Articles by Nicholas Sutrich

Short cord, long-range.

If you’re a homeowner, you undoubtedly have some outdoor lighting that’s on a regular schedule. Whether it’s a fancy porch or deck lighting, or just seasonal holiday lighting at Christmas time, there are plenty of reasons to have an outdoor outlet timer for your lights. While the good old rotating push-button timers have been a staple of homeownership for decades, Ring aims to replace the old faithful with something a little more technically proficient. You won’t even need a Ring Protect Plan to use it.

The Ring Outdoor Smart Plug does exactly what you assume it would. An outdoor-rated weatherproof box dons two remote-controllable and programmable outlets and a local wireless connection to a Ring Smart Lighting bridge — both a positive and a negative attribute. While that Smart Lighting Bridge is an irritating additional purchase, it also provides a way to control your smart home devices still if your home’s internet connection drops out. It also makes it …

It’s hard to imagine any router being faster than this.

Wi-Fi 6E is now upon us, promising to be the biggest improvement in wireless tech in more than a decade, and Linksys is at the forefront with two brand new routers. The Linksys Hydra Pro 6E represents the more traditional single router-style line, while the Linksys Atlas Max 6E — also known as the Linksys Velop AX8400 — is the latest in the Velop family of wireless mesh routers. The Atlas Max 6E also features sufficient spectrum allocation for all bands, meaning that, unlike the Hydra Pro 6E, there’s plenty of available speed for devices of all types and ages — not just newer Wi-Fi 6E devices.

This tri-band triple node beast promises to deliver everything you’ve ever wanted — and then some — for a price that’s sure to make your eyes water. While I had some initial configuration issues while migrating my home’s devices to the new router, a reboot and some topology adjustments brought me straight into the future with s…

The Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2 are amazing pieces of technology, but did you know you can actually use your hands instead of controllers in some games and apps? While it’s pretty amazing to see your hands in VR and use them instead of controllers, hand tracking can be a bit finicky. That’s why we’ve curated a list of the best hand-tracking games for Quest, whose design best suits the somewhat janky nature of hand tracking. While there are a good number of games on the Oculus Store to download, SideQuest provides even more hand-tracking experiences to play with — and they’re all free, too! Make sure you install SideQuest on your Oculus Quest or Quest 2 before downloading those.

Note: For the best results, always play in a well-lit room for optimal hand tracking performance. The brighter, the better. We cannot stress that enough.

Find these on the Oculus Store

★ Featured favorite

The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets

Staff Pick

The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pe…

It’s the smoothest mobile VR has ever been…if your PC can handle it.

What you need to know

The May v29 Quest 2 update silently added the ability to run PC VR games at 120Hz through Oculus Air Link.
This refresh rate was previously made available via wired Oculus Link or wirelessly via the 3rd-party Virtual Desktop software in April.
Gamers will need to toggle the option in the Oculus desktop software to see the change on their Quest 2.

Oculus Air Link has only been around for about a month now and it’s already seeing its first big upgrade on the Oculus Quest 2. UploadVR spotted a post on Reddit that showed 120Hz availability for Oculus Link on the PC side of the equation. Turns out, that May v29 Quest update silently enabled the feature without any mention or fanfare from Oculus.

Oculus Air Link was already one of the best ways to play SteamVR on Quest, as well as the only way to play certain Oculus-exclusive PC VR games wirelessly — like Minecraft, for instance. Having 120…

Don’t worry, Android support is coming soon.

What you need to know

iOS users can connect their devices to their Oculus Quest to receive notifications and calls without leaving VR.
The original Oculus Quest now supports multi-user and app sharing, so multiple people can use one headset with individual profiles.
Facebook has also added new sharing features, including a virtual overlay for streamers, a Files app for better storage management, additional Infinite Office features for working in VR, and even tweaks to Oculus Store curation.

If you’re an Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2 user, you’ve come to expect big monthly updates. Facebook’s support of its headsets has been legendary, regularly adding new features every month that make the most affordable VR headset even more attractive. The Oculus Quest v29 May update is adding another slew of features — 8 in total — as well as big changes to Oculus Store curation and the addition of featured apps for developers.

If you’re an i…

Fans of games like Microsoft Flight Simulator and Star Wars Squadrons probably know that they can play these games in VR using a PC and a VR headset like an Oculus Quest 2, but did you know you can use one of the best Quest 2 controller alternatives — like a HOTAS joystick — to get a more immersive experience? You sure can, but there’s one big thing you’ll need to be aware of: like the games that support it, a HOTAS can only be used with a PC via a USB connection. Once you’ve got a gaming PC, a HOTAS, and one of the best PC VR games with HOTAS support, here’s how to use a HOTAS with Oculus Quest 2.

How to use a HOTAS with Oculus Quest 2

Now that you’ve got a HOTAS, a gaming PC, and an Oculus Quest 2, it’s time to get them all talking.

Most HOTAS sold today are plug-and-play, which means you’ll likely only need to plug your HOTAS into your computer using the USB cables included.
Some manufacturers might have additional software to install to customize your HOTAS inputs.

Once…

Those Oculus Quest 2 controllers might be pearly white, but a few months’ usages could leave them looking a bit drab. If your controller’s buttons stick a bit when pressed in, or the joystick doesn’t move quite like it used to, you might need to clean your Oculus Quest 2 controllers. Once you’ve got them cleaned, the best Oculus Quest 2 controller accessories will help keep them clean for longer and will make those controllers even more comfortable to use over time.

How to clean your Oculus Quest 2 controllers

Slide off the battery door on each controller and remove the battery inside.
Replace the battery door without a battery inside.

Use a cleaning wipe of your choice to wipe down the controller, but make sure it’s not sopping wet. You don’t want it to be so wet that liquid gets inside of the controller.
Let the controller dry for a few minutes.

If necessary, use a can of compressed air to forcefully blow out any particles that might be lodged in the crevices of the controll…

Oculus Quest killers, these are not. At least, not yet, anyway.

What you need to know

HTC Vive Pro 2 is a PC VR headset, while HTC Vive Focus 3 is a standalone enterprise-grade VR headset.
Vive Pro 2 sports a 5k 120Hz display, 120-degree FoV, high-res audio headphones, an IPD knob, and debuts on June 4 for $749 / €739 / £659.
Vive Focus 3 is an enterprise-grade standalone headset powered by a Snapdragon XR2, dual-2.5k 90Hz displays, 120-degree FoV, inside-out tracking, new headset design, and new motion-tracked controllers debuting on June 27, 2021, for $1300 / €1180 / £1060.

HTC’s long-awaited next-generation Vive VR headsets have just been announced, meeting expectations in some ways, and falling short in others. HTC has been teasing the announcements for what feels like months now, giving users hope that it was ready to take on Facebook head-on with an Oculus Quest 2 killer. Turns out, HTC isn’t ready to tackle the consumer standalone VR segment just yet, but the compan…

The future of VR is mostly safe in the hands of Facebook.

When the original Oculus Quest was announced in September 2018, even Facebook didn’t expect it to do as well as it did (as evidenced by the fact that it could never keep the Quest in stock). The Oculus Quest experience went beyond what was expected of a VR headset by being more than just affordable — it was as easy to use as a video game console. Since that launch, Facebook has acquired several VR game development studios, brought several developers onboard with its Oculus Store, and changed the paradigm of what people expect from the standalone VR experience.

The Oculus Quest 2 promises to one-up that experience in every way, with a processor that’s three entire generations newer than the one in the original Oculus Quest, enhanced ergonomics with a lighter and smaller headset, a significantly higher-resolution display, brand new lens design, redesigned controllers, and more accessories than you can shake a stick at. Faceb…

You might never need to take off your headset again!

What you need to know

One user found the ability to officially install Android apps on their Quest 2 via the Oculus Store.
Any Android app can currently be installed to an Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2, but it must be sideloaded.
A Facebook rep wouldn’t confirm or deny the feature to Android Central.

Like most mobile electronics devices these days, the Oculus Quest 2 is powered by Android. In fact, sideloading apps on Quest 2 can open up an entirely new world of apps and games, including the very same apps you can use on an Android-powered phone or tablet. While playing VR games on a VR headset is probably going to give you the best overall experience, being able to play the best Android games and run social apps on your Quest 2 transforms it into a device with a very different purpose.

Interestingly enough, one user on Twitter seems to have stumbled on what appears to be an official way to load popular Android apps straight…