It's been over 34 years since Sega introduced the world to a speedy blue hedgehog on the Sega Genesis. On June 23, 1991, gamers got to play the first Sonic the Hedgehog game on the console, and the 16-bit console wars truly began. Beyond games, Sonic managed to break out into the pop-culture zeitgeist of the decade by appearing in multiple forms of media. To many players, Sonic the Hedgehog is a character that embodies the changing attitude and emotions of the 90s, especially within video game culture. And over the decades, Sonic has continued to be a relevant character that represents nostalgia and exciting times for Sega fans.

It's been about two weeks since Microsoft updated their PC app to have an aggregated gaming library, which merges users' installed Xbox library, their Game Pass titles, and even games from other stores. The one thing on everyone's minds, however, is what that update means for the future of Xbox, with plenty of speculation about the next Xbox console potentially featuring PlayStation titles as well.

I've been the typical foodie in the modern picture editing software buffet, as I love taking pictures. From Adobe Lightroom to GIMP and from Pixir to Fotor, I've tried quite a lot. But lately, as I have been getting into professional photography on the side, I think I am officially done sampling. I am pitching my tent with Capture One.

The new Fairphone 6 is smaller and more modular than older models in the series, but it’s just as repairable. The phone picked up a perfect score in iFixit’s teardown test, despite no longer offering tool-free battery replacements.It helps that the only tool you do need — throughout the phone — is a T5 Torx screwdriver, and only seven screws sit between you and a battery swap. Fairphone itself has shown you can get from shutdown to reboot with a new cell in just two minutes, so it’s still a simple swap. The company says that the screws are required for the slimmer soft-pouch battery.The only glue throughout is found on the phone’s mainboard, which is just about the only repair Fairphone doesn’t recommend you make yourself: almost everything else, from the USB-C port to the individual camera sensors, can be replaced with minimal effort. Replacement parts will be available from Fairphone and iFixit, and the phone’s replaceable backplate also enables a line of swappable accessories similar to those found on the CMF Phone Pro 2.iFixit also rated the phone highly for its IP55 rating — not the best around, but impressive for a phone sealed with screws rather than glue — and for the company’s longterm support. Fairphone is guaranteeing seven years of Android OS updates and eight years of security patches, with a five-year warranty and a loyalty program that rewards you for hanging onto your phone and repairing it.Despite the high score, iFixit acknowledges that you do compromise on specs by opting for the Fairphone 6. Its dual rear camera is fairly basic, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7S Gen 3 chipset is no powerhouse. Even the USB port is limited to sluggish USB 2.0, though the 6.3-inch 10-120Hz LTPO OLED display is more impressive.This isn’t the first Fairphone to fare so well. Every model since the Fairphone 2 has received a 10/10 in iFixit’s teardown tests, a score that no other phone has ever managed. The Fairphone 6 is available now in Europe for €599 (around $705), from Fairphone and other retailers. It costs considerably more in the US, at $899, where it’s only available from Murena and ships running /e/OS, Murena’s privacy-focused and de-Googled take on Android. It’s available to preorder now, and ships in August.

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 7 has been given the thinner, sleeker glow-up we expected, if leaked hands-on photos are any indication. The trio of images posted by leaker @Jukanlosreve seemingly show what the next-gen Galaxy foldable will look like in the real world from a few different angles.The new photographs mostly line up with what we’ve seen in previous renders, including the larger, slimmer chassis that’s reported to be around 4.5mm thick when open. That’s slimmer than its 5.6mm Galaxy Z Fold 6 predecessor and allows it to better compete against some of the slimmest foldables on the market from rivals like Google and Oppo. We won’t know its official measurements until the launch event next week, but given the SIM tray appears to occupy all available vertical space, it looks very skinny indeed. The speakers and microphone are also visible along the bottom edge of the device.The redesigned camera array on the rear is distinct from that featured on the Galaxy Z Fold 6, replacing the chunky black rings around the camera lenses with slim silver ones. It contrasts nicely with the striking blue color option, which might be the “Blue Shadow” colorway mentioned in previous leaks. We also have some new Galaxy Z Fold 7 specs courtesy of an EU smartphone label revealed by MysteryLupin, which lists the device as having the same battery life as its predecessor, that’s expected to last for up to 40 hours and 28 minutes on a single charge. The phone reportedly has an IP48 rating, which means it can be submerged under water for short periods of time, but it’s still susceptible to fine dust particles (like many foldables).We’re expecting to find out more at Samsung’s Unpacked event on July 9th, where the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is expected to be launched alongside the latest Z Flip 7. A new trifold Galaxy phone may also be unveiled at the event, bolstering Samsung’s lineup of foldable devices.

OPNsense is a powerful router and firewall platform that I've been using for the past few months, and as time has gone on, I've migrated more and more of my services to it. My rationale is that many of my networking services hosted on other devices are all reliant on my home network working in the first place, so it's not a big deal to include them as a part of OPNsense as if my network goes down (taking those services with it), I don't have internet access anyway.

The network is an engineering marvel, allowing us to connect various devices. It's what gave birth to the Internet as we know it today, and now just about everything is somehow connected to your local area network (LAN) and often the wide area network (WAN), too. The home LAN usually consists of a single router unit that acts as a modem, router, switch, and access point, but fleshing out a home lab could result in more advanced equipment being thrown into the mix. What hasn't changed are some of the myths surrounding networking, and it's about time these were put to rest.

I walked into Blackdot's tattoo studio in Austin's east side on a sweltering May afternoon. After shaking my sweat-soaked hand, founder and CEO Joel Pennington led me up into an office building and opened the door to a small, three-room space. Critics have unflatteringly compared the studio to a sterile hospital room - a comparison not entirely without merit. In a corner room, the machine I had come here to see loomed: a humming, fridge-sized device reminiscent of an old X-ray unit. Blackdot calls it the world's first "automatic tattooing device."The space was filled with signs of the path traveled so far. Pennington handed me several slab …Read the full story at The Verge.

When it comes to legendary gaming franchises that have endured the passing of time, Nintendo's Metroid franchise is among the most interesting. While Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zeldadominated the 80s and 90s, the Metroid games were still carving out a niche among Nintendo fans. It not only pushed what was possible with game design on the Famicom and NES but also continued to evolve as a franchise over successive console generations, leading to beloved and critically acclaimed releases. The Metroid series also holds a spot as one of the earliest game franchises to feature a female character as the lead, which has remained a staple addition to the pantheon of Nintendo franchises.

Notion has transformed how I organize my life and work. It's a powerhouse for notes, tasks, projects, and so much more. But what if I told you I've unlocked even more potential from it? While Notion is incredibly robust on its own, these 5 Chrome extensions have become my secret weapons. They elevate my workflow from great to absolutely exceptional. These aren't just minor tweaks; they're game-changers that smartly integrate with Notion. They have added layers of functionality and efficiency I now can't live without.

Considering the experimental nature of home labs, I always take a couple of precautions to safeguard my virtual guests from my projects. For example, I’ve documented my network architecture in a NetBox instance and stored detailed notes about my home lab projects inside a TriliumNext Notes container, with both services running on a separate machine to mitigate the risks of losing my documentation due to a failed experiment.

If you've been using PCs for a decade or more, you might be familiar with performance-boosting programs like CCleaner that claim to clean, optimize, and maintain your PC. While some of the functions that these programs perform can be done by the user using built-in Windows tools, others are simply unnecessary and even dangerous on modern systems. If you're using an ancient PC, you might get some mileage out of "cleaning the memory" or removing junk files, but most people should stay away from these placebos.