2026 has been one of the driest years for new hardware launches in recent memory. Although AMD and Intel released some new CPUs, they were all simple refreshes, using the same architecture as existing products. On the other hand, Nvidia's highly anticipated RTX 5000 Super series refresh never panned out because the 3GB modules it would have used were ludicrously expensive.

I've written about Android TV launchers a few times, and most often the angle is that you can trim some of the fat from Google's default launcher for a much smoother experience. It's especially helpful on an older device like my Chromecast with Google TV, which feels noticeably slower these days.

There's a big debate going on within the open-source community regarding whether AI-generated content is allowed within projects. Some maintainers have banned the use of AI, some have allowed it with strict rules about its usage, and some have banned it, then re-allowed it again at a later date.

For a couple of years, I'd been accumulating VS Code extensions without thinking much about clearing them after they served their purpose. Quite a few on my list were there only to help me through a temporary, one-off problem, and for some reason I never purged them afterward.

Docker Desktop is an obvious starting point when you want to run Linux containers on Windows. I’ve also tried running Docker Engine directly inside Ubuntu on WSL, including services such as Jellyfin and Vaultwarden. That works, but I still have to install and manage the container software separately, even though Windows already provides the Linux environment underneath it. Microsoft now offers its own container tooling through WSL.

Staying safe online can feel overwhelming, especially when every other security tool seems to come with a subscription. But do I really need to spend a fortune to protect my digital life? Not necessarily. Plenty of free and affordable tools can help me reduce everyday security risks without complicating things. The trick is knowing what each tool does and where it fits. Here are the tools I’d consider adding to my security setup without stretching my budget.

There are more reasons to switch to Linux than ever before, perhaps more so than ever in the history of computing. Proton is more mature than ever, the hardware bar is non-existent for any machine that can run Windows, there's no bloatware, no background service snooping about, and you get an operating system that, by and far, truly belongs to you.

Baby’s first local AI agent. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge I'm embarking on a journey I've so far been hesitant to go on: actually using AI on the regular. Giving my most personal data to cloud services has been a major hold up for me, but it's increasingly possible to run powerful models locally to see what they're capable of. Is this tech so useful that it's worth throwing gobs of money at a computer or a laptop with lots of overpriced RAM? I'll try to help you find out. I'm not an AI expert, it's going to be a journey for me, but maybe I can help you see if that journey is worth taking - and I'll be posting my way through it.A big part of Apple's pitch for its new Mac desktops is how good they …Read the full story at The Verge.

In a lengthy post on X, Microsoft's CEO laid out his views on the dangers posed by highly advanced AI models and how to confront those risks. Nadella says we can no longer accept a world where AI is treated as a "set of nested black boxes" whose advice and actions we simply accept or reject. He calls for building a more transparent system where models can be contained, observed, and leaves behind "tamper-proof human readable evidence."Many of his recommendations align with what we've heard from others in the industry: timely incident disclosure, independent audits, verifiable data, and containment. It's on that last point that he appears t …Read the full story at The Verge.

Ask anyone about running ZFS, and you'll hear the same warning: it eats half your RAM. That used to be true on Linux, which is why so many people who build their own NAS with TrueNAS Scale open the dashboard, see a wall of memory marked as used, and assume something's leaking. Except it isn't half anymore. On current TrueNAS, ZFS will happily fill almost all your RAM, and that's exactly what you want.

2024 was kind of a weird time for AI as a whole. Nobody was sure what people wanted from AI or how to monetise it, and you could argue that people still don't really know. However, I think we're at the point where we do know that people won't pay a monthly fee to get AI-generated themes for their email client.

Something about me is that I never seem to learn from past experiences. I probably should, but that's a conversation for another day. I've noticed this habit is particularly prevalent when it comes to the tech tools I discover. Whenever I see an app being hyped up endlessly on TikTok or Instagram, I tend to have the exact opposite reaction you'd expect. Instead of convincing me to try it, all that hype weirdly convinces me it isn't worth my time.