IT General

When you're connected to the same Wi-Fi network, it's pretty simple to SSH into any device connected to the same network. But outside that same network, you cannot do that because your ISP doesn't assign a unique public IP to your home network. You might have heard that you need to set up "port forwarding" to get into your home servers when you're out. But it doesn't have to be so complicated. Here's an easy and safe way to SSH into your home network when you're away.

Samsung foldables just can't stop leaking before they're announced.

This time, it's the rumored follow-up to last year's Galaxy Z Flip 7. A report by Korean leaker Lanzuk included a few hints about what to expect from the device, which has so far been out of the spotlight a bit compared to the rumored Z Fold 8 and a new "Wide Fold" device.

According to this new leak, you can expect a Z Flip 8 that's a little bit wider than before, as well as one that has shed some weight, coming in at approximately 180 grams, compared to 188 grams a year ago.

SEE ALSO: Samsung warns memory shortage will be worse next year

On top of that, the report hints at a new hinge mechanism, though it doesn't go into any detail about what it might be. Perhaps most excitingly is the indication that the Z Flip 8 will have a true crease-free display. Highly visible creases were a big problem for foldables as they became a relevant market category, but over the years, that's become less and less of an issue. If the Z Flip 8 can make further improvements on that, then that's great.

Samsung is widely expected to announce the Z Flip 8, the Z Fold 8, and the Wide Fold at an event this summer, most likely in July.

We think the Z Fold 8 will look pretty similar to last year's model overall, while the Wide Fold will be another book-style foldable that's, well, wider than the Fold 8. It's expected to have a similar size and shape to the also-unannounced iPhone Fold, expected to launch later this year.

A strong value in local AI computing just left the market. Apple has quietly discontinued the base Mac mini with an M4 chip, effectively raising the price of its entry-level desktop from $599 to $799.

SAVE $39.01: As of May 4, the Apple AirPods Max 2 are down to $509.99 at Amazon. That's a discount of 7% or $39.01 and their lowest price since launch.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirPods Max 2 $509.99 at Amazon
$549 Save $39.01   Get Deal

Grabbing a new pair of over-ear headphones in this economy isn't for the faint of heart. Even on sale, the Apple AirPods Max 2 are pretty dang expensive. But this is their biggest discount to date, so it's worth calling out for you Apple fanatics out there.

As of May 4, the Apple AirPods Max 2 are down to $509.99 instead of $549 at Amazon. That's a savings of $39.01 or about 7% and their cheapest price since launching in March.

SEE ALSO: Rate your favorite audio brands for a chance to win a $250 Amazon gift card

The AirPods Max 2 are the first proper upgrade to the fruit company's first (and only) set of over-the-ear headphones. It only took six years. The latest release is eerily similar to the original — they look the same, come with the same case, have the same color options, and have the same battery life and price. What's different, you ask? The internal hardware. The AirPods Max 2 now have Apple's H2 chip inside (the same as the AirPods Pro 3), which unlocks better active noise cancellation as well as several smart features. You'll now be able to toggle on/off adaptive audio, conversation awareness, live translation, voice isolation, personalized volume, loud sound reduction, and Siri interactions as you see fit.

If you already have the OG AirPods Max, you definitely should not spend $500+ on the new ones, as they're virtually identical aside from a few new smart features. But if you're an Apple fan shopping for over-the-ear headphones for the first time and you've been saving up, we highly recommend grabbing the new AirPod Max 2 while they're down to their best price ever. Minor upgrade or not, we still think they're pretty great.

Most of the documentation I deal with now is digital, which means it can be copied and searched at will. Unfortunately, plenty of important things do require paper documentation—a major inconvenience compared to digital.

AI can do a lot of impressive things, and connecting an LLM to your smart home can make it much smarter. It can also make it pretty dumb, too, if you decide that you're going to use it to give a smart bulb a personality.

If you’ve tried using Claude to learn to code and walked away feeling like you just witnessed a magic trick rather than actually learned something, you’re not alone. Without structure, AI coding tools default to doing the work for you—you end up with hundreds of lines of code without understanding the algorithm or the logic behind it.

For the longest time, I used to ssh into my home servers and then use top or htop to check their resource usage. To keep an eye on my Docker containers, I would run Docker stats, I would run docker stats or docker ps. I'd use basic shell commands to check disk and network usage too. Or systemctl to view systemd services. It gets pretty annoying when you have all your services spread across multiple little servers. One of my co-workers told me about Beszel, and it has saved me from all that monitoring headache.

Andy Serkis isn't done with Middle-earth just yet.

The upcoming prequel film The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum sees Serkis pulling double duty — more so than he already does in the dual part of Gollum/Sméagol. On top of reprising that iconic role, he's also stepping into the director's chair, making him the only person aside from Peter Jackson to helm a live-action Lord of the Rings movie.

SEE ALSO: Andy Serkis on 'Animal Farm,' George Orwell, and AI in Hollywood

Before The Hunt for Gollum's production gets underway in New Zealand, Serkis spoke with Mashable Entertainment Reporter Belen Edwards about what viewers could expect from the film.

"The joy of [The Hunt for Gollum] is that it's entirely its own story, but it fits perfectly into the lore, the tone, the feel of the Middle-earth films that were created by Peter Jackson 25 years ago," Serkis said.

According to Serkis, the film "sits between The Hobbit trilogy and the Lord of the Rings." It will follow Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Aragorn's (Jamie Dornan, replacing Viggo Mortensen) search for Gollum in the lead-up to the War of the Ring. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about this hunt in The Fellowship of the Ring and the trilogy's Appendices, and Jackson's films briefly mention it.

SEE ALSO: Everything we know about 'The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum'

The Hunt for Gollum is the latest step in Warner Bros. Pictures' expansion of their Middle-earth titles. 2025 saw the release of anime film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. Then, on March 25, Warner Bros. announced The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past (working title), a Lord of the Rings sequel written by Philippa Boyens, Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert, and his son Peter McGee.

The deluge of Lord of the Rings titles might raise alarm bells about the dilution of a beloved franchise. For Serkis' part, this isn't the case with The Hunt for Gollum.

"The story, and therefore how we see the story, is different and unique to this particular tale," Serkis said. "It's not just a nostalgia film. We're seeing plenty of those, and laying heavily into the nostalgia and the things that we loved about those movies of 25 and 30 years ago. [The Hunt for Gollum] adheres to that world, but it certainly has a freshness and a newness in terms of the actual story."

The newness also extends to the cast. The Hunt for Gollum features the return of several familiar faces: Serkis, McKellen, Elijah Wood, and Lee Pace reprise their roles from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. However, the film also invites several newcomers into Middle-earth. Kate Winslet and Leo Woodall play Marigol and Halvard, two characters who aren't named in Tolkien's original novels or films, while Jamie Dornan takes over the role of Aragorn from Viggo Mortensen.

"We're calling him Strider in our movie. He is at a different point in his journey, so he is slightly different to the Aragorn that we see later on," Serkis explained. "It's a version of himself that's been out in the wilderness as a Dúnedain Ranger. I'll leave it at that for the moment, but Jamie is perfect for this part of the journey of the character."

For more from Serkis, including his favorite Lord of the Rings meme and his reflections on Andor, check out the full Say More interview above.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum hits theaters in 2027.

The first 1GB hard drive was released by IBM in 1980. The IBM 3380 Direct Access Storage Device (DASD) was enormous by today’s standards, weighing about 64lbs and costing ~$50,000. We then waited 27 years for the first 1TB hard drive, the Deskstar 7K1000 from Hitachi, which came out in 2007.

The likes of Audi and BMW still dominate the sports sedan conversation, offering polished performance and premium appeal. But as the segment has evolved, many of those cars have drifted toward refinement over raw driver engagement, leaving a gap for something more focused and a little less conventional.

There's a near-endless sea of free and paid photo editing tools at your disposal. While many of them offer powerful features that can completely transform an image, most of the time you only need the app to tweak a few small details. For that kind of quick-and-dirty editing, I've found myself using the built-in Windows Photos app almost exclusively. If you've been ignoring it, allow me to convince you that it might be worth another look.

It's no secret that Google is cracking down against "sideloading" Android apps—which is to say, installing apps from outside the Play Store. Google Play Protect has thrown up the "harmful app blocked" warning for a long time now, but it was simple enough to ignore the warning and install the app anyway. However, in the past few months, Play Protect has blocked app installations completely. This is what you can do to get past Play Protect blocks.

Are you on the fence between using your phone as a 3D scanner or buying a professional 3D scanner? I’ve always wanted a 3D scanner, but I also thought my phone would be just as good. I scanned the same object with both a professional 3D scanner and my iPhone 17 Pro and printed the results—and they were not what I expected.

It's Monday morning, and an "updated" copy of an Excel workbook is sitting in your inbox. But when you open it, it's often impossible to tell what's changed. Instead of playing a game of spot the difference, use these built-in Excel tools to highlight differences in seconds.

A good homelab setup doesn't need to consist of all flashy, exciting applications. The longer I've used my homelab, the more I've come to view the apps that sit idle in the background as the most important services I host.

Narwal’s latest Flow 2 robot vacuum packs a lot of new features compared to its predecessor. With better suction performance, a higher-temperature mopping system with real-time self cleaning, and better navigation, the Flow 2 is a great upgrade to an already fantastic robot vacuum/mop.

Best Lego Star Wars Day deals at a glance: C-3PO $111.99 (save $28) Get Deal Brick-Built Star Wars Logo $47.99 (save $12) Get Deal The Mandalorian Helmet $55.99 (save $13.91) Get Deal

Lego Star Wars Day (aka May 4th) is finally here, and Lego is dropping incredible new releases (including the Lego Star Wars The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter), exclusive rewards for members, free gifts, and much more to celebrate.

If you want the quick rundown before you start scrolling through pages of bricks, here's a summary of the best offers running between now and May 6:

• Free gifts with purchase: It's pretty un-Lego-like to drop discounts across its entire catalog. Usually, the best way to get a deal is to buy whatever product comes with the best free gift. The good news for this year is that the company is stacking those free gifts on top of one another. If you buy the new Lego Star Wars The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter, you automatically get a free The Mandalorian and Grogu Display set. If your cart hits $160 in Star Wars merchandise, it will throw in a free The Darksaber build. You can also grab a free The Razor Crest Mini-Build if you spend $40 on select smaller sets.

• Direct discounts: That said, some items are on sale, including the C-3PO, Brick-Built Star Wars Logo, and The Mandalorian Helmet.

• New product drops: As of May 1, Lego Insiders get early access to the brand-new Lego Star Wars The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter. If you aren't an Insider, you'll have to wait for general access on May 4.

• Quadruple the points: You can rack up 4x Insiders points on big-ticket items like the AT-ST Walker, Jabba's Sail Barge, and the TIE Interceptor. The brand is also offering 2x points on dozens of other sets.

• Rewards: If you already have points saved up, you can redeem 1,800 of them for an exclusive The Mandalorian's N-1 Starfighter poster by Joe Hogan. You can also enter sweepstakes to win special items, like a signed N-1 Starfighter set or a Lego Star Wars Bundle and Lego e-Gift Card.

TL;DR: FastestVPN is $29.99 for lifetime access (reg. $360), covering up to 10 devices with strong encryption, fast speeds, and no ongoing fees.

Opens in a new window Credit: FastestVPN FastestVPN: Lifetime Subscription (10 Devices) $29.99
$360 Save $330.01   Get Deal

Between public Wi-Fi, streaming restrictions, and constant tracking, the internet isn’t exactly low-key anymore. A FastestVPN lifetime subscription is currently $29.99 (reg. $360), and it covers up to 10 devices at once.

That’s your laptop, phone, tablet — maybe even your TV or router — protected under one account.

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The basics are what you’d expect: 256-bit encryption, a built-in NAT firewall, and protection against ads and malware. There are also 600+ servers globally, so you can connect from different regions for streaming or just to keep your browsing private.

Speed is a big factor here, too. With optimized servers and modern protocols like WireGuard and OpenVPN, it’s built to handle streaming and downloads without turning everything into a buffering mess.

Now, the main concern: privacy. Many VPNs claim “no logs,” and it’s fair to be skeptical. In this case, FastestVPN has had its no-logs policy independently audited and is fairly transparent about how data is handled, which helps build some trust.

For a one-time $29.99 (reg. $360), this FastestVPN offer is a practical option if you want long-term coverage without ongoing costs.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Connections.

TL;DR: Voibe turns your voice into text instantly on your Mac for a one-time $49.99 (reg. $199).

Opens in a new window Credit: Essence AI Voibe Lifetime Subscription $49.99
$199 Save $149.01   Get Deal

There’s a good chance typing is slowing you down more than you realize. If it seems like your brain moves faster than your fingers, you’re not wrong. Typing is often the bottleneck. That’s the problem Voibe is trying to fix.

Voibe is a voice dictation tool built specifically for Mac that lets you speak naturally and see your words appear instantly — no lag, no waiting, no weird formatting cleanup after. You hold a key, talk, release, and move on.

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The biggest difference here is that everything runs locally on your Mac. It uses OpenAI’s Whisper model but processes your voice directly on your Mac, so your audio never leaves your machine. That’s a privacy win and why it feels so fast. No internet dependency translates to no delays.

It also handles real-world speech surprisingly well. Accents, technical terms, natural phrasing — it’s designed to keep up without forcing you to talk like a robot. And since it works in basically any app where you can type, it fits right into your existing workflow without issue.

Is it for everyone? Not really. If you don’t like speaking your thoughts out loud, it might not click. But if your days involve writing emails, notes, or content, the time savings can be real.

Get lifetime access to Voibe for a one-time $49.99 (reg. $199).

StackSocial prices subject to change.