XDA

The Nvidia Shield TV is old, but every replacement still gets one thing wrong

Dhruv Bhutani — Fri, 29 May 2026 15:30:22 GMT

The Nvidia Shield TV is one of those rare examples of hardware that was way overpowered for its time and price.

Your old laptop is too weak for Windows 11, but it's strong enough for home lab VMs and containers

Ayush Pande — Fri, 29 May 2026 15:00:21 GMT

If you’re a newcomer to the home lab ecosystem, you might believe bulky rigs and ex-enterprise systems are the only hardware that could keep up with typical virtualization tools. But in reality, you can turn practically any functional PC into a reliable server node for your home lab experiments, including dinosaur systems that can’t meet Windows 11’s minimum requirements.

MSI's new Claw 8 EX AI+ handheld takes on AMD-powered rivals with Intel's Arc G3 Extreme chip

Patrick O'Rourke — Fri, 29 May 2026 14:51:57 GMT

Ahead of Computex, MSI has revealed its new Claw 8 EX AI+ gaming handheld — yes, that really is its name (via The Verge). MSI claims the Claw 8 is the "world's first" handheld to feature Intel's new PC-handheld-focused Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip, which packs an array of Xe3 GPU cores and promises significant power-efficiency improvements.

I put Google's Gemma 4 on my homelab and Tailscale on my phone — and cancelled Claude Pro

Shekhar Vaidya — Fri, 29 May 2026 14:31:21 GMT

Once my daily gaming sessions dropped to just weekends, my 4070 Ti spent most of its time idle. For months, I was paying $20 for Claude Pro while a perfectly capable RTX 4070 Ti sat mostly idle in my PC. The funny part was that most of the AI prompts I sent from my phone had nothing to do with complex coding tasks or deep research. They were quick summaries, rough ideas, and random Q&A sessions throughout the day.

I moved my home lab to a new house after years of 24/7 use, and here’s what broke

Ty Sherback — Fri, 29 May 2026 14:00:20 GMT

Moving is a universal headache. Nobody likes to do it, but it has to be done, and in the process of moving, a lot of things get put on the backburner. My home lab was included in that, even though it hosts a handful of important services. I didn't have time to get things fully back online until recently, and it wasn't nearly as smooth of a process as I had hoped for. After years of running, turning it off and having it be dormant for a couple of months caused a whole host of issues once I fired it back up, and during the troubleshooting process, I learned some lessons in what to do (and not to do) for next time.

Python in Excel is more powerful than I initially estimated

Parth Shah — Fri, 29 May 2026 13:30:20 GMT

You might think of Microsoft Excel as just rows and columns, a place for basic calculations and simple charts. And while it certainly excels (no pun intended) at those fundamental tasks, the recent integration of Python has boosted its capabilities. I was skeptical when Microsoft first announced Python integration in Excel. However, after experimenting with it for a while, I've discovered a whole new dimension of what's possible within the familiar Excel environment.

Acer’s massive 18-Inch Predator Helios AI laptop wants to replace your gaming desktop

Patrick O'Rourke — Fri, 29 May 2026 13:04:01 GMT

Just ahead of Computex, Acer has revealed the latest version of its flagship Predator Helios 18 AI gaming laptop, alongside a refresh of its Nitro 16, a more "value-driven" gaming laptop.

Every good thing in Windows 11 started as a third-party tool Microsoft eventually bought or copied

João Carrasqueira — Fri, 29 May 2026 13:01:21 GMT

For all of its faults, Windows 11 is the world's most popular operating system, and Microsoft has made a lot of strides to make the operating system better over the years. It can be easy to glance over it, but features like the Windows Subsystem for Linux, Phone Link, and Winget have made the platform much better than it used to be.

6 Docker containers I always use on any new home lab workstation

Parth Shah — Fri, 29 May 2026 12:30:21 GMT

Setting up a brand-new home lab workstation is one of the most satisfying rituals in tech, but the real magic begins when you move past the base OS and start layering in your services.

Moving cheap IoT gear to a guest network solved more problems than I expected

Ty Sherback — Fri, 29 May 2026 12:00:21 GMT

Upon scrolling through a family friend's router client list one evening, I noticed something alarming. I was trying to track down connection issues with an unrelated device, and when I had to scroll multiple times to get through the laundry list of devices they had connected, I knew their network was becoming a bit absurd. Most of them weren't actual devices they used, like a PC, phone, or NAS, but instead, they were IoT devices that were installed and forgotten about: a camera, a doorbell, a TV, some smart plugs, and a handful of sensors. These cheap gadgets typically have the worst track record in terms of firmware security, so I moved all of them to the guest network. It took about ten minutes and solved other networking issues the household was having.