Alex Cranz

Senior Consumer Tech Editor. Trained her dog to do fist bumps. Once wrote for Lifetime. Tips encouraged via Secure Drop, Proton Mail, or DM for Signal.

  • What Is Microsoft’s Grand Plan For Phones?

    What Is Microsoft’s Grand Plan For Phones?

    It has been nearly two years since Microsoft introduced a new Windows phone. Sure, HP is still making Windows phones and marketing them to businesses, but Microsoft has been basically silent on the subject of its flagging mobile platform since 2015. There have been zero flagship devices, despite the persistent rumours of a super Surface…


  • Intel’s Optane Memory Could Make Cheap Computers Fast Again

    Intel’s Optane Memory Could Make Cheap Computers Fast Again

    It isn’t the processor that makes a really cheap computer slow. Or the memory or the video card (or lack of video card). The primary reason your cheap laptop loudly chugs along at glacial speeds is because of the hard drive. Cheap laptops use cheap hard disk drives, which are much slower than the solid…