In 2015, Microsoft decided that you shouldn't be in control of updating your PC anymore. At first, it seemed like a good idea to keep malware at bay - but soon, users discovered their computers were automatically shutting down and erasing work in the middle of the day. Then, Microsoft abused its power to install shovelware apps and force-feed us a new web browser.Now, each new update might add unwanted Copilot AI buttons or prevent our PCs from properly booting. My colleague Tom Warren wrote about Microsoft's many buggy Windows updates in this story.But today, as Microsoft commits to fix Windows 11, it's also signaling that our long Win …Read the full story at The Verge.

Nintendo plans to release a Switch 2 revision in the European Union that will let users replace their own batteries, Nikkei reports. The current version of the Switch 2 has a glued-in battery. But Nintendo apparently plans to make the change in order to comply with EU rules going into effect in February 2027 that will require devices to let users easily swap out portable batteries.The new version of the Switch 2 will be released "soon," and both the console and the Joy-Cons will have replaceable batteries, according to Nikkei. In Japan, the console's specifications will remain the same, Nikkei says. Nintendo didn't immediately reply to a r …Read the full story at The Verge.

E Ink displays have expanded beyond e-readers. They're now used in digital photo frames, smartphones, and even the price tags found on grocery store shelves. VidaBay's Classic Plus NFC E-Ink Fridge Magnet - which looks like a Polaroid photo - features the same low power color E Ink screens used in those electronic price tags, but to display photos from your phone without the need for a battery.The small digital photo frames are now available globally in white, red, or yellow through VidaBay's online store for $35.99 each (currently discounted to $29.99), or as a three-pack for $99.99 (now discounted to $86.99).One of the many unique bene …Read the full story at The Verge.

The Trump administration on Friday unveiled its new legislative blueprint for AI regulation, and the seven-point plan includes a clear message: The federal government should avoid many AI regulations beyond a set of child safety rules, and it should bar states from messing with the "national strategy to achieve global AI dominance." The plan advises Congress to protect minors using AI services with more safeguards and take action to attempt to prevent electricity costs from spiking due to AI infrastructure. It encourages "youth development and skills training" to boost familiarity with AI tools, without much further detail. But it suggests …Read the full story at The Verge.

It's taken almost five years, but Microsoft is finally bringing back the ability to move the Windows taskbar to the top or sides of your screen. The movable taskbar is part of some much bigger changes coming to Windows 11 this year in response to growing criticism of the operating system's performance, reliability, and user experience."Repositioning the taskbar is one of the top asks we've heard from you," says Windows chief Pavan Davuluri. "We are introducing the ability to reposition it to the top or sides of your screen, making it easier to personalize your workspace."This taskbar change will be available to Windows Insiders in the co …Read the full story at The Verge.

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We've reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone's whereabouts. Once again, we're waiting for a response.It's been more than a month since two Trump Mobile executives showed me what they claimed was the T1 Phone, and in the time since, there's been… nothing. No news, no announcements, no phone. And the company has gone back to ignoring my emails.When I spoke to Don Hendrickson and Eric Thomas in early February, I was told that within "the next couple of weeks" the Trump Mobile website would be updated with a full spec sheet and imagery for the updated vers …Read the full story at The Verge.

Microsoft has faced a breakdown of trust in Windows 11 and a backlash over AI additions to its operating system in recent months. After promising to rebuild trust in Windows earlier this year, Microsoft's Windows chief, Pavan Davuluri, is now revealing the company's plan to fix Windows 11 - and there are a lot of changes on the way."Over the past several months, the team and I have spent a great deal of time analyzing your feedback," says Davuluri in a blog post committing to Windows quality improvements. "What came through was the voice of people who care deeply about Windows and want it to be better."Windows 11 will start with a first …Read the full story at The Verge.

It probably doesn't happen very often, but we've all been in this situation: you sit down to stream a TV show or movie on Disney+, only to be greeted with the spinning wheel of doom. Maybe the app has an issue? Nope — you already tried opening and closing it. Next up, you give your TV a hard reset — still nothing.

Mark Cerny, the lead architect of the PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro, told Digital Foundry that ML-based frame generation tech is coming to "PlayStation platforms" in the future, letting the game console use AI to imagine new frames between the ones it's actually rendering, which can create smoother perceived image quality while (typically) introducing some amount of lag. At least, that's how it works on PCs, where critics call them "fake frames." It's not clear whether Cerny means he'll bring it to the PS5 Pro, which just got better AI upscaling with an upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) technique, or whether it'll have to w …Read the full story at The Verge.

Remote access to your home lab is an issue that every homelabber encounters early on in their journey. Resolving it often involves compromises or lengthy setup processes, so it's refreshing when a service comes along and makes it effortless. NetBird was already one of my favorite overlay networks, with managed and self-hosted options built on top of WireGuard with robust identity management at the core.

VLC has been sitting on my PC for years, and it's been quietly doing what it has always done best, which is playing literally anything I throw at it. It's dependable, boring in the best way, and so familiar that I stopped expecting anything more from it.

My home server is never without a healthy stack of Docker containers, whether they're things I'm testing or ones that I decided I can't live without. The thing I like about Docker is that I'm only a few CLI commands away from fixing any of my mistakes, because the whole idea is that the running container is ephemeral and the important part is the data.