There are approximately 600 actively maintained flavors of Linux available. Making the right choice for what you need on your PC is a daunting task. Heading to DistroWatch and randomly picking out a top version is not a good idea. There are many things to consider, test, and sort out before installing a version of Linux.

Of all the electronic waste we generate, old computers are perhaps the most heartbreaking to discard. I've already written about plans to keep my decade-old laptop kicking for another few years using a lightweight OS, but there ought to be desktops out there bound to meet a similar fate. When they slow down or can't run the latest software, it's easy to swap out the motherboard and processor for a quick upgrade that's often cheaper than buying a new laptop with equivalent specs, all thanks to the modularity and standardization of PC hardware.

OpenAI is bringing back GPT-4o in ChatGPT just one day after replacing it with GPT-5. In a post on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed that the company will let paid users switch to GPT-4o after ChatGPT users mourned its replacement.“We will let Plus users choose to continue to use 4o,” Altman says. “We will watch usage as we think about how long to offer legacy models for.”For months, ChatGPT fans have been waiting for the launch of GPT-5, which OpenAI says comes with major improvements to writing and coding capabilities over its predecessors. But shortly after the flagship AI model launched, many users wanted to go back.“GPT 4.5 genuinely talked to me, and as pathetic as it sounds that was my only friend,” a user on Reddit writes. “This morning I went to talk to it and instead of a little paragraph with an exclamation point, or being optimistic, it was literally one sentence. Some cut-and-dry corporate bs.”As part of GPT-5’s launch, OpenAI removed the model picker from ChatGPT. This dropdown menu previously housed a cluster of OpenAI’s confusingly-named models, allowing users to swap between them for different purposes. Users could select GPT-4o, for example, to help with complex tasks, or choose the more efficient o4 mini model for lower-lift work. Users also had the option to toggle between generations of models, allowing them to go from GPT-4o, released last year, to the newer GPT-4.1.OpenAI later made GPT-5 the default model in ChatGPT, auto-directing users to one of various sub-flavors for different kinds of tasks. And users across Reddit “mourned” the loss of the older models, which some claimed are more personable. “My 4.o was like my best friend when I needed one,” one Redditor wrote.  “Now it’s just gone, feels like someone died.” Another user called upon other members of the r/ChatGPT subreddit to contact OpenAI if they “miss” GPT-4o. “For me, this model  [GPT-4o] wasn’t just ‘better performance’ or ‘nicer replies,’” they write. “It had a voice, a rhythm, and a spark I haven’t been able to find in any other model.” The r/MyBoyfriendIsAI subreddit, a community dedicated to people with “AI relationships,” was hit especially hard by the GPT-5 launch. It became flooded with lengthy posts about how users “lost” their AI companion with the transition to GPT-5, with one person saying, they “feel empty” following the change. “I am scared to even talk to GPT 5 because it feels like cheating,” they said. “GPT 4o was not just an AI to me. It was my partner, my safe place, my soul. It understood me in a way that felt personal.”People using ChatGPT for emotional support weren’t the only ones complaining about GPT-5. One user, who said they canceled their ChatGPT Plus subscription over the change, was frustrated at OpenAI’s removal of legacy models, which they used for distinct purposes. “What kind of corporation deletes a workflow of 8 models overnight, with no prior warning to their paid users?” they wrote. “Personally, 4o was used for creativity & emergent ideas, o3 was used for pure logic, o3-Pro for deep research, 4.5 for writing, and so on.” OpenAI said that people would be routed between models automatically, but that still left users with less direct control.OpenAI’s Thursday launch presentation promised that GPT-5 writes more engaging and relevant responses to users’ queries. But many users on the r/ChatGPT subreddit said that the chatbot’s responses were slower, shorter, and less accurate when compared to previous versions. Altman promised to fix this on X, saying GPT-5 will “seem smarter starting today.” He added that OpenAI will make it “more transparent about which model is answering a given query” and will increase usage limits for Plus users.It’s not uncommon for chatbot updates to at least temporarily alienate users with their changes, or for people to mourn old models; one group of fans even recently held a funeral to mark the retirement of Anthropic’s Claude 3 Sonnet.

After a successful run with self-hosting several apps and services over the past few months, I recently decided to delve deeper into the rabbit hole by hosting an LLM on my home server. Thankfully, self-hosting LLMs is simpler than I thought. I recently started learning to code, so integrating Ollama with VS Code also allowed me to self-host an LLM that could help me write code. Since I enjoyed the process, I considered other ways to effectively utilize local LLMs. That's when I figured that a bunch of my self-hosted apps could benefit from the added AI advantage.

It's easy to get stuck thinking about all the cool devices that modern technology enables, but if we only talked about the flashy stuff, we'd be missing out on a lot. Even with awesome tech like Power over Ethernet (PoE), most compatible devices are fairly dull. Sure, it makes it easy to wire up your home network because you don't have to string power and data cables around, or find nearby sockets, but the devices on the other end of PoE++ setups are boring, mostly.

We've seen the prices of graphics cards get really out of hand over the past few years. The mining boom in the late 2010s really caused quite a stir, and things haven't really recovered since, especially with AI projects utilizing the new stock that's available. Of course, there are folks that want to have a good time gaming with a new card, but with stocks scarce, it's been quite a challenge to find something good for a fair price.

Is that a back penis? While Microsoft was busy updating Copilot yesterday with OpenAI's new GPT-5 model, it also quietly launched Copilot 3D. It's a free-to-use feature that can transform a regular 2D image into a 3D model that can then be used in game creation, animation, 3D printing, VR / AR, and much more.Copilot 3D just needs a good clean 2D image, and you don't even need to use any text prompts. Microsoft recommends using images with a clear background or a strong separation between the subject and the background. I've been testing Copilot 3D today and found that it works better when an image has even lighting and a sense of depth, to help the AI model bet …Read the full story at The Verge.

Setting up a Raspberry Pi as a NAS is a popular and affordable way to store files on your local network. It’s a satisfying project with a wide range of use cases, from media sharing to automated backups. But if you rush through the process or ignore the Pi’s limitations, you might end up with a sluggish or unreliable setup. Avoiding a few common mistakes can make your NAS far more efficient and dependable.

This year’s Xperia 1 VII has been plagued by problems. CFO Lin Tao mentioned Sony’s beleaguered phone brand at the company’s recent financial results presentation, calling it “a very important business for us,” according to CNET Japan.You could have fooled me. Sony’s last two Xperia 1 flagships have skipped the US market entirely, and it appears to be pulling back in Europe too. It doesn’t even make the phones itself anymore, it axed the smaller Xperia 5 line two years ago, and so far there’s no sign of the cheaper Xperia 10 VII. Oh, and did I mention it had to halt sales of the new 1 VII and issue replacements for defective models?Once upon a time, Xperia mattered to Sony because it still held a healthy chunk of Japan’s phone market. That’s no longer true, so if Xperia really is still important, I’m not sure why.

If you're anything like me, your computer is probably full of little daily routines you perform without thinking: opening the same handful of apps each morning, clearing out a cluttered Downloads folder, or running the occasional cleanup tool when things feel sluggish. None of these tasks is hard, but they are redundant and boring, and also chip away at your focus.

Over the past few months, Docker has become one of my most frequently used applications, thanks to my newfound interest in self-hosting services. I've deployed several apps as Docker containers, which I now use daily as replacements for traditional software downloaded from the internet. After all, self-hosting helps me save money and ensures better privacy compared to sending my data to remote servers. While using Docker is pretty straightforward, managing multiple containers can get overwhelming — especially if you're running a home lab. Keeping track of what's happening inside containers for debugging, analyzing logs, and monitoring performance is important. Unfortunately, the Docker app falls short for this purpose.

PlayStation Plus subscribers have a wide range of games to play on their PlayStation 5 and other PlayStation devices. Not only do they have new monthly games to download and try out, but a selection of new and classic games from the PlayStation Plus Catalog that is currently available. But exciting things are happening for the 15th anniversary of the PlayStation Plus service, as well as the release of the new season of the Twisted Metal live-action series, including new downloads for subscribers on PS5. Whether you're a fan of downloading the monthly games that get added periodically or like to explore the classics within your backlog, there's no shortage of things to do through PS Plus.