Building out a home lab requires one to take advantage of various features not typically available to (or used by) consumers. This includes hardware RAID, super-fast link-aggregated networking, remote management, virtualisation, and more. If I had to pick one feature that would be my highlight with managing my home lab as I build it out, it's hardware-based remote management. I'm not talking software running on a server and your client, but a hardware-level tool that can run even when the host is offline. A few are available, including Lenovo xClarity, Dell iDRAC, and HP iLO.

We're always looking at ways to minimize the impact of heat generated by internal components. The primary culprit is the central processing unit (CPU), requiring dedicated solutions with air coolers or all-in-one liquid kits. How one goes about cooling their CPU (and the rest of the system) is largely the same from build to build, but it's always important to remember this one trick that I use to keep temperatures within optimal ranges for maximum performance.

There’s finally some good news for anyone battling multiple Thread networks while using Matter devices in their smart home — as long as you’re the patient type. According to Matter Alpha, the tvOS 26 beta announced at WWDC this week adds Thread 1.4 to Apple TVs. And, as Apple’s smart speakers use a fork of tvOS, it’s likely that the upcoming HomePod OS 26 will include 1.4 as well.Thread 1.4 brings a standard way for Thread border routers, such as Apple TVs and HomePods, to join an existing Thread network, fixing the problem where border routers from different manufacturers set up separate networks when they join your smart home. “We’re seeing a great shift toward Thread 1.4 among some major device, platform, and border router vendors,” Thread Group VP of marketing Ann Olivo told The Verge. But, with tvOS 26 not arriving until the fall, and Google and Amazon’s adoption of Thread 1.4 coming next year at the earliest, those of us who like to mix and match our smart home hardware — maybe you have an Apple TV, an Eero router, and a Google Nest Hub — will have to wait until at least 2026 for a more stable and speedier smart home.Released in September 2024, Thread 1.4 is the latest specification of the smart home protocol that Matter runs on. Thread offers a low-power, low-bandwidth mesh networking protocol designed specifically for IoT devices like lights, locks, sensors, and more. The 1.4 spec dictates that when a border router is added, it will join the existing Thread network versus creating a new one — regardless of brand or platform. So, for example, your new Echo Show 8 would join the network already created by your Apple TV.Thread-powered devices require a Thread border router to connect to the internet. Today, there are several options for border routers, including the newest Apple TVs and HomePods, higher-end Echo and Google Nest smart speakers, and some Wi-Fi routers, including Eeros. If you have a few of these devices, they may set up separate Thread networks, which can cause issues. The biggest being that you lose the extended range and reliability benefits of a unified mesh network.I currently have nine Thread networks running in my home. Samsung SmartThings has created three. My Nest network includes most of my HomePods and my Google TV streamer; my Apple network has a newer Apple TV and a Nanoleaf border router in it. I have three separate Eero networks, one with Eero devices in it and the other two with Echo devices in them. While my setup is not typical (I test smart home devices for a living), it does demonstrate what a mess this can create. Older versions of Thread are being sunsetted to speed up the transition. “Thread 1.3 certification applications for Thread Border Routers will close December 31, 2025,” Olivo confirmed. “As of Jan. 1, 2026, Thread 1.4 will be the only specification available for Thread Border Router certification.”With Apple poised to implement Thread 1.4 this fall with tvOS 26, I checked in with Google, Amazon, and Samsung to see where they were at. All are still on 1.3. However, Mark Benson, head of SmartThings US, said Samsung’s border routers will be on 1.4 “later this year.” Amazon spokesperson Melanie Garvey said they will bring support for 1.4 “across compatible devices next year.” Alex Sakhartchouk, a software engineer at Google Home, confirmed that they are actively working toward adding support for Thread 1.4 “in the future.”“As of Jan. 1, 2026, Thread 1.4 will be the only specification available for Thread Border Router certification.”Sakhartchouk added that Google Nest Thread border routers already “do our best” to join existing networks by integrating with mobile Thread credential storage APIs on Android and iOS. Meaning, when you set them up with your smartphone, they should share credentials with an existing border router using the phone. “We share our credentials via these same mobile APIs to allow others to join our networks,” he said. This worked for me — when I set up the Google TV streamer, it joined my existing Apple Thread network.While mobile credential sharing helps today, and the Wi-Fi router-based solution put in place by the Connectivity Standards Alliance in Matter 1.4 could help at some point, the most straightforward fix is border routers communicating with each other. This should have been the approach from day one — but it looks like we’ll have to be patient a while longer.

If you're looking to upgrade the internal storage of your device, an M.2 SSD is going to be a solid option. Not only are you getting something quick and reliable, but the prices have come down quite a bit as well. This 4TB M.2 SSD from Silcion Power is now down to its lowest price, with a discount that drops it down to just $190.

Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of Steve Jobs’ famous Stanford commencement speech, and the Steve Jobs Archive has marked the occasion by uploading an HD version of the speech, publishing notes Jobs emailed to himself, and sharing details about the leadup to the speech. You can see everything on a page on the Steve Jobs Archive’s website and watch the HD video on YouTube.The website’s page about the speech is a little saccharine, but there’s no denying that the address has been very influential – LeBron James used the speech to help inspire the Cleveland Cavaliers during their championship NBA Finals run in 2016, for example – so I found it pretty cool to read some of the history of it all.I particularly liked reading Jobs’ emailed notes with various outlines, themes, and drafts he was trying out. The website also has the interesting detail that Jobs “read his text verbatim” – given the confidence he had in his many famous presentations for Apple, I figured he might have ad-libbed parts of it. It’s all worth checking out, if you have a few minutes.Jobs’ friends and family launched The Steve Jobs Archive in 2022 as a place to share things like photos, documents, and stories of the Apple co-founder.

Have you purchased an Anker power bank semi-recently? If so, it's a good idea to check if your model has been caught up in a million-unit recall. Citing "fire and burn hazards" as the reason behind the recall, Anker is asking for people to identify which model of power bank they have. If you're using a PowerCore 10000 with the model number A1263, you need to stop using it immediately, apply for a refund, and then dispose of it safely. And if you're unsure as to what model your Anker power bank is, don't fret; there are instructions to help you identify it.

One of the aspects of home lab life is that you're constantly reinstalling devices or virtual machines. It gets annoying after a while, which is partly why my home lab server also has copies of the VMs that I use the most, so I can quickly copy in a fresh install when I break things.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.Meta is paying $14.3 billion to acquire 49 percent of Scale AI and hire its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to revamp its troubled AI efforts. As part of the deal, Wang will report directly to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and remain on Scale's board of directors, both companies announced on Thursday. Sources say Wang will lead a new AI lab at Meta tasked with building "superintelligence." Meta spokesperson Ashley Zandy says the company "will share more about this effort and the great people joining this team in the coming weeks."Zuckerberg has been actively recruiting a new team of researchers from rival firms to join Wang's team, according to people familiar with the matter and other press reports. The Meta founder has reached out to potential recruits directly - usually via a cold email or WhatsApp message - and lured some of them away from companies like Google with seven- and eight-figure compensation packages. Scale works with Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and others to help train their models by having humans annotate and label the data that feeds them. Most of that work is done through low-cost labor outside of the US, and it has become a critical component of AI development. With Wang …Read the full story at The Verge.

When I first downloaded Obsidian, I spent a not-insubstantial amount of time poking through the different plugins available to me. I downloaded Templater based on the recommendation of others, but I brushed it off. After all, a template plugin couldn't be all that useful, right? Obsidian already had one built-in. In some ways, I was right; the core Template plugin is powerful by itself and is capable of doing quite a bit on its own.

A month ago, I reported on a new feature spotted in Windows 11's beta builds which made data transfer between two PCs a lot easier. At the end of that piece, I mused if Microsoft would also add this tool to Windows 10. After all, if Microsoft really wants people to ditch Windows 10 and move to 11, it'd be very handy to give users a tool to swap with a click of a button.

If you've been looking to upgrade your monitor and turn it into a smart TV, we recommend grabbing the Fire TV Stick HD from Amazon, which comes in at just $20 right now thanks to a great discount. You'll gain access to all your favorite video and game streaming services, and navigation is dead simple thanks to the smooth menu system, making it possible to just kick back, relax, and watch your shows.

The emulation scene is a great way to access older, retro games, without needing to acquire the original hardware. While most emulation is all about getting older games up to their original state, there is also a thriving mod community for classic games, like PlayStation 2 games. These mods enhance and expand upon the classic games, usually by adding something that never would have appeared in the original. These restored and enhanced PS2 mods provide unique ways to experience these classic titles in new ways. This list has two different versions of classic GTA games, along with a fighting game that should appeal to anime nerds everywhere.