XDA Developers

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.

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.

Windows now ignores untrusted desktop.ini files, breaking custom folder icons to fix a security hole. The change closes a 23-year-old Explorer trust vulnerability exploited via desktop.ini. Custom icons still work from trusted sources or by manually setting icon files and unblocking them. It seems like every Patch Tuesday, Microsoft gives us all a reason to talk about the latest Windows breaking something.

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.

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.

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.

Android Auto has always been useful for navigation, music, and quick messages, but Gemini actions take it to a completely different level. Instead of repeating the same long voice commands every time I get in the car, I can now pin specific Gemini actions directly to Android Auto and trigger them like shortcuts. It is the kind of feature that sounds small until you start using it every day, and then suddenly, regular Android Auto feels incomplete without it.

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.

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.

Wired Android Auto disconnections are believed to be related to Advanced Protection Mode's USB Protection, which blocks data when locked. Android Auto v17.2 adds "Start Android Auto While Locked" to enable USB auto-connect even with Advanced Protection enabled. Past Android Auto disconnection fixes have had mixed results. If you're a wired Android Auto user, you're probably used to rampant disconnection issues by now.