If you've been looking for a small PC that can do it all, then the Asus ROG NUC might be for you. While it isn't the cheapest option out there, it does pack quite a punch when it comes to its hardware, featuring Intel's Core Ultra 7 processor that's paired with an Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics card. While it's normally priced at $1,399, this discount from Amazon knocks $200 off, dropping it down to its lowest price yet.

Home labs are perfect for computing enthusiasts looking to bring their tinkering fantasies to life, whether it's experimenting with different operating systems or self-hosting myriads of useful services. But if you keep collecting a ton of server hardware and deploying VMs for every distro imaginable, you might end up at a point where your home lab starts to take over your life. So, if you don’t wish to turn into a home lab fanatic like me, here's a list of early signs that indicate it’s time to reassess your server equipment.

Whether it’s improving your coding skills, helping you bring wacky ideas to life, or boosting your productivity, there’s no shortage of cool projects you can build with a Raspberry Pi. Thankfully, you don’t need to build anything complex to enhance your workflow. If you’re proficient in the arcane art of containerization, you can self-host some of our favorite productivity-enhancing tools on your tiny tinkering companion.

Have you seen those videos of those devices where a little marble draws patterns in sand, driven by a magnet? I've never owned one of those, but I can imagine myself staring at it for hours on end. There's just something mesmerising about a small marble making visually pleasing patterns in the sand, as if it was a small insect performing some mysterious ritual.

For about a year, Microsoft's Office suite was my software of choice for the occasional document and spreadsheet I might need to write, but at the start of 2025, I decided I was no longer interested in paying such a high recurring fee for Office, and I left it behind. So I had to find an alternative I could use on my Mac Mini.

The vehicles will be co-branded with both companies’ logos. | Image: UberToday’s the day: Waymo’s unlikely partnership with Uber is now live in Austin, Texas. The former rivals have joined forces in the hopes of accelerating the transition to autonomous vehicles, and as of today, any Austin resident with a desire to take a trip in a fully driverless robotaxi can open their Uber app and hail away. But, of course, there are some limitations. Waymo only operates within a 37-square-mile area in Austin, which includes Hyde Park, Downtown, Montopolis, and other “popular destinations,” according to the company. So the trip will need to originate and end within that service area in order to qualify for Waymo. It also doesn’t operate on highways yet, so the route will only comprise local streets. Another thing to consider: simply calling an Uber in Waymo’s geofence doesn’t guarantee a robotaxi will show up. Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli declined to share the size of the company’s fleet in Austin but acknowledged that it was small at launch.“While smaller to start, the fleet will grow to hundreds of vehicles over time,” Bonelli said. As of August 2024, Waymo’s fleet had about 700 vehicles, most of which are in operation in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. The company has thousands of Jaguar I-Pace vehicles stored at a warehouse in Phoenix, according to drone footage of the facility. And Waymo has deals with Hyundai and Zeekr to add new vehicles to its fleet over time.  For Austin residents who really have their hearts set on riding in a Waymo vehicle, there are a number of things they can do to indicate their interest. In the Uber app settings under “Ride Preferences,” customers can opt in to autonomous rides to increase their chances of being paired with a driverless vehicle. Waymo has been eyeing Austin as its next robotaxi market since at least August 2023. The company began offering rides to “Early Testers” (people who join a waitlist and sign nondisclosure agreements to get early access to the company’s robotaxis) in October 2024. For those keeping score, there were approximately 550 days between identifying Austin as a future robotaxi city and launching the service on the Uber app. Waymo’s success depends partly on narrowing that window for future cities in order to prove its scalability, while keeping an eye on safety. At launch, Waymo’s vehicles will be available exclusively on Uber’s app in Austin. The two companies first announced a deal to put Waymo’s robotaxis on Uber’s app back in 2023, indicating that Austin would be first, followed by Atlanta. Waymo’s own ridehail app, Waymo One, will not be operational in Austin. Customers who open Waymo One will be redirected to Uber’s app. For those keeping score, there were approximately 550 days between identifying Austin as a future robotaxi city and launching the service on the Uber appThat means certain functions that were controlled in the Waymo One app in other cities will now be controlled through the Uber app. These include unlocking the vehicle, popping the trunk, and starting the trip. Customers can also access 24/7 customer support through the app or via a button in the Waymo vehicle. In another first, Uber will manage fleet services, including vehicle cleaning, maintenance, inspections, EV charging, and depot operations. The company is contracting with Avmo (formerly Moove Cars) to handle these tasks. Waymo is still responsible for vehicle testing, roadside assistance, and certain elements of rider support. Waymo and Uber will obviously share in the costs and the revenue produced by the robotaxi service, though both companies have declined to share the split.The launch signals the start of a new era of cooperation between Uber, the rideshare giant that gobbled up the global taxi industry, and upstart Waymo, which is slowly trying to chip away at that dominance. “Starting today, Austin riders can be matched with a Waymo autonomous vehicle on the Uber app, making their next trip even more special,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. “With Waymo’s technology and Uber’s proven platform, we’re excited to introduce our customers to a future of transportation that is increasingly electric and autonomous.”It’s important to remember that Uber and Waymo weren’t always so chummy.In 2017, Waymo sued Uber and its subsidiary, self-driving truck startup Otto, over allegations of trade secret theft and patent infringement. The case went to trial almost a year later but ended abruptly when the two sides reached a surprise settlement. Uber later admitted that it misappropriated some of Waymo’s tech and vowed to license it for future use. Anthony Levandowski, a former Google engineer and the founder of Otto, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing Waymo’s trade secrets but was later pardoned by President Donald Trump.Infamously, Uber was developing its own fleet of autonomous vehicles with the intention to eventually replace all of its human drivers, but the program was shut down after a woman was killed by one of the company’s vehicles in Arizona in 2018. A federal investigation later found Uber to be partly responsible for the incident. Uber sold its robotaxi business to Aurora, which incorporated the work into its development of autonomous trucks. But as Waymo eyes more markets, most experts agree that the business will take a long time to grow. Uber estimates that the autonomous vehicle market in the US alone is a trillion-dollar opportunity, but Khosrowshahi said during a recent earnings call that it will take “many, many years” to build out and scale.

Gaming doesn’t need to be an adrenaline-fueled affair all the time. After a long, tough day, retro games can provide just the right blend of nostalgia and relaxation to help you unwind. While emulators are easily accessible at home, installing RetroPie on a Raspberry Pi transforms it into a personal arcade that you can take anywhere. Even if you're not a traveler, it's a fun little side project to do with your family in about an hour, or you can lend it to friends to share the joy. However you choose to use it, this guide will make setting it up easy and effortless.

Being a PC hardware enthusiast isn't easy in 2025. Everything is overpriced, stocks are nonexistent, and nothing seems appealing enough to invest in. Nvidia's RTX 50 series was all but a refresh of the 40 series, the latest Intel Arrow Lake series was a dud, and AMD's Zen 5 CPUs were just Zen 4 chips with new names (and higher prices). Upgrading to new PC components isn't going as well as manufacturers and consumers had hoped.

If you’re fond of distro hopping or love working on different projects, you probably rely heavily on virtual machines. However, manually provisioning VMs for your pragmatic projects (or insane ideas, if you’re anything like me) can get rather tiresome. Thankfully, automation tools like Ansible and Terraform are more popular than ever, with the latter providing terrific VM provisioning facilities.

Network-attached storage (NAS) devices are a fantastic addition to any home network. They can be used for a multitude of things, from backup purposes to self-hosting services and servers. But nothing lasts forever, and even the best NAS hardware has an operational lifespan that you should be aware of.

There's a quote from the second Phineas and Ferb movie where Doctor Doofenshmirtz says "If I had a nickel for every time I was "doomed" by a puppet, I'd have two nickels...which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice." People use that quote to describe a rare, specific event that happened to occur more than once.

There are plenty of great M.2 SSDs on the market, but if you want something cheap that also delivers good performance, then the Crucial P310 is going to be for you. This 1TB model usually comes priced at $98, but it can now be had at its best price with a 34% discount that drops it down to just $65. This is the lowest price we've seen, so get it while you still can.