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Centuries-old archaeological finds pertaining to the Bible are often fascinating, but how many of them are found … in North America? That’s what happened in a Canadian forest north of the Michigan border.
Not the Bee
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As much as I really like Plex and depend on its features for my personal library, I don’t want to share more data than is necessary. It’s not a criticism of Plex, but I’ve changed these privacy settings, and you should too.
I don’t care for the idea of people being able to see what I’m watching on Plex, not out of shame but because of the principles of the matter. I also don’t want my friends’ usernames exposed when someone sees my friends list, either. You can tweak these settings to be completely private:
The only option that can’t be private is Account Visibility, so the next best option is Friends Only. Make sure to save, and you’re off to being a little more private.
As if Plex wasn’t already great, you can use it as a hub for your favorite streaming services, too.
Watching marketing emails pile up in my inbox irks me, and it’s one of the defining reasons I have two email accounts (or a great reason to use an email alias!). One is used for signing up for services (taking the brunt of the problem), while the other is for personal use. Thankfully, if you have one email, you can at least unsubscribe from Plex’s marketing emails.
When you’re done with your email preferences, complete the process by selecting Update Preferences at the bottom.
While you can use Plex strictly for accessing your media library, it also has ad-supported content you can stream. It’s a nice way to expand on your options if your library is lacking, though there are cheap ways to expand your Plex library. However, it’s an avenue for more data collection, so let’s put a stop to that:
Now, this will prevent Plex from selling and sharing certain information, but it won’t remove the ads, even if you opt for the Plex Pass.
These small changes to your Plex configuration will save you hours of irritating tech support.
Having data on your playback performance can be used to improve Plex, but give a company an inch and they’ll take a mile. I’d rather disable it for good, just to be thorough.
Uncheck Send playback data to Plex and you’re golden. I’d give the page a refresh to double-check the new changes stuck.
Since you can’t at all avoid the ads given to you by Plex, you can avoid the free content altogether; in fact, you can disable it from your homepage entirely and avoid the risk of accidentally watching Plex’s streaming library.
Whether from the Plex app or from a browser, open Settings and choose Online Media Sources. Under LIVE TV and MOVIES & SHOWS, click Edit and set them to Disabled. Now the only content you’ll see is what’s in your Plex library. Perhaps now is the time to turn Plex into a streaming hub!
Even if you were to use all these tips to boost your privacy on Plex, it doesn’t help the data that’s already been collected. While you can’t do anything about it, if you were to stop using Plex altogether, you can have your data deleted on the way out. Please note that this action will permanently delete your account and all associated content.
Should you keep Plex around, and you get curious, you can also send access and transfer requests to see what kind of data of yours has been collected.
In my book, fewer services collecting, sending, and selling my data is a win. I may like what Plex offers in terms of features, but like most businesses, there’s no reason to horde my data like a dragon hoarding gold.
MakeUseOf
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Inspired by the guidance computer used in Apollo missions, the DSKY Moonwatch packs space-age tech into a wristwatch. Styled like NASA’s iconic DSKY interface, the watch features glowing indicators, a numerical keypad, and an OLED screen that mimics spacecraft readouts. Features include stopwatch, timer, alarm, and GPS waypoint navigation.
The Awesomer
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The Laravel Taxonomy package manages categories, tags, and hierarchical structures in Laravel applications. Taxonomy is ideal for category management, organizing content, product attributes, and more.
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NVIDIA releases a brand new video card and AMD follows up with a cheaper one. That’s basically been the cycle of the GPU industry for the last decade, with NVIDIA typically leading the pack and AMD rushing to keep up. But with the recent Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, AMD finally found a winning formula with GPUs that were both cheaper than NVIDIA’s and, in many cases, more powerful. The new Radeon RX 9060 XT, which is meant to take on NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Ti in 1080p and 1440p gaming, mostly repeats that formula. Starting at $350 with 16GB of RAM (and $300 with a paltry 8GB), it’s launching for much less than the $429 RTX 5060 Ti while delivering a similar level of performance.
Once again, the key for AMD is offering much more RAM than NVIDIA for far less money. Sure, AMD is using slower GDDR6 RAM with 320 GB/s of memory bandwidth, compared to NVIDIAs’ 448 GB/s GDDR7. But in practice, actually having a larger memory pool is more useful when you’re dealing with massive textures and 3D models in modern games. So if you’re looking for the best gaming bang for the buck under $400, the 16GB Radeon RX 9060 XT is undoubtedly a winner.
The least powerful member of AMD’s Radeon RX 9000 family (so far), the RX 9060 XT is basically the card you’d get if you can’t stomach spending more than $500 on a GPU. Just remember that video cards tend to jump up in cost once they actually hit stores, depending on availability and the whims of retailers. The RX 9060 XT sports 32 RDNA 4 compute units, 32 RT accelerators and 64 AI accelerators. It can reach up to 3.1GHz speeds with its boost clock and consumes up to 180W of power. In comparison, the $549 MSRP RX 9070 has 56 compute units, while the $599 RX 9070 XT has eight more.
AMD is pitching this GPU as a replacement for the RX 7600 XT, which launched at $329 last year. That card also had 16GB of VRAM, but it had a slower 288 GB/s bandwidth. While the 7600 XT was more focused on entry-level 1440p gaming, the 9060 XT’s hardware improvements make it far more capable. AMD claims it’s 46 percent faster than the 7600 XT across more than 40 games, and in my testing that figure checks out.
For this review, I tested Gigabyte’s RX 9060 XT GPU, which has three cooling fans pointed at a typical copper heatsink. There’s no fancy vapor cooling chamber or any extravagant materials on the card, but at this price range I didn’t expect much.
Across games and benchmarks, the 9060 XT clocked in just about where I expected: noticeably slower than the RX 9070, and either on-par or slightly slower than the NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti. In 3DMark’s Steel Nomad benchmark, the 9060 XT scored 200 more points than that NVIDIA card, and it was also 90 points ahead in Timespy Extreme. But NVIDIA had a 1,000 point lead in the Speedway benchmark and it was more than 2,000 points ahead in the Luxmark HDR 4 test.
Despite those figures, I’m still impressed that the 9060 XT can stay in the same league as NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Ti while costing a lot less. AMD’s ray tracing performance has also improved quite a bit from its previous generations, scoring 45 percent faster in the 3DMark Port Royal benchmark. NVIDIA still has the lead in ray tracing in games though, especially with the one-two punch of DLSS 4 AI upscaling and multi-frame generation. NVIDIA’s RTX 5000-series cards can produce up to three interpolate frames for every natively rendered frame, while AMD is still stuck with generating a single extra frame with its FSR 3 and 4 (Fidelity Super Resolution 4) upscaling.
|
None |
3DMark TimeSpy Extreme |
Geekbench 6 GPU |
Cyberpunk (1440p RT Overdrive DLSS/FSR 3) |
Blender |
|
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT |
8,192 |
91,617 |
80fps |
1,560 |
|
NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti (16GB) |
8,100 |
139,756 |
136 fps (4X frame gen) |
4,220 |
|
AMD Radeon RX 9070 |
10,997 |
113,012 |
117 fps |
N/A |
|
AMD Radeon RX 7600 |
5,526 |
N/A |
20 fps |
1,013 |
The Radeon RX 9060 XT was able to run Cyberpunk 2077 in 1440p ray tracing "overdrive" mode at a respectable 80 fps, whereas NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Ti hit 136 fps thanks to multi-frame generation. Still, there’s plenty of wiggle room to crank out more frames: Stepping down to 1080p got me 120 fps, and I saw 90 fps while using the less demanding ray tracing "ultra" preset in 1440p. In terms of raw performance, without any upscaling fanciness, the 9060 XT hit 114 fps in 1080p and 90 fps in 1440p.
The Radeon RX 9060 XT didn’t run very hot during my testing, but that makes sense since it’s purely focused on 1080p and 1440p gaming, During 3DMark’s Steel Nomad stress test, which repeats the benchmark 20 times in succession, the card only topped out at 54 Celsius. I’m used to seeing video cards reaching upwards of 70C under load, so the 9060 XT was a nice surprise. While idling, it sits at 42 Celsius. That’s higher than cards with vapor chamber cooling, but it’s about average for cards in this price range. I didn’t hear any annoying fan noise under load either, since it barely broke a sweat.
There isn’t really much to complain about with the Radeon RX 9060 XT, so long as you’re not expecting too much from a sub-$400 GPU. Still, it would be nice to see support for AMD’s new FSR 4 AI upscaling spread out more quickly. When the RX 9070 XT launched, the feature was only available in a handful of games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and now it’s supported over 60 games. That’s still about half of the games that NVIDIA’s DLSS 4 supports (which so far includes over 125 titles).
On the RX 9060 XT, the FSR 4 user experience still isn’t as simple as activating DLSS on NVIDIA cards. I had to enable it manually in AMD’s Adrenaline software, then flip it on in Call of Duty: Warzone to activate it. On the bright side, I saw an average of 254 fps while playing a match in 1440p with extreme graphics settings, FSR 4 and frame generation flipped on. With frame gen enabled, but no FSR 4, performance dipped to 174fps. And if I removed both of those features, it fell to 110 fps. Clearly, FSR 4 and frame gen helps quite a bit, I just wish it were in more games.
Assuming retailers don’t go wild by overpricing the Radeon RX 9060 XT, it’s a solid option if you’re looking for an affordable GPU that’s dedicated to 1080p and 1440p gameplay. At $350, the 9060 XT is well below the RTX 5060 Ti’s $429 retail price, and certainly much cheaper than models being sold for more than $500.
To reach a lower $300 price point, AMD also unveiled an RX 9060 Ti with 8GB of RAM. But honestly, I’d recommend avoiding that entirely unless you only play ancient games in 1080p. It’s worth spending a bit more so you can play newer games with less headaches, and it’s practically a requirement if you want to play in 1440p.
The Radeon RX 9060 XT is a reminder of a world where we didn’t have to pay more than $400 to get a capable GPU. We already know more than 80 percent of PC gamers play at 1440p or lower resolutions, according to Steam’s data. So for the vast majority of players out there — the ones who aren’t using monitors with crazy high refresh rates or 4K+ resolutions — it’s all the GPU you really need.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/amd-radeon-rx-9060-xt-16gb-review-finally-a-powerful-350-gpu-130037952.html?src=rssEngadget
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Payphones "were the only things that were built to last for decades and be out in the elements," says electrical engineer Patrick Schlott. He should know; as a hobby, he buys secondhand payphones, rewires them, then asks local businesses in rural Vermont if they’d let him install them. His goal is to offer, for free, public telephone service. (Schlott foots the bill himself.)
"It’s assumed most folks own cell phones," writes Schlott. "Well, not everyone does, sometimes they don’t work out on dirt roads, sometimes you forget your charger, and sometimes you just really need to make a phone call. We aim to provide a valuable public service to the community while teaching people about the US telephone system that has over a century of history behind it."
Schlott’s company, RandTel, currently operates three phones in his neck of Vermont: One at the North Tunbridge General Store in Tunbridge, one at the Latham Library and a third—a rotary model from the 1950s–at the town of Randolph’s information booth. He’s particularly proud of that last one, as "This installation is 100% solar-powered, provided graciously by Catamount Solar," he writes. "Many thanks to the White River Valley Chamber of Commerce for hosting!"
Here’s a look at what Schlott does:
Core77
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This Laravel Blade + Apline.js starter kit emphasizes simplicity by offering a lightweight, Blade-only kit.
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ElasticLens is a Laravel package that integrates Elasticsearch with Eloquent models. It provides advanced search capabilities while maintaining Laravel’s familiar syntax.
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With an $800 ceiling and photo editing performance as the goal, I asked ChatGPT for a recommended PC parts list. The result? A clean, efficient build that outperformed my expectations and made smart, deliberate choices in every category.
The mission was straightforward: build a system optimized for photo uploading and editing. It needed to be fully capable of handling large RAW files, support quick exports, allow for multitasking, and remain cool and quiet during extended editing sessions.
I asked ChatGPT to generate a component list within a strict $800 budget, optimized for creative work. Having built several PCs in the past, I didn’t expect to follow its advice exactly. Still, I was curious to see how AI would approach the balance between value and performance.
After spending over 40 hours researching, reading reviews, and comparing benchmarks, I made only a handful of minor changes. To my amazement, almost everything in the final build matched ChatGPT’s original recommendations.
Here’s the full breakdown of what went into the system, with prices from when I purchased each part in October 2024:
I already owned the RTX 2070, so that swap was more about practicality than preference. I also squeezed in a bit of RGB and changed out the case for a very similar make and model. Beyond that, I stayed incredibly close to the original AI-suggested build.
The smartest part of ChatGPT’s recommendation wasn’t the individual components—it was how it balanced performance across the entire system. There was no overspending on unnecessary features, and no individual part created a bottleneck.
The CPU offered standout value. For $70, the Ryzen 5 5500 offers six cores and Zen 3 architecture, which is plenty of muscle for photo editing without spending more than necessary.
The RAM boasts 32GB of fast DDR4-3600 memory with low latency, making it perfect for handling large projects and multiple applications simultaneously. Although ChatGPT didn’t recommend RAM sticks with RGB, the subtle lighting added a nice touch without driving up the cost much, so I felt compelled to spend a few extra dollars.
Storage was particularly well-optimized. The Crucial P3 NVMe SSD ensures fast load times for the OS and active projects, while the 4TB WD Blue drive offers plenty of room for RAW photo libraries and archives.
The motherboard includes Wi-Fi, a clean layout, and a simple BIOS menu. Nothing flashy, but highly functional and reliable.
Every dollar went toward components that directly impact real-world performance. That kind of discipline is something I’ve seen people struggle with, especially when building PCs for the first time. By choosing components wisely, I not only met my current needs but also ensured the PC is future-proof without spending a fortune.
In actual use, this build exceeds expectations.
Lightroom runs like a dream. Large RAW files open instantly, previews load quickly, and batch exports of 100+ images are finished in no time at all. Photoshop handles layers, masks, and filters with ease, even when tweaking multi-gigabyte images. AI-powered adjustments are also lightning fast.
The system stays cool, too. With the upgraded cooler and nine-fan setup, thermals never spike under load. Even during long editing sessions, the PC remains unbelievably quiet—exactly what you want in a workspace. Fan curves are easy to dial in thanks to the included hub and PWM support, allowing a fine balance between airflow and acoustics. I have my fans set to Turbo, and there’s almost no audible noise, even under heavy CPU and GPU load.
Boot times are near-instant thanks to the NVMe drive, and system responsiveness stays consistent even with dozens of tabs open, large libraries indexed in Lightroom, and other background tools running simultaneously. Whether I’m batch editing, exporting to external drives, or uploading work to the cloud, the machine keeps up with minimal stutters or delays.
While my build is optimized for photo editing, ChatGPT is more than capable of understanding the most important parts of a gaming PC or any other type of PC. It’s that same understanding that helped me prioritize the right components to build a system perfectly tailored for creative work.
Initially, I installed the Ryzen 5 5500 with its stock cooler. It worked well enough for light tasks, but once I started exporting large batches of RAW photos, the thermal limits became obvious. Performance began to throttle, and fan noise increased noticeably.
That’s where the DarkFlash Z4 Pro came in—a $21 upgrade that ChatGPT had recommended from the beginning. I hesitated at first, not realizing the impact this simple piece of hardware would have on my system’s performance. Budget aftermarket coolers can be hit-or-miss, and I was working with a fairly tight case. To my surprise, it fit perfectly, with just a few millimeters of clearance inside the Apevia Prism-WH.
The result? Temperatures dropped by more than 15°C under load. Noise levels substantially decreased. More importantly, sustained performance improved drastically. For such a modest investment, it made a much more significant impact than I expected. ChatGPT proved that it had thought ahead not only about cooling, but also about case dimensions and part compatibility.
The case ChatGPT recommended was a simple airflow model. Choosing the right case is essential for both aesthetics and functionality, and there are many great budget PC cases available. I opted for the Apevia Prism-WH Micro-ATX Cube instead of the recommended tower. This was a build for my wife, after all, and she wanted something that looked clean and modern with glass panels and a white finish.
Despite the stylistic shift, system performance wasn’t compromised. The airflow stayed strong, and the removable sides made cable management surprisingly easy. The compact cube layout gave the build a tidy, intentional feel, while still leaving enough room for a full-size GPU and aftermarket cooling.
The ARGB fans paired well with the RAM’s lighting, giving the build a polished look without too much excess. These subtle lighting accents added just the right amount of personality to a creative workspace. Customized color control was made simple thanks to the suggested fan hub, which also streamlined power and signal routing to keep the interior clean and clutter-free. Even this detail was part of ChatGPT’s suggested layout, and it ended up being one of the most convenient additions during the build process.
The result was a system that not only performed exceptionally but also looked far more expensive than it actually was. This PC is proof that clean design doesn’t require a premium price tag.
Going in, I expected ChatGPT to offer a basic list of mainstream parts. However, it surprised me with a thoughtful set of recommendations, including lesser-known brands like TeamGroup and DarkFlash. The $21 DarkFlash cooler, in particular, was a standout, something I never would have considered but ended up performing great.
In addition to the optimized system performance, what really impressed me was how compatible each component was physically and technically. The AM4 CPU, motherboard, and cooler worked seamlessly, while the SSD installed without issues. The RAM ran at full speed with no BIOS adjustments, the triple-fan GPU fit the case perfectly, and the power supply had all the right connectors, no adapters needed.
Even the cooling setup was well-thought-out. The fan hub supported ARGB and PWM, and the motherboard had just the right number of headers. It felt like every part was selected with a clear understanding of dimensions, airflow, and connections.
Most surprising of all, ChatGPT didn’t overlook the essentials—things like thermal paste, a Phillips screwdriver, and an anti-static wrist strap, which can be easy to forget. The whole experience felt more like following a well-planned PC build than assembling randomized parts.
ChatGPT didn’t know which parts were in stock or how I preferred to have my cables organized. It wasn’t able to build this PC for me, but it did provide a fully thought-out starting point.
Its recommendations weren’t randomized; they were strategic. ChatGPT was able to factor in a plethora of variables, such as compatibility, bottlenecks, thermal limits, and overall value. It helped narrow the field, allowing me to focus on refining the build rather than spending hours filtering through low-quality advice on Reddit forums or YouTube.
I double-checked every part, read benchmarks, and took my time, but I continued to return to that initial list. If I had immediately gone with the suggested parts provided by ChatGPT, it would have saved me days of research and second-guessing.
Although ChatGPT laid a solid foundation for me, it’s still essential to fine-tune your build by exploring additional tools. I had to navigate through a handful of the best custom PC builder websites to ensure the final build was perfectly aligned with my specific needs and preferences, taking into account factors that ChatGPT couldn’t fully address on its own.
Anyone who has ever built a PC knows how easy it is to waste money on parts that seem appealing on paper but do very little for real-world performance. After building more than a few PCs over the years, this one felt different. It was cleaner, quicker, and more intentional. The planning was grounded in logic and value, not flash or hype.
Thanks to a free tool and a few smart swaps, I walked away with a machine that runs faster, looks better, and costs less than anything I could have planned on my own. When working within a tight budget, every dollar needs to be intentional—and to my surprise, ChatGPT delivered exactly that.
MakeUseOf
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Whether you’re setting up an AR-15 for home defense, duty use, or range days, one decision makes a big difference: your zero distance.
Zeroing determines how your point of aim (POA) and point of impact (POI) match up across different distances.
Today, we’ll break down four common zeroing options — 25, 36/300, 50/200, and 100 yards — and help you pick the best one for your mission.
Before diving into distances, it’s important to understand the relationship between Point of Aim (POA) and Point of Impact (POI).
Because your optic sits higher than your barrel — known as height over bore — bullets travel in an arc, not a straight line. As a result, your POA and POI only truly match at specific distances. Picking the right zero helps manage that arc and makes hits easier across varying ranges.
If you’re working with a 25-yard zero, it’s usually because:
Zeroing at 25 yards theoretically sets you up for a second intersection around 300 yards. But here’s the downside: between 100 and 200 yards, your rounds can hit 4–6 inches high.
Best for:
If you expect to engage past 100 yards regularly, there are better options.
This classic Marine Corps zero involves aligning your rifle at 36 yards, which theoretically matches again at 300 yards.
Sounds perfect, right?
Here’s the catch: At 200 yards, the bullet’s trajectory peaks significantly — often 5+ inches higher than your point of aim. That may not seem like much, but it can easily cause misses on smaller, partially exposed targets or when aiming for vital zones.
Best for:
Be cautious: Unless you’re trained to account for that mid-range rise, the 36/300 zero can create problems at common engagement distances.
The 50/200-yard zero is one of the most popular for modern AR-15 users, especially those running red dot optics.
This creates a Maximum Point Blank Range (MPBR), meaning you can aim center mass and expect effective hits from 0–250 yards without needing to compensate for bullet drop.
Best for:
Pro Tip: You can even rough zero at 10 yards indoors by placing your POA about 1.9 inches above your bore’s centerline before fine-tuning at the range.
The 100-yard zero is a favorite for those using magnified optics like ACOGs, LPVOs, or variable scopes.
Many BDC reticles are calibrated assuming a 100-yard zero, making it easier to estimate holdovers at extended distances.
Best for:
Heads up: With a 100-yard zero, you’ll need to understand and apply elevation holds once you stretch past 150–200 yards.
If your optic has a BDC reticle, match your zero distance to its design.
Choosing the right zero for your AR-15 isn’t just about ballistics — it’s about matching your gear to your purpose.
No matter which zero you choose, training is everything. Know your holds, your bullet rise and fall, and how your rifle behaves under stress. Confidence in your zero could make the difference when it counts.
About Scott Witner
Scott Witner is a former Marine Corps Infantryman with 2ndBn/8th Marines. He completed training in desert warfare at the Marine Air Ground Combat Center, Mountain Warfare and survival at the Mountain Warfare Training Center, the South Korean Mountain Warfare School in Pohang, and the Jungle Warfare school in the jungles of Okinawa, Japan. He now enjoys recreational shooting, trail running, hiking, functional fitness, and working on his truck. Scott resides in Northeastern Ohio.
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