I've written about how I've adjusted and how I interact with the software to improve its performance with each journey. Generally speaking, Android Auto is viewed by many as a way to view everything on the phone while on the move, effectively stretching the phone across the dashboard or infotainment screen. It's just like using a smartphone with widgets and apps galore. It's great to start with, but it can quickly feel overwhelming.

LLM-powered tools have come a long way over the last few years. What were typically considered tacky gimmicks have now become QoL-enhancing assets that are capable of automating tedious tasks. This applies to everything from cloud-based Perplexity and NotebookLM to a self-hosted Pi instance and LLM extensions for VS Code. And then you've got AI apps that can act as all-in-one productivity hubs, despite not specializing in a particular niche.

This should surprise no one, but a paid Claude plan doesn't just get you limits that are a bit less brutal than the free tier. You also get access to a lot of features that Anthropic keeps behind the paywall. If you're on the free tier, or have a paid Claude account but are frustrated with just how fast you burn through your quota, the good news is that the open-source community has your back.

This year's Summer Game Fest turned out to be a good one for fans of Japanese RPGs. First, the conclusion of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy was announced at SGF Live, and now we have the long-awaited return of the Persona series.Atlus confirmed Persona 6 exists with a brief teaser, but aside from implying a very dark tone, that's about all the video revealed. There's no release date or window, though the game will be coming to the PS5, Xbox, and PC whenever it does launch. Atlus describes the game as "a bold, new standalone story blending heartfelt daily life and new characters with pulse-pounding, supernatural adventure," which coul …Read the full story at The Verge.

Retro-gaming is always on trend. So I took out a PS Vita with an OLED panel from a drawer and set it aside to check whether it still worked. Thankfully, the PS Vita was still in good shape, charging smoothly, and I gave it a thorough clean. It’s a shame that Sony abandoned the Vita in 2019, even though it still packs capable hardware.

Minecraft Dungeons 2, a sequel to Microsoft's dungeon crawler spinoff Minecraft Dungeons, will be released on September 29th.The company originally revealed the game in a brief trailer in March, promising a fall 2026 release window. Here's how Microsoft described it at the time:Return to the world of Minecraft Dungeons in an all new action RPG adventure, brimming with high stakes encounters, thrilling challenges, and never before seen locations, as you set out to save a world in crisis. Will you and your allies prevail against the forces of evil and save the day once more?Minecraft Dungeons 2 will be available on Nintendo Switch, Nin …Read the full story at The Verge.

The 2026 edition of Summer Game Fest just wrapped up, and it was surprisingly hectic. The nearly week-long event came at a challenging time for the games industry, and for the most part the big keynotes were used as a chance to show some strength through major announcements, while largely ignoring pesky details like hardware price hikes and the mess of the live-service space.Both Sony and Microsoft used their showcases as a way to confirm they're refocusing on tried-and-true strategies like exclusive games and single-player blockbusters. Meanwhile, every publisher in existence seemed to be avoiding going up against Grand Theft Auto VI on t …Read the full story at The Verge.

As part of its Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday, Microsoft revealed new details about Halo: Campaign Evolved, the upcoming remake of Halo: Combat Evolved's campaign mode. The remake will debut on Xbox Series S / X, PC, and PS5 on July 28th.Today's mission trailer includes a first look at Operation: Meteorite, a new three-mission story arc in Halo: Campaign Evolved. It takes place a year before the events of the first game and features Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson.Microsoft announced Campaign Evolved last year, calling it a "modern evolution" of the original story. The game is built in Unreal Engine 5 and features "stunning new 4K visuals, …Read the full story at The Verge.

If you've ever stuck with something because it was familiar, and not necessarily because it was good, then you'll understand my relationship with Ubuntu Server. For five years straight, it ran most of the services in my home lab, which included a handful of self-hosted apps, containers, and VMs. I've always found Ubuntu's LTS releases to be stable, predictable, and completely boring, with "boring" seeming like the right word to describe an ideal production server. After a week on Fedora, I realized that I'd been mistaking stability for stagnation.

While my home lab grows, I've been trying to build a more resilient network at the same time. Some of that is handled by VLAN design, some by adding uninterrupted battery backups to my network stack, and others by physically separating traffic as needed. I also wanted faster links for the backbone of the network, even if many of the devices on it are still limited to gigabit speeds.

Just a few days after pushing Fable out of 2026, Microsoft showed off more footage of Fable, the first new entry in the storied RPG franchise since 2010's Fable III, at its Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday. The company also announced a specific release date: February 23rd, 2027. Though if you get the Premium Edition, you'll get early access starting February 18th.The trailer from the showcase follows a dedicated gameplay overview shown earlier this year. Based on what Microsoft has shown so far, the new Fable looks like it could deliver on what people love about the original trilogy, including the fantasy RPG setting and a lot of British humo …Read the full story at The Verge.

Microsoft has created a special edition Xbox Series X to celebrate 25 years of the console. The Xbox 25th-anniversary console takes design cues from the original Xbox console, with both the console and controller featuring a translucent green design."For the first time, we're bringing a translucent design to Xbox Series X, drawing inspiration from the original Xbox and OG Green so many players remember," explains Jason Ronald, VP of next generation. "The Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition respects our history, with the power and performance of the Xbox Series X, including 1 TB of storage, and a design that reflects where we've been and the co …Read the full story at The Verge.