Filament Manager is the boring AMS upgrade that actually matters
…The AMS has always been capable, but capable hardware still needs software that respects the mess of real ownership. That is why this update feels overdue in a good way rather than…
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Your home network doesn't need Pi-hole — an $8 ESP32 blocks ads just as well for a fraction of the cost
…After that, you don’t need to keep checking a dashboard, update the OS, or worry about a microSD card . ESP32 Brand AITRIP Connectivity Features UART, USB The ESP32 is a fantastic…
Your SSD has a built-in health report you probably never checked, and it could save your data
…SSD brand, you can choose from SandDisk Dashboard, Samsung Magician, Seagate SeaTools, Adata SSD Toolbox, and Crucial Storage Executive, among others. These tools also have the added utility of updating your SSD…
With DLSS 5's AI slop, Nvidia just turned it into something DLSS was never meant to be
…an update scheduled for Fall 2026. That does give Nvidia plenty of time to ensure the tech becomes more efficient, but right now, even with the absolute highest-tier hardware available to…
Your smart home needs both an ESP32 and Raspberry Pi 5, not one or the other
…Making the Pi read the PIR sensor data every 30 seconds seemed like an overkill use of the hardware. So I moved to using ESP32 boards for building sensor nodes and a…
This often-overlooked Pixel sensor is way more useful than I expected
…It's the rare smartphone hardware feature that's hiding in plain sight in a very low-key way, but that is very easy to forget about. Over the last few weeks…
These 4 Google Pixel tweaks fixed the slowdown nobody talks about
…Sign in to your XDA account I have a Google Pixel 7 , and it is fast approaching end-of-life, even with the brand's promise for five years of software updates…
Android Auto is better when you disable most of your smartphone features
Rich Edmonds May 24, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT Richard is the PC Hardware Lead at XDA and has been covering the technology industry for almost two decades. He's been building…
The Source engine should've died a decade ago, but Valve kept finding ways to keep it alive
…The AI system was brand new, the skeletal animation system was brand new, and the game logic was rewritten in C++ rather than Quake's interpreted QuakeC. Valve programmer Ken Birdwell put…
Retrofitting old appliances is the smart home upgrade that actually makes sense
…Retrofitting isn't a new development in the smart home space, but it's gaining some serious popularity thanks to the insistence of companies putting a Wi-Fi connection and mandatory updates…