Technology

A popular project is to install Linux on an old PC. While it's useful for keeping an old machine from the recycler, Linux isn't magic. It's a result of how Linux is designed.

Last week, I recommended watching The Whisper Man, an exciting new thriller starring Robert De Niro and Adam Scott. The movie is now the No. 1 movie on Netflix in the U.S. for the past week, so hopefully you're getting in on the discussions, especially involving the polarizing ending.

TL;DR: Get 20TB of Scramble cloud storage for life for $349.95 (reg. $1,440).

Opens in a new window Credit: Scramble Cloud Scramble Cloud Storage Lifetime Subscription (20TB) $349.95
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Running out of cloud storage gets expensive when your photo library, videos, and backups keep growing. Scramble offers 20TB of lifetime cloud storage for $349.95 (reg. $1,440), giving you a large cloud vault without adding yet another monthly subscription to your bills.

The service uses end-to-end encryption and a zero-knowledge architecture designed to keep control of your data with you. Scramble also offers unlimited bandwidth and file sharing, so you can store and share large collections without worrying about an additional bandwidth allowance. Files can be shared through encrypted private links, while encrypted groups let you manage access among friends, family members, or colleagues.

For those with vast media libraries, Scramble can stream uploaded videos in encrypted form. Browser streaming and previews currently support MP4 files. Team Link provides another way to collaborate, allowing you to share files with internal or external partners through a secure link without requiring registration.

Credit: Scramble Cloud Storage Lifetime Subscription (20TB)

Scramble works across devices through a web browser without requiring additional installation, and its software can mount Scramble Drive within your operating system’s native file explorer using WebDAV. Users can also manage their storage through the Command Line Interface.

The 20TB capacity is especially useful for people backing up years of photos and videos, storing large work files, or consolidating data from multiple storage locations. However, daily upload limits apply and individual uploads cannot exceed 5GB. The service also requires a Scramble account for people accessing files shared directly within Scramble.

The lifetime plan includes ongoing platform updates, two-factor authentication, GDPR-compliant storage and ISO 27001-certified infrastructure. If you need substantial cloud capacity and prefer paying once rather than maintaining another recurring subscription, 20TB provides you with plenty of room to work with.

Get lifetime access to 20TB of Scramble cloud storage for $349.95 (reg. $1,440).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

You may have been using Windows for years. You might love it, hate it, or just wonder if there's a real alternative. Here are the reasons to tell if you've outgrown Windows and should consider checking out Linux.

Deleting files is easy, but making sure those files cannot be recovered later requires a different approach. A normal file deletion operation usually removes filesystem references while leaving the underlying data in place. That allows operating systems to delete files quickly, but it also means recovery software can sometimes retrieve information from previously used storage space.

I always saw Android widgets as little information panels sitting on my home screen. What changed was noticing which apps I was opening purely to glance at something, then immediately closing. So, I started treating them as functional shortcuts rather than just a fancy UI thing, and they reduced my habit of launching the app in the first place.

Amazon's Fire TV devices offer great value for money, but not when you're intent on private listening with wireless earbuds. When I've used a Fire TV Stick, I've had to make do with stereo audio if I wanted to avoid waking my family. What's the point of paying for Dolby Atmos in my streaming services if I can only use it some of the time?

Wireless Android Auto is easy to use. You get in the car, and your phone connects on its own — which is what attracted me to it to begin with. However, as I started to use it more, I realized that the wired setup was actually worth all the hassle. I would rather have a phone that always works than the convenience of wireless.

Microsoft’s Phone Link is arguably the best cross-OS integration tool that closes the gap between your smartphone and Windows PC. For Android in particular, Microsoft has built some strong partnerships with major OEMs like Samsung, OnePlus, ASUS to integrate deeply with the OS, unlocking powerful features such as screen mirroring, app streaming, and cross-device clipboard.

PLA is the cheapest, safest, and arguably most versatile 3D printing filament, but it’s not without its drawbacks. In addition to being a poor choice for prints that live outside or need to withstand heat and direct sunlight, PLA can deform over time.

You have it way easier these days, but back in the day, when you wanted to play a game on your PC, you had to take a similar approach to consoles. Go to a physical store, get a disc, then pop it into your PC. Chances are, though, that nowadays your PC doesn't have a CD drive. So what do you do when you want to play your old games on your new PC?

OpenAI and Microsoft face another lawsuit from news organizations the Seattle Times and Newsday, which accuse the tech giants of using their sites to train AI without permission.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that the companies scraped paywalled content and added it to training datasets used for ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and the new AI-powered Bing.

SEE ALSO: Massachusetts state police ordered to make surveillance camera locations public

The chatbots were able to reproduce entire passages and closely paraphrase reporters' work, the publishers claim. The lawsuit demands that the tech companies destroy any existing copies of the published material, as well as training datasets or AI models that incorporate it, Reuters reported.

"We feel strongly that we must defend our content — which we spend millions of dollars a year to produce — from being used without our consent or compensation," wrote Seattle Times president and CEO ​Alan Fisco in a message to employees.

OpenAI said in a response to the press that the company only uses publicly available materials grounded in fair use for model training. Microsoft said it was surprised by the lawsuit, but was willing to "sit down and explore solutions" with the publishers.

The AI developer and its collaborator, Microsoft, have faced several court battles over its training data and alleged copyright infringement, including an ongoing lawsuit with the New York Times and a cohort of other publishers. The Times has argued that the company's products compete with the news outlet by reproducing its work without appropriately transforming it under existing fair use protections.

Last week, the Trump administration filed a Statement of Interest (SOI) in the case, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) writing that a decision siding with the New York Times would be a hit to local newsrooms and independent journalism. The DOJ argued that AI can be harnessed by small publishers to stay competitive with mainstream news outlets.

The brief also claims a Times win would "threaten national security" by stalling AI advancement and giving foreign competitors an edge. The administration has used this argument to attempt to thwart litigation against AI data centers, as well.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

How many of you still partake in streaming marathons? I'm talking about those binge-watching sessions where you wake up and crush an entire season of television in one sitting. I'm usually pressed for time, so I have to make strategic decisions about what I can watch in under 90 minutes. However, I still enjoy finishing a show in one sitting from time to time.

Massachusetts law enforcement can't withhold information about the locations of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology from the public, a superior court judge has ruled.

It's the latest speed bump to a swelling nationwide surveillance network spurred by controversial Flock cameras.

The decision ends a three-year court battle between the ACLU of Massachusetts and the state police, following the civil society group's 2023 lawsuit against the state for refusing to disclose records on the locations of ALPRs and the use of the public's data by police.

SEE ALSO: These hikers relied on tech and AI. They had to be rescued.

At the time, the state was holding an estimated 290 million records used to track motorists and monitor vehicle activity. The judge determined that state police could not justify withholding the information from the public and ordered an immediate release of ALPR records.

"Over the past year, public outrage about secretive police surveillance has exploded across Massachusetts and the nation," said Kade Crockford, director of technology and justice programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts. "People from cities and towns across the state have been organizing to push back against local police adoption of Flock and other license plate readers. But what many residents don’t know is that the Massachusetts State Police maintains its own statewide network of license plate readers."

The explosion of ALPR surveillance systems, enabled by the integration of sophisticated AI, has prompted concern from privacy advocates and free speech organizations. Communities have pushed back against the growing presence of Flock cameras, often engaging in guerrilla tactics to expose and disable them.

A bipartisan effort to regulate companies like Flock has gained momentum ahead of the midterm elections, with prominent voices from both parties pushing for legislation to restrict their use by authorities. Last month, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley announced he was leading an investigation into Flock, as state governments crack down on data collection and block funding for the private tech company.

"In my 20-plus years at the ACLU, I’ve never really seen such a grassroots uprising against surveillance technology like this," said ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley in a recent interview with the Guardian.

If you're a fan of Ryobi's bright, neon-colored tools found at Home Depot, you likely already know the company makes far more than just tools for around the yard and house. One of its best-kept secrets is how the 18V platform can power camping and outdoor gear. I own a ton of Ryobi products for camping, and here are several that are absolutely worth buying.

The Back to the Future trilogy is such a huge part of my childhood, along with all the other 80s and 90s kids like myself, but it's not the only time travel movie worth your, er, time.

XREAL has been teasing its Android XR glasses for over a year, but now they're finally close to launch. I got to try them on ahead of their expected fall release, and in many ways they're extremely impressive — but also make the limitations of modern mixed reality (XR) wearables very clear.

Many portable projectors are still too bulky for everyday carry. Aurzen changed that with the ZIP, the world’s first tri-fold projector. It collapsed to roughly the size of a small stack of cards, making it genuinely pocketable.

Most modern 3D printers meet or exceed the bar of satisfactory print quality, making it a relatively trivial metric for comparing models. If you’re shopping for a printer right now, you’ll want to consider some other things instead.

For most people, a 25-year-old video patent expiring sounds like a piece of legal housekeeping that has nothing to do with their computers. But for Linux users, it removes one more obstacle that has historically made something as basic as playing a video more complicated than it should be. Here’s everything you need to know and what this means about your media usage.