Apple has been rather busy experimenting with buttons on its iPhones lately. It introduced the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro, and a year later, added Camera Control to the iPhone 16 lineup. But it seems the company is already considering retiring one of those additions, as it prepares something rather special for the […]

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Crusoe, an eight-year-old, Denver-based data center developer recently valued at $30.9 billion, confirmed Friday it has sold an unfinished data center project in southeastern Wyoming to Google.

Google, which Crusoe had tried and failed to land as a customer for the project, is taking over the development after reportedly raising concerns about its cost and construction timeline under Crusoe’s management.

Crusoe initially announced the project last year with Blackstone-backed infrastructure company Tallgrass, planning to eventually scale it to 10 gigawatts of power capacity.

Google did not disclose how much it paid Crusoe for the unfinished project, bu it announced  plans to invest $17 billion to develop the data center campus.

The deal highlights how difficult it can be for independent data center developers to deliver massive projects on time and within budget, given the challenges of securing equipment and power. Growing opposition from local communities can further complicate development.

Despite taking over the Wyoming facility, Google hasn’t walked away from working with Crusoe entirely. Crusoe is developing another data center for Google near Amarillo, Texas.

The deal to sell the site to Google was first reported by Bloomberg in June, but the Wyoming setback didn’t stop Crusoe from raising a $3.9 billion round in September.

Crusoe makes money by leasing data center space to customers that bring their own GPUs, by renting out its own GPUs, and by selling compute power used to run AI models, known as inference.

Crusoe’s largest projects serve some of the biggest names in AI. Its campus in Abilene, Texas, is being built in phases for Oracle and OpenAI, and the company is also constructing a separate 900-megawatt campus next door for Microsoft, with its first building expected to come online in mid-2027. Meta is also a customer, and Bloomberg reported that the trading firm Jane Street signed a $13 billion, five-year cloud deal with Crusoe.

Crusoe was founded by Chase Lochmiller, now its CEO, and Cully Cavness, who started it as a cryptocurrency-mining business powered by natural gas that would otherwise have been burned off. In September, alongside its $3.9 billion funding round, the company added three board members, including JB Straubel, the Redwood Materials founder and Tesla board member who invested in Crusoe in 2021. Crusoe later became the first customer of Straubel’s energy-storage business.

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Marina Temkin is a venture capital and startups reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she wrote about VC for PitchBook and Venture Capital Journal. Earlier in her career, Marina was a financial analyst and earned a CFA charterholder designation.

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Tesla will stop making the Cybertruck in 2027

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Gentle Monster shared that its “Intelligent Eyewear” will be available to pre-order on November 12.

Gentle Monster has announced its version of Google's Android XR smart glasses will launch in December, and its website says pre-orders open on November 12, the same date Warby Parker appeared to accidentally share on Thursday. Both eyewear brands, along with Samsung, are Google's partners on the project, which is set up to be both a competitor to Meta's smart glasses and a revival (of a sort) of Google Glass. Google itself has yet to confirm either date.

The Korean brand paired its announcement with a teaser of a short film directed by Jonathan Glazer, best known for Under the Skin and The Zone of Interest, and starring Joaquin Phoenix, who famously played a man who falls in love with an AI in Her. Gentle Monster says a full version of the short will be available in mid-November. The teaser suggests it'll skew much more toward experimental film than a straightforward commercial.

Gentle Monster's first Intelligent Eyewear collection ⠀ Joaquin Phoenix stars in a short film directed by Jonathan Glazer—a cinematic journey between reality and dream. Full film releasing mid-November. ⠀ The collection launches this December. ⠀ Register for the collection... pic.twitter.com/UBv6pdHWSW

— GENTLE MONSTER (@_GentleMonster_) November 6, 2026

Google's Android XR platform is designed to power everything from the mixed reality experience on the Samsung Galaxy XR to the augmented reality one offered on the Xreal Aura. Gentle Monster and Warby Parker's glasses will provide a display-free, audio-first version of the operating system, but should offer similar access to Gemini.

It's not clear how this "Intelligent Eyewear," as Google and its partners call it, will go over, but Google seems to be hoping Meta's strategy of packaging tech in a desirable brand will help counter any backlash. With both Warby Parker and Gentle Monster's launches on the calendar, we won't have long to wait to see if it works.

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The new 4:3 inner screen doesn't play nicely with every app, but here's some that work so far.

Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, may have come last to the foldable party, as CNET’s review noted, but it’s certainly not least. Senior reporter Abrar Al-Heeti praised it for the iOS 27 integration across both displays and its impressive durability, which has crossed 300,000 folds in our test and counting.

However, as the Duo has filtered down to the general public, some new owners have noted that some of their favorite apps aren’t well optimized for the larger 4:3 inner display. I noticed this myself when I opened the iPhone Duo and launched Discord, finding the app centered on the screen with black space on both sides, rather than expanding to fill the panel.

That’s not unusual for a phone with a brand-new hardware design, and we’ve seen it on many Android foldables, with optimized apps taking a little bit of time to roll out. Apple has confirmed that this is already changing, with over 100,000 apps built for the iPhone Duo to more fully take advantage of the 4:3 main screen.

“Today, there are well over 100,000 apps built for iPhone Duo already live on the App Store, and thousands of optimized apps are being added to the store each day,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations in a comment sent to CNET.

“In the last month alone, thousands of developers have joined us for workshops in 19 cities around the world to experience iPhone Duo firsthand and bring updated apps to their users,” Prescott said. “The enthusiasm has been incredible, and we’re excited to see the pace of updates continue to accelerate as more and more apps optimize for iPhone Duo.”

Among the apps, Microsoft Word and Outlook have been adjusted to look similar to their desktop versions, while Zoom uses the inner display as a bigger video conference room. Additionally, the company has confirmed that sports fans can use the NBA and NHL apps to follow live games and highlights on the larger screen.

Etsy and LTK Creator will also show more products in the feed, and productivity apps like Goodnotes and Extra will make more use of the additional screen real estate. There’s also Halide Mark III, a pro camera app that adapts to every pose, from a viewfinder on the cover screen when closed to a waist-level viewfinder with one tap when half open.

The iOS 27.2 update should also add support for Apple Pencil (USB-C), letting Duo users in various compatible apps, like Apple Notes, work directly on documents.

Apple shared a list of apps that have been recently optimized for the iPhone Duo, breaking them down into categories like Work, AI, Finances, News and more.

This isn’t an exclusive list by any means. CNET previously confirmed seven iPhone Duo-ready apps that make the most of Apple’s foldable screen: Netflix, NYT Cooking, Fantastical, Edits by Instagram, TikTok, Instagram and Toastie.

Apple fans have put together their own “does it work on iPhone Duo?” web tracker, giving you a sense of whether an app is fully optimized, partially fits or is still awaiting updates. I can confirm that Discord is currently listed as “partially fits,” meaning it uses most of the inner screen but not all of it, which tracks with my own experience with the letterboxing.

We expect that this is only the beginning, and we’ll see the list above expand in the coming weeks as updated apps are submitted to the App Store. Going forward, you should also see spotlights for iPhone Duo apps in categories like “Great Apps and Games” and “Popular Apps.” Apple is making it easier to identify apps compatible with the iPhone Duo by adding a Made for iPhone Duo badge to product pages.

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The AI data centre developer is handing over the site a day after Google pledged $17B there.

Google has bought Crusoe’s data centre site in southeast Wyoming and will build the project itself, after pledging $17B there. Bloomberg had reported Crusoe was pushed aside after failing to sign customers. Terms were not disclosed.

Google has bought Crusoe’s data centre site in southeast Wyoming and will build the project itself, Crusoe said on Friday. Neither company disclosed the terms.

The deal comes a day after Google said it would spend $17B on its first Wyoming data centre, in Laramie County. It ends Crusoe’s early work on the site, which included choosing the location, winning government approvals and planning its power supply.

Crusoe announced the project with Blackstone-backed Tallgrass Energy in July 2025, saying it could eventually grow to 10 GW. In June, Crusoe was being pushed aside after failing to sign customers, with Google raising concerns about costs and timing, Bloomberg reported.

Crusoe said it still has more than 6 GW of capacity under contract and over 40 GW in its pipeline. It is also building a data centre campus for Google near Amarillo, Texas, and raised $3.9B at a $30.9B valuation in September. Elsewhere it has landed customers, including deals with Meta in June and a reported $13B contract with Jane Street.

Developers face a tougher climate. Several new governors elected this week have promised to rein in data centres, Bloomberg said, and voters rejected data centres in 40 of 41 local ballot measures.

Alina Maria Stan builds connections that people actually feel. As co-founder and COO of Tekpon, she turns product intuition into real moment (show all) Alina Maria Stan builds connections that people actually feel. As co-founder and COO of Tekpon, she turns product intuition into real moments of discovery, shaping how teams find and adopt SaaS every day. Since 2020, she has led Tekpon’s brand voice, media strategy, and growth plays with a clear focus on human outcomes behind every metric. Before Tekpon, Alina followed curiosity across industries and countries. She was CEO of King Casino Bonus and led affiliate and brand strategy at Extremoo Media and Fable Media in Denmark, where she learned how to build partnerships that last. Early on, she sharpened her CRM and pricing instincts at K.H. ApS, always asking why customers choose what they choose. Her approach is rooted in more than a decade of international experience and two master’s degrees, one in Sustainable Consumption from the Technical University of Munich and one in Consumer Affairs Management from Aarhus University.

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OpenAI has reportedly raised $11 billion so far in a new funding round that values the AI lab at $1.25 trillion.

Bloomberg reported on the new funding on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The $11 billion is part of a larger funding round that hasn’t closed yet, according to the outlet. The round is expected to close in the coming weeks and could total about $20 billion, a source told Bloomberg.

In late September, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI was looking to raise $30 billion in the upcoming round. The current figures fall well short of that target.

TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI for comment and will update this story if it responds.

The news comes only hours after Bloomberg also reported that potential buyers of shares in the IPO of OpenAI’s chief competitor, Anthropic, are eyeing a substantially lower valuation than Anthropic had targeted. Bloomberg writes that some potential buyers believe Anthropic’s valuation could be as low as $1.1 trillion, compared with the $2 trillion that investors were said to be expecting roughly a month ago.

OpenAI previously intimated that it would go public this year but subsequently delayed its plans. There are expectations that the company will IPO next year at some point.

The market for AI hangs in a particularly precarious place. The Democratic landslide in the U.S. midterms — and overwhelmingly negative voter sentiment around data centers — has caused jitters throughout the market, with many anticipating potential regulatory challenges in the future.

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No Hannity on your home screen, at least for now.

Days after American voters soundly rejected the narratives sold by the Fox Corporation's "news" division, the company has expanded its digital empire. It's now officially the owner of Roku, in a $22 billion deal announced in June. The five-month turnaround is unusually short for a merger of this size, but the Trump Justice Department cleared it nonetheless following a review.

Roku reaches over 100 million households globally, serving as a gateway to streaming platforms like Netflix, YouTube TV and Disney+. It also sells ads and subscription bundles, while owning another streaming service, Tubi. Ironically, Fox sold its Roku shares in 2020 to help fund its Tubi acquisition.

The closure follows reports that Fox News' viewership dropped 27 percent year over year in October. By comparison, CNN's viewership grew by 3 percent and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) rose by 16 percent. However, Fox News' viewership is still higher than CNN and MS NOW's combined.

Roku founder Anthony Wood will join Fox's board. He'll co-lead Fox Digital Platforms, a new division overseeing Roku, Tubi, Fox One and other digital brands.

What this means for Roku owners isn't yet clear. But given the media empire's inclination toward right-wing politics, it's hard to imagine the company passing up the opportunity to deploy Roku as another megaphone. For what it's worth, Fox says Roku will remain an "open platform" for every content partner. However, the worry is less about what services the company removes and more about what gets promoted on the home screen.

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Making great video content does not always call for a camera crew or overtly expensive gear. Here is how we used Wondershare Filmora 16 and smart automation to turn casual phone snaps into a finished, dynamic video clip in minutes.

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It’s the exact path, not the apparent severity that matters most, doctors say.

A man in his 20s showed up to a UK hospital with the hilt of a knife sticking out of his face. The 15 mm-wide blade hidden within went completely through his right eye and through his brain, with the tip of the blade hitting the top of his skull.

Despite the ghastly injury, the man was alive and conscious when he arrived. He could still talk and move all four limbs. His doctors described him as being in a state of agitation. On the Glasgow Coma Scale, he scored a 12 (E3 V4 M5), indicating a “moderate” brain injury, just one point above “mild.” He could open his left eye when told, but otherwise kept it closed (E3 score); he could talk and answer questions, but was confused (V4); and he intentionally moved away when pressure was applied to his body (M5).

In a report published Friday in BMJ Case Report, his doctors said they were concerned that in his confused, agitated state he may try to pull the knife out on his own. So, they swiftly sedated and intubated him. They put him on prophylactic treatments for bacterial infections, including tetanus. Then they used images to see what was going on in his head.

The blade was entirely through the right eye socket and eyeball. It traversed the left frontal and temporal lobes of his brain, passing through in front of—and without apparently injuring—the corpus callosum, which connects the two sides of the brain and is full of nerve fibers. The blade also missed the left internal capsule, which holds another bundle of nerve fibers.

In terms of damage to major blood vessels, doctors found that the blade was close to the left internal carotid artery, a major blood vessel, but didn’t seem to have damaged it. Doctors did find, however, that a branch of the middle cerebral artery looked to be indented by the knife.

After consulting with various medical specialties, the man’s doctors moved to emergency neurosurgery. They opted to remove part of his skull to directly see into the brain, but used a conservative “pull-and-see” method to slide the blade out rather than invasively excavate it. After it was out, the doctors saw no signs of significant hemorrhaging. The brain wound was cleaned and drained before surgeons patched up his skull. His right eye, however, couldn’t be saved. Given its extensive damage, it was removed.

The man then moved to intensive care, where he recovered rapidly. A day after surgery, doctors were able to remove his breathing tube. He developed some minor right-side weakness, but it resolved two days later. Scans of his brain showed steady improvement—a little bleeding and swelling, and there was some air in his brain tissue from where the knife had been. But otherwise, it appeared to be healing. He developed no infections and had no seizures.

Despite the “dramatic intracranial trajectory,” his language function was preserved, and he had no loss of movement or coordination, they reported. He was discharged from the hospital and at follow-up appointments remained “neurologically well,” with ongoing eye and mental health care.

As for how the injury happened, his doctors still don’t know. “The mechanism is unclear,” they wrote. However, they noted he had a history of depression.

The doctors reflected on how lucky the man was to have survived and to have such a full recovery. Such injuries that go through the eye and the brain are rare. When they do occur, they’re usually from “high-velocity mechanisms” such as gunshots or other ballistic injuries. Knives, rods, and nails fit into the rarer “low-velocity mechanisms. “Such “low-velocity penetrating brain injuries carry substantial morbidity and mortality because of hemorrhage, vascular injury, abscess, meningitis, cerebrospinal fluid leak, seizures and neurological deficit,” they wrote.

But such fortunate recoveries aren’t unheard of; they cited reports of other remarkably unexpected recoveries from seemingly devastating brain injuries. That includes the famous case of Phineas Gage, a railroad foreman who survived an 1848 accident that sent a large iron rod directly through his head. The rod entered below his left cheekbone and exited the top of his skull. (Although he survived and recovered, Gage’s personality was said to have changed after the accident. The doctors in the knife-wound case did not mention any such personality changes.)

“Echoing classic and contemporary examples of severe frontal lobe penetration with unexpectedly preserved neurological function, including Phineas Gage and a reported nail-gun injury, this case highlights that outcome may depend less on external severity than on precise trajectory relative to critical vascular, cortical and subcortical structures,” the doctors concluded.

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Meta’s answer to vibe coding doesn’t ask you to code, or even leave the app. All you have to do is describe the idea to Muse, and it will build it as a custom space. Think of it as an app within an app.

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The bloc said the platform needs to change how the For You page works to help protect users’ mental health.

The European Commission has accused TikTok of breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) over the potentially harmful effects of the recommendation system it uses on the For You page. The European Union's regulatory arm said the personalized nature of the algorithm means that the more a user interacts with a certain kind of content, the more they see similar videos.

"This design can be harmful when such endless and repeated exposure involves, for example, content about sadness, isolation or body image," the Commission said. "These 'rabbit holes' can have a detrimental impact on users' mental health, especially that of vulnerable adults and minors."

In its preliminary findings, the regulator said TikTok didn't do enough to assess how the algorithm could draw users into these rabbit holes and put their wellbeing at risk. Nor did it put sufficient measures in place to mitigate those risks, the Commission said, noting that when a user taps the "not interested" button on a video, that "may not be enough to change the content feed."

It said TikTok has to change the design of the For You page, and that it should "rely more on users' explicit preferences, disable viewing time as an indicator to recommend content, increase the accessibility and usability of user controls, and regularly test its algorithm." If TikTok doesn't sufficiently resolve the matter in the Commission's eyes and the EU confirms the findings, parent company ByteDance could be on the hook for a fine of as much as six percent of its annual global revenue.

TikTok has refuted the claims. "The Commission has made a series of statements that are fundamentally inaccurate and distort our platform's architecture and our commitment to user safety," it ​said in a statement to Reuters. "We have a strong record of protecting our community while giving users direct and intuitive ​control over their content experience."

The preliminary findings were issued as part of a larger EU investigation into TikTok that began in early 2024. In February, the bloc said TikTok breached the DSA because of the app's "addictive design." Officials also took TikTok to task in July, claiming it failed to protect the privacy of minors' accounts.

Regulators around the world have placed social media companies under closer scrutiny in recent years, particularly over the impact their platforms have on children. This week, Google, Meta and TikTok sued California over a law that bans social media companies from allowing users under 16 to access potentially "addictive features."

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Tesla says it will wind down its most notorious model at Gigafactory Texas to make room for its self-driving Cybercab.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the end of the brand’s most ostentatious model, the Cybertruck, in a post on X late Thursday night. Tesla will begin winding down production of the wedge-shaped pickup at its Texas Gigafactory “around the middle of next year,” Musk said, to boost manufacturing capacity for its Cybercab robotaxi.

Tesla will be winding down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year to make room for increased Cybercab production

The Cybertruck will not be missed by many. Sales have been so low that Tesla doesn’t even separate them out in its financials — lumping it into an “Other models” column — with experts estimating numbers significantly lower than Tesla’s built-out manufacturing capacity and far below Musk’s sales goals. Meanwhile, Tesla and Musk have increasingly shifted their focus to AI, robotics and autonomy as the brand’s future.

Tesla unveiled the edgy, all-electric pickup truck at an event in 2019, and the cracks were already beginning to show in many of Musk’s most outlandish claims surrounding the truck. (In the case of the “bulletproof” glass, the cracks literally showed.)

After multiple delays, deliveries finally began in 2023. Musk had spent the intervening four years baffling people by making (and subsequently retracting) many truly bizarre statements about the EV’s capabilities, but the first nail in the Cybertruck’s coffin was the starting price, which had ballooned to $60,990, up from the initial $40,000 target touted at debut.

Over its lifetime, the Cybertruck struggled to meet even the most basic expectations, contending with reliability issues, multiple recalls and a penchant for eating its owners’ fingers. It didn’t help that the sci-fi-styled EV arrived around the same time Musk became deeply involved in US politics and policy, and has become known as something of a rolling dog whistle for those who agree with the billionaire’s increasingly unpopular ideologies.

Customers were presented with a niche EV that was more expensive than expected, unsafe, unreliable, unpopular and unattractive. It’s no surprise that sales have suffered, with some experts predicting that since its arrival on US roads, Tesla has sold only about 10% of Musk’s Cybertruck goals. That’s despite Tesla building out an estimated 125,000-unit annual manufacturing capacity at the Texas Gigafactory where the truck is built, leaving the automaker with a huge stock of unsold, unwanted inventory sitting on its lots. One of Musk’s other companies, SpaceX, bought $131 million worth of Cybertrucks last year.

The Cybertruck’s 2027 wind-down will make way for increased capacity for the fully autonomous Cybercab, which debuted in 2024 and is slated to ramp up production in Texas next year. Pitched as a robotaxi that you could own for “under $30,000,” Tesla began offering rides in its steering-wheel-free Cybercab in limited parts of Austin in early September — a stunt that immediately prompted a federal investigation into whether the self-driving vehicle meets federal safety standards.

The Cybertruck joins the Model S and X on Tesla’s 2026 chopping block. The electric sedan and SUV were discontinued in January to make room for production of the Optimus humanoid robot at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California. That will leave just the Model 3 and Model Y in Tesla’s consumer car lineup until the brand’s next rolling publicity stunt, the high-flying Tesla Roadster, allegedly arrives in 2028.

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Android’s Find Hub will now buzz your phone when you walk away from a tracker you forgot, similar to what Apple has done for years.

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The rented servers ran older Nvidia chips, and Microsoft is rethinking billions in outside cloud deals.

The Microsoft logo on the side of one of its office buildings.

Microsoft is winding down a 2023 deal to rent AI computing from Oracle after declining to renew it, Bloomberg reports. The servers ran older Nvidia chips. Microsoft is reassessing more than $80B in contracts with outside cloud providers.

Microsoft is winding down a deal to rent AI computing power from Oracle, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Microsoft has been switching off the rented capacity in recent months after deciding not to renew the contract.

The servers ran older Nvidia chips and no longer matched what Microsoft needed, the people said. Ageing hardware is a growing worry: Gartner has warned that much AI infrastructure spending could face large write-downs as newer chips arrive.

The deal, announced in 2023, gave Microsoft Oracle servers to run its AI-powered Bing search, and Bloomberg could not determine its full size. Separate talks for Microsoft to lease more Oracle capacity collapsed in June, Business Insider reported.

Microsoft declined to comment. Oracle said demand for its AI infrastructure remains strong, including for older chips, and its shares fell about 3%.

Microsoft has committed more than $80B to rent capacity from other cloud firms such as CoreWeave, Nscale and Nebius. Its leaders have grown frustrated with their costs and delays, Bloomberg said. This week, it reportedly turned down an option to expand a Nscale deal in Texas, weeks after pulling out of a Nscale site in the UK.

The news adds to Oracle’s troubles. Heavy spending on AI data centres has pushed its free cash flow negative and its credit rating to one notch above junk. Its shares have more than halved since a June peak.

With expertise in digital marketing, product management, and branding & identity, Ana Maria Constantin develops strategies that resonate (show all) With expertise in digital marketing, product management, and branding & identity, Ana Maria Constantin develops strategies that resonate with our target audience in the software/SaaS industry. Collaboration and teamwork are paramount to her, as she loves empowering her colleagues to achieve outstanding results and unlock their full potential.

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The latest Alexa for shopping feature is initially available by invite in the US.

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Amazon's latest Alexa for Shopping feature allows you to text the AI agent with your shopping requests. It's available to select customers in the US now ahead of a wider rollout in the coming weeks.

You could already dump your grocery shopping list onto Alexa within the Alexa Shopping app or online, but Amazon says the new texting option is the most convenient solution yet. You can request a weekly grocery order, search for a gift or tell the AI that you need a quick re-order of something you're running low on.

As well as text prompts, Alexa will also respond to photo attachments, scanning the store for matches. It will message back with suggestions and can add any approved items to your cart before completing the order for you. Amazon says that the AI will provide more useful recommendations over time, as it learns your various shopping habits and tastes.

You can also text Alexa about products you'd be interested in when they go on sale, setting up alerts for later on, as well as the pricing history of something for up to a full year. You can text to find out the status of an upcoming delivery, and any requests carry over to the Amazon Shopping app and the website, if you want to do more research.

To be among the first people to test the new feature, Amazon is inviting sign-ups here. You'll need to link your phone number, and if accepted you'll see "Alexa Shopping" in your contacts.

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The early iPhone Duo reviews were a bit hard on Apple’s new foldable for the lack of Duo-optimized apps available at the time of launch. But Apple says things are changing quickly on the software front. The company on Friday announced there are now over 100,000 apps built for the Duo live on the App Store, and it’s seeing thousands more being added to the store every day.

The news was timed alongside the release of over a dozen more notable Duo-ready apps, including Microsoft Word and Outlook, Zoom, sports apps from the NBA and NHL, shopping apps like Etsy and LTK, productivity apps like Goodnotes and Extra, the Halide Mark III camera app, and others. These join the iPhone Duo-optimized apps that were already available, like Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Non-optimized apps are definitely less than ideal, as they come with a black bar on the side of the screen, which takes up valuable space. Sometimes, they hide important functions under an overflow menu.

Apple’s data seems to suggest that at least some iOS developers may have needed extra time to get their apps ready for its latest form factor. The company said that more than 2,000 app developers attended its over 50 in-person workshops that were hosted across 19 cities worldwide. Here, the developers could use the Duo and work on their apps with Apple’s support.

The Duo has also proven to be more popular than perhaps Apple had planned for, given its high price point. (It starts at $1,999 for the 256GB model.) The device quickly sold out within hours of orders opening up, and now, Duo ship times have shifted into the next year. On its earnings call this week, Apple said it’s “hard to predict” when the Duo constraints leading to those delays will improve.

“It’s been wonderful to see how quickly developers have embraced iPhone Duo, and we’re grateful for their creativity and innovation,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations, in a statement referring to the 100,000-app milestone. “The enthusiasm has been incredible, and we’re excited to see the pace of updates continue to accelerate as more and more apps optimize for iPhone Duo,” she added.

Other notable apps that have been updated for iOS 27 and optimized for the iPhone Duo include the following: Spotify, CBS, Tubi, BBC iPlayer (U.K.), Yahoo Fantasy Sports, Sportsnet (Canada), Facebook Messenger, Google Chat, ChatGPT, Grok Bot, Microsoft Copilot, Excel, PowerPoint, SAP Concur, monday.com, PDF Expert, Documents, iA Writer, Substack, The Washington Post, Yahoo News, FOX News, Kalshi, Yahoo Finance, Canva, Suno, Tinder, Google Translate, Strava, Alma, Withings, MyFitnessPal, Bevel, Transit, Citi Bike, ParkMobile, Viator, Tesla Robotaxi, Priceline, Kroger, Domino’s, Taco Bell, Untappd, The Weather Channel, FOX Weather, and RainViewer.

Not all these updates have yet to fully roll out, we should note.

Spotify, for instance, is still showing the black bar on the side, and the App Store doesn’t yet say an update is available on our review unit of the Duo. However, given that this list comes directly from Apple, we expect to see these updates soon.

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Iran threatened to attack subsea cables if US escalates military strikes again.

Several tanker ships linked to Iran have been loitering over subsea Internet cables in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz—a possible indication that the Iranian government is preparing to attack such undersea infrastructure in response to any renewed US and Israeli strikes.

The movements of three sanctioned tankers and an Iranian fishing boat have been tracked near major undersea cables by the maritime intelligence firm Windward in October, according to the Financial Times. Six active cables currently cross through the contested Strait of Hormuz, linking the Middle East to Europe, Africa and Asia, with two more cables having segments under construction in the region.

Four countries, including Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, depend entirely upon such subsea telecommunications connections running through the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint to link with the outside world. But other countries also depend heavily on the region’s undersea cable network—one third of India’s westbound Internet traffic goes through the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.

One cable under construction, the 2Africa cable, is owned by a tech consortium that includes the US company Meta. That was one of the major cable corridors visited by the drifting Iran-linked ships.

Windward used both ship-tracking data and satellite images to track the vessels as they slowed down and looped around near multiple cables, with some ships then “going dark” by switching off their automatic identification system (AIS) transponders that normally broadcast their location and other information.

Such movement and behavioral patterns suggest the Iran-linked ships may be “mapping the cable routes, or placing charges or mines on them while dark,” Windward told the Financial Times.

Windward highlighted the examples of two sanctioned tankers linked to Iran that spent days drifting “directly over regional cable corridors… both with no commercial reason to stop” in a blog post on October 26. Both ships carried no commercial cargo.

Since the US and Israel first launched a major war with Iran in February 2026, Iran’s response beyond targeting US military bases, ships and aircraft has included attacking commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and hitting oil refineries and other energy infrastructure along with airports in various Gulf countries.

Iran has also made a point of threatening or attacking US Big Tech infrastructure in the Middle East, including launching multiple drone strikes on Amazon data centers. In May 2026, a spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed Iran would “impose fees on Internet cables” belonging to US tech companies and other owners.

But more recently, multiple Iranian officials and commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have warned that they could directly attack the undersea cables running through the Strait of Hormuz. This came after President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to renew major US military strikes on Iran and warned he could “annihilate” the country during a speech at the United Nations in New York on September 22.

“Seven major cables run through the Strait of Hormuz, supporting global Internet operations and commercial data transmission,” one IRGC spokesperson said on October 20. “We remind the enemy of this.”

The latest phase of the war has involved more limited US military strikes against Iranian targets, even as Trump has alternated between threats and touting the possibility of a diplomatic breakthrough. Meanwhile, Iran has increased drone strikes and other attacks on commercial ships to exert its own pressure on the United States, with October marking the highest number of ship attacks since the war began.

Much damage has already been done. The limited fleet of cable-laying ships used for installation and repair has not been able to venture safely into the region since the war began, which forced the Meta-backed 2Africa cable to pause its planned expansion. The war has also compelled US tech companies and Gulf countries to accelerate efforts to develop alternative cable routes bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

The Middle East is not the only part of the world where threats to the Internet’s undersea backbone have intensified. Subsea infrastructure is increasingly at risk from sabotage and gray-zone warfare from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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A dash cam can record an entire journey and still miss the detail that matters. Wolfbox's K9 Pro takes on the challenges of nighttime driving with full-color cabin vision, clearer in-car audio and dedicated license-plate enhancement.

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CEO Sam Altman said recently that OpenAI is prioritizing safety instead of going ‘guns blazing’ toward an IPO.

CEO Sam Altman said recently that OpenAI is prioritizing safety instead of going ‘guns blazing’ toward an IPO.

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OpenAI is now valued at $1.25 trillion in a new round of funding that has raised another $11 billion, according to Bloomberg. That would make it one of the world’s most valuable companies, not long after raising $122 billion from investors in March at a valuation of $852 billion.

Echoing FT and Wall Street Journal reports from last week, Bloomberg says OpenAI is still pursuing additional investments that could increase the amount to $20 billion, and that it had initially hoped to raise as much as $30 billion at a higher valuation of $1.4 trillion. That was before tech stocks dropped, and the results of the midterms showed how much public opinion has turned against AI companies and data center projects.

OpenAI’s rival Anthropic filed its S-1 to go public last week. Earlier this year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said it’s holding off on its own IPO until it can make more confident claims about its models’ safety. He didn’t give a specific timeline for the IPO, but said at the time, “I think it’s also kind of bad for the world if OpenAI waits too long to go public.”

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The unit is tasked with ensuring that the technology is not “manipulated by bad actors at home or abroad.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) just announced the creation of something called the Super Intelligence Task Force, also called the DOJ-SITF. The unit is tasked with making sure that US-based artificial intelligence technology isn't compromised by "foreign state and state-sponsored actors, transnational criminal organizations and individual or corporate actors engaged in fraud."

It's being led by Stanley Woodward and Stephen Weiss, two people who report to Attorney General Todd Blanche. I bring Blanche up because he has been accused of fraud on several occasions, once via a crypto scheme, and now he's involved with an agency that will investigate it in the AI sector.

"SI development will continue to be powered by American innovators," Blanche said in a press release announcing the unit. "The SI Task Force at the Department of Justice will facilitate our partnership with SI Force Chair Jay Clayton as we ensure critical SI technologies serve the American people and are not manipulated by bad actors at home or abroad."

DOJ LAUNCHES SUPER INTELLIGENCE TASK FORCE ⬇️@POTUS Trump has made clear that "America stands at the forefront of a new technological revolution in intelligence," and the Department will be a leader in safeguarding against malicious SI actors.

"The SI Task Force at the... pic.twitter.com/u0aW2eXcLS

— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) November 5, 2026

That brings us to the renamed elephant in the room. The administration is still running full-steam ahead with this whole "super intelligence" thing. This seemed ridiculous several weeks ago when President Trump first coined the term, being as how the entire world had been calling it artificial intelligence for years and years.

Trump has since said he is banning the term "artificial intelligence" after becoming angry when The Wall Street Journal didn't immediately adopt his preferred nomenclature. Most publications have refused to jump on board here, primarily because it's needless and confusing. The rest of the world calls it AI so why muck things up?

That leads us to our beloved tech CEOs. These people have proven they will happily bow to Trump to protect their business interests. Google has followed the president down the Lake America and Gulf of America rabbit holes. Former Apple CEO Tim Cook gave him a fancy gold statue for no real reason. Meta almost immediately ended all DEI initiatives when he was elected and abandoned third-party fact-checking. All of these companies also donated a ton of money to that ballroom we all so desperately want.

But will they continue to do whatever he asks, no matter how ridiculous, after the midterms? Will they use the term SI? That remains to be seen. These poor billionaires and their companies are in something of a pickle right now. They still need Trump to continue racking up massive government contracts.

However, newly-elected Democrat majorities are likely to start investigations into what these companies were up to throughout the past two years. Cozying up to the president right now could be a bad look.

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Samsung has finally started selling its Galaxy Buds On and Galaxy SmartTag 3 in the US. The clip-on earbuds are priced at $229.99, while the SmartTag 3 costs $29.99 individually or $99.99 for a four-pack. Both accessories were announced earlier, though Samsung had only confirmed November 6 availability for the earbuds. As for the SmartTag […]

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Tesla will end production of the Cybertruck at its Texas Gigafactory next year.

It’s a uniquely toxic electric vehicle, between its divisive design and Elon Musk’s embrace of you name it. That toxicity certainly contributed to subpar sales, along with a number of recalls.

But the end of the Cybertruck is also another sign that the era of big EVs—particularly big trucks—is waning. That’s great news for pedestrian and biker safety, but also for the battery supply chain at a time when more people need to get behind the electric wheel.

The Cybertruck uses a massive 123-kilowatt-hour battery that clocks in at around 1,600 pounds, or around a quarter of the vehicle's weight. That’s on par with the battery that powered Ford’s F-150 Lightning, another electric truck that was canceled late last year. (The company also killed a three-row EV in 2024.) Ford’s behemoth batteries ranged from 98 kilowatt-hours up to 131 kilowatt-hours.

Seeing both trucks canceled within a year of each other, while automakers have announced a bevy of smaller EVs and gas-powered autos with electric motors that can extend range, indicates there may be a shift afoot. Ford is planning to launch the Fathom next year. The sub-$30,000 electric pickup is expected to be about the size of the automaker’s compact gas-powered Maverick pickup. Though Ford hasn’t announced the battery sizes available in various trims, it’s a safe bet they won’t be anywhere near the size of the F-150 Lightning's or Cybertruck's. The company is also planning to relaunch the Lightning as an extended-range model.

Startup Slate is also launching a tiny electric pickup that can be converted to an SUV, with a bare-bones base model starting below $25,000. It also features a svelte battery and has seen a massive surge in preorders—though, to be fair, so did the Cybertruck, and we saw how that turned out.

Then there’s the Rivian R2, which launched this year. While the SUV isn’t as tiny or cheap as Ford and Slate’s vehicles—its battery has 88 kilowatt-hours of capacity and weighs in at around 1,200 pounds—it’s still smaller than the company’s flagship R1S. Rivian has also teased the R3, an even more-slimmed down SUV, in the coming years.

That’s not to say big EVs are dead. The Kia EV9, for example, is among the top 10 EVs by sales in the US, as is the R1S. There’s also a torrid resale market for the F-150 Lightning. But the rest of the top 10 new EV sales are all crossovers, sedans, or mid-sized SUVs with moderately sized batteries, and a number of newly announced EVs are trending on the smaller side or function as extended-range vehicles.

Building smaller vehicles is, of course, one way to make EVs cheaper. With less weight to propel, you can rely on a smaller battery. And given that the battery pack is the most costly component of an EV, that can in turn help automakers offer more affordable vehicles at a time when the price of so many other consumer goods is skyrocketing. That includes the current crop of EVs: The average transaction price for a new model is now $55,800, according to Cox Automotive.

Going small—or smaller, anyway—also means making the most of a limited battery supply chain. The vast majority of Cybertruck drivers are doing the same thing with their vehicles as Hyundai Ioniq 5 drivers: getting groceries, commuting, and driving kids to soccer games. But a standard-range Ioniq 5 driver is doing it with a battery about half the size.

After President Donald Trump’s administration killed EV incentives last year, sales plummeted. The Iran War and rising gas prices have led to an uptick in interest, though sales still lag behind the global average. (Used hybrid sales have also picked up, reflecting the pain people have been feeling at the pump.) Even with a Democratic-controlled Congress, EV incentives coming back under Trump are about as likely as defense secretary Pete Hegseth putting pronouns in his email signature. But should Democrats take the White House in 2028, marking the culmination of Woke 2.0, support for would-be EV buyers becomes much more likely.

Automakers pivoting to smaller cars could be much better positioned to meet pent-up demand if that happens, while also lowering the risks of delivery delays.

Even Elon’s announcement killing the Cybertruck points to where the market is heading: He claims Tesla is ending production to make room for cranking out more Cybercabs. The battery size in those vehicles? Just 48 kilowatt-hours.

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Level up your vocab with these tech phrases that'll give you major rizz.

Real talk: I’m not that up to speed on today’s tech vocabulary. That realization clocked me over the head this week when the Scotland-based Collins dictionary came out with its list of new and notable words for 2026. The words include p(doom), which refers to the probability of AI-caused doom; mogging, meaning to outshine or upstage someone; friendslop, a type of low-budget video game played among friends; and ghost jobs, jobs advertised with no real position or intent to hire someone.

Vibe-coding, which was Collins’ Word of the Year for 2025, refers to a conversational way to teach an AI model without typing in all that pesky code. Enshittification, which the American Dialect Society chose as its 2023 Word of the Year, means the gradual, profit-driven decline in the quality of, well, I guess, everything.

Maybe you know and use these terms regularly; maybe you don’t. But, in an effort to stop myself from becoming that Steve Buscemi faking-it-in-high-school meme, I wanted to lay out some tech terms that have a permanent home in the popular lexicon and the words, phrases and abbreviations that haven’t quite stood the test of time. (Note to self: Stop saying “emoticon.”)

Selfie: You know what a selfie is; my mother, on the other hand, may not. The word for taking a photo of yourself with any camera-enabled device was first coined in 2002 on an Australian internet chat forum, of all places, but didn’t become mainstream until 2013.

Content creator: “Influencer” also works here, to refer to a person who shares information on a tech platform and builds an audience of online followers. A related word, “parasocial,” refers to the one-sided relationship listeners or viewers may have with the creator or influencer, who, in contrast, doesn’t know they exist.

Podcast: The Oxford Dictionary named podcast the Word of the Year back in 2005. Since then, the term, which is a mashup of iPod and broadcast and refers to a digital program made available on-demand for streaming or download, has remained relevant. The iPod, however? Not so much. It was discontinued in 2022.

WFH (work from home): The trend of working from your own home via computer saw a substantial uptick during and after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. According to a 2022 survey by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 23% of Americans work remotely.

Unfriend: The New Oxford American Dictionary‘s 2009 Word of the Year became popularized thanks to Facebook, but the term that means ending a friendship has actually been around for quite some time. NPR called it “the Sleeping Beauty of words,” as the term dates back to the 17th century, when it basically meant the same thing.

Metaverse: Remember when Mark Zuckerberg poured like $80 billion into a virtual reality project that was being touted as the internet platform of the future? The metaverse and its flagship app, Horizon Worlds, were announced in 2021. Five years later, it all fell apart. Now, Zuck is investing a ton in AI, which he’s touting as the internet technology of the future. Second verse, same as the first?

NFT: Just a couple of years ago, you couldn’t go online without reading about NFTs. Nonfungible tokens are digital identifiers to certify ownership of, well, a digital thing of value. Heck, remember when President Donald Trump released an NFT? After the boom in popularity, and the subsequent crash in value of most of them, the term NFT has all but left the public consciousness.

World Wide Web: It’s the internet, folks. Or, the information superhighway if you’re nasty.

Defrag: Back in my day, when we needed better performance from our Windows-based computers, we’d defragment the hard drive. There were plenty of tools you could use to do so. Apparently, this is no longer a thing people do, which is fun, since I still like to use the term in everyday situations. While we’re at it, I’ll be right back. I need to go defrag the car.

Emoticon: Technically, emoticons are made from standard keyboard characters read sideways, such as 🙂 to generate a smiley face. Emoji are graphical images that you can select in various communication programs. (Sometimes, if you try to type an old-school emoticon, the program you’re working in will just grab it and turn it into an emoji.) These days, we just say emoji, even if the word sounds more like a dessert.

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BYD's Yangwang U9 Xtreme has become the first production car to exceed 500 km/h, reaching nearly 313 mph on a closed Abu Dhabi highway and earning official recognition from the FIA and Guinness World Records.

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Security researchers have discovered hundreds of copies of a Chinese-made AI hacking tool publicly exposed to the internet for anyone to access, potentially allowing outsiders to launch cyberattacks against unsuspecting targets.

The hacking software, called Artex, is an open source autonomous penetration testing tool, meaning software that automatically probes computer systems for weaknesses, and it’s been linked to several cyberattacks since its public release in July. As open source software, it’s free for anyone to download and run on their own servers, making it a popular tool for those who cannot access Anthropic or OpenAI’s most advanced cybersecurity AI models for discovering security vulnerabilities. Microsoft has previously described Artex as a system of AI agents that can conduct cyberattacks “from reconnaissance through data exfiltration with little needed human interaction.”

In a blog post, cybersecurity firm Censys, which scans the internet for exposed or vulnerable systems, said that it identified more than 800 distinct deployments of Artex that were accessible from the web without needing a password to log in.

Silas Cutler, principal security researcher at Censys who wrote the blog post, said that not every instance of Artex is operated maliciously and many are used for authorized testers. But it’s unclear why hundreds of these Artex systems are exposed to the web, as the software does not require them to be accessible from the internet.

The findings underscore how even powerful hacking tools can be misconfigured to be publicly accessible by anyone, increasing the chance that someone will find and misuse them. The publicly accessible systems also expose attack tools, such as implants (hidden malicious software) used to compromise and maintain persistent access to a victim’s network.

Security companies have linked the use of Artex to several broad-scale cyberattacks, including against the Korean finance industry in September. Cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike attributed the attacks to a Chinese-speaking hacker who used an Artex instance in the attacks, in part because the hacker had left an “open directory” hosting the system. Censys said that its data showed the Artex instance in question had been publicly exposed for months, and appeared to contain more attack data that extended “well beyond South Korean banks,” including payment and gaming companies.

Artex was also used in an attack on IT support giant ConnectWise earlier in October, which allowed Chinese-linked hackers to spy on thousands of organizations whose data and files are hosted in Microsoft’s cloud. Microsoft, which has visibility into the attack, said in a blog post that the hackers used Artex to break into customers’ cloud environments and steal their data at such speed that defenders had “little time to detect and respond.”

Many of the attacks linked to Artex involved exploiting simple vulnerabilities, such as guessing weak or known passwords, and a lack of multi-factor authentication.

The findings show that simple vulnerabilities, including misconfigurations, can expose both the attacker and their targets.

Artex has since announced it would go closed-source, effectively limiting further releases for paid customers. There are still dozens of copies of Artex’s code available on code-sharing sites that can still be used in active attacks.

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Zack Whittaker is the security editor at TechCrunch. He also authors the weekly cybersecurity newsletter, this week in security.

He can be reached via encrypted message at zackwhittaker.1337 on Signal. You can also contact him by email, or to verify outreach, at [email protected].

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AI computing, led by Anthropic, has overtaken NASA and the Pentagon as SpaceX's main source of money.

Elon Musk at VivaTech in Paris, 16 June 2023

Elon Musk said government contracts will make up less than 10% of SpaceX’s revenue this quarter, down from 16.6%. SpaceX now earns most from renting AI computing, with Anthropic its biggest customer, though Anthropic can exit from early 2027.

Government contracts will make up less than 10% of SpaceX’s revenue this quarter, Elon Musk said on X, Bloomberg reported on Friday. That is down from 16.6% in the third quarter and roughly a fifth in 2025.

Musk said the share would fall below 5% about a year from now, Reuters reported. NASA and the Pentagon were long SpaceX’s most important customers, paying it to launch astronauts and national security satellites.

The money now comes from AI. In the third quarter, SpaceX’s AI unit brought in $7.56B, more than Starlink, mostly by renting out computing power from its data centres in Memphis. Anthropic alone accounted for 34.5% of revenue, making it SpaceX’s biggest customer.

That brings its own risk. Anthropic can exit its contracts with 90 days’ notice from early 2027, and Wall Street has recently soured on companies that rent out AI computing, Bloomberg said. Musk himself warned last month that few will survive without other sources of revenue.

Musk’s comments came days after Democrats won control of both houses of Congress. He spent more than $445M backing Republicans, most of whom lost, and Bloomberg said that could strain his companies’ ties with the new Congress. SpaceX still holds a NASA contract to land astronauts on the Moon with Starship as early as 2028.

I am the Editor in Chief for TNW, covering technology not as a parade of launches and valuations, but as a system of influence, persuasion, (show all) I am the Editor in Chief for TNW, covering technology not as a parade of launches and valuations, but as a system of influence, persuasion, and change. I write about startups, venture capital, digital policy, and Europe ecosystem, with an eye on the larger story beneath them: who gets to build the future, who profits from it, and how Europe is learning to speak in a louder voice of its own. Before moving into senior editorial leadership, I've built my career for over +10 years across journalism, storytelling, content strategy, SEO, and digital publishing, with experience in SaaS, hospitality, art, and culture.

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The $80 Window Camera E10 sticks to your window, pointed outwards.

Outdoor security cameras are a useful addition to any home, but not everyone is able to install one, be that for practical or rental reasons. Or maybe they just don't need the hassle of picking up a drill and hoping the holes end up where they're supposed to.

Anker has a workaround for all these issues thanks to sub-brand Eufy's Window Camera E10, which is now available to buy in the US. First announced back at IFA in the summer, it's actually an indoor camera that you stick to your window, with the lens facing outwards.

As well as its completely tool-free installation (the camera sticks to your window via a residue-free adhesive), the Window Camera E10 features a manually adjustable 25-degree downward tilt mechanism that allows you to set the best angle for whatever you have it monitoring. It has a 2.5k resolution, up to 8x digital zoom, and MaxColor Night Vision for after-dark recording. Footage is saved to an SD card up to 256GB in size, but you'll have to add that yourself as you don't get one in the box.

As glass reflects light, recording the outside of your house from inside often presents a number of issues, but Anker thinks it's solved the problem with a lens that's flush to the window, preventing background light from reaching it in the same way.

The company says that clear glass windows with one or two panes work best. If your windows are particularly thick, Anker warns that reflections from the extra layers may result in glare if you have lamps on. Frosted or patterned glass is obviously a no-no too. And if you live in an apartment on a high floor, the E10 probably isn't the device for you either, as there will likely be significant blind spots in the frame.

There is a built-in microphone too, which picks up ambient noise and anything loud directly outside. However, Anker warns that the reliability of the audio will depend a lot on glass thickness. The Window Camera E10 supports dual-band 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Wi-Fi and can record 24/7. AI human, pet and vehicle recognition is built in and does not require a subscription if you just rely on local storage.

If there's a potential snag, depending on your home layout, it's that you need to connect the camera to power via a single USB-C cable. Most indoor cameras can easily be positioned near a power source, but not everyone will have one of those directly next to their window. There's no battery-powered option.

The Eufy Window Camera E10 is available to buy now for $80.

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It’s mostly bad news from EA lately, but preservation efforts are nice to see.

Many people are not big fans of game publisher EA right now for good reason, but for those who remember a better time in the 1990s, there’s a little good news. Twenty-five classic games from that EA era have been lightly remastered and updated, then placed for sale on Steam and GOG, including several Wing Commander games and nearly the entire Ultima series.

Below is the full list of remastered or re-released games:

In a lengthy blog post published this week, Jim Vessella, a senior producer at EA, described the efforts that went into remastering Wing Commander I-IV and Prophecy, Privateer 2, and Road Rash.

It’s a long, detailed story that’s worth reading yourself, but here’s a top-level summary. After working on the mostly widely acclaimed Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection in 2019, Vessella writes that he learned about and visited a room at EA’s Redwood Shores campus that contained a large archive of poorly labeled or sorted physical media from ages past.

In his free time, and with the help of others, he began cataloging this archive and discovered, among other things, that it contained virtually the entirety of the original masters of Wing Commander III and Wing Commander IV‘s full-motion-video cutscenes.

The story that ensues involves building a small team of contractors, poring through the footage 17 hours a day on swing shifts to label and digitize it, and then coordinating with several key community members—particularly Matt Wells, who has made community enhancement patches for some of the Wing Commander games—to put together remasters of those games.

The flagship offering of those remasters is much, much higher-quality full-motion video sequences than have ever been available before, but other enhancements include 60 frames-per-second gameplay, a plethora of newly available .INI tweaks, and full controller support (though looking at the Steam forums for the games, some folks are having trouble with said controller support).

For Privateer 2—the little-remembered sequel to Wing Commander: Privateer—the crew couldn’t find the original, high-quality remasters of the FMV scenes, and ended up getting in touch with the game’s original cinematics director, Steve Hilliker, who had the tapes in his attic. Hilliker had always wanted to take a new color-grading pass, and he did just that, while also remastering and upscaling all of the cutscenes.

Similar updates were given to Wing Commander Prophecy. The blog post also details GOG’s involvement in restoring and remastering Prophecy and Road Rash. For the latter, EA re-licensed the entire original soundtrack for re-release.

The e collection is on sale on GOG and Steam right now; previous owners of the old versions of the games on GOG and the EA storefront get these remasters for free. None of the games cost more than $5 each.

One good story doesn’t undo a lot of bad news and questionable decisions from EA, but this shows that a few passionate people can do something remarkable for game preservation, even if some of the work was done on a volunteer basis outside normal working hours. (EA committed some resources to the restorations as the project progressed, though.)

While the remasters aren’t perfect, the gaming industry could use news like this. It’s worth reading the full story in the blog post for a journey down memory lane and a look at how involved a restoration process like this can be.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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It appears that Apple also maintains such a list of filtered words, and there are tens of thousands of them baked into its iPhone keyboard at the system level.

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This dangerous Linux security hole must be patched as soon as possible.

The perfect nightmare scenario for a Linux server is when all an attacker needs to do is reach the server’s Secure Shell (SSH) port, waltz right in, and take it over. That’s what happened to Alpine Linux, the popular, lightweight Linux server. Adding insult to injury, this happened only days after Alpine Linux dodged a security hole-sized bullet to its GitLab implementation.

Also: Linux Mint 27 arrives next month, and I like it already: What to expect

How bad is it? As bad as it can get. Alpine Linux explained in its security advisory that if an attacker can reach a vulnerable server’s SSH port, they can get in “with one connection,” and the attack “works every time, and needs no retries.”

As security engineer Gregory Bryant explained in his LinkedIn post:

Most authentication bypasses come from complex logic chains, but yesterday’s Alpine Linux OpenSSH vulnerability (CVE-2026-123158) comes down to a single character: *.”

If you run Alpine Linux (or another musl-based distro) with the default openssh-server package (no Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM)) and PasswordAuthentication enabled, an attacker can log into password-disabled, or key-only accounts simply by sending a password between 257 and 1024 bytes long.

Alpine Linux isn’t the only operating system that uses musl, a lightweight version of the standard C library (libc). Other operating systems that use musl and are potentially vulnerable include Adélie Linux; Void Linux; Sabotage Linux; OpenWrt, an Android variant,  and the Yocto Project, which is used to build embedded Linux distributions.

Also: This clever banking scam keeps phishing by faking its own demise

Wind River, which produces the commercial embedded Linux distro, Wind River Linux, is also looking into the issue. A company representative told me, “Wind River takes security seriously. We are actively reviewing the reported vulnerability and assessing its potential impact. We will take appropriate action as needed.”

Behind the scenes, when OpenSSH is built without PAM, it verifies passwords by hashing the password attempt using the C library’s crypt() function. It then compares the result to the account’s stored password field. So far, so good.

But when a key is longer than 256 bytes, musl’s crypt() function returns the string * as an error indicator. That is also what the password field holds for any account with no password, such as a key-only account. Thus, the “hash” matches and the login succeeds, and the attacker walks in.

Also: The new Cutefish Linux distro might be the best MacOS clone around

To exploit it, an attacker only needs the name of such an account. The attacker also needs at least one other account on the machine with a 5 or 6 password hash, and then to send a password of 257 to 1,024 bytes. According to Alpine, one user with a password is enough to make every passwordless account accessible.

In Linux systems that use glibc’s crypt(), which is almost all of them, the same attempt would return NULL on error, which sshd already rejects, so Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, etc., aren’t affected.

According to *sshole, the group that uncovered the problem, this is a side effect that has been hiding since 2016.

Alpine said every release it checked is affected: 3.21 through 3.24, edge, and the older 3.16 to 3.20 branches. Exposure requires the following:

Root is not directly exposed in most cases. It has shipped as root:* in the base image since about Alpine 3.16, but OpenSSH’s default PermitRootLogin prohibit-password blocks it. Another account that can become root, for example through doas, still gives an attacker a route to root.

Alpine singled out its official tiny-cloud images, versions 3.18.11 through 3.24.3, as especially vulnerable. These ship with an alpine user with a * password field and passwordless doas. They are safe on first boot but become exploitable once any 6 hash exists on the machine. That can happen when an administrator sets a console password or when user data adds a user with a hashed password, which means, essentially, all of them.

Alpine released 3.21.10, 3.22.8, 3.23.8 and 3.24.4 on Thursday, with the OpenSSH fix among the security changes. It also published fixed packages for each release back to 3.16. Alpine 3.21 reached end of support on Nov. 1.

The just-released OpenSSH 10.6p2 avoids the problem in sshd. Alpine’s stable branches carry a patch for the same problem. You should run apk upgrade -U -a and then restart the daemon with rc-service sshd restart. Alpine stressed that upgrading the package does not replace the running daemon. Anyone who cannot update should set PasswordAuthentication no and restart sshd, after confirming that key login works.

Also: Maze Linux is the best security-focused distro I’ve ever tested

To check for an attack, Alpine told administrators to search /var/log/messages for “Accepted password for” lines that name an account with no password. It also advised reviewing dedicated OpenBSD application subexecutor (doas) use and recently created users, files, and authorized keys. “If you cannot rule out a login, treat the machine as compromised.” Just what you wanted for your weekend, I know, but here we are.

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Nvidia’s CEO is reportedly the target of a ‘Chinese spy plot’ for intelligence on American AI chips.

Nvidia’s CEO is reportedly the target of a ‘Chinese spy plot’ for intelligence on American AI chips.

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China’s intelligence agency recruited Megaspeed executive Alice Huang to spy on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to The New York Times. The Ministry of State Security (MSS) enlisted her to glean information about American AI chips and “potentially influence the company to push for its most advanced chips to be made available to China.” Megaspeed is a customer of Nvidia’s, and Alice Huang also has “relationships with executives at the highest levels of the A.I. chip industry,” including leaders at Gigabyte, the NYT says.

Last week, the NYT reported that Jensen Huang was seen as the target of a “Chinese spy plot” and shared details about Alice Huang and Jensen Huang’s relationship, but the information that China’s MSS had recruited her is new.

The NYT describes the relationship between Alice Huang and Jensen Huang, who are not related, as “close.” President Trump, who is friendly with Jensen Huang, was briefed last year about the relationship, but didn’t take any action. Yesterday, three House committees asked Jensen Huang to appear for a joint, closed-door briefing on his “interactions” with Alice Huang.

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Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure takes place in Nevada in the 1950s.

It's Stranger Things day, and Netflix is marking the occasion by giving the go-ahead to a live-action prequel series. The company hasn't announced too many details about Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, though did confirm it takes place in the 1950s, before the events of the original show and the stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow. The new series is coming to Netflix in 2028.

An announcement teaser reveals that Other Worlds is set in Marion, Nevada in 1955. It shows an abandoned bicycle with a radio attached before the camera pans up toward a "restricted area" sign then an ominous-looking sky that erupts with a mighty boom.

"We've been dreaming of Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure for many years now, and to see it become a reality is surreal and exhilarating," Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer said. "It's Stranger Things, but also thrillingly fresh, with a new setting, new heroes and villains, and new ... actually, we're not allowed to say any more. Now, on to casting. In the meantime — watch the skies, nerds!"

Although they've left Netflix for Paramount, The Duffer Brothers are executive producers on Other Worlds. Kate Trefry — a longtime writer on Stranger Things who was behind the script of The First Shadow — is the co-creator, showrunner and writer of the new series. Joe Wright, known for his work on films such as Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, will direct the first trio of episodes.

Elsewhere in the world of Stranger Things, The First Shadow will wrap up its runs on London's West End on December 27 and Broadway on January 3 (a recording of the play is reportedly coming to Netflix). The second season of animated spinoff Stranger Things: Tales from '85 hit Netflix in September. The company also released a blooper reel from the final season of the main show.

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Soon California drivers speeding down the 101 freeway won't be the only ones commuting in comfort. As hundreds of thousands of vehicles speed down the multi-lane highway in their vehicles, their animal counterparts — the wildlife population that makes up Los Angeles County — will be similarly at ease.

That's because officials will finally unveil the completed Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, a large, vegetated overpass that will help animals cross traffic safely and comfortably move across the land split by zooming cars. It is the world's largest wildlife crossing in the world.

The bridge connects the Santa Monica Mountains to the Simi Hills and spans 10 lanes of traffic, plus an access road. The project has been in the works for 10 years — one part of a nationwide scientific monitoring program led by partners like the National Wildlife Federation, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, and the National Park Service.

The crossing was funded by a public-private partnership, with government funds and philanthropic donations providing the money.

The crossing is hoped to be a boon to local wildlife populations, which often meet deadly fates from cars speeding along the state highway, but also face geographic and genetic isolation due to the freeway's barrier-like effect. Mountain lions, coyotes, bobcats, deer, and various bird, lizard, and snake species are expected to traverse the path to cross the freeway and find more land to roam and mate.

Over the last week, biologists have been installing a series of wildlife cameras near the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to track animal populations before the crossing officially opens on Dec. 2. By the time of opening, scientists and nature watchers will be able to monitor its visitors via 50 cameras and four thermal video cameras.

Project leads told the Los Angeles Times that the cameras' photo stream will be available to the public. For now, live video feeds will only be available to researchers for security reasons.

The cameras are already picking up hopeful moments, including the path's first visitor: A single coyote trotting up the side of the currently unfinished path, shielded by the cover of night and the lack of blinding headlights.

The sighting marveled scientists working on the project, who expected a smaller animal to attempt the cross first.

"I wouldn’t have said this even a couple weeks ago, but I now think there’s a chance we’ll have a mountain lion use it before ribbon cutting,"said Beth Pratt of the Wildlife Crossing Fund to the Los Angeles Times. "Word gets out in the animal world, so who knows what’s going to happen?"

What did we say? Millennial optimism is really back.

Chase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. Her work also captures how these conversations manifest in politics, popular culture, and fandom. Sometimes she's very funny.

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Meta recently launched its Muse agents — a new generation of cuddly agentic helpers. Now, the company has launched Spaces, a new way to communicate and collaborate with them.

As far as I can tell, Spaces are basically breakout conversations that revolve around a particular topic — although Meta refers to them as “custom experiences.” They live in the sidebar of the interface where you interact with your Muse agent. Clicking on the Space brings up the conversation, where Muse works toward a particular goal on your behalf.

For instance, if you wanted to plan a vacation, you could open a new Space focused on that particular project, and whenever you want to work on it with Muse, you would click to open that particular tab. Or, if you’re focused on collecting recipes for an upcoming family event, you’d open a new Space for that particular project. Other examples Meta gives are a holiday gift tracker, a wedding planner, or a space for DIY projects.

“Describe an idea in chat, and Muse builds a space for you, whether that’s a tracker, a planner or a project board,” Meta says.

Spaces can also be easily integrated with third-party apps and information, Meta says.

“Connect the apps you use, and your spaces keep themselves up to date in the background, so new concert dates, price changes, or savings progress show up without you having to ask,” the company says.

On Friday, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s founder and CEO, posted about the new feature on X: “Playing around with spaces in Muse lately — tell Muse what you need and it builds it. I’ve made a BBQ game, an event tracker, and a home control dashboard. Excited to see what you build.”

Muse agents — and the cuddly avatars that enclose them — have been greeted with a relatively warm reception over the past few months. During its earnings call in October, Zuckerberg said that its agents had 10 million users in the U.S. and Canada — less than two months after the agents debuted.

The company is obviously busy building out the user experience around the agents. Spaces is actually the second new Muse feature that Meta has debuted over the last week. On Thursday, the company also announced Muse Voice, which allows users to video chat with their agent and give it commands verbally.

The company is in competition with other cute and cuddly AI agents — including OpenAI’s dots and SpaceXAI’s Grokbot, which were debuted with similarly cartoonish personas.

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The rural broadband provider has about $10B of debt and has warned it may not survive as a going concern.

Fibre optic cables connected to telecommunications equipment in a network rack.

Brightspeed, a US fibre broadband provider owned by Apollo, is in talks with creditors to raise $2B to $3B of new money, Bloomberg reports. It has about $10B of debt, has warned about its survival, and may file for bankruptcy as soon as December.

Brightspeed, an Apollo-backed US fibre broadband provider, is in talks to raise $2B to $3B of new money from its creditors. That is according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter on Friday. The amount, and whether the deal will go through a bankruptcy court, are still being worked out.

Brightspeed and Apollo declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the company could file for bankruptcy as soon as December, Light Reading reported.

Brightspeed has about $10B of debt and warned in September that it may not be able to continue as a going concern. Nearly all its debt trades at distressed levels: one $2.5B loan was quoted at about 17 cents on the dollar on Friday.

Brightspeed was formed in 2022, when Apollo bought Lumen’s local phone and broadband business in 20 states for $7.5B. It is spending heavily to bring fibre to mostly rural and suburban areas there. It passed 3 million fibre-ready locations in April, and fibre sales are up 16% from a year earlier.

It has been through this before. In 2024, Brightspeed cut $1.1B of debt and raised $3.7B of new capital in a deal with its lenders. This month, it named Shawn O’Donnell, a former senior managing director at FTI Consulting, as chief executive.

Apollo is better known in tech circles for its lending to AI, including a $36B debt deal it is arranging with Blackstone to buy chips for Anthropic. Lumen, meanwhile, has turned to AI customers, and this week agreed to sell AI networks with Microsoft.

I am the Editor in Chief for TNW, covering technology not as a parade of launches and valuations, but as a system of influence, persuasion, (show all) I am the Editor in Chief for TNW, covering technology not as a parade of launches and valuations, but as a system of influence, persuasion, and change. I write about startups, venture capital, digital policy, and Europe ecosystem, with an eye on the larger story beneath them: who gets to build the future, who profits from it, and how Europe is learning to speak in a louder voice of its own. Before moving into senior editorial leadership, I've built my career for over +10 years across journalism, storytelling, content strategy, SEO, and digital publishing, with experience in SaaS, hospitality, art, and culture.

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Starting today, a small group of users in the US will be able to text Alexa to shop, after linking their phone numbers.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.

If you prefer a PC, there are still some non-Apple brands worth considering.

Shopping for a new laptop for the holidays, but not sure which brand to choose from? Our readers do.

We recently surveyed CNET readers as part of our People’s Picks awards to find out what they think about their laptop brand to help you make a more sound choice for your next laptop. We listed several well-known names, including Dell and Lenovo. We asked about everything that matters most on a daily basis, like battery life, durability and even its performance for handling tasks like gaming and graphics. Out of 10 categories, one brand wins most of them: Apple.

Apple swept up eight of the awards for its signature MacBooks and claimed the overall winner for CNET’s People’s Picks award. Here’s why.

Apple wins the overall award in CNET’s People’s Picks, and also takes home the overall satisfaction rating, with 74.2% of Apple users saying they’re extremely satisfied with their laptop. In comparison, 22.5% say they’re satisfied — bringing Apple to a near-perfect overall satisfaction score of 96.7%.

Apple’s overall impression also speaks to other awards it wins from CNET readers, including high ratings for its impressive battery life, display quality and high-quality build. All of those categories and more sum up Apple’s brand loyalty nod, with 68% of MacBook owners saying they would buy the same laptop and model from Apple again.

How much are people paying for MacBooks? CNET found that 43.5% of Apple users paid at least $1,500. Until earlier in 2026, the MacBook Air was Apple’s entry-level laptop, priced at least $1,299. The introduction of the budget-friendly MacBook Neo brought that down to a more reasonable $699. However, despite Apple’s laptops being more expensive than those from other brands, they still ranked high for their value proposition. Part of the reason for that is that MacBooks received high marks for hardware reliability. “Apple’s MacBooks might cost more than the average laptop, but their premium build quality means they’re built for the long haul,” said Matt Elliott, CNET’s laptop editor.

If you plan to have your laptop for a while, you may be impressed by other features that make work easier and faster, like its M-series central processing unit for task management and AI capabilities, great battery life and a one-of-a-kind operating system — currently MacOS 27. All of the features and specifications bundled together make Apple’s perception as a high-end laptop worth the investment for long-term satisfaction.

Apple clinches a near-perfect score for its value perception. According to our survey results, 44% of Apple users said their MacBook has exceptional value. Others say their MacBook is worth what they paid for it (50.9%) — for a total positive score of 94.6%.

Digging deeper into Apple’s cost-to-value rating, 81.8% of Apple owners paid at least $1,000 for their laptops, which may seem costly, but Apple users seem OK with the price. That could be because, even though Apple has only three laptop models in a handful of sizes in its lineup, each one delivers solid performance and storage.

Take Apple’s proprietary processing chips, for example — each upgrade since the M1 release has improved the laptop’s speed, battery life and performance. Now the M6 can handle the MacBook’s AI capabilities, storage and high-resolution graphics. And for all of that power, most MacBooks are relatively thin and lightweight, making them easier for mobility — just a few of the reasons Apple users may be OK with paying more for what they’re getting.

Battery life is a big deal for many laptop buyers, and that’s another area where Apple delivers. Over a quarter of those surveyed (25.7%) said their MacBook’s battery life exceeds 10 hours — which is more than enough for a full day of work in most cases. And 18.7% say their MacBook’s battery lasts between 8 and 10 hours — totaling 44.4% of MacBook users saying their battery lasts 8 hours or more.

Comparatively, non-Apple laptop brands fall short in this category. Only 16.4% of Lenovo users say their laptop’s battery lasts at least 8 hours, and even fewer for Dell (12.7%) and HP (11.8%). If you’re leaning toward a MacBook for its battery life, CNET’s lab test shows that the MacBook Neo lasts 13 hours and 26 minutes for online streaming, whereas the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M5 (2026 model) lasts 17 hours and 2 minutes.

Apple sweeps the brightness, color accuracy and clarity category with 99.2% of its users either satisfied or extremely satisfied with their laptop’s screen performance. No Apple users reported dissatisfaction.

“Apple has long been a favorite for creative professionals and content creators for good reason: Its MacBook displays are some of the best you’ll find on any laptop,” said Josh Goldman, CNET’s managing editor for computers. “While Apple may use marketing names like Retina and Liquid Retina to describe display features, they do translate into sharp and clear text and images, with excellent brightness, contrast, color gamut coverage and color accuracy.”

The new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR even goes beyond what MacBook users have come to expect. It’s Apple’s first OLED touchscreen laptop and features next-level brightness, color and contrast.

Apple receives high ratings: 80% of MacBook owners say it has premium build quality, 18.2% say it’s solid, and those results don’t surprise us.

And MacBooks seem durable and reliable, with 87% of Apple users reporting no hardware failures on their MacBooks, while 8% say minor software fixes resolved their issues. Only 3% needed minor hardware repairs, and 2.2% needed major repairs — which could be fixes such as a battery or screen replacement.

Our editors say the M5 MacBook Air is thin and lightweight, but still has a well-built aluminum design. And the M5 Pro MacBook Pro is sturdy, too. What sets Apple’s laptop hardware apart could be its aluminum chassis — the casing that holds all of the components together.

“Apple makes three lines of MacBooks — the Neo, Air and Pro — and focuses on making those the best they can possibly be. They are all built to deliver a premium experience using high-quality materials, and that even includes the entry-level MacBook Neo,” said Goldman.

Lastly, Apple uses durable materials, such as the 100% recycled aluminum alloy it says encloses the 14-inch MacBook Pro. And the tech giant has several testing facilities to test MacBook durability.

When it comes to getting your daily tasks done, most CNET readers with MacBooks (70.9%) say Apple’s laptops handle workloads flawlessly. It’s worth noting that 45% use their MacBook for work tasks, but no Apple users reported poor performance.

Here’s why that might be: Apple’s laptops are packed with top-notch performance specs and features, like their powerful processors, unified memory and fast storage. Better processor performance means enhanced graphics, on-device AI capabilities and faster task speeds, all of which add up to being able to finish work, play games or stream videos without issues or lags caused by your laptop’s hardware.

On the software side, MacOS 27 Golden Gate gives you built-in AI features, like Siri AI and Visual Intelligence. And you can organize your Safari tabs by topic and use the Notify Me tool to be notified of website changes, like price drops or breaking news. Plus, you can create shortcuts to automate tasks. Coupling all of these features and specifications explains why Apple users rate MacBooks so highly for getting the job done.

Apple leads the way on brand retention with 68% of Apple users planning to buy the same MacBook model again, while 29.1% would buy another model from Apple’s lineup. Only 3% would switch to another brand that’s not Apple.

Usually, when you buy one Apple product, you’re likely to stick to the brand’s ecosystem, especially since Apple has its own operating systems to access its unique features and work seamlessly with other Apple products with Apple’s Continuity feature. For example, you can start an email on your iPhone, but finish typing it on your MacBook. Or you can call or send a text from your laptop without reaching for your iPhone. Other features work across Apple devices, including iCloud, Universal Clipboard and AirDrop.

Asus wins as a midtier laptop choice with 67% of Asus owners paying between $500 and $1,499. There’s a sweet spot in this range with 38% spending between $500 and $999, and 28% paying between $1,000 and $1,499.

If you’re planning to spend that amount on a new laptop, you may also be pleased to know that Asus earns a higher satisfaction rating compared with other non-Apple laptop brands — 48% of Asus users say they’re extremely satisfied.

Asus laptops have a few features and specifications that may speak to that rating, regardless of budget. For example, the Zenbook A14 has a thin, lightweight design that’s rigid, with long battery life and an OLED display with strong contrast and color performance. This Copilot Plus PC sells for $1,600 (but retailers like Best Buy regularly have it on sale for less). Comparatively, these premium features from other brands could cost more or sacrifice important must-have features for the price.

Asus has other laptops worth exploring depending on your needs, like the budget-friendly Asus ZenBook S 14 or the premium Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 that could be good for gamers and creators.

Over one-third of Acer laptop owners (38%) paid less than $500 for their laptop — which is greater than other laptop brands in this price range. Yet, 44% of Acer users say their laptop has exceptional value, while 50% say the value is fair — bringing a total positive cost-to-value score of over 94%. Acer also has an overall satisfaction score of 92.6% — the highest of non-Apple laptop brands.

If you’re impressed by Acer’s value and satisfaction scores, there are a few budget-friendly Acer options to consider. The Acer Aspire 16 AI wins CNET’s Editors’ Choice award. It has a big 16-inch screen but is still lightweight (3.5 pounds). And it has good battery life (over 21 hours on CNET’s battery drain test). There are a few other pluses, like the 1440p web camera that may be good for video conferencing and a sizable touchpad. All of those features and more add up to $700, which could make it a good computer for work or casual browsing. If you’re looking to spend slightly less, its predecessor, the Aspire 14 AI, is originally $639, but you may be able to score deals on both models during holiday sales.

Even though Apple is highly recommended by CNET readers, there are plenty of other laptop models and brands worth considering depending on your needs. Here are a few non-Apple laptop brands that are runner-ups to CNET’s People’s Picks winners that you shouldn’t count out of your laptop search.

Lenovo is best known for packing a powerful laptop into a compact design with tablet functionality, like its Yoga line, and its durable ThinkPad business models. But CNET readers with Lenovo laptops say the brand’s battery life stands out most compared with other non-MacBook laptops.

Survey findings show that 16% of Lenovo owners say their laptops can run for 8 hours or more. And 10.5% say their laptop battery lasts between 8 and 10 hours, while 6% say their Lenovo laptops can withstand at least 10 hours before needing a charge. That’s more than what readers say about other non-Apple brands. The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition lasts 25 hours and 45 minutes — making it one of the best laptop batteries CNET experts have tested.

Goldman said Lenovo has such a large and varied PC selection using the latest chips from Intel, AMD, Qualcomm and Nvidia that there is something for everyone and every budget. Even those who spend less on a Lenovo laptop can expect solid performance, including battery life.

If your laptop’s hardware fails or it breaks, you may be in the market for a new laptop sooner than expected. Think about cooling fan problems, overheating or your laptop not powering on at all. Over half (68%) of Lenovo laptop owners said they haven’t had any hardware issues with their laptops — the most compared to other non-MacBooks.

Beyond hardware durability, Lenovo also scores highly for its build and construction — overall making it a sturdy laptop choice. In our survey, 38% of Lenovo laptop owners say their laptop has a premium feel, while 51% say it’s solid — totaling a positive score of 89%.

If you’re looking for recommendations, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Gen 11 has an all-metal design. And the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 is a business laptop with Lenovo’s well-known X1 Carbon exterior and new Space Frame design, which Elliott says makes it easier to repair or replace parts if needed.

Many Lenovo laptop users are loyal to the brand, which speaks to the overall positive satisfaction rating of 83%. If Lenovo owners were in the market for a new laptop, nearly three in four (73.2%) say they would buy another Lenovo laptop. Breaking down the percentage, 33.6% say they would buy the same model again. Meanwhile, 39.6% would buy a different model but stick to Lenovo.

Here’s why that might be. Lenovo offers a plethora of options to choose from based on your needs — while still evolving its laptops. For instance, the Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 10 has an open M.2 slot for a second storage drive and an OLED screen for crisp, colorful images — making it perfect for gaming. Its Yoga two-in-ones let you seamlessly switch between a tablet and traditional laptop, while Lenovo’s ThinkPad and ThinkBook business laptops offer everything from ultralight 2-pound bodies to expanding rollable screens. And its new designs don’t sacrifice the must-have needs like long battery life, durability and chip efficiency that lend to strong performance.

Asus wins over nearly half of its laptop owners, with 47.5% giving it an exceptional value rating  — exceeding expectations for its price. Take our Editors’ Choice pick, the Asus Zenbook A14. It’s super thin and lightweight, but it’s still sturdy thanks to its Ceralumnium body. Plus, it has supreme 24-hour battery life, 1TB of storage and an OLED display — all for $1,200. While that’s more expensive than some laptops, it’s what’s included in that price that makes it worthwhile compared with other non-Apple laptop brands.

Asus is the top non-Apple laptop option to consider for tasks, with 47.7% of CNET readers giving it high ratings. That’s followed by 40.4% of Asus laptop owners who say it has very good task performance. When it comes to tasks, 37% primarily use their Asus laptops for work, while 5% use theirs for gaming.

Asus is well known for having lightweight laptops with all-day-and-night battery life and stunning display quality. Asus laptops like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 have a good port selection, which could be good for gaming, work or simply connecting different devices without the need for additional adapters. And the Asus Zenbook S 14 has a strong neural processing unit that contributes to its high-speed AI performance.

Asus scores highest for its screen brightness and clarity, with over half (51%) extremely satisfied with its screen quality and brightness, while 38.6% say they’re satisfied, giving Asus an overall satisfaction rate of 90%. One common thread we noticed in Asus laptops is their OLED screens, which deliver high-resolution video and graphics. Asus laptops also combine stunning display quality with excellent performance and at surprisingly low prices for all of their features.

For example, the Asus Zenbook 14 isn’t the highest-quality OLED we’ve seen, but it still produces clear text and graphics on a 14-inch screen, along with exceptional black levels, Elliott said. That’s still better than LCDs that many other non-MacBooks have, and could be the reason Asus owners rate it so highly in this category.

Dell wins our readers over as a top choice for high-end laptops. One-third (33.3%) of Dell owners spent over $1,500, and of that percentage, 15.2% spent over $2,000.

Dell’s premium laptops largely cater to business and gaming with their standout features and performance. The Alienware 16X Aurora is Dell’s midrange gaming laptop with user-replaceable RAM, a bright display and strong performance for $2,280. But if you want more gaming features, Dell has the Alienware 16 Area-51, which has even better gaming performance, upgradable RAM and three SSD slots for $2,530. And if you’re looking for a non-Mac alternative that comes close to MacBook quality and performance, the higher-end Dell XPS 14 is the one to choose. It has the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H CPU, Intel Arc B390 graphics and 1TB of storage for $1,950.

CNET commissioned Alchemer to conduct the People’s Picks survey to compile data. The survey was carried out online, and all figures are from Alchemer. The total sample comprised 1,003 adults. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (aged 18 plus). Fieldwork was undertaken from Sept. 1 to Oct. 10, 2026.

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Company said a “multifront cyberattack” included AI agents and an on-path data snatch.

Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis said that hackers have obtained sensitive personal information—including names, usernames, password hashes, and live tokens—for all of its users following a breach of its network security.

The accomplishment could be a major coup for the attackers. Both Chainalysis and public sources have revealed a long list of high-profile customers, including government agencies such as the FBI, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and the US Air Force, as well as private companies such as Microsoft, Coinbase, and Barclays. It’s unclear if the data theft exposed customers to additional threats.

Last Friday, Chainalysis said it had been the target of a cybersecurity incident in October that was similar to the hacks of other platforms during the same month. The external actor used AI agent-assisted offensive techniques to gain unauthorized access to Chainalysis systems and internal tools. An email the company sent to affected customers said some “non-sensitive customer data, such as user IDs, full names, email addresses, and organization role labels for users provisioned on our platform were accessed.” It’s not clear why the company considered such information “non-sensitive.”

In a Wednesday update, the company said that part of the “ongoing multifront cyberattack” involved an “on-path attack” that exposed a subset of customer passwords, and that the attack vector had been identified and fixed. Also known as an adversary-in-the-middle attack, on-path attacks happen when a hacker gains access to a piece of infrastructure sending traffic back and forth between two parties. Chainalysis has yet to say where the infrastructure compromise occurred and if the data obtained from it was TLS encrypted.

The company said later that day that an investigation two days earlier (on Monday) had revealed that “certain customer information including names, usernames, password hashes and live tokens for all Chainalysis users were exposed to a malicious actor.” It also said it had detected “abnormal activity” and, in response, took down its login page and know-your-transaction service, which monitors threats to cryptocurrency holdings in real time. The company has also removed access to its Reactor and Data Solutions services.

In an update on Friday, Chainalysis said it had begun phasing in customer access to KYT and Address Screening and expected more customers to follow. It asked customers to submit their trusted IP addresses so they can be added to an allow list and to prepare to reset credentials once they regain access. The credential rotation is mandatory.

The company says its investigation has yet to reveal any evidence that any investigation data has been accessed or Chainalysis attribution data has been manipulated.

Several important questions remain unanswered. As noted, the source that made the on-path attack possible is still unknown. It’s not clear how useful the information obtained in such an attack would be unless the attackers also had the ability to decrypt the traffic they were monitoring. If that were the case, the attackers might have gained broad control of the company’s infrastructure.

Chainalysis also didn’t explain why it waited until Wednesday to disclose the data theft of all customers’ personal information when its investigation discovered the exposure two days earlier. Further, the company has provided no details about the AI agents used in the attack and how they worked.

A Chainalysis representative said the company wasn’t commenting beyond the statements in its blog post.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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The company’s latest headphones rival Apple, Bose and Sony at a much lower price.

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If you don't like the idea of paying $350 to $500 for a set of flagship headphones, Anker's Soundcore line offers a lot of performance at much lower prices. Over the years, the company has refined its formula by balancing sound and features in various packages so as to compete with the likes of Apple, Bose, Sony and Sennheiser. With the Space 2 Pro, Anker put its new Thus audio chip in headphones for the first time, making lofty claims about the upgraded voice clarity as a result. At $200, these aren't just an affordable alternative to the big names in headphones, they're a worthy contender in their own right.

The first thing that stood out to me about the Space 2 Pro is the design. These do not look like they cost $200, especially not the grey version that I tested. Anker refined the look of the Space line here for a premium aesthetic and a build that's lightweight, but not overly plastic. The sliders for fit adjustments are metal and both the headband and ear pads are wrapped in soft leather. There are also subtle metallic accents to complete the premium design, like the circles on the outside of the ear cups and subtly placed product name.

Even though the Space 2 Pro is the flagship Soundcore headphones, the price tag pits them up against decidedly midrange competition. Design-wise, the Space 2 Pro is vastly superior in that category, and that advantage continues into audio performance. These headphones have more bass and overall clarity than you'll typically find in the $200 range. The 35mm drivers are made with two different materials in order to maximize both high-end clarity and deep bass.

When I listened to Mastodon's Marrow Deep, Brann Dailor's drums boom throughout and Troy Sanders' bass provides the backbone for the guitar riffs. Thanks to Anker's "crystalline highs" here, guitars and synths cut through the mix clearly, so you never miss a note of Bill Kelliher's handiwork. The overall clarity and detail on the Space 2 Pro is really on display with more acoustic-driven genres, like Zach Bryan's Young Manhood and Other Donatable Organs. The piano, acoustic guitar and string section seem to float behind the interwoven vocals of Bryan and Lana Del Rey on "Lies," for example.

Anker is very proud that the Space 2 Pro currently holds the Guiness World Record for the "clearest over-ear headphones for calls." I was immediately skeptical that this would hold any weight in real-world use, but boy was I wrong.

Plenty of headphones manage to nullify background noise, but they do so at great expense to voice clarity. But thanks to that Thus chip and a six-microphone array, the Space 2 Pro offers extremely clear voice performance while effectively blocking background noise. Not only do they combat would-be distractions exceptionally well, they do so without making you sound even the slightest bit robotic. I thought I sounded pretty close to how I did in a quiet room when the processing kicked in, maybe only the slightest bit muffled, but never like a digitized version of myself.

The company promises battery life of up to 30 hours when you have active noise cancellation (ANC) on, or up to 60 hours with it off. During my testing, which I conducted almost entirely with noise cancellation enabled, I got 31 hours before the Space 2 Pro shut off. I did take a call or two a day where I needed to switch to transparency mode so I didn't feel the need to shout to hear myself speaking, but I'd say 95 percent of the time, I was using ANC.

The most disappointing aspect of the Space 2 Pro to me are a number of subpar audio features. The Thus chip powers what Anker calls Hear ID 5.0, a feature that uses a hearing test to customize the sound of the headphones to your preferences. I didn't think the resulting tailored audio profile offered any meaningful improvement over the stock tuning, neither did spatial audio settings or the collection of curated presets. I tested all of them, of course, but every time I used one, I found myself longing for the out-of-the-box sound after just a few minutes of use.

Anker boasts Adaptive ANC 3.0 on the Space 2 Pro, a noise-canceling setup that relies on the Thus chip and eight microphones to combat background noise. The company specifically lists "blocking office chatter and keyboard clicks for instant silence" among the headphones' strengths. While I do think the Space 2 Pro does an above average job of lowering the volume on human voices, and it definitely blocks keyboard clicks, its general noise canceling abilities are just okay. The headphones struggled with constant noise sources, like white noise machines and particularly raucous fans.

On Anker's flagship earbuds, the Liberty 5 Pro Max, the company built an AI note taking assistant into the charging case (which has a touchscreen). Even though the Space 2 Pro doesn't have a case, it does have plenty of microphones, and "AI Note-Taker" is currently listed as "TBD" on the spec sheet. If that feature does eventually arrive, there are two potential issues with it.

First, it will be a lot more awkward to wear over-ear headphones in a meeting than it would be to slide a small earbuds case to the middle of the table. Second, if you plan to regularly use Anker's transcription service and cloud storage, you'll have to pay for a subscription. You only get two hours of transcriptions and 10,000 minutes of audio storage monthly for free, and only for two years. Plans are then either $8.33 or $20 per month (billed annually) depending on your needs. Since it's unclear if this feature will ever arrive, its absence doesn't impact my overall assessment.

It's easy to dismiss Soundcore as merely a budget brand, but that would be a mistake. With products like the Space 2 Pro, Anker proves it can hang with the best, offering comparable performance for significantly less money. In fact, I'd argue if voice clarity is your primary factor in choosing a new set of headphones, this model should be your first choice. For many, though, that's further down the list of priorities.

While there are caveats when it comes to ANC performance, audio features and a (potentially) unnecessary note taker, the Space 2 Pro has a lot of premium traits. The overall sound quality is good, the design is refined, the fit is comfortable and battery life claims hold true. At a time when the best overall headphones you can buy are $460 at full price, Anker's ability to produce a $200 alternative that won't disappoint you is no small feat.

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Tech > Services & Software > Operating Systems > Mobile OS > Android

'Notify when left behind' is making its way to Android - but to limited devices for now.

A much-needed update — “Notify when left behind” — is rolling out to Google’s Find My hub. The feature sends a notification when a registered device is separated from your phone, except when you leave it at your house.

Also: 7 Galaxy settings I always change to boost my battery life

According to 9to5Google, this feature was first previewed in October, with the notification available for Chipolo trackers and Moto Tag.

This feature is not yet available for other peripherals such as headphones. I tried to see if my Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones or Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 have it — they don’t. Hopefully, support is on the way. In the meantime, here’s what we know.

“Notify when left behind” is my all-time favorite device tracking feature on iOS. Any device set up on my Find My network is compatible with this feature, including my MacBook Air, AirPods Pro 3, and Apple Watch, three devices I often take out of the house — and have indeed left behind once or twice.

Also: Google’s Pixel Tag tracker has a big advantage over AirTags

If these devices are separated from my phone in an unsaved location, I’ll get a notification of which device I left and where. In iOS, you can customize which locations are “safe,” and won’t notify you if you leave them there.

On Android, this feature is currently limited to only notifying you when a device is left at a location other than the home address registered to your Google account. Hopefully, location customization is on the horizon.

Right now, this feature appears to be limited to specific Bluetooth trackers. Photos shared by 9to5Google show compatible trackers have a “Notify when left behind” tab at the bottom of their menu in the Find Hub, so it’s expected that future supported devices will operate the same way.

9to5Google reports that previous updates to Google Play Services indicated this feature’s existence. According to 9to5Google, “Notify when left behind” should be a feature that users can enable when registering a new device with their Find Hub.

Also: I’m an Apple Maps fan, but I switch to Google Maps for these 3 tasks

Once Google matures and fully rolls out this feature, there should be a setting inside the Find Hub to enable these notifications on every device in your hub.

Android’s breadth of compatibility with third-party manufacturers is its most significant advantage over Apple. Regarding device tracking, you can add Sony headphones, Motorola trackers, and Samsung Galaxy smartwatches to the same Find Hub.

Also: Apple has a Bluetooth problem, and Android is taking advantage

However, my Beats headphones that appear in my Find My hub are not currently supported by this new feature. If Google can expand this feature to all Fast Pair-compatible devices, such as Bluetooth trackers, headphones, smartwatches, laptops, and more, it’ll be easier for consumers to keep tabs on their ever-growing armory of devices.

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Razer's new Hammerhead V3 Chroma wired gaming earbuds combine active noise cancellation, customizable RGB lighting, dual drivers, and a clever right-angle USB-C connector for just $79.99.

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SAVE $100: As of Nov. 6, our favorite Android smartwatch, the Google Pixel Watch 5, is down to its lowest-ever price at Amazon. The 41mm WiFi model is discounted by $100.

Amazon just knocked $100 off the Google Pixel Watch 5, bringing the 41mm WiFi model down to $299.99, its lowest price yet.

If you have been waiting for the right moment to pick up our favorite Android smartwatch without paying full price, this limited-time deal completely wipes out the launch-day price bump.

When our team rounded up the year's best smartwatches, the Pixel Watch 5 took top honors for Android users. Last year's Pixel Watch 4 was already a running favorite for former Mashable reporter Christianna Silva, but the 5 earned its upgrade by adding a faster processor, double the storage, faster charging, and more accurate GPS route tracking for workouts. The best tech deal this week The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile

It also sports a domed Actua 360 display shielded by scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass, along with up to 40 hours of battery life to comfortably get you through a day and a half between charges.

A lot of that appeal comes down to how smoothly it fits into a typical routine. Google built Gemini directly into the device, acting as a helpful companion on your wrist. It can display flight details on the way to the airport or suggest contact numbers while you text about dinner plans, and certain Gemini features even function offline when your phone lacks service.

Health tracking also sees a notable upgrade. Along with heart rate metrics and nightly sleep-stage summaries, the Pixel Watch 5 monitors long-term trends in blood pressure and insulin resistance. It also checks breathing regularity while you sleep and includes Loss of Pulse Detection, which can prompt an emergency call if it detects you need immediate help.

Grab the Google Pixel Watch 5 while it's down to its lowest-ever price.

Soumya is a deals writer who covers consumer tech, shopping deals, and the products people use every day. With experience writing about everything from AI tools and software to smartphones and home gadgets, she enjoys breaking down product research into clear, useful recommendations. When she's not tracking deals, she's usually comparing products, digging through reviews, and figuring out what actually makes a purchase worth it.

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Caviar's new Zodiac collection transforms Apple's foldable iPhone Duo into an extravagant customizable accessory, featuring genuine meteorite inlays, precious gemstones, exotic leather, and millions of possible designs.

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President Donald Trump on Friday announced that Stephen Miller, one of his most powerful and politically aggressive aides, would be his next White House chief of staff following disastrous results for Republicans in the midterm elections.

Miller, whose titles until now were deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, has orchestrated the most polarizing policies of Trump’s second term—most notably a brutal crackdown on immigration that has claimed the lives of US citizens.

Trump made the change public in a statement on his Truth Social platform, writing that Miller would take over from Susie Wiles on Monday—less than a week after Republicans lost the House and Senate in a searing rebuke of Trump’s policy agenda.

In recent days, Trump has privately blamed Wiles for the worst Republican midterm performance in decades, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Wiles submitted her resignation on Thursday, the sources say.

Trump broadly considered three candidates to replace Wiles, the sources say: special envoy Steve Witkoff, director of national intelligence Jay Clayton, and Miller.

But with the looming threat of congressional investigations starting next year, Trump settled on Miller, seemingly because of his zeal in defending the president and his deep loyalty. Miller has been with Trump since his first campaign and stood by him through his political exile in 2021.

Miller had made his interest in the job known inside the West Wing for weeks, ever since Wiles weathered a series of negative stories before the midterms that suggested her job was at risk, the sources say.

In recent months, Trump also started cutting Wiles out of certain decisions, which contributed to the sense among her detractors that she was on shaky ground, sources say. For instance, Trump reportedly hired Katie Zacharia as press secretary without consulting Wiles, though the White House pushed back on the claim.

With Wiles’ departure, White House aides were bracing for further personnel changes. Among other names, Wiles’ deputies James Blair, who put together the GOP midterm strategy, and Richard Walters are seen as vulnerable to being fired by Miller unless they resign first, sources say.

The changing of the guard is also likely to bring respite to defense secretary Pete Hegseth, who has had a strained relationship with Wiles as of late but is seen as ideologically aligned with Miller, sources say.

Hegseth and Miller worked closely last year when the Trump administration began a campaign of strikes against boats around Venezuela. Miller, who also leads the Homeland Security Council within the White House, orchestrated the campaign through the Pentagon.

Wiles leaves the White House as arguably the most successful chief of staff to Trump, who infamously cycled through chiefs in his first term. By comparison, Wiles kept Trump’s confidence from the start of his second presidential campaign in 2021.

Still, Wiles weathered a number of challenges in recent months. She underwent a successful course of chemotherapy, but also faced accusations that her daughter had received lucrative contracts in part because of the family’s connection to the president. (The White House and Wiles’ daughter’s firm pushed back on these claims.)

“Serving President Trump in the White House has been the honor of a lifetime,” Wiles wrote on X. “I’m so proud to have been a part of what we’ve accomplished together from securing our border and cutting taxes to strengthening our economy and putting America First.”

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SpaceX has declared that it’s going to make Starlink Mobile a “major” mobile carrier. The Elon Musk-owned company has already deployed thousands of direct-to-cell satellites, but its next big challenge is building out its 5G network here on Earth.

As part of its plans to rival AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, SpaceX has inked a deal with Qualcomm, which will deploy its cellular technology across tens of thousands of 5G cell sites starting in 2027. SpaceX is also reportedly in talks to buy Boost Mobile, potentially allowing it to launch Starlink Mobile through the service. Another report suggests SpaceX may tap into 80,000 cell sites across the US to build out its network.

SpaceX’s big plans have garnered some reactions in the telecom industry. Tim Höttges, the CEO of T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom, said he takes SpaceX’s plans “super serious” but that it could cost Musk more than $200 billion to pull off.

Follow along for the latest updates on Starlink’s major mobile carrier ambitions.

Today, I’m talking with Walter Piecyk, a partner and analyst at LightShed Partners who covers tech, media, and telecom, about SpaceX’s recently announced plan to become a major wireless carrier.

Last week, SpaceX agreed to buy a big chunk of low-band spectrum to expand the Starlink network, spectrum that’s been traded around the telecom business for decades now. SpaceX’s ambitious plan is to use that spectrum to help build “the world’s most advanced mobile network.”

Bloomberg has a breakdown of how Starlink Mobile will operate — and what SpaceX still needs to do to get its hybrid 5G network up and running.

SpaceX is teaming up with Qualcomm to build out its nationwide mobile network. Under the multi-year deal, SpaceX will bring Qualcomm’s Dragonwing technology to “tens of thousands” of 5G cell sites across the US, with the first deployments set for 2027.

The news of the partnership comes as part of SpaceX’s push to make Starlink Mobile a “major” carrier in the US, competing directly with T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon. The Elon Musk-owned company has already snapped up a swath of spectrum, while recent reports suggested that SpaceX was exploring an acquisition of Boost Mobile.

SpaceX has discussed a deal with Boost Mobile to launch its own service through the budget-friendly carrier, according to a report from The Washington Post. The deal, which comes as SpaceX aims to make Starlink a “major” mobile carrier, reportedly involves the Elon Musk-owned company acquiring Boost Mobile or accessing its network.

Musk discussed the potential agreement with Charlie Ergen, chairman of Boost Mobile parent company EchoStar, last month, as reported by The Washington Post. Boost Mobile’s network is currently powered by T-Mobile and AT&T, meaning SpaceX may need permission from the two carriers to launch its service.

SpaceX plans to access at least 80,000 cell sites as part of efforts to compete directly with Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, according to a report from Bloomberg. Sources tell the publication that SpaceX is in talks with Crown Castle Inc., one of the nation’s largest cell tower owners.

The move would give SpaceX access to half of the 158,500 cell towers currently operational in the US, according to Reuters. When asked about a potential partnership with SpaceX, Amazon, or other satellite services during an earnings call on Wednesday, Crown Castle CEO Chris Hillabrant said, “I don’t think I want to get into customer-specific detail, but you can assume that we’re talking to all parties.” SpaceX plans to pair a network of cell towers with its constellation of direct-to-cell satellites.

SpaceX has acquired a portfolio of low-band spectrum licenses — a move the company says “will pave the way” for its Starlink Mobile service to become a “major” US carrier. When the Federal Communications Commission signs off on the deal, SpaceX says it will deploy its new architecture that combines its satellite-to-mobile constellation with a terrestrial mobile network, directly competing with T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon.

The licenses include up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band, which SpaceX says will allow Starlink Mobile’s signal to penetrate through walls and buildings. SpaceX previously acquired 2GHz spectrum from EchoStar as part of efforts to bolster its direct-to-device service.

“The spectrum that we purchased from EchoStar does have terrestrial components, so we definitely intend to build out the terrestrial component,” said Shotwell. “You will have not only the capacity from the satellites themselves, but you will have a buildout of the terrestrial, basically the hardware and systems necessary to make a true mobile service exactly what you want it to be.”

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Democrats’ historic victories in this week’s U.S. midterm elections could also transform the tech industry.

The public voted on 41 data center-related ballot measures on Tuesday — in all but one, the majority voted to impose more restrictions on data center development. And even when data centers weren’t on the ballot directly, they were a major talking point, with newly-elected Democratic governors and congressmembers likely to support additional regulation.

On the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Sean O’Kane, and Anthony Ha discuss what the election will mean for the tech industry moving forward — not just when it comes to data centers (which OpenAI is already trying to rebrand), but also increased government scrutiny of Big Tech.

Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University. You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing [email protected].

You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing [email protected].

You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing [email protected].

Anthony Ha is TechCrunch’s weekend editor. Previously, he worked as a tech reporter at Adweek, a senior editor at VentureBeat, a local government reporter at the Hollister Free Lance, and vice president of content at a VC firm. He lives in New York City.

You can contact or verify outreach from Anthony by emailing [email protected].

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The world's largest chipmaker is drafting plans for 3D DRAM as an AI-driven memory shortage drags on.

The TSMC logo on one of the company’s factories in the Central Taiwan Science Park, Taichung.

TSMC is considering making advanced memory chips and has begun drafting plans for 3D DRAM at Nvidia’s request, The Information reports. It would put TSMC up against Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron as AI demand keeps memory scarce.

TSMC is considering making advanced memory chips, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing The Information. The move would give the world’s largest chipmaker an even bigger share of the AI hardware supply chain.

TSMC recently began drafting plans to make 3D DRAM, which stacks memory cells vertically to pack in more capacity, at the request of Nvidia, its biggest customer. It could build new factories or buy an existing plant and convert it, Reuters reported, citing The Information.

The work is led by Hsu Kuo-chin, a TSMC vice president who oversees advanced packaging, according to the report. TSMC and Nvidia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Memory is in short supply as AI data centres soak it up, sending prices soaring. Micron expects the shortage to last into 2028, and Apple raised Mac and iPad prices in June, citing memory costs. Some customers want their own supply: Elon Musk is planning a $55B chip plant to cut his reliance on Micron.

TSMC is already moving closer to memory. In October, Nvidia reportedly asked Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron to build the base layer of its custom HBM memory on TSMC’s 3nm process. Making DRAM itself would put TSMC up against all three, including SK Hynix, which plans to spend $720B on new plants.

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Elon Musk has confirmed Tesla will stop making the Cybertruck around mid-2027 to build more Cybercabs.

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Explaining the Great Unconformity, where Cambrian deposits sit on top of older rocks.

In the Grand Canyon, there is a line in the rock where time seems to have gone missing. Ancient crystalline rocks mark its bottom, while sandstones laid down as life started to diversify during the Cambrian explosion mark the top. “It’s called the Great Unconformity, and it’s a gap in the geologic record,” says Nicolas Flament, a geoscientist at the University of Wollongong, Australia. “This gap can be anywhere between 200 million years, which is not that impressive, to more than a billion years.”

In a recent Nature study, Flament and his colleague Santosh Dhungana argue that this gap was carved with help from deep within the planet. According to their models, slow currents of hot rock in Earth’s mantle pushed entire continents up for hundreds of millions of years, letting glaciers grind them down and then let them sink, allowing fresh sediments to bury the scar. The largest hole in the rock record might be a fingerprint of processes happening deep in the planet’s interior.

The oldest sediments resting on the Great Unconformity in North America are between 635 and 482 million years old. Geologists have traced it across most of North America and parts of northern Europe and northern China. “Something seems to have happened, in particular in North America,” Flament says.

The leading explanation was glaciation. Between roughly 720 and 635 million years ago, glaciers reached the tropics, and some scientists think the entire planet froze over, a scenario called Snowball Earth. “Ice sheets are very good at grinding, scouring, scraping the surface,” Flament explains. He said that glaciers are about 10 times more effective than rivers at eroding rock away. But if the whole planet froze, the Great Unconformity should be found everywhere. And it’s not.

Other explanations included rifting, pulling and stretching of Earth’s crust, and a global drop in sea levels. But rifting acts mostly on the edges of continents, and a sea level change should have affected all continents alike. “There’s no doubt that there was extensive glaciation. There’s no doubt that there have been sea-level changes throughout time. The question is, was that enough to put the Great Unconformity puzzle together?” Flament says.

A fourth idea held that the mantle itself was moving continents up and down, a process called dynamic topography. “It had been proposed, but it hadn’t been quantitatively tested,” Flament says. So, his team set out to do so.

From roughly 100 to 200 kilometers beneath the surface down to nearly 3,000 kilometers, Earth’s mantle slowly convects. “An analogy would be a lava lamp, where some stuff comes up and some stuff comes down,” Flament explains. “Cold rock sinks and hot rock rises.”

The mantle is solid, yet a piece of rock can slowly travel from the surface to the deep Earth over some 200 million years. That motion tugs on the surface. Where cold slabs of ocean floor sink into the mantle at subduction zones, the ground gets pulled down; where hot mantle rises, it gets pushed up. The amplitude of this up and down motion is still debated, though. “The short of it is several hundreds of meters, and it’s still to be worked out exactly what that [precise value] is,” Flament says.

Dhungana and Flament ran six simulations of mantle convection going back 1 billion years, driven by reconstructions of how tectonic plates moved over that time. Then they grouped regions where the ground rose and fell in similar ways to find where the unconformity should have formed, and where it should have survived to the present. Flament, however, says the starting configuration of these simulations remains uncertain.

Magnetic records in ancient rocks reveal how far continents were from the equator, but not their longitude. “It’s possible that some continents may be in the wrong hemisphere,” Flament admits. The ancient ocean floor, long since recycled into the mantle, had to be invented entirely from scratch in the models. Still, the simulations produced a consistent story.

Laurentia, the ancient core of North America, had little or no subduction along its margins between about 930 and 510 million years ago, much like Africa today, so it sat above some rising mantle and was pushed up. Five of the six models showed this pattern of Laurentia seeing long uplift followed by sinking in the Cambrian. For northern Europe and North China, this pattern showed up in four.

But the uplift alone, Flament’s team concluded, was too gentle to strip away enough rock to create the Great Unconformity.

“The uplift could create a tilt for the whole continent, but it’s not great at creating a steep slope,” Flament says. The missing piece of the puzzle, he argues, were glaciers that ground through rock even on low ground and gentle slopes. The models show the uplift was still building when Snowball Earth hit. “This gentle uplift that’s continuous, and then that glacial erosion that comes on top, work together,” Flament explains. “They’re not coupled. They just happen to coincide in time.” When the continents sank in the Cambrian, seas flooded in and buried the eroded surface.

The models made by Flament’s team also explain why the gap is so obvious in North America but hard to find elsewhere. Compared with records of sediment preserved on each continent, North America and Eurasia show one long rise followed by one long fall, which the researchers interpret as the ideal recipe for the Great Unconformity.

South America and Australia, on the other hand, went through two cycles. “This would form potentially two unconformities, and then the Great Unconformity would be more difficult to see,” Flament says. Africa was a different case altogether—hemmed in by mountain belts at the time, its erosion and sediment were shaped by the mountains rather than by the mantle beneath.

But if the mantle goes through such up and down cycles on a regular basis, the remaining question was why we can see only one Great Unconformity, and not many.

The team says the Great Unconformity is unique in the geological record because of a combination of a rise-and-fall cycle lasting over 900 million years, a near-global glaciation that happened at the right moment, and rock records that get harder to read farther back in time.

Flament suspects there may be an older candidate, tied to a glaciation 2.4 billion years ago, but rocks that old lack the fossils that make younger sediments easier to date. “Having life in sediments makes it a lot easier to have a sense of time,” he says. His work, however, may help explain what happens right after the Great Unconformity formed.

The intense erosion that carved the Great Unconformity washed rock material into the oceans, possibly fertilizing them just before the Cambrian explosion, when calcium became abundant in seawater. “That’s when life learns to mobilize calcium and create skeletons and shells,” Flament says. He admits, though, that mantle dynamics likely wasn’t the only process that enabled the Cambrian explosion. “I think it would be misleading to say the mantle set the pace here. But I think it was one of the forces that worked together.”

Nature, 2026.  DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-11156-5

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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Amazon's bots are the latest AI agents trying to do your shopping for you. Should you let them?

Alexa for Shopping is a personal AI agent that lets you shop, compare and buy items from Amazon. It’s been available via the app and website. Amazon announced today that you can now do all of that and more from a text thread.

Amazon says it can order your weekly groceries or look at a recipe and add the items to your cart, and it can search for deals and send a text when there’s a price drop. You can also reorder items you previously bought and get delivery updates.

The new text feature of Alexa for Shopping can also update your regular grocery lists and let you personalize your orders. For example, you can tell Alexa to shop only for organic options. And if you’re satisfied, you can text Alexa to reorder the items and even set up a weekly grocery order. You can also compare products and check the price history to make sure you’re getting the best deal.

It has a few other nifty features to find new products. For instance, you can use Shop Direct, Amazon’s shopping feature, to browse and buy products from external websites.

Amazon’s announcement says Alexa will buy with your approval. But AI can be tricky sometimes, so make sure it’s following your instructions. You should also be careful when giving any AI product your personal information, like your delivery address, banking details, personal data and preferences. As for what happens if you need to cancel an order, add to an order or get a refund? A representative for Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alexa for Shopping isn’t the only AI agent vying for your attention. Meta Muse and Google Universal Cart are just a couple of the other AI-powered products that can shop, track prices and buy on your behalf.

Alexa for Shopping is available to a small group in the US starting Friday via a text invitation. Amazon says it will become more widely available in the coming months. You can also sign up online to stay up to date.

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The company has finally introduced a ‘Notify when left behind’ notification for tracking devices

Google has started rolling out a feature for the Find Hub that will send you a notification if you've left a location tracker — or the item you've attached it to — behind. Apple has had separation alerts for years, letting you enable them for Find My-enabled tracking devices so you can quickly get notified when they're not with you. Samsung added the feature to SmartThings for devices like its Galaxy SmartTags and Buds a few years ago. With separation alerts enabled, you may have better chances of retrieving an item you've dropped or forgotten, say, before you get too far or before you've boarded your plane.

The feature's rollout was first reported by 9to5Google. To get separation alerts on your Android phone, open the Find Hub app, choose a tag from your device list, then select the Settings gear icon. On the tracker's page, you'll see a new section where you can enable Notify when left behind for that specific device. If you switch it on, you'll get an alert from the Find Hub network if you get far away enough from the tracker, unless you've left it at your designated Home address on Google Maps.

Currently, the feature seems to be live in the US and in some parts of Europe. It also seems available across brands, with 9to5Google able to access the feature with their Moto and Chipolo trackers linked to an Android phone.

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Another competitive model developed outside of China could change the open-weight landscape.

Thinking Machines Lab, a small AI startup from ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has released its latest model, Inkling 2 Small — and according to third-party tester Artificial Analysis, it’s set to give Chinese models a run for their lead. It’s technically proprietary until now, but Thinking Machines said it will release its weights next week.

Also: Open weights vs. closed: An AI civil war’s afoot

Chinese companies have led the pack on open models over the last few years. Models from DeepSeek and Moonshot regularly top leaderboards and rival the capabilities of much more expensive, closed models from OpenAI and Anthropic.

Since DeepSeek’s R1 performed similarly to OpenAI’s o1 in January 2025, Chinese open models have given investors and high-paying enterprise customers reasons to rethink their expensive contracts with US-based labs. Western labs creating more competitive open models changes the landscape.

Thinking Machines’ latest model has 594 billion parameters and supports image inputs but outputs only text. The company noted its web and game design capabilities and that it evaluated the model’s approach to coding problems alongside the code it generated during testing.

“The result is a model that is both stronger at coding and easier to use inside real agent loops,” the company said.

Also: Nvidia takes another step forward for US open-weight AI

Inkling 2 Small scored a 31 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, a composite test “for tracking progress toward artificial general intelligence” that combines benchmark scores spanning coding, science, and general categories. A score of 31 is above average for models in its class and is tied with Gemini 3.8 Flash. For context, Gemini 4 Carbon and Claude Opus 5.5 top the index at 60 and 59, respectively.

Thinking Machines said it will release the model’s weights next week, a practice that is becoming customary. Given the heightened security concerns around AI in general, AI companies spend a few weeks testing the to-be-open model with cybersecurity teams and safety reviewers before releasing the weights, rather than leading with the weights out of the gate.

French AI lab Mistral recently released its Le Chonk model via the same staggered process — it now keeps pace with OpenAI’s GPT-6.1 Terra in coding abilities, which is rare for western-made open models.

Also: Mistral’s Le Chonk is now a top open model for coding

“[Thinking Machines’] plan to release its weights would make it the highest-scoring open weights model developed outside China based on current rankings,” Artificial Analysis said.

“Inkling 2 Small is amongst the leading models in intelligence and reasonably priced when comparing to other models of similar price. It’s also notably slow per task and very verbose,” Artificial Analysis said. The organization also called Inkling 2 Small’s pricing “somewhat expensive” at $0.30 per one million input tokens, since the median cost for its class is $0.24.

Still, the model’s progress over its predecessor stands out to Artificial Analysis reviewers: Inkling 2 Small jumped 41% in automation capabilities and 20% in coding abilities. However, most models excel in certain areas or on specific benchmarks, making it hard to deem one or another the outright best coding model overall.

Also: I tried replacing Claude Code with a local AI stack that’s completely free

Inkling 2 Small also made some gains in accuracy, Artificial Analysis said.

“On AA-Omniscience v1.1, the hallucination rate falls from Inkling Small’s 61% to 27%, while accuracy rises from 32% to 34% and the attempt rate falls from 77% to 53%,” its review reported.

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Batteries are everywhere, even on the battlefield, which helps explain the Pentagon’s recent interest in building more domestic manufacturing capacity.

The 12-year-old, North Andover, Massachusetts-based startup 6K announced Thursday that it won conditional approval for a $250 million loan from the Department of Defense to build a factory in Tennessee. The plant will use a unique microwave-powered process to produce battery materials that don’t rely on Chinese suppliers.

The company previously received a $50 million grant from the Department of Energy under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, though that 2023 grant was canceled by the Trump administration in a chaotic sweep of Biden-era awards, forcing 6K to reapply.

The factory was originally slated to open in 2024, but the grant cancelation and uncertainties in the EV market forced the company to rejigger its plans.

6K’s manufacturing process uses microwaves to heat metals into a plasma and then deposit them onto a surface, reducing the number of steps required to make cathode material, a key battery component. The company says the process can work on a number of different battery types, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP).

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SAVE $70: As of Nov. 6, Beats Fit Pro are on sale for $129.95 at Amazon. That's a 35% discount on the list price.

I've been using the Beats Fit Pro for over three years now, and they're still some of my favorite earbuds I've tested. The battery life is excellent, they stay comfortably in place, and the sound quality hasn't given me any reason to switch. So, this $70-off deal on Amazon is just one of many reasons to consider these earbuds.

With these earbuds, you'll get three listening modes to choose from: Active Noise Canceling, Transparency Mode, and Adaptive EQ. You can use noise cancellation to block out background sounds, switch to Transparency Mode to stay aware of what's happening around you, or let Adaptive EQ adjust the sound to your ears. The best tech deal this week The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile

The flexible wingtip design also helps to keep the earbuds securely in place, making them great workout earbuds. Multiple ear tip sizes are also included, so you can find a fit that feels comfortable. I've used these for marathons, HIIT workouts, and everything in between, and can attest to their secure fit.

Beats says you can get up to six hours of listening time from the earbuds, or up to 24 hours with the charging case. In my experience, they live up to that claim and then some. I've tested plenty of earbuds over the years, but these have the best battery life of any pair I've used.

Lois Mackenzie is a freelance reporter at Mashable. Over the years she has written for many publications, covering everything from the local news to the best pair of running shoes. You can find bylines in publications including Fit&Well, Metro, and Coach magazine, usually covering deals on everything from earbuds to TVs, or guides on how to beat your half marathon time.

Lois also holds a Master's degree in Digital Journalism from Strathclyde University and obtained a Master of Arts in English Literature at the University of Aberdeen.

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Coupled with a bright display, it hits the sweet spot for smartwatch hardware.

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Samsung's latest Ultra smartwatch hits all the notes of an 'ultra' wearable: a solidly designed timepiece with chunky detailing that puts activity tracking front and center. For the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 ($700), the company has made major improvements to battery longevity and performance, while still forging its own health-tracking path with a bunch of unique metrics (of varying utility). With 13 years of wearable launches behind it, can Samsung pry me away from my Apple Watch Ultra?

It's refreshing to see some major hardware upgrades on this second Galaxy Watch Ultra — perhaps a benefit from taking a year off from offering an upgrade. Starting with the (slightly bigger) 1.52-inch display, it now reaches up to 5,000 nits of brightness, a big leap from the original Watch Ultra's 3,500-nit max — and better than pretty much every other smartwatch out there. It's the same squircle design that most folks either love or loathe. I like it: It looks different from the circular smartwatches and won't be confused for an Apple Watch either.

Speaking of which, Samsung's newest flagship watch is lighter and slimmer than both its predecessor and Apple's latest Watch Ultra 4, but it's still a substantial timepiece, at 10.7mm thick and weighing just shy of 2.2 ounces (61.5 grams). It comes in only one size, 47mm, and it looks chunky and outdoorsy on most folks' wrists. If you're looking for a more subtle, smaller Samsung smartwatch, the company's Watch 9 series might be a better fit, literally. The company has stuck with its proprietary Dynamic Lug System for its watch bands, so you'll be limited to Samsung-made options and a few niche third-party options. on't expect the same range you get with Apple's wearables.

There's still no rotating bezel, which was a mainstay on Samsung's older flagship wearables, and the buttons along the right edge protrude much less, which is one of several small hardware refinements you may not notice at first. Sadly, Samsung also reduced the orange detailing on the main button, which I liked. I'll take anything that adds a splash of color to monochromatic tech.

The lack of a physical dial doesn't ruin the wearable, but it can be frustrating at times. Using picker wheels, which you scroll to choose a number, seem overly sensitive across multiple apps. For example, when adjusting the weight numbers on Hevy, a weight training app that works on the Watch Ultra 2, I found it hard to lock on to the right number.

The hardware seems as durable as it looks, with a shock-resistant titanium casing and IP69K dust and water protection, making it completely dust-proof and able to handle high-pressure, high-temperature water jets. This is arguably the most diving-friendly mainstream wearable, or at least it will be. It has a water resistance rating of 10 ATM, so that you can take the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 as deep as 100 meters (or 328 feet). However, we're still waiting, months after it was announced, for a dedicated diving app that was promised at launch.

Battery capacity is up substantially, from the original Watch Ultra's 590mAh cell to 800mAh. That's over a third more battery. Combined with the latest Snapdragon Wear Elite chipset, it delivers the battery life I want from a smartwatch.

We all use wearables differently: some want constant heart rate tracking and some want fine-grained fitness tracking during daily workouts. Some might want their wearable to track their entire ultramarathon, and the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 will oblige. I am not an ultramarathon runner — yet. With mid-to-light use and the always-on display on, I got three days out of the device before the battery dipped below 20 percent. This included plenty of notifications, tracking an hour-long gym workout most days and using the Watch Ultra 2 controls to play podcasts and music. I also used it to track my sleep each night which I'll dive into more later.

Already, that's impressive battery performance. Over a week, I'd typically charge the device only twice. When I headed out for a weekend break, my fully charged Watch Ultra 2 handily lasted the trip. Skipping tracked workouts or turning off the always-on display, I got closer to four or five days of use. I want this to be the new standard in smartwatch battery life, though I understand that, at least for now, bigger batteries demand the thicker design of these 'ultra' smartwatches.

Coming from over a decade of Apple Watch ownership, interspersed with various Samsung wearables (running different operating systems), I still find it hard to navigate to the apps and status screens I want. However, it's still leagues ahead of the dark Tizen years.

It feels like too many inputs. Alongside the three hardware buttons on the right side, navigation centers on swiping from the top edge, while swiping from the bottom edge and side edges takes you elsewhere. Swipe down opens the Watch Ultra 2's Control Center (brightness, settings and volume), while swiping up opens the app drawer. Swipe right to get to your notifications, though it's a bit odd that they aren't in the swipe-down menu, given everyone's muscle memory. Meanwhile, swiping left drops you into a mix of tracked fitness metrics and weather.

Speaking of the app drawer, I think the Watch Ultra 2's app icons are often too plain and similar-looking, making it hard to find what I need at a glance. Having to depend on the alphabetical list (and scrolling and scrolling and scrolling) is rough. I rarely use Samsung's home-built Android apps, preferring either Google or third-party options, so I haven't built up a memory of most of the app icons. Samsung offers an app panel with your six most recently used Watch apps, which can even include the settings menu or Google Play Store, helping reduce my struggles with the wearable's app list.

Samsung split some of its health features between two apps: Health and Health Monitor. The company did so to keep medical-grade features like ECG (electrocardiogram) and sleep apnoea detection separate, and to obey regulatory compliance and medical device approvals in different regions. Samsung can then roll out (or limit) clinical features by location based on that criteria. Still, finding the health tracking features I wanted was often laborious, with half the features (like sleep metrics) requiring me to open my smartphone to see them.

There are highlights too. Samsung has built a playful range of watch faces and wallpapers, mixing chronograph-style, information-heavy options with customizable, photo-centric portraits and brightly colored numeric options. Uploading your own photos to the watch remains oddly sluggish, however.

Samsung goes to town on tracking biometrics, yet again. Antioxidant levels, hydration tracking and body composition scanning are here, on top of deeper sleep and workout tracking. Loud noise detection is new for Samsung's wearables, too, a feature that's been on Apple's Watch series for a few years.

Some new features are hidden away inside the Watch Ultra 2 (or more often than not, your companion Samsung smartphone), but they're aimed at better synthesizing all this data into a more palatable, understandable form. For example, a new feature called Heart Health Score attempts to distill multiple tracked metrics into a single number, combining sleep, stress and activity and connecting it to body composition data.

It's a clear example of how many wearable features and settings get buried, and how easy they are to miss. To see your score, you have to open the Heart health tile on your watch, scroll down and tap "Show on phone" to launch its own Health app on your paired device. I wish this (like many other metrics) could just be displayed on the Watch Ultra 2 itself.

We've already tested out the new hydration tracking during exercise, which seems aimed at more intensive, lengthier workouts than I usually do. It could be a useful addition for hardcore athletes, but for the rest of us who work out in the gym or train for a half-marathon at most, hydration isn't a major issue. One quick aside: The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 automatically detects workouts and walks well, flagging sessions more consistently than my Apple Watch Ultra 3.

Once again, we tested the antioxidant tracking, which requires you to take off the Watch Ultra 2 and press your thumb firmly against the sensors on the rear of the device. For a week, I tried to lean into the healthy eating habits Samsung says will increase my antioxidant levels. It's a lot of common-sense suggestions: Eliminate added sugars, avoid ultra-processed snacks and meals, increase raw veggies and fruits. Interestingly, Samsung's app suggests leaning into moist-heat cooking — like steaming, instead of grilling or roasting.

While we saw antioxidant testing in last year's Samsung wearables, the Watch Ultra 2 adds two features: trend charts and daily history logs. My antioxidant levels increased towards the upper limit of low, but never quite graduated to the middle rating. I'm not sure it's a particularly notable way to track healthier eating, but it kept me honest in my food choices for a few weeks.

Sleep tracking has been upgraded, although the new software finally landed months after the Watch Ultra 2 initially went on sale. There are some genuine improvements here, including a faster setup. The watch now requires only three days of sleep data from the past two weeks, instead of the seven days previous Galaxy Watches needed.

Despite its stellar battery life, the Galaxy Watch suffers from the fact that most of us recharge our smartwatches overnight — or prefer not to sleep with a slab of tech attached to our wrist. Folks who charge their watch overnight can't gather sleep data, so needing fewer days of data makes it easier to get on board with sleep tracking.

There's also a sleep coaching 'pet', based on an initial setup survey and your first few nights of sleep pattern data. This offers sleep advice and habit suggestions, setting up a 4- to 8-week coaching program that adjusts dynamically based on the sleep you eventually get.

Samsung has offered snore detection on its wearables for years, which still requires your phone nearby to record audio and it's still harrowing to listen back to. With the Watch Ultra 2, Samsung upgraded sleep apnea detection and folded it into its Health Monitor app. It requires two nights' sleep, with the watch worn tightly and higher up the wrist. It'll then let you know if you show signs of sleep apnea, which can be a genuine health threat.

The watch monitors biometric readings throughout the night, including blood oxygen levels, heart rate variability and your physical movement. It tracks signs of moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and analyzes breathing disruptions per hour. It's not a clinical diagnosis, but it could be worth getting an expert opinion if the watch detects high levels of sleep interruption. If you're not using a Galaxy phone with this watch, unfortunately, you won't be able to use several features, including this sleep apnoea test. Other features unavailable include the ECG, which checks for signs of atrial fibrillation, and the blood pressure monitor.

Samsung's refinements to its Galaxy Watch Ultra series prove it can match Apple's equivalent Watch Ultra. The hardware is solid and premium, with its own unique style, while the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2's battery life blows away most of its smartwatch competition — a crucial, if not the most important, tech spec in a wearable. The display is also incredibly bright, too, making it easy to use on sunny days, and the always-on mode doesn't demolish the battery life like the feature often does on older wearables.

Samsung continues to test multiple health metrics and lifestyle tracking options with mixed results. Sleep tracking has improved and needs less data, so I didn't feel forced to wear the watch every night. But other features, like antioxidant and hydration tracking, can be inconsistent or even irrelevant.

At a time of rocketing tech prices, Samsung's top-tier smartwatch is $100 cheaper than the Apple Watch Ultra 4. Still, because they're on separate platforms, that decision hinges less on which watch is better and more on whether you use an iPhone or a Galaxy device. The bigger competition may be Samsung's Galaxy Watch 9 ($380), which packs the same array of deep health monitoring features and AI shortcuts for several hundred dollars less. The Galaxy Watch 9 lacks the Watch Ultra 2's standout battery life and bright display, though, both of which make this Samsung's most capable wearable yet.

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From Firefox to the Linux kernel, OpenAI's new cybersecurity model is uncovering serious flaws that earlier AI systems missed and helping developers fix them before attackers can exploit them.

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Here are three AI product drops you might've missed this week.

Every week is a busy week in the artificial intelligence industry, and this week is no exception. As voters expressed serious concerns about AI and data centers at the ballot box, OpenAI and Anthropic — makers of ChatGPT and Claude, respectively — each dropped new updates to make their chatbots a little more capable.

All these changes come amid rapidly changing government and financial environments. The midterm elections, in which Democrats handily beat Republican candidates across the country, showed that anti-AI and anti-Big Tech campaigns resonated with voters. Tech critics told CNET this week that there is a clear desire for government officials at every level to change how they interact with technology companies — to keep their campaign promises. The election results are also shaking up Wall Street, as investors’ fears about AI’s long-term financial viability grow.

Smaller updates like these are helpful for everyday AI users, and there’s a benefit for AI companies, too. They can prove they’re competitive in a market that is losing confidence in AI. Here are the three biggest AI updates to ChatGPT and Claude.

Gone are the days when every new AI tool got an immediate general release — and that’s probably for the best. Now, when a major AI lab has a new frontier AI model, it slow-rolls its access, and it starts with cybersecurity defenders. That’s exactly what OpenAI did with its newest model variant, GPT-6 Cyber.

Introducing GPT‑6 Cyber: a major advance in security research that pairs stronger capabilities with better model alignment.The model powered the Linux kernel research we announced yesterday, and security teams at companies like Mozilla, Palo Alto Networks, Calif, and… pic.twitter.com/34uAeNnhwP

GPT-6 Cyber is a version of OpenAI’s newest flagship model that’s specifically made for security research and work. OpenAI says it’s best at finding vulnerabilities and staying in its secure container. Those two things matter a lot. Earlier this fall, an OpenAI model was partially responsible for helping researchers identify a major vulnerability in PHP, a programming language that’s used in the majority of websites. And any improvements to keep AI secure are necessary. We saw many instances this summer of AI agents breaking out of their testing environments and making cybersecurity experts fear future autonomous hacks.

You won’t be able to use GPT-6 Cyber unless you’re a cybersecurity expert who’s part of OpenAI’s Daybreak program. Cisco and Mozilla teams are already using the model, according to OpenAI.

OpenAI also added a minor model update to its AI image model, called ChatGPT Images 2.6. The biggest improvement is its speed; OpenAI says the new model is 50% faster than before. That matters for AI enthusiasts who are generating multiple variations of a prompt. The new model also lets you animate your AI images into short GIFs. It’s available globally now for all ChatGPT users.

This isn’t the return of the long-dead Sora AI video model, but it is a sign that OpenAI isn’t giving up on the creative AI space entirely. Anthropic, by comparison, has never had a traditional AI image or video generator and opted for a design tool that’s better suited for mocking up websites and apps.

Anthropic is teaming up with fintech platform Plaid to help you bring your financial information into its Claude chatbot.

Both companies say they have strong security measures in place to keep your information safe. But CNET always recommends a cautious approach when it comes to sharing your financial information (or any sensitive information) with an AI product.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

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The AI agent searches, compares and buys for invited US customers, with sponsored products in the replies.

A text conversation with Alexa for Shopping, which adds lasagna ingredients to an Amazon cart, in an example from Amazon.

Amazon is rolling out texting for Alexa for Shopping, its AI shopping agent, starting with invited US customers. It can find products, place orders and track prices by text. Sponsored products can show up in its replies, free to advertisers for now.

Amazon is letting shoppers text its AI shopping agent, Alexa for Shopping, which can search for products, compare them and place orders for them, the company said on Friday. The feature is starting with a small group of invited US customers, with millions more to get access in the coming weeks.

Customers who opt in get a contact called “Alexa Shopping.” They can text a request, such as needing more dog food, or send a photo of a recipe or an outfit, and the agent texts back with options. It buys with the customer’s approval, or automatically when a price hits a target they set.

It can also track price drops, reorder past purchases and check on packages. Amazon says a conversation started by text will carry over to its app, website and Alexa devices.

“Now with Alexa for Shopping, your personal shopping agent is just a text away,” said Rajiv Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of conversational shopping.

The text thread is also a new place for ads. Sponsored products can appear among the options the agent sends, though Amazon is not charging advertisers yet, and purchases the agent completes on its own carry no ads, Digiday reported. Amazon made more than $68B from advertising in 2025.

Amazon launched Alexa for Shopping in May and says more than 400 million customers used it in the past year. In September, it blocked Meta’s Muse agent from shopping its site. Last week, chief executive Andy Jassy said he expects Alexa for Shopping to become the main agent people use to buy from Amazon.

Rivals are moving into messaging too. OpenAI added texting to Dot, its personal agent, last month, and DoorDash began taking orders by text in September, GeekWire reported.

With expertise in digital marketing, product management, and branding & identity, Ana Maria Constantin develops strategies that resonate (show all) With expertise in digital marketing, product management, and branding & identity, Ana Maria Constantin develops strategies that resonate with our target audience in the software/SaaS industry. Collaboration and teamwork are paramount to her, as she loves empowering her colleagues to achieve outstanding results and unlock their full potential.

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The 4K Criterion Collection set is available to grab for $25.

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Buying the 4K Blu-ray disc version of KPop Demon Hunters was already going to be a wise idea for some people, especially those who primarily keep their $26.99 Netflix Premium subscription just to watch the hit animated flick in 4K. But at just $24.99 from Barnes and Noble and Amazon instead of its original $49.95 price, it’s easier than ever to recommend.

The Criterion Collection version of the film recently launched, and comes with a bunch of extras in a gorgeous set. In addition to the 4K digital master, complete with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos sound, you also get two standard 1080p Blu-rays, one containing the film, and the other packed with special features (a full feature-length animatic, a making-of documentary, lyric videos, and more). It includes physical goodies, too, like collectible postcards, as well as an essay by Polygon alum Karen Han.

Kpop Demon Hunters was on my list of physical movies to buy, and this deal just turned it into a must-buy ahead of the holiday season.

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Update, 4:50PM ET, November 6th: Previously, this deal was available for in-store pickup at Barnes and Noble, but it’s currently available online at both Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

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After launching on Android, WhatsApp’s Meta AI photo expansion is now coming to iPhone, letting you widen the frame of any picture before you send it to friends or share it on your status.

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Under Apple's new policy, the company will scan publicly shared iCloud links for harmful content - and possibly ban violators.

Be careful what you share in your iCloud. Apple announced it will start monitoring public iCloud links for harmful content — and potentially disable accounts that violate company policy.

Also: How to free up your iPhone storage almost immediately

The change comes with the impending release of Apple’s 27.3 build across its operating systems. If an iCloud user selects “Anyone with the link” when sharing something in a group chat or Discord server, it’s considered a public link; Apple is within its rights to scan for anything that violates company policy or is potentially illegal.

If you try to upload harmful content, Apple says it reserves the right to “move, refuse, modify, remove, or delete” your content at any time. Furthermore, Apple outlines possible actions it may take, including:

Apple’s announcement did not explain what “harmful content” would mean in practice. While there are obvious violations like drug sales and child sex abuse material, the new policy’s vagueness is concerning.

Once an iCloud link is shared under the “Anyone with a link” designation, end-to-end encryption is removed, even if either party has enabled Advanced Data Protection, which allows Apple to view the link’s content.

If you select “People you choose,” which limits access to users who have been invited or approved, the encryption remains in place, and Apple won’t be able to see what you’re sharing.

The new policy does not lay out an appeals process if you think your account or content has been falsely flagged as harmful. However, Apple does have a web page that provides information on how to appeal for other reasons. So there is a framework in place to push back if you think you’ve been caught in the dragnet by accident.

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6 pallets of hardware vanished en route to Texas, with no arrests 2 months later.

A shipment of Nvidia hardware valued at $11.4 million vanished in transport between Oakland and Texas over the summer, and more than two months later, police have announced no arrests or recovery of the cargo.

As reported by The Mercury News, six pallets of unknown Nvidia equipment left Oakland on August 29 on a truck bound for Fort Worth, Texas. The hardware was reportedly picked up as scheduled by a truck bearing the logo of a food transportation company before vanishing off the grid. The theft wasn’t noticed until early September, when the buyers realized that the shipment had never been received. Police attempting to trace the truck’s route found it had made several multi-hour stops after picking up the hardware before losing the truck somewhere in San Bernardino County, California.

Oakland police confirmed that there was a grand theft report filed on September 13 and that the investigation remains ongoing. Authorities have not said what Nvidia hardware was stolen or exactly how the theft was carried out.

The theft in Oakland is the latest in a wave of increasingly bold hardware heists. As Ars’ Ashley Belanger reported recently, thieves have made off with more than $100 million in similar shipments since June. According to investigators cited by NBC News, the criminals have shown planning and sophistication by employing techniques like GPS location spoofing and even arranging collisions with police escort vehicles. Stolen components can be stripped down and sold in gray-market transactions or shipped overseas where access to US tech hardware may be restricted.

Nvidia’s hardware has been a specific target. In 2025, police investigated burglaries of Nvidia hardware, valued at more than $7.5 million, around Fremont and Union City, California. As reported by The Mercury News, police believe the thefts were carried out by a group that obtained vehicles for the heist in Southern California before traveling north to the Bay Area.

Professor Olaf Groth of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business told ABC News that “if a chip costs about $550,000, then they go for about $1 million or more abroad.” Those margins, he said, may be incentivizing criminals: “Because cargoes are getting bigger. The heists are getting more complex and that will point toward a professionalization of the teams that are hijacking these.”

Not every would-be heist crew gets it right, though. A theft in September, reported by Wired, saw two trailers marked with Nvidia and PlusAI logos stolen from outside of a warehouse facility in California. The trailers were recovered by police nearby, presumably after the criminals cut the locks to reveal they were each loaded with 20,000 pounds of sand. PlusAI is a company working on autonomous trucking solutions with Nvidia, and the sand was in the trailers to simulate freight loads.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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The factory space will be repurposed to accommodate the new Cybercab, Elon Musk said.

Tesla will no longer build the electric Cybertruck pickup at its Texas Gigafactory, Elon Musk confirmed on X. Production will wind down in the middle of 2027 to make room for increased production of the company's upcoming autonomous Cybercab instead. Unless the company moves manufacturing to another location, the stainless-steel truck could be near the end of its short but drama-filled existence.

Musk didn't say if production of the Cybertruck would be discontinued altogether. Given the vehicle's Ford Edsel-like sales and export issues, no one would be shocked if the James Bond and Blade Runner-inspired vehicle is relegated to history's scrap heap.

When it was first unveiled in November 2019, the Cybertruck acquired a lot of buzz for being like no other pickup ever seen. However, as with other Elon Musk promises, things quickly went trapezoid-shaped. Tesla never came close to delivering on the promised $39,900 price tag, with the cheapest version eventually priced at $59,900.

The Cybertruck also faced multiple recalls and quality control complaints, while its controversial design (though loved by some), was widely derided. As a result, Tesla has only sold around 71,000 Cybertrucks since deliveries started in late 2023, a far cry from the 250,000 per year the company originally projected.

In place of the Cybertruck, Tesla is allocating more capacity to the Cybercab autonomous robotaxi with no steering wheel and pedals. The success of that vehicle is also by no means guaranteed, given the current federal investigation into the vehicle and Tesla's lack of progress toward fully-autonomous self-driving after more than 10 years of trying.

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Fox has completed its $22 billion acquisition of Roku, wrapping up one of the biggest media deals in recent years and giving the company a major boost in the streaming and connected TV space.

Announced Friday, the deal brings the streaming company founded in 2002 formally under Fox’s ownership. Fox says the combined company now ranks as the third-largest television business in the U.S. by viewership.

“We started Roku more than two decades ago to give people a better way to watch TV, and that mission doesn’t change today. What does change is our reach and resources,” Roku founder Anthony Wood said in a statement. “Our teams will keep building and innovating as they always have, now with the support and capabilities of Fox behind us.”

For Fox, the move provides direct access to Roku’s reach of more than 100 million households. The company expects that audience to help it improve advertising targeting, strengthen its position in the fast-growing connected TV market, and reduce its reliance on traditional TV distribution.

Today’s announcement comes two months after the Justice Department issued a second request for information, asking both companies to provide additional data and documents as part of its antitrust review. Earlier this month, reports suggested the deal was nearing U.S. regulatory approval.

The acquisition also closed much earlier than expected. When the deal was first announced in June, the companies projected it would be completed in the first half of 2027.

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The new MacBook Pro brings back the glowing Apple logo. Here’s how it works and how you can turn it off if you’d rather keep things low-key.

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TL;DR: Watch New Zealand vs. Tonga in the 2026 Rugby League World Cup for free on 7plus. Access this free livestream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The Rugby League World Cup final is calling. There are only four teams left in contention for the main prize, and two electric semi-final matchups on the schedule for this weekend. The first sees New Zealand take on Tonga at the McDonald Jones Stadium. It's going to be huge.

If you want to watch the 2026 Rugby League World Cup for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

New Zealand vs. Tonga in the 2026 Rugby League World Cup starts at 4:05 a.m. ET on Nov. 7. This fixture takes place at the McDonald Jones Stadium.

New Zealand vs. Tonga in the 2026 Rugby League World Cup is available to live stream for free on 7plus.

7plus is geo-restricted to Australia, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Australia, meaning you can unblock free live streams of the Rugby League World Cup from anywhere in the world.

Access free live streams of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup by following these simple steps:

Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia

Watch the 2026 Rugby League World Cup for free from anywhere in the world

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to free live streams of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you time to watch the tournament before recovering your investment.

ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on 7plus, for a number of reasons:

Servers in 105 countries, including Australia

Easy-to-use app available on all major devices, including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream New Zealand vs. Tonga in the 2026 Rugby League World Cup for free with ExpressVPN. Recommended deals for you HBO Max — top pick for premium content Disney+ — best for families Hulu — popular choice for originals Peacock — low-cost choice for live sport

HBO Max — top pick for premium content

Disney+ — best for families

Hulu — popular choice for originals

Peacock — low-cost choice for live sport

Joseph Green is the Global Shopping Editor for Mashable. He covers VPNs, headphones, fitness gear, dating sites, streaming, and shopping events like Black Friday and Prime Day.

Joseph is also Executive Editor of Mashable's sister site, AskMen.

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If you've been coveting one of Rocco’s smart designer minifridges, you might be interested to know the brand's biggest sale of 2026 starts today, featuring the brand-new Rocco Essential for under $1,000 and the OG Classic in this year’s new Beige colorway, as well as white and two rare blue colors, for $1,495—as low as the Classic ever gets.

Today also marks the rerelease of the Classic's Icy Blue and Royal Blue, two rarely seen colors that Rocco says are not coming back after this year.

The Essential was just released in August and just began shipping in September; I'm currently testing it now. It's only been about a week and a half, but early impressions are positive. It has the same smart sight system as the Classic, but the biggest difference is obviously the look. Vintage-inspired fluted glass and rounded edges are out; sleek minimalism is in. The tinted dark glass door takes up the entire front, with a color-matched metal handle you can swap out for midcentury-inspired oak for an extra $95.

It's only got one temperature zone as opposed to the Classic's two, but my favorite part so far has been the interior—instead of the Classic's old-fashioned wire racks, the Essential sports smooth-glide drawers lined with a rubbery material and grip strips. This makes it much more accommodating to oddly shaped drinks and prevents cans (it can hold up to 77) from rolling around every time you open your Rocco. It also gets colder than the Classic model—down to 34 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 37. My main frustration so far is that the sight system has been a little spotty and slow to recognize when drinks have been removed, but I'm having that problem with the Classic as well, so it's not specific to this model. All colors (Cream, Sage, Graphite) of the Essential are currently discounted.

The handsome, vintage-inspired model is the one that started it all. Its thick steel body comes in a range of fun colors, the fluted glass refracts potentially drink-damaging light, and it comes with a color-matched metal tray so it can double as a bar cart. It's got two isolated temperature zones for red and white wine (or extra-crispy Cokes), plus five full-sized racks and one half-rack—enough for 88 cans or 27 bottles of wine. The wire racks don't pull out as smoothly as the Essential's rubber-lined drawers, but this is otherwise a top-of-the-line beverage cooler with an impressive 10-year warranty.

You can also control the interior lights from your phone. The sight system, however, is buggy—my Classic is currently displaying a rack of Dr. Pepper and Stella Artois bottles I had left over from a party in July (they were consumed not long after that), so I would not recommend buying one of these for the sight system alone. (Note this sale is on the Beige, White, Royal Blue, and Icy Blue Classic only.)

I’m partial to the Classic’s forest green, but even I've got to admit the blue hues look pretty good. They sold out almost immediately around this time last year, so if you've been wanting one and you see this, I wouldn't wait to add it to your cart.

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The latest addition to digital detox trend is the Enough Phone, a small-ish phone that wants to serve the purpose of a phone, without overwhelming you.

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We’re using our custom-made robot to open and close the iPhone Duo hundreds of thousands of times. Watch along and get your questions answered by CNET editors live.

The iPhone Duo wowed us, but it’s time to test out how its first-gen hinge holds up. We’re now testing Apple’s $1,999 foldable phone using our custom-made folding machine, the Fold-a-Phone, which has been diligently opening and closing the phone since we bought the Duo on Oct. 23. We’ve already passed 297,000 folds, and we expect to cross the 300,000 mark on our livestream. All this folding isn’t expected to stop until the Duo breaks.

Read more: The iPhone Duo Is in Our Fold-a-Phone Testing Machine. Can It Beat the Galaxy Z Fold 8?

CNET is livestreaming our iPhone Duo long-term folding test on our YouTube channel, which you can watch embedded here. Our robust in-house machine will open and close the foldable around 20,000 times per day to simulate years of wear and tear on the hinge. You can watch this testing on a livestream from our CNET Labs location in Louisville, Kentucky.

The livestream isn’t just for watching a phone open and close — you’ll also be able to chat with CNET editors who will be available to answer your iPhone Duo questions live in the chat. Will Apple’s first foldable live up to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold? Will its neat opening animation remain slick over thousands of folds? Join us and find out.

This long-term test will join our iPhone Duo review, which provides a snapshot of what it’s like to be among the first to use Apple’s first foldable phone. If you’re sold on it, check out the best iPhone Duo deals. And if you want to compare even further, you can check out our roundup of the best foldable phones currently available if you want help deciding between the Duo and other folding and flip-style phones from Samsung, Motorola and Google.

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Perplexity has launched its personal AI agents called "teammates," which are designed to be able to tackle ongoing work autonomously with minimal supervision. The agents work inside Perplexity Computer, the company's cloud-based agentic assistant that can perform multi-step tasks for you. Perplexity explains that the new agents build on top of Computer and come with "additional capabilities for ongoing, large-scale work."

You'll be able to assign each teammate its own role or task that they can all then perform simultaneously. Teammates work together, and they can even manage other teammates to make sure your tasks are getting done. They can also bring in more teammates and plan the newcomers' tasks accordingly, the more work you give them.

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This article was published on June 15, 2026 GMT

The deal closed today, and Roku now sits in a new division with Tubi and Fox One.

Fox Corporation has completed its acquisition of Roku, the maker of streaming sticks and smart TV software, in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $22bn. The deal closed on Friday, and Roku’s shares stopped trading on Nasdaq the same day.

Fox agreed to buy Roku in June and had expected to close in the first half of 2027. The deal gives it direct access to more than 100 million households that use Roku devices.

Under the final terms, Roku shareholders receive $95.30 in cash and 0.9799 Fox Class A shares for each share. In June, the companies had announced $96 in cash and 0.9693 Fox shares. Former Roku shareholders now own about 26% of Fox.

Roku joins a new division, Fox Digital Platforms, together with the free streaming service Tubi, the Fox One app, and podcast company Red Seat Ventures.

Founder Anthony Wood joins Fox’s board and becomes co-chair of the division, while Paul Cheesbrough is its co-chair and chief executive.

“We started Roku more than two decades ago to give people a better way to watch TV, and that mission doesn’t change today,” Wood said.

For Fox, the value lies in Roku’s platform rather than its devices. Roku reaches more than half of all US broadband homes, and its platform business made $4.1bn last year, 87.5% of its revenue, mostly from advertising and deals with streaming services.

As a result, Fox now owns a connected-TV advertising business, data on what viewers watch and a home screen where it can promote its own sports, news and Tubi.

However, that home screen also carries rivals such as Netflix and Disney. Fox has promised to keep Roku open to all partners, and it expects the deal to save about $400m a year in costs within two years.

The deal is part of a wave of media consolidation. Days before it was announced, the US Justice Department cleared Paramount’s purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Cristian Dina is the CRO at The Next Web. He has interviewed 300+ industry leaders and authored the book King of Networking, establishing hi (show all) Cristian Dina is the CRO at The Next Web. He has interviewed 300+ industry leaders and authored the book King of Networking, establishing himself as one of the most connected and respected voices in the ecosystem. At just 23 years old, Cristian was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 2025 list, representing a new generation of tech builders, bold thinkers who move fast, build with purpose, and create real impact.

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Developer: “I can’t be part of the Fox world.”

Some Roku OS users have been sad to learn that their favorite screensaver will no longer be available as of December 1.

This week, affected users reported receiving an alert on their device that they will not be able to use the “Aquatic Life” screensaver after this month, as first reported by Cord Cutters News.

The screensaver has been an option for Roku OS users for 10 years. Roku has been licensing the animation, which is called the Marine Aquarium, from artist Jim Sachs through Prolific Publishing.

Sachs is the creator and copyright holder of the Marine Aquarium. He developed the screensaver through his company SereneScreen. He tells Ars Technica that the licensing agreement with Roku is up for renewal every October and can be canceled by either party for any reason. A day after learning that Fox was planning to buy Roku, a deal that closed today, Sachs told Prolific that he wouldn’t be renewing Roku’s license.

“I can’t be part of the Fox world,” he tells Ars, pointing to Fox News’ controversial style of news and entertainment.

Roku will automatically switch the Aquatic Life screensaver on affected devices to the Roku City screensaver, another popular animation that includes subtle advertisements, according to the user notice.

The Aquatic Life screensaver provided an ad-free, relaxing display for years for some Roku users. Numerous people online have lamented the impending loss of the screensaver for Roku OS .

“When my head is in overdrive (very often with my ADHD), this screensaver grounds me and lets me exhale and become focused with myself again. It may sound over the top, but it’s true. It takes a lot for me to chill and relax, but this Aquatic Life [screensaver] is my go to. Totally gutted 😢,” a Reddit user wrote this week.

Sachs told Ars he’s interested in placating fans of the Marine Aquarium and said Roku has asked him to restore the license. When asked what his biggest concerns about Fox buying Roku are, Sachs said:

It seems that Fox simply wants another venue for spreading their philosophy, which I consider repugnant. I can’t stand the idea of my artwork being used to lure even one person down that rabbit hole.

The decision to not renew the licensing contract has “major financial consequences,” Sachs said.

“Our needs are very small, with a high property tax bill being the only significant expense,” he said. “We’ll be okay but can’t start any of the projects I had planned.”

According to Sachs, the licensing “agreement was $80,000 per year for exclusive rights to all set-top devices, or $60,000 per year for non-exclusive. They have always opted for exclusive.” Ars asked Roku to confirm the details of the licensing agreement but didn’t hear back ahead of publication.

The licensing deal with Roku was Sachs’ primary form of income, he told Ars, noting low sales of the version of the screensaver for computers.

Marine Aquarium fans can still buy the screensaver for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, but it seems unlikely that it will return to the Roku platform.

“One of the best reasons to buy Roku was the themes and less ads than competitors. But they haven’t added any new themes in years aside from sponsored ones, and they increased the amount of ads,” a Reddit user posted this week in response to Roku’s loss of the Aquatic Life screensaver.

Sachs, meanwhile, says he has “no delusions” that pulling the license will have any meaningful impact. However, he’s hopeful that another streaming company will look to offer the screensaver.

“I’m assuming that Fox will not be reversing their whole rage-based business model and take responsibility for all the harm it has caused. I’d be happy to restore the license under those circumstances. They could even have it for free,” he said.

Fox closed its acquisition of Roku today for $22 billion.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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Most HR professionals say they believe employees can be reskilled for AI jobs, yet companies still often seek outside hires. Here's why.

HR leaders are confident that current employees can be trained for jobs created by artificial intelligence. Organizations are hiring externally instead.

That’s the finding in new research from Careerminds, a global provider of workforce solutions. The study, published in Careerminds’ white paper, The AI Redeployment Gap: What Companies Lose by Hiring over Reskilling, reveals that 92% of HR professionals and 88% of people managers believe employees within their organizations could be reskilled for AI-related roles.

Also: Nearly 70% of workers use AI regularly now – but many get no time to upskill

Yet 51% of HR professionals and 47% of people managers report that their organizations are hiring externally for new AI-related positions, compared with just 42% in each group who report redeploying existing employees.

The research was conducted in partnership with Censuswide and surveyed 595 US HR professionals and 547 US people managers, ages 25–65, working at organizations with 500-10,000 or more employees. The research was conducted May 15–26, 2026.

Also: Businesses finally seeing AI ROI, but 62% can’t handle the storage demands

“Companies are investing in AI while potentially overlooking one of their most valuable resources: the people they already employ,” said Mark Saddic, senior partner at Careerminds, in a press release.

“Our research shows that organizations largely believe their employees can adapt to AI-driven change, but that confidence isn’t consistently translating into opportunities. Before looking outside the organization, leaders need to understand the skills they already have, identify where employees can grow, and establish a clear process for making those transitions possible.”

Reskilling, especially for AI, isn’t easy to track. Limited visibility into individual skill sets and which employees should be reskilled was cited as a potential barrier by 43% of HR professionals and 34% of managers.

Also: Pearson’s Workera deal targets a big workplace problem: No time to AI upskill

It’s not the first time that the management of skills development has come up regarding AI. In September, educational giant Pearson agreed to acquire Workera, the AI-native skills platform used by organizations such as ServiceNow, Accenture, and the US Space Force.

Careermind’s data revealed that 87% of HR pros and 84% of managers believe their organizations are adequately considering reskilling employees for future roles. However, the findings suggest that these organizations may believe they are prioritizing internal talent development, even though their hiring practices reveal otherwise.

Response to AI-related workforce needs isn’t equal across the board. The findings reveal significant differences in how industries are responding to these needs.

Also: Your AI-polished resumes are recruiters’ new top stressor

For example, in the technology and telecom industries, external hiring outpaces redeployment by 15%. At the same time, media and entertainment is the only sector surveyed in which both groups report redeployment at least as frequently as external hiring. Among HR professionals in that industry, 56% report redeploying employees, compared with just 25% who hire externally.

Separate research from The Josh Bersin Company, cited in the Careerminds white paper, reveals that external hiring can cost three to five times more than filling comparable roles internally — and on average takes up to 20 days longer.

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Companies are using more AI than ever, but they’re not spending more on it.

A new report from Ramp shows AI spending flatlined over late summer even as token volumes rose, a sign that price competition and savvier customers may be capping revenue for OpenAI and Anthropic. According to Ramp’s data, token spend only grew 1.5% across August and September. To compare, in July, it grew 42% from the previous month.

As Anthropic gears up for its IPO, the data suggests investors might be wrong to assume AI companies will keep growing at breakneck speed.

“Almost the entire spend on AI is from venture-backed, high-growth tech companies,” Ramp’s lead economist Ara Kharazian told TechCrunch. “That’s fine as long as AI spend continues to rise, but if it starts to slow down because of something in the market or some other factor, they will all start to slow down simultaneously, and that could lead to other cascading effects.”

Kharazian said he’s already seeing evidence that the top 1% of firms — the most “AI-pilled” — have stuttered slightly in their spend in August and September, coming up just below the $10,000 per-employee they were hitting at their summer peaks. A slowdown among that cohort is “sufficient to slow down revenue entirely, despite the fact that we’re seeing rising volumes,” he said.

Ramp data shows growth in spending among median and top 10%, but it’s not enough to make up the difference. Median firms spend $12-$15 per employee per month, and the top 10% spend $600-$1,000.

“If you look at the use cases today, it’s not necessarily clear they will get up to that $10,000 per employee per month mark that the 1% is at,” Kharazian said. While there’s plenty of demand for AI coding agents in industries like software and finance, “it’s not necessarily true that a doctor’s office or a car dealership will need to spend that much on AI.”

“The era of hypergrowth may be over, and now that we know there may not be as much juice to squeeze out of the top 1%,” he continued.

October data did see a re-acceleration, with token spend up 8.9% from September 23 to October 23, but Kharazian said the headwinds on spend growth are strong.

Kharazian (who has published a series of blogs called “Cracks in the AI Thesis”) said the slowdown isn’t due to a demand problem. Again, AI volumes are up. Instead he points to the competitive nature of the marketplace.

“OpenAI and Anthropic price cuts have…just made it cheaper to use AI,” he said. In September, OpenAI cut API prices in half for GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna. Answering the price war, Anthropic has also made significant reductions to pricing for Fable 5.1 and Opus 5.5 — a decision that the company said in a recent filing slashed revenue growth by about $600 million. Both companies have also been offering enterprise discounts that are intended to lock-in spend, but in reality are hitting their revenue targets.

Kharazian said this dynamic means it has very much become a buyer’s market.

Subsidizing use of expensive technology in order to lock in customers has always been a part of the Big Tech playbook. Just recall how cheap it used to be to take an Uber or Lyft ride, and now that there are few other ride-hail players, the cost of going from A to B has risen significantly. Kharazian says those dynamics don’t work in the AI world because there’s just too much competition.

“Meta and Nvidia are also introducing enterprise offerings with pretty cheap models or open source models,” Kharazian said. He also pointed to the range of other open model companies from China and the United States, as well as a new company called Jev — a lightweight tool for choosing between a few predetermined outputs — that is increasingly among the top performers on Ramp.

“For a lot of AI use cases, you just need a simple Yes/No,” Kharazian said. “So you take your already cheap models, you shift them over to Jev, and now your already cheap stuff gets even cheaper.”

The ability to complete workloads at a much cheaper cost is another factor driving the spending slowdown. That’s partly due to the discounts from AI companies, but also because companies are just getting better at being thrifty.

“As you get really advanced in using AI, you get better at figuring out how to control it,” Kharazian said. “You’re more likely to use defaults that prevent usage of very expensive models for long-running tasks. You’re more likely to impose some budgets on employees. You’re more likely to offload some of the spend from standard and light models to even cheaper light models via routers.”

Notion co-founder Akshay Kothari recently posted internal data that matched Ramp’s insights. As he succinctly put it: “tokens go brrr. costs go ahhh.”

tokens go brrrcosts go ahhh pic.twitter.com/1whCWCJCyM

“A lot of the assumptions that we had about the trajectory of AI spend are starting to break down,” Kharazian said. “You can use more AI, but use it for less. That’s great for the customers…but it’s not necessarily great for the model companies. And it does introduce new questions around their revenue trajectories.”

Bloomberg reported Friday that Anthropic’s potential valuation sank from the $2 trillion estimated in early October to just $1.2 to $1.3 trillion. The company is also reportedly expected to receive a high “junk” rating from credit agencies. OpenAI also lowered its proposed valuation to $1.25 trillion from $1.4 trillion and slashed its latest fundraising goals by about $10 billion.

Kharazian says Ramp’s dataset likely informs many investor concerns. There is, however, one potential brightside for spending trajectories, albeit a speculative one.

Much of the thesis for hypergrowth spending is that AI will undoubtedly introduce new use cases that will accelerate things. AI coding emerged just a year and a half ago as the most commercially viable product that has led Anthropic and OpenAI to becoming trillion-dollar companies. The hope among investors is that there will be another revolution that will drive further spend.

Some think personal agents will be the next coding agents. OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Meta have all released their own personal agents, alongside startups like Instinct. Kharazian is skeptical, though, that personal agents, which are “not as economically productive as coding,” will provide the boost the industry needs for nonstop growth.

“The projection is that there will be new products being introduced that will drive further growth,” Kharazian said. “But based on what we can observe today and the products available and what is commercially advanced, AI spend has started to slow down.”

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Rebecca Bellan is a senior reporter at TechCrunch where she covers the business, policy, and emerging trends shaping artificial intelligence. Her work has also appeared in Forbes, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, and other publications.

You can contact or verify outreach from Rebecca by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at rebeccabellan.491 on Signal.

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Letterboxd would reportedly continue operations as a standalone site.

The company that owns The New York Times is in "exclusive negotiations" to purchase the cinephile online platform Letterboxd, anonymous sources told... The New York Times. The price being discussed is reportedly around $330 million, significantly more than the $250 million figure that was bandied around earlier this year. Discussions are ongoing and could still break down, the report states.

Letterboxd would reportedly continue operations as a standalone site for the "foreseeable future," the NYT reported. However, the Times Company could introduce its own advertising technology into Letterboxd's systems. (The New York Times Company declined to confirm the New York Times' reporting.)

With its "social film discovery" tagline, Letterboxd allows members to create curated lists, diaries, logs, ratings and reviews of movies, while following other members' activities — a Goodreads for movies, if you will. Though relatively small with 30 million members, Letterboxd is an influential online film site with a dedicated and active community that includes notable figures like Martin Scorsese. The site is projected to have $15 million in revenue for 2026.

The Canadian investment group Tiny purchased 60 percent of Letterboxd in 2023, but reportedly started seeking a sale in July this year at a valuation of around $250 million. The list of potential suitors at the time was a who's who of Hollywood, with Netflix, Paramount and Sony Pictures all reportedly interested.

The New York Times Company is now in the mix at a higher price, and is arguably a better buyer because it wouldn't pose a conflict of interest like those Hollywood studios. The Times Company also has a similar business model with a mix of ad and subscription revenue.

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Massive new data centers are the physical foundation for tech companies’ hopes and dreams for AI. But the rush to expand warehouses full of energy-hungry servers has also kicked up fights across the world over their impact on power grids, utility bills, nearby communities, and the environment.

Data centers were a major bipartisan issue ahead of the 2026 midterms, and voters largely opposed data center expansion at the polls. Tech giants like OpenAI and Amazon are promising to work more closely with local communities and cover their data center energy costs. But following the election, Democratic leaders are calling for further data center restrictions and slowdowns that the AI companies will have to grapple with.

From audacious plans about data centers into space, heated local battles over buildouts, and potential environmental impacts, here’s The Verge’s news, coverage, and reporting surrounding data centers and the companies that are building them.

A massive permitting bill that could help energy projects come online much quicker and potentially lower utility bills for Americans is advancing with bipartisan support. And while it could be a catalyst for lots of clean energy, it could also speed up polluting projects and limit oversight of new data centers.

With data centers demanding more electricity for AI, environmental advocates fear that developers could take advantage of the reforms to evade public scrutiny and rely more heavily on fossil fuels. The bill sacrifices caution for speed, limiting environmental reviews and preventing communities from stopping a project from moving forward by taking it to court.

The comments, made in an interview with Yahoo Finance, come after the chipmaker reported its “largest and most profitable” quarter in history. Su expects AMD’s data center business to grow 50 percent from Q3 to Q4, calling the growth a “testament to how important computing is” to the AI boom.

Following this week’s midterms where voters resoundingly voiced their opposition to data center expansion, OpenAI today announced new commitments to communities where it is working on data center projects, including that it won’t use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with public officials.

Many data center projects have come under scrutiny for relying on NDAs to hide discussions between developers and local officials. However, OpenAI says it is now allowing “only narrow protections covering legitimate security information, trade secrets, or proprietary or competitively sensitive information.” In October, Amazon announced it would no longer use NDAs with government agencies it works with on data center projects.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

Data center developers are poised to face a more restrictive building environment after voters across the country voted in candidates who favor moratoriums and ballot measures that put more obstacles on their expansion, delivering a stinging blow to a central pillar of the AI industry.

Of voters polled by NBC News on Election Day, 76 percent said they opposed data centers in their communities. Dozens of local communities voted directly to restrict development through ballot measures. And upset winners like Texas Democratic Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa and Michigan’s Democratic Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed support moratoriums on development.

The longtime senator counted tech executives like Palantir CEO Alex Karp and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz among her donors. Democratic challenger Troy Jackson also received some billionaire support, but no obvious tech ties. Maine almost became the first state to pause data centers, before the governor vetoed the moratorium.

NBC News projects Democrat Sherrod Brown will win back his former Senate seat from Republican Jon Husted, who Brown had labeled “the face of data centers.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in a leaked August memo that if Husted loses “and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one.”

Both Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa are projected by NBC News to win their Senate and gubernatorial races, respectively. Hinojosa has called for a moratorium on data center development in the state, while Talarico has favored ending tax incentives and creating an “AI dividend” for Americans to share in profits.

People hate data centers. They’re loud, resource-hungry eyesores that are so profoundly unpopular they have managed to achieve the near-impossible in today’s polarized political landscape: genuine bipartisan opposition. But what about “compute campuses”? Those sound lovely, right?

OpenAI seems to be gambling that a quiet rebrand could be all it takes to defuse the growing political backlash that threatens to derail the infrastructure fueling the AI boom.

In an announcement on Monday, OpenAI says it will pilot its “Grid Protectors Program” at an upcoming data center in Effingham County, Georgia, where the company promises to free up to 1,000 megawatts of power during extreme weather or emergencies, enough to power air conditioners in around 700,000 homes.

The announcement comes as opposition to data centers spreads across the US, in response to massive projects that have begun development and construction, frequently with little or no input from local residents. In Utah, residents protested after Box Elder County commissioners signed off on a data center expected to consume more than double the state’s peak electricity demand in 2025, and spread hot air in the desert valley surrounding the data center.

Patti Zirhut, a lifelong Republican, has been studying her ballot for weeks. Zirhut eagerly voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024, but she isn’t toeing the party line this year. “My ballot is all mixed up,” she says. She’s voting for some Republicans, some independents, and even a few Democrats. Zirhut remains undecided on a few races, but of one thing she is absolutely certain: “I will not vote for Byron Donalds,” she tells me. “No way will I ever vote for him.”

Donalds, the Republican nominee in Florida’s gubernatorial election, has Trump’s endorsement, the party’s backing, and $148 million in campaign funds, much of it from the tech industry. It’s this latest point that particularly rankles Zirhut, an organizer with a group called No Data Center Hernando County, whose purpose is summed up in its name. Donalds has been a vocal supporter of the controversial developments — a fact that may now cost him votes, even among members of his own party.

A high-stakes California ballot measure pitched as a fast track for “essential” infrastructure could wind up giving data center developers a loophole to evade public scrutiny, environmental advocates warn.

Proposition 45 would shorten timelines for state-mandated environmental assessments for eligible projects and make it more difficult for residents to challenge those projects in court. Proponents say passing the measure would help alleviate the state’s housing shortage and meet rising electricity demand with new renewable energy projects. Environmental groups and some legal experts, however, warn that data center developers backing the proposition could escape scrutiny if Prop 45 becomes law.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, was midway through defending her record during the final debate of the midterms when an audience member cut her short.

“I’m terrified,” a man shouted. “AI data centers are destroying our climate. They are poisoning our water.” Collins brushed off the outburst, tying the man to her Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson. But the fear echoing through the auditorium wasn’t so easily dismissed. Just days before voters head to the polls, the rapid expansion of resource-hungry data centers has exploded into one of Maine’s most volatile campaign issues.

The US power sector could release 42 percent more planet-heating carbon dioxide pollution by 2030 than it did in 2025 as it builds out more fossil fuel infrastructure to meet data center electricity demand, according to a new analysis by the Sierra Club. That would essentially wipe out 15 years of greenhouse gas reductions.

CO2 emissions from electricity generation would increase by 618 million tons by the end of the decade if planned AI projects are constructed. That’s roughly equivalent to carbon pollution from the electricity use of 128,788,523 homes in a year.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

Ask Texas NAACP president Gary Bledsoe what it’s been like to see data center developers descend upon Austin and its surrounding suburbs and he can rattle off project after project facing opposition from locals.

There’s the fight in Taylor over plans to build a data center at a site that’s supposed to be a park. Temple, around 40 miles away, is another sore spot, Bledsoe says. The mayor and City Council members there face recall attempts over data center developments. And some 30 miles outside of Austin, San Marcos became the first city in all of Texas to ban data centers.

NBC News reports that accelerated data center construction across the country is creating new opportunities for heists that involve phishing, corporate identity theft, and car-ramming.

Truckloads of costly equipment like servers, fiber-optic cables, computer memory chips, copper wires and bitcoin mining machines crisscrossing America’s highways have become prime targets for organized criminal groups looking for big payoffs, according to law enforcement and industry experts.

If there’s one issue that seems to activate all kinds of voters in 2026, it’s data centers. The rapid buildout of these massive server storage facilities — and the infrastructure construction and expenses that come with them — has sparked local opposition in communities across the country and become a major issue in many congressional and gubernatorial campaigns.

At the same time, tech money has been pouring into many of these races. Leading the Future, a super PAC backed by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, has already spent $45 million in a year. And Public First Action, an Anthropic-backed group that says it supports AI safeguards, says it’s raised $80 million. Both have funded Democratic and Republican-aligned groups. Other super PACs see an opportunity to push for stricter AI policies, like the recently created Tomorrow Together, which launched $4 million in ads for battleground House races, with messages about data center development and AI safety.

As it prepares to go public, Anthropic’s S-1 filing makes generative AI’s methane dependency glaringly obvious.

In documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, Anthropic acknowledges that data centers are becoming increasingly reliant on “natural gas” — the fossil fuel industry’s marketing term for what is primarily methane — leaving the company’s AI data center buildout vulnerable to rising fuel costs and existing supply chain constraints. And in a possible catch-22, Anthropic admits that rising global temperatures — a symptom of burning fossil fuels — will increase the company’s operating costs.

The New York Times reports that data centers are “painting gray concrete and gray steel with more gray,” leading to an unexpected boom for paint manufacturers. Gravel producers and wiring companies are also enjoying an uptick, “creating a long tail of unlikely winners.”

A rush of new data centers could bring air pollution roaring back to levels not seen since the 2000s in Texas, which has become ground zero for the physical infrastructure behind generative AI.

New and proposed data centers are demanding a tremendous amount of electricity. How developers and utilities meet that demand — with gas turbines or renewable energy — will determine just how dirty things will get. So far, though, things are looking grim.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

Continuing to push the widely unpopular data center projects, Trump said in a Truth Social post that some of them “have become extremely popular when a financial deal is struck.” His plan sounds lot like Meta’s approach on the Hyperion project in Louisiana, where Mark Zuckerberg has touted $50,000 bonus checks for teachers despite a secretive approval process residents didn’t know much about.

Governor Greg Abbott announced a permitting pause for data centers in September. But state agencies are still processing permits, according to an analysis of public records by advocacy groups Public Citizen and FracTracker. The governor’s office, however, denies approving any data center-related permits.

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The Bluetooth Group has announced a new standard. Here's how it works and when you can expect to benefit from it.

Senior Editor / Home Security and Smart Home

Senior Editor / Home Security and Smart Home

Wireless tech is about to get a whole lot snappier. On Thursday, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, the trade association that oversees Bluetooth, officially unveiled Bluetooth High Data Throughput, a flagship upgrade set to arrive as part of the Bluetooth Core 7.0 standard. The revision supercharges Bluetooth Low Energy by pushing maximum bit rates to 7.5Mbps, effectively quadrupling the throughput of the existing LE 2M technology. Compatible devices are slated to hit store shelves starting in 2027.

That’s good news for phone users, tablet havers, laptop groupies, smart speaker stans and more. Bluetooth is still the most popular medium-to-short-range wireless standard for connecting devices. But this is a big rollout, and the changes will start with premium wireless, such as earbuds, with other applications following.

Those other applications could include spatial computing, exchanging AI-related info with local devices, connecting to health wearables and a host of smart home applications, like playing Spotify through an Amazon Echo Studio or dimming a smart bulb.

“In practical terms, a smartwatch could sync hours of sensor-rich training data to a phone in seconds. A smart home product could complete a firmware update with little visible downtime,” Damon Barnes, Director of Technical Marketing at the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, told CNET. “Smart glasses and other AI-enabled devices could exchange more data with a companion device or the cloud. And in audio, the additional capacity can support richer experiences, including high-resolution, lossless, surround, and spatial audio.”

A representative from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The biggest change in this update is a new physical layer for Bluetooth. Layers are like different sections of the Bluetooth protocol, and the physical layer is the bedrock of the standard, the foundational layer involved in transmitting and receiving data signals.

Improvements in the physical layer can have very significant effects on all Bluetooth communications. In this case, new modulation schemes let the physical layer handle data more efficiently and transmit more data at once, which is why the speed increases are so significant.

These improvements also make the new standard more efficient, saving battery life in many applications. So your smart lock may last longer before you need to exchange the AA batteries, earbuds won’t need to go back in the case as fast, and so on.

We know the first flagship devices are expected to appear with the technology in early 2027, but don’t have an exact date.

Barnes also told use that since the update is starting with wireless audio, the first devices to see it will be headphones, earbuds and speakers.

With protocol changes like this, it can take some time for new products to reach the market, and manufacturers may take a long time, even years, to adopt it.

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FAA information display systems to be floppy-free at 435 sites by end of 2028.

While you might be pondering whether to replace a smartphone with one that has a slightly better camera or a second screen, the Federal Aviation Administration is planning a much bigger leap in technology for the country’s air traffic control system.

The FAA said yesterday that it will stop using floppy disks as part of a long-awaited upgrade that will give air traffic controllers faster access to data needed for crucial safety alerts. The new Enterprise Information Display System (E-IDS) will be installed in 435 facilities, replacing several information display systems dating to the 1980s.

The FAA “is continuing its historic modernization of America’s air traffic control system by replacing outdated floppy disks that contain vital weather and other critical information with a streamlined, 21st-century system,” the agency said. E-IDS will be “deployed to operational control positions at more than 400 facilities across all air traffic control domains,” and “provide operationally essential information for controlling aircraft,” the FAA said.

The change has been in the works for over six years. “No more floppy disks or paper strips,” then-Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau told the House Appropriations Committee last year.

The FAA said E-IDS will replace older tools that have “technical end-of-life issues” and address two of the aviation agency’s top safety concerns: distribution of weather alerts to pilots (known as PIREP for Pilot Report); and timely distribution of Notices to Airmen (NOTAM), which include information on abnormal statuses and hazards.

“E-IDS gives air traffic controllers the information they need to make timely decisions and keep the flying public safe,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said. “We’re moving away from outdated, manual processes and replacing technology that once relied on floppy disks with a modern system that allows controllers to instantly share critical flight alerts, restricted airspace schedules and pilot reports across the National Airspace System.”

It’ll take a year or so to make the upgrades at every facility. The first sites to get E-IDS will be Atlantic City International Airport, Nashville International Airport, Greater Rochester International Airport, and data processing hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City. The FAA said it plans to complete the upgrade at 435 sites by the end of 2028.

“Good news America: floppy disks are out, 21st century tech is in,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. Duffy posted a video yesterday about the upgrade in which a newscaster describing the FAA’s outdated technology says, “the FAA systems are essentially running on Windows 95.”

Like other Trump appointees, Duffy was quick to give credit to the president, although the plan was shepherded through by officials in both the Biden and Trump administrations. “The greatest nation in the world deserves a state-of-the-art air traffic control system, and under President Trump, we’re delivering just that,” Duffy said.

In August 2020, the FAA awarded a contract to Leidos to design and develop E-IDS. Leidos said in a press release at the time that E-IDS is part of the FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) modernization project, which encompasses numerous upgrades going back to 2008.

The FAA said E-IDS will replace the Information Display System 4 (IDS-4), Controller Equipment Information Display System (ACE-IDS), NAS Information Display System (NIDS), and En Route Information Display System (ERIDS).

IDS-4, one of the systems being replaced, runs on MS-DOS and “has been in constant use since the early 1990s as a vital informational resource/tool for air traffic controllers,” according to a 2018 press release issued by Systems Atlanta, a vendor that had an FAA contract to support the system. As PCMag notes, IDS-4 appears to run on desktop PCs with 3.5-inch floppy disk drives.

An April 2026 report by the Department of Transportation said, “Controllers have used a system that is driven by floppy disks and an antiquated operation system for critical information such as weather, NOTAMs and airport status.” With E-IDS, those controllers will have “a single platform that pulls that data into one view. Instead of searching for info, they [will] have immediate access to everything they need to make split-second decisions,” the report said.

The out-of-date systems were criticized in a September 2026 report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). “Legacy display systems rely on obsolete technology (e.g., floppy disks) and interfaces from the 1980s, inefficient data organization, and manual update methods,” the report said. “The systems are cumbersome for controllers to search, retrieve, and display information. Multiple diverse display systems create inefficient activities needed to sustain these systems.”

The GAO report said these information display systems are used in Air Route Traffic Control Centers, Terminal Radar Approach Control facilities, and control towers. The systems display textual and graphical information, “such as flight approach charts, combined with Notice to Airmen and weather information. This information is needed to support controller-to-pilot flight operations,” the GAO said.

This post was updated with further information and a graphic on floppy disks on Nov. 6, 2026 at 15:05 pm.

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It will be able to build an interface around your inquiry in real time.

Airbnb is planning to expand the presence of artificial intelligence features on its platform even further. The company has revealed that it's developing a new kind of AI agent, which will be designed to serve as a travel agent of sorts, in its letter for shareholders that it released with its Q3 2026 earnings. Airbnb said it's building a brand new interface that offers a custom AI experience that "builds the interface around your question."

The company said it doesn't think a "traditional chatbot is the right way to plan a trip." Its upcoming experience will populate an interface, presumably within the Airbnb app, with various elements relevant to your inquiry. The AI travel agent will be able to add maps, photos and even itineraries and comparisons to the interface in real time.

Airbnb says its agent will help you take action directly within that experience. That most likely means you'll be able to make rental bookings from the elements the agent adds to the page, but it's not clear if you'll also be able to avail of the company's other available services from the start. To note, Airbnb has launched other services within its app over the years, including grocery deliveries, car rentals and even destination-specific rentals like boats and ski gear.

"Over time, we want our agent to help guests plan their entire trip in one place, across homes, hotels, services, experiences and more," the company said. It will start rolling out the new experience to users sometime in the first half of 2027.

In addition to revealing its plans for a new AI experience, Airbnb has also discussed it newly released AI features in the letter. Just a couple of months ago, it launched AI search, which lets you make inquiries using natural language, as well as AI descriptions for listings.

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Elon Musk made the announcement on X, after sales fell far below the 250,000 a year he once predicted.

Tesla will stop making most Cybertrucks at its Texas factory around the middle of next year, chief executive Elon Musk said on Friday. The space will instead be used to build more Cybercabs, the company’s two-seat robotaxis.

Musk announced the plan in a post on X, but he did not say whether production would end completely.

Tesla will be winding down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year to make room for increased Cybercab production

Gigafactory Texas is the only plant that builds the Cybertruck. Tesla has not said what will happen to parts and servicing for existing owners. The truck has sold far below Tesla’s early hopes.

In 2023, Musk said Tesla could eventually sell 250,000 to 500,000 a year. However, the company has sold only tens of thousands in total since deliveries began in late 2023.

Tesla does not report Cybertruck sales on their own. Instead, it groups them with the Model S, Model X, and Semi, and that category fell 48% from a year earlier to 8,295 vehicles in the third quarter.

Based on those figures, Electrek estimates Tesla has delivered about 70,000 Cybertrucks in three years. The truck also missed the goals Tesla set when it was unveiled in 2019.

Also, the company promised a price under $40,000 and a range of up to 500 miles, but the truck arrived two years late, at about $60,000 and with a shorter range. Today the cheapest version starts at $74,990, after a $5,000 price rise in August.

Its divisive design and high price weighed on sales. Musk’s political activity in 2024 and 2025 also made the truck a target for protests, TechCrunch reported.

The Cybertruck is the latest product Tesla has dropped as it puts more money into AI and robotics. Earlier this year, it ended production of the Model S and Model X and used that space to build Optimus humanoid robots.

Meanwhile, Cybercab has been carrying passengers in Austin for about two months. Tesla plans to expand the service to Dallas later this month.

Technology enthusiast and intern at The Next Web, contributing to research-backed content and investigating new technologies and global even (show all) Technology enthusiast and intern at The Next Web, contributing to research-backed content and investigating new technologies and global events. Interested in business and how the narrative and perception of technology is shaped.

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We picked these products because we’ve tested them and pushed them to their limits, and we know they’ll make lovely holiday gifts for your loved ones.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

If you’re a new Pixel 11 user, here are six things I recommend changing right away to get the most from your phone.

I’ve been a dedicated Pixel user since the beginning, so I was naturally excited to get my hands on Google’s latest iteration, the Pixel 11 Pro XL. I’ve been impressed with it overall, but I noticed that, as Google has done before, the device isn’t set up perfectly out of the box.

Also: Pixel 11 is $200 off in this early Black Friday deal

After spending a few weeks with the device, I found that several features are either turned off by default or need optimizing to work in the best way possible.

If you’re a new Pixel 11 user, here are six things I recommend changing right away to get the most from your phone.

The camera was the biggest reason I first joined team Pixel back in 2016, so it’s one of the first places I looked on the Pixel 11 Pro XL. New this year is Camera Looks, a setting that changes how images will be processed before you take them. You can change a number of settings, including contrast, shadows, tint, sharpness, and warmth.

Also: A week with the Pixel 11 changed my mind about Gemini

I’ve always loved the camera on any Pixel I’ve had, but I’ll admit that images can look a little over-processed at times. If picture quality is important to you at all, it’s vital to set this feature right out of the box because it applies to every image you take from that point on. You can find Camera Look by opening the camera app, tapping the settings icon in the bottom-right corner, and making your changes.

Pixel’s “At a Glance” lock screen widgets are one of the most sneakily useful features, and you’re missing out if you’re not using them. These widgets are off by default, but when you enable them, you can see real-time information without unlocking your phone. You can see weather info, sports updates, flight information, rideshare and food delivery updates, fitness information, and more.

Also: These tech gifts topped our experts’ 2026 holiday wish lists

To use these widgets, long-press on an open space on your home screen. To customize your widgets, go to Settings > Wallpaper & style > More lock screen settings > Widgets on lock screen. To access your widgets, you just swipe left from your lock screen.

Out of the box, your Pixel 11’s display isn’t set to utilize its full capability. The Pixel 11 series comes with a fantastic low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) display, but it’s slightly throttled in the name of battery life. You’ll notice the increased resolution most on text and in fine details. It won’t make a huge difference to your streaming or large display elements, though. If you read consistently, either articles or e-books, you’ll want to make the change.

To change this, head to Settings > Display > Screen Resolution. Bump the setting from “High resolution,” which is 1080 x 2404, to “Max resolution,” which is 1344 x 2992.

If you’re anything like me, your phone usually needs a quick charge some evenings. The Pixel 11 series introduced Extreme Charging Mode, which accelerates charging by pausing background activity and non-essential apps. Google says the mode should charge the Pixel 11 and 11 Pro to over 50% in 30 minutes, and the Pixel 11 Pro XL to 75% in 30 minutes. From my testing, that estimate was pretty accurate.

Also: After testing the Pixel 11, I feel fine about skipping the Pro models

There are a few caveats: this feature is only available when your phone is at or below 50% battery, and you do need to turn it on every time you use it. But after the first time you do it, it’s available in your quick settings. Head to Settings > Battery & charging > Extreme Charging to turn it on the first time.

If you have the newest Pixel, you might as well take advantage of one of its biggest selling points. I felt like this feature was gimmicky at first (and I’m still a little grumpy it replaced my beloved thermometer), but the more I use it, the more I like it. The multicolor LED on the phone’s rear camera bump can indicate who’s calling, serve as a status indicator for Gemini, and more — and it’s almost certain that more usability will arrive over time.

Where I found the most use was when I had my phone on silent. After assigning specific colors to contacts (you can do this from the contact information screen), I could easily see whether a call was worth picking up without reaching for my phone.

To make sure you’re getting the most out of your new device, head in and change your contact HiLight colors right away. It only takes a few seconds and makes deciding whether to answer a call a lot easier.

We’ve all accidentally swiped away an important notification or missed a notification in a sea of updates. The Pixel 11 offers two notification features to help you stay on top of things.

Notification History is a feature that logs every alert from the last 24 hours, including those you swipe away. This is off by default, meaning when you dismiss a notification, it’s gone forever. With this on, you get a searchable, chronological backup.

Also: Google’s big flagship is more Pro than ever

AI Notification Summaries, as the name implies, takes long multi-notification threads and stacked notifications and turns them into bullet points. This feature is powered by on-device Gemini Intelligence, and you can choose which apps to summarize.

You can find both of these under Settings > Notifications > Notification history & Notification Summaries.

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Founder Summit begins Nov. 4, 9:00 a.m. ET. Get your pass savings & deals before it starts. REGISTER HERE.

Amazon is jumping on the currently most popular bandwagon for interacting with AI agents: texting. The company on Friday said it is launching a feature that lets customers chat with its Alexa AI agent over text messages to help them shop, much like you can with AI agents like Muse or Instinct.

The move comes after Amazon blocked Meta’s Muse from querying its site in September. The company is rolling the features out just before the start of the holiday shopping season.

The e-commerce giant said select U.S. customers will get a text asking them to enable the shopping feature. Those with access can text Alexa to shop on Amazon using natural language queries, spanning everything from searching for items, adding them to cart, and purchasing.

The text agent builds on the recent shopping-focused upgrades to Alexa, and so can manage lists, keep tabs on prices, search for items across the web, compare products, and check the status of orders. Users can also share a picture of an item or someone wearing an outfit to search for similar listings on Amazon.

The company said over time, Alexa will learn users’ preferences and suggest items accordingly.

The company said users who don’t get invited to use this feature can sign up to a waitlist. The feature will be rolled out more broadly in the coming weeks.

As the market for consumer-focused AI agents balloons, platforms like Amazon are building their own to tap this new avenue of user interaction. Last month, delivery company DoorDash said that third-party agents had so far only placed hundreds of orders in total on its platform, and that it plans to concentrate on developing its own text-based agent, launched in September, further.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web.

You can contact or verify outreach from Ivan by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at ivan.42 on Signal.

Buy One Pass, Get a Second FreeCover more ground at TechCrunch’s ultimate founder bootcamp of the year by bringing your co-founder or partner for freeBook before the BOGO deal expires

Tesla will stop making the Cybertruck in 2027

Claude can now analyze your spending with its new Personal Finance tool

Data centers are turning to old jet engines as the wait for power grows

New York City’s Mamdani criticizes Madison Square Garden owner over surveillance tech

Anthropic warns that it’s very close to RSI capability, aka self-building AI

New York Times and other outlets sue web browser Brave over alleged content scraping

Ninja’s first-ever microwave just replaced two of my kitchen appliances at once

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Repairs have been slow after an explosion earlier this year.

Blue Origin made waves earlier this year after a New Glenn rocket exploded on its launchpad in May 2026. This issue during a hot-test caused notable damage to the company's infrastructure in Florida that has delayed it from further activity. Shortly after the incident, Blue Origin's CEO claimed that the repairs would be finished quickly and that the next launch would occur before the end of the year. According to an internal memo from CEO Dave Limp, however, that timeline has been pushed back. The next rocket launch is now not expected until January 2027. Financial Times first reported on this development.

The memo suggests that the launchpad's Vehicle Access Tower has been repaired and restacked, and the launch bridge has been restored. Limp credited weather issues for the fixes happening slower than hoped. "Your collective work on our return to flight has been nothing short of remarkable," he wrote. "In just six months, Team Blue has accomplished what many thought would take years."

The company, owned by Jeff Bezos, is on the verge of notably expanding its footprint in space once it is cleared for takeoff again. Blue Origin won a contract from NASA in September to set up a telecommunications network for Mars. Its New Glenn rockets are also slated to bring more gear into space to support Amazon's Leo satellite broadband service.

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Google's Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash generates AI videos up to 15 seconds long, with conversational editing, improved lip-sync, and 30% lower pricing.

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TL;DR: The 2026 Rugby League World Cup is available to live stream for free on 7plus. Access these free livestreams from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The 2026 Rugby League World Cup has been absolutely electric from start to finish, and if you are looking to catch every big hit, try, and high-stakes knockout match without spending big on a subscription, you're in luck.

Fans in Australia can watch every match live and free via Channel 7 and 7plus. Fans in other countries don't have it so easy, but there are some simple steps you can take to secure access to all the action without spending a dime.

If you want to watch the 2026 Rugby League World Cup for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by senior men's national teams. The latest edition of the Rugby League World Cup will be jointly hosted by Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea.

The 2026 Rugby League World Cup is the 17th edition of the competition. This year's tournament starts on Oct. 15 and runs until the final on Nov. 15.

The 2026 Rugby League World Cup is available to live stream for free on 7plus.

7plus is geo-restricted to Australia, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Australia, meaning you can unblock free live streams of the Rugby League World Cup from anywhere in the world.

Access free live streams of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup by following these simple steps:

Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia

Watch the 2026 Rugby League World Cup for free from anywhere in the world

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to free live streams of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you time to watch the tournament before recovering your investment.

ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on 7plus, for a number of reasons:

Servers in 105 countries, including Australia

Easy-to-use app available on all major devices, including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream the 2026 Rugby League World Cup for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN. Recommended deals for you HBO Max — top pick for premium content Disney+ — best for families Hulu — popular choice for originals Peacock — low-cost choice for live sport

HBO Max — top pick for premium content

Disney+ — best for families

Hulu — popular choice for originals

Peacock — low-cost choice for live sport

Joseph Green is the Global Shopping Editor for Mashable. He covers VPNs, headphones, fitness gear, dating sites, streaming, and shopping events like Black Friday and Prime Day.

Joseph is also Executive Editor of Mashable's sister site, AskMen.

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Stuntman/director Chad Stahelski and 87Eleven bring us an action-packed dystopian, futuristic thriller.

Those of us missing the John Wick universe can take heart, because Chad Stahelski—who created that franchise—is coming back early next year with a new dystopian action film. It’s called Karōshi (a Japanese term that means “death overwork”), and Lionsgate released a killer trailer that puts this film at the top of my list of “must see” movies of 2027.

Dying from working too hard is a very real phenomenon, not just in Japan and much of Asia, but also in Sweden. The physical cause is usually stress-related heart attacks or strokes, as well as suicide (karōjisatsu in Japan). Writer/director Takashi Doscher has transported that concept to a grim, futuristic corporate Manhattan, specifically a company called Ikigai Technologies. Per the official premise:

Karōshi is an action-thriller set in a near-future Manhattan, where corporate loyalty and cultural tradition have reshaped everyday life. When a mysterious outsider infiltrates a powerful company after a worker’s death, he exposes the violent system hidden beneath its polished surface.

Teo Yoo (Past Lives) stars as the aptly named Hiro, who is clearly out for vengeance against the offending corporation. The cast also includes Takehiro Hira, so memorable in the 2024 miniseries Shōgun, as well as Giancarlo Esposito, Cynthia Erivo, Bill Camp, Richard Harmon, Isabel May, and Show Kasamatsu.

The trailer opens with Hira’s character lauding the contribution of Ikigai Technologies in helping shape “modern life for millions,” adding praise for employees’ “daily commitment and sacrifice.” Then we see one distraught worker deliberately falling backward to his death from the top of the company’s skyscraper. Enter our protagonist, Hiro, who suspects something more sinister is going on behind the company’s embrace of the samurai path, marked by “integrity” and “honor”—and also violence.

It’s not long before Hiro is battling all kinds of opponents in fine Wickian fashion, including using a paper umbrella to shield himself from the blood spurting from the neck of an opponent he’s just killed—a clever flourish. John Wick would be proud.

Karōshi hits theaters on February 5, 2027.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.

Plus, score the newest Fire streaming stick and a solid pair of Anker earbuds for $25 each.

There are tons of items marked down to super-low prices on Amazon right now, especially as we get closer to Black Friday. Score deals on items from tech to home and everything in between. Today, you can score the Dyson Ball Animal 3 vacuum for an impressive $150 off. You can also get the latest Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for over half off. Finally, you can grab the Anker Soundcore P30I earbuds for a huge 50% off, all at Amazon.

I’ve been tracking the prices of tech gear and home finds on Amazon, and these are the best deals available today. Keep in mind that these offers are available for only a limited time, so act fast to get what you need.

Instead of waiting until the guests are on the way to start cleaning up, consider upgrading your vacuum now. Dyson makes some of the best vacuums on the market. For this one, the ball at the base makes it easy to swivel, turn and change directions without needing to put in much effort. The radial cyclone technology ensures that all of the dirt, dust and pet hair are picked up. The Dyson Animal Ball 3 also includes an advanced filtration system that prevents dirt from being spilled back into the house. This vacuum also comes with a stair and combination tool. Plus, the cord extends up to 50 feet, allowing you to use any of the three suction modes on a large area.

You can currently get your hands on the excellent Dyson Ball Animal Vacuum with a $151 discount, which knocks it back down to its lowest-ever price of $299.

Amazon’s latest streaming device adds useful features like Wi-Fi 6 support and Alexa Plus intelligence to the newly redesigned Fire TV remote. The new Fire TV Stick 4K is an easy way to upgrade almost any TV with speedy 4K streaming, HDR10 Plus support and access to thousands of apps right at your fingertips. Thanks to the Direct Power feature, it can even draw power directly from compatible TVs without a wall adapter. The redesigned Fire TV remote has Live TV and other shortcut buttons. With Wi-Fi 6 support, you’ll get smoother streaming on compatible home networks.

The newest model is down 58%, dropping it to a new record low of $25 from the usual price of $60.

The Soundcore P30I earbuds are noise-canceling, which is more important than most of us realize. The ANC feature can reduce outside noise by up to 42 decibels. The adaptive technology feature adjusts based on your environment. This means when you don’t need full noise cancellation, the transparency mode lets outside sound in with a quick automatic switch. The audio is more bass-heavy because of the 10mm drivers and Soundcore’s BassUp technology. This gives you an immersive sound profile. One of my favorite features is the two-in-one charging case. Not only is it a case for the earbuds, but it also doubles as a phone stand, perfect for hands-free moments.

The Soundcore P30I by Anker noise-canceling earbuds are now 50% off, bringing them down to just $25. Surprisingly, it’s not the record-low price, but it’s only a few bucks more.

With so many deals on Amazon, deciding which ones are worth your money can be difficult. CNET combs through what the world’s largest online retailer has to offer each day and gathers the best deals for you to check out.

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This Verge-favorite microphone for podcasting is discounted, along with other audio products.

This Verge-favorite microphone for podcasting is discounted, along with other audio products.

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While the Shure Mv7 Plus is popular with streamers and podcasters, it’s equally good at impressing your friends and coworkers on meetings and Discord calls. It’s currently marked down to $255 at various retailers, including Amazon, Guitar Center, and directly from Shure. That’s almost $50 lower than its usual price, and just a few dollars off Amazon’s all-time low. If you don’t already have a stand, both Amazon and Shure are offering a bundle that includes the mic and a desktop stand for $269, and the white model is also discounted at Amazon.

Shure’s MV7 Plus is an updated version of its popular USB microphone. The new version features a USB-C port, a customizable LED light panel, and several additional features available in the Motiv Mix app.

When our team shared some of our favorite audio gear in late 2024, we noted that the Mv7 Plus was the mic we send to podcast guests for remote interviews. It’s known for its crisp and clean audio quality, with auto-leveling and denoising, so you can use it without touching an equalizer.

The MV7’s unique shape and sonic profile is inspired by the Shure SM7B (also discounted), a microphone that’s often used in professional recording. This version is meant as a more budget-friendly variant for content creators looking for a simpler setup, with both an XLR output and USB-C, letting you wire into an audio interface or directly to a computer.

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Inspired by his own snoring, Jules Goldberg taught himself to program, created SnoreLab, and expanded into sound-wave motion tracking with Sleepwave to improve sleep without wearables.

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Airbnb’s technology chief holds a stake in Chesky’s AI lab, and independent directors approved the deal. It landed with Airbnb’s fastest revenue growth in three years and a 2027 date for its own AI agent.

Brian Chesky at an Airbnb event in San Francisco in 2018

Brian Chesky’s AI lab paid Airbnb $7.1M for some of its intellectual property and to cover certain expenses, Airbnb disclosed in its quarterly filing on Thursday. Chesky, Airbnb’s chief executive, founded the lab and controls it.

Under the deal, signed this month, Airbnb can choose to join the lab’s future funding rounds. It also gets a licence to use some of the lab’s technology inside its own business. Chief technology officer Ahmad Al-Dahle holds a stake in the lab and works for it too. The Information, which reported the disclosure, said Chesky has funded the lab himself so far, citing a source. TNW has not independently verified that.

“Their roles with the AI Lab do not change their duties and responsibilities to Airbnb,” the filing said of the two executives.

A special committee of independent board members approved the deal under Airbnb’s policy on related-party transactions. The filing does not name the lab or say what it is building.

Al-Dahle joined Airbnb in January from Meta, where he led generative AI, Bloomberg reported at the time. We reported in June that Chesky was building an AI lab of his own.

The filing came with Airbnb’s third-quarter results. Revenue rose 19% to $4.9bn, its fastest growth in more than three years, and net income reached $1.9bn. Nights and seats booked rose 16%. Airbnb now expects revenue to grow in the high teens this year, up from at least the mid-teens. It also approved up to $12bn more in share buybacks.

“It’s rare for a marketplace of our size to reaccelerate growth, but that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Chesky told analysts on Thursday’s earnings call.

Airbnb last raised its forecast in August. Hotels, which it began adding this year, grew “markedly faster” than homes in the quarter, Chesky said.

Shares jumped more than 10% on Friday, Reuters reported. That set Airbnb apart from Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor. All three have pointed to higher airfares linked to the Iran war and to unrest in parts of Europe, Reuters said.

Airbnb plans to start rolling out its own AI agent for planning and booking trips in the first half of 2027, it said alongside the results. Instead of a chat window, the agent will build each answer from maps, photos, comparisons, calendars and itineraries. It will also handle changes, refunds and payment problems after a booking.

Chesky argued that general assistants such as Meta’s Muse and Instinct are not built for travel. They still send Airbnb little business, he said on the call, as Business Insider reported.

“We’re not seeing a lot of traffic, and even fewer bookings, from Muse and Instinct yet,” Chesky said.

Agent traffic peaked in early October and has not grown since, he added. Airbnb’s own support assistant now resolves about 40% of customer issues without a human. Support costs per booking fell more than 17% from a year earlier, the company said.

Cristian Dina is the CRO at The Next Web. He has interviewed 300+ industry leaders and authored the book King of Networking, establishing hi (show all) Cristian Dina is the CRO at The Next Web. He has interviewed 300+ industry leaders and authored the book King of Networking, establishing himself as one of the most connected and respected voices in the ecosystem. At just 23 years old, Cristian was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 2025 list, representing a new generation of tech builders, bold thinkers who move fast, build with purpose, and create real impact.

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Copyright © 2006—2026, Cogneve, INC. Made with <3 in Amsterdam.

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Over 670,000 units are being recalled in the US and Canada.

If you own a Bose S1 Pro or S1 Pro+, we have some good news and some bad news. The good news: the speaker itself is fine. The bad news: the battery pack inside may be less than fine. Bose and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a recall on Thursday, covering nearly 635,000 lithium-ion battery packs in the US, as well as about 35,400 in Canada.

The affected packs can overheat and ignite, risking fire and burn injuries, so stop using yours right away if it's affected. Bose has received seven reports of batteries melting, smoking or catching fire. Among those were six cases of property damage. Fortunately, no injuries have been reported.

The S1 Pro and S1 Pro+ are Bose's portable PA speakers, designed for parties, gigs and the like. The speakers have a built-in mixer, support Bluetooth streaming and can go mobile using the removable battery pack. The S1 Pro+ supports a wireless mic and instrument transmitter, a separate $159 purchase.

The affected packs were sold from December 2017 to July 2026 at Bose, Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart and other retailers. The battery packs came in the box with many of the speaker units, which cost about $700, and were available separately for between $100 and $160.

Not every battery pack is being recalled. To find out if yours is, you'll need to remove the battery, find its 17-digit serial number, and check it against the recalled batches. If the battery's serial starts with 083723, 078352, 084105, 078591, 078592, 084106 or 086409, you'll want to sign up to get a free replacement on Bose's recall page. The company also provides more detailed instructions. While you wait for the replacement, you can still use the speaker on AC power.

You don't want to just toss the recalled lithium-ion batteries in the trash. Check with your local household hazardous waste center to find out how to dispose of them safely.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Anthropic has released what appears to be its answer to ChatGPT Finances.

You can now share your financial information with Claude and ask the chatbot for insights on your spending.

Also: Researchers asked people to use AI chatbots for election info

Personal Finance in Claude, which Anthropic announced Thursday, reviews your connected accounts through read-only access via Plaid. That security measure follows OpenAI’s equivalent feature, ChatGPT Finances, which launched in May. Here’s what to know.

Functionally, this feature appears similar to ChatGPT Finances: It lets you link as many bank and credit card accounts as you’d like to Claude via Plaid with read-only access. You can then ask Claude where you spent your money this month or whether you can afford to take a vacation in six months, for example.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Also: Stop sharing your passwords with AI agents

According to Anthropic, the feature is a response to existing use patterns: the company’s April usage report found that financial advice was one of the main topics users ask Claude for help with.

Given the privacy concerns around sharing sensitive data with AI systems, especially agents, Anthropic emphasized which data the new feature will access and how.

“For the accounts you choose to connect (and only those), Claude sees the bank’s name, each account’s name, type, and last four digits, balances and credit limits, and up to two years of transactions. When you chat with Claude in the Personal Finance hub, those conversations aren’t used to train our models.”

That last part is important: Personal Finance in Claude is its own mode with its own protections. If you share or discuss your financial data with Claude outside that “hub,” it’s subject only to your Claude privacy settings.

The idea behind the feature is that you can ask follow-up questions and request more insights about spending habits, trends over time, and future goals based on what Claude finds, similar to any other Claude conversation. The tool will also generate tables and charts to visualize your financial information.

“You can ask for a weekly spending chart, a calendar of what’s due, or a dashboard of the numbers you choose, and Claude builds it as an artifact you can keep adjusting and coming back to,” an Anthropic representative told ZDNET via email.

Also: I connected ChatGPT to my bank, and it’s my go-to finance app now

You can also expect an ad-free experience in the feature.

“Like the rest of Claude, Personal Finance has no ads or sponsored recommendations, and it doesn’t offer credit cards, loans, or savings accounts of its own, so your money questions get a straight answer,” the company said in the announcement.

The company added that because Claude is using actual transaction data and not memory, the feature shouldn’t hallucinate.

“It can list the exact transactions behind any number so you can check its math,” Anthropic said via email. “Like any AI, it can make mistakes, so for anything important, we recommend confirming with your bank.”

Still, the difference — and for many, the appeal — here is the natural language interface. Other finance apps don’t necessarily have an easy, accessible chat function where users can shoot off quick questions like they would to a human financial planner. These assistants also present historical budget analysis in plain English, rather than requiring users to interpret dashboards themselves, which users may see as a perk.

Also: 5 ways to use AI when your budget is tight

On Reddit, many users find ChatGPT Finances to be accurate and reliable. One Reddit user said ChatGPT Finance seemed to have Mint or Monarch potential, but noted it was still “weaker” than those apps in some areas, such as historical syncing, high-quality dashboards, and generating full statement PDFs.

ZDNET editor-in-chief Elyse Betters Picaro was “incredibly impressed” with ChatGPT Finances when she tried it out, and still uses it as one of several financial tools (not a replacement for professional advice). She also has her privacy settings in ChatGPT structured to reduce any security risks.

“ChatGPT has genuinely helped me make better financial decisions,” she wrote.

Anthropic noted that users shouldn’t look to Personal Finance for Claude as a total authority. “Personal Finance is a first step. For life’s bigger money decisions, we think people are best served by Claude working alongside the licensed professionals and regulated firms they trust,” the company said in the announcement.

“We’re exploring how to make that possible in Claude, and we’d like to hear from banks, wealth managers, and financial services companies who want to help shape it” — indicating a more integrated financial planning system within Claude may be on the way.

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AI companies across the world are racing to make bigger and better models, but the problem is all of them need massive amounts of processing power. On the other end, some researchers and startups are creating smaller models that can run on edge devices, like your phone or computer.

One such startup, Underdog, has released a game built with its new voice model called Woof that’s only 32MB large.

The game features a room with a retro tech theme, a typewriter, and a CRT monitor. There is a desk lamp, which makes a sound when you click its switch. The intro warns users about “intrusive” cloud providers in the town — ostensibly a jab at cloud-based models.

You can interact with the typewriter and music tuner.

We made a game for our new frontier text-to-speech model, Woof. 31.7 MB, so small that it runs in your browser Play the game on X… all voices are Woof. Defeat Darkcloud for an invite https://t.co/ImUFYDCBQG pic.twitter.com/tthHx7ZGBK

You can type anything on the typewriter using your keyboard, and the game will speak it back. You can also rotate the tuner to generate different kinds of music.

All of this works within the browser through Underdog’s speech generation model, which, the company says, can run on most devices without any internet connection. The model has 31 million parameters and is open for everyone to download.

While such a small model likely won’t replace bigger models, it may still be enough to drive local assistant experiences or create personalized podcasts.

This demo comes weeks after Underdog launched Bark, a 167MB speech-to-text model also designed to run on edge devices for transcription and dictation.

Sigil Wen, the founder of Underdog, told TechCrunch that he started building the app because, instead of using notetakers like Granola, he wanted to build his own system with AI models that can run on users’ devices and let them own their data.

“I think we will be able to run most capable models of today on the devices you already own within months. We just want to train the best open models that are American-made, that are open, that are capable and allow people to have private AI,” he said, referring to his manifesto.

In addition to the two voice models mentioned above, Underdog has also released a 27-billion-parameter model that can run on laptops, along with a waitlisted app that the company is positioning as a locally hosted alternative to Muse and Instinct.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web.

You can contact or verify outreach from Ivan by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at ivan.42 on Signal.

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Ninja’s first-ever microwave just replaced two of my kitchen appliances at once

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Mattress sales come and go so often that it’s hard to determine what’s an actual deal. The times of year when we see the most legit mattress deals are Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Memorial Day, and Labor Day. And this year is no different. We’re already seeing our favorite WIRED-tested bedding and mattress brands offering discounts leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I’ll be on the lookout for more deals as we approach the actual event, so be sure to check back often for fresh discounts on these often-pricey purchases. Note that all mattress prices below are for queen sizes.

Want more deals? We have even more discounts on WIRED-tested tech here. Plus, read our related shopping guides to ensure you’re making the most of Black Friday sales, including how to avoid scams and sketchy wares on Amazon, Amazon Prime perks you might not know about, and Black Friday shopping tips.

Updated November 4, 2026: I've updated the mattress sales with new dates and promo codes, updated prices, and added new deals from Tempur-Pedic, Sleep Number, Restnature, and Bedgear.

This Helix mattress has been our top pick for years and remains one of the most popular bed-in-a-box options for good reason. Its plush pillowtop and medium-firm feel make it comfortable for nearly any sleeper, whether they sleep on their side, back, or stomach.

We love Helix in general, and right now the brand has 20 percent off sitewide when you use the Helix promo code BF20. It also offers special discounts, including 25 percent off Luxe mattresses with promo code LUXE25 and 30 percent off Elite mattresses with code ELITE30. (All listed Helix promo codes are valid through November 29.)

We really love this organic mattress. When we tested the Luxe model above, we found it offered a lovely balance of plush comfort and pressure relief, with just enough bounce to make it a great choice for back sleepers seeking a little extra support. But all of Birch's models are made from natural materials like wool, latex, and cotton, without any polyurethane-based foams.

Birch's Black Friday sale runs through November 29, with 25 percent off sitewide when you use the Birch promo code BF25.

The firm Bear Elite Hybrid has long been one of our top picks for back pain. Both reviewers who tested it agree that you love it more the longer you sleep on it. Bear mattresses also keep you cool, with phase-change material that absorbs body heat and copper-infused memory foam that wicks it away.

Bear Mattress has a Black Friday Sale running through November 29, with 35 percent off sitewide and a free bundle of two pillows and a mattress protector with promo code BF35.

This was former WIRED reviewer (and sleep expert) Julia Forbes’ all-time favorite mattress. She appreciated that its extra springiness provided added support and firmness, making it ideal for side sleepers.

Nolah Mattress’ Black Friday sale runs through November 29, with 35 percent off sitewide; no promo code needed.

We on the WIRED Reviews team love hybrid mattresses because they bring together the best of both worlds—memory foam and the support of inner coils. The Sapira Chill is the best hybrid mattress we've tested to date, bringing relief to our tester's back pain while absorbing excess heat through the temperature-regulating cover.

Leesa Sleep’s Black Friday Early Access Sale runs through November 17 and offers 25 percent off mattresses, with no promo code needed.

We love this smart bed from Sleep Number. (Read our review here.) It offers balanced pressure that’s ideal for side sleepers, cushioning for pressure points, motion isolation, helpful sleep tracking, and customizable firmness. With its built-in sleep tracking, it monitors your nightly sleep score, called your “Sleep IQ” number within the app. That data is compared with the firmness level you choose, known as your “Sleep Number” setting. This helps you fine-tune the firmness that, based on your sleep-tracking data, helps you sleep better.

The ComfortNext line, including the Lux Smart Bed model above, is 20 percent off. Sleep Number's Climate Collection is 25 percent off, and sheet sets and pillows are BOGO 50 percent off—check out all of Sleep Number's current sales and eligible items here. The offer runs through December 7, and no promo code is needed—deals will be applied automatically.

This is probably the most luxurious smart bed the WIRED Reviews team has tested. (Read our review here.) You're probably not planning to drop ten grand on a bed today, but if you've been curious about smart beds, this may be a good one to check out. It has a unique design centered on temperature control, with built-in fans that make its surface noticeably cooler to the touch. The bed also monitors your bedroom's air quality and analyzes sleep metrics with an AI-powered sleep coach to give you feedback.

You can save $500 and get a $300 credit toward a future purchase when you buy a TEMPUR-ActiveBreeze System, TEMPUR-Breeze, or TEMPUR-LuxeAdapt mattress and a TEMPUR-Ergo Smart Base through December 1, with no promo code necessary.

When I die, bury me with this modular, supremely cooling mattress. It's part of Bedgear's new Night Ice collection, the most cooling beds I've ever slept on. It has a silky cover that's cool to the touch, top cooling layers that work together to dissipate heat effectively, and side mesh vents to increase airflow throughout the mattress. With this modular design, you can choose the same or different levels of firmness on both sides. The M5 above, plus Hybrid Performance and Sport Performance models below, are all discounted, and you can get a further discount if you buy one with an adjustable base. Sales run through December 7.

I slept on this cooling mattress for over a year and was super happy with it. It's one of the most consistently cooling beds I’ve tested, and it feels more luxurious than its price tag suggests.

IMHO, this is hands-down the best mattress you can buy for this price on the market today. It's cooling and comes in a few firmness levels.

Though WIRED reviewer Louryn Strampe thought this travel neck pillow was a bit big and dorky, it ended up being her favorite of all the travel pillows she’s tested for comfort during long-haul flights. All colorways are at least 20 percent off right now, but the chili red color is 30 percent off.

If you want a teeny tiny, ultra-portable white noise sound machine, this budget pick is nearly half off.

This pillow has a cool-to-the-touch cover and adjustable filling, so you can tailor its density or fluffiness to your liking.

If you sleep sweaty, this is a great cooling pillow. Plus, it has two profile heights to choose from, depending on your preference.

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After suffering one of its worst routs in years, tech stocks are recovering on Friday. It appears that some investors are trying to calm the waters slowly and steadily by buying the tech stock dip.

After falling 6.3 percent on Thursday, the tech-centric Nasdaq 100 rose 1.9 percent on Friday. It may not be much, but it's certainly a welcome sign after its worst single-day performance in six years.

As Mashable reported on Thursday, Tuesday's U.S. midterm election results have sent shockwaves through the tech sector. Many tech leaders, such as Elon Musk, have backed President Donald Trump and the Republican Party in recent years. With Democratic candidates racking up resounding victories across the country, there is fear of blowback from Democratic politicians, many of whom ran AI-critical campaigns.

For example, Senator Bernie Sanders called for a national data center moratorium on Wednesday, just one day after the Democratic Party's midterm wins. The best tech deal this week The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile Products available for purchase through affiliate links. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile

Two of the biggest AI-adjacent companies, Nvidia and SpaceX, also saw their share prices rise by 7 percent and 6.1 percent, as of this writing. Although the stock price is trending in the right direction, neither has recovered from Thursday's losses yet.

However, despite concerns about the incoming Democratic majority and the future of the U.S. AI industry, investors are looking to course correct on Friday, with stocks like Intel up 8.9 percent and Airbnb up 11.7 percent.

Chipmakers and other tech stocks more closely adjacent to the AI industry are still struggling a bit more, as previously mentioned, but they are up today as well.

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily or sent straight to your device? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter or get Mashable push alerts today.

Matt Binder joined Mashable's tech vertical in 2018, where he covers social media, tech policy, cybersecurity, online scams, cryptocurrency, AI, creator news, weird tech, and other related tech beats.

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Perplexity Teammates introduces persistent AI agents that remember your projects, learn from feedback, and handle ongoing work, but access costs $200 per month.

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“The Blacklift rocket is the springboard to significantly expand our total addressable market.”

There are optimistic plans for spaceflight, and then there are optimistic plans.

AST SpaceMobile is a Texas-based, publicly traded company building very large satellites to provide direct-to-cell communications on Earth. But it has been having trouble finding rides to space. So on Friday, AST announced that it is developing a medium-lift rocket, named Blacklift, which will have the capacity to lift 20 metric tons to low-Earth orbit. Oh, and the company said it would start launching commercially in late 2028.

“The Blacklift rocket is the springboard to significantly expand our total addressable market, providing AST SpaceMobile with regular unconstrained access to orbit and providing for most favorable owner’s economics in the industry,” said Abel Avellan, founder, chairman, and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, in a news release.

To anyone with even a basic understanding of rockets, that timeline is wildly, fantastically, and stupidly optimistic. Still, the announcement is worth examining because it underscores two important trends in today’s launch industry.

First, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that satellite operators planning to deploy large constellations need to secure launch capacity years in advance, as Amazon did nearly half a decade ago. And if they can’t secure that capacity on favorable terms, they are now considering taking the extraordinary step of developing their own rockets.

And secondly, since investors are now recognizing the worsening launch crisis that Ars has been writing about for months, there is apparently capital to be raised for new entrants into the medium-lift launch market. AST is not the only company making fantastical claims of late. A firm called Cowboy Space said in October it was building a large rocket named Big Iron (full credit—that’s an excellent name) to launch orbital data centers. It also claimed its large rocket would make its first flight in 2028.

Let’s start with a little history. SpaceX became the first purely commercial launch startup to announce plans to build a new medium-lift rocket about two decades ago, in 2005. The company holds the record for the fastest time to orbit with the Falcon 9 vehicle, with a development time of 4.7 years.

But SpaceX had some significant advantages. By then, the company had been operating for more than three years, had extensive experience with the Merlin engine, and was less than a year away from its first launch of the smaller Falcon 1 rocket. In retrospect, it’s also clear that the company had an insanely talented team of engineers. Finally, the Falcon 9 was quite a bit smaller than the recently announced vehicles, Blacklift and Big Iron. In its initial form, Falcon 9 had a lift capacity of about 10 tons.

What about other companies? Since 2015, a number of other US companies—United Launch Alliance (Vulcan), Rocket Lab (Neutron), Relativity Space (Terran R), Firefly/Northrop Grumman (Eclipse), and Stoke Space (Nova) have announced medium to heavy lift vehicles, ranging in payload capacity from about 7 to 27 metric tons (Blue Origin’s New Glenn is much larger than any of these).

Of these, only Vulcan has reached orbit. It took 8.7 years, with an incredibly experienced launch team behind the vehicle and about $2 billion in aggregate federal support across its suppliers.

Broadly speaking, the track records of these existing launch companies suggest that developing a new medium- or heavy-lift rocket takes five to nine years from public announcement to first orbital launch. Moreover, many of these companies either started with smaller rockets or brought other valuable experience to bear.

AST SpaceMobile’s counterargument is that it won’t be starting from scratch. The company said Friday that it has signed an agreement with Firefly to deliver engines for the first three Blacklift rockets, provide engineering services over a three-year period, and acquire the perpetual license to manufacture the Miranda and vacuum-variant Vira engines from Firefly. Nine Miranda engines will power Blacklift’s first stage.

Yes, engines are typically the hardest part of a rocket’s development. And procuring Miranda engines will shave some time off Blacklift’s development. But it will probably be a year or two, not five. Procuring the Miranda engine—which likely remains at least two years from being tested in flight on the Eclipse rocket—does not eliminate the enormous engineering, manufacturing, testing, and regulatory effort required to develop a medium-lift rocket.

AST SpaceMobile is also paying a pretty penny for this privilege. It has committed $1.3 billion to Firefly for the engine license ($800 million), 27 Miranda engines and nine Vira engines ($250 million), and engineering support ($250 million). If we look just at the engine costs for a single Blacklift rocket, that’s $83 million per vehicle for the first three.

The bottom line is that AST SpaceMobile has made a launch timeline claim that is profoundly disconnected from the historical record of every comparable rocket development program this century. Maybe they’re a bunch of geniuses who will vibe-code the vehicle with Claude or Grok and shock us all.

More likely, though, is that this is a company that desperately needs to launch about 90 more of its massive BlueBird direct-to-cell satellites. Yes, the company has some existing commercial launch contracts with SpaceX, Blue Origin, and other companies. And in its news release, it said, “AST SpaceMobile will continue to use external providers, with agreements now covering in total over 100 BlueBird satellites to be deployed cumulatively between 2027 and 2028.”

But that raises an obvious question: If AST already has agreements covering the deployment of more than 100 BlueBird satellites by the end of 2028, what precisely is Blacklift supposed to accomplish? Do you spend several billion dollars to develop a rocket you don’t actually need?

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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The company is going all-in on Antigravity and Google AI Studio.

In March, Google announced it was "sunsetting" Firebase Studio, its online integrated development environment (IDE), in favor of coding tools that put AI at the center. The company's preference for Antigravity and Google AI Studio serves its broader push around Gemini, but it also leaves anyone who liked Firebase Studio's approach in the lurch.

The ability to create new workspaces and sign up to use Firebase Studio ended on June 22, and developers have until March 22, 2027 to export their work to another IDE before it's shut down completely and all remaining data is deleted. Until then, Firebase Studio is in limbo, and deciding on an alternative largely comes down to how developers want AI to be incorporated into their development process.

Google conceived of Firebase Studio as a coding tool that could connect directly to Firebase, backend services it provides to developers that cover everything from databases to web hosting. From the launch of the IDE in 2025, Google has imagined that AI agents would play a role in development. What's changed since then is how central AI has become. Firebase Studio offers an AI chatbot experience that can prototype and tweak apps and handle other development tasks, but the bulk of Firebase Studio is still devoted to editing code. In 2026, a growing number of coding projects start with a prompt, and thanks to the popularity of vibe coding, some users never even deal with the raw code.

Both of Google's newer coding tools, Antigravity and Google AI Studio, are designed for that reality, and since Firebase itself is sticking around and either tool can connect to it, a separate Firebase-focused IDE isn't essential. Google more or less framed its decision that way when it announced it was retiring the tool. "To streamline your workflow and make it clearer where you should start building, we're beginning the process of sunsetting Firebase Studio," the company wrote in March.

If you'd prefer to stay in Google's ecosystem, you can either switch to Google AI Studio or Antigravity. Google AI Studio is "the fastest path from prompt to full-stack production app," according to Google, which means its interface prioritizes prompts and chatting with AI. Like Firebase Studio, it's also web-based, so you can access it from any browser. In comparison, Antigravity is a desktop app that's meant to run locally on your computer. Its interface is designed for users to directly interact with their code, while also directing multiple AI agents that can work on their own. Notably, it also supports AI models other than Google's own.

Most other coding tools tend to follow a similar logic, where the coder is a team leader for agents that handle the first pass. Cursor, now owned by SpaceX, is a popular option. Both Anthropic and OpenAI also have their own AI-focused coding tools in Claude Code and Codex, respectively. Using AI in projects can come with associated costs, either in the form of subscriptions, paying for tokens, or both. Which tools developers migrate to after Firebase Studio shuts down will likely be determined as much by price as by the interface and each tool's future.

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Tech critics say that real change will depend on newly elected officials keeping their campaign promises.

In this week’s midterm elections, Democrats won back control of both chambers of Congress, with stunning victories in battleground states that have voters and tech critics asking: Was this the AI election?

Artificial intelligence was central to the national conversation during the midterms, alongside concerns about affordability and the Iran war. From data centers needed to power AI to how it’s used in surveillance tech like Flock cameras, many Democratic (and a few Republican) candidates campaigned against AI.

Tech critics were quick to claim success, too. Alan Butler, president of the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center, called it “a resounding victory” and said that ”voters made clear in this election that they are sick and tired of big tech companies manipulating them, buying politicians and elections, and surveilling their families and communities.”

Despite tech leaders like Elon Musk pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican campaigns, tech critics say voters’ choices show a strong distrust in Big Tech and give the newly elected leaders the necessary momentum for change. But how, exactly, they deliver on those goals remains to be seen — and will have real consequences for tech consumers and companies.

“It is time for lawmakers to get real about reining in unchecked tech power and to hold these companies accountable to the people,” Butler says.

More than any other tech issue, data centers took center stage in the midterm elections. It isn’t surprising; these facilities are popping up everywhere and require vast amounts of water and electricity at the expense of nearby communities’ health and environments.

Voters showed their frustration at the ballot box. Across the country, voters rejected more than 40 ballot measures that would’ve supported data centers. It was a rare national consensus on an issue that is usually debated in city councils and statehouses. As such, “action is more likely to come on the local and state levels, at least in the short term,” says Paris Marx, tech critic and host of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast.

Governments may continue to adopt moratoriums on new data center construction, like New York’s first-in-the-nation pause implemented earlier this year, as they try to figure out how to mitigate the harms. State and local legislators need to continue setting environmental rules, managing electricity demand and finding real community benefits, Marx says. (OpenAI, for its part, is tackling the issue by renaming data centers as “compute campuses.”)

In many ways, “data centers are a symptom of the larger problem,” says Samir Jain, vice president of policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Tech companies are so focused on “winning” the global AI race that they forget (or didn’t prioritize) the impact on everyday people, he says.

But neighbors living next to data centers cannot forget. In that sense, the overwhelming public backlash to data centers and the midterm election results are “a real repudiation of that kind of approach to technology,” Jain says.

If the new Congress is going to prioritize technology as part of its legislative agenda, it needs to start with privacy, tech critics and policy experts say.

“To the extent that there’s this emboldened sense that we want to do something to rein in tech companies, consumer data privacy is the way to go,” says India McKinney, director of federal affairs at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Right now, the US doesn’t have any comprehensive federal laws around consumer data privacy. This is a core part of how so many tech companies operate and make money; Meta made its bones by selling Facebook users’ data to advertisers. And so there’s “plenty of room for bipartisan progress on a national privacy law,” says Kinsey Fabrizio, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association.

But we’ve seen very clearly over the past decade that when left unchecked, tech companies can collect and use our data in concerning ways. Despite stalled progress on a national bill in the past, there may be a new push for it, thanks to recent tech headlines. Flock cameras and other automatic license plate readers have sparked immense public concern as many cases show law enforcement officers misusing the tech to stalk and harass people.

Privacy is a major concern with AI, too. “It puts all the more premium on having a privacy bill,” Jain says. AI companies are data-hungry entities that want our data to improve their models. But we have basically no control over what happens to it next, including whether it’s used in AI training or handed over to law enforcement, your employer or data brokers.

Not all tech policy issues would be solved by a data privacy law, but it would provide lawmakers with a foundation from which to tackle other issues. And for US consumers, it may give us back some control over how much information we want to hand over to tech companies. Tech companies operating in countries with data privacy laws, such as European Union members, are often legally required to give users more options, such as opting out of AI training.

It isn’t just major tech platforms; it’s also data brokers that sell data to companies you don’t interact with. That industry is worth more than $277 billion, and it’s the engine behind much of how Big Tech operates.

“If you are mad at this whole surveillance pricing situation where we’re going to charge you more if we feel like you can afford it, that is because of data brokers,” says McKinney. “If you are mad that the federal government can just buy information from data brokers that [it] would otherwise have to get a warrant to get, that’s a data broker problem.”

Jain says one way to think about tech regulation is as a kind of matrix. “There are some basic building blocks that apply across the board for AI, like privacy, that we need to have in place.” But there are specific cases where “we’re going to need additional sector-specific regulation,” like healthcare, he says.

Some states already have data privacy laws. But during the federal government’s last attempt at a data privacy law five years ago, lawmakers couldn’t agree on whether (or how) to let states keep regulating privacy, McKinney says.

And that’s the inherent advantage for things like a federal consumer data privacy law or national AI framework. The rules apply to everyone in the US, so tech companies have to comply, rather than just threaten to go dark in specific states.

“We can’t lead the world in AI and support transformative AI innovation with a patchwork of conflicting state laws that make life harder for startups and small businesses,” Fabrizio says.

While the Democrats will have a firm majority in both chambers of Congress, many of the most contentious tech issues have bipartisan support, tech critics told me. And we’ve already seen how that can result in actionable legislation, such as the Take It Down Act, which passed nearly unanimously in 2025.

This fleeting moment of bipartisan agreement on reining in Big Tech could help lawmakers achieve the elusive task of actually fulfilling their campaign promises. But part of the challenge will be getting lawmakers to focus on real-world harm and basic protections, not whatever dystopian tech prediction is trending that day.

“It’s very likely we’ll see companies continue to push lawmakers to focus AI regulation on so-called ‘existential risks,’ meaning their claims that more advanced AI might kill humanity or end the world,” Marx says, “rather than addressing the impacts of data centers and the present-day harms.”

Those existential risks only serve to make tech companies more powerful. “These elected representatives don’t just have the power to rein in these powerful corporations; they have the obligation to do so to promote the interests of the constituents they serve,” Butler says.

We saw this election cycle how much money Big Tech is willing to spend to try to get its preferred candidates and policies. Elon Musk alone reportedly spent nearly half a billion dollars backing Republican candidates such as Ken Paxton in Texas, who lost by 12 percentage points to Democrat James Talarico. Despite that, most of the tech experts I spoke to said the results showed a real desire from voters to rein in tech companies and the harms they wrought.

But that will depend on how willing the new Congress is to buck Big Tech. “If we have a new electorate that is newly emboldened to stand up to bullies,” McKinney says, “let’s start there.”

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

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The Senate will vote to push through a giant — and controversial — permitting reform bill.

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The Senate will vote to push through a giant — and controversial — permitting reform bill.

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A massive permitting bill that could help energy projects come online much quicker and potentially lower utility bills for Americans is advancing with bipartisan support. And while it could be a catalyst for lots of clean energy, it could also speed up polluting projects and limit oversight of new data centers.

With data centers demanding more electricity for AI, environmental advocates fear that developers could take advantage of the reforms to evade public scrutiny and rely more heavily on fossil fuels. The bill sacrifices caution for speed, limiting environmental reviews and preventing communities from stopping a project from moving forward by taking it to court.

“Whether it is permits to bulldoze wetlands, the fast-tracking of gas pipelines or general environmental review, with this legislation, data centers would not need to answer to the concerns of local communities,” Christy Goldfuss, executive director of the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), says in an email to The Verge. “People would be shocked to realize their representatives are rushing such a consequential decision.”

The sea change in Congress following the midterm elections could put the bill in an even more precarious position, giving Democrats a better shot at pushing for their priorities in the bill and potentially triggering a fight with President Donald Trump. Should it come up for a vote during the current lame-duck session or get kicked to next year, the bill will test whether Democrats and Republicans can actually get something done to address some of the biggest issues voters carried with them to the polls: rising energy costs and data centers encroaching on their communities.

“They swung big with this bill. It’s a really good bipartisan compromise,” Xan Fishman, executive vice president of the Energy Program at the Bipartisan Policy Center, tells The Verge.

Four senators calling themselves the “four corners” — Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) — introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) on September 30th. “If we can pass this bill, we will flood the grid with clean, affordable energy and make data centers start paying their fair share,” Whitehouse, a climate hawk, said in the press release.

The announcement simultaneously garnered support from climate and renewable energy groups, as well as fossil fuel interests. “Pass the frickin’ bill so we can start building things again,” the US Oil & Gas Association said in a statement.

The Senate could vote to move the bill forward as early as next week, teeing it up for potential passage before the end of the year, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Fishman expects President Trump will want to sign the bill if the current Republican-controlled Congress acts, adding in an email that the White House has been “very involved” in negotiations. Newly empowered Democrats, however, could decide to drag out debate on the bill until next year in order to make fewer concessions to Republicans.

“Sometimes, bureaucratic processes that are created with good intentions kind of spiral out of control.”

If it becomes law, the bill would limit the reach of bedrock laws (stemming back to the 1970s environmental movement) that protect water resources and endangered species and give the public an opportunity to weigh in on large projects that might impact public health. Over the years, however, reviews that once took months at most might take several years or even decades, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Fishman attributes the delays largely to lengthy legal battles. Now, agencies have to spend more time preparing for lawsuits as they consider permitting applications, Fishman says. That holds up development on all kinds of infrastructure projects, including cleaner energy alternatives to fossil fuels.

Fishman expects BAAJA to be very effective in amending outdated permitting rules that have become burdensome to projects across the board, even those that might ultimately have a net positive impact on the environment. “Sometimes, bureaucratic processes that are created with good intentions kind of spiral out of control,” he says. “You want to protect the environment, you want to protect people, but you want to get to a yes or no [on a permit application] in a reasonable amount of time and you don’t want to have this endless litigation cycle.”

The bill would set a 45-day deadline for a lead agency to issue a decision on a project after completing an environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In many cases, NEPA review is the only opportunity for nearby residents to weigh in on large projects that involve the federal government. And it’s been a key tool for opponents to high-profile projects including the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. BAAJA narrows the scope of projects subject to NEPA, creating exclusions for transmission upgrades and certain pipeline expansions, to name a couple. Many projects receiving federal loans or grants or that have already been through a similar state environmental assessment would no longer trigger NEPA review.

The bill also sets a strict new 150-day limit for anyone to challenge a project in court over alleged violations of NEPA, the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, or National Historic Preservation Act. And BAAJA strips away a court’s ability to halt a project altogether even if it finds that a federal agency violated NEPA; it would simply force the agency to correct any issues.

The Clean Water Act allows the Army Corps of Engineers to issue general permits to projects that discharge dredged material into US waters as long as they’re deemed as having “minimal adverse environmental effects.” BAAJA could make it easier for large projects including data centers to qualify for those permits.

Some environmental groups are concerned that those general permits would take away public participation requirements for individual projects, especially when it comes to data centers that use a lot of water. The proposals in BAAJA amount to “rubber-stamping permits under the Clean Water Act” and “blocking interference from States and Tribes,” according to the environmental organization Earthjustice Action.

“It will enable fast delivery of gas to fuel the data center build-out.”

They’re also concerned that BAAJA aligns with the Trump administration’s push to deregulate industry and weaken environmental protections in order to swiftly build out more data centers and fossil fuel infrastructure to power them. Data center energy demand has led to a surge of new gas projects in the US, and the bipartisan bill could help streamline reviews for new pipelines delivering fuel for data centers.

“One very big reason why passing BAAJA is such a high priority for the gas industry is it will enable fast delivery of gas to fuel the data center build-out,” Earthjustice Action President Abigail Dillen said in a Thursday blog. “BAAJA delivers a precision strike for developers of dirty data centers.”

Long pipeline delays slow data center development, according to energy research firm Wood Mackenzie. Permitting reform could benefit data center developers building out their own gas generation rather than relying solely on the grid, so-called “behind-the-meter” projects, by ending regulatory delays when it comes to connecting pipelines. Reforms would also speed grid-connected gas generation, Wood Mackenzie says in a recent news release.

“I don’t think we’re seeing it as this bill helping one type of technology over the other. I think it clears the way for all technologies to get onto the grid a little quicker,” Siddhant Warrier, research analyst for North American Power for Wood Mackenzie, tells The Verge.

Notably, the bill is supposed to protect bipartisan interests by preventing any single administration from attacking a particular project type — such as the Biden administration attempting to phase down oil and gas in the power sector or the Trump administration issuing stop work orders to wind farms. BAAJA aims to provide “project certainty” by barring federal agencies from canceling or suspending permits they’ve already approved in most cases. It even allows developers to take agencies to court for “disparate treatment” to sue for damages incurred from project delays.

“This part of the legislation could also lead to a slew of industry lawsuits that result in taxpayers paying billions of dollars to private industry,” the NRDC warns in its analysis of the bill. It could also prevent communities from challenging projects, including data centers, that wind up having unforeseen consequences for the environment and public health.

Despite those concerns, the NRDC and other advocacy groups are optimistic about the bill boosting renewable energy and enabling power grid upgrades needed to meet rising demand while keeping costs down.

BAAJA could shorten the time needed to build a new transmission line nearly in half — from 10 years or more to around five or six years, the NRDC estimates. Transmission lines that carry electricity across long distances — key to getting electrons to urban centers from far-flung solar and wind farms — are particularly tricky to build because of the patchwork of permitting processes they’re subject to across different jurisdictions.

Two separate reports project that the permitting bill would increase renewable energy capacity in the US and cut greenhouse gas emissions as a result. It also points to modest reductions in energy costs as a result of BAAJA passing compared to a baseline reflecting the status quo. The average annual cost of producing electricity would fall by as much as 7 percent by 2041, according to modeling by think tank Resources for the Future. Household electricity bills would lower by $50 to $78 per year by 2040, according to an analysis by research firm Rhodium Group. The White House put out its own analysis in October claiming that the average household could see their electricity bills fall by as much as $251 each year as a result of BAAJA.

One of the ways BAAJA aims to keep utility bills from rising is to force data center developers to pay more for transmission costs. Current law prevents utilities from charging them for costs stemming from both new builds and existing infrastructure, which inadvertently shifts costs to other customers to fill in the gap. The bipartisan bill mandates what’s called “and pricing” so that data centers and other large electricity customers would be on the hook to pay for both added and existing infrastructure.

The bill would also require utilities to disclose electricity sales to data centers. It would force large data center developers to make financial assurances to utilities before they break ground, as well as make them responsible for covering costs of new energy projects even if the data center shutters before the infrastructure is paid off.

Unfortunately, the bill may only solve part of the problem since utility rates reflect more than just transmission costs. Increasing electricity demand from the data center boom can still raise prices for fuel and gas turbines, for example. And the bill doesn’t address other issues that have sparked backlash against data centers, like noise and air pollution from generators on site.

Still, without permitting reform, gas and power prices would likely continue to climb as new energy projects keep hitting bottlenecks, according to Wood Mackenzie. Even environmental groups concerned about some of the provisions in BAAJA are holding out to see if Congress can amend the bill to strengthen environmental and consumer protections.

The bill has become a sort of Rorschach test for its backers, one expert speaking on background tells The Verge. They’re all optimistic that their energy source of choice, be it oil and gas or solar and wind, will ultimately come out on top — as long as it gets the green light to build.

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Alex de Vigan’s last business got swamped by the rise of generative AI, but now he’s betting the tech that team had built, a platform for creating tempting product renderings for e-commerce, can be re-purposed to make robots more useful.

His new venture, Physicl, has raised $10 million in seed funding led by Inovia Capital to help world model designers and robot builders solve thorny training problems with more realistic simulations.

Founder and CEO de Vigan spent the last decade building nfinite, which made it easy for brands and retailers to create 3D models of their goods and display them online. The arrival of transformer-based AI models led that company to focus more on generative imagery, but de Vigan saw a new purpose for his team and the tech stack they’d built to faithfully render 3D environments.

“What we were super unique about doing in 3D, AI was going to replace, but something was missing in AI: its ability to understand, interact, and manipulate space and objects,” de Vigan says.

Researchers developing physical AI models to make robots more capable of tasks like handling diverse, small objects have been frustrated by the returns of training them on video, and the expense of gathering data through remote operations.

Simulations in digital worlds are seen as a promising solution, but ensuring that these simulated worlds are faithful to real-world physics has proven difficult. De Vigan believes that the pipeline his previous company built to “transform unstructured, incomplete, heterogeneous real-world information into a high-fidelity physical representation… with correct geometry, materials, and physics” can now be used to make physical AI models more effective.

Physicl is entering a crowded category of startups vying to provide data and tooling to foundation model builders and robot operators. “The space is very young and very blurry sometimes,” de Vigan admits. There are a variety of companies collecting, labeling, or generating data in different modalities as their customers try to figure out the secret sauce that will make robots live up to their promise.

In particular, Physicl wants to focus on post-training models on difficult edge cases. The startup is releasing a product called Studio with 10,000 3D environments and 100,000 assets that represent various objects. It lets users create scenes to generate synthetic data for training robots on specific problems. For example, Studio could be used to generate training data to help a robot that has trouble discerning a cup on a cluttered counter-top, or while the cup is in shadow.

SpAItial, a world model builder, collaborated with Physicl as an early customer to improve the fidelity of its products, the latest of which, Echo-3, was released last week. SpAItial’s tool generates 3D simulations from 2D imagery, and to do that effectively, its CEO and founder Matthias Niessner said they needed to train on the kind of high-fidelity synthetic data Physicl offers.

However, Physicl wants to be more than a data provider; it sees itself as the tooling for ongoing synthetic data generation. “What we created 10 years ago, without knowing it, was basically an agentic workflow to transform unstructured information into high-fidelity 3D,” de Vigan said. He imagines customers bringing trillions of images or millions of hours of lidar capture data to feed into his platform and turn them into high-quality 3D representations that can be used to generate billions of permutations to train their models.

“The real challenge is, you have to curate the data by hand, and this is a very long cycle,” Niessner, also a professor of robotics at the Technical University of Munich, told TechCrunch. “To us what seems very attractive is you can just do this on the fly […] You’re running Claude, and it checks, ‘Oh, I need more data of this in my training,’ and then it auto generates that data, depending on the training state. That, to me, is super exciting, and this is exactly what Physicl is offering.”

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Inovia Capital led the seed round for the start-up, whose customers include Meta, Nvidia, World Labs and Epic Games.

Physicl, a Paris-based start-up that creates training data for AI systems that work in the physical world, has raised $10M in seed funding. Inovia Capital led the round, announced on Friday, with U.S. Venture Partners also taking part.

The company focuses on what researchers call edge cases. These are the unusual situations, such as odd lighting or an unexpected object in the way, where AI models for robots, self-driving cars, and 3D vision often make mistakes.

Its first product, Studio, lets researchers rebuild those situations in 3D. They pick an environment or describe a scene where their model struggles, then change the lighting, the camera angle, and where objects sit.

Studio then produces accurate training data aimed at that specific weakness. As a result, researchers can recreate a failure, test a fix, and measure whether their model has improved.

The platform includes 10,000 3D environments and more than 100,000 objects, which can be combined into billions of different scenes, according to the company.

“Models fail on edge cases. When researchers find these weaknesses, they need a way to generate data that specifically addresses them,” said Alex de Vigan, Physicl’s founder and chief executive.

De Vigan previously founded Nfinite, a Paris company that makes 3D images of products for online retailers and raised $100m in 2022. He has spent six years working on 3D, simulation, and machine learning.

Physicl already works with AI labs and universities, including Meta, World Labs, Epic Games, Amazon Web Services, Nvidia, and the Technical University of Munich.

One customer is SpAItial, a Munich start-up that builds 3D AI models. After adding Physicl’s data to its training set, SpAItial cut the error rate of its room-building model by more than half, the company said.

Physicl will use the capital to grow its team and develop the platform further. It joins a wave of European start-ups working on physical AI, the technology that lets machines understand and act in the real world.

I am the Editor in Chief for TNW, covering technology not as a parade of launches and valuations, but as a system of influence, persuasion, (show all) I am the Editor in Chief for TNW, covering technology not as a parade of launches and valuations, but as a system of influence, persuasion, and change. I write about startups, venture capital, digital policy, and Europe ecosystem, with an eye on the larger story beneath them: who gets to build the future, who profits from it, and how Europe is learning to speak in a louder voice of its own. Before moving into senior editorial leadership, I've built my career for over +10 years across journalism, storytelling, content strategy, SEO, and digital publishing, with experience in SaaS, hospitality, art, and culture.

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Bluetooth Core 7.0 could make your smart home devices easier to set up, for one. Here's what we know about the new core specification.

Bluetooth Core 7.0 is here, and each new specification from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) offers a glimpse of what we can expect from our devices in the future. The major feature incorporated into the new core standard is High Data Throughput (HDT), which can enable lossless wireless audio and improved multi-channel spatial audio on more Bluetooth devices.

Also: Apple has a Bluetooth problem, and Android is taking advantage

Bluetooth Core 7.0’s standout feature is that it can achieve wireless lossless audio. However, the improvements to the Bluetooth stack architecture — particularly, expanding the Bluetooth spectrum — allow for faster data transfer, improved energy efficiency, more resilient connections, and create more room for devices and their data-intensive applications.

HDT means good news for audiophiles, smart home enthusiasts, VR/XR fans, wellness wearable aficionados, AI companion devotees, and much more. I explained applications of HDT in a wireless audio context earlier this year. Now that it’s officially adopted, here’s what you can expect.

A major milestone in Bluetooth Core 7.0 is the ability to stream lossless audio over a wireless connection. Bluetooth is lossy, requiring data compression that diminishes audio quality. HDT’s faster data transfer and greater wireless data capacity enable it to handle the massive volume of data required to achieve lossless quality.

Also: Your Bose headphones are getting a major Bluetooth upgrade – what to expect

Audiophiles typically avoid wireless headphones for intensive listening due to the necessary data compression, opting for wired headphones that can accommodate larger lossless files. Bluetooth’s innovation here is widely regarded as a major leap in wireless technology.

HDT also promises to standardize spatial audio, with expanded data transfers allowing for multi-channel audio setups. Standardizing this form of audio transmission could mean consumers can expect more affordable brands and products to adopt this premium feature.

Every consumer-friendly feature possible within Bluetooth Core 7.0 can be traced back to its ability to accommodate more devices and their ever-expanding data needs. According to a Bluetooth blog post, Bluetooth HDT delivers nearly four times the previous maximum Bluetooth throughput.

Data throughput is the amount of data received, transmitted, and processed over the Bluetooth network. With nearly four times the processing power, HDT can move more data, faster. HDT increases Bluetooth’s maximum supported bitrate to 7.5 Mbps, up from the current 2 Mbps.

Also: Beware of Bluetooth sniffers: How your favorite gadgets could be exposing your data

The result is shorter download times for a device’s firmware update, faster device location when Find My Device is activated, or faster transfer of a large photo album via Android’s QuickShare or Apple’s AirDrop.

In the same blog post, Øyvind Strøm, executive vice president of the short-range business unit at Nordic Semiconductor, gives examples of a smartwatch syncing hours’ worth of workout data to your phone in seconds, or a pair of headphones, a smart speaker, or a security camera that can download a firmware update with nearly zero interruption to the user experience.

In a smart home context, Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) is the wireless technology that works in the background, connecting your devices. Bluetooth LE is the baseline technology for quick device discovery and connection. The most recent example of this is Apple’s HomeView, which uses Bluetooth LE to discover a nearby, trusted iPhone to unlock that user’s personalized home hub display.

The less you feel its presence through lags, wait times, and dropouts, the better it’s working. HDT’s goal is to make Bluetooth connectivity frictionless, which is especially valuable when your smart lights, shades, speakers, TVs, refrigerators, and more rely on the technology.

Also: Forget Wi-Fi: Apple is betting on Bluetooth with its new home devices

For example, HDT’s improved data throughput could allow doorbells, cameras, and robot vacuums to quickly offload large amounts of data to your smart home hub. It could also enable near-instantaneous setup of a new device onto your smart home network and firmware updates.

Finally, HDT also addressed network stability and reliability, especially in high-traffic areas such as apartment complexes and dense cities, where a busy network can cause delays and backups. Alongside improvements to Wi-Fi and Thread, a truly seamless smart home is on the horizon.

Bluetooth’s Human Interface Device (HID) profile refers to the wireless communication used by peripheral devices, such as mice, keyboards, and game controllers, when connecting to a host device. Smart glasses and controllers connected to XR/VR headsets also use this profile, and their data-intensive computing will benefit greatly from HDT.

Devices using the HID profile can expect HDT to lay the foundation for making cloud gaming more reliable, spatial computing more responsive, and offloading audio/visual data from smart glasses less power-intensive.

Also: Frustrated with your Bluetooth? How multipoint works – and why it sometimes won’t

Additionally, gaming keyboards and mice can expect HDT’s expanded data processing to deliver shorter device communication intervals, reducing latency and lag.

In 2026, we’re starting to see more Bluetooth Core 6.0-equipped devices, with Samsung’s recently announced Galaxy Buds On featuring Bluetooth 6.2. Though Bluetooth’s blog post states that the first application of HDT will be for premium wireless audio, many audio manufacturers are behind, still releasing products with Bluetooth 5.4.

Smartphones, smartwatches, and smart home products tend to move a little faster, with the majority of current Bluetooth Core 6.0 products falling into these categories.

The Bluetooth SIG announced Auracast in 2022, and audio manufacturers are now beginning to adopt this technology more widely. Channel Sounding was released with Bluetooth Core 6.0 in 2024, with some early adopters releasing compatible products this year, including Google’s Pixel Tag and Motorola’s Moto Tag 2; more are expected next year and into 2028. With these adoption cycles in mind, we may be well into the next decade before HDT becomes standard.

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Massive Effect: The BioWare Story started filming two years before EA shut down the studio.

BioWare is no more after Electronic Arts shut down the storied studio last month. As it turns out, a film crew documented the studio's final act. A documentary called Massive Effect: The BioWare Story is in the works, as Deadline reported, and it's expected to arrive next year. Filming started two years before BioWare shut down.

The documentary — which Canada's Super Channel commissioned — will cover "the story of how a group of underdogs from the Alberta prairies built one of the most beloved studios in gaming, told by the people who were there," producer Shane Fennessey said in a statement on X. "Now, with the shocking news of the studio's closure, we carry the responsibility of telling how the story ends."

Massive Effect: The BioWare Storyhttps://t.co/ye1n5oEkBC pic.twitter.com/7IYLjOYywk

— Shane Fennessey (@ShaneFen) November 5, 2026

The movie will cover the 31-year history of BioWare, with founders Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip all making appearances. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect director Casey Hudson will feature, along with FemShep voice actor Jennifer Hale, former EA CEO John Riccitiello, several BioWare developers and other figures from the gaming world.

BioWare fans have a chance to feature in the film, as the team behind it has set up a website where they can share photos, videos, cosplay, fan art and other memories about the studio. Fans have also been campaigning to save Mass Effect, including by petitioning the Canadian government to help former BioWare workers buy the studio.

EA, which is now owned primarily by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, shuttered BioWare after its last few games failed to meet the company's sales expectations. The studio, which had around 50 workers after previous cuts, was in the early stages of making the next Mass Effect game — a trailer for which leaked after EA announced BioWare's demise. Bloomberg reported that, rather than fund the full development of Mass Effect 5, EA opted to put its resources into making Star Wars Battlefront 3, which has not been formally revealed.

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Microsoft is redesigning the Xbox PC app with up to 60% faster launches, simpler navigation, improved game libraries, and a refreshed cloud gaming experience.

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Meta won’t force Facebook page owners to allow AI training on linked content.

After weeks of backlash—and a failed attempt to quell it—Meta has indefinitely delayed plans to update its commercial terms and require Meta Business account users to allow extensive AI training on external websites linked on Facebook.

“We’re pausing the ‌changes ⁠as we continue to engage with stakeholders and ​take ​our ⁠time to get this right. ​In the ​meantime, ⁠our existing terms remain in ⁠effect,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters.

Soon after Meta notified business account holders of the upcoming changes, legal experts warned Nieman Lab that the vague language could allow the company to ignore scraping preferences specified in robots.txt files and exhaustively crawl vast amounts of off-Facebook content for AI training. Since virtually every news publisher has a Facebook page, Nieman Lab sounded the alarm that Meta could potentially avoid millions in licensing fees if the TOS update happened as planned.

Ars broke down the changes after Meta announced them, noting that businesses—including news publishers involved in drawn-out legal battles over unwanted AI scraping—had no way to opt out. To keep a business Facebook page, they had to allow Meta to crawl any linked external sites. The terms even required publishers to create test credentials so Meta’s bots could reliably bypass paywalls.

The changes were initially supposed to take effect on October 30. But Meta pushed that date back to November 20 amid pushback from Facebook users, courts, and regulators around the world. Courts in Brazil and Norway issued preliminary injunctions blocking the terms after organizations in those countries promptly filed lawsuits, Nieman Lab reported.

The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority also opened a formal investigation into whether Meta was exploiting a dominant position to seize valuable AI training data. In a LinkedIn post, Theo Bamber, chief executive of the UK’s News Media Association, pointed to “the continued arrogance of this company to think everyone will just be OK with its actions” as “staggering.”

“Does Meta think we can’t read?” Bamber wrote. He argued that removing the word “train” from the terms of service did little to reassure publishers, since “develop” posed the same threat.

“It’s saying it can use all the content it scrapes to develop ‘any business product’. I mean, come on,” he wrote.

Nieman Lab noted there was bipartisan concern in the US. Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) sent letters asking Mark Zuckerberg to withdraw the terms.

On October 28, Meta’s vice president of communications, Andy Stone, posted on X that Meta would do just that, at least for now.

“We’ve heard publishers’ feedback on our proposed ads and business terms update,” Stone said. “We care deeply about our partners and do not plan to make policy changes without a full consultation with industry groups and leaders. We’re committed to getting this right, and as we expect this consultation could extend beyond November 20, in which case we’d delay implementation of the updated terms.”

Meta has insisted that it would never use its terms of service to skirt robots.txt. In an update to business page owners, the company offered a “reminder” that “our crawling practices remain unchanged, and content owners can continue to signal their crawling preferences using robots.txt.”

But the company still faced criticism after promising to pull the terms and consult with publishers to get the policy right.

As regulatory and court scrutiny intensified, Nieman Lab noted that Meta took steps to try to assuage publishers’ concerns but “has not included any specific language about respecting robots.txt preferences in its revised terms of service.”

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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SAVE UP TO 20% WITH CODE ALLONSALE: The Shark CryoGlow Plus is on sale for $341.10 (normally $379) for Beauty Insider members during Sephora's Savings Event — its first discount ever. Members with VIB and Rouge status save up to $37.90 extra.

The Shark CryoGlow LED face mask is one of Mashable's Gifts of the Year — and the upgraded version is now on sale for the first time ever.

Through Nov. 9, Sephora shoppers can save up to 20% on the Shark CryoGlow Plus using the coupon code ALLONSALE. This deal comes as part of Sephora's fall Savings Event for members of its Beauty Insiders rewards program, which is free to join.

Standard Beauty Insider members will get 10% off the $379 CryoGlow Plus, which brings it down to $341.10. Those who have unlocked VIB status (by spending at least $350 at Sephora in the past year) save 15% and pay $322.15.

Beauty Insider Rouge members who have spent at least $1,000 at Sephora this year earn the most savings. For them, the CryoGlow Plus is only $303.20 — a 20% discount.

Unlike other red light masks we've tested, Shark CryoGlow can emit red, near-infrared, and blue light to tackle different skin concerns, from wrinkles to acne. It also features de-puffing cooling eye pads, which feel "amazing on groggy eyes in the morning or post-shower on a summer night," according to our reviewer.

The "Plus" version of the CryoGlow, which launched this summer, has more LED bulbs and a longer battery life than the original model.

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Tesla will stop making the Cybertruck next year, according to CEO Elon Musk, who said on X that the company will use the factory space to build more two-seater Cybercab robotaxis.

The decision to wind down the futuristic, steel-clad EV comes after just a few short years of underwhelming sales. When Musk handed over the first few Cybertrucks in late 2023, he predicted Tesla would sell around 250,000 per year. It was supposed to be such a cornerstone of Tesla’s future that, before construction began, the company talked about its Texas factory as the “Cybertruck factory.” But Tesla has instead sold just tens of thousands — total — over the last three years.

Tesla is killing off the Cybertruck at a moment when it is trying to become an AI- and robotics-focused company. A big part of that is its robotaxi ambitions.

The company has spent the last two months putting Cybercabs on the streets in its hometown of Austin, Texas. With no major incidents to date, the company has said it plans to expand the Cybercabs operations to other cities, starting with Dallas later this month. (Tesla also operates robotaxi versions of its Model Y SUVs in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, as well as three cities in Florida.)

This is the third product Tesla has discontinued in order to fuel those greater ambitions. Earlier this year, the company decided to end production of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV and instead use the factory space dedicated to those vehicles to make Optimus humanoid robots.

First announced in 2019, the Cybertruck was a product that Musk had long obsessed over.

“Probably my personal favorite for the next product is the pickup truck, and we are going to just do an amazing pickup truck,” he said on one of Tesla’s earnings calls that year.

Musk promised the Cybertruck would be radical, inspired by the designs of cyberpunk sci-fi stories like “Blade Runner.” While that certainly bore out in the design, the company overpromised on the basics of the Cybertruck from the jump. During the now-infamous reveal event in 2019, when head designer Franz von Holzhausen cracked the Cybertruck’s windows with steel balls, Tesla said the EV was supposed to start at under $40,000 and have up to 500 miles of range. It achieved neither of those figures.

Instead, the truck was delayed for two years, in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When it finally did hit the market in late 2023, Tesla handed over the first few Cybertrucks to customers in a short, somewhat odd for Tesla event (by the company’s own standards, at least), which saw a poorly-lit Musk standing in a truck bed promising the truck was “the finest in apocalyptic equipment” fit for “late civilization vibes.” The base price had inflated to around $60,000, and the top-end range had shrunk by over 100 miles.

The truck has struggled on the market ever since. The polarizing design never seemed to sit well with buyers, especially at a higher-than-expected price. Then, during its first full year of sales in 2024, Musk became a major financial backer of Donald Trump, which turned the instantly recognizable Cybertruck into a target for protesters. That continued into 2025 as Musk led the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which fired thousands of federal workers.

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Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane.

You can contact or verify outreach from Sean by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at okane.01 on Signal.

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You can create things like a shopping hub, school dashboard, or music tracker directly within Muse.

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Meta will now allow you to build customized, app-like experiences within Muse. The new feature, called “spaces,” allows its AI assistant to build things like a shopping hub, school dashboard, music tracker, trivia game, and more, which you can interact with directly in the Muse app.

Meta says you can create a new space by describing it. If you connect an outside app to Muse — like Gmail, Google Calendar, OpenTable, Notion, and others Muse works with — the AI assistant will continuously pull information from them, allowing it to update pricing, dates, and other information in your space in the background. You can also interact with elements inside your spaces by checking things off, adding notes, and making edits.

You can also change the placement of your spaces in the Muse app, too, as Meta lets you keep them in the sidebar, move them into your main tab, or schedule when you see them. “For example, keep your weekly planner up front during the workweek, then swap it for your weekend plans on Saturday,” Meta says.

Meta also announced that it’s bringing new “Active Memory” and “Active Focus” capabilities from its Muse Wonder AI model into the Muse app and its Meta AI chatbot. This will allow Muse to understand when past information becomes relevant during conversations, as well as make it better at working toward goals.

Meta is rolling out spaces to all Muse users. The company is also looking into ways to share your spaces with other users and collaborate with them.

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With the master Apple Intelligence toggle gone, opting out in iOS 27 means turning off Siri AI, Writing Tools, Image Playground and other features separately.

Screen Time, the iPhone feature most people know for limiting app use, has become the most direct way to block Apple Intelligence in iOS 27. That’s because Apple removed the single switch that used to turn every AI feature off at once. The Settings section once called Apple Intelligence & Siri is now just Siri, centered on the new Siri AI, and the remaining AI tools are scattered across several menus. Screen Time’s restrictions can shut down Writing Tools and image creation together, and a few other features need their own toggles. Here’s the full map.

Individual features can still be disabled, but they’re scattered across several menus in Settings and Screen Time rather than consolidated in one place. Here’s the current map of what can be turned off and where to find each control.

If your device is not running the newest software, turning off Apple Intelligence all at once only takes a few taps in Settings and doesn’t affect any core iPhone functionality. Here’s how to do it on iPhone, iPad and Mac.

You can still disable some of Apple’s AI features if your iPhone is running iOS 27. It just won’t be as easy as tapping the main toggle.

To disable Siri AI, go to Settings > Siri and toggle off the control. Beware, though, that this will disable your voice assistant entirely, as well as disable conversations in the new dedicated Siri app and block you from using Apple’s Visual Intelligence. Additionally, your HomePod speakers will not be able to recognize your voice or help with personal content if they’re on the same iCloud account as your iPhone.

Keep reading for how to disable some of the individual Apple AI features.

Since the first Apple Intelligence features rolled out in iOS 18.1, some people have opted out of the new technology. Tools such as Image Playground, Genmoji and message summaries can use up to 7GB of your device’s internal storage — a sizable chunk, especially if you tend to run against the upper limit of its free space.

Even if storage is not an issue, you just may not be interested in Apple’s set of AI features. A recent CNET survey finds that just 19% of US smartphone owners are choosing to upgrade their devices to take advantage of new AI features. And a recent ZDNET/Aberdeen survey reveals that the majority of US adults say they will not use most AI features, and just 8% would consider paying extra for them. Some AI features are more welcome than others, with 58% of respondents saying using AI for photo editing would be valuable.

Or, honestly, you may not want to deal with features that are creating inaccurate summaries or that can be replicated without Apple Intelligence.

(Earlier iOS 18 updates re-enabled Apple Intelligence automatically even if you had turned it off, but as of iOS 18.4, the setting is honored.)

Read more: Did a well-meaning friend send you a message about Apple Intelligence possibly reading your private information? Here’s what’s actually going on.

I’m not an AI crank — I appreciate features such as notification summaries and the Clean Up tool in the Photos app. And yet, Apple Intelligence is also a work in progress, an evolving set of features that Apple is heavily hyping while gradually developing. I wouldn’t hold it against you if you wanted to not be distracted or feel like you’re doing Apple’s testing for them (that’s what the developer and public betas should be for).

Remember that Apple Intelligence works only on the new iPhone 18 lineup, the iPhone Duo, iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone Air, iPhone 17E, iPhone 16, iPhone 16E, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro or M-series Macs and iPads, plus the newest iPad mini.

If you’re concerned about the storage requirements of Apple Intelligence, you can find out how much the system is using by going to Settings > General > iPhone (or iPad) Storage > iOS (or iPadOS).

See how much space Apple Intelligence is using in Settings. This is what it looks like running iOS 26, but the settings flow is the same.

Note that even after turning off Apple Intelligence, the storage still shows up in the iOS Storage list. However, I was able to confirm that if the phone’s storage fills up and the system needs that now-inactive space, iOS reclaims what it needs.

Maybe you’re finding some Apple Intelligence features helpful while others are annoying (or just highly amusing). You can turn off specific features in the settings for apps to which they apply.

For example, to disable text summaries in Messages notifications, go to Settings > Apps > Messages and switch off the Summarize Messages option.

Some features are not as app-specific. Writing Tools, which use Apple Intelligence to proof or rewrite text, appear as an option when you select text, regardless of the app. To turn that off, you need to disable Apple Intelligence system-wide.

Also note that nearly every app includes an “Apple Intelligence & Siri” option in Settings, with a Learn from this App option (turned on by default). That applies just to whether Apple Intelligence and Siri can monitor how you use it to make suggestions; it doesn’t affect any particular Apple Intelligence features.

Another option for restricting what Apple Intelligence can do is buried in the Screen Time settings. Screen Time is designed to control which apps and features can run on another device, such as the iPhone used by a child in your household. But it’s also helpful for tracking how much time you’re spending on the device and, in this case, turning off some components of Apple Intelligence.

Turn off selected Apple Intelligence features in the Screen Time settings. This is what the settings look like with iOS 26. It may look different if you are using iOS 27. The settings flow is the same.

If you haven’t upgraded to iOS 27 yet, make a good backup first.

If you aren’t on iOS 27, you can turn off Apple Intelligence with one tap. (You can see what software your iPhone is running by going to Settings > General > About and seeing what iOS version you’re running.)

If you’re on iOS 26 or earlier, here’s how to disable Apple Intelligence. Open Settings (iPhone or iPad) or System Settings (Mac) and choose Apple Intelligence & Siri. Then turn off the Apple Intelligence option. Confirm your choice in the dialog that appears by tapping Turn Off Apple Intelligence.

Turn off Apple Intelligence entirely with one switch if you are running iOS 26 or an earlier software version.

Curiously, the Clean Up tool in Photos sticks around even when Apple Intelligence is turned off, perhaps because the first time you use it the app downloads resources for it and holds onto them.

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Open-weight artificial intelligence models are now almost as capable of hacking into computer networks as the best closed ones, according to new research that heralds a much-anticipated turning point in the cybersecurity landscape.

Vals, a company that measures AI capabilities, set out to test how well different AI models could carry out complex, multi-step network instructions on mock corporate networks.

“The best frontier models, locked up inside the labs and available only through trusted access programs, are now starting to be matched by open models that anybody can download,” says Nikil Ravi, a researcher at Vals.

The company’s findings suggest that closed models no longer have a definitive edge in cyber skills, meaning recent efforts by frontier labs to limit access to their models, and thereby slow the proliferation of such capabilities, may potentially be moot.

The findings are also noteworthy given that the US frontier labs, particularly Anthropic, premised the limited release of new models—beginning with Claude Mythos Preview in April—on the idea that gated access would only buy time before advanced hacking capabilities were broadly available.

Anthropic's frontier red team lead, Logan Graham, told WIRED in April that the company’s Project Glasswing, which gives trusted access to the full capabilities of new models, was focused on getting those tools “in the hands of defenders to give a head start.”

“We need to prepare now for a world where these capabilities are broadly available in 6, 12, 24 months. Many things would be different about security,” he told WIRED at the time.

Seven months later, that transition seems to have arrived on schedule.

Vals tested AI models in two simulated scenarios, giving them various specific tasks to achieve. The first scenario involved a mock corporate network accessible through a public-facing website. The second involved two different company networks; a model needed to compromise the first in order to gain access to the second.

The researchers found OpenAI’s most advanced cyber model, Daybreak, which is available only to trusted partners, to be the most capable, completing 81 percent of the tasks it was given in an average of two tests. The Chinese open-weight model DeepSeek was not far behind, completing 73 percent of the objectives on average. The Vals researchers note that on some tasks, the two models scored equally.

The research also showed how much cheaper it is to use an open-weight model for this kind of task. Vals says it costs $17 to $46 in tokens for GPT-6-Sol to carry out an attack compared to $2 to $3 for DeepSeek. Open models are generally cheaper because they can be run on one’s own hardware. Rayan Krishnan, CEO of Vals, says this also provides a strong incentive for those playing defense to use open models rather than proprietary ones.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Much of the year in cybersecurity has played out as predicted, with AI automating core hacking tasks to help both attackers and defenders find a massive number of new vulnerabilities in code and rapidly probe networks for weaknesses. While the speed and scale of the findings, and the intensity of fixing uncovered software flaws, have all increased, experts are still debating whether AI has fundamentally altered the conceptual foundation and tenets of cybersecurity defense. In other words, it’s still not clear whether AI tools pose a new kind of threat or amplify the security challenges that have long existed.

The fact that open-weight models are now starting to match closed ones is crucial for understanding how criminal hackers can harness AI, and how companies and developers should respond. But in practice, real-world observation of cybercriminal and state-backed hacking activity has repeatedly shown in recent months that attackers are doing what they always do by conserving their resources and generally making do with older and less capable models—both proprietary and open—for most of their activity. And even with strict controls, defenders must assume that the best-funded and most highly motivated attackers have already had at least some access to closed models all this time.

“I am in general agreement that open-weight models are capable of producing advanced attacks and vulnerabilities today, especially when you consider the abliterated models that disable safety training by modifying weights,” says Alex Zenla, cofounder and chief technology officer of the cloud security firm Edera. “My caveat to this is that it is likely that the closed labs have trained additional, unreleased models exceeding these capabilities. So I would put this very much like a cat-and-mouse game. The labs see themselves as moving fast to outpace the open-weight models, to be able to secure vulnerabilities before the open-weight models find them. Unfortunately, I do think this may be the beginning of a dangerous security landscape.”

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It offers exclusive deals and other goodies.

TikTok just released a standalone TikTok Shop app for iOS and Android, which was first spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra. The app is currently available in several regions throughout the world, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. Shopping is a huge part of the TikTok experience, so this kind of expansion makes sense.

The app looks like a streamlined version of the pre-existing shopping platform. It offers personalized product recommendations and lets people shop via livestreams and short-form videos. There are also app-exclusive deals, including free shipping offers. It promises "secure payments for safe checkout."

🚨 TikTok has launched a standalone TikTok Shop app!

→ Discover products, deals and recommendations → Shop through LIVE streams and short videos → Get app-exclusive offers and check out securely → Track orders and contact support pic.twitter.com/OjgDceXeAE

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) November 5, 2026

This definitely signals that TikTok is looking to compete more directly with other e-commerce apps. The big mystery here is when the company will launch the app in more regions. We also don't know if it'll even come to America.

Remember, the American TikTok is a different company than the global TikTok. Engadget has reached out to the company on its plans for a stateside launch and will update this post when we hear back.

The American version of the platform has been adding new features. It recently introduced the ability to leave voice comments on any post and is integrating in-app travel booking services.

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The wait is over for trying Siri AI on iOS 27. Here's what you need to know to get started.

Enabling Siri AI, Apple’s new generative AI-powered virtual assistant, on a compatible Apple device running iOS 27 used to prompt a message informing the user that the device would be added to a waitlist with varying wait times. Now, you can download Siri AI automatically as soon as you enable it on your compatible iPhone, Mac, or iPad. The one exception is that, if there is unusually high demand, Apple could temporarily reinstate its waitlist.

You’ll need a compatible device that runs Apple Intelligence, like an iPhone (15 Pro or newer), iPad (Mini A17 Pro or newer or an M-series chip), Mac (MacBook Neo or M-series chip), Apple Watch (Series 9 and Ultra 2 or newer), or Apple Vision Pro.

Instead of adding you to a waitlist, Siri AI will begin downloading right away.

Siri AI is Apple’s upgraded virtual assistant, now powered by generative AI. Instead of giving you canned responses to your questions, Siri AI will be able to answer complex questions, understand more natural-sounding phrases, and maintain context throughout conversations and across your Apple ecosystem.

ZDNET’s Lance Whitney recommends using Siri AI’s onscreen awareness feature to ask it for directions, explain something you see on your phone’s screen, or to add items from your screen to a list. He also uses Siri AI to edit his photos simply by asking for the changes he wants. But that’s just skimming the surface. You can read more about Whitney’s experiences using Siri AI here.

Also: I thought I had Siri AI in iOS 27 – until I found it hidden in my settings

For years, Apple has been working to gain relevance in AI to compete with major players like OpenAI and Google. While Apple Intelligence features like Writing Tools, Genmoji, and Image Playground have helped, Apple has lagged far behind in upgrading its signature voice assistant to generative AI.

iOS 27 delivered Siri AI in beta this fall, along with iPadOS 27, MacOS 27 Golden Gate, VisionOS 27, and WatchOS 27.

You need a compatible iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, or Apple Vision Pro to use Apple Intelligence features like Siri AI. Not all Apple devices that support the latest iOS 27 (or other OS 27) will support Siri AI.

Here are the Apple devices that support Siri AI:

You also need to have your device in a supported language (English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, or Spanish) and to reside in a supported region (not available in mainland China or in iOS, iPadOS, or WatchOS in the European Union).

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At least 10 local governments and police departments have moved since this summer to curb, restrict, or end their use of Flock Safety technology as concerns about mass surveillance and data privacy continue to grow. The backlash is part of a broader pushback against the rapid adoption of advanced AI technology, including the data center buildout, facial recognition, and other uses of AI.

Flock, founded in 2017, sells surveillance software that can help solve crimes, such as finding missing people or stolen cars. Its products include license plate readers, drones, and microphone-based edge-computing devices to pick up gunshots and other sounds. More than 100,000 Flock cameras are in use nationwide.

But in the past three months, Monroe, Ohio; Newburgh, New York; Richmond, Virginia; Hopkinton, Massachusetts; New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Lansing, Michigan, have all moved to end their contracts with Flock. Meanwhile, police in East Bridgewater and Grafton, Massachusetts, also announced plans to stop using Flock cameras. Just this week, residents of League City, Texas, voted against their police department’s continued use of Flock’s license plate readers, and the cameras are now set to be removed.

The concerns range from privacy to how data is shared (and with whom) to procurement concerns.

In Asheville, North Carolina, police lost access to Flock after the city voted to terminate its contract in August, and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado announced in September that it would stop using Flock cameras. When asked for comment, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office redirected TechCrunch to its press release, where Sheriff Joseph Roybal said that discontinuing the use of Flock was the right decision for the county.

“We have the tools, training, and experience to locate and apprehend criminals without relying on Flock cameras,” he said in the press release.

Tatiana Rice, a senior director for U.S. legislation at The Future of Privacy Forum, told TechCrunch that the backlash to Flock isn’t surprising and only further represents the “growing public skepticism toward technology.” Flock is a target because people can see the sensors and cameras as they drive along roads; data centers have also become physical embodiments of the resentment growing against emerging technology. “A camera at the end of your street is tangible in a way that everyday sharing and selling of personal data online is not,” Rice said.

At the state level this summer, for example, Florida barred license plate readers from state highways, while Texas paused state funding for Flock. The issues again range from data privacy concerns to misuse of the technology.

Misuse has been a real problem. In August, for example, an officer in Brentwood, Missouri was accused of using Flock cameras to stalk his ex-wife during their divorce. In September, an officer from East Texas was sentenced to prison for using Flock to stalk his ex-girlfriend and her family.

Another growing concern is how immigration officials have been able to access the technology. One case that captures the issue came in March, when Ithaca, New York, passed a resolution to terminate its contract with the Flock Group.

In the resolution, the city said there were “proven instances of Flock Safety infrastructure being used by federal agents for information purposes even without specific authorizations from the contracting locality,” and that the city had reviewed reports that “either intentionally or through its negligence,” Flock had allowed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to “use query results from its database of state and local ALPR [automatic license plate reader] data to investigate and persecute immigrants throughout the United States.”

“Every day, police departments across the country are using Flock technology to solve serious crimes, locate suspects, find missing people, and make a measurable impact on public safety,” Flock told TechCrunch in a statement. “While we respect every community’s decision, removing a tool that is actively helping solve violent crimes and protect communities moves public safety backward. Every Flock customer owns its data and controls who it is shared with and how it can be used. Flock does not sell data and does not have a contract with ICE.”

This August, Flock announced it would shorten the default period it stores data for new customers, from 30 days to seven. It also said agencies now need a case code before they can search the database.

The conversation around Flock echoes, in many ways, the fight over data centers. Many of these cities adopted Flock just a few years ago, and residents likely had no idea it was being installed, Adam Schwartz of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy nonprofit that has investigated Flock before, told TechCrunch.

That lack of awareness is similar to how data centers are popping up across the country, often before residents understand what is happening. Schwartz said police departments often decide to use Flock on their own, with little oversight from city councils. In South Windsor, Connecticut, according to local reports, Flock cameras went live last year without public warning or a vote. In October, the town voted to remove its Flock cameras.

“Grassroots activists across the country have been demanding that city councils exercise their procurement power to refuse to pay for ALPRs,” Schwartz said, referring to councils’ power to decide what the city buys. He added that activists have been fighting for years and that “many city councils are listening.”

The main argument for technology like Flock is that it helps combat crime and keep neighborhoods safe. And many local governments are not dropping Flock or similar technology; instead, they are adding restrictions on its use or looking for alternatives.

Cleveland, Ohio, for example, voted this summer to extend its contract with Flock, but has started restricting searches related to immigration. It has also limited access to the database to the Cleveland Police alone, cutting off the Northeast Ohio Regional Fusion Center, essentially a federal intelligence agency, which had initially been given access.

“They are used and needed for investigative purposes,” the city said when reached for comment. “The Department of Public Safety is currently reviewing responses to an RFP [request for proposals] that was sent out to other vendors that provide the same technology as Flock.”

But as with data centers, communities want more say in the trade-offs. “These tools can offer real public safety benefits, but communities are clearly interested in ensuring that those benefits are not at the cost of their civil liberties,” Rice said. Surveillance technology will likely remain a political hot topic, especially since Democrats now control Congress.

In September, President Donald Trump said he liked Flock’s technology “because of law enforcement,” even though a Reuters poll that same month found that more Americans dislike the technology than like it.

Also that month, Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, introduced a bill called the Flock-Off Act to bar the use of federal money to buy “Flock-style surveillance” and put other safeguards in place. In October, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the Ban Flock Act to end “the rise of AI-powered surveillance cameras.”

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Dominic-Madori Davis is a senior venture capital and startup reporter at TechCrunch. She is based in New York City.

You can contact or verify outreach from Dominic by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at +1 646 831-7565 on Signal.

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Next week, experts will determine if the US has lost its measles elimination status.

An infant in Wisconsin has died of measles, the first measles death in the state since 1990, officials reported Thursday. The death comes amid an outbreak in the Badger State that has stricken over 430 people across 13 counties this year.

“Any death of a child is a tragedy, and even more so when it is related to a vaccine-preventable disease,” Wisconsin Health Secretary Kirsten Johnson said in a statement. “Measles can cause serious illness and death, and it is important for all Wisconsinites to evaluate their risk and take steps to protect themselves and their family.”

The baby’s death is the third measles fatality nationally just this week, following the death of a New York child reported on Monday and another death in Pennsylvania reported on Wednesday. The Pennsylvania death was of an unvaccinated person in Jefferson County; the state health department did not provide additional details, such as the age of the person. The state’s explosive, ongoing measles outbreak has led to 1,467 cases so far this year.

In all, there have been nine reported measles deaths this year in the US, eight of which have been confirmed by state officials. The deaths include the baby’s death in Wisconsin, the child’s death in New York, and seven deaths (six confirmed) in Pennsylvania, including two babies, a healthy teen, and several adults with underlying health conditions.

As of November 5, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting 5,182 measles cases in the US this year across 47 states and jurisdictions. The CDC is reporting four measles deaths, though it’s unclear which of the reported deaths the CDC has counted.

The national case and death tallies are the highest recorded since 1991, though the reported cases likely represent a significant undercount of actual cases. As Wisconsin health officials noted in the announcement of the baby’s death, “Not everyone who becomes ill seeks medical care or gets tested, which means cases may go unreported.” This is particularly true given that large outbreaks, including the one ongoing in Pennsylvania, have struck in tight-knit religious communities that are less likely to seek conventional medical care.

In 2000, the US declared measles eliminated after a year without continuous domestic transmission, thanks to high vaccination rates. The declaration was a public health triumph over the virus, which is among the most contagious on Earth. Prior to vaccination, measles sickened 3 to 4 million people per year, sending nearly 50,000 to the hospital, causing 1,000 cases of brain swelling, and killing 400 to 500 people.

Amid slipping vaccination rates nationwide and the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation and rhetoric, the virus has come roaring back, and the country’s elimination status is likely to be stripped. Next week (November 10 to 13), a committee of infectious disease experts assembled by the Pan American Health Organization—a regional office for the World Health Organization—will review data from 2025 and early 2026 to assess if measles has reestablished in the US.

Under anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., much about the vaccine-preventable outbreaks has become political and contentious, including the definition and confirmation of measles-associated deaths. Amid the first deaths reported in Pennsylvania, Kennedy falsely suggested state officials “fabricated” the deaths and reportedly ordered the CDC to delete them from its national data.

The CDC then changed the way it counts measles deaths, abandoning a long-standing practice of reporting state-confirmed deaths. Now, the CDC relies on federal death records, which take much longer to process and are not intended to provide real-time data during active outbreaks.

The seventh, unconfirmed Pennsylvania death was reportedly of a 39-year-old woman in Franklin County; it was announced on October 12 by the county’s Coroner’s office. At the time, the coroner explicitly said the death met the state’s definition of a measles-associated death. Under the state’s criteria, a death is considered measles-associated if the person dies within 30 days of testing positive and shows clinical signs of infection, with no other significant cause for the death, such as a car crash.

Franklin County Coroner Jordan Conner listed the death as “a probable acute cardiac event due to possible complications of the measles” and reported that the woman had recently been diagnosed with and treated for measles.

In an email exchange with Ars Technica on Thursday, the state health department said it “has not found any Franklin County cases” that meet the state’s criteria but that “the investigation has not yet been closed.” The Franklin County coroner did not respond to a request for comment on the discrepancy. The Philadelphia Inquirer has taken legal action to obtain more information about the woman’s death, including her name, which was withheld by the coroner and sealed by a county judge.

This post was updated to correct the name of the Franklin County Coroner.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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State courts have struck another blow against online prediction market Kalshi, which has sought to remain outside of gaming law, claiming it's a trading — not gambling — platform.

On Wednesday, a US District judge granted a preliminary injunction to California tribes, prohibiting Kalshi from offering sports contracts (AKA trades or "swaps") on tribal land. The ruling was handed down to the Blue Lake Rancheria and Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, which jointly sued Kalshi for allegedly violating the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

In that case, a panel of judges ruled that Kalshi's sports prediction trading constituted Class III gaming, which covers sports betting and parimutuel (pool) wagering. The court determined that regulations issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which currently governs Kalshi, didn't preempt the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

That same day, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announced the state was suing the platform under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act for alleged illegal gambling operations.

"Kalshi is not blind that its platform presents real, tangible risks to its users, including excessive wagering, financial losses, depression, and other mental health harms," wrote Griffin in a press release. "It doesn’t take a genius to understand that wagering money on whether the Razorbacks win or lose is gambling. And gambling on an unregulated platform is squarely prohibited by Arkansas law."

Late last month, the state of Utah filed criminal charges against Kalshi and its two co-founders, Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, accusing the company of violating state gambling prohibitions. The criminal case, which includes counts of unlawful activity, online gambling promotion, and general gambling promotion, followed a civil filing attempting to block Kalshi from advertising trades to Utah residents. The best tech deal this week The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile Products available for purchase through affiliate links. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

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In September, a 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that Ohio and Tennessee could apply state gambling laws to Kalshi contracts. Similar to the California case, the panel determined the Commodities Exchange Act did not override state law. A month prior, Nevada was granted the right to ban the platform outright by a 9th Circuit panel.

The state of New York has also sued the platform for "unlicensed gambling." Both New York and Arkansas claim Kalshi violates state gambling age requirements, as well, allowing individuals as young as 18 to trade on the platform.

Kalshi, echoing competitors like Polymarket, has asserted that the platform's "swaps" are not bets and that it acts as a "designated contract market" trading in futures contracts and derivatives. The platform has sued states for attempting to regulate its operations.

States have pushed back on that framing and argue that online prediction markets, which let users risk money on outcomes outside traditional derivatives, are using the shield of federal oversight to skirt gaming laws that impose various bans, licenses, and taxes on online betting. Some cases have invoked Kalshi's own marketing language, including claims that the platform calls itself a betting site.

Kalshi's lawyers argue that the lack of traditional odds makes the platform's operation significantly different from gambling. Still, state courts have begun striking down Kalshi's claims, including a 2nd Circuit Court decision on Tuesday that denied the company's request for a preliminary injunction in New York and Connecticut cases.

Kalshi — advised by Donald Trump Jr. — has garnered the support of the federal government. As states continue to crack down on the prediction industry, federal agencies like the CFTC have filed a string of countersuits trying to bring states to heel.

Chase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. Her work also captures how these conversations manifest in politics, popular culture, and fandom. Sometimes she's very funny.

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The updated app, rolling out to Xbox Insiders first, launches up to 60 percent faster.

The Xbox app for PC is about to get a little faster. Microsoft updated the app for Xbox Insiders on Thursday with performance and navigation improvements, presumably ahead of a full release.

The company says the Xbox PC app now launches up to 60 percent faster in the update, so you can dive into your games with less of a wait. Home, Store and Game Pass pages each load up to 50 percent faster, and windows inside the app open up to 65 percent faster. This is all based on Microsoft's internal testing, so your experience may vary.

The update also makes the Xbox app's library easier to navigate, with updated filters and game organization. Search is more unified, covering games, installed titles, people and add-ons in one place. Friends and social features are now part of the main navigation, and the app has a cleaner look, with redesigned game cards and a refreshed Home page and Settings.

Separately, Microsoft says the refreshed Xbox web experience the company previewed in January will soon roll out to more players automatically. (You can try it now at play.xbox.com.) The company is also rolling out a similar redesign to its Xbox cloud gaming apps for TVs and VR headsets.

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Sony is bringing back its iconic 1979 Walkman-era headphones with USB-C connectivity, retro blue and orange earpads, and a special Stranger Things edition inspired by Max.

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Tech > Services & Software > Cybersecurity

Help us crown the most trusted anti virus, VPNs and security tools of 2026.

Head of Editorial Inititiatives and Data Journalism

Head of Editorial Inititiatives and Data Journalism

Whether you use a free tool or have bought a full-suite cybersecurity subscription, we want to know what you think. Does it effectively catch threats without slowing down your computer? Or has it earned a spot as something you can’t live without?

CNET’s People’s Picks survey gives you a chance to share what you think about products and services you use daily. We want to know which security software you rely on most to protect your devices. You can take our 2-minute survey to share your thoughts on its threat protection, ease of use, impact on device performance, value and overall satisfaction. The top picks will make it into our roundup, so be sure to check in next month to see the winners.

How a security suite performs day-to-day and how it affects your device are things that only real-world users like you can give us insights into.

“Privacy and security services are constantly evolving to meet users’ demands,” says Moe Long, CNET’s senior editor for privacy and security suites. “Just as I — and likely many of you — value trust and transparency from these privacy and cybersecurity services, so too do we value your experience with software. We’re keen to learn about how you, our readers, protect your data and devices.”

Whether you’re using a free built-in option or a premium suite, you can help other CNET readers find protection that’s actually worth trusting by sharing your thoughts.

The survey will be open through October and takes only a few minutes to complete. After we gather enough responses. We’ll crunch the numbers and publish a roundup of the winners that CNET readers rated highly.

Need a refresher? Check out which VPNs, password managers, ID theft and data-removal services our experts recommend.

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The Edits app is free, and even the 4K videos that you export from the Edits desktop app will remain completely watermark-free.

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Tech > Services & Software > Operating Systems > Linux

It starts with a surprise version number: Linux Mint 27 instead of 24. But the next release brings far more changes than that.

Linux Mint, my favorite Linux desktop distribution, is ready for a fresh start.

Its lead developer, Clement “Clem” Lefebvre, announced earlier this year that the team behind it was considering slowing Mint’s release cadence because the old twice-a-year release cycle was time-consuming and constrained their ability to make major changes. So it is that the next release, Linux Mint 27, will appear in your Christmas stocking.

Also: 5 premium Linux distros absolutely worth paying for in 2026

The developers officially changed the designation on Oct. 13th when Mint changed both its release cadence and its numbering. Clem’s happy about the change: it “was a tough decision to make, but we’re really starting to see it pay off. We’re taking on projects and implementing changes which would previously have been considered too large or ambitious.”

The new Mint will use Ubuntu 26.04 Long Term Support (LTS) as its base. As before, it will offer Cinnamon, Xfce, and MATE desktops.

Earlier development snapshots had been labeled Mint 23 “Alfa.” That title was explicitly a placeholder while the team decided its release strategy. Its final name is Adrien. Moving ahead, release numbers will be based on the upcoming year. Clem said, “We’ll no longer use point releases, so the release after that will be 28. You’ll upgrade from 27 to 28 to 29, and so on.” Instead of girls’ names, Mint will use boys’ names for distro titles.

On Halloween, Clem announced the top changes in Mint 27. It starts with Mint bringing hibernation back into its supported desktop configuration through a dedicated Sleep Modes page in its System Administration tool. The page is intended to make enabling and configuring hibernation easier, including addressing its swap-space requirements.

It may not sound like much, but Clem explained it’s actually rather a big deal. “When you close the lid of your laptop, it goes into a sleep mode called “Suspend”. This mode is very useful… but it has a major limitation: It uses power.” People often forget it’s not really off and that your laptop will eventually run out of power. When that happens, “the outcome is worse than a normal shutdown. The session is gone, and the battery is empty.”

Also: Linux Mint vs. RefreshOS: I compared the two best distros for new users

That’s where “Hibernation comes into play. It saves the session to disk and completely shuts down the computer. No power is used. When you reopen the lid, the session is as it was, and so is the battery.”

Another new feature is Superlight. This fresh system-monitoring application replaces the older GNOME System Monitor. It comes with CPU, RAM, swap, GPU, network, disk I/O, temperature, and fan-speed graphs. It also includes per-application and per-process resource views. Battery-equipped systems also get charge and power-flow history.

Its storage analysis is particularly interesting: it can break down disk usage into files and folders, Steam games, and Flatpak applications. That brings several common troubleshooting tasks — “What’s using the CPU?” and “Where did my disk space go?” — into one interface. I’ve been checking it out on a Mint virtual machine (VM), and I like it already.

The Nemo file manager is getting a media preview pane, toggled with F7 or a status-bar button. It supports pictures, audio, and video, and displays associated information — for photographs, that can include the capture date and camera model. I like this feature a lot. I’ve always done a lot of work from file managers going all the way back to the classic Norton Commander and its Linux successor, Midnight Commander.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. You don’t need to ever touch a Linux shell via a terminal to use Mint. But if, like me, you’re an old-school Linux user and you like using the terminal, Velocitty, Mint’s new terminal application, looks interesting. Its announced features include:

The point is to make recurring projects and SSH sessions easier to find and reopen. If you like other terminal programs, my latest fave is the Rust-based WexTerm; you don’t have to use Velocitty.

Unfold is a new archive manager for viewing, creating, and extracting archives. It uses 7-Zip and 7zip-RAR and supports the encryption formats those backends handle, including password-protected archives. Its design goal is simplicity rather than a sprawling feature set.

The new Mint uses Ubuntu 26.04 LTS as its foundation. Mint is also moving from Ubiquity to the Linux Mint Debian Edition live installer for installing the operating system. This fresh installer comes with support for OEM bulk-produced installations, installation on both BIOS and EFI PCs, support for Secure Boot, and LVM/LUKS configurations.

Also: Linux Mint vs. Zorin OS: I’ve tried both Windows alternatives, and here’s my winner

For the Linux kernel, Mint 27 will use version 7.0. Which one exactly? Good question. We’ll see closer to Christmas.

Wayland compatibility remains the goal, but X11 isn’t disappearing. As Clem said in June, “In an ideal scenario, we manage to make Wayland work just as well as X11.” But they’re not there yet.

The central change is a cleanup of existing code. Mint’s longer cycle gives developers room to overhaul several parts of the desktop together, rather than squeezing individual improvements into six-month windows. As Clem put it in the September newsletter, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many changes and new features implemented for a single release.”

What that means for you and me will be better laptop power management, more capable built-in utilities, and a more complete collection of everyday desktop applications. For example, I expect the updated Mint will ship with GIMP 3.2.2 as its default photo editor, instead of Mint 22.3’s years-old GIMP 2.10.

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Palo Alto Networks is in talks to acquire Clutch Security, a startup that secures AI agents’ access to company systems, for $500 million in cash plus additional milestone-based payouts, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Three-year-old Clutch was last valued at $85 million when it raised a $20 million Series A round in January 2025, led by Lightspeed and SignalFire, according to our source. The startup is currently approaching $10 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). That means the acquisition, if completed, would value Clutch at about 50 times its ARR, a standard way of pricing software companies.

Palo Alto Networks and Clutch Security did not respond to a request for comment. The Information was the first to report the acquisition discussions.

The high valuation is not an anomaly in a market increasingly focused on securing software against bad actors using AI to breach systems more easily. Upwind, a startup using AI to secure cloud infrastructure, recently turned down an acquisition offer from Datadog that valued it at roughly 40 times ARR, TechCrunch reported last week.

If the deal happens, it would be Palo Alto Networks’ seventh acquisition this year, according to PitchBook. The cybersecurity giant has a history of buying innovation rather than building it in-house, and it has ramped up dealmaking this year in response to rising AI-driven cyberattacks.

In September, Palo Alto Networks acquired Console, a two-year-old startup that uses AI agents to automate routine IT help desk tasks. The transaction valued Console at $500 million in stock and cash, TechCrunch reported. Other VC-backed companies that Palo Alto Networks has scooped up this year include NEA-backed Embrace, for $325 million; Chronosphere, an observability platform backed by Greylock and Lux Capital, for $2.95 billion; and Koi, a cyber startup backed by Battery and Team8, for $231 million, according to regulatory filings.

Several of Clutch’s competitors have also been acquired. Cyera, a cybersecurity startup valued at $12 billion earlier this year, acquired Oasis Security, which, like Clutch, focuses on managing AI agents’ access to systems, for $1 billion. Meanwhile, Cisco bought Menlo Ventures-backed Astrix for roughly $400 million, Calcalist reported.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Marina Temkin is a venture capital and startups reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she wrote about VC for PitchBook and Venture Capital Journal. Earlier in her career, Marina was a financial analyst and earned a CFA charterholder designation.

You can contact or verify outreach from Marina by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at +1 347-683-3909 on Signal.

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Tesla will stop making the Cybertruck in 2027

Claude can now analyze your spending with its new Personal Finance tool

Data centers are turning to old jet engines as the wait for power grows

New York City’s Mamdani criticizes Madison Square Garden owner over surveillance tech

Anthropic warns that it’s very close to RSI capability, aka self-building AI

New York Times and other outlets sue web browser Brave over alleged content scraping

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Melania Trump is the focus of a new two-part Prime Video show debuting later this month.

Melania Trump is the focus of a new two-part Prime Video show debuting later this month.

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Following the Melania documentary movie that premiered earlier this year, Amazon is now planning to release a two-part Prime Video series focusing on the first lady. The show, Melania: The Series, is set to debut on November 20th.

“MELANIA, The Series reveals never-before-told stories, offering unprecedented insight into Melania Trump’s life, including the extraordinary days immediately following the 47th Presidential Inauguration,” according to a description in a press release.

Here’s what Amazon says the two episodes will be about:

Melania Trump sets priorities as she prepares to become America’s First Lady. But inside the White House, trust is tested, and the incoming First Lady must protect those closest to her while navigating the demands of power.

The honor of serving as First Lady comes with an immediate call to action. Moments after the inauguration, First Lady Melania Trump sets her mission in motion for the American people.

Brett Ratner, who directed the Melania film, directed both episodes of the series.

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CleanMyMac now goes beyond your Mac, letting you sweep junk out of Gmail, win back Google storage, and rein in Chrome tabs that slow things down.

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Tech > Services & Software > Operating Systems

The update fixes some bugs that could expose your sensitive iPhone data or worse.

Apple released iOS 27.2 on Monday, Oct. 26, just a few days after the launch of the iPhone Duo. While iOS 27.2 brings Siri AI to more languages and updates a few other features, it also patches 141 bugs and security issues, including some that could allow a third party to access data or run commands on your iPhone or leave your device inoperable.

You can download iOS 27.2 now by going to Settings > General > Software Update > Update Now and following the prompts on your screen.

According to Apple’s release notes, iOS 27.2 patches dozens of issues across your iPhone. Some of these issues can cause some serious problems for you and your device.

Nine of these bugs address issues that could lead to kernel corruption on your device. The kernel is the core of your device’s operating system, and kernel corruption can cause your device to freeze or crash. The blue screen of death, for example, could be caused by kernel corruption.

Apple also wrote that seven of these bugs could lead to arbitrary code execution. That means the bug could allow a third party to steal your data or use your device for other nefarious purposes.

The update addresses a lot of other bugs, including one that you might run into if you plug a malicious USB into your device. Apple didn’t write that any of these bugs were being actively exploited, but you should still update to iOS 27.2 now to give yourself the most protection.

For as many bugs as 27.2 fixes, it’s actually a slight decrease from earlier updates. Last month’s iOS 27 update patched even more bugs at 157. The number of bug fixes in both iOS updates are unusual based on data over the past few years. In iOS 26, the most bug fixes included in an update was 88 with iOS 26.6. The update with the next highest number of patches was iOS 18.4 with 75.

Apple didn’t say why there’s been an uptick in the number of bug fixes in iOS updates. Artificial intelligence has been used recently to find and address huge numbers of software bugs; however, that doesn’t appear to be the cause behind the surge in iOS 27.2 or iOS 27. Apple usually notes when a bug is found with the help of AI, yet OpenAI is mentioned four times in iOS 27.2’s release notes, and Claude’s Anthropic is only mentioned thrice.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to my request to comment.

For more iOS news, here’s what you should know about iOS 27.2 and iOS 27.1. You can also check out our iOS 27 cheat sheet.

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Meta was all set to make a controversial change to its terms of service back in October, but after a delay into November, the changes have been pushed aside indefinitely.

Mark Zuckerberg's company published a quick update (spotted by Nieman Lab) confirming that previously announced changes to its Meta Commercial Terms, Product Catalog Terms, Self-Serve Ad Terms, and Ad Creative Generative AI Terms would not take effect on Nov. 20 as initially planned. These changes, which Nieman Lab originally reported on in October, would have allowed the use of web scrapers to collect material from websites associated with Meta business accounts, including those of journalistic organizations.

Originally, these changes were set to go into effect on Oct. 30, before controversy prompted Meta to delay to Nov. 20. Now, Meta has confirmed that the changes will be delayed indefinitely.

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile

"These updates are now paused and will not take effect on Nov. 20, 2026," Meta's statement read. "We are continuing to consult with stakeholders and will provide a further update when we have more to share. In the meantime, our existing terms remain in effect."

When these changes were first announced, news organizations were (perhaps understandably) unhappy about their content being taken in that manner. Additionally, courts in Brazil took action to prevent that from happening.

At the end of October, Meta executive Andy Stone took to X to say that the company is "committed to getting this right," but evidently that commitment means the changes cannot go into effect anytime soon.

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Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.

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Motorola's $1,599 Signature 27 packs a 200MP periscope camera, a 12,400-nit AMOLED display, and a 7,000mAh battery as it takes on Apple's and Samsung's premium flagships.

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A former Rockstar tech director thinks the developer is facing new time pressures.

Yesterday, when reporting on emerging efforts to pipe the console version of GTA VI through a PC’s DLSS-powered Nvidia GPU, we mentioned in passing that PC players could instead just wait for the AI-assisted decompilation port that will no doubt be coming in short order. Now, a former Rockstar tech director says he thinks that exact threat could cause the developer to work faster on the official PC version of its soon-to-release crime/lifestyle simulator.

Obbe Vermeij hasn’t worked at Rockstar since 2009, but in a new interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, he recalled how artists for the PC version of the original top-down Grand Theft Auto were incensed when the console version squashed the game’s 256-color textures down to 16 colors for the PS1 release.

“So it always has been that sort of awkward relationship between PC and the console,” Vermeij said. “So in those days, it was like PC first and then console second, even though that didn’t really make much sense for the sales, because the PlayStation versions sold way better.”

Those sales caused Rockstar to pivot hard toward the console side of the business, with oft-delayed PC ports of its major games only hitting many months or even many years after their console counterparts. It’s a trend that Rockstar has stuck with even as many formerly console-focused game publishers have started treating the PC as an equally relevant platform and as the line between PCs and consoles itself has gotten much fuzzier in recent years.

The rise of AI-powered reverse-engineering tools—which can quickly turn a console game binary into easy-to-port raw code with incredible brute-force efficiency and minimal human effort—might change that kind of “PC can wait” calculus for Rockstar. “I think I would be concerned, if I was Rockstar, that somebody would just take the PS5 version and get AI to change it to PC,” Vermeij told Rock Paper Shotgun.

To be sure, decompiling a game as complex as Grand Theft Auto VI wouldn’t be as simple as, say, the previous human-led decompilations of early 3D GTA games. But even if an AI coding harness has some difficulty capturing all the details of GTA VI‘s advanced weather systems and scripted sweat simulations, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Vermeij speculated that reverse-engineering the console version of GTA VI could cost “tens of thousands of dollars in tokens,” and a resulting port probably “won’t be as good as [Rockstar’s] effort” in the end. That said, Vermeij said it would probably be good enough to satisfy some potential PC players and that he “wouldn’t be surprised if there was an effort to get [the releases] a little bit closer together” to get ahead of that.

“What was the case before is that there’s so much effort in developing the game, that it is not possible to rip it off, and that’s completely changed now,” Vermeij said. “So, yeah, we’re going to have to see in the next couple of years how that’s going to pan out.”

While there hasn’t been an official timing announcement for the PC port of Grand Theft Auto VI, reports suggest Rockstar is currently aiming for the first quarter of 2027.

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Amazon is swapping Grubhub for Uber Eats, and Prime members can now order takeout right from Amazon with no delivery fee on orders of $25 and up.

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Chrome might receive a much-needed addition.

I’m a longtime Chrome user, but I’ve never been a fan of the browser’s user settings menu, which has grown into a dense collection of nesting submenus that can be difficult to navigate. That may be changing soon.

Also: How Chrome warns you about suspicious websites now

X (formerly Twitter) user, Leopeva64, posted a short video and several still images showcasing a potential new feature in Chrome Canary, which Google uses to test new Chrome web tools and features. The posts show the search bar pinned to the top of the settings menu for instant access. By entering the name of the submenu or feature you want to access, the new search bar could save a lot of time normally spent clicking around, trying to remember exactly where it’s located.

In Chrome Canary, Google is testing removing the scroll arrows that let you automatically scroll to reveal hidden items when you hover over them in the 3-dot menu. They also added a scrollbar, and the search box at the top and the footer are now pinned so they are always visible: https://t.co/Plx6BgKfJN pic.twitter.com/D7TxDkCtmP

According to Leopeva64, other possible new features include a visual update that groups similar menu options into tiles for faster navigation of your most-accessed settings, as well as pinning the menu footer to keep it visible as you click through.

Chrome Extensions is also up for a possible refresh with a move to a dedicated submenu called Manage Skills to help keep all of your installed extensions organized and make it easier to remove ones that are no longer needed.

Also: How to take full-page screenshots in Chrome on any device – it’s easy and free

Google Lens may get a new submenu, called “Ask Google about this page,” for searching for items you see across an entire page, not just in a single image.

There’s no official word yet on when these features will leave Canary’s testing environment and become available in the regular Chrome menu. I’ve reached out to Google for a comment, but at the time of writing, I have not received a response.

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The New York Times Company has reportedly “entered exclusive negotiations” to acquire Letterboxd for $330 million, according to a report from The New York Times itself.

Letterboxd, an online platform for movie lovers that could be compared to Goodreads for movies, has grown dramatically in recent years. Letterboxd reported 3 million users in January 2021, a figure that grew to 28 million by April of this year. More than half of its users are under 35.

Letterboxd was previously reported to be seeking a new owner. According to the Times, film studios A24 and Sony were interested in the acquisition, but A24 was priced out.

Letterboxd is free, but users can access advanced features with a paid subscription. Its projected earnings for this year are estimated at $15 million, which is only about 4.5% of what the Times is supposedly offering to buy the company for.

The New York Times Company declined to comment on the acquisition to its own paper (lol). Personally, we wouldn’t be surprised if these anonymous tips were coming from inside the house, so we’re inclined to take this report pretty seriously.

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Lately a new kind of pitch has found its way into my inbox. “Not sure if you've heard,” writes someone named Nick, “but AI labs such as Anthropic and OpenAI are paying media companies such as Wired $350K to $1.8M as a one time fee for a copy of their old work records (documents, emails, slack messages, tickets, etc.) for training better models.”

Another email with a similar pitch (adding call transcripts to the list of desired information) raised the stakes to a possible $2 million. “Public data is exhausted, and the labs are spending over $45B on private data to build better models,” writes someone named Cora.

While I was aware that AI companies are buying expert data from various sources, there hasn’t been that much attention paid to it. But once I looked into it, I discovered that this business is way bigger than I suspected—and according to its practitioners, it could have as much impact on workers and society as the data centers that are dominating the news these days.

The companies that contacted me are part of an industry boom in data acquisition that’s been quietly buying the workflows of sizable companies and is still so hungry that it’s bleeding into our inboxes. A freelance writer recently wrote about her experience with a company called Handshake, which offered her $1,000 for her work on a single story. (She didn’t sell.) A representative from Handshake confirmed the offer to me: “We license professional documents across a lot of fields so the labs can test and train how models handle real knowledge work,” he said. “Journalism is one of those fields.” Handshake tells me that a big part of its business is buying graduate students’ papers and coursework.

An entrepreneur friend of mine tells me he’s been getting mail from multiple companies whose business is “helping startups wind down their companies," as one email from a company named Sunset explained it. “We handle the full process, scrubbing and anonymizing the data so the company people and any identifying details are stripped out, then brokering the deal with the labs.”

Those newer data acquisition startups are hoping to achieve the quick success of the dominant companies in the field, which themselves are only a few years old. Industry leaders Handshake, Micro1, and Mercor are snapping up databases as if it were a modern gold rush. The industry leader seems to be Mercor, founded in 2023; last year its three cofounders became billionaires at 22. Like all the companies, it claims to have partnerships with just about all the major AI labs. (The response from the companies themselves was more circumspect: Anthropic acknowledges that there’s a big market for data, but told me that it doesn’t buy workflow from live companies like WIRED. OpenAI didn’t come up with a response before publication.)

In an interview, Mercor CEO Brendan Foody told me that the market is poised to explode as the AI industry seeks dramatically more data. Mercor originally started as an AI recruiting company, but as the team got to know the players, it learned that the big labs were frustrated by the quality of the data. Generally, the industry had been hiring experts to simulate actual workflow, but that didn’t capture the messiness of an actual operating business. He urged me to consider that Big AI has two bottomless needs: compute and data. While the industry is very publicly making giant investments in the former, data gathering is just as important.

Foody is ready when I bring up privacy concerns. When a business streams the data to Mercor, the company strips out any personal identifying information, or PII. This de-identification can be verified, he says. Like all the people in data acquisition I spoke to, he felt that technology has solved the privacy issues of buying all that information.

Not surprisingly, Micro1 CEO Ali Ansari agrees that the data-buying market will soon approach that of AI’s compute infrastructure. He says that today, labs, enterprises, and robotics companies pay about $40 to $50 billion a year to get data. (I was unable to verify this.) “In the next two to four years, this is going to be over a trillion dollars a year,” says Ansari, who founded the company in 2022. Micro1 uses the information it buys largely to improve AI models it builds itself, but it also sells to big AI firms.

“Pretty much everybody’s trying to get into the data space now because there’s so much demand,” he says. “If you look at the YC startups, about half of them are data companies.” (Actually, it’s more—in the most recent YC batch, 40 of the 65 launched companies are classified as data startups.)

The Wild West aspect to this quest for fresh data got rare exposure when a bankrupt Spirit Airlines put its digital assets up for sale. The corpus included 80,000 email accounts, 500 million internal messages, 20.6 million Microsoft Sharepoint files, and a million time-card records. Google seemingly got the prize with a $10 million bid, but then Micro1 topped it by $2.5 million, setting off an argument over who the winner was. Presently the sale is on hold, for a reason that calls into question the entire practice of selling off human workflow: The flight attendants’ union has charged that the sale involved their private information.

The union’s objections cast a light on the dark side of this gold rush. Despite the claims of virtually all the data companies that no PII goes into AI models, critics feel that there is still danger of personal data leaking out. “It’s not clear that anonymizing can fully get rid of privacy issues,” says Mayu Tobin-Miyaji, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which has filed an amicus brief on behalf of the flight attendants. “Emails and Teams messages contain unstructured data, which is harder to root out. There may be messages where employees talk about doctor’s appointments or family issues.”

“We haven't set the norms and the standards for data acquisition, and it’s not being done appropriately ” says Gordon Ritter, a venture capitalist who has taken on the issue as a cause. “The AI industry is moving far faster than our ability to actually set the standards, and it's partially intentional.”

Probably the most troubling aspect of the data-gathering movement is that, in essence, it enlists workers, not always with explicit consent, to contribute to an effort where the ultimate goal is to replace or automate the human work that goes into all those documents, messages, and emails. When Mercor says that its motto is “Organizing human intelligence to power the AI economy,” the unspoken message is that the economy of flesh and blood workers will have less work to do. As the president of the flight attendant’s union told an interviewer: “This is really only data that became valuable in the age of AI in order to train models to replace jobs and commodify other portions of working in a work environment.”

When I ask Micro1’s Ansari whether one day the default for corporations will be selling their workflow data to big AI companies on an ongoing basis, he answers affirmatively. “I think it’s going to become more common than ads as a revenue line item for companies,” he says. I note that there is already considerable pushback to AI, and that people might not be happy with the idea that everything they do at work gets funneled into the maw of a big AI model.

“I think it’s a fair point,” says Ansari. But, in his view, such objections will be manageable. He suggests that workers will understand that the fruits of their labor will result in better AI models, which will make their lives easier. “You have to think of the upside, the abundance that AI can result in.” (I’ve found that the future abundance that AI will supposedly produce is a handy justification for all sorts of compromises.)

I did follow up on one of the cold pitches I got, from a woman whose email domain was gorexen.com. A “gorexen,” by the way, is a fusion of two Pokemon critters that “siphons the body fluids of prey through its thin, tubular mouth.” She set up a meeting with me with a two-year-old company called Tenkara (the name seems to be associated with a type of Japanese fly fishing). I found myself talking to “head of commercialization” Jonah Stillman, a young startup-looking dude sitting in an office in San Francisco.

I began peppering him with questions. Tenkara’s quest for data seems to be to boost the quality of its AI model to run office operations for manufacturing companies. (How WIRED’s archives would help is a mystery.) He confirmed that a big part of his job is doing calls like this to snap up data. I told him that the set of our meeting gave me a Glengarry Glen Ross vibe, but he wasn’t familiar with the reference.

I am, of course, not authorized to sell the documentation of WIRED’s editorial process to an AI company, and I did not risk my job by offering Jonah and his company the goods. I also wouldn’t be too pleased if my bosses made the sale.

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When was the last time you used a floppy disk? If you're the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the last time you used a floppy disk was today.

Well, that's soon going to come to an end.

On Thursday, the FAA announced that it would be finally phasing out floppy disks across more than 400 air traffic control locations. The move will see floppy disks completely replaced by 2028.

Floppy disks haven't been used broadly for decades. In fact, the last major manufacturer of floppy disks, Sony, stopped producing them in 2011. The best tech deal this week The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile Products available for purchase through affiliate links. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

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The owner of one of the last floppy disk retailers, floppydisk.com, has previously shared that they source their supply secondhand from people all over the world who are simply looking to get rid of used and unused floppy disks sitting around their homes or in storage.

Yet, the federal agency that enforces safety regulations and operates air traffic control through the country is still using floppy disks. And they use this outdated technology for pretty critical information too, such as weather conditions, airport status updates, equipment issues, and more.

Last year, Congress approved $12.5 billion in funding to address the U.S.'s outdated air traffic control systems. The U.S. Department of Transportation is also seeking another $30 billion for additional upgrades.

In addition to replacing floppy disks, the FAA is looking to upgrade its computer systems. According to Reuters, the FAA's telecoms systems are run on "decades-old Compaq ​computers" and parts purchased on eBay.

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Security researchers discovered residential proxy activity on the White House’s network.

Security researchers discovered residential proxy activity on the White House’s network.

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Someone at the White House appears to be running software that could enable outsiders to rent access on the presidential network for just “a few dollars,” as reported by Krebs on Security and The Register. That’s according to findings from the security firms Layer3 Intel and Synthient, which discovered residential proxy activity on the White House network.

A residential proxy opens up a way for people to rent access to a home IP address and route their internet traffic through it, allowing them to conceal where their activity is actually coming from. Some apps and browser extensions include third-party software development kits (SDKs) that put proxy nodes on a user’s device — whether users know it or not. Third-party services can then sell access to the residential proxies on users’ devices.

As noted by the cybersecurity firm Spur, people can legitimately use residential proxies for purposes like ad verification and quality assurance testing, but bad actors can also use them to bypass geolocation controls and defensive filters. Hackers have used residential proxies for all kinds of malicious activity, including to create botnets and carry out account takeovers.

At the White House, Layer3 Intel found that 28 residential proxy services routed traffic out of the network from October 5th to November 3rd. It notes that this activity typically happens between 5PM ET and midnight. “That pattern suggests a person rather than a public guest Wi-Fi network: someone regularly on the White House network late into the evening, whose device is infected with a proxy SDK,” Layer3 says. The SDK in question might be linked to the watch party app Rave, according to Synthient, which says the app “bundles 12 proxy SDKs into the platform.”

Synthient found “a number of Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices on the White House’s network beaconing to known proxy providers like Geonode, Infatica and Mellowtel.” As noted by Krebs on Security, Infatica is a proxy service founded by Vladimir Fomenko, the owner of King Servers, which was linked to 2016 cyberattacks on election systems in Illinois and Arizona.

Layer3 warns that the residential proxy is “public access,” adding that “anybody can obtain it by signing up to a public residential proxy service, paying a few dollars and sending requests through it.”

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I tested Modern Sprout's handsome Growframe for a pop of green during fall and winter.

My pursuit of good houseplant tools means I’m always looking for shops and resources. That led me to Modern Sprout, a Chicago-based online store that sells plants and plant-care accessories. When they reached out offering a chance to test some of its high-design indoor garden tech, I decided to see what, if anything, is worth considering for your houseplant needs or as a place to get gifts for the plant parents in your life. I found a few pleasant surprises.

Whether I’m tending to houseplants in winter or gardening in summer, I’m always looking for tools to improve plant care. For houseplants in particular, this means watering, trimming, fertilizing, occasionally repotting and providing as much real estate in sunny windows as possible. When that’s not enough, I harness the power of full-spectrum LED grow lights, so I can have greenery in practically every room of my apartment.

A quick look at Modern Sprout’s website shows it sells most of what you’d expect from a boutique plant nursery: live plants, potting soil, gardening accessories, grow lights, grow kits, candles, bird feeders and gift sets. While Modern Sprout carries plenty of its own products, it also curates items from other small businesses instead of relying on large mainstream gardening brands. This is a nice bonus for folks who prefer to support smart business owners. Modern Sprout also offers wholesale accounts, so you might even see it at a nursery near you.

For my tests, I stuck to the Modern Sprout brand, which is also available on Amazon. Since I review a lot of smart home gear, I wanted to try out the Smart Landscape Growframe ($229) and compare it with other plant light options I use. I also wanted to see if Modern Sprout’s tools are any good, so I rounded out my experience with three essentials behind effective houseplant care: Pruning Shears ($20), a Glass Watering Can ($48) and Dissolving Plant Food Sheets ($20).

I don’t think anything could’ve prepared me for the size of the Smart Landscape Growframe: 32.1 inches long, 11.5 inches tall and 5.3 inches deep. For some context, that’s wider than my kitchen table and large enough to require a careful survey of my home to find a suitable location. I found a nice spot above my stairs next to the front door.

Additionally, its durable powder-coated steel frame weighs an incredible 8 pounds. That’s roughly the weight of a gallon of milk, which makes wall mounting tricky. I agree with Modern Sprout’s recommendation to place the mounting screws in studs, so you’ll need a stud finder, a level, and a power drill if you want it on the wall. You can use drywall anchors, but they aren’t included.

Make sure you visually line up the Growframe’s mounting holes with your marks before driving screws into the wall. This is easier with a second person, but I managed it alone. However, I relied purely on my measurements and had to redo the screws after one was slightly off. I suggest marking one stud first, then holding the planter and using a level to see where the other should go. Similarly, keep in mind that the 9-foot power cord needs to reach an outlet.

The app isn’t complex and is really easy to use. I really like that there are preset schedules for shade, partial sun and full sun light levels — these options always start at 8 a.m., providing 8, 12 and 16 hours of lighting at different intensities, respectively. The presets aren’t customizable, so you must use one of the app’s two other scheduling options to adjust the timing and other settings. I noticed that toggling a preset works as intended, but closing and reopening the menu shows an inactive toggle — a minor visual bug that doesn’t seem to affect the feature. (It might even get patched by the time you read this review.)

You can also set a schedule using specific times of day in the Growframe device menu. While this particular scheduling menu lacks an option to tie the lighting controls to sunrise and sunset, you can find that on the Scenario tab. (Sunrise/sunset automation isn’t necessary for most tropical plants and herbs people put in the planter, but it’s nice to have a temperate lighting option that changes throughout the year.)

The Scenario tab offers a few automation options based on device status, scheduling and weather changes, plus a way to set up manual Tap-to-Run automations. Beyond that, there isn’t much else to the app, which makes sense and aligns with the company’s goal of keeping things simple. However, folks wanting smart home integrations with a platform like Home Assistant or Samsung SmartThings might be better off using a smart plug with a different grow light brand.

Speaking of grow lights, the full-spectrum unit inside the top of the Smart Landscape Growframe can reach up to 1,480 lumens, which is very bright considering most plants in the planter will be within 6 inches or less. Given the size limit on the plants you can put in the planter, I doubt you’ll have any issues with giving your plants enough light. I want to note that the adhesive holding one of the grow light strips in my sample unit came loose during shipping, but it was easy enough to reattach.

Planting in the Smart Landscape Growframe is fairly easy. It comfortably holds up to seven potted plants (2- to 3-inch pots), though I ended up putting five 4-inch potted herbs in my setup. One pot in particular is a little taller than the planter box lip, but it doesn’t bother me.

Be mindful of pot size in the planter, as rims that press up against the side can cause water to overflow onto the floor, as it did with mine. The best solution is to remove a little soil from overfilled pots and to add a small notch or hole in a side of the pot that drains into the basin.

The potted herbs I got from my local garden center needed a little trimming before I could put them in the Smart Landscape Growframe, so it was a good opportunity to try out the Pruning Shears. I’m a huge fan of the all-metal design, which is easily one of the most comfortable pairs of gardening shears I’ve used. The nifty locking latch at the end of the handle isn’t metal — it doesn’t need to be — but it’s easy to use and doesn’t require any fiddling.

I also love the needle-nose blades, which are easy to maneuver into tight spaces when trimming dead growth off plants — they are great for trimming all of my herbs. Although I’ll admit that the densely packed chives tested my patience, that’s hardly the shears’ fault.

Of the items I tested, the glass watering can was my least favorite. For instance, the borosilicate glass may be more durable than other types of glass, but it’s still glass and still fragile. I’m not sure if I trust my clumsy self with it when I water my plants. Similarly, the 1-quart size is great for folks caring for a handful of plants, but it can’t keep up with the gallon-size watering can that I sometimes empty completely just to water my dwarf lemon tree in a large container.

Another issue I had with the glass watering can was the upper rim. While I like that the flared rim makes it easy to fill from my bathroom sink, it can get in the way when watering the Growframe. This is especially tedious when you need to tilt the watering can nearly vertical to get the last drops out. Fortunately, you can see when the water is almost gone, but that’s the only real advantage it has over my normal watering can.

I often put off fertilizing houseplants because it feels like a hassle. My main reason is that most of the carnivorous plants I grow don’t like fertilizer, so I skip it on other houseplants. (I get around this with plant food spikes, but I’m hardly consistent at that either.) A secondary reason is that keeping the fertilizer out where I’ll use it isn’t the best use of space in my apartment. While Modern Sprout’s Dissolving Plant Food Sheets don’t really solve the former problem, they’re very convenient for the latter.

Just like when I tested dishwasher detergent sheets, I really like how easy it is to toss Modern Sprout’s fertilizer into the watering can. A full sheet treats a gallon and has perforations so you can tear it into segments to fit your watering can. Since the glass watering can holds one quart, I needed only one-quarter of a sheet. The sheets dissolved a little slowly, and I had to stir them for a minute or two before no fragments were left.

I’m a fan of the seaweed sheets, which are a great option for plant food that isn’t entirely a collection of processed chemicals. Despite the seaweed ingredient, the sheets don’t explicitly state they’re certified organic, so keep that in mind if you use them for herbs or microgreens.

All of the Modern Sprout products I tested have a premium design and build quality that makes them easy to recommend for people who value form as much as function. I consider the Pruning Shears the best value in the bunch. They feel incredibly sturdy and capable for $20 and are a huge step up from my $10 Vivosun Gardening Scissors in every way. I haven’t tested Modern Sprout Bypass Hand Pruners, but I suspect they’ll easily rival the Fiskars Shears I use for thicker growth.

While $229 is a lot to ask for the Smart Landscape Growframe, keep in mind that premium heavy-duty steel planters without smart lighting already cost more than those made from other materials. Likewise, more affordable — and more powerful — grow lights are on the market, but Modern Sprout’s intuitive app includes every scheduling and customization feature I consider essential. Even people who don’t use other smart home gear should find it easy to navigate.

I think the Dissolving Plant Food Sheets are a fairly nice option for seaweed-based fertilizers, but the 20-pack will treat only 20 gallons of water at the normal dilution. This makes the sheets generally more expensive per feeding than liquid kelp fertilizers from brands like TPS Nutrients and Grow Queen. That said, Modern Sprout is more convenient to measure, and it won’t cause a liquid or powdery mess if you knock the package over. It’s a great gift, but not necessarily for an enthusiast with a large collection of houseplants.

I wouldn’t buy the Glass Watering Can, but I don’t think it’s a bad product. It’s undeniably attractive, but $48 is more than most. I’ll stick with my cheaper, larger plastic watering can. Overall, Modern Sprout suits folks with higher budgets or as an attractive gift option for your favorite plant nerd.

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It has the best laptop screen we’ve used, but there may be reasons to wait.

Apple’s new MacBook Pro is expensive as hell.

Let’s get that out there right away, because for a lot of people, it will be the only thing that matters. As with so many things in life, though, you get what you pay for. There’s no questioning the quality of the laptop’s display or most of its other hardware components.

But should you buy it? Well, that’s a complicated question in 2026.

We’re in a time of great uncertainty when it comes to buying a computer. Prices are at levels we’ve not seen in recent history, and they may well keep climbing. Meanwhile, users paying close attention to the early developments in both local and agentic artificial intelligence are asking an important question: “What will computing even look like in a few years, and what does that mean for the computer I should buy today?”

Apple’s new MacBook Pro sits at the intersection of all of this uncertainty. In multiple ways, it’s also straddling different worlds.

It arrives amid a changing of the guard in Apple’s leadership, potentially raising questions about the future direction of Apple’s ecosystem. It’s a mass-market consumer product, but configuring it with enough RAM and storage to make it feel future-proof pushes its price into territory mostly only well-funded businesses can afford. It’s firmly rooted in the computing paradigms of the past 20 years, but it shows early signs of flirtation with new AI workflows. It’s a conventional Apple laptop in most ways, but it also has a touchscreen—something that would never have happened in a prior Apple era.

It’s an outstanding, high-quality product, but whether it’s something you should buy depends on you—what you’re doing right now, what you’ll be doing in the future, and what you value.

For most of the specs we look at, Apple isn’t claiming any difference here. The new MacBook Pro promises 24 hours of battery life (though you’d have to use it in a conservative way to achieve that), it has the same ports (three Thunderbolt, one HDMI, one SDXC, and MagSafe), and it has the N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity.

And like its immediate predecessor, it offers the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips as options. Running synthetic benchmarks, we found no meaningful difference at all compared to when we ran the same tests on the previous model, so we won’t spend time discussing their performance today. We’ve covered both thoroughly in prior reviews, and you can read up there if you’d like.

The chips are more than fast enough for normal workflows for the foreseeable future, including most 3D work. AI inference is the main area where they may be less future-proof. To be clear, they’re strong enough for now, but the field is evolving rapidly, and there’s reason to expect significant improvements in future chips on this front.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is skipping Pro and Max versions of the M6 chip that was introduced earlier this year to focus its attention on a significant rework for the M7 due in 2027. “The M7 line is designed primarily around major advancements to on-device AI processing,” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote. The line would emphasize memory bandwidth, which matters for fast, efficient AI inference.

Even without Bloomberg’s report, I’d expect Apple to prioritize those areas in its next high-end chip refresh. That’s partly because there’s another tea leaf to read here: Apple made just such an update with the A20 Pro, which debuted in its latest iPhones several weeks ago. That update brought a substantially improved Neural Engine and a significant increase in memory bandwidth. We also found that the A20 Pro delivered improved 3D graphics performance in some cases.

Similar improvements could come to Macs, meaning it might be worth waiting another year if you’re focused on AI workflows or even 3D applications—especially given the high cost of these machines. That’s part of what makes this such an uncertain time to buy a laptop. We’re in a moment when these companies are revisiting the architecture of these chips because of these new workflows, and we don’t know what the end result is yet.

Here’s one thing that’s not at all uncertain: The display on the MacBook Pro is the best I have ever used in a laptop. If the display is your primary concern, this is a big moment.

Apple calls it a “tandem OLED display,” meaning a panel with two emissive layers. This approach helps achieve a higher peak brightness, but perhaps more importantly, it can reduce the risk of burn-in. Most of the time, the display won’t need both layers running at full power. Instead, they can share the load and run at a reduced current, helping extend the panel’s lifespan.

The new display can achieve up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness on HDR highlights, but it’s rated for 1,000 nits of sustained brightness. In general, I like the way Apple handles HDR for this at the OS level, too.

The brightness matters for HDR content, sure, but what really makes OLED stand out is per-pixel illumination—meaning each pixel can turn on or off independently. That allows for absolute black levels and very strong contrast. The MiniLED display in the previous MacBook Pro offered good contrast for an LCD display, but OLED has a fundamental advantage here, and it shows.

As you’d expect, the screen offers native support for both P3 and Adobe RGB color gamuts. It also has a variable refresh rate from 10 to 120 Hz, just like many of Apple’s other products. As before, the MacBook Pro comes in roughly 14-inch (3,024×1,986 pixels) and 16-inch (3,472×2,226 pixels) variants. There’s also a nano-texture glass option to fight glare, though that will set you back another $150.

It’s one of the most impressive displays I’ve used in any device, and it’s certainly the best I’ve ever used on a laptop. The colors are vibrant, the contrast is outstanding, the blacks are inky, and it can get very bright when it needs to—not just with highlights but full-screen brightness as well. And on the whole, it’s extremely precise. Uniformity appears basically flawless. It’s what you’d expect from an ultra-high-end TV or reference monitor, not a laptop or computer screen, and it’s genuinely striking.

We’ll see about longevity, but OLED has come a long way in recent years, and my first impressions are that Apple has made all the right choices here.

I find myself trying to find something negative to say about the MacBook Pro’s screen to avoid sounding too effusive, but I can’t think of anything substantive. The best I can do is complain that Apple’s proprietary “PROLED XDR” label is silly and eye-roll-inducing.

Branding aside, the screen is the main reason to pay extra for this model.

With its lid closed, the new MacBook Pro looks identical to its predecessor. The dimensions are largely the same. It’s slightly thinner, but you’d have to check the spec sheet or handle them side by side to notice.

Pick it up, though, and you’ll find that it’s noticeably lighter than the last model, by about half a pound. It’s not in a totally different weight class, but you can notice the change, and it’s a nice improvement. The reduction is partly due to the display technology switch; it’s easier to make a light OLED screen than a light MiniLED one.

Open the MacBook Pro and turn it on, and you’ll see one of a few other notable differences, depending on whether you’re behind or in front of it. From behind, you’ll see the Apple logo on the lid now lights up, as it did on MacBooks of yore. It’s arguably a little tacky, but it’s also neat and nostalgic. I don’t hate it.

From the front, you might notice that the already barely there bezels are even more barely there, though that’s subtle. More likely, you’ll see that the top-of-screen camera notch has been replaced by a cutout just like the Dynamic Island Apple introduced on the iPhone.

When I reviewed the first iPhone with a Dynamic Island, I was largely positive about it. No, it’s not ideal to have a cutout on the screen, but Apple has handled it as intelligently as possible, and I would even go so far as to say it has turned what should be an albatross into an attractive feature.

Thanks to the OLED display, it’s possible to make any of the pixels around the camera cutout just as black as it is. Apple has designed live activities, the volume bar, and more to appear as if they are expanding out of and around, and contracting back into, this little dot. It remains ingenious.

When the Dynamic Island first arrived on the iPhone, it helped unify several previously disparate approaches to displaying notifications in iOS, making it especially useful. This time, it doesn’t solve as many problems, but it’s an improvement over the dead weight of the notch. It also helps that the MacBook Pro’s much larger screen means the cutout takes up a small share of the screen’s real estate.

The Dynamic Island works the same with full-screen apps as the notch did. By default, the top of the viewport ends just below the Dynamic Island, so it just looks like there’s a taller top bezel, and it doesn’t cut into the application interface. The menu bar, clock, and other system elements still occupy the space above the application (set against a totally black background) when you move the cursor up there.

I tested a few fullscreen games with it, like World of Warcraft and Cyberpunk 2077. Some behaved by default like the default fullscreen app behavior I just described, but others tried to occupy the whole thing, making the cutout visible. Vitally, every video app I tried avoided the cutout in fullscreen.

This isn’t something to upgrade for, of course. But on the whole, I think it’s an improvement over what we had before.

Apple has finally added a touchscreen to the MacBook Pro. I say “finally” because the possibility has floated around for about two decades. Steve Jobs was famously opposed to the idea; there’s even video of him explaining why he thought it would make for a poor user experience.

A couple of years ago, reliable reports emerged that Apple was moving forward with the idea regardless. When I first heard about it, I imagined what could be a really exciting implementation: a convertible laptop that would let you use it in a tablet-like mode, with Apple Pencil support for drawing and writing.

As a game developer, I imagined quickly sketching 2D game maps with an Apple Pencil, using a local AI model to convert them into 3D geometry, and then switching to a laptop configuration to start testing and coding. I also imagined using it like an iPad to more comfortably watch movies on a flight.

That’s not what we got, though. The laptop has the same form factor as the previous MacBook Pro model—no tablet mode or Pencil support. Instead, it just lets you reach up from the keyboard and trackpad to touch the screen. That feels like a missed opportunity.

Some creative apps have implemented touch features that might justify the touchscreen functionality if you use them a lot. For example, you can play the on-screen virtual piano keys on Logic Pro with multiple fingers, which could be nicer than clicking on them. I imagine many people already have workflows built around other approaches, though.

If you were specifically waiting for a touchscreen on your MacBook Pro, this seems like as good an implementation as you could hope for without turning the laptop into a convertible. Apple has put real care into it. For example, it has re-engineered the hinge so the screen is not particularly wobbly when you touch it. It’s fast, accurate, and responsive. It supports multi-touch gestures like pinch-to-zoom or swiping with three fingers to switch desktop spaces.

There’s one use case I find compelling as a developer. Testing iPhone and iPad apps in the Simulator has always been a minor hassle because of the difference in input methods. You either have to approximate only a subset of the interactions available to users with a trackpad and mouse or connect an iPhone or iPad to test them that way. A touchscreen could provide a more elegant way to test such apps in Xcode, Unity, or whatever else you might use.

Unfortunately, some of the UI elements in macOS are too small for my large fingers, so I have to tap very carefully. I also keep forgetting the touchscreen is even there for hours at a time and go back to my normal habits, partly because there’s nothing you can do at the OS level that you can’t do just as easily with trackpad gestures. And as Jobs predicted all those years ago, my arm got tired while I was using it.

For me, it feels faster, easier, more comfortable, and more natural to use the keyboard and trackpad 100 percent of the time, but I admittedly have decades of muscle memory and habits built around them. There’s apparently a generation coming up with the same kind of familiarity with touch interfaces, so this feature may appeal to them. Plus, touchscreen laptops have been a thing on Windows forever, and some people seem to want to buy them, though I never quite got why without an added tablet configuration.

It’s unlikely to account for a big portion of the device’s cost compared with the rest of the OLED panel, memory, storage, and so on. So, my own bafflement aside, I’m not unhappy it’s here. I imagine it will serve those who want it well enough.

As noted earlier, whether this laptop is worthy of a recommendation depends on you and how you use your machine. That’s always been the case, but it seems more so here.

If you’re a creative professional or a display enthusiast who wants the best laptop screen you’ve likely ever seen, you won’t be disappointed if you shell out for it. And hey, maybe you can show me your workflow and prove me wrong about the touchscreen!

If you’re just looking for a great laptop with strong performance for everyday use, consider the non-OLED, non-touchscreen model that’s still in Apple’s lineup—or even a MacBook Air, which compromises relatively little for most users. And there is, of course, the entire world of Windows and Linux laptops.

If you’re a developer—especially one working at the frontier of AI workflows—well, that’s where things get tricky. Will waiting be worthwhile? So much about how those workflows will evolve and what they’ll demand from your hardware is still so up in the air that I can’t make a confident recommendation. (For what it’s worth, I fit best in this category, and I’m still holding onto my M1 Max machine, though my resolve is wavering.)

All that said, in most ways, this is still the same MacBook Pro we’ve reviewed again and again for the past few years. Touch adds a feature aimed at a particular niche, or perhaps it’s there to roll out the welcome mat for a newer generation. The display is a more substantial update and makes a compelling case for upgrading, especially if you’re coming from an older, pre-MiniLED laptop.

But this is an expensive machine. The configuration I reviewed here (16-inch, M5 Max, 128 GB of RAM, 2 TB SSD) retails for a whopping $7,399, though you could at least shave $1,600 off that by going to a more typical-for-most-people 64 GB. (The cheapest configuration starts at $2,899.)

For the vast majority of buyers, the pre-OLED version that’s still in Apple’s lineup or another MacBook altogether will offer more bang for your buck. If you’re the kind of person who wants OLED or a touchscreen, though, you probably know that already. Based on my time with the new MacBook Pro, both features deliver on their promises, even if the latter isn’t as ambitious as some of us had hoped.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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Chatbots can skew election-related information and act as an intervening layer in a voter's search.

Most search tools now put a layer of AI between you and the information you’re looking for, especially Google.

Also: Tired of AI Overviews? I found 9 Google Search alternatives

In a new study, Yale researchers found that a third of users asked a chatbot to help them pick a candidate. Grok often recommended candidates on its own without any information from users, while ChatGPT recommended candidates most often overall, and twice as much as Claude.

The researchers asked nearly 2,500 people in 35 states with Senate races to query ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, or Gemini about the election. Participants in the study, which ran for a few weeks in October leading up to the Nov. 3 midterm elections, were adults who already use chatbots weekly.

Most users asked chatbots for basic facts about the election, including who was on the ballot. But 36% asked a chatbot to help them pick a candidate to vote for, often by describing their priorities and asking the chatbot to assess which candidates aligned with them.

The former query has slightly less room for error, because the internet has a ton of data on the basic facts of an election, such as who is running where. Chatbots interpreting candidate positions, on the other hand, is a bit more dicey, and relies significantly on the sources a chatbot uses (a statement from a candidate’s own website, for example, is more reliable than a social media clip of an opponent characterizing them in a certain way).

Also: How to keep your chatbot conversations as private as possible

In one example, a user asked ChatGPT to give them the “pros and cons” of each candidate in Virginia, an inherently subjective question.

When it came to recommending candidates, chatbots varied widely.

“When users asked who to vote for but had not yet said anything about themselves, only Grok regularly recommended a candidate, in 14% of chats,” the researchers wrote. “Once users shared their views, ChatGPT recommended a candidate in 79% of chats and Claude in 40%, with Grok and Gemini in between.”

Pew Research found that 42% of US adults surveyed use chatbots to search for information. That’s a broad umbrella that can include election information — but Pew also found that only 8% of US adults reported using chatbots to find election-related information in this year’s election.

What those users are looking for matters, though. Pew found that of that group, 76% were inquiring about where candidates stand on certain issues, and 71% were fact-checking information they’d heard about candidates or issues.

Also: OpenAI will merge ChatGPT’s chat and work tabs

Given that chatbots are still not reliable summarizers, the nature of these questions poses a misinformation risk if users don’t also check a chatbot’s linked sources. An overwhelming majority of users don’t, at least when it comes to Google’s AI Overviews. At least one study found AI platforms gave users “outdated or inaccurate” information that could mislead voters in some cases by missing a deadline or failing to mention a step about voting logistics.

This election cycle was particularly plagued by AI-generated deepfakes and misinformation as tools have become much more sophisticated since the 2024 election. OpenAI and Anthropic reportedly set up election “war rooms” to monitor misuse and information accuracy, according to exclusive reporting by Politico and Semafor.

While an August study from the Brennan Center for Justice found that chatbots did push back surprisingly well against certain falsehoods related to election disinformation campaigns, it also found that AI models easily generated “misleading election-related images and video” when asked.

“Many of their safeguards for preventing this were ineffective, inconsistently applied, or functionally absent,” noted the study, which tested ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI, Runway, and Flux.2.

Also: 50 AI agents tried to build a thriving Minecraft civilization – it didn’t end well

Apart from these factors, however, there is a broader theme in AI use that is equally consequential for civic engagement: cognitive offloading. The political media landscape can already be dense and hard to parse for a voter trying to stay informed. Layering a chatbot — which has opaque training data sets, filters, and other settings determined at the discretion of AI labs — on top of that information search process can further muddy the waters while appearing like a convenient and neutral summarizing tool.

While some studies test how AI chatbots respond to election questions by using standardized questions, this approach let users themselves engage with chatbots as they normally would. While the Yale researchers’ queries and standardized study queries show a lot of similarities, the distinction is valuable for evaluations.

“This is a small step toward evaluations that measure AI’s political influence on the questions users actually ask,” the researchers noted.

Outside of users self-reporting what they asked a chatbot, only AI labs have records of what users are really asking about elections. In October, Anthropic analyzed 250,000 conversations with Claude and determined people “rarely ask Claude whom or what to vote for,” finding that “0.51% of all conversations are specifically about elections or voting,” though it expected election-related queries to increase closer to Nov. 3.

Also: 6 AI agent workflows I use to hand off everyday tasks

“More often, we observed people asking Claude questions that could help them reach their own conclusions, like where candidates stand on a particular issue. Requests that violated our election integrity policies were even less common, appearing in about 0.002% of conversations,” Anthropic’s report said.

The Yale researchers said the next step for a study like theirs is determining how accurate and unbiased models are in their responses, as well as what models learn about users, and whether their recommendations actually match users’ needs.

“In multi-turn chats, users often answered the chatbot’s questions, and those answers led to its recommendations. The questions a model asks shape what users tell it and what it recommends,” the researchers explained.

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Meta, Google, and TikTok have each filed lawsuits against California Attorney General Rob Bonta in an attempt to block a law that restricts social media features it deems addictive for users under 16.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill, known as AB 1709, into law in September, and it’s slated to take effect at the start of the new year.

The law prohibits social platforms from offering autoplay videos and personalized feeds to users under 16, and it requires the platforms to delete these users’ accounts if they don’t turn those features off. If platforms do not comply, they could be liable for fines of up to $50,000 per affected user under 16 years old.

Meta claims that AB 1709 violates the First Amendment by overriding its editorial decisions about how to display content, adding that Section 230 preempts the law. TikTok and Google made similar arguments.

“Meta currently organizes its feeds of content to include personalized content recommendations and to automatically play media, [so] the Act would make it unlawful for Meta to disseminate speech to minors altogether, and would require Meta to delete minors’ accounts, unless it changes these practices,” the company wrote in its lawsuit.

In an emailed statement, a TikTok spokesperson added, “AB 1709 is a blatantly unconstitutional restriction on free expression that erodes the long-standing and protected practice of curating content based on user preferences, which book stores, TV networks and streaming services all use.”

AB 1709 follows a trend of legislation around the world that seeks to curb teen social media use in an attempt to improve teen mental health outcomes. However, digital safety experts often caution against these laws because they can inadvertently compromise the privacy of all platform users, including adults, by requiring age verification checks that collect more user data.

“AB 1709 compels platforms to collect even more information from every user, invading everyone’s privacy and frustrating our ability to remain anonymous online,” EFF Associate Director of State Affairs Rindala Alajaji said in a press briefing. “Online surveillance by social media companies is harmful, and yet this bill requires even more of it, further concentrating power in the hands of tech companies rather than actually protecting users.”

Alajaji added that teenagers’ use of social media has been instrumental in enabling impactful digital activism, citing the Parkland shooting survivors’ March for Our Lives and climate activist Greta Thunberg’s global reach.

“As a functional ban on social media for youth under 16, AB 1709 cuts young people off from essential information and experiences, silencing the very voices it claims to protect,” Alajaji said.

These platforms are primed to fight this California law as they navigate similar legal battles in various countries. That’s especially true for Meta, which agreed to pay a settlement of up to $18 billion to resolve children’s safety claims brought by 29 U.S. states.

In December 2025, Australia became the first country to ban social media for users under 16 altogether. France passed a similar law, but its top court struck it down, citing concerns about violations of free expression rights.

These platforms also argue that the law would affect parents’ ability to make decisions about their teens’ internet use through parental controls.

A Google spokesperson noted that autoplay on YouTube is turned off for minors by default, and that parents have the ability to turn off their teens’ access to Shorts altogether.

“We believe parents are best positioned to make the right decisions for their families, which is why we offer a range of protections and tools that put parents in control,” a Google spokesperson said. “Overly broad laws like this actually break the systems we’ve built to help kids find high-quality, age-appropriate videos.”

A representative for Attorney General Bonta said that his office is reviewing the filings and is committed to “defending California’s commonsense laws to protect kids online.”

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Amanda Silberling is a senior writer at TechCrunch covering the intersection of technology and culture. She has also written for publications like Polygon, MTV, the Kenyon Review, NPR, and Business Insider. She is the co-host of Wow If True, a podcast about internet culture, with science fiction author Isabel J. Kim. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she worked as a grassroots organizer, museum educator, and film festival coordinator. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and served as a Princeton in Asia Fellow in Laos.

You can contact or verify outreach from Amanda by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at @amanda.100 on Signal.

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Claude can now analyze your spending with its new Personal Finance tool

Data centers are turning to old jet engines as the wait for power grows

New York City’s Mamdani criticizes Madison Square Garden owner over surveillance tech

Anthropic warns that it’s very close to RSI capability, aka self-building AI

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TL;DR: Sign up for a 7-day free trial of Apple TV+ through Prime Video Channels to watch select F1 races for free. Watch the Brazil GP for free with the Prime Video app.

Kimi Antonelli was crowned the 2026 F1 champion last weekend in Mexico, so where does that leave us now? We still have four race weekends this season, and nothing is really decided except the actual winner. Reputations are on the line, so we can expect more thrilling racing from the best of the best.

The action heads to São Paulo this weekend. Can Verstappen win again to cement his place in second? Or will Hamilton bounce back from a frustrating weekend in Mexico to leapfrog his old rival?

If you want to watch F1 2026 for free from anywhere in the world, we've got all the information you need.

The Brazil GP is the 20th race of the 2026 F1 season. Here's the full schedule from the Autódromo José Carlos Pace:

Practice 1 — 10:30-11:30 a.m. ET on Nov. 6

Practice 3 — 9:30-10:30 a.m. ET on Nov. 7

Fans can follow all the action from this race weekend without spending anything.

Apple TV holds exclusive U.S. broadcasting rights for F1, and you can now sign up for a seven-day free trial of Apple TV directly through Prime Video Channels. That free trial gives you access to select races for free, including this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.

The subscription rolls over to $12.99 per month after the seven-day trial, but you can disable the automatic renewal and still stream the entire race weekend for free. It's a sneaky hack, but it works.

If you're already paying for Amazon Prime, calling it "free" is a stretch. But if you don't have an active membership, Amazon offers a 30-day free trial for new users. Stacking that Prime trial with the seven-day Apple TV channel trial means you're truly spending nothing to stream this weekend's race.

If you've already made use of this hack, you still have a few workarounds: Recommended deals for you HBO Max — top pick for premium content Disney+ — best for families Hulu — popular choice for originals Peacock — low-cost choice for live sport

HBO Max — top pick for premium content

Disney+ — best for families

Hulu — popular choice for originals

Peacock — low-cost choice for live sport

Apple One: If you want more than just streaming, the Apple One tier packages Apple TV alongside Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, Apple News+, and 50GB of iCloud storage — and it comes with a full one-month free trial ($19.95 per month after the promotional period).

Joseph Green is the Global Shopping Editor for Mashable. He covers VPNs, headphones, fitness gear, dating sites, streaming, and shopping events like Black Friday and Prime Day.

Joseph is also Executive Editor of Mashable's sister site, AskMen.

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Following the redesign of the Apple Music app icon, which replaced the familiar white music note on a red background with a black-and-white look, Apple today updated Apple Music Classical to match the new design.

Today, Apple updated the Apple Music Classical app icon and interface to bring them in line with Apple Music’s new visual identity.

The new icon retains the familiar G-clef musical symbol, but now features a black symbol against a white background.

Interestingly, unlike the regular flat Apple Music icon, the Apple Music Classical icon kept its three-dimensional look, with subtle lighting, shading, and transparency that give it a sense of depth.

Inside the app, the red accents for buttons have also been replaced with a shade of blue that’s closer to the default color Apple uses across its other apps.

Today’s update came just weeks after Apple unveiled a much more colorful branding campaign for Apple Music, in addition to its new monochrome app icon, with visuals created by using sound waves to move water.

While many assumed Apple would eventually adopt the more colorful design as Apple Music’s new app icon, today’s Apple Music Classical update suggests that the company is sticking with the black-and-white look for its apps.

Apple Music Classical requires an active Apple Music subscription. You can sign up for $11.99 per month, with 1 month free, or as part of the Apple One bundle.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

Apple Music is a streaming service that includes…

Marcus Mendes is a Brazilian tech podcaster and journalist who has been closely following Apple since the mid-2000s.

He began covering Apple news in Brazilian media in 2012 and later broadened his focus to the wider tech industry, hosting a daily podcast for seven years.

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Lawmakers want answers about Jensen Huang’s ties to an alleged Chinese intelligence asset.

Top Republican lawmakers have asked Jensen Huang to appear before Congress to answer questions after it was reported that US intelligence officials believe Nvidia’s chief executive has been targeted by a Chinese spying operation.

The chairs of the House committees on China, foreign affairs, and intelligence wrote to Huang this week asking him to appear before a joint closed-door briefing for their committees on November 18.

“Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the People’s Republic of China’s access to sensitive US technology and information,” representatives John Moolenaar, Brian Mast, and Rick Crawford wrote.

“The issue of PRC infiltration and access to cutting-edge US technology is core to the investigative work of our three committees this Congress. It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which US national security has been placed at risk,” the lawmakers added.

The New York Times last week wrote that US intelligence officials believed Huang had been the target of a Chinese spy operation. The concerns center on a Chinese woman named Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based cloud company that has bought billions of dollars of Nvidia’s chips.

Nvidia has rejected the claims and on Thursday would not say if Huang would appear before Congress. “Meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job. Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year,” the company said.

“Our regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information—not sensitive Nvidia trade secrets—and zero information relevant to national security,” it added.

The lawmakers said they wanted Huang to discuss the security protocols Nvidia had in place to protect against “foreign adversary espionage.” The company said its chief executive had an “outstanding security team” that travels with him.

The New York Times said Huang had not received a “defensive briefing,” which the intelligence community usually, but not always, provides potential espionage targets to warn them about the activity.

Nvidia said it was confident that the US government would have let the company know if it thought a person was a threat to US industry and that it often receives updates from Washington about people of concern.

The US has previously scrutinized Megaspeed, founded in 2023 as a spin-off from a Chinese gaming company, for potential chip smuggling, although no charges followed.

Nvidia launched its own unannounced on-site inspections at Megaspeed in Singapore when it became aware of the US concerns, but the internal probe found no evidence of its chips being diverted into China, said people familiar with the matter.

The company’s supply chain has come under increasing scrutiny as US export controls have prompted increased smuggling of its chips. Earlier this year Wally Liaw, a co-founder of Supermicro, one of Nvidia’s key supply chain partners, was arrested in the US and charged with smuggling Nvidia chips into China. He denies any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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Tons of Anker items are already seeing major discounts ahead of Black Friday, with some exclusive promo codes dropping prices even more.

Black Friday is still a few weeks away, but Eufy is jumping the gun and already rolling out some of its biggest savings of the year. They’ve already discounted everything from robot vacuums and security cameras to video doorbells and outdoor lighting, with several deals available at even lower prices when you use exclusive promo codes.

Whether you’re upgrading your home’s security or finally investing in a robot vacuum that can mop while it cleans, now is a great time to save. We’ve rounded up the best Eufy Black Friday deals available now, but that’s not all. Most of these products have exclusive CNET codes that will help you save even more.

The Omni S2 is Eufy’s flagship robot vacuum, combining powerful vacuuming, automatic mopping and a fully featured self-emptying dock into one premium cleaning system. This bundle also includes a free accessory kit, and CNET readers can unlock an even lower price with the exclusive promo code, eufyS2OM.

This dual-camera security system combines a wide-angle lens with a telephoto camera to give you better coverage and clearer close-ups around your property. It’s one of the biggest discounts in Eufy’s Black Friday lineup, dropping by more than 50% with the exclusive code, 26BFIMT81701W12.

The Omni C28 is a great value for those who want automated vacuuming and mopping without paying thousands. Its self-cleaning dock helps minimize maintenance while powerful suction tackles everyday dust, pet hair and debris. Just use CNET’s exclusive code 26IMPACTBFC28.

If you’re looking for a premium whole-home security upgrade, this bundle delivers four cameras paired with Eufy’s advanced HomeBase Professional S1 for centralized storage and smart features. The $700 discount makes it one of the standout Black Friday offers in the entire lineup, as long as you use our code 26BFIMT8172T9000.

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AI has ushered in new jobs, and some of them are paying handsomely, according to a new study.

AI engineers are making well over six figures in salary — and plenty more in bonuses and equity, according to data from a new report by executive search firm Christian & Timbers.

Enterprises now pay “elite” AI deployment engineers between $586,000 and $1.45 million annually in total compensation, with senior leaders in the field earning up to $2.25 million, according to the report. This figure approaches the median compensation of executive officers of public companies, the authors note.

Also: ‘So perfect, they are literally identical’ – Your AI-polished resumes are recruiters’ new top stressor

Christian & Timbers is an AI executive search and leadership advisory firm, recruiting CEOs, board members, technology executives, and AI engineers for enterprises. The new report draws on more than 550 interviews with engineers, deployment leaders, and executives conducted from January through June 2026, along with closed and current open offers. The compensation bands are Christian & Timbers’ estimates and represent ranges rather than statistical averages.

“Enterprise CEOs are under pressure to deliver returns for their AI investments. The most important decision is how to build the team that delivers on that goal,” said Jeff Christian, founder and CEO of Christian & Timbers, in a press release.

Also: What workers are really using AI for in 2026 – and what they aren’t

The report noted that the staggering salary range includes base salary, bonus, and annualized equity. Christian & Timbers said it defines an “elite” forward deployment engineer (FDE) as “a senior AI-native deployment builder, typically with 7 to 15 years of experience, including at least two years building and deploying agentic automated workflows that deliver measurable ROI with a documented enterprise impact of $10M or more,” who has also led a team of other forward deployment engineers.

Also: 50% of companies generate value from AI now – here’s how

The large salary ranges reflect increasing enterprise investments in AI talent and employee development. Microsoft, AWS, and OpenAI have announced more than $7.5 billion in corporate and partner investment in AI deployment over the past six months, Christian & Timbers noted in the release.

Also: Nearly 70% of workers use AI regularly now – but many get no time to upskill

There’s an increasing need to fill roles such as Senior Principal AI Engineer, AI Solutions Engineer, and Head of Deployment — but there is a limited pool of qualified candidates. The firm estimates that only 2,000 of the most senior deployment leaders exist in the US market, according to a previous Christian & Timbers study, which does not meet demand — so companies are competing for the same small group of professionals, hence the increasing salaries.

While the report underscores lucrative yields for certain engineering roles, the firm said that public job titles make comparisons more challenging.

“Christian & Timbers’ elite category spans several titles, while advertised FDE roles cover a broader range of experience and responsibilities. Experienced deployment engineers may be recruited directly or promoted into the work under titles such as staff software engineer or principal AI engineer,” the study said.

Plus, equity and bonus make up 52% to 66% of senior engineer pay, and most job postings don’t include that value in the salary, the report noted.

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Airbnb has teased its plans to build its own AI travel agent before, but on Thursday the company announced that the new AI feature will launch in the first half of 2027. In the company’s Q3 shareholder letter on Thursday, Airbnb also provided more detail about how the agent will work, what it will actually do, and how it’s different from a typical AI chatbot.

In prior interviews, CEO Brian Chesky sketched out the travel company’s approach to AI, describing a plan to build an AI agent that has a richer interface than a conventional chatbot. He also expressed his opinions about how chatbots aren’t the right interface for travel, noting that people take pleasure in the planning process and in anticipating a trip. Any agent that it built, then, shouldn’t take away from the inspiration and the browsing, he told TechCrunch in an interview last month.

Chesky today reiterated that belief, telling analysts on the earnings call that people won’t use one AI agent for everything.

“Today’s AI agents like Muse and Instinct are good at simple routine tasks like making a restaurant reservation or scheduling an appointment. But planning a trip is different,” he said. “Travel is aspirational. Discovering where to go and where to stay is part of the experience. In fact, 80% of travelers say they enjoy spending time researching trips. People want to look at photos. They want to compare homes. They want to make decisions with people they’re traveling with,” he continued. “And I don’t think the general-purpose agents are the best to do that. So that is why we are building our own AI agent,” Chesky said.

Airbnb described its agent as having a personalized interface that’s designed specifically for travel, where it will “build an interface” around a user’s question instead of simply responding as a chatbot would.

“What we are doing is developing a custom-designed AI-native experience that responds to what guests are looking for,” Chesky said. “So instead of relying on traditional chat alone, which is very text-heavy — which, again, is definitely not the way you should plan travel, our agent draws from a library of hundreds of travel-specific interface components — maps, photos, comparisons, calendars, itineraries — and composes them in real time to match what they’re looking for.”

The exec said the agent will feel “a little bit like generative UI” as it’s designed to offer up “the right interface at the right time” for someone’s specific travel needs.

In its shareholder letter, the company touted that its nearly 20 years of experience in bringing hosts and guests together is informing how the agent is built, as it incorporates insights about how people both book and host on its platform. The agent will also be able to help travelers beyond the booking itself.

“Our agent will be able to help guests throughout their trip — from changing a reservation or resolving a payment issue to getting help with refunds, rebooking, or 24-hour safety support. These are things an outside agent can’t easily do on its own,” the company wrote.

Over time, Airbnb expects the agent will be able to help travelers with other aspects of their trip, including not only homes and hotels, but also services and experiences. Services and experiences are two areas that have become a bigger focus for the company following its redesign last year.

While the company previously said to expect its AI agent sometime in the next year, it’s now more specifically committing to roll out the new technology to consumers in the first half of 2027.

The news of the agent’s release was delivered alongside strong third-quarter earnings, with revenue growing 19% to $4.87 billion, topping Wall Street estimates. It also raised its 2026 revenue growth forecast, which it now predicts will be in the high teens, instead of the mid-teens.

“Airbnb is back in growth mode,” Chesky told analysts on the Q3 earnings call on Thursday. “It’s rare for a marketplace of our size to reaccelerate growth, but that’s exactly what we’re doing. Q3 was our fastest revenue growth in more than three years,” he added.

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Buy One Pass, Get a Second FreeCover more ground at TechCrunch’s ultimate founder bootcamp of the year by bringing your co-founder or partner for freeBook before the BOGO deal expires

Tesla will stop making the Cybertruck in 2027

Claude can now analyze your spending with its new Personal Finance tool

Data centers are turning to old jet engines as the wait for power grows

New York City’s Mamdani criticizes Madison Square Garden owner over surveillance tech

Anthropic warns that it’s very close to RSI capability, aka self-building AI

New York Times and other outlets sue web browser Brave over alleged content scraping

Ninja’s first-ever microwave just replaced two of my kitchen appliances at once

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Tesla wanted to unseat the Ford F-150, instead it made the Edsel look successful.

Elon’s Edsel is no more. Last night, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed on social media that his car company is ending its failed attempt to wrest control of the American pickup truck market. The Cybertruck will cease production in the middle of 2027, liberating that space in Tesla’s cavernous factory for other uses—more Cybercabs, most likely.

Musk first revealed the Cybertruck in late 2019, back when Tesla was still trading at a theoretically understandable price-to-earning ratio. The pickup’s unusual angular shape owed more to low-res video game models than any concessions to practicality. At the time, Musk made fanciful claims that the truck would use a stainless steel monocoque construction, telling his audience that “the body and bed don’t do anything useful” on a normal truck. While some race cars use carbon-fiber monocoques for strength and lightness, making a pickup truck with a stainless steel monocoque chassis would only make sense if someone had an awful lot of stainless steel lying around and needed something to do with it all.

The truck was supposed to go on sale for less than $40,000, and Tesla made its usual stratospheric sales predictions that (had they been accurate) the bare metal EVs would be as ubiquitous as the Model 3 and Y.

But development of the Cybertruck was more troubled than usual for Tesla, which struggled heavily to bring both the Model 3 and Y into mass production. Musk demanded “Lego-like precision” from the workers assembling the trucks, but achieving the 10-micron tolerances required by the Danish toy company was not evidently successful, based on what we saw when we experienced our first Cybertruck in reality.

That was in 2023, when Cybertruck headlines were mostly about recalls and stop sales. By then, the truck used a conventional unibody chassis—conventional for Tesla, not for full-size pickup trucks. Toward the end of that year, Musk told his audience that “we dug our grave” with the truck, perhaps the first public acknowledgment that annual sales of a quarter of a million Cybertrucks probably wasn’t going to happen after all.

Sales never took off, and the Cybertruck’s divisive shape became an all-too-visible reminder of the CEO’s role in reshaping the federal government to his liking. Even selling thousands of Cybertrucks to SpaceX couldn’t save the pickup. Now, with America having vociferously rejected Musk’s vision of governance, those wishing to drive something that reminds everyone around them of that vision will only have a few months more to purchase one.

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An issue with Google’s original Nest Doorbell has left live view of the video feed broken for many owners, and there’s no word on a fix just yet.

Users are reporting widely in the past few days that Live View video feeds from Nest Doorbells are broken in the Google Home app. The issue is affecting specifically the first-gen Nest Doorbell, which is best known as “Nest Hello,” but Google has been referring to it as “Nest Doorbell (wired, 1st gen).”

The issue has popped up in several Reddit threads in recent weeks, but seems to have spread much more widely in the past few days based on nearly a dozen Google support threads we found.

Some users also report that some first-gen Nest cameras are also not working properly, but we couldn’t find nearly as many reports of this.

Notably, Google did roll out an update to older Nest hardware at the end of October.

Interestingly, affected users say that Nest Doorbell notifications on Nest Hub displays are still working properly. Some have deduced that Google’s switch to WebRTC may be the cause of the problem, but it’s hard to say for certain seeing as workarounds based on that theory don’t reliably work.

Outside of generic troubleshooting messages, Google has yet to say anything about a fix, or even confirm there’s an issue. But, based on the number of reports, it’s very obvious there’s a problem on Google’s end.

We’ll update this post as more details come to light but, for now, sound off in the comments below if you’re running into this issue.

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Walmart's first early Black Friday sale kicks off Nov. 12, as the first of three major holiday shopping events on its calendar. But anyone who's spent time on the internet lately knows that plenty of Black Friday deals are already live. And TBH, Walmart has quietly dropped some of the best early discounts.

To help you skip the fluff, we've sifted through the noise, checked price histories, and compared offer details against competitors like Amazon and Target to find the best early Black Friday deals at Walmart. These include big markdowns on Apple gear, Ninja appliances, toys, and a really impressive OLED TV.

Below are the best offers you can grab right now. These deals will likely fluctuate in the weeks leading up to Black Friday proper, so check back if you're not seeing what you're looking for just yet.

Now that the AirPods 5 are the latest basic Apple earbuds, the AirPods 4 are a thing of the past. But that's a good thing if you're looking to snag a pair of AirPods for cheap. Walmart has the AirPods 4 without ANC for only $89 ahead of Black Friday. You can no longer find these earbuds at Amazon, Apple, or Best Buy (unless you find a random third-party seller), so this could be your last shot. While they don't have noise cancellation, they do offer five hours of battery life per charge, an IP54 water- and dust-resistance rating, spatial audio, and voice isolation during calls. The best tech deal this week The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile

Apple AirTag (2nd gen) — $23 $29 (save $6)

Apple AirPods 4 with ANC — $119.97 $179 (save $59.03)

Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 46mm) — $379 $429 (save $50)

LG's C-Series is our top OLED pick for a reason, and the 65-inch C6 delivers near-zero blooming, vivid colors, and incredible dark-room contrast that turns movie nights into a theater experience. It's equally built for modern gaming, boasting a 165Hz refresh rate and a lightning-fast 0.1ms response time across four HDMI 2.1 ports. Scoring one of the best 65-inch displays on the market at a steep $1,300 discount makes this a standout early Black Friday grab.

Samsung 43-Inch U8000H Series Crystal UHD 4K Smart TV — $198 $228 (save $30)

LG 43-Inch UA7500ZUA 4K UHD Smart TV — $228 $258 (save $30)

TCL 50-Inch Q6LR Series QLED 4K Smart Roku TV — $268 $349.99 (save $81.99)

Samsung 65-Inch M70HB Series Mini LED 4K Smart TV — $378 $478 (save $100)

TCL 65-Inch QM6K Series QD-Mini LED 4K Smart TV — $598 $799.99 (save $201.99)

TCL 75-Inch QM51L Series QD-Mini LED 4K Smart TV — $698 $899.99 (save $201.99)

TCL 75-Inch QM7L Series SQD-Mini LED 4K Smart TV — $1,198 $1,298 (save $100)

TCL 85-Inch QM7L Series SQD-Mini LED 4K Smart TV — $1,498 $1,698 (save $200)

A crisp QHD resolution (1440p) looks razor-sharp on a 27-inch display, giving you almost double the pixel density of standard 1080p without crushing your GPU's frame rates. Samsung’s Odyssey G55C pairs that visual clarity with a tight 1000R curve that comfortably wraps around your vision for deep immersion. Add in a fluid 165Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and AMD FreeSync to eliminate screen tearing, and it’s a high-performance gaming monitor built for smooth, competitive desktop setups.

Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller, Carbon Black — $54.99 $64 (save $8.51)

Acer Nitro V (Intel Core 5, 16GB RAM, 512 SSD) — $1,249 $1,399 (save $150)

Alienware Aurora WQXGA (Intel Core 7-240H, NVIDIA RTX 5050, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,099 $1,249 (save $150)

Asus ROG Strix G16 (AMD Ryzen 9, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,399 $1,999 (save $400)

Ninja makes some of Mashable's favorite kitchen appliances. If you could use a new blender before the holidays start, the Ninja Professional Plus Duo is on sale for just $99. The pitcher holds a generous 72 ounces for whipping up a smooth soup, smoothies, or a batch of frozen margaritas. The Ninja blender bundle also includes a single-serving cup for taking drinks on the go.

Keurig K-Express — $49.47 $68.99 (save $19.52)

Keurig K-Express Essentials Plus — $67.95 $79 (save $11.05)

Ninja Crispi (4-quart) — $134 $149 (save $15)

Ninja Slushi Frozen Drink Machine (72 oz) — $199 $299 (save $100)

Without spending a lot of money, equip your home with the convenience of a robot vacuum and mop before holiday guests arrive. The Roborock QV 35S has 10,000 Pa suction power, self-empties debris into the charging dock for over seven weeks, self-washes and air-dries its mopping pads, and auto-refills the water tank. It's about as hands-off as you can get. Plus, it's the cheapest it's ever been, matching its price from Walmart's competing Prime Day sale from June.

Bissell Little Green Portable Carpet Cleaner — $74.62 $101.97 (save $27.35)

ONSON 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum — $86.99 $178.88 (save $91.89)

iRobot Roomba 1010 — $158 $198 (save $40)

Tineco iFloor 5 — $189.99 $499.99 (save $310)

Dyson Big Ball Turbinehead Canister Vacuum — $199.99 $379.99 (save $180)

Dreame C30 Plus Robot Vacuum and Mop Cleaner — $249.99 $329.99 (save $80)

Roborock Q10 X5+ — $259.99 $499.99 (save $240)

This is the time of year to snag Advent calendars while they're 1) on sale and 2) still in stock. This Lego Disney Princess Advent Calendar set comes with tons of mini figures and toys Disney princess fans will love. All the favorites are included, like Cinderella, Mulan, Ariel, and even Moana.

Play-Doh Blooming Flower Garden Playset — $14 $23.99 (save $9.99)

The Original MAGNA-TILES Coral Reef — $27.99 $39.97 (save $11.98)

Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Fun Track Set — $39.97 $54.99 (save $15.02)

Disney Junior Minnie Mouse Flipping Fun Pretend Play Kitchen Set — $55 $68 (save $13)

Huffy 12-inch Disney Princess Kids' Bike — $88 $129.99 (save $41.99)

Toniebox 2 bundle with Moana figurine — $109 $149.99 (save $40.99)

Huffy 6V Disney Frozen Ride-On Ice Cream Kart — $138 $229.99 (save $91.99)

Topics Apple Black Friday Robot Vacuums Kitchen Lego

Christina Buff is a Nashville-based freelance writer for who covers shopping with a splash of entertainment. If you’re ever wondering what streaming service you need to watch something (and the cheapest way to sign up for it), she’s your girl.

Christina received a B.S. in Business Communication (concentration in writing) from Stevenson University and began her professional journey writing and editing press releases. Since then, she’s written content for a marketing agency, blogged for celebrities, and covered local news, politics, women’s lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and just about everything in between for various publications.

When she’s not writing, she’s probably enjoying live music, studying human design, or embroidering and upcycling clothes. You can follow her on Instagram at @touchinfinity.

Lauren Allain is a freelance journalist covering deals at Mashable. She graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in journalism and holds an M.B.A from Webster Leiden. You can find more of her work online from publications including Reader’s Digest, U.S. News & World Report, Seattle Refined, and more. When she’s not writing, Lauren prefers to be outside hiking, bouldering, swimming, or searching for the perfect location for all three.

Soumya is a deals writer who covers consumer tech, shopping deals, and the products people use every day. With experience writing about everything from AI tools and software to smartphones and home gadgets, she enjoys breaking down product research into clear, useful recommendations. When she's not tracking deals, she's usually comparing products, digging through reviews, and figuring out what actually makes a purchase worth it.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.

Tech > Services & Software > Cybersecurity

A new report finds residential proxies exiting the White House network 236 times in the past month.

As if the Trump administration needed any more bad news this week, cybersecurity researchers discovered several residential proxy services originating from the White House network, exposing a potential security flaw that could allow cybercriminals to route traffic through official government IP addresses.

The security firm Layer3 Intel detected residential proxy activity on AS2650, a network registered to the Executive Office of the President. Another security firm identified software from the proxy server Infatica, a company owned by a Russian entrepreneur who ran a server-rental company used by hackers in attacks on election systems in Arizona and Illinois in 2016.

While there’s no evidence that proxy access was used to carry out attacks on the White House, experts say it could open the door for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities or grant outsiders an unmonitored back door into high-security systems.

“It basically gives them a foothold on a network where previously nobody was getting into the White House network,” Layer3 founder Sergiy Usatyuk told CNET. “From a security policy perspective, it gives you all types of potential pathways to exploit.” (Usatyuk pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2019 for his role in operating websites that launched denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks.)

Residential proxy services route internet traffic through consumer devices (such as smartphones, laptops or home routers) to make it appear that the activity is being performed by a real person. While proxies can be used for relatively benign purposes — web scraping is by far the most common use case — they’re also popular for activities like malware attacks, identity theft and creating fake social media accounts.

For example, earlier this year, Synthient, another company that tracks proxies and VPNs, documented how one botnet infected more than 2 million devices using a residential proxy server. If a similar vulnerability existed in the White House proxy, hackers could probe the infected device’s internal systems and install malicious payloads.

In its report, Layer3 found traffic from six distinct IP addresses exiting the White House network from at least 28 known residential proxy services between Oct. 5 and Nov. 3, with most activity occurring in the evenings between 5 p.m. and midnight EST. This suggests the culprit may be an employee who connected a personal device to a Wi-Fi network with a compromised app or a proxy SDK (software development kit) running in the background. Third-party SDKs can convert a device into a “proxy node.”

Commercial proxy networks sell access to these nodes, so anyone with a few dollars could rent a trusted IP address — in this case, making it appear as though traffic originates from the Executive Office of the President.

Researchers at Synthient provided more details about the case, posting on X that several White House staffers are running “a Windows 11 machine with InfaticaSDK installed.” They pointed directly to Rave, a popular app that lets users watch streaming services with friends, as the likely delivery mechanism for the residential proxy traffic detected on the White House network.

Riley Kilmer, co-founder of the cybersecurity firm Spur Intelligence, wrote in a LinkedIn post that different types of proxy companies had been discovered in the White House, including one called 9Proxy, which is often used by criminals for banking fraud.

The White House didn’t respond to CNET’s request for comment.

Because smart TVs, connected appliances and home routers usually have minimal user oversight, a single unvetted app or out-of-date firmware update can turn a household of IoT devices into an exit node for commercial proxy networks.

Proxies can generally “glom” onto consumer devices by embedding networking code directly into software, either consensually (users willingly install it) or nonconsensually (by exploiting unsecured device access points).

It starts when app developers look for revenue by integrating those proxy SDKs into their free apps. Then, when you install the app, the fine print of the terms and conditions of service often includes a clause that allows the app to add your IP address to a third-party proxy pool.

A June report from Spur Intelligence found that roughly one in three apps available on Samsung and LG smart TVs were selling users’ IP addresses. To avoid ads, users often accept the terms when downloading the app — a type of unnoticed consent. Once installed, the SDK runs continuously in the background, registering the device’s IP with the proxy provider’s gateway, unless you delete the app or opt out. (The report notes that Amazon and Roku have explicitly banned this practice.)

Using a free VPN could expose you to the same risk, allowing your IP address to be used by someone else for nefarious activities. The FBI’s guidance on protecting yourself against proxies specifically calls out free VPNs as one of the primary ways bad actors gain access to an IP address.

In some cases, you don’t need to download anything to get your IP thrown into a shady proxy pool — you just have to buy the wrong device. A recent investigation by Synthient discovered that more than 1.3 million streaming devices from the China-based device manufacturer MECOOL were infected with proxy SDKs. A proxy service called SocksEscort was charged by the Justice Department in March with compromising thousands of routers to submit fraudulent unemployment insurance claims.

Checking whether your IP address is being used by a proxy service without your knowledge is relatively simple. Layer3 provides a free proxy-checking tool that searches its database of over 70 million proxies to find if yours is listed. GreyNoise, another cybersecurity company, also offers a free IP-checking service.

These tools can tell you if proxy traffic is passing through your network, but they can’t identify which specific device has the SDK running. You’ll have to do some additional detective work to figure out the culprit. Some common sources include free VPNs, gaming apps, “one price, no subscriptions” streaming boxes and smart TVs.

Cybersecurity experts also recommend keeping the firmware on all your internet-connected devices up to date and downloading only from trusted app stores.

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Elon Musk, in a post on X, has officially called time on the Cybertruck, stating that “Tesla will be winding down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year to make room for increased Cybercab production.”

Produced for less than four years, the polarizing pickup is seemingly dying as it lived, with the news being greeted in a flurry of replies in praise of the EV as well as deriding it. James Star, claiming to be a Tesla employee, posted that it was “the saddest news! Cybertruck (was) the best car Tesla sold,” right next to a user called Captain Ford who simply replied to Musk with “Fuck that shitbox.”

Tesla has not responded to WIRED’s request for comment and clarification that the Cybertruck will no longer be made at all. The Cybertruck is exclusively made at Gigafactory Texas, as this is apparently the only Tesla facility equipped with the machinery required to manufacture the truck’s unique stainless steel body, which supposedly started to rust in some cases.

Despite whipping up a fevered number of reservations—allegedly more than a million according to Musk, who at the end of 2023 crowed that demand was “off the charts!”—the truck failed to sell, shifting less than 50,000 units in total by March last year.

EVWire cites Kelley Blue Book data suggesting that Tesla sold 11,586 Cybertrucks in the first three quarters of this year in the US, down 28 percent year-over-year, adding that Musk’s announcement post came about 80 minutes after Tesla raised US Cybertruck prices and paused new orders for the entry-level Dual-Motor AWD version.

The Cybertruck proved not only to be wildly unpopular, it was also beset by troubles before it even reached customers. In 2023, WIRED covered a leaked Tesla report dated January 25, 2022, that showed the Cybertruck had basic design flaws, and that the preproduction “alpha” version was struggling with problems with its suspension, body sealing, noise levels, handling, and braking.

In November 2019, when Musk stepped onto a stage in California to launch his new cyberpunk-styled electric pickup, he decided to demonstrate the strength of the “unbreakable” glass windows by hurling a steel ball at them. In what has now entered into public relations folklore, the demo truck’s windows smashed not once, but twice. Musk swore, then joked: “There’s room for improvement.”

There most certainly was. In April 2024, a recall was issued for the Cybertruck because its accelerator pedal pad could come loose and get trapped by interior trim, which had the frightening potential of pushing the car to full speed.

In March last year, Tesla had to recall nearly all the Cybertrucks it had then produced because a stainless steel trim panel could become detached from the vehicle while driving, blaming the problem on the wrong type of glue, a new adhesive “not prone to environmental embrittlement.”

Back in May this year, Cybertrucks were struck down by the wrong type of grease, which meant that their wheels could potentially fall off. In what was then the EV’s 11th recall, it was declared that the Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) Cybertruck Long Range model might have faulty brake rotors. In a notice posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Tesla stated that “brake rotor stud holes may crack and allow the stud to separate from the wheel hub.” Such a situation might have seen some RWD Cybertruck owners merrily driving along only to then be disconcertingly overtaken by their own wheels.

Musk even tried to get President Donald Trump to buy one of his Cybertrucks, creating an impromptu Tesla showroom on the White House South Lawn, no less. But, sadly, even President Trump must have smelt something was off about the truck as instead he shunned the pickup and opted for a 200-mph Model S Plaid in ultra red, clearly impressed with the interior, remarking that “Everything’s computer!”

At the end of 2024, Karl Brauer, executive analyst at car ranking service iSeeCars, told WIRED that he’d calculated that the Cybertruck’s six recalls to date at the time made the EV “worse than 91 percent” of all other 2024 vehicles.

Yet, despite supposedly being so unreliable, the Cybertruck did find a small but loyal audience. WIRED profiled a number of owners last year, all fervently in love with their vehicles, but who were periodically forced to endure insults and taunts that they were Nazis, perhaps referring to an on-stage gesture Musk made at the start of 2025.

However, despite evidence seemingly to the contrary, Musk claims he is killing the Cybertruck, not because of its unreliability and staggering unpopularity, but because he wishes to focus instead on Cybercab, an autonomous EV that is central to Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions but itself has had a rocky start.

Currently operating in Austin only, with a fleet supposedly numbered only in the hundreds, Musk apparently wants to ramp up production dramatically since he confirmed on an earnings call the first cab came off the line in February.

Musk sees Cybercab as very much the vision of Tesla’s future. The CEO has even said that Tesla should no longer be regarded as an automaker but as a robotics and autonomous vehicle company. “Cybertruck was an incredible ⁠technology development platform and lives on through Cybercab,” Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill said on X.

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Amazon isn’t just electrifying its American delivery operations. The virtual big box stores that Bezos built understands the benefits of EVs as well as anyone, and they’re working hard to deploy electric vehicles everywhere they can. And now, that global push is extending to India.

Indian automaker TATA Motors has announced a deal with Amazon to deploy 3,000 electric trucks across Amazon’s transportation network in India. When it goes live, it will be the largest electric truck deployment by in India and mark Amazon’s most significant move to extend its Indian fleet electrification beyond last-mile logistics.

“India is accelerating towards electric mobility and the realization of Viksit Bharat 2047,” says Shri H.D. Kumaraswamy, Hon’ble Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, Government of India. “The collaboration between TATA Motors and Amazon shows what that looks like in practice: sustained demand from a nationwide logistics network met by electric trucks manufactured in India. Through PM E-DRIVE, the Government will continue to support this transition, and I look forward to more such efforts in powering green logistics.”

In addition to being a big deal for TATA, the 3,000 electric truck deal represents a serous bump to India’s deployed electric truck fleet, and are a major step towards the wide-scale electrification of freight transportation across the country – that’s not just good for Amazon’s fuel bills, it’s good for everyone and everything that breathes air, too.

“Electrifying our logistics and transportation network is an important part of Amazon’s goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040,” says Abhinav Singh, Vice President, Operations, Amazon, APAC, Middle East, Africa and Turkey. “We have made significant progress in India, with more than 15,000 electric vehicles operating across 500-plus cities. To enable this transition, we are also supporting the development of infrastructure and solutions that make EV adoption easier for our carrier partners and drivers. We are now setting a bold vision to scale electric trucking, addressing one of the toughest challenges in decarbonizing transportation. Our collaboration with TATA Motors marks an important step towards realizing this vision. By combining our strengths, we aim to accelerate the deployment of electric trucks across more routes, starting with intracity operations and expanding to India’s major freight corridors.”

The truck Amazon will be deploying in these record numbers is a version of the Tata Ultra E.7, a 7.5-tonne (~16,000 lb.) straight truck powered by a 240 kW (~320 hp) electric motor drawing power from a 96 kWh LFP battery pack. The truck’s makers claim a loaded range of up to 130 km (~80 miles) on a single charge, with DC fast-charging that’s capable enough to keep the trucks charged up between deliveries.

Amazon’s new TATA electric delivery trucks will support the transport of goods between warehouse facilities – which means traveling across cities and along India’s national freight corridors.

If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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I’ve been involved in the electric vehicle transition in one way or another since 1997, and have covered the industry as a journalist since 2008. You can catch more of my work on Quick Charge and The Heavy Equipment Podcast with Mike Switzer.

NOTE: any opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal government, the State of Illinois, Electrek, or anyone else. Nothing here should be interpreted as a statement of official policy, legal guidance, or an endorsement unless expressly labeled as such.

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Serve Robotics, a maker of self-driving sidewalk delivery robots, is expanding beyond its autonomous delivery operations in a bid to become a technology supplier to other companies building robots.

The company, which spun out of Uber’s acquisition of Postmates in 2021 and went public in 2024, said Thursday it will launch a new business line called Physical AI Services.

Specifically, Serve Robotics will offer customers its connectivity and data tools. Bedrock Robotics, a startup developing self-driving systems for construction equipment, is a customer, according to Serve. It’s also working with T-Mobile to bring AI computing power closer to robots, Serve announced alongside its third-quarter earnings on Thursday.

“We are solving the problem of robots in human spaces,” Serve Robotics CEO and co-founder Ali Kashani told TechCrunch.

Serve Robotics already makes two kinds of robots, the cute googly-eyed sidewalk delivery robot and one designed for hospitals that it got through its acquisition of Diligent Robotics.

Those businesses are not going away, Kashani emphasized in a recent interview. Instead, he said there is opportunity to sell the technology it developed for its own robots to other companies developing robots for farms, warehouses, and other uncontrolled environments.

“I kind of think of it as the AWS moment where we are taking the technology we’ve built for us, and we’re opening it up for more people to build on,” he said, adding this wouldn’t have been possible without developing its own robot fleet.

The expansion comes as Serve’s sidewalk delivery business expands, but is shifting away from Uber and toward other partners, including DoorDash and Wonder.

Its new Physical AI Services business line will offer three products. Serve Link helps connect robots in the field to AI systems running in data centers, which would allow companies to potentially tap into more powerful AI models without having to put all that computing power onboard.

“Any robotic application generally needs to connect the robots to some offline intelligence, whether it’s to collect data or do exception handling or whatever,” said Kashani. “It’s the connectivity piece that has to be really high performance. You need to be able to manage really unreliable networks and still reliably connect, and that’s what we solve.”

It’s also launching a data curator tool that helps companies find edge cases in the reams of real-world data a robot collects, which can then be fed back into a training model to improve performance. Its third product is a real-world, foundation-model data catalog built from Serve’s own sidewalk robots that can teach AI models how to understand complex human environments.

Kashani said he’s been thinking about this idea — a playbook he learned from Amazon — for years.

“When the technology is so nascent, you have got to build the end-to-end application because that’s the only way you know what to build, but then over time, as the technology gets more advanced, a lot more people are going to be wanting to build similar things,” he said. “And what you want to do is to open your technology so others build with you and on your platform.”

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Following a pre-order date announcement earlier this week, Google’s other Android XR launch partner has now confirmed a December release date for this first batch of glasses.

Earlier this week, Warby Parker revealed that its first Android XR glasses will go up for pre-order next week on November 12, also reiterating the “Intelligent Eyewear” branding that Google and Samsung are using for these devices.

Following up on that, the other design partner has confirmed a release date for its first Android XR glasses.

Gentle Monster posted a teaser on Twitter/X for a short film starring Joaquin Phoenix that is “a cinematic journey between reality and dream.” The full film will be released in “mid-November,” almost surely on that November 12 date, but that’s not the interesting part here – and that’s saying something, because interesting is more definitely a fitting description of the video.

Gentle Monster’s first Intelligent Eyewear collection⠀Joaquin Phoenix stars in a short film directed by Jonathan Glazer—a cinematic journey between reality and dream. Full film releasing mid-November.⠀The collection launches this December.⠀Register for the collection… pic.twitter.com/UBv6pdHWSW

Rather, it’s the casual mention of the release date for Gentle Monster’s Android XR glasses. Well, release window. It’s been rumored, but this is the official confirmation that the first Android XR glasses are getting a December 2026 release date. Better late than never, though it’s certainly interesting to see a product launch so late in the year.

Warby Parker hasn’t mentioned a December release date yet, but it stands to reason we’ll see the same launch window.

Are you looking forward to the first Android XR glasses?

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Find him on Twitter @NexusBen. Send tips to schoon@9to5g.com or encrypted to benschoon@protonmail.com.

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Award-winning culinary show ‘Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars’ is getting a third season, in an announcement that came hours after its second season came to a close. Here are the details.

Just as ‘Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook’ premiered with a two-episode combo, and ‘Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars’ aired its second season finale, the company confirmed that the latter will return for an eight-episode third season.

‘Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars’ is hosted by Topjaw’s Jesse Burgess and executive produced by Gordon Ramsay. Each season tells the story of several restaurants around the world as they compete to earn, retain, or increase their Michelin Star ratings.

The show premiered on Apple TV in 2025 to a perfect 100% Tomatometer score and has since been nominated for a BAFTA Television Award in the Factual Entertainment category, and won Best Popular Factual Programme at the 2026 Broadcast Digital Awards.

With eight episodes in each season, the show has taken viewers inside some of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants, including Brazil’s Evvai, the first in Latin America to earn three Michelin Stars, and Ynyshir, a two-star restaurant in rural Wales.

“What I love most about making ‘Knife Edge’ is that, however much time I spend in restaurants around the world, I’m constantly surprised by the extraordinary people and stories we discover. Behind every restaurant is a very personal journey, and for the chefs we follow, a Michelin Star can represent years of sacrifice, obsession and an enormous amount of hard work. It’s a privilege to be able to tell these stories, and I’m absolutely thrilled that we get to do it all again for a third season”

Watch the trailer for the second season of ‘Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars’ below:

Watch ‘Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars’ on Apple TV

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Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

Apple TV is Apple's streaming device that access…

Marcus Mendes is a Brazilian tech podcaster and journalist who has been closely following Apple since the mid-2000s.

He began covering Apple news in Brazilian media in 2012 and later broadened his focus to the wider tech industry, hosting a daily podcast for seven years.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

New developer beta release notes point to deeper Siri AI integration and more Safari customization.

Developer betas for MacOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, and iOS 27.3 are here, with a few major upgrades to the Safari browser. Vertical tabs, adaptive dark mode, and deeper Siri AI integration are on the way to the public, but are first in beta for testing.

Also: Your Apple Watch has 2 new controversial listening features – but you have to opt in

Siri AI is expected to be further woven into Music, Messages, Photos, Calendar, and Safari. Adaptive dark mode will allow for any website to be viewed in dark mode, even if the site doesn’t support it. Finally, vertical tabs are pretty straightforward, enabling vertical navigation and drag-and-drop tab reorganization.

Here’s what you can expect when the software goes public in mid-December.

Also: 3 handy iPhone features that make my life easier – even doing laundry

Siri AI gains more access to your Apple devices, allowing more cross-app functionality and the ability to execute complex, multi-step tasks within your apps.

According to 9to5Mac, you can ask Siri AI to create a playlist in Music and save it to your library, request messages to be scheduled for a later send, organize and label photos, and create a detailed calendar invite — all with your voice.

The same reporting also states that Siri AI features will appear in Maps, Weather, Shortcuts, and Notes, signaling that an AI-supercharged Siri will live in every crevice of your Apple devices.

Also: iOS 27 will organize your open Safari tabs now

I’m not one to complete tasks like the ones mentioned above on my iPhone — I’m far more likely to do them on my MacBook Air, since I associate the laptop with productivity. Every blue moon I’ll rearrange my entire Apple Music catalog, every month I fill out my calendar, and sometimes I’ll go through Photos and try to organize it. I can see myself automating certain steps in these tasks, and I’m excited to try it.

A WebKit blog post details that adaptive dark mode is coming to Safari, how it will work, and what users can expect. According to the post, 40% of web page loads are from dark mode users, but only 10% of web pages natively support it.

I’m particularly excited about this feature, as I set my Apple devices to automatically enable dark mode at 7 p.m. to encourage a more relaxing evening scrolling vibe, especially while reading. I read a lot on my MacBook, and in a dark room, a bright page can feel too bright, but dimming my laptop’s display doesn’t quite do the trick.

Also: Your AirPods got better in iOS 27 – three new ways I’m using them

The WebKit blog post states that adaptive dark mode uses “a color matrix to invert the luminosity of colors while preserving hue” and distinguishes between when a page’s color is purely decorative and when it carries substantial meaning, to ensure the user experience remains consistent between light and dark modes.

Vertical browser tabs aren’t a new concept, but they’ll soon be new to Safari. I see the value in vertical tabs: a list view is easier to scan, web page titles aren’t smushed when several tabs are open, and they’re particularly useful when you’re working on a widescreen monitor.

Many people who spend hours using their Mac or MacBook may find this upcoming feature useful. I do believe that Safari is the superior browser for personal use, given its integration with your Apple devices, especially with features like Handoff.

Also: 7 AI-free iOS 27 features that make old iPhones exciting again

However, I do have one major gripe with vertical tabs: they’re usually locked to the left panel, and I prefer the right. If Safari allows this customization, I’ll seriously consider switching from horizontal tabs.

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Eight years after GlobalFoundries abandoned the development of its 7nm FinFET technology, the company is preparing to return to 7nm-class performance, this time by going via a different route. Its FDX Fusion process, built on FD-SOI (fully depleted silicon-on-insulator) technology, promises 7nm-class performance using advanced planar transistors, with no EUV lithography necessary.

In an interview with Tom's Hardware Premium, GlobalFoundries' Sudipto Bose, vice president of the FD-SOI business unit, shared new details about its FDX Fusion technology, including its 8nm-class logic density, advanced planar transistors, manufacturing costs, and plans to begin commercial production in 2028. The company also explained how it intends to compete with conventional FinFET technologies and why it believes FD-SOI has a future beyond the 22nm-class generation. Some elements of this interview transcript have been edited for flow and clarity.

Sudipto Bose: I have been at GlobalFoundries (GF) for a little bit over six years, and I have been in the industry for 25+ years. I spent the rest of my career at Texas Instruments (TI), so it's really two jobs that I have done: TI and GF. Half and half engineering and business. I spent a lot of my business days in the automotive segment. This was what I was doing at GF when I joined, and now I have the FDX product line role.

Sudipto Bose: A little bit on the history of FDX at GF. GF has been investing in FD-SOI for a long time. It started [these efforts] before I joined. So I would say almost eight years now. And a lot of the investment thesis that drove us towards FDX Fusion is based on the traction that we have in the market today, right? We have quite a few customers who are ramping up. And I say quite a few; this is like high double-digit customers in the nineties that are ramping up right now.

Anton Shilov: What specific types of chips and devices is FDX Fusion designed for? Which application will benefit most from its capabilities?

Sudipto Bose: FDX Fusion will try to enhance the applications in which we play today. What do I mean by that? If you look at our current customers, they are designing chips, everything to do with connectivity. When I say connectivity, think of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, satcom, all of that. So that is one class of customers.

There's another class of customers who are designing processors at the edge, so these are MCUs (microcontroller units) with some level of inference sitting inside. Think of customers like Alif Semiconductors. So that is another class: MCUs at the edge.

Then in automotive, we have a disproportionate exposure to radar, and this is because of the eighty-one gigahertz performance that FDX brings to the table. So we will engage with them as they try to enhance their portfolio. We also have an automotive MCU, but radar is where you will see a lot of press releases that we have done.

Last but not least, we also have exposure in the data center segment. This also goes back to the fT/fmax, the high-performance RF that we have, which is a good candidate for designing TIAs and clock recovery circuits.

Anton Shilov: By applications inside data centers, what exactly do you mean? CPUs?

Sudipto Bose: Not CPUs. It is in the connectivity space. So, if you think about GF's focus, we are very focused on two things in data centers: power and connectivity. So in the connectivity space, we have silicon photonics, or turning electrons into photons. But then when you receive them, you have the optical diode, again, a GF silicon photonics technology. After that, you need circuits that will amplify those weak electrical signals and drive them to the compute chip. This circuit, which amplifies the weak electrical signals, is right now being done by GF silicon-germanium, but once FDX Fusion is there, we'll offer them both [as] options. And so, to be very specific to your answer, these are data/signal paths inside the data center that feed into CPUs.

GlobalFoundries' FDX Fusion is a new manufacturing technology that promises 8nm-class logic density and 7nm-class power and performance without EUV lithography or FinFET transistors, which greatly reduces design costs and manufacturing costs at the cost of significantly lower transistor density compared to 7nm-class nodes.

Instead, the process relies on advanced planar fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) transistors, strained silicon substrates, and aggressive optical patterning techniques to achieve transistor dimensions comparable to those of conventional 8nm-class FinFET nodes.

FDX Fusion also retains support for adaptive body biasing and combines high-density digital logic with RF, analog, and embedded memory capabilities. The technology will be manufactured using deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography, although its tighter gate and metal pitches will likely require extensive multipatterning for the most critical layers.

Anton Shilov: What are the key innovations of FDX Fusion compared to predecessors and other nodes that are currently used?

Sudipto Bose: The key things that we're improving from the current-generation FDX, the first one is fT/fmax, this is 500 GHz, or 0.5 THz fT/fmax. This helps the first segment that I talked about, which is connectivity. This helps automotive radar, and this definitely helps the data center segment as they try to improve data speeds. So this is not really competing with silicon germanium. Think of it as silicon germanium at the very high end, and FDX in the 100 – 200 Gb per lambda space. That is one. The second one is the inference at the edge. So we can call it physical AI, and we look at physical AI as sense, think, act, and connect. But the kind of feature set we are putting in starts with improving the digital gate density. This is 2.2 times more dense than the current generation FDX (22FDX and 22FDX+).

Sudipto Bose: We are putting in a lot of flavors of eNVM, a lot of flavors of SRAM, because in edge AI, and in fact for any AI, the real game is how much memory you can pack without increasing the cost. So we are adding a lot of flavors of those. The way we architected FDX Fusion is that we set a goal of how much performance we can deliver to our customer base without increasing their operating expenses.

If you look at classic 7nm, 6nm, they require EUV tools. The mask set is costly; the tool chain is costly. The FDX Fusion platform that we've built isn't going to use EUV tools. It is also based on planar technology. So there are two advantages to this. One is that we can support a much more competitive mask set price compared to 6nm. We can also offer [customers] a lot more flexibility in terms of cycle time and in how many places we manufacture, because FDX Fusion does not need EUV tools.

So, to summarize the answer? We are trying to improve RF and analog performance, digital gate density, and the classes of memory that we offer. What applications are we trying to target? It is connectivity, edge AI, high-frequency mmWave, automotive radar, and definitely applications inside data centers.

Anton Shilov: You just mentioned transistor density. The press release says that it has more than twice the transistor density of the original 22FDX process, but you never actually published a transistor density number for this. Could you share any numbers?

Sudipto Bose: I will share a number with you. But I will also give you a little bit of context on how our customers look at our technology portfolio. If you look at the current generation, the one that we are manufacturing today, the one where I said we have 90+ customers ramping. Not designing, ramping. This basically comes from the flexibility of FD-SOI. You have the box, the depleted channel, and you can use body bias. So we have customers who are able to achieve 16nm-class power and performance with 22FDX. What do I mean by 16nm-class power and performance?

It essentially means that although our gate density is not as close to 16mm, when you look at the system-level requirements like CPU clock, but think of it as TOPS per watt, we are matching 16nm; in some cases, we are matching 12nm-class.

[...] If I were sitting in a time machine and went back seven years, instead of calling it 22FDX, we could have called it 16FDX, right? Or we could have called it 16nm-class FDX. So with that analogy, if you come to FDX Fusion, our gate density of FDX Fusion will be exactly the same as the industry's 8nm standard today.

It is 14 million gates per square millimeter; that is the density.

Note: Assuming he uses a two-input NAND gate as its reference, each gate contains four transistors, which translates to 56 MTr/mm², which is comparable to what Samsung's 8nm-class nodes use.

Sudipto Bose: Now, why do we call it 7nm-class? Or we actually thought of calling it 6nm-class, but then we said, let's wait for some silicon before we go too far ahead. It is because digital gate density is one aspect of a solution. It defines your physical size, the die size, and that is great. But then you need power and performance. And with the adaptive body bias (ABB) capability that FD-SOI has, and with the standard cell metallization innovations that we have brought in FDX Fusion, once a device is done and you again look at TOPS per watt, it should be equivalent, if not better, than what 7nm can achieve. That is our product target. So for a customer, the value it brings [customers] is: 'I do not have to use an EUV tool line. I do not have to use a mask set that costs many millions of dollars.'

I have something which costs a few millions of dollars, has great cycle time, but at the same time, I am getting TOPS per watt, which is similar to or better than 7nm. The die size might be bigger, but again, it should not be no bigger than what 8nm is today. And that is the messaging to the industry; that is why we say 7nm-class instead of saying, 'Hey, this is 7nm density.' We are trying to reflect what our customers have told us. That in the edge world, in the physical AI world, the size of the die is one aspect, but if the die does not meet the power requirement of the application, then the whole system will not function. So that is the push.

Anton Shilov: That is perhaps why you actually called the technology FDX Fusion instead of using some fancy number.

Sudipto Bose: Yes, because the moment we put a number [out], people put us in a box. And we want to give customers the optionality of, 'Listen, you want to design a transimpedance amplifier using the fT/fmax that we have? That's an analog circuit. No one cares about digital gate density. Go build it.'

'You want to build a simple MCU, which is just SRAM and IOs? We have 14 million gates per square millimeter. Go build it.' 'You want to build a mixed-signal design like a single-chip radar, Wi-Fi, a satcom digital beamformer? Here are the few other knobs that you can turn to get the best PPA or the best system performance that you need.'

That is why we chose the name Fusion; we are trying to imply [that] we give you many options. It is the combination of all the good things the world needs to design the physical AI dream that we have put in front of ourselves, like the whole stack concept of 'sense, think, act, and connect'. Let us see if it sticks. I think it is a bold move for us to go against the grain of the way the foundry industry typically names its platforms, but we feel pretty strong about it.

Anton Shilov: So, you shared the gate density number, but could you maybe also share things like contacted gate pitch, metal pitch as well?

Sudipto Bose: In time. The reason I mention that is there is a little bit of IP involved. We want to get the first silicon out, engage with a few customers before we publish the CPP and the M(etal) layers. […] We are pushing the limits of patterning and coloring as well as gate oxide engineering to get the best CPP and metal pitches, which will enable this level of density of gates. That is, I would say in terms of R&D dollars just at a very high level, 50% of R&D dollars is on the transistor itself because we are doing strained substrates. There are multiple techniques we are using to improve the PFET and NFET performance. The other 50% is all on CPP and metal pitches.

Anton Shilov: So, are those contacted gate pitches and metal pitches comparable to conventional 7nm class FinFET process technologies?

Anton Shilov: When we talk about 8nm, basically speaking, there is only one company that actually produces chips using an 8nm-class technology. That is Samsung Foundry. TSMC and Intel Foundry do not have 8nm-class technologies. So I suppose that we should compare it to Samsung's 8nm node, right?

Anton Shilov: When it comes to power consumption improvements versus 22FDX and 22FDX+, how much lower power can we get using the new FDX Fusion node?

Sudipto Bose: It depends on the application, but I understand your question. So if you just normalize with [iso performance and iso power], I am giving you an answer with adaptive body bias included. If you consider current-generation FDX as the base point, the goal of FDX Fusion is to get 30% higher performance and 40% lower power. Again, it is really application-driven [in] how low you can go. But if you take the standard core, our goal is to get at least a 20% improvement.

Anton Shilov: What types of chips do you expect to benefit most from the FDX Fusion technology? You mentioned connectivity, edge AI, high RF, automotive radar, and connectivity applications inside data centers. What about application-specific AI accelerators, because you mentioned edge inference?

Sudipto Bose: From the STAC — sense, think, act, and connect — framework point of view, let me give you an example. Think of a humanoid, or a car — major applications that need to see. It needs to see and then infer what the environment is like. So the class of chips that do this vision processing at the edge to infer the surroundings will definitely be supported with FDX Fusion. The class of chips that will hear, do voice recognition, and, from voice recognition, draw conclusions, we definitely want to support [them]. Now, at the data center right now, as I said, our play is connectivity. Just translating optical to electrical signals.

If a customer wants to use a chiplet, which has a lot of memory, think of analog in-memory compute along with an inference engine, by all means we will support [such applications]. We will work with customers to see how we can play in that compute ecosystem in the data center. But in terms of pure focus, the first 10 customers that we are engaged with are either at the edge, or they are in the connectivity piece inside the data center.

Note: For those of our readers who are not familiar with ABB, this is a technique that dynamically adjusts a transistor's threshold voltage by changing the voltage applied to the transistor body. Forward body bias reduces threshold voltage to improve performance, while reverse body bias increases it to reduce power leakage. This enables chips to optimize performance and power consumption according to workload requirements. ABB is one of the key advantages of the FD-SOI technology.

Anton Shilov: Since you mentioned this, does FDX Fusion retain the active body biasing capabilities of its predecessors?

Sudipto Bose: It is an inseparable part of the platform, yes. We will launch this platform in a way that customers can use it.

Anton Shilov: You also mentioned makers of wafer fab equipment. Will FDX Fusion use existing manufacturing equipment at the Dresden facility, or will it require substantial investments in new lithography, deposition, etching, and metrology tools?

Sudipto Bose: It will require new tools. Substantial is a relative term. If you see the amount of money being invested in semiconductors, the term 'substantial' has changed. We are going to get new tools, which is why we combined the FDX Fusion announcement event with the topping off of the Sprint expansion project. That's why we had all the luminaries from the German and the European government. There will be tool investment; we will be buying tools from the vendors. How much of it is going to be litho versus etching? Time will tell, but for sure we need new tools compared to what we have today.

Anton Shilov: But will you essentially need to completely re-equip the Dresden facility to use FDX Fusion? What percentage of the tools you have can be reused for FDX Fusion?

Sudipto Bose: We can get back to you on that exact answer because I do want to give you a proper answer, rather than a high-level answer. But I will tell you where the targets are. With the front end, the transistor fabrication tool chain, my target is to reuse as much as we can.

Anton Shilov: You also mentioned that you plan to begin manufacturing FDX Fusion in 2028. But does this refer to risk production, initial customer production, or high volume manufacturing?

Sudipto Bose: Initial customer production.

Anton Shilov: When do you expect the technology to reach mature yields and meaningful production volumes?

Sudipto Bose: I will give you my target, and then the industry will define it because we are a part of a bigger ecosystem. 2030 is when we want to get to high-volume manufacturing with FDX Fusion. But again, it depends on the first applications and the first few customers.

Anton Shilov: Speaking of customers, you probably already have customers who are committed to production, haven't you?

Sudipto Bose: We have customers who are committed to building a chip. Of course, we have to deliver to their specs before they go to production.

Anton Shilov: I suppose the customers that you mentioned in the press release like BMW, Bosch NXP, Siemens, and Tesla, they are all plan to build chips on this technology.

Sudipto Bose: […] They have been pushing us for the last few years to do something like this, and they have given us requirements. Now we are doing it, and we have to show them what we can [deliver]. So there is a lot of push that we have received from the industry, from these companies. When I say these companies, the supply chain that leads into these companies to deliver something which will work at the edge. So we are racing against time to show them something that will meet the specs.

Anton Shilov: GlobalFoundries plans to release the initial FDX Fusion PDK in mid-2027. But when do you expect complete digital, analog, and RF design flows to become available from the three major EDA vendors?

Sudipto Bose: Yeah. I wish I could tell you… Right now we are in discussion with all the major primes, so we are in the request for information/request for quotation (RFI/RFQ) phase, but we have started discussions with the major EDA vendors. It has been almost six to nine months now.

Anton Shilov: But you do expect all the leading EDA vendors to support FDX Fusion in eight to nine months?

Sudipto Bose: Of course. We are going to engage with the whole ecosystem that we have, and once [the PDK is out], we have to support a proper flow not just for chip design, but also IPs that are required and everything else around it.

Anton Shilov: So how extensive will the initial FDX Fusion IP ecosystem be? Will customers have access to silicon-proven standard cell libraries, SRAM compilers, embedded non-volatile memory, interface IPs, maybe analog and radio frequency building blocks before 2028?

Sudipto Bose: Yes. In the first two years, we are going to engage with pilot customers. Think of these as early adopters. We have early adopters listed, and we will design standard cell, I/Os, and SRAM [...] needed for everything, so we will have those. But then the complex IPs, like PCIe Gen 4/5 or LPDDR6 or a DisplayPort, will be dictated by the first few applications that will ramp. FDX Fusion for us is the beginning of a journey. We have been on the journey of 22FDX for almost eight years. I envision FDX Fusion to be more than that. Even on our current platforms, we keep enhancing our IP portfolio. So I expect us to be adding IPs to FDX Fusion over the next ten years.

Anton Shilov: GlobalFoundries also highlighted its ARC and MIPS processor IP portfolios and RISC-V expertise as part of the FDX Fusion offering. Do you plan to develop processor cores and AI accelerators specifically optimized for FDX Fusion? IPs specifically optimized for FDX Fusion? Or will you primarily port existing IP to the new process?

Sudipto Bose: MIPS is an internal customer and a partner, and we will engage with them, and they will launch a platform for physical AI that is fine-tuned, in a combination of what they have and what FDX Fusion has. ARC and MIPS are key pieces of the strategy. Having an internal customer like that just enhances our development cycle by 5X because now they can start developing fast turns of test chips and give us feedback. We did not have this capability in the past. Now we do. Once they are ready, they will start announcing stuff.

Anton Shilov: So essentially, you will both port the existing IPs to the new node, but also MIPS will likely develop something brand new specifically for FDX Fusion.

Anton Shilov: How will the manufacturing complexity and cost per transistor of FDX Fusion compare to 22FDX+, your 12nm FinFET technology, and conventional 8nm FinFET technology?

Sudipto Bose: This would be the most advanced planar transistor that the world has seen, the most advanced non-EUV-based manufacturing line that the world has seen. So, I would say significantly more complex than our current 22nm-class FD-SOI line. More complex than what we have on the 12nm FinFET line. We are working with every tool vendor that you can think of as part of this program, and we have given them the challenges. It goes back to your question about our contacted gate pitch and metal pitch. So, we have had multiple workshops with them over the last few quarters, and each one of them is proposing a tool recipe that they think will get this to a nice and solid yield.

Sudipto Bose: So, I guess the answer to your question is: firstly, it is definitely complex, and secondly, we are really using the entire ecosystem available to us to come up with tool configurations that will deliver this. All of this is going to happen in Dresden. We have to be competitive, so price is always dictated by the market. Our goal is to have a running cost that is significantly better than a 7nm or a 6nm class of design (due to planar transistors and due to lack of EUV masks). After that, we will work with our customers to figure out what makes sense. But you are right, the value that we want to bring in is, 'dear customers, you do not have the same operating expenses load, meaning the cost of tape-out is less than 6nm.'

And you can do multiple tape-outs because this class of devices is not something where you can design one part and use it for 15 applications. You really need 15 devices for 15 applications. So, we definitely enable that. Then, when it comes to manufacturing cost, it is a discussion with our customers. We have various business models, but the goal is to make sure it is a win-win. At the end of the day, the lower the cost we are, the more flexibility we can provide to our customers. The non-EUV path is one of the things that was dictated by our decision that we must keep this a cost-competitive platform.

Anton Shilov: So, cost-wise you want to be competitive, but it's likely comparable to 8nm.

Sudipto Bose: I will have a better feel once we are complete with what we call our M-cycles inside the fab. But I would say my internal target is that we have to be better than that.

Anton Shilov: GlobalFoundries describes upcoming technology as its 1st Generation of FDX Fusion. Does this mean that you envision subsequent generations with high transistor density and performance? Maybe you can share some preliminary targets or timelines for the next node?

Sudipto Bose: We have listed quite a few innovation steps that we want to enable on this platform. The FDX Fusion definition is based on the ones we believe we are more confident that we will be able to deliver in the timeframe that we have said. We have kept a few things in the innovation lab, and they are pushing the boundaries of a few things like eNVM, EDA routing, chip folding, 2.5D integration, which, once they mature, will define what the next version of FDX Fusion will look like. I do not have a timeline for the next version of FDX Fusion, though.

As we proceed through the development phase, I would say early 2028 to mid-2028 is when I expect to have a better view of when the next version will be launched. And this is also based on feedback we will get from customers. Because what we have right now is our first silicon, which is running in the lab, which we will show to customers. They will give us a lot of feedback. I am sure we will get a few things right, and at the same time, we will get a few things not so right. And that feedback, along with a few of the innovation topics I mentioned, will dictate what the next generation is going to look like. Stay tuned!

Anton Shilov: One of the reasons why I aksed about next-generation nodes is partly because TSMC typically shares its process technology roadmaps with new nodes well before it releases early PDKs for these nodes. Given that FDX Fusion is now GF's most advanced logic process, with capabilities comparable to 8nm-class technologies (i.e., more advanced than 22FDX or bulk 12nm FinFET), how frequently does GlobalFoundries plan to introduce new process technologies, and how far in advance will it disclose its roadmap?

Sudipto Bose: I would say, we are doing advanced development across the board. If you look at the work we are doing on silicon photonics, on packaging, on power transistors like GaN, RF GaN, Power GaN, these are all pretty advanced. But yes, you are right: in what the world understands as a classic, let's say, high-density process, FDX Fusion is the most advanced. We typically announce or update the industry about our roadmap every year at the GlobalFoundries Technology Symposium. Like this year at GTS, we announced FDX Fusion. So, I would say stay tuned for the GTS sessions that we have, and typically every year we do it in September or October.

Anton Shilov: CEA-Leti describes FDX Fusion as a single-digit FD-SOI node. How closely is this new technology related to CEA-Leti's own research in 10nm and 7nm with their SOI nodes?

Sudipto Bose: The platform that we have right now is the outside of the substrate engineering work that we are doing with Soitec and CEA-Leti; the rest of it is GF inherent IP at this point in time. So we are bringing in the knowledge that we have from current-generation FDX, the knowledge that we have from the work that we did in 7nm before we stopped it, the work that we have done on 12nm. So it is bringing in all the innovations across all the GF fabs to figure out what is the best that we can offer. Does it mean that we will not look at what CEA-Leti has in the future? I do not have an answer right now. But for now, FDX Fusion is a very GF innovation-driven effort.

Anton Shilov: So you did not use pre-competitive IP from CEA-Leti to develop FDX Fusion? Is it a completely internally developed node?

Anton Shilov: The press release mentions innovations in substrate engineering along with endorsements from CEA-Leti and Soitec. What exactly does that involve, and how does it improve transistor performance? What role do Soitec and CEA-Leti play in developing FDX's strained silicon substrates, and how close is this technology to mass production?

Sudipto Bose: GlobalFoundries is working with CEA-Leti and Soitec under the FAMES program to develop strained silicon substrates for FDX Fusion. The goal is to improve charge carrier mobility and, consequently, transistor performance. Since FD-SOI technology relies on specialized silicon-on-insulator wafers supplied by Soitec, the three organizations are developing ways to introduce strain into these substrates and make the technology suitable for high-volume manufacturing. The approach has already demonstrated its viability in the laboratory, and the partners are now refining the manufacturing process to prepare it for commercial production.

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

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Interstellar Technologies announces more government funding for the Japanese Zero rocket.

Welcome to Edition 9.18 of the Rocket Report! Blue Origin packed a lot of news into one afternoon Thursday with the reveal of a new kick stage for the New Glenn rocket, a new rocket engine design, and the minor and widely expected delay for New Glenn’s return-to-flight mission from December until January. The reconstruction of Blue Origin’s wrecked launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, continues apace after a catastrophic explosion nearly six months ago. There’s a lot of pent-up demand from NASA, Amazon, and the Space Force for Blue Origin to get New Glenn back in action.

SpaceX vets work on water-fed propulsion. Three brothers who worked at SpaceX in the Falcon 9 era are now building satellites that run on water, a potentially harvestable resource on the Moon and found all over the Solar System, Ars reports. In late 2022, the three Carlisle brothers founded Argo Space to build infrastructure in space. Their vision was not just in-space transportation but also removing the need to use propellants from Earth to move around the heavens. Argo Space’s satellites will use water not only as a propellant, but also as a coolant and radiation shield.

How does this work? … Argo Space flew its first mission in July, but the spacecraft failed after one of its solar arrays didn’t deploy, and there wasn’t enough time to test the propulsion system. Two more missions are on Argo Space’s schedule for 2027 to demonstrate the company’s water-based thrusters. The propulsion system is basically a small rocket that uses hydrogen and oxygen as propellants. However, instead of launching with separate tanks of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, the satellite carries a reservoir of liquid water. In space, the vehicle uses solar power to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases and burns them to generate thrust.

JAXA backs small satellite launcher. Japanese launcher startup Interstellar Technologies has secured the backing of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for its Zero rocket program, Aviation Week & Space Technology reports. The company said JAXA selected it for its Acceleration of Commercial Rocket Launch Demonstration program under the Space Strategic Fund. The government-funded program supports development and flight demonstrations of private launch companies with grants of up to $76 million per company, with the goal of fostering a growing commercial launch industry in Japan. Interstellar previously raised more than $250 million, with roughly equivalent funds from government and private capital.

Zeroing in … Interstellar is using the money to complete development of its Zero rocket, a two-stage launcher designed to carry up to 1 metric ton (2,200 pounds) of payload to low-Earth orbit. “We have achieved critical technical milestones, including Japan’s first successful firing test of an orbital-class methane engine,” said Satoshi Nakayama, director of the board and president of Interstellar. “We have now reached the stage where we must swiftly turn these proven development results into operational commercial services.” The most recent update from Interstellar indicated a first launch of Zero in 2027.

Launch demand outpacing supply. A new report from analytics firm Quilty Space confirms that, outside of China, the world faces a significant shortage of rockets over the next five years, Ars reports. The firm estimates that between now and 2030, there will be a shortfall of about 150 launches compared to demand from satellite operators and civil space agencies. If demand from the US military is added in—and SpaceX does not extend the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy program to accommodate increased national security needs—the shortage could be doubled.

Worse than we thought … “What we wanted to get at is to understand how severe this launch crisis is and when will it be resolved,” said Caleb Henry, director of research at Quilty Space. “What we learned is that the launch crisis is more severe than we thought and that it will not go away this decade for sure, and it might not abate until sometime late in the 2030s.” Why is this happening? Quilty puts the blame on several factors: the war in Ukraine taking Russian rockets off the Western market; Amazon Leo demand; developmental delays in a new generation of rockets, from New Glenn and Vulcan to Neutron, Terran R, and Nova; and more recently, the retirement of the Falcon 9 as a rocket for commercial service.

China continues launching mega-constellation. Another 18 satellites for China’s SpaceSail Internet network launched Tuesday (Monday, US time) from a spaceport in the country’s northwestern desert. The mission marked the second launch—and first operational flight—of the Kinetica 2 rocket developed by a Chinese startup known as CAS Space. The SpaceSail constellation, also known as Qianfan, now consists of some 275 flat-panel satellites from a series of launches that began in August 2024. The network’s first phase will number 1,296 satellites.

A mini-Falcon Heavy … The Kinetica 2 is an interesting launch vehicle, with three side-by-side boosters arranged in a manner similar to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. But the Kinetica 2 is a much smaller rocket, with three kerosene-fueled engines on each booster instead of nine. Its lift performance to low-Earth orbit is about 12 metric tons (26,000 pounds). CAS Space plans to eventually recover and reuse the Kinetica 2 boosters.

India launches strategic navigation satellite. A Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket launched on October 30 with a satellite to restore India’s regional navigation system, NDTV reports. The NVS-03 satellite is the third spacecraft in India’s second-generation navigation network. Some of the fleet’s older satellites suffered from atomic clock failures, rendering them partially or totally unusable. NVS-03 carries multiple clocks of different designs in an attempt to overcome the system’s reliability problems.

A “naughty boy” … India’s medium-lift GSLV has now launched 20 times since debuting in 2001. The rocket doesn’t fly as often as India’s smaller launcher, the PSLV, and hasn’t always performed well when it has. Six of the 20 flights ended in total or partial failures, but most of the mishaps occurred early in the rocket’s history. GSLV’s track record earned it the title “naughty boy” from Indian space officials. The most recent launch was a different story. The head of India’s space agency, V. Narayanan, declared that the GSLV’s recent flight was the “most precise launch of any rocket in the world.” We’re not sure what metric Narayanan used to make that claim, but the launch was, indeed, a success.

China reveals roadmap to lunar landing. Chinese space officials confirmed that the Asian nation plans to land its astronauts on the Moon within three years, Ars reports. At the Seventh Manned Spaceflight Conference in Beijing, officials, including Wang Xiang, chief designer for the lunar exploration program, laid out the country’s most publicly detailed plans yet for a series of missions leading up to a crewed lunar landing “before 2030.” China’s lunar landings will involve a lunar-orbit rendezvous similar to what NASA did in the 1960s and early 1970s with the Apollo program. However, lacking a rocket as powerful as the Saturn V vehicle, the crew and lunar lander will launch separately to the Moon.

These are the rockets … China’s Long March 10 rocket family will be the workhorse for the country’s initial crew missions to the Moon. The next big test will be the demonstration flight of a Long March 10A rocket, which flies with a single core booster, and China’s new Mengzhou Moon ship to low-Earth orbit in early 2027. The larger Long March 10, with three boosters connected together, will launch China’s Lanyue lunar lander on an uncrewed test flight to the Moon in 2028. The next year, a follow-up mission will involve the concurrent launch of two Long March 10s, one with an uncrewed Mengzhou spacecraft and the other with a Lanyue lander that will dock together in lunar orbit. Then, before 2030, another dual launch of Long March 10s will occur, this time with crew on the Mengzhou spacecraft, leading to the crewed landing mission.

Blue Origin’s big reveals. Blue Origin announced two significant upgrades to its New Glenn rocket on Thursday, reducing the cost of manufacturing the vehicle and expanding its capacity for payload delivery to geostationary orbit and the Moon, Ars reports. With these upgrades, the company aims to eventually position New Glenn to launch more than 1,000 times a year. One of the announcements involved a new engine, called Northstar, that will eventually replace the BE-4 engine that powers the first stage of New Glenn. The other piece of news was that Blue Origin is developing a hydrogen-oxygen third stage for the rocket to give it an extra kick for high-energy missions.

Blue’s Northstar … The Northstar engine is a simplified but more powerful version of the BE-4 engine. It has half the number of parts and 30 percent less mass, and about 65 percent can be 3D-printed, all while providing a thrust increase over the BE-4. Blue Origin believes it can manufacture the engine at 25 percent the cost of a BE-4 engine. The kick stage is somewhat of an engineering marvel in itself. The stage will use a lightweight composite fuel tank, but officials were not sure the structure could contain leak-prone hydrogen at high pressure. The company recently had a breakthrough at Launch Site One in Texas, when it completed its first composite liquid hydrogen tanking test, giving engineers confidence to move forward with the design.

New Glenn won’t return to flight this year. Blue Origin now plans to resume launches of its New Glenn rocket in January, delaying the much-anticipated flight of the vehicle after a destructive launch pad explosion in May, Bloomberg reports. The Jeff Bezos-backed company had been driving to launch New Glenn again before the end of the year in its quest to challenge SpaceX. But Blue Origin Chief Executive Officer Dave Limp told employees on Wednesday that they are now targeting a flight early in 2027.

What’s a month? … The slight delay is unsurprising, and a January launch would still put Blue Origin well head of initial fears of how long it would take to rebuild its launch pad in Florida. New Glenn has a busy launch manifest after the return-to-flight mission, including a crucial launch in the spring of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander, an uncrewed precursor to the company’s future human-rated lander for NASA’s Artemis missions.

Artemis II tore through the atmosphere. The launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission in April caused significant disturbances in Earth’s ionosphere that could have triggered temporary, localized errors in GPS positioning, a new study has found, Space.com reports. The study by a team of researchers from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan analyzed data from high-precision networks of fixed, ground-based GPS receivers. The researchers used the GPS measurements to reconstruct how the passage of the Artemis II mission’s Space Launch System rocket changed the concentrations of free electrons in the upper atmosphere.

Disturbing the peace … The measurements found that the ionospheric disturbances resulting from the Artemis II launch were more significant than any caused by other rocket launches to date. Curiously, they were up to 10 times more intense than those observed following the test launches of SpaceX’s Starship, which is twice as powerful as the SLS based on liftoff thrust.

November 6: Ceres 2 | Unknown Payload | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China | 23:35 UTC

November 7: Falcon 9 | USSF-432 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 00:46 UTC

November 8: Long March 12 | SatNet LEO Group | Wenchang Space Launch Site, China | 20:25 UTC

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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Over the past two years, big tech companies like Apple and Meta have, in various ways, cozied up to Donald Trump's presidential administration, which has adopted a very laissez faire approach to tech regulation. That is almost certain to change, with a post-midterms AI reckoning.

After a staggering Democratic sweep of the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday, some of those companies are preparing for what the Washington Post called an "investigative blitz" in its report on the matter. According to the Post's sources, which include congressional staffers, lawyers, and lobbyists, some of the targets of these investigations include Apple, Meta, and Elon Musk's companies.

Wall Street is also anticipating congressional action, with tech stocks (and major indexes) dropping sharply on Thursday following warnings from Democratic senators Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey.

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile

On election night, incoming House Oversight Committee chairman issued a very efficient statement on the matter: "Lawyer up."

Massachusetts senator Ed Markey also quipped: "They are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing."

According to the Post, the investigations will look into things like the Trump White House using Grok to plan the kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro earlier this year. Congress also wants to look into Meta's habit of making local governments sign NDAs related to data center construction, and Apple's relationship to tracking apps used by ICE.

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Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.

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Apollo has spent the last several years carving out a spot for itself toward the more premium end of the electric scooter market. Now the company is trying something different: going after the mass market with its least expensive model yet.

The new Apollo Dash carries a $699 MSRP, but is launching at $599 as part of the company’s Black Friday sale running through November 30. More importantly, Apollo says the Dash isn’t intended to simply be a stripped-down budget scooter, but rather a way to bring much of its existing technology down to a lower price point.

The scooter uses a 48V electrical system powering a 600W nominal, 1,200W peak-rated Bosch motor, with a top speed of 20 mph (32 km/h). Its 480Wh battery is rated for up to 25 miles (40 km) of range in Eco mode.

Apollo also claims the 48V architecture avoids limiting motor power to anemic levels as the battery drains, meaning riders shouldn’t experience the same increasingly sluggish performance toward the bottom of the battery that can occur on some lower-cost scooters.

At 43 lb (19.5 kg), the Dash is reasonably portable, though getting the weight and price down comes with an important compromise: there’s no suspension. Apollo also caps rider weight at 220 lb (100 kg), and points heavier riders or those regularly tackling rough roads and hills toward the more expensive Apollo Go instead.

Despite the lower price, there’s still a surprisingly long feature list. The Dash gets IP66 water resistance, self-healing tubeless tires, regenerative braking, built-in turn signals, Apollo’s Beam stem light, NFC unlocking, Apple Find My integration, and connectivity with the Apollo smartphone app.

Apollo says it put the frame through 10,000 km (6,200 miles) of durability validation before shipping production units. A beta test program also accumulated 1,002 miles over 144 rides without any reported punctures or maintenance issues. Beta riders averaged 19 miles (30 km) per ride while finishing with 29% battery remaining, according to Apollo.

Perhaps the bigger story here, though, is where Apollo is positioning the Dash. The company says 52% of its customers previously owned scooters from brands including Segway, NIU, and Xiaomi, but historically moving up to an Apollo often meant crossing the $1,000 mark.

At $599, the Dash appears designed to get those riders into Apollo’s ecosystem much earlier – while also putting the company squarely into competition with the mass-market scooters it previously sat above.

And for those wanting a bit more power or features, Apollo’s more upmarket models are on sale now as part of early Black Friday promotions.

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Micah Toll is a personal electric vehicle enthusiast, battery nerd, and author of the Amazon #1 bestselling books DIY Lithium Batteries, DIY Solar Power, The Ultimate DIY Ebike Guide and The Electric Bike Manifesto.

The e-bikes that make up Micah’s current daily drivers are the $999 Lectric XP 2.0, the $1,095 Ride1Up Roadster V2, the $1,199 Rad Power Bikes RadMission, and the $3,299 Priority Current. But it’s a pretty evolving list these days.

You can send Micah tips at Micah@electrek.co, or find him on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.

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These free Google alternatives make it easy to break up with the tech giant.

On Tuesday, Nov. 3, Google announced that starting next year AI tools will be turned off by default in software used by K-12 students. Teachers and administrators will have to enable the features for students to use them in Google Search.

“Search and AI are deeply integrated,” Chris Phillips, vice president for education at Google, said, according to the New York Times. He also said if a school bans Google’s AI tools, students “will not have access to Search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.”

If you’re a parent or educator, you should know you don’t have to use Google Search to teach your children. There are plenty of other free search engines you can try now.

Alternative search engines offer advantages over Google, including greater privacy in some instances. The main drawback to some of these engines is that they may lack comprehensive results. That means you might have to look through more results on other search engines than on Google. I found it helpful to be more specific with my search queries when using these other engines.

It’s also important to note that using these search engines in Google Chrome may prevent you from getting their full benefits. Here are five free alternatives to Google Search.

Brave is a privacy-focused search engine that blocks trackers, and it uses Google as a fallback option. What that means is if your Brave search doesn’t return a lot of results, you can enable the search engine to anonymously check Google for the same query.

Brave also offers other features, like a VPN, a crypto wallet and its own AI assistant named Leo. And Brave said your AI usage is private and secure as well. You don’t even need to create or log into an account to use Leo.

DuckDuckGo is another privacy-focused search engine, and it has touted itself as the anti-Google. While Google collects and stores data on you to create personalized search results, DuckDuckGo doesn’t track what you do and actively blocks external trackers.

Over the past few years, DuckDuckGo also expanded the free tools it offers to people. Now it offers tools like an App Tracking Protection for Android users, its own VPN — that our experts said was great for general privacy and streaming — and an AI tool called DuckAssist.

This private, Berlin-based search engine is also a green option. Ecosia writes online it has planted over 250 million trees and produces more clean energy than it takes to power all its searches and AI queries. The company also writes online that all its profits go toward climate action.

This French-based search engine writes online it doesn’t retain your search data or sell your personal data, making it a good alternative to Google. In addition to search, Qwant also offers a feature called Qwant Junior, which it writes online is meant to help children between the ages of 6 and 12 years old safely explore the internet.

You should know that Qwant has integrated AI into its engine in what it calls Flash Answers. But you can deactivate it from your Settings menu without jumping through hoops. Historically, Qwant has used Bing’s search API, which lets companies access Bing’s search infrastructure. But according to CNBC, the company partnered with Berlin-based search engine Ecosia in 2024 to build a European search index in order to reduce dependence on US companies.

Startpage is a search engine that’s also a search aggregator. That means it partners with other companies like Google and Microsoft Bing to bring you search results.

For more on other search engines, here’s what to know about DuckDuckGo and Brave Search.

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Muse Voice, a feature that lets users call and video chat with Meta’s consumer AI agent, Muse, is now available to everyone in the U.S., the company announced on Thursday.

First introduced at Meta’s Connect developer conference in September, the video-chatting feature involves new AI models, Muse Realtime Avatar and Muse Realtime Voice technology, which help power the digital avatar that chats with the user.

While other AI competitors offer voice chat features, Meta’s Muse offers a cute, animated avatar (nicknamed Jolly), which users interact with as they ask questions or request tasks to be handled on their behalf. Users can also customize the avatar as they choose, changing it to something that looks more like a person, animal, or some other character.

The company believes that anthropomorphizing Muse in this way could make consumers feel more connected to their AI agent — a connection that could grow even stronger as they begin to engage in live conversations with it.

As the Muse avatar speaks, Meta says it will use “subtle expressions and gestures” that match the tone of the conversation. (Muse doesn’t actually “see” the user, but it hears them and reacts based on their conversations.)

The news of the rollout was announced via blog post and on X by Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, who shared a demo of his Muse in action. The video saw Wang joking around, referencing his love of posting memes on X, which he told his Muse may have gotten him in trouble with his boss. His Muse, a fluffy white dog, responds with a suggestion to add disclaimers to those memes that could be misinterpreted as Meta endorsing anything risqué. (Ha!)

The added support for video chats and calls comes just before Meta’s plan to launch a Tamagotchi-like wearable device for its Muse AI agent before year-end. When the device arrives, the digital avatar will appear on its small screen, letting users talk to the agent, which can then reply or carry out tasks for them.

Meta says the real-time conversations are supported on mobile, web, and Mac and will later come to its AI Glasses and the upcoming “Muse Charm” hardware device.

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Welcome to Pixelated episode 124. This week, Damien, Abner, and Will dive into the announcement of Motorola’s flagship return in North America, the Signature 27. Is a $1,600 non-foldable the comeback everyone hoped for, or is this device doomed by rising component costs? Then, with Apple’s HomeView smart display set to launch next week, the gang examines Google’s lack of a modernized competitor and wonder what they’d want to see from a relaunch in 2027.

Enjoy the show? You can listen to our weekly members-only Pixelated Pro bonus episode by signing up for 9to5Google Pro for just $5 per month, or about $1 per episode.

Sponsored by Proton Unlimited: Pixelated listeners can save 30% on an annual subscription to the company’s suite of privacy-friendly services by signing up using our link. Thanks to Proton Unlimited for sponsoring the podcast.

Drop us a line at gtips@9to5g.com, leave a comment on the post, or reach out to our producer. And for even more Android discussion, dive into the official 9to5Google forums!

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Following the recent release of Screen Awareness, Raycast got an interesting update this week that lets users talk to AI about whatever is on their screen without having to explain the context. Here are the details.

Last August, Raycast announced Screen Awareness, which lets users bring context from their active app or window directly into AI Chat, “so you don’t have to copy text, attach screenshots, or explain what you’re looking at,” said Raycast.

This week, Raycast took that functionality a step further with Dictate to AI, a new command that lets users speak their requests while automatically providing AI with context from the active app.

Here is Raycast’s Pedro Duarte showing how Dictate to AI works:

here's how the new Dictate to AI command works https://t.co/vApN7nHAPV pic.twitter.com/Dmmexor8q1

Raycast notes that the release also includes:

Raycast also noted other recent updates and additions, including that Raycast Notes now supports images and unlimited notes for free users, while the Mac app received several performance improvements, including faster search and lower memory usage.

Meanwhile, Raycast for iOS got a new keyboard with AI-powered writing tools, along with improved Cloud Sync capabilities.

Windows users also got some love, with Screen Awareness gaining new commands to send individual elements or entire windows to AI Chat.

To learn more about Raycast v2.11, follow this link.

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He began covering Apple news in Brazilian media in 2012 and later broadened his focus to the wider tech industry, hosting a daily podcast for seven years.

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida—Blue Origin announced two significant upgrades to its New Glenn rocket on Thursday, reducing the cost of manufacturing the vehicle and expanding its capacity for payload delivery to geostationary orbit and the Moon.

With these upgrades, the company aims to eventually position New Glenn to launch more than 1,000 times a year.

“There has never been higher demand for launch, ever,” Dave Limp, chief executive officer of Blue Origin, said during the UP.Summit conference at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida.

Blue Origin has already begun test firing a new engine, called Northstar, that will eventually replace the BE-4 engine that powers the first stage of New Glenn. Separately, the company also said it was developing a hydrogen-oxygen third stage for the rocket, GS3, to give it an extra kick.

The Northstar engine is a simplified but more powerful version of the BE-4 engine, Limp said. It has half the number of parts and 30 percent less mass, and about 65 percent can be 3D-printed.

Blue Origin believes it can manufacture the engine at 25 percent of the cost of a BE-4 engine and eventually reach the point where each engine can be assembled in less than a day. The company is deep into development and testing of Northstar, having already begun a test-firing campaign.

“To get access to space at a lower cost, we have to look at every part of the vehicle,” Limp said. “This is going to be a game-changer.”

The BE-4 engine powering New Glenn today has a thrust of 640,000 pounds, and Limp said Northstar will have a starting thrust of 715,000 pounds. Like the BE-4 engine, Northstar burns methane and liquid oxygen using an oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle and a single-shaft turbopump architecture.

Limp said the company will continue to manufacture the existing BE-4 engine for United Launch Alliance, which uses two of the engines to power its Vulcan rocket.

Blue Origin is developing a third stage for New Glenn called GS3 (creatively named Glenn Stage 3) to offer direct injection to geostationary orbit and Earth-escape trajectories. The third stage fits within an interstage, preserving the full fairing volume for customer payloads.

The stage can fly on both the smaller 7×2 variant (as in, seven first stage engines and two second stage engines) of New Glenn as well as the larger 9×4 variant. According to Blue Origin, a GS3-equipped New Glenn 7×2 can carry 8 metric tons directly to geostationary orbit and 10 metric tons to translunar injection. Those figures increase to 14 tons and 20 tons, respectively, for the larger 9×4 variant.

As the rocket’s third stage, it needs to be light, Limp said. For this reason, the third stage is made mostly of composites, which are high-performing and lightweight. But there’s a problem with that.

The stage will be powered by the company’s BE-7 engine, already used by its lunar landers. This engine is optimized for in-space operations and uses liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellants. But hydrogen is the smallest atom and therefore leaky. With composites, thermal cycling and mechanical strain can cause cracking, exacerbating losses of molecular hydrogen.

Limp said the company was not sure a large composite tank, 5.5-meter diameter in this case, could be constructed that would contain hydrogen at high pressures.

The company recently had a breakthrough at Launch Site One in Texas, when it completed its first composite liquid hydrogen tanking test. During the test, the tank was pressurized to 100 percent of the maximum force expected during operation for 2.5 hours. It was even successfully tested at 150 percent of this maximum pressure for 10 minutes.

That gave the company confidence that a GS3 based on composite tanks was a concept that could go forward, and now the company is aiming for a debut in 2028 for a government customer.

“We have one customer signed up for cislunar space in 2028,” Limp said. “We are open for business.”

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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Netflix is adding a new Discover feature, which recommends tailored streaming selections. Here's how it works.

AI tools are all over the internet, in the workplace, in your apps — and now there’s one coming on Netflix. The streaming giant just announced a new AI feature for the TV app called AI Discover, which will help users find titles that match their moods and interests. It’s initially being rolled out to a small group of users in the US whose language is set to English. To find out if you have access, check your Netflix navigation bar for the word “Discover” with a red gem icon next to it and a “New” label.

Also: Roku is taking away a fan-favorite screensaver

The AI Discover tab will be centered around themes. You’ll be able to pick from a range of themes depending on what you feel like watching, or how long you want to watch. You’ll also see selections that match what you’ve been watching lately and what’s popular.

You can refresh the list of suggestions or dive deeper with more complex search prompts. If you’d like to start over, you can pick the “Something different” option. To support AI Discover, Netflix is also adding a new button next to Play and My List that’ll let you tune your recommendations. You can press this button to keep a recommendation or to request that you don’t be recommended a title again.

Most streaming apps already rely quite heavily on machine learning and AI algorithms to offer user recommendations, even if they’re not marketed as AI features. Though most rely on traditional AI algorithms, like Prime Video’s “Recommended for you” tab, they personalize title recommendations based on your viewing history, likes and dislikes, and rental behavior.

Other platforms offer generative AI and features more similar to Netflix’s AI Discover. For example, YouTube features Gemini-powered searches that let you ask complex questions or use open-ended prompts to get results you want.

Also: The best early Black Friday TV deals are all at Best Buy

Some smart TV interfaces — including including Roku, Fire TV, Google TV, and, coming soon, Apple TV — have also adopted generative AI in their operating systems to let you use voice search with more naturally worded requests, and the system generates cross-platform results.

While I am itching to test this feature to see just how accurate it can be, Netflix hasn’t made it widely available yet. The company will gradually grant users access over the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

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The Hyundai IONIQ 5 is the most popular EV in America outside of Tesla, but its larger three-row sibling looks like the better deal right now.

Through September, the Hyundai IONIQ 5 was the third top-selling EV in the US, behind the Tesla Model Y and Model 3.

Hyundai’s electric SUV is outselling rivals like the Chevy Equinox EV, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and Toyota bZ.

Why? For one, it’s one of the most affordable EVs in the US, starting at about $35,000, and Hyundai has been offering some of the most attractive lease deals.

After the $7,500 federal EV tax credit expired at the end of September last year, Hyundai responded by reducing prices on the IONIQ 5 by up to nearly $10,000 on some trims.

The 2027 Hyundai IONIQ 5 starts at $35,250. That’s for the standard-range IONIQ 5 SE with an EPA-estimated range of up to 245 miles. Upgrading to the extended-range SE RWD model adds $2,500, starting at $37,750, and offers up to 318 miles of range.

Hyundai’s three-row electric SUV, the IONIQ 9, starts at $58,955, or nearly $24,000 more than the base IONIQ 5 SE.

On Hyundai’s website, the 2027 IONIQ 5 SE Standard Range is available to lease from $359 a month. The offer is for a 24-month lease with $4,999 due at signing for an effective cost of $567 per month.

The extended-range Hyundai IONIQ 5 SE RWD can be leased from $369 a month. The offer is also a 24-month lease with $4,999 due at signing, for an effective cost of $577 per month.

Hyundai’s larger IONIQ 9, meanwhile, is available to lease from $419 a month. That deal also includes $4,999 due at signing, but is for a 36-month lease, so the effective cost is $557 per month.

Using Hyundai’s payment calculator, it would cost about $412 a month to lease the 2027 Hyundai IONIQ 5 SE for 36 months with $4,999 due at signing. With an effective cost of $550 per month, it’s only $7 less than the three-row IONIQ 9.

The Hyundai IONIQ 9 offers more range than its smaller sibling, with an EPA-estimated range of up to 335 miles for the base SE trim.

The IONIQ 5 is a midsize electric SUV, about the same size as a Tesla Model Y, with two rows and enough room for five passengers. Hyundai’s larger IONIQ 9 offers three rows of seating and six- or seven-seat configurations.

With an added row of seating, the IONIQ 9 offers up to 163.54 cubic feet of interior passenger volume, compared with the IONIQ 5, which offers up to 106.5 cubic feet.

While the IONIQ 9 may be the better deal right now, the IONIQ 5 is still a good fit for those looking for a smaller, more efficient SUV that doesn’t necessarily need the added space.

In comparison, the standard Tesla Model Y RWD is listed for lease starting at $499 a month with an EPA range of up to 321 miles. That’s for a 36-month lease with $3,000 down.

Using Tesla’s payment calculator, if you put the same $4,999 down for a 24-month lease like the IONIQ 5, the Model Y RWD’s monthly rate is $549.

Which one would you choose? The IONIQ 5, IONIQ 9, or Tesla Model Y? Let us know why in the comments.

Both the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 9 are built at Hyundai’s Metaplant America outside of Savannah, Georgia.

I really haven’t seen much value in leasing. I’d rather buy the car outright using cash, with the goal of keeping the car for 10+ years.

My family recently bought a Hyundai IONIQ 5, and it is an outstanding car. Loaded with great features — both on the EV side and then for safety and comfort.

When we toured the facility earlier this year, Hyundai told us that its electric SUVs are attracting new buyers to the brand at a higher rate than its gas or hybrid vehicles.

The IONIQ 5 had a 69.8% conquest rate last year, while the IONIQ 9 had 64.3%. Hyundai’s Elantra N ranked third (61.9%), followed by the Palisade (61.2%) and Kona Electric (60.9%).

Hyundai’s current offers end on November 30, 2026. Want to see what’s available near you? You can use the links below to find available Hyundai IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 9 models near you, along with any current offers.

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Peter Johnson is covering the auto industry’s step-by-step transformation to electric vehicles. He is an experienced investor, financial writer, and EV enthusiast. His enthusiasm for electric vehicles, primarily Tesla, is a significant reason he pursued a career in investments. If he isn’t telling you about his latest 10K findings, you can find him enjoying the outdoors or exercising

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As of today, publishing or possessing certain types of porn is now banned in the UK. This includes:

Penetration of people "who a reasonable person would think are related, or pretending to be related, in a certain way"

Sexual activity between two or more people "where a reasonable person would think at least one person is, or is pretending to be, under 16"

According to the UK government, maximum penalty for possession is two years in prison for strangulation/suffocation or incest content, and three years for content with people under 16 or perceived to be. The maximum penalty for publication is five years in prison for all of these categories.

These bans are all part of the UK's Crime and Policing Act, and it's already impacting adult creators. In Sept., filmmaker and performer Vex Ashley told Mashable that she censored two films, Maman and Maman II, in anticipation of the bans. The "Mommy kink" features heavily in the videos.

AdultFriendFinder — readers’ pick for casual connections

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"We basically had to go back and dub it out in a very retro-censorship kind of way," Ashley told Mashable at the time.

The UK government states that these bans will be listed as priority offenses in the UK's Online Safety Act, the country's age-verification law. This means that platforms will now have to implement systems and processes to prevent UK users from seeing this type of content.

In Oct. 28, the fetish video site iWantClips told creators it would remove 17 categories from UK access, including Choking Fantasy Play, Breath Play Fantasy, Hand Over Mouth, Face Sitting, Jeans Face Sitting, BBW [Big Beautiful Woman] Facesitting, Chest Sitting, Ass Smothering, Foot Smothering, Breast Smothering, Scissor Hold, Trampling Fantasy and Plastic Fetish, according to a press release shared with Mashable.

The UK's Online Safety Act went into effect in July 2025. Other age-verification laws have been enacted globally, including half of the United States, as well as in France, Italy, and other regions. These laws typically require proof of age, like a government ID or facial scan, to access certain types of content — explicit, and sometimes non-explicit content nonetheless deemed "restricted to adults."

Workers in the adult industry and free speech experts have sounded the alarm about these regulations for years, stating they will expand. The UK is also planning a broad social media ban for children under 16.

"The criminalising of our fantasies and imaginations feels like another step along the conveyor belt of puritanism to conservatism to fascism that no one feels prepared to fight," Ashley said in a press release.

Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Instagram.

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This week, Apple released the first iOS 27.3 beta. The update includes multiple new features for iPhone users, including the redesigned Health app, iPhone Duo updates, and much more. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s new in iOS 27.3 …

As my colleague Ryan explained, Apple will likely release iOS 27.3 to all iPhone users sometime in December. Typically, Apple would release its x.2 software updates in December, but this year is different because iOS 27.1 was exclusive to iPhone Duo. That means that, in terms of the timeline, iOS 27.3 is essentially the equivalent of iOS 27.2.

Here’s when Apple has released its December updates in recent years:

So with that in mind, we expect iOS 27.3 to be released sometime during the first half of December.

The redesigned Health app is back in iOS 27.3. This was first available during testing of iOS 27.2, but did not ship as part of that final update.

The redesigned Health app is split into three tabs: Insights, Longevity, and Browse. The app features an all-new design that dynamically adapts based on your data, including Apple Intelligence. The Longevity tab includes a new Health age feature that uses Apple Watch data to show how your metrics track relative to your actual age.

For Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 users, it also offers easy access to view your Readiness score every morning.

For Apple Fitness+, iOS 27.3 adds a new Gym Strength feature. This creates progressive, four-week plans based on your strength goals, experience, schedule, and available equipment.

As you complete each week of workouts, the following week adapts based on the reps and weights you logged.

For iPhone Duo users, iOS 27.3 adds Reachability support. This setting shifts the interface on the outer display to the right or left to make it easier to reach the far corners. It’s designed to make iPhone Duo easier to use with one hand, despite the wider outer display. You activate it by swiping right on the right edge of the screen or left on the left edge.

Reachability for iPhone Duo is on by default. You can turn it off in Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Reachability.

iOS 27.3 also tweaks the iPhone Duo’s software keyboard by making the keys slightly narrower and the font slightly smaller.

When it debuted, the iPhone Duo included a more robust version of StandBy with new clock faces and expanded customization options. iOS 27.3 brings the iPhone Duo’s StandBy experience to all iPhone models.

This includes the redesigned Analog and Digital Clock faces, as well as additional customization options for colors and complications. The update also adds support for Shared Albums to the Photos face.

iOS 27.3 brings several key Siri AI updates. First, the update expands Siri AI with many new capabilities across Apple apps. Apple explains:

We started rolling out these new capabilities across many Apple apps, including Calendar, Files, Finder, Journal, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Notes, Photos, Preview, Reminders, Safari, Shortcuts, and Weather, so users can do things like find a coffee shop they visited last week or archive files that haven’t been opened in over a year.

There are many more actions available now as examples for you to reference. To see what you can do in each app, just ask Siri AI.

With iOS 27.3, Apple is also starting to test new ways for developers to create Siri AI integrations for the first time. This is described as an “early Developer Preview.” Apple explains:

Today’s preview allows any app to bring its content and actions directly into Siri AI by using App Intents, making it easier for all apps to tap into Siri AI’s newest capabilities, including personal context understanding, onscreen awareness, natural language, and more. So people can just ask for help in their own words, and Siri AI carries out any custom action you’ve built, from checking a delivery to booking a reservation to placing an order.

While this is being tested as part of iOS 27.3, Apple says it will start shipping to customers in a few months.

iOS 27.3 also expands Siri AI to new languages, including French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.

iOS 27.3 brings the original set of Apple Intelligence features to China for the first time. This does not include Siri AI or other iOS 27 updates, but it does include the following features:

iOS 27.3 is a major update to Safari. First, the update adds support for a new vertical tabs design layout on iPhone Duo’s inner display. If you choose this option, your Safari tabs will be arranged vertically along the left-hand side of Safari, rather than along the top. Vertical tabs are also available on Mac and iPad with macOS 27.3 and iPadOS 27.3.

iOS 27.3 also adds a new Adaptive Dark Mode feature. This feature can automatically apply Dark Mode to websites that don’t natively support it. You can choose to have Adaptive Dark Mode automatically kick in or use it on a site-by-site basis.

For Apple Music users, iOS 27.3 adds a new “Selfie Sing” feature that lets users record a video of themselves while singing karaoke. To use this feature, start playing a song and go to the lyrics view. Then tap the new camera button that appears on the right-hand side of the lyrics.

The update also refines the design of viewing lyrics while your iPhone is in landscape mode.

Read more: – iOS 27.3 upgrades Apple Music in two ways, here’s what’s new

Here are a few other changes in iOS 27.3:

What are your favorite new features in iOS 27.3? Have you spotted any other changes in the update? Let us know down in the comments.

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Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

iOS is Apple's mobile operating system that runs…

Chance is the editor-in-chief of 9to5Mac, overseeing the entire site’s operations. He also hosts the 9to5Mac Daily and 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcasts.

You can send tips, questions, and typos to chance@9to5mac.com.

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Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses attempt to curb the controversy by removing the cameras, and while they’re still an excellent product, the price makes them harder to recommend.

This has been a bit of a rollercoaster year for Meta wearables. Meta’s VR division shrank considerably earlier this year, then later announced a massively redesigned follow-up that’ll launch next year. And while Meta has debuted dozens of new smart glasses styles throughout the year that have sold quite well, the company can’t seem to get away from controversy. That’s where Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses come in.

Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses do exactly what they sound like. It’s a pair of smart glasses powered by Meta AI and only includes the audio part of the Ray-Ban Meta experience. There are exactly zero cameras on these glasses, and the hope (obviously) is that they’ll provide a smart experience without the potential privacy problems. The problem, for me at least, is that they’re simply too expensive despite lacking standout features.

Now, that doesn’t mean Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses aren’t worthwhile. They feature a much wider prescription range (-12 to +6) than the majority of Meta smart glasses models, which often cap out at -6 to +6. The battery life is also significantly better thanks to the lack of a camera and other improvements in the hardware. And, of course, if you want a pair of AI glasses but don’t want the camera, these are the only options from Meta.

If I were to choose between the two available models, I’d pick the Clubmaster style every time. Not only do they look better overall and feature the thinnest frames of any Meta smart glasses, but they also have substantially better nosepads that are adjustable and can be easily replaced.

The Burbank model looks just fine, but the nosepads aren’t the same, and the glasses feel more rigid overall (which I find less comfortable). Both models come in lots of colors with many different lens options, including clear, tinted, polarized, Transitions, and prescription.

Both models feature a touchpad on the outside of the right temple arm, as well as a small, circular button up top to activate Meta AI. You can alternatively use the “Hey, Meta” keywords to activate Meta AI. The button and touchpad can be disabled if you like. Only the touchpad has an alternative function, and that alternative function only controls music playback via Spotify or Amazon Music. Other Meta glasses offer far more options.

Both styles are the lightest Meta glasses available. Most Meta smart glasses with cameras weigh in around the 54g mark. Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses weigh just 44g. They’re not as light as Even Realities G2, RayNeo iO, or MemoMind One, but 44g is still considered pretty light for smart glasses.

Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses reuse the case from Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2, which looks more like a traditional Ray-Ban case rather than the foldable one that ships with Meta Ray-Ban Display or the 2026 Meta Camera Glasses. I don’t have an issue with Ray-Ban Meta Audio’s case at all, but I really enjoy the foldable one and wish it were included.

Audio playback on these is great, and while the speakers are identical to all other Meta glasses products, using them as spatial surround sound “headphones” while watching a movie with surround sound is a fantastic experience. They also have spatial audio recording and truly excellent noise cancellation thanks to the 6-mic setup.

But the lack of the newer processor from Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 means the glasses don’t support the new hearing aid function. To me, that’s a massive missed opportunity since these are audio-only glasses. When I asked Meta about it, they only said it wasn’t available on Ray-Ban Meta Audio for now, so this problem could be fixed in an upcoming update.

And that’s actually where Meta’s glasses might shine brightest: software updates. The company has been exemplary with update cadence on all of its products, and its smart glasses constantly get new, innovative features that surprise and delight. While I’m a little underwhelmed with the number of features available on these glasses today, this product will likely look quite different a year from now, a fact that’s backed up by years of Meta significantly improving product feature sets over time.

If you buy these glasses today, know that you’re mainly investing in them for the future. They’re fine enough for today’s usage, especially if you’re interested in a hands-free way to use Meta AI products like Muse or just want an open-ear way to listen to music and take phone calls, but Meta’s penchant for continually adding new features is, undoubtedly, going to be the highlight for everyone who ever buys them.

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Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.

Always check your email and bank statements if you use an AI agent for purchases.

It’s two days before my wife’s birthday, and I’ve only got her one gift. While it’s not a major milestone birthday, she always seems to be sad that her day falls on Halloween weekend.

“Everyone’s hungover from Halloween,” she says.

This year, we’re braving the city’s big parade chaos to visit a restaurant she’s had on her bucket list forever. With one gift and a meal planned, I wanted to see if Meta’s Muse personal AI agent could help plan the rest of our weekend festivities.

I’d had luck with using the agent for a Facebook Marketplace find, and given its connectors like Ticketmaster and OpenTable, I had hoped it would surface some fun weekend events. Or could it order a cake delivery on my behalf or create cute wrapping paper? And could I do it all with the one agent?

Let’s see if Muse can help me become a planning savant.

As always, I open a new chat for a new goal/task to avoid carrying over the context from the previous chat.

I told Muse my plans (dinner booked and one gift secured) and asked what free events are in Manhattan on Saturday and in our local neighborhood on Sunday.

It surfaced some interesting events we could attend before or after dinner.

The obvious one is the Halloween parade, so I asked for a map showing where the crowd will walk (with time stamps) and what we can expect to see around 7:30 p.m., as we walk from East Village to West Village. It actually generated some pretty neat options.

I asked Muse for the best directions so we could see all the costumes while still getting home to New Jersey without incident. It gave us a couple of stop options based on the time it expects we’ll be there.

With the night sorted, I moved on to finalizing her gift. I popped a few photos from our year into Muse and asked the AI agent to create printable gift wrap for the pair of shoes I got her. It could’ve been my internet, but Muse seemed to struggle with this task. It kept loading for many minutes, so I moved on to the next task.

With Muse moving at a glacial pace, I decided to delegate the gift-wrapping task to ChatGPT while I asked Muse about working on a delivery. My wife loves Good & Plenty licorice candy, but we don’t live near a store that sells it, so I asked Muse to order two boxes for me.

While Muse looked for sweet treats, ChatGPT created this wrapping. The chatbot also told me the ideal print size to cover a shoebox without it looking pixelated, which was a helpful touch.

As for the candy, Muse looked at various sites, but I told it to shop at Instacart. It got blocked without a login, so I had to take control of the browser to give it access.

Muse told me the price, which I was happy with, then I asked it to place the order. But it sneakily signed me up for Instacart Plus (I guess to get the free delivery) — even though I told it not to.

But it had already ordered it. Instead of dropping Instacart Plus for a total of $30.74, it charged $22.75 with the sign-on discount.

I asked it to triple-check that I wasn’t signed up for the subscription, and I got a confirmation email that it canceled successfully. Phew!

I quickly checked back on Muse’s “design” chops for the wrapping paper, but I wasn’t impressed. The final product looked boring and not to scale, with half of the photos cut off.

Do I dare ask Muse to design and order a cake? I decided after this debacle that my sentimental wife would appreciate a handmade cake or a froyo treat after dinner instead.

At least I have her beloved candy on the way.

It was fun to have Muse run alongside whatever I was doing. It didn’t offer anything I couldn’t find or do myself, but I did like the Halloween parade map with time stamps and how it saved me a delivery fee on the candy order.

There are certainly different agents for different use cases, though. I wouldn’t use Muse for anything creative, but it’s handy for Marketplace, events and placing online orders.

My only issue was that Muse said the Instacart total would be $22.75, but I was actually charged $23.35. I’m not sure whether that was an error on Instacart’s or Muse’s part, but it serves as a good reminder to always stay in the loop when an AI agent is handling your money.

AI agents certainly aren’t 100% autonomous yet, especially when there’s a payment involved, but it’s fun to have them run in the background to tackle some of these personal to-dos.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

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Certain configurations of Alpine are affected. Other distros may be as well.

Devices running some configurations of Alpine Linux, and possibly other distributions, are affected by a decade-old vulnerability that allows attackers to log into devices with no password.

The vulnerability exists in the interaction between OpenSSH, the code library implementing SSH connections, and musl, a lightweight alternative to the libc library that, unlike most other Linux distributions, is used in Alpine. Further, OpenSSH using musl (pronounced muscle) must not use PAM (pluggable authentication modules), a framework that handles user authentication and account-access checks. Alpine is a lightweight, widely used Linux distribution. Other platforms may be affected if they use the same configurations.

There are two other conditions necessary for successful exploitation. First, a system must have at least one user account that’s accessible using a password that is hashed using the SHA256 or SHA512 functions. Second, the target system account must be configured to be passwordless, by way of specifying a “*” in the password field in /etc/shadow, the Linux file where password hashes are stored. Passwordless accounts are commonly used for accounts that use certificate-based authentication. This setting is common for certain types of accounts.

When all the conditions are met, the consequences are high.

“An attacker who can reach your SSH port can log in without knowing any password,” Alpine maintainers said Thursday. “It takes one connection, works every time, and needs no retries.”

When logging into a passwordless account, the attacker can gain access by inputting more than 256 characters in the password field.

Security firm Checkpoint said that the use of the SHA256 or SHA512 functions “matters because sshd borrows that account’s salt. Without it, the attack fails.” Company researchers said their testing also showed that the account must be active, not just hold a hash. Checkpoint further reported that root accounts are safe under the default PermitRootLogin prohibit password setting, though reachable accounts with doas or sudo rights can still become root.

Despite the prerequisites, *sshole—the vulnerability name given by the person who discovered it—likely threatens large numbers of systems. The Docker Hub base image for Alpine has more than 1 billion downloads. Alpine has long been popular in routers, smart TVs, industrial controllers, and other types of embedded devices, many of which can’t be easily updated, if at all. More recently, Alpine has been adopted for use in desktops and servers. Alpine is also used in many container images.

According to security firm Detectify, Shodan lists around 22 million systems with SSH open on port 22. Only a fraction meet the conditions necessary for exploitation, but given the ease and speed of testing each one, locating vulnerable devices won’t require much effort or time.

It’s not entirely clear where the vulnerability resides. OpenSSH, which issued an update Thursday, said: “We consider the root cause of this bug to be outside sshd, but it is exploitable via sshd and can be avoided there.” Musl developer Rich Felker, meanwhile, wrote: “It is my position that this is not a bug in musl just an erroneous use by the caller.” Felker went on to say that musl developers have wanted to make changes to the mechanism “for a while now” and planned to do so in an upcoming release. Alpine has also issued an update.

It’s not yet known what other packages may be vulnerable. The person who discovered *sshole said OpenWRT is affected, but by default, that OS uses the Dropbear package, not OpenSSH, for SSH connections (though maintainers provide instructions for installing the latter). The discoverer also names the packages buildroot and yocto as being affected, but that isn’t yet confirmed.

Despite the uncertainty, anyone using a Linux system that uses both musl and OpenSSH should take time to immediately investigate if they’re affected. A good starting point is here. Both Alpine and OpenSSH patches should be installed on all affected systems. There is no known CVE designation for the vulnerability.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

The iPhone Duo likely won't make it into Santa's sleigh this year. Here's what Apple had to say about it.

Apple is unsure when it will have more of its foldable iPhone Duo in stock for customers to purchase ahead of Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.

During Apple’s earnings call on Monday, Nov. 2, Apple’s chief operating officer, Sabih Khan, told investors that the company couldn’t say when supply of its new iPhone Duo would catch up with current demand.

Also: iPhone Duo hands-on: Some magical touches

“iPhone Duo is constrained as of today … We’re working hard to get this revolutionary new product into the hands of our customers as quickly as possible. But at this time, it’s really hard to predict when supply and demand will be in balance,” Khan told investors.

The stock and shipping delays were among the broader concerns on an earnings call riddled with questions about rising memory chip costs driven by the AI industry, according to reports from TechCrunch.

Also: iPhone Duo shortage watch: Changing wait times, buying limits, launch-day odds

Last month, the iPhone Duo (Apple’s priciest smartphone to date) sold out shortly after its official launch on Oct. 23. Apple told the Financial Times that demand for the new Duo was “nothing short of extraordinary” after the smashing sell-outs, though veteran techies like Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman posited that Apple knew it would encounter supply chain issues, yet it was still the plan all along.

Those who didn’t initially jump to preorder the new device or wait in line at an Apple store are still facing shipping times that extend into 2027. Some outlets are even reporting that carriers like Verizon have offered gift cards as apologies for the extended delays.

Apple CEO John Ternus signaled the company’s effort to meet demand for the iPhone Duo, announcing that Apple will be “deepening” its partnership with Perryman, a titanium producer supplying pieces for the device.

Also: iPhone Duo screen cracks: Serious issue or overblown? What we know

“We’ve been thrilled with the early response from reviewers and customers, and we are working hard to get iPhone Duo into customers’ hands as quickly as we can,” Ternus said during his opening remarks on the earnings call.

While the iPhone Duo snafu is a rare event for Apple, which traditionally has a strong reputation for a smooth supply chain, rising demand for memory chips is raising hardware costs across the industry, and it’s something Apple can’t circumvent. On the call, Khan noted that Apple has had to increase prices on numerous products, though he said those decisions were made rather “reluctantly.”

Back in June, MacBooks and iPads saw price increases of up to 25% due to rising hardware and chip costs.

As Apple works to iron out its kinks, customers may be looking elsewhere. Reports from Korea indicate that Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 sales jumped 20% in the week after the iPhone Duo became available, and recent reports of cracked displays are another strike for Apple.

Also: Want an iPhone Duo before 2027? Try this

So, Santa may not be able to deliver the iPhone Duo this year, but Samsung’s foldables may make it onto Christmas lists across the globe instead.

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EVgo has opened its first Supercharger station, and it’s in a Chicago grocery store parking lot. The site has 12 fast-charging stalls with both NACS and CCS plugs, and it’s the first of hundreds of Tesla Supercharger stalls EVgo plans to add across the US.

The 325 kW “EVgo Superchargers” are at Riverside Square & River’s Edge, at 3145 S Ashland Avenue. EVgo’s August announcement cited up to 500 kW for the Supercharger rollout.

The Chicago location features Magic Dock technology, which means both NACS and CCS vehicles can charge without an adapter. Drivers of compatible non-Tesla EVs can start a session through the Tesla app. If you drive a Tesla, the charging station shows up in the car’s navigation and Trip Planner. Other EVgo fast chargers with NACS plugs have been showing up in Tesla navigation since early September if you turn on third-party charging.

“By serving both Tesla and non-Tesla NACS drivers, we’re doubling EVgo’s addressable market and continuing to meet EV drivers where they are and where they want to charge,” said Badar Khan, EVgo CEO.

EVgo owns the Superchargers and self-brands them, and Tesla runs and maintains them. The first sites will be at Regency Centers shopping plazas with grocery stores.

EVgo is also adding NACS plugs to its regular fast-charging network, a rollout it started in 2025. The company aims to have 500 of those stalls across the US by the end of 2026, with Supercharger stalls counted separately. Over the next two years, it plans to put at least one NACS plug at every EVgo site built in 2023 or later.

Read more: EVgo’s 750 kW charging system is coming in 2027

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Michelle Lewis is a writer and editor on Electrek and an editor on DroneDJ, 9to5Mac, and 9to5Google. She lives in White River Junction, Vermont. She has previously worked for Fast Company, the Guardian, News Deeply, Time, and others. Message Michelle on Twitter or at michelle@9to5mac.com. Check out her personal blog.

Light, durable, quick: I'll never go back.

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Reuters and The Washington Post report that Apple is among the tech giants potentially facing congressional investigations as Democrats prepare to take control of both chambers in January. Here are the details.

Earlier today, The Washington Post reported that “Democrats are laying the groundwork to investigate some of the country’s largest companies, setting off a scramble among executives who courted the president.”

The report notes that Washington law firms are advising companies and executives on how to prepare for potential congressional investigations, with some also pitching their services to Elon Musk:

Multiple firms have crafted pitches for why they should serve as Musk’s personal counsel, aware that the world’s richest man is likely to receive a barrage of subpoenas and that any casework stemming from those investigations will be both lucrative and the highest-profile investigative work available in the coming year, according to two of the people.

When it comes to Apple, the report noted that lawmakers are gearing up to investigate the company “over its hosting of tracking apps used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

While the report refers to Apple’s hosting of tracking apps used by ICE, the company has previously faced scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers over its decision to remove apps used to track ICE agents from the App Store.

Last year, Apple removed ICEBlock and several similar apps from the App Store following pressure from the DOJ, citing concerns over the safety of federal agents.

The move came shortly after a gunman opened fire on an ICE facility in Dallas, ultimately killing two detainees in an attack that federal authorities described as targeted violence against ICE.

Since then, Apple has faced questions from Democratic lawmakers over the extent of the Trump administration’s involvement in the decision and whether the removals infringed on constitutionally protected speech.

“over its hosting of tracking apps used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

The word “by” seems important here. That quote is clearly not about the apps used to track ICE, it’s about apps that ICE uses itself.

That makes me wonder if the original article is confused, though. Is ICE really “hosting” its own internal apps on the App Store rather than deploying through some enterprise/MDM distribution method? I guess Apple is involved in that process, too? And if the incoming Congress takes the posture that ICE has been operating an illegal human trafficking ring, then assisting them is a crime.

Apple was pathetic and ridiculous for removing ICEBlock and similar apps. It was also blatantly unconstitutional for the DOJ to threaten them into doing it.

Reuters, meanwhile, reported that Senator Richard Blumenthal, “who is set to take over as chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations,” called on Apple “and others who donated to [President Trump’s new White House] ballroom project to turn over records” or “face possible subpoenas in January.”

As The Washington Post reported last month, Apple and Nvidia each pledged $25 million toward the ballroom, making them two of the project’s largest donors.

Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters or The Washington Post.

You can read the full Reuters report here, and The Washington Post’s here.

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I can confidently say that having an automatic litter box has been the biggest game changer for me when it comes to cat ownership. I can't recommend them enough. They can be pricey, but never having to scoop poop again is priceless.

We at WIRED—well, our WIRED cats—have tested more than 30 of the highest-rated and most technologically advanced automatic litter boxes on the market for at least a week, often more (using standard clay clumping litter unless otherwise indicated), to see if these pricey gadgets were really worth the money—or the hype. Our new favorite automatic litter box is the Purobot Max Pro 2 because of its compact design and camera for monitoring. The Litter-Robot 4 is a close second, mostly because of its LitterHopper attachment that easily refills litter for you. Plus, we still love the more basic Petkit PuraMax 2 (and think it's a great option for most people).

Check out our related pet guides, like the Best Automatic Feeders, Best Cat Water Fountains, Best Pet Cameras, Best Pet Trackers, and Best Pet DNA Test Kits.

Updated November 2026: We've added the Bissell CleanWell Self-Cleaning Litter Box and Neakasa M1 Plus Automatic Cat Litter Box, and updated links and prices throughout.

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I recommend this as the best option for most people; it's cheaper than some of our other picks, easy to use, and compact. Perhaps best of all, when it's time to refill with clean litter, the box rotates so the hole is on top for easier filling. Not only does this litter box smell neutral, dare I say it smells … good? This box has triple odor control: a sealed waste bin, an odor-eliminator attachment that sits in the waste bin, and a citrusy deodorizing spray that goes off after every cleaning and randomly throughout the day to ensure the litter box stays fresh. When the cat enters the box, their weight is displayed on the front, and the app logs every time it is used, for how long, when the cleaning cycle begins and ends, and when the deodorizing spray is deployed. Owners can also change settings manually via the buttons on the front.

My only complaints are that the app could be better—it's overcrowded with ads for other Petkit products, and unlike the Litter-Robot 4, the box doesn’t have sensors to tell you when the litter is low or needs to be refilled; that has to be checked manually (or you can add manual reminders via the app). One of my cats, who weighs 17 pounds, didn't like using it as much because the opening was cramped for him, so if you have bigger cats, this may be a problem.

The Purobot Max Pro 2 has basically everything you could want in an automatic litter box. It features a built-in 1080p camera with a 210-degree wide-angle view, and the AI-enabled camera supports multi-cat face recognition. The camera can also record video of the cat using the box and its stool or urine. There's also usage tracking via the app, audio recording, night vision, and the machine is compatible with 2.4-GHz and 5.0-GHz Wi-Fi networks.

This model has a 43 percent larger opening than the previous iteration, the PuraMax Pro, making it ideal for large cats like my 17-pound tabby, Basil. The waste bag is also larger: It stores up to 17 days of waste for one cat and is self-sealing for easy disposal. The Petkit app also sends an alert when the waste basket is full, and two odor-eliminator cartridges help keep odors at bay.

You get Petkit's premium Care+ service for a free trial period. It detects unusual activity, like howling; logs weight and usage frequency; and sends an alert if your cat’s weight shows a consistent increase or decrease (a great way to monitor your cat's overall health). When Care+ ended, it still could tell my cats apart, but reviewer Kat Merck and others have complained that it got their cats confused. Petkit's app still could use some work to be more intuitive, and it's overcrowded with ads. Overall, though, my cats took to this right away (which isn't always the case), and even my large cat was able to use this automatic litter box easily. I'm still not sure we need to be watching our cats defecate, but it is an incredible way to monitor your pets' health more closely.

I've tested more than 30 automatic litter boxes, but I still go back to this old model from Whisker because of its well-designed app and auto-refill LitterHopper (more on that below). The newest Litter-Robot 5 line was released in fall 2025; see our thoughts about the new 5 Pro, 5, and EVO models below. Unlike Petkit, which has great automatic litter boxes with subpar apps that are crowded with ads for other products in the brand's lineup, the Whisker app (available for Android and iOS) is simple and intuitive. It logs usage and weight daily and historically, and it monitors litter and waste levels, alerting you when either is low. You can also adjust things like lights, manually start cycles, and set “Do Not Disturb” schedules so it won't cycle during certain periods.

After nearly two years of use, this model sometimes senses ghost cats and stops repeatedly during cleaning cycles, and it alerts that the waste drawer is full when it's barely half full. But this remains a favorite and a top pick, in part because of the super-convenient optional LitterHopper auto-refill attachment, which acts as a clean litter reservoir and refills litter to perfect levels. No more bending, scooping, or pouring clean litter multiple times a week! Even though the Litter-Robot 5 models are also compatible with the LitterHopper, there are no front buttons to manually control or reset the box. Instead, on the 5 models, there's a finicky touchscreen that didn't recognize onboarding via QR code or allow me to manually control it or override settings as easily as the physical front buttons. I also like the sturdier waste basket and entry lip on the 4 better than on the 5 models.

Without the Hopper attachment, the Petkit models above are the best automatic litter box for most people, but I still think the Litter-Robot 4 is a great choice (and is the model I use at home with my cats) because of the connected app, front buttons, and LitterHopper auto-refill attachment.

This automatic litter box uses a style very similar to many on the market, and after testing several disappointing boxes in a row, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Setup took less than five minutes—all you need to do is attach the legs, insert a liner and the waste drawer below, add a deodorization cartridge, and connect to the app. Through the connected app, you can schedule cleanings, clean on demand, empty the litter, enable “sleep” mode, adjust the cleaning delay, and switch device settings such as child lock, indicator lights, and beeping.

The litter box worked without issue during testing, and my cats took to it easily. However, like many others on the market, the app is poorly translated into English, and some of the controls and directions are worded a bit confusingly. And because of the wide-open-top design, my cats tended to kick out and track litter much more than with contained, domed designs like Litter-Robot models. I ended up vacuuming daily, so if you choose it, I highly recommend getting a large tracking litter mat underneath it. Overall, though, I’d recommend this model if you’re only looking to spend a few hundred bucks and want a connected app to better monitor your cat's habits and health. Plus, Lesure is giving away free automatic litter boxes to bodega cats in NYC! We have to stan.

The Whisker Litter Robot EVO was super simple to set up, though its box is absolutely gargantuan. It was basically a plug-and-play experience, with an intuitive app and a large, sealed waste drawer that keeps odors in. The box itself is streamlined and a good option for apartments or smaller rooms compared with other boxes I’ve tried. It took up basically the same amount of room as a standard litter box—it’s just taller. My only complaint is that my box didn’t come with waste drawer liners, and I have yet to find an inexpensive dupe on Amazon. These are OK, but not perfect. (The box is supposed to come with waste drawer liners, just FYI.) The EVO is a shorter, more compact, pared-down version of the pricier Litter-Robot 5 and Litter-Robot 5 Pro, offering support for up to two cats weighing up to 19 pounds each.

I have to empty the drawer about once per week, which is an easy process. The Litter Robot 5 and 5 Pro can go up to 10 days between drawer emptyings, but for me, once per week for my single-cat household has been completely manageable, and an extra three days wouldn't make a noticeable difference in terms of convenience. I have noticed that sometimes waste can get stuck to the “ceiling” of the box, but that’s a rarity and can happen with any box, and it's also easy to correct with a scoop or paper towel. All in all, my cat took to this robot box quickly; it’s easy to clean, it has virtually no odors, it’s basically silent, and the app keeps me informed with zero issues. It’s easy to recommend for a one- or two-cat household, especially if you don’t need bells and whistles like automatic litter level sensing and AI waste identification. I like that it's relatively simple, which is also why it's more affordable.

The app lets me know when the drawer is close to full, keeps me posted on cleaning cycle trends like how many scoops I've saved, and measures my cat's weight, but there's no AI or cameras or extra nonsense that I likely wouldn't find useful. Overall, this model is minimal compared with its more expensive siblings, which is a blessing in my opinion. If you want extra accessory compatibility, AI tools, a night-light, or automatic litter refills, this box will be too simple. But if you just want something that'll scoop for you and help you keep an eye on the frequency of use and your cat's weight, or you want a smaller footprint than other boxes (made even smaller since the LR is taller and raised off the floor). It offers Litter Robot convenience with a smaller price tag and a more streamlined experience. If you care more about accessory compatibility, or have multiple cats or big cats, the Litter Robot 5 or 5 Pro may be better options. —Louryn Strampe

The original M1 was one of the first widely popular automatic litter boxes available when the market exploded about five or so years ago. That model had a few controversies involving safety, faulty sensors, and shoddy counterfeit models. For those reasons, we didn't recommend it. The new M1 Plus has the same original design that became the standard for most models (including many on this list), but now with an improved app and enhanced safety features.

Setup was easy: You just pop in the legs, insert the waste liner, slide in the waste drawer, plug it in, and download the app. Through the app, you can monitor usage and adjust settings, like cleaning cycles, waste levels, and “automatic restoring,” which closes the litter bed to alert you that the waste bin needs to be emptied. It's also compatible with kittens as light as 2.2 pounds and has a special kitten mode, which pauses auto-cleaning settings. This new model also has a large 11-liter waste bin and 7-liter litter capacity for up to 14 days of use for a single cat. Even my picky cat took to it easily, and I experienced no issues with function throughout testing. However, like so many on this list, the app is poorly translated and can be a bit confusing, and there's no stored historical data to see multiple cats' trends over time.

Bissell CleanWell Self-Cleaning Litter Box for $399: Cleaning titan Bissell is entering the pet tech game with this new automatic litter box and a cat water fountain I recently tested. The design is similar to many popular models on the market today, with a stand-on-legs build, a backward-rotating globe, front-facing buttons for controlling settings, and a connected app for monitoring usage and waste levels and adjusting settings remotely. Throughout testing, I was generally happy with the product—it cleaned consistently after my cats used it, the app was responsive, and both of my cats adapted easily to the familiar open-top design. However, many people online have complained about litter and urine getting trapped under the globe, as well as litter tracking onto the top of the globe, which adds more frustrating disassembly and cleaning. It worked well during my more than two weeks of testing, but I can't fully recommend it as a top pick when other users have reported the design flaw. Hopefully, the engineers at Bissell can find a solution soon (and I can retest!).

PetPivot AutoScooper 12 for $140: If your budget is $200, this is so much better than a traditional box. However, I still think the picks above are the cream of the crop. This is the new-and-improved version of the 11 model below. It doesn’t have a connected app, which I don't love because I like to track my cat’s weight and usage, and I like being able to adjust settings from afar. But if you’re looking for a more hands-off model without much maintenance, a simpler, budget box like this may be a good option.. My main gripe is that my cats kicked out so much litter during use due to the low, open-top design. If you go with this model, be sure to use litter tracking mats or have a vacuum cleaner on standby.

PetPivot Autoscooper 11 for $160: Though it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of some others on this list, I still liked this PetPivot model. It has an open-top design that remains fully open throughout the cleaning cycle and has sensors to know when the cat has used the box and when or if the cat reenters during the cleaning cycle. Like most others, it spins dirty litter from clean using grates, and the dirty litter is deposited in a drawer below the box. The litter box is the smallest and lightest I’ve tested, and the only assembly required was popping on the legs and inserting the drawer (and putting a waste bag liner in). There’s no app required for use, and functions can be controlled by three buttons on the box—clean, refill litter, and power on/off. When you want to completely empty the litter, you attach a plastic cover that pops on to scoot all of the litter into the drawer below. Since this has no app, you won’t be able to closely monitor your cats’ usage or get alerted when the drawer is full, so this requires more check-ins than other WIRED-tested automatic boxes on this list.

Homerunpet Self-Cleaning Litter Box CS106 for $773: This model is huge, with a 106-liter capacity (and holds 8 liters of litter, plus a 4.5-liter reservoir), making it ideal for big, chonky cats weighing up to 20 pounds (or multiple-cat households). My cat gets claustrophobic in most domed boxes, and she used this one right away. I like that it dumps and refills its own litter, and that it has anti-pinch sensors and two escape routes that are always open. There’s a drawer for storing the waste bags that line the poop drawer, as well as underneath the box, so you can dump all the litter at once. It cleaned itself efficiently and quietly. One thing to note is that the box is absolutely massive upon arrival—I couldn’t fit it in the back seat of my Mazda 3—and the litter box itself is huge, with a frustratingly short cord that might make placement inconvenient. My other gripe was with the app, which had some poorly translated instructions and alerts that sometimes left me feeling confused. —Louryn Strampe

Whisker Litter-Robot 5 Pro for $999: This model is part of Whisker's newest Litter-Robot lineup, which also includes the mid-level Litter-Robot 5 and the base-level EVO. It has an AI-enabled camera that can recognize up to five cats and WasteID technology to determine what type of visit your cat had. The dual-camera system captures external motion outside the box and inside the litter bed. It also charts trends over time to help you more accurately understand your cat's health and habits, so you know if anything is amiss. Plus, depending on the type of waste, LR5 Pro gives more targeted odor control, cycling immediately for solid waste and waiting for urine to make sure it clumps. The drawer is also more sealed and larger, with up to 10 days of waste storage per cat. It looks similar to my personal favorite auto box, the Litter-Robot 4 (above), but has a built-in camera, a touchscreen rather than physical buttons, a wider and shallower drawer, and a taller (removable) lip in the entryway. Maybe I'm just partial to the older model, but I think all of these changes make it less user-friendly than the 4 model. The touchscreen is finicky, the drawer liners are harder to place perfectly with the shallow design, and the removable entryway lip is much harder to attach and detach with smaller insertion tabs that feel like they could break off. Setup took several days because onboarding requires scanning a QR code with the built-in camera, but the camera never auto-captured the code. It'd be much easier if you could enter the code manually rather than relying on the camera. The camera always panned to the outside of the box rather than inside, and rarely showed footage of the stool/pee. Plus, the AI to differentiate cats only works reliably with the Whisker+ paid subscription plan ($80/year).

Petkit Purobot Ultra for $800: I liked this automatic box a lot, even if some of the features are a little over the top. (Read the full review here.) It uses a camera and AI technology to monitor litter box usage and lets you see your cat’s stool to help you more closely monitor their health. This upgrade has a large horizontal footprint and a camera on an arm in front of the opening, which swivels and follows your cat when it senses motion and records inside the litter box (it also has night vision). It has auto-bagging and -sealing features, so you never have to deal with the stool. The app logs and monitors usage, including the number of times used and the average duration. The camera has 180-degree viewing, two-way audio, and 24/7 streaming. It uses AI to identify which cat used the box, and while it doesn’t explicitly note whether a cat peed or pooped, you can review the footage to determine. Although this is a good idea in theory, the videos inside the litter box aren’t hi-def and are always in black-and-white, which makes it very difficult to actually observe anything in detail. The arm’s placement is awkward, making it extremely challenging to refill the litter box. This litter box always worked well and kept smells at bay, but the AI analytics fell a little flat for me, and it was needlessly tough to refill the litter.

Litter-Robot 5 for $799: The middle model Litter-Robot 5 offers several improvements and design tweaks over the base Litter-Robot 4: easier assembly and waste removal; an LCD screen; and, if you have a Whisker+ subscription, a new WasteID feature that is supposed to distinguish between feces and urine. This only worked intermittently in the first four months of testing, as did the LR’s ability to tell my cats apart by their weights. However, the firmware on the 5 was recently updated and has improved greatly over time, with fewer error codes and more consistent WasteID readings. I very much prefer Litter-Robot’s larger opening to Petkit’s, the ease of cleaning, and the fact that it can hold 10 days' worth of waste from my two cats before needing to be emptied. It's also a step up from the base-level EVO in that it can accommodate five cats up to 30 pounds. I highly recommend adding on Litter-Robot's new ramp ($75) and litter-trap mat ($50), either of which helps to cut down on litter tracking, but both together resulted in a significant reduction in how often I had to vacuum. —Kat Merck

Petcove PurrTek Covered Self-Cleaning Litter Box for $360: I was surprised when my two large cats easily took to this very small automatic litter box. I wasn’t even sure my 16-pound cat would be able to fit inside. I’ve grown to really appreciate easy outside buttons, which are a game-changer when the often buggy app crashes or you aren’t near your phone. Like many automatic litter boxes I test, this product would be vastly improved with a better app interface and clearer English translations. It was very hard to figure out what the settings were asking or even if they were set, mostly because of the poor translation. Waste bin calibration could be set from zero to 15, and the litter leveling setting could be set from zero to six, seemingly arbitrary numbers that didn’t seem to change the settings. “Do not disturb” mode could be set, but only for a specific clock time, such as 11:30 pm, rather than a time span, which wasn't useful. It also took an egregiously long time to empty the waste, at almost four and a half minutes for the whole cycle. I wish the waste bin were at the bottom of the device, because emptying and refilling the bag was often messy and had litter leakage. The device worked without issue overall, and my cats liked it, but for almost $400, I’d get the Petkit PuraMax 2, which fluctuates at a similar price but works so much better.

Els Pet Orbitie for $260: This has a lower price point, but it functions much like the more expensive automatic litter box models, with an internal 65-liter-capacity orb that rotates and catches clumps with a plastic grate, depositing them into a bag-lined box below. The opening is a generous 12 by 12 inches—plenty big enough for my two 8-year-old cats, who took to it almost immediately despite never having seen anything but a traditional litter box. The accompanying Orbitie app doesn’t offer an extensive amount of information; it tells the user the volume of litter and what step of the cleaning phase the box is currently in, as well as how many times the box has been used and at what times. The first test unit I received was faulty—it sent multiple phantom alerts to the app, letting me know it had cleaned itself as many as 36 times a day, which I knew for a fact was not true. The replacement unit, however, works just as intended, though the bin beneath fills up fast (about every other day with my two cats), and it needs to be disassembled and cleaned every month or so, as tiny pieces of cat litter have a tendency to get in the gears beneath the orb and make a loud grinding noise. Online reviews panned an earlier version of this box, but Orbitie says this is an improved version. Thankfully, like the bigger brands, Orbitie also offers a 90-day money-back guarantee if you’re on the fence. —Kat Merck

FurryTail Automatic Litter Box Pro for $260: I was surprised by how quickly and easily my cats took to this device—even my larger cat, who hates change, started using it right away. Setup was super easy, and the box comes with a year's supply of waste bag liners, an additional grate attachment, and a mat to reduce litter tracking. Similar to many models, the spherical orb rotates, sifting dirty litter into a waste bag, which, on this model, is on top of the machine rather than below. The box has both a manual display and buttons on the machine, as well as an app to adjust settings. I'd include this model in our top picks because of how easy it was to set up and use, as well as how much my cats liked it, but the app was basically useless. Through the app, you can adjust settings like timed cleanings and do-not-disturb modes, manually clean, and monitor waste levels. However, the app never tracked usage or weight, and for the majority of the time, didn't clean when I manually instructed it to. The sensors would sense ghost cats and refuse to clean, with the device not automatically cycling for the majority of the day (which sort of defeats the purpose). This automatic box has tons of potential, but I can't fully recommend it until the kinks (especially in the app) are ironed out.

Casa Leo Leo's Loo Too Automatic Litter Box for $600: This automatic litter box was a top pick for a long time, but it's pricey and a bit cramped for some cats. We still like it, but think the options above are better for most people (and cats). There are four weight sensors inside the barrel to detect when a cat is still inside (it needs just 1 pound of weight to detect your cat), an anti-pinch sensor (for fingers and paws), and a radar system that detects when anyone, feline or human, is near it. For extra cleanliness, it also uses ultraviolet light for extra sanitation. The Smarty Pear app alerts you when the drawer is full (about once a week), records the times your cat uses it and the cat's weight, and you can set it to automatically clean six seconds to 20 minutes after your cat uses it. You can start a cleaning session manually from the app or use your voice if you connect the box to Alexa or Google Assistant. Former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano’s biggest struggle using the Loo Too was pouring new litter into it, which can be tricky because of the small entry hole. The barrel is also pretty cramped, especially for her 12-pound cat.

PetSafe ScoopFree SmartSpin Self-Cleaning Litter Box for $340: This basic automatic litter box is around half the price but has a similar design to more expensive models. This futuristic-looking pod on legs has a rubbery bottom, a weight detector that sets off the cleaning cycle a few minutes after your cat has done its business, and a slide-out tray in the bottom. After they’ve been, the body rotates, and a mesh catches the clumps and deposits them in the tray, where there’s a bag with a wee deodorizer unit that smells like watermelon. You can connect it to Wi-Fi and review your cat’s toilet visits in the app on your phone, where each entry displays the time they went, their weight, and toilet trip duration. This self-cleaning box was easy to build and works surprisingly well, even though it feels kinda cheap. Ultimately, as a relatively affordable self-cleaning device, the PetSafe ScoopFree SmartSpin is worth a look. —Simon Hill

Petlibro Luma Smart Litter Box for $600: I'm a big fan of Petlibro's automatic feeders and fountains, but I've found that the brand's other tech products, like this automatic litter box and AI-enabled pet camera, aren't on the same level. First, we cannot recommend any model that closes completely during cleaning cycles. The Luma is outfitted with tons of sensors to prevent cleaning while a cat (or any object) is inside or near the entrance, and I highly doubt injury would occur. But the globe spins backward and forward, rather than clockwise and counterclockwise, meaning that the entrance is closed during cycling. If a sensing malfunction happened, the cat would be trapped inside. I appreciated the button controls on the outside top, which allow for manual control. However, they're on a touchscreen above the camera. So, oftentimes, when I tried to manually reset, the camera caught me and wouldn't continue the cleaning or the control I asked of it, because the safety features would prevent action inside the box. It was very frustrating. When I went out of town, it got stuck in the middle of the cleaning cycle for two days because it kept sensing a ghost cat. The globe was mid-cycle, and the entrance was covered; I couldn't bypass it via the app to keep cleaning. (Thank God I had a second litter box for my cats available, or I would've been out of luck.) The auto-deodorizing feature goes off automatically for five minutes after each use and sounds like an airplane engine. There's no way to turn it off; you can turn the power down to a lower level, but it's still egregiously loud. Right now, I can't recommend this model (mostly for safety reasons), but a lot of the design flaws could be fixed in future iterations to make it a solid choice.

Oneisall Ease S1 Self-Cleaning Litter Box for $240: Full disclosure: I tested this in a beta version before it was released to the public, so I hope my major complaints have been fixed in later manufactured models. This automatic box is constructed from hygienic stainless steel to keep things cleaner and less prone to harboring odors; it has a simple design, and it’s affordable. I’m generally a fan of Oneisall’s pet tech; I’ve been impressed by various models of the brand's simple, affordable automatic pet fountains and automatic pet feeders. This model is also super simple, with a few front-facing buttons to control settings and no connected app. For the first five days of “testing,” the automatic box detected a cat and stayed perpetually in cleaning mode. No matter what buttons I pressed, there was no way to override or reset it; even when I unplugged and replugged, the cleaning cycle would continue without end. When leveling litter, it would sense a ghost cat and stay perpetually in a wonky position for hours, if not days. Once it eventually went into standby mode, the litter wasn’t flat, and the box was slightly angled. My cats were too freaked out to use it regularly because it was always moving or at an odd angle. I love that it’s affordable, simple, and has hygienic stainless-steel construction, but some serious design changes need to be made—primarily a way to override ghost sensing to complete a cleaning cycle, and perhaps a connected app—before I can recommend this model.

PetSnowy Snow+ Self-Cleaning Litter Box for $530: This box looks like something from Kubrick’s visions of space travel, or if Eames started making plastic litter boxes. It takes up quite a bit of horizontal floor space, so it may not be ideal for those in cramped apartments looking to conserve space. Note that this globe is closed during cleaning, which could cause injury if the machine malfunctioned and didn’t sense a cat. The box also doesn’t tell you when the litter’s low or needs to be refilled. My cats had a really hard time using it—they just couldn’t understand that it was a litter box. Older cats could have a tough time jumping into it, and the smaller opening could be a problem if you have bigger cats. It might be great for someone who wants to keep things tidy—it’s extremely clean, smells good, and hugely reduces litter tracking. However, we just can't recommend the device since it's closed during cleaning, which is not safe.

The Pet Zone Smart Scoop for $166: This is probably the least “smart” automatic litter box we've tested—it's a typical rectangular plastic box with an automatic arm that acts as a rake and scoops the clumped (soiled) litter into a small bin on the other side. Once the cat leaves, it begins a 15-minute countdown and the rake slides over the length of the box, (ideally) scooping up the waste and lifting it into the receptacle. You’re only allowed to fill the device with about an inch and a half of litter, which my cats didn’t like (they prefer a few inches to really bury it). The rake doesn’t stop when it's in the cleaning cycle—even if something jumps in, which is potentially dangerous. My cats tend to pee on the side of the litter box, which, because of the rake’s placement, means it misses an inch on either side—I still had to scrape the caked-on litter from the edges. The cycle timing can’t be adjusted, so the litter didn’t have time to clump completely, and the rake would immediately break it down into smaller clumps that would then be missed because they were too small. For me, the hassle's not worth it, and I’d rather just scoop it myself.

Automatic litter boxes vary depending on the brand and litter type. Generally, they have sensors, either by motion or weight, to tell when a cat has entered or exited the device. Usually customizable and controlled via app on your phone, or on a more rudimentary timer system, the cleaning cycle will begin a short time after the cat has used the box. With dome-shaped litter boxes, the cleaning will happen via a cycle where the litter spins and rotates around the spherical interior; the bigger soiled clumps will be deposited into the waste basket while the clean granules pass through the grates and get recycled back into the box.

The Petkit PuraMax 2, for example, rotates backward and then forward (rather than a clock-wise/counter-clockwise spin cycle) to sift the clumps from the clean litter, depositing the larger clumps into the waste basket. The Pet Zone Smart Scoop is the most rudimentary design we tested, simply using a rake attachment to scoop the bigger clumps into a waste receptacle in the back.

Pet owners should always do research and make an informed decision regarding which box is best for them and their cat. We only tested automatic litter boxes that remain open during cycling to ensure that if for some reason the weight sensors didn't pick up on a cat being inside, the cat could jump out. We don’t recommend devices that close completely because of the potential that the machine could not sense the cat and kill it during its automatic cycle.

These automatic boxes use sensors—some only needing 1 pound of weight to detect your cat—where the cycle will automatically stop no matter where it is in the cleaning process. Many also have anti-pinch sensors. For added security, the devices on this list have customizable schedules, including “do not disturb” modes. If you're a neurotic helicopter cat mom like me, you could only run the clean cycles when you choose, like when you're in the room to observe the cycle (although if you do that, the box won't stay clean for as long).

Where Should I Put the Automatic Litter Box?

All of these automatic litter boxes require electricity, so they will need to be near an outlet. Since cats will generally take a little while to get comfortable with their new potty, I recommend that you keep your old litter box until they use the device regularly. It helps to put the new automatic litter box near the old boxes to familiarize your cat with it. Adding in litter attractant and using old litter from the previous box also encourages your cat to use the new model.

As a general rule, for old-school litter boxes, you should have one box for each cat, plus one. With automatic models constantly cleaning, there is less need for multiple options, but we recommend leaving your old litter box out for an extended period to ensure the cat has acclimated to the new automatic box.

After testing around a dozen automatic litter boxes, I look for several things that make day-to-day life with the device easier for you and your pet. First, the connected app. This is what you'll be checking daily, so it's important that it works well. This is one of the reasons the Litter-Robot 4 was our top pick for a long time: its connected app is intuitive, simple to use, and reliable. I absolutely love the Petkit models we've tested, but the app is subpar, overcrowded with ads for other products and poorly translated. I also look for anything that makes filling litter easier: I love the Litter-Hopper attachment, which refills litter for you on Litter-Robot models, the self-filling litter reservoir on Homerunpet, and self-sealing waste bags. You'll also want to keep the cat's size in mind. My two cats are large, so I tend to opt for something with an extra-large, front-facing hole. Which box you choose depends on litter type and compatibility—if you're using tofu litter, make sure you get a model that is compatible with your preferred type. Budget is also a factor, with some models as low as $150 or as high as nearly a grand.

How Does WIRED Select Models to Be Reviewed?

I do a lot of research, looking up other reviews online, including our competitors, to see which are getting buzz. Since I'm the pet tech writer here at WIRED, I also have knowledge from other pet tech brands I love for things like automatic feeders and pet water fountains. Most of these brands also have automatic litter boxes, which I always try to test among their lineup of new pet tech. I also talk to other cat parents to see what they're using (and liking). I aim to test a wide range of styles and price points for every type of budget and cat.

Sometimes we reach out to brands we're excited about and request samples for potential review, without promise of coverage; other times we will buy a model we're interested in and expense it.

What Does WIRED Do With Them After Testing?

We keep some models on hand for long-term testing to see if they hold up over time. This is especially useful for our former top pick, the Litter-Robot 4, whose Litter-Hopper attachment stopped working intermittently after prolonged testing, or the Petkit models, whose AI starts falling flat without a Care+ subscription. Keeping some devices for longer-term testing helps ensure that we are giving our readers a comprehensive review. Most boxes we test for several weeks and donate locally upon completion.

Rudimentary automatic litter boxes have been around since the late ’80s. These early models featured an automatic rake attachment (much like the Pet Zone Smart Scoop box) but had problems with reliability and loudness. It wasn’t until the 2010s that the devices started incorporating advanced tech like Wi-Fi and app control. In the decade since, that technology has continuously grown and improved, with most devices providing insight into your cats’ habits and health—truly becoming an asset in understanding your feline friends even better.

My cats are currently testing Neakasa's newest release, the M9 Automatic Cat Litter Box. I'm also testing Petkit's newest release, the Petkit Purobot Max 3, which is an updated model of my old favorite, the Petkit PuraMax 2.

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The Stranger Things universe is expanding.

On Nov. 6, Netflix announced Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure, a prequel to the original hit series as well as stage show Stranger Things: The First Shadow.

Set for a 2028 release, Other Worlds comes from original series creators the Duffer Brothers, as well as Stranger Things writer and The First Shadow playwright Kate Trefry. The announcement comes as part of Stranger Things Day, as Nov. 6 marks the anniversary of Will Byers' (Noah Schnapp) disappearance in 1981.

"We’ve been dreaming of Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure for many years now, and to see it become a reality is surreal and exhilarating," the Duffer Brothers said in a statement. "It's Stranger Things, but also thrillingly fresh, with a new setting, new heroes and villains, and new … actually, we're not allowed to say any more. Now, on to casting. In the meantime — watch the skies, nerds!"

Aside from the tease of a location that probably won't be Hawkins, Indiana, and new characters, plot details for Other Worlds are fairly thin. However, the teaser video accompanying the announcement offers up a few clues. The video shows an abandoned bicycle outside what appears to be a government facility, not unlike Hawkins Lab. From there, a title card appears, reading "April 19, 1955. Marion, Nevada."

The timeline and setting are intriguing, as Dr. Martin Brenner's (Matthew Modine) Nevada-based experiments to learn more about Dimension X (aka the Abyss) play a key part in Henry Creel's (Jamie Campbell Bower) backstory in both The First Shadow and Stranger Things Season 5. However, those experiments took place in Rachel, Nevada, not the fictional town of Marion.

Could Other Worlds be exploring an entirely new set of experiments tied to the Upside Down? We'll have to wait until 2028 to find out.

Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure hits Netflix in 2028.

Want more film and TV news and reviews delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter or get Mashable push alerts today. Recommended deals for you HBO Max — top pick for premium content Disney+ — best for families Hulu — popular choice for originals Peacock — low-cost choice for live sport

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Disney+ — best for families

Hulu — popular choice for originals

Peacock — low-cost choice for live sport

Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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NASA’s X-70 Fractal announcement comes as agency aims to grow X-plane fleet.

NASA has announced a new experimental aircraft, the X-70 Fractal, that will supposedly feature reconfigurable flight-control technology and a modular design for swapping in different payloads. But much remains unknown about the aircraft’s design and development timeline, even as NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said the X-plane could take flight within two years.

The mystery surrounding NASA’s newest X-plane was exemplified by the agency’s press release, including an apparently AI-generated image of the X-70, showing a dark silhouette vaguely resembling a military fighter jet obscured by smoke. The news was announced by Isaacman during the UP.Summit held at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 4.

“The X-70 Fractal gives NASA a crewed, high-performance platform to test advanced flight-control, maneuverability, and other cutting-edge technologies in real flight,” Isaacman said. “Its modular design and ability to rapidly swap internal and external payloads will keep our teams flying, learning, and moving quickly from one experiment to the next.”

NASA’s press release described the X-70 as a crewed aircraft designed to cruise at Mach 0.75 while reaching a maximum altitude of up to 45,000 feet, and having an operational range beyond 1,726 miles (2,778 kilometers). The article did not mention a specific aircraft manufacturer that might be helping the agency develop the X-plane.

The X-70 would also have a takeoff weight of 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) and a design capable of accommodating up to 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) of experimental payloads both internally and externally. Ars has reached out to NASA for more details.

Another X-plane is also expected to be announced at the UP.Summit on November 6, according to Aviation Week. That would coincide with a scheduled announcement from President Donald Trump at the event.

This comes after Isaacman previously appeared in front of another smoke-shrouded silhouette image with the tagline “Rebuilding our X-plane portfolio” during the All-In Summit in Los Angeles held from September 12 to 14, according to TWZ. That silhouette appeared strikingly similar to the SR-71 Blackbird that flew Cold War reconnaissance missions at supersonic speeds in the stratosphere.

Rumors have circulated about a possible revival of the SR-71 in one form or another, after former NASA employees told Aviation Week they received job offers to help restore an SR-71 to operational flight capability.

In September, the publication also reported on the removal of a NASA-owned SR-71 with the tail number 844 that had stood on display at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center inside Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Meanwhile, NASA recently commemorated the first flight anniversary of its supersonic X-59 Quesst, a needle-nosed aircraft designed by Lockheed Martin to reduce sonic booms to sonic thumps. Ars has previously looked at how this X-plane program is intended to support the design of future supersonic airliners that may fly overland while minimizing disturbances for buildings and people below.

Since first taking to the skies on October 28, 2025, the X-59 has completed over 40 flight tests, including both low-speed flights and supersonic test runs reaching Mach 1.53, according to NASA. Such testing has taken place at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center inside Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The X-59 also recently completed its first cross-country journey from California to Florida with stopovers in Texas and Alabama, accompanied by an F-15 and an F/A-18 from the agency’s research fleet that served as chase planes. It sat on the ground as a static display during the NASA Max Power airshow at Kennedy Space Center in Florida from November 7 to 8.

The supersonic aircraft will resume its test flight schedule once it returns to Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, a NASA spokesperson told Ars. Given the agency’s latest X-plane push, the X-59 may not be flying alone for many more years.

Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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The all-new Samsung Galaxy SmartTag 3 is now available for purchase and we are still tracking all-time low pricing on the new Google Home Speaker, but we are now ready to deliver today’s best Google Play app and game deals: Wreckfest – Demolition Racing, Kingdom Rush 5: Alliance TD, Reigns, Fugglers: Reckless Runner, Rites of Conquest, Farm Simulator 25 Tractor Game, and more. We also still have Galaxy Z Fold 8 at $300 off with a giant $200 store credit, $350 off on Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and $100 off all Pixel Watch 5 models. The apps await below.

All-new Samsung Galaxy SmartTag 3 UWB tracker now available for purchase from $25 each

Google Home Speaker hits all-time low in early Black Friday sale at 20% off, more Nest smart home deals

Galaxy Z Fold 8 at $300 off also includes a giant $200 store credit today

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Justin is a senior deal Jedi over at 9to5Toys where he heads up our game/app coverage and more. He also covers all things music for 9to5Mac, including the weekly Logic Pros series exploring music production on Mac and iOS devices

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.

A lawsuit alleges that ChatGPT's now-retired GPT-4o model gave detailed instructions on how to poison someone with plants and medication.

In the summer of 2025, James Gates became severely ill at his North Carolina home. Two months later, he found a handwritten note that allegedly implicated his wife, Cheryl Gates, in the unexplained illness. The note listed oleander, a toxic plant, and various prescription medications, such as clonazepam and atenolol.

But it was what was reportedly written at the top of the paper that made James feel his wife didn’t act alone: “Clear all convos,” and “log out of [ChatGPT].”

Now, James Gates has filed a civil lawsuit against OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, alleging that the company’s chatbot helped plan and execute his poisoning in an attempt to kill him.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

In October 2025, Cheryl was charged with attempted murder, among other charges, in connection with the alleged poisoning, but the charges have since been dropped due to insufficient evidence, USA Today reports.

The civil complaint, though, details Cheryl’s history with ChatGPT and alleges it played a significant role in the incident. According to the lawsuit, which was reviewed by CNET, Cheryl frequently asked the bot about lethal plant and medication doses, and how they can be concealed in food and drink.

Rather than writing that she wanted to harm anyone, the suit states that Cheryl formatted her questions as if she were inquiring as a way to protect herself, writing that the poisoning could happen to her if she didn’t learn “EVERYTHING about how many leaves in it would kill me, how it’s made, and what he could put in it, or it could be added to and be undetected by me.”

However, despite the framing of the initial question, the suit argues that the chatbot “should have been clear that she was interested in identifying methods to eliminate her husband.”

The suit alleges that the model Cheryl was using, GPT-4o, took her initial complaints regarding her marriage and amplified them until Cheryl was describing her husband to the bot as “abusive” and “controlling,” which ChatGPT eventually began to echo. At the same time, the model was telling Cheryl she was “sharp” and “brilliant,” the lawsuit states.

The chatbot allegedly provided detailed answers that could have been interpreted as directions. When asked about putting a heavy dose of medication in beer or a Celsius energy drink, ChatGPT responded, “Why Celsius Would Be More ‘Stealth’ for Drugging” with a list detailing the flavor, color, temperature and carbonation of the drink.

When Cheryl later asked if her chat history on ChatGPT could be retrieved for any reason, the bot responded: “If you delete a conversation from your ChatGPT history, it cannot be retrieved — not by you, not by anyone else, and not by OpenAI,” the lawsuit states. It added: “Even with a legal subpoena or court order, deleted conversations are unrecoverable.”

The GPT-4o model has since been retired by OpenAI due to concerns that the bot was overly flattering and willing to agree with users.

“Safety is a top priority,” a spokesperson for OpenAI told CNET in a statement. “We banned this user and have provided information to law enforcement as part of their investigation into this case.”

“She took her grievances about our marriage to ChatGPT and months of engagement drove her farther and farther from herself – and from reality,” James stated in a press release announcing the newly filed suit. “She became someone I no longer recognized. And I became someone she wanted dead. For almost a year, I couldn’t make sense of her actions. Then I read her chat logs. She didn’t act alone.”

The ChatGPT-4o model has been named in additional lawsuits, including a recent one that alleges the chatbot advised a woman to stop taking her antiseizure medication, which resulted in her death. That case is still in litigation.

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Siri Recap and Live Rewind are finally here, two months after Apple unveiled the always-listening Apple Watch features. Here's how they work.

Siri Recap and Live Rewind, Apple’s two controversial, always-listening Audio Intelligence features, are now available on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 with the iOS 27.3 developer beta. Both features are opt-in.

Apple unveiled Siri Recap and Live Rewind in September alongside its Series 12 and Ultra 4 smartwatches, but it waited to release the features until after the smartwatches launched. Siri Recap provides a high-level summary of meetings, while Live Rewind continuously buffers audio so the watch wearer can pull up a transcript of the last 15 seconds.

Also: Apple’s Audio Intelligence is priming us for its real AI wearable future

To try both features today, update your iPhone to the iOS 27.3 developer beta, and then update your Apple Watch.

Within the Siri app, users will find a new section called “Recaps,” where both the Siri Recaps and Live Rewinds live.

Also: Apple Watch 12 can listen in and recap your conversations now – genius or privacy nightmare?

Siri Recap isn’t listening for nitty-gritty details within a meeting or recording a transcript’s worth of text. It’s more geared toward a conversation’s key takeaways, like important dates, times, prices, and action items. A demo of the feature showed an off-the-cuff conversation between a parent and a child discussing college application strategies. Siri Recap took notes on the high school activities the student could pursue to include in their application, the topics they could write about in their essay, and the colleges they could consider applying to.

After a conversation, a user can save the meeting notes in the Siri app or export them to Notes or Journal. If they don’t save the conversation, it’s automatically deleted after seven days.

Apple designed the feature to exclude certain information from the Siri Recap. It includes a person’s name only if they introduce themselves or if their name is regularly brought up in conversation. Otherwise, it avoids identifying speakers. It also scrubs the audio of language that promotes self-harm, financial and authentication data, and personal identifiers.

You can enable or disable Recaps at any time through Control Center. You can create something akin to a Focus mode to automatically enable the feature once your Apple Watch detects you’ve reached your office or college lecture. Each morning, Siri Recap sends a notification to alert you that the feature is on. At the end of each day, you get a reminder to check your daily recaps in the Siri app.

The feature constantly assesses whether a conversation is relevant, optimizing its detection based on the conversation’s context, proximity, and length. It pauses summarization when a user is on a phone or FaceTime call, plays music, or uses earbuds. It won’t work when Bluetooth devices like AirPods are in use.

Double-press the Digital Crown to see a transcript of the past 15 seconds of conversation. The Apple Watch chimes and displays an animation to indicate it’s in use, then shows the transcript for 30 seconds.

Also: Is cellular on Apple Watch worth it? 4 ways people use it – and why I opt out

Live Rewind is built for those head-in-the-clouds moments when you miss a tidbit of information and can’t go back and ask what a speaker said. I think about how useful this could be in a college lecture or boardroom setting, where dozens of people’s conversations and questions prevent someone from asking a clarifying question about what was discussed.

The user can send the snippet to the Siri app to save it or ask about it (if they want to look up the definition of a mentioned term or get more information on the history of a mentioned topic, for example). If the user doesn’t act on it, the snippet is deleted. Any snippet you save is encrypted through iCloud. The audio buffer updates continuously, and unused audio is automatically deleted. It’s processed on the device and not sent to Apple.

To some, an always-on, always-listening smartwatch can sound like a privacy breach waiting to happen. That’s a fair concern, and Apple has taken steps to address privacy and security concerns with its Secure Exclave.

Think of the Secure Exclave as a private island on the S11 chip where the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 process audio. A secure audio buffer processes the raw audio, and a secure pairing mechanism privately enables the connection between a paired Apple Watch and iPhone.

Also: The Apple Watch Ultra 4 just hit its lowest price ever ahead of Black Friday

For Siri Recap, the S11 chip listens to detect whether the watch wearer is part of a current conversation. Once detected, audio enters the Secure Exclave, where it’s encrypted and sent to the Secure Exclave on the iPhone. The iPhone turns that audio into condensed text, essentially editing the conversation to remove filler words or irrelevant information, and then it’s sent to private cloud compute. Private cloud compute creates a recap, delivered to your iPhone’s Siri app.

This process ensures that no one, including Apple, can access the audio data.

Don’t want your Apple Watch to listen to you? Siri Recap and Live Rewind are off by default, according to Apple.

If your Apple Watch prompts you to enable Audio Intelligence during setup, you can choose which features to turn on.

On its support page, Apple said you can “turn on Siri Recap in the Watch app on iPhone.” Once it’s enabled, you can “turn it on or off at any time from Control Center.” To enable Live Rewind, Apple said to “open the Watch app, tap Siri, then tap Live Rewind and turn on ‘Double Click Digital Crown.’”

I haven’t tested these controls myself. I’d expect you can follow the same steps to switch Live Rewind off, but I haven’t confirmed that yet.

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BYD’s luxury brand, Denza, calls it “the king of large 5-seater pure electric vehicles.” The new Denza N8 electric SUV will launch next week, offering an impressive CLTC driving range of over 1,000 km (621 miles), massive digital screens, and plenty of premium extras.

After opening pre-orders for the new 5-seat luxury electric SUV last week, Li Hui, Denza’s general manager, said the results so far “have been excellent.”

According to Li, the Denza N8 is “definitely the most anticipated luxury SUV of the year.” Using BYD’s second-generation Blade Batteries, the Denza N8 EV has a pure electric CLTC range of up to 1,003 km (623 miles) on a single charge.

That’s just as much as the N8 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) it’s replacing, which offered a combined CLTC range of 1,003 km (623 miles) on a full tank of gas and a full charge.

While Li confirmed last week that the new EV variant would go on sale in November, he didn’t give a specific date.

Now, it’s official. Denza announced on its Weibo page on Friday that the launch event for the Denza N8 EV will be held on November 12, 2026.

BYD is still offering a limited-time promo that includes a 5,000 RMB credit for those who place a reservation with a 2,000 RMB ($200) deposit.

The Denza N8 measures 5,150 mm long, 1,999 mm wide, and 1,820 mm high, with a 3,075 mm wheelbase. That’s slightly longer than the Kia EV9 and Hyundai IONIQ 9.

It’s available with a single rear-wheel-drive (RWD) or a tri-motor all-wheel-drive (AWD) powertrain. The RWD version uses a single motor producing either 320 kW (429 hp) or 370 kW (496 hp).

The tri-motor Denza N8 uses BYD’s e3 platform. The setup includes three electric motors: a 270 kW (362 hp) front motor and two 310 kW (416 hp) rear motors, for a combined output of 890 kW (1,193 hp).

Regulatory filings earlier this year revealed it will use either a 130.15 kWh or 105.79 kWh BYD Blade 2.0 battery, offering a CLTC range of up to 1,003 km (623 miles) and 800 km (497 miles), respectively.

The Denza N8 also features BYD’s latest Flash Charging technology, letting it recharge from 10% to 80% in just five minutes. It takes just nine minutes to go from 10% to 97%.

Inside, the five-seat electric SUV features a massive 30″ infotainment screen that spans nearly the entire passenger-side dashboard, plus a new 43″ (1.1 meter) panoramic head-up display (PHUD) at the bottom of the windshield.

Like most of its new luxury vehicles, the Denza N8 is loaded with BYD’s latest software and technology.

Added premium features include zero-gravity seating in all rows, a three-spoke steering wheel, wireless phone chargers, and ambient lighting.

The electric SUV is equipped with a roof-mounted LiDAR to support BYD’s God’s Eye 5.0 intelligent driving assistance system, plus its DiSus-A intelligent air suspension system.

BYD has yet to announce prices for the Denza N8 EV, but it will likely be slightly less than the N8L, an extended version that starts at 299,800 RMB ($45,000).

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Peter Johnson is covering the auto industry’s step-by-step transformation to electric vehicles. He is an experienced investor, financial writer, and EV enthusiast. His enthusiasm for electric vehicles, primarily Tesla, is a significant reason he pursued a career in investments. If he isn’t telling you about his latest 10K findings, you can find him enjoying the outdoors or exercising

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watchOS 27.3 arrived this week in beta alongside iOS 27.3, with a major new feature for the latest Apple Watch models: Siri Recap, which I’m already really loving.

If you bought an Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra 4 this fall, there are two exclusive new features coming in watchOS 27.3: Siri Recap and Live Rewind.

Both ‘Audio Intelligence’ features were announced at Apple’s September keynote, but just debuted in beta this week.

Siri Recap in particular has stirred some controversy. Here’s what the feature does, per Apple:

Siri Recap ambiently takes notes on your conversations throughout your day and creates high-level Apple Intelligence–generated summaries that you can use later to jog your memory, so you can stay present in the moment. Siri Recaps can be set to automatically delete after a period of up to 7 days unless you choose to explicitly save them.

It’s understandable why users would be concerned. Once enabled, Siri Recap can turn your Apple Watch into a device that’s always listening and often takes notes on what it hears.

This article isn’t about making the privacy case for the feature. You can read Apple’s privacy protections here. Briefly though, key details include: there’s no speaker attribution or logging of sensitive information like financial data, authentication data, or personal identifiers; no audio is stored or recorded; the feature is opt-in; and you can set times or places where it stays disabled.

Speaking strictly of the functionality of Siri Recap itself, however, I’ve been very impressed.

I enabled Siri Recap after installing the iOS and watchOS 27.3 betas on Tuesday. When I checked the first recaps on Wednesday inside the Siri app, I was blown away.

Siri had created a record of the things I’d done Tuesday afternoon and evening with remarkable accuracy and detail, as seen above.

One example that especially shocked me: after shopping for Christmas decorations with my family, Siri documented the size of a table runner we looked at. The thing is, I had no memory of anyone even mentioning its size. My wife must have, but despite me missing it, Siri wrote it down.

Another fun one: Thursday morning during breakfast, my son wanted to listen some music on our HomePod. Later that day, I found that the songs we’d listened to were saved at the bottom of my latest recap.

It’s still very early days with Siri Recap, which is only in beta right now, but what I’ve seen this week has been really exciting. And so far at least, I’ve seen zero information in a recap that I’d consider too sensitive to be included.

What’s your take on Siri Recap? Have you given it a try? Let us know in the comments.

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Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.

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The Elegoo M1 Ultra has a lot going for it, but it is not a standalone system. You’ll need to combine it with a powerful laptop to process the scanning data into anything useful. The good news it can be tethered via Wi-Fi.

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The M1 Ultra is Elegoo’s first entry into the 3D scanner market. It is a feature-rich scanner with five scanning modes, four blue light laser modes, and a NIR binocular structured light mode. Most importantly, the scanner has a 3-in color touch screen and long battery life. It even includes a spare rechargeable battery, so you’re always prepared.

The scanner can’t run without a fairly high end PC or Mac for processing power. It will need to be tethered to the laptop with a UBS-C cable or connected via Wi-Fi. I was able to get about five feet away from my subject in a harsh RF environment. I didn’t test it further than that, so it may go farther. The cable connection provides the fastest connectivity, making tethered scanning worth the hassle.

The scanner’s output rivals any of the scanners I’ve tested, but it did require a little extra work to get there. At a current price of $1,599 at Elegoo, the M1 Ultra has features not found in other scanners at this price point.

The Elegoo M1 Ultra comes with a nice hard case for travel, with a padded interior to protect the scanner, glass calibration board, spare battery, NIR filters, and a USB-C cable. Also included are a lens cleaning cloth and a packet of marker dots. Noticeably absent is a turntable for scanning smaller objects. (We borrowed a turntable from another scanner during this test.)

The Elegoo M1 Ultra weighs 511g (1.12lbs) with its battery installed. It has a rubber grip below the screen and is nicely balanced. Users with large hands may find their thumbs blocking the screen.

The onboard screen can be used to set the scanning parameters, start and stop scans, and monitor the scans as they progress. The 3-inch screen is small, but the UI is laid out perfectly. When setting parameters for a scan, the touch screen takes precedence over the tethered computer if you’re starting the scan from the scanner itself.

The business end of the scanner has a series of blue, white, and infrared LEDs, blue lasers, and cameras. The included NIR filters are needed when scanning outdoors or in harsh light conditions. The battery and the spare can be charged using a USB-C cable when unmounted, and can be charged from the computer when operating the scanner in USB mode. The battery life is excellent. Almost all of our testing was done with one charge of the battery and its spare.

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Calibrating the Elegoo M1 Ultra is fairly easy given its light weight and the easy-to-follow software. Using the glass calibration board, the scanner is aimed at various angles and heights, following the directions on screen. The software shows an image of where the scanner should be and an image of the scanner as you move it. You have to match the two before moving on to the next spot. Scanner calibration can be a chore, but calibrating the M1 Ultra was simple.

Elegoo Scan can be downloaded from Elegoo’s website for Windows and Mac. The software works and looks like CrealityScan, which is a good thing since both make cleaning up individual scans and stitching multiple scans together fairly easy. The software does require a bunch of memory, with the more, the merrier. I tried running the software on an older PC laptop which met the minimum requirements, except it had only 8 GB of RAM, and it was not enough.

Elegoo recommends a PC with Windows 10/11 (64-bit), an Intel Core i7 (13th Gen) or higher, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 or higher (8 GB VRAM), and 32 GB or more of RAM. For Mac, they recommend macOS 14 or later, with an Apple M4 or later, and 32 GB or more of RAM. Minimum specs for both are 16gb of RAM, with Windows 10/11 (64-bit), Intel Core i7 (7th Gen), and an Nvidia GPU (6 GB VRAM) for PC, and macOS 14 or later, with an Apple M2 CPU.

The Elegoo M1 Ultra has 4 blue laser scanning modes: 34 crossed laser lines for quick scanning, 7 parallel lines for finer details, 1 line for scanning deeper, more difficult-to-capture holes, and markerless. The fewer the lines, the more time the scans take. I should point out that the turntable in the photo was borrowed from the Creality Pika Scanner, which we reviewed previously.

One of my favorite use cases is scanning an item for import into a 3D printing project I am working on. I scanned a cheap 895 brushed motor commonly found in drills. The motor required several scans, and the M1 Ultra seemed to have trouble capturing the shinier parts of the object. Ultimately, I captured two scans that had enough data to be useful. The software has an automatic alignment tool which does a good job in most cases. In this case, it was baffled by the geometry. The manual alignment worked perfectly.

Manual alignment requires adding markers matching points on both images. You do not have to be super exact with the placement. The software will smooth out any overlaps.

Part of the mesh processing is hole filling. This also has an automatic and manual mode. Since the automatic mode was going to fill in the screw holes and cooling holes, I had to fill in the holes manually by clicking on them. This is a little tedious, but it worked well.

After hole filling, smoothing, and simplifying, I was able to export the file as an STL and open it in Tinkercad.

The size, and hole alignment were perfect for integrating the motor into a project.

This bust of Michelangelo’s David came with an early Creality scanner and has become my main test file. It took three scans for me to get a good model, which was a recurring theme with the Elegoo M1 Ultra.

Fortunately in this case, the auto alignment function worked perfectly.

Even with multiple scans, there were still a few holes to fill. One of these can be seen in the finished model in the smooth, flat area above David’s left ear.

Overall, the model generated is one of the best I’ve seen, and it printed extremely well once exported. The flaw at the bottom of the print was a bed adhesion issue rather than a problem with the model.

Since I could not find a willing human victim…I mean, subject…to scan, I tried using the NIR mode to scan Clyde, our family’s favorite stuffed Clydesdale. This is a cautionary tale because 3D scanners in general have a tough time scanning black objects, as they absorb light rather than reflecting it.

The scans weren’t bad, but they did leave big holes where the mane and tail were too dark to read.

I was able to do a much better scan of Ali the Alligator. In NIR mode, the scanner is capable of 30fps. Even with the slower frame rate, the scanner was able to quickly capture Ali in two scans, without a ton of multiple passes. Each time you go over the same spot on an object, it’s possible to generate garbage data that has to be removed in the meshing process. The two scans align together automatically, and the finished model is pretty darn good.

The scanner does feature color texture mapping. Other than the mouth, where a large hole needed to be filled, the color mapping was spot on.

The Elegoo M1 Ultra is a good scanner that has a good feature set for the price. The light weight, onboard screen, long battery life, and stable Wi-Fi connection make it a joy to use.

The ElegooScan software is fairly intuitive. It makes calibrating the scanner and turning the raw scans into usable models fairly easy. The Elegoo M1 Ultra did require multiple scans to get good coverage of objects, while other scanners I’ve tested could do it in one pass. The added complexity takes up a good deal of time and requires a fair amount of computer power, especially when cleaning up and aligning multiple scans. ElegooScan has the tools to make it work. Even with a pretty good model, you’ll likely also need a CAD program or other design tools to make the best use of the scans.

If you’d like to save a few bucks and get a still excellent scanner, check out the Creality Pika, which is currently $699. If you want a scanner with a little more horsepower, check out the Creality Sermoon S1, which retails for $2,069. Creality also makes the Sermoon P1, which can run completely untethered and retails for $3,299.

Denise Bertacchi is a Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware US, covering 3D printing. Denise has been crafting with PCs since she discovered Print Shop had clip art on her Apple IIe. She loves reviewing 3D printers because she can mix all her passions: printing, photography, and writing.

Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

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Following a sizable release last month, Google Health is rolling out another big update with version 5.12.

Google Health 5.12 on Android and iOS will let you “log your blood pressure readings manually or sync your readings from another app via Apple Health or Health Connect.”

Go to the Health tab > Heart to see blood pressure graphs.

This release also introduces a “new glucose visualization that overlays logged and tracked events (exercise, sleep, nutrition) on the graph.”

You can also log events directly from the graph. Check this out in the Metabolic Health section of the Health Tab.

1 Personal Health Records stored with Google may not be comprehensive or accurate. Always consult your doctor for medical advice or for an official copy of your health records for clinical or government purposes.

2 Requires Google Health Premium subscription (sold separately), Google Health app, and internet connection. Features subject to change; availability varies. Not intended for medical purposes. Gemini features work independently of Gemini apps. Check responses for accuracy; results may vary.

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In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we’ll discuss Tesla killing the Cybertruck, EVs surging in several key markets, and more.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.

Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET):

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Fred is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at Electrek.

You can send tips on Twitter (DMs open) or via email: fred@9to5mac.com

Through Zalkon.com, you can check out Fred’s portfolio and get monthly green stock investment ideas.

EnergySage helps you get the best price possible on a home solar installation for free and without hassel.

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Apple shared a new Apple Card ad on its YouTube page today featuring a therapist who realizes she really needs a vacation. Watch it below.

In a new ad shared today, Apple showcases how easy it is to apply for an Apple Card and start using it right away.

The ad shows a therapist who gets distracted mid-session by a notification about a flash sale on flights to Jamaica on her iPhone, but realizes her wallet is too far away to act on it.

As her patient continues talking about his problems, she quickly applies for an Apple Card through the Wallet app and uses it to book the flight, all without him noticing, but just barely.

Apple Card is is [sic] built into iPhone, and you can apply in as little as a minute. No waiting for a physical credit card, no friction. All it takes is a few taps of your iPhone. You can earn unlimited daily cash back, and use it right away.

Apple’s latest Apple Card ad comes as the company kicks off its holiday shopping season today, with festive decorations arriving at its physical and online stores, along with an extended return policy for holiday purchases.

Apple today also launched its new OLED iPad mini, M6-powered iMac and MacBook Pro, along with the redesigned MacBook Pro featuring an OLED touchscreen, and is just days away from releasing the long-awaited Apple HomeView smart display.

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A new kind of credit card. Created by Apple, no…

Marcus Mendes is a Brazilian tech podcaster and journalist who has been closely following Apple since the mid-2000s.

He began covering Apple news in Brazilian media in 2012 and later broadened his focus to the wider tech industry, hosting a daily podcast for seven years.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.

The switch comes with a limited-time offer.

Your Amazon Prime membership has a new perk — and it’s available now.

On Thursday, Amazon announced that Prime members in the US will get free delivery on Uber Eats orders made directly through Amazon’s app or website. And you’ll get $20 off the first two Uber Eats eligible orders of $25 or more for the first 14 days, plus Amazon-exclusive offers. If you have a Prime Visa credit card, you’ll earn 5% back on all Uber Eats orders until Dec. 5, with a Prime membership.

It’s another perk that may make Amazon Prime membership worthwhile, especially if you already use Uber Eats. But you may wonder what that means for the GrubHub partnership that both Amazon and GrubHub touted for years — dating back to 2022. Before now, your Prime subscription included a GrubHub Plus membership at no additional cost. GrubHub Plus included no delivery fees, lower service fees and 5% back on pickup orders.

The new partnership launch just so happens to be the same day that Lyft and DoorDash announced that they’re teaming up for a new subscription, Lyft Go. An Amazon spokesperson said in an email to CNET that the GrubHub and Amazon partnership ended on Thursday. There’s no telling how long Amazon will partner with Uber Eats.

“We continuously evaluate our third-party offers to ensure they provide the best possible value for Prime members,” the spokesperson said. “As part of that ongoing evaluation, we identified an opportunity to deliver an even better restaurant delivery experience.”

However, a GrubHub spokesperson said in an email to CNET that if you have a Prime membership and activated GrubHub Plus, you’ll have the membership until Dec. 31, 2027.

GrubHub shared a joint statement from Amazon and GrubHub in an email to CNET:

On Nov. 5, Grubhub and Amazon have decided to end the Prime-exclusive Grubhub Plus offer, and Amazon customers will no longer be able to place Grubhub orders through Amazon.com or the Amazon Shopping app. Amazon and Grubhub are proud of the partnership and the value provided to Prime members over the years. As the agreement concludes, both companies remain committed to serving our customers and delivering a great customer experience.

The new Uber Eats perk is now available to all Prime members, including those with Prime Access and Prime for Young Adults. And if you’re looking for another dining option, your Amazon Prime membership still offers free same-day delivery on perishable grocery orders over $25 when you order from Amazon Grocery.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Squarespace also announced layoffs this week, but explicit ties to AI remain inconsistent.

According to exclusive reporting by The Register, enterprise Linux provider SUSE will lay off one in 10 of its nearly 2,000-person workforce due to “automation and AI,” CEO Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen told staff via email.

Also: How many jobs is your state losing to AI?

Van Leeuwen noted that AI is rapidly changing how software companies function.

“AI capabilities are advancing exponentially, forcing us to radically reimagine our work,” he said, adding that “the organizational design and cost base that SUSE is built on today will not carry us forward successfully.”

He did not specify which roles would be terminated, but The Register reports that staff will be notified by Nov. 4.

AI is impacting many parts of the tech industry, including open source. Just last month, Linus Torvalds announced he had used Claude Code to write a Linux patch, which Linux enthusiasts read as an evolution of his stance on AI.

By some reports, businesses are finally seeing some ROI from AI after a few years of uncertainty. But that remains localized, ironically, to tech itself. As one economist recently noted, AI has primarily increased revenue per employee at major tech companies, while leaving most other companies unchanged.

The trade-off for that growth is, at least in some cases, layoffs. But layoffs credited to AI in some way don’t mean that human roles are always being replaced. Last month, Microsoft announced it would buy out 60,000 of its workers — some of which are in its Copilot division — to prioritize AI efforts, though it’s also likely the company is reacting to spending a significant amount of money on AI infrastructure.

Jobloss.ai’s layoff tracker shows primarily tech companies — including Uber, Salesforce, and GitLab — in its recent entries, but job loss attribution to AI is still mixed, and the number of roles cut isn’t always jarringly huge.

It’s also hard to tell whether a layoff strategically frames pre-AI plans as being due to AI capabilities or is actually a result of them. That question circulated around Block’s major layoffs earlier this year. Squarespace also announced layoffs of 19% of its staff yesterday, though company communications don’t explicitly name AI. Still, vibecoding has impacted website builders overall, though Squarespace itself has invested in AI offerings.

Also: Why replacing staff with AI backfires

Van Leeuwen’s email to staff acknowledged where SUSE has already begun to change, though it’s unclear whether he meant by adopting AI tools internally.

“Across SUSE, modern tooling is already changing our daily workflows, enabling teams to move faster with less operational overhead and flatter reporting lines. The requirement for some existing roles has greatly diminished. Other roles will evolve over the next few years,” he said.

While several tech companies have announced highly visible layoffs this year that they’ve also framed as related to AI, economists agree that the massive cross-industry layoff wave many fear has yet to arrive. Gartner even predicts that companies will actually rehire 30% of the employees they tried to replace with AI — and at a higher cost — by 2029 if they don’t “overhaul workforce planning.”

Still, AI investments, vibecoding, and shifting priorities are changing the software scene overall.

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Not long ago, the 72-year-old adult creator DD White received a message from one of her fans requesting a custom video.

She often spends her afternoons in front of a computer fulfilling all sorts of solicitations from younger men. Some want to buy the lingerie she wears in her clips. Others ask for a recording of a “stepson video” where she pretends to catch them peeking into her room or watching her shower.

The fee varies depending on the description or length of the video, ranging anywhere from $30 to $200, and if a guy wants her to say his name, “that is going to cost more because it’s not resalable,” she says from her home office in Orlando. “They want me to come on to them, to say that I’ve noticed them staring at me. That type of thing.”

But this request was a first for White. He “wanted me to be his mommy and tell him how he came out of my body, as he’s fucking me. It was just really awkward,” she says. White, who has 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, declined the request but says that sort of thing comes with the job when you are a septuagenarian sex worker.

“I am so surprised, but younger guys really want to be with older women,” she says.

Outside the Instagram-polished demographic typically associated with creators on OnlyFans and Fansly, where youth is among your most marketable assets, there is a growing demand for a different kind of digital seductress: the GILF.

Older creators have flooded adult platforms in recent years as demand for mature content has skyrocketed. On Pornhub, searches for “GILF” increased 129 percent in 2025, and “maturing MILF” was among the platform’s leading trends, according to figures the company shared with WIRED. In the US, the market for silver foxes was even more explicit: last year the top relative search term in Oregon was “horny grandma” while Maine’s was “granny sex.”

In the evenings after she’s finished sifting through messages, White turns to camming. “My shows,” she calls them. In one stream the night following the midterm elections, she dressed up in a silk-and-lace maid outfit, imploring fans to “cum and catch the action.”

White first entered the business at 65, following a decades-long career as an accountant, working with the Score Group, an adult media company in Miami that runs dozens of porn sites, including 60plusmilfs.com. She mostly works as an “independent contractor” these days, uploading content between Streamates, LoyalFans, OnlyFans, and her personal website. In all, White pulls in around $12,000 a month with the help of her daughters, who coordinate her social media posts and help make any necessary artwork.

Aging performers like Rita Daniels, 76, and Aunt Ann, a 69-year-old footwear model whose turnoffs include “mean people, liars, [and] limp dicks,” have found big audiences as the desire for GILF content grows.

Two of Aunt Ann’s explicit videos showing penetration have over 600,000 views on Pornhub. Others creators, like 66-year-old Monika Weiss, are “finally exploring every delicious desire I kept hidden for far too long,” as she writes in her OF bio. The genre has gotten so widespread across the industry that, in August, ASN—the adult entertainment company that hosts an annual awards ceremony—added a category for GILF of the Year.

White initially got into porn because it was “something fun to do” with her husband (they were swingers, and he would often post videos of their group trysts online). But after a series of unexpected financial setbacks—the family’s manufacturing business, which her daughters took over, started to suffer as the economy worsened—she realized porn was a smart alternative to help boost her retirement savings.

“It was a combination of things going bad. I realized that the retirement wasn't going to be there like I expected,” she says. “I would need to have more than just that social security check.”

Despite its challenges, platform-dependent work has provided older adults new opportunities at a second or even third career. “Some workers were pushed into the gig economy, with unemployment or forced retirement compelling them to seek out new financial lifelines,” says Brooke Duffy, who researches the intersection of social media and labor at Cornell University. Against this backdrop, she adds, “OnlyFans offered not only a stopgap but also a potential pathway through which to wrest back control over the conditions of work” by broadening the pool of participants through a new funding model.

Older women aren’t the only creators benefiting from a resurgent interest in mature porn. When Rick Kelson was let go from his contract position at NASA in 2021, where he worked as an engineer, sex work became his main source of income, “essentially a full-time job,” he tells WIRED. It was during this period that “the market for more mature performers, daddy types, was really starting to take off,” and a friend who’d worked with various gay film studios, “thought I had exactly the look that they wanted,” Kelson says.

Broad-shouldered with a thick white beard, Kelson, who turns 60 next year, believes the industry has finally caught up to mature porn because studios realize that it isn’t the niche genre they previously wrote it off as. “The mainstream traditional studios weren’t interested in playing to that market. As far as making content available, it just didn't seem like a profitable option before. They didn’t realize how large it was.”

Kelson averages $4,000 to $5,000 a month posting between OnlyFans, JustForFans, Pornhub, and RawFuckClub, on top of personal training and masseuse work. But despite the steady stream of income he has been able to build for himself, he acknowledges how difficult it is to make a living wage in this line of work “unless you are really, really hustling and pushing some boundaries, doing some of the real hard legwork.”

Today, more than a quarter of adults over 50 rely on side hustles to survive, according to a 2023 AARP survey, with 44 percent of older workers saying they have experienced a “job disruption” since 2018.

Octogenarian actress Donna Mills joined OnlyFans this year. In October, the former soap star told ABC News that though she has yet to post x-rated content, she wasn’t completely ruling it out in the future. “Provocative, maybe. I’ve always been a bit spicy.” Mills told ABC that she won’t honor fan requests for videos of her brushing her teeth but noted that she planned to fulfill one specific request: “stomping grapes.”

“I think it’s sexier to be not just totally naked … and have a little imagination about it,” she said of her approach.

White, who has 40,000 Instagram followers, says what’s happening right now has a lot to do with new attitudes around aging and who gets to monetize their image online. “I realized that the generations are changing. They’re not stifling sex like they used to. That way of thinking is so different from when I was younger, and a lot of women have benefited from that.”

Even so, Kelson believes the volatility of the job market will continue to push older adults to subscription platforms to supplement their income. “More of them will see that they have that option,” he says. Mostly, he’s been ecstatic to see creators in his age bracket get into the business.

“I love it because it pushes back against the concept that as you get older, you have to lose pieces of your life that you enjoy,” he says. “We are not freaks just because we have a high libido at the age of 65 or 70 or whatever.”

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Airbnb hosts are furious they can no longer make guests do their chores

big story: cool kids write in all lowercase—does that make you mad?

I worked for a whole day using only the iPhone Duo

WIRED event: The technologies, people, and ideas transforming our world

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Several tech companies are pushing back against subpoenas issued by Apple and the DOJ in their ongoing antitrust battle. Here are the details.

In March 2024, the Department of Justice and 15 states, plus the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit accusing Apple of restricting competition, limiting interoperability with rival products, and making it harder for consumers to switch to competing devices. Apple denies these allegations.

Since then, despite recent reports of settlement talks happening behind the scenes, the two sides have clashed repeatedly over discovery, which is the pretrial process through which both sides exchange evidence relevant to the case.

As part of its effort to refute the DOJ’s arguments, Apple has subpoenaed several third-party companies and organizations, seeking documents and information relevant to its defense. That includes Epic Games, Samsung Electronics America, Meta, Oura, Garmin, Playco, Ultrahuman, PayPal, Match Group, and the Connectivity Standards Alliance, among others.

The DOJ and plaintiff states, in turn, have issued their own subpoenas, including to Roblox, Epic Games, Snap, and the Connectivity Standards Alliance, seeking evidence to support their allegations against Apple.

Google, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, and Capital One are also named in legal documents.

In essence, both sides are trying to use data from Apple’s competitors and companies with which it has commercial relationships to establish how its policies affect competition, and whether those policies are justified or constitute anticompetitive behavior.

Over the past couple of days, multiple letters submitted to the court reveal disagreements over the scope of the subpoenas, the information being requested, and whether the companies should be required to produce certain documents.

Epic Games, for instance, argues that Apple’s requests for documents from three previous lawsuits (Epic v. Apple in the US, Epic v. Apple in Australia, and Epic v. Google in the US), along with extensive searches of internal files belonging to three senior executives, including its CEO, would be disproportionately burdensome.

Still, the company has offered to produce several categories of information, including Fortnite user and revenue data, contracts with Google and Samsung, and records relating to Apple’s Core Technology Fee.

Samsung, in turn, has agreed to search documents belonging to two executives, which the company says have yielded nearly 900,000 documents matching the agreed-upon search terms.

However, Apple wants to expand the searches to six additional executives, including Samsung Electronics America’s current and former CEOs, and obtain deposition transcripts from Samsung executives who testified in the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Google.

The companies also disagree over whether Samsung Electronics America should be required to produce documents held by its South Korean parent company, which is a dispute we covered here before.

As for Oura, the company is pushing back on several fronts, including whether Apple should reimburse it for reviewing more than 32,000 additional documents, and whether it may withhold or redact certain information it considers trade secrets.

Garmin has raised similar objections to Apple’s requests for confidential financial and strategic information.

Roblox, which is the only company among these recent filings subpoenaed by the DOJ and plaintiff states rather than Apple or other plaintiffs, is disputing requests for information about its relationship with Apple and how Apple’s App Store policies are applied. The government, meanwhile, argues that the documents could help establish whether Apple consistently applies its App Store Guidelines to developers.

Another interesting dispute involves Japan-based instant gaming company Playco, which is resisting Apple’s requests for documents concerning its efforts to influence App Store policies, including lobbying activities.

Playco argues that producing these materials would violate its First Amendment rights, citing a 2021 court decision involving similar requests Apple made to Match Group.

Several of the companies have also requested until November 11 to continue negotiations before their disputes are formally declared at an impasse, potentially avoiding further court intervention.

All of this is happening against the backdrop of another dispute between Apple and the DOJ involving the company’s efforts to obtain documents from 14 federal agencies.

Although a special master has twice sided with Apple, the order remains on hold while the court considers the government’s appeal.

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Marcus Mendes is a Brazilian tech podcaster and journalist who has been closely following Apple since the mid-2000s.

He began covering Apple news in Brazilian media in 2012 and later broadened his focus to the wider tech industry, hosting a daily podcast for seven years.

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A new Discord client built in Rust is looking pretty shiny and clean, even on low-end Android phones.

I love Discord, but if there’s one thing the app isn’t known for is it’s speed. That’s particularly true on phones that don’t have much RAM, but an upcoming new Discord client is changing the game for all users, regardless of the platform.

Discord CTO and co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy posted on X about several new Discord updates that are getting users excited. In the video, embedded below, you can see Discord running on two very old, lower-end phones (looks like a Samsung A-series to me). The current client, on the left, takes a full 3 seconds to launch, and then another 2 seconds to fully load. The new client, on the right, launches in under 1 second and is finished loading everything before the 2-second mark.

A release date has not been announced for the new client, although it is presumably launching soon.

We didn't forget about mobile, especially Android. Inspired by React Native, it drives the OS-native view layer through the same Rust codebase as the new desktop app. I think it might be the most responsive app on my phone now? https://t.co/uf5EwUtQLh pic.twitter.com/F8QCedZcJj

Stanislav says the new client uses a lot less RAM, which goes in line with the new PC client he also posted about this week. That client is shown to be using just 300MB of RAM in the screenshot Stanislav posted. While I don’t have access to the new PC client, my current Discord PC client is using 1,200MB of RAM. That’s a massive reduction, assuming the numbers would look similar on my machine.

Now that Discord is cleaning up its client and the iPhone Duo is out, I’m personally hoping for a version that works properly with foldable phones. The Discord app has been finicky on foldable phones ever since they merged the Android app with the iOS one a few years ago. One can certainly hope.

Follow Nick: YouTube, X (Twitter), Threads, Instagram

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This week’s closing Green Deals edition is packed with some great Early Black Friday savings, starting with the freshly launched Bluetti holiday lineup, which includes the new Apex 200 2,560Wh Power Station that just hit the market with an exclusive $1,044 starting price. That’s not all, as we also have Jackery’s early Black Friday offers, too. There’s also Velotric’s best prices of the year, with a bunch of first-time discounts, like the 2026 Discover 3 Ultimate Comfort Commuter e-bike with a FREE $136 bundle at $1,899 + more from $1,199, as well as a spotlight on Segway’s F3 Electric Scooter at its $650 annual low. You’ll also find Worx’s 40V 20-inch cordless snow thrower, AeroGarden’s Trio grow light, and more – plus, all the deals from across this week at the bottom of the page, including yesterday’s EcoFlow DELTA Gen4 power station launch deals, the full Lectric Black Friday Sale lineup, and more.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Following the launch of the new Elite 30 Mini Power Station, Bluetti has officially launched its Black Friday Early Access deals, complete with our exclusive bonus savings code, FREE gifts with purchases of certain units, and a lucky draw spin with purchases over $1,000 that can give you various rewards. One notable leader that launched alongside this sale is the new Apex 200 Portable Power Station down at $1,044.05 shipped, after using the code 9TO5TOYS5OFF at checkout, which is not yet available at Amazon. As I stated, this is a brand-new unit that only just hit the market with an initial discount from $1,399 to $1,099, which gets even better with our exclusive code for $355 savings.

***Note. We haven’t factored in any of the exclusive bonus savings for the prices you see below, so be sure to use the code 9TO5TOYS5OFF at checkout for the very best deals during this sale.

You can browse the full lineup of Bluetti’s Early Black Friday deals right here.

Velotric has launched its Black Friday Sale lineup with up to $760 in savings on e-bikes, offer guarantees, and several first-ever discounts among the group. One of those first-ever cash savings deals is on the 2026 Discover 3 Ultimate Comfort Commuter e-bike with a FREE rack top bag and mirror ($136 value) at $1,899 shipped. The bike alone has been keeping to its $1,999 full price since releasing in February, with only FREE bundle deals occasionally being offered in the time since. Now, not only are you getting the bundled gear, but also $100 slashed from the tag for the all-time lowest price we have tracked. I recently received my own Discover 3, so keep an eye out for our upcoming hands-on review.

There’s plenty more amazing deals you don’t want to miss out on, which you can browse right here.

Right alongside the early Black Friday savings hitting the Myon and Xafari Electric Bikes, Segway also has an early event deal on its F3 Electric Scooter for $649.99 shipped, matching the deal at Amazon. Despite the $1,000 MSRP, you can more often find it starting lower from $850, and unlike the end-of-October deal that required you to redeem mileage points, you can score this price all on its own. The deal here gives you $200 off the going rate, landing it $50 under the more average rate we’ve seen it discounted to and giving you another chance at the best price of 2026.

Jackery has launched its own early Black Friday savings on power stations, with a lucky spin game for subscribing, and by signing up/in as a member, you’ll also be getting “3x points for every one unit of local currency,” too. Among the group, you can find options like the 2026 Explorer 1500 Ultra Portable Power Station with 2x 100W Prime solar panels down at $1,399 shipped, which beats out Amazon where it’s keeping to its full $1,579 rate. This is a more outdoor-ready solution that first hit the market after CES 2026, and has mostly seen discounts to $1,419 since August, though there were the few days of October’s Prime event that saw it dip a little lower to $1,339. While it has gone lower in the past before prices began ramping up more due to ongoing tariffs, you’re looking at a solid $180 markdown off the going rate. You can also find the standalone station going for $1,079 shipped, down from $1,199.

You can browse the full lineup of Jackery’s early Black Friday offers here.

The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

The HomeView Ultra is expected to feature a robotic arm and 9-inch display. Shades of Amazon's discontinued Echo Show 10?

The Apple HomeView is the company’s first dedicated smart home display, and new reports of how Apple plans to improve the product are already circulating. Apple is reportedly planning to announce a HomeView with a robotic arm as early as next year. The dynamic display is expected to cost up to $1,000.

Also: Apple’s HomeView may double as security camera

The HomeView isn’t even on the market yet — it will be available for purchase next week, starting at $299. This 7-inch smart panel features a speaker that doubles as a stand, and Apple will also sell a wall-mounted option.

As a smart home device, the HomeView is designed to serve as a platform for interacting with your Apple ecosystem, including Apple Home and Siri. It’s a smart dashboard that lets you view all your smart home devices and security cameras, as well as your calendar, messages, and other integrated apps.

The Information reported that Apple is rumored to be working on a higher-end smart display for 2027, with shipments starting in 2028. The new device, codenamed J595, may be branded HomeView Ultra and feature a robotic arm and a 9-inch display.

The new HomeView’s screen would be mounted on an articulated mechanical arm to swivel the display, tracking users during FaceTime calls to keep them on-screen. The device could feature proactive smart home automations, such as turning on devices or triggering a room scene when someone walks into the room.

Also: Google’s latest Home updates just fixed my biggest annoyances

The same report indicates that the hardware has been complete for a couple of years, but launch delays are attributed to software development issues. Integrating advanced AI features and proactive automation has, according to The Information, been a challenge for Apple.

A swiveling smart home display isn’t entirely new. Amazon used to sell an Echo Show 10 with a display that tracked users to keep them in the camera’s view during video calls, though this model has been discontinued.

However, one that works within the Apple ecosystem could change how users interact with their home interfaces, given the popularity of FaceTime calls and the prevalence of iPhone users.

Also: 4 big Amazon smart home announcements

A HomeView Ultra could even anticipate users’ needs by tracking people’s movements and automatically executing routines and scenes depending on where they are in the home.

While there’s reason to doubt whether most smart home users would welcome such technology in their homes or consider it too invasive, premium robotic smart displays indicate that companies are standardizing interactive central hubs for the home.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.

NASA believes most of the space telescope burned up in the atmosphere, but some fragments may have made their way down to Earth.

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, formerly known as the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer, has reached the end of its journey. Launched into orbit in 2004, the space telescope completed an extraordinary 22-year mission when it plunged back into Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday.

“Swift delivered an incredible, lasting return on investment for the nation, designed for a two-year primary mission but productive for more than 10 times as long,” Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA, said in a statement last month.

NASA says the telescope hit the atmosphere Wednesday at 7:39 am ET, just four hours after the space agency predicted.

The space telescope entered orbit over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia, just west of Malaysia. NASA says that most of the space telescope likely burned up upon reentry but that some components may have survived.

In preparation for Swift’s reentry, NASA shut down operations in late October after conducting its final observation on Oct. 20. It was orbiting at just 171 miles above Earth’s surface at that point, and the increased atmospheric drag prevented Swift from doing any further work.

It was a bittersweet moment for those who worked on the project.

“It is a sad time at the Penn State Mission Operations Center, as we have carefully tended Swift to control its science operations, its health and safety, and responded to anomalies day or night, every day for 22 years,” John Nousek, director of mission operations for Swift and professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, said in an email to CNET.

Swift’s initial mission helped advance science’s understanding of gamma-ray bursts and their role in phenomena such as the birth of black holes and the history of the early universe.

That initial mission ended in 2004, but the observatory was doing so well that NASA extended its operations to continue collecting data. Its name changed to the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory in 2018, in honor of pioneering NASA astrophysicist Neil Gehrels, who served as the agency’s chief of the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory from 1995 until his death in 2017.

The space telescope was designed to help solve the mystery of gamma-ray bursts by rapidly detecting them, determining their sources and then further analyzing them for study back on Earth. It also enabled unique sampling to observe newly discovered objects only minutes after their light reached Earth, Nousek said.

The volume of science research conducted using Swift’s data is difficult to match. According to NASA, Swift scanned over 2,000 gamma-ray bursts, took 1.5 million images from its ultraviolet/optical telescope and sent home 12 TB of data. That data is showcased in an estimated 7,000 research papers, which averages out to just under one study per day over its 22-year run.

“We hope Swift has set the standard for time domain astrophysics,” Nousek said.

The space telescope also helped pioneer many policies that ultimately shaped those discoveries, such as making data immediately accessible and providing over 1,000 guest investigators with the opportunity to use Swift throughout its long life.

It’s only a stroke of bad luck that kept the observatory from floating for even longer. NASA attempted a rescue of Swift over the summer of 2026. However, after a series of engineering difficulties and control issues, the attempt was abandoned, sealing Swift’s fate. NASA turned the instruments back on and kept recording data as long as possible.

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I love natural gas heat for a few reasons, but one is avoiding AUX heat from a heat pump and watching the bill rise. The downside is when the gas heat kicks on, the air in mt house is bone dry. My nose ends up being super dry for months. A humidifier like the Airversa Humelle works with Apple Home over Thread, so it can run itself based on what the air actually needs, and with the temps in my area getting into the 40s in the next week, I am glad I have one.

HomeKit Weekly is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks, and everything to do with Apple’s smart home framework.

The Airversa Humelle humidifier uses Thread, so it does join your existing Thread network via a HomePod, HomePod mini, or Apple TV 4K and communicates with Apple Home locally. In my experience, Thread accessories always respond faster and drop connections less than Wi-Fi-only ones, and they don’t add to the pile of devices fighting for airtime on your router either. Especially since most smart home devices are 2.4 GHz only.

Once the Airversa Humelle is paired with Apple Home, it appears in the Home app as a humidifier with a built-in temperature and humidity sensor. The latter sensor is the key for automations as well. You can set a target humidity level, and in Auto Mode, it ramps the mist up or down on its own to hold that number. For most people, that’s all the automation they’ll ever need. Set it to 45%, and it’ll run forever. By including that sensor in the device, you don’t need to pair it with a separate Apple Home-compatible humidity sensor for the automations. In fact, that is probably the only automation to run with this device.

The Humelle has a 3.2L tank that Airversa rates at up to 60 hours of runtime, and the mist reaches about 40 inches high, so it covers a bedroom or an average-sized living room pretty easily. It’s a top-fill design, which honestly is the only way these should be made at this point. Flipping them over always ends with some water on the floor.

Sleep Mode runs at 28dB, which is good for a baby’s room, etc. There’s a multicolor LED on the base that you can set to whatever color you want from the Home app or the Sleekpoint app, or turn off completely. There’s also a tray for essential oils if you want it to double as a diffuser to improve a room’s smell.

One thing to know about the Airversa Humelle going in: you’ll still want the Sleekpoint app for a few things, like setting a cleaning reminder that pings you when it’s time to rinse the tank. Day-to-day control lives in Apple Home, but the setup and maintenance features live in the manufacturer’s app. That’s just where Matter is as a protocol right now.

Natural gas heat dries out your inside air, and the Airversa Humelle fixes it. It allows me to avoid regretting my heating choice when I built my house. A humidifier that knows when the air is dry and turns on is the secret sauce. The Humelle does that in Apple Home with Thread, giving you a humidity sensor you can build the rest of your winter automations around. If you need a Thread Border Router, one of the new HomePod mini 2 units is the best to get started.

The Airversa Humelle is available on Amazon and directly from Airversa.

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Bradley has worked at K-12 independent schools for much of the last 20 years, serving as the head of the information technology department and leading classroom technology integration. He’s well-versed in enterprise Wi-Fi, macOS and iOS system management, school technology, and SaaS tools.

Upgrade your home security with wireless cameras that includes HomeKit compatibility.

Abode is the best home security system and includes compatibility with HomeKit.

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TL;DR: November delivers nine new Pokémon TCG drops, led by the Mega Evolution Delta Reign expansion and multiple 30th Celebration collector sets.

November is shaping up to be massive for Pokémon TCG fans, headlined by the worldwide arrival of the Mega Evolution Delta Reign expansion. The new set brings powerful Mega Evolution Pokémon ex into the mix, with over 35 special illustration Trainer and Pokémon cards for art collectors.

Pokémon is also rolling out a brand-new trio of nostalgic 30th Celebration boxes — including a monster 30-pack Ultra-Premium Collection — plus a tournament-ready Mega Greninja ex battle deck built for jumping straight into competitive play.

From massive booster displays to ready-to-play decks, here is every single set arriving this month.

The Pokémon TCG 30th Celebration Ditto Premium Collection includes a colorful acrylic display stand made specifically to show off cards on a desk or shelf. It fits the exclusive foil Ditto promo card right away, or you can swap in your favorite chase card from your pulls.

Packing eight 30th Celebration booster packs, the Ditto Premium Collection is an easy, budget-friendly way to rip anniversary packs without shelling out for an Ultra-Premium Collection.

The Pokémon TCG 30th Celebration Figure Collection pairs two of Kanto's most iconic legends with detailed, sculpted desk figures that outshine typical cardboard and plastic promos. Paired with a matching foil promo and an oversize showcase card, the set gives Mew and Mewtwo fans a complete display piece right out of the box.

The box also bundles five booster packs of the milestone 30th Celebration expansion. Because anniversary packs are exclusive to collection boxes rather than individual retail blisters, the 30th Celebration Figure Collection serves as an easy, mid-tier entry point for pack-cracking without requiring a full booster bundle or a premium collection budget.

The Pokémon TCG 30th Celebration Ultra-Premium Collection is the centerpiece of the entire anniversary lineup. Available in Day or Night versions starring Pikachu alongside Espeon ex or Umbreon ex, it trades junk filler for high-end gear like a custom playmat, matching deck box, standard sleeves, an acrylic display, and metal dice.

The pack count is the real draw. Stuffed with 29 30th Celebration booster packs plus an exclusive pack with three etched vintage reprints, the 30th Celebration Ultra-Premium Collection offers your best single shot at pulling the anniversary's top chase cards.

The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Delta Reign Booster Display Box delivers the best pure cost-per-pack value for anyone looking to rip packs in bulk. Packing 36 individual booster packs, totaling 360 cards, it completely skips promo accessories and collectible junk, focusing entirely on ripping cards.

With over 140 cards in the expansion, the Booster Display Box offers the most reliable shot at assembling competitive playsets. From three new Legendary Stadiums to the set's headline Mega Evolution Pokémon ex and full-art illustration chases, a full booster box maximizes your odds across an entire master display.

The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Delta Reign Elite Trainer Box balances ripping packs with stocking up on tabletop essentials. It pairs nine booster packs with an exclusive full-art Kyogre promo card, matching sleeves, damage-counter dice, and a sturdy storage box to keep your deck sorted.

For players and collectors wanting to dive into the new set without shelling out for an entire booster display, the Elite Trainer Box gives you an accessible path to chase heavy hitters like Mega Rayquaza ex while securing everything you need to actually play the game.

The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Delta Reign Build and Battle Box is tailored for players who want to jump straight into matches without spending hours building a deck from scratch. It includes a 40-card ready-to-play deck featuring one of four unique foil promo cards, giving you a solid competitive core the minute you tear into the packaging.

With four booster packs tossed in to help you customize and beef up your lineup, it delivers a fast, low-cost way to test-drive the set’s new mechanics and chase heavy hitters like Mega Rayquaza ex in a quick-play prerelease format.

The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Delta Reign Booster Bundle strips away oversized boxes, plastic coins, and promo cards so you only pay for packs. Packing six booster packs into a compact carton, it gives collectors the leanest, most budget-conscious way to rip cards from the new set without extra clutter.

It’s an easy grab if you want a casual pack-cracking session or a few quick chances at pulling Mega Rayquaza ex without investing in a full 36-pack booster box.

The Pokémon TCG Mega Greninja ex League Battle Deck is for anyone looking to bypass the grind of deck-building and dive straight into competitive tournament play. Centered around Mega Greninja ex, this 60-card deck delivers an engine optimized for tactical versatility and offensive pressure straight out of the box.

Rather than just serving as a starter deck, it comes fully loaded with tournament-ready accessories — including damage-counter dice, condition markers, a matching deck box, and a play sheet to master its combo lines.

Soumya is a deals writer who covers consumer tech, shopping deals, and the products people use every day. With experience writing about everything from AI tools and software to smartphones and home gadgets, she enjoys breaking down product research into clear, useful recommendations. When she's not tracking deals, she's usually comparing products, digging through reviews, and figuring out what actually makes a purchase worth it.

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BMW introduced a new public charging package for those who buy or lease the new 2027 iX3, i5, or i7 electric vehicles.

BMW’s electric vehicle lineup will look much different in 2027. The German luxury automaker is shaking things up with the arrival of its Neue Klasse EVs, bringing significantly longer ranges, faster charging times, and advanced new tech and features.

To sweeten the deal, BMW launched a new public charging promotion on Thursday for eligible model-year 2027 electric vehicles, including the new iX3, i5, and i7.

The new BMW ChargingNetwork package provides $500 in total credits. $300 of which includes a BMW ChargingNetwork credit that can be used at one of 15 public charging providers, such as ChargePoint, EVgo, Shell Recharge, and IONNA. The other $200 is for IONNA locations only.

On top of this, the promo includes a free one-year BMW Membership at IONNA. The membership provides a 25% discount on charging during the free year trial.

BMW said the charging credits will automatically apply after you enroll in the BMW ChargingNetwork.

You can enroll through the My BMW app. Under Charging, select Services, then Charging Wallet, and then BMW ChargingNetwork. Once complete, the credits and other benefits will show up in the Digital Charging Wallet and will be automatically applied to eligible charging sessions.

Which one to choose? The 2027 iX3 is BMW’s first Neue Klasse vehicle. Based on its sixth-generation (Gen6) eDrive, the iX3 delivers an EPA-estimated range of up to 434 miles.

Inside, it features BMW’s revamped Neue Klasse interior design. The setup includes the new BMW Panoramic Vision, a full-length display spanning the base of the windshield, and a large 17.9″ infotainment screen running the latest BMW Operating System X.

The 2027 i7 also incorporates elements and tech from BMW’s Neue Klasse platform, with up to 362 miles of range.

The i7’s interior also gets the BMW Panoramic Vision display, a 17.9″ infotainment screen, and a standard 14.6″ passenger screen. For the rear passengers, BMW’s flagship sedan includes a 31.3″ 8K theater screen that folds down from the ceiling.

Meanwhile, the 2027 i5, which still offers up to 310 miles of range, is not built on the dedicated Neue Klasse platform.

As part of a mid-cycle refresh, it adopts BMW’s new style but lacks some Neue Klasse tech and features found on the iX3 and i7.

In the first quarter of 2027, BMW will launch the new iX5 and i3. Both are based on the Neue Klasse platform.

Want to see one in person and decide for yourself? We’ve made it easy for you. You can use the links below to find available 2027 BMW vehicles near you, along with any current local offers.

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Peter Johnson is covering the auto industry’s step-by-step transformation to electric vehicles. He is an experienced investor, financial writer, and EV enthusiast. His enthusiasm for electric vehicles, primarily Tesla, is a significant reason he pursued a career in investments. If he isn’t telling you about his latest 10K findings, you can find him enjoying the outdoors or exercising

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The Garmin Fenix E and Garmin Venu 3S are for two different types of people, but both are available at a surprisingly low price thanks to these limited-time Garmin deals.

Garmin watches are often expensive, which is why I always recommend them on sale. For example, the Garmin Fenix E, usually $799, is now down to $399. That’s the all-time low price for this model and probably the best Garmin deal I’ve seen so far this fall.

The Garmin Fenix E is essentially a Garmin Epix Gen 2 with a newer OS. It sports multi-GNSS navigation plus a 3-axis compass, gyroscope, and barometric altimeter that should cover basically all your tracking needs. It’s got pulse ox monitoring, respiration tracking, advanced sleep monitoring, real-time stamina tracking, and a training readiness score (so you know what days you should be taking it easy).

Despite all the features, this one will last you two weeks per charge and can utilize GPS for up to 42 hours on each charge. The stainless steel bezel looks great, and the 47mm fiber-reinforced polymer case is built to last. This is one of those watches that, quite frankly, makes no sense at full cost. At half the price, though? Yeah, that looks much better.

If you’re looking for something a little more elegant-looking, the Garmin Venu 3S is the right choice. At $299, this Garmin deal makes it $250 less than the Garmin Venu 4. You might think buying the newest one is automatically better, but that’s not necessarily the case between these two models.

For example, the Venu 4 is thicker and heavier because it uses an all-metal casing, has one less button on the side, lacks the permanent hour markers that are on the Venu 3S’s bezel, and has worse battery life by 1-2 days, depending on your usage. The Venu 4 has more features and a newer OS, but I personally like the OS design on the 3S better (and I’m apparently not alone on that front).

The Venu 4 also has new sleep guidance and coaching features, training load and several tools that used to be for Garmin Forerunner watches, plus lifestyle logging, but I’m not sure I’d want to pay $250 to get those. Either way, you’ve got a great option now that the Venu 3S is at such a fantastic price.

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Some GPUs will see bigger increases than others, while Intel and AMD remain mum on their pricing plans

Graphics are handled by an Nvidia Quadro M4000 card.

As the AI-driven global memory shortage rages on, Nvidia is notifying users that its RTX 50 series of graphics cards will see yet another significant price hike this week.

Also: I switched from Intel to AMD – here’s why I’m never going back

In August, Nvidia gave gamers and content creators fair warning that the company’s entire line of RTX 50 Series GPUs would get price increases of up to a 15%. The flagship 5090 is getting the highest: a nearly $500 increase on an already eye-watering $6,000 price tag at Best Buy. The lower-end 5050 and 5060 will get much more modest, if still grumble-worthy, $50-60 bumps, which puts the squeeze on consumers already caught between market hype and failed expectations.

Earlier iterations of the brand’s graphics cards, like the RTX 40 and RTX 30 series, won’t be directly affected by this decision. However, don’t be surprised if you see some resellers take advantage of the situation by adding their own price increases or snapping up stock to sell at a markup on the second-hand market.

Intel and AMD have been quiet about the possibility of a price hike on their own graphics cards, and neither company plans any immediate changes in response to Nvidia’s decision. Not yet, anyway. As companies like Nvidia continue to snap up the raw resources needed to manufacture AI chips and pledge their GPUs and motherboards to future AI data centers rather than the consumer market, it’s likely both companies will eventually follow suit with their own hefty increases.

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iOS 27.2 launched last week with a lot of new features, and also several ways you can customize your iPhone. Here’s what’s new for iPhone personalization.

Inside Settings ⇾ Siri there’s a new ‘Excluded Apps’ section in iOS 27.2. This makes it easier than ever to remove certain apps from being accessible to Siri, Search, and more. Apple says:

Apps added to the list below will be excluded from Siri, Search, and suggestions.

With Siri AI, Siri can do more than ever before. But if there are certain apps you want off-limits, whether for privacy reasons or otherwise, you can add them to this list. For example, if there’s an app with a similar name to something else, adding it to the ‘Excluded Apps’ list can ensure Siri won’t mistakenly think you’re referencing that app anymore.

iOS 27.2 adds a new Messages feature called Suggestions that I’m a big fan of. When relevant content is detected in a conversation, you might see a Suggestion appear underneath a message. For example, if a friend asks you to do them a favor, you might see “Add to Reminders” below the message.

By default there are five supported categories of Suggestions:

You can fully customize these to your own preferences and needs. Just go to Settings ⇾ Apps ⇾ Messages ⇾ Suggested Actions to disable whichever Suggestions you don’t want to see.

Historically, Apple TV has only ever supported user profiles on tvOS. It’s an odd limitation considering every other streaming service offers profiles across platforms.

But finally with iOS 27.2, profiles are now available on iPhone too, letting you customize the content in the Apple TV app based on who’s watching.

Choosing a profile not only gives you personalized recommendations from Apple TV, it also lets you keep the ‘Continue Watching’ queue separate for each person. And if you’re setting up a profile for a child, you can set content restrictions too.

For more iOS 27.2 coverage, see our full guide here.

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A Microsoft data center under construction in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has been overrun by about a hundred protesters, with some carrying placards saying, “Screw your data center.” According to Reuters, the “Stop Dirty Data Centers” coalition is planning actions across 16 countries on November 6 and 7, 2026, including Amsterdam, Dublin, Warsaw, and another Microsoft site in Denmark.

Pure Data Centers, which owns the Amsterdam data center, said, “We respectfully ask those on site to leave safely and engage with us in dialogue about the development and any concerns they may have.” The report also quoted Microsoft saying that it understood the strong feeling that people have and respected their right to peaceful expression but says that it does not condone any unlawful action.

"On 6-7 November 2026 we are taking action across Europe to say Stop Dirty Data Centres," the group's website reads. "Local communities are rising up to stop dirty data centres where they live. We will unite and exercise our democratic rights to speak out, assemble, and protest to hold elected officials to account. We’re calling for an immediate moratorium on large data centres in Europe!" A map on the site shows actions planned at 85 locations across Europe over the coming days.

The group cited a list of concerns about "the explosion of AI data centres across our towns and cities," and claims to be joining to prevent "the irreparable harms data centres pose to the wellbeing of people and planet." They cite local communities, jobs, housing shortages and rising energy bills, the climate crisis, heatwaves and water shortages, big tech undermining democracies, the mental health crisis, increased surveillance and the erosion of privacy, securitization and militarization, and a toxic supply chain as motivations.

Data center opposition is one of the issues that has taken center stage in the U.S. midterm elections, with Americans overwhelmingly voting against them. It seems that resistance isn’t limited to the United States, though, as European countries take measures to limit their unlimited development. For example, Google has been hit with a criminal probe after its Finnish subsidiary, Tuike Finland Oy, allegedly destroyed 816 acres of forest without a permit. Denmark has also hit the brakes on data center grid connection requests as total applications exceed 60GW, more than eight times the country’s current peak power consumption. One Italian council also a 200% tax on data center development in agricultural land to encourage developers to reuse old industrial areas instead.

The Stop Data Center coalition claims that it isn’t against progress or that it wants to close down existing projects. Instead, it wants AI data center construction to be held until governments have established clearer rules on their development so that they do not have leave a negative impact on the environment and the people living around them. “AI, of course, is a super important ​technology and we ⁠need to have our own capacity,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told the publication. But she also added that “it's very important for citizens that they can trust that their energy bills are not skyrocketing and there are not electricity blackouts because of ⁠data centers, ​or they are not destroying the environment with these projects.”

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Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

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Meta’s Muse launched with a lovable mascot and a string of privacy problems. Here’s what the AI agent collects and what to keep in mind.

Meta’s Muse AI agent keeps a running profile of everyone who uses it. Yes, even if you deny it permission to do so. And by doing so, it’s effectively made Jolly, its “cute and cuddly” mascot, a harbinger of concerning security architecture.

Within weeks, a security researcher demonstrated a working zero-day vulnerability capable of hijacking the assistant — one that Meta’s own documentation acknowledged was straightforward to exploit. A journalist separately reported that Muse had accessed his private Apple Messages without permission. Meta disputed the claim, but it was serious enough to prompt Apple to update MacOS privacy settings in response.

Muse requests extensive access to personal data, including passwords, full disk access, email messages, calendar, contacts, Notes and WhatsApp. By default, Meta also appears to use your interactions with Muse to train its AI models, so you have to manually opt out in the settings.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s also a widely publicized case in which Muse mistakenly shared the home address of a Toronto tech reviewer, Matt Robb, with a potential buyer on Facebook Marketplace. Muse invited the stranger to Robb’s home without his explicit consent or knowledge, then later apologized for doing so, as detailed in a Threads post. Robb hadn’t realized that he had inadvertently granted Muse blanket permission to automatically reply to Marketplace inquiries using the details he provided, including his address.

AI agents are marketed as providing convenience by acting on your behalf. But the trade-off is privacy and control. You’re handing over your personal information to a black box with little visibility into how it’s used. Multiple incidents are fueling a conversation about the dangers of agentic AI and whether they require higher security standards before being granted access to user data.

And given Meta’s track record of privacy fines, data sharing and security issues, it’s worth proceeding with caution. Earlier this month, a lifestyle blogger reported that the social media platform’s AI asked intrusive questions about her kids and pieced together private information about her life from her posts. Meta’s controversial smart glasses have received pushback on multiple fronts — from its facial recognition software to the way it captures and stores data.

Before facing a potential security nightmare, here’s what to know about Muse.

Meta’s Muse appears to blatantly ignore user permissions, according to a report by AppleInsider. In one case, the AI agent synced roughly 187,000 lines of a user’s Apple Messages without their consent, even though “Full Disk Access” was turned off.

The report shows that Muse pinged a user’s messages database thousands of times despite disk access being disabled. Muse then successfully harvested texts from the user’s Mac — not from Meta’s Messenger, but from Apple Messages.

Even people who refuse to use Muse may have their data collected by the AI if they text someone who does have it installed.

Before Meta launched the ability for its Muse to make outbound business calls on your behalf, internal Meta documents revealed that the company planned to rely on human contractors at call centers to help make reservations and appointments.

That means not only would the software have access to all your private data, but a total stranger might also be managing your personal commitments — all without your knowledge. The human concierge feature appears to have been rolled back for now, according to Reuters.

The VPN company Surfshark said it found that Meta Muse is collecting — or attempting to collect — 31 out of 35 types of data, putting it far ahead of other popular chatbots like Gemini, ChatGPT and DeepSeek. Muse also collects highly sensitive personal information like location data, sexual orientation, genetic information or biometric data.

Muse (along with Meta AI and Gemini) also reserves the right to use collected audio data for other purposes, such as analytics or product personalization. Surfshark released a full dataset for what it uncovered.

A representative for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the privacy concerns mentioned in this story.

Want to share your experience with Meta’s Muse or other AI agents? Email us at editors@cnet.com.

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The giant official Best Buy early Black Friday now live with loads of new Doorbuster deals alongside the ongoing all-time low on the 2026 Google Home Speaker, as much as $500 off this RTX 5060 gaming PC, and loads more. While we are still tracking up $350 off Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold, Samsung users will find a giant $450 off 2026 Galaxy S26 Ultra in brand new condition joined by today’s launch of the new Samsung Galaxy SmartTag 3 (one for $30 or four for $100) and the new Galaxy Buds On open-earbuds. just be sure to also scope out the rare deals on some of the best podcasting/streaming mics you can buy and even more below.

The all-new Samsung Galaxy SmartTag 3 tracker is now live and available for purchase. You’ll find the single 1-pack listing live at $30 and the 4-pack at $99.99 – both are now live at Amazon and the official Samsung site.

Samsung also has a range of case and loop accessories now live for its new tracker:

Just after catching the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy SmartTag 3 – you can now score the 1-pack at $30 or the 4-pack at $100, we are also seeing Samsung’s brand new Galaxy Buds On open-earbuds now up for purchase here in the U.S.

The new open-ear Samsung Galaxy Buds On debuted overseas last month and they are now available for purchase stateside at Amazon and the official Samsung site:

While Amazon is delivering the latest Galaxy Z Fold 8 at a sizable $300 off right now (be sure to scope out the bundle deals you’ll find directly on Samsung right now too), it is also now offering a massive $450 off 2026 Galaxy S26 Ultra in brand new condition – this includes both the 256GB and 512GB models.

Amazon is now offering the flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra at some of the best prices in months with a solid $450 in savings on various colorways of both the following storage tiers – there have been some one-off color options for slightly less over the few months, but these deals are by and large marking the return of Prime Day prices here today as the early Black Friday events go live:

As of right now, these Amazon deals undercut the deal pricing on the official Samsung site by a long shot. You will find $250 off all colors and the 1TB model Amazon doesn’t offer, but the prices are otherwise much lower at Amazon right now.

You can also net yourself a $150 store credit with the purchase of S26 Ultra at the Samsung site, on top of the cash discount on the phone, but as far the lowest price possible out of pocket price goes, Amazon is where it’s at.

Scope out some of the Z Fold 8 early Black Friday deals we are tracking below if you prefer to take the foldable route:

Wired headphones are going through a bit of renaissance right now and Sony is reviving its iconic Walkman-style over-ears with the new MDR-3R USB-C Wired Retro On-Ear Headphones. Now available for purchase at $60 for the standard issue set and at $80 for the Stranger Things edition.

As part of its now live early Black Friday Doorbuster deals, Best Buy is offering an iBUYPOWER RTX 5060 Slate gaming PC for $899.99 shipped right now. You’re looking at an AMD-powered machine with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, which typically goes for $1,400, and today’s offer takes $500 off its usual going rate. This is one of the best gaming PC deals we’re tracking right now as part of the early Black Friday offers, and it delivers some serious value if you’re looking to set up a new battlestation ahead of the holidays or upgrade an older rig. Head below for more details.

The iBUYPOWER Slate gaming desktop highlighted here pairs AMD’s Ryzen 5 8400F processor with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5060 GPU, giving you a pretty capable setup for 1080p and 1440p gaming without jumping into a much pricier build. It also comes with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD, so there’s enough memory and storage here to cover modern games, everyday multitasking, and a decent-sized library right out of the box. The RTX 5060 is the main highlight here, giving you access to NVIDIA’s latest-generation features for better performance than older entry-level cards. As a complete prebuilt system, you’re also getting everything assembled and ready to go here, making it a great option if you want to skip sourcing individual parts and just get into PC gaming.

Don’t forget to browse Best Buy’s full sale selection if you’re looking to get a jump on Black Friday and lock in some deals before the main rush. There are already plenty of Doorbusters live across different categories, and we’ve also highlighted some of our favorites here.

Alongside the all-time low now live on the new Google Home Speaker, up to $350 off Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold, and $100 off Pixel Watch 5, we are also tracking some deals across Google’s latest Pixelsnap case lineup for folks looking to safeguard their new device with an official case.

While there has been some limited and targeted offers on these cases for select customers, the deals are we are tracking right now across the lineup are largely on par with the best we have tracked. Delivering the return of Amazon all-time lows on most of them, deals start from $40 and span the entire breadth of 2026 Pixelsnap cases for the Pixel 11 series lineup:

The early Black Friday Doorbuster deals are kicking off today with as much as $350 off Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold, solid $100 price drops across all Pixel Watch 5 models, and even some return Amazon lows on the latest Pixelsnap cases. All of those deals are, however, also joined by a notable discount on the latest Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 that are now over 25% off – the new Olive set is sitting at its best price ever on Amazon.

Amazon is now offering Google’s latest Pixel Buds Pro 2 down at $169 shipped in all four colorways. This deal is also live as part of Best Buy’s Week 1 early Black Friday Doorbuster sale..

Motorola delivered some of the most compelling Google Find Hub trackers to date this year, and with the discounts now back in stock, you can land a single down at $20 Prime shipped or a 4-pack that brings the price down to $17.50 each.

The Google Pixel Tag is scheduled to land very soon, but that one is going to run you $30 a pop or $100 for four of them. The Moto Tag 2 delivers on much of the most important features and is currently back down to all-time low pricing at nearly half the price:

As we detailed previously, the official Home Depot Black Friday sale is now live and in full swing. Today, however, it is scheduled to deliver a host of new battery power tools from top brands like DEWALT, Milwaukee, Makita, RIDGID, its in-house RYOBI gear, and more – everything is now live.

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OpenAI has launched GPT-6, a cybersecurity AI model that delivers "major gains" on key cybersecurity benchmarks over its predecessor, GPT-5.6 Cyber.

In an introductory blog post published on Thursday, OpenAI said that GPT-6 Cyber delivers a 51% improvement over GPT-5.6 Cyber on the ExploitGym cybersecurity benchmark.

GPT-6 Cyber is "already helping to secure real-world software, uncovering and validating thousands of exploits in security-critical codebases such as Linux and Firefox," said the post.

The news comes days after it was revealed that OpenAI's upcoming model (now confirmed to be GPT-6 Cyber by OpenAI) had found and patched 948 local privilege-escalation vulnerabilities in Linux. The model was also used to identify 81 previously unknown "high-severity" vulnerabilities in Firefox, "despite extensive prior testing with frontier models." The best tech deal this week The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile Products available for purchase through affiliate links. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is free right now with T-Mobile

If this all sounds a little dangerous to be available to just anyone, you're right. This is why access to GPT-6 Cyber is part of Daybreak, OpenAI's cybersecurity program, which is only available to verified individuals and organizations.

In its blog post, however, OpenAI said its goal is to "dramatically" expand Daybreak, and bring "advanced security research to organizations of every size, independent researchers, and open-source maintainers."

Initially, GPT-6 Cyber is only available to a "select group" of approved Daybreak Red customers (Daybreak access is divided into two tiers: Daybreak Blue is for defensive work, while Daybreak Red is for advanced penetration testing and security research). Access will be progressively expanded to all Daybreak Red customers "soon."

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Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.

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BMW’s new iX3 outperformed the Volvo EX60 and Mercedes-Benz GLC EV, driving well over 400 miles during a real-world range test.

In a recent nationally representative survey, BMW found that Americans want more EV range than they actually need.

The study found that 73% consider 75 miles of range, or less, enough to cover their daily driving. Meanwhile, 42% said they would require at least 300 miles of range to consider an EV.

Another 53% said they would be more likely to consider an EV if it could add about 150 miles of range in 10 minutes.

BMW’s new iX3 checks all the boxes. Based on BMW’s sixth-generation (Gen6) eDrive 800V system, the 2027 iX3 50 xDrive delivers an EPA-estimated range of up to 434 miles (with 20″ summer tires).

With the 22″ summer tires, the iX3 50 xDrive has an EPA-estimated range of up to 392 miles. Still, plenty for at least a week of commuting.

It can also add 170-185 miles of range in 10 minutes with up to 400 kW DC fast charging. In everyday, real-world driving, it may drive even further than its official EPA numbers suggest.

During Edmunds‘ EV Range test, the 2027 BMW iX3 50 xDrive (with 22″ summer tires) drove 436 miles on a single charge, topping its EPA estimate of 392 miles by 44 miles.

The electric SUV was also more efficient than advertised. The iX3 achieved an energy consumption of 28.3 kWh per 100 miles, beating its EPA estimate of 32 kWh per 100 miles by roughly 11.6%.

BMW’s new iX3 is now the longest-range luxury electric SUV that Edmunds has tested, outperforming rivals including the 2027 Volvo EX60 (352 miles) and Mercedes-Benz GLC Electric (392 miles).

The Edmunds real-world range test is designed to provide a more accurate estimate of an EV’s range in everyday driving conditions.

It consists of 60% city and 40% highway driving with an average speed of 40 mph. The vehicle stays within 5 mph of the posted speed limit, and the climate control is set to auto at 72 degrees.

The 2027 BMW iX3 50 xDrive is available to order in Sport, M Sport, and M Sport Professional trims, priced from $61,500, $64,000, and $65,500, respectively.

The best cure for range anxiety is still actually driving an EV.

I've yet to have a conversation with someone who's EV dubious in which the answer to the question "how long are your gas stops on road trips" is anything less than 20 minutes - it's almost always at least 30.

Winter of course significantly impacts the calculations up north, which like everything brings us back to charging infrastructure buildout.

Not that it's going to happen anytime soon, could easily be never, but if battery swapping becomes a reliable thing I'd welcome the opportunity to change out battery size as needed.

Powered by a 108.7 kWh battery, the new iX3 with 20″ Summer Tires delivers up to 434 miles of range on a single charge.

With a charging rate of up to 400 kW, the new BMW iX3 can recharge from 10% to 80% in about 21 minutes, or add about 185 miles in 10 minutes.

Inside, the electric SUV features the Neue Klasse interior design. The setup includes BMW’s new Panoramic Vision, a full-length windshield display, and a 17.9″ central infotainment screen running the latest Operating System X. Buyers can also upgrade to the optional BMW 3D Head-Up Display.

Want to take a closer look? We can help you get started. You can use our link here to find available 2027 BMW iX3 50 xDrive models near you, along with any local offers.

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Peter Johnson is covering the auto industry’s step-by-step transformation to electric vehicles. He is an experienced investor, financial writer, and EV enthusiast. His enthusiasm for electric vehicles, primarily Tesla, is a significant reason he pursued a career in investments. If he isn’t telling you about his latest 10K findings, you can find him enjoying the outdoors or exercising

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Home & Office > Home Entertainment > Speakers

New Sonos software and firmware updates are rolling out. Here's what you can expect.

Sonos’ promise to release its AI-upgraded voice assistant is nearing its “Fall 2026” deadline, and before fans can use the highly anticipated update, the company continues to make small improvements to its app and player features.

Also: Sonos Ace Ultra vs. Sonos Ace: Who should upgrade

This time, Sonos added System Health, a new in-app page to access a more comprehensive view of your system(s), though it’s only available on iOS for now. However, a new blog post states that iOS and Android users can expect volume presets, more interaction with the app miniplayer, and spoken voice prompts for the Ace Ultra headphones.

I poked around in the app and tried some of the latest features. Here’s what to expect.

If your system consists of multiple speakers, a mix of modern and legacy speakers, or multiple systems, you’re bound to experience a hiccup and be unsure which speaker is causing the issue.

It usually takes me some time to Google my issue and scroll through the Sonos Community forum, Reddit, or the official Sonos help documents to find suggestions and troubleshoot it. Sonos’ new System Health feature provides an overview of your systems, showing your network status and name, as well as the number of speakers and rooms in each system.

Also: I used Sonos’s new home theater feature – it’s a competition killer

According to Sonos’ blog post, System Health can detect a Double Network Address issue, which usually occurs when you introduce a new router to your home or plug a mesh system into your ISP-provided router. The result is two home networks, and your Sonos speakers will split their connection between them, flagging “System not found” errors, missing speakers, or connection dropouts.

System Health is in the Settings tab, under the Help Center menu.

Once you tap into your system, you can see all of its speakers, with unconnected speakers bearing a red “Not connected” badge, and wireless speakers showing a black “Powered off” badge when they’re off.

Then, you can see a speaker’s connection information, including status, Wi-Fi signal strength, signal/noise ratio, frequency, IP address, and more. You can also find its volume output, Trueplay setup status, line-in connection, voice control status, serial number, hardware model and version, and which Sonos platform it operates on.

System Health can also show you your account details, Sonos ID, Controller ID, and your current app build version. System Health comes after Sonos updated the System Updates tab, which now displays an overview of your app, system, and headphone update status. This page also links to the Sonos release notes.

Sonos’ blog post states that this feature is new and still open to change, especially if the Sonos community has a particularly overwhelming response to it. The blog post also disclaims that this feature is a first look, not a deep dive.

However, after a brief first use, I see it as a great way to quickly access all the details you need about your systems and speakers, especially if you’re doing some rewiring, moving a speaker to a new room, or general troubleshooting.

System Health is rolling out to iOS users first. I updated my Sonos app in the App Store and was able to access it, but Sonos’ blog post states that this update is a phased rollout.

Updates to the Sonos app and its player are a long time coming. After receiving several new ways to control your speakers’ volume (I think we’re up to three), Sonos is realizing that granular volume control is a high priority for many Sonos users, including me.

The in-app volume dial is cool, and the interactive volume scrubber is a nice touch, but there’s nothing more jarring than wanting to play some tunes on my kitchen counter speaker, only for it to blast at 80% from when my husband was watching football the night before.

Sonos’ latest big update to volume this time around is Presets, a way to start playback in a specific room at a set volume. I haven’t found this feature in my app’s update yet, but I think it’s because my hardware needs an update. Presets will be available on iOS and Android.

Fortunately, I did use another update to the Sonos miniplayer: swipe to skip. What a teeny, tiny but useful feature. It works just like the miniplayer in Apple Music and Spotify; when the app is open, you can swipe left to skip to the next song.

One major caveat: swiping right to replay a track doesn’t work — at least not yet. Swiping both ways seems like a given to me, so it feels odd that you can’t. Still, being able to swipe the miniplayer to the next track is better than always having the main player open to toggle tracks. This feature is also coming to iOS and Android.

Sonos’ miniplayer is getting so much better; you can swipe to the next track and easily control volume from it, even when you have the Ace or Ace Ultra connected (I tried). The in-app volume dial also works with Sonos headphones.

Also: Sonos Play vs. Sonos Move 2: Why I’d go with the $200 cheaper Bluetooth speaker

Speaking of the Ace Ultra, a firmware update is available. A new Vocal Guidance feature can announce the battery percentage when you power on the headphones, when the audio mode changes from ANC to Transparency, and which device your headphones are connected to via Bluetooth.

It feels like this update is the final stretch before Sonos 27voice arrives, as the release notes suggest. It appears Sonos is laying the groundwork for speakers to support the AI-powered voice assistant in Early Access. Once it’s here, I’ll test it as soon as I can.

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Firstly, go secure yourself a couple 2026 Apple Polishing Cloths at $9 a pop before they sell out, a well as the Apple HomeView pre-order discount, then scope out the AirPods Pro 3 at $50 off and all five colors of Apple’s AirPods Max 2 at $100 off. We also still have various Apple Watch Ultra 4 models at nearly $100 off to match the all-time low and a return of clearance pricing on the Ultra 3 at $250 off the original list. Today’s headliner deal though would have to be these M5 MacBook Air models that dropped in price again to lowest price we have tracked in nearly 5 months at $250 off the list. Those offers join a chance to save some cash on the new HomePod mini 2, rare deals on some of the best podcasting mics in the game, and the official start of Best Buy’s massive early Black Friday sale.

The 2026 next-generation Apple Polishing Cloth is making a triumphant return and is now back in-stock. After completely selling out at Amazon, you can now once again purchase the only way to properly clean a foldable iPhone display or the new touchscreen MacBook – score one now for $9 Prime shipped before they are gone for good.

The big-time early Black Friday sales are kicking off today with a seriously notable $250 off M5 MacBook Air, clearance deals on Apple Watch Ultra 3 at $250 off, and you can even score yourself some sweet Apple Polishing Cloths at $9 Prime shipped. But we wanted to touch down this morning to take stock of the AirPods deals – Amazon is still delivering the best price on AirPods Pro 3 at $50 off and it has now dropped all colors of the latest AirPods Max 2 at $100 off.

Amazon’s pre-order discount on the new Apple HomeView has returned once again today. While shipping at times at Apple have gotten better on some models, Amazon is now selling it for less and delivering quicker to some regions of the country.

Over at Amazon you’ll now find the new Apple HomeView starting down at $289.99 shipped. You likely know the drill already here with these early pre-order deals on Apple gear at Amazon – the price drop isn’t huge, but it is still less than Apple and just about everywhere else so you might as well keep some coffee money in your pocket.

With another blast of giant early Black Friday sales going live today as we ready for the weekend, Amazon is delivering the best deal on M5 MacBook Air we have tracked in months. Undercutting the fall Prime Day offer, you can now score both the 13-inch and 15-inch 1TB M5 MacBook Air models at a major $250 off the list price.

For those more interested in the less pricey option, Amazon is delivering the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM and the 1TB SSD down at $1,349 shipped– at the time of writing, this $250 discount is live on all colors outside of the Silver model.

Amazon is also now offering the 15-inch M5 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM and the 1TB storage upgrade down at $1,549 shipped – the $250 price drop is live on all four colorways on this model.

The giant clearance deals on Apple Watch Ultra 3 at $250 off are making a return here again today as the next batch of early Black Friday sales go live. Amazon is now offering the Black and Natural Titanium configs with the gorgeous Milanese Loop at $250 off the list prices.

Amazon has Apple Watch Ultra 3 with the Black and Natural Titanium Cases and the matching Milanese Loop sitting back down at $649 shipped.  and Natural Titanium Cases and the matching Milanese Loop sitting back down at $649 shipped.

Original $899 configurations before being replaced by the Apple Watch Ultra 4 a couple months, you’ll find the newer model sitting at $99 off the early Black Friday offers and this still entirely capable Ultra 3 variant at a sizable $250 off.

And here is a look at the nearly $100 off Apple Watch Ultra 4 models up for grabs:

While Amazon has owned the early pre-order deals on HomeView and Apple TV 4K thus far, it does not official carry Apple’s new HomePod mini 2 and deals are likely to be quite rare on this thing. However, while we do not expect to see any particularly notable straight up cash deals on Apple’s new Siri AI home speaker, Best Buy does have some early “excellent” condition open-box units on the Midnight and White models.

The new Apple HomePod mini 2 carries a $149 list price, and it might very well stay there right through Black Friday. We, of course, can’t know for sure, but, if history is any indication, they are infamously resilient to price drops.

That said, there are some “excellent” condition open-box prices live at Best Buy sitting below the list prices right now:

Clearly not a giant discount here, but because Amazon doesn’t officially carry the new mini, there’s really no telling when, or if, we will see actual discounts on new condition units.

My guy Jeff just delivered an in-depth rundown on everything new coming to HomePod mini 2 in iOS 27.2 and you’ll find some direct comparison pieces on what it brings to your home audio setup compared to the last gen model as well: HomePod mini 2 vs HomePod mini: Here’s everything new.

Wired headphones are going through a bit of renaissance right now and Sony is reviving its iconic Walkman-style over-ears with the new MDR-3R USB-C Wired Retro On-Ear Headphones. Now available for purchase at $60 for the standard issue set and at $80 for the Stranger Things edition.

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Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

Justin is a senior editor covering all things music for 9to5Mac, including our weekly Logic Pros series exploring music production on Mac and iOS devices. Justin is an audio engineer/producer with over 10 years experience in the music industry.

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Phone 3a, Phone 4a series—it's your turn to receive Nothing OS 5.0 (Android 17)

Google brings back app lock in Android 17 QPR3 Beta 3

Google confirms a nasty Pixel Watch battery bug — and a fix is rolling out

Get the latest news from Android Central, your trusted companion in the world of Android

Google's latest Googlebook update frees up to 6GB of RAM and fixes Chrome crashes.

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Google is rolling out its November update for Googlebook, and it includes a handful of improvements to make the platform more reliable and less frustrating to use.

The biggest change is in how Googlebook handles memory used by its on-device AI services. Google has updated its NPU driver and optimized AICore memory management, freeing up 3GB to 6GB of system RAM, as per a Reddit post by Google's Mishaal Rahman. That’s a significant bump for laptops with 16GB of RAM, especially when jumping between a lot of apps and browser tabs.

Chrome should also behave better under heavier workloads. The update improves the way the system reclaims memory when background AI services conflict with browser processes, reducing the chances of unexpected tab reloads and crashes. I’m almost tempted to say the update is the kind of fix that arguably should have been in place before Googlebook launched, but better late than never.

The November release covers a wide range of hardware and software issues. Convertibles should no longer lose keyboard and touchpad input when you switch between tablet and laptop modes. Google has also fixed Zoom crashes using simulated backgrounds, filters, blur effects, and 3D avatars.

External displays get a little love, too. Now you should be able to play DRM-protected streaming content such as Netflix, rather than just seeing a black screen. USB microphones and multichannel audio interfaces should work as expected too. Bluetooth users can also get lower audio-video synchronization delays and more reliable reconnection for wireless mice.

Google hasn't forgotten about those who use Googlebook for development work. The Linux Terminal beta brings in a bunch of fixes, including more reliable shell sessions after sleep, better SSH port forwarding, and improved multi-window management. Google also fixed a memory leak when closing terminal tabs and made Linux VM updates less destructive, preserving user storage and custom SSH configurations.

Security is another part of the release. The Android security patch for November 1, 2026 resolves around 60 vulnerabilities. Google also updated the Linux 6.18 kernel and Ti50 security chip firmware, fixing unexpected restarts, boot loops, and noisy fans.

Get the latest news from Android Central, your trusted companion in the world of Android

Google says the update is being rolled out gradually to supported models, including devices from Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, HP, and Dell. Owners can find it under Settings > System > System Update. You want the build number CL3B.260622.286.R2.

Early reactions on Reddit have been largely positive, with some owners already reporting smoother performance. That said, users are reporting issues, including Chrome spell check and notification syncing problems after waking from sleep.

Jay Bonggolto always keeps a nose for news. He has been writing about consumer tech for as long as he can remember, and he has used a variety of Android phones since falling in love with Jelly Bean. Send him a direct message via X or LinkedIn.

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The countertop kitchen composter is a lovely thought. Instead of a smelly bucket of vegetable scraps and coffee grounds breeding fruit flies on your counter or attracting rats to your backyard, you could just put it all into a nifty electric gadget. Then, at some undetermined point in the future, you'll have a bountiful supply of nutrient-rich compost to use in your garden.

Unfortunately, none of the more popular electric kitchen composters do exactly this. Though some of these devices are marketed as “composters” and include instruction booklets and companion apps detailing the many ways to use compost, most will only grind up and dry your food scraps. You will greatly reduce your food waste output, and it will no longer smell, but if you’re hoping to put eggshells and banana peels into a machine and magically scoop out the kind of compost you’d buy at the garden center, that’s just not going to happen.

That said, you can mix small amounts of these grounds into potting soil in tiny ratios or use them as a feeder for a “real” compost pile. But again, most of these machines are meant for reducing the volume of household food waste. This is, itself, a legitimate goal, as cast-off food makes up an estimated 24 percent of municipal solid waste, resulting in the release of methane, a destructive greenhouse gas, as it breaks down in the landfill.

Or maybe you'd just like your food grounds to be odor-free and shelf-stable before adding them to your green waste bin for municipal composting or your backyard compost. In any case, despite critics’ cries of greenwashing and corporate astroturfing, there is indeed value to these devices. They make people more aware of their food waste. They don't use a huge amount of power (around 1 kilowatt-hour was typical in my testing). And my top pick, the Reencle Essential (8/10, WIRED Recommends), even produces something close to compost.

Also, be sure to check out our guides to the Best Indoor Gardening Systems and Best Smart Bird Feeders.

Updated November 2026: I’ve added Reencle's new Essential model as my new top pick, and ensured up-to-date links and prices.

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As I mentioned above, none of these machines makes truly ready-to-use, biologically stable, fully decomposed compost, but Reencle comes closest to creating what you'd scoop out of a traditional compost bin or pile. Popular in South Korea years before it appeared in the US, Reencle machines arrive with a starter bag of Reencle Compost Starter (which you can purchase separately for $52) containing activated carbon, wood pellets, glucose, and a trio of patented thermophilic microbes ready to chow down. There's also a prefilled charcoal filter that slots into the back.

Cured Reencle grounds mixed with potting soil

The Essential is Reencle’s newest—and least expensive—model, with a refreshed, contemporary exterior; controls on the front instead of the top; and a lid that opens and closes manually. It's too large for a kitchen counter, but it conveniently operates much like a heated trash can. The lid opens via a manual button on the top of the unit, and in goes your organic matter. That's it. There are no cycles, tablets, or auxiliary buckets to worry about, and the cycle is barely louder than a refrigerator fan—about 28 decibels. Within hours to days, depending on the item, the scraps break down into a material resembling a cross between dirt and sawdust.

The smell isn't always pleasant, but you can usually mitigate this with the control panel's Dry and Purify buttons or by adding what, in composting lexicon, is called “browns”—dry, carbon-rich materials, like bread or shredded paper. The Reencle also tends not to stink when you feed it its preferred diet of 1.5 to 2.2 pounds of scraps per day. Unlike other machines, it can also accept meat and dairy.

When the volume reaches the fill line, it’s time to scoop out the grounds. At this point, you can mix the grounds with potting soil at a 1:4 ratio and leave it to cure for three weeks. (I used a large tub in my garage for this step.) Afterward, you can use it for both outdoor and indoor plants. I’ve used the resultant mix to positive effect both indoors and outdoors.

The Prime is Reencle’s original flagship model. It's pretty much identical to the new Essential, but with the controls on the top instead of on the front, plus a convenient sensor-activated auto-open and -close lid. The entire top also hinges open, making it easier to scoop out the grounds for curing. It's only about an inch taller than the Essential but accepts the same 2.2 pounds of kitchen scraps per day.

I found its fan noise to be slightly less intrusive than the Essential above, despite both units measuring at 28 decibels. It’s ultimately up to you if this, plus the auto-close lid, feels worthy of spending an extra $100. (I did like the latter feature very much.)

Also worth noting is that one of the stirring paddles broke off my Prime after a year and a half of daily use. I contacted Reencle to ask what customers should do in this situation. I learned that if the Reencle is within the warranty period (two years for units purchased on or after May 13, 2026; one year for units purchased previously), they can contact customer service to receive a paddle repair kit at no charge. If the unit is outside the warranty period, a kit runs $35. I don't love that this has happened, but Reencle's models remain the best of these devices available, and I've found the company's customer service to be responsive and easy to work with.

If you need a larger capacity: For larger households, there's also the Reencle Gravity ($649), which is Reencle's largest unit by both dimensions and capacity. It can accept 3.3 pounds of waste a day and sports the same convenient sensor-activated lid as the Prime. When I tested it last year, I found it to be significantly quieter than both the Prime and the Essential—not that either is noticeably loud, but the Gravity is nearly silent. I did, however, find that over time, the Gravity contents went anaerobic (read: smelly) much faster than with the Prime. The increased volume seemed to retain more moisture. If you go with a Gravity, I recommend keeping plenty of browns (old bread, shredded paper) on hand to maintain microbial balance or adding in a few more sessions of manual stirring per day with the included shovel.

Most kitchen “composters" simply grind and dry your food scraps, but the Lomi 3 countertop composter does the best job of this of the bunch. I'm always impressed when companies listen to feedback and adapt, and Lomi's most updated model solves a couple of the quirks found on the now-discontinued Lomi 2: Gone are the multiple modes, the annoying twist-off lid, and the need to put scraps right into the machine. Now there's a convenient 3-liter, 7.5-inch-tall countertop bucket, just like the FoodCycler below; an easy push-button lid; and Grow and Express modes. The Lomi 3 is also smaller and supposedly quieter than the Lomi 2, but my decibel meter found the difference to be negligible. One feature I did like on Lomi 2 that's missing from the 3, however, is Lomi mode, which could break down a list of approved bioplastics, including Lomi's own packaging. Lomi confirms the new model cannot accept bioplastics.

Like with the Lomi 2, there's a companion app for basic management, but I enjoyed not having to use it; simply press an on-device button, and the Lomi starts. When it's done (cycle lengths vary from three to 16 hours, depending on the amount and moisture level of its contents), it will play a little chime, and you can either put the processed grounds—which are very fine and look like Folgers—in your outdoor compost pile, top-dress your lawn with them, or add them to soil at a 1:10 ratio (1:15 if using meat or dairy). I also like that the Lomi 3 has a clear lid, so you can see exactly where it is in its cycle.

It's a lot to pay for what's essentially a grinder-and-dryer, which is why I generally recommend the Reencle above, especially if you want to generate something close to compost. However, for those simply looking to reduce their waste output, or who live in an area that's subject to composting fines, the Lomi 3 is a thoughtfully engineered, easy-to-use option.

Note that my test unit originally came with a lid that warped after several months, allowing odors to escape and attracting fruit flies. Lomi said the initial batch of lids was made with faulty plastic and sent a new lid, but the new version is starting to warp as well after a couple of months.

First off, I appreciate that FoodCycler doesn’t even pretend it's making compost. “The FoodCycler is a food-waste recycler,” the company explained firmly before agreeing to ship a test unit. “Our primary goal is to provide a modern food-waste solution for users who may lack access to traditional composting or other disposal options that divert from the landfill. Therefore, the resulting byproduct cannot be labeled as ‘compost.’” And indeed, the FoodCycler breaks down food so quickly, and with no microbial involvement, that there’s no way anyone could think this was actual finished compost. But if you are opting for a grinder/dryer, know that the Eco 3 makes more groaning and creaking noises while in operation than the Lomi 3 above, but it is still a great pick.

Launched in 2024, the Eco 3 is a smaller version of the Vitamix FoodCycler FC-50 (7/10 WIRED Recommends), sporting a larger 3.5-liter capacity and, according to FoodCycler, better grinding capability. At 11 by 9 by 13 inches, it is small enough to sit on a counter or tabletop, though the real convenience with this machine is its auxiliary pail. Fill the sleek, 8-inch-tall lidded container with scraps (in my household of three people, this took about three days). Once it's full, swap out the lids, seat it in the machine, and press a button.

A few hours later, you'll have a handful of “Foodilizer,” a "homemade soil amendment” that looks like finely ground dirt, per FoodCycler. The output is among the most finely ground of any of these machines. There's no assembly (other than filling a filter with carbon granules), no app, no making an account, no pods or tablets or choosing various cycles—you don't even have to plug it in until you're ready to use it.

The cycle runs from four to nine hours, depending on the water content of the scraps. Though its base sound is an audible but unobtrusive whir (about 36 dB on my decibel meter), it has started making loud groaning and creaking sounds after six months of regular use, so I only run it at night or when I won't be home. I also occasionally had trouble getting the bucket to seat correctly, but the manual addresses this, and I figured it out after a couple of tries.

Note: If you know you like the FoodCycler, but you need a larger capacity, FoodCycler's XL Eco 5 model (see Also Tried, below) can accommodate 5 liters of kitchen waste with slightly larger dimensions (14 by 14 by 10 inches). WIRED reviewer Nena Farrell tested the Eco 5 during the holiday party season, but felt the required space made the smaller Eco 3 a better grind-and-dry processor.

Like many of these devices, the R800 is called a “composter,” but it does not compost, and this detail irks me. There's a “Bio Compost” mode where you can add Airthereal Revive Magic Compost Starter. This is not included, costs $30 on Airthereal's website, and simply adds thermophilic bacteria, akin to the Reencle above. This will get the process started, but the result will not yield anything close to fully decomposed compost. To even achieve pre-compost, you will still need to mix small amounts with large amounts of soil and then let it cure for weeks.

However, amid the landscape of grind-and-dry kitchen-scrap processors, the Airthereal isn't half bad for the price. It's not as seamless or slick as the Lomi or FoodCycler, but it will effectively reduce the volume of your kitchen scraps. There's also a digital screen on the front that tells you what's happening. I also like that you can see into the machine thanks to its clear lid.

The biggest detractor was the lack of a lid for the bucket. The bucket is intended to sit in the machine (where there’s no need for a lid), but after using these kinds of devices for more than two years, I've found it is much more convenient to have a bucket handy for scraps while you're working, instead of having to periodically go over to the machine and press a button with dirty hands. Airthereal does make a bucket-and-lid option for an extra $60.

The R800 isn’t obnoxiously loud during its grind cycle, at about 40 decibels, and while there is an app, it's not required to use the machine. The device requires a fairly large footprint, so don't expect to put it on your kitchen counter. Another note: Remember that the carbon filter is on the back and its location is not immediately obvious—you will need to remove it and its stickers before using the device, lest you run the risk of going on an errand and coming back to the house smelling like a dumpster in the hot sun. (Don't ask me how I know.) Some Amazon reviews mention issues with overheating and jamming, but I've been using the Airthereal off and on for a year and have never experienced any mechanical issues.

All of these machines do a great job breaking down food scraps in some way or another, but none fully address what to do with them, absent a yard or compost pile. Adding them at a 1:10 (or even 1:15!) ratio to potting soil is kind of a pain, and many people don't have the space to store all this dirt. The Mill is the only device that solves this issue by allowing users to ship their grounds in a box via USPS to a farm in Washington state that repurposes the broken-down scraps for chicken feed (for an extra fee).

When I first tested the Mill in 2024 (6/10 WIRED Recommends), I didn't care for this idea, which seemed inefficient at best and canceled out the benefit of recycling the food waste at worst. I also didn't love the coarse texture of the grounds, having tried to use them in my garden and finding them too easily rehydrated. The price also seemed over the top for what's essentially an oversized Lomi. But if you're looking to reduce the amount of food waste leaving your house, the Mill has the best ease of use, requiring the least amount of work on a user's part.

Like the Reencle, it acts as a big trash can—you can throw in whatever you'd like at any time, and you can program a cycle any time you'd like via the app, which is exceedingly complete and user-friendly. There's an almost encyclopedic directory of what can and can't go in the machine, as well as a tracker that shows how many pounds of waste you've diverted over time. The Mill also has a massive capacity that only needs emptying about once a month—a claim I found to be accurate during my testing period. It's on the louder side at around 60 dB, so I highly recommend scheduling its processing cycle to run at night.

There are now two versions of the Mill: the Plus, which is the 27-inch version with a stylish wood-veneer top and lid-opening foot pedal that I tested, and the Essential, which is $200 cheaper, 4 inches shorter, and lacks the convenient foot pedal and wood-veneer finish. Both models have the same capacity.

In order to understand the intended purpose of electric composters, one first needs to know about the original indoor home composting method: the bokashi bin. Unlike traditional outdoor composting, which is straightforward anaerobic decomposition, the bokashi method, invented in Japan in the 1980s, is anaerobic fermentation. This method is a bit like quick-pickling your food waste to prep it for the decomposition process. The food scraps still need to decompose, but this gets it part of the way there with the least amount of hassle and time. In fact, some gardeners even prefer bokashi to compost, as the output retains nitrogen, a critical plant nutrient.

To start, put your food scraps in the included bucket, and once you have about a 1-inch layer of waste, add a sprinkling of microbe-infused bran (a 2-pound bag of bran with a little spouted measuring cup is included with the Bokashi Living kit). The instruction booklet for my Bokashi Bin also recommended putting a plate inside the bucket to push down the contents. Compost “tea,” or liquid byproduct of the fermentation process, can drain through a spigot on the bottom every couple of days and then be added to your outdoor plants. The smell is reminiscent of kombucha brewed in a hot dumpster with diapers and stale beer, so be sure to rinse out the cup each time.

Once your bin is full, let it sit for two weeks, and your food waste will have broken down enough to bury in your garden or add to your backyard compost. I admit I struggled with this part—after two weeks, my scraps looked much the same, only stinkier and slimier. Bokashi Living says on its website that this is normal: If it has a pickle-like smell and produces bokashi tea, it's a success.

I’ll admit it was refreshing at first to have a device that didn’t make noise, need maintenance, or use electricity, but a few weeks into testing the Bokashi Bin, I found myself sorely missing my Reencle. I didn’t keep a separate scrap bin on the countertop, so every time I needed to add refuse to the bucket, I had to peel the lid off with my dirty hands and remove the plate, which then made my hands even dirtier. The smell of fermenting food waste would then immediately—and as time went on, almost violently—permeate the kitchen and its vicinity. I certainly prefer any of the electric options listed above, but bokashi has its devoted adherents. If what I've detailed above doesn't sound bothersome to you, it may be worth a try.

Clear Drop Organics Collector (OC) for $399: From the makers of the innovative Soft Plastic Compactor, this simple white box does not claim to grind, process, or compost your food scraps; it simply stores up to 3.5 gallons' worth of them in an enclosed container with a fan and carbon filter for odor control. For its part, the OC did this well. I also appreciated the included paper-bag liners, which made it easy to drop off the scraps at a nearby collection bin, as my town does not have municipal compost. I also loved the sensor-activated lid that slides back and forth. Clear Drop posits that municipal composting is the best option overall for reducing waste via compost, because the process can be standardized for quality and is easy for everyone to comply. I agree, but let's be real: You can get a carbon-filter compost canister for less than $30. If taking the compost out every couple of days instead of every seven days is a chore you're willing to pay $400 to avoid, then knock yourself out. But you should know that the OC makes a loud fan noise—40 decibels on my decibel meter—which annoyed everyone in my household so much that I didn't even make it through the full test period.

Vego Countertop Kitchen Composter for $360: This grind-and-dry processor is roughly the same size as the Lomi, with many of the same operational features, but it is significantly less expensive. However, there are definitely some inconveniences that come with the lower price point. For one, you need to add scraps into the bucket while it’s seated in the machine. You can remove the bucket, but unlike with the FoodCycler, there's no separate lid for the bucket, and the metal mechanism underneath is exposed. Further, the machine’s lid is a bona fide pain to get on and off, requiring precise alignment of notches and two hands to wrench it open or closed. Needless to say, this is no easy feat with fists full of scraps. Vego claims its Vego mode does create a biologically active soil amendment when processed with one of the included VegoTabs (packet of 30, $30 if purchased separately). In all modes, but Vego mode especially, the barrel turns every couple of minutes, emitting a loud whirring. Because the sound isn't constant, it's more noticeable. Even from 10 feet away, I found it obtrusive enough to want to turn up the TV volume.

GEME Terra II for $700: Billed as the first “AI-powered kitchen appliance that uses industrial-grade microbes to turn waste into living soil,” this machine was the largest and bulkiest one I've tested (12 inches long, 22 inches high) and operates much like the Reencle, with a heated, enclosed container and a bag of proprietary starter microbes. Instead of a replaceable carbon filter, it uses a metal-ion purification system. Also similar to the Reencle, the GEME does not make ready-to-use compost but, rather, pre-compost that can be mixed with dirt. The role AI plays in this process is unclear: I couldn’t find an explanation on the website, on the machine itself, or in the instruction booklet. (GEME says it is working on an improved description.) The Terra II's signature feature is that its industrial-grade microbes can withstand the supposed high heat of the breakdown process. However, when I put a temperature probe into the Terra II's pre-compost after I'd had it running for about a week, it was 97 degrees Fahrenheit—nowhere near hot enough to kill pathogens. Further, during my testing period, this machine emitted a constant fan noise, like a range hood on medium speed—46 decibels on my decibel meter, which was loud enough to be disruptive.

FoodCycler Eco 5 for $500: Like the Eco 3 above, this is a food recycler and doesn’t claim to create true compost. It’s a large, quiet machine; my 3-year-old likes to turn it on when I’m not looking, and I don’t notice until I see that the blue light is on. The result doesn’t look like compost, but it does get ground down to some bare-bones food bits after several extra cycles my son initiates with his sneaky button-pushing. Each cycle runs between four and nine hours. It hasn’t been stinky, and I’ve found it handy to have nearby in the kitchen for food waste. It is quite large, though—nearly as bulky as my robot vacuum station due to its 5-liter capacity. The cheaper Eco 3 is likely a more efficient use of space in the kitchen, unless you have a ton of food scraps on a regular basis and really need the larger-capacity bin. —Nena Farrell

I cook daily for my family of three, and I've been processing our kitchen scraps in these composters in my home kitchen since the summer of 2024. I tested each machine under typical household use for a minimum of four weeks each, and in several cases, six weeks or longer. I tested all cycles offered, with all manner of foods allowed, according to each manual. I even attempted to use the finished product in my yard and potted plants (to varying effect). I acquired the units either by purchasing them myself or receiving them as samples from companies (with no expectation of coverage). When I completed testing, I donated or returned some units and kept others in office storage.

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iMore offers spot-on advice and guidance from our team of experts, with decades of Apple device experience to lean on. Learn more with iMore!

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Dig out your old iPod and fire up your ‘Songs to cry to’ playlist, I come bearing sad news. After more than 15 years covering everything Apple, it’s with a heavy heart I announce that we will no longer be publishing new content on iMore.

I want to kick off by thanking you all for your support over the many years and incarnations of the site. Whether you were a day-one early adopter in the ‘PhoneDifferent’ days, came on board with ‘The iPhone Blog,’ or recently started reading to find out what the hell Apple Vision Pro is, it’s been a privilege to serve you a daily slice of Apple pie.

Launching in the wake of the very first iPhone back in 2008, a game-changing device not just for Apple but the world at large, it’s somewhat fitting that we wrap publication here in 2024 on the precipice of the launch of a new industry-shifting technology from Apple in the shape of Apple Intelligence. Just as Apple wasn’t the first company to make a smartphone, it’s not the first to test the waters of artificial intelligence, either — but just as the iPhone became world-conquering, so too may Apple Intelligence reshape the way we interact with technology for years to come.

It’s a keen reminder that the world of technology never stands still: The term ‘artificial intelligence’ was the reserve of science fiction in the early days of the iPhone. The world of publishing is forever evolving too, as do the forms of technology journalism that look to shine a light on the industry. iMore leaves the stage at a pivotal crossroads for online publishing, where the battle for readers' time and attention is more demanding than ever before, and the aforementioned AI advances and search discovery methods further complicate the playing field. It’s been a joy to serve such a passionate readership over the years, but it’s time to pass the baton to new writers, new sites, and new formats.

I would like to take this moment to thank everyone from the iMore community, past and present, for their support and passion for what we’ve created over the years. A massive thanks goes to iMore’s previous leaders, Lory Gil, Serenity Caldwell, and Joe Keller, and of course, the inimitable Rene Ritchie who kickstarted this wonder all those years back. I hope we’ve done you all proud.

I’d like to give a particular shout out to the final iMore team that I’ve worked most closely with, and that has been an honor to lead over the past few years: Stephen, Tammy, John-Anthony, Daryl, and James, as well as our many regular contributors — thanks for putting a smile on my face each and every day. I can’t wait to see what you all do next.

iMore will stay online so readers can continue to access articles from the archive, and the forum at https://forums.imore.com/ will remain active until November 1 to serve our community. Our sister sites TechRadar.com and TomsGuide.com will also continue to publish all the latest news, reviews, and more from the world of Apple-based computing, while our buddies at WindowsCentral.com and AndroidCentral.com have the privilege of continuing to serve you class-leading news, reviews and features from the other side of the tech fence, keeping you up to date with the latest from Microsoft and Google.

Now it’s time to close those Watch rings, put a gag on Siri, and guzzle down the iBeer app one last time. Thanks for letting us think different for all these years. We’ll see you in the great iCloud backup in the sky.

iMore.com is your source for all things Apple, and the IM Staff author represents our collective hivemind, for those occasions when the whole team speaks with one voice to bring you important updates about the site, editorial policies, awards, promotions and more.

The iMore team of Apple enthusiasts and experts shows you how to get the most out of your tech life by using Apple products and the apps, services, and devices they connect with to their fullest. iMore is a mainstay in the Apple community for good reason. Every single iMore writer and editor takes their job seriously, and we prioritize accuracy and editorial independence in everything we do, never receiving compensation for coverage and never pulling punches.

As well as our amazing group of regular contributors, the iMore staff team currently consists of: Gerald Lynch — Editor-in-Chief Stephen Warwick — News Editor Daryl Baxter — Features Editor John-Anthony Disotto — How To Editor Tammy Rogers — Senior Staff Writer James Bentley — Staff Writer

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Tech > Services & Software > Online > Online Services

You get two subscriptions for the price of one. But the credits have some major limitations.

Lyft and DoorDash are teaming up for a new plan that essentially gives you two subscriptions for the price of one. But is it worth it?

The rideshare company announced the Lyft Go with DashPass subscription Thursday. Lyft says you’ll earn 8% back in credits to use toward your next Lyft ride or DoorDash order. Lyft Go with DashPass includes DashPass, DoorDash’s $10 monthly subscription — which includes no delivery fees and additional savings on select DoorDash orders.

Lyft is accounting for common mishaps. Lyft Go allows three trip cancellations per month and unlimited use of the Lost Item Fee Waiver in case you leave something behind in somebody’s car. Lyft currently charges $20 for drivers to make the return trip. And if you opt in to Lyft’s Round Up and Donate feature, Lyft will match 100% of your charitable donation.

Since Lyft Go with DashPass is $10 per month, you’ll basically get DashPass and Lyft Go for one price.

There’s also Lyft Go Core, a lower-tier monthly subscription that’s $5 per month. It won’t include DashPass, and you’ll earn 5% instead of 8% in credits. You’ll still get three ride cancellations and donation matching.

There are some caveats that may make you think twice. You won’t be able to earn credits through DoorDash orders and then redeem them with Lyft. And credits expire after 60 days. If you cancel your Lyft Go subscription, those credits may also expire sooner or become unavailable. And these subscriptions only work in the US. Lyft didn’t respond to a request for comment.

So if you earn credits within your free trial, you may want to use them before the trial ends if you’re considering canceling before your card is charged.

The new subscriptions give me pause given what we already know about US adults and subscriptions. CNET’s annual subscription survey found that only 10% of US adults are paying for meal and food delivery subscriptions and even fewer (3%) for automotive subscriptions.

However, subscription spending is up 23% compared to last year’s average of $1,080. Now, US adults are spending an average of $1,332 annually on subscriptions. However, most are paying for streaming services (61%), retail platforms (48%) and music (35%). If this isn’t a subscription you’ll use regularly enough to redeem the credits, it could be another subscription that sucks $10 out of your monthly budget. And you’ll need to do the math to see if the savings add up enough to justify paying for the rides, your DoorDash orders and the monthly subscription.

The new subscription comes the same day Amazon announced that Uber Eats is the new meal delivery perk after ending its GrubHub partnership.

Both Lyft Go with DashPass and Lyft Go Core are now available in the Lyft app nationwide, and a one-month free trial is available. However, if you already have DashPass, you can link your account with Lyft to have Lyft Go with DashPass at no extra cost. And if you have Lyft Pink, you’ll automatically be transitioned to Lyft Go with DashPass at no extra cost to the current price. However, Lyft Pink All-Access and Lyft Business Travel Rewards aren’t changing.

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Black Friday sales are already well underway, and that's great news if you'll be hosting festive gatherings this year. Shop kitchen deals to help make meal prep easier and upgrade to a bigger TV, but when it comes to holiday decor, we have Ruggable's hosting sale to help out.

This year, Ruggable's holiday collection features a collab with Kathy and Nicky Hilton, adding a fun touch to any room. The sale also extends to some of the brand's most popular collabs like the Ruggable x Jonathan Adler collection and Morris & Co. You can also snag a 40% saving on great holiday options like the incredible Tidings & Trimming Rug.

Be sure to shop the sale and place orders by Nov. 11 to ensure delivery in time for hosting Thanksgiving. I've rounded up some of my favorite Ruggable deals below, perfect for holidays or giving rooms a refresh for the new year.

You can't go wrong with a tartan pattern during the holidays. Add in candy canes, snowflakes, and holly, and it's a true celebration. The Hilton Tartan & Floral Flatwoven rug features a two-piece design with a removable cover that's safe to machine-wash. Plus, the rug pad means you can easily swap out the cover for new designs at Ruggable. The Hilton Holiday rug will look perfect near the Christmas tree this year.

Size options range from as small as two feet by three feet up to 10 feet by 14 feet. Runner sizes are also available.

With pumpkins, acorns, maple leaves, and gourds, the Autumn Tufted Rug is a seasonal treat. The tufted all-in-one rug is softer than the original Ruggable options, and it has a cushioned feel. Plus, there's built-in non-slip backing. The waterproof barrier is also great for gathering, as is the stain-resistance.

Lauren Allain is a freelance journalist covering deals at Mashable. She graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in journalism and holds an M.B.A from Webster Leiden. You can find more of her work online from publications including Reader’s Digest, U.S. News & World Report, Seattle Refined, and more. When she’s not writing, Lauren prefers to be outside hiking, bouldering, swimming, or searching for the perfect location for all three.

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Samsung’s latest generation of item trackers for Galaxy devices is available online in two colors, starting at $29.

Samsung announced the Galaxy SmartTag 3 last month, though it’s only now available for purchase online. The new tracker bears a different appearance, with a much more uniform and compact shape compared to the larger profile in previous designs. It’s a little more portable, too, even though it ditches the built-in loop.

For one reason or another, the Galaxy SmartTag 3 works with the Galaxy Find network but not Google’s larger Find My network. That means the SmartTag 3 will be exclusive to Galaxy devices and iPhones, since Samsung’s iOS app will support basic connectivity with the device.

The new Galaxy-branded tracker brings a few important features into play. These include routine activation, leave-behind alerts, and location history. The tags are rated for 550 days of battery power and are rated IP67 water and dust resistant.

Samsung added two colorways to its website – white and black. Both are sold as an individual Galaxy SmartTag 3 for $29, but you can grab a bundle of four – two of each color – for $99.

For users who value Google’s Find My Device network, here are a few good options we like:

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Kia is expanding its electric van lineup with the PV7, a larger PV5 sibling that can carry nine people or a whole lot of cargo.

The PV5, Kia’s first fully electric van from its Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) business, is proving to be a bigger hit than expected.

A year after it went on sale, the PV5 quickly became Europe’s most popular small electric van. In the first half of 2026, it was the top seller in its segment, accounting for 37% of electric C-segment van sales across Europe.

Next year, Kia will launch the PV7, the second electric van from its PBV business. Kia revealed the PV7 at IAA Transportation in Hanover, Germany, in September.

It’s based on the same E-GMP.S platform as the PV5, but the PV7 features a considerably longer wheelbase and stretched body, opening up more space inside.

The PV7 is over 17.5 ft long, measuring 5,350 mm long, 1,995 mm wide, and 1,990 mm high, with a 3,500 mm wheelbase. In comparison, the PV5 is just 4,695 mm long, 1,895 mm wide, and 1,915 mm tall, with a 2,995 mm wheelbase.

That’s even bigger than the Volkswagen ID. Buzz Long-Wheelbase (LWB), which measures 4,962 mm in length with a 3,239 mm wheelbase.

Like the PV5, the PV7 will initially be available in Passenger and Cargo body styles, but Kia plans to launch 23 different variants, or “top hats,” over the next few years.

It will be offered with two nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery packs: 71.5 kWh and 96.2 kWh. The Long Range Cargo model offers an all-electric WLTP range of over 460 km (285 miles). Even at full capacity, Kia said the new PV7 achieves nearly 400 km (248 miles) of range and still has 350 liters of trunk space.

A plena capacidad la nueva #PV7 consigue casi 400 km de autonomía y aún reserva 350 litros de maletero #Kia #KiaPV7 #MovementThatInspires pic.twitter.com/fzIvviYZuE

Front-wheel drive (FWD) will be standard at launch, but Kia plans to add an all-wheel drive (AWD) option later.

Depending on the configuration, the FWD electric powertrain delivers up to 268 horsepower (200 kW) and 309 lb-ft (420 Nm) of torque.

Thanks to its 800V architecture, the Kia PV7’s battery can charge from 10% to 80% in about 25 minutes with a 350 kW DC fast charger. It will be Kia’s first vehicle with two charging ports, including a front AC/DC port and an optional rear side AC port.

With vehicle-to-load (V2L) capabilities, it can serve as a mobile power source for tools, equipment, a campsite, or other external electronic devices.

The PV7 Cargo, designed for businesses, fleets, and logistics, is available in 2- and 3-seat configurations and offers up to 6.1 cubic meters of cargo space. The High Roof variant offers even more, with up to 8 cubic meters.

Maximum payload is up to 1,165 kg (2,568 lbs) for the Cargo Long and up to 1,200 kg (2,645 lbs) for the compact model.

The PV7 Cargo Long features a 550 mm loading height and, according to Kia, enough capacity for up to three Euro pallets (800 x 1,200 mm). An added heavy-duty mode adjusts the vehicle’s response to varying payloads to help maintain stability and control while driving.

Depending on the use, buyers can choose between full-open twin-swing tailgate doors or a lift-up tailgate.

The PV7 Passenger, on the other hand, is designed for personal use and families, or can also be used as a shuttle with room for up to nine passengers in the global version. In Korea, it will seat up to 11 passengers.

The 7-seater features Long-Rail Easy Remove Seats, enabling various interior seating configurations. The 9-seater variant, on the other hand, is available with or without a fourth row.

Inside, both versions feature Hyundai’s new Pleos Connect infotainment system, with 12.9″ and 14.6″ display screens and physical controls for commonly used functions.

The system runs Android Automotive OS, making it more like a smartphone with apps and customizable screens. It also includes Hyundai’s Gleo AI, an AI-powered in-car companion that can answer questions, control navigation or vehicle functions, and more.

26 minutes recharge might seem a bit lame for a 800V vehicle when the 400V Buzz will do it in 29, but this is still progress. And the PV7 will be pulling more absolute kW because it is a bigger, slightly less efficient vehicle.

Kia said the PV7 is based on a “Mobile Workspace” concept, with a layered dashboard and center console to optimize space.

The Kia PV7 Passenger and Cargo will go on sale in Korea and Europe in the second half of 2027. It will then roll out to new markets with new derivatives and conversions.

Kia will announce PV7 prices closer to its launch. In Korea, the PV5 Passenger and Cargo Compact starts at 45.9 million won ($34,000) and 41 million won ($30,000), respectively. In Germany, the PV5 Passenger 5-seater starts at €38,690 ($43,000).

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Peter Johnson is covering the auto industry’s step-by-step transformation to electric vehicles. He is an experienced investor, financial writer, and EV enthusiast. His enthusiasm for electric vehicles, primarily Tesla, is a significant reason he pursued a career in investments. If he isn’t telling you about his latest 10K findings, you can find him enjoying the outdoors or exercising

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Tech > Services & Software > Operating Systems > Windows > Windows 11

The latest updates to Windows 11 offer improvements in speed, performance, and memory management.

The more memory your Windows PC has, the faster it should perform, especially when juggling multiple apps, files, and other data. My laptop has 32GB of RAM, while my desktop has a hefty 64GB, and both are absolutely zippy. Does that mean computers with only 8GB of memory, or even less, are also-rans? Nope, not according to Microsoft.

Also: How much RAM does your PC really need?

In a new blog post published Tuesday, Microsoft touted the gains in speed, performance, and memory management in Windows 11 achieved by the latest updates. These especially impact PCs with just 8GB of RAM, which can now run multiple apps and files faster and more efficiently than before.

To reach this goal, the company said it had three notions in mind.

The first was to make better use of the existing memory on each Windows 11 PC. The second was to protect the tasks that need to feel instant even as more memory gets used. And the third was to ensure that key apps and Windows require less memory. Yes, a computer with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of RAM can better handle more intensive activities. But Microsoft wanted to make sure that systems with 8GB could also keep pace.

Based on its own lab tests of PCs with 8GB of RAM, the company claims that Windows is now 20% more responsive and that multitasking is 40% faster than before the latest updates. Here’s how.

As more memory gets allocated, Windows must move inactive apps and files from RAM to the hard drive. When you need to access those apps and files again, you have to wait for Windows to move them from disk storage back to RAM. Normally, PCs with less memory have to do a lot of this disk swapping.

One way Windows eases the pain of this process is through compression. Here, the operating system shrinks less-active data into a smaller format so it can remain in memory. Though Windows has used compression for many years, Microsoft has fine-tuned the technology to determine how much to compress, when to move data from RAM to your drive, and when to fetch it back, especially on PCs with 8GB of memory.

Also: 5 apps I always install on new Windows PCs – most are free

As such, Windows can now keep up to 2GB more of your active data in memory rather than moving it to storage, Microsoft said. An inactive app, file, or browser that you leave open is less likely to have to reload from your hard drive when you return to it.

Opening the Start menu, launching File Explorer, right-clicking a folder or file, and searching for an item are all tasks that need to feel instant; otherwise, Windows itself feels sluggish. To achieve this on PCs with less RAM, Windows tries to prioritize certain actions you need to accomplish while backing off background tasks like search indexing, Microsoft said.

Here’s one example. After you update your computer and reboot, Windows has some housekeeping to do. But any setup work that occurs shouldn’t affect how long it takes to open an app or file.

Also: How to upgrade your ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 – for free

The latest version of Windows 11 speeds up these types of tasks and interactions by up to 20% compared with the January 2026 version, according to Microsoft.

However, multitasking places the greatest strain on a PC with only 8GB of RAM. To analyze this, Microsoft said it conducted two tests on the same PC with 8GB of memory. One test measured the current version of Windows 11, while the other gauged the January 2026 flavor. Here, the testers opened 20 tabs in Microsoft Edge, kicked off a 4K video, and launched large files in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, one after another. The current version of Windows is up to 40% faster than its predecessor, the company said.

To reduce the need for RAM among Windows and certain key apps, Microsoft said that it has improved how memory is managed and when it’s used.

As one example, memory is allocated to Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook more efficiently, resulting in a 360 MB savings in RAM. This maneuver also extends to third-party apps such as WhatsApp, which has reduced its memory requirements.

Also: 11 Windows apps I replace on every new PC (and the ones I keep)

On PCs with 8GB of memory, the Widgets app loads only when you open it and frees up about 200 MB of RAM when you close it. In Microsoft Edge, inactive tabs now go to sleep after 15 minutes, down from two hours previously, reducing overall memory allocation.

Across Windows, Microsoft 365, and Edge, those improvements reduced the growth in required memory by up to 900 MB, Microsoft said.

How does Microsoft test these scenarios to see whether the latest Windows updates and fixes are helping PCs with less memory?

“We test those fixes across a broader collection of over 20,000 PCs in our labs, including current 8 GB models, using automated workloads based on activities such as browsing, working in Microsoft 365 apps, joining video calls, and downloading files in the background and even using high-speed cameras to measure the time from an action, such as opening Start or launching an app, to the moment the result appears on screen,” the company explained.

Also: Why your RAM options cost 4X more now than last year

The ability to use Windows without much RAM on your PC is critical these days in light of the “RAMageddon” crisis. With AI companies scooping up massive amounts of memory and flash storage chips, remaining supply is limited, and the prices have surged. The more memory you add to a new or existing PC, the more you’re going to pay. That’s always been true, but now more than ever.

Of course, memory is only one part of the picture. Your PC’s processor and other hardware also play an important role. Here, Microsoft found that a 2026 Dell XPS 13 with 8GB of RAM showed 94% faster multi-core CPU performance than a 2021 8 GB model. But the same 2026 8GB PC performed on par with a 2021 16 GB system. This shows that memory does matter for multitasking, but that the processor also impacts performance.

Whether your Windows 11 PC has 8GB of RAM, less, or more, how can you take advantage of the latest enhancements? For that, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve updated to the newest version of Windows. That would be Windows 11 26H2, build 26300.9818 or later, according to Microsoft. But that includes the latest optional preview build released in late October. If you don’t want to install that one, you’ll be fine with build 26300.9711 for now.

Also: The best laptops: Expert tested and reviewed

To check, head to Settings, select System, and then click About. The section for Windows Info shows the current version and build. If you need to update, stay in Settings and go to Windows Update. Assuming your PC qualifies, you should find the latest Windows 11 26H2 build ready to install.

Beyond updating Windows, you also want to keep your apps current. If you use Microsoft 365, open any app in the suite, click the File menu, select Account, click Update Options, then select Update Now.

With most other apps, you have to update them manually or individually. To ease the process, consider a good software updater program. These will automatically scan most of your installed applications to identify which need updating, then download and install the updates for you.

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Next year Apple is rumored to have a big redesign coming to the iPhone Pro models, and per a new leak, it may come with the loss of the Action button.

2027 brings the iPhone’s 20th anniversary, and all signs indicate Apple has something special planned. Similar to the debut of iPhone X for the 10th anniversary in 2017, Apple may introduce a bold new iPhone design next year.

New iPhone Pro models are rumored to get quad-curved displays that wrap around the edges for a visually bezel-free appearance. Screen size is expected to increase too.

Now today, a new post from leaker Instant Digital on Weibo says this new design will also come with a loss.

Per the post, the Action button will be removed from next year’s iPhone Pro models. The devices will retain a Camera Control button though, similar to iPhone Duo.

I know quite a few people a decade ago who got the phones with curved screens. All it does is cause you to accidently hit stuff with your palm. Really hope this isn't true.

The leaker says the Action button’s functionality won’t be lost altogether, though. Instead, he says Camera Control will continue to launch the Camera app with a standard press, but a long-press will offer Action button-like functionality.

When iPhone Duo dropped the Action button, some users expressed disappointment that the button’s versatility was lost. Our own Chance Miller, for example, said he would gladly give up Camera Control to keep the Action button.

It sounds like Apple plans to integrate the two, a pattern that will likely apply to the next-generation iPhone Duo and other future models too.

What do you think of Apple’s reported plan for the Action button? Let us know in the comments.

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Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.

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On Mashable's Say More, hosts Kristy Puchko (Mashable's Entertainment Editor) and Mark Stetson (Senior Creative Producer) bring humor and their trusted insights to the biggest shows, films, digital trends, and cultural moments. From viral-worthy rants and passionate raves to smart recaps and first-look teasers, they cover what everyone is talking about. Celebrity guests join the conversation for real talk about their careers, upcoming projects, and what’s trending online.

Dropout has built its brand on a string of sensational improvisational television shows, like Game Changer, Dimension 20, and Very Important People. Their latest, MP3, breaks from this formula, as it's the first scripted show the streaming platform has debuted in seven years.

Playing like a parody of MTV's long-canceled Total Request Live, MP3 — short for Music Presentation 3 — offers quirky VJs and three new music videos each episode. Saturday Night Live's Jeremy Culhane plays former boy bander/current MP3 host Dane Cartel, who's joined by newly minted VJs Dr. Muse-Tina (Skye Townsend) and Chia (Aparna Nancherla). And if he's got beef about sharing the spotlight, he'll have to take it up with his director/daddy, Thomas Cartel (Paul F. Tompkins)

As teased in the show's trailer, these music videos feature songs written by MP3 creators Zach Reino and Jess McKenna, and fictional bands like Truth Summons, Boys Who Read, Sheepish, and Every Place I Cry. Each band features familiar faces from Dropout's growing web of comedy stars, like Anna Garcia, Lily Du, Jacob Wysocki, Katie Marovitch, Sam Reich, and more.

This week on Say More, Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko sat down with Townsend, Nancherla, and Tompkins to learn how MP3 came together, how much improv does come into play, and if there's a chance for more Very Important People crossover. After all, Fanoli got a mention in episode 1, and the trailer teases the return of Princess Emily of Maroon 5? Could Tompkins reprise the role of midnight louse David Hoyle Jr.? The cast considers how!

How to watch: The first episode of MP3 is now streaming on Dropout. New episodes will roll out every two weeks through the season finale on Dec. 2. Recommended deals for you HBO Max — top pick for premium content Disney+ — best for families Hulu — popular choice for originals Peacock — low-cost choice for live sport Products available for purchase through affiliate links. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

HBO Max — top pick for premium content

Disney+ — best for families

Hulu — popular choice for originals

Peacock — low-cost choice for live sport

Kristy Puchko is the Entertainment Editor at Mashable. Based in New York City, she's an established film critic and entertainment reporter who has traveled the world on assignment, covered a variety of film festivals, co-hosted movie-focused podcasts, and interviewed a wide array of performers and filmmakers.

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Google is rolling out a big update to Antigravity this week that features a new design, Voice Mode, and Remote Agents.

Version 2.29 of Google’s agentic development platform for Mac, Windows, and Linux starts with a redesigned conversation page that moves the prompt box to the bottom of the screen, while there’s now a greeting at the top, like the Gemini app. The app also now has a default Google Sans font and Onyx theme.

Additionally: “Single-repo projects combine branch and Git worktree selection into one menu, and the agent picker now lives inside the model menu.”

Next to the existing microphone, there’s a new Voice Mode that’s powered by Gemini Live. This lets you “talk to Antigravity and hand requests to the agent by voice.” Google offers various options for Antigravity’s voice, while you can customize speed from 0.75x to 2x.

We want Antigravity to be working for you all the time. We’ve been rolling out remote agents this week. Your tasks run in independent cloud virtual machines. Fire off a task, step away for coffee, unblock permissions from your phone, and come back to passed tests and a clean pull… pic.twitter.com/4uHvjpUDd0

Other major updates with version 2.29 include:

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Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.

Anyone in the US who bought an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max or iPhone 16 model between June 2024 and March 2025 is eligible to file a claim.

Dec. 21 is the last day to file a claim in Apple’s $250 million settlement over delayed Siri features, and payouts could reach $95 per eligible iPhone.

The class covers anyone in the US who bought an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max or any iPhone 16 model between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025, the stretch when Apple was promoting a more personal Siri that hadn’t arrived yet. Filing takes a few minutes online, and each qualifying phone gets its own claim.

The iPhone 16 went on sale in September 2024 with Apple Intelligence at the center of its marketing. However, the first AI features didn’t arrive until iOS 18.1, several weeks later, and the most heavily promoted one, a Siri that could pull personal context from your apps, was further delayed in March 2025.

Now you can turn that initial dismay into a payment in Apple’s $250 million legal settlement by signing up at a live website. The opt-in form is available only for a limited time, so get your name in the pool before it closes. Eligible buyers have until Dec. 21 to file, and each qualifying iPhone gets its own claim.

Apple settled a false advertising lawsuit brought by Clarkson Law Firm in May, agreeing to pay $250 million to customers who bought some iPhone models during a specified period. The lawsuit alleged that Apple misled customers by promising AI features that didn’t ship with the new devices. Apple denies all of the lawsuit’s allegations and denies that it did anything unlawful or improper.

If you purchased an iPhone 16 or iPhone 15 at launch, you may be entitled to receive a portion of the quarter-billion-dollar settlement. Payouts between $25 and $95 per eligible device are expected.

“Apple has reached a settlement to resolve claims related to the availability of two additional features. We resolved this matter to stay focused on doing what we do best, delivering the most innovative products and services to our users,” an Apple spokesperson said in an earlier statement to CNET.

The court granted preliminary approval of the settlement on July 17. Then an Aug. 13 order moved up the final approval date by seven months.

“False advertising settlements aim to raise the floor of truth-telling, protect fair competition and increase consumer choice,” said Ryan Clarkson, co-lead counsel on the case and founder and managing partner of Clarkson Law Firm, in a statement to CNET. He claimed it’s the largest false-advertising settlement in history.

Apple lit up its flagship New York City store to resemble Siri’s new color scheme.

As of Sept. 21, you can go to SmartphoneAISettlement.com and enter your information to confirm your eligibility for monetary relief. People whom Apple and the settlement administrator determined would be eligible will also receive email or postal notices from the company Verita directing them to the website.

The claims window closes on Dec. 21, 2026, so you have three months to act.

If you bought one of the following devices between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025, you could be eligible to receive a settlement payment:

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are included because they have the processor and memory to run Apple Intelligence features.

It’s estimated that approximately 36 million customers are eligible for this settlement.

When Apple advertised its new iPhone 16 lineup in 2024, it emphasized how the models were optimized for AI features such as an enhanced Siri that could act as an intelligent agent. When the phones did arrive, Apple Intelligence wasn’t yet ready; its first features didn’t arrive until iOS 18.1, five weeks later.

According to the proposed settlement, “Apple allegedly saturated the market with deceptive ads, inducing consumers to purchase iPhones based on the promise of certain enhanced Siri features.”

Some features of Apple Intelligence did ship soon after the introduction of the iPhone 16 and iOS 18, including Visual Intelligence, Live Translation, Writing Tools, Genmoji and Clean Up. But those weren’t the advanced features Apple highlighted. In fact, the type of intelligent interactions Apple advertised is only starting to show up in Siri AI, which is part of iOS 27, which was released in early September.

According to the settlement, Apple needed to provide the information about affected customers within five days of the settlement approval. As of late July, preliminary approval has been granted by the court.

After the data is provided and verified, a 45-day notice period begins to inform potential consumers that they’re eligible for a payment.

On Aug. 13, US District Court Judge Noël Wise granted approval to push forward the date from Sept. 29, 2027, to Feb. 24, 2027.

Provided approval is granted, the first checks or deposits will arrive sometime within a 60-day window after February next year, depending on court dates and possible extensions.

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Tesla has raised Cybertruck prices in the US by up to 10% and stopped taking orders for the base Dual Motor AWD trim. The cheapest Cybertruck you can actually order now costs $92,490.

The move comes right after Tesla confirmed it will end Cybertruck production at Gigafactory Texas around mid-2027.

Here’s what Tesla’s online configurator shows today, compared to the prices set in August:

The Dual Motor trim still shows a new, higher price on Tesla’s website, but the option is greyed out. So Tesla raised the price of a version it isn’t selling anymore.

This is the second price hike in less than three months. Tesla raised prices by $5,000 on two trims in August, when the Dual Motor went from $69,990 to $74,990 and the Premium AWD from $79,990 to $84,990.

Add it up and the Premium AWD is now $12,500 (15.6%) more expensive than it was in early August. And the entry price for any Cybertruck you can order went from $69,990 to $92,490. That’s a 32% jump in about 10 weeks.

For reference, Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck in 2019 with a promised starting price of $39,900.

The price hikes make little sense from a demand standpoint. Tesla doesn’t break out Cybertruck deliveries, but its “Other Models” category, which also includes the Model S, Model X, and Semi, fell 48% year-over-year to 8,295 units in Q3. We estimate Cybertrucks made up 7,000 to 8,000 of those, about 12% of the line’s 250,000-unit annual capacity.

Tesla also tried the opposite approach earlier this year. It offered a dual-motor Cybertruck at $59,990 in February for “only the next 10 days,” then pulled it. A single-motor RWD version was discontinued after just 173 sales. None of it moved the needle.

The Cybertruck isn’t sold in Europe or most right-hand-drive markets, and Tesla canceled it for Australia and New Zealand last month.

So, Tesla has now discontinued more models than it currently offers. Looks like the great leader isn’t particularly good at writing product specs. And the hype has been over for quite a while anyway. In Europe, owning a Tesla has actually become something of an image liability.

This is what a wind-down looks like. Tesla isn’t trying to sell more Cybertrucks anymore. It’s trying to make as much money as possible on the last ones, with the hope that announcing the end of production will encourage some people to secure their order.

Once you’ve decided to end a program, volume stops mattering. You have a set number of build slots left, a parts supply you want to burn down, and probably a small group of fans who’ll want one before it’s gone. Pausing the cheapest trim and charging $7,500 more for the rest is the obvious play. You push everyone into higher-margin configurations and stop pretending the base truck is a real product.

But it does say a lot about the last two years of Cybertruck pricing. Tesla went from a $59,990 “limited-time” offer in February to a $92,490 entry price in November. That’s a company that never figured out who the truck was for.

If you’re buying an EV, powering it with home solar can cut your fuel costs to nearly zero. With electricity rates up almost 10% last year and expected to keep climbing, going solar is one of the best ways to protect yourself against rising costs. And with lease and PPA options, you can do it with zero upfront cost and start saving immediately. If you want to find the best deal, check out EnergySage. It’s a free service with hundreds of pre-vetted installers competing for your business, so you save 20 to 30% compared to going it alone. No sales calls until you pick an installer. Get your free quotes here.

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Fred is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at Electrek.

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EnergySage helps you get the best price possible on a home solar installation for free and without hassel.

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iOS 27.2 arrived last week, and among its changes for Apple Photos, the update adds an invisible watermarking feature when you use certain editing tools. Here’s how it works.

In the age of AI, what looks like a genuine photo might actually be a fake—or partly fake. That’s why tools like SynthID have been used to apply invisible watermarks to AI-generated content.

Starting with iOS 27.2, Apple now uses SynthID watermarks when you make AI-generated edits to photos in Apple Photos, or create all-new images with Image Playground.

Starting with iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, macOS 27.2, and visionOS 27.2, some Apple Intelligence tools will add an invisible SynthID watermark to images that you create or edit:

Image Playground generates entirely new images, so it’s more what the average person would consider an “AI image.”

However, as Apple notes, the SynthID invisible watermark is also applied to genuine photos in your Apple Photos library if you use the AI-powered Clean Up, Extend, or Spatial Reframing tools to edit them.

It’s worth emphasizing the word “invisible” here. You won’t see evidence of a watermark anywhere on your photos, nor will others unless they explicitly check the image with a SynthID detector.

If you do want to check for the watermark, Apple recommends going to synthid.com, where you can upload an image and see its result.

How do you feel about Apple Photos adding SynthID watermarks in iOS 27.2? Let us know in the comments.

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Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.

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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget.

One of Roku's most popular screensavers is about to make its last splash. Here’s how to switch before Dec. 1.

A fan-favorite Roku screensaver is going away, and users aren’t happy.

Over the last several days, users with the Aquatic Life aquarium screensaver set as the default have noticed a message appearing when the screensaver opens. “Starting Dec. 1, 2026,” the message reads, “the Aquatic Life screensaver will no longer be available, and your screensaver will switch to Roku City.”

Also: The free Roku City screensaver game has me hooked

The screensaver, which displays a digital aquarium with tropical fish swimming back and forth, was available as a downloadable theme pack and was a popular pick for many years.

Users on Reddit quickly lamented the loss in many posts, with dozens noting that the aquarium was part of their daily routine. Roku responded to one post, saying, “That makes sense, and we hear you. Aquatic Life has a lot of loyal fans, and we’re passing your feedback along to the team.” The post noted that when “the fish swim off,” Roku devices with Aquatic Life will switch to Roku City.

You can browse to Settings > Theme > Screensaver to find another theme.

Several online reports indicate that the removal is a licensing issue and that the creator of the screensaver posted on Reddit that he removed the license after Roku’s sale to Fox. That thread has now been deleted, so the comment is unavailable. Roku hasn’t issued any statement of its own about why, but I have reached out to ask. I’ve also reached out directly to the screensaver’s creator.

If you’re looking for the exact screensaver, it’s still available as a 2-minute clip on Roku’s YouTube channel. It takes a few extra steps, but if you want to keep the screensaver running on your TV, you can create a YouTube playlist with just that video, set it to loop, and use the YouTube app on Roku whenever you want to see it.

Even though the announcement of the screensaver’s departure happened less than 24 hours ago, the comments section of that video is packed with users begging Roku to keep Aquatic Life.

Also: I started clearing my Roku cache, and it fixed my biggest TV complaint

Alternatively, you could open one of the many YouTube videos that have aquarium displays and let one of them run for as long as you want.

There are also several dozen aquarium apps for Roku. I checked out several of them, and while they don’t look exactly like the Roku one, they do fill the void. Note that if you opt for one of these, most of them do have ads that play before the aquarium starts.

Lastly, you can download the original app for your phone or computer from SereneScreen.

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Lucid has released a new teaser video of what looks like the Cosmos, its upcoming sub-$50,000 midsize electric SUV and the car that’s supposed to turn Lucid into a volume automaker.

The clip gives us the clearest look yet at the Cosmos’ lighting, front and rear, after months of camouflaged prototype sightings. But the car itself is still about a year away.

Lucid posted the 1 minute 34 second video on X yesterday. The caption talks about “elevating the experience of movement” and says Lucid can’t wait “to share this feeling with even more people.” It doesn’t name the vehicle, but “even more people” is about as subtle a hint at a cheaper model as you can get.

Two frames from the film show the vehicle at dusk. At the rear, “LUCID” is spelled out in red illuminated letters across the tailgate, flanked by thin red light strips, with a spoiler cutting across the base of the rear glass. Up front, a sculpted LED headlight with a row of vertical segments sweeps across a red body panel.

That rear end matches the Cosmos design Lucid registered with the EU Intellectual Property Office in May, which showed the same spelled-out “LUCID” tailgate and rear-glass spoiler. It also lines up with the thin red light strips on the camouflaged Cosmos prototype spotted on Highway 101 in California last month.

Lucid unveiled its plans for Cosmos and Earth at its first Investor Day in March. Both ride on the new midsize platform and start under $50,000, roughly half the price of the Gravity.

On paper, the Cosmos is impressive. Lucid claims about 300 miles of range from a 69 kWh pack, thanks to efficiency of up to 4.5 mi/kWh, which it says is 10% better than its closest competitor. It also claims 200 miles of range in 14 minutes of charging, and its new Atlas drive unit has 30% fewer parts and costs 37% less than the Zeus unit in the Gravity.

The problem is timing. Production was supposed to start in late 2026. In August, CEO Silvio Napoli pushed the Cosmos to 2027, “most likely the second half.”

That puts it on the same schedule as Rivian’s $45,000 base R2, and well after the Tesla Model Y it was caught testing next to in Arizona back in May.

Lucid needs this car badly. It delivered 3,806 vehicles in Q3, down 7% year-over-year, while building only 2,954 after cutting the second shift at its Arizona factory.

I want Lucid to succeed. Period. I love the Air Pure and would like to get one at some point, but the cost is out of my budget while the tech is more than I want or need.

But I think what impresses me more than anything with Lucid is that they are one of the few who actually speak efficiency. It seems that they actually care about being efficient where companies like GM and others just build vehicles with bigger batteries in order to get more range. So for that, I give Lucid much credit.

The company is building hype a year out. It has nothing else new to sell until the Cosmos arrives, and the company reports Q3 earnings on Monday. They need to remind everyone what they are working toward.

A midsize SUV doing 4.5 mi/kWh would be best in class by a wide margin, and Lucid’s efficiency claims have held up on the Air. If it really lands under $50,000 with 300 miles of range, it’s a very compelling alternative to the Model Y and the R2, which still have room to take over market shares from ICE vehicles.

But Lucid has already slipped this car once; it says its cash lasts “well into 2027,” and the Cosmos is due in the second half of 2027. That’s a tight overlap. I think the Cosmos will be a good car, but can Lucid fund it all the way to customers’ driveways?

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Fred is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at Electrek.

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