented content to the mix, including the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, Cartoon Network, and PBS Kids. The package will run you $69.99 a month, or $59.99/month.  Meanwhile, the YouTube TV Base plan—now known simply as the “main YouTube TV plan”—will remain $82.99 a month.  All the new YouTube TV skinny bundles will offer unlimited DVR access, as well as multi-view and other standard YouTube TV features. You’ll also be able to opt for add-ons such as NFL Sunday Ticket and RedZone, HBO Max, and 4K Plus.  YouTube TV first announced it was getting into the skinny-bundle business back in December, and it’s joining a crowded field that includes DirecTV, Fubo, and Sling.  This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best live TV streaming services. Read...

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TL;DR: A small but powerful HP mini EliteDesk 800 G6 comes with a keyboard and mouse for just $349.99 (MSRP $639.99). Anyone whose desk doesn’t have room for a bulky tower, but still wants real desktop performance, the HP EliteDesk 800 G6 (2020) is an easy win. This compact mini PC is built for professionals who want speed, reliability, and flexibility without sacrificing space. Inside, you’ll find a 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10500T processor paired with 16GB of RAM and a fast 512GB NVMe SSD. That combination means quick boot times, smooth multitasking, and zero frustration when juggling spreadsheets, browser tabs, video calls, and business apps simultaneously. Despite its small footprint, connectivity is anything but limited. With USB-C, multiple USB-A ports, HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, and Gigabit Ethernet, it’s easy to plug in monitors, peripherals, and accessories. Dual-display support makes it especially handy for productivity-focused setups. The system runs Windows 11 Pro, giving you added security features, professional management tools, and a modern interface. It even comes with a wired keyboard and mouse, so you’re ready to work right out of the box. Because this unit carries a Grade A+ refurbished rating, it arrives in excellent condition with little to no cosmetic wear. Don’t miss this near-mint HP mini EliteDesk 800 G6 with keyboard and mouse for $349.99 (MSRP $639.99). HP EliteDesk 800 G6 (2020) DM i5-10500T 16GB RAM 512GB SSD Win 11 Pro with Keyboard & Mouse (Refurbished)See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

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