I remember playing games on my Apple IIc as a kid, bathed in the monochrome glow of the CRT phosphor, and wishing it were more portable. The Apple IIc was already ready for portability, with an all-in-one design that just needed plugging into a monitor, with a solid fold-out carrying handle. But I wanted more. I've always loved science fiction, and when I discovered cyberpunk as a genre, I was irrevocably hooked. Then I found tabletop gaming and both the Cyberpunk and Shadowrun universes, and I dreamed of a portable computer workstation called a cyberdeck, able to surf the net, hack systems, and do it all without needing a desktop.

Switching from one app to a better alternative isn’t always smooth sailing. There’s a whole new interface and layout to get used to and features you're used to are missing. And this couldn’t be truer for the Notion-to-Obsidian pipeline. Most people make the switch because they want more data ownership, better offline functionality, or more customization. This is all well and good, but if you’ve been using Notion for years, switching to Obsidian can be a bit of a shock because they look and work completely differently.

Don’t mind my desk toys. Arturia's KeyStep is one of the most popular MIDI controllers ever made, especially with modular synth users and the DAWless crowd. It's small, cheap, has an easy-to-use sequencer, and offers decent connectivity. But it was also released way back in January of 2016. The world of music gear moves more slowly than, say, smartphones, but Arturia has several controllers released after the KeyStep that are already on their third generation. The $139 KeyStep mk2 takes this classic and updates it with a host of new sequencing and composition features developed by Arturia over the years.Compared to the original, the KeyStep mk2 has double the numb …Read the full story at The Verge.

Do the ornaments you adorn your Christmas tree with reflect you or your family’s interests? If not, maybe you should rectify that. We recently went hands on with Hallmark’s realistic Xbox 360 replica ornament, which plays a snippet of audio from Halo 3. As it turns out, there are many other ornaments available that are specifically designed to evoke nostalgia and make us open our wallets (surprise, surprise). In fact, did you know that the company also makes a CRT monitor with The Oregon Trail displayed on it? It’s rad.Even if video games aren’t your jam, Hallmark has a stranglehold on the intersection of ornaments and entertainment, with numerous options covering your favorite TV shows, movies, or favorite brands (maybe your household is the type that’d proudly display a mac and cheese ornament, maybe not). We’ve included some of our favorites below, and even if you aren’t necessarily the target audience, they’d make for a great gift. We even threw in some non-Hallmark options, because why not?Retro Tech Glass Holiday Ornament – VHS TapeYou can almost smell the mustiness of your local video store — that is, assuming you still have one.Where to Buy: $24 at MoMA Store $24 at Love and VictoryNintendo Entertainment System Console OrnamentNintendo’s first home gaming console in the US, immortalized as a replica ornament.Where to Buy: $24.99 at Hallmark $24.99 at AmazonXbox 360 Console OrnamentA replica that gets all of the details right, except for portraying the Xbox Red Ring of Death.Where to Buy: $28.99 at Amazon $28.99 at HallmarkRecord Crate OrnamentA throwback to the record-filled milk crates you once had, or perhaps the collection you’re just now building.Where to Buy: $24 at Love and VictorySuper Mario Super Star TopperWhether you’re into gaming or not, the Super Star topper is a cute alternative for the star you have.Where to Buy: $92.99 at Hallmark $92.99 at AmazonTerminator 2: Judgment Day – T1000 OrnamentThe shape-shifting T1000 android is an ornament I didn’t know I’d want this year.Where to Buy: $28.99 at Hallmark $28.99 at AmazonStar Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Into the Carbon-Freezing ChamberThis elaborate ornament depicts the scene from The Empire Strikes Back when Han Solo is frozen in carbonite. Just don’t forget the power cord.Where to Buy: $80.99 at Hallmark $80.99 at AmazonThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Decayed Master SwordThe almighty Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda took a beating in Tears of the Kingdom, as you can see here.Where to Buy: $31.99 at Amazon $31.99 at HallmarkThe Oregon Trail OrnamentThis year, add “You have died of dysentery” to your holiday tree.Where to Buy: $24.99 at Amazon $24.99 at HallmarkDungeons & Dragons Themberchaud OrnamentThe Chungus dragon from the 2023 Honor Among Thieves film re-created as an ornament.Where to Buy: $11.49 at Amazon $11.49 at HallmarkStar Wars: A New Hope “Let the Wookiee Win” OrnamentGet cozy with C-3PO, R2-D2, Han Solo, and Chewie as they play Dejarik, complete with video and audio (requires a power cord).Where to Buy: $99.99 at Hallmark $99.99 at AmazonStar Trek: The Next Generation Beware The Borg! Tabletop DecorationBehold this impressive interactive ornament that Star Trek fans will love.Where to Buy: $124.99 at Amazon $124.99 at HallmarkSega Dreamcast OrnamentSega’s final (and best) console gets the ornament replica treatment, complete with tunes from Sonic Adventure.Where to Buy: $19.95 at WalmartStar Wars: Andor Cassian Andor OrnamentDiego Luna as Cassian Andor, one of Star Wars’ most chaotic / best heroes. Where to Buy: $31.99 at Amazon $31.99 at HallmarkThe Lord of the Rings One Ring OrnamentWhile there’s only one true One Ring, there are many One Ring ornaments, such as this one.Where to Buy: $17.48 at Amazon $18.9 at BoxLunchSega Genesis Console OrnamentWhether you were on team SNES or Genesis, we can all agree that this Sega Genesis replica rules.Where to Buy: $28.99 at Hallmark $28.99 $24.95 at WalmartThe Legend of Zelda Game Cartridge Metal OrnamentThe actual 1987 special edition cartridge of The Legend of Zelda might set you back hundreds. This replica ornament won’t.Where to Buy: $24.99 at Hallmark $24.99 at AmazonSuper Mario Question Block ornamentSure, nothing happens when you hit this Question Block, but it’s still a fun addition to your tree.Where to Buy: $11.49 at Hallmark $11.49 $11.21 at Amazon $11.49 $11.21 at Walmart

Google's AI-powered study tool, NotebookLM, has become a game-changer for me when I need to learn new skills. The combination of guardrails, the reference material you feed it, and the Gemini-powered chatbot makes it a powerful ally in comprehension. But what about skills that I already know?

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on how to break free of the algorithm and discover things you love, follow Terrence O'Brien. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.How it startedI used to have this ritual. Every Tuesday, I would get off the train at 8th Street on my way home from work. I would pop into Other Music, buy a new CD (or three…) and then walk the rest of the way to the Staten Island Ferry listening to my new CD. Even if there wasn't a new record out that week that I was looking forward to, I would buy som …Read the full story at The Verge.

It's all too common these days to see people trying to make their Linux distro feel more like Windows, but what about the reverse? Windows 11 could learn a thing or two from the desktop environments offered by Linux, and one of the most popular is a tiling window manager. You don't need to play with PowerToys; a simple GitHub repo is all you need to get a fantastic, customizable tiling window manager in Windows 11, and I couldn't be happier with my new setup.

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 105, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope you've recovered from the clocks falling back, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about David Ellison and Common Crawl and Stephen Colbert, catching up on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Great British Baking Show, letting TikTok turn me on to a new Olivia Dean song and a new Broadway musical, testing the Boox Palma 2 Pro, spending way too many hours trying to design my new home office / podcast studio, and packing every single thing …Read the full story at The Verge.

It's not often that a band returns to soundtrack the same game nine years after its release - then again, most games aren't No Man's Sky. Once demoed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and at splashy E3 press conferences, in 2016, No Man's Sky was heralded as gaming's future. And it was all made possible by the procedural generation that spawned its vast, sci-fi universe.Nearly a decade later, as post-rock band 65daysofstatic returns to re-score the ever-evolving game, generated content is no longer the exciting futurism it once seemed. With AI slop flooding social media and AI-generated bands sneaking their way onto Spotify, the tech t …Read the full story at The Verge.

We all know that one PC gamer who is still refusing to let go of his once-great GPU that has, by all standards, reached the end of the line. Maybe you are that gamer who's holding on to your Pascal or Polaris graphics card, hoping to squeeze just one more year out of it. While making the most of your GPU and delaying an expensive upgrade is commendable, sometimes admitting the obvious is the smarter play. If you've been running an ancient graphics card, you'll probably be able to get a multifold increase in performance even with a budget or mid-range upgrade. So, here are 6 GPUs whose time has sadly run out.

When Jeff Bezos decided Amazon needed to get in the smartphone game, he went all in. And the resulting device, the Fire Phone, wound up more densely packed with big ideas than just about any gadget you'll find anywhere. There was just one tiny problem: they were mostly bad ideas.The Fire Phone shipped in 2014 with a feature list a mile long. The screen had a 3D effect! There were, like, 400 cameras! There was a whole home screen filled with something called "delighters!" But the Fire Phone was, above all, a way to buy things on Amazon. That was what Bezos wanted, after all. It's just not what users wanted.Verge subscribers, don't fo …Read the full story at The Verge.

My NAS isn’t the one to initiate conversations. I’d have to log in to check the dashboard or even dig through the logs to find any anomalies, ensuring they don’t turn into bigger problems. But because of that, I’d find out if something had gone wrong, like a failed backup, only after a few days.