I've used so many different ways of accessing my home lab content from outside my network, from Tailscale Funnel, NetBird, Pangolin, and a whole bunch of other reverse proxy solutions. But they all had one thing in common: the ability to reach the wider internet, either to communicate with management servers, my VPS, or my nameservers that point to a domain name I own. That's not usually a problem, but sometimes I prefer not to have my home lab communicate with the outside world.

Smell that? That's the sweet, sweet scent of victory, my friend. After a year of fighting against Sony's region locks, Helldivers 2 players are celebrating a big win after the gaming giant has seemingly removed them. And if what's being said is to be believed, pretty much all of Sony's published PC titles have been released from their shackles once more.

Typing for long hours with intermittent breaks is the ethos of my job description, but do it for a few years, and a few realizations start to dawn. For one, the short breaks aren't quite enough to relieve the physical strain on your back, wrists, and eyes. It didn't take me long to prioritize ergonomics in my desk setup so I could put in longer hours. However, I've noticed several peers treating desk comfort as an afterthought to basic functionality. I chose to give it equal importance as my obsession with mechanical keyboards and their comfortable typing experience set me up for several side quests, like matching custom cables, keycaps, and wrist rests.

There is no studio I trust more with storytelling than Naughty Dog, but that trust doesn't come blind. The Last of Us games, especially Part II, are on my Mount Rushmore of the greatest games ever made, and always will be, for the powerful lesson it imparted to me. Their new game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, looks all set to launch them into a bold new era. However, to do that, the game will have to break free from the patterns that defined the studio's past hits.

The first Switch was such a hit that Nintendo decided not to mess with a good thing. Instead of releasing a successor that feels like a generational leap or a pivot in a new direction, it's following up the hugely successful original with the Switch 2 - a welcome upgrade that largely sticks to the formula. It looks about the same, works about the same, and plays most of the same games. It's the Switch, just better.Nintendo's bet is that it doesn't have to wow people all over again, and so it made a sequel that's only as good as it needs to be. After spending a week with the new console, I've realized that good enough is exactly what the Switch needed.A refined (and bigger) Nintendo SwitchFundamentally, the concept of the Switch hasn't changed. It's still a tablet with a split controller stuck on either side, with a dock that connects to your television. But the idea has been refined. The Switch 2 is much bigger, for one thing. It now has a 7.9-inch LCD panel, up from the original's 6.2 inches, making it great for playing text-heavy games. It also means the entire device has become larger as a result, now weighing in at a comparatively hefty 1.18 pounds with the controllers …Read the full story at The Verge.

I have spent a lot of time optimizing my NAS to run quietly and power efficiently. One big way to achieve that is to have the drives run as briefly as possible — I had mine set up to spin down after 20 minutes of inactivity. That way, the drives not only stay cool but also use less power. They should last longer since HDD hibernation would lower the wear and tear. They should not age as quickly if they’re not moving. Right? Well, I don’t think so anymore.

We live fully digital lives. We store our confidential details in the cloud, and search for everything online. However, staying private and secure online feels like a constant battle. Companies track our every move, and data breaches occur frequently. Digital privacy is a constant concern. But you don't have to surrender your digital life. Numerous online security tools offer on-demand protection and enhance privacy. I actively use six of these tools to safeguard my digital privacy and security. I don't even need to install them on my system. I access them directly on the internet.

If there's one thing that Nintendo fans can agree on, it's that the Nintendo GameCube was an amazing console. The library of games that were available for the GameCube was very diverse, including multiple genres and styles of games that appealed to a wide range of people. Out of the many different consoles that Nintendo has released over the years, the GameCube gets a lot of praise from those who like to reminisce about games they played while growing up. With the Nintendo Switch 2 finally out and more features added to the Switch Online service, fans will be able to revisit some GameCube classics.

I've always liked visual mindmapping as it lets you have a bird's eye view of all the details of any project. There are a bunch of tools out there just for that, and many people seem to reach for Miro or something similar. But for me, it's too bloated and also too business-oriented. I prefer sketching out my ideas as they come, and Obsidian Canvas is perfect for that.

I'm just gonna say it; the robots of the modern era aren't fun. Back in the 80s and 90s, we were promised full-blown, humanoid robots that could walk, talk, look at us, and perhaps save us from a problem or two. Instead, we've got chatbots generating endless images of Mickey Mouse and posting them to Facebook. Yawn.

For those who can't run Ethernet cable through their home or where obstacles like thicker walls make mesh networking less viable, powerline adapters have been a handy solution to provide networking connectivity to those hard-to-reach areas. But even if your powerline adapters work well right now, there is no guarantee that they will continue to be the case, and there are a ton of potential pitfalls that will make your network drop.

AI researchers have recently been asking themselves a version of the question, "Is that really Zuck?"As first reported by Bloomberg, the Meta CEO has been personally asking top AI talent to join his new "superintelligence" AI lab and reboot Llama. His recruiting process typically goes like this: a cold outreach via email or WhatsApp that cites the recruit's work history and requests a 15-minute chat. Dozens of researchers have gotten these kinds of messages at Google alone. For those who do agree to hear his pitch (amazingly, not all of them do), Zuckerberg highlights the latitude they'll have to make risky bets, the scale of Meta's products, and the money he's prepared to invest in the infrastructure to support them. He makes clear that this new team will be empowered and sit with him at Meta's headquarters, where I'm told the desks have already been rearranged for the incoming team.Most of the headlines so far have focused on the eye-popping compensation packages Zuckerberg is offering, some of which are well into the eight-figure range. As I've covered before, hiring the best AI researcher is like hiring a star basketball player: there are very few of them, and you have t …Read the full story at The Verge.