This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the downward spiral of the internet, follow Adi Robertson. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.How it startedBack in 2018, two years after the UK government decided to implement mandatory hard age gates on adult websites, it floated an idea called the "porn pass." The porn pass was a physical card you'd buy by handing over your ID to a brick-and-mortar shop attendant. It would contain authentication information that would act as a low-tech anonymization system, letting you verif …Read the full story at The Verge.

PlayStation gamers got a heavy dose of action and strong narrative with Ghost of Tsushima on the PlayStation 4 from Sucker Punch Productions. The reception of the game was so positive that the Japanese government made the developers honorary ambassadors for the island of Tsushima, because of their attention to detail and historical accuracy of Tsushima within the game. So there were a lot of expectations for the next game that Sucker Punch Productions would release as their follow-up. And luckily for everyone, they managed to put together a game that was equal parts new and refreshing aspects from their previous hit. But instead of returning to Tsushima for a new tale in the old days of Japan, a new location provides the backdrop for what ends up being a story of family ties and brutal revenge.

For years, I ignored the security of my home network. I knew better than to click on sketchy links or visit dodgy websites, so I figured it didn't matter. But now that I have gotten married and my wife and I entertain guests much more often than I used to, I've started to discover the cracks in the armor of my network. My entire network can be put at risk by a single guest with a malware-infected laptop, including well-meaning but clueless parents.

Laptop docking stations are certainly a niche product, seemingly best suited for corporations where employees use laptops, but also need access to large screens, a proper keyboard, and a mouse when working at a table. I still remember them as the clunky plastic brick you’d snap a fat ThinkPad into, instantly connecting it to an array of beige peripherals. Today, a simple USB-C cable and sleek aluminum slabs have replaced these docks, while the fundamental purpose remains unchanged. For that, it works beautifully, but you should stop to think about how much potential is just left on the table now—literally—because we've switched to USB-C.

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 101, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope you like silly accessories, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about Intel factories and Nobel Prize winners and ATM thieves, watching this pop-punk "Defying Gravity" cover on repeat, reliving my teenage music taste now that The Format is back, catching up on the new Critical Role campaign, taking all my calls with the delightful Pop Phone handset, watching more Love Is Blind than I'm proud of, sending this deep dive on RSS readers to anyone …Read the full story at The Verge.

After using regular 16:9 monitors for years, I finally bought an ultrawide monitor last month. The Alienware AW3423DWF is a fantastic ultrawide OLED display, especially for the price I got it for. However, using an ultrawide monitor as-is comes with its own peculiarities. The 21:9 form factor of my monitor doesn't play well with some games, and the extra resolution is an added strain on my 5-year-old graphics card. Besides, the physical footprint of the monitor is a bit too much for my 4-foot desk. Hence, I had to make some adjustments to make my new monitor slightly more enjoyable.

One thing I really like about the Switch range is that it's really easy to swap between handheld and TV mode. Just put the Switch into its dock when you want to play on the TV, then remove it again when it's time to travel. It's a pretty elegant design that ensures you're not fiddling with cables every time you want to swap modes.

My NAS is already my central backup server, where I keep shared folders and run Docker containers. As a lightweight server, it's not just reliable but also always on and has more than enough performance for the kind of tasks I throw at it. But while all those qualities make it a great choice for everyday productivity use cases, it also positions it as a prime candidate for a fun, entertainment-focused side project that I've been thinking about — running a local game server. To be more specific, I'm not thinking of a Minecraft server, but more like a board game server. Turns out, there's an open-source project that is the perfect fit for the role.

The Steam Autumn Sale may be over, but that doesn't mean the deals have to stop. In fact, a few games have gone back on sale for a second round, and some are even cheaper than they were the first time around. For instance, if you've been looking for a new FPS to play on Steam, then Wolfenstein: The New Order definitely fits the bill. Not only is it currently $4 until October 16th, but it's also on a steeper discount than it was during the Steam Autumn Sale, making it the cheapest price ever.

It's not every day that a critically-acclaimed game goes completely free for a short period of time, but today is our lucky day. The Epic Games Store is no stranger to giving away great games, and today, Epic has decided that Gravity Circuit is the next title to get the legendary 100% discount. So, if you're on the hunt for a 2D platformer with stellar reviews, you can do a lot worse than claim Gravity Circuit on your Epic Games account at zero cost to you.

With every tech firm and software developer slapping artificial intelligence onto their products, it’s easy to get burned out of these so-called AI features. But as much as I despise the AI bubble, I have to admit that machine-learning tools have their own niche uses. Take locally-deployed LLMs and image generators, for instance. While they may seem like standalone services that can only generate soulless text and images, you can use them to bolster the capabilities of a handful of apps and services.

Gone are the days when Notion used to be, well, just Notion — the all-in-one workspace app every other person used to organize every aspect of their life. Similar to a lot of other companies that start with one simple tool that blows up, Notion eventually branched up and realized a single app wasn't enough.