There are a lot of things to update on a PC. You need the newest graphics drivers, a recent BIOS upgrade, and Windows Update to catch everything else, and that's just for routine PC maintenance. So, it's not exactly surprising that the firmware for your SSD falls by the wayside.

For the past several months, Home Assistant has been my go-to platform to automate my smart home. This robust software provided me with local voice control, extensive customization options, and privacy controls. Despite packing everything, I missed the straightforward voice control in Home Assistant. I integrated an M5Stack ATOM Echo smart speaker after failing to make Amazon Echo and Apple HomePod work with Home Assistant.

There are many cloud-based services that operate powerful language models, but like anything on the cloud, two immediate problems arise: data collection and consistent access. I've always loved experimenting with self-hosted LLMs, and the tech has advanced hugely since it first became possible to run completely free and powerful models on a consumer-grade graphics card. Of course, what you can actually run differs greatly based on your specs, but the truth is that there's a lot out there.

Proxmox is my favorite virtualization platform, and there are plenty of reasons why I adore it more than all its rivals combined. Its low system requirements and built-in LXC support make it perfect for underpowered devices, while its Ceph storage, high-availability provisions, ZFS compatibility, SDN tools, and cutting-edge performance complement high-end servers.

Getting into a car accident, even a fender bender, is stressful on its own, but then comes the argument about who was at fault. A dash cam can give you reliable proof of what happened, and Rove’s R2-4K is currently on sale for $71.99 ($48 off), an all-time low price at Amazon, and $89.99 ($30 off) from Rove. I tested a previous-generation Rove dash cam, and was happy with the quality of its recordings and ease of use. The R2-4K is a significant improvement, capturing higher-quality video and improving the process of getting it onto your phone.Rove R2-4KRove’s R2-4K is a dash cam that can record 4K video, automatically create a clip if it detects an impact, and tag clips with information about your driving speed, location, the time, and date.Where to Buy: $119.99 $71.99 at Amazon $119.99 $89.99 at RoveThe dash cam can record 4K video at 30 frames per second or 1080p at 60fps, and captures a 150-degree field of view, so you’ll get a clear image of what happened in front of you and some of what happened directly to your right and left. Its recordings are tagged with the date, time, location, and your driving speed; they’re stored on a microSD card, which you need to purchase separately. You can view video clips on the R2-4K’s 2.4-inch display, or transfer them to your smartphone over Wi-Fi using Rove’s app.The R2-4K comes with a suction mount and 3M sticky mount, both of which can be installed anywhere on your windshield. The suction mount is easier to move, so we recommend using it to find the dash cam’s permanent place before you decide whether to switch to the sticky mount. The dash cam needs to be connected to its power adapter with a USB-C cable (two are included), so make sure to mount it in an area where the cable won’t dangle and distract you.Under normal circumstances, the R2-4K will take a continuous time lapse recording and overwrite older footage once the microSD card is filled. However, you can push an “Emergency Lock” button to preserve a specific clip. The dash cam’s built-in G-Sensor will detect an impact and automatically lock that section of video. If the dash cam stops recording, it’ll announce that so you can see what’s wrong. Hopefully you’ll never have to use Rove’s R2-4K for anything important, but it’s handy to have just in case.

They were Samsung phones with gold stickers on them. The former CEO of the company that marketed the sketchy-looking Escobar Fold 1 and Escobar Fold 2 phones — which you may remember from a 2020 video from Marques Brownlee — has pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering, according to the US Department of Justice.In a plea agreement, United States attorneys detail how Olof Kyros Gustafsson and Escobar, Inc. took orders for the phones and other products branded with the likeness of the drug lord Pablo Escobar, seeded products with tech reviewers and social media influencers to “in order to attempt to increase demand,” did not deliver the products to customers, and transferred and laundered customer money to “use the funds for their own personal use.” In Brownlee’s video, he unboxed an Escobar Fold 2 phone shipped to him and found that it was just a Samsung Galaxy Fold — a phone that cost nearly $2,000, far more than the $400 Escobar Inc. was selling it for — with a gold sticker on it.Escobar Inc. also sold a $500 “Escobar Flamethrower” that was “modeled after” The Boring Company’s Not-A-Flamethrower, the $500 “Escobar Gold 11 Pro Phone” that was “marketed as a refurbished Apple iPhone 11 Pro,” and Escobar Cash that was “marketed as the world’s first ‘physical cryptocurrency,’” according to the plea agreement.Instead of sending products to paying customers, Gustafsson mailed them a “‘Certificate of Ownership,’ a book, or other Escobar Inc. promotional materials” to create a mailing record, the DOJ says in its press release. Then, when a customer tried to get a refund for something that wasn’t delivered, “Gustafsson fraudulently referred the payment processor to the proof of mailing for the Certificate of Ownership or other material as proof that the product itself was shipped and that the customer had received it so the refund requests would be denied.”A judge has scheduled a sentencing hearing for December 5th, where Gustafsson faces up to 20 years in federal prison for the fraud-related counts and up to 10 for the money laundering-related counts. Gustafsson must also pay as much as $1.3 million in restitution.

Copilot Vision can scan all of the apps and webpages you have open on your screen. Microsoft is releasing several new AI features for Windows 11, including its Copilot Vision tool that can scan everything on your screen. The features, which are gradually rolling out to everyone now, also include tools that are exclusive to Copilot Plus PCs.For starters, all Windows 11 users can now access Copilot Vision through the Copilot app, which uses AI to analyze the content on your screen. With the tool, you can ask questions aloud about what you’re seeing across multiple apps and webpages that are open on your screen. You can also ask it how to complete specific tasks on your computer, like how to improve the lighting on a photo. Microsoft first began testing a more limited form of this feature last year.Additionally, users with Snapdragon-powered Copilot Plus PCs can access an AI-powered “agent” within the Settings app. This allows you to search for a specific setting with natural language, such as “I want to enable quiet hours” or “connect Bluetooth device.” If the agent is capable of carrying out the task, it will offer to complete it on your behalf.Microsoft is making its AI-powered “Click to Do” preview more useful on Copilot Plus PCs, too. This feature, which surfaces when users hold down the Windows key and left-click on an app, text, website, or other piece of content, is designed to help you quickly complete actions, like summarizing a highlighted paragraph. As part of its update, Microsoft is rolling out several new actions you can perform with Click to Do, including practicing reading fluency and pronunciation with its Reading Coach tool, drafting a document in Microsoft Word using Copilot, and scheduling a Teams meeting.Other features coming only to Copilot Plus PCs include a new AI-powered sticker generator in Paint and an object select tool in the app that lets you separate and edit specific parts of an image. There’s also a new AI lighting option available in Photos for Snapdragon-equipped Copilot Plus PCs, along with a “perfect screenshot” tool within the Snipping Tool that uses AI to “precisely capture content on your screen.”Microsoft is also releasing some features that aren’t related to AI across all Windows 11 PCs, including a handy color picker within the Snipping Tool and a new mechanism that allows PCs to automatically fix issues causing unexpected restarts.Microsoft says it will roll out all of these features “over the next month.” Some of them are already available in Windows’ new non-security preview update and as updates that you can download in the Microsoft Store.

Nextcloud is a go-to platform for many people who want to host their own cloud storage. It covers nearly everything, from file syncing and sharing to collaborative tools, including calendars, contacts, and document editing. But if you’ve used it for a while, especially on modest hardware, you’ve probably run into some of its more frustrating limits. File previews can be slow to load, remote storage integrations may not always behave as expected, and the web interface can sometimes lag, even for basic tasks like folder navigation.

The PlayStation Summer Sale is officially live, running through mid-August, although some deals might expire sooner. This massive sale is taking after the Steam Summer Sale, offering discounts across hundreds of PlayStation games. You can get small discounts on 2025 releases or deep cuts on older games. You can prepare for upcoming PS5 exclusives by picking up the previous game in the series, or just grab a title you missed out on previously. While there are hundreds of discounts to check out, we've narrowed it down to six reccomendations, including heavy discounts on some of the biggest names in gaming, and maybe a game or two you aren't familiar with.

You can never have enough storage, which is why when a portable SSD goes on sale, it's always the right time to pick one up. This Team Group model delivers tons of storage space at 2TB, offers a rugged design, and delivers great read and write performance as well.

How do you feel about Windows 11? There's a very good chance that people will respond to that question in a variety of ways. Some people have come to love the new operating system, while others still look back at past operating systems and wish Windows 11 could draw inspiration from them.

I've been all-in on Home Assistant for the past year, building out my smart home and seeing many quality-of-life upgrades as a result. From linking my PC's audio interface to my smart lights to custom notifications, it's been great. Plus, I can replace a ton of cloud-based tech with locally-controlled options that are just as powerful, or even more so. I previously used a Google Home Hub and a Google Nest Mini for smart home voice controls, but since picking up the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition earlier this year, it's allowed me to pack up Google's voice assistant for good.