My Intel Core i7-6700K spent years at the core of my gaming rig, and once it was replaced, that CPU and the motherboard it sat in collected dust to the point where I had considered selling it, giving it away, or even recycling it. A quad-core Skylake chip from 2015 doesn’t sound like server material, but today, that same platform runs our photo library, a media server, a pair of game servers and a voice chat server, and the operating system it all runs on is Proxmox, which is totally free to run.

Apple has sent invites to a second product launch this month, and it's scheduled for October 28th at 1PM ET in Los Angeles.At the event, Apple is set to announce new Macs and a refreshed iPad Mini, according to Bloomberg. The big announcement is expected to be a new MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen that's also lighter and has an iPhone-like Dynamic Island. But Apple is also planning on revealing a 14-inch MacBook Pro and a new iMac with the M6 chip, which was recently introduced with the Mac Mini. Apple's updated iPad Mini will apparently finally get an OLED screen as well and put the selfie cam on the landscape edge."Can't wait to p …Read the full story at The Verge.

Just about everyone should know about the 3-2-1 backup rule by now. If you don't, it's a strategy that says you should have three copies of your files on two different types of media, with one off-site. Only then are your files truly protected from disasters — or, as I learned recently, most disasters.

The Miles is a smart plug for your car. My 15-year-old daughter just got her learner's permit, so when I was pitched a new gadget tailored to teen drivers, I was intrigued. The Miles Plug is a small device that plugs into your car's OBD-II port and monitors location, driving habits, and vehicle health, along with emergency accident response and roadside assistance. The idea is that knowing all these things should help me feel more comfortable when my daughter starts driving alone. I tested the (now discontinued) Ring Car Cam when my son was learning to drive, but he hated it and refused to turn it on; I wondered if the Miles could provide the same peace of mind without feeling a …Read the full story at The Verge.

Using my PS Vita for media beyond gaming came naturally, mostly because of the amazing homebrew community. I tried Swiftfin to stream content from my Jellyfin server, but one aspect was still missing: music.

The US is building more fossil fuel infrastructure than it has in a decade while renewable energy growth slows down, a new report shows.Electricity demand is also climbing faster than it has in more than a decade with more data centers, factories, and electric vehicles plugging into the grid. Despite those growing demands, the Trump administration has sought to hobble the wind and solar industries in favor of fossil fuels.America's energy landscape is already shifting as a result, according to the report published last week by the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund and research firm Atlas Public Policy. If all the gas projects in the d …Read the full story at The Verge.

After using AI for a little while, I've come to realise that handing an LLM a task and telling it to "Just get it done" is ripe for disaster. It's always good to have a little bit of a personal touch so the result is just how you like it. As it turns out, people using Google Gemini's Notebook feature have noticed that they have very little control over generating Slide Decks and Video Overviews. Now, Google has added additional customization to Notebooks, where Gemini will pause and ask you the best way to proceed.

The best software is the kind that you can set up once and forget about. One of the best examples I have is Syncthing. I installed it on a few of my devices about a year ago and haven't needed to reconfigure it since the initial setup. I'm still using it every day; I just don't open it.

CoreWeave had a bad week last week. Its bonds slipped into distressed territory by a common definition - when investors demand 1,000 basis points more in yield than they'd get from government bonds. Last Tuesady Chamath "SPAC King" Palihapitiya noticed the distressed debt, and also asked whether the AI buildout was a private credit bubble. Its shares are down more than 20 percent since Tuesday's close, which is kind of a lot! There even seemed to be some collateral damage in the market on other AI companies, too.Now, I have also asked if the AI industry is a bubble, but when the SPAC King echoes concerns held by a lady whose ongoing questi …Read the full story at The Verge.

It shouldn't surprise you that I spend a lot of time in front of a screen. Whether it's for my business or my writing, my days tend to run long. A few years ago, I invested in a large 43-inch monitor to maximize the screen real estate. But as large as it is, you can only fit so much on a desk. Plus, it didn't help that the monitor was locked to 60Hz.

I run a Proxmox server with mirrored enterprise drives, a retired RTX 3080, and more containers than I’d like to admit, and I’d recommend self-hosting to almost anyone who’s curious. What I wouldn’t do is promise them it’ll save money, but a lot of home lab enthusiasts lead with that. It is everywhere in beginner guides, and for most people it doesn’t hold up once you take into account drives, backups, electricity, and time. Worse, it sets newcomers up to quit the first time they realize it's not worth it in terms of the dollars saved.

Sony’s WF-1000XM6 are on sale in black today only. | Image: Sony For a very limited time, Sony’s latest high-end noise-canceling earbuds are actually cheaper than their last-gen counterpart, the WF-1000XM5. B&H Photo is selling Sony’s latest WF-1000XM6 in black for an all-time low of $238 ($92 off) at checkout. Other retailers aren’t currently offering a discount on the XM6.Sony WF-1000XM6 earbudsWhere to Buy: $329.99 $238 at B&H PhotoThe XM6 are a solid upgrade over their predecessor and easily amongst the best noise-canceling wireless earbuds on the market. In his review, John Higgins noted that they do a better job of tuning out other people’s conversations than any other earbuds he’s tested. Sony has also improved the bone-conduction sensor and added AI-powered microphones that help keep your voice clear during calls, even in noisy environments.The XM6 earbuds also deliver clean, balanced sound with impressive bass, raising the bar of what we expect with Sony’s WF-1000XM series. If you prefer to customize your listening experience, Sony’s Sound Connect app offers plenty of customization options, including the ability to adjust how much surrounding noise you hear without removing the earbuds. You can also personalize the touch controls.The XM6 earbuds support Sony’s LDAC codec, which delivers higher-quality audio from compatible Android devices, too. New in the latest set is a listening mode that makes music sound more like background audio playing in a cafe, allowing you to listen to your favorite music without getting too distracted from whatever you’re doing.Read our Sony WF-1000XM6 review.