I sometimes struggle to pay attention to the task at hand, especially when sitting at a desk in front of the screen and typing away. This is what led me to seek an app that would allow my creativity to flow without any distractions to make me want to dip out and waste a few minutes doing something unrelated. That's when I discovered Apostrophe. I've used Gnome extensively but never came across this app while shopping around Gnome Circloe, yet after trying it out, I've not been able to go back to anything else, including Obsidian.

I recently took up 3D printing as a hobby, since designing and creating items to use around the house seemed like an extremely cool idea to me. As a result, I've made accessories for my home office, upcycled broken furniture by printing replacement parts, and even printed last-minute gifts for friends when I've forgotten important occasions. Essentially, getting a 3D printer has made my life easier in a lot of ways. However, I faced several challenges when I initially got the printer home. Right from assembling the rails to leveling the bed, the experience was anything but rosy. Let's just say I expected things to be a lot smoother.

The idea of using a single-board computer (SBC) rather than a Mini PC has grown in popularity in recent years, but a Raspberry Pi or something similar might not always be the best option. If you have a miniature computer lying around that you no longer need, it might be a better pick for a home server. After all, a home server requires superior overall performance, better power efficiency, and more — and those are areas where mini PCs excel.

Though the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct proved to be exciting, what wasn’t was the revelation that the base console will cost $450, and its headliner title, Mario Kart World, is going to be $80. Fans are understandably upset, as this is the first time a non-deluxe version of a game will retail for that price on release day. Nintendo appears to be standing firm on the price, and though they can make the argument that $80 is fair to pay for the game, it will be an uphill battle for them.

I rode the first wave of smart home devices but immediately quit when I learned that smart speakers record my talks (and snores). For far too long, I've treated those smart lights and smart TVs as dumb devices. That recently changed when I discovered how my esteemed colleague, Adam Conway, used Home Assistant with Zigbee to set up smart home automation in his home. The premise of using software to automate all kinds of smart devices without any expensive hardware sounds amazing!

What better way to get your GPU's temperature than from its manufacturer's software? I mean, they made it, right? So surely their app would be the most reliable way to get readings. Unfortunately, it seems that's currently not the case with Nvidia's software. The company has been having a real time trying to make its drivers behave, and the latest bug ruins the accuracy of the temperature sensor. As such, if you're thinking of doing some stress-testing with your GPU to see how it holds up, you may want to hold off or use a third-party app.

As soon as the topic of renting consoles and games crops up, I feel like an old curmudgeon discussing how things were better "back in my day." Anyone who remembers renting PlayStation 1 games from their local Blockbuster store would likely feel the same. However, as people shifted from renting games and consoles to purchasing them, rental stores suffered a decline and eventually closed down.

Making Windows more accessible has been one of Microsoft's top priorities in the past few years, and Windows 11 is no exception. While a lot of the accessibility features on Windows 11 aren't talked about much, voice access is one of the more well-known ones.

Duolingo will soon be able to help you learn another new skill: chess. The platform’s new chess course will use short puzzles, such as moving a knight to the correct spot to practice its L-shaped movement or checkmating a king that’s stuck in a corner, to help teach you the game. You’ll also be able to play “mini-matches” or full games against Duolingo’s Oscar character, who serves as your coach through the lessons.Duolingo gave me a brief demo of the chess course on a recent video call, and it looks like it could be a lot of fun. The team’s approach was to “make chess as accessible as possible,” Duolingo group product manager Edwin Bodge tells The Verge, and the course will offer lessons for a wide range of skill levels so that people can jump in at whatever level of familiarity they already have for chess.Chess joins topics like music and math that aren’t language-based but can still be practiced via Duolingo. I asked if the company plans to build courses around other games, and staff software engineer Sammi Siegel says that “while we don’t have any plans to share right now, I think we’re just seeing how this launch goes and then we’ll go from there.”The chess course is launching in beta testing on iOS in English, according to Monica Earle, Duolingo’s PR director. Earle estimates that in four to six weeks, more people on iOS will be able to try it, and then it will head to Android and be available in other languages down the line.

If you ever have the urge to see Windows 11 squished into the strangest devices you'll ever see, then you need to check out what NTDev is doing. They're the person behind Tiny11, the fan-made version of Windows 11 that removes a lot of non-essential features in exchange for a much smaller file size. Now they're showcasing the Arm64 version of Tiny11 running on an iPad Air M2, and it performs better than you might expect.

Plex is a platform that offers both a free streaming service with movies, TV shows, and live TV, and a software solution to organize and stream your personal media collection. While the former isn’t particularly appealing to most users, Plex excels as a media server. It allows you to set up a server from which you can stream your media library to multiple devices and share content with others. If you’re tired of streaming service price hikes, plan changes, and password-sharing crackdowns, self-hosting and maintaining a home media library through Plex offers plenty of value, beyond the obvious privacy and cost-saving advantages.

If you're someone that loves to enjoy their favorite movies and TV shows on the big screen, then it's probably a good idea to invest in a top-tier media streaming device. While there are plenty of great options to choose from, we think this one from Google is going to be an excellent choice, offering fantastic performance, along with powerful software, and access to all the best apps.