If you work on multiple projects with different clients, you probably know how difficult it is to manage files across external drives, network shares, Google Drive, and other cloud buckets. It's pretty annoying, inefficient, and definitely not what you expect file management to be in today's time.

When it comes to upgrading your PC's cooling hardware, you probably think of a better cooler, more fans, a bigger case, or even a custom watercooling loop. Investing in the right components is undoubtedly crucial for maximizing the cooling, and hence, the performance of your PC, but it's easy to get distracted and spend on stuff that's more cosmetic than functional. They might not be completely useless, but their cooling benefits might still be dwarfed by their esthetic appeal.

Apple is suing a former employee on the Apple Watch team who left to join Oppo, alleging that he “conspired to steal Apple’s trade secrets relating to Apple Watch and to disclose them to his new employers.”Ahead of starting his new job at Oppo, the employee, Dr. Chen Shi, attended “dozens” of meetings with technical members on the Apple Watch team to learn about their work and downloaded 63 documents “from a protected Box folder” that he loaded onto a USB drive, according to the lawsuit. Shi allegedly sent a message to Oppo saying that he was working to “collect as much information as possible” before starting his job. And he searched the internet for terms like “how to wipe out macbook” and “Can somebody see if I’ve opened a file on a shared drive?” from his Apple-issued MacBook before leaving the company.Shi was formerly a sensor system architect at Apple, and the company says he had “a front row seat to Apple’s development of its cutting-edge health sensor technology, including highly confidential roadmaps, design and development documents, and specifications for ECG sensor technology.”He now heads up a team working on sensing technology at Oppo — which Apple says it learned because of “messages he left on his Apple-issued work iPhone.” In his resignation letter to Apple, Shi said he was leaving “due to personal and family reasons.” Via that iPhone, Apple also says it found messages from Oppo demonstrating that it “encouraged, approved, and agreed to Dr. Shi’s plan to collect Apple’s proprietary information before leaving Apple.”When The Verge tried to contact Oppo for comment, the email bounced back because the mailbox was full.

Netflix has already faced backlash over the use of AI in  What Jennifer Did, director Jenny Popplewell’s 2024 true crime documentary that seemingly used AI-generated images in place of real archival photos. That documentary stood out as a shining example of gen AI’s ability to distort reality in situations where people are specifically looking to be told the truth about something.  Now the streamer is taking steps to avoid similar problems. This week, Netflix published a post on its Partner Help Center hub detailing its guiding principles regarding gen AI and the situations in which it is ok with production teams using the technology. In Netflix’s view, gen AI tools are “valuable creative aids” that make it easier for “users to rapidly generate new and creatively unique media (video, sound, text, and image).” Because the gen AI space is moving at such a breakneck pace, however, the company felt that it was important to outline the rules it expects its partners to follow if and when they use these tools.“To support global productions and stay aligned with best practices, we expect all production partners to share any intended use of GenAI with their Netflix contact, especially as new tools continue to emerge with different capabilities and risks,” the post explains. “Most low-risk use cases that follow the guiding principles below are unlikely to require legal review. However, if the output includes final deliverables, talent likeness, personal data, or third-party IP, written approval will be required before you proceed.”Netflix’s gen AI best practices are predicated on five specific guidelines that it sees as being “essential to act responsibly when employing generative workflows.” Netflix says:The outputs do not replicate or substantially recreate identifiable characteristics of unowned or copyrighted material, or infringe any copyright-protected worksThe generative tools used does not store, reuse, or train on production data inputs or outputs.Where possible, generative tools are used in an enterprise-secured environment to safeguard inputs.Generated material is temporary and not part of the final deliverables.GenAI is not used to replace or generate new talent performances or union-covered work without consent.Netflix also says if its partners are confident that they are following those guidelines, they only need to tell their designated company contact that they intend to use gen AI. But if partners are unsure or know that they’re not adhering to the rules, they should escalate to your Netflix contact for more guidance before proceeding, as written approval may be required.”The post repeatedly stresses that while Netflix is very open to its partners using gen AI in a number of ways, it wants them to be mindful of the potential legal risks they might wander into by not running their plans by management and the company’s legal team beforehand. The post also makes a point of emphasizing that Netflix believes “audiences should be able to trust what they see and hear on screen.” And given gen AI’s potential to “blur the line between fiction and reality or unintentionally mislead viewers,” the streamer wants its partners to tread carefully.Though the post does not mention production costs,  all of this comes just a few weeks after Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that the company remains “convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper.” Soon after, Sarandos began pointing to Netflix’s new Argentinian sci-fi series The Eternaut as an example of how gen AI could be used to bring a show in under budget. And now it seems like Netflix is very keen on other creative teams embracing that kind of workflow.

Why buy a handheld console when you can make your own? We've seen plenty of Raspberry Pi portable consoles in the past, ranging from the Steam Deck-esque to the truly "pocket-sized." But rarely do we see them come with two screens, akin to Nintendo's DS and 3DS systems.

If you spend most of your day on a computer, and you're using a traditional mouse or are relying on your laptop's trackpad, it might be a good time to upgrade. Changing your mouse to something more ergonomic can not only help you throughout the day with the work that you do, but can also be gentler on your body as well. Of course, not everyone wants to spend a lot of money, jump ship, and find out that it doesn't work out for them. That's why this ProtoArc mouse is a great option, costing just $19 thanks to a discount from Amazon.

Writing for XDA involves working across different platforms, operating systems, and programs. I frequently try out different apps and tools, which is exactly why I even set up a home lab. Most of the software I use regularly is self-hosted, so I can access all the required services remotely — regardless of which machine I'm using. This is useful since I travel quite frequently and hence, don't have access to all my computers at all times. I primarily use a MacBook when traveling, since the other computer I have is a Windows desktop that also has Ubuntu installed for when I want to use Linux. However, this started to become an issue when traveling, since I also needed access to those operating systems at times.

Trump revealed the news during a briefing about the World Cup. | Photographer: Annabelle Gordon/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Image The US is investing $8.9 billion into Intel, but most of the funds come from money that the government was supposed to pay the embattled chipmaker anyway. In an announcement on Friday, Intel said the federal government will fund its investment using the remaining $5.7 billion in grants it hasn’t yet received under the Biden administration’s CHIPS Act, in addition to the $3.2 billion received as part of the Secure Enclave program.President Donald Trump confirmed the investment during a press briefing before the formal announcement, saying Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan agreed to give the government a 10 percent stake. Earlier this month, Trump called on Tan to resign over his ties to China, and today he positioned the deal as a way for the executive to “keep his job.”Trump told reporters that he floated the offer during negotiations with Tan. “I said, ‘I think it would be good having the United States as your partner,’” Trump said. “They’ve agreed to do it, and I think it’s a great deal for them.” Intel has already received $2.2 billion under the CHIPS Act.The government’s investment in Intel “will be a passive ownership, with no Board representation or other governance or information rights,” according to Intel. “We are grateful for the confidence the President and the Administration have placed in Intel, and we look forward to working to advance U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership,” Tan says in the press release.The confirmation of the deal comes just days after SoftBank announced plans to invest $2 billion into Intel to “further expand” chipmaking in the US. The federal government’s stake in the embattled chipmaker marks yet another move that blurs the line between government and business, as reports suggest that the Trump administration has demanded that Nvidia and AMD give the government a 15 percent cut of chip sales to China.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted at the government’s potential investment this week, saying during an interview with CNBC that it “would be a conversion of grants” meant to “stabilize the company for chip production here in the US.”It doesn’t seem like this is the end for Trump’s approach to deal-making, as he said during the briefing that “he’ll do more of them” in the future.Update, August 22nd: Added information from Intel.

Let me start by confessing my dislike for AI note-takers like Otter AI and Fireflies. They are undeniably useful, but also a privacy nightmare. All it takes is one teammate bringing one of these note-takers into a meeting, and suddenly everyone else is forced to deal with email notifications they never consented to. On top of that, they flood in-call chats with ongoing transcriptions. Reports have even alleged that Otter AI secretly records private work conversations.

Alright, let's make one thing clear — I'm not happy with the current gaming generation when it comes to consoles. As an exclusive PlayStation-plus-PC guy since the PS4, I was quick to buy a PS5, and slow to realize just how terribly short the list of true exclusives on that console was. Am I happy that a lot of PlayStation games are now on PC where I can enjoy them with better framerates and mods? Absolutely. At the same time, there's just something special about kicking back on the La-Z-Boy and taking in a brilliant 'PlayStation exclusive'.

Bluesky will block access from Mississippi IP addresses in response to a new state law requiring age verification and parental consent for underage users. The decision, outlined in a blog post, will stand until courts decide the fate of the law.“Mississippi’s approach would fundamentally change how users access Bluesky,” says the post, in ways that rules like the UK’s Online Safety Act (which Bluesky complies with) don’t. The law, HB 1126, “would block everyone from accessing the site — teens and adults — unless they hand over sensitive information, and once they do, the law in Mississippi requires Bluesky to keep track of which users are children.” In the UK, by contrast, users are only blocked from accessing direct messages and sensitive content unless they undergo a verification process using a third-party tool. “Building the required verification systems, parental consent workflows, and compliance infrastructure would require significant resources that our small team is currently unable to spare as we invest in developing safety tools and features for our global community, particularly given the law’s broad scope and privacy implications.”HB 1126 is one of numerous attempts to age-gate social media in the US, but most similar laws have been blocked under court challenges as likely unconstitutional. HB 1126 went into effect thanks to an unexplained decision by the Supreme Court earlier this month, rejecting an emergency request to block it while a legal challenge progresses. A concurring opinion from Justice Brett Kavanaugh acknowledged that the law probably violated the First Amendment but said the plaintiffs had not sufficiently demonstrated harms. While the court has said that age verification can be used to block minors from accessing explicit sexual content without unduly burdening adults’ access to information, there’s no precedent extending that option to social media in general.Now, however, Bluesky users who log in from inside the borders of Mississippi (without a VPN, anyway) will be met with a message explaining the decision. The decision applies specifically to the Bluesky app; other apps and services on the decentralized AT Protocol will make their own calls about access. “Child safety is a core priority, and in this evolving regulatory landscape, we remain committed to building an open social ecosystem that protects users while preserving choice and innovation,” the post says. “We’ll keep you updated as this situation develops.”

In the past week, the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, was in talks with the CEO of Intel, Lip-Bu Tan. We didn't hear much of what was going on, and while there were some speculations and claims as to what was going on around the negotiation table, we didn't hear of anything concrete. Well, now we have confirmation as to what was going on, as both the POTUS and Intel have broken the silence to say that the US government has acquired 10% of Intel's shares, seemingly for free.