• South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test: October 9-13
• Daily start time: 8.30am BST / 3.30am ET / 6.30 AEDT
• Live streams: Sky Sports (UK) / Willow TV via Sling (US) / Kayo Sports (FREE TRIAL) (AUS)
• Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save up to 75%)

The South Africa vs Australia 1st Test 2026 could scarcely be dripping in more narrative. Eight years have passed since the Aussies last played a five-day game in the Rainbow Nation, with then captain Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft conspiring to use sandpaper to rough up the ball. The scandal, and attempted coverup, has dominated chatter between Test cricket's top two sides ever since.

Smith is the only member of that trio still in the Australia setup and you can bet the 37-year-old batter, who received a 12-month ban for his role in the ball-tampering affair, will cop for some stick. Keeping matters on the pitch, South Africa-born Marnus Labuschagne scored his first century in any form of cricket for a year in the warmup game against a Cricket South Africa Invitation XI to likely keep his place at first drop despite no century in a Test match dating back to the Ashes in 2023. Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Matt Renshaw should all feature but Cameron Green will miss out with an abdominal strain for Pat Cummins' side. Nic Maddinson or Cooper Connolly will be Green's likely replacement, the former hasn't played first-class cricket in 19 months.

South Africa will be buoyed by dominating much of the recent ODI series between the sides. Temba Bavuma will again lead the side, with Marques Ackerman expected to make his debut at No.3 in a trial by fire against Australia's fearsome attack. Kagiso Rabada has bowled in an intra-squad match and a late decision will be made on whether the fast bowler will be fit. Anrich Nortje returns to the side, while Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj spun India into defeat last November and will look to put pressure on an Australian batting lineup that has notably faltered in recent series.

This is the first of a three-match series between the world top two-ranked Test sides, with Port Elizabeth and Cape Town to follow.

Read on as we explain how to watch the South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test online, on TV and potentially for free wherever you are.

How to watch any South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test stream using a VPN

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with up to 75% off.

How to watch South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test live streams in the US

In the US, Willow TV will broadcast the South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test.

If you don't have it as part of your cable package, you can watch Willow coverage through your choice of Sling TV's Desi Binge Plus or Dakshin Flex plans – starting from $10 per month.

Outside the US? Use NordVPN to watch Willow TV's South Africa vs Australia 1st Test coverage from anywhere.

How to watch South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test live streams in the UK

The South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test is being shown on Sky Sports, with live coverage on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event.

Sky Sports plans start from £35/month, or £24 if you're an existing Sky subscriber. Alternatively, grab a Now Sports subscription from £14.99/day or £34.99/month.

Outside the UK right now? Use NordVPN to access your preferred coverage of the South Africa vs Australia 1st Test.

How to watch South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test live streams in India

The South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test is being shown on the FanCode app and website in India.

The monthly FanCode subscription costs just ₹199, but you can also get a standalone pass for Australia's tour of South Africa for even less.

If you're currently out of India but want to watch a South Africa vs Australia 1st Test live stream, you'll need to get yourself a VPN, as per the instructions above.

How to watch South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test live streams in Australia

The South Africa vs Australia 1st Test is being shown on Fox Cricket via Foxtel in Australia, with live streaming available via Kayo Sports.

Kayo Sports subscriptions start at AU$30 per month after a 7-day free trial, as detailed above. Equally, you can get your first month for AU$1.

Remember if you're out of Australia at all during the series, get yourself a VPN to stream the South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test from anywhere in the world.

How to watch South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test live streams in South Africa

Supersport will broadcast South Africa vs Australia 1st Test in South Africa.

A DStv access package is the best way to stream the action, with prices starting at Rs399/month.

Abroad right now? Just use a VPN and tell your device that you're back home and you'll be good to go.

How to watch South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test live streams in New Zealand

In New Zealand, Sky Sport NZ is showing the South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test.

You can access Sky Sport through satellite TV or get a live stream, with the Sky Sport Now subscription service starting at $29.99 per day or $54.99 per month.

Those outside of New Zealand for any part of the series can use NordVPN to gain access to their home streaming service.

South Africa vs Australia 2026 1st Test FAQs

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

On the surface, Google’s new Pixel 11 range brings mostly iterative updates over the excellent Pixel 10 lineup across the board. Every handset received a new processor, a brighter display, and camera and software improvements. These upgrades are par for the course these days.

The standard Pixel 11 is arguably the least exciting of the bunch, with relatively few changes over its predecessor. But after spending a month with it as my daily driver, I’ve come away convinced it’s the model most people should buy.

And while the Pixel 11 has plenty going for it in its own right, what really makes it stand out is how little extra value I found in the more expensive Pixel 11 Pro.

The best Pixel for most people

The Pixel 11 mostly builds on last year’s Pixel 10, which was a relatively major step up over the Pixel 9 with a then-new telephoto camera and PixelSnap magnetic charging alongside the usual chipset and software upgrades. Aside from the new Google Tensor G6 chipset, the Pixel 11 has an upgraded main camera and a 40% slimmer camera bump.

During my testing, I found the Pixel 11’s compact 6.3-inch screen, relatively lightweight 197g chassis and thin camera bump made it an easy phone to live with. It’s a refreshing change from the 6.7- to 6.9-inch handsets that I’ve been testing all year.

My test unit came in the new Hibiscus color — which some of my colleagues called ‘hot pink’ — and it attracted plenty of compliments like, “I wish iPhones came in that color!”

Its cameras produce rich, vibrant photos, and having a proper telephoto lens is a great addition for a phone in this price range. Of course, it doesn’t have the 11 Pro’s more advanced camera controls and features, but the Pixel 11 has more than enough camera tech for most people. This comparatively simpler camera setup also allowed Google to shrink the Pixel 11’s camera bump, which then disappears when you put a case on.

Perhaps the biggest reason I’d recommend the Pixel 11 is that, in everyday use, I found very little to separate it from the more expensive Pro. Whether multitasking, gaming, running resource-intensive apps or using AI features, I couldn’t discern any meaningful performance difference between the two phones — and I doubt most people would, either.

Both phones have the same 30W wired and 25W Qi2 wireless charging speeds (via PixelSnap), IP68 durability ratings, ultrasonic fingerprint sensors and even the same seven years of Android updates and security patches.

I didn’t really miss features such as the new HiLight notification LED, the anti-scratch coating for the front cover glass and Wi-Fi 7 support, and I also preferred the matte metal edges over the Pro’s shiny ones.

Why pay more for the Pro?

Starting at $899 / £879 / AU$1,499, the Pixel 11 has a higher entry point than last year’s Pixel 10, which launched at $799 / £799 / AU$1,349. However, the base model now includes 256GB of storage instead of 128GB, which helps soften the blow. The 256GB Pixel 10 launched at $899 / £899 / AU$1,499, so there is technically no price hike for the same capacity, and UK buyers even got a £20 reduction.

The Pixel 11 Pro, meanwhile, starts at $1,099 / £1,079 / AU$1,849, roughly the same price as the 256GB Pixel 10 Pro (the UK had it cheaper at £999). However, there’s one questionable change: the base Pixel 11 Pro now comes with 12GB of RAM, down from the 16GB featured in last year’s model. That’s the same amount of RAM found in the Pixel 11.

It’s not that 12GB of RAM isn’t enough — my time with both phones suggests it’s more than capable. The problem is that Google has removed one of the specifications that previously helped justify the Pro’s higher price, without reducing that price to compensate. When the cheaper Pixel 11 delivers the same everyday performance, it becomes increasingly difficult to see where that extra $200 / £200 / AU$350 is going.

That’s not to say the Pixel 11 Pro doesn’t have its advantages. Its more sophisticated camera system will undoubtedly appeal to photography enthusiasts, while features such as Wi-Fi 7 and HiLight give it a few additional tricks. If those features are important to you, the Pro remains a solid choice. But after a month with the standard Pixel 11, I can’t say I found myself wishing I’d spent the extra money.

At least the Pro’s 512GB and 1TB variants retain the 16GB of RAM found in last year’s model, which could make them appealing to anyone who demands additional headroom. However, they also cost $1,219 / £1,199 / AU$2,049 and $1,449 / £1,429 / AU$2,399, respectively, so they demand greater investment.

For most people, though, the cheaper Pixel 11 is the smarter buy. It delivers the same everyday performance and many of the same features as the 256GB Pixel 11 Pro, while saving you $200 / £200 / AU$350. It might be a relatively boring upgrade over the Pixel 10, but it doesn’t stop it from being the most compelling Pixel in Google’s new lineup.

As someone who lives and breathes internet deals, you can bet I was stunned to see Amaysim’s latest offers on a selection of its NBN plans. The Aussie telco, owned by Optus, has often appeared on my radar with some stellar pricing, but its latest discounts knock it out of the park.

I’ll touch upon some other offers later on, but for me, the highlight has to be its NBN 25 plan for just AU$30/m for the first six months. That’s not only by far the cheapest introductory cost of any NBN provider I monitor, but it’s the cheapest introductory cost I can recall in recent memory.

When the intro period is up, the regular ongoing cost reverts to AU$70/m, which is still competitive for the tier and below the AU$77 current average. However, if you bundle an Amaysim SIM plan, you can save AU$10 for as long as both services remain active, so your NBN bill will be AU$60/m ongoing.

While the AU$30 introductory cost is incredibly low, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that you can technically pay less over the first year of service, from both Flip (AU$48/m for 12 months) and Kogan Internet (AU$49.90/m for 12 months). If you’re happy to switch providers after the first six months with Amaysim, though, then you stand to save a chunk of change.

Amaysim’s other NBN offers

Now, onto the other NBN offers I promised earlier. If you have the infrastructure to support the fastest NBN plans, then you can also save AU$240 on Amaysim’s NBN 500 plan. Right now, the introductory cost has plummeted to just AU$50/m. As with the NBN 25 plan, this is by far the cheapest introductory cost of any provider on this tier, and when combined with its AU$90/m ongoing cost, it puts it within touching distance of claiming the title of the cheapest in the first year. Only Kogan Internet is cheaper, and only by AU$1.20!

• View more of the best NBN 500 plans

Amaysim’s NBN 750 plan is also a compelling option, as it not only has the cheapest introductory cost of AU$60/m, but even when combined with its AU$100/m ongoing cost after six months, it’s the cheapest in the first year of service. Do note, however, that typical evening speeds are only quoted at 680Mbps. For comparison, Spintel claims maximum plan speeds and is only marginally more expensive in the first year — AU$69/m for the first 6 months, then AU$94.95/m ongoing.

• View more of the best NBN 750 plans

As mentioned, you can save an extra AU$10 each month on an Amaysim NBN plan if you also sign up for a SIM plan. And remember, these NBN offers end on October 23, so if you’ve been considering switching your NBN plan, now’s a prime opportunity.

JBL’s new Cove M1, Cove P1 and Cove X1 wireless speakers were announced just over a month ago, and are now available to buy in Australia. The trio marks JBL’s latest attempt to take on the likes of Sonos in the multi-room audio market, and having recently had the chance to see and hear the new speaker range up close, they certainly put up a decent fight.

The trip share some interesting features: they can each be used as standalone units, or paired with a second unit of the same model for stereo sound. They can also be integrated into a wider home audio system alongside compatible JBL products, including the company’s Bar Mk2 soundbars and Bluetooth-only speakers.

And for any TechRadar Australia readers interested in the new models, you can save 20% thanks to an exclusive JBL AU coupon code.

The range up close

In ascending order of size and power, the new trio comprises the Cove M1, Cove P1 and Cove X1. All three models are Wi-Fi enabled, with support for Google Cast, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect and Roon Ready. And, of course, they can also connect via Bluetooth.

The Cove P1 and Cove X1 gain Dolby Atmos support too, while the P1 has the added benefit of being truly portable, thanks to its built-in battery. One immediate advantage is that you can use a pair as rear surrounds, connected to a Bar Mk2 soundbar, without having to worry about running power to them. Battery life is a claimed 14 hours on a single charge.

If you do have access to power behind your seating position, the Cove P1 sits on a USB-C-powered charging base, similar to the Sonos Play – a pair of speakers which can also be used as battery-powered rear surrounds with the Beam Ultra soundbar.

Another useful feature demonstrated to me was the P1’s portability. Say you’re watching sport on the main TV with the P1 acting as a rear surround speaker, but decide to move the party outside. You can simply ungroup the P1 from the home theatre setup, pick it up and take it with you. Once outside, press and hold the heart-shaped Moment button on top, and the P1 will resume playing the most recent content, so you don’t miss any of the action.

As for hardware, the Cove M1 has three 20mm tweeters and a single 4-inch woofer, with a total output of 110W. The Cove P1 gets three 30mm tweeters and a single 20mm tweeter to handle Dolby Atmos duties, along with the same 4-inch woofer, with a total output of 120W. The larger X1 gets four 30mm tweeters and two 90 x 120mm woofers, delivering a total of 200W.

JBL wants to simplify multi-room audio

One of the main points JBL emphasised during my demo was ease of use. The company told me it recognises that one of the biggest barriers preventing consumers from investing in multi-room audio is the perception that it will be too difficult to get up and running.

In response, JBL has developed the JBL One platform, which handles initial setup, speaker grouping and playback controls.

During my demo, adding speakers to a network appeared relatively easy, with step-by-step instructions provided within the app. All available speakers are displayed on one screen, and you can select which ones you want to group together.

One feature I found particularly neat is how quickly and easily you can remove individual speakers from a group to use them on their own. In my experience with Sonos, separating grouped speakers to use them as standalone units hasn't always been as straightforward as it should be, so JBL's approach is certainly welcome.

Of course, I’ll need to spend time with the JBL speakers in my own home before making any firm conclusions about how it compared with the likes of Sonos.

A missing piece of the JBL puzzle

The Cove speakers slot neatly into a gap in JBL’s lineup. The company is the king of Bluetooth speakers – just see our guide to the best Bluetooth speakers in Australia as proof – and it already has a comprehensive selection of soundbars.

The Authentics speakers (the Authentics 200 currently tops our list of the best wireless speakers) are similar in that they’re designed for home use, but they can’t be used with other JBL speakers, and their retro styling may not be to everyone’s taste.

If the Cove speakers sound like a good fit for your home, you can save 20% thanks to our exclusive JBL Australia coupon code. Your unique code can be used on any full-priced item on the JBL Australia store, so you could even set yourself up with a complete home theatre system for less.

• California’s new law targets 3D printers capable of facilitating gunmaking, not existing machines
• Existing California 3D printer owners face no new installation requirement
• Manufacturers cannot comply fully until ASTM establishes the technical standard

California has enacted a new requirement that will eventually make manufacturers add firearm prevention technology to certain 3D printers.

The law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom does not immediately require companies to alter machines already sold or owned.

The measure instead governs how qualifying printers can enter California’s market once the new requirements apply.

California leaves existing printers outside the requirement

The measure applies to future sales and transfers, meaning owners of existing equipment will not have to install new blocking hardware.

That distinction removes a significant compliance issue for people who already possess printers that could otherwise fall within the regulation.

The legislation also does not prohibit possession or ordinary operation of machines that lack the eventual firearm prevention capability.

Instead, manufacturers will face obligations when covered printers enter California’s market after the required technical standard becomes available.

California therefore joins New York as the second US state to establish restrictions specifically concerning firearm production through 3D printing equipment.

Colorado and Washington are pursuing comparable measures, although their proposals have not yet become equivalent statewide requirements.

The law’s practical reach nevertheless depends on technology capable of identifying potentially prohibited designs without blocking legitimate printing activity.

There are two commonly discussed approaches for recognizing firearm-related designs, although each creates different technical problems for enforcement.

One approach compares digital files against databases containing known firearm designs, while another uses trained software to assess printed objects

Database matching could potentially be bypassed by changing a design’s dimensions or dividing one object into separate printable components.

Automated analysis could instead misclassify legitimate items because many ordinary mechanical components can resemble firearm parts during digital assessment.

Those concerns include objects such as tubes, brackets, levers, and barrels that can serve unrelated purposes outside weapons production.

ASTM standard controls when manufacturers must act

The California requirement does not establish its own detailed technical specification for determining how firearm prevention technology should operate.

Instead, manufacturers must wait for ASTM International to publish or adopt an applicable standard before the requirement becomes operative.

The California Department of Justice must begin checking quarterly for such a standard no later than July 1, 2027.

Those checks must continue through July 1, 2029, after which the statutory checking obligation ends if no standard exists.

That timetable leaves an important question unresolved because manufacturers cannot implement a requirement whose technical benchmark remains unwritten.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation questioned whether mandated detection technology could reliably achieve its intended purpose under these conditions.

“There is no world where the mandated technology actually works as intended,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation in June 2026.

If ASTM does not establish the necessary standard by July 1, 2029, the DOJ would stop its required searches.

The law therefore creates a future compliance system whose operation depends on an external standards process that has not yet produced its benchmark.

Via Toms Hardware

• Microsoft just launched the Surface Laptop Ultra
• It's urging Apple laptop owners to "break up with your MacBook and get up to $1,000"
• The trade-in values you'll get for older MacBooks are low, and you'd be much better off selling second-hand yourself

It's clear enough that the new Surface Laptop Ultra is aiming to poach MacBook Pro owners, and Microsoft is making no secret of that fact – indeed, it's trying to bribe Apple laptop users in a way.

Mashable flagged up that if you head to the Surface Laptop Ultra product page in the US, there's a banner along the top where Microsoft is urging folks to "break up with your MacBook and get up to $1,000."

An asterisk is attached to that amount, as it is a trade-in scheme where buyers of the new Surface model, at quite a cost, can get money off if they're willing to part-exchange their MacBook Pro. The cash you'll receive very much depends on the age and the condition of your Apple laptop, as you'd expect.

$1,000 is the maximum payment, but you won't get this unless you are trading in a newer and well-specced MacBook.

The typical payment is considerably lower. For example, if you have a MacBook Pro 13-inch from 2020 with an entry-level spec (8GB/256GB) the trade-in value is just $45. A MacBook Pro 14-inch from 2023 with an M3 chip (8GB/512GB) will land you $275, which isn't going to make a huge dent in the asking price of most Surface Laptop Ultra models.

You'll need a newer laptop for a decent payout, such as a MacBook Pro 14-inch from 2024 with an M4 chip (16GB/1TB), which will net you $755.

That's a value based on your provided assessment of the MacBook, but bear in mind that if Microsoft's trade-in partner doesn't feel you've been accurate or truthful, it'll drop the value – you can then decide whether to take that lower offer, or have your MacBook returned.

This offer appears to be for the US only (it wasn't available in the UK when I looked).

Analysis: a touch of desperation?

Yes, I get that Microsoft is making no bones about going after the MacBook market, but you only have to look at the design of the Surface Laptop Ultra to realize that. Urging Apple fans to 'break up' with their MacBook is, I guess, supposed to be a playful or amusing way of trying to attract defectors to the Windows side of the OS world, but it just comes across as a little desperate.

It's fair enough that Microsoft wants to highlight that it has a trade-in program for those interested enough to browse to the product page for its new, much more powerful Surface, but I think the manner in which this is currently couched needs to be revisited.

I've been flitting about various Reddit threads today gauging the broad reaction to the Surface Laptop Ultra, and if there's one thing that's clear, it's that Apple owners are pretty disparaging, by and large, of Microsoft's efforts here. Of course, those are the people most likely to be drawn to comment, as always.

Also bear in mind that while a trade-in may seem tempting in some respects, as noted, you may find the initial offer is downgraded – and you're going to get more (maybe a fair bit more) selling the device second-hand yourself. That's not as easy, naturally, but it might well be worth the effort, or at least having a quick punt at it.

• Wire-free 4K transmission without requiring Wi-Fi
• Two models: HDMI-HDMI and USB-C to HDMI
• $99.99 / £83 (about AU$144)

If you liked the idea of Nyrius's wire-free 4K streamer but couldn't justify the price, the firm has launched a more affordable wireless kit: the Phoenix Prime 4K30. Like its more expensive sibling, it transmits and receives 4K video, but it's half the price at just $99.99 / £83.21 (about AU$144).

The Phoenix Prime comes in two flavors. The HDMI-to-HDMI version is for connecting AV receivers, cable/satellite boxes, or compatible laptops to any HDMI-equipped television or projector. And the USB-C to HDMI version is for laptops, tablets, and desktops whose USB-C port has DisplayPort Alt Mode, which is common in laptops from the leading brands.

Whichever version you go for, you can run resolutions up to 4K at distances of up to 50ft / 15.2m through walls, floors, and ceilings. With no obstacles, you can expect a range of 150ft / 45.7m. It uses frequencies between 5.1 and 5.8GHz, auto-switching between 9 channels for the best transmission quality.

What this wireless HDMI device doesn't do

The Phoenix Prime 4K30 costs much less than one of the best TVs with features like Samsung's Wireless One Connect Box or LG's Zero Connect, and it's half the price of the Nyrius Phoenix Prime. Inevitably, that means the specification isn't as advanced.

Where the Home has up to 60fps and supports 7.1-channel audio, Dolby Atmos, DTS, and HDR, the Phoenix Prime 4K30 is 30fps without Atmos, DTS, or HDR. It's not the best option for gaming either, as both models have latency of 90ms.

That's not necessarily a deal-breaker, of course. If you're just looking for a way to get 4K in a room that doesn't lend itself to a traditional cabled setup, if you want to deliver presentations or show video on other people's projectors, or if you have a pathological loathing of wires, then $99.99 is a good price for fuss-free connectivity, and the quoted 50ft of range means it should work well in the majority of homes, offices, classrooms, and lecture theaters.

The Phoenix Prime 4K30 is available now via Nyrius.com and Amazon.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.

• Anthropic is assembling a deep bench of former Google infrastructure specialists
• Google continues to lose veterans across critical data center functions to Anthropic
• John M. Wilson’s move adds another senior name to Anthropic’s infrastructure operation

Google’s former global design and construction chief John M. Wilson has joined Anthropic as a technical staff member overseeing EMEA capacity delivery.

Wilson spent six years at Google, where his responsibilities covered data center development and subsea infrastructure programs.

His arrival adds another senior infrastructure executive from Google to Anthropic, which has recruited several former employees for specialized data center roles.

A growing stream of Google infrastructure specialists

Anthropic has also recruited Winnie Leung, who now leads data center infrastructure, while Brett Rogers moved after overseeing construction activities at Google.

Liwen Mao, previously a staff data center system architect at Google, now leads Anthropic’s data center design activities.

Adam Johnson spent a decade at Google before joining Anthropic in October as its data center electrical lead, adding another experienced infrastructure specialist.

Peter Sarossy, a Google veteran of 20 years, joined Anthropic in January as a staff member working on data center security engineering.

Zach Miller also moved after 17 years at Google, taking responsibility for data center operations management within Anthropic’s infrastructure organization.

Scarlett Chen, previously involved with advanced technology and innovation at Google, now works at Anthropic as a member of technical staff.

The hiring pattern extends beyond engineering, with Sana Ouji joining Anthropic’s energy team in April to help expand its data center portfolio.

Mike Brinker followed from Google a month later, taking responsibility for capacity delivery, while Asad Malik subsequently joined to lead compute finance strategy.

The series of appointments gives Anthropic personnel with experience spanning construction, electrical systems, security, operations, energy, capacity planning and infrastructure finance.

That range covers several functions required when a technology company needs to develop and operate increasingly large computing facilities.

Wilson brings major infrastructure experience to Anthropic

Before Google, Wilson served as Amazon’s European design and construction leader, giving him experience across major technology infrastructure projects.

His earlier career also included roles as chief of staff in the British Army and infrastructure director at NATO.

Wilson described his move as another demanding infrastructure assignment, citing the scale and importance of his responsibilities at Anthropic.

"Leading global infrastructure delivery across data centers and subsea programs taught me two enduring truths," Wilson said on LinkedIn.

"Scale is humbling, but high-trust teams make the extraordinary feel routine. Clear intent, rigorous operational control, and calm execution will always beat complexity."

Speaking on his new role, Wilson said: “The stakes and scale have never been higher, and I’m eager to get stuck in.”

His new assignment specifically covers EMEA capacity delivery, giving him responsibility for infrastructure expansion across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Anthropic’s recruitment of multiple Google infrastructure specialists comes as the company continues to build its personnel around data center capacity.

For Google, the steady migration of senior infrastructure specialists raises a retention problem that may require stronger incentives, clearer career paths and measures to keep critical expertise from walking out the door.

• Anduril wins a Navy contract worth up to $2.9 billion for submarines
• Palmer Luckey joined Project Meridian days before Anduril received its Navy contract
• Anduril will invest $3.7 billion of its own money in the shipyard

Anduril has secured a US Navy agreement worth as much as $2.9 billion, linking the defense technology company to submarine manufacturing.

The award arrives shortly after co-founder Palmer Luckey joined a Pentagon initiative examining technologies intended for future military operations.

Project Meridian also includes Elon Musk and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, while SpaceX and Anduril both work with the federal government.

New capacity for submarine production

Anduril plans to spend $3.7 billion developing a manufacturing complex at Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County, Maryland.

The proposed Arsenal-2 site will cover 187 acres and more than two million square feet when construction and expansion are complete.

Operations are expected to begin in 2030, with the workforce and manufacturing capabilities increasing as additional production systems become operational.

The facility is intended to manufacture Virginia-class submarine components before sending completed sections to established shipbuilders for final assembly.

When the facility reaches full capacity, it could provide approximately 9 million labor hours annually and over 3,000 jobs.

“This is about putting more food on the table and being able to meet the requirements that our country has to produce more submarines,” said Anduril President and Chief Strategy Officer Chris Brose in a press briefing.

General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries currently build the vessels, making Anduril a new supplier within their production network.

Anduril has also begun developing a 160,000-square-foot facility in California for comparatively straightforward components needed by submarine manufacturers.

Those products include torpedo tubes, which officials have described as an important constraint affecting progress on some submarines already under construction.

Project Meridian and possible conflict of interest

There have been questions about Luckey's role in Project Meridian because the project’s work overlaps with technologies that Anduril develops and supplies to the federal government.

However, the Pentagon has rejected concerns that Luckey's government position could create an improper connection with Anduril's Navy award.

“There’s really nothing to see here,” said Emil Michael, chief technology officer at the Pentagon.

Michael said Meridian's combination of academics, military personnel and industry leaders provides the expertise needed to examine future warfare capabilities.

The Navy agreement also expands Anduril's role beyond autonomous aircraft and software into manufacturing components for conventionally crewed submarines.

“Our goal here is to be a critical, and hopefully, over time, much larger and growing part of the supply chain,” said Chris Brose, Anduril president and chief strategy officer.

President Donald Trump visited the planned Maryland facility and discussed autonomous submarines while describing possible future developments in naval warfare.

“I love the idea of the autonomous sub,” Trump said. “It just makes sense because I wouldn’t — I’m not sure that I would have the courage to go into submarines too much...”

The company now faces the practical challenge of developing the facility, recruiting workers, establishing suppliers and meeting submarine construction standards.

Via CNBC

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1719) — hint #1 — Vowels

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1719) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1719) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1719) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1719) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1719) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1719, are…

• OLDEN
• DUNCE
• SWATH
• HILLY

This was the first five-vowel game for a couple of weeks and as always it coincided with a tricky game.

Although I didn’t make any wrong guesses, every word was a head scratcher, including OLDEN, which took me forever even though I had every letter.

Daily Sequence today (game #1719) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1719, are…

• LEANT
• MAUVE
• EQUIP
• STILL

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1718, Thursday, 8 October: MINTY, ROWER, BROOD, RESET
• Quordle #1717, Wednesday, 7 October: PALER, FROTH, DOZEN, ERASE
• Quordle #1716, Tuesday, 6 October: FRESH, SKULK, BATCH, ENSUE
• Quordle #1715, Monday, 5 October: SIXTH, SPEAK, SEDAN, HEIST
• Quordle #1714, Sunday, 4 October: INFER, RAINY, THING, ARENA
• Quordle #1713, Saturday, 3 October: CHORE, FLYER, STICK, PURSE
• Quordle #1712, Friday, 2 October: IVORY, SADLY, ANGEL, LLAMA
• Quordle #1711, Thursday, 1 October: NAVEL, SHEER, BIRTH, TACKY
• Quordle #1710, Wednesday, 30 September: CHOKE, BATCH, MOSSY, EAGER
• Quordle #1709, Tuesday, 29 September: BILGE, MEDAL, LODGE, PORCH
• Quordle #1708, Monday, 28 September: BRUNT, TORSO, STONE, HEATH
• Quordle #1707, Sunday, 27 September: VALET, CHEST, VIGIL, PUREE
• Quordle #1706, Saturday, 26 September: SNORT, BIBLE, LAPSE, CRANE
• Quordle #1705, Friday, 25 September: SWEAR, FLOOD, GUPPY, GROAN
• Quordle #1704, Thursday, 24 September: TOPIC, METRO, SCALP, FREED
• Quordle #1703, Wednesday, 23 September: SHEET, BLAND, JOIST, GUAVA
• Quordle #1702, Tuesday, 22 September: COMFY, LOBBY, DRESS, PANEL
• Quordle #1701, Monday, 21 September: WAXEN, HIPPO, PETAL, LEASH
• Quordle #1700, Sunday, 20 September: DERBY, LIMBO, GAWKY, REIGN
• Quordle #1699, Saturday, 19 September: SCOPE, HEIST, PULSE, CHAMP

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #950) - hint #1 - today's theme

NYT Strands today (game #950) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• VIRILE
• SHAVE
• BREAD
• BUILDER
• DERAIL
• BEAVER

NYT Strands today (game #950) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #950) - hint #4 - spangram position

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #950) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #950, are…

• BALDERDASH
• RUBBISH
• HOOEY
• DRIVEL
• NONSENSE
• SPANGRAM: UNBELIEVABLE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one, so I spent a few seconds looking for the word “wrong” before abandoning the search and looking for non-game words.

Along the way I stumbled across BALDERDASH, which is a ridiculous word to begin with, but which focused me on words that meant that something was a sham and untrustworthy.

After getting RUBBISH I was on a roll, and finished without needing any hints — a shame, as there were an amazing amount of long non-game words lurking between the bunkum and piffle.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, October 8, game #949)

• FAME
• CELEBRITY
• REPUTE
• ACCLAIM
• RENOWN
• EMINENCE
• SPANGRAM: LUMINARY

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1216) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• POWER
• GUITAR
• CONDITIONER
• VOLUME
• BLOWOUT
• KISS
• SWEEP
• HIGHLIGHTS
• SCORES
• QUOTES
• INPUT
• STATS
• CHANNEL
• ROMP
• RECAP
• ROUT

NYT Connections today (game #1216) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Overwhelming triumph
• GREEN: Zapper buttons
• BLUE: As seen during big game coverage
• PURPLE: Begin with a word that rhymes with “fair”

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1216) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: DECISIVE VICTORY
• GREEN: CONTROLLED BY A TV REMOTE
• BLUE: FEATURES OF A SPORTS SHOW
• PURPLE: AIR ____

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1216) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1216, are…

• YELLOW: DECISIVE VICTORY: BLOWOUT, ROMP, ROUT, SWEEP
• GREEN: CONTROLLED BY A TV REMOTE: CHANNEL, INPUT, POWER, VOLUME
• BLUE: FEATURES OF A SPORTS SHOW: HIGHLIGHTS, RECAP, SCORES, STATS
• PURPLE: AIR ____: CONDITIONER, GUITAR, KISS, QUOTES

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 mistakes

The words HIGHLIGHTS, VOLUME, CONDITIONER and BLOWOUT immediately made me think of hair, so with little thought I bundled them together.

My second mistake was less reckless and on the right track for FEATURES OF A SPORTS SHOW — I had QUOTES instead of RECAP, I was thinking about interviews with athletes and coaches.

From here, I got home without difficulty, although I did kick myself that I’d missed AIR ______ which on review of all four categories post-game seemed the most gettable despite being the so-called hardest.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, October 8, 2026, game #1215)

• YELLOW: FOLLOWS, AS RULES: HEEDS, MINDS, REGARDS, RESPECTS
• GREEN: OUTDO: BEST, ECLIPSE, SURPASS, TOP
• BLUE: THINGS THAT COME IN THREES: CHEERS, STOOGES, STRIKES, WISHES
• PURPLE: ENDING IN ACTORS NAMED TOM: AUTOCRUISE, FOOLHARDY, MULHOLLAND, THANKS

• Vogel ported Doom to run entirely inside a SQL database
• The port draws 640×480 full-color frames from about 1,300 lines of SQL
• Missing BSP-tree traversal in DoomQL prompted Vogel to start a second version

Developer Lukas Vogel has ported Doom to run entirely inside a SQL database, with both the game logic and rendering handled through queries.

The project, called SQLDoom, stores level geometry and game state in CedarDB tables, while a lightweight Python script handles timing, input, and display output.

The result produces 35 full-color frames per second at 640×480 resolution, using roughly 1,300 lines of SQL code divided across 89 query blocks.

An earlier attempt fell short of real Doom

An earlier effort called DoomQL was launched last year and relied on raycasting with grayscale text characters, so it resembled Wolfenstein 3D more than Doom.

The raycasting skipped the BSP-tree traversal that helped distinguish Doom’s rendering approach, prompting Vogel to develop a second version.

For SQLDoom, the developer required both the rendering system and game loop to operate entirely through SQL, with output limited to exact-color tables or bitmaps.

“Rendering Doom in a database is obviously a bad idea,” Vogel said in a blog post about the project.

Building the new version meant recreating key parts of Doom’s rendering process using database operations rather than conventional game-engine code.

Handling the level geometry was relatively straightforward because a sort key calculated when each map loads lets a single ordering clause determine which wall sections are drawn.

Floors and ceilings presented a tougher problem. Doom’s original engine uses visplanes and state changes, neither of which translates neatly to column-by-column SQL rendering.

Vogel replaced that system with what he called a “pretty hacky” approach, looping through a sequence of sorted panels to fill those surfaces.

Speed figures and server tests give mixed results

Vogel reports about 60 fps on a laptop with a Ryzen 7 7840U chip, though busy scenes can fall to 35 fps.

He said table overhead was substantial, yet the port still ran faster than his simpler DoomQL effort from last year.

"I intended it as a tech demo, but it just feels like the real Doom, even though it doesn't share a single line of code with any existing Doom port,” Vogel said.

The port also supports deathmatch play, with public online servers hosted in Europe and the United States open for multiplayer matches.

Reviewers who tried the online demos described sluggish performance, with one outlet suggesting the servers rather than the port itself were responsible.

Vogel argues a database keeps one steady record of game state, with “no partially applied updates, physics bugs, or disagreements over whether the rocket actually hit”

The Register noted the work doubles as a showcase for CedarDB, a database system that compiles complex queries into machine code.

Anyone wanting to try it can run the GitHub code locally with CedarDB and Doom's original WAD data, or join a free hosted match online.

Via The Register

• President Zelensky has announced the development of a Ukrainian Starlink replica
• The Ukraine military requires better connectivity for drone support and other communications
• It is understood Ukraine will launch 120 satellites in 2027 using SpaceX

Ukraine is planning its own Starlink system, designed to assist in the planning and deployment of military defence operations against Russia, according to the country’s leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky, who simultaneously claimed that it would be “fair” for Starlink to be available for military use.

Early plans for the project involve the launch of 120 satellites in 2027, relying on SpaceX rockets, as Ukraine does not have any orbital launch vehicles suitable for heavy-lift. Deployment of satellite constellations like Starlink typically occur with in multiples distributed from each rocket.

Zelensky appears to be keen to develop, launch, and deploy Ukraine’s Starlink alternative as quickly as possible, citing the possibility of certain technologies being shared with Russia by the Chinese. If successful, Zelensky’s plan will cast some shade on rival Russia’s embarrassing Rassvet program.

Zelensky’s constellation

Speaking to journalists this week, President Zelensky revealed the plan to develop a Starlink-style communications system. "There are developments. We are working on the same [similar to] Starlink.”

Confirming rumors dating back to July 2026 and reported by Ukraine Business News (among others), the project is a response to the Russian Rassvet constellation, which is struggling to provide the expected coverage on the ground.

Early reports on Zelensky’s not-Starlink indicated that Ukrainian company Stetman is developing the orbital communications units, designing it to support state institutions and Defense Forces, as well as the critical infrastructure in Ukraine.

At the same time, the President stressed that it would be fair to provide Ukraine with the possibility of using the Starlink satellite Internet for strikes on the Russian Federation.

Zelensky also made it clear that Starlink access for Ukraine beyond its borders would be fair. His rationale for demanding a break in Starlink’s geofencing? “Because we know that some states will share relevant technologies with Russia at the end of this year, at the beginning of the next,” he said.

Expanding on this claim, Zelensky clarified that “the Chinese will share with Russia.”

Beating Russia at Rassvet

Russian’s problems with Rassvet seem to offer Ukraine with a template of what not to do, and partnering with SpaceX to launch its own communications constellation appears to be gaining pace.

All 16 of the satellites launched in July 2026 are currently decaying in orbit having failed to reach their operational altitude, leaving Russia with a headache and Ukraine with an opportunity. However, despite calls to President Trump to impose sanctions on Russian and Chinese companies developing the Rassvet satellites, the US has yet to act.

Watch Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 online

• Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 premiere: Thursday, October 8 at 8pm ET
• US broadcast: CBS via Fubo Free Trial
• US stream: Paramount Plus
• Use NordVPN to watch from anywhere

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 promises all kinds of chaos. First of all, Georgie and his mother, Mary, are not on speaking terms after she started dating his business rival, Fred. Will he forgive her, or is he serious when he says he won't let Mary see her granddaughter?

Meanwhile, being young parents is taking its toll on both Georgie and Mandy, and those tensions may well spill over in the coming episodes.

Mandy's brother, Connor, gets himself in trouble just as Mandy's television career is really starting to take off. All this, from a spin-off of a spin-off of The Big Bang Theory... Who would have known?

If you're ready for more laughs and more drama, read on as this guide explains how to watch Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 online – and potentially for FREE.

How to watch Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 from anywhere

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with a 75% discount.

Use one of the best VPNs to watch Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 from anywhere:

How to watch Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 online in the US

How to watch Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 online in Canada

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 will be on Crave in Canada, with episodes released the day after they air in the US.

A Crave subscription costs $9.99 per month, for the basic, ad-supported package.

Alternatively... Use a VPN to gain access to all the content you'd normally stream at home.

Can you watch Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 online in Australia?

Unfortunately, there is no streaming release or linear broadcast of Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 for fans Down Under.

The solution? By using a VPN you can tap into your usual services.

How to watch Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 online in the UK

Viewers in the UK can catch Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 on HBO Max. Episodes will land a day after the US, starting Friday, October 9.

US viewer in Blighty? You can still stream the show on your usual streaming service from abroad by using a VPN.

All you need to know about Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 cast

• Montana Jordan as Georgie Cooper
• Emily Osment as Amanda "Mandy" McAllister
• Rachel Bay Jones as Audrey McAllister (Mandy's mother)
• Will Sasso as Jim McAllister (Mandy's father)
• Dougie Baldwin as Connor McAllister (Mandy's brother)
• Jessie Prez as Ruben
• Zoe Perry as Mary Cooper (Georgie's mother)
• Annie Potts as Connie "Meemaw" Tucker
• Raegan Revord as Missy Cooper
• Matt Letscher as Fred Fagenbacher
• Matt Hobby as Pastor Jeff
• Craig T. Nelson as Dale Ballard
• Isabelle/Zariah Booko as CeeCee Cooper

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3 episode guide

We only have synopses for the first two episodes of Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage season 3, but here's what we know:

• S3E1: Tensions rise when Mandy and the family side against Georgie in his fight with Mary; Connor turns to Georgie when he gets himself into trouble.
• S3E2: Mandy's work dinner goes awry when Georgie gets distracted by a surprise encounter; Audrey and Jim struggle to navigate Connor's recent arrest.

Is Sheldon in Georgie and Mandy's first marriage season 3?

No, as far as we know, young Sheldon does not feature Georgie and Mandy's first Marriage season 3. If that's who you're looking for, head over to our How to watch Young Sheldon Guide.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• A significant number of developers consider themselves to be suffering fatigue or burnout, study finds
• Devs are also concerned about the ethics of AI, and fear being replaced by automated coding tools
• The Stack Overflow Developer Survey compiled responses from 30,000 developers from 169 countries

A new industry survey exploring the state-of-developers has uncovered growing distrust in AI and concerns about fatigue and burnout. While the overall response to the increasing use of AI is largely positive, growing concerns about the technology are clear, with little trust in the technology to make important decisions.

Stack Overflow’s annual survey is a useful look at how developers feel about the industry they work in, and highlights a growing friction between traditional software development and the growing role of AI tools.

The survey, by the Stack Overflow coding question-and-answer platform, also highlights a growth in solo employment, with 10.5% of respondents stating they freelance or are sole proprietors of a business, up from 3.9% in the previous years’ survey.

Developer burnout

One key takeaway from the survey is that 45.1% of developers state they are “complacent” in their current roles, with around a third (32.6%) of respondents describing themselves as “unhappy” (just 22.3% are “happy.”) Of that 45.1% figure, burnout or fatigue were cited as the main cause (21.1%).

While remote work is still popular (34.8% of developers work wherever), the survey surfaces unclear, ambiguous priorities as a challenge, something that may inform general fatigue – or, indeed, feelings about AI.

Although many developers use AI (and search) to solve problems, its growing use within coding is being met with caution. Some 17.2% of developers don’t use AI tools, while assistants and agents are employed by 65.9%. But while developers are keen to learn new skills (52% have learned a new coding language in the past year), they are wary of AI’s consequences, with 17% concerned that it may replace them.

Critical skepticism

A read of the full survey paints a picture of an industry of skilled professionals finding their way in a new, unpredictable landscape – one that their own industry is responsible for.

Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO of Stack Overflow says: “Developers are historically a highly skeptical group, and over the last year, as AI agents become rapidly more autonomous, that skepticism now acts as a critical safeguard.”

“As agents take on more work, developers need to know where an answer came from, what context informed the information that was produced or a decision that was made, and the most crucial piece — that they can actually verify its accuracy and relevance.

For those concerned about burnout and fatigue and their long-term careers, trust is perhaps the answer. “Trust is not a given when it comes to developers,” says Chandrasekar. “It is earned through transparency, source attribution, and rich technical context.”

One sale ends; another one begins. Prime Big Deal Days may have wrapped up at Amazon, but Argos is here with another of its Big Red events. As we've seen before, these sales offer up to 50% off tech, furniture, and toys. I've had a search through it and found 18 of the best deals, including some great low prices on appliances, headphones, laptops, vacuums, and more.

• Browse the full Argos Big Red sale

To see how much of a saving you can get, you simply have to look for the red banner at the top of each eligible product page. For example, the code 'RED10' gets you a saving of 10%, 'RED20' a 20% discount, 'RED30' for 30% off, and 'RED50' to get a 50% discount.

With these vouchers, I've spotted some excellent deals on a Ninja air fryer, a Shark vacuum and Apple AirPods. Check them out below, as well as all of the biggest savings across the most popular product categories at Argos. And just so you know, the sale runs until October 13.

Argos Big Red sale — quick links

• Appliances: up to 30% off Beko & Hotpoint
• DIY: up to 30% off tools & outdoor goods
• Furniture: up to 50% off
• Gaming: up to 20% off chairs & accessories
• Headphones: up to 30% off Beats & Shokz
• Health & Beauty: up to 50% off Dyson & Oral-B
• Kitchen: up to 20% off Ninja & De'Longhi
• Laptops: from £149
• Phones: up to 20% off Samsung & Motorola
• Smart Home: up to 50% off Blink cameras
• Toys: up to 50% off
• TVs: from £149
• Vacuums: up to 50% off Vax & Shark

18 best deals from the Argos Big Red sale

Did Amazon just release one of the best Android tablets you can buy? Perhaps, based on my colleague Axel Metz' hands-on with the new Alexa Tablet, which he reckons could even give some of the best iPads a run for their money.

It's been two years since Amazon last released a Fire tablet, and 15 years since the first model was released — and I thought 2011 would be the first and last time I'd ever purchase one of Amazon's touchscreen tablets.

That might be about to change with the release of this new product range, which ditches FireOS for Android, packs Alexa+ intelligence, and boasts some pretty impressive specs at an approachable price point across its three sizes.

A Kindle, yes, but not Fire

Now, to its credit, the original Kindle Fire was designed to toe the line between Amazon's successful Kindle product range and general-use tablets, but it didn't succeed tremendously at the latter. While many Amazon devices do lean heavily into the world's biggest retailer's... well, retailing, it erred at times on the side of being a dedicated Amazon shopfront, which, for 15-year-old me, wasn't incredibly useful.

Media playback was fine across platforms, e-reading was decent, but the meager app support, clunky FireOS, and painful Silk web browser experience quickly relegated the slate into the pits of my personal e-waste landfill. With little meaningful change to address these woes in the 13 years of Kindle Fires (later rebranded as Fire Tablets) that followed, I never quite forgave Amazon for its misstep into mobile computing.

Times have changed, however, and now I've got my sights set on the new range of Amazon Alexa Tablets.

We discussed the Amazon Alexa Tablet in our latest episode of the TechRadar Podcast, which you can watch below.

For one thing, I use Alexa+ services every day, and while I find the system far from perfect, it is the most user-friendly in terms of smart home device compatibility and accessibility. Plus, on these tablets you can enable Alexa+ to see your screen and offer in-context services, offering seamless interaction with the rest of Amazon's devices; if you find a recipe on your tablet, you can ask Alexa+ to save it, send it to your Echo Show device, and prepare the steps for you to follow while you're cooking.

There's a looming question over how much functionality you lose if you don't have an Alexa+ subscription ($19.99 / £19.99 / AU$29.99 per month, but free for Prime members); however, as I noted in the latest episode of the TechRadar Podcast (which you can watch above), I imagine a lot of the target audience for the product are, like me, pretty bedded in with Amazon's services already.

Regardless, the devices are all the more compelling when you see their prices. The largest and most performant Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro starts at just $499.99 / £449.99 with a 120Hz display, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. There's also an optional Nanomatte display model (much like the internal screen on Apple's new iPhone Duo), starting at $549.99 / £599.99, which is where I'm setting my sights for a more comfortable reading experience.

That's before we get to the optional keyboard attachment and Pro Pen, which open doors for productivity use cases, especially now that software like G Suite will run far better natively. Plus, the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8400 chipset; Amazon says "with up to 16GB of RAM, Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro delivers nearly three times faster processing and nine times faster graphics than any tablet we’ve ever shipped."

You can read the full range of prices and more insights in Axel's aforementioned hands-on with the slates, but suffice it to say, they're coming in hot, and as an Apple device user with an Alexa smart home, I find myself at a real crossroads when it comes to choosing my next device.

The Alexa Tablet 12 Pro, Alexa Tablet 11, and Alexa Tablet 8 — plus the new Amazon Kids Tablets — are available to pre-order now and will begin shipping October 19.

• Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop Ultra starts at $2,599 for professional users
• Microsoft is targeting creators, developers, scientists and AI specialists
• RTX Spark brings Nvidia’s Blackwell graphics into Microsoft’s professional laptop

Microsoft has unveiled its most powerful laptop device yet - the Surface Laptop Ultra, with shipments scheduled to begin on October 16 2026.

The device will cost from $2,599, putting it directly into the price range of high-end machines used by creators and technical professionals.

Microsoft is also offering configurations costing $3,699.99 and $5,899.99, giving the Surface Laptop Ultra specifications aimed at demanding professional workloads

Surface Laptop Ultra focuses on professional workloads

Microsoft says the laptop is designed for creators, AI specialists, engineers, scientists, developers, and other users running demanding applications.

The entry configuration comes with 24GB RAM and 512GB storage, while the next version has 32GB RAM and 1TB storage.

The highest configuration includes 128GB RAM and 1TB storage, while every model uses the same 15-inch mini-LED display.

Its hardware combines Nvidia’s RTX Spark platform with an N1X processor and RTX Blackwell graphics, supporting up to 128GB unified memory.

The laptop can run demanding games, but Microsoft is presenting it primarily around professional applications rather than gaming performance.

Adobe is adapting Premiere Pro and Photoshop for RTX Spark, while a demonstration showed an optimized Premiere Pro version rendering a scene faster.

That software support matters because applications must be adapted properly before users can fully benefit from the platform’s Arm-based architecture.

Unfortunately, the laptop lacks ConnectX-7 and QSFP ports, limiting direct high-speed connectivity with DGX Spark systems that use Nvidia networking hardware.

That omission could be deliberate, since adding dedicated high-speed networking would raise hardware costs and make the laptop more closely aligned with Nvidia’s specialized systems.

This could matter for AI professionals who expect the Surface Laptop Ultra to connect directly with other Nvidia systems for high-speed development workloads.

Microsoft takes on Apple’s professional laptops

Microsoft says the laptop is designed for creators, AI specialists, engineers, scientists, developers and other users running demanding applications.

The Surface Laptop Ultra has a large trackpad, premium display and professional design that resemble features found on Apple’s MacBook Pro.

Its specifications also place it against high-end professional laptops rather than mainstream Windows machines designed mainly for everyday productivity.

Microsoft’s intended users include professionals who need substantial memory, graphics capability and software support for AI, development and content creation.

Adobe’s work on Premiere Pro and Photoshop could become important because application support will influence how useful RTX Spark becomes for professional users.

The laptop’s high memory ceiling also gives the highest configuration capacity suited to workloads that require substantial local resources.

However, its connectivity choices create a distinction between the Surface Laptop Ultra and Nvidia’s dedicated development hardware.

That limitation is particularly relevant when considering the laptop as an AI development machine rather than simply another high-end professional computer.

Microsoft is therefore entering Apple’s professional laptop space with powerful hardware, but its Nvidia platform also comes with connectivity limitations.

• Watch VRT Awards 2026 for free on Philo
• Unblock Philo from abroad with NordVPN – Save 75%
• The event was hosted at the Edison Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan, New York City on October 6

The second-annual VRT Awards are here, and it's a time to celebrate the very best in reality TV over the past year.

The so-calledVirtual Reali-Tea – see what they did there? – event took place at Edison Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan on October 6, with Danny Murphy and Evan Real hosting the big show, and will be shown in its entirety on streaming service Philo. Meanwhile, there were performances by Scheana Shay of Vanderpump Rules fame, and Bravo icon Luann de Lesseps.

Without spoiling too much, we know that Summer House was hugely popular in the fan-voted categories. Meanwhile, The Real Housewives of Rhode Island took the award for Best Cast, which is quite the coup given the show is the latest addition to the franchise. Finally, the prestigious Golden Kettle Award went to the cast of The Golden Life, of which De Lesseps can count herself as a member.

The event may be staged in the USA, but anyone traveling around can still find a way to watch along, with our help. So, read on to find out how to watch VRT Awards 2026 from anywhere and for free.

How to watch VRT Awards 2026 for free

The VRT Awards 2026 will be available to watch on Philo, totally free, for viewers in the US.

The event will be streaming on the platform from Friday, October 9.

How to watch VRT Awards 2026 abroad with a VPN

If you’re traveling abroad when VRT Awards 2026 airs, you can watch without regional restrictions using a VPN.

Use a VPN to watch VRT Awards 2026 from anywhere:

How to watch VRT Awards 2026 in the US

You can access the whole show via Philo as detailed above, and it's totally free. It will air on Friday, October 9.

Away from home? Use a VPN to watch the show when traveling around – it's easy. Details above.

Can you watch VRT Awards 2026 outside the USA?

Unfortunately, Philo is restricted to US viewers and the VRT Awards 2026 is an exclusive event tied to Philo. That means you won't technically be able to watch the show from anywhere but the US.

However, there are ways to watch Philo outside the USA. As we detailed above, a VPN like NordVPN is your best route to bypass geo-locked content if you're away from home.

Who are the hosts of VRT Awards 2026?

Danny Murphy and Evan Real are the hosts of the VRT Awards 2026. They are also the hosts of the Virtual Reali-Tea podcast.

Murphy has previously appeared on SiriusXFM and was a co-host on Not Another True Crime Podcast for Betches Media. He's also a popular comedian and has a strong social media following.

Real is from a very similar background. He was the host of the morning show on SiriusXFM, has appeared on Entertainment Tonight and The Wendy Williams Show, and has also hosted panels at BravoCon.

Who won awards at VRT Awards 2026?

If you don't mind spoilers, here are the nominees and WINNERS of the VRT Awards 2026:

BREAKOUT STAR

• Trinity Tatum
• Mia Calabrese
• Alicia Carmody
• WINNER: Ariana Biermann

STYLE ICON OF THE YEAR

• Paris Hilton
• Ariana Madix
• Bronwyn Newport
• WINNER: Meredith Marks

FAVORITE DYNAMIC DUO

• Austen Kroll & Salley Carson
• Layla Taylor & Miranda Hope
• Gizelle Bryant & Robyn Dixon
• Winners: Lindsay Hubbard & Gemma

HOT TEA OF THE YEAR

• Bryce Alakai
• Robert Irwin
• Fraser Olender
• Winner: Kyle Cooke

BEST REUNION PERFORMANCE

• Maddi Reese
• Jo-Ellen Tiberi
• Karen Huger
• Winner: Ciara Miller

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR

• Scheana Shay
• Ashley Darby
• Drew Sidora
• Winner: Luann de Lesseps

BEST RETURN TO SCREEN

• Carole Radziwill
• Lala Kent
• Vicki Gunvalson
• Winners: Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga & Dolores Catania

You may also enjoy watching...

• How to watch The Girls: A Khloé Kardashian Project online — stream the reality series from anywhere
• How to watch Heartbeat online — Stream viral dating show from anywhere outside Nigeria
• How to watch The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked season 2 for free online from anywhere

VPN services are evaluated and tested by us in view of legal recreational use. For example:a) Access to services from other countries, (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).b) Safeguarding your online security and making your online privacy more robust when abroad.Future plc does not support nor condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. We do not endorse nor approve of consuming pirated content that is paid-for.

Modern laptops have largely abandoned optical drives, which can be frustrating when you need to access an old DVD, install software from a disc, or back up important files. The Asus ZenDrive external DVD burner offers a straightforward solution without requiring you to replace your computer or install additional hardware.

Best for: Anyone with a Windows laptop, Mac, or desktop PC that needs an external DVD drive for reading discs, burning backups, or accessing older software and media.

The deal: The Asus ZenDrive external DVD burner is $38 (was $45) at Amazon.

Why it matters: Many newer computers no longer include optical drives, but this inexpensive accessory lets you continue using your existing CDs and DVDs, and creating brand new backups.

Why we recommend it

The Asus ZenDrive is essential for anyone who still has a collection of physical discs. It supports DVD reading and writing at up to 8x speed, and CDs at up to 24x. It also offers M-DISC support which is designed for long-term data preservation of things like photographs, family videos, and important documents.

It also includes Disc Encryption II, which provides password protection and hidden-file functionality for supported disc-writing tasks.

Both USB 2.0 and USB Type-C cables are included, allowing you to connect the drive to compatible Windows PCs and Macs without the need for a separate adapter.

Price context & historical value

The Asus ZenDrive was listed at $44.99 before Amazon reduced it to $37.88, saving buyers $7.11. It's not an enormous discount in dollar terms, but it brings the cost below $40. That's not the lowest it has been however. Back in 2021 it was $30, but it's unlikely to ever reach that price again. So, a good price for what I'd consider an essential for physical media fans like me.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Asus ZenDrive if...

You have CDs or DVDs that you still want to access, or you need a simple way to create physical backups. Its compact design makes it convenient to keep for occasional use.

❌ Skip the Asus ZenDrive if...

You no longer use physical discs or you need to read Blu-ray media, which this doesn't support. A USB flash drive or external SSD will generally be more practical for everyday file transfers.

• Shop all CD and DVD drives at Amazon

Microsoft's Surface Pro combines the portability of a tablet with the capabilities of a Windows laptop. The latest 2026 model is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite processor and comes with 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 13-inch OLED touchscreen.

• Best for: Professionals, students, and creatives looking for a premium Windows 2-in-1 with a high-quality display, powerful processor, and plenty of storage.

• The deal: The 2026 Microsoft Surface Pro with Snapdragon X2 Elite, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD is $1650 (was $2100) at Amazon.

• Why it matters: The discount makes Microsoft's premium tablet more affordable for anyone who wants a versatile Windows device without committing to a traditional laptop.

Why we recommend it

The Microsoft Surface Pro (2026) offers an smart combination of portability, performance, and flexibility. Its 13-inch PixelSense OLED touchscreen has a sharp 2880 x 1920 resolution and a maximum brightness of 600 nits. OLED technology delivers deep blacks and excellent contrast.

Inside is Qualcomm's 12-core Snapdragon X2 Elite processor, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and integrated Adreno graphics. Microsoft quotes up to 15.5 hours of battery life, and two USB-C/USB4 ports handle charging, data transfers, and external display connections.

Price context & historical value

The Microsoft Surface Pro (2026) originally carried a listed price of $2,099.99, but Amazon has reduced it to $1,649.99. That's a saving of $450, equivalent to approximately 21.4%, which is a huge reduction. It isn't the cheapest it's ever been however. I've seen it for as low as $1599.99 in the past.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Microsoft Surface Pro (2026) if...

You want a premium Windows tablet that can double as a laptop, with a high-resolution OLED display, 1TB of SSD storage, and a modern processor.

❌ Skip the Microsoft Surface Pro (2026) if...

You mainly work at a desk, need dedicated graphics for demanding games or professional GPU-intensive applications, or want a conventional laptop with a built-in keyboard.

Also consider

• Shop all laptops at Amazon

Apple's latest Mac mini is a tiny desktop built around the new M6 chip, and Amazon just offered one of its first discounts.

• Best for: Creators and small business marketers who want a compact, quiet desktop for creative projects in the home, office, or studio.

• The deal: The Apple Mac mini (M6) is now $780 (was $900) at Amazon.

• Why it matters: The Apple Mac mini has long been our top mini PC pick for content creators who want excellent performance in a compact chassis. The M6 model kicks things up a notch with a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, Wi-Fi 7, and support for up to three external displays for working on creative tasks.

Today's best Apple Mac mini M6 deal

Why we recommend it

The Mac mini has long been a favorite desktop of ours, hailing the M4 edition as possibly the best Mac ever. So, while we haven't had a chance to review the newest model yet, we're expecting even better performance here.

Our sister site Tom's Guide scored it 4.5 stars, and came away impressed with its video editing prowess, saying: "If you plan on using the Mac mini M6 for video editing, you’re in for a welcome surprise. In our Handbrake test — which transcodes a 25GB 4K video file down to 1080p — the M6 finished in just 2 minutes and 45 seconds, shaving nearly two full minutes off the M4's time."

Ultimately, they found, "the Mac mini M6 handles everything from local AI workloads to video editing and even gaming with ease."

For more top picks we've tested, see our guide to the best mini PCs.

Price Context & Historical Value

At $779.99, this is $119 (13%) off Apple's $899 price and one of the first discounts this Mac mini has seen. Apple rarely discounts its desktops this soon after launch - but it helps bridge the gap between the excellent value-driven M4 model and this new machine. The deal applies only to the 16GB and 256GB model, so check the price of the configuration you need.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the 2026 Apple Mac mini (M6) if...

You want the best budget 4K video editing and photo editing machine. it's stylish, performance-driven, and compact.

❌ Skip the Apple 2026 Mac mini (M6) if...

You're a creative professional working on theatrical-grade productions where the Mac Studio is a better fit.

• See all mini PC deals at Amazon

• Apple has posted a teaser for its 'Welcome home' event on October 13
• A launch event for new smart home tech has been rumored this month
• Rumors suggest we could see a new 'HomePad' smart home controller

Apple has more than just the iPhone Duo arriving in October, it seems. The Cupertino-based tech giant has announced another product launch for October 13, playfully captioning it 'Welcome Home.'

For the Apple Home — or Apple HomeKit — faithful, this is especially exciting. The teaser for October 13, 2026, not only has some warmth to it, but it also tees up the long-awaited, much-rumored refresh of its existing Home devices.

The video depicts a stitched artwork of the Apple logo in the classic shades, with 'Welcome Home’ inscribed underneath it. It certainly feels like Apple is hinting at something home-related.

Apple's smart home tech includes, most obviously, the HomePod mini and full-sized HomePod, its smart speakers that play music, ring with alarms, handle calls and FaceTime calls, and bring Siri into the home. But it also extends to the Apple TV 4K box, a streaming box that brings Apple’s own services and other major streamers to the big screen. It’s been quite some time since those were all updated or unveiled.

Rumors suggest new versions are coming, not redesigns or rethinks, but more power under the hood to let Siri AI work on the devices. It wouldn’t just bring them up to the level of competing Amazon Alexa and Google smart speakers, but would make these devices a lot more capable and bring parity to how Siri works on other Apple devices.

It’s likely that a new HomePod mini could sport a fresh coat of paint, but the processor change under the hood will be the real power boost. The same goes for a new HomePod or Apple TV 4K.

The other question surrounds the much-rumored smart display from Apple. It might be called the ‘HomePad,’ as leaks have suggested — but whatever its name, the teaser video posted by Greg Joswiak (Apple’s SVP of Marketing) suggests it could arrive at the event. ‘Welcome Home’ certainly hints at a new category, and the video’s stitched Apple logo and tagline certainly feels like a pretty deliberate tease for a brand-new device landing.

Based on the rumors, the HomePad will likely combine an iPad with a HomePod or HomePod mini, offering a 6-inch display mounted to a base and running a new OS. Siri AI is expected to be the main control method and central to the experience, and it’s likely why it’s only arriving now, since the upgraded assistant launched last month alongside iOS 27.

According to rumors, you’ll be able to use the HomePad for smart home control, topical or specific questions with Siri, viewing photos or videos, taking FaceTime calls, and even opening other apps. Like an Echo Show, it’ll apparently tailor the experience for each person, which is essential for a home device.

Most recently, a fresh report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman teases that Apple might drop some smart home accessories, like a thermostat, smart deadbolt locks, sensors, and cameras, in partnership with LG. Essentially, LG-made devices purpose-built for Apple Home that will likely fit very well into the existing ecosystem and work with these new devices.

A long overdue refresh

We’ll need to wait and see what Apple unveils to know exactly what it is packing. The super-cute, robotic smart home display is still likely a good way out. Though, I can’t be the only one who wants a smart display that resembles the Pixar Lamp, right?

As someone who currently uses HomePod minis, HomePods, and Apple TV 4Ks around my home, this refresh feels long overdue. These are products that have become pretty integral to how I use Apple at home, but they’ve also felt like they’ve been waiting for their next chapter for a while now.

And when it comes to the rumored smart display, I’m particularly bullish on the idea. Apple’s stance on privacy, combined with how tightly its products already work together, could make this a really compelling home device. Even something as simple as displaying photos from Apple Photos is a nice play. I can also see the appeal of having a display that works seamlessly with your iPhone, Apple Watch, and Mac, while knowing who is using it and tailoring the experience accordingly.

That’s ultimately what makes this rumored HomePad so interesting to me. Plenty of smart displays already exist, but Apple has a chance to make one that feels less like another screen in your house and more like a natural extension of the Apple devices you use every day. Of course, I’m also hoping it sounds good enough to blast some Springsteen on.

The good thing is, we don’t have long to wait, as Apple’s set this event for October 13, 2026. Let me know what you’re most excited to see get the ‘Welcome Home’ treatment in the comments.

Canon's Pixma G3270 is an entry-level MegaTank printer with refillable ink tanks that impressed us for its versatility across text and color documents and printing photographs. And it's 42% off at Amazon.

• Best for: Families, remote workers and small businesses that print regularly and want to cut the cost of ink.

• The deal: The Canon Pixma MegaTank G3270 all-in-one wireless printer is $144 (was $249 at Amazon.

• Why we like it: Our senior printer editor awarded this cartridge-free printer 4 stars in his review, and it's the best budget ink tank you can get right now. Refillable ink tanks with enough ink in the box for up to 6,000 black and 7,700 color pages, plus wireless print, copy and scan in a compact body.

Today's top ink tank printer deal

Why we recommend it

Our senior printer editor Jim reviewed the G3270 and called it an inexpensive entry-level MegaTank suitable for home offices, with very low running costs and plenty of ink in the box. He found text output dark and durable, but photos on coated paper looked flat next to dedicated photo printers - which is to be expected. For general family print-outs, we wouldn't consider it a deal-breaker at this price. Effectively, it does everything an affordable cartridge-free printer needs to do, including print, scan, and copy functions.

For more picks, including this Canon MegaTank, see our guides to the best home printers and the best ink tank printers we've tested.

Price Context & Historical Value

At $144, this is $104.99 (42%) off the $248.99 list price, but it isn't the lowest we've seen. We previously caught it at $130, but that was back in October 2024. So, it's still a strong price for a tank printer with this much ink included. The closest competitor in terms of performance and specs is the Epson EcoTank ET-2410, priced at $180 at Amazon.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Canon Pixma MegaTank G3270 if...

You print often enough that ink costs add up, you mostly print documents or general photographs.

❌ Skip the Canon Pixma MegaTank G3270 if...

You print a lot of publication-ready photos, or you need automatic duplex or a document feeder for running your business.

• See all printer deals at Amazon.

AmneziaVPN has unveiled new discounts to celebrate its sixth birthday, but they come with a twist.

Unlike a regular discount like you might see from some of the best VPNs, AmneziaVPN is giving you the opportunity to save up to 30% via its spin-the-wheel offer. There's also a chance to win up to 14 days of free Amnezia Premium.

For an even better prize, sign up to the Amnezia Hub Telegram Bot to get the chance to win 6-month Amnezia Premium gift subscriptions. There are 500 up for grabs.

Want to know your odds? According to the company, you've got a one in four chance of getting a 15% discount or a 14-day complimentary subscription, and a 16.67% chance of winning a 20%, 25%, or 30% discount.

What's more, if you open the Amnezia website in Incognito or across multiple devices, you can make multiple attempts to get the discount you want.

Six years, what's changed?

AmneziaVPN began as a self-hosting solution that gave people a quick and easy way to spin up their very own VPN. Now, it's considered among the top VPNs for people experiencing high levels of internet censorship, like in Russia.

Its proprietary protocol, AmneziaWG, is built on WireGuard and tackles Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) through several complex means of obfuscation, such as ever-changing header and packet sizes. This helps ensure VPN traffic appears as regular internet traffic both at the point of connection and while data is being transmitted.

AmneziaWG is completely open-source and, since it's proven to be an effective solution, has been adopted by other hyper-privacy-focused VPNs such as Windscribe and NymVPN.

AmneziaVPN has expanded. Alongside its paid VPN service, it now also offers a free VPN for people in regions with extreme internet restrictions. The service restores access to specific apps and websites with no fee needed.

The company has focused on security and unrestricted access to the internet, so in its six-year lifespan, it hasn't built the additional bells and whistles you'd expect from other top VPNs.

Instead, its protocol selection and advanced obfuscation technologies mean that should you enter countries such as China or Russia, you'll still be protected.

How to claim

To access the discount giveaway, head to Amnezia.org, and you'll see the spin wheel appear in the bottom corner of your screen.

To enter the six-month giveaway, head to the birthday announcement, click the link to the Telegram hub, and follow the instructions.

Hurry though — you've only got until October 31 to get one of the new discounts.

Apple TV has been the home of Formula 1 in the United States since the start of the 2026 season. Much like the technology giant's approach to MLS (Major League Soccer) and Friday Night Baseball, it's been a modern, very Apple take on the sport.

With extended commentary, original content, and more in addition to race coverage, Apple has aimed to innovate and differentiate the experience from what it formerly was. For starters, if you subscribe to Apple TV in the States, you get it for free. On top of that, there's a clean, modern set of visuals around the action, with several view options, including the ability to customize your own multi-view setup, and, most notably, Dolby Vision support.

Apple wants to up the immersion, though, and is deepening its partnership with Dolby to bring Dolby Atmos to its live broadcast of Formula 1 races, starting with the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Notably, it doesn't require changing microphones or the existing race-broadcast setup.

Speaking with TechRadar, Jim DeLorenzo, Apple's Global Head of Sports, noted that this innovation had been on the vision board for quite some time. "One of the things that we thought about for quite some time is the audio side of that... how can we get to a point where we have not just Dolby Vision, but Dolby Atmos."

And Apple isn't swapping out the microphones used around the track to make it happen. "We don't change the mic array for this," DeLorenzo told TechRadar. Instead, Apple is working with the existing microphone setup used for the F1 broadcast.

DeLorenzo said sound is a big part of what makes a live event feel different from watching at home. "Any sporting event, when you're there, one of the things that is so impactful on the experience is the sound," he said. "Because the sound in an F1 race is so visceral... if we can bring a little bit more of this into somebody's viewing experience when they're not at the track, that's going to help connect them a little bit more."

"We are always trying to figure out, how do we break down that barrier a little bit between the people who can go to the event and the people who are watching at home?" DeLorenzo added. "Because the reality is, the vast majority of people are not going to the live sporting event that they're watching, right? They're watching at home. So, we want to try and break that down so people can have that same kind of experience and feel like they're there."

I got to hear a Dolby Atmos mix of some previous races, played as a clip at an event in New York City. Unsurprisingly, it's a night-and-day difference, one that not only adds spatial audio, especially in a room outfitted with a full 9.1.4 setup, but also pulls you into the action. If cars zoom left to right across the screen during a turn, you hear them move that way.

It's similar to the Spatial Audio experience on AirPods Max or Beats 360, but the Dolby Atmos mix is even more impressive for live sport because it pulls you in. You hear the roar and rumble of the engines, the crowd's cheers, and the general atmosphere of the track.

It will never be the same as being in the grandstands or the paddock, but it gives you a better sense of what's happening in a given scene, and you can spot a leading car, or one making a move in a turn ,a bit more quickly. The audio matches the visuals for a more immersive, closer-to-the-stands feel. You can even hear it in the footage I filmed of the engineers switching from the stereo mix to the Dolby Atmos mix.

DeLorenzo says the production team was excited about it: "This one is pretty cool in that it's never been done before with F1," he said. "When you can do something that's never been done before... it raises the bar even more."

Dolby Atmos with Formula 1 broadcasts is a first, but whether that eventually extends to MLS or Friday Night Baseball remains to be seen.

However, judging by other firsts, as with Friday Night Baseball being shot with the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, and then Apple TV expanding that to MLS, it’s clear that innovations tend to be spread around.

As for what comes next for Formula 1, Apple isn't saying. "It's still just year one," DeLorenzo noted, and the company is "always trying to see how we innovate and go bigger and make the experience better for fans."

While Apple isn't saying what those next steps might be, DeLorenzo teased that things are already happening behind the scenes. "We're trying all kinds of stuff that hasn't shipped yet, that we hope to ship at some point," he told me.

Might that mean a truly immersive experience fit for Vision Pro, as we’ve seen with select NBA games or Friday Night Baseball? Or maybe it’s mounting an iPhone on a Formula 1 car or at the finish line, or even pulling just the sensor similar to F1 The Movie?

Time will tell, but for now I'm excited to hear them punch it in Dolby Atmos for the United States Grand Prix in Austin come October 22.

• 333 ICANN applications were brand related, 864 applications came from North America
• Big Tech is fighting for control over many AI-related TLDs
• We'll likely see them go live late in 2027

Not long after ICANN closed its latest round of submissions for new top-level domains (TLDs), the body has now revealed some more details about the 1,615 new applications it received.

The organization says 333 applications were brand-related, with major companies seeking to gain greater control over their online presence.

In fact, more than half of the applications – over 800 – came from North American organizations, though ICANN did also acknowledge the internet's international reach with 21 internationalized domain name (IDN) applications using non-Latin script like Arabic and Chinese.

ICANN shares more details about the potential new TLDs

Besides the 864 North American applications, a further 506 came from Europe, representing a combined 85% of all the submissions given up until the August deadline.

"These applications demonstrate how organizations around the world are innovating new ways to build trusted online identities, serve their communities, and connect with Internet users," CEO Kurtis Lindqvist wrote.

But it's not just geography that shows heavy tendencies, because many large companies also filed for multiple TLDs including OpenAI, which requested no fewer than 15, including .chatgpt. ICANN also revealed that OpenAI wasn't alone in requesting .agi, with six other applicants also seeking control over the TLD.

Google's intentions were also clear, applying for more than 30 extensions including .api, .mcp and .agent, with Meta also seeking .superintelligence, .agent and .wearables, while Anthropic just sought two of its own terms – .anthropic and .claude.

Ultimately, and as expected, it's clear that AI-related domains attract the most competition in today's landscape, with Google, OpenAI and Meta fighting it out across many of the top terms.

Next up, during the first half of 2027, ICANN will conduct its Prioritization Draw, so we won't actually get to see any successful applications live until at least the later half of next year, it seems.

Vari's standing desks have always scored highly in our tests, and the ComfortEdge model is no different, with a 4.5-star review. Now, the company is running its own Big Deal Days sale with 25% off.

• Best for: Executives and remote workers who want a spacious, good-looking standing desk that is comfortable to type at all day.

• The deal: The Vari Electric Standing Desk with ComfortEdge (60x30) is $674.25 (was $899) at Vari.

• Why it matters: Vari's Electric Standing Desk with ComfortEdge is one of the top-rated standing desks we've ever tested, with superb build quality, stability. But what really stands out is the tapered front edge, which lives up to the 'ComfortEdge' moniker. The desk also features a 25 to 50.5 inch height range, four programmable height presets, a drop-stop sensor, and a lifetime warranty.

Why we recommend it

This is one of the best standing desks we've used when it comes to ergonomics. When we tested out the Vari ComfortEdge standing desk, we scored it 4.5 stars and praised the design for easing forearm pressure, along with its smooth, quiet height changes and quick assembly, since the desktop and frame arrive pre-assembled and only the legs need attaching.

Price Context & Historical Value

At $674.25, this is $224.75 (25%) off the $899 list price. For reference, the smaller 48x30 desk we initially reviewed cost $799 at Vari in 2024, so the larger desk now costs less than that. We couldn't find a reliable price history for this size, and the sale ends October 12.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Vari Electric Standing Desk with ComfortEdge if... you want a spacious desk with a comfortable front edge and height presets, or you've been waiting for a sale on a premium standing desk.

❌ Skip the Vari Electric Standing Desk with ComfortEdge if... you need to support more than 200lb of equipment, you'd rather buy the exact size we tested, since we reviewed the 48x30 rather than this one, or you don't want to commit before the sale ends on October 12.

Also consider

• Watch Law & Order season 26 on NBC or stream on Peacock (via Walmart+ for $1)
• Use NordVPN to watch your local stream from abroad
• Episodes air from Thursday, October 8, 10pm ET/PT

The stakes are high once again for the team in the 27th Precinct. Based on the trailer for Law & Order season 26 alone, we know that D.A. Nicholas Baxter will be reminding his colleagues just how important it is to protect the people of New York, and why they need to draw the line between right and wrong.

Meanwhile, Lt. Jessica Brady will be interrogating suspects and Detective Theo Walker has a high-speed chase to take care of, which could end up in gunfire. The fight for justice is the only thing on Olivia Benson's mind, while Detective Vincent Riley aims to win the fight at all costs.

Speaking of Riley, he'll be bowing out of the show imminently, with actor Reid Scott stepping away. However, James Badge Dale is entering the cast at some point this season.

If you're ready for all of that, read on and find out how to watch Law & Order season 26 online for free.

How to watch Law & Order season 26 from anywhere

If you’re traveling abroad when Law & Order season 26 airs, you’ll be unable to watch the show like you normally would due to geo-restrictions. However, there is a very easy solution.

Downloading a VPN will allow you to stream online, no matter where you are. It's a simple bit of software that changes your IP address, meaning that you can access on-demand content or live TV just as if you were at home.

Use a VPN to watch Law & Order season 26 from anywhere.

How to watch Law & Order season 26 in the US

How to watch Law & Order season 26 around the world

How to watch Law & Order season 26 in Canada

Can you watch Law & Order season 26 in the UK?

Can you watch Law & Order season 26 online in Australia?

There is currently no release plan or broadcast lined up for Law & Order season 26 in Australia.

Past seasons have gone out on 7Plus, but there's no indication that this will be the case for season 26. However, you may be able to purchase episodes via services like Apple TV, and there's even a chance that the show will end up on Channel 10 further down the line.

Traveling Down Under? You'll need a service like NordVPN to access your usual streams abroad.

What you need to know about Law & Order season 26

Law & Order season 26 cast

• Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson
• Ice-T as Sergeant Odafin "Fin" Tutuola
• Peter Scanavino as Assistant District Attorney Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr.
• Octavio Pisano as Detective Joe Velasco
• Kevin Kane as Detective Terry Bruno
• Juliana Aidén Martinez as Junior Detective Kate Silva
• Kelli Giddish as Sergeant Amanda Rollins
• Zak Orth as Defense Attorney Harry Kagan
• Tony Goldwyn as District Attorney Nicholas Baxter
• Maura Tierney as Lieutenant Jessica Brady
• Hugh Dancy as Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price
• James Badge Dale
• Reid Scott as Detective Vincent Riley

Which Peacock plan is best for me?

There are a number of different Peacock plans and pricing available.

Premium ($12.99/month or $129.99/year): It includes TV shows from NBC, Bravo, and more, movies and Peacock Originals, and live sports and events, along with ads.

Premium Plus ($16.99/month or $169.99/year): It comes with limited ads and allows you to download your favorite content.

More from TechRadar

• How to watch Chicago PD season 14 online for free – Chicago franchise returns for 2026
• 5 nail-biting crime dramas on cable TV that you've definitely missed — but there's still a way to stream them
• How to watch Winter online for FREE: stream police procedural series from anywhere

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport is pushing for FSD approval
• Regulators are concerned about the controversial name
• The technology could be labelled “Tesla Assisted Driving” instead

A recent statement from Germany’s Ministry of Transport reports that the country's Transport Minister, Steffen Bilger, is pushing to legalize Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology, aiming to bring the benefits of “innovative driver assistance systems” to Europe as quickly as possible.

According to the post, the ministry has agreed to allow the technology to travel at speeds of 10% over the local limits in order to smooth traffic flow — a point that has proven a cause for concern among other European countries.

“Minor speeding can contribute to a more even and fluid traffic, depending on the situation,” the statement reads.

Eight European countries have currently given the green light to Tesla’s controversial autonomous driving system, with a wider European Union rollout expected in 2027.

While Germany believes the driver assistance system shows a high level of performance, especially in urban traffic, ministers aren’t convinced about the naming. They say FSD (Full Self-Driving Supervised) is “somewhat misleading”.

The statement goes on to add that the Ministry of Transport feels that FSD is not a system that takes over the complete driving task.

“It is a driver assistance system that can support certain driving tasks such as accelerating, braking and steering. However, the driver must remain attentive at all times,” it adds.

As a result, the Ministry says Tesla has offered to rename the system to "Tesla Assisted Driving” in Germany. A move that could be rolled out to further markets in the future.

Analysis: Tesla’s naming is misleading

Controversy has surrounded Tesla’s Full Self-Driving for many years, with numerous court cases still active in the US involving accidents and Tesla’s driver assistance systems.

While certain elements of the technology have been called into question, such as Tesla’s avoidance of LiDAR in pursuit of an advanced camera-only system, it has largely been praised for its ability to take care of driving duties, potentially reducing driver fatigue.

But as Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport states, the driver must remain attentive at all times. This is often where confusion has occurred.

Tesla’s website is clear to point out that the current features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous, but messaging from the company has been more ambiguous, with suggestions that the technology would soon become "fully autonomous" via over-the-air updates.

The Tesla North America X account even reposted a video (see above) showing one owner promoting the self-driving technology in his Cybertruck, as it helped with his "eyes getting bad."

In many countries, deteriorating eyesight in itself is enough to see a driving license revoked.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the US has various investigations underway that are probing safety concerns surrounding FSD, but perhaps a simple name change, like the one Germany is proposing, could help clear up customer confusion and prevent over-reliance on the technology.

• Watch Gnomes free on ZDF Neo from Oct 11 (Germany)
• Use NordVPN to watch any stream
• Watch Gnomes on Stan now (Australia)

Sex Education star Asa Butterfield takes on a very different project with a spot of comedy horror as he fights demonic garden gnomes.

The six-part series is an Australian production arriving just in time for spooky season. Those Down Under will get the show first, before it lands in the UK a little over a week later. We'll also show you where to watch it completely free...

Combining gnarly violence and slapstick comedy, Gnomes sees an ancient curse descend on the sleepy town of Nompton, awakening an evil Queen Gnome who brings local garden gnomes to life to enact her bloody revenge on the town.

Read on for how to watch Gnomes online for free from anywhere with a VPN.

Can I watch Gnomes for free?

Yes. Viewers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland can stream Gnomes for free via ZDF Neo from October 11.

Traveling Abroad? Watch ZDF Neo from anywhere with NordVPN.

Use a VPN to watch Gnomes from anywhere

This handy piece of software can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, thereby letting you unlock your usual streaming service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with a 75% discount.

Using a VPN is incredibly simple:

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you're visiting the UK or US from Germany, you'd select a German server from the list.

3. Sit back and binge. Head to your usual local streaming service and watch the show.

How to watch Gnomes in Germany

German Viewers, along with viewers from Austria and Switzerland, can watch Gnomes from October 11 completely free via ZDF Neo

Not in Germany? Don't let your holiday get in the way of your shows. Access your usual streams from anywhere using a VPN.

How to watch Gnomes in Australia

Gnomes will debut on Stan in Australia, with all six episodes landing on the platform on Thursday, October 8.

Away from home? You can still access your usual streaming services from anywhere by using a VPN.

Where to watch Gnomes in the UK

Viewers in the UK will have to wait a little while longer, with Gnomes arriving on Disney+ on Friday, October 16.

Traveling when the show is released? You can tap into your usual streaming services from anywhere by using a VPN.

Can you watch Gnomes online in the US?

There is no release plan, be it streaming or linear TV, for Gnomes in the US right now.

The solution? Try using a VPN to access your streaming services while you're abroad.

Can I watch Gnomes online in Canada?

Unfortunately, it's the same story in Canada, with no release plan in place for Gnomes as things stand.

Visiting Canada from the UK? You can still connect to your usual streaming services by downloading a VPN and pointing your location back to the UK.

Gnomes: FAQ

Gnomes trailer

Gnomes cast

• Asa Butterfield as Senior Sergeant Arnold Kipps
• Megan Smart as Ellie McKay
• Tess Haubrich as the Gnome Queen
• Brett Tucker as Harvey Poll
• Tegan Higginbotham as Josie
• Darren Gilshenan
• Alison Whyte
• Matt Okine
• Nicole Gulasekharam
• Luke McGregor
• Nina Oyama
• Syd Brisbane as Tobias Black
• Evelyn Krape
• Ditch Davey
• Richard Mueck
• Joseph Baldwin as Kurt Hayward
• Oliver Edis as Zayn Faulkner
• Leigh Lule
• George Rayias
• Mila Hourmouzis
• Charlotte Nicdao
• Emily Taheny
• Bev Killick as Barbara
• Eloise Gentle

VPN services are evaluated and tested by us in view of legal recreational use. For example:a) Access to services from other countries, (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).b) Safeguarding your online security and making your online privacy more robust when abroad.Future plc does not support nor condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. We do not endorse nor approve of consuming pirated content that is paid-for.

• A threat actor built malware that reads poems posted on GitHub
• The poems are a secret code for the location of C2 servers
• The servers instruct the malware to deploy cryptojackers and scanners

Somewhere in the trackless wastes of cyberspace, a digital Robert Langdon is decoding an ancient poem to find the location of his masters and receive instructions on his next steps. I might be exaggerating a bit, but this is the gist of a rather bizarre story on cyberattacks and cryptocurrency mining.

Cybersecurity researchers from Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs found a piece of malware that gets the instructions on the location of the C2 server from a poem shared on GitHub.

By looking for specific words and decoding them into numbers, the malware can get an IP address where the C2 server is located and receive instructions on what to do next - Black Lotus calls it “adversarial poetry” and says it’s never seen anything like it.

Adversarial poetry

The attacker, who seems to be of Italian origin (or at least based in Italy), first hunts for vulnerable internet-facing services, such as LiteLLM or Ollama, and installs a piece of malware called PoeLLM.

This malware then goes to GitHub to look for a poem which seems to be AI-generated. Here are the lines:

In the silent hum of driver, the machines begin to speak,

Each pulse of diode threading light through copper veins.

we taught the dark to carry meaning, byte by byte —

A language built from lightning, cold and clean.

Beyond the wall of encryption, a signal finds its way,

the tick of distant servers answering back.

Data moves like water through the cracks of ordered thought,

and somewhere in the code, the world stays on track.

It then looks for specific words in this poem: driver, diode, decryption, tick, and matches them to corresponding numbers (its dictionary is hardcoded). When they are combined, they form an IPv4 address where the server is located.

PoeLLM then reaches out to the server and gets instructions on what to do next. In most cases, it just deploys a cryptocurrency miner called XMRig, using the device’s electrical energy, compute, and access to the internet to mine Monero tokens and enrich the malicious poet.

The malware can also run as a scanner, searching for additional vulnerable systems, and allowing the attacker to worm his way into even more devices.

Changing the song

If the attacker needs to move the infrastructure, all they need to do is change certain words in the GitHub poem. Therefore, when infected machines retrieve the updated version, they can calculate the new C2 address without needing a malware update. In fact, this already happened multiple times.

According to The Register the poem, titled “On the Nature of Connection,” has been updated 11 times since its initial commit. The latest update happened in September 2026.

“The Canto Incognito campaign appears to be relatively unique in its targeting of multiple AI-related services,” the researchers told The Register.

“Other notable campaigns this year, including the LiteLLM supply chain compromise, focused on a single service and impacted roughly 2,500 victims, according to open sources. The collection of more than 3,000 PoeLLM victims appears to exhibit multiple vulnerable services at any given time.”

In other words, the adversarial poetry campaign has been rather successful, so far infecting more than 3,000 (confirmed) devices.

The PoeLLM malware developer “has been extremely successful in identifying vulnerable servers, deploying exploits, and conscripting victims to continue expanding the campaign,” Black Lotus Labs said.

“If the actor had only focused on one or two vulnerabilities, the potential victim pool might have quickly dried up, but the expanding scope allowed for a bigger, more powerful (and more profitable) botnet.”

• Blizzard Entertainment has shared its design philosophy for creating an authentic "classic" World of Warcraft: Forever experience
• The studio says there are four design pillars it uses to build on the vanilla
• However, since the game is releasing in 2026, there's a challenge in balancing the game's look, with Blizzard saying, "We need to hit that vanilla era for the long-term sustainability of this game"

The World of Warcraft: Forever team at Blizzard Entertainment has shared its design philosophy for creating an authentic "Classic Plus" experience, while still finding that "good middle ground" for a modern audience.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming, where the team also addressed the controversial inclusion of the new Skyborne race, it explained that it's important to stay true to the "vanilla" WoW experience many fans of the MMO are familiar with and that there are four core pillars it sticks to while working to expand it.

"The philosophy is largely to take the original 'vanilla' WoW world and building on top of it in a way that stays true to the core design, pacing, and tone of the original game," Blizzard said. "We keep it classic by adhering firmly to our design pillars when we consider any new change we introduce."

These pillars are: Nurture and Protect Social Experiences, Approachable and Familiar, World as the Main Character, and Journey before destination.

"Those pillars were developed as we have been playing different versions of classic over the years and have a firm basis in Vanilla WoW," the studio explained. "That said, we don’t tend to think in terms of 'is this classic' as much as we simply weigh decisions we make against those pillars and if the idea doesn’t support them, we don’t do it. It’s kind of another way to say the same thing, but the distinction is somewhat important."

As important as it is to retain that "classic" feel in WoW: Forever, Blizzard has also implemented modern visuals, such as new lighting effects and rendering, that add to the immersion; it explained that "one big challenge" it had was "finding a good middle ground" with assets by finding the right balance between the vanilla and newer look you'd find in the retail version.

"The goal here is not to create assets that look like they were made in 2004; it's also not a goal to create assets at the fidelity level of modern WoW," Blizzard said. "We need to hit that vanilla era for the long-term sustainability of this game. Getting specific about what vanilla era means, it could have existed in Vanilla, Burning Crusade, or Wrath of the Lich King.

"This is a game we are releasing in 2026, and we've made a lot of changes to lighting, rendering, and other aspects of the engine, and we ideally want to find a level of fidelity that feels like it fits with our 'WoW as you remember it, not as it was' approach, but also looks good alongside some of those older assets and works best with the new technology updates."

In the same discussion, Blizzard also confirmed it's monitoring real-money trading (RMT) in WoW: Forever, and is working to mitigate botting issues that could result in permanent bans.

The October Amazon Prime Day sale is officially over, but some of the best deals are still running — including big savings on coffee makers from Ninja, De'Longhi, and Breville. After browsing today's deals, I discovered that most of the best Prime Day offers are still running — and now they're available to everyone, not just Prime subscribers.

• Browse all of today's deals at Amazon

To save you time and effort, I've put together a complete list of all the best big-brand coffee maker deals for you below. There's no telling exactly how long these deals will last. though — Amazon has marked them as 'limited time', and will almost certainly be planning to raise prices again before Black Friday so it can drop them back down again.

Lots of other retailers have decided to keep their sales events running too, so I've also provided a list of quick links below that will take you straight to the relevant pages.

Coffee deal quick links

• Amazon: up to $300 off big coffee brands
• Best Buy: $200 off coffee makers for Techtober
• Breville: big savings on the Barista series
• De'Longhi: save on automatic espresso machines
• Ninja: deals on two-in-one coffee makers
• Walmart: tech sale running until October 11

De'Longhi coffee maker deals

Breville coffee maker deals

Ninja coffee maker deals

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.36
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $28
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $89
• Smartwatches: up to 36% off Garmin & Apple
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $49

OpenAI really likes to drop stealth upgrades to ChatGPT onto us with no warning. Sometimes these are really minor, but the latest one adds an entirely new way for it to respond to your queries, and utilizes the power of GPT-6.

Instead of just providing the usual text-based answers to your queries, you now get text, visuals, and interactive elements all mixed together in whatever way best suits the answer. The interface for typing into ChatGPT looks exactly the same, but the answers you get are a lot more fun.

In a way, it’s a little bit like ChatGPT now makes a simple app, on the fly, to answer your question. But don’t let the word “app” here put you off — this isn’t overly difficult or just for developers and coders.

The clever thing is that you don't need to know anything about making apps, or even ask ChatGPT to make one. You simply ask a question, as you've always done, and now you'll find yourself looking at an interactive calculator, a quiz or a product comparison instead of a wall of text.

The best way to understand it is to give it a go. Here are five ways I used the new Intelligent UI, and you can try them all yourself as well. Once you’ve done all five, you’ll have a good understanding of what it's capable of.

Intelligent UI is available for all users in the standard Chat tab, uses GPT-6, and is available in all the different membership packages, including Free.

1. Savings calculator

How much you need to save for retirement is one of those questions that starts to become more important after the age of 50, and it’s perfect for an interactive answer. For this test, I used the prompt “I'm 55 and save £500 a month. How much can I save for retirement?”

To answer me, ChatGPT produced a simple retirement calculator app that lets me change variables like retirement age, monthly savings, and assumed annual growth to see how much I’d end up saving. For Retirement Age and Monthly Savings, it presented sliders, so I could just scale things up or down with ease. It’s a great way to interactively experiment with figures.

2. Exploring how a seven-speed bike works

Rather than just telling you how something works, ChatGPT can now show you. For this test, I just used the simple prompt, “Show me how the gears on a seven-speed bike work”.

To answer me, ChatGPT produced a great illustration of the drivetrain of the bike, with a slider bar that I could use to effectively change gear. It was a simplified model, rather than an accurate rendering. The rear sprocket changed size as I selected a different gear. It was actually a perfect visual explanation, and the interactive element helped make the process nice and clear. The answer was also packed with details like the number of teeth on a gear and the gear ratio.

3. Learning Japanese

I’ve just started learning Japanese, so I asked ChatGPT to help me with hiragana, its most fundamental Japanese writing system. I used the simple prompt “Help me learn hiragana”, and it introduced me to the first 5 vowel sounds — a i u e o — showing me the hiragana character for each, with tips on how to pronounce it, and then jumped into a handy interactive quiz where I had to guess the character.

What I liked was that the quiz started off with just the first five characters, then offered to teach me the next five when I was ready. I can see this being a really useful study aid.

4. Asking for a 3-day itinerary

I asked ChatGPT for a three-day Tokyo itinerary. I wanted to see if I could change the budget, interests, or available time without starting from scratch.

“Give me a three-day Tokyo itinerary. Budget is £3,000. I’m interested in seeing ancient temples. Starting in late November.” This produced a reply with a lot more images than I’d been used to seeing and an interactive map, but nothing really interactive.

It was not until ChatGPT asked me if the budget included flights, and I replied, “The budget does not include flights — can you let me adjust the budget?” that it produced a truly interactive itinerary. By adjusting the budget slider, I could see how all the different elements of my trip were impacted. There was also a button to press to see the updated itinerary based on the new budget.

This example showed how you can ask for interactive elements in your answer, even if ChatGPT doesn’t give them to you the first time.

5. Comparing products

I asked ChatGPT to compare three laptops. I wanted to see if I could adjust the importance of battery life, weight, and price and see whether its recommendation changed. I used the prompt:

“Compare three of the most recent laptops, including a Chromebook. I want to see if I can adjust the importance of battery life, weight, and price and see whether your recommendation changes.”

This was a really useful implementation of ChatGPT’s new interactive abilities, and a much better way of comparing laptops than I’ve ever tried before. ChatGPT selected an Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M5, an ASUS Zenbook S14 UX5406, and a Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14" MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 in an interactive product companion that let me change the importance of battery life, weight, and price. Seeing how the recommended laptop changed when I played with the sliders was a great way of experimenting.

ChatGPT is becoming something different

That last example — the one showing laptop recommendations — really showcases the brilliance of ChatGPT’s new interactive elements in its replies. Instead of reading a recommendation and wondering how it might change if I cared more about battery life than price, I could find out for myself, simply by moving a slider.

Other AI chatbots can produce interactive experiences too, but what's impressed me about Intelligent UI is how naturally OpenAI has incorporated them into everyday ChatGPT conversations. You don't need to know how to code, or even understand what's happening behind the scenes. You just ask a question.

There are a few things worth bearing in mind. ChatGPT doesn't always produce an interactive answer automatically, and sometimes you need to specifically ask for one. Also, just because an answer comes with an impressive-looking calculator or interactive graphic doesn't mean the underlying information is necessarily correct. The laptop comparison, for example, included an estimated battery-life figure, so I'd still want to check the specifications before spending any money.

There might not have been much fanfare about the introduction of Intelligent UI, but it feels natural and intuitive to use. Now I know ChatGPT can be so interactive in its responses, and I’ve seen how useful it can be, I’m going to start writing prompts that assume it can be interactive in its responses more often. Intelligent UI is one of the best ChatGPT upgrades I’ve seen in a while.

• Rockstar Games just released a sneak preview of six Grand Theft Auto 6 radio stations
• They include Cocoteo FM, Back Country Radio, AfroBank FM, The Chamber 106.6, Flash FM, and Dirty South Classics
• The studio also confirmed that " a series of on-demand podcasts" will also be available to listen to in-game "in vehicles or on foot"

Rockstar Games just dropped a preview of Grand Theft Auto 6's radio stations, while also confirming the existence of on-demand podcasts that players can listen to in-game.

Ahead of GTA 6's launch next month, fans can now head to Rockstar's website and listen to six "hand-picked stations from the Leonida airwaves," including singles from the game's official soundtrack.

"Spanning stations dedicated to everything from Classic Rock to Talk Radio, Grand Theft Auto 6 features the biggest and widest-ranging selection of in-game radio and podcasts yet," Rockstar said.

The six radio stations include:

• Cocoteo FM: Leonida's home for the best of modern Latin music. Hosted by El Martillo and La Gata and featuring everything from bachata and merengue to dembow and reggaeton — Cocoteo FM is el party que nunca se apaga.
•  Back Country Radio: MW and Delta Dawne blast renegade country music to the Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, and beyond. Stay tuned for Back Country’s roving reporter, swamp meteorologist, and Delta’s not-so-secret lover Mud Dog Mike checking in from the driver’s seat of his Grassrivers airboat.
•  AfroBank FM: Turn up the gbedu with Burna and Palmsy, AfroBank FM's dynamic duo curating the best in African music, from 20th-century classics and undiscovered gems to contemporary sounds like amapiano, 3-step, and more.
• The Chamber 106.6: Crushing metal has landed in Leonida. Jump in the pit with DJ Kerry and DJ Tom for classic metal from the ‘80s and beyond as they channel Leonida’s deep metal roots.
• Flash FM: The Vice City institution that delivers the best in pop music with Robyn and Alex — guaranteed to make you dance no matter where you find yourself in the Goodtime State.
•  Dirty South Classics: A little southern hospitality from Trick and Trina, blasting regional rap and hip-hop classics. From the beach to the block, nobody reps Leonida and the South like they do.

In addition, Rockstar has confirmed that "for the first time ever" GTA 6 will introduce "a series of on-demand podcasts, with both radio and podcasts available to listen to in vehicles or on foot through newly introduced headphones and earbuds connected to their smartphones."

This means players can tune into podcasts in-game using earbuds or headphones while playing as Jason and Lucia, and on the radio while driving around Leonida and Vice City.

Last month, Rockstar also released a sneak preview of 'Grand Theft Auto 6: The Album'. The soundtrack will feature 24 original tracks from artists like Travis Scott, PinkPantheress, Morgan Wallen, Keith Richards, and more, and the first six singles are available to listen to now.

• Crunchyroll Manga has rolled out to subscribers in the UK and Australia
• It's available as part of the Crunchyroll Ultimate plan, or as a separate add-on
• The service includes access to hundreds of titles, including some big hits

Crunchyroll Ultimate subscribers in the UK and Australia just got a major free upgrade as the popular anime streaming service rolls out its manga (Japanese comic book) offering to more English-speaking regions worldwide.

Crunchyroll Manga, which launched in the US in October last year, offers Ultimate members ad-free access to more than 250 localized manga titles from major publishers like J-Novel Club, Square Enix, and Yen Press.

This includes everything from big hits like The Apothecary Diaries, My Dress-Up Darling, Bocchi the Rock!, and Bungo Stray Dogs all the way to more niche picks such as the hilariously wordily titled Rejected by the Hero's Party, a Princess Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside or My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me!.

Crunchyroll Ultimate costs $17.99 / £9.99 a month (we're waiting for confirmation on which Australia tier it'll be included in). Crunchryoll Manga is also available as a separate add-on for those subscribed to the cheaper Fan or Mega Fan tiers.

An exciting lineup

There's plenty of good stuff in the lineup to justify that cost, and I'm particularly excited about reading through the two volumes of Re:Zero — Starting Life in Another World available on the service, having greatly enjoyed the most recent seasons of the anime adaptation.

There are some noticeable omissions — for example, it's a bit odd not to see Black Butler on offer, given that Crunchyroll has the global license for the anime adaptation. But the service promises that more titles are on the way soon.

It's accessible as a standalone mobile app via the Google Play Store on Android and the App Store on iOS, or in your web browser with a dedicated tab on the Crunchyroll website. Key features include the ability to read offline and browse both personalized reading lists and curated manga recommendations.

• Former CIA official admitted falsifying credentials, securing a senior role with top-level clearance
• He allegedly stole nearly $194 million through a fake intelligence program scheme
• FBI seized gold, cash, luxury assets; he faces up to 20 years in prison

A 49-year-old man lied on his resume to get hired by the CIA - and when he got a high-ranking position, he used it to steal millions of dollars from the US government. He then used that money to fund a lavish lifestyle and was ultimately caught - and is now facing 20 years in prison.

No, this is not the plot of Martin Scorsese’s “Wolf of Langley”, the news was just confirmed by the US Department of Justice, who named David J. Rush, of Ashburn, Virginia, as the fraudster, and said he pleaded guilty to “executing a scheme to defraud the federal government”.

“Following an internal investigation that identified potential crimes, CIA immediately referred this matter to the FBI,” said CIA Director John Ratcliffe. “David Rush abused his position and betrayed the public trust and should be held fully accountable for his actions.”

The Wolf of Langley

According to court documents, Rush lied during the job interview about his education and military experience, which ultimately helped him land a senior executive-level position with a federal agency. In that position, he held a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearance - a designation some government agencies use to control access to some of the government’s most sensitive classified information.

It combines Top Secret clearance (the highest standard US security classification level), with eligibility to access Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) which, in itself, is subject to additional security restrictions.

This clearance allowed Rush to access highly classified US government intelligence, but more importantly, allowed him to create a fake “Special Access Program” and get it funded. He then used this funding to wire himself roughly $145 million, buying luxury real estate, watches, and “at least one car”. He also acquired 298 gold bars, worth approximately $46 million. In total, Rush pocketed $193,590,400 in US government funds.

Obviously, $200 million is no pocket change, and someone must have noticed, since on May 19, the FBI raided Rush’s residence. They recovered 298 gold bars, more than two million in cash, just over €100,000 in euros, and “numerous luxury watches” most of which were Rolexes. He later pleaded guilty and agreed to forfeit the gold bars, the fiat currency, 30 watches, two 2026 BMW Alpina cars (worth north of $150,000 - each), and all of the real estate he bought with the stolen money.

“By his own admission, David Rush defrauded the government of hundreds of millions of dollars, and then misused those funds for extravagant purchases,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Rush betrayed his oath, his co-workers, and the American people and he will now face justice for his actions. This plea demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to protecting the public’s trust; and that no government position, security clearance, or access to government resources places anyone above the law.”

20 years in jail

Rush will have to wait until January 28, 2027, to hear his sentence which could be up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, forfeiture, restitution, and a fine, the DoJ said.

“A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.”

According to TechCrunch, Rush was employed in 2010 and has since then worked on developing hacking tools and techniques for espionage. His “Special Access Program” was described as a “surveillance or intelligence-gathering operation so sensitive that only a few people are read into [it]”.

Rush allegedly constructed the compartmentalized program as a fake “continuity of government” plan, to be used in case of war, natural disaster, or similar major and disruptive event. The gold was apparently bought by a defrauded defense contractor, which Rush later took home.

Defending email users from themselves

For years now, Microsoft has been adding different file types to the “blacklist”, in an effort to prevent users from downloading and running malicious attachments sent in phishing emails. As The Register reminds, in December 2023, the company disabled ms-appinstaller protocol handler by default, after it was abused to distribute malware.

Since then, Microsoft has also blocked .py (Python files), .ps1 (PowerShell files), and .cab (cabinet files). Some people found it surprising it took Microsoft this long to remember .msix and .msixbundle types, as well.

Via The Register

Digital sovereignty in Europe has grown from a simple talking point into a strategic priority, and open source software (OSS) is perceived as the continent's way of achieving that goal. However, there is no sovereignty without security.

At the recent Linux Foundation Open Source Summit Europe, the Foundation’s Madalin Neag and Mirko Boehm argued that many of Europe's seemingly separate technology initiatives - from NIS2 and DORA to the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and its broader Tech Sovereignty agenda, all ultimately converge on solving one problem: securing the software supply chains underpinning Europe's economy.

The global technology race is currently being led by two superpowers - the United States, and China. The US has the hyperscalers, Nvidia, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and mind-numbing amounts of capital flowing into AI infrastructure. China, on the other hand, has its own sprawling Artificial Intelligence ecosystem, domestic chip ambitions, and companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, and DeepSeek.

Both are in a race for chips, electrical energy, and data center capacity, while Europe seems to be sidelined, without a horse in the race.

The European Commission itself acknowledges the position it is in. After years of regulatory leadership and investments, non-EU providers still account for more that 80% of the bloc’s digital products, services, infrastructure, and even intellectual property.

Europe’s open source bet

The European Commission launched its new technological sovereignty package in June 2026, containing things like the Chips Act 2.0, Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA), a roadmap for digitalization and AI in energy, and a new EU Open Source Strategy.

The latter is particularly significant because open source already powers most of the tech Europe relies on, from cloud infrastructure to financial services, from government systems, to AI.

The Commission estimates that around €2 billion ($2.23bn) in public and private investment will be needed for the open-source strategy over the next seven years. That includes expanding the Open Internet Stack as a one-stop shop for open-source building blocks, supporting open-source business accelerators, encouraging its use in public procurement and R&D programs (such as, for example, Horizon Europe), and working with member states through initiatives including the Digital Commons EDIC.

While the word “sovereignty” might suggest technological isolation, what the EU is trying to do here seems to be exactly opposite. Digital sovereignty means making sure European organizations can choose, inspect, maintain, and replace technologies on which they depend, instead of being locked into walled gardens and infrastructure that is under someone else’s control.

And as AI keeps shaping and reshaping the global technology market, this dependence will grow ever more consequential. Building and running advanced AI requires enormous amounts of compute, energy and data center capacity, areas in which US and Chinese companies are investing heavily. For Europe, the risk is that the next generation of critical digital infrastructure becomes dominated by foreign technology before a competitive European ecosystem has a chance to emerge.

The Commission estimates Europe will need around €200 billion ($223 bn) to expand data center capacity by 2036, mostly from the private sector, alongside another €100 ($111bn) billion for cloud and AI initiatives, AI Factories and Gigafactories. While the EU is making prognoses, US electricity consumption is expected to hit record highs not just this year, but in 2027, as well. AI and data centers will be the major drivers, obviously, while the race for compute grows into a strategic issue in the US-China tech rivalry.

So the point is - Europe can’t simply outspend either side and therefore sees open source as an alternative route to reducing its strategic exposure.

What this means for businesses

So, European businesses and governments just need to download more open source software? Yes, and no. It’s not that simple.

One of the clearest messages from Neag and Boehm's presentation was that organizations "cannot secure a supply chain passively". Businesses that download dependencies, integrate them into products, scan them and then maintain private patches, risk accumulating technical debt while the upstream projects themselves deteriorate.

What they need instead is active participation: identifying critical OSS dependencies, establishing relationships with maintainers, contributing fixes upstream and, where appropriate, providing long-term financial support.

Neag and Boehm argued that suggested code contributions can return 3.3 times their cost, community contributions 2.5 times, and direct financial contributions 2.3 times, so there’s a commercial incentive, as well. Maintaining private forks, on the other hand, was estimated to cost organizations an average of $258,000 per release cycle.

It seems the EU’s sovereignty push is designed to change how businesses think about procurement and supply-chain risk. Businesses should expect greater emphasis on dependency transparency, provenance, vulnerability management, secure development and the health of upstream projects (which is already seen in legislation such as the CRA).

What’s also interesting is that there eventually might be a more formal way of judging sovereignty itself, since the keynote presented "Sovereignty Effectiveness Assurance Levels", or SEAL, ranging from SEAL-0 (technology under the control of non-EU parties and jurisdictions), to SEAL-4 (technology and operations which are under complete EU control with no critical non-EU dependencies).

If the EU is to continue operating in a world of increasing geopolitical turbulence, it needs to rely less on vendors and supply chains, and secure open-source software just might be the way forward.

• IPVanish has announced a swathe of changes as it embarks on a broader mission to help users outside of its VPN
• Key changes include an improved antivirus, alongside 3 new subscription tiers.
• The new antivirus product is being integrated across Windows and Mac

IPVanish has announced how it plans to transition from a traditional VPN to a comprehensive digital security solution.

The move aims to address the growing reality that modern cyber threats require a multi-layered defense. While a VPN is excellent for hiding your IP address and encrypting your web traffic on public Wi-Fi, it cannot stop you from accidentally downloading a malicious file.

"A VPN was never meant to be the whole answer," explained Subbu Sthanu, General Manager of Consumer Cybersecurity at IPVanish. "It protects your Internet connections and your privacy, but does not shield you from malicious downloads, fake login pages, and other threats."

Next generation protection

At the heart of this revamp is a brand-new, next-gen antivirus integrated seamlessly into IPVanish desktop clients for both Windows and macOS. Rather than users juggling multiple dashboards or downloading separate software, the new malware protection lives directly inside the existing VPN app.

According to the announcement, the new antivirus suite goes far beyond basic scanning. It offers robust Device protection, letting users run full malware scans on their hard drives and external devices, either on-demand or on a set schedule.

Crucially, the software also includes Real-time protection. Using AI-driven technology, this feature actively guards against ransomware, monitors file downloads for unexpected changes, prevents malicious software exploits, and blocks hostile background tasks.

Additionally, the suite's Web protection will block ads, trackers, and malicious websites, monitoring network activity for threats even when the VPN connection is turned off.

The antivirus is powered by the same engine used in VIPRE-branded AV products. In the March 2026 Malware Protection Test conducted by independent lab AV-Comparatives, the VIPRE Advanced Security engine achieved a staggering 99.91% protection rate against 10,000 recent malware samples, earning the lab's highest Advanced+ ★ ★ ★ rating.

New pricing structures

To accommodate the expanded feature set, IPVanish is restructuring its plans into three distinct tiers, giving customers more flexibility over their cybersecurity toolkit.

• Essential: This is the traditional VPN package. Starting at $2.39 per month, it includes the core VPN service and Threat Protection.
• Complete: The mid-tier plan adds the new next-gen Antivirus to the Essential package. On a two-year plan, this tier costs just $3.09 per month (an extra 70 cents).
• Advanced: The premium tier gives you everything in the Complete plan, while adding 1TB of Cloud Storage and the company's proprietary Secure Browser solution.

The expanded lineup marks a significant step forward for the brand, perfectly aligning with its new tagline, 'Control your digital world'.

By bringing high-tier antivirus and cloud backups under the same roof as its reliable VPN, IPVanish is making it easier than ever for users to secure their entire digital footprint.

For the longest time, I used to land in a new country and start desperately looking for a SIM kiosk. Even when I knew that they were charging a lot for a bare-minimum data/ calls plan, I used to buy it right away.

That’s because, from booking a cab to searching for your hotel in a new country, you would need an internet connection. Well, if you’re coming from India, buying an international roaming plan is also pretty expensive, so I need a way to get access to the internet at an affordable price.

This is exactly where an eSIM like eRoaming comes to the rescue. This company is a UK-based travel eSIM provider selling local, regional, and global plans through its website and app. Its catalog runs from 100MB short-stay packages to 30-day bundles and unlimited plans.

In this review, I’ll go deep with my research on this eSIM provider and share how it compares to the best eSIMs for international travel that I've reviewed, and whether it’s worth a buy for your next trip or not.

eRoaming: Plans and pricing

eRoaming sells local plans for one country, regional plans for several nearby countries, and global plans for longer itineraries.

Regional options cover Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East, while four global tiers cover between 106 and 161 countries.

For a useful like-for-like comparison, I checked the 5GB plan with 30 days of validity in 15 popular destinations. Countries are grouped only where both the region and price match. You can check them all out on the eRoaming site by clicking here.

eRoaming also sells “unlimited” plans, but full-speed use still has a daily limit. Depending on the option, you receive 1GB, 2GB, 3GB, or 5GB at high speed each day. After using that amount, the connection slows to 128Kbps until the next day.

In short, choose by the daily high-speed allowance, not the Mini, Standard, Enhanced, or Premium label.

Plus, one-time plans do not auto-renew. So, recurring weekly or monthly plans may carry an early-cancellation fee. If you want to purchase any of the plans, you can do it easily using bank cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

eRoaming: Features and specs

eRoaming advertises that it connects with at least two different networks in all of its supported countries and delivers 4G/LTE, with 5G speed available in many regions. It automatically selects the best available network. However, the internet speed still depends on the local infrastructure and coverage in your location.

Just like any other eSIM, you can install eRoaming using a QR code or the manual details. The important part here is that you must activate your eSIM and your subscribed plan within six months of purchase. However, the validity of the plan will only start once it connects to a supported network.

You can monitor usage through the app or website and buy a full-plan top-up. Hotspot is also supported when it is enabled for the selected plan and supported by the device. But deleting the eSIM is risky because, as per eRoaming , profiles generally cannot be reinstalled, so users should disable an unused profile instead.

Now, the limitations. There are two different types of geographic restrictions. First, eRoaming warns that purchases and top-ups may be blocked after arrival in China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, and Taiwan. Importantly, these are not blanket coverage exclusions. For example, I found active China data plans in the catalog. So, simply buy and install before departure if traveling to one of these markets.

Separately, eRoaming maintains a sanctioned-country list where plans cannot be purchased or used. Because this list may change, check the current FAQ and the coverage shown for your exact plan immediately before buying.

eRoaming: Customer support

Support is available through the contact form or via email. The eRoaming support team operates during standard GMT business hours, seven days a week excluding public holidays, with typical responses taking 24 to 72 hours.

That’s why I would suggest completing the installation before leaving rather than depending on immediate assistance after landing.

The refund policy is also conditional. A refund may be issued within 30 days if an eSIM cannot be activated because of a technical problem and the customer completes troubleshooting with support.

Unused data and expired or fully consumed plans are non-refundable. Once an eSIM is installed, eRoaming considers it used, so accidental purchases are not refunded. Keep in mind, approved refunds can take up to 14 business days.

Is eRoaming worth it?

You can opt for eRoaming if you’re visiting only a specific country, preferably in Europe. Its 5GB/30-day local plans cost £9 in the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. Whereas it takes a massive bump in places like Mexico, where it costs £27.

I personally feel this is best suited to travelers who primarily need data for maps, messaging, browsing, and occasional hotspot use. Its “unlimited” plans only include a set amount of high-speed data each day, after which speeds fall to 128Kbps.

eRoaming: FAQs

Ever since I first came across eSIMs and the whole concept around them, one thing remained consistent in my head. Which eSIM is best for which country?

For example, three years back I decided to go backpacking in Northern Thailand. And before I boarded my flight from New Delhi, India, I went through more than 12 eSIM providers.

Well, I ended up not being convinced by any of them cause after Thailand, I wanted to visit Cambodia and Vietnam, and there was no eSIM that made a lot of sense based on the data and the cost.

So, I just decided to buy one in Thailand itself. Trust me, this is a problem a lot of my fellow traveller friends face regularly, and it seems like Maya Mobile was always eavesdropping on this.

It completely revamped its structure this year and is now offering plans based on just the number of days, with universal coverage across 165+ nations. So, should you change your conventional eSIM buying methods with Maya Mobile, and does it stack up well against the best eSIMs for international travel that we've tested? Let’s find out.

Maya Mobile: Plans and pricing

Let’s start with the pricing first. There are currently only four Maya Mobile plans for users:

All four include the same global coverage, and Maya doesn't charge differently depending on whether you're visiting Thailand, Japan, the US, or France. A "day" is a full 24 hours from when the plan starts. There's no mandatory subscription either, although Auto Top-Up can be enabled if you want another plan purchased automatically when the existing one expires.

Now, this makes the plan super simple, but is it flexible and customizable? I have my doubts.

Say you're taking a five-day holiday. You still need the seven-day plan. Travelling for ten days? The 14-day plan it is.

The limitation becomes even clearer when looking at the US. According to the US National Travel and Tourism Office, the average overseas visitor stayed 16.9 nights in the United States in 2025. That's already longer than Maya's 14-day package, pushing an average-length visitor all the way up to the $49.99 30-day plan.

That's probably my biggest problem with Maya's new pricing model. The company says you "only pay for the days you travel," but technically, you only pay for the Maya-defined blocks of days surrounding your trip.

You'll also find older reviews online praising Maya for letting users choose different amounts of data and validity periods. Keep in mind that those reviews can describe the previous service. Maya itself confirms that the May 2026 platform is a new system, while old plans remain on Legacy Maya.

There's also a Global + Cruise option for travelers who need connectivity at sea, but that starts much higher at $49.99 for three days.

You can check out Maya Mobile by clicking here.

Maya Mobile: Features and specs

Now, it's tempting to blame this on Maya using one global eSIM or routing everything through some distant server.

But that's not really what the signal bars tell us.

Your phone still needs to connect to a physical tower belonging to a network that Maya's eSIM is authorised to use. If Maya can use AIS at that location but another eSIM can use a different Thai carrier with stronger coverage there, both phones can have completely different signal levels while standing next to each other.

So, a global eSIM isn't automatically worse than a country-specific one. The roaming agreements behind it matter far more.

And Maya's own troubleshooting guide indirectly acknowledges this problem. It provides instructions for manually switching networks and says a failure to connect can simply mean you're in an area without service or that the local network is having problems.

That's why I'd check the listed network for your destination before paying, especially if you're travelling outside major cities.

Then there's Maya's use of the word “unlimited.”

This one gets confusing.

Maya's current sales pages explicitly advertise unlimited data with “no caps or throttling.” Its May launch announcement makes the same claim.

However, Maya's own Help Center says speeds may be reduced to 10Mbps after more than 3GB of usage in a day, and to 1Mbps if very high usage continues, with restrictions removed within 24 hours. Its legal terms separately mention a daily high-speed allowance before users move to standard-speed data.

Those statements don't line up.

Your data isn't cut off, so it remains unlimited in the literal sense. But I wouldn't interpret “no throttling” as guaranteed unlimited full-speed data until Maya makes its storefront, Help Center, and terms agree with each other.

Finally, Maya is data-only. You don't receive a local number, although you can keep your regular SIM active for calls and SMS and use apps such as WhatsApp, FaceTime and Google Meet through Maya's data connection.

Maya Mobile: Customer support

Maya offers 24/7 WhatsApp support, alongside an online support-request system. That's particularly useful for an eSIM because connectivity problems have a habit of appearing after you've already landed in another time zone.

The refund rules are fairly straightforward too.

If you haven't consumed any data, you can request a refund within 30 days, although payment-processing fees may be deducted. The same applies if you discover that your phone is carrier-locked or incompatible.

If an activated plan is completely unusable because of a problem on Maya's side, it says you'll qualify for a full refund if support cannot resolve the issue within 10 days of the refund request.

Partial refunds are also possible for qualifying network problems affecting only part of an activated plan. Approved card refunds can take up to 30 business days to appear.

Is Maya Mobile worth it?

There are two very different ways to look at Maya Mobile.

If you're constantly travelling between countries, I really like the concept. Install one eSIM, leave it on your phone, buy a plan whenever you travel, and forget about hunting for another provider each time.

But if I'm spending 10 days in just Singapore, I'd want to compare Maya with an eSIM that gives me access to the network with the strongest coverage where I'm actually going.

That's where Maya's simplicity starts becoming its limitation.

You don't choose your data allowance. You don't choose an exact validity period. You don't choose between a cheaper Singapore-only package and a more expensive regional one. Everyone essentially gets the same global product.

So, before buying, I'd do two things. Check which network Maya uses in your destination and see whether one of its four validity periods actually matches your trip.

If both work for you, Maya becomes a very convenient travel eSIM.

If they don't, having coverage in another 164 countries isn't going to help much.

Maya Mobile: FAQs

It can't have escaped your attention that RAM prices are through the roof right now, but there are still deals to be found. Case in point, 32GB of Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 RAM is on sale at Newegg, and if you apply a special coupon code, you can get an additional saving.

• Best for: PC gamers, content creators, and enthusiasts looking to upgrade a compatible Intel DDR5 desktop with faster dual-channel memory.

• The deal: 32GB of Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 RAM is $475 (was $638) at Newegg with code FTTF8289.

• Why it matters: You get a substantial reduction on a memory kit that combines high-speed DDR5 operation with customizable RGB lighting and software-based performance controls.

Why we recommend it

32GB of Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 RAM includes two 16GB modules running at 6000MT/s, with CL36 latency and 36-44-44-96 timings. Operating at 1.35V, the kit is designed for DDR5-compatible Intel systems, including motherboards based on the Intel 600 and 700 series chipsets.

Intel XMP 3.0 support makes it easier to apply the kit's rated memory settings via a compatible motherboard's BIOS. Corsair also supports custom XMP profiles via its iCUE software. Each module has ten individually addressable LEDs beneath a panoramic light bar.

Price context & historical value

The Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 kit was listed at $637.99 at Newegg before getting cut to $479.99, a reduction of $158. Using coupon code FTTF8289 reduces the cost by another $5, giving you a checkout price of $474.99. That represents a total saving of $163, or approximately 25.5%, against the original price. Fair in the current landscape, but it remains a lot higher than last year, before the memory crisis kicked in.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Corsair Vengeance RGB if...

You're looking to upgrade an Intel-based desktop and need a 32GB DDR5-6000 kit with RGB lighting and software-based customization. The price is far from the cheapest it's ever been, but in 2026 any saving is welcome.

❌ Skip the Corsair Vengeance RGB if...

You're building a budget PC or don't need RGB lighting. A less expensive DDR5 kit without illuminated heatspreaders could provide similar capacity and speed for less money.

• Shop all desktop memory at Newegg

• The Oppo Find X10 and X10 Pro Max are launching globally on October 21
• The Find X10 Pro Max, in particular, sounds extremely high-end and has three 200MP cameras
• However, recent price leaks also suggest these phones will be substantially more expensive than their predecessors

The iPhone 18 Pro line, Samsung Galaxy S26 series, and Google Pixel 11 family have all launched, but that doesn’t mean we’re done with flagship phones in 2026, as the Oppo Find X10 range is still to come, and we now know the global release date.

Oppo has posted on X that these phones will get a global launch on October 21 in Mallorca, Spain. These phones have already landed in China, so we know exactly what specs to expect, but from October 21, you’ll be able to order them elsewhere, including in the UK, where you can already put down a deposit for the Oppo Find X10 and Oppo Find X10 Pro Max on the brand’s site, and presumably Australia, given that the global launch is being prominently advertised on Oppo’s Australian page.

It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to buy them directly from Oppo in the US, since the brand doesn’t have much presence there, but you may be able to secure them through third-party importers.

And you might well want to, because these sound like impressive phones. The Oppo Find X10 Pro Max has an unprecedented three 200MP cameras — one wide, one ultra-wide, and one telephoto with 3x optical zoom. It also has a 50MP front-facing camera, a top-end MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro chipset, up to 16GB of RAM (though possibly topping out at 12GB for the global model), a 6.78-inch 144Hz AMOLED screen, and an 8,000mAh battery, with 80W wired charging and 50W wireless.

The standard Oppo Find X10 is slightly less exciting, but it still sounds like a highly capable phone, with two 200MP cameras and a 50MP one on the back, a 50MP one on the front, a high-end MediaTek Dimensity 9600M chipset, either 12GB or 16GB of RAM, a 6.59-inch 144Hz AMOLED screen, and the same battery and charging specs as its Pro Max sibling.

Pricey prospects

But all that tech might come at a high cost, because a recent leak from YTechB (via GSMArena) has pointed to some frankly shocking prices.

The Oppo Find X10 will apparently start at €1,399 (roughly $1,565 / £1,185 / AU$2,250), which will get you 256GB of storage, with the 512GB model apparently costing €1,599 (around $1,790 / £1,355 / AU$2,570).

The Oppo Find X10 Pro Max is the real bank-breaker, though, with this device said to come in a single configuration with 512GB of storage for €1,799 (approximately $2,010 / £1,525 / AU$2,895).

Now, we wouldn’t put too much stock in those conversions, but for reference, the Oppo Find X9 launched for €999 in Europe and came with 512GB of storage. So if this leak is right, the Oppo Find X10 will have a €400 higher starting price and get you half the storage — for the same configuration, you’ll be paying €600 more, amounting to a 60% price increase.

There wasn’t an Oppo Find X9 Pro Max, but the Oppo Find X9 Pro — again with 512GB of storage — cost €1,299, so the Find X10 Pro Max is reportedly €500 (or 38%) more.

This, then, is a massive rumored price increase, and assuming there’s the same increase elsewhere, the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max could cost even more than the iPhone 18 Pro Max, which, even with its tempting 200MP triple-lens camera, could make it a tough sell.

We’ll find out for sure on October 21, but in the meantime, if you’re in the UK, you might want to consider putting a deposit down for one of these phones, as that at least nets you a £150 or £200 discount for the Find X10 and Find X10 Pro Max, respectively.

• Attackers hijacked three country-code domains to obtain fraudulent HTTPS certificates for major websites
• Fake certificates could enable convincing traffic interception and phishing against affected domains
• Google revoked the certificates, protected Chrome users, and warned impacted organizations

Cybercriminals recently managed to hijack three country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) and used the access to generate HTTPS certificates covering several Google domains, as well as those belonging to other organizations. Google said the attack placed thousands of websites at risk, but stressed that the certificates have since been revoked.

According to Google, the domains that were hijacked are .gh (Ghana), .sl (Sierra Leone), and .as (American Samoa). During the attacks, the threat actors modified authoritative DNS records, obtaining HTTPS certificates covering not just Google, but other organizations, too.

In other words, any website operating on these domains was at risk, as well as all of the visitors. By manipulating authoritative DNS records, threat actors could redirect traffic away from legitimate websites and towards malicious ones under their control, all the while telling users they were visiting the legitimate one by showing the padlock icon. Visitors entering login credentials, payment information, or other data, would easily lose them to the attackers, and depending on the circumstances, they could also end up installing malware.

“Due to the nature of the attacks, we have no reason to believe the Certification Authorities (CAs) that issued the impacted certificates did anything wrong,” Google said.

Affecting major brands

Although Google blocked the unauthorized certificates in Chrome and worked to have them revoked, it warned that its interventions might not have identified every affected domain or protected users of other browsers.

“As part of our usual incident response process, we immediately acted to protect users by blocking the use of unauthorized certificates for Google properties in Chrome via CRLSets,” Google added. “We also worked with the issuing CAs to ensure the certificates were revoked to protect users in clients other than Chrome.”

The risk for websites wasn’t theoretical. Google said “several leading global brands and widely used online services” were impacted by these attacks, and stressed that all of the certificates used in these attacks were blocked.

“Where possible, we reached out to impacted organizations to alert them to our findings and actions,” Google concluded. The company did not say which of its own domains were affected, and did not want to name the victim companies. We also don’t know how many organizations were impacted.

Chrome users don’t need to take any action to be protected, it was said, but domain owners do have a thing or two to do. That includes performing ongoing monitoring of Certificate Transparency for all of the domains, and publishing restrictive CAA records with ACME account bindings.

Not the first rodeo

Attacks like this have happened before - in 2011, cybercriminals compromised Dutch Certificate Authority DigiNotar, generating 531 fraudulent certificates for domains belonging to Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Skype, and more. Some of these certificates were allegedly used to intercept encrypted communications of Iranian internet users, and the incident ultimately forced major browser vendors to withdraw their trust in DigiNotar, putting the company out of business.

Earlier that year, threat actors stole an account belonging to a registration authority partnered with Comodo, obtaining nine fraudulent certificates for domains operated by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Something similar happened in 2015, when Google discovered that Symantec's Thawte-branded Certificate Authority had improperly issued an unauthorized certificate during internal testing, covering Google's domains.

This incident, however, was more of an internal failure and less of an attack. Subsequent investigations uncovered numerous additional misissued certificates.

“In parallel with domain-owner defenses, we will continue to work alongside the broader community to limit the impact of transient routing and DNS compromises on the safety of the web,” Google concluded. “To keep our users safe, we are committed to long-term HTTPS ecosystem improvements, such as reducing certificate validity and DCV reuse, through the Chrome Root Program and the new Chrome Quantum-resistant Root Program.”

Via Ars Technica