After years of complaints about how little you could customize the Windows Start menu, Microsoft is finally overhauling it in the 26H2 update. In reality, though, they are only catching up to something an open-source app figured out years ago. Meet Flow Launcher, a keyboard-first app launcher that is superior to the current Start menu from all directions.

Most Linux distros you'll find are basically a pile of separate programs—a panel, a compositor, a window manager, and so on—all exchanging information and coordinating their behavior to create a cohesive experience.

I've used PuTTY for years. It's a great program that has lasted this long because it does one thing really well. When I need to connect to another computer over SSH, PuTTY gets the job done without a lot of extra stuff getting in the way. I know how it works, I trust it, and I've never had much reason to replace it.

If you're new to Linux and switching from Windows to Linux, there are some mistakes you want to avoid. Avoiding common beginner mistakes in Linux will put you ahead of the other Linux newbies.

You can buy a small ESP32 microcontroller for a few dollars—less than a Starbucks coffee. When you combine it with a special LoRa radio, you can create a device that can send encrypted text messages between locations without relying on a cellular service, Wi-Fi, or satellite data.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration has awarded a $161 million Strategic Breakthrough contract to Antares, a California nuclear startup, to advance a reactor design meant to power spacecraft. The company describes it as the largest Department of War award to date focused specifically on […]

Most of us put a lot of thought into the big applications we base our workflows around — the video editors, the note-taking apps, the image editors — and almost none into the system-facing apps we use every day. However, those applications make up a huge chunk of our day-to-day experience and deserve more thought than they get. This is especially true right now, as tons of high-quality free and open-source apps have emerged that easily offer a better experience than most of your system defaults. Here are three such FOSS apps to replace your Windows defaults.

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded BlueHalo a contract worth up to nearly $100 million for research and development work under a program called Leveraged Orbital Battlespace Optimization. The five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract runs through August 29, 2031, and came out of a competitive process in which BlueHalo was the only company to submit […]

"That allows them to ... honor those men and women who answered the call not only on that fateful day 25 years ago, but in service," said Stephen Holley.

© The Associated Press

ODNI has been the target of controversial cuts. Now, House lawmakers are considering bipartisan proposals to strengthen the DNI role.

© AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib

Tracking leadership changes across the federal government

© Federal News Network

After a final rule upending the RIF process took full effect, performance will now be the top priority, with seniority and tenure serving as tiebreakers.

© AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Any time I recommend software to a friend, there is always an inevitable question: How much does it cost? The quality isn't necessarily the discerning factor—no one wants to pay for something if it isn't necessary. That makes free, open-source tools very easy to recommend to most people without a moment's hesitation.

Microsoft's PowerToys suite of Windows utilities, which you can download from GitHub or install through the Microsoft Store, has earned a reputation as a tool designed for — and used exclusively by — Windows power users. But the reality is more nuanced.

The former federal executive defined 176 management and policy terms to help ease the onboarding of employees.

© Federal News Network

The DoD’s Warfighter Performance Optimization office is focused on four levels of effort to bring together policy and strategy for all services and agencies.

© Federal News Network

NASA and IBM released an open-source AI model and dataset to help researchers map lunar craters, volcanic features and potential ice locations.

The post NASA and IBM Launch Open AI Model for Lunar Research appeared first on TechRepublic.

NASA and IBM released an open-source AI model and dataset to help researchers map lunar craters, volcanic features and potential ice locations.

The post NASA and IBM Launch Open AI Model for Lunar Research appeared first on TechRepublic.

Got an old Android phone sitting unused in a drawer? By installing an open-source ROM, you can bring it bang up to date and give it a whole new lease of life. That's what I did with my old Motorola phone. Here's how it went.

Federal workforce reductions led to loss of institutional knowledge, creating a need for agency leaders to pivot on employee development strategies, CHCOs say.

© Federal News Network