Our home networks are responsible for linking our devices together and providing us with a reliable internet connection. If youre looking to improve your networks speed or just its reliability, you dont need all new equipment to do so. If youre willing to roll up your sleeves and put in a bit of work, you can improve your connection without needing to spend a ton of money.

Microsoft Copilot is one of the best large language models (LLMs) available, and it's still one of the only free ways to experience GPT-4 right now. You can use it for advanced proofreading, research, learning, or even for meeting accessibility goals like helping you write an email that meets DEI standards.

In the vast world of media players, VLC Player has long reigned supreme, valued for its versatility and robust feature set. However, theres a hidden gem thats been quietly growing and beating out the competition: PotPlayer. This lesser-known powerhouse, developed by South Korean-based Kakao, brings a slew of features to the table that set it apart as one of the best media players available today.

Image: Samsung iFixit just broke up with Samsung over its shaky commitment to right to repair, but things may be worse than we thought. Samsung is apparently forcing independent repair shops to give up your personally identifying information — and report you for using aftermarket parts. 404 Media has now obtained a leaked copy of a contract between Samsung and an independent service provider, which states that for every repair, an independent repair shop must send Samsung your name, address, telephone number, your phone’s unique serial number and IMEI, your “customer complaint,” and all the details of your repair. What’s more, it tells repair shops they must strip any aftermarket parts out of your phone — even though it’s likely perfectly legal for... Continue reading…

A network-attached storage (NAS) server is a device used to store data and run services. Think of them as more powerful external storage drives with the added benefit of running an entire business or household with apps such as media streaming and productivity. When it comes to running a NAS at home or in the office, you have the option to buy a pre-built enclosure or build a DIY server, but which is best?

Image: Laura Normand / The Verge The Federal Communications Commission has proposed imposing multimillion-dollar fines on the political consultant responsible for the robocall campaign that used an AI-generated deepfake of President Joe Biden’s voice — and on the telecom company that facilitated the calls.Longtime Democratic operator Steve Kramer faces a $6 million fine from the FCC, while Lingo Telecom could be fined $2 million. The FCC announced the proposed penalties on Thursday, calling the Lingo fine a “first-of-its-kind enforcement action.” “We will act swiftly and decisively to ensure that bad actors cannot use U.S. telecommunications networks to facilitate the misuse of generative AI technology to interfere with elections, defraud consumers, or compromise... Continue reading…

Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge Buy now, pay later services — or BNPL for short — are now beholden to some of the same rules as credit card providers. On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an interpretive rule that classifies BNPL services as credit card providers and requires them to investigate disputed purchases, among other things. BNPL services let customers purchase a product and then pay for it in a series of interest-free installments. Under the new guidance, BNPL services like Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm must provide refunds for returned products or canceled services and send periodic billing statements to customers. The CFPB’s decision comes after launching an inquiry into BNPL services, which found that BNPL “is often used as... Continue reading…

It’s a sad panda day. | Image: Microsoft Search capabilities for ChatGPT, Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and other platforms aren't working properly right now due to a Microsoft outage that appears to be related to the Bing application programming interface (API). Sites and services are either completely unavailable or only intermittently responding at the time of publication.The issues — which began around 3AM ET — appear to be linked to Bing’s API and any service that relies upon it. While Microsoft’s own web search engine Bing was also seemingly affected earlier, according to Techcrunch, the service now appears to be correctly loading search results. Image: DuckDuckGo Search engines like DuckDuckGo relying on Bing’s API are displaying error messages. Other... Continue reading…

Image: NASA NASA has turned on the electric Hall thrusters of Psyche, a spacecraft that’s now gently motoring toward a metal-rich asteroid embedded in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars. The agency says Psyche is in “full cruise” mode now, six months after launching on October 13th, 2023, on a conventional, SpaceX rocket.On the way, NASA used Psyche to test laser-based deep space communications. The craft shot a communications laser back at the Earth from close to 10 million miles out, which is a first for NASA. It’s expected to reach its target and namesake, the Psyche asteroid, by 2029 and will orbit it for two years, observing and sending data back to NASA. Scientists suspect Psyche is actually the beginning core of a planet, also called a... Continue reading…

PC gaming handhelds have become all the rage over the past year, and there's no shortage of options that are now available. While you might be inclined to stick with big name brands like Lenovo, Asus, and MSI, there are other options if you're willing to go a little off the beaten path.

Image: ESA Stunning new images from the Euclid space telescope show a dazzling array of starry sights, released to celebrate the first science published from the telescope’s early release observations.The mission from the European Space Agency, launched last year, aims to elucidate the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy — forces that comprise most of the known universe but that are largely unknown since they are so difficult to study. Scientists know that dark matter must exist because they can observe its gravitational effects, for example, but they can’t observe it directly because it doesn’t interact with light.The solution is an extremely sensitive instrument like Euclid, which can observe distant galaxies to see dark matter’s effects... Continue reading…

Internet cookies are not delicious treats that you can order from the world wide web: theyre text files with small pieces of data that identify your device and you as a user. Their main purpose is to help improve your web browsing experience by tracking and saving information from your web browsing sessions. But as they build up, they can impact your privacy and security. To enjoy a cleaner and more secure browsing experience, its worth deleting cookies on your iPhone from time to time. Luckily, its very simple to do.