I moved these 5 cloud-only devices to local integrations and I… forum

There's a lot to love about Google TV — it supports a wide variety of apps, it has some nifty features, and it performs relatively well on affordable devices. However, the platform also has drawbacks, especially with its home screen.

15 years ago, I ran Windows Home Server on an HP MicroServer for reasons I can't fathom now. As I've done more with self-hosted media, my library has kept growing, along with my storage needs. Storage isn't cheap, and neither is a new NAS . I stumbled across that old server and thought, there's probably still some life in it if I repurpose it as a dumb NAS for a few files.

If you're a Halo fan, you'll know the franchise has struggled over the past few years. However, the series has recently seen a boost in interest and fan-made projects, with Halo 3: Reclaimer being the latest in that growing list.

If there is one thing I massively miss about the pre-AI era, it's writing. I know, I know. I'm just another journalist ranting about how AI is ruining writing. My issue isn't that AI can "write" (which, to be clear, it's only able to do because it learned from writing created by actual people in the first place.)

Most of us use our USB devices the same way. We plug it in, drag some files across, wait for the copying to finish, and pull it out without a second thought. What most users never notice is that Windows quietly made a change to how it works back in 2018, and this change has been the default on Windows machines ever since. The idea was to make it safer to pull out a USB drive without needing to eject it and reduce the likelihood of losing any data in the process.

With a modern smart home it feels like every cheap smart bulb, Wi-Fi camera, robot vacuum, and thermostat you buy requires an app account, connects to your local Wi-Fi, and immediately starts whispering telemetry data back to distant cloud servers.On a standard consumer router every device sits on a single flat local network. Your high-end workstation, your personal NAS containing family photos, and a $10 untrusted Chinese smart plug all share the exact same subnet with zero internal isolation.

I have spent years using VS Code, so switching between three different editors for a month was not something I expected to do. But I wanted to see whether newer options like Zed and Cursor could actually change the way I work. Instead of judging them after a quick test, I used each one for real coding tasks and paid attention to the small things that affect my day-to-day workflow. Some differences were obvious, while others only became clear after switching back and forth. By the end of the month, one editor stood out enough that I stopped thinking about switching again.

When you're in the market for an NVMe SSD , you might encounter varying prices, and sometimes, getting the cheapest drive sounds like a good deal. After all, you're getting flash storage for your PC at the end of the day anyway, right?

I've been using Game Compressor recently to free up some storage space on my only 2TB NVMe drive. With many AAA titles taking over 100GB these days, a 2TB SSD can feel limiting quickly. Of course, I could uninstall the games I don't need every day and download them again when I want to play, but I'd rather avoid a 100GB download if I can. That's what convinced me to pay $6 instead of splurging on overpriced SSDs these days.

Every ESP32 project I’ve built followed the same path. I found an outlet, ran a cable, and plugged it in. That’s the easiest way to get something working. When I started placing sensors away from the desk, I ran short of wall outlets to power those ESP32 boards. It made me question whether every build needs to draw power all the time.

I often need to create diagrams to explain ideas, workflows, and technical concepts, but I don't always want to pay for a dedicated application to do it. Microsoft Visio is one of the obvious choices, but I wanted something simpler that could still handle serious diagramming work. I started looking at free options and came across draw.io. I had seen the name before, but never really considered using it as my main diagramming tool . This time, I decided to give it a proper try instead of assuming a free tool would come with too many limitations. What I found surprised me.

The RAM crisis has not been kind to the Raspberry Pi, which has seen a few price hikes over the last year. Back in April 2026, the foundation announced that it was increasing the price of a few boards , but sparing the 2GB Raspberry Pi 4 and 5. Now, that, too, has become too much to bear, as the foundation has announced a price increase.