Blogroll
Why I folded on Jellyfin after weeks of trying to ditch Plex
I've been a Plex guy from the very start of my self-hosted media journey (unless you count network shares and DLNA), but all my colleagues keep going on about Jellyfin and how great it is.
Ryobi’s newest 18V Impact Wrench is the perfect upgrade for your garage
An impact wrench is a powerful and versatile tool I think everyone should own. And chances are, many DIY mechanics already have one that came in a combo kit. But as we all know, Ryobi is constantly releasing exciting new tools or upgrading its 18V ONE+ arsenal, and that includes an all-new impact wrench that's the perfect upgrade for your garage or shop.
My older Galaxy finally got One UI 9, and these 3 features were worth the wait
It took some time, but One UI 9 has finally started to roll out to a swath of older devices. You don't have to have a brand-new flagship Galaxy device to get the update anymore, which is good news for me and my S24 FE. Even mid-range A-series devices and some tablets are now gaining access to the swath of new features.
GTA 6: 3 intriguing new details we just learned
At this point, there's a good chance anyone reading this has already purchased and pre-loaded Grand Theft Auto VI. You've chosen a console, or maybe you're still looking to buy one, but at any rate, all you can do is wait for the game and soak in any pre-release details you can.
Thank goodness for The Guardian, then, as the UK newspaper published an exclusive preview of the game in its Saturday print edition. We've read the whole thing, which involved a tour through Vice City's open world in the early stages of the game, and have compiled three of the more fascinating details that were revealed in the piece for your reading pleasure.
SEE ALSO: Boxed copies of GTA 6 are already out in the wild. Here's what's inside. There are so many birds in this gameOne tiny nugget in the preview that stood out immediately is that, apparently, the player can keep a logbook of different wildlife they encounter in the streets and swamps of Leonida. As far as I know, this is a first for Grand Theft Auto, and it feels like something right out of Red Dead Redemption. Nature has been featured in some previous GTA games, but the player didn't have much of a relationship with it, unlike Rockstar's cowboy series.
Anyway, Rockstar confirmed to The Guardian that there are 62 different types of birds to log in GTA6. That's so many birds, man.
Romance isn't just in cutscenesMuch of GTA 6's marketing has focused on the romantic interplay between protagonists Jason and Lucia. We already know that both are playable, and can be switched between freely for much of the game outside of story missions. Rockstar has also spoken to some extent about the way romance works in GTA 6, but The Guardian's preview shed more light on how the player will actually affect it outside of cutscenes.
Specifically, whoever the player is controlling can call or text the other protagonist when they aren't together. When they are together, the player can make them go on dates, which can take the form of getting drinks, going to the gym, or even robbing a liquor store. Love manifests in many different ways, I guess. There will also be some unspecified consequences for neglecting the relationship, according to the preview.
Rockstar wants to encourage empathyThis was perhaps the most vague part of The Guardian's piece, but also the most interesting. According to Rockstar, GTA 6 "provide mechanisms to encourage [empathy]" in the player. We don't yet know exactly how that will manifest in-game, but it would be a stark departure from the almost nihilistic crime spree fantasies from previous GTA games.
Of course, you can still play GTA 6 that way if you want, but the game might have something for those of us who aren't interested in causing mayhem, too.
USB flash drives have gotten so expensive that you might as well buy an SSD
Flash drives aren’t the cheap choice that they used to be. Sure, you can still find some cheap flash drives around, but have you considered buying an external SSD instead? When you start to get to larger storage tiers, the pricing evens out and the external SSDs actually become a better buy.
The weird world of Kindle page-turner remotes
So you buy a Kindle and you think to yourself, "I sure would like to turn the pages from way over here, surely there's a solution for that?" Well, to my personal surprise, I have recently learned both that people who want to turn eReader pages at a distance exist (it makes sense when you think about it) and that Kindles in particular have no elegant way of achieving this goal. Hence, the existence of weird and wacky "Kindle page turners."
I canceled my BritBox subscription after this tool showed me where to stream my favorite shows for free
When it comes to streaming, buying, selecting, or watching, I'm a picky viewer. It drives my wife bonkers. When I'm not being a thorn in her side about picking media to watch, I'm usually searching for ways to cancel subscriptions.
Audacity 4 is finally here and it's made editing audio easier than ever
I got into radio and music production at a very weird time. For a while, I rocked a TASCAM PortaStudio for my personal recordings. When I got into college and started working in radio, it was all physical digital audio workstations and programs like Adobe Audition. When I no longer had access to professional-grade equipment and software, Audacity just hit a sweet spot for me. Whether it was recording my own songs, digitizing my LPs, or doing voice work, it was always there for me. Naturally, I was pretty excited when I heard about Audacity 4, one of the biggest updates to the software in some time. It was fantastic before, but its newest features are really going to give other professional DAW (digital audio workstations) a run for their money.
A custom home screen widget is the easiest way to start vibe coding Android apps
I’ve been a devout Android user for nearly two decades, but I never even toyed with the idea of building an app until this year. Google’s AI integration in Android Studio makes it accessible to anyone, and custom widgets are a great place to start.
CachyOS made my Mint laptop feel slow, and I haven't looked back
Ever since I've been using Linux as a daily driver, I haven't really considered dropping Mint for something else. Don't get me wrong. I have a machine running Debian, a machine running Arch, and I still use Red Hat and Ubuntu at the office. So I'm very much in the Linux world. But I recently discovered an OS that gives Mint a run for its money (at least for my work): CachyOS.
5 websites I scrape with Home Assistant (and what I do with the data)
The internet is full of a lot of garbage, but there’s also some incredibly useful information out there. Home Assistant has a native integration that can scrape information from some websites and extract specific values. I scrape data from several different sites, and once I've got the data into Home Assistant, there’s a lot I can do with it.
I spent over $10,000 building custom PCs, and a mini PC is now my main computer
I've been a PC gamer for well over a decade. It's safe to say I've spent collectively over $10,000 on various gaming desktop builds over the years. But, I recently moved from my full-size superpowered custom-built desktop to a mini PC—and I love it?
SpaceX debris causes West Coast flight delays
The nation-wide grounding of American flights grabbed all the headlines yesterday, for good reason, but it wasn't the only anomalous event on Friday the 13th.
Before the FAA mandate brought all air travel to a screeching halt, West Coast travelers experienced flight delays out of fear that falling debris from the recent SpaceX launch might damage a plane.
The launch of Starship, SpaceX's largest interplantery rocket yet, capable of carrying up to 100 people on long-duration flights, involved incredible feats of engineering, but also necessitated shedding incredible amounts of debris to achieve escape velocity. Much of that debris ends up in orbit, as "space junk," but much also comes crashing down to Earth, and any problems in the launch would have likely also created significant danger, not only to air traffic but even pedestrians.
Thankfully no harm was done and after a short delay, primarily impacting flyers out of and into Hawaii, flights resumed until the larger, nation-wide shutdown.
SpaceX's Starship test flight concludes later this afternoon, so if you want to watch the attempted catch of the mega-rocket, here's how you can live-stream it.
4 Netflix shows that are perfect for killing time in the school pickup line
Waiting in line to pick up your kids from school can be excruciatingly dull. Many people spend the time scrolling through social media, but there is a ton of content out there that you could be watching that doesn't demand all of your attention or much of your time. Rather than doom-scrolling, these series are the perfect way to kill some time.
SpaceX Starship landing livestream: Watch the catch attempt live
SpaceX is attempting rocketry history on Saturday, and you can watch it from the comfort of your home.
Elon Musk's spacefaring company launched a test flight of its Starship craft on Friday evening. There were multiple objectives for the mission, including the deployment of Starlink satellites, but two goals stood out above the rest: Guide the rocket booster to a pinpoint landing minutes after launch, and then do the same with the Starship itself a day later after it's done orbiting the Earth. That has never been done before.
SEE ALSO: Why tech stocks are down today, including Nvidia, SpaceX, AMD, moreThe first goal failed, with the booster ultimately landing in the Gulf of Mexico, but the second objective is being livestreamed on X. According to Space.com, SpaceX will do a final point-of-no-return check at about 2 p.m. ET, where it will decide whether or not to go through with this objective or just splash down in the water. If the company decides to go for it, the landing will happen a couple of hours later, shortly after 4 p.m. ET.
If you don't have anything better happening on a Saturday afternoon, there are worse ways to spend that time.
Duplicati is the free, open-source app that automatically backs up my most important Windows files
I got fed up with OneDrive running out of room and Windows Backup not working well for me. So, I decided to try a new piece of software that completely changed how I backed up my computer: Duplicati.
Resin 3D printing just got safer and easier to deal with
The consumer 3D printer market is dominated by filament deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printers that take spools of filament and turn them into objects by melting and reforming that material. Resin 3D printing works in a similar way, except objects are “grown” from a vat of liquid resin and hardened using light.
No need to wait until Black Friday — the Nintendo Switch 2 is on sale now
Save $30: The Nintendo Switch 2 is available for $469 at Woot. This deal is live through Nov. 30 or until sold out. The console rarely goes on sale and is usually listed for $499, making this a 6% discount.
Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Nintendo Switch 2 $469 at Woot!$499 Save $30 Get Deal at Woot!
Struggling to get your hands on the Zelda edition of the Switch 2? How about grabbing a discounted Switch 2 instead, weeks ahead of Black Friday?
Yes, you read that right. Nintendo's console rarely goes on sale — and even less so since its $50 price hike in September — yet Woot is offering a brand-new Nintendo Switch 2 for $469. That's a $30 price drop from the usual $499, bringing it closer to its former $449 list price. Admittedly, it's not a huge discount, but again, it's rare. The console has dropped in price a grand total of zero times since its price hike.
For comparison, the Switch 2 is holding firm at $499 on Amazon and Best Buy.
Going into my fifth year covering Black Friday at Mashable, I can confidently say that gaming console deals can be a tricky one during the shopping holiday. A lot of folks wait until sales kick off to grab deals, meaning if there is an impressive price drop, it sells out fast. I would expect this situation to be even more competitive during the year of RAMaggedon.
In other words, sneaking in and grabbing some savings ahead of time on a truly excellent console is a great way to go this holiday season. Just make sure to grab it while supplies last, or before Nov. 30 when the deal expires, if stock is still available.
The best upgrade for your desk setup only costs $5
Desk space is a limited and highly valuable resource. If you have a gaming PC, you know how quickly accessories, peripherals, and gadgets pile up. Fortunately, with a single accessory, I managed to move most of the clutter off my desk without sacrificing functionality or convenience.
Why your Android phone keeps waking up in your pocket (And how to fix it)
It took some time, but One UI 9 has finally started to roll out to a swath of older devices. You don't have to have a brand-new flagship Galaxy device to get the update anymore, which is good news for me and my S24 FE. Even mid-range A-series devices and some tablets are now gaining access to the swath of new features.


