Microsoft Loop started off as yet another Notion clone on the market. However, ever since the launch, the Windows maker has done a solid job with frequent updates, and thanks to a few neat add-ons, it even surpasses some of the best productivity tools in the market. While many of us are still stuck juggling multiple apps to stay organized, Loop offers a simple, more cohesive way to work.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve tried repurposing several devices as home lab nodes, ranging from an LXC-heavy Proxmox workstation built from an old laptop to an accursed, barely-functional SBC-powered Hackintosh. But aside from full-fledged systems, I’ve also got a couple of spare components recycled from old devices that mesh really well with my servers. This includes my graphics cards, which provide extra computational power to the containers and virtual machines residing in my home lab.

This is the laptop to get if you're looking to grab something for a special project or just need something that can handle the basics. It's nothing fancy, but the $150 price tag makes it an alluring purchase, and the fact that it's produced by Asus should put your mind at ease when it comes to the device's reliability.

A mini PC is technically a type of desktop, but there's a massive gap in performance between a mini PC and a full-sized ATX desktop tower. While there are clear benefits to going the mini PC route with your desktop setup, like serious space savings. Mini PCs can also be more portable, which is great for students, and you can even find gaming mini PCs these days, offering stronger performance than the standard ultra-slim mini PC.

Ninja Gaiden is having a renaissance. The last mainline entry was originally released more than a decade ago, but by the end of 2025, there will be three new Ninja Gaiden titles. Two are 3D: Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, a modern-day remaster of Ninja Gaiden II released earlier this year, and Ninja Gaiden 4, co-developed by PlatinumGames and set to release in October. But there's a new 2D game, too. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a retro-styled side-scrolling platformer from Dotemu and the developers of Blasphemous - and it absolutely rips.In Ragebound, you play as Kenji Mozu, a young ninja trained by usual series star Ryu Hayabusa. Early on, Kenji's …Read the full story at The Verge.

The Nintendo Wii was a console that broke through barriers for Nintendo, bringing together many different kinds of people to enjoy video games. Unlike previous Nintendo home consoles, the concept of the Wii console was geared towards expanding Nintendo's outreach beyond the typical hardcore gamer audience that loved their products. The idea that anyone can jump in and play with others was a very appealing pitch to normal people. Casual players make up a large part of the human population, and they can be a major factor when it comes to buying new gaming consoles. The shift in direction was a smart move and led to the Nintendo Wii becoming one of the best-selling video game consoles of all-time.

Windows has been around my entire life. I was born five years after the OS launched and was exposed to the platform throughout my school life and beyond. I recall the day I stopped using Windows completely, which was around 19 years ago. I was tired of having to deal with all the Windows (well, Microsoft) quirks and wanted something better for my outdated hardware. When Windows Vista launched, I was done and fully moved across to Linux. Since then, I've seen the OS mature to what it is today, offering freedom for those who wish to make the most of their hardware.

Building a PC is a deeply personal journey for everyone, and I've spent days going back and forth on component selection. Like many others, I didn't pay much attention to the PC case that houses everything, and just got whatever had a glass side panel and filtered air intakes. As a result, my build suits my requirements, but also looks just like several others on the internet. Off-the-shelf cases and accessories, as great as they are, can sometimes lack that final touch of personality that makes a build stand out, but this is where 3D printing can shine.

Not all of The Verge’s staff live in the US. For example, news editor Dominic Preston is based in London and is, as he says, “responsible for keeping our news coverage ticking over in UK mornings before the US team comes online.” He also curates our new Verge Daily newsletter and covers Android phones, especially all the models that don’t launch in the US. And outside of work? “I’m a bit of a food obsessive,” he says, “and run a newsletter called Braise where I review London restaurants and cookbooks, and occasionally try my own hand at recipe writing. That means I spend most of my free time cooking, eating, or thinking about food, and so also a decent amount of time in the gym trying to make up for that.” Where is your workspace located?This is an office that I share with my partner in our flat in London. It used to be a second bedroom, but now we’ve kitted it out with two desks and a sofa bed for the occasional times we actually have guests to stay. My partner is a PhD student, so her working hours are a bit unpredictable, and split between here and school — which means that 90 percent of the time I’ve got the office to myself.Could you tell us about your desk(s)?We both have standing desks. Mine is an Autonomous SmartDesk 2 that’s electronic and automatic, hers an old pneumatic model by Bakker Elkhuizen that they don’t make anymore, which annoys her because it requires a bit of effort to shift up and down. They’re both decorated with self-healing cutting mats, which are still occasionally used for arts and crafts (or as the backdrop for my product photos) but mostly double as giant mouse mats.You have both a chair and a walking station. What are they, and how well do they work for you?The chair is a secondhand Herman Miller. It actually used to be my partner’s, while I sat in a big Duelhawk Jet Black PU gaming chair (also no longer available), until we each realized we preferred the other’s seat and swapped. I’m old enough, and sore enough, to be willing to invest a little in the chair I’ll be using every day anyway.The walking pad is a pretty cheap one from Mobvoi. I actually bought it immediately after reading a piece by my colleague Victoria Song on a different Mobvoi model, and following her advice I’ve made no attempt to touch its smart features or track my workouts; so far it’s served me well. I just use it as slow as it goes, and try to spend as much of every morning walking on it as possible — on a good day I’ll rack up two or three hours of steady walking time; on a bad day I’ll keep putting it off until the coffee hits and never quite get going. Either way, I let myself sit down for the afternoon, which is more likely to be concentrated writing time — I find it hard to do anything too creative or complicated while walking at the same time.(I know, I know, my cable management isn’t great. I tend to be very tidy, but cables are one of the few things I absolutely don’t have the patience to organize. Sadly, having a standing desk really lays bare those sins, so I may have to force myself to get better about it.)Here’s the long one: tell us about the various tech devices you’re using. My current setup is slightly awkwardly trapped between my work and personal computers, though I have some plans in the works to improve it.My work machine is an M2 MacBook Air, which lives propped up on a Ugreen laptop stand. It’s connected to the monitor on the right, a cheap 24-inch QHD Philips model that I bought in 2020. The confusing part of my setup is that second monitor, an embarrassingly old Acer one. That’s because I’ve also got a desktop PC that I use outside of work, and that connects to both monitors. At the end of the work day I can flip the MacBook shut, and my personal setup is good to go. It’s all unnecessarily cluttered, though, especially since the MacBook can’t support both external monitors at once, so this year’s big upgrade will probably be a 32-inch 4K monitor to replace the pair of them. I’ll happily take any recommendations from the comments!My keyboard is the Logitech MX Keys S, which I love. I’m as much of a sucker for a good mechanical board as the next guy, but I love low-profile, full-size keyboards, and good mechanical options in that space are few and far between. I used to use a Hexgears Venture, but I ran it into the ground eventually, and this has served me well since.Logitech MX Keys SWhere to Buy: $129.99 at Amazon $129.99 at Best Buy $129.99 at LogitechThe mouse is also Logitech, though it isn’t my usual one. I picked up this MX Anywhere 3S a while back to use when I’m traveling to trade shows and product launches, and usually have the larger MX Master 3S on my desk. Sadly the left button on that has given up the ghost, and I’m holding off on replacing it in the hopes that the long-rumored MX Master 4 is about to launch.Continuing the Logitech theme (I’m just now realizing quite how much of my desk setup was built by them), I have an old Z337 2.1 speaker system that just barely fits on the desk right now (another reason I need to switch to a single monitor), and a Brio 500 webcam that I mostly like for how easy it is to flip the built-in privacy shutter.Everything connects up through an Anker Prime USB hub that’s almost certainly more powerful than I need it to be, but has lots of front-facing USB ports for charging my array of phones, helped by a Xiaomi 50W wireless charging stand, which made more sense when I was using a Xiaomi 14 Ultra as my main phone, but is slightly wasted now — other phones don’t hit that max charging speed.Anker Prime Charging Docking StationWhere to Buy: $269.99 $169.99 at Amazon $269.99 $169.99 at Anker (with code WS7DV27TLOVQ)I tend to have a rotating cast of phones floating around my desk, though this is relatively tidy for me — on messy days I can have up to five or six handsets taking up space. Beyond the Vivo X200 Ultra I used to take these photos, you can see the Fairphone 6 and Huawei Pura X, the two phones I’ve most recently been testing for reviews. Tell us about your camera collection.I decided I wanted to try out film photography back in 2019, because I was spending a lot more time writing about cameras as part of my phone reviews and using cameras as part of my job. I figured film would be a good way to make myself learn more about the core principles. I picked up this Canon EF on eBay. It’s a ’70s SLR with a metal body, which means it’s heavy but is built like a tank — I suspect it will outlast me. It came with a Canon 50mm lens, and I’ve gradually picked up a few cheap options to go with it: a 28mm wide-angle, a 35-70mm for when I want flexibility, and a 70-210mm telephoto I bought specifically for a safari in Kenya a couple years back. I always tell myself I’ll buy better-quality lenses when I’m a good enough photographer to get the most out of them, but I’ll probably just have to bite the bullet eventually.The microphone living alongside them all is the Rode NT-USB, which I use for podcasts and videos, though I’d like to get a boom arm for it so I can store it around the desk.You’ve got a lot of toys and games on those shelves! How long have you been collecting them?This is a really motley assortment of things I’ve collected over the years — some bought, some gifted, some acquired from an old office clearout. There’s more dotted around the rest of my apartment, though my girlfriend is on an (understandable) mission to concentrate it all in the office.Do you have any favorites?I’m an absolute Alien obsessive, and I actually have two full-size facehuggers, one plushie and one vinyl, which I adore. There’s also a (sadly not full-size) power loader from Aliens, which I can’t get enough of. Elsewhere in the apartment I have a few original ’90s Street Sharks and Small Soldiers action figures, which are still waiting for the right shelf to display them on.The board game collection is small but steadily growing. I’ve been playing a lot of Gloomhaven over the last year or so, though Betrayal at House on the Hill is probably the game that gets broken out most often. I’ve also got a healthy collection of D&D 5e and Alien RPG sourcebooks — I can strongly recommend the latter, and that’s not just the fanboy in me speaking!Okay, tell us about that beautiful cat. That’s Noodle, one of our two cats (the other is Loaf, and yes, of course they have an Instagram account).Noodle doesn’t mind when the standing desk rises.She’s actually a recent addition to my desk. We’ve had the cats for a couple of years, but in the last few months Noodle has decided she really wants to hang out with me while I work, and will happily lie down on my keyboard to do so. We set her up with a little blanket bed instead, which she now sleeps in about half the day, though she still isn’t above a keyboard nap when the mood strikes. The biggest surprise to me is that she doesn’t seem to mind the standing desk going up or down while she’s on it, which I expected would cause a bit of panic.Photographs by Dominic Preston / The Verge

The Fairphone 6 arrives almost two years after the 5, a testament to the company's approach to the upgrade cycle. If anything, I suspect the company would be frustrated if Fairphone 5 owners were considering a new model already - these are phones to keep, to repair, and to hold on to until the bitter end.The newest Fairphone continues the company's commitment to user-repairability, long-term customer support, and ethical production. That means compromises for the consumer: You'll find more powerful phones with prettier displays and more capable cameras for less money. But this year those compromises are smaller and easier than ever before, …Read the full story at The Verge.

Bose’s entry-level soundbar features a compact design, making it a great fit for small bedrooms. | Image: Bose If you’re looking to upgrade your movie night, a soundbar is an easy way to beef up the audio. While there are some high-priced options out there, you don’t have to spend a lot to actually hear a movie’s dialog. Right now, the Bose TV Speaker is down to $163.45 (about $115 off) at Amazon, the lowest price we’ve seen yet.Bose TV SpeakerWhere to Buy: $279 $163.45 at Amazon $279 $199 at Bose $279 $199.99 at Best BuyThe Bose TV Speaker is a solid starter soundbar that can easily integrate into existing setups with a simple one-cable connection (via optical or HDMI). At under 24 inches wide and around two inches tall, the soundbar features a small footprint, yet it delivers a rich, immersive sound thanks to its three-speaker setup. For more bass, you can press the “Bass” button on the remote, while a dedicated dialogue mode further elevates what people are saying, allowing you to finally turn off the subtitles.Additionally, the Bose TV Speaker has Bluetooth connectivity, so you can use the soundbar to listen to music or podcasts. While it lacks more premium features like Dolby Atmos, Bose offers some of our favorite noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds, so you can expect a similar level of quality in its home audio products.Other weekend discountsTwelve South’s 4-foot PowerCord is currently down to an all-time low of $26.86 (about $13 off) at Amazon. The PowerCord combines a USB-C cable and a 30W wall adapter, so you no longer need to carry them separately. It supports Power Delivery 3.0, providing fast charging to the latest smartphones — it can charge an iPhone 16 from 0 to 55 percent in just 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the PowerCord features a durable braided cable that connects to the bottom of the adapter, so it doesn’t awkwardly poke out from the wall.There are several great controllers for the Nintendo Switch 2 beyond the Switch 2 Pro Controller. One of them is the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 Bluetooth Controller, which is currently down to $59.99 ($10 off) at Amazon — a few bucks more than the all-time low we saw over Prime Day. The controller packs more reliable TMR joysticks, Hall effect triggers, extra R4 / L4 bumpers, and rear paddle buttons. It also comes with a 2.4GHz dongle and charging dock, making the controller easy to charge between gaming sessions.If you’re not quite ready for a full-fledged smartwatch, the Casio G-Shock Move DW-H5600 is a nice compromise — and it’s currently down to $183.72 (about $115 off) at Amazon, the best price we’ve seen all year. The DW-H5600 includes a sensor that can measure your heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen levels, and active time. It can also feed you basic smartphone notifications, so you can keep tabs on incoming calls and emails.

Upskilling is the need of the hour as AI starts taking over most tasks you'd accomplish on a laptop, but there's no rules that prevent me from using AI for said skill acquisition. However, my fundamental concern with the process lay in the evaluation—my newly acquired skill would be put to test in the real world right away, or an academic examination if you're a student. I sought a low-consequence test methodology with few variables in the evaluation phase to see if NotebookLM is any good at learning a new skill.