On the surface, Network-Attached Storage rigs capable of backing up data, sharing files, and archiving documents sound simple enough to use. But as you go deeper into the storage server territory, you’ll come across all sorts of file systems, complex-sounding network shares, and a boatload of technical jargon.

It's no secret that I love handheld gaming, whether that's a small device emulating older games or using one of the most powerful gaming handhelds on the market. But some games deserve a larger screen, or just aren't playable on the handhelds you can carry around, especially if you want to play strategy games.

A new Pixel already gives me a clean Android experience, but the apps I install make it even better. Over time, I've found a few open-source tools that deserve a place on every new device I set up. Some make everyday tasks easier, while others give me features I wish Android offered by default. I also like knowing that I have alternatives beyond the usual apps everyone recommends. If you're setting up a new Pixel or simply looking for useful open-source Android apps, these are the ones I'd install first.

I’m not spending several hundred dollars on a new graphics card with 8GB of VRAM in 2026. The RTX 5060 Ti still comes in that configuration, and at this price, having to lower texture settings because the manufacturer skimps on memory is unacceptable. If I’m buying a GPU to keep for several years, I expect enough performance and memory to justify the money I’m spending. I’d much rather put that money toward a properly priced RTX 3090 or Radeon RX 6950 XT. These cards are two generations old and still outperform several new mid-range options, with enough VRAM to handle demanding games without the same restrictions as an 8GB card.

Ask Claude Opus 5.5 something that brushes against security, and the reply can come back from a different model. A notice appears, the answer gets tagged Opus 4.8, and Anthropic's newest flagship stays switched to the older model for the rest of the chat.

You know what the worst part of getting a new Windows PC or doing a clean Windows install is? Once you boot up for the first time, the PC is blank, and it takes many hours to make it yours. As someone who is into consumer tech journalism and keeps testing new hardware, I have been in that situation many times.

The cool thing about building your own devices is that you don't need to make do with subpar products. If you think something is lacking, you can roll up your sleeves and add it yourself. Such is the case with this DIY sports tracker, which keeps tabs on different matches between major sports leagues and comes with some sleek animations to boot.

Modern motherboards still ship with obscure headers that are almost useless for the average user. The reasons range from legacy compatibility and niche relevance to enterprise usage, but some headers can become a security risk under the wrong circumstances. If your PC is old enough, your motherboard may be using a discrete TPM (Trusted Platform Module), leaving the door open for a security exploit using your unpopulated debug header.

If you use Claude daily or for heavy projects, you've probably watched the usage meter as closely as the actual output. Anthropic has raised the limits a few times this year, which does help, though there's still a weekly cap behind all of it, and Opus chews through that faster than the lighter models. I think what stings is how much of the allowance goes to tasks that never needed a top model in the first place, like asking what one setting in a config file does.

Note-taking apps have a habit of promising you organization, then handing the actual organizing back to you anyway. Obsidian gives you a blank vault and leaves every folder and link up to you. Notion's a bit different since it has a template for everything, but I've lost whole weekends tweaking those before writing a single line in them. Even Windows Notepad renders Markdown now, so there's no shortage of places to put notes.

Some of the more ingenious projects I've reported on were born from limitations. While tinkerers will gladly load up their gadgets with as many features as possible, things change when they want to make something for someone who may not be as big of a tech geek as they are. Such is the case of this lovely Raspberry Pi project that allowed a grandma to keep up with the family's Telegram group with minimal interaction.

If there's one piece of technology that even your least tech-savvy friend probably has at least a vague understanding of, it's a VPN. Sure, they might not necessarily know what the acronym stands for or how one actually works. However, what they likely do know is that using one is supposed to make their internet activity more private. Beyond privacy, they might also associate VPNs with accessing websites and streaming content that would otherwise be unavailable in their region.