It's both really easy and quite difficult to forget that Windows 11 is built on some very old code. It's at its easiest to forget when you're using the newer, more polished features in Windows 11. Then you open up Control Panel, and bam, it feels like you stepped back a few decades. The OS is a mix of legacy and brand-new code to help Windows 11 keep up with the demands of the modern-day person.

How small a computer do you think you could make? What if you could make something that featured a processor, a small e-ink display, and an NFC chip that all fit on something that is literally the size of a credit card? And if you could, what on Earth would you even use it for?

With the way prices are, grabbing a portable PC gaming handheld like the Lenovo Legion Go S isn't such a bad idea. While the Steam Deck might be a top choice for a lot of people, we think the Legion Go S is going to be another fantastic option.

The Linux desktop has improved in plenty of visible ways over the last decade, from better hardware support to cleaner app stores and smoother graphics stacks. Those changes matter, and they’re usually the ones that get the most attention. But the bigger shift is quieter than that. Linux got better when it stopped making every routine decision feel like a test.

Ask the average person what they use AI for, and they'll probably rattle off the usual suspects: drafting emails, writing up quick LinkedIn posts, summarizing meeting notes, maybe debugging a line of code, and generating images. From creating images of you hugging your past self to turning yourself into a Pixar character to designing entire product mock-ups and marketing assets, AI image generation is essentially no longer a party trick.

When you're making stuff with teeny-tiny hardware, a Tamagotchi is just one of many things you can make with it. I mean, it makes sense; it's pocket-sized, it makes for an engaging project, and once you're done, you have a cute little fella to take care of. Sounds like a win on all fronts, if you ask me.

The Raspberry Pi 5 is still the default answer when somebody wants a small Linux board, and for good reason. However, there's a much smaller, much cheaper board that beats it on several of the specs enthusiasts care about most: the newly released Orange Pi Zero 3W. It's roughly the same physical size as a Raspberry Pi Zero, runs an octa-core Allwinner A733 with up to 16GB of LPDDR5, has a Vulkan-capable PowerVR GPU and a 3 TOPS NPU on board, and starts at $25 for the 1GB model.

Owning two high-end GPUs is a huge luxury, and it's not lost on me that during these trying times for PC enthusiasts, having even one current-gen card is an amenity. I'm blessed enough to play with hardware for my job, and being able to have two systems running the latest cards from AMD and Nvidia has taught me something valuable about GPU purchases. I picked up the RX 9070 XT first, drawn in by AMD's value pitch and the promise that RDNA 4 had finally closed the gap. The RTX 5080 came later as an addition to my test suite, and while the RX 9070 XT is undoubtedly the stronger card in a value sense, seeing both side-by-side in person showed me that software is genuinely worth paying extra for in a GPU.

Move over GeForce RTX 5090, there's a new king in town. That's the Nvidia RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell Workstation edition, which is more powerful (and much more expensive!) than the RTX 5090. While the 96GB of ECC-capable VRAM is designed for AI, CAD, 3D modeling, and other professional workloads, the first question I had was "can it game?"

Asus's latest gaming monitor is a little smaller than usual. The ROG Strix XG129C, announced on Friday, is a 12.3-inch touchscreen IPS display that's intended to be a sidekick for a larger main monitor, similar to the 14.1-inch secondary display in the 2020 Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15. It's a slightly smaller competitor to Corsair's Xeneon Edge, which has a 14.5-inch display, but the same 720p resolution. Asus says the XG129C covers 125 percent of the sRGB color gamut and 90 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It also comes with a one-year subscription for the hardware monitoring tool AIDA64 Extreme, which would usually cost $65. Besides actin …Read the full story at The Verge.

Amazon Prime Video is joining Netflix and Disney Plus in adding a vertical feed of videos to its streaming app. The new "Clips" feed will offer a stream of short-form videos from shows and movies, with options to jump into the full title, rent, or buy it.Prime Video previously offered a TikTok-style feed with NBA game highlights, but now you can see snippets from titles offered on the platform by scrolling down to the Clips carousel on the app's homepage. "Every time you visit the experience, you'll see something new based on your viewing history," Prime Video says.You can also add shows and movies to your watchlist from the Clips feed a …Read the full story at The Verge.

The longer I use my local LLMs, the more I realize how much of the "local models feel worse" experience is often just a settings problem. I've spent the last few months playing around with a bunch of settings and parameters. Local AI is still a relatively new concept to me and I'm learning as I go, so naturally, I often come across useful tips that should have been so obvious to me in hindsight.