I thought I already knew what the best AI coding experience looked like. OpenAI and Anthropic have dominated the market to the point that I had almost stopped expecting anyone else to surprise me.

Back in the early days of Google's history, the company was bound by one guiding rule: "Don't be evil." Over time, that rule has slowly been relegated lower in the company's code of conduct until it hit the very bottom. Now, one Google ex-employee has given us insight into why that happened, and they believe it happened due to a change in leadership.

After a former lead writer claimed Saber "replaced me with ChatGPT," CEO Matthew Karch now claims, "Neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI," for the Rideshare "Stimulator" game announced last month, developed by Unigine.The writer, Stella Sacco, says differently, however, posting on Bluesky that "I was lead writer on this one! And Saber replaced me with ChatGPT midway through development. All the passenger voices were AI too. Either they changed direction at some point or they're not disclosing it on Steam." Saber describes Rideshare "Stimulator" as an "immersive driving simulation game that puts you behind the wheel …Read the full story at The Verge.

Did a prototype Microsoft gamepad fall off the back of a truck? We can't say, but a Redditor has legit-looking photos of a prototype Xbox controller that's almost certainly the Xbox Elite Series 3. Incredibly, they claim they bought the pad for $200 on OfferUp.In May, a Brazilian regulator's leaked images revealed that Xbox Elite 3 would have new two new scroll wheels on the bottom edge, a second wireless mode to connect directly to Xbox Cloud Gaming servers, and a new "Pair Button" that can also switch between those servers and your console.Where might that pair button live? Today, we have a possible answer: it might sit right next to t …Read the full story at The Verge.

My Windows laptop doubles up as a work and personal use machine. As expected, I always follow the same workflow every day: open the same apps and websites, connect to the same home server devices, and check emails. While I try to keep apps to a minimum on my system, there's still a lot of stuff to do before I can start working. Doing such repetitive tasks spoils my mood and causes unnecessary delays that are easily avoidable.

It's come and gone far too quickly, but summer vacation is rapidly approaching its end, and back-to-school season is here. You're no doubt hearing plenty about things you should buy for the coming school year, but I have a recommendation of my own, and it's one I wish I had during my own school years.

It wasn't an accident that COSMIC has a reputation for being a great desktop environment on Linux, and it earned a spot on my machine awhile back for its great hardware support. For a decent stretch, it felt like it was better at handling multiple high refresh rate displays than other environments, but while using it, my heart longed for the environment where I had originally come from.

If you learn anything about me from my reporting, it's that I adore projects that use e-ink displays. I'm still thinking about the time someone built their own e-ink watch earlier this week. Fortunately, if you want to make your own e-ink project at home, there are plenty of resources out there to aid you, such as this amazing dashboard designer that lets you create the perfect smart display.

As the PC building market endures a nasty hardware shortage, consumers have had to dig deeper into their pockets to fund a new computer. Unfortunately, it appears even the software world has decided to raise its prices by a considerable amount. A PC brand executive has reportedly stated that Microsoft has raised its Windows 11 OEM license prices by 7-10%, and the consumer will likely be the one picking up the bill.

Most people consider the average FPS as the gold standard for measuring gaming performance. While it's a useful metric, the frame time offers way more insight into how smooth your gaming experience really is. A high average FPS with inconsistent frame times will still render terribly unsatisfying gameplay. Many things can contribute to high frame times, but you shouldn't be quick to blame the GPU.

You’ll have to be fine with letting Grok sign into your online accounts, however. | Image: SpaceXAI SpaceXAI has introduced Grok Bot, an always-on AI agent service designed to behave like independent "AI teammates" that can do your work for you. The bots share their own cloud-based computer environment, and can sign into apps, tools, and websites you already use to complete multi-step workplace tasks, only coming back when their assigned work is completed or if something requires approval.Grok Bot (or Bots, as SpaceXAI inconsistently pluralizes it) is the latest push from Elon Musk's AI company to keep up with business services launched by rival AI providers, including OpenAI's ChatGPT Work, Anthropic's Claude Cowork, and Microsoft's Cop …Read the full story at The Verge.

When you're first starting out with a Zigbee network, it's easy to misunderstand the way that the mesh actually works. You might think the more Zigbee devices that you add, the stronger the coverage becomes. As a result, you buy a ten-pack of battery-powered door, motion, and temperature sensors and place them all across your home, but then suddenly, half of them stop responding or go offline in Home Assistant. This is because battery-powered devices never route traffic or repeat signals. A house filled with 40 battery-powered Zigbee sensors has zero mesh resilience. If it lacks mains-powered routing hardware, understanding the strict functional boundary between Zigbee routers and end devices is the difference between a flaky smart home and a bulletproof automation network.