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26 Jul 2025

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Alysha Collett aims to cap big season in town and keep momentum going
Alysha Collett hopes to cap a season-best return in town on Saturday at Randwick and carry the momentum into 2025-26.

The 5.1 million reasons Asian Cup is set to ignite the country in 2026
Women’s Asian Cup chief and former Matilda Sarah Walsh is aiming to capitalise on the huge number of Australians with family ties to competing nations in next year’s tournament.

Broncos staffer fighting for Olympic spot
Australian aerial skier and Broncos staffer Abbey Willcox opens up about her journey to qualify for the Winter Olympic Games.

Greene whacks defenceless Heeney
Toby Greene makes high contact with Isaac Heeney while he's on the ground.

Reynolds pinches slick pass to score
Adam Reynolds defeats two chasing Eels stars after intercepting the ball on his own 30m line.

NRL Highlights: Cowboys v Dragons - Round 21
North Queensland Cowboys host the St George Illawarra Dragons in Round 21 of the 2025 NRL Premiership at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville.

'Try thief' Walters strikes
Billy Walters pounces over the tryline for the Brisbane Broncos.

Greene's 'overweight' sledge to Papley
Toby Greene delivers a savage half time sledge to Tom Papley.

Walsh's match winner denied
Reece Walsh powers over to score a match-winning try for the Broncos but is denied by the Bunker due to an obstruction.

Dwayne Johnson hails 'childhood hero' Hulk Hogan
The Rock says an act of kindness from the wrestling legend when he was 12 "meant the world".

I changed my PC’s Recycle Bin icon into a chomping selfie for instant fun
PCs have a reputation for being staid and sort of business-like, right? Nah, that’s just an image pushed by a Apple’s famous ad campaign. The truth is, your PC is a blank slate for as much creativity as you can muster. It can be especially useful as a tool to show off fun personalizations. Take this hilarious mod to the Recycle Bin as an example. In a few simple steps you can change it into an image of yourself that chomps down on files like you’d chow down on a hot dog. It’s a fun trick that will lighten up even the most serious Windows desktops. How to change your Recycle Bin into a chomping selfie Ask someone to shoot two images of you — one with your mouth shut and one with your mouth open. The two images should be framed so that they’re the same size and you’re in the exact same position. To make sure the files look like icons in windows, you need to cut out the images of you from their background in a photo-editing app. I used the magic select tool in Windows 11 Paint 3D since I still had the app loaded on my laptop, but since Paint 3D is being discontinued, you might want to use a free alternative app like GIMP, Photopea or Paint.NET. Save both files as .png files with transparent backgrounds. Now visit a free image conversion website like Free Convert and convert each of the .png files to .ico format. Name the closed-mouth image full.ico and the open-mouthed image empty.ico. Right click on your desktop and select Personalize. Navigate to Themes > Desktop Icon settings. Click on the Recycle Bin (full) icon and select the Change Icon button. Select your full.ico image, then Apply and OK. Follow the same steps to change the Recycle Bin (empty) icon to the empty.ico image. Click Apply and OK when prompted. Dominic Bayley / Foundry Your Recycle Bin should now be a chomping version of your own likeness that will chomp down on files that you drag into it. Try it out for instant laughs! If you want more tips like this one delivered into your inbox, twice a week, every week be sure to sign-up to our PCWorld Try This newsletter.

Dearden's electric form continues
Tom Dearden shows why he's one of the best support players in the NRL.

How adversity and pool noodles helped Max Jorgensen become a Wallabies leading man
Despite a horrific run with injury, Max Jorgensen has shown an uncanny ability to not only return to Test rugby but turn in star performances on the biggest stage.

Su'A hurt by awkward tackle
Karl Lawton goes low on Jaydn Su'A and leaves the Dragons star in agony.

Swans forward taken off seconds into match
Hayden McLean is stretchered off the ground early against the Giants.

Bont makes it four in a row
Fresh off a new contract, Marcus Bontempelli kicks the Bulldogs' fourth in a row.

Lomax unites with skipper to steal the lead
A perfect chip by Mitch Moses lands in the path of Zac Lomax to score for the Parramatta Eels.

Moses, Lomax shine as Eels stun Broncos in Suncorp thriller
Parramatta put a spear in Brisbane’s top-four hopes in a stunning 22-20 win inspired by skipper Mitchell Moses.

NRL Highlights: Broncos v Eels - Round 21
Brisbane Broncos take on the Parramatta Eels in Round 21 of the 2025 NRL Premiership at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.

PC hardware feels so boring now. I’m scared it’s not temporary
Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardcore PC hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the latest topics on our YouTube show or flaming controversies across the web? You’re in the right spot. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website! Is hardware boring now? I asked myself this question after our crew’s discussion on Tuesday about the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE. Adam gave us the performance lowdown on the card (which still hasn’t reached U.S. shores but seems likely to), summarizing his findings from his testing. In his own words, “This literally does just slot right [into the Radeon 9000 stack]. Everything from the pricing to the performance, it’s like, okay, cool.” “Okay, cool.” I found myself saying the same thing about the next expected version of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 too, when it resurfaced in the news again. This “A” variant will shift from an Ampere chip to one from Team Green’s newer Ada Lovelace architecture, making this rehash of an older budget GPU a little more modern. Am I glad to see the Radeon 9000 series lineup fill out? Is it good that the RTX 3050 isn’t completely stuck in 2022? Yes, of course. But also this week, I blurted out a very different phrase about the latest flagship Ryzen Threadripper Pro chip, the 9995WX. It’s such a beast that an overclocker finessed it to run at 5GHz on all 96 cores, at a ludicrous power draw of 948 watts. I can’t repeat what I initially said for politeness’s sake, but dang is a workable alternative. AMD Very likely I’m experiencing summer doldrums, given how slow news is at this time of year. Other tech journalists and hardware enthusiasts might be, too. Adam’s tone when discussing the 9070 GRE sounded subdued to me—even Brad’s as well, and he’s the best (realistic and grounded) hype man I know. The Tom’s Hardware headline for the RTX 3050 news used the phrase “RTX 3050 refuses to die.” And our YouTube comments have sounded more reserved (and even pessimistic) than usual, across all topics. Still, I worry a bit we’re not in a temporary slump—that we’re instead experiencing a shift in what to expect from hardware launches. In talks I’ve had with various folks in tech or adjacent to tech, the idea that performance far exceeds need has come up more than once. That’s great for us as consumers, but a potential bummer for those of us who avidly follow technology’s twists and turns. As long-time TFN fans know, I’m a big champion of the budget and mid-range. I crave incredible performance at every price. I love revolutionary yet affordable products I can point to as highlights of the year—and not just during our annual wrap-up show in December, but in future episodes of our Hardware Hall of Fame. I want to feel excitement again. Not only from arguing with my coworkers about the merits of individual parts, or even what deserves the status of all-time notable hardware, but when I mention their existence to people who need them. In this episode of The Full Nerd… Willis Lai / Foundry In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Will Smith talk about the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE’s place among graphics cards, and the changes we’d like to see to ATX. (Brad tackles this second topic head-on with a list of four concrete updates he wants.) The funny part: The guys all think I was ranting about ATX and its decrepit nature in last week’s newsletter. You and I both know I dove deep into broody feelings. I still got what I wanted though, which was hearing people’s thoughts on what should come next! Less funny: Brad’s horrifying personal story about cockroaches during the pre-show. As for other noteworthy news, we had a couple of big announcements! First: Adam and Will are starting a limited-run podcast about Linux—they’ll be chronicling the experience of making the switch from Windows. Also: We’ve got a Hardware Hall of Fame episode coming up! Check back in two weeks for our return to fighting over what we think deserves GOAT status. And as with past years, we want to hear your nominees for the Hardware Hall of Fame, too. Share them with us on our Discord server, give me a shout on Bluesky, or send them to us at thefullnerd@pcworld.com! I’m not even trying to hide one of my nominees for this year’s HOF episode.Thiago Trevisan/IDG Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time! And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds. This week’s fresh nerd news One news blurb caught my eye and made me think of Gordon immediately—and so I’m honoring him this week by using a benchmark he came up with. Did I do it as well as him? No. But you know what, you can never properly replicate an original. Also making me happy are some really cool “books” available for sale. These look so cool!Bolt Industries (via Tom’s Hardware) You probably shouldn’t juice the heck out of your RTX laptop GPU: I agree with my colleague Michael Crider that most people should not use shunt mods for their laptop GPUs. You all, though? I know you understand the risks. Mod responsibly, folks. Would you willingly let Microsoft monitor you? We all hate sluggish performance, especially in Windows. But I’m not sure I’m willing to let Microsoft gather telemetry data on my usage to help them squash performance issues, even if it’s in developer and beta builds. Why use your MacBook Pro trackpad as a scale? Why not? Another to be filed under “YOLO.” (No shade to this person; they chose something far more productive to do than me, the reviewer who benchmarks games on integrated graphics—though in my defense, how can you criticize where the floor is if you don’t know its location?) This business is selling stolen personal data for $50: Its founder presents this reselling of details as legitimate, even going as far as to claim that “doing good is in our DNA.” But putting lipstick on a pig doesn’t change what animal it is. I want these PCB reference books made from actual PCBs: I write for a living, but I’m a big visual and tactile learner. So a physical “book” that teaches the basics of DC circuits, LEDs, transistors, and oscillators with PC boards that light up? Heck yeah. $37 isn’t even that expensive. (I’ve paid more for plain ol’ regular novels for English literature classes. College textbooks are such a racket.) Humans triumph over AI in coding championship—for now: Some times, it’s more important that you prove a thing is possible. (Even with the eventuality that a thing man created will be the reason for man’s downfall.) What lets me sleep at night is knowing humans will integrate data better than AI for a while yet. AMD Threadripper Pro 9000 CPU prices, plus the 2016-era Intel 6950X for historical pricing context.Alaina Yee / PCWorld $11,700 for a 96-core, 192-thread CPU? Not too bad: You know that Threadripper Pro 9995WX I talked about above? I’ve been side-eyeing the headlines that poke at its price. The MSRP did rise compared to the 7995WX, yes. And it is almost $12K, yes. But if we map out these prices in a chart (aka the benchmark pioneered by one Gordon Mah Ung), HEDT fans are still coming out ahead. ‘Entry-level’ Threadripper buyers even win this generation—the 9955WX has a lower price tag than its predecessor. Not sure if a Steam game is on Xbox Game Pass? This add-on will tell you: Unless you truly love a game (or its developers), you don’t need to buy it if you already have it available as a rental. This Chrome extension makes cross-checking easier. And while you’re at it, if you want to know if a Steam game is truly discounted, check out Is There Any Deal too. U.S. and state warring over internet prices is a loss for all: I’m bummed about this one. Not everyone can afford standard internet prices, much less deal with the cost-raising shenanigans of major internet service providers. The fact that anyone in government is against affordable internet is a real shame. What’s the cost of American-made? AMD says 5-20% for its Ryzen chips: AMD CEO Lisa Su also went on to comment to Bloomberg that the additional cost for fabrication at TSMC’s Arizona location is “worth it,” due to the diversification of chip supply. This latter info isn’t wholly new, as it was one of the driving motivators when the CHIPS act passed under the Biden administration—but now we have a clearer picture for what to expect from these efforts. If you love a website, click on its articles: We’re all pressed for time. But I will tell you, those of us in publishing have concerns about AI-generated search result summaries. Less traffic ultimately means less reporting—which means everyone ends up with fewer sources for quality information. Yooooo, Lego is launching a Nintendo Game Boy tribute: $60 bucks. That’s it. I don’t think any of my nostalgia purchases so far have been this reasonably priced. Your body can be fingerprinted and tracked using Wi-Fi signals: Remember how in an earlier newsletter, I got cranky about Comcast trying to use Wi-Fi signals to monitor movement around your modem? Well, this drives home the point a little further for why you don’t want a big corp quietly offering such a “service.” Catch you all next week, when both Adam and Brad are off—so Will and I are going to get up to (moderate) no good on The Full Nerd. Don’t worry, it’s not like my boss reads this newsletter regularly. (eyeballs emoji -Brad) Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld.