Quick Links The htop system monitor program gives you clear insights into the processes running on your Linux computer, and some functions to manage those processes. Here’s how to use this colorful administrative tool. Just top With a Facelift? htop’s mission is to be a bettertop. Like top, htop has a dashboard area above a table of processes. Fans of htop appreciate its use of color, its animated bar graphs, and seeing the complete command line for each process....

Even though theM1 and M2 chipsin modern Macs are based on ARM processor designs, they aren’t like any other ARM designs. That has made porting Linux to new Macs a difficult challenge, but there has been some impressive progress recently. Much of the work around porting desktop Linux to Apple Silicon (M1 & M2) Mac computers has been under theAsahi Linuxproject, which already offers a desktop distribution that can boot natively on many models....

Microsoft has announced a new feature in testing for its Edge browser that will warn you when your installed browsing extensions start slowing things down. Extensions are handy but sometimes can rob your browser of precious CPU cycles, making pages longer to load and impacting browsing performance. In extreme examples, a resource-hogging extension can make the browser crawl to a halt. Microsoft has a solution in the form of an extension performance detector currently being tested in Edge Canary 130....

NASA is one of the few organizations in the world that makes headlines for releasing better versions of old photos. That doesn’t work for most people when posting new photos of their trip to the Poconos or something. But when it’s the Pillars of Creation, it tends to be justified, even if the photosare only about a week apart. Recently the Webb telescope used its Near-Infrared Camera to release a sharper, more detailed image of the region with a view that peered through much of the space dust that normally obscures the area....

Quick Links Plex is an all-in-one media server, streamer, and organizer, but not every platform has a dedicated Plex app. Even with an app available, you might just want a quick and dirty way of streaming your media locally instead. Enable the Plex DLNA/UPnP Server By default, the PlexDLNAserver is disabled, so you’ll need to turn it on in preferences before you can use it. Download and install the Plex Media Server for your operating system fromPlex....

Summary TheNothing Ear (2024)earbuds are a sleek audio powerhouse that promises exceptional sound quality and advanced features in a compact package. Equipped with cutting-edge technology like adaptive noise cancelation, ChatGPT interactivity, and pinpoint controls, these earbuds aim to revolutionize the listening experience. But do they live up to their promise as a top-tier wireless earbud? Nothing Ear (2024) The Nothing Ear is a pair of wireless earbuds that features active noise cancellation and a transparency mode....

On February 25th, 1969, NASA launched Mariner 6, a spacecraft intended to conduct a flyby of Mars to search for signs of life on the red planet. When it passed by Mars, it took many pictures. It might not sound like much, but those photos revealed many Martian mysteries. Here’s what we learned. The Surface Pressure of Mars is Much Lower Than on Earth On Earth, you don’t often think of the pressure constantly pressing down on your body....

Summary Here we are again. Another wave of price hikes on our subscriptions is landing. Yesterday, it was Google’s Nest Aware subscriptions, which saw a pretty significant price jump. And if you thought that meant hikes were coming to streaming services, turns out you were right—and Peacock is getting the party started. The company is justifying the price increase by pointing to its significant recent investment in live sports, headlined by the return of the NBA to NBC and Peacock in the fall of 2025 after a 23-year absence....

Summary I’m sure you haven’t thought a lot about it, but microSD cards, like all other tech, do degrade. They start losing their functionality after years and several write cycles. If you don’t want to have to worry about that, PNY has some ultra-tough cards that will keep working amazingly for years and years on end. PNY has just announced its latest PRO Elite High Endurance microSD cards. They’re mostly similar to your regular, run-of-the-mill microSD cards that you may get from a bunch of manufacturers for like $20 tops....

Quick Links The gallery app that comes pre-installed on your Samsung phone is more than just storage for your photos and videos. It comes with all sorts of tools designed to make your gallery experience better that you might not even know about. Here are some worth checking out. Doodle Perfect Shapes Without a Stylus Most gallery apps allow you to draw on top of your photos and customize the color and girth of the pen stroke, but unless your phone has a stylus like theGalaxy S25 Ultra, it’s not very likely that the doodles you make using your finger are going to look that great....

Summary AirTags are handy little beacons that can be used to locate items you have misplaced or lost, even your pets. But is it a good idea to attach an AirTag to a dog or cat collar? Are AirTags Effective for Tracking Your Pets? AirTags have the potential to help you find your pets' location, but they’re not the ideal solution for every situation. That’s because of the unique way these wireless trackers work....

Synology confirms that its upcoming Plus-series NAS devices will restrict some software functionality if you fail to use approved hard drives. This change does not affect older Plus-series hardware. The company announced its new drive validation requirements in apress releaseon April 16th and later discussed the policy withArs Technica. According to Synology’s press release, customers who use an incompatible drive in a 2025 Plus-series NAS “will be subject to certain restrictions … such as the creation of pools....

Summary With the tariff war taking place, as you might have already noticed, everything is getting a price increase. Now, both Temu and Shein are also seeing a price hike as well. Popular e-commerce platforms Shein and Temu, known for their ultra-low prices, have announced upcoming price adjustments for their US customers, citing all of the nonsense that’s currently being imposed by the Trump administration. The changes, set to take effect on April 25th, follow the imposition of steeptariffson Chinese goods and the elimination of the long-standing “de minimis” customs exemption that allowed packages under a certain value to go through customs duty-free and with minimal inspection—which will also mean that even these dirt-cheap packages will also be subject to tariffs....