Did you know that whenever you're using your smart TV, its manufacturer is tracking nearly everything you do and then, in most cases, that information is used to deliver targeted ads, or it's sold to third-party vendors?

One of the first things many home labbers install is Pi-hole, the DNS sinkhole that cleans up unwanted traffic on your network by preventing your devices and browsers from resolving domain names. It's a great program, but because it uses DNS, troubleshooting it when it goes wrong isn't easy.

It looks like it might be a lengthy wait for AMD's next generation of graphics cards.

OpenAI plans to focus on "practical adoption" of AI in 2026, according to a blog post from CFO Sarah Friar. As the company spends a huge amount of money on infrastructure, OpenAI is working on "closing the gap" on what AI can do and how people actually use it. "The opportunity is large and immediate, especially in health, science, and enterprise, where better intelligence translates directly into better outcomes."Much of the blog post, titled "A business that scales with the value of intelligence," is about how OpenAI has evolved since it launched ChatGPT and how it has scaled up its business. The company's weekly active user and daily act …Read the full story at The Verge.

PC part prices have shot through the roof over the past few months, and it looks like prices are going to stay elevated for the time being. That means if you're planning to build something new, or just want to upgrade, you'll either need to wait it out or be strategic. Sometimes the latter option is the only one that makes sense, especially since we don't know when prices will go back to normal.

You have the perfect switches, the perfect keycaps, and the perfect aluminum frame, but the coiled aviator cable is starting to feel like a leash. This is the downside for a whole load of custom-built keyboards. Trying to utilize a clunky $40 adapter that hangs off the back just feels frustrating and ruins the perfect aesthetic of both your keyboard and your desk.

I live in Minneapolis. I grew up not far from here, in a suburb of St. Paul; after stints on both coasts, my wife and I settled here to raise our daughters in a freezing state that had always welcomed us warmly. As the ongoing occupation by over 3,000 ICE agents stretches into its third week - with no clear end in sight - I've received a steady string of messages from increasingly concerned friends across the country. They all start the same way: Uh… is this really as bad as it looks from the outside?My answer to that question is easy: no, it's worse. Not since the pandemic has my daily life been ruptured in such a frightening and surreal …Read the full story at The Verge.

You never think about how accessible your HDMI ports on your TVs and screens are until you have to plug something into it. Suddenly, that awesome screen you purchased with all the bells and whistles becomes your biggest enemy as you struggle to find where the HDMI ports are and which orientation they're in so you can plug a cable in.

In the last year, I have had to install Windows on a couple of devices, some due to work-related commitments, and others purely for experimental purposes. After the first few installs, I knew I had to devise a smarter strategy to set everything up, from installing my go-to apps to tweaking Windows settings that directly improve the experience. What followed next was hours of digging around online, looking for tools and scripts that would automate and streamline the process. By the end of it, I had three PowerShell scripts that would make every fresh Windows install not only usable, but aligned with how I like my PC set up.

When I had the RTX 3090, I used to experience stuttering in some AAA first-person shooters, such as Battlefield 2042, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, and Far Cry 6. At the time, like most people, I assumed I just needed a faster GPU to improve my frame rates at higher resolutions. Since these are demanding games without the best optimization, blaming it on the GPU and chasing the RTX 4090 felt reasonable, especially with various benchmarks suggesting it's 60-70% faster than the 3090.

Before using Proxmox to run my home lab, I always considered the operating system I used at the time reflected my technical ambition. By that, I mean dual-boot systems and other dedicated applications almost convinced me that each OS installed served a purpose. What I was unaware of was the accumulated complexity, which is something a virtualization platform such as Proxmox can help provide clarity on. I never stopped to ask myself, "Which OS do I actually need, and why?"

There's a lot to love about NotebookLM, and I've seen it used for a variety of projects. I've even used it to suggest a workout routine for me and learn about topics like SBCs.