I'll be the first to admit I never liked the first wave of artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) when they first came about. There's still an argument as to how to properly categorize these smart assistants. Are they AI or are they simple scripts with a vast knowledge pool to use for constructing replies? Where is the line in the sand for transitioning from a simple tool to artificial intelligence? Regardless of where you sit on the fence, LLMs are everywhere now. You've seen it with Copilot, the whole AI PC marketing buzz, and now more people are self-hosting them from home than ever before.

Building a gaming PC is always fun, but if you're short on time or not very tech-savvy, opting for a pre-built PC is your best bet. Not only do you get peace of mind knowing that everything is set and ready to go out of the box, but there's also a pretty good chance that you can save yourself from a huge headache, since some parts are impossible to find on your own. Plus, pre-built PCs also come with a warranty, so just in case something does go wrong, you'll be covered.

During the 90s, the two main consoles at constant war with each other were the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. Many people at the time debated which one was the best, and the sales between them reflected a constant back-and-forth. Sega went on to release multiple accessories for the Genesis, giving it an edge on the market and hopefully enticing gamers to buy more Sega products. One of the add-ons to the Genesis in 1992 was the Sega CD, a CD-ROM drive attachment that enabled the Genesis to play games stored on CD-ROMs. However, the high price point of the attachment was a major hurdle for most customers, which eventually led to a loss of momentum in the console race with Nintendo.

It's now easier to play your favorite games on the go, thanks to services that allow you to stream AAA titles to your phone, tablet, and other devices. Of course, if you want the best results, you're still going to need good hardware, which is where a top-end gaming laptop comes in. Naturally, these laptops aren't cheap, which means you'll have to rely on sales in order to get one for less.

Installing Linux is a fantastic way to get more life out of your old laptop, saving you some money and sparing your laptop from the landfill for a little longer. Linux is almost always lighter and faster than Windows, so any distribution can offer a big performance boost for aging hardware.

In reality, the student lives we've all led have been odd cocktails. We've seen friendships, chaos, curiosity, and some extremely questionable decisions made at 3 AM. We've juggled academia and personal growth, with a touch of occasional drama.

No one likes their PC running below its potential, and certainly not without them realizing it. However, that's exactly what might be happening inside countless PCs right now. From basic mistakes like installing memory or storage drives in the wrong slots and ignoring BIOS tweaks to more advanced stuff like ensuring proper contact between the CPU cooler and the CPU's IHS, you might be hurting your PC's performance unknowingly.

The step-through Cruiser ST model at the heart of the recall. | Image: Cowboy After months of speculation over the e-bike maker’s imminent demise, Cowboy says it now has the financial backing it needs to survive. The Brussels-based maker of boutique e-bikes says it has secured short-term financing to keep the lights on and a commitment from Rebirth Group Holding that should “ensure its long-term future.” The bicycle company that once swore it wouldn’t become the next VanMoof, recently showed signs of following a similar path to bankruptcy. New e-bike deliveries were taking months, repairs were delayed due to a lack of parts, payments were missed, and debt was mounting, according to media reports and customer complaints.Cowboy already had a relationship with Rebirth Group prior to signing a term sheet with its new partner. Rebirth is the parent of Re-cycles, the French manufacturer of traditional bicycles that recently took over responsibility for Cowboy’s e-bike assembly operations. The move was supposed to reduce delivery times and improve customer support over time, but it also contributed to some short-term issues during the transition out of Hungary. Today’s announcement makes Rebirth Group doubly vested in Cowboy’s survival.Cowboy says a costly recall of its Cruiser ST that followed a post-covid bikeaggedon — which continues to rile the e-bike industry — created “the most challenging period in the company’s history.” The recall, according to Cowboy, was caused by an “unapproved change from a supplier.”With funding secured, replacement frames ready, and the first recall hub up and operational (with more cities to come), Cowboy says that operations and production will gradually return to normal.“Our priority is to restore normal operations before year-end, working closely with our new partner,” says Cowboy in a press release. “This means delivering outstanding bikes, resolving open cases, and regaining the level of service our customers expect.”Cowboy says it will provide updated progress in September.

I've always loved the thought of having a smart home filled with devices that automatically schedule cleaning, lighting, or other features without my involvement. The vision never quite materialized because the smart home is fractured into multiple ecosystems, but it wasn't until I set up Home Assistant that I was able to get my home devices into something approaching the vision of the future I was sold.

Obsidian is one of the best tools for building a Zettelkasten, a note-taking structure centered on creating a knowledge base of interconnected notes. By ensuring that every note references another note, the note-taker can identify emerging trends between them by visualizing their connections. Obsidian is almost made for this, as it has backlinking built right into the app. If this all sounds chaotic and vague, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered in our Zettelkasten setup guide.

I really love Raspberry Pi projects that allow people to join in the fun. Even if you have zero idea of how to use a Raspberry Pi, you can toy around with one and enjoy the results without any of the hard work. For instance, there was that one time we reported on a Raspberry Pi project that let strangers drive Roombas around an office, and I had a ton of fun with that one.

Intel has been having a rough period. It recently cut about 24,000 jobs in order to stay competitive, which is a vast number of people who are suddenly looking for work. And, as you might imagine, those layoffs have meant that different areas of Intel are likely going to be a bit understaffed as a result.