The funny thing about home lab hardware is that “too much” usually has a very short shelf life. I set up a LattePanda Sigma with 32GB of RAM and a 500GB NVMe SSD, expecting it to be excessive for most of what I do. On paper, it looked like the kind of board that should spend half its life waiting around for a workload worthy of it. In practice, it took almost no time at all before I started finding jobs for it.

Amazon's rolling out a free software update for Echo Hub devices that gives the home screen a much-needed update to the interface it launched with in 2024. It had already added Alex Plus AI support, but the new interface has a cleaner, fully customizable layout that fits more smart home info and controls on the screen than the previous version. The Echo Hub is also getting access to Ring AI's Video Search feature that lets you use natural language to search through your smart home camera footage, as well as Alexa Plus summaries of detected camera events. These are the five new features Amazon highlighted for the Echo Hub:Organize by r …Read the full story at The Verge.

Sooner or later, a NAS or home lab that's pulling double duty hits the same wall: too much data, not enough space to store it. You go to add one more drive, reach for a SATA cable, but find that there's not a single spot available, or you've had your attention caught by a used enterprise drive that has very compelling price-per-terabyte value. Either way, the solution is largely the same, and it's in the form of a PCIe add-in card called a Host Bus Adapter, or HBA. HBA cards aren't sexy, but they're incredibly useful cards that add a ton of potential capacity to your home lab or NAS, and they're worth exploring if you haven't already. As with any used enterprise gear, though, they come with their own unique edges that need some ironing out.

The platform-agnostic Logitech MX Master 3S wireless mouse is discounted to $89.99 at Amazon ($30 off), matching the best price we’ve seen so far this year. While it may look like a somewhat ordinary mouse, it has a unique second scroll wheel near the left thumb that’s surprisingly useful for horizontal scrolling in spreadsheets. You can connect the mouse to Windows, MacOS, ChromeOS, and Linux systems using either Bluetooth or the included USB-A 2.4GHz wireless adapter.Logitech MX Master 3SThe MX Master 3S is a favorite among many Verge staff members because of its comfort and customization. The mouse’s thumb rest and curved shape allow you to grip it comfortably, and its side and top button can be remapped within the Logi Options Plus app, which can save you time. The MX Master 3S can be connected via Bluetooth, via its included 2.4GHz receiver, or wired with its USB-C cable.Where to Buy: $119.99 $89.99 at AmazonThis mouse has six buttons in all, and they’re impressively quiet and customizable through Logitech’s software. The company claims its USB-C rechargeable battery lasts for about 70 days of use, though it ran down slightly faster than that in our review. It’s not really an issue, though, since you can use it while it charges. The newer $119.99 Logitech MX Master 4 has haptic feedback that triggers when you press the thumb rest. It’s cool, but the feature (plus a few other minor improvements to the MX Master formula) might not be worth paying $30 more to get.Read our Logitech MX Master 3S review.

You can save on a big set of outdoor security cameras ahead of Prime Day. Amazon has a five-pack of Blink cameras with a video doorbell included that’s marked down to $166.99. The bundle includes a Blink Battery Doorbell 2K+, five Blink Outdoor 2K+ cameras, and a Blink Sync Module Core. The doorbell is typically $70, and each camera generally retails between $80 and $100, so you’re saving at least $200 by grabbing them all in the set.Blink Video Doorbell and Five Camera BundleWhere to Buy: $419.98 $166.99 at AmazonThe video doorbell captures video in 1920 x 1920 with a 140- degree field of view, and can last for months on three AA batteries. On the other hand, each outdoor camera shoots at 2560 x 1440 with a 135 degree field of view, and Blink claims that two AA batteries can power a camera for up to two years. Both the doorbell and outdoor cameras feature color night vision in low light and two-way audio.One important thing to note is that the Sync Module included with this bundle is the basic Core version. If you want to save video locally, you’ll need to upgrade to the $49.99 Sync Module 2. Alternatively, you could pay for a cloud storage plan that starts at $11.99 per month. It includes video storage for up to 60 days. The  free plan only supports live viewing and motion notifications.Other deals to considerNormally $40 each, a two pack of 45W Anker Nano Chargers is currently $55.98 ($24 off) from Anker when you use coupon code WS24QCL740 at checkout. These compact chargers have foldable prongs that tuck away neatly for storage, and a handy display with a cute little animated face that shows charging status.The Marshall Emberton II Bluetooth speaker is discounted at Amazon to $92 ($28 off). The stylish speaker has a rugged IP67 rating, enough juice for up to 30 hours of playback on a single charge, and the company claims it provides 360-degree sound. You can pair multiple Emberton II speakers with each other, or other Marshall speakers, like the Middleton, for a stereo experience.If a dad in your life is always craving a good cup of coffee, AeroPress is offering 20 percent off select brewers and bundles for Father’s Day, including the standard Clear and Colors line and the Clear XL, when you use the code FATHER20 at checkout. You can also save $50 on a Barista Bundle that includes a manual grinder with titanium burrs.

Running large language models locally on consumer hardware has always meant accepting a strict set of trade-offs. The situation was clear: if you wanted frontier-level reasoning, you needed a cloud connection.

PC gaming handhelds are fantastic devices. Thanks to them, PC games are more accessible and portable than ever, and thanks to the power of modern integrated graphics, they still play at decent quality on these low-power devices.

Although I use bulky Proxmox workstations for my virtualization and LXC-hosting needs, I consider my Network-Attached Storage server an essential part of my home lab. After all, it’s responsible for everything from archiving old media files to housing backups from the rest of the computing devices in my arsenal. And as my home lab started to grow, so too did my reliance on my NAS.

When setting up your living room for an immersive movie night, your first instinct might be to switch off all the lights to replicate that pristine movie theater experience.

I know that SSD endurance ratings don't really matter for the average user. Even if you're gaming, browsing, and working every day for 10 years, you'll probably exhaust only a third of your SSD's TBW rating. The condition, though, is that you use your consumer SSD like an average consumer. And that doesn't include running heavy, 24/7 server-grade workloads on your consumer SSD. These drives can handle some productivity workloads, but hammering them with constant writes can chew through their endurance rating faster than you think. If you've had a consumer SSD fail on you prematurely, chances are you might be using your PC as a home server. There's a reason people use different systems for different use cases. If you've been using your humble consumer drive for relentless, always-on workloads, it might be time to stop. Enterprise SSDs are built to handle these kinds of environments, and they don't even cost that much on the used market.

Microsoft's plan to fix Windows 11 has been in full swing for several weeks now. We've seen a notable reversal on AI Copilot integration, as well as confirmation that long-requested features like the ability to change the taskbar position, cleaner Windows Update rollouts, a less busy Start Menu, and a refresh of the Control Panel are all on the way.

Proxmox is my favorite hypervisor platform, and it scratches my itch for testing multiple apps and distros at once. I've started using LXCs more lately to replace resource hungry VMs, and it's been going well. At least, until it came time to update them all.