DietPi is a popular Linux distribution for Raspberry Pi computers and other single-board computers. There's a new major release out this week, though it comes with some bad news for systems that can't be updated to Debian 12 or later versions.

If you are using external drives for backups, archival, or any other infrequent use, you should set up periodic reminders to check them for failures. You should do that right now, before you forget. Seriously. Now.

Following months of rumors and speculation, Apple has revealed the second-generation AirTag trackers. There are some helpful improvements in the new model, but you probably don't need to rush with replacing your existing trackers.

This was another busy week for tech news, including more updates (and bugs) for Windows 11, cheaper plans for YouTube TV, Amazon bricking smart home hardware, and more. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

It's not just you: the task management platform Asana is currently having an outage. It's affecting both the website and mobile apps, at least for some people.

Raspberry Pi is continuing its expansion into hardware accessories and components. In addition to SD cards and SSDs, you can now get an official Raspberry Pi Flash Drive. It's intended to be a boot drive for Pi boards, but you can use it like any other flash drive as well.

Notepad was overhauled with a modern interface and new features alongside Windows 11, and Microsoft has continued updating it. Now, the text editor is getting even more Markdown editing features and a few other changes.

If you can't get Microsoft Teams, Outlook, or other Microsoft apps to work right now, you're not alone. There's an outage that has taken out several Microsoft 365 services, and a fix is in the works.

Raspberry Pi boards have supported USB gadget mode for years, allowing you to connect a Pi to a computer with one cable for power and SSH/desktop access. Now, there's a much easier way to try it out, and it's built into Raspberry Pi OS.

TerraMaster is best known for its network attached storage (NAS) devices, but the company also makes some external storage enclosures. TerraMaster has now revealed the D1 SSD Pro, which turns any NVMe SSD into a super-fast Thunderbolt 5 external drive.

Microsoft's PowerToys software adds many utilities and additional features to Windows, and it just received another major update. PowerToys 0.97 has arrived with a more customizable Command Palette, a new mouse utility, and other improvements.

Unraid is a popular option for building your own NAS system, though it has always had one annoying limitation: you need an external USB drive to boot the operating system. That's finally changing.

There are many desktop Linux distributions, and just as many opinions about which ones are best for beginners, gaming, low-end hardware, or general productivity. It can be all be overwhelming and confusing, so here's my advice: start with Ubuntu or Fedora.