Microsoft's Xbox is in a bit of a strange position right now. First, we heard that it was giving up its exclusives and publishing its titles on as many consoles and devices as it can. Then we assumed that Microsoft was out of the console race. Then, Microsoft said it was still in the console race. Then, we heard rumors that Microsoft's new console was actually more like a gaming PC running a tweaked version of Windows 11 that made it feel like a console. Yeah, things are a little confusing.

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the EV struggle, follow Andrew J. Hawkins. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.How it startedApologies to the Toyota Prius, but the first hybrid vehicle of note was the Semper Vivus, developed by Ferdinand Porsche (yes, that Porsche) way back in 1900. The Semper Vivus (Latin for "always alive") used two combustion engines to power generators, which then fed electricity to motors inside the wheel hubs. The fact that it took modern engineers over a century to really appreciate th …Read the full story at The Verge.

Personally, when I install a new operating system, my first port of call is to find the dark mode button, hit it, and leave it like that until either I uninstall the OS or my computer dies. I understand that there are some benefits to light mode that some people rely on, but I adore the shades of dark mode so much that I never think about going back.

The hottest toy of 1998 was sort of adorable, and sort of annoying. It couldn't do much - couldn't do anything, really - but it could look at you, it could say some nonsense phrases, and it seemed uncannily aware of the world around it. That's all Furby needed to pretty much take over the world.The story of Furby is filled with technical achievement. The fact that the furry little guy worked at all, ever, was a bit of a surprise to a lot of people involved. But Furby also represents a different way of thinking about our relationships with technology, a different idea about human-computer interaction, and maybe even a path worth following f …Read the full story at The Verge.

For years, I traded my privacy for the convenience of setting kitchen timers and turning off lights, but every time I saw that blue ring on my Echo, I had to wonder who else was actually listening.

Undervolting has become popular recently, but most enthusiasts only go so far as undervolting their GPUs. A smaller crowd tackles the CPU as well, with similar results. I was curious, however, to see what happens when you go after both at the same time, tuning the entire chip ecosystem together for thermal efficiency.

For the longest time, I think part of me was in denial of how capable AI-assisted coding has become in the last few months. I'm currently majoring in Computer Science, so my refusal to accept how far it had come was fair when you look at the bigger picture. The idea that someone could spin up real, usable tools with nothing more than prompts felt a little...uncomfortable. I'm paying thousands, attending classes every day, spending hours studying and doing assignments — all to learn how to do the very same thing that AI was apparently now doing in seconds.

We've covered plenty of digital desk companions before, but none of them quite encompass how a real pet acts. Sure, they're cute, and they're the perfect little addition to a home, but they also don't cause nearly as much trouble as a real pet does. After all, if it isn't whining at you for food, begging for a walk, or lying down on your keyboard while you're trying to work, is it really a pet?

Espressif’s ESP line of microcontrollers is popular among DIY enthusiasts for building low-cost IoT devices. Anyone can use ESP32 to build smart devices. However, not all ESP32 are created equal.

“Soldered RAM” is one of those phrases that instantly puts PC enthusiasts on edge, and I get why. It feels like a laptop and mini PC compromise creeping into desktops, a space that’s traditionally been all about swapping parts, upgrading over time, and keeping a platform alive longer than the OEM ever intended. But soldered RAM on a desktop system does have its advantages, and it's not all about cost-cutting. As long as the options given to the consumer aren't ridiculous in both size and cost, soldered RAM comes with genuine upsides.

Local LLMs have been having a bit of a moment lately. If you spend any time in AI communities, it can sometimes sound like cloud is on its way out and everyone should be running their own models instead. I eventually got my own LLM up and running with LM Studio as well, and I get the appeal. There are no subscriptions, no usage limits, you completely own all the conversations and they never go through anyone else’s servers, plus local model runners often come with customizations that cloud models just don’t have. It’s easy to see why people prefer it.

Business laptop users fall into two categories: those who can get away with an ultralight, and those who need something a little chunkier. The best mobile workstations deliver enough power to handle creative tasks or engineering calculations with aplomb, and advances in cooling and internals mean they're not nearly as oversized as they used to be.