EU Just Slapped ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox With Its Toughest Tech Rules — Here's What It Actually Means

If you've been following the EU's crackdown on Big Tech, add three new names to the list: ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox. On August 31, 2026, the European Commission officially designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE), while Reddit and Roblox got tagged as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This isn't a lawsuit or a fine — it's a regulatory classification, but it's the kind that comes with serious strings attached. All three services crossed the DSA's magic number of 45 million average monthly EU users, which is the trigger threshold for landing in this "top tier" of oversight alongside giants like Google Search, YouTube, TikTok, and Meta's platforms. That brings the EU's VLOP/VLOSE list to 28 services total.

Internet Protocol Journal: IPv6, Internet Geolocation, and the Future of Network Security

If you're interested in networking, Internet protocols, or the technology that keeps the modern Internet running, the latest issue of the Internet Protocol Journal is definitely worth a look. The current edition is Volume 29, Number 2, September 2026, and it focuses on several topics that should be familiar to anyone working with networks today. The issue includes articles on IPv6, Internet geolocation, cybersecurity, and a review of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0.

Server Down? Here's How I Investigated and Fixed it

My Immich server threw a wall of 5xx errors out of nowhere, so I did what any self-hosted homelabber would do: SSH into the box and start digging. First stop was PostgreSQL, since Immich leans on it hard for pretty much everything. Running `docker compose ps` inside `/opt/immich` showed the database container stuck in a crash loop — restarting and dying within seconds, which explained why the rest of the stack looked "healthy" while search and uploads were completely broken.

Tessabyte by Netmantics: A Powerful Network Performance Testing Tool for LAN, Wi-Fi and WAN

Netmantics Tessabyte is worth a look if you need more than a basic internet speed test. Designed for network engineers and IT professionals, Tessabyte provides detailed performance testing for both wired and wireless networks. It measures important metrics such as TCP and UDP throughput, packet loss, jitter and round-trip time, giving you a much better picture of what is actually happening on the network. It was formerly known as TamoSoft Throughput Test before being acquired by Netmantics in 2024. 

Over 5 Million YouTube Views: Thank You for Watching!

Well, this is one of those numbers that makes me stop, stare at the screen, and wonder who has been watching all these videos! The The Technology Firm YouTube channel has officially passed 5 million views. Five million! When I started putting networking and technology videos online, I certainly wasn't sitting around thinking, "One day, five million people might watch me troubleshoot a network." Yet here we are. A huge thank-you goes out to everyone who has watched a video, left a comment, subscribed, shared a video, or simply stopped by when something on the network decided to misbehave.

The YouTube channel has always been a great companion to my technology blog, LoveMyTool.com. The blog gives me a place to go into more detail about networking tools, troubleshooting techniques, Wireshark, network testing, wireless technology, and all the other fun stuff that keeps network engineers from having a normal hobby. The YouTube channel, on the other hand, lets me actually demonstrate many of those techniques. Sometimes seeing a network test, packet capture, radio alignment, or troubleshooting process in action makes a lot more sense than reading three pages about it.

That is really where the two complement each other. A LoveMyTool.com article can explain why something works, provide configuration examples, screenshots, technical details, and additional resources. The YouTube channel can then show how it works in the real world. If you discover one of my videos while searching for a networking problem, there is often a related article on the blog with more information. Likewise, if you find an interesting article on the blog, there may be a video that lets you see the technology being tested rather than just taking my word for it. It's a pretty good combination: read about it, watch it, then go try it yourself.

Passing 5 million YouTube views is also a good reminder of how much the technology community has changed over the years. Networking isn't just about configuring switches and routers anymore. We have faster wireless networks, cloud services, increasingly complicated troubleshooting problems, packet analysis, network monitoring, performance testing, and enough acronyms to keep a technician busy for several lifetimes. I'm still having fun experimenting with all of it and sharing what I learn. And occasionally, something doesn't work the first time — which, conveniently, also makes for pretty good troubleshooting content!

So, thank you for 5 million views, and thank you for continuing to visit LoveMyTool.com and support the blog. The views, comments, questions, suggestions, and feedback are what keep me creating new content. I'll keep testing equipment, breaking things, fixing things, capturing packets, pointing antennas in the right direction, and occasionally wondering why something worked perfectly yesterday. If you're new here, welcome aboard. Check out the blog, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and stick around for the next 5 million views. At this rate, I guess I had better get back to work!