XDA Developers

Linus Torvalds used AI to do much of the grunt work fixing a Linux kernel bug. AI sometimes insisted the bug was unsolvable, but Torvalds pushed back and persisted. LLMs help but are not replacements for deep system knowledge; verify their conclusions first. The creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, is no stranger to using AI to fix problems.

For those who use Adobe Creative Cloud, the full suite can cost $60- $85 a month and add up to over $1,000 a year, plus forced AI bundling andcontroversial Terms of Service updates. As if that wasn't bad enough, plenty of bloatware runs beneath the surface. Installing Creative Cloud doesn't just install apps. It actually injects 15+ background daemon processes, telemetry trackers, and high idle CPU services that drag down boot times and eat system RAM.

I enjoy my Android/Google TV so much that I abandoned Fire TV sticks. However, Google's own Streamer device isn't always an ideal solution for my streaming needs. It has many glitches that other modern streaming devices don't. From flickering screens to random reboots and user interface lag, it seems the company hasn't maintained the device well. The Google TV Streamer launched in 2024 as the successor to the Chromecast, and it was buggy at first.

Microsoft Publisher is finally being taken out behind the barn in October. While I didn't need its services often, it always came in handy when I did need to design something. Yes, I'm aware Canva exists, and InDesign too, but they don't offer the same experience (and they're aimed at different kinds of users). I decided to start looking for a replacement for Publisher before I had a pressing need for it. Enter Scribus.

The smart home hub is a consumer product category where the device can look like so many different things. Depending on ecosystem and brand, there can be multiple different avenues to take, and when it comes to Home Assistant, that number only gets larger. While purpose-built hardware has its benefits, the humble dedicated computer can be one of the best ways to host it, and that old laptop you have lying around is possibly the best suited out of the available options.

There comes a point in every PC's life when it starts to feel slow, and shortly after, annoying to use. My AM4 gaming rig with a Ryzen 5 1600 and an RTX 2070 Super could still run most software and a number of games, but not nearly as well as I'd like it to. Every Windows update, boot sequence, and app launch delay served as a constant reminder that time has passed the PC by. Now, the obvious "fix" would've been to just drop $200 on a new Ryzen 5000-series processor and an NVMe SSD.

I’ve been trying to reduce how much I rely on Google services, so at one point I decided to ditch Google Maps too. I figured there were enough Google Maps alternatives now that I wouldn’t miss it much. After all, I only needed an app to get me from one place to another. That turned out to be a little too optimistic. Once I stopped opening Google Maps, I started noticing how many things I had taken for granted.

When someone mentions a tiny, cheap, always-on piece of hardware, their mind usually goes to a single-board computer (SBC) like a Raspberry Pi, Arduino Uno, or Orange Pi. Generally, it is the right choice, too. I was on the same path a few weeks ago. I was looking to buy a Raspberry Pi 5 to host my DNS server. Before getting it, I looked at the old Android phone living in my drawer and decided to use it as a DNS server.

When it comes to your home entertainment setup, your TV is often the centerpiece. For many people, it's where most of their entertainment setup budget goes, and it plays a core role in their streaming experience. However, if you're like me, your TV might not be what clinches it. In fact, my TV is the most outdated part of my entertainment setup.

I’ve been interested in NAS-centric tools ever since I built my first storage server using an old PC. Network shares are a good example, and after learning of their individual merits, I’ve started using SMB, NFS, and iSCSI folders for my home lab tasks. Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive, depending on who you ask) Disks intrigued me a lot as a beginner, as the prospect of using multiple hard drives in my storage server sounded really cool to my fledgling self.