We all start our self-hosted media journeys with the purest intentions, ripping a few Blu-rays, naming the files perfectly, and organizing them into a folder structure we swear to follow for posterity. I started my Plex server on my first NAS this way too, but just a few months later, that pristine directory devolved into a wasteland of dumped files, incorrectly named folders, random subtitle files spilling over, and other mysterious sub-folders.

The longer I use my local LLMs, the more I realize how much of the "local models feel worse" experience is often just a settings problem. I've spent the last few months playing around with a bunch of settings and parameters. Local AI is still a relatively new concept to me and I'm learning as I go, so naturally, I often come across useful tips that should have been so obvious to me in hindsight.

Yesterday, I told you how a hacker ran me over with a robot lawn mower. We explained how thousands of these bladed Chinese robots, made by Yarbo, could be hijacked with ease - exposing people's GPS coordinates, Wi-Fi passwords, email addresses, and more to any casual hacker who comes along. Today, Yarbo has issued a thorough 1,200-word response that you can read in full below. The company is confirming the security researcher's findings, apologizing, and providing a detailed plan to tackle many of its self-created security issues head-on. Yarbo writes that it's already temporarily cut off remote access and is addressing many of its most he …Read the full story at The Verge.

While everyone is debating whether Claude or ChatGPT has a more ‘human’ writing style, I have quietly moved my entire workflow elsewhere. With most AI chatbots, you have to bring the data to them, copy-paste your notes, and manually explain your life.

Watch models like the Apple Watch Series 11 (pictured) are also now available at discounted education rates for the first time. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple now requires proof of eligibility from US customers who purchase products online at discounted education rates, which also apply to the Apple Watch for the first time. According to a new pop-up message displayed on Apple's education webstore, Apple is directing students, parents, and teachers to verify their status via Unidays' third-party verification service - a system the Cupertino company has already implemented in other countries, including the UK.Apple Insider reports that the Unidays service is now also being rolled out to Apple customers in Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Turkey, and Chile. Eligible customers can use an email a …Read the full story at The Verge.

When I saw that Claude could integrate with productivity tools like my calendar and Asana, I decided to see what the AI would do if I asked it to plan my day. After all, there are plenty of task management apps that market AI features as a way to increase productivity and break down to-do lists into more manageable chunks.

Amazon Prime Video is joining Netflix and Disney Plus in adding a vertical feed of videos to its streaming app. The new "Clips" feed will offer a stream of short-form videos from shows and movies, with options to jump into the full title, rent, or buy it.Prime Video previously offered a TikTok-style feed with NBA game highlights, but now you can see snippets from titles offered on the platform by scrolling down to the Clips carousel on the app's homepage. "Every time you visit the experience, you'll see something new based on your viewing history," Prime Video says.You can also add shows and movies to your watchlist from the Clips feed a …Read the full story at The Verge.

With the way prices are, grabbing a portable PC gaming handheld like the Lenovo Legion Go S isn't such a bad idea. While the Steam Deck might be a top choice for a lot of people, we think the Legion Go S is going to be another fantastic option.

For most people shopping for a new TV, the first impression happens in a showroom, the worst place to judge picture quality.

I typically rely on my Network-Attached Storage rig to create backups, sync random projects via network shares, and archive ripped media files. However, I also use it to self-host essential services that I wouldn’t want to run on my experimental workstations. But there are times when I whip up some fun experiments with my NAS, especially storage-hungry projects that aren’t risky enough to bring my storage server down.

Though both the NotebookLM and Gemini trains had long left the station before I jumped on either of them, I got there eventually. And then Google put them on the same track through a new feature called Notebooks. At first, I couldn't help but notice similarities to Claude's Projects because of their persistent context. But after using them for a few weeks now, it became clear where they actually slot into my workflow - connecting the learning to the practicing.

VRAM has been one of the biggest topics of discussion around gaming GPUs for the last couple of generations. The GPUs themselves continue to become more efficient and performant overall, but the amount of VRAM has largely stagnated, especially around the mid-range. Benchmarks show that 8GB is no longer just bordering on not enough. For some games, it falls underneath the minimum requirement.