When you first start out building a home lab or self-hosting services, security is often a secondary thought as you're not using your new tools outside your home network. But as you go on, you realize how unsafe the internet can be, and want to use SSL encryption for your apps, like any server on the modern web. Whether you're building a reverse proxy for accessing your stack or being more adventurous with hosting an email server, you'll need SSL to encrypt your data while in transit between the server and client.

There's no doubt that Steam is the undisputed champ of handheld gaming PCs. There's the fact that SteamOS is faster than Windows, but also the existence of Steam Big Picture mode. It's not technically called Big Picture mode anymore, but regardless, it's Steam's redesigned 10-foot, controller-first interface that first debuted on the Steam Deck before rolling out to Steam proper. It's a great launcher, but it's not the best. The best launcher you can use for your handheld gaming PC, and maybe even your PC in general, is Playnite.

After the year of self-induced tumult that Sonos has been through, I can understand why some people are reluctant to spend money on the company’s products. But interim CEO Tom Conrad has shown that he’s determined to get back on track and revitalize Sonos as the leading whole-home audio brand. The contentious mobile app is in a much better place today than just a few months ago, though some customers still encounter bugs and the frustration of speakers randomly vanishing from their system. It’s not all roses, but the situation is moving in the right direction — and I took Sonos’ decision to cancel its video player as a promising sign of renewed focus. I’m not about to sell any of my Sonos gear. For one, the company’s whole-home platform offers conveniences that competitors don’t match — at least not without hassle. Most of the time, I’m streaming from Apple Music, Spotify, or YouTube Music. But if I’m watching a sports game on my TV, I can pipe the audio from my Sonos soundbar to a speaker in a different room to follow the action. Playing something over Bluetooth? With most of the company’s recent speakers, it’s possible to do the same thing and spread that music across your entire Sonos system.Why you should trust my Sonos recommendationsI’ve covered Sonos extensively for several years at The Verge. This has included reporting on the company’s latest news, reviewing a lengthy list of Sonos products, and bringing attention to the app fiasco, which eventually led to the ouster of former CEO Patrick Spence. Audio and home theater are two of my primary focus areas in product reviews, so I’m well-versed when it comes to determining whether a speaker or soundbar is great — or just another also-ran product.I wouldn’t fault anyone for waiting to see where Sonos and its app go from here. But keep in mind that tariffs might eventually lead to price increases for some of these products. Putting the software misstep aside, this company makes some genuinely excellent hardware, so if you don’t want to risk paying more, now might be the time to buy. And if you’re wondering which are the true standouts, I’ve got you covered.Featured in this articleBest overall: Sonos FiveWhere to Buy: $549 at Amazon $549 at Sonos $549.99 at Best BuyBest to start with: Sonos Era 100Where to Buy: $199 at Amazon $199 at Best Buy $199 at SonosThe best Sonos speaker to start withSonos Era 100Score: 8ProsConsImproved sound (now in stereo)Bluetooth and line-in supportPrivacy-conscious microphone controlsNo more Google AssistantRejiggered controls have a learning curveLine-in requires USB-C dongleWhere to Buy: $199 at Amazon $199 at Best Buy $199 at SonosIf you’re looking for a decent-sounding, compact speaker to put in the kitchen, office, or really anywhere in your home, the Era 100 is your best option. Sonos improved upon this speaker’s predecessors, the Play:1 and Sonos One, by upgrading to stereo drivers for richer, wider audio. Bluetooth playback is now supported, along with line-in audio (with a separate dongle). And the Era 100 also has reworked physical controls, including a volume bar you can slide your finger across and, finally, dedicated track controls. The speaker has an elegant design, and you can use hands-free voice controls to summon Amazon Alexa or Sonos Voice Control to skip tracks or switch to a different playlist. Sonos recently dropped the Era 100’s price to $199, which is more than fair for what you’re getting. I’d buy now and avoid risking the cost going up again, thanks to tariffs.Read our full Sonos Era 100 review.The best overall Sonos speakerSonos FiveProsConsPowerful audio with impressive stereo separationCan crank loud without distortingRegular 3.5mm line-in: no adapter requiredLacks smart speaker functionalityEasily collects dustYou’ll end up wanting two, which gets very expensiveWhere to Buy: $549 at Amazon $549 at Sonos $549.99 at Best BuyThe Sonos Five isn’t just Sonos’ best-sounding speaker; it’s at the top of the pack compared to all competitors. From an audio quality perspective, it beats the HomePod, Echo Studio, Nest Audio, and other mass market speakers — both those that are smart and not. Can you find better hi-fi bookshelf speakers? Absolutely, but those aren’t natively tied into music services like Sonos gear is. The Five is a hefty unit and takes up a decent amount of desk space. But once you throw some music on, its powerful stereo output is enough to handle any dinner party or weekend get-together. There’s nothing “smart” about the Five. It lacks microphones and voice assistant functionality. But that simplicity is appealing in its own right: you’re getting a damn good speaker that ties into the Sonos platform. The Five also features a 3.5mm aux input, making it a good turntable companion — especially if you spring for a stereo pair. The best portable Sonos speakerSonos Move 2Score: 9ProsConsImproved stereo soundMuch longer battery lifeSupports line-in playbackNo more Google AssistantCan’t be used as a speakerphoneHefty for a portable speakerWhere to Buy: $449 at Amazon $449 at Best Buy $449 $44 at SonosWhen it comes to portable speakers, the Move 2 is in a whole different league than Sonos’ much smaller Roam 2. It’s bigger and heavier, but a built-in handle makes it easier to lug the Move 2 around your home or out to the backyard. There’s no comparison between the two when it comes to audio: the Move 2 smokes the far more compact Roam 2. Like the Era 100, it has a stereo driver arrangement, whereas the Roam mixes everything down to mono and sounds more muffled.The Move’s larger size gives it a clear advantage in terms of bass punch, and aside from playing music wirelessly, you’ve got the option of plugging in other devices over USB-C for line-in audio. I also continue to appreciate that the battery in the Move 2 is user-replaceable, which can’t be said of many Bluetooth speakers. You’ll be able to keep enjoying your investment for long, long into the future. And with a dust / water resistance rating of IP56, it can handle rain and splashes of water without problems; just don’t drop it into a pool.I prefer the Move 2 over traditional portable speakers since, at least whenever I’m home, the Sonos lets me play music over Wi-Fi at a higher fidelity than Bluetooth can offer. Plus, the Move 2 also supports Apple AirPlay and Spotify Connect, so it’s easy to just skip the Sonos app altogether if you wish.Read our full Sonos Move 2 review.The best Sonos soundbar for home theater enthusiastsSonos Arc UltraThe Arc Ultra surpasses the original Arc soundbar with more immersive Dolby Atmos surround sound, much better bass, and the ability to play music over Bluetooth.Score: 8ProsConsMore immersive sound than original ArcBass gains are substantial enough to make this a viable standalone optionNow supports Bluetooth audioSonos app remains buggy for somePlay:1 and Play:3 no longer supported as surroundsStill no DTS:XFull surround setup skyrockets the costWhere to Buy: $999 at Amazon $999 at Best Buy $999 at SonosIntroduced in late 2024, the Arc Ultra improves on the original Arc with significantly more powerful bass response. That’s largely thanks to the inclusion of Sonos’ new SoundMotion technology, which manages to get a better low-end wallop from a soundbar that’s not much larger than the model it replaces. This means some buyers can get away with buying the Arc Ultra on its own without adding a subwoofer. The Arc Ultra delivers Dolby Atmos surround sound that’s more convincing and immersive than any other Sonos soundbar to date, and it’s up there with the very best you can find from a single-enclosure speaker. Vocal clarity has also improved substantially thanks to better center channel performance. Another upgrade over the first Arc is the addition of Bluetooth audio support.Read our full review of the Sonos Arc Ultra.The best Sonos soundbar for smaller roomsSonos Beam (Gen 2)The Beam isn’t as powerful as the Sonos Arc, nor can it match the flagship soundbar’s Dolby Atmos immersion bubble. But you still get room-filling surround sound for less money — and the Beam ties into the Sonos ecosystem for added convenience.Score: 8ProsConsWider, more expansive soundHDMI eARC brings better performanceSleeker design than first BeamNo up-facing Atmos speakersDoesn’t have automatic TrueplaySame acoustic architecture as prior modelWhere to Buy: $499 $443 at Amazon $499 at Best Buy $499 at SonosThere are plenty of scenarios and TV rooms where the Arc Ultra might be too powerful. If you’re in a smaller space or don’t need the absolute best surround sound, the Beam (Gen 2) starts to make more sense. It still has Atmos, but the effect is virtualized since the Beam lacks the Arc Ultra’s upward-firing speakers. Even so, the home theater experience you’ll get from the Beam will blow away any speakers built into a TV. Read our full Sonos Beam (Gen 2) review.The best Sonos subwoofer for most peopleSonos Sub MiniScore: 7ProsConsSleek, unique designGood bass presence for its sizeEasy setup processNot suitable for large living roomsStill not cheapTrueplay tuning only works on iOSWhere to Buy: $429 at Amazon $429 at Best Buy $429 at SonosIn the same vein, unless you’re hell bent on rumbling your walls, the $429 Sub Mini subwoofer is more than enough for layering some extra oomph and growl onto Hollywood blockbusters and your favorite TV shows. The $799 Sub 4 is Sonos’ flagship subwoofer, but plenty of people have saved hundreds of dollars by pairing the Sub Mini with any of the company’s soundbars — and they’ve been ecstatic with the results. As its name suggests, the Sub Mini is more compact than the Sub 4, which makes it easier to find an inconspicuous spot to place it. Even if you’re the type to do a sub crawl and put it somewhere in plain sight, I’d argue it looks more stylish than the blocky Sub 4. Read my full Sonos Sub Mini review.The best budget Sonos speakerIkea Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker (Gen 2)Score: 7ProsConsAffordable way into Sonos ecosystemCan be mounted as a shelfSatisfactory sound for the sizeGood option for Sonos surround soundNo built-in mic for voice assistantsYou’ll want two for the best audio experienceNo 3.5mm aux inputWhere to Buy: $179.99 at IkeaSonos and Ikea might be winding down their partnership, but that doesn’t mean you should sleep on the existing Symfonisk products before they’re completely phased out. The Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker (Gen 2), in particular, remains the most affordable gateway into the Sonos ecosystem, even with its recent price hike. Sound-wise, it’s not far off from the old Sonos One / Play:1 and is a very enjoyable speaker. Plus, the lower price tag makes it easier to convince yourself to scoop up two for a stereo pair. These — or the Symfonisk Picture Frame Speaker — make excellent rear surround speakers if you’re on a budget. Read our full Ikea Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker review.The Sonos product worthy of a second chanceSonos AceScore: 7ProsConsStylish design and excellent comfortSound, ANC, and transparency are all goodTV Audio Swap is convenient, versatile, and suitable for gamingTV Audio Swap handoff can be glitchyHeadphones can’t be grouped with Sonos speakersWhere to Buy: $449 $299 at Amazon $449 $299 at Best Buy $449 $299 at SonosBoy oh boy, did Sonos’ wireless headphones come right at the worst possible moment. The company’s app crisis completely sidelined the Ace headphones. Some customers were also disappointed that the Ace can’t play music over Wi-Fi or be grouped with the company’s in-home speakers.But here’s the thing: the Ace headphones are still fantastic. They’re comfortable, have a gorgeous design (with easily swappable ear pads), and sound detailed, powerful, and expressive. They support wired audio over USB-C in addition to Bluetooth. And the TV Audio Swap feature is a useful perk that I still often use late at night when my Arc Ultra would disturb others. You can route any audio that would normally come through the soundbar — from your TV, gaming console, or streaming device — through two pairs of headphones and listen privately (with spatial audio surround sound). Sonos’ new TrueCinema mode even lets you fine-tune the latter to better reflect the acoustics of your space.No, the Ace headphones aren’t what I’d consider the ideal of a wearable product from Sonos. But they remain a wholly impressive debut that fell victim to the company’s poor software decisions. Read our full Sonos Ace review.Photography by Chris Welch / The VergeUpdate, July 18th: Adjusted pricing and availability. Brandon Widder also contributed to this post.

Short of a couple of games, there's one app that's made the switch to Linux difficult — Lossless Scaling. It's actually an app I need more on Linux than I do on Windows, as both AMD and Nvidia don't offer their driver-level frame generation features on Linux. Officially, Lossless Scaling only works on Windows. However, one developer, with some help from the Lossless Scaling devs, is working on an open-source project to bring Lossless Scaling's excellent frame generation to Linux.

When it comes to PC hardware and performance, you'll find countless conflicting opinions, depending on how many forums or videos you check out. From choosing the right components and optimizing them correctly to maximizing performance, it can often get tricky to have a north star of your own. This leads to numerous misconceptions and bad purchase decisions that are not always easy to come back from. Hence, I've compiled the most common PC performance misconceptions you need to be aware of.

Things have been rough for the Xbox brand as of late, with big cancellations and layoffs affecting many games that Xbox fans care about. One of the biggest games to be canceled with all the changes happening was the reboot of the Perfect Dark series. Although the game was shown with a trailer at The Game Awards in 2020 by a studio called The Initiative, Microsoft decided to pull the plug on it. Xbox fans were excited about the return of the series in a big way and hoped it would be the first of many new Xbox titles to make waves within the industry. Unfortunately, Perfect Dark and a number of other Xbox projects that were in production wouldn't see a release, leaving a big void behind for the upcoming Xbox Series X/S most anticipated releases.

The advent of camera phones spawned smartphones, instantly ballooning the storage requirements on handheld devices in the past couple of decades. Most users are now inexplicably dependent on cloud storage to manage documents, back up their app data, and even store copious amounts of images and video. This is no accident, and corporations happily mint money from cloud storage services without subsidizing hardware for consumers in return. In fact, I'm tempted to believe the death of expandable storage on smartphones also contributed to a boom in cloud storage demand.

This is one of the best ways to upgrade the storage in your PC for less. It's a 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD that delivers impressive performance, topping out at 7,000MB/s. It also comes with a five-year warranty and is now down to its lowest price at just $115 for a limited time.

When you think of remote desktop software, a few big names like TeamViewer probably come to mind. However, most of them are often held back by licensing fees or limited features in their free tiers. There is no shortage of free remote desktop apps out there, and among them, I first approached RustDesk with the same mindset and assumed that it would be basic and good for simple tasks, but nothing to write home about.

Happy Friday. I'm back from vacation and still getting caught up on everything I missed. AI researchers moving jobs is getting covered like NBA trades now, apparently. Before I get into this week's issue, I want to make sure you check out my interview with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas on Decoder this week. It's a good deep dive on the main topic of today's newsletter. Keep reading for a scoop on Substack and more from this week in AI news.From chatbots to browsersSo far, when most people think of the modern AI boom, they think of a chatbot like ChatGPT. Now, it's becoming increasingly clear that the web browser is where the next p …Read the full story at The Verge.

As a tech blogger, I'm always on the lookout for tools that make my work easier. I've been using Notion, which is great for organizing all my notes, projects, and essentially my entire digital life. I’ve always admired how Notion has completely transformed my digital life with its amazing features, templates, and useful browser extensions. For team chats and quick communication, Slack has been my go-to tool. But I've always wished for one tool that could do it all, without costing a fortune. That curiosity led me to discover Colanode.

Perplexity has just launched its agentic answer to Google Chrome — it’s called Comet, and it knocked out a slate of tasks on my behalf, though I think I could’ve done some faster myself. The new AI-powered browser is currently only available to Perplexity Max subscribers or through an early access waitlist, and it’s supposed to simplify the way you browse the web by infusing AI into practically everything you do.For one, it replaces Google Search results with its Perplexity AI “answer engine,” which appears in your browser window when you type a query into the address bar. Unlike your typical search engine, Perplexity will first surface links to relevant websites and then generate information about what you’re looking for. Comet’s distilled search results come in handy when you want it to narrow down your results for you, but it’s a bit jarring not to see the massive selection of websites suggested by Google. Comet also comes with an AI assistant built in, similar to the Gemini integration that Google is testing in Chrome. Selecting the Assistant button in the top-right corner of the browser will open up a sidebar with a chat interface. From here, you can type in a query or use voice mode to chat about different topics, as well as ask specific questions about the webpage you’re on.Comet can generate a summary of an article, describe an image, summarize YouTube videos, or perform more research about a topic that catches your eye. It’s also able to scan all of your open tabs to provide summaries of those pages and compare products on them.At this point, these are all pretty standard features for an AI tool, but what makes Comet really stand out is its ability to complete tasks on your behalf. After linking my Google account to the browser, I found that it was frighteningly fast at generating — and sending — an email to myself containing a summary of this year’s hurricane season outlook. The browser also speedily complied with a request to close all the tabs I hadn’t opened in more than 15 minutes. It even wrote and published a post on my X account on my behalf about the upcoming Made by Google event.I asked it to unsubscribe from the promotional emails sent by Fubo and Fanatics.com as well. I watched as Comet’s AI assistant walked itself through the process. In the chat interface, Comet shows what it’s “seeing” as it locates recent emails sent by the companies, finds the unsubscribe button, and then actually selects it.I even had Comet go through my list of LinkedIn invites and accept requests from people with five or more mutual connections. The browser once again traced its own process of going through my invites, identifying which ones met my threshold for mutual connections, and then hitting Accept. But as I had Comet perform these tasks, I couldn’t help but think it’d be faster if I did them myself.It took Comet two minutes to unsubscribe from receiving emails from those two providers, but it only took me a little over 30 seconds to unsubscribe from the same ones (yes, I timed myself). Comet also ate up a chunk of time when accepting a couple of LinkedIn invitations, a task I could do in just a couple of clicks. I can see it serving as a great accessibility tool, as well as a way to complete tasks in the background while you’re doing something else.You can unlock even more agentic features when you start a prompt with “take control of my browser.” I didn’t realize this until I contacted Perplexity to ask when the browser would be capable of booking reservations or buying products. Without this phrase, Comet will stop short of completing these tasks and instead provide instructions on how you can do it manually. To start, I asked Comet to “take control of my browser” and summarize the comments on a Verge article. Instead of denying my request because it couldn’t read the collapsed comments section (like Gemini in Chrome did), Comet worked around this and opened the comments section itself. It summed up the sentiment surrounding my colleague Vee’s cursed piece about Grok’s AI anime waifu, calling users’ reaction to the chatbot overwhelmingly “negative and critical.” I took things a step further by asking Comet to take control of my browser, add aquarium sand and glue for an iPad repair to my cart on Amazon, and then check out. The process was surprisingly seamless, as I watched it acknowledge the total price, choose Prime’s one-day shipping speed, select my default payment option, and hit “order” without needing me to intervene. I only ran into some hiccups when having Comet book me a reservation for a restaurant. When I finally found a restaurant that accepts online reservations, I once again asked the browser to take control and make a reservation for me on a specific date. It completed the task, only it never asked for my email or phone number, and instead entered a generic placeholder for both. I was able to have Comet rebook with my actual email address, but it shows that the browser might not get everything right all the time.“Some of the more complicated agentic actions like shopping do have a higher failure rate than simpler tasks, but this is actually a limitation of current AI models,” Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer told The Verge. “So this will only get easier and better in Comet.”Still, Comet can do far more than Chrome’s Gemini integration, and it’s exactly the type of tool that Google has set its sights on creating. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has made it clear that the startup wants to challenge Google’s dominance, and Comet may play a big role in bringing it up to speed.