_{Welcome to KnowTechie’s Weekly Download. We know life gets busy, so we've compiled the most important tech stories you might have missed this week. So grab a coffee, and let’s get started!}

• 📰 News: Threads finally lands on Desktop, Musk gets the Ronan Farrow treatment, and more

• 🔎 Top finds this week

• 🎁One giveaway is, ending and ais nother only for newsletter subscribers

• 🤷 A new moron of the week

💡 Quick Tech Tip: Use Google Translate as a proxy 💡

You can use Google Translate as a makeshift proxy if you're trying to access a locked site on your network or in your region.

Here's how:

1. Go to Google Translate.

2. In the text box, type in the websit that you want to visit.

3. Set the 'translate from' language as anything other than English, and set the 'translate to' language as English.

4. Click on the translated URL that appears on the right side.

This will open the website within the Google Translate page, essentially bypassing any restrictions on your network or region.

Please note this should be used responsibly with your local laws and guidelines.

Stay tuned for more that can help you navigate the digital world more efficiently!

Did you know?

Sometimes, things like these little tips blow away too. Take this one I’m about to share; I literally didn’t know this was a thing until I typed in the combination of letters on my keyboard.

Alright, from what I can tell, this only works on Google Chrome, but pressing CTRL+SHIFT+A opens up a tab that lets you search through all your open tabs. And if you’re like me, there are 100s of them open 🤯.

Revolutionary brain implants help woman speak again

🏥 In a significant scientific breakthrough, two paralyzed women have regained the ability to communicate through a revolutionary brain implant experiment.

Despite their inability to speak, the women’s cognitive ability to form words remained intact. The innovative brain implants interpret the neural activity associated with speech, allowing the women to communicate via a computer at an impressive speed.

Why it matters: Besides the obvious, the technology has the potential to transform the lives of those living with paralysis. For a more detailed look at this groundbreaking study, watch the video.

Sony unveils the PlayStation Portal, an 8-inch handheld console that can stream games from a PS5 over Wi-Fi in 1080p at 60fps, available later in 2023 for $200

🎮 Honestly, it’s really nothing special. It’s essentially a screen that has two DualShock controllers slapped on each side of the display. It doesn’t even support Bluetooth headphones. Scratch that, they do, ut they only work with Sony’s $200 headphones they release with the controller.

Why it matters: The PlayStation Portal is a glaring example of corporate greed, repackaging old tech into a shiny new form and expecting us to cough up the cash for it. Maybe it’s a bit early to judge; who knows, we’ll know soon enough.

EU’s Digital Services Act lets users opt out of personalized, AI-driven content on social platforms like Instagram, giving them more control over their online experience.

This means companies like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and most importantly, TikTok can’t default to stuffing down their carefully executed algorithm front and center. The default is chronological order, the way it should have always been.

Why it matters: Users now have the freedom to switch off AI-driven selection on Instagram's 'Explore' tab, presenting non-personalized content.

📝 Techie Test Time

(Last week’s answer below)

Last week’s answer: What was the first-ever registered domain name?

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Google.com (29)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ IBM.com (11)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 MIT.edu (45)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Symbolics.com (22)

Correct Answer: While the bulk of the votes went to MIT, that unfortunately was incorrect. The correct answer goes to Symbolics.com, registering the domain on March 15, 1985. The domain is still active today, but not in its original form. They used to sell computers. Now it’s some sort of landing page.

🎧 Weekly Gear

Bose Smart Soundbar 600: $450

We’re currently trying this out at my house, and while this is the lowest-priced option in this Bose series, I’m absolutely floored by its results. With football season around the corner, I couldn’t be any happier with this.

What I liked:

1. Unmatched Sound Clarity: Bose's proprietary technology ensures a clear, immersive audio experience.

2. Smart Features: Voice control and multi-room functionality make it a versatile choice for modern homes.

3. Sleek Design: Its compact and stylish design blends seamlessly into any room decor.

4. Brand Reliability: Bose's reputation for quality and durability adds value to your purchase.

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here.

🔗 Moron of the week:

Tesla Model 3 Owner Ignores Warnings, Sends Car Into Flood Water While Using FSD 🚗

🛠️ Top Tool Finds This Week

Pickaxe: A no-code platform for creating GPT-powered apps and embedding them anywher

TextCraft AI - Automate Email Writing

Free VPN for Chrome: Fast, ultra secure, and easy to use VPN service to protect your privacy online. Enjoy Unlimited Traffic and Bandwidth

TabHub: In just minutes, your blog can be transformed into podcasts.

WizTree: It gives you a graphical representation of what you got on your hard drive so that you can delete those 25 gigs of wii roms you downloaded last year into one of the 53935 folders on your desktop and had forgotten all about

Announcement - We’re moving the deals section to its own page, updated daily.

We have more deals than we can share, and if we just focused on deals on their own, they would take over this whole email and personally, I did want this to be a thing where I try to sell you things each week.

Why is that the case? We’ve built up quite a following over at our main site, so we have a ton of brands who want to partner with us to offer readers like you exclusive discounts.

Instead, we built a separate deals page for the newsletter, which you can find here. Keep an eye on that page. I’ve been updating it all week with new deals and offers. There are even freebies, so make sure you’re not missing out on anything.

And if you ever lose the link, just look at the footer of this page. 👇

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