ShadPS4, the PS4 emulator, has announced ShadNet — a custom server layer built on RPCN that replicates Sony's PlayStation Network backend. This allows users to play PS4 games online without a PSN account. Currently in early testing, only score tracking is functional; full netplay support is still in development. Users need to register an account on the ShadPS4 website to participate.
Nguồn: https://www.xda-developers.com/the-ps4-emulator-shadps4-now-lets-you-play-ps4-games-online-without-using-psn. 8sync News chỉ tóm tắt và dẫn link; bản quyền nội dung thuộc tác giả và nguồn gốc.
Smart plug (Zigbee) giá rẻ (~$15) thay thế smart appliance nhờ ưu điểm tiết kiệm chi phí, tránh lệ thuộc cloud, kéo dài tuổi thọ thiết bị và giảm rác thải điện tử. Chúng theo dõi dòng điện, kích hoạt tự động hóa (Home Assistant) như thông báo kết thúc chu trình, tính toán chi phí năng lượng hay ngắt an toàn mà không cần internet.
Lập trình viên nên đọc bài này để hiểu cách xây dựng hệ thống nhà thông minh tự động hóa hiệu quả bằng cách kết hợp các thiết bị cơ bản với các công cụ mở nguồn như Home Assistant, giảm chi phí và tránh phụ thuộc vào dịch vụ đám mây đắt tiền.
Thread was marketed as the protocol to end smart home fragmentation, but its early architecture created a worse problem: competing isolated mesh networks from Apple, Google, and Amazon that couldn't share credentials or heal across vendor boundaries. Zigbee, by contrast, uses a single hardware coordinator as the sole trust center, making split meshes structurally impossible. Thread also carries heavier IPv6 overhead compared to Zigbee's lightweight packets, hurting battery life on cheap sensors. Thread 1.4.0 (2025) finally mandated open border router syncing, achieving the baseline stability Zigbee had from day one. The takeaway: corporate tribalism and over-engineering delayed Thread's promise, while Zigbee's simpler centralized design proved more robust in practice.
Sonocotta's Louder ESP32 Mini is a compact open-source hardware board designed to retrofit old passive speakers with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. Built around the ESP32-S3 with 8MB PSRAM and a TAS5805M DAC/amplifier, it comes in two sizes (42×42mm and 52×52mm) and replaces the standard speaker terminal cup. It supports multiple firmware options including Squeezelite-ESP32 for Spotify Connect and AirPlay, Snapclient for multi-room audio, and ESPHome for Home Assistant integration. Priced at $15–$20, it's available on Lectronz and Tindie, with schematics and Gerber files published on GitHub.
A Samsung Galaxy user shares four preinstalled apps they always remove: Samsung Browser (replaced by Chrome for cross-device consistency), Samsung Notes (replaced by Google Keep for web accessibility), Samsung TV Plus (unused ad-supported streaming service), and Samsung Global Goals (a charity app they prefer not to use). The author clarifies these aren't truly bloatware — they're decent apps — but cross-platform compatibility with iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Windows PC makes Samsung's ecosystem apps redundant for their workflow.
A personal account of cleaning up an Android Auto home screen down to four essential apps: Spotify for music, Pocket Casts for podcasts, Waze for navigation, and PlugShare for finding EV chargers. Each choice is explained with practical reasons including UI familiarity, cross-platform sync, crowdsourced data, and EV charging needs.
Microsoft is raising Xbox console prices by $100–$150 starting August 1, citing a global storage and memory shortage driven by AI demand. The Xbox Series S will now start at $499.99, up from its original $299 launch price in 2020. Microsoft attributes the increase to component costs rising over 2.5x, with another doubling expected by fall 2027. To offset the impact, Xbox is introducing Buy Now Pay Later options, 0% APR financing for up to 12 months, trade-in programs, and certified refurbished consoles at up to $100 off MSRP.
WPA3-only or WPA2/WPA3 mixed mode on modern routers frequently causes connection failures for smart home devices, which largely still rely on WPA2-only hardware. The mixed mode overwhelms the limited processing power of older IoT devices, leading to handshake failures and intermittent disconnections. The recommended fix is to create a dedicated 2.4GHz WPA2-only SSID for IoT devices while keeping a separate WPA3-only network for modern devices. To harden the less secure WPA2 network, use WPA2-PSK with AES, disable WPS, set a strong password, and disable remote management.
Google's Gemini for Home replaces fast, local smart home automation with a cloud-dependent LLM pipeline that introduces latency, privacy risks, and a $10/month subscription paywall. Key concerns include continuous Nest camera video being semantically parsed and stored in Google's cloud, voice commands routed through external servers adding multi-second delays, and core features being locked behind the Google Home Premium tier. The author argues that a truly smart home should rely on local, deterministic protocols like Zigbee or Matter over LAN rather than cloud-bound AI, and warns that subscribing ties users into a model where stopping payments degrades their existing hardware back to basic functionality.