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.

Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s with video games included many different kinds of fandom. One of those fandoms that was closely tied to games was wrestling, especially with the WWF and WCW promotions that were big at the time. Multiple wrestling games were developed and released throughout the 90s and 2000s, with a following that grew to support a variety of platforms as the popularity of wrestling continued to grow. But while there were classic wrestling games that people fondly remember, not all of them were champions in the eyes of fans. Some wrestling games were just flat out terrible, and viewed as jobbers to other games that were better overall.

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.

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.

Nintendo is often embroiled in a battle against pirates and individuals who emulate its games. Every new hardware generation, Nintendo adds some new countermeasures to protect its systems, and people find a way to circumvent them. It ends up being an arms race until Nintendo pulls out the strongest counter-attack it can muster: full-blown legal action.

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.

After relying on Pocket for years, I found myself in a familiar dilemma when it announced its shutdown: finding a new home for my endless "to-read" list. I tried dozens of alternatives, from big-name apps to smaller services, but nothing felt right. They were all either too messy, too confusing, or they just didn't have the features I needed. It seemed impossible to find a service that truly felt like my own.

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.

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.

I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of my life chasing down the ghosts in my machines. You know, the intermittent stutter, dropped frames, and the File Explorer crashes. The times when your once-snappy PC build feels like it's wading through swampy waters muddied by temporary files and redundant Registry entries. Worse, these slowdowns are so gradual, they often fly under the radar, but the realization comes suddenly.

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.

We've seen a few good sales on Steam lately (such as this popular military sim going as low as $3), but when you're talking pure value for money, you really can't go wrong with free. Steam often hosts "play for free" events, where people can try out a game without paying a cent, with the caveat that it's only available for a short amount of time, after which you'll need to buy it. However, very rarely, we'll see a game go "free to keep", which means that if you grab it during its promotional window, you own it—forever.