You can replace your phone's battery yourself at home and save a lot of money. Here's what to do.

The answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no, but there's some needed context first.

Elden Ring Nightreign is a markedly different gameplay experience from the mainline title, with a focus on co-operative multiplayer in a rogue-lite experience. In the final showdown of each run, nothing matters as much as your level, and maximizing your time and effort to achieve that fast will be your primary focus. This Elden Ring Nightreign guide has everything you can possibly do to level up to the maximum cap of 15 quickly and efficiently. Relics There are a number of Relic effects that you can acquire to both directly and indirectly earn runes for both you and your allies. Since the Relics are RNG-based and gained at the end of runs, whether successful or unsuccessful, it may be a while before you have the right combination in your Chalice. There are also Nightfarer-specific, quest-based Relics such as Revenant’s Small Makeup Brush that increases rune acquisition for self and allies, and Ironeye’s Cracked Sealing Wax which earns runes for critical hits. Your earned Murk will come in handy in order to potentially buy the Relics you want from the Small Jar Bazaar in Roundtable Hold. There is even a Relic to lower your expenditures at merchants: Night of the Demon, which offers up a huge rune discount for shop purchases while on expedition. You will also want to upgrade your Chalices there, to use more runes in a variety of color combinations. Talismans Certain Talismans such as the Gold Scarab which grants an increase in runes from defeated enemies by 15%, will come in handy, and can potentially be stacked in the two slots available to Nightfarers. Talismans are boss drops, as well as obtainable from Teardrop Scarabs, so farm those whenever you encounter them. Consumables Certain consumable items such as the Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot can boost rune acquisition for a time. Because their drops are not guaranteed and can be few and far between, it is recommended that you save these for use right before a major combat encounter where you expect to gain a large amount of runes, in order to best take advantage of their small window of effect. Stonesword Key While this item does not grant runes in and of itself, it does put you in the path of receiving massive windfalls of them. There are certain Relic effects that provide you a free Stonesword Key at the beginning of your run, but also drop from the chest secreted behind the altar, near the boss of the Great Church location. Either way, the key can then be used to access the locked Evergaols with their Field Boss challenge. Felling these great enemies grants a choice between multiple selectable Dormant Powers, including an immediate rune lumpsum in multiples of 10K, and another two that grant a persistent increase in number of runes obtained by 10%. Another potential location for a chest with a Stonesword Key is atop the tower of a Fort. An additional bonus to clearing the Fort is being able to view the locations of nearby Field Bosses and Scarabs, by interacting with the maps on the desk within the tower, which will inform you that you have ‘Acquired a local clue’. Merchants are also a potential source for Stonesword Keys. Scale-Bearing Merchant This NPC encounter at the arena of Libra, Creature of Night in Limveld has multiple options to choose from when interacting with him, including ‘Take runes’, which is a combination of buff and debuff that grants a rune bonus from defeating enemies, while constantly draining your health. Fortunately, you can choose to get rid of the phantom chest it places on your head, through your inventory, if you find that the health debuff is untenable on your run. Unfortunately, the choices themselves appear to be RNG and you may not necessarily even see the rune boost option on your run. Maximize Your Time At a certain point in your run, you may want to simply breeze right past low-level cannon fodder, and head straight for the major opponent in any given area. This is especially true once you achieve higher levels, as you really want to optimize for the limited time you have left before your final battle. Slay the mini boss, gather your loot and Dormant Power, and venture forward. Spectral trees allow you to use Spectral Hawks to fast travel to locations where you might farm for runes, or collect rewards. Shifting Earth These unique world-changing events completely modify the open world of Limveld, which in turn open up opportunities for lots of rune acquisition. Take the map variations when offered them, and your run will significantly benefit from both the primary reward, and the secret buff from defeating the mini-boss. Additional variants appear to unlock as you attempt new runs. Losing Runes on Death Daytime battles run the risk of losing runes and entire levels, and while the former can be recovered from the site, they can sometimes also be picked up by enemies before you can get to them. Fortunately, you can always track down the rune-thief visually, by identifying their glowing, golden aura. Simply slay them to recover your runes and levels. Dying before recovering dropped runes loses them permanently, and will oblige you to waste time farming more. Those are some of the best ways to boost your rune acquisition and level up quickly in Elden Ring Nightreign.

Apple could make a big change to the way it numbers its operating systems, with a year-based system renaming iOS 19 as iOS 26, and macOS in the same way.iOS 26 could be launched at WWDC instead of iOS 19iOS 26 could be launched at WWDC instead of iOS 19iOS 26 could be launched at WWDC instead of iOS 19Apple's numbering system is fairly straightforward, with the version number going up each year like clockwork. However, that may not be the case this fall, as Apple allegedly plans to overhaul its naming system.According to sources of Bloomberg on Wednesday, Apple will be switching to a year-based naming system for its operating systems. Instead of iOS 19, it will be iOS 26, referencing the approaching year of 2026 that will arrive months after the usual fall OS updates. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

If you've got a Samsung phone, you've got an alternative, lightweight option for computing on the go: Galaxy handsets come with a desktop interface called DeX built right in, and depending on what you need to do, you might be able to use this mode in place of a laptop while on your travels.Essentially, you plug your Samsung phone into a TV or monitor, and Android shifts to look more like Windows or macOS. You're still using the same software and the same apps, but you get floating windows and easier multitasking.While a lot of the apps will stick to their mobile views, you can make use of apps such as Google Docs or Google Chrome to get work done while you're away from home (or just in a different room). And of course you've got access to all your movie and music streaming apps too, on a bigger screen.How to set up Samsung DeXYou've got a few different connection options when it comes to Samsung DeX. It actually works wirelessly if you have a TV or monitor with Miracast technology built into it—or a streaming box or dongle with Miracast support. That includes most Samsung TVs made in the last few years, for example, so if you're heavily invested in the Samsung ecosystem then you're already a step ahead.To launch Samsung DeX wirelessly, open Settings on your Galaxy phone, then choose Connected devices > Samsung DeX. Alternatively open the Quick Settings panel (swipe down from the top right of the screen), then tap the DeX button—if you can't see it, swipe down on the panel of tiles to see the full selection. Your phone will scan your wifi network for compatible hardware, and you can tap on a device to connect. DeX in Quick Settings. Credit: Lifehacker If you can configure Samsung DeX with a wired connection, it's usually easier and more reliable. The cable you're going to need will depend on the external monitor or television you're connecting to: You might need a USB-C to USB-C cable, for example, or a USB-C to HDMI cable. Most cables should work with the right connectors, but I'd advise searching for ones that specifically mention DeX in the listing.You can use USB-C hubs and docking stations too, which is handy if you want to plug a mouse and keyboard in as well. Again, most models should work, but they won't necessarily all work—a bit of internet research should guide you towards products people are already using with DeX. This $12 Ugreen hub is the one I've been using for Samsung DeX, so you can see you don't necessarily need to spend a lot of money here. DeX can be set to launch automatically. Credit: Lifehacker You don't have to use a keyboard and mouse with DeX, because you can use your phone's keyboard, and turn it into a makeshift trackpad (you can even use an S Pen to control DeX). However, if you need to get some serious work done, from essay writing to emailing, then you'll probably want to hook up a mouse and keyboard. That's what I've done: The Galaxy phone, HDMI cable, and keyboard and mouse all plug into the hub.Launching DeX in a wired configuration is the same as launching it in a wireless configuration, though if you're using cables and hubs then as soon as you connect an external monitor to your Galaxy device, you should see a prompt to connect. Future connections can be launched automatically (to manage this open Settings on your phone, then choose Connected devices > Samsung DeX).How to use Samsung DeXWith DeX launched, you should see the desktop interface up on the external screen. It's a bit like having a second monitor for your phone, because you can carry on using apps on your Galaxy device the same as you normally would. You'll find a few app shortcuts already on the DeX desktop, which you can double-click to launch, and a taskbar showing open apps along the bottom.In the lower left corner, you've got the standard Android buttons: the recent apps button, the home button, and the back button. To the left of those is a search button and an all apps button, which brings up shortcuts to every app installed on your phone. Over on the right of the taskbar, you've got an array of buttons, including ones for checking notifications, taking screenshots, and checking battery and signal level. The app drawer view in DeX. Credit: Lifehacker To customize DeX further, double-click the Settings shortcut on the desktop, then pick Samsung DeX. You've got a host of options here, covering font size, wallpaper, the shortcuts available on the taskbar, how the keyboard and mouse work, and whether to play audio through your phone or through the speakers attached to the bigger screen.Operating DeX is fairly straightforward. Apps appear in Windows, with shortcut buttons in the top right corner. They will (from left to right) pin an app window (keep it on top of other apps), minimize an app window, put an app window full screen, or close the app. You're able to resize windows using their edges and move them about using their title bars much as you would on Windows or macOS. DeX means you can get work done on the go. Credit: Lifehacker There are a bunch of keyboard shortcuts you can make use of too, which make it a little easier to get around the interface: Ctrl+Enter (Windows keyboard) or Cmd+Enter (Mac keyboard) will take you to the home screen desktop. To see all of the shortcuts you can use, press Ctrl+/ (Windows) or Cmd+/ (Mac).It all works slickly and quickly, and while Samsung DeX isn't something I use a lot, it occasionally comes in handy—especially in moving between home and the office when I only need to carry a Galaxy phone in my pocket. It's actually such a good idea that Google is expected to include its own version of DeX in Android 16.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Like shopping on Amazon itself, Prime Video can sometimes feel like a jumble sale: a proliferation of TV and movies from every era, none of it terribly well-curated. There’s a lot to sort through, and the choices can be a little overwhelming. Presentation issues aside, there are some real gems to be found, as long as you’re willing to dig a bit—the streamer offers more than a few impressive exclusives, though they sometimes get lost amid the noise. Here are 20 of the best TV series Prime Video has to offer, including both ongoing and concluded shows.Overcompensating (2025 – ) Comedian Benito Skinner plays himself, sort of, in this buzzy comedy that sees a former high school jock facing his freshman year in college, desperately trying to convince himself and everyone else that he's as straight as they come (relatable, except for the jock part). Much of the show's appeal is in its deft blending of tones: It's a frequently raunchy college comedy, but it's simultaneously a sweet coming-of-age story about accepting yourself without worrying about what everyone else thinks. The impressive cast includes Adam DiMarco (The White Lotus) and Rish Shah (Ms. Marvel) You can stream Overcompensating here. Étoile (2025 –, renewed for season two) Amy Sherman-Palladino and David Palladino (Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) are back on TV and back in the dance world (following Bunheads) with this series about two world-renowned ballet companies (one in NYC and one in Paris) that decide to spice things up by swapping their most talented dancers. Each company is on the brink of financial disaster, and so Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby), director of the Metropolitan Ballet, and Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), director of of Le Ballet National, come up with the plan, and recruit an eccentric billionaire (Simon Callow) to pay for it. Much of the comedy comes from the mismatched natures of their swapped dancers, and there's a tangible love of ballet that keeps things light, despite the fancy title. You can stream Étoile here.Fallout (2024 – , renewed for second and third seasons) A shockingly effective video game adaptation, Fallout does post-apocalyptic TV with a lot more color and vibrancy than can typically be ascribed to the genre (in the world of Fallout, the aesthetic of the 1950s hung on for a lot longer than it did in ours). The setup is a little complicated, but not belabored in the show itself: It's 2296 on an Earth devastated two centuries earlier by a nuclear war between the United States and China, exacerbated by conflicts between capitalists and so-called communists. Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) emerges from the underground Vault where she's lived her whole life protected from the presumed ravages of the world above, hoping to find her missing father, who was kidnapped by raiders. The aboveground wasteland is dominated by various factions, each of which considers the others dangerous cults, and believes that they alone know mankind's way forward. It's also overrun by Ghouls, Gulpers, and other wild radiation monsters. Through all of this, Lucy remains just about the only human with any belief in humanity, or any desire to make things better. You can stream Fallout here.Deadloch (2023 –, renewed for a second season) Both an excellent crime procedural and an effective satire of the genre, this Australian import does about as well as setting up its central mystery as Broadchurch and its many (many) imitators. Kate Box stars as Dulcie Collins, fastidious senior sergeant of the police force in the fictional town of the title. When a body turns up dead on the beach, Dulcie is joined by Madeleine Sami's Eddie Redcliffe, a crude and generally obnoxious detective brought in to help solve the case. Unraveling the web of secrets and mysteries in the tiny Tasmanian town is appropriately addictive, with the added bonus of cop thriller tropes getting mercilessly mocked all the way. You can stream Deadlock here.The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022 – , third season coming) All the talk around The Rings of Power in the lead-up to the series had to do with the cost of the planned five seasons expected to be somewhere in the billion dollar range. At that price point, it’s tempting to expect a debacle—but the resulting series is actually quite good, blending epic conflict with more grounded characters in a manner that evokes both Tolkien, and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Set thousands of years before those tales, the series follows an ensemble cast lead by Morfydd Clark as Elven outcast Galadriel and, at the other end of the spectrum, Markella Kavenagh as Nori, a Harfoot (the people we’ll much later know as Hobbits) with a yearning for adventure who finds herself caught up in the larger struggles of a world about to see the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the fall of the idyllic island kingdom of Númenor, and the the last alliance of Elves and humans. You can stream The Rings of Power here.Reacher (2022 – , fourth season coming) Getting high marks for his portrayal of the Lee Childs’ character (from both book and TV fans) is Alan Ritchson (Titans), playing Reacher with an appropriately commanding physical presence. The first season finds the former U.S. Army military policeman visiting the rural town of Margrave, Georgia...where he’s quickly arrested for murder. His attempts to clear his name find him caught up in a complex conspiracy involving the town’s very corrupt police force, as well as shady local businessmen and politicians. Subsequent seasons find our ripped drifter reconnecting with members of his old army special-investigations unit, including Frances Neagley (Maria Stan), who's getting her own spin-off. You can stream Reacher here. The Bondsman (2025, one season) It's tempting not to include The Bondsman among Prime's best, given that it's representative of an increasingly obnoxious trend: shows that get cancelled before they ever really got a chance. This Kevin Bacon-led action horror thriller did well with critics and on the streaming charts, and it's had a consistent spot among Prime's top ten streaming shows, but it got the pink slip anyway. Nevertheless, what we did get is a lot of fun: Bacon plays Hub Halloran, a bounty hunter who dies on the job only to discover that he's been resurrected by the literal devil, for whom he now works. It comes to a moderately satisfying conclusion, despite the cancellation. You can stream The Bondsman here. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022 – , third season coming) All the talk around The Rings of Power in the lead-up to the series had to do with the cost of the planned five seasons expected to be somewhere in the billion dollar range. At that price point, it’s tempting to expect a debacle—but the resulting series is actually quite good, blending epic conflict with more grounded characters in a manner that evokes both Tolkien, and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Set thousands of years before those tales, the series follows an ensemble cast lead by Morfydd Clark as Elven outcast Galadriel and, at the other end of the spectrum, Markella Kavenagh as Nori, a Harfoot (the people we’ll much later know as Hobbits) with a yearning for adventure who finds herself caught up in the larger struggles of a world about to see the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the fall of the idyllic island kingdom of Númenor, and the the last alliance of Elves and humans. You can stream The Rings of Power here.The Expanse (2015 – 2022, six seasons) A pick-up from the SyFy channel after that network all but got out of the original series business, The Expanse started good and only got better with each succeeding season. Starring Steven Strait, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Dominique Tipper among a sizable ensemble, the show takes place in a near-ish future in which we’ve spread out into the solar system, while largely taking all of the usual political bullshit and conflicts with us. A salvage crew comes upon an alien microorganism with the potential to upend pretty much everything, if humanity can stop fighting over scraps long enough to make it matter. The show brings a sense of gritty realism to TV sci-fi, without entirely sacrificing optimism—or, at least, the idea that well-intentioned individuals can make a difference. You can stream The Expanse here. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024 – , renewed for a second season) One-upping the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie on which it's based, Mr. & Mrs. Smith stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as a couple of spies tasked to pose as a married couple while coordinating (and sometimes competing against one another) on missions. Smartly, each episode takes on a standalone mission in a different location, while complicating the relationship between the two and gradually upping the stakes until the season finale, which sees them pitted against each other. The show is returning for season two, though it's unclear if Glover and Erskine will be returning, or if we'll be getting a new Mr. & Mrs. You can stream Mr. & Mrs. Smith here. Good Omens (2019– , conclusion coming) Michael Sheen and David Tennant are delightful as, respectively, the hopelessly naive angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, wandering the Earth for millennia and determined not to let the perpetual conflict between their two sides get in the way of their mismatched friendship. In the show’s world, from the 1990 novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, heaven and hell are are less representative of good and evil than hidebound bureaucracies, more interested in scoring points on each other than in doing anything useful for anyone down here. It’s got a sly, quirky, sometimes goofy sense of humor, even while it asks some big questions about who should get to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. Following some depressingly gross revelations about writer and showrunner Gaiman, it was announced that he'd be off the production and the third season would be reduced to a movie-length conclusion, date tbd. You can stream Good Omens here. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017 – 2023, five seasons) Mrs. Maisel was one of Prime’s first and buzziest original series, a comedy-drama from Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls) about the title’s Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), a New York housewife of the late 1950s who discovers a talent for stand-up comedy. Inspired by the real-life careers of comedians like Totie Fields and Joan Rivers, the show is both warm and funny, with great performances and dialogue; it also achieves something rare in being a show about comedy that’s actually funny. You can stream Mrs. Maisel here. The Boys (2019 – , fifth and final season coming) There’s a lot of superhero stuff out there, no question, but, as there was no series quite like the Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic book on which this show is based, there’s nothing else quite like The Boys. The very dark satire imagines a world in which superheroes are big with the public, but whose powers don’t make them any better than the average jerk. When his girlfriend is gruesomely killed by a superhero who couldn’t really care less (collateral damage, ya know), Wee Hughie (Jack Quaid) is recruited by the title agency. Led by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), the Boys watch over the world’s superpowered individuals, putting them down when necessary and possible. A concluding fifth season is on the way, as is a second season of the live-action spin-off (Gen V). An animated miniseries (Diabolical) came out in 2022. The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019, four seasons) From a novel by Philip K. Dick (whose work has been the basis for Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, among many others), The Man in the High Castle takes place in an alternate history in which the Axis powers won World War II, and in which the United States is split down the middle; Japan governing the west and Germany the east. The title’s man in the high castle offers an alternate view, though, one in which the Allies actually won, with the potential to rally opposition to the Axis rulers. As the show progresses through its four seasons, the parallels to our increasingly authoritarian-friendly world, making it one of the more relevant shows of recent years. You can stream The Man in the High Castle here. The Wheel of Time (2021 – 2025, three seasons) An effective bit of fantasy storytelling, The Wheel of Time sees five people taken from a secluded village by Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike), a powerful magic user who believes that one of them is the reborn Dragon: a being who will either heal the world, or destroy it entirely. The show has an epic sweep while smartly focusing on the very unworldly villagers, experiencing much of this at the same time as the audience. This is another mixed recommendation in that, while the show itself is quite good, it has just been cancelled following a third season that saw it really getting into its groove. The show goes through the fourth and fifth books of Robert Jordan's fantasy series, so, I suppose, you can always jump into the novels to finish the story. You can stream Wheel of Time here. The Devil’s Hour (2022 – , renewed for a third season) Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife) joins Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It, Doctor Who) for a slightly convoluted but haunting series that throws in just about every horror trope that you can think of while still managing to ground things in the two lead performances. Raine plays a social worker whose life is coming apart on almost every level: She’s caring for her aging mother, her marriage is ending, her son is withdrawn, and she wakes up at 3:33 am every morning exactly. She’s as convincing in the role as Capaldi is absolutely terrifying as a criminal linked to at least one killing who knows a lot more than he makes clear. You can stream The Devil's Hour here. Batman: Caped Crusader (2024 – , second season coming) I know, there's a lot of Batman out there. But this one's got real style, harkening back to Batman: The Animated Series from the 1990s (no surprise, given that Bruce Timm developed this one too). With a 1940s-esque setting, the show dodges some of the more outlandish superhero tropes to instead focus on a Gotham City rife with crime, corrupt cops, and gang warfare. There's just enough serialization across the first season to keep things addictive. You can stream Caped Crusader here. Secret Level (2024 – , renewed for a second season) This is pretty fun: an anthology of animated shorts from various creative teams that tell stories set within the worlds of various (15 so far) video games, including Unreal, Warhammer, Sifu, Mega Man, and Honor of Kings. It's hard to find consistent threads given the variety of source material, but that's kinda the point: There's a little something for everyone, and most shorts don't demand any extensive knowledge of game lore—though, naturally, they're a bit more fun for the initiated. The voice cast includes the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, his son Patrick Schwarzenegger, Keanu Reeves, Gabriel Luna, Ariana Greenblatt, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. You can stream Secret Level here. Cross (2024 – , renewed for a second season) James Patterson's Alex Cross novels have been adapted three times before, all with mixed results: Morgan Freeman played the character twice, and Tyler Perry took on the role in 2012. Here, the forensic psychologist/police detective of a few dozen novels is played by Aldis Hodge (Leverage, One Night in Miami...), and it feels like he's finally nailed it. There are plenty of cop-drama tropes at work here, but the series is fast-paced and intense, and Hodge is instantly compelling in the iconic lead role. You can stream Cross here. Fleabag (2016–2019, two seasons) Fleabag isn’t a Prime original per se, nor even a co-production, but Amazon is the show’s American distributor and still brands it as such, so we’re going to count it. There’s no quick synopsis here, but stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the title character (only ever known as Fleabag) in the comedy drama about a free-spirited, but also deeply angry single woman in living in London. Waller-Bridge won separate Emmys as the star, creator, and writer of the series (all in the same year), and co-stars Sian Clifford, Olivia Coleman, Fiona Shaw, and Kristin Scott Thomas all received well-deserved nominations. You can stream Fleabag here.

The Steam Deck changed the game for PC players, opening up a world of portability that was usually reserved for Nintendo fans. Naturally, manufacturers tried to follow suit with Windows-based handhelds and the results are, shall we say, mixed. Now, Valve has released official instructions for installing its SteamOS on devices other than the Steam Deck. Let's dive into how to do it—and whether you should.I should note up front: This is going to be a nebulous area when it comes to official support from the company that made your handheld. At time of writing, the Lenovo Legion Go S is the only handheld with the "Powered by SteamOS" branding (besides the Steam Deck itself), meaning it's officially supported with a final build. You can install SteamOS on devices like the Legion Go and the ROG Ally, but their support isn't final.Also, it should go without saying, but we'll say it anyway: If you wipe Windows from your handheld, you won't be able to play Windows-based games that aren't supported via SteamOS. That largely consists of online games that require anti-cheat software, but it's worth checking sites like ProtonDB to make sure your favorite games will work on SteamOS.Why should you install SteamOS on your Windows handheld?So, with the caveats out of the way, what are the upsides? Put (overly) simply, Windows is not designed for handhelds. In fact, under the hood, Windows tends to see your gaming handheld as a laptop. Right down to including things like Microsoft Teams that run in the background, or popping up alert boxes that interrupt your game to inform you of a low battery.Now that people are able to experiment with SteamOS and Windows on the same hardware, it's becoming clearer that Windows itself is a massive nerf to both frame rate and battery life. Even gaming laptops, which can often last all day for normal work, can struggle to get even a few hours of gameplay while away from a charger. That's why it's so important to tweak your settings for the best battery life.Gaming handhelds only make this problem worse with a smaller form factor, and thus a smaller battery. In my own experience, I've struggled to get two hours of playing a lightweight game like Stardew Valley from a Windows handheld, while the Steam Deck and even the Switch can get upwards of six hours or more.Since Windows is primarily designed as a desktop (and secondarily as a tablet) computer, it's also harder to tweak settings using controller inputs. What, exactly, is the controller equivalent of Ctrl+Alt+Delete again? While you can plug in a keyboard to dig around in your handheld's settings, it's just easier to do on SteamOS, since its interface has been built from the ground up for controller input.At this point, Valve has also shown that running Steam games via the Proton compatibility layer works so well that it's almost seamless. I admit, when the Steam Deck was first announced, I expected games to be broken or perform much worse than their native Windows counterparts. Four hundred hours in Hades II later, though, and it's clear that many games can actually run better on SteamOS than Windows.Step 1: Download and prepare a SteamOS recovery image USB stickWith all that out of the way, let's get started. To install SteamOS on your gaming handheld, you'll need two things: the SteamOS recovery image and a USB stick (preferably USB-C) with at least 8GB of storage. Make sure anything on that USB stick is properly backed up, because this process will reformat that device.The Steam Deck recovery image can be found here. It's a little over 3GB, so it might take a little while to download, depending on your connection. While you wait for that, you'll also need a utility to create the recovery USB drive. Valve recommends Rufus for Windows users, and Balena Etcher for Mac or Linux users. Once the recovery image is downloaded, use whichever tool you chose to write the recovery image to your USB drive. This process should be relatively straightforward. Rufus, for example, will present you with a dropdown to select which drive to write the file to under Device, and under Boot Selection, click Select to pick the recovery image file. Click Start and wait. Reminder: This will wipe the contents of your USB drive.Step 2: Disable Secure Boot on your handheldThis part can be a bit tricky, and the exact process will vary depending on which handheld you own. Valve has a breakdown of the steps here for a couple specific devices, like the Legion Go and the ROG Ally. However, other devices like those from MSI or Ayaneo will have their own process.In general, the steps will usually go something like this:Reboot to the bios. Similar to how you can hold Del or F2 on a computer while rebooting to get to the bios, your gaming handheld has a similar process. Often it's holding a button like Volume + while pressing the power button, but check your specific device's instructions if that doesn't work.Navigate to the Secure Boot settings. You may have to poke around for this one. Look for categories like Security, and you may need to switch to an Advanced settings mode or menu to find it. This setting should be called Secure Boot. Change this to Disabled.Save settings and restart your device. Once you've changed the Secure Boot setting, make sure to save the changes to your bios and restart.Depending on the device, you might have to use the touchscreen to navigate the bios, or even plug in a keyboard or mouse. Again, Valve has specifics for a couple of devices in the link above, but if you're lost, your device's manufacturer will be your best bet for getting specific instructions.Step 3: Boot using the SteamOS recovery image Credit: Eric Ravenscraft Once you've disabled Secure Boot, you can plug the USB stick into your handheld and restart the device. At this point, you should end up at a boot menu that lets you choose which drive to boot to. Once again, this process will sometimes differ by device, so if you're not sure how to get to the boot menu, check your device's documentation.When you get to the boot menu, select your USB drive with the SteamOS recovery image on it. This will take you to a SteamOS desktop environment. Here, you'll see four shortcuts on the desktop. The one we care about is labeled "Wipe Device & Install SteamOS". Give that a single tap (double-tapping will launch it twice, so be careful).At this point, you should see a warning that proceeding with this step will erase everything on your device. If you had any important game saves, media, or work files (for some reason) on this device that weren't already backed up, you can still bail on this process and reboot to Windows to save them. This is the point of no return, though. Make sure you're ready before moving forward.Step 4: Familiarize yourself with your new handheld's quirks Credit: Eric Ravenscraft The install process won't take too long, and when it's done, your handheld will restart and begin setup as though it's a natural-born Steam Deck. There are a few quirks, though. For example, in my testing on the Legion Go, the device tutorial pointed to the "Steam button" on the bottom-left side, but used the Xbox logo. In reality, the corresponding button was at the top-right, and had a Legion logo. It also pointed to a microSD card slot on the bottom of the device that doesn't exist.Unless you're using an official "Powered by SteamOS" device, prepare for some awkwardness while using the device. Aside from the tutorial, I found some games I wasn't able to install—pressing "Install" on Doom Eternal simply did nothing, for example—and it took some time to figure out which hardware buttons were mapped to which Steam Deck input.To my surprise, some things that I expected to be broken worked perfectly when I tested this. The Legion Go is unique in that its controllers can be detached, Joy-Con style, from the handheld. I expected them to be laggy or non-functional when I played with SteamOS, but they worked perfectly during a Hades II run—a game that isn't very forgiving of input lag.Your mileage can and will vary depending on what games you want to play and what hardware you want to run SteamOS on. Still, as we wait for manufacturers to more officially support SteamOS—or for Microsoft to make a proper handheld of its own—it's exciting to finally be able to have a choice in platform for these devices.

LEGO has released a ton of new Harry Potter sets for June, but perhaps the most quirky and delightful build in the bunch is the Chomping Monster Book of Monsters set. It's a recreation of the iconic book we first see in the third Harry Potter film (The Prisoner of Azkaban) and it absolutely looks the part. More importantly, though, it actually chomps.Out June 1Chomping Monster Book of Monsters$59.99 at LEGOThe new Monster Book of Monsters set has a lot of cool details on the outside that made it fun to put together, but it's what on the inside that makes it fun to play with after. LEGO provided IGN with a copy of the set for a test build and I got the chance to put it together myself. At only 518 pieces, I was able to build the whole thing in one evening before I went to bed and had my nephews playing with it the next morning.We Build the LEGO Harry Potter Monster Book of MonstersSet #76449 is actually the second iteration of the LEGO Monster Book of Monsters. The first rendition was a Gift with Purchase (set #30628), called The Monster Book of Monsters, released back in 2020 with a lot fewer pieces and a more simplistic style. The newer Chomping Monster Book of Monsters looks a lot more realistic and includes actual chomping action. It also includes a Neville Longbottom minifigure that is holding a much smaller version of the book. It's a fairly easy build, but it was fun to put together and the chomping action was a nice touch.The build is split up into four sections and you get one bag of LEGO bricks for each part. You start by putting together your little Neville Longbottom minifigure. He has two different face options to chooose from, so you can make him either smiley or terrified. I decided to go with smiley and placed him near the pieces as I put together everything else. The first part of the build is basically putting together the framework for the book.This is the longest step in the whole process and it admittedly takes quite a bit of time until it really starts looking like something. You're building what will later become the chassis that your little chomping motor and wheels will later sit in, so it's important you get everything facing the right direction. It really helped me that you use red bricks to indicate the back and blue bricks for the front or I definitely would have made a mistake along the way.It doesn't actually resemble anything like a monster book until you start adding some of the exterior pieces. There are light brown panels with a ridge that will look like pages once you're finished putting them together. The dark brown pointy pieces you add on the front and sides are what really start making it look like what you see on the box. You'll also add smooth panels on the back of each rectangle that will eventually fit together to form the entire base of the book.The one thing I didn't particularly enjoy about this build was how repetitive it felt to build both sides of the book itself. There were some small differences between the top and the bottom of the book, but for the most part the build felt exactly the same. So it ended up being a bit repetitive to have to do basically the same step twice. That being said, it was extremely satisfying when I finally got to be able to connect the two halves at the spine. You thread a few long pieces through the back hinge and suddenly you've got what looks to be a hollowed out book.The next portion of this build is where it really started to become fun. Once you're done with the overall structure, you move on to building the cover of the book. You start out with a series of large flat brown pieces that form the base of your cover. These are held together by two long flat pieces that are also thankfully color coordinated to indicate which side is up. Once you have the base assembled, you start adding all of the cool little details that bring the set to life. This includes the actual title of the book as well as the beady little eyes and spikey little feelers.Once you snap the cover onto the top of your book frame, it starts looking like a legit Monster Book of Monsters. And while the cover is really the turning point, it's all of the additional details you add on after this that start to give it an air of life. As you build the frame and the cover of the book you will have added a bunch of what appear to be little LEGO arms near the front pages. These will become the holders for the book's spiny little teeth. There are twelve of these in total and once they're snapped in you can articulate them in whatever direction feels right.The larger teeth get added after that, which is when it starts to look like it could actually chomp you. The instructions tell you to add one set of teeth at a time, but I decided to build them both first and add them all at once for dramatic effect. When all of the teeth are attached, you'll have what looks to be a Monster Book of Monsters that's actually capable of doing some chomping.The final step of this set is the most interesting part. At this point you've built a fairly realistic monster book, but it's still an empty shell waiting for some internal components to get it running. Now you essentially have to build a working pull-back car that you place inside so it can get to chomping on its own.The motorized aspect of this build is pretty straightforward, but it's a nice break from all of the detail work I had just done to be suddenly building a little wheeled car. It was also really fun to see how well the little car I'd just built snapped into place on the inside of the book itself.After I fully put everything together, I immediately tried out the rolling chomping action. It's a neat trick that turns what looks like a display set into an actual toy you can play with. The roll-back mechanism only goes so far back, so it doesn't actually roll that far, but the chomping action makes up for the lack of distance. As it moves forward you can actually hear the teeth clacking together. I had both of my younger nephews play with the set afterwards and they enjoyed playing with it almost as much as l did. The gimmick wears off fairly quickly after you've done it a few times, but afterwards you still have a really cool looking set you can display somewhere.The price of the set is fairly reasonable at $60, placing it well below some of the most expensive sets on the market right now. Any of the franchise-specific sets that come out are always going to be more expensive than a non-franchise set with a similar number of pieces, and this has consistently remained true for all LEGO Harry Potter sets. All-in-all, it's a set I'd recommend to any fan of Harry Potter and LEGO. It's a fun and simple build you can knock out in an afternoon, and the finished product would make for a great Harry Potter gift you can display on a shelf or your desk.LEGO Harry Potter Chomping Book of Monsters, Set #76449, retails for $59.99, and it is composed of 518 pieces. It is available at the LEGO Store beginning on June 1, 2025.

/May 30, 2025/4:28 p.m. ETTrump Attacks Harvard With Social Media Screening for All VisasThis pilot program will soon be expanded across the country.Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesThe Trump administration has begun carrying out its expanded vetting for student visa applicants, surveilling their social media accounts to make sure they aren’t posting anything in support of Palestine, which the administration considers antisemitic. This vetting will start with Harvard visa applicants but is expected to be adopted nationwide.Secretary of Stato Marco Rubio sent a cable to all U.S. embassies and consulates on Thursday ordering them to “conduct a complete screening of the online presence of any nonimmigrant visa applicant seeking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose.” That would apply not just to students but also to faculty, staff, and researchers visiting the university.The Trump administration is taking particular interest in people who have their social media accounts on “private,” an obvious, ominous crossing of boundaries.The State Department has ordered officers to examine “whether the lack of any online presence, or having social media accounts restricted to ‘private’ or with limited visibility, may be reflective of evasiveness and call into question the applicant’s credibility.”This is yet another instance of Harvard serving as a test subject for the administration’s larger crackdown on free speech and international students at American universities. Trump has already revoked billions of dollars in research funding from the Massachusetts school, and even banned it from admitting any international students at all, although the latter policy was temporarily revoked by a judge. Most Recent Post/May 30, 2025/3:53 p.m. ETStephen Miller Grilled on Musk’s Drug Use as Wife Lands New GigTrump’s chief adviser seems desperate to avoid questions on Elon Musk. Does that have anything to do with his wife’s new job? Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesStephen Miller had a dismissive response Friday to new reports of Elon Musk’s drug use during Trump’s campaign last year. CNN’s Pamela Brown asked the far-right Trump adviser if there was “any drug testing or requests for him to drug test when he was in the White House given the fact that he was also a contractor with the government.”  A chuckling Miller ignored the question and said, “Fortunately for you and all of the friends at CNN, you’ll have the opportunity to ask Elon all the questions you want today yourself,” before he then segued into the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda. “The drugs I’m concerned about are the drugs that are coming across the border from the criminal cartels that are killing hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Miller said. Perhaps Miller laughed instead of answering because his wife, Katie Miller, has left her job as adviser and spokesperson for the Department of Government Efficiency to work full-time for Musk and his companies. Miller has probably had enough of Musk, as he has also been subtweeting the tech oligarch, trying to refute Musk’s criticisms that the Republican budget bill would raise the deficit. “The Big Beautiful Bill is NOT an annual budget bill and does not fund the departments of government. It does not finance our agencies or federal programs,” Miller said, in a long X post earlier this week. Is there bad blood between Miller and Musk that has now spiraled because Miller’s wife is working for the tech oligarch and fellow fascism enthusiast? Most Recent Post/May 30, 2025/3:19 p.m. ETOld Man Trump Repeatedly Fumbles in Weird Speech Praising Elon MuskDonald Trump couldn’t keep some of his words straight as he marked the supposed end of Elon Musk’s tenure at the White House.Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesHours after reports emerged Friday that Elon Musk had been under the influence of heavy drugs during his time advising the president, Musk and Donald Trump stumbled and fumbled their way through a White House press conference recognizing the end of the tech billionaire’s special government employee status.The wildly unusual joint conference featured Musk’s black eye, a giant gold key that Trump said he only gives to “very special people,” cringe-worthy regurgitations by Musk of Trump’s take on his Pulitzer Board defamation suit, and claims that Musk’s unpopular and controversial time in the White House was not quite over.But as Trump continued to praise Musk and his time atop the Department of Government Efficiency, the president’s verbal gaffes became more apparent. He claimed that DOGE had uncovered $42 million in wasteful spending, referring to expenditures related to Uganda, which Trump pronounced as “oo-ganda.” The 78-year-old also mentioned he would have Musk’s DOGE cuts “cauterized by Congress,” though he quickly corrected himself by saying they would be “affirmed by Congress,” instead. Trump’s on-camera slippage has gotten worse in recent weeks: Earlier this month, Trump dozed off while in a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That is despite the fact that the president received a clean bill of health in a medical report released in April that described Trump as being in “excellent health,” including neurological functioning.Musk, meanwhile, refused to acknowledge emerging reports of his alleged drug use. But the news of White House drug use under Trump’s helm is nothing new: In fact, if the reports prove true, it would be little more than a return to form. Last year, a report by the Department of Defense inspector general indicated that the West Wing operated more like a pill mill than the nation’s highest office. Common pills included modafinil, Adderall, fentanyl, morphine, and ketamine, according to the Pentagon report. But other, unlisted drugs—like Xanax—were equally easy to come by from the White House Medical Unit, according to anonymous sources that spoke to Rolling Stone.While other presidents were known to take a mix of drug cocktails to fight off back pain (like JFK) or bad moods (like Nixon), no previous administrations matched the level of debauchery of Trump’s, whose in-office pharmacists unquestioningly handed out highly addictive substances to staffers who needed pick-me-ups or energy boosts—no doctor’s exam, referral, or prescription required.“It was kind of like the Wild West. Things were pretty loose. Whatever someone needs, we were going to fill this,” another source told Rolling Stone in March 2024.Meanwhile, pharmacists described an atmosphere of fear within the West Wing, claiming they would be “fired” if they spoke out or would receive negative work assignments if they didn’t hand pills over to staffers.Read more about the press conference:Trump and Elon Musk Have Ominous Warning About Future of DOGEMost Recent Post/May 30, 2025/3:00 p.m. ETElon Musk Gives Strange Excuse for Massive Black EyeMusk showed up a press conference with Donald Trump sporting a noticeable shiner.Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesElon Musk sported what looked like a black eye during his DOGE goodbye press conference with President Trump on Friday. When asked about it, he blamed the bruise on his 5-year-old son punching him in the face. “Mr. Musk … is your eye OK? What happened to your eye; I noticed there’s a bruise there?” one reporter finally asked near the end of the press conference.“Well, I wasn’t anywhere near France,” Musk said, in a weak attempt at a joke regarding footage of French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife slapping him in the face.“I was just horsing around with [my son] little X and said, ‘Go ’head and punch me in the face,’ and he did. Turns out even a 5-year-old punching you in the face actually does—”“That was X that did it? X could do it!” Trump chimed in. “If you knew X …”“I didn’t really feel much at the time; I guess it bruises up. But I was just messing around with the kids.”Musk chose an impeccable time to show up to a press conference with a black eye. Earlier in the day, The New York Times reported on Musk’s rampant drug use on and off the campaign trail, as the world’s richest man frequently mixed ketamine and psychedelics and kept a small box of pills, mostly containing Adderall. The shiner only adds to speculation around his personal habits.More on that Times report:Elon Musk Was on Crazy Combo of Drugs During Trump CampaignMost Recent Post/May 30, 2025/2:51 p.m. ETTrump and Elon Musk Have Ominous Warning About Future of DOGEElon Musk’s time as a government employee has come to an end, but his time with Donald Trump has not.Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesDespite the fanfare over Elon Musk’s supposed departure from the Department of Government Efficiency, Donald Trump says that the billionaire bureaucrat isn’t really going anywhere.“Many of the DOGE people are staying behind, so they’re not leaving. And Elon’s not really leaving. He’s gonna be back and forth, I think. I have a feeling. It’s his baby, and he’s gonna be doing a lot of things,” Trump said during a press conference in the Oval Office Friday.The press conference was held to mark the end of Musk’s time as a so-called “special government employee,” a title that allowed him to bypass certain ethics requirements during his 134-day stint in Trump’s administration. The president made sure to give Musk a gaudy golden key—what it actually unlocks went totally unaddressed—to make sure he could get back into the White House. “This is not the end of DOGE, but really the beginning,” Musk said, promising that DOGE’s “influence” would “only grow stronger” over time.Earlier Friday, the billionaire bureaucrat shared a post on X asserting that the legacy of DOGE was more psychological than anything else. Surely, it will take longer than four months to forget the image of Musk running around with a chainsaw. Read more about Musk:Elon Musk Was on Crazy Combo of Drugs During Trump CampaignMost Recent Post/May 30, 2025/1:21 p.m. ETDem Governor Vetoes Ban on Surprise Ambulance Bills in Shocking MoveThe bill had unanimous support in both chambers of the state legislature.Michael Ciaglo/Getty ImagesColorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis has vetoed a bill that would ban surprise billing by ambulance companies, over the unanimous objections of both chambers of the state legislature. Why would Polis veto a bill that’s popular with everyone, even Colorado Republicans? The governor wrote in his veto statement that drafting errors in the bill made it “unimplementable” and estimated that it would make insurance premiums go up by as much as $0.73 to $2.15 per person. “I am committed to working with proponents and sponsors to protect Coloradans from surprise bills, but I encourage all parties to work towards a more reasonable reimbursement rate that mitigates premium impacts and nets a better deal for Colorado families,” Polis wrote. In Colorado, if legislators in both chambers repass the bill with a two-thirds majority, they can override the governor’s veto, especially considering that the bill passed with the support of every single legislator. But the legislature adjourned on May 7, meaning that the bill has to be passed again when the legislature reconvenes in January.  For some reason, ending surprise ambulance billing nationally is not the slam-dunk issue it should be. Congress ended most surprise medical bills in 2020 but exempted ground ambulances from the bill. Was Polis’s veto due to badly drafted language and a (seemingly modest) price hike in insurance premiums, as he said, or was it for a different, more nefarious reason? We might not know unless and until the bill is reintroduced next year. More on surprise ambulance bills:Congress Doesn’t Care About Your Surprise Ambulance Bill Most Recent Post/May 30, 2025/12:21 p.m. ETTrump’s Pardons Since Jan 6 Spree Show an Infuriatingly Corrupt TrendSince his January 6 pardon spree, Donald Trump has tended to grant clemency a little closer to home.Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty ImagesA good chunk of the white-collar criminals pardoned by Donald Trump after his massive “Day One” pardoning spree either have a political or financial tie to him.The president has issued 60 pardons since he offered political forgiveness to some 1,600 individuals charged in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. But out of those subsequent 60 unrelated to the attack, 12 people—or roughly one in five—were already in Trump’s orbit, according to ABC News.They included several politicos, including former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted on several counts of corruption, including for an attempt to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat after he left the position for the White House; former Republican Representative Michael Grimm, who pleaded guilty to tax fraud; former Nevada gubernatorial candidate Michele Fiore, who allegedly stole public funds intended to commemorate a slain police officer; and former Tennessee state Senator Brian Kelsey, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud in 2022.Trump also pardoned major financiers of his presidential campaigns. Trevor Milton, the founder of the Nikola electric vehicle company, donated nearly $2 million toward Trump’s 2024 campaign. Imaad Zuberi, who has donated to both parties, issued “at least $800,000 to committees associated with Trump and the Republican Party,” ABC reported.Others helped Trump advance his retribution campaign against his political enemies, or helped advance his own image in the broader Republican Party. Devon Archer and Jason Galanis, both former business partners of Hunter Biden, accused the younger Biden of leveraging his father’s name and influence in order to conduct business overseas. Archer had defrauded a Native American tribal entity, while Galanis was serving time for multiple offenses. Trump also forgave Todd and Julie Chrisley—reality TV stars known for their show Chrisley Knows Best who were sentenced to a combined 19 years on fraud and tax evasion charges—after their daughter Savannah Chrisley spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention.Speaking to press Friday after her parents’ release, Savannah Chrisley said that the “biggest misconception right now is I either paid for a pardon or slept for a pardon—,” but she couldn’t finish her sentence before Todd interjected: “That’s something I would have done,” he said.Read who else Trump is thinking of pardoning:Trump Considering Pardons for Men Who Tried to Kill Gretchen WhitmerMost Recent Post/May 30, 2025/12:04 p.m. ETTrump Knew He Was Deporting Innocent People to El Salvador All AlongMany of the people deported to El Salvador have no criminal record, and Donald Trump knew it.Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesDonald Trump’s administration was well aware that many of the 238 Venezuelan immigrants it shipped off to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador had no criminal records at all, according to a Friday report from ProPublica.  While Trump officials claimed that the deportees were brutal gang members and “the worst of the worst,” only 32 of the deportees had actually been convicted of crimes, and most of them were minor offenses such as traffic violations, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security reviewed by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, and a team of journalists from Venezuelan media outlets. One of the men, 23-year-old Maikol Gabriel López Lizano, faced a misdemeanor charge after he was arrested in 2023 for riding his bike and drinking a can of beer.Little more than half of the deportees, 130 of the 238, were charged only with violating U.S. immigration laws. Twenty of them had criminal records from other countries. The U.S. government data showed that 67 individuals had pending charges, with only six being for violent crimes. In several cases, the government data about the pending charges differed from what ProPublica was able to find. In some cases, the men had actually been convicted, and in one, the charges had been dropped. But in many cases, these individuals were remanded to a foreign prison before their criminal cases were ever resolved. The Trump administration has touted allegations of gang affiliation as a justification for denying the deportees their due process rights. But none of the men’s names appeared on a list of roughly 1,400 alleged Tren de Aragua members kept by the Venezuelan government, ProPublica reported. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan tried desperately in March to downplay reporting that many of these individuals did not have criminal records. “A lot of gang members don’t have criminal histories, just like a lot of terrorists in this world, they’re not in any terrorist databases, right?” Homan said on ABC News. But the methods the government relies on to classify individuals as gang members—such as identification of gang-affiliated tattoos—have been disproven by experts. Not only were many of the men who were deported not proven gang members, they weren’t even criminals, and by denying them the right to due process, they were remanded to a foreign prison notorious for human rights abuses without ever getting to prove it. Trump has continued to pressure the Supreme Court to allow him to sidestep due process as part of his massive deportation campaign, claiming that the judiciary has no right to intrude on matters of “foreign policy.” But immigrants residing on U.S. soil—who are clearly not the bloodthirsty criminals the administration insists they are—are still subject to protections under U.S. law. Read more about the deportations:Trump Asks Supreme Court to Help Him Deport People Wherever He WantsMost Recent Post/May 30, 2025/11:41 a.m. ETJoni Ernst Stoops to Shocking Low When Told Medicaid Cuts Will KillSenator Joni Ernst had a disgusting answer when confronted by a constituent at her town hall about Trump’s budget bill.Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesRepublican Senator Joni Ernst had a particularly unhinged response to questions from her constituents at a town hall in Parkersburg, Iowa, on Friday.Ernst was asked about the GOP’s budget bill kicking people off of Medicaid, and her condescending answer quickly became callous and flippant as the Iowa politician smirked at the audience.“When you are arguing about illegals that are receiving Medicaid, 1.4 million, they’re not eligible, so they will be coming off, so—” Ernst began, before an audience member shouted, “People are going to die!”“People are not—well, we all are going to die,” Ernst responded, as the audience drowned her in loud protests.What was Ernst thinking with that answer? Almost every Republican town hall this year has gone badly for the politician holding it, thanks to President Trump upending the federal government, and Ernst surely knew that choosing death over Medicaid wouldn’t go over well with the crowd. Earlier this week in Nebraska, Representative Mike Flood was heckled after he admitted that he didn’t read the budget bill.Ersnt’s town hall wasn’t even the first one in Iowa to go badly for a Republican. On Wednesday, Representative Ashley Hinson was met with jeers and boos, with audience members in Decorah, Iowa calling her a fraud and a liar. But at least Hinson had the good sense not to seemingly embrace death over a vital, lifesaving government program. More on Trump’s bill:Here Are the Worst Things in Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill Most Recent Post/May 30, 2025/11:35 a.m. ETKetanji Brown Jackson Blasts “Botched” Supreme Court Ruling on TPSSupreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a scathing disssent, called out the rest of the court for allowing Trump’s harmful executive order to stand.Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesSupreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson thinks the Supreme Court “botched” a decision to allow the Trump administration to revoke the Temporary Protected Status protections of about 500,000 Haitian, Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan immigrants.Jackson and fellow liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor were the only two dissenters.“The Court has plainly botched this assessment today. It requires next to nothing from the Government with respect to irreparable harm,” Jackson wrote in the dissent. “And it undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives of and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending.”TPS is a long-standing program that allowed those 500,000 immigrants to stay in the U.S. after they fled violence and risk in their home countries. After the Supreme Court’s ruling, all of them are at high risk of sudden deportation. “It is apparent that the government seeks a stay to enable it to inflict maximum predecision damage,” Jackson wrote.Read the full dissent here.View More Posts

The original Switch is still a better option than the Switch 2 – Reader’s Feature GameCentral Published June 1, 2025 1:00am The Switch 1 isn’t going anywhere (Nintendo) A reader argues that the original Switch will still be relevant even after the Switch 2 launches, and that for some it will be the preferred choice. I haven’t been playing games as much as I did, say, three years ago, mainly because I’ve found interest in other things, such as reading and creating content. However, I still delve into games and my love for Nintendo is still there, but I did consider parting with some of my gaming collection – which is mostly a curated list of mainly Nintendo games and consoles. I did see the announcement of the Switch 2 in early April and initially I was hyped for it but I think that has subsided somewhat, mainly due to the pricing of both the consoles and games; I am still going to be receiving it day one though. I don’t think Nintendo has done themselves any favours though and the landscape has changed, with regards to mobile gaming in general, with the advent of the Steam Deck and other options from different manufacturers which makes this a crowded market. [The Steam Deck has only sold around 4 million units worldwide, compared to over 150 million for the Switch, and yet it’s still the most successful of the PC handhelds – GC] I find myself purchasing games on Steam vs. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. In fact, I ended up parting ways with my Xbox Series X and am considering the same with my PlayStation 5, as I mainly play games in portable form, with the Steam Deck and Switch being enough for me. With Nintendo it is mainly the first party titles that I would purchase on Switch 2, but it will make me think twice due to the price tag on the games (£60+) and with Nintendo the pricing of their games don’t really go on sale that much, if at all. I know a lot of people are still considering getting rid of their original Switch in favour of the Switch 2, however I think it is still relevant in 2025 and beyond. Games, Games, Games With over 10,000 games, the Switch has a diverse library of titles. I love the fact the I have a big and robust library of physical games that I can play for years to come. The pricing on new games are anywhere between £25 to £50, with Zelda being the exception at £60 to £70. A lot of third party games you can pick up on sale. A lot of games are physical and most come with the game on the actual cartridge, so even in the future, if Nintendo decide to pull the eShop for the original Switch, you can still play games offline. Games are still being released for the original Nintendo Switch for the foreseeable future. It will stop being supported one day but there is still plenty to choose from, both used, digital, and new. I truly believe that the Switch 2 won’t be as popular as the first Switch, mainly due to pricing £60+ on games and switching their strategy on physical games, with partial downloads or game key cards, which in theory is easily shareable but having to download the entire game isn’t the most user friendly and there is still a reliance on the digital ecosystem. Backwards Compatibility Watching a YouTube video by ModernVintageGamer, I’ve come to learn that backwards compatibility with Switch 2 isn’t all it is cracked up to be. Nintendo is fully supporting backwards compatibility with most of their games, however third parties are left to patch games on their own discretion due to different system architecture in comparison to the original Switch. So it will be a bit hit and miss, more than likely they would rather release another ‘remastered’ version which they can sell to consumers again, rather than patch games. Also, bearing in mind some publishers don’t want the costs associated with patching a game. Different consoles At this stage in the original Switch’s lifecycle there are a bunch of form factors to choose from. I have all three and use them in different environments; my Switch OLED gets used at home in portable mode and connected to the TV, while the original Switch is good for family party gaming, which I take around for family gatherings. The Switch Lite is small and portable and that it is great for single-player games with the cross-key but also great for travelling and going on holidays. You can pick up the Switch Lite for dirt cheap now, used, and I expect prices to fall further whilst they clear stock. Simultaneous play I haven’t seen too much details around this but Nintendo did announce original Switch compatibility with the Nintendo Switch 2 to allow for simultaneous multiplayer gaming with one cartridge, so that Nintendo Switch 2 acts as the main (host) console whilst the original Switch can be used for multiplayer gaming. So in essence you can all play Mario Kart from one Switch 2 console, by having your own screen, similar to the Wii U. I think this will be valuable for me with family gatherings, as most of us have Switches. Cost So, I did mention costs for games earlier. However, as the original Switch has matured there are a plethora of cheap accessories that can be had on the cheap, compared to Switch 2, such as extra Joy-Cons, controllers, games, cheap microSD cards, plus others. Best Nintendo console? I still love my Switch, and it won’t be going anywhere, and I think it is Nintendo’s best console in the past 20 years. I have a special place in my heart for the NES, SNES, Game Boy and GameCube, as being S-tier consoles but I think the Switch could be argued as being their best console. Ask me on a random day and my answer will probably change, because Nintendo have created timeless consoles as far as I am concerned, so it is difficult to choose one. But the original Switch makes a compelling choice especially for the younger generation. More Trending By reader wetbandit Not everyone’s going to jump in straight away (Nintendo) The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. 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