I've started to develop a strange pleasure for taking pictures of PCBs and I wanted to share my experience. Sure, you can take pictures of PCBs with your smartphone and get nice results. However, if you want repeatable quality and acceptable color, you don't need to break the bank but you will need a bit more gear.

Although Microsoft concluded its free Windows 10 upgrade program over a year ago, the company has yet to close some loopholes that were opened for folks running Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. If you thought about taking advantage of the promotion but never got around to it, there's nothing stopping you from downloading a free copy of Windows 10 from Microsoft's servers.

Adaptive sync display technologies from Nvidia and AMD have been on the market for a few years now, however it's just recently that it's become more mainstream with gamers taking the plunge thanks to generous selection, a wide variety of options, and monitor budgets. As both technologies have matured, it's a good time to revisit them to see where the differences lie in mid 2017.

This is an excerpt from Jason Schreier's upcoming book, "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels," which comes out on September 5 and tells the stories behind 10 different games including Diablo III, Uncharted 4, and Star Wars 1313.

The idea of getting work done from a Chromebook seemed unlikely when my editor first asked me about reviewing one. Much to my surprise, a browser-based operating system isn't as boxed in as I thought it would be, while $200 worth of hardware isn't as underwhelming as I expected for everyday performance.

Technology may shape the world we live in today, but there are many tech lovers who still consider themselves a bit awkward. But it isn't just the fans that can be bit "socially uneasy" - plenty of moments within the industry have made us cringe over the years. Here are some of the most toe-curling.

Integrated graphics in most ultraportables are not as useless as they once were. It is actually possible to game on an ultrabook, it's just a matter of choosing the game and its settings carefully. We've tested 34 games on a ThinkPad X1 Carbon to give you an idea of what games are actually playable on modern ultraportables.

There is one type of monitor that ticks nearly every box for high quality PC gaming. One that provides a good mix of resolution and high refresh rate, while still being realistically usable on today's most popular gaming hardware. I'm talking about the latest 27-inch 1440p IPS monitors that hit a whopping 165 Hz with support for adaptive sync.

The TechSpot PC Buying Guide offers a comprehensive analysis of today's best desktop PC hardware spanning five well differentiated budgets. Starting at ~$400 for an affordable PC, followed by two well-balanced enthusiast-oriented machines, a premium high-end build, and finally a dream machine packing the baddest hardware available, period.

I had toyed with the idea of using a TV as a monitor on a couple of different occasions in the past decade with no success, but with the advent of affordable 4K sets using a TV as a desktop monitor is finally feasible. Here's my experience during the past few months.

Today we're going to take a quick look at how current-gen GPUs perform when put to the task of Ethereum mining. It seems just about everyone wants in on the action these days, and we're often asked what the best GPUs to mine with are. We didn't have an exact answer, so we decided to find out.

It's no secret that MMORPGs are some of the most popular PC games on the planet. Since the early days of Ultima Online all the way to more recent offerings like Black Desert Online, MMOs have filled a gap in many gamers' lives that other genres - no matter how good they might be - just haven't yet. Here are what I believe are the 10 best MMOs out there right now.

Although solid state drives have steadily increased in capacity, so too have the size of game installs. Today's triple-A titles commonly occupy upwards of 20GB with many approaching or exceeding 60GB, especially after accounting for downloadable content. Ironically, it's often these large releases that benefit the most from the improved load times.

The future is scary and, according to these 15 dystopias in video games, it's going to get a lot stranger before things get better.

If you've ever tried getting into cryptocurrencies, you were probably met with a barrage of technical terms and buzzwords. I heard I can make easy money by mining on my home computer; how does that work? Why are there so many types of coins? How do I get started buying and selling cryptocurrencies? In this article we'll focus on the state of mining, exploring the practical side of it, as we hopefully demystify some of the world of digital currencies.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds pre-release build has been available since March, and by the first month it had sold well over a million copies. So the game is popular, but it's also known for not being greatly optimized. I've been messing around with a few CPU and GPU combinations over the past week, seeing which hardware deliver the most value.

As this year's E3 unfolds, so do new trailers for upcoming games. Expect regular updates to this article over the coming week as more are released. Most of the trailers belong to titles due later in 2017 or 2018, while a few have launched in the last week or so -- all of them are on PC.

2012 was an important year for Valve. The company introduced Big Picture Mode - a Steam interface for the living room holy trinity of big TVs, joypads, and couches - it was also the year Gabe Newell's behemoth revealed the development of a video game console. A year later, Steam Machines were unveiled as "a powerful new category of living room hardware."

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is a battle royale game where players fight to be the last person standing. It can be overwhelming for new players, full of different weapons to choose and smaller mechanics that aren't readily apparent. These tips will help you survive the battle royale and win yourself a glorious chicken dinner.

In 2012 I wrote an article about leaving Facebook. I've kept this stance for about five years now, but an accumulation of several small things during this time have had me questioning whether or not abandoning the social network was the brilliant idea I once thought it was.

Computex is the third major show we attend this year, and it looks like it's here to remind us about all the innovation and work happening in the hardcore computing arena. After all, while mainstream PC sales have stagnated, the segment occupied by computer enthusiasts, gamers, and e-sports has continued to flourish. Computex is PC power user haven.

Over the years, Steam has accumulated a number of great games that are free-to-play, and I'm here to tell you which ones you should check out.

It's not the worst thing can happen to your smartphone, but if you have a ton of duplicate contacts it can be really inconvenient when you try to communicate with your friends and family, probably sending a message or trying to reach an old number. Let alone trying to dial in with the help of Google's voice assistant. The good news is that these can be easily managed and organized.

Android phones have a habit of getting bogged down after 6 to 12 months of use (or do they?). A phone that was once a speed demon starts to feel a bit sluggish. But before you hand over some hard-earned cash for a new smartphone, there are some things that can be done to speed up your phone experience, and some things that do utterly nothing.

Of the 100 billion games on Steam, one for every star in the sky, which are the absolute cream of the crop? Which have users rated the highest? To borrow a cliche from The Bad Internet, the answer may surprise you.

Hackers, malware, thieves, today's Android users are facing more threats than ever before. As such, your device's security has never been more important. Here are some of the best practices for securing your phone, along with a few helpful tips that could make your life easier.

Sometimes things go wrong and knowing how to hard reboot or reset your Android device can come handy. But first, it's best to explain the difference rebooting and resetting. Although the terms may seem similar they are quite different.

Android powers hundreds of millions of mobile devices worldwide. Its openness has made it a favorite for consumers and developers alike, while its ability to run on all kinds of hardware now makes up the largest installed base of any software platform. Let's kick things off with some convenient features you may not be familiar with to help you get more out of your Android device.

Need to kill some time off? Google loves Easter eggs and in Android Lollipop it introduced a hidden game within the operating system's settings. The game was a nod to the once popular Flappy Bird that sparked countless clones and reportedly made its developer a ton of money.

Intel's groundbreaking 8008 microprocessor was first produced 45 years ago, the ancestor of the x86 processor family that you may be using right now. While the 8008 wasn't the first microprocessor or even the first 8-bit microprocessor, it was truly revolutionary, triggering the microprocessor revolution and leading to the x86 architecture that dominates personal computers today.