Running AI models locally has become much easier over the past year. Whether it's for better privacy, faster responses, offline access, or avoiding recurring API costs, more people are setting up self-hosted LLMs for everyday productivity. Ollama has played a huge role in making that possible, and it's often the first tool people install. But once you spend more time with local AI, you realize there are plenty of other options that solve different problems just as well, or sometimes even better. If you're ready to go beyond your first local LLM setup, these are the Ollama alternatives that I think are genuinely worth trying.

When using your premium gaming handheld device without a power cable, you may feel you need to toggle the performance or turbo profile to play a modern title smoothly. When looking at the software overlay, the average frame counter shows a respectable 48fps, but the game doesn't feel like 48fps. While your average frame rates look acceptable, your 1% low frame rates might have dropped into the single digits, leading to stuttering. This is because when you're using battery power, pushing your system configuration to a high wattage profile can create a power distribution crisis between your CPU and GPU.

I contemplate turning my life around every time I watch a movie or TV show with a career-oriented protagonist. Gilmore Girls inspired me to want to be a journalist (manifesting works), Brooklyn 99 had me convinced I'd make a great detective, and How to Get Away with Murder convinced me a lawyer was what I was meant to be. The only career no amount of good TV or movies can talk me into is anything to do with art. I'm a terrible artist.

The reason why it took users so long to see AI's actual value in productivity beyond drafting emails to your boss and generating slide decks for you is because tools didn't initially plug into the tools you use everyday. I've been big on pairing AI tools with other software I use daily, and you'll find my author profile flooded with them. For instance, NotebookLM's my favorite AI tool, and I've paired it with practically every tool there. From note-taking apps like Notion, Evernote, and Apple Notes to creative software like Adobe and Canva to Excel to other AI tools like Gemini and Copilot, I've done it all.

Google Pixel phones are packed with smart features, but not every default setting is doing your battery any favors. I learned that the hard way after watching my Pixel losing battery for no obvious reason. I didn’t want to reset the phone, uninstall half my apps, or carry a power bank everywhere, so I started looking through Android’s settings instead. That’s when I found several options that I didn’t really need.

The Patrouille de France perform a flyover during the Sail4th 250 Tall Ships Parade along the Hudson River in New York on July 4th, 2026. | Photo by John Lamparski/Bloomberg via Getty Images The United States of America recently turned 250 years old. What a spectacle! The fireworks were amazing, and millions of proud people celebrated across the nation - even around the world. France lit up the Eiffel Tower; Japan had fireworks. French fighter jets flew above New York City with trails of red, white, and blue - our first major ally streaking our shared colors through the sky. Meanwhile, shameful white nationalists paraded through our nation's capital. This has always been a country of paradoxes.Our 250th birthday counts back to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The declaration was a radical and astonishing document that …Read the full story at The Verge.

If your Prime Day purchases included a new desk, TV stand, bookshelf, or other furniture you still haven’t assembled, Hoto’s PixelDrive cordless screwdriver can help speed up the process. It’s currently on sale for $59.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, matching its best price to date. Hoto PixelDrive Cordless ScrewdriverHoto’s latest electric screwdriver delivers an adjustable 6Nm of torque, along with a built-in pixelated display that lets you check the battery life and other info.Where to Buy: $79.99 $59.98 at Amazon $79.99 at HotoFrom tightening loose screws on furniture to repairing electronics, the PixelDrive is designed to handle a wide range of household projects. Hoto includes 30 screwdriver bits that cover many of the most common screw types, all neatly organized in a small cylindrical case. It also offers six adjustable torque settings, allowing you to use less power when working with fragile electronics or increase it when putting together a desk, bookshelf, TV stand, or other furniture. You can also switch between a slower 80RPM mode for more precise work and a faster 200RPM mode with the press of a button.Hoto also added several features that make assembling projects a little easier. A built-in display lets you quickly check your current torque setting and remaining battery life, while an integrated LED light helps illuminate dim spaces, whether you’re working under a desk or inside a cabinet. The rechargeable 2,000mAh battery also charges over USB-C, so you won’t need to keep buying disposable batteries.

The right-to-repair movement isn't new, but if you think of a consumer-focused brand selling modular or repairable (or both) devices, that trend is pretty new. Framework's modular laptops lead the PC industry when it comes to championing people's right to repair. From the original Framework Laptop 13 in 2021 to the recently announced Laptop 13 Pro, the company has come a long way in a short while. Providing consumers with configurable 12-inch, 13-inch, and 16-inch models, Framework has kept modularity, repairability, and sustainability at the core of its products. Today, you can buy a Framework laptop with a Core Ultra Series 3 or Ryzen AI 300 chip with up to 64GB of RAM and 8TB of storage, and even a model with RTX 5070 graphics.

Dr. Rubin’s feed Bullshit is cheap but truth is expensive. Anyone with half a brain cell can post wild misinformation that goes mega viral, which wastes the time and expertise of highly trained people who feel an obligation to inform others of the truth. Today I want you to meet one of those highly-trained people, Dr. Zachary Rubin, who works on the front lines against scientific and medical misinformation.Rubin is a pediatric allergist and immunologist and author of the book All About Allergies. He likely came across my TikTok feed because I crave anti-misinformation content; one of my other favorite people doing this work is Rubin's colleague Dr. Idrees …Read the full story at The Verge.

The ultimate goal of a smart home shouldn't be absolute automation. It should instead be friction reduction. Your smart home should make parts of your day-to-day life easier, but over-engineering automation can have the complete opposite effect. Sometimes, deleting half of your most complex, proudly coded smart home scripts and stripping away the software clutter can turn your house from a stressful-feeling tech demo (which leads you to constantly apologize to guests and family members) into a peaceful, reliable sanctuary.

It seems like every Patch Tuesday, Microsoft gives us all a reason to talk about the latest Windows breaking something. This time, however, things are a little different — a new security update did break an old feature, but it was never unintentional. When Windows users realized that their custom folder icons had stopped working, it looked like another Windows update gone wrong.

For all the convenience Netflix offers, it still treats every subscriber more or less the same. Sure, my recommendations might differ from yours, but I'm always going to be looking at the same interface, layout, and carefully curated experience the company decided works best for hundreds of millions of users. From a consistency standpoint, that works wonders, but it leaves very little room, if any, for the platform to feel personal.