If you were planning to pick up a Mac mini anytime soon, you might be in for a wait.

Apple has confirmed that its smallest desktop is facing supply issues that could take “several months” to resolve. This is happening as demand continues to run ahead of what the company expected.

The update came during Apple’s Q2 2026 earnings call. There, the company acknowledged that both the Mac mini and Mac Studio are currently struggling to stay available in normal supply-demand balance. In short, Apple is selling them faster than it can keep up.

The Mac mini has always sat in a slightly unusual place in Apple’s lineup. It’s never been the flagship Mac. However, it has quietly built a loyal following among developers, creators, and anyone trying to build compact desktop setups. The latest generation, though, seems to have pushed it into a different category altogether.

Modders shrank a normal Wii motherboard to a fraction of its original size while retaining all functionality, allowing you to play games exactly like the original. Tito from Macho Nacho Productions just posted a detailed look at the Nintendo Kawaii project.

At first glance, you can see how small this thing actually is, measuring only sixty millimeters wide, sixty millimeters tall, and sixteen millimeters thick, but it is still a fully functional gaming console. You can attach it to your keys with a small keychain loop and carry it around with you all day. The outside casing is composed of CNC-machined aluminum, giving it a very smooth finish, and they’ve added some subtle etched artwork and some goofy compliance labels to give it some individuality without clutter. When you turn it on, six soft-glowing RGB LEDs illuminate it from the inside, adding to its charming appearance.

The trick to making it this compact was using an Omega trim, as they began with a Hollywood-2 Wii Mini board and simply chipped away at all of the non-essential pieces until they were down to the bare requirements, yet they still managed to fit all of the functionality in there. The chip relocation job was arguably the most difficult, as they had to shift crucial components to new spots on the tiny board, which took some time. They ended up with two flex boards, one for the video output chip and another for the NAND memory chip. They’ve also created a bespoke power module called Thundervolt that not only gives electricity but also reduces the voltage to the CPU, allowing it to run cool and efficiently; brilliant stuff. They based all of their ideas on open-source designs supplied by the project’s crew.

A small microSD card is used for internal storage, and games are loaded from it using homebrew software. Of course, the trimmed-down board leaves no area for a disc drive. The output options are very standard; composite television, 480p component, and stereo audio all plug into this single connection port. When you pull out the corresponding magnetic dock, you can plug in four GameCube controllers at once. The dock itself connects via pogo pins, so there are no cables dangling everywhere, making for a really nice solution.

Getting games to run on this machine is shockingly simple, as all titles run at full speed, with no software techniques to aid them; the original Nintendo hardware is doing all the heavy lifting. The controllers continue to respond exactly as they did when you had a large, cumbersome console on your television. Of course, because there is no active cooling, it gets a little warm after a while of play; nevertheless, an external fan protruding out the side helps a lot, though it is a bit of a trade-off for the significant size reduction.

This is really useful if you, like me, tend to swap out your Bluetooth trackers between items as you’re using them. If you’ve attached a Pebblebee Clip to your luggage, you can pop it out and put it in your pocket for when you grab dinner by yourself while you’re traveling. Pebblebee works with both Apple Find My and Google Find Hub. If you’re nervous about triggering the siren, you can also grab the Pebblebee Card 5 ($35), which is the same price and doesn’t have the siren.

Tips and Tricks for Finding Your Luggage

Photograph: Adrienne So

I have been losing my luggage since I was four years old, getting sent on planes halfway around the world. Here are a few ways I’ve learned to keep track of my luggage (and how to deal with the disappointment when I inevitably don’t).

Zip your tracker into an interior pocket. You don’t want to just place it loose in your belongings. Maybe it will slide into the middle of your clothes, where the Bluetooth signal will get blocked, or you or a careless TSA employee might accidentally shake it out onto the floor. Some of my favorite carry-on suitcases, like the Peak Design Roller Pro ($600), have AirTag pockets built into the bag, so you don’t have to worry about them falling out.

Label your individual trackers. It’s pretty easy to change the name and emoji of your trackers in Find My or Find Hub, and you should! It’s hard to keep track of which item you’ve lost when you have six AirTags, all labeled “Adrienne’s Luggage.”

Check the battery before you leave. If you’re not traveling often, it’s easy to let your luggage Bluetooth trackers sit unused for months.

What about GPS trackers? GPS trackers use satellites, whereas AirTags and other similar trackers use Bluetooth and a crowdsourced network of compatible devices they can communicate with, such as phones. While you may experience small gaps in coverage with Bluetooth trackers when you’re locating your luggage—for example, your suitcase got loaded onto the cart and isn’t within 30 feet of an iPhone while it’s making its way to baggage claim—you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a lot of devices on the Find My or Find Hub network at an airport to help establish the tracker’s position. GPS trackers usually require a subscription, so I don’t recommend them for luggage tracking if you’ll only use them a few times a year.

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It was love at first sight. It felt like scouring the mall, dipping in and out of sprawling department stores in search of a specific, elusive item, only to finally find what you’re looking for. Only, I didn’t even know I was searching for something like the Xteink X3, because I never dared dream of something so delightful: a tiny, MagSafe-compatible e-ink reader that could attach to my iPhone like a Pop Socket.

This was it. My life would change forever. I would get my hands on the Xteink X3, and I would stop doomscrolling forever. I would read more books than ever before… which is saying something, since – brag – I read at least 50 books a year. But – not a brag – I probably spend even more time on social media than I do reading. I know that I feel generally less anxious when I limit my social media time, but alas, the siren song of TikTok beckons me. What if instead of opening social media, I could just flip my phone over and read on a tiny, Kindle-like e-ink screen? Could this $80 gadget fix me?

I’ve tried reading books (… or downloads from AO3) on my phone, immersing myself in a fictional world, rather than posts from the president in which he threatens to obliterate an entire country. But something about looking at my phone, where I’m constantly tempted to open Instagram to see whatever Reel someone sent me, doesn’t quite soothe me the way that a book or an e-ink device like a Kindle does.

I was so excited for my X3 to arrive that I constantly refreshed the tracking link until finally, it was delivered. Even though I had meticulously compared the dimensions of the X3 to my iPhone 16, or my Pop Socket wallet, I still worried it might not fit – the previous model, the Xteink X4 (basically the same device but a little bigger) only fit on larger phones like the iPhone Pro Max line. But sure enough, the X3 magnetically attached to the back of my phone like it was custom-made to fit.

My X3 came in the mail about two hours before I had to leave to go to a Phillies game, so I rushed to load books onto it, because I thought it would be really funny to take photos in which I read “The Power Broker” in a crowded baseball stadium. Behold, my handiwork:

For the first several days that I had the X3, I carried it with me on the back of my phone. This made me a bit nervous, though, since I’m used to having a Pop Socket wallet, which means I’ve gotten in the habit of leaving home without my actual wallet. But I found that I used the X3 just as much when I carried it in my purse or pocket, rather than attaching it to my phone. I’m still not sure if I’ll keep this setup, or if I’ll start actually using a real wallet so that I can attach the ereader, but for now, that’s what has felt most natural. Plus, my X3 shipped with a very compact, cute, magnetic case, which perfectly protects the device and its screen and makes it a little easier to hold. At just $9 for the case, I’d recommend getting one. The case can also magnetize to your phone, though it feels a bit less secure than attaching your X3 alone.

Over my two weeks of testing, I did find that the X3 helped me read more. If you’re in line at a coffee shop, or waiting for the bus, you can just pull out the ereader instead of opening Instagram. I didn’t find the small screen difficult to read on, either. But just buying the device won’t change your habits – you have to remember that you have a 3.7 inch screen in your pocket that can fit hundreds of books.

The Xteink X3 is pretty close to being the device of my dreams, but it’s not quite there yet. The firmware that the device comes with is pretty clunky – not unusable, but not exactly intuitive. I expected this, since the Xteink Reddit community was buzzing about CrossPoint, a community-made, free, open source firmware. The process of downloading CrossPoint was a bit intimidating as someone who writes words, rather than code – but with the instructions on CrossPoint’s website (and a few videos), it was easy enough. I encountered some difficulties at first, but then I realized it was because I was trying to download the X4 firmware onto my X3, so… my bad. You probably won’t even need the YouTube videos!

When you start loading books and open source firmware onto your X3, you’ll notice another divisive aspect of the device: it doesn’t have a USB-C port, unlike the X4. Instead, it uses a magnetic charger. Yes, it’s annoying to have yet another charging cable specifically for this one device, but I don’t care that much. After two weeks of consistent use, my X3 has dropped from a 100% charge to a 96% charge, so I can’t imagine I’ll be using that magnetic charger too often. You don’t even need the cord to add new books to your ereader – you can transfer files over Wi-Fi from your phone or computer (I wouldn’t call the process user-friendly, but I was able to figure it out without Googling anything).

Speaking of loading books, that’s another drawback. The majority of what I read on my Kindle comes from Libby, which is my favorite app (#notsponsored). The Libby app allows you to easily borrow ebooks or audiobooks from your library and send them to your Kindle. But you can’t get those ebooks (legally) onto an Xteink ereader, since libraries use protected versions of .epub files that deter users from copying them (you also can’t read books you buy from Amazon’s ebook store on non-Amazon devices, because capitalism). This lack of compatibility is a drawback, but it also makes the device feel unique – it’s a “dumb” device that has no apps and no touch screen, which feels startlingly refreshing in an era of AI-enabled refrigerators.

It’s not hard to find interesting .epub files to load onto the X3, even if you can’t access your Kindle library or Libby. A lot of great books are in the public domain, which means that they’re no longer subject to copyright and can be downloaded for free (I’ve weirdly never read “Pride and Prejudice,” so the time is now). A few months ago, I bought the entire .epub catalogs of sci-fi writers Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz as part of a charity fundraiser, which should keep me busy for quite a bit. If you wanted to, you could even turn online articles or blogs into .epubs using a free program like Calibre.

So, did the Xteink X3 fix me? Am I now a newly reformed woman who has a healthy relationship with social media and has read a bunch of classic novels that I never read as an English major, since I mostly took classes with ridiculous titles like “Aestheticus Extremus: The Politics of Precarious Invention in North American Poetry and Poetics”? It’s not that simple. But if you meet the X3 halfway and make a concerted effort to use it, then maybe you’ll spare yourself from a bit more brainrot.

The Apple Watch updates in watchOS 27 includes new watch faces, with Apple testing a new simpler version of the Modular Ultra for the standard model.

In the run-up to WWDC in June, the rumor mill will surface leaks and speculation about Apple’s software changes. One of the more frequent updates to expect is for the Apple Watch, in the form of new faces.

According to Mark Gurman in Sunday’s “Power On” newsletter for Bloomberg, Apple’s update to watchOS 27 will include some watch face changes as usual. Apple is said to be testing multiple new faces for inclusion, but Gurman only discusses one stand-out version.

He writes that Apple is doing a simplified version of the Modular Ultra, the watch face designed for the Apple Watch Ultra. It’s a version that Apple is seemingly trying to rework so it can be used on the smaller face of other Apple Watch models.

The refinements maintain the large clock from the face design, but eliminates the large complication section in the center. It also removes the row of three small complications that appear above the time, and the information that surrounds the bezel.

The change turns into a large clock for the top two thirds of the display. The lower row of three small complications remains under the time, filling out the rest of the design.

The result is a face that is less information-dense but suitable for the standard Series models.

The modular face is not the only one on the way. As part of watchOS 26.5, Apple is bringing out a new Pride Luminance face as part of its annual Pride collection.

Consumer tech has spent the last decade turning the body into a stream of metrics. Heart rate, sleep stages, blood oxygen, recovery, stress, and readiness have all been packaged into dashboards that deliver a clearer picture of your “health”. Now the next frontier may be a little more intimate by moving up to the brain—not literally, thankfully.

Neurable, a Boston company building noninvasive brain-computer interface tech, is moving to a licensing model, which means its EEG-based system could soon show up in a much wider range of consumer gadgets beyond the company’s own headphones. Other brands may be able to build the tech into familiar products such as gaming headsets, smart glasses, hats, helmets, and other hearables. One of the first products expected to feature it is a gaming headset developed in collaboration with HyperX.

The technology isn’t as sci-fi as it sounds

When most people hear “brain tech,” they probably think of Neuralink-style implants or some dramatic form of mind reading. Neurable’s approach is a lot less dramatic. Its system uses electroencephalography, or EEG, which measures electrical activity in the brain through sensors placed on the head. Those signals are then processed through software models designed to estimate things like focus, cognitive strain, mental recovery, readiness, and anxiety.

So rather than decoding thoughts, Neurable is trying to translate broad brain-state signals into consumer-facing scores and prompts that resemble the health insights people already get from smartwatches and fitness bands. That is exactly what the company is betting on—making it feel similar to smartwatches or smart bands like Fitbit.

A headset that claims to monitor concentration or detect mental fatigue can sit much more comfortably next to a wellness device than a lab instrument. Neurable talks about use cases like gaming performance, student focus, workplace fatigue, and recovery from cognitive overload. The language around the product is carefully framed as well. It avoids talk of invasive surveillance and leans instead on self-optimization, routine management, and better day-to-day performance.

Why this could become normal surprisingly fast

The big reason this might stick is the form factor. Consumer neurotech is not arriving as some awkward and medical-looking gadget. The hardware is being tucked into products people already understand and already buy. That is how new categories become socially acceptable. Fitness tracking followed that path on the wrist. Brain-state tracking now seems to be attempting the same move through headphones and other head-worn devices.

This philosophy extends to the experience itself. “Brain readiness” starts sounding a lot like the familiar language of health metrics, not unlike sleep scores or heart-rate variability. Once enough products start promising insights into mental workload, fatigue, or focus, a whole new wearable category starts to open up.

There is promise here, but there are also real questions

There is a genuine consumer appeal here. Plenty of people would want better signals around burnout, stress, or cognitive fatigue if those signals are reliable and useful. From students to gamers, anyone whose day depends more on mental sharpness than physical output could see the appeal. A wearable that helps identify when focus is slipping or when recovery is needed fits neatly into a culture already obsessed with “doing better”.

But trust is where things get slippery. Brain metrics sound authoritative by default, and that can become a problem quickly. Privacy concerns feel much sharper once companies begin collecting data that feels more personal than step counts or sleep trends. Neurable says its practices are privacy-conscious and consent-driven, but those assurances are going to face much tougher scrutiny if the technology spreads across more brands and more product categories.

The darker outcome goes beyond privacy. A system built to track focus and cognitive strain could easily attract companies that want more than wellness insights. It could become a way to monitor whether workers look alert enough, engaged enough, or productive enough, which is exactly how consumer neurotech could slide from self-tracking into workplace surveillance.

The real tension is easy to miss because the packaging is so friendly. A headset that promises better focus sounds useful enough. A market full of products trying to score your mental state every day sounds like something people should probably think a lot harder about before it becomes normal.

Affordable phones are bearing the brunt of supply chain constraints, which is reshaping what you can expect from a $500 phone. While midrange phones in 2026 don’t provide the same value as they used to, the latest phones from Google and Samsung are still competing neck-and-neck. The new Pixel 10A and Galaxy A57 remain the most lucrative midrange phones in the market right now. While they aren’t terribly different from their predecessors, each phone has its own distinct appeal.

The Google Pixel 10A didn’t get a lot of upgrades this year, but it has kept the $499 price of the Pixel 9A and has already gotten the occasional discount. On the other hand, Samsung’s Galaxy A57 is one of the lightest phones in this price range, even with a larger screen. I put them head-to-head, and both phones have their own highlights that could be better for different reasons.

Design and build

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The two Google and Samsung phones are drastically different in terms of design. The Pixel 10A is a small phone with a comparatively compact 6.3-inch screen, whereas the Galaxy A57 is a big phone with a 6.7-inch display. Both are comfortable to hold and use in day-to-day life.

However, the Samsung phone is impressively lightweight this time around. You no longer need to settle for a bulky phone if you want a big screen. At 6.9mm in thickness and 179 grams in weight, the Galaxy A57 is thinner than the smaller Google Pixel 10A (9mm thick and 183 grams in weight).

I liked using the A57 more because of its slimmer bezels, which give it a more modern look. In comparison, Google’s phone looks outdated with its thick borders around the screen. Samsung’s slimmer, albeit asymmetrical, bezels also allow for a more immersive content consumption experience. Both of these displays are visible in direct sunlight, but they’re smudge-prone and highly reflective panels. However, I didn’t have any major issues when navigating on Google Maps outdoors.

Both the Pixel 10A and Galaxy A57 are rated IP68 for dust and water resistance. This means they generally can survive most plunges into shallow water and days at the beach without letting sand inside of them. Google retained the plastic back on its Pixel phone along with an aluminum frame, whereas Samsung gave its device a glass back. The Galaxy A57 is theoretically more durable, thanks to the Gorilla Glass Victus Plus on both the front and back. To compare, the Pixel 10A has a less-scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 7i on the front.

The Google midranger has a unique design, where its dual-camera cover is recessed beneath the plastic back. On the other hand, the Galaxy A57 has three rear cameras, arranged vertically, like the Galaxy S26.

If you’ve ever wished for a phone with no camera bumps, the Pixel 10A is the device to get. However, if you want a more immersive screen in a handy and more premium-feeling design, the Galaxy A57 scores an easy win.

Performance and battery

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Neither phone will deliver flagship-grade performance, but both are powered by capable in-house chips. The Google Pixel 10A has a Tensor G4, paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage, whereas the Galaxy A57 houses an Exynos 1680 processor with the same amount of RAM and storage. However, you can get a 12GB RAM Galaxy A57 variant outside of the US that’s paired up with 256GB or 512GB of storage in some markets.

I used both phones in similar ways: messaging on social apps (WhatsApp, Instagram), navigating on Google Maps, work conversations on Slack and using the cameras when needed. I didn’t face any noticeable stutters or lags on either device. While neither is built for gaming at high graphics settings, the Galaxy A57 is a bit better thanks to its more capable processor.

Both of them lasted me an entire day on a single charge. To compare, the Pixel 10A has a slightly larger battery with a 5,100-mAh capacity (charging at 30 watts), but the Galaxy A57 charges its 5,000-mAh battery faster at 45 watts. The Google phone supports 10-watt wireless charging, while the A57 doesn’t support wireless top-ups.

I’d still say that Google missed out by not including its PixelSnap magnetic technology in the lower-cost 10A after providing it to all of the other Pixel 10 phones. It could’ve been a major selling point, but third-party cases can instead bring support for magnetic accessories to both the 10A and the Galaxy A57.

Both phones run Android 16 with their own versions on top. The Pixel 10A debuted with Pixel UI and Material 3 Expressive, whereas the Galaxy A57 launched with One UI 8.5 onboard. Both devices will give you long-term software support, with Google promising seven years of Android OS updates, while Samsung will give you six years of OS upgrades.

I like One UI better for its customizations and widgets, but the Pixel UI has its own unique capabilities and experience. Both phones support a number of AI features for enhancing photography, including a feature for editing a group photo in case someone is blinking. The Pixel version of this feature is called Auto Best Take, while the Galaxy A57 calls it Best Face. More AI features include AI Eraser to remove unwanted objects from a photo and Gemini for a smart virtual assistant, among others.

The cameras

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The Google Pixel 10A has a dual rear camera setup. It has a 48-megapixel main camera, which is accompanied by a 12-megapixel ultrawide-angle lens. On the other hand, the Galaxy A57 has a 50-megapixel main camera, a 13-megapixel ultrawide-angle lens and a 5-megapixel macro sensor.

However, only two of the three Samsung cameras are usable. In my review period, I relied on 4x zoom in 50-megapixel camera mode to get sharper images with natural-looking bokeh rather than using the macro sensor, which outputs noisy results with poor color reproduction. This puts both the mid-rangers head-to-head in camera performance.

Both phones’ main cameras capture a good amount of detail. You get pixel-binned photos by default, but the Galaxy A57 offers a 50-megapixel camera mode that lets you capture higher-resolution photos. As for the ultrawide sensors, there’s no noticeable color shift, but both exhibit the “fishbowl” effect common to ultrawide cameras.

As for the selfie shooters, you get a 13-megapixel front camera on the Pixel 10A and a 12-megapixel sensor on the Galaxy A57. Both offer satisfactory results.

Google Pixel 10A vs. Samsung Galaxy A57: Specs

The iPhone 17 and iPhone Air fill out the middle of Apple’s current smartphone lineup, as they’re both more expensive than the iPhone 17e but cheaper than the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Of the two, the iPhone Air commands the highest price tag, but it’s actually a worse phone in some ways, with Apple prioritizing its weight and slimness over other specs. In other words, even if money is no object, it might not be the right choice for you.