I recently stepped foot into the world of self-hosting, and I haven't looked back since. I've replaced several of my day-to-day apps and software with self-hosted, open-source solutions, and they've mostly been excellent. Of course, some apps that are still in development have certain quirks. But the added privacy and the fact that they're all mostly free of cost make it well worth it. As a part of this routine of finding new open-source apps to self-host, I decided to replace my default note-taking tool -- Google Keep -- with a more privacy-focused alternative. That's when I encountered Memos.

If you spend a lot of time in online meetings or virtual briefings, you’ve probably used Otter. The app used to be my go-to for transcribing interviews, meetings, and voice notes. One of the originals of AI-enhanced productivity tools, Otter was quick, mostly accurate, and easy to use. But like many good services, the paywalls kept creeping in. The free tier started to feel too limited, and I wasn’t keen on paying just to unlock basic functionality. On top of that, I wasn’t comfortable uploading sensitive audio to the cloud anymore.

The release of the Nintendo Switch 2 is just on the horizon. After the official reveal and follow-up Nintendo Directs, we have a clear idea of what the next Nintendo console is going to be like. But while I'm excited to see the Nintendo Switch 2 release, I can't help but feel that it won't live up to my expectations. The Switch 2 might not live up to the hype that it's been receiving because of a few shortcomings.

Gaming as a hobby has been rapidly getting more expensive in recent months, with the introduction of $80 games thanks to Mario Kart World from Nintendo. Nintendo isn't the only gaming company that is finding a way to squeeze more money out of the consumers who are still willing to buy video games and not just exclusively play free-to-play games. According to a prominent and reliable Call of Duty leaker, the next entry in Activision's — and, by extension, Microsoft's — yearly FPS title will include some unfavorable changes to its battle pass. Combine that with Microsoft announcing that some of its games will be $80 this holiday, and Call of Duty fans may be in for an expensive time this holiday. The Ghost of Hope on X shared that Call of Duty 2026, expected to be Black Ops 7, will change how limited-time events work moving forward, limiting access to them based on whether you have the paid battle pass.

What's better than a Nerf gun war? A technologically advanced Nerf gun war. People have found all kinds of ways to modify their Nerf guns, but I've never seen someone create one with a 3D printer and a Raspberry Pi. Well, if you're in the mood to declare war from the comfort of your own desk, this SwarmTurret project seems like just the thing you're looking for.

If you like games with parrying, there are two great new ways to get your fix: Doom: The Dark Ages and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. These very different games - one is a fast-paced first-person shooter, the other a turn-based fantasy RPG - approach the mechanic in very different ways.Let's start with Doom. One of the big new additions to the game is a giant shield for the Doom Slayer, and you can use it to block projectiles or enemy attacks. The game helpfully signals anything that you can parry in a bright neon green that's easy to see as you're rushing around and destroying hordes of demons.When a green projectile gets within range or an enemy does a green attack, you can press the parry button at the right time to deflect the danger with a huge reverberation of your shield and an action-movie-like moment of slow motion. Like most of modern Doom's action, it all looks, feels, and sounds very satisfying. But parries are also critical for fights, as they can open up an opportunity to hit the enemy with a punch or a few shots from whatever monstrous gun you're wielding.Stay keen for something greenIn intense battles, I'm always hunting for green glints to find things to par …Read the full story at The Verge.

I've been self-hosting apps on my NAS for a while now, and one of the things that has been a pain to handle is accessing those services outside my network. I've set up several reverse proxy options, and none worked properly, partly because I don't have a static IP and DDNS is hit-and-miss.

It has almost been 20 years since the "I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" advertisements ran, and I don't think Microsoft has ever gotten over them. The company is still trying to get that "haha, gotcha" moment over its rival, and I don't think it has managed after all these years. Take, for example, Microsoft's current stab at Apple's hardware, which takes pleasure in gloating over how its hardware is faster than the M3 chip that released...a year ago.

Like a lot of you, I, too, wondered if it was worth splurging on NVMe drives just for caching. I mean, I could’ve spent that cash on more storage or a better CPU if I were building a DIY NAS, right? Wrong. After giving in and installing NVMe drives on my NAS for caching, I can confidently say the investment was worth every penny, especially when I have a ton of data to move between devices and can’t keep waiting on slow, spinning drives to get the job done. On my PC, app launches and game load times felt so much faster that even thinking of going back to HDD-only setups now feels frustrating.

Android is getting its biggest visual update in years, and rather than unveiling it for the first time at its big annual developer conference, Google announced Material Three Expressive at a pre-show event broadcast on YouTube the week before. If a major design language shift for the world's most popular mobile OS doesn't qualify as a headliner at I/O, then what does? You guessed it: AI.We expect Google to talk all about Gemini during I/O, which kicks off on Tuesday, and how it's improving it and bringing it to products in areas that consumers will see even more.If you've paid attention to the past couple of I/O keynotes, this won't be a surprise. Android was barely mentioned in 2023, and CEO Sundar Pichai said AI so many times that we lost count. Last year's keynote was more of the same, except that Pichai saved us some trouble and counted mentions of AI for us. All of this reflects the very obvious, inescapable shift that Google and every other tech company have made recently to pump out AI features at a breakneck pace. But in a way, less news about the newest Android OS at I/O is actually a good thing.Google has made a big effort in recent years to bring new features to …Read the full story at The Verge.

With the Nintendo Switch 2 arriving soon, now feels like a great time to figure out what's missing from the Nintendo Switch Online SNES collection. While the service does contain many classic games from that system, it doesn't include everything you would want. Nintendo has confirmed that it will continue to support NSO, with the announcement that GameCube games will be added to the Expansion Pack version of the subscription.

At present, Notion is one of the most widely used tools among individuals and corporations, thanks to its multifunctional abilities. Not only can it be used as a simple note-taking tool, but it can also function as a personal knowledge management system, a database of company assets, and a portal to create and host landing pages. Of course, it can also be used for a myriad of personal tasks, such as planning a holiday or creating to-do lists. However, the primary concern with Notion is that it isn't open-source; you're relying on Notion's servers to sync your data. This isn't ideal if you plan on inputting sensitive data into the platform. Owing to this, I started hunting for an alternative that I could self-host -- even on my NAS.