What's New

Everyone knows distracted driving is dangerous. Everyone knows it’s happening, and that it’s responsible for deaths on American roads. But when it comes to specifics, the knowledge runs dry. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Before I begin The Ringed City, the final downloadable expansion for From Software’s existentialist fantasy epic Dark Souls 3, I have to prepare. Unlike most games, the expansions to Dark Souls titles aren’t additional, isolated new bits of game—they’re embedded directly into the world as it already exists. If you don’t have a save file progressed enough to access the new stuff you just bought, you’d better get to playing. So I do. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As a physics faculty, I have two jobs. The first is coach. I help students wrestle with concepts and ideas. That makes me something like Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, but with more equations. I'm also an evaluator. I determine how well students understand the material I've taught them. Yes, I find it odd that I do both of these things. It's like having Popovich coach the team and referee the game. But that's how it is in education. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Other than maybe the NSA, nobody knows more about you than Google. It’s got a read on where you are, what you’re doing, what you’re thinking and watching and searching for and chatting with your friends about. Which means nobody should be better equipped to soundtrack every second of your life than Google Play Music. Starting today, the company’s taking full advantage of its smarts to deliver you the sounds you want, when you want them. All you have to do is press play. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Before I get into this, I should admit something: my home audio setup is pathetic. I listen to shows and movies out of the speakers built into my TV. When I have friends over, a UE Megaboom Bluetooth speaker supplies the background music. Sometimes I catch myself listening to podcasts on my phone’s speakers. The best listening devices I own are headphones—which is why I often spend time on the couch, alone, watching TV with headphones plugged into my Roku remote. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Do Apple's AirPods sound great? Not really. But they're about way more than playing music. Let's just get all the fun comparisons out of the way up top. Wearing AirPods is like wearing a toothbrush in your ear. No, it's like your earbuds are melting down the side of your face. They look like tiny hair dryers! Tiny candy canes! Tiny bean sprouts! Tiny golf clubs! In truth, AirPods look like… Bluetooth headsets. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

If the quality of your laptop’s screen is a selling point—and it should have some sway with any serious buyer—then OLED-based machines, what few exist to date, should definitely be on your list. Alienware’s new 13.3-incher is the first gaming rig on the market with an OLED display. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Depeche Mode is touring the world, everybody’s talking about Star Wars, and Justin Bieber’s wearing drop-crotch pants. The 80s are back, people. But no matter how much you’re channeling the era, your smartphone is a dead giveaway that you’re living in 2017. That is, unless you wrap your iPhone in one of Slickwraps’ new retro skins, which put a little 80s back into your 21st-century tech. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Andrew Rotilio knows what it feels like to not fit in. Born to first-generation Italian-Canadian parents, the Expanse actor’s first language wasn’t what his teachers spoke in school. He grew up speaking Italian, then learned French and English as a way of surviving, of blending in. By the time he mastered his fourth language, he wasn’t trying to navigate the social complexities of the real world—he was trying to leave it behind completely. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Wilderness camping offers a wonderful reprieve from our tech-filled lives. Computer screens and connected commutes give way to mountain-peak sunrises and hikes to secluded lakes. The distance from the rat race is rejuvenating. Then night comes, and technology creeps back in. Propane-powered lanterns barely shed enough light for you to see what you're eating for dinner, so you pull out your phone to waste its battery making sure you don't trip over something. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices