I’m right-hand dominant but a lefty at heart. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge I know a vocal group of people who swear by the number pad on their keyboard. And yet, for years I haven't cared about using one - until I put my hands on the Epomaker RT98. It's a mechanical keyboard with a charming retro aesthetic, a fun CRT-like screen, VIA compatibility, a nice typing feel, and most importantly, a modular number pad that can be moved to either side. It's a clever compromise in a budget friendly-ish board, allowing you to further customize your setup without losing the functionality of the coveted "tenkey." But like many mechanical keyboards out there, it's got some unique quirks and tradeoffs.Epomaker RT98Score: 7Pr …Read the full story at The Verge.

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to move things around the house. My PC room got swapped with the bedroom, which meant I had to get the Ethernet cable re-routed to the new room. This part turned out to be way less complicated than I had imagined, since the local electrician was more than equipped to do it. He knew exactly which points in the electrical duct to push the cable through, finishing the entire job in less than 30 minutes. After the crimping was done, I paid and thanked the guy, reconnected everything, and launched Foraa Horizon 6 – it was the weekend, after all. A few days later, I noticed my downloads were significantly slower, and fearing the worst, I ran a speed test.

As creepy as I find memory in AI tools, I've got to admit it makes for a much better experience. After all, that's why all the major AI labs are directing their efforts so aggressively towards developing personalization and persistent context.

It's unfair but true: no matter how new and powerful a computer or other tech device we buy, it inevitably ends up in a digital graveyard. Most of us likely have a drawer full of tech — namely, phones that became obsolete and were replaced by the latest and greatest shiny new toy. Luckily, there is a lot you can still do with an old Android device to breathe new life into it, similar to repurposing a PC.

Fanfiction communities are trying to hunt down writers who haven’t written works with their own hands. | Image: Álvaro Bernis / The Verge Over the past week, a new fanworks movement has kicked off, with the aim to root out authors using generative AI. But the detection methods being implemented are questionable, and any fanfic writer could be caught in the crossfire.Broad distaste around the use of Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI tools has long been a thing in creative communities, including the world of fanfiction. Readers and writers have passed around tips for spotting supposedly AI-generated works, citing anything from em dashes to the broad concept of purple prose. But on June 29th, an anonymous X account called @heatedrivalryai promised a seemingly more reliable solution …Read the full story at The Verge.

That is the face of a man who enjoys what he does. | Image: Reato Morris Erick the Architect is a founding member of, and the primary producer for, the legendary Flatbush Zombies. He's toured the world, performed on Kimmel and Fallon, played Coachella, and collaborated with everyone from Joey Bada$$ and the Rza to James Blake and hardcore punk band Trash Talk. But perhaps the most unexpected collab was with Apple, when Erick popped up following Tim Cook's final WWDC presentation to rap about apps. That was just a precursor to him dropping his new disco and reggae-tinged single, "No Doubt (I'm In Love)."The new track, produced by Yeti Beats and Federico Vindver, is definitely a shift in tone from the darker, gri …Read the full story at The Verge.

When I built my first gaming PC, I made the same assumption almost everyone does. If a processor was advertised as a 125W part, surely that meant it would draw somewhere around that much power under load, right? Right? It seems like the most logical way to choose a CPU cooler, especially when every spec sheet puts that TDP figure front and center. Then, I opened HWiNFO during a benchmark, and watched the numbers climb far beyond what I'd been promised on paper.

The US Department of Energy reportedly deleted about 6,000 pages related to energy conservation as a historic heatwave tears across the country. The deletion was suspiciously timed, following Republican outrage over Mayor Zohran Mamdani asking New Yorkers to help reduce strain on the grid by setting their AC to 78 degrees. Republicans like Ted Cruz (who has famously fled severe weather in his home state), Nikki Haley, and Representative Nancy Mace (South Carolina) quickly pounced, framing the request as socialism and an act of war on women in menopause (the Republican Party is notoriously concerned about women's health).Of course, this i …Read the full story at The Verge.

Although I have a soft spot for the polished interfaces of Harvester and ESXi, Proxmox’s web UI is just as convenient as its counterparts. Most of the basic home server features and virtualization services are easy to access once you go through its documentation, and if you’re as fond of tinkering with computing projects as I am, you’ll find dozens of cool and, dare I say, ground-breaking tools hidden within the PVE management UI.

A great concept that falls flat. The Ikko MindOne Pro is delightfully small.I keep calling it a square phone, which isn't quite right; the screen is square, but the phone itself is slightly rectangular. The camera flips up so you can use it for selfies - you can even open it partway to use as a stand or a kind of PopSocket. There's a Clicks-style keyboard accessory that also adds a magnetic ring and a headphone jack. I tried so hard to like it, but this phone is a miss no matter how you look at it.I used it like a normal phone. I downloaded a minimalist launcher and tried using it as kind of a dumb phone. I put the keyboard case on. I took the keyboard case off. Nothing …Read the full story at The Verge.

There's a reason NotebookLM has such a strong grip on the source-grounded AI space. It's super fast, the citation system is superior, the podcast feature became a whole moment on its own, and Google keeps adding new (and very useful) stuff to it. So for most people, it's a no-brainer when you want to chat with documents or sources.

The Matic is our favorite robot vacuum by a pretty comfortable margin. If you’ve been thinking about buying one, you may want to plan on doing it sooner than later. The company will raise its price by $250 on September 9th, going from $1,245 to $1,495. Matic told The Verge that the new price reflects its rising costs for memory and other components for the vacuum, which it says are now tenfold.Those who buy one directly from the company will get a year’s worth of replacement bags worth $96 at no extra cost. Each refill contains 12 bags, and they ship for free. Additionally, Matic has increased their return policy from 60 days to six months.MaticA different kind of robot vacuum and mop, Matic reinvents the floor cleaning machine.Where to Buy: $1245 at MaticOur reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy praised the Matic’s “human-like navigation,” noting in her review that it got stuck only twice during six months of use. In her cluttered (Jen’s words, not mine), three-story home with pets, thick rugs, and high transitions, it handled difficult layouts with ease while delivering powerful suction and a great self-cleaning roller mop. It’ll continue vacuuming even if its water tank runs dry, and it’s quiet enough to let it run without becoming a distraction if you work from home.It also requires very little maintenance. Rather than relying on a big multifunction dock, it carries its own water tank and stores dirty water in a disposable bag, so you’ll only need to empty and clean its dirty water reservoir. It even drives itself to the sink when it needs more water. Unlike many competing robot vacuums, it can also operate entirely offline, with maps and other data stored locally instead of in the cloud.Read our Matic review.