When it comes to canceled games, there's something irresistible about them. Haunting, even. I'm not talking about the shovelware or half-baked pitches, but the real ones. The ones that were actually being built, building hype through magazines and interviews, showcased behind closed doors... and then vanished.

If you've ever been left disappointed with the File Explorer because it didn't do something you wanted it to, perhaps migrating to an alternative app is on the cards. There are plenty out there that do all kinds of things, but one we see ourselves coming back to time and time again is simply called Files.

Hackers have exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s SharePoint software, placing tens of thousands of on-premises servers used by global businesses and agencies at risk. Microsoft issued an alert on Saturday disclosing that it was aware of “active attacks,” and that it was working to patch the zero-day exploit. Researchers at Eye Security first identified the vulnerability on July 18th, which allows hackers to access certain on-premises versions of SharePoint and steal keys that can let them impersonate users or services even after the server is rebooted or patched. That means servers that have already been compromised may still be a risk for businesses, but cloud versions of SharePoint aren’t vulnerable to the exploit and are unaffected. Hackers can use the zero-day exploit to steal sensitive data, harvest passwords, and move across the breached network through services that are often connected to SharePoint, including Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive. The exploit appears to have originated from a combination of two bugs that were presented at the Pwn2Own hacking contest in May, allowing unauthenticated access to SharePoint servers. Microsoft has released patches to “fully protect” SharePoint 2019 and SharePoint Subscription Edition servers, and the company is actively working on a patch for SharePoint 2016. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) says that the scope and impact of the attacks are still being assessed, and that any servers that have been impacted by the exploit should be disconnected from the internet until an official resolution is available. The exploit has been used to attack US federal and state agencies, universities, energy companies, and an Asian telecommunications company, the Washington Post reported, citing state officials and private researchers.

If you're already using Home Assistant to automate your lights, sensors, climate, and routines, adding music to the mix just makes sense. Music Assistant is a powerful add-on that turns your Home Assistant setup into a multi-room audio controller, complete with source management and smart playback features. It's free, open source, and surprisingly easy to integrate with everything from local files to Spotify. Once it’s running, it feels like a native part of your smart home.

It would've been lights out for the Steam Deck the moment the ROG Ally was released. It would've been, but it wasn't, and that's largely due to Windows. As capable and comfortable as the ROG Ally is, the handheld has always been held back by its software. Today, you don't need to settle for what the device ships with.

Have you ever tried outputting the same sound channel from two audio devices at the same time on Windows? It's not an easy task; the last time I checked, you have to play around with the Stereo Mix to get audio output from two devices at the same time, and it's not very intuitive. In fact, it's kind of hard to believe that Windows has gone so long without an easier way of achieving this.

The UK government is reportedly set to back down from its battle with Apple to obtain back door access to secure user data protected by the company’s iCloud encryption. Victory hasn’t come through the courts, or government figures changing their minds on privacy matters, but thanks to ongoing pressure from the US during the two countries’ trade talks.Multiple unnamed UK officials told the Financial Times that the UK government is working on a way out. “The Home Office is basically going to have to back down,” one said, adding that vice-president JD Vance was especially opposed to the UK’s demand, which may violate the Cloud Act treaty between the two countries. “It’s a big red line in the US — they don’t want us messing with their tech companies.”Another official echoed that, explaining that the UK wants to avoid pushing too hard for “anything that looks to the US vice-president like a free-speech issue.” A third official said the UK had “its back against the wall,” and wants a way out: “It’s a problem of the Home Office’s own making, and they’re working on a way around it now”.The UK issued a secret order demanding Apple grant it an encryption back door in January this year, asking for access to files uploaded by users worldwide. In response Apple stopped offering its end-to-end encrypted iCloud storage, Advanced Data Protection, in the UK, and filed an appeal against the order. In April Apple won its first victory, the right to openly discuss the case, and last month WhatsApp announced that it had applied to present evidence to the court to support Apple’s case.

In today's episode of "Why your ISP router is junk," we're going to replace that locked-down, cheaply made router with a custom OPNsense box. I'm not going to go into why we don't want to use the ISP router. That's been debated to death, and really we should all move on and use that energy for a more positive outcome. Well, except for calling the rent-a-router a big piece of junk (a few times), to get it out of my system.

What you consider beautiful is very subjective, so you might not agree with my observations about BlueStar. After all, Linux users haven’t traditionally been exposed to beautiful interfaces. Linux distributions range from command-line-only setups to functioning works of art.

The B-tree file system (Btrfs) is a type of file system with a copy-on-write principle and a logical volume manager. Originally developed to address the lack of snapshots, integrity checking, data scrubbing, and other features within existing Linux file systems, Btrfs differs from other file systems, particularly with its ability to create subvolumes. ZFS does have something similar with datasets and snapshots, though this is an interesting implementation that makes Btrfs fairly versatile. Let's look at how subvolumes differ from conventional partitions.

One of the only AI tools I use daily, and one that has completely changed my workflow (for the better) is NotebookLM. If you aren't familiar with it, NotebookLM is Google's AI-powered personalized research assistant, essentially designed to help you better interact with information from sources you already have.

I enjoy trying new privacy browsers to explore their features and appreciate innovative and unique offerings. Over the last few months, I've tried browsers like Opera GX and Waterfox, and each has impressed me in some way. Most modern browsers are either Chromium or Firefox-based, and I have some idea of what to expect considering my experiences with both ecosystems.