If you have ever tried to run a game, compile code, stream video, and keep a dozen browser tabs open simultaneously, you know the frustration: Windows inevitably slows down, stutters, and sometimes freezes. Heavy multitasking often pushes the system past its limit as certain processes hog the CPU and lead to system instability and lag.

Fighting game players love to dive into their favorite games on just about any platform. Whether it's squaring up in the arcades, or hopping online on any of the home consoles, if there's a fighting game to be played they'll be over there. But the current console generation and the many different fighting games that have been released since it started are at home on one main platform: the PlayStation 5. Despite most games being available on multiple platforms, and even having crossplay in some cases, most players gravitate towards the PlayStation 5 version of them.

For years, running Docker on Windows meant allocating multiple gigabytes of RAM to a heavy, full-blown virtual machine (VM), simply because the Docker engine needed a Linux kernel to operate. We have accepted slow boot times, the constant fan noise, and the noticeable drain on system resources due to containers.

The PlayStation 5 just turned five years old, and, as with any new console, it's the launch titles that make or break it. With the PS5, however, it's hard to overstate just how integral its launch titles were, considering the time Sony's ninth-generation console came out in. Between Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Demon's Souls, it's impossible to look back at the latter without reverence.

The Arduino Uno Q is a powerful single-board computer, packing a Qualcomm QRB2210 alongside an STM32. The board itself runs Debian, and while you can use the Arduino App Lab to build and deploy applications, you can also just use it as a regular old Linux-based machine either over SSH, or using a USB-C hub capable of providing power. That's why I turned mine into a Bluetooth forwarding service, so that I can stream to a Bluetooth speaker with ease.

Three new pieces of gaming hardware were just revealed by Valve: the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller. Complimenting Valve's popular PC game storefront and launcher, in additon to the Steam Deck, these new devices offer up different ways to experience your library of PC games on Steam.

Windows offers a significantly larger number of built-in customization options than any other popular desktop operating system. You can also install apps to push customization even further on Windows, but you should rely only on those coming from reliable sources. Microsoft is definitely one, and it has tools that can make Windows more powerful and customizable as well.

It's true that a lot of modern computers don't have enough ports for all the peripherals you might need, and that's especially true of laptops. Many of us turn to solutions like USB-C hubs and Thunderbolt docks to increase the number of accessible ports, and they can be great solutions for a lot of things. If you're just needing to use a mouse, keyboard, or external storage, these things work totally fine.

When you think of display outputs and inputs, the two most notable ports that will likely come to mind are HDMI and DisplayPort, with some maybe thinking back to the days of VGA or DVI. But in recent years, there's been a rise in a third type of connector for monitors, and that's USB Type-C, or USB-C for short.

A Raspberry Pi 5 can run retro games beautifully, but that barely scratches the surface of what it’s capable of. The newest model is faster and far more versatile than any before it, making it a surprisingly strong foundation for real home projects. Whether you want to automate, analyze, or centralize, there’s a Pi project that can make your setup more efficient and secure. If you’ve only used yours for emulation, it’s time to put it to work on something that serves your entire home instead of a single controller.

If you’ve ever received a spammy text falsely alerting you to an unpaid toll or failed delivery, it might have come from a so-called Phishing-as-a-Service network that Google is now trying to take down. Google filed suit against several unnamed defendants it says make up an enterprise called Lighthouse. The company argues in a new complaint that Lighthouse makes a “‘phishing for dummies’ kit for cybercriminals who could not otherwise execute a large-scale phishing campaign.” The group would allegedly charge a monthly licensing fee to provide SMS or e-commerce software with hundreds of templates for websites closely resembling financial institutions or government-affiliated organizations that could trick consumers into entering sensitive details. In just 20 days, Google alleges, Lighthouse was used to spin up 200,000 fraudulent websites to attract over a million potential victims. It estimates that somewhere between 12.7 million and 115 million credit cards in the US were compromised by the scam.The page allegedly tracks users’ keystrokes so the information is compromised even if the user has second thoughts before submittingWhile many people are familiar with the kind of spammy texts Lighthouse-enabled services allegedly help blast, the lawsuit details what happens after someone actually clicks on those links. A scammer could allegedly log into a Lighthouse account, using a login page that displays a Google logo that appears like a sign-in option, and use the dashboard to send out a text falsely alerting a potential victim that USPS requires a fee to complete their delivery. In this alleged scheme, the text would link to a spoofed USPS page asking a user to enter their personal and payment details. The page tracks users’ keystrokes, according to the complaint, so the information is compromised even if the user has second thoughts before submitting. Those details populate neatly on the Lighthouse dashboard. The group allegedly runs similar scams spoofing toll collection sites like E-Z Pass, financial institutions, and retail sites, some of which include Google logos on their sign-in pages.Google is trying to disband the group by suing the defendants for allegedly violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO Act), and laws against fraud and trademark infringement, since it claims that Lighthouse threatened its brand by using its name and logo on fraudulent websites. It still doesn’t know who the unnamed defendants that make up Lighthouse are, or exactly how many are involved, though it believes they’re based in China. Google numbers 25 Doe defendants, but says the numbers “are meant to be representative.” Google still doesn’t know who the unnamed defendants that make up Lighthouse are, or exactly how many are involvedBut the goal of the lawsuit, in part, is to get the court to declare Lighthouse’s scheme illegal so that the group is also removed by other technology providers, and so law enforcement might gain further information about Lighthouse through discovery, Google’s General Counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado tells The Verge in an interview. While other services offer similar tools to Lighthouse, DeLaine Prado says the network caught Google’s attention because of the scale and spike in popularity of its products this year, which it tracked in public Telegram and since-disrupted YouTube channels for recruitment and tech support.Because of how easily Lighthouse can spin up these scam sites, Google says dismantling it “will require persistence.” In the meantime, it’s also endorsing three federal bills it believes will help address these kinds of schemes in the first place: the GUARD Act, the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act, and the SCAM Act. Collectively, Google says these bills would help fund state and local law enforcement’s ability to go after scams that target retirees, create a taskforce to prevent foreign illegal robocalls from reaching US consumers, and hold the transnational groups that traffic people into scamming schemes responsible. Even with these kinds of policies in place, DeLaine Prado says there will continue to be a role for companies like Google in the fight against online scams. “It’s also incumbent on companies to do what they can where they can,” she says. “I think it is a useful thing for us to take our resources to help fight against cyber crime that impacts our users. We can do that at scale, and so I think you’ll see us continue to do it when unfortunate cases like this arise where we think we can shine a light on the behavior.”

No casting has been confirmed, but star Sydney Chandler is expected to return. | Image: FX More than a month after the first season’s finale aired, FX has finally confirmed that Alien: Earth will get a second run of episodes, ending some sleepless nights for this reporter / Alien obsessive. No release date has been set for the second season yet, though it will film some time next year.Showrunner Noah Hawley is returning to lead the series again, and the holdup on the announcement might have been because it brings with it confirmation that he’s signed a new ongoing deal with Disney. The Hollywood Reporter suggests the deal could see him move beyond FX, where he’s worked on Fargo, Legion, and now Alien, to work across Disney’s other networks and platforms.“FX has always supported bold, character-driven storytelling. From the very beginning with Fargo, they’ve encouraged me to take creative risks and follow the story wherever it leads,” said Hawley. “I’m grateful to continue exploring the world of Alien: Earth alongside our partners, cast, and crew as we begin the next chapter.”Production for the second season will move from Thailand to London, though we’ll have to wait and see if that was a purely practical choice, or one that suggests the show will be moving on from the Neverland island where its Prodigy corporation is headquartered. It’s not the only Alien in development right now, with a sequel also in the works to 2024 movie Romulus.