Server rigs are among the most sought-after equipment for home labs – and for good reason. Enterprise rigs not only come with more CPU cores, memory, and storage provisions, but they also feature ECC memory support, hot-swappable PSUs, and a range of other capabilities designed for complex projects.

The grand CES event is coming soon, and it's always a wild ride. We usually see a ton of powerful and amazing devices, but also our fair share of the strange and wonderful. Such is the case of a leak revealing that Lenovo is going to show off a new laptop that can extend its screen upward like a technological giraffe.

While the market is full of purpose-built NAS enclosures, perhaps they don't suit your particular storage needs. Building your own NAS is a rewarding project that gives ongoing chances to learn more about networking, virtualization, and containers, and it can repurpose old hardware that you have lying around. You don't need that much to get started, either, but there are some things you should nail down about whether your existing hardware is up to the task or what you need to supplement it.

Obsidian, with its local-first approach, graph view, canvas, and Markdown support, initially seemed like the perfect note-taking haven. But as I started integrating it into my workflow, those shiny add-ons started losing their luster. From its basic mobile apps and a lack of toolbar to limited project management features, Obsidian left me wanting more. And while its plugin ecosystem is vast, relying on them for core functionality felt fragile. Here are the top reasons why I have started looking for Obsidian alternatives.

Gaming laptops can be expensive, especially if you're looking to get some of the best hardware that's available right now. Naturally, we don't want you paying top dollar for something like this, so we've found this great deal on this MSI laptop that's going to save you a ton of cash.

Cath Virginia / The Verge The European Union has published several recommendations for Apple to make iOS and iPadOS more interoperable with competitors following two separate proceedings launched in September, sparking concerns about user privacy from the iPhone maker. On Wednesday, the EU Commission submitted draft recommendations to Apple regarding changes that would make the iOS operating system more compatible with third-party devices like smartwatches, earbuds, and headsets. The Commission is also proposing measures to improve how Apple communicates with developers who make interoperability requests for iOS and iPadOS, including increased transparency around internal features and rejections. The EU’s proposed iOS interoperability measures cover interactivity features like automatic audio switching, background activity like maintaining Bluetooth and network connections, and notifications — which could address long-standing complaints from iPhone users who are unable to send quick replies from connected Garmin watches, for example. The EU also proposes several measures to improve iOS data transfer interoperability across Airdrop, Airplay, media casting, Wi-Fi sharing, and close-range file transfers, alongside device configuration measures covering proximity-triggered pairing and automatic Wi-Fi connectivity.Apple has raised concerns about the DMA’s interoperability mandates, as you’d expect. In a white paper published shortly after the EU’s announcement, Apple criticized “data-hungry companies” like Meta that have made numerous requests to access the iPhone maker’s software tools.“The security risks would be substantial and virtually impossible to mitigate”“Meta has made 15 requests (and counting) for potentially far-reaching access to Apple’s technology stack that, if granted as sought, would reduce the protections around personal data that our users have come to expect from their devices,” Apple said in the paper. “If Apple is forced to allow access to sensitive technologies that it has no ability to protect, the security risks would be substantial and virtually impossible to mitigate.”Apple doesn’t specify which of the EU’s DMA proposals it takes issue with, generalizing them in their entirety as a risk to user privacy. Meta has hit back about being targeted in Apple’s complaint and says the iPhone maker is being anticompetitive.“What Apple is actually saying is they don’t believe in interoperability,” an unnamed Meta spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg. “Every time Apple is called out for its anticompetitive behavior, they defend themselves on privacy grounds that have no basis in reality.”The Commission is requesting feedback from companies seeking interoperability with Apple by January 9th, 2025. The interoperability recommendations proposed by the EU Commission are subject to change depending on submitted feedback. The final, legally-binding measures applying to Apple are expected to be finalized before March 2025. If Apple doesn’t comply then the EU may launch a formal investigation next year, and could be liable for fines up to 10 percent of its global annual sales.

Back in the late ’90s and early 2000s, Microsoft Office was the king of the business world. It crushed competitors like WordPerfect Office and Lotus SmartSuite, with no real challengers in sight. Then Google showed up with Google Docs and Spreadsheets — a pair of online tools for word processing and spreadsheets that let people work together in real time. Over time, these became part of Google Apps, later G Suite, and now Google Workspace, grabbing a sizeable chunk of the market.

Running a small business is like juggling a bunch of different tasks and creative projects. You’ll need to design cool stuff and plan consistent marketing campaigns. But don’t worry; there are tools that can help you streamline your operations, make sure everyone’s on the same page, and give each new idea the attention it needs. The goal is to make it easy to go from idea to execution so your brand’s message and visual identity shine.

The Windows Clipboard has come a long way since its early days. In previous versions, you could only copy one item at a time and paste it into a document or app. However, starting with Windows 10 in 2018, Microsoft upped the ante and added the cloud clipboard feature. It allowed copying up to 25 items, including text and images.

PC gaming has never been easier, with out-of-the-box defaults for most hardware that works well. But to get the absolute best out of our graphics cards, a few things can be tweaked even further. Whether your graphics card comes from AMD, Intel, or Nvidia, they all have an assortment of software features that can be changed to make the graphics driver work better for your needs without having to overclock your GPU. Once you've figured out which PC games to play, it's time to get those games running at their best.

The Verge A Google Street View image played in role in solving a missing person investigation in Spain, according to reports from the BBC and The New York Times. The image, which can still be seen on Street View, shows what appears to be a person loading a large object into the trunk of a car, as Gizmodo points out. Another image showed someone “transporting a large white bundle in a wheelbarrow,” the BBC reports. Spanish National Police:Part of the human remains of the missing person have been found buried in a cemetery in a town in the province of Soria and advanced technical means had to be used to locate them.One of the clues that investigators had to solve the crime, although it was not decisive, was some images that they detected during the investigations in a location search application. Screenshot: Google This is the Google Street View image allegedly linked to the crime. Though the press release doesn’t explicitly name the location application it used, a spokesperson for the Spanish National Police confirmed to The New York Times that it was Google Maps while also saying, “The image was not the key to solving the case.”Authorities were investigating the case of a 33-year-old man who disappeared last year while visiting a partner in Tajueco, Soria, according to the Spanish outlet El País. Police arrested a woman and her ex-partner in connection with the crime in November.Google Maps has been credited with helping investigators in the past, with Italian authorities using Street View to trace the location of a mafia fugitive in 2022.

Microsoft Word remains one of the most popular tools for writing all kinds of documents. Whether it's a letter, a report, or a book, you can use Word pretty much anything, and its robust set of tools allows you to do all kinds of things. It's one of the most well-known tools in Microsoft Office, and for good reason.