For a long time, even my smallest automations ended up living inside my home lab. If I wanted to post a daily update or monitor something simple, I’d spin up a container, wire in a script, and let it run alongside everything else. It worked, but it also meant that trivial tasks quietly accumulated into something heavier. Over time, the lab started to feel less like a set of tools and more like a place where everything had to live by default.

A docking station is just one of those devices that can make a huge difference if you're someone who's at their desk all day. And while there are plenty of great options to choose from, we think this one from Anker is going to be a good fit, especially at its newly reduced price. It features 14 ports, along with a small display that can show you what's going on with connected devices at a glance. Furthermore, it's now $100 below its usual retail price, which makes it a great time to pick one up.

OpenAI won a victory Tuesday in one of its legal battles with xAI, which involved allegations of poaching and theft of trade secrets. The former company's motion to dismiss the lawsuit was granted on Tuesday with leave to amend, meaning xAI has the option to refile with modified claims. In the ruling, US District Judge Rita F. Lin wrote that "xAI does not point to any misconduct by OpenAI" in its current claims. "Instead, it points to eight former xAI employees who left for OpenAI at around the same time," with no indication that OpenAI directed their actions while leaving xAI.xAI alleges that two former employees "stole its source code …Read the full story at The Verge.

A little while ago, there were rumors that OnePlus phones were going to stop being made. The good news was that several people at OnePlus made statements on social media saying the exact opposite: that OnePlus was alive and well and that the rumors had no real basis. However, it was still a little up in the air, because while high-ranking executives said they weren't pulling the plug on OnePlus, there wasn't any proof that they hadn't.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (L) walks with Emil Michael (R), Under Secretary of Defense (Research & Engineering, while touring an exhibit of Multi-Domain Autonomous systems at the Pentagon July 16, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. | Win McNamee/Getty Images. Hello and welcome to Regulator, a newsletter for Verge subscribers covering the broligarchs, the influencers, and the (potentially conscious) artificial intelligence models scrambling for power in Washington. If you're not a subscriber yet, assert your humanity against the will of the machines by signing up here.Very important news: Do you want to tell me stuff and see it printed in Regulator? Well, now you can, because we have a new tip line! Send all commentary, cool information, and ~secrets~ to [email protected]. The Pentagon's private-sector A-TeamThis morning, in advance of a meeting between Defense Secretary Pete Heg …Read the full story at The Verge.

One thing I really love about FOSS is its focus on community. Because they don't have a profit margin to maintain, the community can care less about shareholders and making money, and instead focus on making a great product. And part of that community spirit includes people coming together to vote on things.

Apple's OLED touchscreen MacBook Pros set to launch this fall will get a Dynamic Island feature like what's available on iPhones, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple first debuted the Dynamic Island with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max as a pill-shaped cutout that can show information and alerts, though the MacBook Pro's Dynamic Island will be "smaller" than what's available on current iPhones.The new MacBook Pros, which will come in 14-inch and 16-inch screen sizes, otherwise look "similar" to the current models, Gurman says, but Apple will be updating the Mac's user interface to make it "dynamic" and work better for eithe …Read the full story at The Verge.

There are plenty of great laptops to choose from in 2026, which is why it's important to choose one that really lines up with your needs. And we're not just talking about the looks, feel, or performance — it's also important to find one that's going to meet your budget needs as well.

A lot of people default to GIMP when they’re looking for a free image editor. It’s probably the most popular open-source image editor with that level of power, so it’s usually the first recommendation you see when you’re looking for free or open-source options. On paper, this makes sense. If you need layers, brushes, filters, selection tools, and enough features to handle real editing work, GIMP seems like the obvious place to start.

Apple, like many others, has had to launch age verification features in response to new requirements for age checks in many regions, and on Tuesday, the company announced new details about its tools that developers can use to "meet their age assurance obligations under upcoming U.S. and regional laws, including in Brazil, Australia, Singapore, Utah, and Louisiana." One of the big updates is that users in Australia, Brazil, and Singapore can't download apps rated 18-plus unless their age has been confirmed through "reasonable methods," which the App Store can confirm automatically. Apple notes that developers may still "have separate obliga …Read the full story at The Verge.

If you have a few SBCs or microcontrollers sitting around with nothing to do with them, why not make a little console? While your small chips and boards won't be emulating PS5 games any time soon, they're just the right size and power to handle some of the older titles in the gaming halls of fame. Which is great, because there are some real classics that released back in the late 20th century that are well worth a look.

It's tempting to assume that a faster internet plan is the solution to all your Wi-Fi woes. However, most people aren't even saturating their existing bandwidth. The average home internet speeds in the US top out somewhere around 300 Mbps, which is more than sufficient for gaming, 4K streaming, and file downloads on multiple devices simultaneously. If your Wi-Fi connection feels lackluster, it's usually not the internet speed that's at fault. You need to look elsewhere to find the flaws in your networking setup, and identify the upgrades that will actually deliver a meaningful impact. Instead of aiming for Gigabit (or higher) speeds, revisit your router hardware, dead zones, channel selection, and QoS settings. Your existing internet plan is probably more than enough already — you simply need to remove the bottlenecks.