Smart homes are supposed to simplify life, but most off-the-shelf hubs and devices offer limited customization and rely on the cloud. That’s where the Raspberry Pi shines. It gives you the freedom to create exactly the kind of smart home you want, without paying subscription fees or sacrificing privacy. Here are a few Raspberry Pi projects that made my smart home noticeably more capable, efficient, and personal.

Like many users, when I first started using Obsidian, I didn't have a solid organizational structure in mind. I threw together some folders and only haphazardly tagged notes. After all, I was learning the ins and outs of the program; I didn't realize how crucial tagging was to keeping track of things.

The release of Battlefield 6 has garnered a lot of attention from everyone. It not only provides a good alternative to other first-person shooters with online multiplayer modes, but really emphasizes teamwork amongst players in multiplayer. Because of that, the game has managed to generate a lot of chatter on social media since its original release. To further capitalize on the popularity of the game, the Battlefield Team released new content for the game, including a battle royale mode called REDSEC. But the new game mode has received a lot of criticism from players for a variety of reasons.

With every big hardware release, the community of hardware enthusiasts jumps to their benchmarking tools to see how their hardware fares against the shiny new components about to hit the market.

In my two decades of experience using Windows computers, I've always installed software the usual way. Hop into a web browser, search for the software, download it, and then install it. It's worked fine for the most part and is probably the easiest way. Microsoft Store's library has also grown, and finding official apps or at least the most popular apps is a lot less troublesome now. I've never gravitated towards frequent package manager usage, which is common on Linux, but after using WinGet for many months, I understand its value.

PC building is all about picking the parts that suit you. Usually, that means spending a large sum of money on components like the CPU, GPU, and storage, as they are directly responsible for how fast or slow your workloads will run. So, facing stutters in games is probably the worst feeling you can have if you’re rocking that high-end PC that you’ve always wanted to build. What’s worse, sometimes the stuttering is caused by factors that simply aren’t that evident.

On October 31st, ESPN, ABC, Nat Geo, and over 20 other Disney-owned channels went dark on YouTube TV. As the two sides disagree about terms for a new content distribution contract, Google has accused Disney of trying to raise prices for its customers in an effort to boost its own Hulu + Live TV and Fubo offerings. Meanwhile, Disney claims that Google is being unreasonable and seeking preferential treatment and below-market rates, and streamed College GameDay for free during the dispute. It’s quite different from their 2021 carriage blackout, which was resolved within a couple of days.The two don’t seem any closer to an agreement at this point, as the war of words continues, and now Google is even giving YouTube TV customers a $20 credit for the inconvenience.Read on below for all of the news and updates about Google and Disney’s ongoing battle. Google is issuing a $20 credit to YouTube TV subscribers. Films from YouTube and Google Play are no longer available on Movies Anywhere No Monday Night Football, no Election Night ABC News for YouTube TV. ESPN, ABC, and other Disney channels go dark on YouTube TV Disney is suing YouTube for poaching a key media and sports executive

Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted in Brooklyn on charges that they conspired to illegally rig bets on pitches thrown during games. The two were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery, and money laundering conspiracy, among other things. According to the indictment:The defendants agreed in advance with their co-conspirators to throw specific types and speeds of pitches, and their co-conspirators used that inside information to place wagers on those pitches. In some instances, the defendants received bribes and kickback payments-funneled through third parties-in exchange for rigging pitches.The scheme involved unnamed third-party bettors who allegedly earned over $400,000 on bets involving Clase and Ortiz. The pitchers, for their part, received kickbacks according to the indictment. In some instances, Clase and Ortiz even provided their coconspirators with money to fund the bets. To organize the scheme, the two used their cellphones during games, which is prohibited by the MLB except under extenuating circumstances. The two are also facing a potential lifetime ban from the sport for violating the league’s rules against betting on their own games. However, if convicted, it’s unlikely they’d be released from prison while still young enough to compete anyway. Clase and Ortiz are facing a possible sentence of up to 65 years.

Much of La Ola Interior (Spanish Ambient & Acid Exoticism 1983-1990) sounds shockingly contemporary for a collection of tracks recorded in the mid to late '80s. Ambient as a genre was already relatively well established by the time many of the artists on this compilation recorded their songs. But as we neared the end of the century, much of the scene in the US and Japan was beginning to push into New Age territory. These artists from the Spanish peninsula were trafficking in something much more experimental.La Ola Interior covers a lot of stylistic ground. There's despondent drones, classic analog synths excursions, detached chants, field …Read the full story at The Verge.

Conducting thorough research on both the hardware and OS aspects is quite essential when building anything related to computing, be it a PC, home server, or even a seemingly simple Network-Attached Storage system. When I built my first storage server using TrueNAS ages ago, I put in some effort to familiarize myself with the intricacies of NAS devices. And I learned quite a lot from several hours of research and a few minutes of the setup process.

Like most tech users, when I needed to compress or extract a file, I just hit the 7-Zip context menu and got it done. It was reliable, it was free, and honestly, I didn't think twice about it. But the more I handled large and sensitive client data, the more the clunky interface started to annoy me. I realized I needed more: a productivity tool that offered modern features without costing a fortune.

If there's one thing that everyone in the games industry knows very well, it's how serious Nintendo is about protecting their intellectual properties. The Japanese game company is notorious for being very willing to get into a legal battle with any entity that steps into the realm of piracy and emulation. Most recently, Nintendo sued a YouTuber named Jesse Keighin for streaming Nintendo games on the platform before their official release, which led to a judge ruling that Jesse had to pay Nintendo $17,500. And it's not the only time the world has seen Nintendo aggressively go after people for daring to mess around with their franchises.