Technology

Against my better judgment, I have spent a lot of time with Google's "ambitious" new computing platform, even outside my Lenovo Googlebook 15 review. Before I stepped away completely, a conversation with my colleague revealed that you can already find returned Googlebooks for hundreds of dollars off, and the poor critical and consumer reception indicates further discounts are inevitable. Each first-generation Googlebook actually boasts excellent hardware, making these laptops potentially unbeatable deals—if only they didn't run the buggy and incomplete Googlebook OS.

Everyone loves the look and feel of autumn, and what kid doesn't love jumping into a pile of leaves? But what about the poor person who had to rake all that leaf litter up in the first place? Outdoor maintenance in the fall is expensive, and often in ways that aren't immediately apparent.

Did you know that you can run a desktop-sized graphics card on a mini PC with a USB port? Well, you can. It’s actually easier than you might think with an eGPU. I took my RTX 3080 out of my desktop and plugged it into my mini PC and the performance improvement was pretty crazy. Here’s what it takes to plug a desktop graphics card into a USB port, and why you might want to do it.

Once you finally pick something to watch on Netflix after sifting through its extensive catalog, the last thing you want is to stream in low quality.

"Let’s go!" Druski yelled as he walked onto the Studio 8H stage late Nov. 7. The comedian, who's spent years making people laugh on their phones, was the first digital content creator to host Saturday Night Live, with The Strokes as musical guest (which Druski does a spot-on impression of, by the way).

How much of the comedy that got him there could he actually do on live TV? That was one of his first jokes.

Druski, whose real name is Drew Desbordes, opened his monologue by assuring the audience that SNL wouldn't water down his comedy, though he said he'd been asked to skip the swearing and not dress in whiteface (surprise, it didn't last very long). By his count, there went about half his material.

Anyone who's watched him play the boss of Coulda Been Records, a fictional label that holds chaotic auditions for aspiring artists, could see why he'd have a little trouble making that promise. Between those auditions and his dating show Coulda Been Love, Druski had amassed more than 6 million subscribers and nearly 2 billion views on YouTube.

Credit: Screenshot: SNL on YouTube

The comedian also joked that there might be some truth to the rumors that he was taking Ozempic, then took a moment to shout out his family in the audience — where one family member shouted for "more money!"

After reflecting on how much had happened over the past year, he asked the crowd how he could repay them. His answer was, apparently, to bring out Emma Stone. The Academy Award-winning actor (who has hosted SNL 5 times) is Druski's co-star in the upcoming baseball rom-com The Catch. He told the audience he actually plays her love interest, which was news to Stone — though she joked that it explained the way he'd been looking at her on set. Druski is reportedly playing Stone's security guard.

SEE ALSO: Is Druski hosting 'SNL'? Here's why it would be a big deal for internet creators.

Druski has had a busy week, besides studying up for Saturday night's appearance. On Nov. 2, Netflix announced a multiyear deal with the comedian and his production company. The first series, Collect & Praise, premieres Dec. 1 and gives his megachurch pastor character, already familiar to fans of his online sketches, a show of his own.

The Catch hits theaters May 21, 2027, which gives Druski a few more months to convince Emma Stone he's the man for her.

Every weekday morning I wake up to a daily brief prepared for me by Claude with what that day will hold. Tasks, calendar appointments, upcoming todos, even what emails need my attention, all waiting at my desk before I ever step into the office. This has changed how I work and improved my productivity, and here's exactly how you can steal it.

After a week of surprise election results, one question remained heading into Saturday night: How would Saturday Night Live open its first show since the midterms?

The Nov. 7 cold open started at a Democratic victory party, where Chuck Schumer (Sarah Sherman) and Hakeem Jeffries (Kenan Thompson) happily took credit for the party’s wins. They were also excited about the younger Democrats headed to Congress...as long as nobody expected them to give up their jobs.

Before the party could go much further, James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump cut in, interrupting the duo to discuss the election results — a recurring bit in the SNL universe.

Credit: Screenshot: SNL on YouTube

Trump was impressed with himself for accepting the results and even put on a hard hat to talk about the White House ballroom, which was still what he cared about most, of course. But he was considerably less excited about working with millennials. He rattled off a few things he associated with the generation, including mason jar weddings and the sitcom New Girl, then got sidetracked explaining why he thought the show improved once Winston adopted a cat. In his view, giving Winston a pet finally gave the writers something to do with him. OK then?

Trump eventually circled back to the millennials he'd have to work with. When he got to Texas senator-elect James Talarico, he called him "Talafreako," a real nickname the real Trump had used on the campaign trail. That was Talarico's cue to walk out to cheers and offer a small correction: "That's Senator Talafreako," he said.

Days earlier, James Talarico had beaten Republican Ken Paxton to become the first Texas Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate since 1988. On Saturday, he used the moment to introduce himself to the audience, aside from being "the guy who's been texting you every day asking for $5."

Talarico also told Trump he thought they could work together and that people were ready for something different. It sounded like the start of a speech about reaching across the aisle, right up until he asked, "How many of these Trump sketches are they going to do?"

"Infinity," Trump said. The two managed to agree on one thing before handing the show over to host Druski and musical guest The Strokes, announcing together: "Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!"

I started 3D printing around a decade ago through my job at the time, working in a technology research division of a local university. Back then, there was no way I could afford a printer of my own, but I was happy to learn the ropes of 3D printing on my employer's dime.

Samsung's Galaxy Watches are among the most feature-loaded smartwatches out there, so much so that it could be difficult for users to explore every option. Hence, we've compiled a list of five hidden features every Galaxy Watch owner must know about.

You probably know that Android phones have a hidden Developer options menu that contains a bunch of settings allowing you to do all kinds of stuff. If you own a Samsung Galaxy device, the secret goodies don't end there.

Raspberry Pis are becoming more expensive than mini PCs if you want real compute power. But, Raspberry Pis still do something better than any mini PC can—GPIO (general purpose input/output). With GPIO headers, a Raspberry Pi can interact with real-world objects like garage door openers, sensors, and more, and it doesn’t need 16GB of RAM to do it.

Countless Windows habits have come and gone over the years. One of the most common ones, oddly enough, was reinstalling the entire operating system just to restore a PC's original performance.

Let this sink into your chest: The oxygen in every breath you take formed inside stars.

But new research from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows small galaxies hurl away most of the oxygen their stars produce. Astronomers studied 37 nearby dwarf galaxies, which hold anywhere from a few thousand to hundreds of millions of stars. On average, those galaxies kept just 11 percent of the oxygen their stars made over time. The most efficient ones held onto about a quarter; the worst among them retained just 4 percent. Much larger galaxies tend to have three to four times as much, earlier studies have shown.

Exploding stars likely drove the rest away. When massive stars die in blasts called supernovas, they unleash winds strong enough to push gas clear out of a galaxy. Dwarf galaxies have weak gravity, so they struggle to hold onto that material.

Astronomers want to know where the oxygen that stars forge ends up, and how much of it a galaxy can store. A project called Galaxies Losing Oxygen via Winds, or GLOW, tracks that oxygen inside stars, through the gas between them, and out into the space between galaxies. Because oxygen outnumbers every element except hydrogen and helium, it makes a good tracer for how galaxies recycle matter broadly. Astronomers can measure it easily, and they know how stars make it.

"So, it's really for practical reasons that we've chosen oxygen," said Kristen Wingfield McQuinn, GLOW principal investigator at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, in a statement.

SEE ALSO: Oh, snap. Martian volcanoes might actually still be alive.

To tally the oxygen, the team used Hubble images sharp enough to pick out individual stars. Few dwarf galaxies sit close enough for that kind of detail.

Those images revealed each galaxy's history of star birth and, from that, how much oxygen it should have produced. The study appears in The Astrophysical Journal.

The research team then measured what remained. Nearly all of the oxygen was in each galaxy's gas, not in its stars. Data from radio and infrared telescopes filled in the rest of the picture.

Location also seems to matter. Galaxies in crowded areas and within about 3 million light-years of a large galaxy tended to keep more oxygen. Those farther from a big neighbor all kept less than 15 percent. Surrounding gas may push lost oxygen back into a galaxy, according to the paper, or the galaxy may scoop up oxygen its neighbors blasted away. The researchers caution that the pattern relies on only a handful of galaxies.

But oxygen's final destination remains unknown. Earlier studies found only a sliver of the oxygen these galaxies made — one to 7 percent — in the thin halo of hot gas that surrounds a galaxy. Even counting cooler gas, those halos likely hold at most about one-third of the oxygen the galaxies' stars made. Much of the rest probably escaped into intergalactic space, but scientists can't say for sure.

McQuinn, who also leads science operations for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, plans to use the new observatory to find even smaller, fainter galaxies. She then plans to study their stars with Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope. Grace Telford, a University of Utah astronomer on the team, is using Hubble to zoom in on the massive stars that make oxygen and blast it out.

If most of that missing oxygen did escape, the universe's smallest galaxies may be its biggest oxygen spreaders, seeding space with the same element that fills your lungs.

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When I put together my new server, I pooled two old SSDs I'd had sitting around from an old PC into a single big drive. Superficially, combining the drives has worked perfectly so far, but I regularly regret one thing: "striping" them together.

I've spent years fixing Windows shortcuts that silently break in updates, so I've updated this list to reflect Windows 11's current reality. The old Control Panel isn't going anywhere, but its access methods have shifted. Here are the ways that actually work for you right now.

I've had my LG TV for several years. It's still going strong, but there are a lot of things that it does that are really annoying. I decided to see if Claude could help me fix some of the biggest annoyances.

I love that Android allows me to swap keyboard apps, but if I'm being honest, I rarely stray from Gboard. That being said, I'm not entirely comfortable with how much it talks to Google. That's why I was intrigued by a privacy-focused mod of Gboard.

The cost of living right now is crazy, and gas prices are going through the roof, despite what certain people might try to tell you. Putting gas in my car has never been so expensive, so I decided to use my smart home to track gas prices and alert me when it's a good time to fill up.

TL;DR: New users can pay $129.97 once for lifetime Curiosity Stream Standard access, including thousands of documentaries, HD streaming, and offline downloads. Offer ends Nov. 8.

Opens in a new window Credit: Curiosity Stream Curiosity Stream Standard Plan: Lifetime Subscription $129.97
$399.99 Save $270.02   Get Deal

Your next streaming rabbit hole could come with fewer conspiracy theories and more actual history. Curiosity Stream’s Standard Plan lifetime subscription is just $129.97 (reg. $399.99) through Nov. 8, giving new users unlimited access to thousands of documentaries, films, series, and shows for one payment.

The selection spans science, technology, history, nature, and art. That gives you room to follow a particular interest or branch out when your usual watchlist starts feeling predictable. New content arrives weekly, so the catalog keeps evolving after your first documentary marathon.

Start with Engineering the Future when you want to explore technology, or turn to Deep Time History for a different perspective on the past. No need to commit your entire evening to choosing a genre—you can change course whenever curiosity takes over.

The Standard Plan includes 1920×1080 HD viewing on multiple devices. Search tools help you find subjects that interest you, while bookmarks keep promising titles from disappearing into the “what was that called?” department. You can also start watching on one device and resume on another.

Downloadable content adds offline viewing, making documentaries an option for travel or anywhere a reliable connection isn’t part of the itinerary.

Founded by Discovery Communications founder John Hendricks, Curiosity Stream is built around nonfiction entertainment. If you already enjoy learning how things work, you get a substantial documentary selection without another recurring subscription payment.

Get the Curiosity Stream Standard Plan lifetime subscription for a one-time $129.97 (reg. $399.99) through Nov. 8.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Where to check for Zelda Switch 2 stock: Nintendo Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda — 40th Anniversary Edition $519.99 at Nintendo Shop Now Amazon Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda — 40th Anniversary Edition $519.99 at Amazon Shop Now Walmart Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda — 40th Anniversary Edition $519.99 at Walmart Shop Now Target Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda — 40th Anniversary Edition $519.99 at Target Shop Now Best Buy Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda — 40th Anniversary Edition $519.99 at Best Buy Shop Now GameStop Nintendo Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda — 40th Anniversary Edition $519.99 at GameStop Shop Now

If your current morning ritual involves violently hitting refresh on a dozen retail tabs, you already know the vibe: finding the Nintendo Switch 2: The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition is turning into an Olympic sport.

Between automated bot armies scooping digital drops, surprise order cancellations at Walmart, and inventory vanishing in seconds on Amazon, this custom black-and-gold console feels like a myth. But while digital storefronts look completely barren, stock is actively circulating behind the scenes.

Where to check for Zelda Switch 2 stock right now

Before getting into the restock details, bookmark these retailer pages to check for surprise drops:

• Nintendo Store — Out of stock right now, but you can add it to your wishlist to get pinged the second a restock hits.

• Amazon — Dropping tiny batches of consoles randomly throughout the day.

• Walmart — Out of stock, so make sure your in-stock email alerts are turned on.

• Target — Sold out online, but two drops went live in-store on Thursday, Nov. 5, and online on Friday, Nov. 6.

• Best Buy — Sold out online, but select stores ran midnight openings on Nov. 5 with walk-in stock.

• GameStop — Online orders are off; you will have to walk into a store to find one.

Why is the console selling out so fast?

The feeding frenzy is being supercharged by Nintendo’s staggered release calendar. While the custom Zelda 40th Anniversary hardware dropped first on Oct. 29, the flagship game driving demand — The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo Switch 2 — arrived on Thursday, Nov. 5.

The remake rebuilds the 1998 classic from the ground up with modernized controls, a fully orchestrated soundtrack, reworked dungeon puzzles, and expanded Hyrule environments. Since the $520 console doesn’t include the game, everyone is rushing to lock down a system before launch day.

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo Switch 2 $59.99 at Amazon
  Preorder at Amazon What comes with the Zelda 40th anniversary Switch 2?

The package includes the special-edition Switch 2 system sporting a custom black-and-gold finish, themed Joy-Con 2 controllers, and a matching dock decorated with the gold Triforce emblem. It retains the platform's signature flexibility, letting you switch between TV, Tabletop, and Handheld modes whenever you want.

Inside the themed chassis, you get 256GB of built-in storage (expandable with microSD Express cards), a vivid display in handheld mode, faster load times, and support for up to 4K resolution on compatible TVs when the console sits in the dock.

The magnetic Joy-Con 2 controllers add mouse-style tracking in supported games, while the new GameChat hub lets you voice chat and share your screen directly as you play. It also plays your older Switch games and supports standard multiplayer options.

How can you improve your chances of finding stock?

Landing limited-edition Nintendo hardware takes a little prep work, but these battle-tested habits will give you a real edge over the bots:

• Save your checkout details everywhere — Log in to Target, Best Buy, Walmart, and the Nintendo Store to save your shipping address and default card. Stopping to type a card number or billing zip code during a live drop is how you lose an order.

• Hands off the refresh button in Best Buy's queue — When an online drop goes live, Best Buy puts shoppers into a randomized waiting line to filter out scrapers. Touching the reload button resets your spot and boots you straight to the back.

• Watch for Walmart+ early-access paywalls — Walmart frequently locks headline console drops behind paid Walmart+ subscriptions for the first 30 to 60 minutes. If you have a membership, keep that tab signed in; if not, wait for the general public window to unlock.

• Dodge third-party sellers — Double-check the seller before buying. Marketplace scalpers frequently list units for jacked-up prices; make sure it says "Sold and shipped by [Retailer]" at the standard price.

• Skip the web wars and head to physical stores — Online checkout bots grab website stock in under 15 seconds. Showing up in person is easily your most reliable path to securing one without paying scalper markups.

Will the Zelda Switch 2 be restocked on Black Friday?

Most likely, yes.

Stores like Walmart, Amazon, and Best Buy often hold onto popular gaming hardware to use as headline deals during Black Friday and Cyber Monday week.

With that said, Black Friday restocks are usually the hardest ones to catch. You will be fighting website crashes, gift shoppers, and automated bots all at once. If you can grab a console during the Nov. 5 launch drops at Target or Best Buy, take it. Think of Black Friday as a backup plan, not your main bet.

Console hunting sucks right now, period. But between the surprise micro-drops and Thursday's physical store restocks, you still have real shots at retail price — just be ready to move the second that button turns yellow.