Self-hosting AI has quietly become part of my daily workflow. I already run multiple local LLMs through Ollama for writing, research, and quick experiments, mostly because I prefer control, privacy, and predictable performance over cloud tools. Over time, though, I realized something was missing. While local models were powerful, I was still doing too much manual work around them.

If you're on the hunt for something to elevate your Windows experience beyond the norm, you should definitely give PowerToys a shot. The app contains a ton of handy tools that should really be a part of the default Windows experience, and sometimes it feels like there are so many excellent apps that you end up 'losing' one you really like amongst the sea of tools.

The world of free VPNs can be really hit and miss. Some companies will use their position to harvest data from you to make a profit, while others will actually respect your privacy, but you kind of wonder how a business can give away such a service for nothing. As such, a free VPN from a reputable company is pretty much the best deal you can get, because the business actually has a reason not to betray its user base.

Computing hardware has invaded every aspect of our lives under the pretext of making things easier or saving humans time spent doing repetitive chores. Everything from smart home hardware to containerized home labs could be classified as similar assists in that they reduce performative duties for us. We spend hundreds of dollars on the hardware that runs them, even if the software is FOSS. However, there's one important Windows automation tool sitting quietly in the System32 folder that's summarily ignored.

Most PC builders don't put together a new system from scratch every few years. They upgrade one component at a time when they feel it has overstayed its welcome. For instance, you'll often find gamers sticking to their CPUs for up to a decade while going through two or even three GPUs during the same time. Individual upgrades are often tied to resolving a specific bottleneck in the system that you think is holding back everything else. It could be your graphics card, CPU, RAM, storage, or cooler. Knowing exactly what the biggest bottleneck is in your PC is key to making the most of a component upgrade. Otherwise, you're just acting on instinct, opening the door wide open for buyer's remorse. I'll talk about some of the most common single-part upgrades people make to their PCs, and how things don't always go according to plan.

The AirPods Pro 3 are some of the best wireless earbuds that you can buy right now. We've talked about them before, but it came as a real surprise that Apple was actually able to top its previous earbuds with even better sound, better ANC, and keep things at the same price. And just when you thought things couldn't get more interesting, the AirPods Pro 3 earbuds are now down to a lower price, coming in at $200 for a limited time from retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.

We always have a moment in our lives when we are in a hurry to find a document, but it is buried somewhere in the Downloads folder, and we never get it in time. Searching for files across Downloads, Documents, and OneDrive folders is always a tedious task.

Confirming recent rumors, Meta has revealed that it's shutting down Horizon Worlds, its online multiplayer virtual reality (VR) game.

BMW's new class of EVs begins with the iX3 SUV, but you had to know it wouldn't end there. The company's engineers didn't spend all that time working up a completely redesigned and substantially more efficient EV platform just for one crossover, and now it's time for the second wave.Meet the new i3, which takes the same basic motor, battery, and electronics package that powers the iX3, plus the Neue Klasse's controversial styling cues, and applies it to a more familiar sedan shape, the sort of silhouette that BMW's reputation was largely built upon. It definitely looks a lot like the iX3, but with a slightly different intent. Sebastian K …Read the full story at The Verge.

What's better than a 3D print tracker? A 3D print tracker you made yourself, of course. If you make one yourself, you can always repair it manually if something breaks, and you can brainstorm new and fun ways to display the information you need while building upon the base you've already created.

Windows' built-in word processors are having a strange moment right now. First, we had Notepad and WordPad. Notepad focused on keeping things very simple, while WordPad was a little more advanced. Then, Microsoft erased WordPad from Windows 11, only to begin moving the features that were in WordPad over to Notepad. So, we've gone from a simple and an advanced word processor to a single simple word processor that's slowly becoming more advanced. Yeah, I'm not sure what's going on either.

Home labs come in all sizes and shapes, and while you don't need a rack for a home lab, it really does help. I mean, we've all been there with hastily stacked network equipment balancing on an old PC turned into a server, but that level of chaos energy doesn't sustain itself.