With Windows 10's end-of-life date fast approaching, it's time we made a choice as to what to do with our older machines (that is, unless that one guy's lawsuit manages to win). If you're like me, you've decided that you want to ditch Windows 10 and go with Linux instead.

Grammarly is an amazing tool for creating written content without a plethora of mistakes, be it spelling, grammar, and structure. It's one of many tools that can be relied on to bring enticing content from imagination to reality. I write a lot during the day, both on and off XDA. I've usually got Apostrophe, Obsidian, Visual Studio Code, and other browser tabs open that require text input and I'm always utilizing these helpers for publishing only the best content.

I've been building PCs for around 20 years now, so I've had my fair share of squeezing in dirt-cheap components whenever I could. While it didn't matter as much when I was working with shoestring budgets, I now make it a point not to cheap out on certain components. Saving money when building a PC is always important, but it shouldn't come at the cost of compromising safety, reliability, performance, or esthetics. You might not be cheaping out on your CPU or graphics card, but it's also worth paying attention to the other components.

Many designers have that one paid tool they swear by to bring their work to life, but I wanted to challenge that and run real-world projects with nothing but free tools. I’ve tried all of them, from open-source and self-hostable to proprietary, but there’s one tool that managed to do everything I needed — Figma.

I've built, upgraded, and benchmarked dozens of PCs over the decades I've been into computing. Back when you had to set individual drive jumpers and airflow for cooling wasn't a consideration, to the relatively plug-and-play nature of PCs today. Whether you're using the best GPUs, the best gaming CPU, or something more modest, most of the PC building experience is codified, and has tons of specific how-to explainers if you get stuck. But for all the advancements in making things easier for the builder, some things remain irritating in every build I've done, and I honestly can't figure out why these are still problems.

There’s a sore loser in this popularity contest. Elon Musk says that his artificial intelligence company xAI “will take immediate legal action” against Apple for allegedly manipulating its App Store rankings to the advantage of rival AI apps. In a series of X posts on Monday night, Musk suggested that Apple was “playing politics” by not placing either X or xAI’s Grok chatbot in the App Store’s list of recommended iOS apps, and that he had no choice but to file a lawsuit.“Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation,” Musk said. “Why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your ‘Must Have’ section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps?,” the xAI CEO asked Apple in another post, which is now pinned to his profile.Musk provided no evidence for his claims, and it’s unclear if he has made good on his threats and filed the lawsuit yet. The Verge has reached out to xAI, Apple, and OpenAI for comment.At the time of writing, ChatGPT is listed as Apple’s top free iPhone app in the US, with Grok ranked as the sixth. China’s DeepSeek AI briefly managed to take the top App Store position from ChatGPT in January, however, disproving Musk’s claim that it would be impossible for other AI apps to do so.Accusations of meddling from Musk are ironic, given allegations about alterations made to X after he acquired the company in 2022, then known as Twitter. A research study in 2024 suggested that X’s algorithm was manipulated to boost posts from Musk’s account. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to Musk’s posts by sharing a Platformer report from 2023 that similarly found Musk had a system built to promote his X posts to the entire platform’s userbase. In June, the “maximally truth-seeking” Grok chatbot was also found to be consulting Musk’s opinion before providing answers to controversial questions around topics like Israel and Palestine, US immigration, and abortion.This isn’t the first time that Musk has beefed with Apple and OpenAI. Musk was an early founder at OpenAI, and previously targeted the AI startup via lawsuits and a unanimously rejected $97.4 billion buyout offer after taking issue with its pivot to being a profit-driven business. Following OpenAI’s partnership with Apple to integrate ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads, and Macs last year, Musk threatened to ban Apple devices at his companies if OpenAI’s tech was fused with Apple’s OS.

Sometimes, folks just want to pop online, get some things done, and call it a day. For that, you don't need a lot of power, and you certainly don't want to be spending a lot of money on a device that gets used sparingly. Luckily, a Chromebook can be the perfect tool in this scenario, along with other applications as well.

Like many avid Windows OS users, I was also a big fan of Windows XP. There's no exaggeration in saying that it's one of the major reasons Microsoft is a household name among PC users.

Microsoft is starting to roll out lightweight taskbar apps for Microsoft 365 users on Windows 11. These taskbar apps will automatically launch at startup and provide quick access to contacts, file search, and calendar straight from the Windows taskbar.The Microsoft 365 companion apps, as Microsoft calls them, are starting to roll out to business users of Microsoft 365 this month. The People companion provides a browsable org chart, as well as the ability to look up anyone in your company. You can also quickly start a Teams message or call with a contact, or email them directly.The File Search companion is designed for quick access to Microsoft 365 files from the Windows 11 taskbar. You can search by file name, author, or other keywords to find files across OneDrive, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Outlook. There’s also an option to preview a file before you open it, and plenty of filtering and sharing options.The Calendar app is a quick view of a Microsoft 365 calendar from the taskbar, where you can see upcoming events, search for appointments, or join meetings.All three apps have been in beta in recent months, after Microsoft originally announced them at its Ignite conference last year. They are now heading to all business users of Microsoft 365 as part of a general availability release this month. The apps will be automatically installed as long as Microsoft 365 apps are installed on a Windows 11 system. IT admins can prevent the automatic install of these Microsoft 365 companion apps, and end users can stop them from automatically launching at startup.

For a little while, we've seen Microsoft rolling out a new blue screen of death to Windows 11. Well, we say "blue screen," but in truth, the new adjustments makes the display go black instead. It's part of Microsoft's mission to make it easier for people and businesses to get their systems back up and running.

It's sometimes difficult to believe it has been almost two decades since I left the British education system. Although technology played a vital role during my earlier years in life, what was available on systems at school pale in comparison to today's standards. Then there's the hardware at home. I had a Tiny PC desktop available but it could barely run modern software and there was no access to means for self-hosting anything. So, here are some apps and services that could have helped me get through studies that I recommend to those going back to school.

Just a few days after administrators announced that the “federal Judiciary is taking additional steps to strengthen protections for sensitive case documents in response to recent escalated cyberattacks,” the New York Times reports investigators have found evidence Russia is “at least partially responsible” for a recent hack. Politico reported on the breach last week, saying it was “believed to have exposed sensitive court data across multiple U.S. states” and that while the system’s managers had been aware of its impact since around July 4th, they are still trying to figure out its full extent. Searches by the attackers reportedly included cases “involving people with Russian and Eastern European surnames,” and may have compromised sealed records that weren’t publicly available. After the SolarWinds breach in 2021, new procedures called for highly sensitive documents to be filed using paper or a secure electronic device, and not uploaded to CM/ECF. In 2022, the DOJ reportedly informed the judiciary of another ongoing breach.According to the Times, district court chief judges were warned last month to keep cases with documents “related to criminal activity with an overseas tie” off of the usual document management system for federal cases, which is made up of the Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) where files are uploaded and managed, as well as PACER, a database that’s available to the public. It points to this order issued Friday by Eastern District of New York chief judge Margo Brodie, saying that, until further notice, “criminal cases and in cases related to criminal investigations are prohibited from being filed in CM/ECF,” and are instead to be uploaded to a separate system that doesn’t connect to PACER.Last week’s notice from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said:The vast majority of documents filed with the Judiciary’s electronic case management system are not confidential and indeed are readily available to the public, which is fundamental to an open and transparent judicial system. However, some filings contain confidential or proprietary information that are sealed from public view.These sensitive documents can be targets of interest to a range of threat actors. To better protect them, courts have been implementing more rigorous procedures to restrict access to sensitive documents under carefully controlled and monitored circumstances.