Someone wired up seven ESP32s to create a ~0.4B LLM, and so can you

We’re getting to the point with LLMs where we can squeeze them onto an ESP32. Granted, it’s not going to take down the bigger, stronger LLM models running on powerful hardware anytime soon, but as a fun thing you can make at home to handle simple queries, they can be a lot of fun. You can even hook up an external LLM to one, too; our own Adam Conway connected a local LLM to a $30 ESP32 display, and it designs a new screen for every question he asks.

Emily Brown
Houston

I connected a local LLM to a $30 ESP32 display, and it designs a new screen for every question I ask

Most smart displays come with a fixed set of screens, and you get whatever the team behind the firmware happened to think of. Usually that's a clock, the weather, a calendar, and after that you're stuck with it. I've used a few of these over the years and the pattern's...

Alta Gracia Leyva
Mexico

I replaced Google Photos with Immich, and my entire photo library finally stays under my control

There's a simple question you might've asked before heading into this article. "What's actually wrong with Google Photos?" For many years, it was the storage limits that kept getting tighter, the shrinking free tiers, and the added monthly cost of paying for one subscription after another. Today, there's an even...

Steven Kennedy
Australia

I switched from a smart TV to an Android box, and I actually own my entertainment now

Getting the TV I want with the right specs means settling for whatever operating system it runs. However, the OS that ships on smart TVs is typically slower and more limited than any modern streaming device I plug in. TVs come with a locked-down home screen, ads, and a limited...

Natalício Moreira
Brazil

The tiny free PDF editor that changed how I edit files on Windows, Mac, and Linux

PDF editors are often too basic to be useful or overloaded with features, pop-ups, and subscription prompts. I wanted something lightweight that could handle the everyday jobs I actually care about, whether I was on a Windows desktop, MacBook Pro, or tinkering with a Linux machine in my home lab.

Olivia Miller
Seattle

A supposed GTA 6 build is going around the internet, but don’t be fooled: it’s fake and full of malware

Whenever something gets a lot of attention online, scammers and malware distributors are always quick to capitalise on it. When news broke that a leaker had gotten their hands on a full, working copy of GTA 6, people started to ask questions. For instance, has the leaker uploaded the game...

Emily Brown
Houston

I don’t pay for Perplexity or ChatGPT after combining my local LLMs with Perplexica and SearXNG

When it comes to simple inference tasks, my locally-hosted large language models are reliable enough to deliver accurate results. But everything falls apart as soon as I start prompting my LLMs about complex errors, new topics, or frequently updated information. By default, the models I run on llama.cpp can only...

John Doe
New York

The Asus Googlebook is reportedly going to cost ~$1,400, spelling the end for its affordable range

A little while ago, Google confirmed that it was scrapping its affordable range of Chromebook laptops. The goal was to pivot more toward on-board AI processing with a new brand of laptops called the Googlebook. At the time, it sounded like Google no longer wanted to support the budget-friendly range,...

Sophia Wilson
Atlanta

I ditched my mesh router after discovering the one setting that actually matters

You might think the best option when you hit a Wi-Fi dead zone at home is to invest in an expensive multi-node mesh system to ensure full coverage. However, there are downsides to adding consumer mesh nodes around the house, including wireless backward congestion, doubled latency hops, roaming packet drops,...

Jane Smith
Los Angeles

Your games still stutter at 100 FPS because average frame rate hides the real problem

When I first got into PC gaming, the only performance metric I really cared about was average FPS. As someone who switched from a PS3 back then, I just wanted AAA titles to average around 50FPS on my GTX 680 at 1080p. I never even knew what 1% lows or...

Sophia Wilson
Atlanta

Grand Theft Auto VI exists in its own universe

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on GTA VI and the state of the video game industry, follow Andrew Webster. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it...

Rosa Foster
United States

I replaced my router twice before realizing a 10-year-old cable was the real problem

Routers always take the immediate blame for bad Wi-Fi, when in fact there is a list of suspects that should be investigated. I learned this the hard way. After a lengthy stream of router troubleshooting and replacing the device twice, the real culprit behind my network bottleneck finally revealed itself:...