IT General

Thrillers are currently dominating Netflix's weekly top 10. The Whisper Man, which was one of our top movies to watch in August, remains at No. 1. The Secret Woman and Ready or Notalso landed in the top 10, so thrillers are of interest to subscribers at the moment.

I spent nearly six years running a dual-socket decade-old Xeon server as my primary NAS. Recently, I moved to an off-the-shelf Ugreen NAS and started comparing the two. The thing is, they really can't be compared, and I realized I've spent way more money on that old Lenovo than I originally thought.

Most of us learned Microsoft Word while growing up and never really questioned it. It was on most computers, so it became the default for everything, including notes that had no business being formatted like a printed document. You don't need an entire document to take a few notes; you should use an app built to manage them like databases.

I am suspicious of fitness trackers. I'm not saying we can't trust companies to safeguard the data they generate, but it would be nice to not have to trust them in the first place. That is why I've been happy to wear a Pebble Time 2, which is the first Android-compatible product I've worn that generates health metrics without also uploading that information to the web.

If you're new to Linux, or you've happily existed in Mint's easygoing ecosystem for years, you might want to hear what its downsides are. That comfortable feeling may cost you dearly.

Google Lens tends to get catalogued as a way to figure out how to identify plants or translate a menu while traveling. That's true, but it can do a lot more than that. You don't need to wonder about stuff or run vague Google searches to figure it out; Google Lens is basically Google search on your phone.

If you've ever used a mesh Wi-Fi system, you've probably noticed that the satellite nodes usually have a spare Ethernet port. It is tempting to use that port to attach a NAS. After all, it seems like a good way to get your NAS connected without running a cable across the floor or through a wall.

Physical media has been dying quietly for years, and most people didn't fight it because streaming was just easier. Buying a digital copy felt like the same thing, just without the disc. The problem is that it isn't the same thing at all, and it's not just about ownership; it's about the quality that we're all losing out on.

When I first tried out Google Drive, it changed everything. Being able to share files and collaborate on documents with others so easily was a complete game-changer, and it made us all so much more productive.

I think I have just seen my favorite animated movie of 2026. And it's Julián, based on Jessica Love's bestselling children’s book, Julián Is a Mermaid.

This year, cinemas have seen sequels for beloved IP like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Toy Story 5, Minions & Monsters, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, and PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie. There have also been original animal-centered adventures like GOAT, Hoppers, and Swapped. Plus, coming up are Shaun The Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, Forgotten Island, Wildwood, The Cat in the Hat, Steps, Ray Gunn, and Hexed.

So, what makes me so certain that Julián will be my favorite of the year? Well, for starters, it's a deeply charming story about a child fighting for his individuality, a message that speaks to me. Created by Cartoon Saloon, which produced The Secret of Kells, Wolfwalkers, and The Breadwinner, it is absolutely beautiful. But most of all, over the course of 85 minutes, this magical movie's style reminded me of some of my favorite animated movies and shows, including Steven Universe, Spirited Away, Craig of the Creek, and Luca. Yet at no point did Julián have me wishing I was watching those instead.

SEE ALSO: Fall movie preview: All the 2026 films you need to know about

Julián thrives on comparison, not by being better than these rightly beloved films and series, but by being a solid stone in the path of the cathedral they collectively build to the glory of animation as an art form.

Julián is a summer-set story of LGBTQ+ youth and identity.

Named for its protagonist, Julián follows a little boy over a summer spent with his Dominican American abuela (Milcania Diaz-Rojas) in Brooklyn. He (Knyght Darius Jack) is a cheerful child with a vivid imagination, a love of the ocean, and little awareness of the mess he makes while playing. In the opening scene, his dad Javi (Anthony Sardinha) shows an appreciation for all of this, as Julián excitedly colors a picture, and splashes about glitter on the drive to New York. But his abuela hasn't seen the boy in a while, and her parenting style is very "my way or the highway." So, getting used to her rules will be an adjustment.

In the first act, Julián pulls a move from Paddington, trying hard to respect his host while making an absolute disaster of their bathroom. It's the kind of childish shenanigans that are both adorable and deeply annoying. Director Louise Bagnall expertly shows Julián's missteps as both, allowing the audience to understand him and his grandmother.

In the book (which is just 40 pages with illustrations), Julián's abuela is almost instantly accepting of his desire to be a mermaid and what that entails. Expanding the story, Julián takes time to develop their relationship, working in new characters and obstacles for both to explore. For his part, Julián is giddy to meet a trio of local girls, who are plotting their "mersonas" in sidewalk chalk drawings and readying for Coney Island's annual Mermaid Parade, where revelers dress in all sorts of nautical costumes for a day of festivities and community.

However, Abeula and her friends see Julián with the girls and heteronormatively assume he's a "lady killer." So, when Julián asks her to do his hair to show off to girls, he's thinking of long braids, like one of the girls has. When he sees the short-cropped cut she's done to "show off [his] handsome face," the boy is reduced to tears.

There's no point in this movie where Julián will come out as queer or discuss such labels with his loved ones. He's just a kid, loving the things he loves and being told that's wrong. After the tears over the haircut, after his insistence that the mermaid costume be colorful and covered in shimmer, Abuela understands who her grandson is. She decides she'll sew him the costume he dreams of, but she also fears how others will react. In a moment of pique, she warns him about being "too much." And so Julián is subjected to the stifling gender norms that are meant to protect him, but make him feel alone and ashamed.

However, like Julián Is a Mermaid (or Luca), this eponymous hero will find his happy ending, embraced by love, community, and family just as he is.

Julián is gorgeous and moving.

Bagnall creates a distinctive visual language for Julián that sets the film apart from Love's book. Thankfully, she rejects the three-dimensional CGI animation that has become almost mandatory for theatrical release across the medium.

Where Julián Is a Mermaid had a painterly look of watercolors, Julián reflects its hero's love of drawing by imitating the texture of markers and crayons. The colors are vibrant, showing the characters' Afro-Latino neighborhood in Brooklyn as a place of life and warmth. The soft edges of the characters and their round, bouncy designs reflect Julián's energy, which is like a Super Ball, high-soaring and playful. In sequences where the world transforms to reflect his imagination, watery fish fly, an aquatic goddess rises, and a whale shark with a belly made of stars soars with the boy mermaid. It's in these moments of embracing play that I thought of Craig and his Creek friends. In the movement of the sea creatures, I thought of Spirited Away's sprites or Ponyo's fishy wonders.

Julián's scenes of joy make moments where he is sad hit all the harder. This brilliant boy, whose nature is to sparkle, is (however briefly) urged to hide his light. The young voice actor's choked-up performance had me spilling tears of my own. The animation, shifting from fluid, spirited dances to stilted shoving, as this kid literally locks his imaginary friend up in a jewelry box, had my heart aching.

But even if you haven't read the book (I hadn't), the love that infuses every frame of Julián assured me that it would get better for him. The world around him is too bright and full of pleasure to keep him locked up in shame or confusion. So, rather than a simple but beautiful tale of a little boy and his abuela who go to the Mermaid Parade together (as Love's wonderful book is), Julián expands to be a thorough and thoughtful story of what it means to be different, misunderstood but still loved.

In the final act, rather than a gentle walk hand-in-hand to the Coney Island beach, Julián offers a rousing action sequence, as he runs away from home to join his friends at the parade. A race against time ratchets up tension, while his pursuing abuela is on a determined mission of her own, to mend what she fears she's broken.

In this race, Bagnall showcases the wonder of the Mermaid Parade, with a cast of characters that could all be Crystal Gems. They have big, colorful hair in pinks, greens, blues, and magentas. Their bodies are varied, none from the same cookie cutter. And when the boy and his friends call upon strangers at the parade for help, it's a trio of queer-coded mermaids (some with facial hair) who aid them kindly and easily. And here, I cried again — tears of joy for the recognition of what it means to find your community.

Where there are moments in Julián where the boy is faced with homophobia, the film overwhelmingly blooms with love. And I loved it right back.

Julián was reviewed out of its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

You want your phone to last as long as it can on a charge, but you should pause before you swipe away those background apps — closing them might cause your phone to use more power, not less. It's counter-intuitive, I know, but here's why.

Most Linux distros you'll find are basically a pile of separate programs—a panel, a compositor, a window manager, and so on—all exchanging information and coordinating their behavior to create a cohesive experience.

Electronics giant LG has been under fire over the past few days after a viral two-hour video report by Gamers Nexus warned that LG's TVs surreptitiously record users' audio, even when the screen is turned off, as well as collecting details about networked devices, location data, and wireless network information.

Since the video's release, dozens of reaction videos have followed, with titles like "How to Stop Smart TV Spying" and "LG Isn't the Only TV Company Spying on You," from reputable channels such as Linus Tech Tips and RTINGS, respectively. 

In the wake of the video, LG has formally denied the claims on various news networks and in a statement on its website. Titled "Understanding Privacy on LG Smart TVs," LG unambiguously denies the central accusations of the Gamers Nexus video. 

"LG smart TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations. Speech-to-text processing begins only if a user activates a voice interaction through a supported wake-word feature or by pressing the voice (or AI) button on the remote control. Audio used for wake-word detection is processed locally on the TV and, if no wake word is detected, audio is not converted to text, stored, or transmitted. Voice-recognition results and related technical logs may be generated as part of processing a voice command. These records are associated with specific voice interactions and do not indicate continuous recording of conversations occurring outside an active voice recognition session."

LG claims that, "Speech-recognition results may be used to support voice-related features but are not uploaded later when the TV is offline or when connectivity is restored."

The company also pointed out that some of the most invasive features, like their Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) feature designed to learn from your viewing habits to offer better content recommendations, are optional.

But questions about LG's integrity, as well as the wording of their statement, still remain. If they contend that "LG smart TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations," does that mean they do so sporadically?

Ultimately, this controversy is another in a long-running series highlighting the need for a more honest conversation about the balance between consumer convenience and consumer privacy. It's definitely a conversation worth having, but in the future, it would be nice if it didn't happen after a major violation of consumer trust.

By a show of hands, how many of you clean your power tools? I didn't think so. Those Ryobi tools in the garage are built to handle life's daily wear and tear, tackle DIY projects, and more, but when they get covered in dirt, sawdust, and other grime, a proper cleaning is more important than you think.

Whether you're looking to boost your spreadsheet efficiency, elevate your data analysis capabilities, or improve your career prospects, learning new tricks in Microsoft Excel is sure to help you along the way. So, add these six Excel hacks to your toolkit today.

Owning your own media, be it movies, music, or TV shows, is a great way to ensure that a change to a licensing agreement doesn't suddenly deprive you of one of your favorite pastimes.

Nintendo has officially kicked off its Customer Appreciation Sale, reportedly using $300 million in government tariff refunds to fund discounts that are now in effect not only on the Nintendo Store and Nintendo eShop but also at participating retailers both online and offline. 

There is one major caveat, though: there is not a single deal for a Nintendo Switch 2 game, and, aside from a few accessory deals, there are no Switch 2 hardware sales either. So if you were hoping to use this sale to gear up for the Ocarina of Time remake, you're out of luck, though you can still save $10 on a pre-order through the right retailers. 

Who is this sale for, then? If you've been eying a classic Nintendo game but couldn't justify paying full retail price, or if you want to re-live older-generation games on next-generation hardware, now is the perfect time to indulge in some nostalgia.

Here are our favorite deals from this sale across hardware, games, and merchandise:

Best Nintendo Appreciation hardware deals Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Switch Pro Controller $55.99 at Nintendo
$79.99 Save $24.00   Get Deal Why we like it

Don't get us wrong: We're big fans of the Nintendo Switch and its innovative Joy-Con controllers, but occasionally you yearn for simpler times, when a single controller held all the buttons and joysticks you needed. Nintendo must agree with us, because their own Pro Controller does a fantastic job recreating the experience of classic Nintendo and Nintendo 64 games, many of which you may be playing for the first time on your Switch console. And trust us: If you're experiencing Goldeneye death matches for the first time, you're going to want this controller in hand to stand a chance.  

More hardware deals

• Nintendo Joy-Con (double) - $62.99 $89.99 (save $27)

• Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Charging Stand - $24.49 $34.99 (save $10)

• Nintendo Joy-Con (single) - $31.49 $44.99 (save $13)

Best Nintendo Appreciation game deals Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass Bundle (Digital Download) $55.97 at Amazon
$79.98 Save $24.01   Get Deal Why we like it

What better way to prepare for the Ocarina of Time remake than to re-live (or maybe play for the first time!) Breath of the Wild, the clearest spiritual successor to the N64 classic. All the way back in 2017, it was the standout game at the annual Game Awards, winning Game of the Year, Best Direction, and Best Action/Adventure Game, while it was recently named the second-best Nintendo game of all time by IGN. And unlike a lot of nearly-decade-old games, Breath of the Wild still feels fresh all these years later.   

More game deals

• Luigi's Mansion 3 - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

• Mario Party: Superstars - $41.99 $59.99 (save $17)

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Digital Download)  $48.97 at Amazon
$69.99 Save $21.02   Get Deal Why we like it

In keeping with the Zelda theme, you owe it to yourself to play the sequel to Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom. The game is just three years old now, but with more than 22 million copies sold, it's also one of the handful of modern games that are a required experience for self-respecting gamers, casting a long shadow on game development ever since its release. If you haven't yet had the pleasure of returning to Hyrule or discovering eerie Depths below, take advantage of this discount while it lasts.  

More game deals

• Metroid Dread - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Bundle (Digital Download) $84.98 at Amazon
  Get Deal Why we like it

We'll just go ahead and say it: there simply isn't a better party game than Mario Kart, and that's basically been true since the original NES release all the way back in 1992. It's the madness of flying shells, an ever-rotating leaderboard, and an incredible variety of fun, unique race tracks that make these games endlessly replayable. Be warned, though: many friendships have ended over a Mario Kart race gone wrong. 

More game deals

• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Standard - $41.99 $59.99 (save $17)

• Kirby Fighters 2 - $13.99 $19.99 (save $6)

• Kirby: Star Allies - $41.97 $59.99 (save $17)

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Metroid Prime Remastered (Digital Download) $27.97 at Amazon
$39.99 Save $12.02   Get Deal Why we like it

Everyone is focused on Zelda these days, and rightfully so, but Nintendo has an exhaustive library of unique IPs that every game should experience at least once in their lives, and after the essential Mario and Zelda games, we would argue Metroid deserves top billing as well. Suit up as Samus Aran and explore the otherworldly Tallon IV planet with updated visuals and an unforgettable soundtrack. 

More game deals

• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 + Expansion - $62.97 $89.98 (save $27)

• Endless Ocean: Luminous Standard - $34.97 $49.99 (save $14)

• Donkey Kong Country Returns HD - $41.97 $59.99 (save $18)
  

Best Nintendo Appreciation merch deals Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo $76.99 at Nintendo
$109.99 Save $33   Get Deal Why we like it

Lots of merch leans more towards novelty than practicality, but this Alarmo clock does exactly the opposite, nodding to your favorite company with an essential item you'll use every day of your life. It isn't a half-thought-out, poor-quality clock, either. You can choose from among your favorite Nintendo characters to wake you up each morning, while a built-in motion sensor quiets the alarm sound when you're ready to get up. And when you finally get out of bed, you'll be rewarded with a unique character celebration animation.

More game deals

• Mario Kart Slouch Hat - $16.44 $24.99 (save $9)

• Amiibo Samus Figurine - $20.99 $29.95 (save $10)

• Amiibo Donkey Kong and Pauline Figurine - $20.99 $29.99 (save $10)

If you've been on the fence with whether to buy a NAS (network-attached storage) or not—let me show you a different way. ORICO's latest 9948RC3 PRO DAS (direct-attached storage) system offers great transfer speeds, RAID, and more, all without a pesky network connection or custom operating system to deal with, and I actually really enjoyed using it.

Whether you're just trying to kill some time or you have some chores to get done, there is nothing worse than sitting around in silence. To me, having a little background noise can ease the pain of any mundane task. I particularly like to put something on that I can half pay attention to, which usually means opting for something light and easy.

Cloud-based automation services such as Zapier and Make let you connect different services together to automate tasks without having to build everything from scratch. If you'd rather not have all your personal automations running in the cloud, n8n gives you a different option.