Holidays are typically associated with joy, family gatherings, travel, and the creation of lasting memories. However, they can also present financial challenges, especially when you are not into budgeting but should be. Overspending is a common concern, leaving many with a post-holiday debt hangover. If you want to take control of your holiday spending, this budget planner is right for you.

Besides giving you a sense of gratification, self-hosting serves many practical purposes. Not only do you save money on subscription fees, but running FOSS apps on your local devices also prevents third-party firms from gaining access to your private information. Whats more, you dont need a powerful NAS or an enterprise-grade server to host many of the popular services.

Image: Mr.Nelson design for The Verge / Getty Images Your vote matters. Here’s how it will change the future. Continue reading…

The free PowerToys install for Windows provides several useful tweaks and new features to Windows. Quite a few of these will really boost your productivity. Microsoft PowerToys is a set of free, open-source utilities developed by Microsoft for Windows operating systems. These tools are designed for power users, offering advanced features and customizable options that arent built-in to Windows. Youll find utilities like FancyZones for window management, PowerRename for renaming files in bulk, and a Keyboard Manager for remapping keys. Lets look at what features you should enable in PowerToys to maximize your productivity.

I've taken a keen interest in mini PCs over the last year or so, and I've reviewed multiple tiny or compact computers in that time, mostly from companies like Geekom and Minisforum. And I love a lot of those computers, but the device that really kickstarted all of this was the Khadas Mind, which I first reviewed last year, and revisited earlier this year when the Mind Graphics add-on released.

Buying used PC hardware can be risky business, but it can be quite worthwhile. Used components are a great way to keep yourself under budget, whether you're planning a whole new build or just upgrading one or more parts. This is especially true for GPUs, which can often be the most expensive part of your rig. Buying a brand new, high-end graphics card can cost a good chunk of change, but it doesn't have to be this way. A used unit is more than serviceable, so long as you take the necessary precautions before buying. Here's why you shouldn't bother with a brand new GPU.

When recording a video of a DIY project, its important to capture multiple angles or perspectives. This means multiple cameras and sometimes a computer for each. That can get expensive, so one engineer developed a modular multi-camera project that uses inexpensive SBCs to get the perfect camera angles. Since he used Raspberry Pi for the setup, its called the RasRig. Lets take a look.

Alright, so it's not summer anymore, and perhaps you've already packed your grilling stuff away. However, if you're still in the mood to cook some meat, or you just want a project you can work on until the sizzling hot days come back, why not check out this cool wireless barbecue thermometer? It was built from the ground up using a Raspberry Pi, and its designer was nice enough to share their process with anyone interested.

There's nothing more frustrating than having a big Youtube binge or a movie night interupted by buffering. Slow internet, poor connection, or a slow device can all contribute to ruining your streaming experience at home, whether its on your PC, phone or TV.

Welcome to The Drive, a weekly column looking at some wacky, interesting, cool, and pivotal things within the tech space! Curated by PC Hardware Lead Editor Richard Edmonds through almost two decades covering the sector. Think something should be covered? Hit me up at [email protected]!

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple’s unusual approach to an October event is skipping the event and just announcing some forthcoming announcements. Continue reading…

Image: The Verge A few months ago, my doctor showed off an AI transcription tool he used to record and summarize his patient meetings. In my case, the summary was fine, but researchers cited by ABC News have found that’s not always the case with OpenAI’s Whisper, which powers a tool many hospitals use — sometimes it just makes things up entirely.Whisper is used by a company called Nabla for a medical transcription tool that it estimates has transcribed 7 million medical conversations, according to ABC News. More than 30,000 clinicians and 40 health systems use it, the outlet writes. Nabla is reportedly aware that Whisper can hallucinate, and is “addressing the problem.”A group of researchers from Cornell University, the University of Washington, and... Continue reading…