TechSpot Features

Most of your digital photos use the JPEG format, but when you download an image from the web, it may be using the more modern WebP format. But why do we need so many file types? And how are they different?

Be the first to cross the finish line. Second is the first to lose, as the great Ayrton Senna would say. Over the years car fanatics have been living and driving the dream, all made possible by games like the iconic Need for Speed.

It's that time of the month when we provide you with an update on the current state of the GPU market. There's good news as graphics card availability and pricing has started to improve in recent weeks.

What do you play when you want an adrenaline rush? We can think of dozens of games, but narrowed the list to 10 of our favorites. Scary, gory or frustratingly hard, but all are guaranteed to spike your adrenaline.

These days, not a month goes by that we hear about a new major ransomware attack. But how did we get to this point where our data and services could be held for ransom?

There's plenty of graphics history and technology to unpack here after AMD purchased ATI, it didn't just absorb the company, but continued its reputation of being a graphics powerhouse for years to come.

Few vehicles are more popular than the Ford F-150, which is why the recent introduction of the all-electric F-150 Lightning is such a big deal. Here's what we learned after a session with it.

If your PC case is several years old, you may feel like you could do with some convenience or utility features that it's missing and it's not a replacement that you want but some useful add-ons.

Quantum computers are beginning to emerge in many industry and research labs. But what are qubits? And are the challenges ahead to control the quantum properties of our universe and leverage that for computing?

Nvidia is a dominant force in computer graphics but there was a lot of work involved in getting to that level since the NV1 debuted in 1995. Lesson learned as the chips that followed included some surefire hits.

Windows 11 is coming. We didn't plan on testing it just yet, but with so many Windows 11 benchmarks out there with mixed results, we thought we should take it for a spin and see what the real deal is.

Here's our monthly update on the PC hardware market to see what the current trends are for CPU and GPU pricing. Terrible availability and high prices continues for GPUs, but let's hope we have some good news to share on where the market is headed.

When we look at the video games that have truly stood the test of time, MMORPGs are always near the top of that list. The genre has been around for decades, but what's the secret sauce that makes MMOs so popular and long-lasting? And which titles are worth playing today?

You've probably heard about APIs and even used them before, but what are they? Let us explain what an API is, and take a quick look at where and how they get used.

The desktop CPU space could be considered a duopoly, but if you know where to look, there's life beyond Intel and AMD. From custom Arm designs to Russian government chips, there's a plethora of other lesser known chips out there.

While many professionals swear by Adobe Photoshop, others find it a bit overkill, and that also goes for the subscription. If you're among the latter, you should try some of these alternative photo editing tools.

A decade ago Demon's Souls launched on the PS3, an action RPG import from a little-known Japanese developer named FromSoftware. It'd only be accurate to say that game and its successors transformed the action-RPG genre.

Science fiction books, movies, games, TV shows and other media have long been home to amazing technology. Many of these ideas can serve as inspiration for today's scientists, but just how close are we to the real-life versions?

Are you expecting to have complete privacy when you enable incognito mode or private browsing? Think again. Even if you are using a secure browser, you are probably still getting tracked when you go online.

With a few easy tweaks, the Windows taskbar can save you time and display more information while taking up less screen real estate... and become less disturbing.

Buying a new gaming PC today presents a few challenges due to the GPU shortage. We recently compared our recommended PC building specs to OEM gaming PCs. Now let's do the same comparing pre-builts to boutique PC builders.

With games now taking up dozens of gigabytes, and Windows updates needing more space than they used to, you may find your drive filling up more often. Here are a few tricks to help you clear clutter and free up space in Windows.

3Dfx's Voodoo and Voodoo2 graphics are widely credited with jump-starting 3D gaming and revolutionizing computer graphics nearly overnight. The 3D landscape in 1996 favored S3 Graphics with around 50% of the market. That changed rapidly as it was estimated that 3Dfx accounted for 80+% of the 3D accelerator market during the heyday of Voodoo's reign.

Here's our monthly update looking into the current state of the CPU and graphics card markets. The good news is that one of the two is looking quite healthy, while the other is looking perhaps even worse than it was a month ago.

These days it's rare to see a new hardware company break ground in the world of PCs, but 30 years ago, they were popping up all over the place. Join us as we pay tribute to S3 and see how its remarkable story unfolded over the years.

The rest of the year is filled to the brim with what looks to be an excellent selection of new PC-exclusive and cross-platform releases. Here's a condensed list of some of the more exciting and anticipated PC game releases.

Recently I found testing Intel B560 boards so frustrating that I had to stop to warn readers of the possible pitfalls when buying one such board. Our findings are alarming and something all potential buyers should know.

If it's been a while since you've bought portable flash memory, you might be surprised by the broad availability and affordability of high-speed, high-capacity microSD and SD cards. With this guide, we'll break down what all the different codes and ratings mean, and offer the best choices for a range of categories.

Doom is rightly considered the granddaddy of the FPS genre, a claim few games can make. Let's look at each memorable entry in the Doom series from development to reception.

With ongoing component shortages and insane graphics card prices, a pre-built gaming PC that gets you a new fast GPU suddenly looks like a very reasonable option that we must consider.