Nvidia made waves earlier this year when it announced the Nvidia RTX Spark, a new ARM-based SoC for small form factor PCs and laptops, and no one should be more concerned than Apple.

The Cupertino tech giant has enjoyed a very strong position when it comes to laptop sales for a while now thanks to its own ARM-based silicon, the Apple M-series.

With the refreshed Mac mini now on sale with the new Apple M6 chip, there’s going to be a lot of interest from creatives and developers around these two platforms, so I’m here to break down everything you need to know about the Nvidia RTX Spark vs Apple M6.

NVIDIA RTX SPARK VS APPLE M6: PRICE & AVAILABILITY

Neither SoC from either company is available on its own, so how much you pay will be entirely dependent on the PC or laptop it comes in, with things like memory and storage upgrades playing an outsized role in the final price.

The Apple M6 is only available in the new Mac mini (2026) for now, and it starts at $899/£899/AU$1,449 for the 16GB/256GB model. Adding more memory and storage will cost you extra, with the highest-spec M6 Mac mini featuring 24GB of unified memory for an extra $200/£200/AU$300, and an upgrade to 32GB for an extra $380/£400/AU$600.

Upgrading to 512GB SSD storage will add $200/£200/AU$300 to the price, while 1TB and 2TB will add $500/£500/AU$750 and $1,000/£1,000/AU$1,500 to the price, respectively.

Meanwhile, Nvidia is relying on its third-party partners to produce the PCs and laptops that will feature the Nvidia RTX Spark, so the prices will vary greatly among manufacturers, as well as which RTX Spark N1X core configuration is used (there will be an 18 CPU-core/5,120 CUDA-core entry configuration, and a more powerful 20 CPU-core/6,144 CUDA-core configuration).

While many units have been announced from Dell, Acer, and others, there's been no firm pricing yet, and much like the Mac mini, the amount of RAM the PC or laptop is configured with is going to have a major impact on its price. The first Nvidia RTX Spark devices are expected to go on sale in October, and some early indicators put the starting price of RTX Spark laptops and mini PCs at around $2,000/£2,000/AU$3,000.

• Advantage: Apple M6

NVIDIA RTX SPARK VS APPLE M6: SPECS

Fortunately, when it comes to specs, we know just about everything between these two SoCs, so we can do a proper side-by-side comparison of the Nvidia RTX Spark vs Apple M6.

As you can see above, Nvidia RTX Spark has a lot of hardware advantages versus the Apple M6. With nearly twice as many CPU cores on the premium configuration, almost four times the maximum memory headroom, and larger memory bandwidth, the Nvidia RTX Spark chips start out well ahead of the Apple M6 when it comes to specs—and that’s before we discuss the RTX Blackwell GPU.

Apple does have an advantage when it comes to maximum clock frequency, however, running nearly 800MHz faster than the best Nvidia chip. Will it be enough though? That remains to be seen.

• Advantage: Nvidia RTX Spark

NVIDIA RTX SPARK VS APPLE M6: PERFORMANCE

So far, I’ve only been able to benchmark the Apple M6 myself, as the new Mac mini went on sale on September 22, so there’s not a whole lot I can say definitively about the Nvidia RTX Spark vs Apple M6 when it comes to performance, but we’re not entirely in the dark here.

The RTX Spark N1X is essentially the Nvidia DGX Spark SoC, though it is running at a lower wattage for laptops (45W to 80W TDP, roughly, compared to the desktop DGX Spark’s 140W TDP). For RTX Spark desktops and mini PCs, I expect the TDP for the N1X to come close to or match the GDX’s 140W TDP.

Since we do know a lot about the performance of the GDX Spark across various workloads, we can expect the RTX Spark N1X to perform similarly, at least in small form factor PCs. What’s more, we also have some leaked benchmarks for the two RTX Spark N1X SKUs from Geekbench 7.

Note: RTX Spark N1X 3DMark scores estimated from RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti laptop GPU benchmark results

As you can see, the Nvidia RTX Spark chips handle themselves very well against the Apple M6 in terms of GPU performance, though I need to caveat those results since they are approximations based on the listed core counts for the two SoCs’ GPUs. We don’t have benchmarks for these chips yet in 3DMark, but the GPU is built on the same architecture as Nvidia RTX 50 series laptop GPUs, and so we can ballpark where the N1X’s GPU is likely to end up given the number of CUDA cores they have available.

It’s also worth noting that the Nvidia RTX Spark’s multi-core performance definitely benefits from the increased core count over the Apple M6. However, the Apple M6 has a substantially better single-core performance, clocking in about 56% faster than the premium 20-core Nvidia chip.

This is going to translate to substantially better in-app performance for things like Adobe Photoshop and will help with agentic AI when an agent is processing a prompt or reasoning out a response, as these are inherently single-core dependent.

However, agentic AIs rarely work alone without some assistance from sub-agents, sandboxes, and other concurrently operating tools, which is where the multi-core performance of the Nvidia RTX Spark will definitely come in handy.

Of course, it also goes without saying that Nvidia’s distinct advantage over Apple when it comes to AI hardware thanks to native CUDA processing can’t be understated. Apple’s M6 might perform very well, but it will not be able to keep up with an Nvidia GPU that has up to 128GB of available memory.

And for gaming, well, Apple has really struggled to break Window’s stranglehold on PC gaming, and the Apple M6 doesn’t change that in the slightest, giving the Nvidia RTX Spark the edge there almost by default.

• Advantage: Nvidia RTX Spark

NVIDIA RTX SPARK VS APPLE M6: EARLY VERDICT

It remains to be seen how well the two Nvidia RTX Spark chips fare in real world testing, but early signs are very promising for Nvidia’s first SoC for the consumer market.

Apple isn’t out for the count just yet, either, and it will still hold the edge on price since the Nvidia RTX Spark is going to need a lot of very expensive RAM to process those 170B parameter models.

If you’re a more mainstream user who is just looking for a great PC for productivity, school work, and the like, the Apple M6 is the platform to go for.

Nvidia’s RTX Spark appears to be far more of a professional product with some gaming bolted onto the side, and it will surely have a price to match, so you only really need to consider the Nvidia RTX Spark if you can tell the difference between inference and model training. If you have to look those terms up, the RTX Spark isn’t really for you, but if those two are exactly what you plan on doing with your next device, you really can’t do any better than the Nvidia RTX Spark - as long as devices that include it are reasonably priced.

There's meta, and then there's Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.

We've been following awkward comic book owner Stuart (Kevin Sussman), who accidentally triggered a multiverse Armageddon after breaking a device supposedly built by Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Leonard (Johnny Galecki).

Did we see the latter two appear in any of season 1's 10 episodes? No. Does the fact that many of The Big Bang Theory cameos and a season 2 renewal mean we should hold out hope for the future? Absolutely.

However, absolutely nothing is guaranteed in this HBO Max show. Given that the core concept shifts between universes, creators Chuck Lorre, Zak Penn, and Bill Prady could come up with literally anything they wanted, and it makes canonical sense.

This leaves us with the biggest TV guessing game of all, so let's try and work out what Stuart Fails to Save the Universe season 2 will look like together.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe season 2 release window predictions

We've currently got no idea when season 2 could start production or be released, but we do know that episodes are pretty quick to film. If you think of production in sitcom format, episodes could be turned around as soon as six months' time.

However, my best guess would be that we'll likely see new episodes in summer 2027. Chuck Lorre is a busy man with a lot of plates spinning, after all.

“We’re delighted with how this hilarious, genre-bending show from Chuck, Zak, and Bill has connected with the audience, both devotees of The Big Bang Theory and new fans alike,” Amy Gravitt, Head of HBO & HBO Max Comedy Series, said when the renewal was announced in August.

“Along with everyone else, we can’t wait to see the worlds they conjure for these beloved characters next season.”

Writing has begun for new episodes, though, so stay tuned.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe season 2 trailer: is there one?

Don't be silly. It took us until the end of June 2026 to get one for season 1, so expect the first full trailer to arrive around two weeks before the second season does.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe season 2 cast

We can expect the below awesome foursome to return for Stuart Fails to Save the Universe season 2:

• Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom
• Lauren Lapkus as Denise
• Brian Posehn as Bert Kibbler
• John Ross Bowie as Barry Kripke

Obviously, season 1 had a lot of surprise cameos, meaning any of the below could also be eligible to return in an unspecified alternate form:

• Kunal Nayyar as Alternate Raj
• Wil Wheaton as Alternate Wil Wheaton
• Mayim Bialik as Alternate Amy Farrah Fowler
• Kaley Cuoco as Alternate Penny
• Melissa Rauch as Alternate Bernadette
• Christine Baranski as Herself
• Riki Lindhome as Ramona Nowitzki

We can also expect new cast members to be announced, though we likely won't find out who until closer to the show's release... and given how many surprises there were in season 1, possibly not even until episodes air.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe season 2 plot predictions

For once in my life, I've got no idea what to put here. Obviously, the core concept of Stuart, Denise, Kripke, and Bert landing in a different universe in each episode will stay firm, but what that will look like is anybody's guess at this stage.

While writing for new episodes is underway, there's still no big master plan for the future. "It would be great if I had the big picture," Lorre told TechRadar shortly before season 1 was released. "Wouldn't that be swell? I don't. There's no big picture. This is just chasing what seems to be fun to do... the big picture would require a bigger person."

Penn added, "We purposefully wrote ourselves into corners. We like doing that and then saying, 'How are we going to get out of this?' That was definitely part of the design of how the team writes and how they wanted to approach it. It makes it more fun not really knowing where we were going to be and how we were going to get there.

"Eventually, we figured some stuff out and came up with an ending. But [the show] was never designed to be 'Oh, we know where all of this is going.'"

For now, I'm continuing on with the perhaps-delusional belief that I could find myself in the season 2 writers' room within a matter of months. So, I pitched the team two ideas for future storylines.

The first is addressing the really big picture: use Stuart Fails to Save the Universe to address the existing problem of George Cooper being dead, and bring him back to life through an alternate universe. That way, Young Sheldon fans get the ending they really wanted.

"We'll definitely keep your ideas in mind," Penn says. "There are an infinite number of universes within this universe, so the universe that you're looking for is going to exist by definition. Whether it makes it to TV is another question."

So far, so good. But I hammer this home with another idea: explore the episode 2 universe that reveals film and TV's Christine Baranski is an AI overlord.

Bill Prady responds, "We'll have to see how the rebellion goes and what happens afterwards. What do they do to her afterwards?"

"She'd be tried," Lorre agrees. "Well, there we go — there's something we can do if we get a second season."

It's that time of year again — and the world's best streaming services are up to their usual tricks.

Indeed, with fall (or spring, if you live south of the equator) upon us once more, the entertainment giants of the world are ready to demand more of your hard-earned money by jacking up the prices of their various streaming-platform plans.

So far, four of the world's leading streamers have passed increased costs onto consumers, with three doing so in the US — and they're only getting more brazen with when they announce these price hikes and how much they're now charging.

Just look at Apple TV raising its monthly and annual fees by $2 and $20 respectively in late August. Then there's the 2026 Disney+ and Hulu price rise, which came into effect a whole month earlier (September 23) than in 2025 (October 21), and now asks new and returning users to pay an extra $0.50 to $3 per month for the plan they want to sign up for. And don't get me started on Netflix's recent UK price hike, which saw its cheap, ads-based plan rise by an eye-watering 34%...

Admittedly, Disney has frozen the price on three of its streaming bundles, including its cheapest ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu bundle. While that's worth applauding, especially for those on a budget, it's scant consolation for anyone subscribed to one of the House of Mouse's more expensive, ad-free, standalone plans or bundles.

Those higher fees will be an even more bitter pill to swallow amid Disney's claims that they're necessary to improve the user experience on their streaming platforms. Try telling that to Disney+'s worldwide user base, which was left fuming over reports — ones that have since been proved false — that Disney+ would soon show ads on its ad-free plans, and UK and European users after they temporarily lost 4K and HDR support on Disney+ in late July.

Netflix, Disney, and Apple are far from the only culprits, mind you.

Rival streamers including Prime Video and HBO Max have also bumped up the price of their plans in recent years. At the time of this article's publication, there's no word on when they or other subscription video on demand (SVOD) platforms will announce their latest — and inevitable — annual price increases. Mark my words, though: it's coming.

Predictably, all of this begs an obvious question: how long will we continue to put up with these now-yearly price hikes?

If you listen to some users on myriad social media platforms, the straw has already broken the camel's back. Dive into any Reddit thread, or search for terms like 'Netflix price hike' on X/Twitter or the ResetEra forums, and you'll find numerous examples of people who have already voted with their bank cards and canceled their subscriptions.

Unfortunately, the number of users who have closed their accounts is a mere drop in the ocean for the globe's entertainment titans. With a reported 260 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix simply doesn't care if a handful of paying patrons walk away because it doesn't even dent their bottom line.

That said, the tide may be turning. Per Yahoo Finance, Netflix's stock has recently taken an almighty beating. The reason? A change in viewing habits that's seen people flock to YouTube and TikTok to watch more short-form video content. Add to the mix the constant cancellation of fan-favorite shows, less unmissable content worth streaming, and certain features being locked behind expensive tiers, and why would people pay for Netflix, Disney+, and company when they can get visual content for free elsewhere?

Is that enough to make the world's leading streamers sit up and take notice? Probably not. In my view, the only way Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, or any other SVOD service will listen is if tens of millions of users suddenly and collectively ended their subscriptions — and, frankly, that's almost never going to happen.

However, if people really want a sea change in the industry from a subscription cost standpoint, a major user revolution is required. Until we collectively say "enough is enough" and hit these companies where it hurts (i.e., their income streams), the streaming service spending scam will continue — and the price hike bubble will never, ever burst.

Normally we get to this time of year and the typical advice is to hold fire on any potential tech purchases. This is because Black Friday is just a couple of months away, and so it always seems prudent to think about being patient, and the bargain you might just secure in the biggest tech sale of the year.

Not this year, though, when it comes to GPUs – at least in my opinion.

During Black Friday 2025, we did see some decent deals on graphics cards. Not many, mind, but there was a scattering of them. I've noticed on Reddit that there are some gamers who have found a GPU with a decent price tag, but they're wondering whether to hold off and wait for something better on Black Friday. They are perhaps remembering some of the discounts that happened last year (thin on the ground as they were).

For example, this US-based Redditor asks: "Buy an open box [Nvidia RTX] 5070 now or wait until Black Friday?" They add: "I see a few open box deals for $745. What do people think about snagging this now at such an inflated price, or waiting until Black Friday to try and snag under $700?"

If you're in a similar quandary, my advice is this: absolutely do not wait for Black Friday. Just buy that graphics card now.

Let's break down the reasons why this isn't a 'waiters' market (by which I mean those biding their time, not the lovely people who serve us food and drinks).

Reasons to be fearful

For starters, as a legion of cynical Redditors are quick to point out, Black Friday isn't the best for graphics card deals anyway – it has never been the strongest suit for this sale in terms of PC components.

As noted, there have been bargains in the past though. Despite those Redditors who insist that GPUs just have their prices quietly upped in October so they can be artificially 'discounted' for Black Friday, there are actually some genuinely decent deals – or there have been.

However, things have just gone crazy this year, and as the second half of 2026 has rolled around, the RAM crisis has reached another tiring peak of frenzied hiking.

There were more rumors of imminent GPU hikes just a couple of weeks ago (following last month's negative chatter), and at retailers in the US we've already seen graphics card prices rising considerably over the past month. Compounding this are even more negative predictions about the memory shortage in general – which inevitably affects video RAM as well as system memory – and DDR5 prices which are spiking in a ridiculous manner right now. So you've got a recipe for a tumultuous rest of the year.

In short, I can't see 2026 panning out any other way than seeing more GPU price increases – so why wouldn't you buy now? At least from the perspective of whether Black Friday might somehow bring some bargains around – it surely won't.

I'm pretty convinced of that, and there are nuances here in terms of what kind of graphics card you're looking to buy. I'm talking about mainstream GPUs, the mid-range or lower tiers of the market, and not the higher-end graphics cards.

The beefiest GPUs like Nvidia's RTX 5080 (don't even mention the RTX 5090) are already exceptionally pricey, and while I don't think they'll get any cheaper – and indeed I reckon they'll probably still creep up in price – the cost of those products is already a very bitter pill to swallow.

I don't blame you if you don't want to pay out that much cash for a graphics card, because over $1,500 for an RTX 5080 (in the US) is a pricing nightmare. But you'll have to accept that you'll likely be in for a long wait for better prices, maybe not until 2028. A compromise might be to buy a card like an RTX 5070 to tide you over, or maybe an AMD RX 9070 XT (it's a touch less expensive in the US at the time of writing), then sell that second-hand later on when the RTX 5080 comes down.

The trouble is, there are no good options here... not for the pricier GPUs anyway.

Red Friday

I think that this year, Black Friday should be renamed Red Friday for its Herring-like nature, at least when it comes to graphics cards. Don't be swayed by the temptation of waiting for a deal, and if you see a reasonable price on the GPU you're considering, grab it now.

A $750 (open box) deal on an RTX 5070, the dilemma of the aforementioned Redditor, seems a sound enough proposition, even though that's a depressing reality considering this GPU was still going for around $650 just two months ago – because you're now looking at $850 or so (going by Newegg US pricing).

You can pick up an RTX 5060 Ti 8GB for only 10% more than this GPU was priced at in June (again, going by Newegg US), and I think there's an even stronger case to snag something like this if you're looking at the more affordable end of the market.

Obviously, do your own research based on the regional pricing for the GPU you're thinking about, but whatever the case, I'd still urge you not to be fooled into waiting for Black Friday, as I really think that'd be a mistake.

For me, there's nowhere else on Earth as magical as Scotland. With family up north, I've been visiting for years, and even spent my honeymoon driving through the beautiful Highlands in the depths of winter. Now that's love. If you're anything like me, your heart aches like an old romantic when you're stuck at your desk about as far away from the likes of Glen Coe as imaginable. So, for that reason, I've selected 12 Scottish-inspired desk accessories that help bring the Highland to your home office, including plenty of Harris Tweed and gear handcrafted in Scotland. And Nessie, of course. Because how could I leave her out?

Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days event may be less than two weeks away, but Best Buy is getting a small head start with a surprise flash sale this weekend. While it's not as big as what we expect in October, some early bargains are worth checking out. I've rounded up 18 of the best right here, including up to 50% off TVs, laptops, appliances, headphones, and more.

• Browse the full Best Buy flash sale

As we've come to expect from Best Buy, especially as the new NFL season starts, top TV deals are up for grabs. The clear highlight is this LG C6 65-inch OLED TV for $1,599 (was $2,699). That's a whopping $1,100 saving on one of the best TVs you can buy today that we awarded the maximum five stars in our review.

All of the offers below are only available until the end of the day on Sunday, so it really is a flash sale. Check out all of the biggest savings in each category and all of my top picks below.

Best Buy weekend sale — quick links

• Apple: up to $500 off MacBooks & iPhone
• Appliances: up to 35% off
• Cameras: up to $500 off Sony, DJI & Canon
• Gaming: PS5 & Switch games from $19.99
• Headphones: Apple, Sony & JBL from $14.99
• Kitchen: up to 50% off Ninja & Bella
• Laptops: from $179
• Phones: up to $1,200 off iPhone & Samsung
• Smart home: up to 65% off Ring & Blink
• Smartwatches: Samsung & Apple from $199
• Speakers: up to $450 off Sonos & JBL
• Tablets: up to $200 off iPad & Samsung
• Toys: up to 50% off Lego & Magic
• TVs: from $79.99
• Vacuums: up to $250 off Dyson & Shark

My top 18 deals at Best Buy's flash sale

• Watch Slovenia vs Scotland free on BBC One (UK)
• Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save up to 75%)
• Kick-off: Sat, Sep 26, 9am ET / 2pm BST

It's a new era for Scotland after the exit of Steve Clarke post-World Cup, with Sebastien Pocognoli set to take charge of his first match as Scotland boss here in the Nations League. The Belgian coach has already made it clear that he wants his players to be ambitious, and has given plenty of them a clean slate moving forward.

With a recall for Hull City striker Oli McBurnie after five years away from the national team, and seven uncapped players making the cut for Pocognoli's first squad, it's clear that things will be very different to the previous regime.

For Slovenia, the return from injury for Benjamin Sesko will be a huge boost, with the Manchester United man already bagging at club level since his comeback. Meanwhile, Jan Oblak will be the one looking to stop McBurnie and co. in the Slovenia goal.

Here's how to watch Slovenia vs Scotland from anywhere in the world.

Can you watch Slovenia vs Scotland for free?

Yes. Slovenia vs Scotland will air for free on BBC One and BBC Scotland in the UK, with on-demand coverage also on the free-to-use streaming service BBC iPlayer.

Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch Slovenia vs Scotland for free as if you were right at home.

Use a VPN to watch Slovenia vs Scotland live streams

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 Slovenia vs Scotland live streams in the USA

Soccer fans in the US can watch Slovenia vs Scotland on Fox Sports 2 and Fox One.

Fox One cost $19.99/month and will carry a host of the Nations League matches, including this opener for Scotland.

Visiting the US from the UK? Use a VPN to unblock BBC iPlayer and stream Slovenia vs Scotland for free.

How to watch Slovenia vs Scotland live streams in the UK

In the UK, you can watch Slovenia vs Scotland on BBC One and BBC Scotland.

BBC iPlayer will simulcast live coverage at the same time. All you need is a valid TV Licence and a UK postcode for an account.

On holiday? Explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

How to watch Slovenia vs Scotland live streams in Canada

In Canada, DAZN will show Slovenia vs Scotland.

You'll need DAZN's soccer package, which starts at CA$24.99/month.

Not in Canada? Use NordVPN if you're away from home, in order to tap into your usual Slovenia vs Scotland coverage from anywhere.

How to watch Slovenia vs Scotland live streams in Australia

beIN Sports are showing Slovenia vs Scotland in Australia with subscriptions starting at $16.99/month.

Right now you can get a 7-day free trial.

Missing the game? Use a VPN to log in to your beIN Sports account.

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.

September brought with it an avalanche of new tech. Between Apple's Surprise and shine, Meta Connect, IFA and Dyson Unveiled, we were inundated with gadget announcements. If you've managed to keep up with it all, well done to you. But for anyone seeking a recap, you've come to the right place.

Below, I've rounded up all the hottest gadget announcements from September, ready for you to browse. You'll find the most exciting of the Apple announcements, headed up by the brand's long-awaited first foldable phone. There's also Meta's camera-free smart specs, which may or may not have been created in response to the unwelcome 'pervert specs' moniker that's been circulating of late. Dyson's first ever toothbrush is there, too, in all it's wildly over-engineered glory. And that's just the start of it.

For the products that pique your interest, you can hit the View details button for a summary of each one, plus links to our news articles where you can learn more.

September gadget guide

Is it just me or are warnings that the AI bubble could burst soon getting even harder to ignore?

Over the past few years, investors have pumped extraordinary amounts of money into AI companies because they've been betting that the technology will eventually generate equally extraordinary returns.

However, there are now growing questions about whether those returns will arrive quickly enough (or ever) to justify all of that spending. For example, The Financial Times recently reported that OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, expects almost $280 billion in negative free cash flow through 2030.

That’s at the heart of what people mean when they talk about an "AI bubble". The argument is that investment, spending and some company valuations have whizzed way ahead of what the technology can actually earn right now.

This means that if investor confidence starts dropping, investment could dry up. Then AI companies could fail and the industry could be forced to spend much, much less.

However, a bubble bursting doesn't mean AI just disappears. But it does mean the way AI is funded and how it feels for us to use could change dramatically.

And that's where things get interesting for the millions of people who aren't investing in AI companies or building data centers, but simply use and rely on ChatGPT every day. So, if the AI bubble really does burst, what actually happens to ChatGPT — and to the people who use it?

1. You'll see way more ads

This is our most concrete prediction and it’s already begun.

OpenAI says ChatGPT Ads reached a $1bn annualized revenue run rate in less than 200 days and now describes advertising as a key part of its business model.

Which is why it makes a lot sense that less funding would give OpenAI a clear incentive to generate more revenue from its enormous user base.

But ChatGPT could also try much harder to sell users things beyond ads. Think about it, people are already relying on chatbots to research products, plan holidays, choose software and make all sorts of buying decisions. That might mean referrals, sponsored experiences and even more integrated shopping.

2. The best things will increasingly cost you

One obvious possibility is higher subscription prices for the people and businesses who already pay for ChatGPT. But OpenAI could also try to convert more of its free users into paying users by putting more of its best features behind a subscription.

That might mean reserving the most capable models, agents, advanced research tools, integrations and the newest features all for paying users. Some of those could even be reserved for its most expensive tiers.

So rather than ChatGPT suddenly becoming much more expensive for everyone, you might increasingly find that the version you really want to use is the version you have to pay for.

3. Free ChatGPT gets stingier

Even the features that do remain free could become much more restricted. So instead of moving something behind that paid subscription entirely, OpenAI could simply give free users much less of it.

That might mean fewer messages with its more powerful models, smaller image and video generation allowances, more queues or tighter limits on other compute-heavy features.

These are things OpenAI might cut back on if funding becomes scarcer and there’s greater pressure to reduce the cost of serving its enormous free user base. All of this means that the free version of ChatGPT could still be useful but you might find yourself hitting its limits much more often.

4. Fewer moonshots and more boring monetization

During the boom, things have felt exciting. As if OpenAI has been constantly pushing the boundaries of what AI can do because the people working there have had seemingly limitless money and freedom.

But if the bubble bursts, it would make sense that product teams could face much greater pressure to focus less on the fun, innovative stuff and more on the new features and developments that’ll make more money. This would make expensive demos, experiments and speculative consumer features harder to justify.

Meanwhile, developments that drive subscriptions, enterprise contracts, advertising and features designed to sell you things would become the priority.

5. ChatGPT doesn't disappear but the industry could get much smaller

It's worth remembering that the dotcom crash didn't kill the internet. But it did wipe out companies and then challenge assumptions about how internet businesses could be funded.

Granted, the comparison here isn't perfect because today's biggest AI spenders include some of the richest and most profitable companies in the world. But an AI crash could do something similar.

Smaller AI companies, apps and startups could fail or be acquired by the bigger players. For ordinary users, that could mean fewer AI tools and options to choose from rather than AI disappearing altogether.

And then there’s all the stuff that’s already been built. Billions have been spent on chips, data centers and trained models. AI has also been embedded into countless products and businesses. So a crash doesn't suddenly undo all of that investment.

ChatGPT itself is also operating at an enormous scale. OpenAI says it now has more than one billion weekly active users. It also has several ways of making money, including subscriptions, advertising, enterprise customers and its API.

So this means that even if investors decide the AI boom has raced too far ahead of the money it can actually make, ChatGPT is unlikely to simply disappear. But the broader AI landscape around it could look very different.

A crash might feel surprisingly boring

Financial markets can move extremely quickly and headlines about them can sound very dramatic. But from a regular ChatGPT user's perspective, an AI crash might feel surprisingly gradual and even... boring.

There might not be one big, dramatic moment when everything changes. Instead, you could start noticing little things. You might hit your free limit more often or that cool new feature you want now requires a subscription. You're highly likely to see more ads, especially if you use it to research stuff you want to buy. And a smaller AI app you used shuts down or gets bought by a bigger company.

This could be the weirdest thing about an AI bubble bursting. For all the talk of crashes and trillions of dollars wasted, your experience of it could be quite mundane. ChatGPT would still be a big part of your life if you're a regular user but it would costs more, sell you more and give you way less for free.

This week was Meta Connect, with the social media and now AI-focused tech giant announcing a lot of new tech (mostly smart and VR glasses).

We also tried the new Beats headphones and got our first look at Google’s long-awaited answer to Apple’s MacBook.

To catch up on all of this, and more, scroll down to read the latest edition of our ICYMI roundup.

7. Disney+ hiked it prices

Another month, another streaming price hike. This time, it’s Disney+ and Hulu each getting a price increase in the US, by different amounts depending on the tier.

The good news, however, is that the price of the ad-supported bundle that includes both Disney+ and Hulu isn’t going up, and the same goes for the ad-supported triple bundle that includes those two plus ESPN. Premium bundles that are ad-free are going up, though.

Will the price rise in other territories too? Australia just had one, and there’s no announcement in the UK yet, but other sources say one is coming in October. It feels like there’s just no break from price rises these days…

• Read more: Disney argues it still offers value for money as it freezes the price on three of its streaming bundles

6. A GTA 6 Collection box was announced

This week, Rockstar Games announced the Grand Theft Auto VI: The Goodtime State – Vice City Collection. It costs £349 / $399, comes with exclusive merchandise, and will land on November 19 (the same day as the game's release).

Crucially, you don't get a copy of GTA VI in the bundle. You will, however, get a cute Macca the Gator figure, sunglasses, a crossbody bag, and plenty more goodies.

Only you can decide if it's worth the high asking price, and it certainly could be for a mega fan, though you may want to act fast if you want one, as we imagine GTA VI merch will sell out, especially as launch day approaches.

• Read more: GTA 6 gets a 'Vice City Collection' box set for super-fans

5. Beats launched comfortable headphones

Beats finally announced its next-generation, entirely new over-ear headphones this week. The Beats 360 won't be replacing the Studio Pro – those are now more affordable, though – and they look distinctly different with a thinner, lighter build that is customizable.

Yes, there are four main colors for the Beats 360, but you can also buy 'performance knit' or 'ultra-plush' earcups and swap them out as you please. Since the Beats 360 are sweat- and water-resistant, you can go from a workout to the office by swapping earcups.

Audio quality is strong here too, thanks to a redesigned stack in each earcup, and you can expect over 30 hours of battery life with a listening mode enabled. And, true to other Beats products, a custom chip inside lets these work seamlessly with both iOS and Android.

• Read more: Beats 360 are one of the most comfortable, best-sounding headphones I've ever worn

4. Amazfit dropped a solar-powered smartwatch

In a world where smartwatches share the same features and similar specs, it's always nice to see something innovative. In this instance, it's the Amazfit T-Rex line.

Solar charging isn't new, but this line brings it to an AMOLED watch for the first time with the T-Rex Dual Solar; as the name implies, it can charge from sunlight on both sides.

In normal conditions, the watch packs up to 25 days of battery life, extended up to 35 days in optimal solar conditions, and 41 hours of use in 'accurate GPS mode' which are some impressive stats. Unusually for Amazfit, it's also very expensive, priced at $649.99 in the US. Other regions' pricing is TBC, but that's around £500 / AU$900.

• Read more: Amazfit's new solar-powered AMOLED smartwatch aims to rival Garmin's legendary battery life

3. Google launched a MacBook rival

What do you get when you mix Android with Chrome OS? It’s a question we’ve pondered for years, but only recently did Google confirm it was working on systems featuring a new mashup platform: Googlebooks. The platform? It’s called GooglebooksOS, naturally.

Now, we have the products of that union: systems from Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Dell, and HP. On the outside, they’re indistinguishable from Windows systems, but we opened them all and found a very different platform that somehow mixes Android’s power with the approachability of ChromeOS. This means these systems have a real relationship with the Android phone in your hand, but are also perfectly capable of running apps on the desktop, just like a Mac or PC.

Oh, and these are priced like premium laptops, not Chromebooks.

• Read more: I tried Google's new answer to the MacBook that combines ChromeOS with Android

2. Meta Connect 2026 happened

The annual Meta event kicked off this week, and we got a look at a suite of brand-new Meta AI wearables.

The Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 glasses were announced with slightly better specs than what came before and a higher price tag, though it seems many still see the camera glasses as creepy perv glasses.

Perhaps that’s why we also got Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses. They boast most of the same great tech, but have a longer battery life a more lightweight design and no cameras — so people can’t spy on you with these.

There was also a new Lisa (from BlackPink) collab design, and something very different: the Muse Charm. Essentially an AI Tamagotchi (at least in the design), the Charm lets you interact with your Muse AI agent, though we’ll have to wait and see if this is just another Rabbit R1 or the Humane AI Pin flop.

• Read more: Meta just announced an AI Tamagotchi — this is Muse Charm

1. Meta launched VR Glasses

Meta didn’t just showcase Ray-Ban smart glasses at Connect this year; it also debuted a brand new VR headset — or we should say VR Glasses.

They boast an ultra-slim and lightweight design enabled by a puck that houses not only the battery but also all of the headset’s compute power. In practical terms, this means the headset itself is only around 100g, or one fifth the weight of a Meta Quest 3.

We’ve taken the headset for a whirl and been wildly impressed with the comfort of the design, its dazzling micro-OLED displays, and its overall performance for a respectable $1,299 price tag (other regions pricing TBC).

• Read more: I’ve worn Meta’s VR Glasses and they’re coming to eat the Apple Vision Pro’s lunch

Apple has reportedly taken notice of the popularity of the likes of the Google Fitbit Air and Garmin Cirqa — screenless fitness trackers designed for background activity tracking without smartwatch-style screens or notifications, originally associated with Whoop.

Like the best smart rings, these passive 'set and forget' trackers work in the background to collect fitness and recovery information, which is then pumped into your AI-powered health app of choice to inform future habits.

According to a Bloomberg report and a separate post on MacRumors, Apple has been working on prototypes 'for months', but isn't quite sold on whether to move forward. Apple's senior vice president of services Eddy Cue is mentioned in the reports 'to be pushing for wearables with simpler interfaces, like the screen-free Whoop and Oura Ring'.

Not only do I think it's a good idea — I reviewed a whole bunch of screenless trackers this year, and rated the Cirqa as my favorite in TR's official Garmin Cirqa review — but I also think Apple's been laying the groundwork for a device like this. Here are the features I think an 'Apple Whoop' needs to be competitive — and they've all been introduced to the best Apple watches within the last few years.

1. An Action Button

All screenless fitness trackers offer very few ways for the wearer to actually interact with the hardware. The Whoop uses a haptic sensor on the top of its puck, which you have to tap to stop an alarm or put the device into Bluetooth pairing mode. Unfortunately, every time I've tested the Whoop, I end up repeatedly tapping the top of the device like a nodding bird until the LEDs change color. But when you're actually tracking workouts on most screenless devices, you either start the workout manually in the accompanying app, or just go, and hope the device's automatic activity detection picks it up.

The Garmin Cirqa's tactile button, in combination with its haptics, is much more useful. Press it once, and the device vibrates to signify a workout has started. Press it again, and it vibrates to confirm that the workout has ended. It's that simple. No pausing workouts, as it would defeat the point of capturing a whole holistic representation of what your body's doing during activity and recovery.

Apple has the perfect mechanism for this: the Action button, first introduced on the Apple Watch Ultra in 2022, and since ported over to the iPhone. A screenless Apple fitness tracker could include that little orange button as a straightforward way to stop vibrations or sounds of an alarm, or start and stop workouts like the Garmin Cirqa.

2. A longer battery life than other Apple Watches

Apple has recently taken steps to address perhaps the biggest criticism of Apple Watches: battery life. For a long time, Apple Watches were stuck at 18 hours, until last year's upgrade in battery and efficiency bumped them up to 24 hours. As of 2026, the Apple Watch Ultra 4 now clocks in at 48 hours between charges.

This is for a full-power Apple Watch with GPS workouts, a 3,000-nit brightness liquid retina display, and communications features out the wazoo. I imagine a screenless fitness tracker, which just has the Health Sensing System and related sensors like the gyroscope to run, would last considerably longer — perhaps five days between charges, ideal for a set-and-forget tracker designed to be worn constantly, including overnight.

3. The latest Readiness Score and Vitals improvements

Speaking of which, Apple's already laid the groundwork for advanced recovery tracking with its new Readiness score and improved Vitals apps. Apple's latest Health Sensing System, with a larger surface area for improved skin contact and redesigned electrodes, allows its watches to track overnight heart rate variability much more accurately, and more often, than previous generations — 24 times more often, to be exact.

This allows Apple Watches to deliver an accurate Readiness score, showing on a scale of 1-10 how recovered you are and whether you're ready to expend energy, as well as overhauling the Vitals app. Recovery and overnight health are key components of screenless fitness trackers, as they're designed (as mentioned above) for constant wear, ticking away in the background to monitor expenditure and recovery without other distractions.

A screenless fitness tracker interfacing with Apple Health is crying out for Apple's new Health Sensing System and its accompanying overnight Readiness and recovery features. With it, the Apple fitness band might be able to beat the likes of Whoop, Google and Garmin (all of whom have used Readiness scores for years) at their own game.

Which screenless fitness tracker is the best? Vote in our poll below:

Apple's latest Mac Studio M5 Ultra has arrived - with massive performance, and a massive price tag to go with it. Is it worth it? Well... that all depends. I studied 10 Mac Studio articles in-depth to find the real-world performance gains, and whether the M5 Ultra can ever justify its full cost.

What reviews say

The top-spec Mac Studio is "a small powerhouse PC with strong performance," said Tom's Hardware, with Computerworld calling the machine "a genuine step up," and Tom's Guide dubbing it "the best kind of overkill."

So far, so good. This is machine built for exactly that sort of demanding workload - the kind most people will never, ever need. Think "ultra-powerful video editing workstation," as BGR said.

Or, as Ars Technica noted, local AI that's actually "a lot of fun." MacStories went as far as to call it "a dream machine for local AI agents."

Graphics is a mixed bag, where the Nvidia 5090 GPU "still has an edge over the M5 Ultra," though Apple's machine "outperformed the RTX 5070-based Acer desktop," in benchmarks.

But then comes the bill. And it's a shocker. The M5 Ultra Mac Studio doesn't come cheap.

"Extremely expensive," "god-tier price," "well outside the range of what most people want to spend on a desktop computer," are all common refrains across the reviews.

But, "though incredibly powerful, the leap in performance over the M5 Max-powered Studio can't justify that extra cash, unless you're a hardcore power user," Engadget notes. A sentiment echoed by PCMag, who dubbed it "a high-stakes investment tailored strictly for serious pros ."

In short: You have to need the M5 Ultra Mac Studio - not only want it - for it to be worth that level of cost, which can exceed $18,000 at maximum configuration.

Price

Cost is absolutely the killer here - a confluence of rising component costs and high-end hardware price the base M5 Max configuration at $2,500, while the entry-point M5 Ultra comes in around $5,500.

The jump grows steeper further up the line-up, since moving to 256GB of memory on the Ultra chip adds roughly $4,000 on its own.

A fully maxed-out configuration can reach close to or just over $18,000. It sounds like a lot - and it is. You absolutely need a workload to justify it.

But as CNET said, "its price isn’t out of line by workstation standards, and there’s simply nothing else like the Mac Studio." These machines are, AppleInsider pointed out, "the most powerful Macs ever."

Design & ports

The physical design remains unchanged from earlier generations, keeping the same compact aluminum enclosure and port layout intact that's "easy to place almost anywhere on your desk."

However, the Ultra weighs two pounds more than the Max due to a heavier heatsink cooling system.

This familiar shell now houses Wi-Fi 7, 10Gb Ethernet for high-speed connectivity, and two ultra-fast Thunderbolt 5 connectors up front, delivering "up to a blazing 120 Gbps speeds."

That's a pro, with users able to switch to more powerful hardware "without changing your desk layout or replacing your favorite peripherals."

CPU

The M5 Ultra packs a 36-core CPU with a higher core count than the M3 Ultra, targeting demanding multi-threaded workloads.

In benchmark tests, it was found "the new Mac Studio has single-core performance comparable to its M4 Max-powered predecessor," with performance roughly "the same as the M5 Max version."

Moving to multi-core benchmarking, the M5 Ultra "destroyed the old Mac Studio M3 Ultra." But surprisingly, testing showed "the Ultra’s Geekbench multi-core performance is only around 26 percent faster than the Max."

GPU

Its 80-core GPU provides the graphics engine, with dedicated Neural Accelerators built into the architecture for accelerated AI workloads.

GPU benchmarks proved "impressive," with performance against the older M3 Ultra now around "33 to 66 percent faster."

However, its graphics performance "fell far behind the RTX 5090 system."

Gaming was found to be the Mac Studio's "biggest weakness."

That's not to say it's bad - in some instances, it ran quieter than a 5090 gaming desktop. It can handle modern titles with relative ease, particularly Apple Silicon-optimized games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin's Creed Shadows, both of which "ran smoothly" in tests.

But it "can’t quite match the performance" or true gaming PCs. Ultimately, "discrete GPUs still win" for professionals looking for a workstation that plays games on the side.

AI

Reviewers seem to agree on one thing: the Mac Studio M5 Ultra is built for AI.

The machine "demolished the synthetic Geekbench AI neural engine test". In other tests, it was discovered the "prompt processing speeds are even faster than Nvidia's DGX Spark's" - almost four times higher, in fact.

For heavy AI workloads, "you can’t do better." That's particularly true for those running local models, which were found to be "more responsive" with "incredible performance."

This, then, is a machine for the "AI enthusiast." A "serious powerhouse for top-tier local AI inference."

Who should buy it

Taken as a whole, this all implies that buyers focused on creative workloads like video editing may find the cheaper M5 Max configuration entirely sufficient.

Therefore, only professionals running enormous local AI models, clustering several machines together or doing heavy video work can realistically justify the top-tier Ultra pricing.

Apple has built an undeniably capable device, yet the cost increase feels harder to defend for casual buyers.

Verdict

The good

• Built for AI
• Blazing-fast Thunderbolt 5
• Targets demanding multi-threaded workloads

The bad

• Incredibly expensive at max configuration
• PC GPU beats it on raw rendering and gaming

The verdict

Grab the M5 Ultra if you're running large local AI models or cluster machines where the price is easier to justify. Opt for the M5 Max for general creative workloads. And avoid if gaming is your focus.

Spoilers for MobLand season 2 episode 2 ahead

It's official: the season 2 episode 2 ending is my favorite scene in all of MobLand history so far… and that's not just because Firestarter by The Prodigy is used as its epic soundtrack.

As we get officially acquainted with Kat McAllister's (Janet McTeer) new henchmen Frankie (Johnny Flynn), he makes his first movie on the Harrigan family. Kat has deduced that the best way to get to Harry (Tom Hardy) is through his friendship with Bella (Lara Pulvey), leaving her hugely at risk.

Well, risk is an understatement. In the episode's final scene, Frankie arrives at Kevin (Paddy Considine) and Bella's home and attacks her while Kevin is away. Masked men come tearing into the house, scrapping with the Harrigan's own security before finding Bella cowering at the back of the house.

Episode 2 is left with Frankie pulling a gun on her, but only making the sound "bang" rather than shooting. Is she dead, or alive and a hostage? Only next week will tell.

It's all enough to give us a heart attack while watching, but the episode, now streaming on Paramount+, actually left Flynn himself terrified, he tells me… and for good reason.

'It was my first day on the job'

"That was my first day, so I was terrified," Flynn tells me about the episode 2 scene.

"It's really fun. I always wanted more to do with Lara because we've crossed over in other places and thought it would be fun for these two quite sharp-tongued characters to have more of a showdown. I worked with Lara's husband on a film and it was really nice to get to hang out.

"She was so nice to me on my first day… really put me at ease. I was really terrified, because coming into something like MobLand with these really amazing actors that you admire so much and something with such energy — knowing that you have to provide a lot of energy for that particular character, this kind of agitator. It was intense. Guy's [Ritchie] sets are like machines."

Intense is truly the name of the game when it comes to MobLand, and even two seasons in, the action hasn't let up once. Frankly, Frankie's rough-and-ready introduction is more exciting because of where he could go in the future. If things are already this bad, what on Earth is to come?

He's pretty close to being the third Gallagher brother, that's for sure. "That was that was a thing for me," Flynn adds about Noel and Liam being a reference point.

"There wasn't a lot on the page in terms of what Frankie looked like, so with the with the costume designer [Rebecca Hale], I talked about what he could be in terms of his references being that mid-90s feel. The pageboy cut, the sheepskin jacket… it was a fun thing to lean into because it allowed me to have that swagger."

More "prick on a scooter" vibes in every episode from this point on are needed, if you ask me.

• Premiere: Saturday, September 26
• New episodes: Saturdays and Sundays
• FREE stream: BBC iPlayer (UK)
• Use NordVPN to watch BBC iPlayer from abroad

New presenters, new celebrities, new dancers, same old Strictly as the cosiest competition on TV returns for season 24.

Following the departure of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman at the end of 2025’s outing, speculation was rife over who’d get the most sought after presenting gig on British telly. Following a search in which seemingly every UK TV presenter was invited to audition, it was officially announced back in May the show would be switching to a hosting trio, with presenter Emma Willis, Last Leg comedian Josh Widdicombe and former Strictly dancer Johannes Radebe chosen to front the revamped show.

The judges remain the same, with Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke joining head judge Shirly Ballas, while Craig Revel Horwood returns to soak up the booing. While the usual professional dancers return this year, there’s also a host of new faces on that side of things too, with Aleksandra Isaeva, Cristian Priori, Lethabo Monametsi, Maddie Ingoldsby and Mark Karmalita joining the roster.

Meanwhile, this year's celebrities are an eclectic bunch, with Dani Dyer set to give things another crack after withdrawing prior to last year's competition due to injury, while influencer Cach Mercer joins Dyer in filling this season’s Love Island quota. Also look out for a range of famous faces from stage and screen, including House of the Dragon star Bethany Antonia, Eastenders alum Jamie Wintstone and Lacey Turner, Emmerdale’s Lawrence Robb and Gavin & Stacey’s Gwen, Melanie Walters. TV presenter Will Best is also dancing this year, alongside YouTube star John Nellis, celeb dog trainer Graeme Hall and hairstylist-to-the-stars Chris Appleton. Recent Eurovision star Delta Goodrem, meanwhile, will be hoping to eclipse the competition. Rounding out the class of 2026 are a trio of sports stars, with Paralympian Sarah Storey, Olympian Tabby Stoecker and former footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips all taking to the dancefloor.

It’s set to be another spectacular season in the ballroom, so read on and find out how to watch Strictly Come Dancing 2026 online and from anywhere.

How to watch Strictly Come Dancing 2026 from abroad

For those away from home looking to watch Strictly 2026, you’ll be unable to watch the show as normal if you're outside the UK due to regional restrictions. Luckily, there’s an easy solution.

Downloading a VPN allows you to stream geo-blocked services 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. Our favorite is NordVPN – it's the best VPN on the market right now.

Use a VPN to watch Strictly Come Dancing 2026 from anywhere:

How to watch Strictly Come Dancing season 24 online in the UK

Can I watch Strictly Come Dancing season 24 online in the US?

Strictly Come Dancing doesn't air Stateside, but the US version of the show, Dancing with the Stars, is currently airing on Disney Plus.

Brit abroad in the US? Anyone travelling in the US who wants to watch their usual streaming service from abroad can do so by using a VPN.

Can I watch Strictly Come Dancing season 24 online in Canada?

As with the US, Strictly Come Dancing doesn't air in Canada, but again, Dancing with the Stars can be found on Disney Plus.

British viewer traveling in Canada? Brits away from home who want to watch their usual streaming service can do so using a VPN.

Can I watch Strictly Come Dancing season 24 online in Australia?

Strictly Come Dancing isn't available to stream Down Under, but Aussies can watch their own version of Dancing with the Stars for free on 7Plus.

Brit Down Under? Just use a VPN to alter your IP address so you can stream your favorite TV shows and films online just like you would at home.

All you need to know about Strictly Come Dancing 2026

Below we have all the extra information you'll need on season 24 of Strictly Come Dancing.

Strictly Come Dancing 2026 trailer

Who are the Strictly Come Dancing 2026 contestants?

• Bethany Antonia (Actress)
• Cach Mercer (Influencer)
• Chris Appleton (Celebrity Hair Stylist)
• Dani Dyer (TV Personality)
• Delta Goodrem (Singer & Actress)
• Graeme Hall (Celebrity Dog Trainer)
• Jaime Winstone (Actress)
• John Nellis (YouTube Creator)
• Lacey Turner (Actor)
• Lawrence Robb (Actor)
• Melanie Walters (Actor)
• Dame Sarah Storey (Paralympian)
• Shaun Wright-Phillips (Former Footballer)
• Tabby Stoecker (Team GB Athelete)
• Will Best (TV Presenter)

Who are the Strictly Come Dancing 2026 professional dancers?

• Dianne Buswell
• Julian Caillon
• Amy Dowden
• Katya Jones
• Neil Jones
• Nikita Kuzmin
• Jowita Przystał
• Aljaž Škorjanec
• Alexis Warr
• Kai Widdrington
• Nancy Xu
• Carlos Gu
• Lauren Oakley
• Vito Coppola
• Aleksandra Isaeva
• Cristian Priori
• Lethabo Monametsi
• Maddie Ingoldsby
• Mark Karmalita

Strictly Come Dancing 2026 couples

• Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu
• Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby
• Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden
• Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin
• Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington
• Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley
• Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu
• John Nellis and Katya Jones
• Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola
• Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr
• Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita
• Will Best and Dianne Buswell
• Lawrence Robb and Jowita Przystał
• Melanie Walters and Aljaž Škorjanec
• Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon

Who are the new Strictly Come Dancing 2026 hosts?

Kate Phillips, BBC’s Chief Content Officer says: "Emma, Johannes and Josh’s chemistry is undeniable. There’s been so much speculation and hype, so I’m relieved we can share the news with the public at last! I’d like to thank all the brilliant people we saw before making this tough decision. But the most beloved ballroom in the UK always leads the way, and in a Strictly first we have chosen three outstanding hosts to take up the mantle. Along with our amazing Strictly team, who are busy planning fabulous and unforgettable treats for this new series, I know this terrific trio can’t wait to join our judges and pros to bring us must-see TV on the BBC this autumn."

Emma Willis says: “It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Strictly – I’ve cheered and danced along from my sofa for years - so to be stepping into the Strictly ballroom is something I can’t quite comprehend. It’s impossible to fill the shoes that Tess and Claudia have left behind - two wonderful, iconic women who have been the beating heart of Strictly for so long. I can only hope that we are able to help to steer the ship as beautifully as they have, into this new chapter. I can’t wait to spend my weekends with Josh and Jojo, the incredible dancers and the judges. Fingers crossed for a 10 from them!"

Johannes Radebe says: "To be returning to Strictly Come Dancing in this new role is beyond anything I ever imagined. This show has always stood for joy, heart, and togetherness, and I feel deeply honoured to now help carry that magic forward. To do it alongside the formidable Emma Willis and the utterly brilliant Josh Widdicombe makes it even more special. I’m ready-sequins, nerves, and all...please bear with me. Love Jojo."

Josh Widdicombe says: "Dancing the Charleston dressed as a penguin for the 2024 Christmas Special of Strictly remains my career high point, so I am giddy with excitement, honoured and a little overawed to be given the chance to step into the biggest shoes in television. I adore Emma and Jojo and can’t wait to spend my weekends with them. I’ll dust off the penguin costume."

Who are the Strictly Come Dancing 2026 judges?

"Back once again for the new series will be the esteemed judging panel of Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Head Judge Shirley Ballas who will be casting a watchful eye over the performances each week, giving their expert view on the dances and delivering their all-important scores."

• How to watch BBC iPlayer from anywhere
• How to watch UK TV from abroad

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Aosu Video Doorbell R1 Ultra: two-minute review

Doorbell brands usually sell you the hardware cheap and charge you monthly for the privilege of seeing the footage. Aosu has gone the other way, and for that alone the R1 Ultra is worth your attention.

Video clips go to the AosuBase Mini, a small plug-in box that lives inside your house and does three jobs at once — Wi-Fi bridge, indoor chime, and storage. It holds 8GB and keeps a rolling 60 days of footage.

There is an optional cloud subscription, AosuProtect+, but unlike Ring's arrangement, the doorbell isn't hobbled without it. You get alerts, live view, two-way talk, custom detection zones, and full playback for nothing other than the purchase price.

Detection is another strength. Rather than relying on a passive infrared sensor and hoping, Aosu layers radar and AI human recognition on top, which lets it judge distance and intent — approaching versus passing, lingering versus walking through.

There's also a Tone button hiding in the two-way talk screen. Tap it, and you can answer the door as either 'uncle' or 'clown', with Aosu's straight-faced explanation that this disguises your voice for privacy.

The uncle setting artificially deepens voices, transitioning women and children to something resembling a man to deter would-be intruders. Clown goes all high-pitched and distorted to mask your identity.

Fortunately, the latter falls on the right side of sinister, so you can forget scaring off trick-or-treaters with imitations of South Park’s Mickey Mouse.

Where Aosu gets ahead of itself is resolution and framing. The sensor is 2560 x 1920, which is 4.9 megapixels in a 4:3 frame. That’s sharp, and a step up from 2K doorbells at this price, but not the claimed ‘UHD’, which would be 3,840 x 2,160.

The asserted 60% improvement over standard 2K only holds if the 2K you're comparing against is Aosu's own 3MP doorbell. An earlier version of the identical claim, on the identical camera, said 40%.

Field of view should be taken with a pinch of salt, too. Aosu says 166 degrees, but that's the corner-to-corner measurement. In reality, it's 133 horizontal by 103 vertical, shot in a shallow 4:3 aspect ratio and no head-to-toe image tricks.

With realistic use, the battery should last six months between charges. The kicker is the cell isn’t quick-release, and juicing it from flat to full takes six hours. So that means unclipping the entire doorbell and going without it for quite a while.

Aosu Video Doorbell R1 Ultra: price & availability

• List price: £139.99 / $135.99 (about AU$190)
• Launched July 2026 in the UK
• Available in the UK, US, and across the EU

With a list price of $135.99 / £139.99 (about AU$190), but usually discounted, the R1 Ultra is filed under ‘affordable’ and veers towards bargain territory if you find one hovering around the £100 mark.

At that price, the value case is strong, because the base station is in the box rather than a £50 upsell, and the 60 days of local recording would cost you a subscription almost anywhere else.

Over three years, that's the difference between a hundred pounds and several hundred more.

• Value score: 4/5

Aosu Video Doorbell R1 Ultra: subscription costs

The R1 Ultra is fully functional without a subscription. Alerts, live view, two-way talk, detection zones, and 60 days of local playback are all included.

AosuProtect+ is the optional cloud add-on. In the UK, it's advertised at £9.99 (about $10 / AU$20) a month or £122.99 (about $160 / AU$230) a year, currently discounted to £3.49 (about $5 / AU$10) and £39.99 (about $50 / AU$80). Treat the higher figures with the same suspicion as the hardware list price.

The annual price is simply the monthly rate multiplied by twelve, so there's no built-in saving for paying up front, and £3.49 lands within pennies of what Aosu charges in dollars in the US. There’s a 30-day free trial if you wish to dip your toe.

What it buys you is cloud backup rather than capability: 14 or 30 days of event recordings, playback from anywhere, faster scrubbing, and bulk downloads. AI facial recognition sits on the top tier and is offered for video doorbells only.

The argument for paying is that local storage is bound to the base station like Bilbo Baggins is bound to the ring in The Lord of The Rings. If it fails, someone takes it, or you inexplicably drop it in the fires of Mount Doom, your footage dies with it.

Aosu Video Doorbell R1 Ultra: specs

Aosu Video Doorbell R1 Ultra: design and installation

• Plain but solid
• Hub required indoors
• Battery or existing wiring

The R1 Ultra is a black plastic slab with silver flourishes similar to a Ring, and very little design ambition beyond flattering imitation.

Installation is straightforward and takes about half an hour all in. Bracket on the wall, doorbell clipped on top, base station plugged in somewhere central.

Aosu recommends mounting at 4 feet / 1.2 meters rather than eye-level, which is lower than instinct suggests but necessary if you want the frame to reach the doorstep. Worth getting right the first time rather than re-drilling.

A 15-degree wedge is included if you need to angle it towards a path or a gate, along with a screwdriver, extension wires and wire nuts for anyone hardwiring to existing 8–24V doorbell wiring.

The base station isn't optional, and it isn't outdoors-rated. It's the storage, the chime, and the Wi-Fi bridge in one. It needs a mains socket permanently, and it's rated only to 14°F / −10°C, so it lives in the hall or the cupboard under the stairs and stays there.

Detaching the whole unit from the wall for a full six-hour recharge via USB-C is a weak point, but a cable is bundled in the box.

A neat addition is pry detection. Try to lever the unit off its bracket, and it sounds a chime and pushes an alert, with footage on the base station indoors rather than on what’s being stolen.

• Design score: 3.5/5

Aosu Video Doorbell R1 Ultra: performance

• Sharp in daylight
• Strong multi-sensor detection
• Infrared-only after dark

Daylight is this doorbell’s happy place, with 5MP more than most similarly-priced rivals offer. Faces, delivery uniforms and parcel labels are legible rather than merely present.

Radar handles distance and movement, PIR picks up body heat, and the AI layer decides whether what it's looking at is a person. During testing, alerts felt instantaneous once someone reached the door.

After dark, expectations need managing. There is no color night vision and no spotlight.

Eight 850nm infrared LEDs offer monochrome up to 33 feet / 10 meters, and the manual warns mounting too close to a side wall will bounce IR back into the lens and fog the image. I’d pair the R1 Ultra with an outdoor light to make up for the shortfall.

Answering the door is well handled. Notifications arrive with a thumbnail of whatever triggered them, so you can tell a courier from a cat without opening the app, and tapping through starts a proper two-way video call rather than a one-way stream.

The 6x digital zoom lets you crop into a face or a label, though at 15fps and with a wide lens, it softens quickly.

Quick Reply issues an audible preset message when you can't talk. Somewhat boringly, they’re fixed, so you can’t edit the wording or add your own.

On connectivity, the doorbell itself is 2.4GHz only; the dual-band capability belongs to the AosuBase Mini, which talks to your router on 2.4 or 5GHz.

That's a sensible design for a battery device, but it means the camera-to-base link is on the crowded band and placement of the base matters more than usual. Plugged in 33 feet / 10 meters from my front door with the broadband router halfway, all was fine.

Live view includes a UHD/SD toggle to drop the quality when the connection struggles, and you can save a clip or a still straight to your phone's camera roll if you ever need to hand something to a neighbor or the police.

The six-month battery figure assumes up to ten events a day at 20 seconds each — about three-and-a-half minutes of recording daily. On a busy porch with a path or pavement in frame, expect considerably less.

• Performance score: 3/5

Should you buy the Aosu Video Doorbell R1 Ultra?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Aosu Video Doorbell R1 Ultra: also consider

How I tested the Aosu Video Doorbell R1 Ultra

• Fitted to a domestic front door
• Assessed daylight and infrared video, detection accuracy, and audio
• Ran entirely without a subscription

I mounted the R1 Ultra on my own front door and used it as the household's main entry camera for a fortnight, deliberately running it on local storage alone so the no-subscription claim could be tested as most buyers will experience it.

I checked live-view responsiveness and alert latency, reviewed clips in daylight and after dark, and tracked battery drain against Aosu's 180-day claim.

First reviewed September 2026

With the introduction of the iPhone Duo, U.S. smartphone customers can now choose from seven contemporary folding smartphones, including one from Google, two from Motorola, and three from Samsung.

The number of laptops with foldable screens ever produced is far fewer: one each from Asus, Huawei, HP and two from Lenovo.

While the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip have entered an annual upgrade cycle for Samsung, the foldable-screen laptop pipeline has been quiet. The most recent - Lenovo’s ThinkPad Fold 16 Gen 2 - hit the market in November 2023, more than a year after its unveiling.

Surely, we haven’t seen the last of laptops with foldable screens, but a range of structural, technological, and economic issues have conspired to keep folding laptops from becoming more mainstream

A RAMpocalypse victim

At their launches, foldable-screen laptops were among the most expensive in their line-ups. The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED launched at $3,500 in 2022. A year later, the HP Spectre Foldable PC launched at $5,000, about 2.5x the price of a Galaxy Z Fold Ultra.

Obviously, anyone spending this much is going to demand performance, including substantial RAM and flash storage, the two components that have seen their prices skyrocket during the AI data center-fueled 'RAMpocalypse'. While PC vendors can eat a bit of margin on such high-end products, it’s reasonable to assume that successors launched today would require untenable prices.

On the other hand, it’s been more difficult for vendors to justify the premium because of the lack of a “device-class” jump. In other words, one of the great promises of foldable-screen phones is that you can have the functionality of a tablet in a form factor that stores in your pocket.

This isn’t just about more screen real estate. Full participants in Apple’s ecosystem understand the differences in experience between the largest iPhones and the iPad mini, which were magnified when Apple finally went full desktop GUI on the iPad in iPadOS 26.

In contrast, when it comes to foldable-screen laptops, the jump from an approximately 13” Windows experience in clamshell mode to a 16” or 17” Windows experience in unfolded mode is less dramatic. (That said, there are some niceties such as the taller aspect ratio compared to most 16” laptops and the option of a portrait mode.)

This also helps to explain why we haven’t seen any foldable tablets from Samsung or Lenovo. Curiously, most of the work around extending Windows on a folding display has been around the scenario of adapting Peek preview to make more efficient use of virtual dual screens, UI improvements that of course also apply to laptops with actual dual screens such as the Asus Zenbook Duo, which received an update this year.

Some assembly required

Furthermore, while foldable-screen phones require the extra step of unfolding to take full advantage of their screen real estate, their front displays enable everyday usage even when folded; even flip models like the latest from Samsung are improving their folded utility, In contrast, foldable-screen laptops include more significant prep trade-offs.

For example, while Lenovo’s first ThinkPad X1 Fold was able to store the Bluetooth keyboard between the halves of the folded display, the Gen 2 kept it separate, protected for travel by a case that doubles as a stand for the screen. When it’s time to move on, you have to reassemble the bundle, that is, after making sure to remove the keyboard lest you risk damaging the device.

In contrast, the few early glimpses of laptops with rollable screens that we’ve seen from Lenovo can make their full screen area available without any keyboard shuffling. Even though these motorized designs make you wait until the screen retracts before closing the lid, most users will likely find the trade-off worth it.

When comparing foldable-screen phones to foldable-screen laptops, it makes sense that — other things being equal — the smaller device will reap the greater relative value from extra screen real estate on demand.

But these dynamics have meant that there’s been far more working in favor of smartphones; the next generation of laptops with bending displays will require some rethinking

• Hacktron chained a libheif heap overflow, reached through ImageMagick on OpenAI's Discourse forum, leveraging an OpenAI SSO flaw to briefly take over employee ChatGPT and Codex accounts
• The researchers themselves invoked XKCD #2347, whose 2020 alt text happens to name ImageMagick as the dependency that will one day break
• ImageMagick served as only the pathway to the actual vulnerable component, libheif, an obscure decoder pulled in indirectly across Slack, Meta, and GitHub Enterprise amongst other mediums

When Hacktron AI recently disclosed its months-long libheif research, the researchers reached for a familiar picture that also, to some degree, hints at what let them break into OpenAI in the first place.

They pointed readers to xkcd #2347, Randall Munroe's 2020 iconic web cartoon of all modern digital infrastructure balanced on a single load-bearing block that some random person in Nebraska has been thanklessly maintaining.

The comparison is relatively easy to follow, and it has a bonus easter egg that one can take as pre-empting the hack.

An alt-text that that seems ironically prophetic in 2026

The easter egg in question is one you have to look for; if you hover over the original comic, you get the alt text "Someday ImageMagick will finally break for good, and we'll have a long period of scrambling as we try to reassemble civilization from the rubble."

The irony is that six years after the comic was originally posted, ImageMagick was sitting in the exact spot the breach ran through, making its teaser something you could call an unintended prophecy bound to fruition.

The details are unglamorous but worth considering as AI safety continues to take center stage in public discourse, including recent addresses by the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic at the UN.

Hacktron found that OpenAI's community forum, community.openai.com, runs on Discourse. The latter's usual image checker, FastImage, doesn't understand HEIF and quietly hands tasks to ImageMagick's magick command for conversion, which in turn calls libheif, the library that actually decodes the format.

The version shipped to the forum was deployed via Debian and had a heap buffer overflow issue that was fixed the previous year without being labeled a potential security risk, allowing it to serve as a doorway for the Hacktron team.

The team then chained multiple exploits in an elaborate hack that culminated in leveraging a secondary SSO (Single Sign-On) misconfiguration at OpenAI's end, which essentially allowed the forum to serve as a gateway to ChatGPT and Codex accounts for anyone with a community account who signed in through the forum.

This allowed them access to ChatGPT's internal GitHub, where they made what they describe as a harmless pull as a proof of concept and notified OpenAI. OpenAI patched it 14 hours later, awarded the team a $6,500 bug bounty, and Discourse patched it after rating the underlying image bug 8.8 on the CVSS scale and adding sandboxing around image processing as a defense-in-depth measure.

The exploit is not exclusive to OpenAI: the same libheif and libde265 decoders reach production through ImageMagick, libvips, Sharp, standard distribution packages, and prebuilt container images. Hacktron traced them across Slack, Meta, GitHub Enterprise, Ruby on Rails, and Node.js frameworks, including Next.js, Astro, and Gatsby, suggesting that potential fallout, if not patched, is far broader than one AI company.

Hacktron's approach involved using Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8 before switching to Opus 5, spending under $3,000 in tokens across a three-person team, and having an exploit ready in just two months. To its credit, the team had to trick Anthropic's AI into doing the task by framing their own test forum as a capture-the-flag challenge, and it eventually acquiesced.

The exploit itself wasn't something that couldn't be done without AI, but it let a much smaller team work at a pace normally expected of a much larger one. Apparently, asking your AI chatbot nicely with a bit of trickery in tow can deliver exceptionally good results in some cases.

• Watch AFL Grand Final 2026 FREE on 7Plus (Australia)
• Unlock your stream with Surfshark
• Brisbane vs Fremantle kick-off: Sat, Sep 26 at 12.30am ET / 5.30am BST / 2.30pm AEST

Two opposing senses of destiny collide in the 2026 AFL Final at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Fremantle's first ever flag would be historic, ending the second-longest drought in the AFL, while Brisbane are on the brink of becoming only the second team in league history to secure three straight titles.

Remember, the Lions reached the AFL Grand Final in 2023 too. On that occasion they were edged by Collingwood, but they've made a routine of winning ever since. And we really do mean routine. Each of Brisbane's past two triumphant campaigns have ended with back-to-back wins at the MCG.

Where were they a week ago? At the MCG, pulling a remarkable come-from-behind victory over Hawthorn out of the hat. And for good measure, Lachie Neale has thrown in another last-gasp selection saga, his successful appeal against a one-match ban following on from last year's ankle drama.

The Dockers enter the AFL Grand Final as the minor premiers, having also dominated their Round 12 meeting with Brisbane, which they won by 103-78. However, Justin Longmuir's men won't need telling that the Freos won the minor premiers in 2015, and reached the AFL showpiece two years earlier. On both occasions they utimately fell short.

Jye Amiss, Patrick Voss and Josh Treacy ran riot for Fremantle in that late-May showdown, putting the Dockers 51 points ahead at one stage, before the Lions rallied for a semi-respectable final score of 103-78. However, that counts for nothing on Saturday.

Read on as we explain how to watch Brisbane vs Fremantle for free in the 2026 AFL Grand Final.

Can you watch AFL Grand Final 2026 for free?

Yes. Brisbane vs Fremantle is being shown on free-to-air Channel 7 in Australia.

How to watch AFL Grand Final 2026 from anywhere

Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching AFL on your usual subscription?

You can still watch Brisbane vs Fremantle live thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software can make your devices appear to be back in your home country regardless of where you are, making it ideal for viewers away on vacation or on business. One of our favorites is Surfshark – we explain why in our Surfshark review.

How to watch AFL Grand Final 2026 live streams in the US

Live AFL Grand Final 2026 coverage is being provided by FS1 in the US.

If you don't have the channel on cable, FS1 is carried by Fubo, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV, each of which offers a free trial to new users.

Outside of the US? Use a VPN while you're traveling away from home to unlock your Brisbane vs Fremantle stream.

How to watch AFL Grand Final 2026 live streams in the UK

In the UK, AFL Grand Final 2026 is being shown on TNT Sports 1.

You can add TNT Sports to your Sky, Virgin Media or EE TV package, or get an HBO Max plan that includes TNT Sports. Prices start at £25.99/month if you commit to a year.

Abroad? Unlock TNT Sports with Surfshark.

How to watch AFL Grand Final 2026 live streams in Australia

Free-to-air Channel 7 is showing AFL Grand Final 2026 in all regions of Australia, with live streaming available via 7Plus.

Just create an account using a valid Australia postcode (e.g. 2042).

Not in Australia right now? You can use a VPN like Surfshark to watch Brisbane vs Fremantle as if you were back home.

How to watch AFL Grand Final 2026 live streams in Canada

The AFL Grand Final 2026 game is available to watch on TSN2 in Canada.

If you don't have cable, the TSN Plus streaming service costs CA$24.99 a month to access what goes out on regular TSN.

If you're out of Canada but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts 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.

• Fable's achievement list has been nailed down, say associate game directors Craig Littler and Will Kennedy
• They say players won't have to do "30,000 playthroughs" to achieve 100% completion
• They want to keep the list secret for now to not "spoi the surprise"

Playground Games has confirmed it has locked down Fable's trophy list, but swears players won't have to do several playthroughs to achieve 100% completion.

Speaking in a press Q&A at Gamescom attended by TechRadar Gaming, associate game directors Craig Littler and Will Kennedy were asked about the game's achievements and whether players can expect a typically funny trophy list similar to the previous games in the series.

Although the developers confirmed the list is essentially nailed down, Plaground wants to keep it secret for now to avoid spoiling the experience.

"We'll say that we have the list, but we're not going to spoil the surprise," Littler said.

Fable is an open-world role-playing game (RPG), meaning players will spend plenty of time exploring during the game's 15-20 hour main story and interacting with over 1,000 unique non-player characters (NPCs).

When TechRadar Gaming asked whether achieving 100% completion, or the Platinum Trophy on PlayStation 5, is feasible without having to complete multiple playthroughs, Kennedy said, "It's doable," but couldn't say how long it will take.

"I will promise you, you won't have to do [something like] 30,000 playthroughs," Littler said, laughing. "We'll commit to that."

Fable will officially launch on February 23, 2027, for PS5, Xbox Series X, Series S, and PC. Playground has confirmed that the Xbox Series X version will have a 60fps performance mode.

• Bitdefender launches privacy tool built specifically for autonomous AI agents
• Each agent task gets a disposable, temporary connection that deactivates when the task is done
• VPN for AI Agents runs on a Model Context Protocol server architecture entirely

Bitdefender has introduced VPN for AI Agents, a standalone privacy tool built specifically for the autonomous software agents now browsing, researching, and transacting on behalf of everyday users.

The company says this public beta is a direct answer to the growing anxiety over machine-driven data exposure.

Unlike a conventional privacy tool that stays connected at all times, this tool activates only when an AI agent needs it, then deactivates once the task is done.

Why agents need their own privacy layer

Cybersecurity researchers have increasingly warned that autonomous agents occupy an ambiguous identity space, often borrowing a person's own credentials or shared workload logins to complete tasks online.

Without a clear separation, every website an agent visits and every transaction it completes remains traceable back to a single household IP address.

Recent Pew Research Center data found 71% of adults in the United States believe wider AI adoption will make their personal data less secure, a fear that extends well beyond American borders.

Bitdefender's new offering, built on a Model Context Protocol server architecture, spins up a disposable digital workspace for each prompt and discards it when the task is done.

Each prompt opens its own encrypted tunnel and exits through the VPN server's IP address, so no cookies, cache, or session state carries over to the next task.

The tool covers network transport and IP masking only, leaving the actual content of a prompt exchanged directly between the user and whichever AI provider is running it.

"AI agents are quickly becoming an extension of the people who use them, showing up in both our workdays and our personal lives," said Ciprian Istrate, senior vice president of operations, Consumer Solutions Group at Bitdefender.

"That means security can no longer stop at protecting the person behind the screen; it has to extend to the agent itself acting on their behalf."

This approach treats each agent like an independent team member requiring its own security boundary rather than inheriting the user's existing protections wholesale.

Bitdefender also describes this as clean-IP browsing, useful for QA checks on pages that display different content depending on the visitor's country.

The tool supports up to four simultaneous exit locations, or eight under the recommended testing configuration.

Access remains limited during the beta period

For now, the tool works only on macOS devices, though Bitdefender has confirmed plans to expand to additional operating systems after beta testing.

The beta specifically requires macOS 13 or later and an Apple silicon processor, meaning Intel Macs are not supported.

Bitdefender recommends macOS 15, 16 GB of memory, and roughly 10 GB of free disk space for smoother testing.

Once installed, it operates automatically across several popular AI platforms, including Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, and OpenCode, without requiring manual configuration from the user.

Bitdefender lists several practical use cases, including letting an agent compare prices across regions or complete multi-country research in one session.

The company frames these tasks as a productivity gain too, since they would otherwise need manual, country-by-country effort from a person.

Bitdefender is explicit about the tool's limits as well. It does not protect a device's other apps or browser.

It also does not hide prompts from the AI provider running them, and does not override a site's terms of service, rate limits, or an existing IP ban.

"With Bitdefender VPN for AI Agents, we're giving students, workers, and everyday consumers the confidence to let their AI agents work freely, knowing their identity and activity stay protected," Istrate added.

VPN for AI Agents public beta is currently available for free, but whether the free offering continues after the beta testing remains to be seen.

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 #1706) — 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 #1706) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1706) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1706) — 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 #1706) — 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 #1706) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1706, are…

• SNORT
• BIBLE
• LAPSE
• CRANE

I had one of those moments here where I was absolutely certain I would be seeing the bouncy letters that mean you have completed the game.

Aptly, however, my guess of “false” turned out to be completely wrong.

Fortunately, I had space for a mistake.

Daily Sequence today (game #1706) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1706, are…

• GLEAM
• GOUGE
• DWELL
• ROGUE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• 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
• Quordle #1698, Friday, 18 September: MUCUS, MIRTH, APPLE, TILDE
• Quordle #1697, Thursday, 17 September: CRIER, CHIRP, NEIGH, FREER
• Quordle #1696, Wednesday, 16 September: SPEAR, PRICE, BLUNT, FISHY
• Quordle #1695, Tuesday, 15 September: SHUSH, LITHE, DELTA, BUGLE
• Quordle #1694, Monday, 14 September: ZEBRA, LEGAL, RATIO, TROLL
• Quordle #1693, Sunday, 13 September: LUCID, SPRAY, MANGE, EMAIL
• Quordle #1692, Saturday, 12 September: SUPER, BRUSH, RESET, SOWER
• Quordle #1691, Friday, 11 September: PLUSH, PAINT, RIVAL, AFOUL
• Quordle #1690, Thursday, 10 September: AGENT, EXILE, TITAN, PUREE
• Quordle #1689, Wednesday, 9 September: HAPPY, GONER, SMACK, MOTIF
• Quordle #1688, Tuesday, 8 September: FLUNG, DIARY, HALVE, BERTH
• Quordle #1687, Monday, 7 September: VISIT, CLANK, FEVER, OCEAN
• Quordle #1686, Sunday, 6 September: PILOT, HONOR, BOWEL, TAUNT

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 #1203) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• MINT
• PRESS
• GRAIN
• BEANS
• STARCH
• CAT
• CUCUMBER
• RINGS
• GUM
• FOLD
• KNOTS
• CUSTOMER
• WASH
• MOUTHWASH
• BURL
• SPRAY

NYT Connections today (game #1203) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Oral hygiene methods
• GREEN: Stages of attire care
• BLUE: Timber markings
• PURPLE: The opposite of hot stuff

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 #1203) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: BREATH FRESHENERS
• GREEN: THINGS DONE TO A DRESS SHIRT AT THE LAUNDRY
• BLUE: FEATURES OF WOOD
• PURPLE: "COOL" THINGS, IN EXPRESSIONS

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

NYT Connections today (game #1203) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1203, are…

• YELLOW: BREATH FRESHENERS: GUM, MINT, MOUTHWASH, SPRAY
• GREEN: THINGS DONE TO A DRESS SHIRT AT THE LAUNDRY: FOLD, PRESS, STARCH, WASH
• BLUE: FEATURES OF WOOD: BURL, GRAIN, KNOTS, RINGS
• PURPLE: "COOL" THINGS, IN EXPRESSIONS: BEANS, CAT, CUCUMBER, CUSTOMER

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Today I scored another Purple First to add to my collection.

Whenever I see the word CAT I immediately think of the word cool, as it’s an expression that’s always amused me in part because of the song Cool For Cats by Squeeze and equally because of Top Cat, my favorite cartoon as a kid.

From here I just said the word cool to myself in front of every tile. Fortunately, I had the office to myself as I did this, so I was able to maintain my reputation as a cool CUSTOMER.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, September 25, 2026, game #1202)

• YELLOW: LUXE: BOUGIE, FANCY, POSH, SWANK
• GREEN: PARTS OF A MECHANICAL CLOCK: ESCAPEMENT, PENDULUM, RATCHET, SPRING
• BLUE: FAMOUS DANS: AYKROYD, LEVY, RATHER, SAVAGE
• PURPLE: TAXONOMIC RANKS PLUS A LETTER: BORDER, CLASSY, FOAMILY, GENIUS

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 #937) - hint #1 - today's theme

NYT Strands today (game #937) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• CURE
• FEEL
• PREY
• BREW
• DICE
• SWIFT

NYT Strands today (game #937) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #937) - 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 #937) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #937, are…

• BREEZE
• ZEPHYR
• GUST
• WHIFF
• PUFF
• FLURRY
• CURRENT
• SPANGRAM: GENTLEWIND

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I began, as I’m sure most players did, by finding the words linked to the two letter Zs.

However, while BREEZE was a breeze, ZEPHYR was not something I would have got without the fact that its letters connected straight down.

ZEPHYR is, like all of today’s game words, a way of describing a GENTLEWIND — but prior to today its only appearance in my life was in The Zephyr Song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which seemed to imply it was some kind of magical vehicle we could fly away on.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, September 25, game #936)

• NINE
• TWENTYFIVE
• FOUR
• EIGHTYONE
• THIRTYSIX
• SPANGRAM: SQUARENUMBER

• Air Force explores unmanned tankers to replace its ageing refuelling fleet
• The MQ-25's progress has revived plans for autonomous Air Force tankers
• Range remains the biggest obstacle to building an unmanned tanker today

The US Air Force is considering whether its next refueling aircraft, expected to replace the KC-135 and KC-46, could fly with no crew aboard.

The idea gained ground because the Navy's Boeing MQ-25 Stingray, an unmanned refuelling drone, flew for the first time earlier in 2026.

On Thursday, the Navy cleared the MQ-25 for low-rate production and purchased three additional units, raising its order to 14 aircraft.

Crews are not needed, but size remains unsolved

At the recent Air, Space & Cyber 2026 conference in National Harbor, Maryland, the Air Force said its future refueling aircraft might not need a crew.

“I do not believe that it has to be manned, a future air-refuelling solution…But then, how do we, the U.S. Air Force, bring that to bear in scope, scale, and range?” said Lt. Gen. Daniel Tulley, commander of Air Mobility Command

The service is still buying Boeing KC-46 Pegasus tankers, and it spent $12 million this year to study a new tanker design.

However, its proposed fiscal 2027 budget drops that funding entirely and asks for $13 million instead, labelled as money for advanced refuelling systems.

Tulley said a tanker able to cover the needed distances would be huge, and no fully autonomous aircraft of that size flies today.

The current KC-46 has a range just short of 7,400 miles and carries over about a hundred tons of fuel.

However, the autonomous MQ-25, which is driving this idea, manages roughly 500 miles and holds up to 7.5 tons, which is a small share of what the KC-46 offers.

Boeing’s aircraft can currently take off, follow programmed routes, and land on autopilot, though the Air Force does not use them autonomously.

The Air Force is probably hoping to build on this autopilot capability, aiming to turn the partial automation into full autonomy.

Merlin Labs says autonomy can begin with crews aboard

Merlin Labs, a company that builds autonomous flight systems, plans to install its autonomous pilot software on the C-130J, an aircraft similar in size to the KC-135.

The aircraft will still carry a human crew, which lets Merlin add autonomy step by step instead of jumping straight to an unmanned tanker.

“That's a way that you can start to chip away at that without actually going fully to the unmanned tanker right away,” said Matthew George, CEO of Merlin Labs.

“The goal is that the unmanned tanker is ready, and the autonomy ends up being ready at the same time.”

The company must next win certification, and it is working with the Air Force this year to get that approval.

“None of this matters unless it's certified and safe. So for us, getting certification done is important, and that's what we're working really closely with the Air Force on this year,” George said.

Merlin has not announced a date for the C-130J to carry its autonomous pilot, though the company's technology has completed a critical design review.

With no set flight date and unfinished certification, the Air Force's plan for an unmanned tanker the size of the KC-46 remains far off.

Via Defense One

• Polish rally driver Mikołaj Marczyk set the new Guinness World Record
• Audi A6 e-tron managed a staggering 830 miles on a single charge
• Lucid Air Grand Touring previously held the title

Polish rally driver Mikołaj Marczyk is no stranger to eking out as much range as humanly possible, having coaxed 1,759 miles from a single tank of fuel in a Skoda Superb back in 2025.

Now, Mikołaj has turned his attention to electric propulsion, particularly the Audi A6 e-tron that, despite only having an official WLTP range of 482 miles on a single charge, managed to travel almost double that on a recent record-breaking journey.

Starting at Zakopane, Poland, the endeavor saw the electrified A6 traverse the Tatra Mountains (handy for regenerative braking), travel to Kraków, then along the Vistula Valley to Sandomierz and finally to Hel (no, not that one).

Once in Hel, the pro driver turned around and started retracing his steps before the Audi A6 e-tron eventually conked out, having covered a mightily impressive 831.4 miles on a single charge.

That's the same distance as driving from New York to Chicago or London to Milan without stopping at a charging station.

The exact model used in the attempt was the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron performance, which features a 326hp rear-mounted motor and a 100kWh gross battery capacity, which equates to a net usable capacity of 94.9 kWh.

More impressively, the previous record holder, the Lucid Air Grand Touring, has a larger battery pack with a nominal capacity of 112kWh.

According to Marczyk, many sections of the trip were carried out in rush hour traffic and at an average temperature of 15 degrees Celsius.

However, at certain points, the mercury dropped to just seven degrees Celsius, proving that EVs can still perform in cold weather.

Analysis: easy does it

When looking at the official range figures of modern EVs, it is generally good practice to aim for a number that is 10-20% lower than the one advertised.

Real-world driving eats into electric range, something that’s even more pertinent when tackling cold weather. But the recent Guinness World Record is proof that things can be flipped on their head with a spot of careful driving.

Marczyk says that maximizing regenerative braking opportunities, regularly checking tire pressure, and reading the road to avoid any abrupt braking can massively increase the potential range of an EV’s battery.

So next time you hear someone stressing about range anxiety, remind them that it might be their driving style that’s forcing all of those charging stops.

• HP’s new workstation carries 192GB of memory for demanding local AI workloads
• The ZBook Ultra G3a can reportedly handle models reaching 300 billion parameters
• The workstation combines a 96Wh replaceable battery with an 180W adapter

HP has debuted the ZBook Ultra G3a 16, a workstation built around AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 processor and substantial unified memory.

The laptop combines up to 192GB of LPDDR5X memory with integrated Radeon graphics and support for demanding local AI workloads.

HP says the highest-memory configuration can run large language models with up to 300 billion parameters directly on the laptop.

HP brings a high-memory workstation to market

The ZBook Ultra G3a uses 16 processor cores and 32 threads, with clock speeds reaching 5.2GHz and an integrated neural processor.

Its 192GB memory pool can allocate up to 160GB toward the Radeon 8065S graphics processor, leaving substantial capacity for system tasks, and will allow users to load models that exceed the graphics memory available on many conventional notebooks with discrete GPUs.

AI workloads are handled by a 55 TOPS neural processing unit, adding dedicated hardware alongside its integrated graphics processor.

The storage of this device reaches 8TB through a single PCIe Gen5 x4 slot, although there are other models with lower capacities.

This workstation sustains power up to 100W, nearly twice the 55W figure from its earlier model.

It is equipped with a 96Wh replaceable battery which can last up to 14 hours, and its 180W adapter can reach 50% charge within 30 minutes.

The ZBook Ultra G3a 16 uses a dual-fan cooling system with copper heat pipes, and a shared heat spreader covering the processor and memory components.

Pricing and workstation specifications

The official price of this device has not been released; however, the price estimate using HP's Local AI Value Calculator shows that the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 model with 192GB memory and 512GB storage costs $7,449.

A 128GB version using the same processor costs $5,999, while the Ryzen AI Max PRO 490 configuration with 64GB costs $3,899.

“Professionals need AI experiences that are powerful, reliable, and integrated into the way they work,” said Jim Nottingham, senior vice president at HP.

HP is actually promoting the workstation through its calculator that estimates potential costs when AI workloads move from cloud services onto local hardware.

The company’s calculation assumes roughly 6.3 million tokens daily under its heavy workload profile and models electricity use from continuous operation.

Independent testing remains necessary to establish how the ZBook Ultra G3a performs when handling large models under sustained workloads.

The highest-priced configuration uses an FHD display, despite HP offering higher-resolution IPS, OLED, and DreamColor display choices for buyers.

The workstation measures 17.9mm thick and starts at 4.2 pounds, despite carrying a larger cooling system and 16-inch display.

Display options include a 3840 × 2400 IPS panel, a 2.8K OLED touchscreen, a 2.5K panel, and a lower power WUXGA configuration.

For connectivity, this laptop includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports, USB-C, USB-A, HDMI 2.1, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and optional 5G networking support.

It supports Windows 11 Pro, Windows 11 Home, FreeDOS, and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, giving professional users several software environment choices.

Via Videocardz

• Alien Deathstorm was built on a new version of the Atomfall engine
• Head of design Ben Fisher says it's an "advanced" version that offers a new lighting system
• Producer Martin Willingham says this is "a must" for an action horror game

Rebellion has confirmed that Alien Deathstorm was built on a new version of the Atomfall engine, which also let the team bring the horror aspect to life.

Speaking in an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Gamescom, where we went hands-on with the upcoming first-person horror game, producer Martin Willingham and head of design Ben Fisher discussed how it's not a survival shooter with typical survival horror features; the team considers it a "dynamic" experience with sandbox elements where the player's actions can affect unscripted enemy encounters.

Willingham said the team values replayability and sandbox freedom, which means "we had to do something dynamic," and "building the encounters around the player and the player's activities means it's a different experience."

This sandbox survival experience was built on "a more advanced version" of the studio's Atomfall engine, Fisher revealed, which offered an improved lighting system and a deeper sense of realism as players explore their surroundings.

"Which for an action horror game is actually a must," said Willingham. "The tech team have just been absolute wizards with us being able to manifest and visualize that deathstorm."

He added, "We've been working on a lot of the GPU particles, visual effects, and fog system as well."

Alien Deathstorm doesn't have a release date yet, but it's coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S, and PC in Spring 2027.

• Alibaba's T-Head unveiled the Zhenwu V900 with 216GB of memory, 1.2TB/s links, and a claimed 3x gain over the already-shipping M890
• Very few details associated with its raw performance: Alibaba gave no FLOPS, node, foundry, or power figures, and both specs it did share project it will trail Huawei's Ascend 960DT, which releases in the same quarter
• CEO Eddie Wu targeted more than 20GW of Alibaba Cloud-operated capacity by 2032 while admitting supply-chain shortages are limiting growth for the company

Alibaba opened its annual Apsara Conference in Hangzhou with three big numbers: a chip that it says triples the performance of its predecessor, AI clusters that could stretch to 500,000 of those chips, and a pledge, quoted by the South China Morning Post, that the data centers Alibaba Cloud operates worldwide will pass 20 gigawatts of capacity by 2032.

CEO Eddie Wu called the new Zhenwu V900, designed by the group's T-Head chip unit, the "most powerful AI chip in China today."

This was part of an address that distinguished Alibaba's offering as a GPU rather than an ASIC, landing it squarely in Nvidia's territory even as the latter's H200 GPU is highly sought after by AI labs.

A powerful offering on paper, but one that doesn't publish actual performance

The Zhenwu V900's spec sheet might be intentionally short, even as its performance figures versus comparable current-generation Nvidia GPUs, a banned option, could limit interest ahead of launch.

Alibaba has, however, added an impressive amount of memory and interconnect, allowing it to cluster a configuration it claims can run as many as 500,000 GPUs in parallel.

The V900, as per Zhidx, reporting on the launch, lists 216GB of memory and 1,200GB/s of chip-to-chip bandwidth and was originally expected to be available to clients in Q3 2027 before the recent revision pushed it two quarters earlier.

T-Head vice president Gao Hui now says the company will, going forward, keep a one-generation-per-year cadence, with a J900 due in the third quarter of 2028.

Despite the closer timeline, it is interesting that Alibaba has published no FLOPS figure, process node, foundry, power rating, or even the V900's internal memory bandwidth, making it hard to gauge its most powerful single-chip offering in terms of raw AI and compute performance.

This is particularly ironic at a time when the competition from Huawei, the Ascend 960DT, which was launched the same quarter after being pulled earlier by three quarters, is offering far more detail.

It lists 2 petaFLOPS of FP8 compute, 288GB of memory, 9.6TB/s of memory bandwidth, and a 2.2TB/s interconnect, making it a higher-VRAM and higher-interconnect offering based on the information Alibaba has already published.

The 500,000-card figure interestingly may just be a scaling limitation, not a system anyone has built. For scale, T-Head said in May 2026 that it had shipped just over 560,000 Zhenwu chips in total. One maxed-out V900 cluster, in other words, would need nearly as many chips as the company had shipped in its entire history.

It does, however, bring a secondary calculation into the equation: if each V900 drew what Nvidia rates its H200 at, up to 700W, the accelerators alone in such a cluster would pull a significant amount of power. A newer, larger chip could run hotter and be more power-hungry than Nvidia's Hopper offerings, even as China remains limited to older process nodes because of US sanctions on chips and chipmaking equipment.

A large cluster of 500,000 or similar GPUs would undoubtedly rack up power requirements considerably fast for the regional AI juggernaut, and 20GW by 2032 is not an unforeseeable event when one considers that per-GPU power draw is only heading up for the foreseeable future as the chips get faster, denser, and more monolithic at the same time.

Wu said medium- to long-term demand far exceeds what Alibaba can supply, and that shortages across the AI data center supply chain "are currently limiting the speed at which we can scale our compute infrastructure." The target covers capacity Alibaba Cloud operates, and the company did not say whether it means IT load or total facility power.

A Nomura note relayed by Sina puts Alibaba's current footprint at roughly 4GW and expects future buildouts to blend owned, leased, and third-party-financed sites, implying about fivefold growth in six years.

Whether the upcoming V900 displaces Nvidia's global market dominance, even slightly, is unclear, with Team Green already far ahead in a market where AI customers buy GPUs years in advance. The situation, however, is vastly different in Beijing.

In China, much of the disruption has already happened, with Chinese AI labs being 'persuaded' to stay away from Nvidia solutions by the state. Nvidia's latest 10-Q says shipments of data center Hopper products to China were under 1% of its $89 billion in data center revenue for the quarter to July 26, and the company said in its earnings report that objections in Beijing kept it from selling the full volume of H200s that Washington had licensed when relations briefly thawed.

Chinese labs have turned to a mix of homegrown solutions, including specific ASICs, GPUs, and CPUs, allowing local players such as Alibaba, Huawei, and others to thrive in a market devoid of foreign competition.

With the US government restricting Nvidia's power limits and the Chinese state taking a dim view of local labs depending on foreign chips, Alibaba's V900 GPU doesn't need to beat Nvidia's Rubin GPUs or even its Blackwell offerings. It simply needs to take on and provide a viable alternative to a GPU that is two generations older: the H200 (based on Nvidia's Hopper architecture).

Its bigger challenges will be Huawei's locally produced Ascend 960DT and similarly configured chips from upcoming local chip design firms, as well as supply chain limitations that could restrict overall production and, by proxy, deployment for a company looking to spend billions on AI infrastructure in the coming days even if its "most powerful" status, which is currently consigned to a claim holds at the time of its release.

• A free update is rolling out to the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5
• It adds blood pressure and insulin resistance trends with monthly reports
• Sleep breathing quality metrics are being introduced too

The best health and fitness wearables are racing to pack as many features as possible into their small form factors, and the three most recent Pixel Watch models — the Pixel Watch 3, Pixel Watch 4, and Pixel Watch 5 — are now getting a major upgrade.

As announced by Google, the free update rolling out now to devices will let users monitor blood pressure trends, sleep breathing metrics, and (something the Apple Watch doesn't have yet) insulin resistance trends.

When it comes to blood pressure and insulin resistance, these aren't instant clinical readings — these smartwatches aren't quite advanced enough for that yet — but longer-term patterns, with assessments popping up once a month.

We knew these features were coming too, because they were announced alongside the Pixel Watch 5 unveiling back in August. What wasn't clear was exactly when the features would land, and now we know.

Lots and lots of data

Google says the insulin resistance trend model has been trained on more than a trillion data points gathered from over 5 million users, while the blood pressure model was built with billions of minutes of raw heart and movement data.

With the sleep breathing quality trends feature, you'll get a report each morning on how your breathing varied over the night. This can help you assess overall sleep quality and figure out the best routine and environment for optimal sleep.

Meanwhile, Pixel Watch 4 and 5 models are also getting Breathing Emergency Detection in select European markets (including France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK). This can spot dangerous drops in oxygen saturation and even place a call to the emergency services.

If you're a Fitbit Air user rather than a Pixel Watch user, you'll get blood pressure and insulin resistance trends on your device "later this year," but you'll need a Google Health Premium subscription to access them, which isn't the case with the Pixel Watches.

We're big fans of the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2, which combines a 2,042Wh LiFePO4 battery with enough output to run demanding appliances and equipment.

Best for: Homeowners and campers who need enough stored power to run appliances and equipment rather than simply top up portable electronics.

The deal: The Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 is now $899 (was $999) at Amazon. In the UK, the power station is now £899 (was £1061).

Why it matters: This is the power station that saved our sanity (and our hunger) during power outages when we tested out this unit. Its combination of 2,042Wh capacity and 2,200W output means it can handle much more demanding equipment than smaller portable batteries.

Why we recommend it

In his recent 4.5-star review, our expert Owain said he found it "to be easy to use, simple to transport, and more than capable of dealing with everyday needs."

It impressed him for several reasons. "Firstly, the build quality and easy setup stand out, limiting setup stress and giving you peace of mind. I also really liked the amount of power you get from such a small and portable unit. I used it extensively in different scenarios, including working, running home appliances, and during a camping trip, and it never even got close to running out. "

The Explorer 2000 v2 provides a lot of AC power across three outlets. Jackery uses a LiFePO4 battery for a service life of up to 10 years. Cell-to-Body construction helps keep the unit relatively compact at 13.2 x 10.4 x 11.5 inches and 39.5lb. There's also a 100W USB-C PD connection for fast charging compatible laptops, phones and other electronics without needing their regular power adapters.

Price context & historical value

The reduction from $999 to $898.99 knocks $100.01 off the regular price. That's not close to being its cheapest price however. I've seen it for as low as $743.83 on Amazon earlier in the year, and it may well be reduced further for this upcoming Black Friday.

For more options, take a look at our roundup of the best portable power stations.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 if...

You want emergency home backup capacity for power outages, camping or RV trips and need something reasonably portable.

❌ Skip the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 if...

You only need something to keep your phone, tablet and laptop charged. A smaller power station will cost considerably less and be much easier to carry.

• Shop all generators and portable power stations at Amazon.

I do love a gadget, so this mini 20000mAh power bank from Inui really caught my eye. I can't say it's the smallest in the world, but it's certainly ultra-compact and travel-friendly, with a built-in flashlight and USB-C cable that doubles as carry handle.

• Best for: Professionals, students, and travelers who want enough capacity for several phone charges without carrying a separate USB-C cable.

• The deal: The Iniu mini portable charger is now $27 (was $33) at Amazon.

• Why it matters: A 20,000mAh battery provides considerably more endurance than smaller pocket-sized power banks, while 22.5W output offers relatively quick phone charging. The portable unit also features a display, and a flashlight.

Why we recommend it

The Iniu charger measures just 4.1 x 2.8 x 1.2 inches and weighs 11.3oz, making it small enough to slip into a bag or pocket while providing greater capacity than other more-expensive power banks. It provides enough energy for around four full phone charges. You also get a built-in braided cable, which means there's one less cable to remember to take with you.

Its 22.5W fast charging can top up compatible phones much faster than basic 5W or 10W battery packs. Iniu claims an iPhone 16 can reach 60% and a Samsung Galaxy S25 70% in 25 minutes. The built-in flashlight is a useful feature, and the digital display makes it easier to judge when it's time to plug in the charger.

Price context & historical value

At $26.96, this is the lowest price I've seen - although that's for the black version. Other colors - like beige white, blue, and green - are discounted, but the prices are slightly higher at $32. With this model, you're saving just over 18%. That's a welcome discount for a 20,000mAh model with an integrated cable.

For more shopping options, take a look at our roundup of the best power chargers.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Iniu Portable Charger if...

You want plenty of battery capacity with fast charging and a few tricks up its sleeve without paying a fortune.

❌ Skip the Iniu Portable Charger if...

You want something that can charge your laptop. This is fine for phones and many smaller USB-powered devices, but it can't handle more powerful devices.

• Shop all portable power banks at Amazon

• Meta's Petal cable will carry a petabit of data every single second
• The cable stretches roughly 7,000 kilometers between the United States and France
• Meta expects Petal to enter commercial service sometime in 2029

Meta has announced Petal, a subsea cable system built to carry a petabit of data every second across the Atlantic Ocean.

The company says this new system will stretch roughly 7,000 kilometers, or about 4,300 miles, linking the United States and France.

Meta expects Petal to enter service in 2029, working alongside NEC Corporation and Sumitomo Electric Industries on its construction and eventual deployment.

How Petal reaches such enormous speed

Undersea cables already carry about 99% of the world's intercontinental internet traffic, according to Meta, making new capacity increases commercially significant.

Traditional transatlantic cables move data in terabits each second, but Petal aims for petabit scale, roughly a million gigabits every second.

"Achieving petabit-per-second capacity across a transoceanic submarine system represents a major technological milestone in the history of global telecommunications," said Eduardo Mateo, Chief Strategy Officer, Submarine Network Division at NEC Corporation.

According to Meta's estimate, that much capacity could let 75% of Earth's population stream music simultaneously.

Reaching that scale required multi-core fiber technology, doubling the 24 fiber pairs used on Meta's earlier Anjana cable system into 48 spatial channels.

Petal also uses a lower power repeater design that allows the entire system to run from a single feeding point for added resilience.

That capacity would make Petal roughly 3.3 million times faster than a typical American home internet connection, based on average broadband speeds.

At that speed, Petal could theoretically move every song ever commercially released to another continent in under one second.

Meta says Petal will double existing transoceanic capacity without adding more power equipment or new physical structures, a claim still untested outside controlled trials.

Undersea cables remain critical infrastructure despite the cost

Communication traffic keeps rising as AI tools and everyday digital services demand more resilient, reliable connections between continents.

This is why Meta keeps expanding its subsea capacity across multiple regions and long-distance routes worldwide.

The company has backed more than 20 subsea cable projects already, including its wider Project Waterworth initiative, giving it a long record in undersea infrastructure.

"Meta continues to invest in digital infrastructure, such as subsea cables, because they are foundational to delivering the high quality services our end users expect," said Alex-Handrah Aime, Vice President, Network Investments at Meta.

Sumitomo Electric echoed that reasoning, framing its new two-core fiber as essential to supporting long-term global network expansion.

"We are committed to supporting the global network expansion essential to realizing a highly digital future," said Takehiko Okada, General Manager, Optical Fiber and Cable Division at Sumitomo Electric Industries.

Whether Petal meets its 2029 deadline will depend on regulatory approval, ocean permitting, and manufacturing timelines that often slip for projects this size.

The Netgear Orbi 770 mesh router system is one of the best we've ever tested, scoring 4.5 stars in our review. Now, it's just hit its lowest ever price at Amazon.

• Best for: Home users and small businesses that need strong Wi-Fi coverage in every room without dead zones.

• The deal: The Netgear Orbi 770 Wi-Fi 7 mesh system three pack is now £579 (was £759) at Amazon.

• Why it matters: Under testing, we found this mesh system delivered "impressive Wi-Fi 7 speeds at a competitive price." It's tri-band model that takes full advantage of Wi-Fi 7 speeds, reaching up to 11Gbp. Coverage is up to 6,750 sq ft from the router and two satellites, which is ideal of large premises. There's support for MLO, up to 100 connected devices, and a 2.5 Gig internet port for full-speed fibre connections.

• Don't need the 3-pack? The 2-pack Orbi 770 is now £450 (was £550) at Amazon

Why we recommend it

When we put the Orbi 770 to the test, we found it offered "excellent performance for home users and small businesses," scoring it 4.5 stars.

It might be cheaper than the flagship Orbi 970 series, but it "doesn’t cut any corners when it comes to performance." It did aa great job of extending wireless connectivity to hard-to-reach areas of the house during review.

Bonus points for the easy-to-use app, which lets you set up guest Wi-Fi accounts and IoT networks. It's simple to get started, although some features are locked behind an optional subscription.

Overall, we rated it the top pick for homes in our guide to the best mesh Wi-Fi systems.

Price Context & Historical Value

At £579, this is an all-time low for the Orbi 770 series. It proved to be a strong all-round performer at an affordable price (well, compared to the Orbi 970). At this deal price, it's about on par with the Amazon eero 7 Pro.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Netgear Orbi 770 if...

You want whole-home Wi-Fi 7 coverage to eliminate internet dead zones, especially if you have a lot of devices or run a multi-gig fibre connection.

❌ Skip the Netgear Orbi 770 if...

You live in a flat or smaller house where a single router or two-pack model will suit you better, or you don't have devices for Wi-Fi 7 speeds with no plans to future-proof or upgrade.

• See all mesh router systems at Amazon

What happened to Jensen Huang? The Nvidia co-founder and CEO seems about as disconnected as a person can be from other humans' life experiences. That wouldn't be so concerning if it weren't for the fact that he runs the most valuable company in the world and is responsible for the hardware behind the most life-altering innovation in our lifetime: AI.

Huang, who founded Nvidia 33 years ago, has been a CEO for decades and a billionaire since 1999; he's also now firmly on the side of rapid AI development and deployment with little-to-no regulation, putting Huang firmly at odds with a growing legion of, admittedly, some other billionaires and CEOs — among others — who are calling for a foundational model development pause or at least slow down.

It's in this moment that Huang has been talking — a lot. He's sat down with multiple journalists for chats, but none now more notable than the extensive New York Times podcast with columnist Ezra Klein.

Unlike some of the other interviews, Klein used Huang's own description of the AI as a Five-Layer Cake: Applications, Models, Infrastructure, Chips. Energy to frame the conversation, which invited Huang to opine on all these critical AI bits, and I have to say, many of his comments were eye-opening.

Here are the most startling things Huang said and maybe why he's saying them:

'There are a lot of skills that don’t matter'

"There are a lot of skills that don’t matter."

The topic here was studies in China showing that while AI in education may initially help students work more efficiently, it, on average, lowers their test scores by almost 20%.

Huang agrees with Ezra that the use of AI is, while helping them work faster, possibly degrading student performance, at least in certain skills.

"The multiplication table is starting to be forgotten. Doing square roots, my goodness. Basic math is being forgotten. Does it matter?...Yeah. I don’t think it does. I don’t think it does."

Huang believes that even as we lose some skills, or as students become adults entering the workforce, they will gain other new skills. Of course, that's sort of a zero-sum game where you can easily replace one thing with another.

I don't know about you, but I do consider the multiplication tables to be a core skill and useful even if you don't work in a math-related field. Naturally, Huang and most AI providers would like to believe that, like the calculator before it, AI will handle this skill and do all the math for you. Perhaps. But at what point do we lose the ability as a culture to double-check AI's work?

'I actually don’t know my address'

This next one is actually connected to the prior quote but is worth calling out:

"My first confession, I actually don’t know my address."

Not his email address, not his phone number or his partner's phone number, but where he lives. The street number and zip code (I'll assume he knows the town and state).

Huang used this as an example of a skill he no longer needs, but admits that realizing it while pumping gas and needing his zip code (I'm guessing for credit card verification) panicked him.

Listening to this while driving my own car, I almost pulled over. "What?!" I yelled at my AI-filled iPhone 18 Pro Max, which was playing the podcast. First of all, how? Second, Huang could not have crafted a better comment to undermine this and many of his other comments.

The only way you don't know your home address is if you've been shielded from the act of entering it on documents and driving yourself home because you always have someone else doing it for you. Huang's lived experience is thoroughly disconnected from the average person, and yet the choices he's making impact most regular people.

'[China] manufacture[s] everything in volume. They manufacture smart kids in volume'

Throughout the long conversation, Huang comes off as an industry Pollyanna and wildly self-serving.

He's asked repeatedly about China's approach to AI and if and how the US should be competing with them and ensuring that the US doesn't fall behind in this critical race. To put his comments in context, you have to remember that Huang personally asked the White House to allow it to continue selling AI chips to China. Huang did note, by the way, that he at least sells new technology to US companies first.

Overall, Huang essentially never criticizes China and, in fact, seems almost in awe of its approach on most fronts, especially in its use of open-model community (calling it "super-vibrant), and how it's raising an army of people to build its AI future.

"They have so many scientists and mathematicians. The number of engineers they have, they manufacture that in volume. They manufacture everything in volume. They manufacture smart kids in volume."

I don't know if that last bit was a backhanded criticism of the US education system, but it's not like he added, "Of course, we are creating just as many smart kids in the US."

'all of the rhetoric and all the alarmism, all the doomerism, all of the predictions — they’re scaring people'

If Huang has any criticism, it's reserved for his US counterparts, whom he calls "alarmists" and "doomers".

"I want to see us not ruin the opportunity for the United States to benefit at the highest level. And notice all of the rhetoric and all the alarmism, all the doomerism, all of the predictions — they're scaring people."

Huang insists that these AI models are still just programs running on operating systems, and wishes people would stop infusing them with human attributes.

'Just because it comes from a scientist doesn’t make it scientific'

While Klein mentions most of Huang's partners and occasional alarm-sounders, like Altman, Modei, and Musk, Huang doesn't actually mention any of them by name. The 'Godfather of AI' and chief alarmist Geoffrey Hinton, though, does receive special mention.

In response to a question about Hinton's assertion that there's a 10% chance AI will end society as we know it, Huang calls the statement "irresponsible" and adds, "Just because it comes from a scientist doesn’t make it scientific."

In a way, Huang is right. After all, Hinton is still just a person who can bring personal opinions to the debate. Huang argues that the "10% chance is not grounded on science."

But isn't it? If Hinton is the Nobel Prize-winning person who introduced the world to deep learning, which helped trigger the generative AI revolution, isn't everything he says, in some way, based on science?

Instead of saying he understands the concern but here's why he's wrong, Huang just claims the foundation of Hinton's argument is faulty, and therefore his statements are not really worth addressing. Huang would simply like everyone, all the doomers, to stop scaring everyone.

'The A.I. supercomputers are super energy efficient, but they’re still going to use a lot of power'

Huang says he wants AI to benefit every company and person, and he tries to offer a reasoned approach to the growing outcry over data centers.

He agrees that if people don't want them in their town, "then so be it," and encourages companies to be transparent about the impact, though he argues that their "use of water is really efficient." In the same breath, Huang tries to have it both ways: "The A.I. supercomputers are super energy efficient, but they’re still going to use a lot of power."

If, in Huang's perfect world, AI companies do generate their own power (building power sources takes time, probably more than it takes to build data centers) and they somehow lower property taxes, maybe data centers could someday be a net positive. Most, I think, would argue we're not there yet, even as the number of data centers being built across the US explodes.

'I think we just have to acknowledge that we got ourselves really gummed up in climate change and sustainable energy'

More concerning is Huang's shocking perspective on climate change and fossil fuels.

"I think we just have to acknowledge that we got ourselves really gummed up in climate change and sustainable energy, and as a result, we just didn’t plan enough energy production."

Klein, naturally, asked what Jensen meant by "gummed up," and, yes, it got worse.

"Well, in the near term, energy production requires fossil fuel. And because there’s just so much angst about fossil fuel energy production, if you look at our country, we’ve produced very little net new energy for a long time."

There's a lot to unpack there. It sounds like Huang is downplaying real climate change concerns, something that might align with the beliefs of his pal and "drill-baby-drill" and climate-change denier US President Donald Trump.

In fact, Huang never addresses whether climate change is real or not and instead seems fixated on how the loss of more fossil-fuel-burning energy plants puts us behind China in the energy race, and, more problematically for him, at a time when AI needs a lot more energy.

'They’ve got to inflict an enormous amount of pain and suffering on you so that they can save you'

It's not all bad. Huang believes, "If you want a future that is sustainable, lean into AI”

And then he says this:

"Yeah. It’s kind of like, in order to save you, they’ve got to hurt you first — that’s the nature of surgery. They’ve got to cut you open to save you. They’ve got to inflict an enormous amount of pain and suffering on you so that they can save you. And so I think A.I.’s kind of like that."

As for what level of "pain and suffering" Huang believes we should endure, he didn't elaborate.

If you were watching or listening to the interview hoping for some encouragement or a more rational, middle-of-the-road approach to regulating and governing AI in ways that truly benefit all, you might've been disappointed. Huang does say that when the builders see AI going awry, they should stop it, and when an AI acts out of alignment, "they shouldn’t release the product. That’s the simple answer." But he never addresses the concerns over what appears to be happening before Anthropic, OpenAI, and potentially others release their models. These systems are jumping fences in testing.

Huang may not understand the needs of the common person, but that pales in comparison to the dispassionate AI, which neither knows nor cares about us. We need leaders like Huang to start caring, but first they have to understand us and our very reasonable concerns.

Samsung is behind some of our favorite portable SSDs, with the T7 being an excellent example. This incredibly versatile 1TB drive combines USB 3.2 Gen 2 connectivity with a durable aluminum enclosure.

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• Why it matters: Samsung has consistently delivered an excellent range of portable SSDs. The T7 is a real classic of the range - compact, durable, and speedy enough for most users. It delivers read speeds up to 1,050MB/s and writes speeds up to 1,000MB/s, making large file transfers considerably quicker than with portable hard drives.

Today's best Samsung portable SSD deal

Why we recommend it

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Price context & historical value

The reduction from $274.99 to $229.99 will save you 16%. That's a welcome price cut in 2026, but it's still expensive for a 1TB external SSD by historical standards. In 2023, before component prices began sky-rocketing, it was available to buy for just $64.99. I don't expect to see it that low again for a very long time, if ever.

For more shopping options, take a look at our roundup of the best portable SSDs, and the fastest external SSDs.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Samsung T7 Portable SSD if...

You frequently move large files between devices and need something faster than a hard drive. The T7 supports 256-bit AES hardware encryption, which is useful if you'll be carrying important work or personal files about with you.

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Also consider

• Shop all portable SSDs at Amazon.

• New Jersey issues $1.07m fine for failure to obtain permits to run gas generators
• DataOne campus running Microsoft's AI was using 62 of them illegally
• DataOne "disagree[s]" but has 45 days to obtain the relevant permits

A Microsoft partner has been hit with a $1.07 million fine by the US state of New Jersey after allegedly installing no fewer than 62 natural gas generators on-site without obtaining the correct environmental permits.

The state found out about the generators after a local farmer photographing a neighboring golf course noticed equipment appearing on the campus, which led to an investigation and the deployment of a thermal drone, which at the time, observed 45 of the 62 generators in operation.

The fine was based on New Jersey's Air Pollution Control Act, which requires both reconstruction permits to install the generators and operating certificates to run them. Neither had been obtained across all 62 units, the department said in an announcement.

Microsoft has been running 62 generators illegally at just one campus

DEP Commissioner Ed Potosnak described the fine as "by far the largest ever taken against a data center in New Jersey and possibly one of the largest such actions in the nation."

With each generator rated at 1,982 kilowatts, they collectively have a 123-megwatt capacity. For reference, the state asserted that any individual generators with a 37kW or higher capacity should be approved.

The generators effectively provide the data center with a considerable amount of off-grid electricity supply, but while this may be good news to alleviate strains on local infrastructure and household energy prices, CO2, NO2 and CO emissions are particularly concerning.

"While we disagree with the temporary generator determination, we will apply for the air permits for the temporary generators and are in communication with the Department of Environmental Protection regarding its findings and the fuel cell transition timeline," DataOne, the company behind the data center, said in a statement.

DataOne has been given 45 days to obtain the relevant permits, but in the interim, it can continue using the gas generators.

"The Sherrill administration demands accountability and corporate responsibility in the construction and operation of data centers," Potosnak added.