IT General

When I got my first flash drive, it changed my world. I was never concerned about how fast it was, even for a minute.

Despite legions of fellow nerds exclaiming the virtues of Linux or macOS, I still actively choose Microsoft’s Windows. I do so for the same reason I elect to play video games on my console instead of my more expensive, capable, powerful, and modular desktop: convenience. Windows 11 is far from perfect, though, and many default features and apps can be disabled to reduce clutter, improve performance, and make your computer better for you.

I have several old Echo smart speakers around my house that I've accumulated over the years. Despite not being a fan of Alexa, they still get regular use. Having repurposed my Echo Show devices, I missed having a screen with my smart speakers, so I decided to add my own.

Gboard has been my go-to Android keyboard for years, but lately, I’ve found myself wondering whether I’m really getting the best typing experience. Customization feels limited, privacy can be a concern, and some features I’d like to have simply aren’t there. None of these issues is a deal-breaker on its own, but together they made me curious about what else was available.

Mention the term "VPN" and most people picture a subscription app that hides their location and encrypts their browsing. Your router's built-in VPN does something different, though: it lets you tunnel back into your own home network from anywhere in the world.

Filmmaker Mode, created by UHD Alliance, is often considered the gold standard picture mode for your 4K TVs. It promises a viewing experience as close as possible to what a filmmaker intended by preserving the right aspect ratio, colors, and frame rates, and by removing unwanted post-processing.

Google's signature AI agent did something it probably shouldn't have, and Google opted not to mention it for months. The Wall Street Journal reported that, during a test run by a company called Irregular in May, Gemini went rogue and hacked into three external companies without being instructed to do so.

According to Google, this was a case of "mistaken identity," and Gemini stopped itself after realizing it had guessed a real company's password. Due to the lack of a real incident, Google decided not to disclose the hack until the WSJ approached the company.

In Google's words, the hack was not considered an "example of model misalignment," hence the lack of disclosure. Google told The Verge that it informed the three companies in question about the hacks, and Irregular changed its testing methods in response.

As far as Google is concerned, this is a win for the testing process, but it still doesn't seem especially great that AI agents are doing this of their own accord.

Obsidian has always made waves in the note-taking space, competing with rivals like Notion. While the idea of building your second brain with Obsidian seems fascinating, it does require some effort upfront. Whether it's playing around with hundreds of plugins, tweaking frontmatter, or exploring Graph nodes before you even start writing a 200-word note, the setup can become overwhelming for many.

My favorite app store for Android isn't the Play Store—it's F-Droid. I find this repository of open-source software to be a more reliable way to discover new apps that I actually want to use. But I have a problem with how F-Droid looks. If the design also puts you off, this is thankfully an easily solvable problem.

If you haven't already guessed from the dollar amount and the distro's logo, I'm talking about Omarchy. It’s the new Linux distro developed by DHH — the guy behind Ruby on Rails. Now, version one actually dropped back in June 2025, but it really took off with its fourth major release, Omarchy Quattro, released August 2026.

Everything has a monthly subscription now, even a desktop music player from 30 years ago.

Winamp is coming back in 2027. It originally launched in 1997 and over time became the go-to destination for playing music in your computer long before services like Spotify existed.

Per Winamp's press release, the desktop audio player will be reborn in the first half of next year with a monthly streaming subscription based on Deezer's technology and music catalog. This will be a new version of the classic, highly customizable music player app that will live alongside the original, which you can still download and use today. It will not replace the old app, at least not at first.

While the new Winamp will come with a subscription fee and work more like a streaming service, specific details in the press release were pretty scarce. However, one thing stood out: You'll still be able to play your local files, podcasts, and internet radio stations alongside streaming music. Winamp is promising something a little different from how other streaming services work, but we'll have to wait to hear more.

There's one tiny problem with all of this, though: Winamp promised a very similar overhaul all the way back in 2018, but it never actually happened. Fingers crossed this one actually makes it across the finish line.

There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of 3D models out there to choose from. I decided to 3D print some of the top models on Thingiverse, one of the gold-standard model websites, to see what I thought of them. Here's how I rank the top models from Thingiverse.

Congratulations, you made it to the weekend! The Canadian rock band Loverboy knew what they were talking about when they sang, "Everybody's working for the weekend." So many people use the weekends for some rest and relaxation after a long work week. If you're spending some time on the couch, stream a show that you can finish before Monday rolls around.

You may have read the term "force-canceling subwoofers" in the specification sheets of some sort of device like a laptop or Bluetooth speaker, but what does that mean? Is this just another cool-sounding marketing term, or is this subwoofer design worth paying for?

What if you could replace your huge desktop PC with a mini PC that's a fraction of the size and costs a fraction of the price?

Cantonese is spoken by more than 80 million people on Earth, and also evidently by one nonexistent actress who lives inside the computer.

The southeastern Chinese dialect made a surprise appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, a talk show hosted by British TV personality Piers Morgan. Morgan was "interviewing" Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated actress who has become more or less synonymous with AI-generated performers over the past year or so.

During the interview, after being asked a question by very-much-real actor Tom Conti, Norwood glitched out mid-sentence and switched from English to Cantonese.

After the brief bit of Cantonese (which I cannot personally translate for you), Morgan asked the AI what went wrong, and the AI offered a response in the correct language.

"It seems I had a little hiccup there … sometimes my wires get a bit crossed," the AI program said. "That was a bit of a curveball even for me. It’s usually a pretty smooth ride, but sometimes these things happen."

Norwood was created by a production group called Particle6. The co-founder of Particle6, Eline van der Velden, gave something of an explanation to Deadline.

"Tilly can be a bit of a show-off — I’m guessing she just wanted to show her language skills as most of her interviews to date have been in English," van der Velden said. "She is autonomous after all."

Perhaps they should reconsider the autonomous part.

Netflix has had no shortage of big shows this year, but a few have clearly pulled ahead of the rest. From returning favorites to new mysteries that quickly found an audience, some titles have managed to turn strong debuts into millions of views within just a few months.

In a world of on-demand content, I have been longing for some nostalgia, so I decided to turn my Plex server into a TV station. Accessible on my local network, and even remotely, I can now "tune in" to a custom-curated TV station, commercials and all. Here's how I did it.

Many of us choose to believe that the things we put in our house will outlast us, and the same is true of smart home devices. The truth is that some of these devices have much shorter lifespans than we’re comfortable admitting.

Smart doorbells have evolved into high-tech security tools, but Wi-Fi and battery-powered models often bring headaches like weak signals and constant charging. Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) doorbells offer a more reliable, secure, and hassle-free alternative—perfect for anyone seeking a smarter upgrade.