Laptops don't need to be expensive to get the job done. We've seen plenty of great examples pop up over the past year, delivering some excellent specifications at a fair price. The Dell Inspiron 14 is one such example, featuring a compact design and lots of power thanks to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chip. While it's usually priced at $800, you can score a stellar $350 discount, dropping the price to just $450 for a limited time.

Applications make the operating system, at least for me. In terms of Linux, I not only need a proper suite of usable tools, but I also need them to be compatible with their Windows counterparts. I love the experience of using Linux when it works, and I'm no stranger to the terminal, so getting up and running with alternatives isn't an issue. In a lot of situations, these alternative apps are great, and in a lot of ways they exceed my expectations, but when push comes to shove, there are some apps that make it impossible for me to fully make the switch to Linux.

Looking for deals before Black Friday? Amazon has you covered with Big Deal Days. Basically, Prime Day in October, the sale runs the 7th and 8th this year, with Prime exclusive sales, hundreds (if not thousands) of products on sale, and companies vying for your attention (and wallet).

This is an excerpt of Sources by Alex Heath, a newsletter about AI and the tech industry, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.The billboard didn't say "Listen Labs." It didn't say anything about hiring. It consisted of just a plain white background with "https://" and a single line of grouped numbers hanging over Nob Hill, San Francisco. Last month, Alfred Wahlforss, the startup's CEO, posted on X that whoever cracked the code and completed a subsequent challenge would win a trip to Berlin and get on the guest list for the ultra-exclusive nightclub Berghain.One of the more elaborate tech startup recruiting stunts in …Read the full story at The Verge.

Just one day after Apple took down the iOS App Store listing for ICEBlock, Google has confirmed to 404 Media that it has removed a similar app, Red Dot, from the Google Play Store. The company also reportedly said it “removed apps that share the location of what it describes as a vulnerable group after a recent violent act against them connected to this sort of app.” On Thursday, Apple removed ICEBlock and similar apps, including Red Dot, after facing pressure from the Department of Justice. Attorney General Pam Bondi said to Fox News on Thursday that “ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed.” In response to the move, ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron said in a statement to 404 Media that the app is “protected speech,” adding that Apple is “capitulating to an authoritarian regime.” Both ICEBlock and Red Dot allow users to anonymously report sightings of ICE agents and view nearby reports. Red Dot’s website says the app combines user reporting with “verified reports from multiple trusted sources” to monitor ICE activity. Google told 404 Media that it didn’t receive any warning from the DOJ, but that it “bans apps with a high risk of abuse” and has a requirement for content moderation apps with user-generated content.“ICEBlock was never available on Google Play, but we removed similar apps for violations of our policies,” Google told 404 Media. The Verge reached out to Google with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

Although Borderlands 4 has suffered from technical issues during its launch, some people are still playing and enjoying the game. The next mainline entry in the Borderlands series takes players to a new planet, filled with many dangers to overcome and loot to discover. It's a guarantee that you'll get into a firefight with not one, but many different enemies while completing missions and searching for more rewards to gather. But some people will find themselves in battles that can be tougher than usual, especially if they're doing things that won't help them out in combat. Some bad habits can cost you more than you realize.

Switching from the operating system you've used all your life can be scary. It's a whole new paradigm to get used to, and in the case of Linux compared to Windows, there are a ton of apps you may be used to that don't have Linux versions. That makes it hard to make the transition as you need to not only learn new things, but find out what you need to learn first, which can be a big barrier.

In the age of self-hosting and the home lab, the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to play a vital role in providing data from thermostats to security cameras. These products offer unparalleled convenience, but often come at the cost of security. Your home could become a potential entry point for malware, data breaches, and more, all thanks to those seemingly innocent smart home devices that are set up and connected to the network. Thankfully, there are a few ways you can safeguard your home network from potential attack.

Unity is urging developers to take “immediate action” after it disclosed a major security vulnerability affecting games built using versions of its popular development tool dating back to 2017. While there is “no evidence of any exploitation of the vulnerability, nor has there been any impact on users or customers,” Unity already has fixes available to developers, according to a post from Larry Hryb, aka “Major Nelson.” Specifically, developers need to take action if “you have developed and released a game or application using Unity 2017.1 or later for Windows, Android, or macOS,” Hryb says. Unity’s “platform partners” have also “taken further steps to secure their platforms and protect end users.”Valve already released a new version of Steam that adds mitigations for the exploit, and “for Windows, Microsoft Defender has been updated and will detect and block the vulnerability,” Hryb says. Google and Meta have taken steps as well, according to Hyrb. There are “no findings to suggest” that the vulnerability can be exploited on iOS, visionOS, tvOS, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, UWP, Quest, and WebGL.Numerous developers have taken actions in response to the disclosure. Obsidian removed some of its games and products from digital storefronts, including Grounded 2 Founders Edition, Avowed Premium Edition, Pillars of Eternity: Hero Edition, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, and Pentiment, until it can “implement the necessary updates to address the issue.” Marvel Snap, No Rest for the Wicked, Ingress, and Fate/Grand Order have all received updates as well. And Atlus says Persona 5: The Phantom X will get an update.According to the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) record about the exploit, “if an application was built with a version of Unity Editor that had the vulnerable Unity Runtime code, then an adversary may be able to execute code on, and exfiltrate confidential information from, the machine on which that application is running.”Update, October 3rd: Added details about Obsidian removing games from storefronts and about games that have gotten updates.

This Anker docking station is a great way to keep all your cables and devices organized. Not only do you get 14 ports to connect, but it also comes with a small screen that can show you the status of devices that are plugged in. The best part is that this device is now $100 below its usual retail, coming in at its lowest price yet. It's a great time to pick one up, and we don't think you'll see a better price during Amazon's upcoming Prime Day event.

I’ve been hosting applications on local hardware for years and have come across numerous tools during this time. Media streaming platforms, photo managers, game servers, ebook organizers, and a host of other utilities are the more popular ones of the bunch and are extremely useful for data hoarders like myself. On the other hand, I’ve also run into some quirky services that, despite appearing somewhat weird at first glance, have their own niche utility in my home lab.

In many ways, looking at the TV market indicates exactly how far technology has progressed in a short time. Some of this progress is good — OLED is fantastic, while quantum dot film makes every panel look epic — while other aspects of the smart TV experience are less enjoyable, like having your viewing patterns analyzed and used for advertising. And that's to say nothing about the lackluster internal hardware that's barely capable of running the operating system, let alone running it smoothly and satisfactorily.