Microsoft wants to make another significant acquisition; who do they have in their crosshairs, you ask? Discord, an ever-so-popular video messaging platform that gaming enthusiasts mainly use. Then there are also talks of Discord taking the company public, giving the company two options on the surface.

I tend to lean toward purchasing hard drives that fall in the budget category. Especially when there is a bevy of quality reasonably priced storage drives on the market. No matter if it's HDD or NVMe SSDs. So this brings me to the topic at hand. If you're in the process of constructing a new system, here's my top three budget NVMe SSD's that you should install in your next computer build.

So we have something developing with Acer, the Taiwanese-based company known for manufacturing laptops, desktop computers, and other tech products has been hit with a $50 million ransomware demand from a hacking group. As reported by Bleeping Computer, it's the most significant ransomware demand to date. Also reported from Bleeping Computer, the attackers may have gained access to companies' computer manufacturer's network via a Microsoft Exchange vulnerability. The hacker group is better known as REvil, has carried out the same ransomware attack on Travelex last year is suspected to be behind the attack on Acer.

Another week has come to an end, and I have another weekend deals for you readers. Are you currently looking for a good deal on RAM? I got you covered. Head over to Amazon right now; there, you'll find the 16 GB DDR4 G.Skill Trident Z RAM retail for just $89.99. You're getting RAM with a 3200MHz memory clock speed and 3200 MHz memory speed for a reasonable price point. Purchase while supplies last.

Alienware makes some of the best gaming laptops on the market. Their m15 R4 and m17 R4 offer everything I look for in a gaming laptop with its impeccable hardware specification and compact, sleek design. So how can it get any better? Add Cherry MX mechanical keyboards to the mix. If your not familiar with who Cherry is, they're a company that manufactures very high-quality mechanical switches. Dare I say they set an industry standard.

It’s official; Intel has raised the curtains and revealed their new 11th generation Core Rocket Lake S desktop processors. Let's not waste any time in this intro and outline some key features. Here's what you need to know.

As a consumer regarding wireless noise cancellation headphones, I generally fall in the mid-tier budget category. My general thinking is you shouldn't exhaust an exuberant amount of resources on any headphones, no matter the brand or features. The market is, of course, saturated with budget options that offer exceptional sound quality and noise cancellation. Don't get me wrong. If the opportunity presented itself, I would purchase the best pair of headphones money can buy. So this brings me to my random thought. There are three noise cancellation wireless headphones I would buy right now, no matter the retail price point.

Well, this has quietly flown under my tech radar. Apple has made a sudden device cancellation in their hardware lineup. The HomePod smart speaker is no more due to lackluster sales. Launched in early 2018, the smart speakers were supposed to pose a strong rival to Google Home and Amazon's Alexa.

Shopping for PC hardware can be an arduous task if you're trying to stay within a reasonable budget. But the one piece of hardware that you'll find plentiful on the consumer market regarding budget retail price point is NVMe SSD's. Your primary focus here is finding a budget storage drive that offers quality performance for the buck. Suppose you fall in that category of consumers. In that case, I may have located an NVMe SSD that not only has an insanely reasonable price but potentially will perform well in your computer system.

Asus has recently unveiled their new ROG Phone 5 smartphone, and I must say, the company once again did not disappoint regarding hardware and features. Some will say the Asus ROG Phone 5 is features overkill. But we'll leave the opinions to the tech reviewers because the ROG Phone 5 has impeccable hardware. The sole purpose of this particular smartphone is to achieve optimal mobile gaming performance.

You probably have seen the term UPS used in relation to computer technology. For the non-tech-savvy, the first thing that comes to mind is the worldly known parcel service we've all grown to rely on over the years. No, what UPS is in regards to technology, is an acronym for uninterruptible power supply. How it works is relatively simple. In this newly written episode of Explanation Needed, we'll cover how the UPS power supply function.

I recently published an article on how Nvidia has produced GPUs explicitly for mining under the GeForce RTX 3060 product line and is scheduled to launch in Q1. The company's move is supposed to increase supply-chain for PC enthusiasts looking to get their hands on reasonably priced graphics cards. The retail price for the RTX 3060 will be $300. Nvidia even implemented a feature within its driver that will diminish hash rates by 50% if it detects any crypto mining.

NVIDIA will soon launch their budget graphics card, the RTX 3060; the official date will be February 25th.

EVGA is better known for making aftermarket graphic cards and power supply units. They also manufacture PC gaming peripherals such as the keyboard and mouse. Speaking of which, EVGA has just announced its new peripheral, starring the X series mouse and Z series keyboards, promising more precise control through hyper-inflated response rates.

You won't find USB charging hubs the topic of conversation in regards to technology. Yet, it's the most utilized device around, especially if you have several devices that require charging. These days, many tech enthusiasts like myself travel around with a plethora of gadgets. So a USB charging hub is needed.

Admittedly, the most powerful laptop I've ever owned came in the form of a MacBook. Not to say that I never purchased a Windows laptop, I have. But they were mid-tier variants used for mundane tasks such as web surfing and content viewing. With that said, I came across what I considered to be one the most powerful laptop on the market, Alienware m17 R4. Powerful, yes, but it has an excellent sleek design which is why I may consider purchasing the laptop in the near future.

Thermal paste is the most innovative solvent in computer technology. Its primary purpose is to fill tiny gaps between your CPU lid and the heat sink ( or cold plate), keeping the processor from overheating. With thermal paste, you have to apply the right amount on the CPU; too much can severely damage the motherboard, too little the CPU will never achieve a stable temperature range. Intel and AMD have already solved the problem with stock coolers by having the right amount of pre-applied thermal paste. Thermal Pads Graphite Pads will solve the issue of having to worry about paste placement or mess.

You're starting to see webcam prices descend downward even while we're still adhering to social distancing protocols. Remember, at the beginning of this viral pandemic, you saw many webcams that had inflated prices. You know how it goes, great demand means to boost the price; it's called business, I guess. Anyway, head over to Amazon you'll find a bevy of webcams at near reasonable prices. One particular webcam I like, its branded name is Vitade 960A. It has incredible features and, importantly, an affordable price tag at just $58.99.

It's a bit early for Samsung to release their new flagship smartphone, but better early than never, right? What I'm talking about, you ask? I'm referring to Samsung's new Galaxy S21, which they unveiled last week at their annual virtual unpacking event, which was held early this year. Usually, I'll do an "Everything you need to know" article entailing newsworthy product releases. But we're going to get right to it and do a hardware breakdown on Samsung's new top-end device, the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

In the last post, I covered Kingston's unveiling of their new PC gaming peripherals. But what you need to know is the company is well known for producing some of the best low-end hard drives and memory in the market. So it should not come as a shock Kingston storage new drives would make a big showing at CES 2021 by unveiling their upcoming NVMe, including their first PCIe NVMe Gen 4.0 SSD and new external USB 3.2 SSD.