To get started with competitive Pokémon battles, all you need is your phone. But to compete at the highest level, like at the Pokémon World Championships, you're going to need a Switch. And there doesn't seem to be a good reason why.Battle simulator Pokémon Champions originally launched on the Switch and Switch 2 in April, with the mobile version following in June. The experience is nearly identical across the game's versions; since it's cross-platform, the choice really comes down to what devices you own and whether you prefer tapping or using a controller. I find myself playing Champions on my phone more often just because it's always in …Read the full story at The Verge.

I've used my fair share of PCs, and having to hop between them or reset them every now and then often means I have to reinstall a lot of the things I'm used to. Some things are more essential than others, though, and they'll be the first things I install on a new PC before I get deep into properly using it. I have a handful of relatively light tools that I always need on my PCs when I plan to use them frequently.

Boox teased the Picco, its take on the buzzy Xteink X4 e-reader, back in July, but provided almost no details. Now, thanks to some reporting out of IFA, we've got a bit more info, though sadly still no price. Unlike the Xteink devices, the Picco will not have magnets on the back for attaching to a phone. The 3.97-inch e-paper display, however, will be touchscreen, which The Verge's Andrew Liszewski called a "welcome upgrade" on the X4 Pro. The Picco has physical page-turn buttons, and they can be customized with different actions for short and long presses.There's apparently no onboard storage, and it relies entirely on a microSD card to h …Read the full story at The Verge.

These days, it's really easy to identify bird calls; all you need is a bird identification app on your phone, and you can ID a call in a moment's notice. But what if you could have a system that passively listened for bird calls and showed you which ones it heard using beautiful art? That's the goal of this project, which uses a microphone, an e-ink display, and genuine art from the 1800s to create an immaculate set piece.

Repairability rules. The Fairphone 6 Plus feels like an extremely average midrange Android phone and I couldn't be more thrilled.The mission has always been admirable. Fairphone seeks out ethically sourced materials and offers a high degree of repairability for its devices. But the phones themselves required a lot of sacrifices, like putting up with underpowered processors and bad cameras, in order to embrace the sustainability mission. The latest generations of Fairphone have inched toward closing that gap, and the 6 Plus achieves two huge milestones: It feels very much like using a middling Android phone, and it's actually on sale in the US.The 6 Plus is a …Read the full story at The Verge.

As someone who grew up with the internet, browsers were originally a way for me to surf the web, chat with friends, and spend way too many hours on Neopets. The idea of using a browser for work came about later, when I started freelancing. I also grew up with only one option for browsers (others existed, but I didn't know about them). In other words, I'm used to using a single browser for absolutely everything, but that created distractions in my day-to-day workflow.

One issue PC builders might face is installing Windows 11 on a fresh 1TB or 2TB NVMe SSD. You install a handful of essential apps, Open TreeSize or WizTree, and suddenly you discover a massive locked system file called hiberfil.sys quietly devouring 16GB to 32GB of root C: partition space. This isn't just wasted capacity. It can also lead to wear and tear on your SSD as every time Windows initiates fast startup, hybrid sleep, or full system hibernation, it dumps the entire contents of your active system RAM directly into that file on your flash storage. This is a feature that was designed decades ago for slow mechanical spinning hard drives and low-power laptops and is now enabled by default on high-end desktop gaming rigs and workstation PCs equipped with 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB of high-speed RAM and blazing Gen 4 or Gen 5 NVMe SSDs.

Google Maps and location data go hand-in-hand. After all, Google Maps can't navigate without you enabling certain location settings. But you may be surprised by just how much it keeps track of, from your quick searches to the places you visit during the month. This is even more prominent when Timeline is enabled.

If you've got an NES collecting dust and you're looking for a way to track flights on your TV screen, then boy, do I have the project for you. Someone has figured out a way to track flights using a Nintendo Entertainment System, and yes, it requires data from the internet to function. Fortunately, the person who made this tracker found a pretty ingenious way to get data from the World Wide Web onto the NES, meaning it can track flights in real time.

With every iteration of Windows comes a new set of icons that changes the overall look and feel of the OS. It can seem small, but these icons can be something you remember fondly, so if you grow up with a particular era of Windows, you may miss seeing those old icons on your desktop.

I love the freedom of self-hosting, but it also means I am responsible when something goes wrong. As my Docker setup grew, I started thinking more about how easily a failed drive or bad update could cause problems. I wanted backups that could run quietly without adding more work to my routine. And for that I had to replace my temporary script-based backup approach. That's when I set up a backup strategy for my Docker services to protect the data I actually care about. I also introduced a self-hosted backup tool into my workflow to automate the backup process.

EcoFlow’s high-end, weatherproof, plug-in solar kit with integrated battery. | Image: EcoFlow This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on e-bikes, power stations, and how to work anywhere, follow Thomas Ricker. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.How it startedWith a deep breath, I took the cable seething with 800W of solar power and plugged it directly into a standard wall jack in my home. Nothing sparked, nothing smoked, and by the end of that sunny summer day, my electricity bill had dropped to nearly $0.As unnerving as it sounds to treat a common household power outlet as a power input, these DIY plug-in sol …Read the full story at The Verge.