Google's AI-powered research assistant, NotebookLM, is undoubtedly one of the best AI tools for productivity out there. Given that the tool is still fairly new, Google’s constantly rolling out new updates and features to improve it. Just two days ago, a leaked internal memo revealed that a lot of the features NotebookLM's been teasing for a while could arrive any day now.

As I've dove further and further into Home Assistant, I've begun to explore other related tools, too. One such tool I've been playing around with is ESPHome, which inspired me to buy a couple of ESP32 boards, a CYD, and a ton of random sensors. As I deemed my CYD experiment a success, I purchased the XIAO 7.5-inch ePaper Panel from Seeed Studio, as I wanted something battery-powered, long-lasting, and different. My experiment has been a massive success, and it's been an incredibly useful addition to my smart home that's enabled me to work more efficiently.

Microsoft Excel might be the accountant's right hand that lives in the shadows, but it is incredibly useful for a lot more than number-crunching. I prefer using visual data management tools, such as Kanban tables on Trello, for my personal projects and hobbies. However, the sheer volume of my latest obsession has made me reconsider my aversion to Excel.

Have you managed to secure a case for your precious Nintendo Switch 2 yet? It's no shocker if you haven't; after all, reports are coming in that the official Switch 2 case is harder to find than the console itself. Fortunately, people are chiming in with their favorite third-party cases, which are sometimes cheaper and have better functionality than Nintendo's offerings.

Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to resolve President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against its subsidiary CBS, clearing a path for the administration to approve the media giant’s multibillion-dollar merger with Skydance Media.In a statement seen by CNN on Tuesday night, Paramount said the settlement payment is inclusive of Trump’s legal fees and costs, and that the money will be allocated to his future presidential library instead of being paid to Trump directly. The sum is below the $10 billion (later increased to $20 billion) in damages sought by Trump when he filed the lawsuit in October, alleging that CBS News had deceptively edited a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris to mislead voters during the presidential elections.The Wall Street Journal reported in May that Trump was willing to drop the complaint in exchange for upwards of $25 million and a public apology. As part of the agreement, Paramount said that it would release transcripts of future 60 Minutes interviews with eligible US presidential candidates, but specified that the settlement “does not include a statement of apology or regret.”In a statement to The New York Times, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said the settlement was “another win for the American people” delivered by the president, who was holding “the fake news media accountable. CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle.”While legal experts said the suit was baseless, it placed Paramount under pressure to appease the President as its long-drawn out merger plans with Skydance require approval from the Trump administration. In a statement seen by CNN, Paramount said that “this lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process,” and that it will “abide by the legal process to defend our case.”The settlement is the latest of several legal agreements made by media and tech companies, law firms, and universities to appease the transactional President and the influence Trump now holds over American institutions.

Several actions have been shuffled to new menus, and images will clearly display where and when they were taken. The Google Photos app has been updated to make it easier to navigate your gallery and view image information. Google says the photo view — the screen that appears when you open an image in Google Photos — has been redesigned to provide a “simpler, more modern, and more intuitive UI” while adding a new light mode, glanceable photo details, and streamlined action menus.These changes are available now for iPhone users, and will be coming to the Google Photos app for Android “soon,” according to Google. The update doesn’t remove any of the previous functionality provided by the app, but some features may have been relocated.The biggest visual change is the introduction of light mode, which will automatically match the photo view background to match your device’s system theme. Information is now also displayed at the top of each photograph that provides the date, time, and location where it was captured. Some pill-shaped “badges” are sometimes located underneath those details that allow users to play or pause a Live or Motion photo, change the photo’s category, save shared images, and manage storage.Several actions can now be found under the three-dot menu at the top right of the photo view, including About, Create, Cast, Save as, Download or Delete from device, and Google Lens. The latter was previously located on the photo view taskbar, and has now been replaced with an “Add to” menu that allows users to archive photos, organize them into albums, or secure them in a locked folder.Lastly, photo stacks and bursts can now be managed via their own three-dot menu, which will appear beside whatever thumbnail is currently selected. Here you’ll find options to change the top image, remove images, unstack, or select multiple photos to take bulk actions.

Everyone wants a laptop that's going to deliver an impressive experience. The only problem is finding one that can do it without bleeding your wallet dry. And while it isn't impossible, it can be a challenge, which is why when a deal this good pops up, it's a great time to take advantage.

"How much should you spend on a motherboard?" — perhaps every PC builder has grappled with this question at least once. The thing is, while motherboards don't directly contribute to your PC's performance, you can't simply grab the cheapest one on the market. There's always a balance to be struck, but you shouldn't spend a premium on pointless motherboard features you'll never use. I have my list of needless features that will never justify splurging on an expensive motherboard. So, let's get into it.

Honor has announced the Magic V5, which it says is the thinnest foldable phone in the world right now — though only if you ignore the raised camera module, and only for its white version. The phone launches today in China, but Honor says an international release is coming “soon.”At 8.8mm thick when folded shut, the V5 is indeed impressively thin, and beats the 8.9mm Oppo Find N5. That 0.1mm difference is imperceptible in practice, though a very slight curvature does help Honor’s phone feel a hair thinner than the Oppo. That’s only true for the phone’s “Ivory White” version though, with the other colors very slightly thicker at 9mm, which suggests they’ll use different materials for the final finish.Perhaps more tellingly, you’ve also got to completely ignore the camera. The Magic V5’s triple rear camera module rises almost twice as high as Oppo’s, making the phone feel thicker overall as a result. Superior specs, with higher resolution sensors and faster apertures almost across the board, may justify the extra heft, but it does diminish that “world’s thinnest” claim.When open, the V5’s frame measures 4.1mm, again just beating Oppo’s 4.2mm. It’s worth remembering that neither of these phones are quite as thin as Huawei’s trifold Mate XT when it’s open, dropping to 3.6mm at its thinnest point, a segment that doesn’t have the USB-C port.This battle of the millimeters isn’t new territory for Honor. Before Oppo launched the Find N5 earlier this year, Honor’s Magic V3 was the thinnest foldable on the market. Next week Samsung is expected to reveal a drastically thinner Galaxy Z Fold 7, though it’s likely to be just a little thicker than Honor’s effort. Honor isn’t highlighting it, but the Magic V5 might be the world’s lightest foldable too, or at least seems to share that title with Vivo’s X Fold 5, announced last week — both weigh 217g.If this all sounds like quibbling over a gram here and a fraction of a millimeter there, then that’s because it is. I said back when I reviewed the Oppo Find N5 that it would “mark the start of diminishing returns” for foldable phones, and here we are. Without dropping the USB-C port or adopting an asymmetric design there simply isn’t room for these phones to get meaningfully thinner, so foldable manufacturers are going to have to figure out a new way to generate hype for future launches.Fortunately for Honor, the Magic V5 has strong enough specs to impress regardless. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite powers the phone, together with up to 16GB of RAM and a large 5,820mAh battery. Both screens use 120Hz LTPO OLED panels, there’s wireless charging, and IP58 and IP59 ratings for dust- and water-resistance that’s almost as good as any non-foldable’s.

People enjoy tuning into platforms like Twitch to watch playthroughs of various video games, especially older and beloved titles. A popular part of this has been Twitch Plays Pokémon, which places the chat audience in control of the game on screen, allowing everyone to simultaneously control movement and more. It was something that went viral among game communities, who were intrigued by the idea of seeing a playthrough of an older game that was so dramatic to watch. Twitch Plays Pokémon led to other spins on the concept, including other types of games for Twitch to play together as a collective. But since the surge in popularity of that, other aspects of livestream gaming have appeared online, including some that utilize AI models to play.

Over the years, FromSoftware's games have birthed a new Soulsborne genre of its own, through challenging boss fights that have become a part of the studio's legend. And yet, for all the amazing, legendary, and unforgettable bosses that FromSoft has given us, there is one boss that is ever-present, and grows stronger with every release — the camera. In tight corners and behind staircases it lurks, snapping away with a mind of its own, deciding on a whim whether you deserve to see what's about to kill you.

10 expansion batteries connected to a single Power 2000 power station for 22kWh of home backup capacity. | Image: DJI After launching its first portable power stations last year, DJI just launched the Power 2000 with double the capacity, more output power, and big scalability. Unlike a fixed Tesla Powerwall solution, DJI’s followup to the Power 1000 I reviewed last year is designed to scale in support of your day-to-day energy needs no matter where you go while also offering the fastest charging times for your DJI drones. For example, you can take the Power 2000 along to a job site or weekend barbecue. Add solar panels and a few expansion batteries for longer car-camping trips or a vanlife summer, and then stack on a few more batteries when you return home to provide hours of home backup during the next blackout emergency.The Power 2000 is built around a 2048Wh LFP battery and 3000W inverter making this a mid-level unit. It comes slathered in ports, including two 140W USB-C, two 65W USB-C, four USB-A, and four AC outputs (the US model swaps one jack for a 30A RV outlet). It also features a pair of DJI’s dongle-loving SDC ports to fast charge DJI drones; add outputs like a 12V socket and inputs for solar panels; or to connect one of DJI’s Super Fast Car Chargers to tap into solar and/or the excess charging capabilities of your car’s alternator. All the ports can be monitored and controlled inside the DJI Home app. For home owners, those proprietary SDC ports can also be used to daisy chain up to ten of DJI’s existing Power Expansion Battery 2000 modules back to the Power 2000. That’s an impressive 10:1 ratio for a power station (most are 2:1 or 6:1 max in this class) for 22kWh of total stored energy capacity. A typical US home consumes about 29.2kWh per day, but not every device is needed during a blackout. Vanlifers require far less capacity and power — I use about 1.6kWh per day in my own van.The Power 2000 can pull up to 2200W from a standard wall jack to charge its internal battery from zero to full in about 75 minutes. It can be charged more slowly at a reasonably quiet 30dB if the noise produced by the internal cooling fans is a concern. In the event of an outage, the Power 2000 features a very fast 0.01 second cutover to act as a UPS for your most sensitive electronics. By building its 22kg / 48.5lb Power 2000 systems around relatively lightweight (16.5kg / 36.4lb) 2kWh expansion modules and off-loading infrequently used interfaces, DJI’s Power 2000 solution should be easier to move around than competing 3kWh battery systems from Anker, Bluetti, EcoFlow, and Jackery. Those devices, however, are more suited to supporting homes, even when those homes have wheels.For example, the Power 2000 lacks a high-amperage output to directly power 12V RV electrical systems, and DJI doesn’t offer a subpanel option that integrates directly into your house’s electrical system to intelligently offset your energy costs. But these are tradeoffs I imagine many will happily make in the name of increased portability so long as they can avoid having to buy too many proprietary SDC dongles (which can easily get lost). And given DJI’s rapid embrace of the category, I wouldn’t be surprised to see those advanced options made available in the future as the company’s Power lineup matures.The DJI Power 2000 is available today starting at $1,299 / €1,399. Maxing out the system with ten expansion batteries will cost close to $10,000.