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If you want to be the first to know when Amazon's Prime Day 2018 is taking place, this is the absolute best way to do it. Amazon will likely announce the official date in the coming weeks, and then the leaks begin.

From tips and tricks to help get you ready ahead of time to maximizing your savings during the event, you'll want this info delivered right to your inbox. The team at Thrifter eats, sleeps, and breathes deals, and will be covering every single piece of Prime Day to the fullest.

If you like to save money and get the best deal out there, you'll want to join us and make this your most successful Prime Day yet.

Prime Day is coming and Thrifter's newsletter will get you ready!

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Descenders Xbox One preview: An intense cycling thriller

Become a world-class biker in this high speed, thrilling sports game.

Though I typically like to steer clear of sports games, Descenders, a new biking game on Xbox One game preview, is an outlier for me. I've never enjoyed bike riding in real life due to a fear of injury (I'm pretty clutsy) but doing it in a virtual setting eliminates that risk. What I found with Descenders is that it simulates what it's like to be a stunt biker — something I never could be — and gives the player complete freedom to enjoy it.

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Elite Dangerous: Beyond - Chapter Two launches on Xbox One and PC in June

Elite: Dangerous is a surprisingly popular space simulator given its complexity and learning curve.

Recently, Frontier Developments launched Elite Dangerous: Beyond - Chapter One on Xbox One and other platforms. Luckily, a barrage of new content will hit the system soon as the developer just announced Chapter Two's release date. The update is coming to the console on June 28, 2018 and brings with it numerous enhancements.

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How to tell which files are eating up your Windows 10 PC storage

Advanced Solid State Drives (SSDs) with high capacity remain out of reach for consumers on tight budgets, so filling up available space on PC hard drives remains a common fear for many folks.

When looking at installed drives in Windows Explorer, it's difficult to judge just what is taking up occupied space. Luckily, there are a few handy tools that can help you clear out space. Here's a look at some of them.

• CCleaner
• WinDirStat
• SpaceSniffer
• Other options

In order to get your PC prepped and ready for analysis, it's a good idea to run your favorite cleaning tool to clear out the cache and other temporary or unrequired files that are taking up valuable space. Our chosen cleaning suite is CCleaner. Even if you're planning to use another analyzer, we recommend you use a tool like CCleaner to get rid of temporary files and other junk.

CCleaner

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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and more join Xbox backward compatibility next week

Rockstar Games is really bringing it for Xbox One owners.

Today, Rockstar Games announced three new additions to the Xbox One backward compatible library. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, and Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis, will all be playable next Thursday, June 7, 2018 on the system. These titles join the recently-added Bully: Scholarship Edition, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Red Dead Redemption. Many gamers have been requesting these titles for years now, so it's great to see Rockstar working with Microsoft to make it happen.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

After escaping the pressures of life in Los Santos, Carl Johnson returns home after his mother's murder to find his family falling apart, his childhood friends all heading towards disaster, and corrupt neighborhood cops framing him for homicide. Johnson is forced on a criminal journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family, and to take control of the violent streets. Please note that both the original Xbox release and the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will be backward compatible. Save games from the original Xbox version will not transfer, but owners of that version will get the upgraded Xbox 360 release of the game. The Xbox 360 brings higher-resolution textures, better lighting, and other enhancements.

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Best Gaming Keyboards for Under $100 in 2018

If you're looking for a great gaming keyboard but you're on a tight budget, you've come to the right place.

PC gaming is a potentially expensive hobby, but it doesn't have to be. It's perfectly possible to work on a tight budget and still create an epic setup that'll give you thousands of hours of gaming bliss.

This is true of keyboards, too. You can spend a fortune, but you don't have to. We set a limit of $100 and selected the best keyboards you can get within that budget.

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Assassin's Creed Odyssey possibly leaks ahead of E3 2018

It seems that the Assassins are going to Ancient Greece.

Jeuxvideo-live.com, the outlet that originally leaked Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for Xbox One, recently posted images of an "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" keychain. The keychain features a Spartan helmet which points to that era. The game supposedly takes place in Ancient Greece and is the sequel to Assassin's Creed Origins.

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Microsoft launches new family controls for Edge on Android

Now parents can choose to block sites for other family members in Microsoft Edge for Android.

Microsoft seems to be moving forward with a theme for its latest mobile app updates; namely, family controls.

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Windows 10 preview build 17682 now available for Fast ring Insiders

Windows Insiders on the Fast ring, including those in Skip Ahead, have plenty to dig into this week.

It's another week, which means another new test build for Windows Insiders.

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The future of Cortana is all about helping you work better on Windows 10 and beyond

Cortana has been stagnant in the market for some time now. Google and Amazon have leapfrogged Microsoft in this market, which is a real shame. So, what's the plan here?

Microsoft's own digital assistant Cortana is a very curious case in 2018. It's a feature (service?) that appears to be alive and kicking internally, but showing little to no sign of improvement externally. Cortana has become stagnant in the digital assistant market; it's still mostly US only, its dedicated speaker game is basically non-existent, and its integration with Windows 10 (the only platform where it has any leverage) kind of sucks.

At this point, there's nothing Microsoft can do to compete with Google or Amazon. Cortana has fallen too far behind to play catch up, and honestly, it doesn't look like Microsoft wants to compete in the digital assistant market anyway, at least not in the consumer space. If they did, we'd have seen some action from Microsoft by now fighting back, but we haven't. So, what's going on? If Cortana is alive and kicking internally, why isn't Cortana improving on the surface?

Instead of chasing Google Assistant and Apple Siri, Microsoft is repositioning Cortana as a "productivity assistant" to help you get stuff done.

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Check out Bill Gates' summer reading list on the Microsoft Store

Want to feel a little closer to Bill Gates this summer? Here's a look at what he's reading.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is known to be a voracious reader, and he occasionally shares what literary works are on his must-read list.

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Philips' Hue Sync app makes your lights a part of your movies, music, and games

It's time to make a light show out of your entertainment.

Philips' Hue lights, while expensive, are already some of the most versatile out there.

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What I want to see most from E3 2018, however unlikely

E3 2018 is almost here, and hype is reaching fever pitch. But what do you want to see?

E3 2018 is almost here, bringing with it tons of new game announcements, new hardware, and other various bits of great gaming stuff. The heavy hitters will be under a microscope, particularly Microsoft, who has been criticized for its inconsistent games line up. All the big publishers will present their lineups too, including current and future roadmaps, letting you all know just how badly you're wallet will suffer over the next few months and beyond.

I thought I'd gather my wildest hopes and dreams for this year's E3 2018, whether they're likely or not.

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Microsoft pushes forward with more internal reorganization shifts

Microsoft is making more internal moves after its reorganization efforts were announced earlier this year.

In March, Microsoft announced a major shakeup of its leadership teams with a reorganization focused on steering the company toward the future of AI and machine learning, the cloud, and ambient computing.

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Dell reportedly cooking up a dual-screen device with Windows 10 on ARM

Fan render

Microsoft, Samsung, and Huawei are all rumored to be working on dual-screen devices, but now Dell may be throwing its hat in the ring as well.

If you live in the Microsoft bubble, one of the most hotly rumored devices is Microsoft's Andromeda project, a foldable dual-screen device that the company has been speculated to be working on for some time.

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Windows Central 2018 Father's Day Gift Guide

Father's Day has come again, and you might be wondering exactly what Dad's been pining for. We've been testing a lot of great (and some not-so-great) products to figure out our absolute favorite tech, and we've brought it all together here to help you find gifts Dad will truly love and appreciate!

Windows Mixed Reality

Windows Mixed Reality is here, and it's making waves in the virtual reality world thanks to full motion tracking and a growing collection of games. Choose a headset from Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, or Samsung, and step into a new world.

From $224 Buy Now

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Groove Music for iOS and Android to be retired on December 1

Following the retirement of Groove Music's streaming service earlier this year, Microsoft is preparing to kill off its apps for Android and iOS in December.

Microsoft already initiated the slow demise of Groove Music when it killed off its streaming subscription earlier this year.

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Not only are graphics cards back in stock, they're actually on sale today too

All of these components have dropped to all new lows today only.

Get a new graphics card, like the EVGA GeForce GTX 1070ti for $449.99, on sale in today Amazon's Gold Box deals of the day. The sale features a lot of PC components, both internal and external, but the graphics cards really deserve a second look.

Since late last year, any PC builder looking for a graphics card probably ran headlong into Out of Stock notifications, greedy eBay sellers, and cards marked way above MSRP. As manufacturers ramp up for new releases in the summer, they've also started to alleviate some of those supply problems. In the dark days, there was a time when finding one at its regular MSRP was a treat, but now you can get an EVGA GeForce GTX 1070ti $40 lower than its MSRP and the lowest we've ever seen it on Amazon.

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The $213 Piper Minecraft Raspberry Pi kit will teach kids valuable skills

Amazon has the Piper Minecraft Raspberry Pi Computer Kit on sale for $213.03, which is the lowest this has been all year. It typically would run you almost $300.

With this kit, your child can solve puzzles in the Raspberry Pi edition of Minecraft by building their very own computer from start to finish. Once that's done, they can keep building power-ups within the game by using physical controls, switches, buttons, and lights. It's perfect for kids ages 7 to 13.

This kit rocks because it combines the technology and fun that children love with hands-on learning, which is not something that can often be said when it comes to hours of watching YouTube Kids or Spongebob. It introduces them to coding, programming, and building in a way that keeps their attention and focus. One reviewer said, "My son hates school and says he hates to learn. But he LOVES his PIPER and doesn't realize how much he is learning."

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Chime in: Does it make sense to buy the Surface Pro as a tablet replacement?

Is the Surface Pro as a tablet alone worth the price tag?

Microsoft's Surface Pro is the shining example of what a 2-in-1 device can look and act like, thanks to a beautiful touch display, useful kickstand, and performance hardware inside. There are also a bunch of useful accessories that really flesh out the Surface Pro, including the Surface Pen, Surface Dial, and Type Covers, but they're sold separately.

Related: Best Surface Pro accessories

Windows Central forum member haiderkhokhar18 recently created a thread asking whether or not they should keep their Toshiba tablet or invest in the new Surface Pro.

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Newsflow for Windows 10 brings you all your favorite news sites and now has Fluent Design

If jumping around from news site to news site is tiring out your mouse hand, Newsflow saves you some effort by bringing them all into one place.

From international news sites to dedicated blogs, it's great to get information from a variety of sources. But bouncing from site to site can be tedious. Newsflow brings all of your favorite sites into one place and wraps them in a beautiful package. A recent update to Newsflow brought the implementation of Fluent Design, bringing the app up to date with the latest Windows 10 design.

In addition to looking great, Newsflow also brings offline support, notifications, search, and more.

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How to manage app execution aliases on Windows 10

If you have multiple apps using the same alias name, then use this guide to specify which one should use it to run the right app from a command console.

On Windows 10, apps can declare alias names that you can use to run apps using Command Prompt. However, sometimes apps may declare a name that's already taken by another app, and when this happens, trying to run an alias may execute the incorrect application.

Starting with the Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803), to overcome this limitation, the Settings app includes an option that allows you to specify which app should use the alias when multiple applications have the same name.

In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to select which app should use a particular execution alias when multiple apps have the same name.

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The Division 2: Everything we know so far

We don't know a lot, but that'll soon change.

One of Ubisoft's most anticipated new titles is The Division 2, the sequel to the now very popular first game that launched back in 2016.

The current game has over 20 million registered players, a passionate community and is still being supported with updates and fresh content in the form of Global Events. While the fresh content won't be coming for much longer, agents will have an entirely new world to save soon enough.

Here's everything we know so far about The Division 2.

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Windows Central Podcast 92: Windows 10 on ARM ain't all that bad

This week on the Windows Central Podcast: Some thoughts on Windows 10 on ARM "complaints", Alexa, the Dell XPS 15 and more!

We're back with another exciting episode of the Window Central Podcast. This week, editors Daniel Rubino and Zac Bowden talk about the many complaints surrounding Windows 10 on ARM, and how many of them are unjustified, Alexa exclusives on Windows 10 PCs and how its not a good thing, and the new Dell XPS 15 2-in-1. Also this week, we talk about the Twitter PWA and its latest updates, and new Insider builds!

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