A cheaper plan is also available, but only to existing All Apps subscribers.Some of Adobe’s most expensive Creative Cloud subscriptions are about to get even pricier for users in North America. Starting from June 17th, the Creative Cloud All Apps plan will be renamed Creative Cloud Pro for users in the US, Canada, and Mexico, adding a bunch of generative AI perks in exchange for bumping up subscription costs.The pre-tax monthly price for individual Creative Cloud All Apps subscribers on an annual contract will increase from $59.99 to $69.99, or from $659.88 to $779.99 annually. The monthly price for rolling, non-contracted subscribers will jump from $89.99 to $104.99. Contracted prices for teams start at $99.99 per month, up from $89.99, while student and teacher plans will jump from $34.99 to $39.99 monthly on renewal.The new Creative Cloud Pro plan provides access to the same Adobe apps and features as the previous All Apps plan, alongside some new additions. Users will have unlimited credits for powering generative AI image tools like Photoshop’s Generate Fill, and 4,000 monthly credits for “premium” AI video and audio features like Generative Extend in Premiere Pro. The plan also includes the ability to select third-party generative AI models like OpenAI’s GPT and Google Imagen, and access to Adobe’s in-beta collaborative whiteboard app, Firefly Boards.“We want to empower you with more time to explore ideas and create, so we’re focused on continually upgrading your apps’ performance, delivering innovations to your core workflows, and integrating generative AI-powered capabilities across Creative Cloud and through our new Firefly app that make you more productive,” Adobe said in its announcement. “Today, we’re sharing updates to our Creative Cloud offerings to reflect our continued innovation and commitment to providing you the best tools for bringing your visions to life.”The previous All Apps plan will no longer be available following the switch, and existing subscribers will be charged the increased price on their next renewal date. These changes only apply in North America, and Adobe says it isn’t planning to make name or pricing changes in other regions “at this time.”Adobe is also offering a stripped-back “Creative Cloud Standard” plan for users who don’t need its generative AI offerings. Starting at $54.99 per month for contracted subscribers or $82.49 for rolling users, the Creative Cloud Standard plan is nearly identical to the current All Apps plan, but reduces the previous 1,000 monthly generative credit allowance down to 25. Users also won’t have access to premium web and mobile app features that are unlocked for Creative Cloud Pro subscribers. Not only is Adobe defaulting current All Apps subscribers to the more expensive AI-laden plan, compared to the Standard offering that’s closer in price and features, but this new Creative Cloud Standard offering is only available to existing subscribers, forcing new customers to take the more expensive AI-focused plan.Adobe’s All Apps plan was a poor investment for most individual users anyway, as it’s rare for one person to need more than 20 apps that target such a wide variety of creative industries. Still, some existing All Apps subscribers aren’t too pleased with the changes, if the reactions on Adobe subreddits are any indication. Canva attempted to make similar AI-driven price increases last year, which were later softened due to backlash from its users, so we will have to see if Adobe sticks to its guns.

Renewable energy has driven a manufacturing boom in the US, but that’s all at stake as Congress weighs cuts to Biden-era tax incentives.Solar, wind, and battery companies have announced plans to either create or expand 250 manufacturing facilities since August 2022. That’s when Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), considered the biggest federal investment to date in climate and clean energy. If those projects are up and running by 2030, they would collectively create more than 575,000 jobs and contribute $86 billion annually to gross domestic product, according to a report published today by the American Clean Power Association (ACP). Republican districts benefit the most from the IRA’s clean energy tax credits. But now, GOP lawmakers could take away those tax incentives if they follow through with President Donald Trump’s plan to pass a “big, beautiful” spending bill that would rollback what he calls a “green new scam.” “Republican districts benefit the most from the IRA’s clean energy tax credits”Red states are home to 73 percent of active facilities, according to the ACP. And already, solar, wind, and battery manufacturing supports 122,000 full-time jobs. Solar manufacturing employed the biggest share of Americans, some 75,400 people. Solar was the fastest-growing source of electricity in 2024, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration, accounting for 81 percent of added annual capacity. Costs for solar and wind have fallen dramatically for decades, with utility-scale solar now the cheapest source of electricity in most parts of the world. Despite that growth, supply chains for solar energy have been concentrated in China and beset with concerns about forced labor and human rights violations, particularly in the Xinjiang region. The Inflation Reduction Act was meant to supercharge domestic manufacturing, largely through tax credits. And it was starting to pay off. Manufacturing capacity for solar modules grew 190 percent in the US last year, according to a separate report by the Solar Energy Industries Association and research firm Wood Mackenzie.Those tax credits are now in the crosshairs of a Republican-controlled Congress trying to ram Trump’s agenda into a sweeping spending bill. A draft bill from the House Ways and Means committee last week proposes phasing out the advanced manufacturing tax credit (45x) and other tax incentives for renewables established in the IRA, and would add stipulations in the meantime that would make it difficult for projects to qualify for credits.If those proposals are ultimately signed into law, the US clean energy industry will see job losses as factories shut down, MJ Shiao, ACP Vice President of Supply Chain and Manufacturing said during a press briefing last week.“What we have seen from these texts from House Ways and Means, it basically goes too far, too fast,” Shiao said. “The manufacturers that were being supported by these incentives, and frankly, were trusting that the government was going to honor these incentives, you know, they’re getting the rug pulled out from under them.”

Boss fights are a staple of video games. Whenever we reach the end of a level, there's always one final enemy waiting for us that's stronger than the rest. They might have more health, a variety of new attacks, or even a completely different look to indicate they're not your typical bad guy. And more often than not, they can be taken down with a smart strategy and quick reflexes to overcome the challenge they present. But then there are those boss fights that go beyond what anyone would expect to encounter. They're not like the other baddies that have come before. These boss battles are just built differently.

Meta antitrust trialThe long-awaited antitrust trial between Meta and the Federal Trade Commission kicked off on April 14th. Over about two months, DC District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg is hearing arguments about whether then-Facebook illegally monopolized the market for “personal social networking services” through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.The FTC first brought the case in late 2020. While it was initially thrown out by the judge, he let an amended version move forward after the government beefed up details about why it thinks Meta is a monopoly. This phase of the trial will help the judge determine if Meta is liable for breaking antitrust law. If he finds that to be true, he’ll later rule on how those harms should be remedied. The FTC is pushing for Instagram and WhatsApp should be spun off.This is the third US trial seeking to break up Big Tech in recent years, following the Justice Department’s two separate cases against Google over its search and ad tech businesses.Read below for all of our updates on the FTC v. Meta case. Instagram handled lots of growth and features before using Meta’s infrastructure. Joining Facebook ‘rapidly’ solved lots of Instagram’s issues. One of Instagram’s earliest employees testifies about its pre-Facebook ‘chaos.’ WhatsApp co-founder left behind $800 million in Meta’s restricted stock units. Meta diluted encryption on WhatsApp after its co-founder left. Facebook was reticent to push WhatsApp in places Messenger dominated. A Facebook employee tried to be WhatsApp’s CFO before the deal. WhatsApp added plenty of features before Meta bought it. WhatsApp could have made enough money without ads. WhatsApp didn’t bother getting Google to bid against Meta to buy it. ‘No ads, no games, no gimmicks.’ WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton takes the stand. FTC ignores ‘robust’ competition Meta faces for advertisers. FTC tries to poke holes in Meta’s TikTok ban theory. Does Google Chrome compete with Facebook? Facebook and Instagram might have had more ads as separate companies. Facebook and Instagram benefited from India’s TikTok ban. YouTube benefits most when people reduce their Instagram usage. Friends and family sharing is not a ‘secret sauce.’ Meta calls on Walmart’s chief economist to back its antitrust defense. Meta asks judge to throw out antitrust case mid-trial Facebook chief worries about differentiating Reels. TikTok took Facebook by surprise. Facebook is in the midst of an identity crisis. Getting people to share more with their friends isn’t always worthwhile. Facebook’s friends tab lets it have its cake and eat it too. Facebook friends posts are ‘becoming a supporting part of the cast.’ You might need to scroll Facebook all day to see all your friends’ posts. ‘OG Facebook’ tries to invoke early social media nostalgia. The core reason people use Facebook has changed in the past three years. Facebook didn’t want to dilute friend content. A friendless Facebook. Facebook users don’t care about all of their friends. Users don’t always know what they want. Head of Facebook Tom Alison takes the stand. Using Instagram isn’t necessary to evaluate an anticompetitive effect. Meta knew about the FTC expert’s pitch for regulators to investigate it. When ads get better, Meta shows users more of them. ‘You’ve known what you thought of this case before you saw a shred of evidence.’ Can Facebook discriminate against the majority of its users? Meta pushes back on the claim it discriminates against users who like seeing friends’ posts. FTC expert is ‘monkeying’ with charts, Meta charges. Are ads really that annoying? To make Facebook cheaper, it would need to pay users. TikTok users fled to Facebook and Instagram when it went dark. Meta’s beef with the press flares at its antitrust trial Tim Wu and Chris Hughes pitched a Facebook probe to regulators. FTC expert can’t tell the difference between Reels, TikTok, and Shorts. FTC’s expert witness has an ‘axe to grind,’ Meta charges. Are ads inevitable? Pay attention to what users do, not what they say. How much did Meta care about a ‘competitive moat’? Could Instagram have grown larger than it already is? ‘Innocent explanations’ for WhatsApp’s acquisition fail. WhatsApp would have had to make money eventually. Microsoft also claimed to be ‘hemmed in’ by competition. Do users’ quality perceptions matter? ‘Needy users’ get fewer ads on Facebook and Instagram. Infrequent ads on Reels is ‘price discrimination.’ Why one obscure app could help crumble Meta’s empire Boasberg scrutinizes the FTC’s arguments. Not all alternatives are created equal. Can Meta monopolize something that’s a fraction of its business? TikTok’s blackout doesn’t show it’s a substitute for Instagram. Very few Instagram users only spend time on Reels. Are people less interested in seeing posts from their friends? The FTC’s chief economic expert is up next. TikTok had a lesser impact on Instagram ‘friend content.’ Instagram has already reached most eligible users in the US. User engagement on Instagram wasn’t as great as it seemed. Are Snapchat and MeWe the only things holding back Meta’s dominance? Mapping users’ connections is becoming less important. Instagram would have followed Twitter’s growth strategy. ‘Kevin overreacted.’ ‘In the end, it didn’t matter.’ The other side of the Instagram ‘skirmish.’ Meta trial enters week five. Instagram CEO testifies about competing with TikTok: ‘You’re either growing, or you’re slowly dying’ People like Meta about as much as Wells Fargo. Focusing on friends and family helped Instagram grow. Keeping Messenger alive post-WhatsApp could ‘prove there is competition.’ ‘Make Instagram Instagram again.’ Creators always want more reach. ‘TikTok is notorious about being very loose with its data.’ ‘One of the best acquisitions of all time.’ Instagram ‘drifted culturally a bit too far’ from Facebook. Instagram has spent up to $700 million in a year to lure creators. ‘Compared to the competition, we are looking a bit sad.’ ‘We need to adapt, and do so quickly.’ Mosseri calls the first version of Reels his ‘biggest mistake.’ ‘TikTok is probably the fiercest competition that we have faced.’ ‘You’re either growing, or you’re slowly dying.’ TikTok and YouTube have become more similar to Instagram. Threads was originally going to live inside the Instagram app Instagram doesn’t want to be a ‘lean-back experience.’ ‘Part of our core identity’ is connecting friends. Mosseri moderated a ‘strained’ relationship with Instagram’s founders. ‘Instagram will always need to focus on friends.’ The FTC plays Mosseri’s ‘Decoder’ interview. Threads was initially going to be inside the Instagram app. People go to Twitter for news and celebrities. Connecting with friends is still an important part of using Instagram. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri takes the stand. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri is testifying tomorrow. Meta’s chief marketing officer takes the stand. Court adjourns for the day. Cuts to Instagram’s growth staffing came ‘out of the blue,’ Systrom wrote. Meta supercharged Instagram’s growth, its former product chief says. Messenger exec was ‘not at all’ concerned about WhatsApp becoming a major competitor. ‘We’re all terrified.’ People don’t come to TikTok to connect with real-life friends. Meta has grown despite the threat of TikTok. Meta throws a jab at Apple over its developer policies. Focusing on friends and family wasn’t a great strategy for Meta. Ads aren’t a huge cost for users. ‘Very little interest’ in Meta’s ad-free subscription in Europe. Users don’t really notice when Meta shows them more ads. Apple’s privacy changes let users block Meta from tracking them off-app. Would Instagram have collected less user data without Meta? Meta’s chief revenue officer is up next. Users don’t actually want a chronological feed. Meta saw a ‘precipitous decline’ in user sentiment after its speech policy changes. Media events can impact how users feel about Meta, even if the product doesn’t change. House Republicans drop their bid to strip the FTC’s antitrust authority. Cambridge Analytica had the ‘most extreme to date’ impact on how users feel about Meta. Keeping up with friends is important to Facebook users. The TikTok ban is back in court — in Meta’s antitrust trial Does Meta care about its users? Reworking ByteDance’s systems for a US-only TikTok would be costly. The TikTok ban makes another cameo. TikTok predicted Instagram would redesign its app to focus on Reels. Are YouTube and Instagram the top competitors for TikTok? TikTok and Reels are ‘indistinguishable.’ TikTok’s friends tab is not exactly a hit. TikTok’s legal entanglements collide. Reels isn’t Instagram’s ‘core’ experience. TikTok doesn’t compete with Meta for ‘personal social networking.’ TikTok’s head of operations takes the stand. Yahoo once paid $1 billion for an unprofitable tech startup, too. Tumblr’s former CTO tells the court about fandoms. Apple lists its messages app under social networking. Apple hasn’t considered putting ads in its messaging app. ‘Who are all these people?’ An Apple iMessage exec is up next. Meta prepared for a ‘flood in traffic’ ahead of the TikTok ban. It’s now ‘extremely easy’ to build a social graph from scratch. ‘We wanted it to be one of the biggest apps in the world.’ Facebook didn’t fear WhatsApp becoming a social competitor. Cambridge Analytica hit Facebook’s reputation, but its user numbers saw less impact. Meta was willing to sacrifice some Instagram growth to grow the whole pie. Facebook worried most about Google or Apple buying WhatsApp. Google had a ‘long shot’ chance of becoming competitive in social with WhatsApp. Facebook didn’t know how it would make money from WhatsApp. Facebook floated starting from scratch on messaging. WhatsApp showed ‘absolutely no signs of morphing’ into a social app. Facebook exec worried about losing the business to mobile messaging apps. ‘I was really worried that this could become the end.’ ‘This shit is getting scary.’ Meta COO Javier Olivan kicks off day 10 of trial. More cloud talk. An AWS exec testifies about how startups can scale with its cloud. Facebook execs worried Google would buy WhatsApp and make it ‘a cross-platform iMessage.’ Pinterest once saw Instagram as an ‘existential threat.’ Smaller apps don’t need Meta to keep users safe. Pinterest is a ‘lifestyle’ app. Pinterest’s former head of user growth is up next. Reddit doesn’t think it’s a social networking platform. Users also post workout content on Facebook and Instagram. You won’t find baby photos on Strava. A former Strava executive is testifying about its social platform. Twitter wasn’t really about sharing with friends and family. ‘I can’t believe that’s on the website.’ Twitter chose to focus on a different use case from Facebook. It’s not all about competing for attention. Judge Boasberg is getting schooled on how X works. An X product executive who built Community Notes is on the stand. Here’s who’s closing out Meta’s second week of trial. Taking a brief break to tune into the Google search remedies trial. Facebook is distinct from other popular social media apps. Shutting down Facebook Camera was ‘unrelated to Instagram.’ Facebook Camera didn’t directly compete with Instagram. ‘Facebook squashes competition.’ Facebook was urgently working on an Instagram competitor months before the deal. A former product manager for Facebook’s defunct camera app is testifying. Instagram co-founder: Zuckerberg saw us as a ‘threat’ to Facebook Kevin Systrom is finished testifying. Instagram had its own trust and safety team for what Meta wouldn’t prioritize. Becoming part of Meta was a ‘mixed bag’ for Instagram. Instagram’s probability of failing without Meta’s help was ‘low.’ Systrom says Zuckerberg got a ‘screaming deal’ by paying $1 billion for Instagram. Negotiating or misleading? ‘Sir:’ Systrom resists Meta’s spin on his testimony. Systrom explains the importance of network effects. Meta made a list of features that helped Instagram and then cut them. Zuckerberg had ‘real human’ emotions about Instagram’s growth. ‘We were a threat to their growth.’ Meta cut growth resources to Instagram. Zuckerberg wouldn’t give Instagram more integrity staff after Cambridge Analytica. Twitter limited Instagram’s integration ‘in direct retaliation’ to Facebook. Apple, Google, and Twitter were interested in buying Instagram. Systrom pitched ads for Instagram before it was acquired. Instagram didn’t have Twitter’s ‘fail whale’ problem. Instagram could have added video and messaging without Meta’s help. Instagram’s growth didn’t slow until after its first year at Meta. It was hard to keep up with Instagram’s early growth. Systrom recounts Instagram’s origins as Burbn. Kevin Systrom takes the stand. Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom takes the stand tomorrow. Meta execs discussed whether WhatsApp could ‘wedge’ its way into social media. ‘It wasn’t obvious you could make a great return’ by paying as much as Meta did for Instagram. Sequoia believed it could have helped Instagram grow independently. ‘It was catching lightning in a bottle’ to invest in Instagram. Instagram investor testifies about the app’s growth before Meta’s acquisition. Putting ads on WhatsApp ‘was not even a discussion point’ before Meta bought it. Meta wanted WhatsApp to sign a ‘no shop’ agreement. Former Google exec testifies about the company’s attempt to buy WhatsApp. Meta is digging through the FTC expert’s personal blog. Meta is trying to discredit the FTC’s expert. WhatsApp could have threatened Facebook if Google acquired it. Judge asks why it’s ‘laughable’ that WhatsApp’s investors could force an ad model. WhatsApp likely would have expanded into social networking, even though its founders resisted it. Instagram and WhatsApp were ‘highly likely to be successful’ without Meta. Meta is starting its second week of trial against the FTC. The government doesn’t understand Meta Meta gets a Friday breather. Big Tech is back on trial Does Google think Meta is its competition? YouTube struggled with adding social features. The FTC calls Google’s Aaron Filner as its next witness. Meta didn’t overpay for WhatsApp, according to the app’s investor. WhatsApp’s founders ‘shot down’ suggestions of adding social features. Facebook considered ad-free subscriptions after the Cambridge Analytica scandal Sequoia tried to get WhatsApp to skirt Zuckerberg’s advances. Zuckerberg was ‘very concerned’ that Tencent wanted to buy WhatsApp. Plenty of companies were interested in WhatsApp before Facebook bought it. Sequoia is ‘dramatically better off’ when the startups it backs go public, rather than get acquired. WhatsApp investor Sequoia saw Facebook as the app’s ‘most significant threat.’ Sandberg is done testifying. Meta considered a subscription model to address Cambridge Analytica backlash. TikTok’s rise lowered Meta’s revenue forecast. The FTC’s view of how Meta’s ads work ‘doesn’t make any sense.’ Ads can be ‘as good as content.’ Sandberg is back on the stand to kick off day four of trial. Zuckerberg tells court he made WhatsApp and Instagram better Sandberg says she was wrong about Meta paying too much for Instagram. Meta’s network effects hasn’t protected it from competition. Cambridge Analytica didn’t impact Meta’s engagement metrics. Meta was focused on Instagram’s quality, not its competitive impact. The rise of Google Plus was a ‘rallying the troops’ moment. Ex-COO Sheryl Sandberg takes the stand. Zuckerberg is done testifying. Zuckerberg defends his decision to put more ads on Instagram. Google, Apple, and Snap aren’t happy about Meta’s poorly-redacted slides Buying TikTok’s precursor would have been ‘too complicated’ because of its China ties. Zuckerberg’s testimony gives the court his vision of the future. Zuckerberg on buying WhatsApp: ‘I’d do it again.’ WhatsApp’s founders had limited aspirations. Meta wasn’t too worried about WhatsApp becoming a rival. Zuckerberg can’t rule out that Instagram would have succeeded on its own. Instagram grew far larger than Zuckerberg ever imagined. Zuckerberg flatly denies that he bought Instagram to squash it. ‘Only the paranoid survive.’ ChatGPT’s image generation gets a shoutout. AI is solving Meta’s ‘negative network effects’ problem. ‘I don’t like it when our competitors do better than us.’ Zuckerberg: TikTok slowed Meta’s growth ‘dramatically.’ Apple, Google, and Snap accuse Meta of being reckless with their confidential info. Zuckerberg’s wildest ideas in Meta’s history Meta reportedly offered $1 billion to settle the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit. We’re done with day two of Zuckerberg’s testimony. Your Honor, we sell ads. ‘What is MeWe?’ Zuckerberg takes an opportunity to jab the EU. Meta doesn’t ‘optimize directly’ for time spent on its platform. Meta’s antitrust trial slide redactions aren’t actually hiding anything The FTC is done questioning Zuckerberg for now. The FTC is trying to pin Zuckerberg down on its market definition. Mark Zuckerberg once suggested wiping all Facebook friends lists to boost usage Zuckerberg sees LinkedIn as competition. Mark Zuckerberg suggested spinning off Instagram Zuckerberg offered to buy Snapchat for $6 billion. Meta discussed having a feed that only contains ads. Zuckerberg’s ‘crazy idea’ to reset everyone Facebook’s friends to zero. People like ads, actually? After Snapchat turned Zuckerberg down, he worried about the rise of Stories. Zuckerberg: Snapchat would have grown faster with us. Meta was worried about early messaging apps expanding into its business. Meta considered blocking rival messaging app ads. ‘A billion dollars is very expensive.’ Settlers of Catan makes a cameo. Zuckerberg downplays that he wanted to buy Instagram to ‘neutralize a potential competitor.’ We’re here for day two of the FTC v. Meta trial. Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand Here’s how the FTC began its case against Meta. A slow start to the trial. Facebook considered keeping Instagram alive to keep ‘everyone from hating us.’ ‘I wonder if we should consider buying Instagram.’ Facebook had interns working on its Instagram competitor. Zuckerberg’s testimony trudges through years of social media history. “Mission accomplished.” Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand. Here are the slides Meta used to lay out its defense. Facebook and Instagram traffic surged when TikTok went down. Meta slams FTC’s ‘grab bag’ case as ‘at war with the facts, and at war with the law.’ FTC previews evidence that Meta allegedly sought to extinguish Instagram and WhatsApp as threats. We’re at the courthouse where Meta is facing its existential antitrust trial. Meta goes to trial to avoid a breakup of Instagram and WhatsApp FTC chair says he’d ‘obey lawful orders’ if Trump asked to drop an antitrust case like Meta’s Judge says the FTC’s Meta monopoly lawsuit can go forward Federal court dismisses FTC’s bid to unwind Instagram from Facebook The FTC is suing Facebook to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp

Microsoft is starting to integrate AI shortcuts, or what it calls AI actions, into the File Explorer in Windows 11. These shortcuts let you right-click on a file and quickly get to Windows AI features like blurring the background of a photo, erasing objects, or even summarizing content from Office files.Four image actions are currently being tested in the latest Dev Channel builds of Windows 11, including Bing visual search to find similar images on the web, the blur background and erase objects features found in the Photos app, and the remove background option in Paint.Microsoft is also planning to test similar AI actions for Office files soon, enabling you to summarize documents stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, or quickly create AI-generated lists from files. These Office AI actions will be limited to Microsoft 365 commercial subscribers with a Copilot license, and consumer support is “coming later.”It’s not clear if these AI actions can be disabled in the context menu, but they also join an “Ask Copilot” option that Microsoft added to the right-click menu of the File Explorer recently.Alongside the AI-powered shortcuts in File Explorer, Microsoft is also testing some visual changes to the widgets feature in Windows 11, “with a more organized, personalized, and engaging feed,” according to the Windows Insider team. “In addition, we are introducing Copilot-curated stories into the feed.”This latest Dev Channel build also includes a new “User Interaction-Aware CPU Power Management” feature, which Microsoft describes as an OS-level change to reduce power consumption on laptops and tablets. “After a period of inactivity on your PC, Windows now conserves power by automatically applying efficient power management policies,” says the Windows Insider team. “This happens seamlessly to save energy while you’re inactive, with full performance instantly restored the moment you get back to it.”

Securing your home network is more critical than ever, as the Internet is a scary place full of terror, and automated tools have made the job of cybercriminals even easier. Setting up a powerful firewall like OPNsense will do most of the work for you, at least once you've set it up.

Single Board Computers (SBCs) like Raspberry Pi are small devices that appear complicated at first glance. I first learned about them in my college lab sessions. I never thought of it as anything more than a fancy project with no real use for home setups. They appeared complex to set up and use, and didn’t appear as usable as Windows or any other popular PC OS. But when I re-explored them a few years later, most of the myths about SBCs were completely false.

Lian Li unveiled some new hardware at Computex 2025, and one of its PC cases stole the show for us, the Vector V200. This impressive piece of engineering is an updated Vector V100 with an LCD screen, touch panel for powering the system and adjusting the lighting effects, and an unobstructed view into the system. Utilizing L-Connect 3, Lian Li was able to craft one clean-looking chassis for even beginners putting together their first PC to create something truly special. As well as the V200, Lian Li also showed off some killer power supplies. Yes, you read that correctly, Lian Li teased some interesting PSUs.

Windows 11 comes with a decent set of built-in tools, but if you've ever felt like they're not good enough and not quite productive, you're not alone. Over the years, I've replaced many of them with portable apps: lightweight, no-install programs that often outperform their built-in counterparts in both speed and flexibility.

Watching your home lab grow from a modest single-server setup to a dedicated experimentation and self-hosting workspace can feel extremely gratifying. Besides adding extra computing prowess for your DIY, extra rigs let you tinker with high-availability clusters, and you can even arm them with some services that you’d typically want to avoid running on your main workstation.

If you’ve used Google’s AI-powered notetaking tool, NotebookLM, you’ve likely converted your sources into an AI-generated podcast using the Audio Overviews feature.

They look like normal sunglasses in the render, with what appear to be cameras in the hinges and nose bridge. | Image: XrealThe Google smart glasses era is back, sort of. Today, Google and Xreal announced a strategic partnership for a new Android XR device called Project Aura at the Google I/O developer conference.This is officially the second Android XR device since the platform was launched last December. The first is Samsung’s Project Moohan, but that’s an XR headset more in the vein of the Apple Vision Pro. Project Aura, however, is firmly in the camp of Xreal’s other gadgets. The technically accurate term would be “optical see-through XR” device. More colloquially, it’s a pair of immersive smart glasses.Xreal’s glasses, like the Xreal One, are like embedding two mini TVs into what looks like a regular — if a bit chunky — pair of sunglasses. Xreal’s previous gadgets let you plug into a phone or laptop and view whatever’s on the screen, be it a show or a confidential document you want to edit on a plane. The benefit is that you can change the opacity to view (or block out) the world around you. That’s the vibe Project Aura’s giving off, too.Details are sparse — Xreal spokesperson Ralph Jodice told me we’ll learn a bit more at Augmented World Expo next month. But we know it’ll have Gemini built-in, as well as a large field-of-view. In the product render, you can also see what looks like cameras in the hinges and nose bridge, plus microphones and buttons in the temples.That hints at a hardware evolution compared to Xreal’s current devices. Project Aura will run a Qualcomm chipset optimized for XR, though we don’t know exactly which one. Like Project Moohan, Project Aura is counting on developers to start building apps and use cases now, ahead of an actual consumer product launch. Speaking of, Google and Xreal said in a press release that Android XR apps developed for headsets can be easily brought over to a different form factor like Project Aura.Back when I first demoed Android XR, I was told that while Google had built prototype glasses, the plan was to work with other partners to produce a viable product. That demo also made it abundantly clear that it viewed XR devices as a key vehicle for Gemini. So far, everything we know about Project Aura is aligned with that strategy. Meaning, Google’s approach to this next era of smart glasses is similar to how it first tackled Wear OS — Google provides the platform, while third parties handle the hardware. (At least, until Google feels like it’s ready to jump into the fray itself.) That makes a ton of sense given Google’s fraught history with smart glasses hardware. But given the momentum we’ve seen through Project Astra and now, Android XR making it into the main Google I/O keynote? “Google” smart glasses are back on the menu.