Creating your dream home lab can include a lot of money, electricity, time, and hardware purchases, but it can be worthwhile if you want to ditch subscriptions and self-host as much as possible. What you're guaranteed to encounter is problems. Whether this be power outages, the lack of any backups for a sudden system failure, or getting lost down the package rabbit hole with countless dependency issues, we've collated some problems you may face and how to solve them.

Linux is having a moment in the mainstream right now, thanks to the popularity of the Steam Deck and SteamOS. The thing is, while Linux is the overarching name for the operating systems bearing its name, there are as many Linux distributions as stars in the sky (okay, maybe not quite, but it's not far off).

There was a lot of hype around the Nvidia RTX 5090, but things didn't really pan out as well as it could have done. After stores went out of stock with some outages lasting up to four months, there were issues with black screens striking people's computers.It leaves the door open for Nvidia's competitors to get their foot in the door in the wake of these issues, and if a rumor is to be believed, AMD has something cooking that it plans to drop very soon.

If AI-generated images blow your mind, you're in for a treat with Adobe's latest AI offering. Today, as announced in an Adobe Newsroom post, the company officially released the Firefly AI Video Generator to the public. First showcased at Adobe Max 2024, the tool is now in public beta, allowing users to create 5-second 1080p HD video clips with a free or paid account.

We love customization here at XDA, and when it comes to Windows 11, there's no shortage of tools to help you get the exact experience you want. But most of those — whether it's something like Start11, StartAllBack, ExplorerPatcher, or Windhawk — focus on taking elements you already know and tweaking them. Sometimes they restore lost functionality, other times they add something completely new. But at their core, they feel more like tweaks than anything else. But that's where Rainmeter comes in.

New look, new dial.Wacom has completely overhauled its Intuos Pro drawing tablets to make them more compact, convenient, and customizable for creative professionals. This is the biggest redesign for the Intuos Pro lineup since its introduction in 2013, featuring a new layout that relocates user controls from the side to the top of the tablet and replaces the previous touch ring with mechanical dials. It’s a huge change, but one I quickly welcomed in the short time I had to test it myself.The Intuos Pro is Wacom’s pen tablet targeting industry creatives like 3D artists, illustrators, and photo editors who prefer to work on their own (typically calibrated) displays. Unlike Wacom’s Cintiq or One range, the Intuos Pro doesn’t have a built-in screen, making it easier to throw into a bag and connect to computing devices.There are three sizes available: Small (€269.99), Medium (€399.99), and Large (€549.99). I’ll update with US pricing when it goes live later today. Each model is actually smaller than its equivalent predecessor, yet feature larger active areas that make better use of that space. For example, the 2025 Medium measures 11.5 x 8.1 inches versus 13.2 x 8.5 inches for the 2017 version, yet features a drawing area of 10.4 x 5.8 inches compared to 8.7 x 5.8 inches for the previous model. They’re slimmer overall too, featuring a new 0.16-0.28 inch (4-7mm) sloping design instead of the previous 0.3-inch (8mm) thickness.The most noticeable change, however, is the layout. Where all previous Intuos Pro models had user controls like customizable buttons and touch-sensitive wheels on the side, these have now been shifted to the top of the tablet. That both greatly reduces the space on either side of the active pen area and makes it easier for left-handed or ambidextrous users to configure for their workflows. The touch wheel has also been replaced by tactile mechanical dials — one on the Small, two on the other sizes — which provide more precision when scrolling through the tools and actions users allocate to them. The customizable express keys have also been updated to a round space-saving design, with five buttons on the Small and ten on the two larger models.The Intuos Pro lineup works with devices running Windows 10 or macOS 13 or later. It supports both a wired USB-C to USB-A connection and wireless via Bluetooth 5.3, the latter providing up to 16 hours of battery life when fully charged, according to Wacom. Users can jump between USB and Bluetooth via a switch on the side of the tablet, allowing it to pair with two devices simultaneously.It comes with the same customizable Wacom Pro Pen 3 stylus that ships with Wacom’s Cintiq Pro and Movink display tablets, which features adjustable thickness and buttons. One perk if you already own these tablets is that the Pro Pen 3 can switch between devices, which is useful if you’re working across multiple tablets. The new Intuos Pro is also compatible with previous-gen Wacom Pro Pens and EMR styluses from Pilot, Dr Grip, LAMY, and Staedtler.I was able to handle a pre-production sample for a short time. While a full review will come later when I can test a final version, the slimmer design felt well-constructed and wasn’t flimsy. The slope wasn’t significant enough to feel noticeably more comfortable but I wasn’t using it for lengthy durations like many creative professionals do. The new layout is a welcome improvement compared to having the buttons and wheel on the sides where my wrist may accidentally activate something, and it didn’t take long to adjust to the delightfully tactile mechanical dial.

Keychron is known for its excellent mechanical keyboards, and the Q1 Pro and K2 HE are no different. The former is one of the company's premium offerings, thanks to a full aluminum build, a deep feature set, and a pleasing typing experience. The K2 HE, on the other hand, brings hall effect switches to the popular Keychron K2, allowing discerning users to change the actuation distance of the switches. The magnetic keyboard is cheaper than the company's long-time champ, but let's see if it does enough to stand out as the clear winner.

Leaker Evan Blass has shared a set of spinning GIFs of Samsung’s midrange Galaxy A56 that show the phone in four colors and a host of different angles. The Galaxy A56 is rumored to launch in March, right around the same time as rival devices from Apple and Google.The new animations from evleaks show the A56 in silver, pink, black, and a pale green. They show a phone with flat edges, a chunky display bezel that’s thicker at the bottom, and a redesigned camera island that mounts the three lenses together with a black backing. The other things that stand out — literally — are the power and volume buttons, which now sit on an island that rises slightly out from the phone’s edge, rather than lying flush.This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this design. Android Headlines shared renders showing a similar look in November 2024, and Samsung’s own renders were found on China’s TENAA certification site, so we’re confident that this is what the A56 will look like. As for the specs, we’re not quite as certain. An early Geekbench score believed to belong to the A56 suggests it will be powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 1580 chipset. Certification leaks point to a 5,000mAh battery and 45W wired charging — which would be a little surprising only because the flagship Galaxy S25 is still limited to slower 25W speeds. GalaxyClub reports that the rear cameras will be similar to the last two generations, with a 50 megapixel main shooter joined by a 12MP ultrawide and 5MP macro, though the selfie camera is at least getting an upgrade to a new 12MP sensor.The Galaxy A56 is likely to arrive alongside more affordable A36 and A26 models. Samsung released the last four generations in mid-March, so that’s when we’re expecting to see these phones too. The big question for the A56 is whether it will launch Stateside; we were mostly fans of the $449 Galaxy A54 two years ago, but the A55 skipped the US entirely.This year Samsung may want to ensure it has a presence in the US market. Apple is expected to announce a new version of its similarly priced iPhone SE either this week or next, and Google’s midrange Pixel 9a has also been tipped for a March launch, months earlier than prior generations’ summer announcements.

Valentine’s Day is about more than spending a lot of money on your significant other, going out to dinner, and eating a ton of chocolate. Above all else, it’s about spending quality time, and what better way to do that than with video games? Plenty of co-op experiences exist, but depending on your skill level and the genre that best fits your vibe, it can be difficult to narrow things down. Whatever mood you’re in, these games are a great way to spend time with your significant other.

Last year, we learned that Microsoft is discontinuing the HoloLens 2 headset, with existing customers being provided support until the end of 2027. Although the company continued with its U.S. Army contract, the writing was on the wall for the whole division itself. Now, the firm has confirmed that it is quitting the HoloLens hardware business entirely.

With Valentine's Day almost upon us, there are plenty of ways you can impress your special someone with your computing skills. For instance, you could showcase your Excel mastery by coding sweet messages inside .xlsx files. Or you can put your NAS to good use by building romantic projects for an at-home date.

Penpot’s open-source UX/UI software has taken the digital creative industries by storm since its inception in 2015. Penpot has great tools which are better than other UX/UI softwarelike Figma and alternatives, but since the tail end of 2024 and its introduction of plugins, it now competes even better with design and development software services. Plugins improve your user experience through creative tools with integrated third-party apps, whether you’re using plugins in DaVinci Resolve, Krita, or Photoshop. Now you can access community-made plugins for Penpot, too.