When you think about home labs, you’ll probably imagine powerful, multi-CPU setups with ungodly amounts of memory. Although enterprise-grade systems are terrific for computing projects, old systems can also double as solid workstations for your DIY ideas and self-hosting projects once you pair them with the right operating systems.

"Yesterday was an interesting day for the Helldivers community." That's the very obvious understatement that announced the reopening of the Helldivers gaming subreddit in the small hours of Saturday morning. On Friday it was discovered that Tyler Robinson, arrested for the alleged killing of Charlie Kirk, had inscribed messages on the casings of several bullets found at the crime scene. One of those read "Hey fascist! Catch!" accompanied by an up arrow symbol, a right arrow, and three down arrows, a reference to the code to call down the 500KG Bomb stratagem in the cooperative shooter Helldivers 2.Unsurprisingly, within minutes the officia …Read the full story at The Verge.

We only just put Apple's iPhone 17 launch event behind us, but Bloomberg's Mark Gurman is already glancing into his crystal ball to see what's next for the company. In today's Power On newsletter Gurman says that there are at least 10 more products from Apple that are expected to launch either later this year or in the first half of 2026. Some of those products have been rumored for some time, or are just kind of obvious upgrades. The M5 iPad Pro, for instance, is a matter of when not if. Though the rumors that it will have a second front facing camera for those that prefer to use their iPad in portrait mode is interesting. The iPad Pro co …Read the full story at The Verge.

MX Linux is one of the more distinct-looking Linux distributions that tries to make the overall operating system experience less cumbersome for the average user. If you've tinkered with Linux-based distros in the past or use one now, you probably leverage the terminal for even basic setting changes and tweaks. But it's not 2010 anymore, and simple GUI options for routine and necessary operating system actions should be more mainstream. After switching to MX Linux, I discovered many useful tools that make the OS settings and customization remarkably easy.

Scarlet. Well, I was wrong, and I did manage to make it to one last day at the Toronto International Film Festival. One of the movies I wanted to see the most this year was Scarlet, the latest from Mamoru Hosoda, whose most recent film was the metaverse fairy tale Belle. Whereas that film was a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast, Scarlet is a twist on Hamlet that's full of bold, creative ideas. I mostly enjoyed it, but unfortunately it's saddled with an ending that doesn't really fit.I also managed to squeeze in two other films: a Korean revenge / heist thriller, and a Norwegian film about connecting through art. You can read my thoughts on all th …Read the full story at The Verge.

Linux distributions have always had a reputation for offering choice, sometimes to the point of overwhelming new users. Fedora itself is known for being cutting-edge, but it often requires extra setup before it feels fully ready. Ultramarine Linux builds upon that same base and smooths out the rough edges, aiming to be a system that “just works” without sacrificing Fedora’s strengths. It is a distribution that stays out of your way so you can focus on your work rather than constant tinkering.

It's not all that often you get to play around with an operating system as unique as TempleOS. Developed by one man, Terry A. Davis, TempleOS is a 64-bit open-source operating system that, while on the surface, may seem simplistic and messy, is actually a very impressive amalgamation of one man's inspiration from god, combined with great programming prowess, and ultimately forever tied with tragedy. It's definitely the weirdest OS I've ever tried on my PC, but I don't regret it in the slightest.

Disclosure: Penske Media Corporation is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.Penske Media Corporation, the publisher of Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter, has become the first major American media company to sue Google over its AI summaries. The company claims that the AI Overviews that often appear at the top of search results leave users with little reason to click through to the source, hurting traffic and illegally benefitting from the work of its reporters. While Penske Media is the biggest name to take on Google over its AI Overviews, it’s not the first. Online education company Chegg sued Google in February, as did a group of independent publishers in Europe. The News / Media Alliance has also spoken out about the feature, calling it the “definition of theft” and seeking action from the DOJ. Google spokesperson José Castañeda defended the summaries to the Wall Street Journal saying, “with AI Overviews, people find search more helpful and use it more.” But Penske and other publishers say there is little reason to follow the links provided in search results and, as a result, they have seen significant drops in traffic and revenue. Penske claims in the suit that revenue from affiliate links is down by over 1/3 this year, and it attributes that directly to a drop in traffic from Google.The company also claims it’s in a tough situation. It can either block Google from indexing its content, essentially removing itself from all search results, which would further devastate its business. Or, it can continue to provide training material to Google for its AI, “adding fuel to a fire that threatens PMC’s [Penske Media Corporation] entire publishing business,” the complaint states, according to the Wall Street Journal.This is, of course, just the latest battle between AI companies and the creators of the content they harvest. Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster recently sued Perplexity, as did News Corp last year. Meanwhile Microsoft and OpenAI have found themselves in the crosshairs of the New York Times, the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, and others. Google might also have a tougher time defending itself now that it’s been forced to admit that “the open web is already in rapid decline,” as it faces multiple antitrust complaints.

Over the past six months, I've transitioned almost every piece of software I use from a commercial platform to an open-source alternative. Microsoft Office was one of the first to go, with WPS Office taking its place. At first, it worked great. It replaced all the functionality of MS Word with a familiar interface and made switching between documents and spreadsheets as easy as clicking a button. And then things started to go downhill.

Just like old PCs and laptops, there are plenty of ways to repurpose an old smartphone. If it has a functional camera, you could turn it into a makeshift webcam for your PC, or even a full-on surveillance system using a Frigate server. Alternatively, you could use its touchscreen display to build a reliable Home Assistant dashboard. Or, if you’re as much into productivity as I am, you could even repurpose it into a Stream Deck.

The release of new Star Wars video games is always an exciting time for fans of the franchise. Not only do we get new stories to follow, but we get to see other parts from a galaxy far, far away in different time periods that help build out a continuously expanding universe. However, a lot of time and energy from Lucasfilm was devoted to exploring the new High Republic era, which wasn't received as well as they hoped. Some games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor injected aspects of The High Republic into their narrative, but it was met with a shallow reception. Despite this, it hasn't turned Star Wars fans away from the idea of new video game releases exploring different time periods.

Modern storage drives have a feature called SMART data, which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology. This feature is intended to monitor the health of your data drive and provide an early warning if your SSD or HDD is suffering from problems or has reached the end of its useful life cycle.