While smart homes sound great in theory, you can easily fall victim to standing in a dark room shouting at a smart speaker that doesn't understand the command "turn on the lamp" or scrolling through a laggy app just to dim the lights for a movie.

I'm always surprised by how inventive people can get with old and decommissioned stuff. It wasn't too long ago since we saw someone converting a radio from 1955 into a modern-day internet streamer. However, if someone gave me a disused parking meter and told me to go wild with it, I have zero idea where I'd even start.

If you're a Windows 10 user who couldn't make the jump to Windows 11, or you're just getting tired of Microsoft's shenanigans lately, you can always give Linux a try. The good news is, there are so many Linux distros out there for you to try. The bad news is, there are so many Linux distros out there that you can get decision paralysis over which one to use.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is making kids' online safety a cornerstone of her administration, and she's eyeing a platform that has often flown under the radar: Roblox.As progress in Congress has stagnated, states have become the primary drivers of internet reforms meant to protect kids, including age verification laws and new requirements for online platforms. Hochul announced a sweeping plan to expand online parental controls and age verification, which she'll tout at her State of the State on Tuesday. It notably pulls from a piece of legislation crafted by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Nily Rozic meant to plug a gap in e …Read the full story at The Verge.

For users who have only used the Windows operating system all their lives, switching to Linux won't be straightforward. But it is still worth it for anyone who wants more control over the performance of their laptops or desktops. And for that, Linux already has numerous built-in tools.

For years, Google, Apple, and Microsoft have sold us the lie of infinite storage. It's so easy to become a digital hoarder because it's easier to pay $2.99/month for another 100GB than to actually go through your files and delete them. Every couple of months, I'd bump up my subscription to give myself some more data just because I didn't want to delete hundreds of pictures.

After using a NAS for a good few years, you eventually have to make a choice. You could either replace your aging NAS or keep pushing it with hardware upgrades year after year. Just out of curiosity, I kept track of new NAS enclosures, and what surprised me the most was the price of an empty enclosure. That’s because I knew what all would go into making it a complete system with NAS-specific drives and other critical upgrades.

Anthropic wants to expand Claude's AI agent capabilities and take advantage of the growing hype around Claude Code - and it's doing it with a brand-new feature released Monday, dubbed "Claude Cowork." "Cowork can take on many of the same tasks that Claude Code can handle, but in a more approachable form for non-coding tasks," Anthropic wrote in a blog post. The company is releasing it as a "research preview" so the team can learn more about how people use it and continue building accordingly. So far, Cowork is only available via Claude's macOS app, and only for subscribers of Anthropic's power-user tier, Claude Max, which costs $100 to $20 …Read the full story at The Verge.

When it comes to using a computer, there are multiple approaches you can take. You might just use it to complete your basic tasks like opening apps, writing, researching, sending emails, and basic file management. Then there's the other approach. You see, inevitably, files pile up over time across folders. Or perhaps you have a habit of leaving apps open in the background. Basically, system maintenance becomes something that you leave to the computer. That's a reasonable approach, but it doesn't cover every maintenance scenario.

Almost a year ago, I started my self-hosting journey. While I'm impressed with how much I've learned, there were also plenty of bumps along the way.

It's a weird time in the Stranger Things community. Following a monthslong lead-up to a finale that was so big it screened in theaters, the show's superfans have been spending their time dissecting the fifth season in order to prove that a hidden ninth episode is coming that represents the true ending of Stranger Things. So far that hasn't happened - but that doesn't mean Netflix is done with the series. The streamer just released One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, a two hour-long documentary about, well, the making of season 5. And while it's far removed from a secret episode and provides little in the way of new conspirac …Read the full story at The Verge.

The Trump administration approached Microsoft for its donation to fund the White House's $300 million ballroom, documents released by Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-MA) office reveal. In response to a Democrat-led letter questioning Big Tech's involvement in the ballroom's construction, Microsoft counsel Karen Christian writes that the company "was contacted by a fundraiser for the effort regarding a possible donation" around two months after President Donald Trump announced plans to replace the White House's East Wing with a privately funded ballroom."At that time, Microsoft was provided information concerning the Trust for the National Mal …Read the full story at The Verge.