An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: People in London could be hiring driverless taxis from Waymo next year, after the US autonomous vehicle company announced plans to launch its services there. The UK capital will become the first European city to have an autonomous taxi service of the kind now familiar in San Francisco and four other US cities using Waymo's technology. The launch pits an innovation sometimes dubbed the "robotaxi" against London's famous black cabs, which can trace their history back to the first horse-drawn hackney coaches of the Tudor era. But a representative of the capital's cab drivers said they were not concerned by the arrival of a "fairground ride" and questioned the reliability of driverless vehicles. Waymo said its cars were now on their way to London and would start driving on the capital's streets in the coming weeks with "trained human specialists," or safety drivers, behind the wheel. The company, originally formed as a spin-off from Google's self-driving car program, said it would scale up operations and work closely with Transport for London and the Department for Transportto obtain the permits needed to offer fully autonomous rides in 2026. Uber and the UK tech company Wayve have also announced their own plans to trial their driverless taxis in the capital next year, after the British government said it would accelerate rules allowing public trials to take place before legislation enabling self-driving vehicles passes in full.

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Mozilla is testing a free, built-in VPN for Firefox that routes traffic through Mozilla-managed servers directly in the browser. The Register reports: According to a staff post on Mozilla Connect, the company's idea-sharing platform, Firefox VPN is still an experimental feature in the early stages of development, but users will be selected at random to test it "over the next few months." Moz describes the feature as one that will sit beside the search bar on Firefox, routing web traffic through a Mozilla-managed VPN server, concealing the user's real IP address while adding a layer of encryption to their communications. Firefox VPN is a different project entirely from Mozilla VPN, a separate, paid-for product. The Firefox version will be free to use and confined to the browser itself, while Mozilla VPN can be used by up to five devices at a time. The Moz staffer on the product team who announced the feature said of the upcoming beta test: "We'll start simple, then gradually add new capabilities while learning how it impacts browsing, usage, and overall satisfaction. "Our long-term vision is ambitious: to build the best VPN-integrated browser on the market." In response to feedback, the staffer noted that while it will be a desktop browser feature first, "mobile is definitely a natural next step."

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Anthropic is projecting its annualized revenue run rate to soar from roughly $7 billion today to as much as $26 billion in 2026, driven by rapid enterprise adoption of its Claude AI models. Reuters reports: Anthropic debuted a new version of its cheapest AI model, Haiku, on Wednesday, as part of a broader effort to appeal to companies that are looking for capable AI systems that are dramatically cheaper than its more advanced models. The Haiku 4.5 model sells for about one-third the price of Sonnet 4, one of its medium-sized models. The revenue projections underscore continued strong demand for generative AI tools among businesses and help explain investor enthusiasm, even as AI spending, especially in infrastructure buildout, comes under scrutiny. Some people worry the level of investment might be unsustainable. Fueling the expansion is the uptake of enterprise products, which are built for organizations. Anthropic has more than 300,000 business and enterprise customers, which account for about 80% of its revenue.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: U.S. cybersecurity company F5 disclosed that nation-state hackers breached its systems and stole undisclosed BIG-IP security vulnerabilities and source code. The company states that it first became aware of the breach on August 9, 2025, with its investigations revealing that the attackers had gained long-term access to its system, including the company's BIG-IP product development environment and engineering knowledge management platform. F5 is a Fortune 500 tech giant specializing in cybersecurity, cloud management, and application delivery networking (ADN) applications. The company has 23,000 customers in 170 countries, and 48 of the Fortune 50 entities use its products. BIG-IP is the firm's flagship product used for application delivery and traffic management by many large enterprises worldwide. [...] F5 is still reviewing which customers had their configuration or implementation details stolen and will contact them with guidance. To help customers secure their F5 environments against risks stemming from the breach, the company released updates for BIG-IP, F5OS, BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes, BIG-IQ, and APM clients. Despite any evidence "of undisclosed critical or remote code execution vulnerabilities," the company urges customers to prioritize installing the new BIG-IP software updates.

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It’s-a-me, Ally-o. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Hey! I'm Sean Hollister, and I've been The Verge's unofficial handheld gaming PC reviewer since 2022, when the Steam Deck and kin took over my life. (I also helped launch this website back in the day!) And I've just spent the past week reviewing the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, Microsoft's very first "Xbox" handhelds that are built and co-developed by Asus.

We're doing a neat new thing where we let paying subscribers ask us anything about the hottest new gadgets, stories, and events - and I wasn't about to let my colleague Jen have all the fun!

So I'll be hosting my own subscriber-only AMA right here, and I'll show up on launch day tomorro ...

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Google is making videos created with the AI filmmaking tool Flow even more realistic — and harder to identify as AI-generated at first glance. The company announced Wednesday that users can add in and change the shadows and lighting of their AI videos. The expanded editing features in Flow are tied to the Veo 3.1 update, also announced on Wednesday, which Google says does a better job of making a video based on the images submitted as a prompt.

Flow users will also be able to generate videos with audio using several of the tool’s new features. Users can make a video with audio based on three reference images that the company calls “Ingredients to Video.” Another feature, called “Frames to Video,” creates a video that bridges a starting image with an ending image, with accompanying audio. The “Scene Extension” feature lets you take the final second of a clip and add on additional generated video up to a minute in length, also with generated audio.

Veo 3.1 costs the same as Veo 3, is available as part of a “paid preview” through Gemini API to developers, and is enabled in the Gemini app.

According to Google, Flow users will soon be able to remove “anything” from a video — the tool will restructure the background and scene to make “it look as though the object was never there.”

Apple’s entry-level iPad is currently down to $319. | Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

While the best iPad deals usually land during major sale events like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day, many great iPad deals are available outside of those times. The day-to-day discounts come and go like changing winds, so there’s often some amount to be saved, particularly on Apple’s most affordable iPad, the iPad Mini, and the latest iPad Air. As for the iPad Pro, Apple just introduced a new model with an M5 chip, which is available to preorder ahead of its October 22nd launch. If you don’t need the latest tech, however, now may be a good time to save on the M4 Pro as inventory dwindles.

1. The best iPad (2025) deals
2. The best iPad Mini (2024) deals
3. The best iPad Air (2025) deals
4. The best iPad Pro (2024) deals

All that being said, it’s difficult to know where exactly you can find the most notable iPad deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed the best deals you can get on each iPad model that is available, from the 11th-gen base iPad to the more powerful models with M3 and M4 chips.

The best iPad (2025) deals

Apple iPad (11th-gen) Where to Buy:

• $349 $319 at Amazon (128GB, Wi-Fi)
• $449 $399 at Amazon (256GB, Wi-Fi)
• $649 $602 at Apple (512GB, Wi-Fi)

Apple’s 11th-gen iPad landed on the scene in March. The newest base model tablet is a fairly iterative update of the prior model, but with 128GB of base storage (as opposed to 64GB) and the A16 Bionic chip, which is nearly 30 percent faster than the A14 chip used in the 10th-gen iPad. However, the newer chip doesn’t support the various Apple Intelligence features introduced in iPadOS 18.1 and subsequent updates. For that, you’ll want to opt for a more recent iPad Air, iPad Mini, or iPad Pro model.

Pricing-wise, the latest iPad starts at $349 with Wi-Fi and 128GB of storage. You can also upgrade to 256GB or 512GB of storage for an additional $100 or $200, respectively, or purchase an LTE model starting at $499. We saw a pretty significant price drop to $279 during Amazon’s latest Prime Day event, though you can still find the entry-level model on sale at Amazon starting at $319 ($30 off). Alternatively, you can purchase the 256GB model at Amazon starting at $399 ($50 off), or the 512GB variant at Amazon and Walmart starting at $602 ($47 off).

The best iPad Mini (2024) deals

iPad Mini (2024) Where to Buy:

• $499 $489 at Amazon (128GB, Wi-Fi)
• $499 $489 at Best Buy (128GB, Wi-Fi)
• $599 $574.3 at Amazon (256GB, Wi-Fi)

The seventh-gen iPad Mini is similar in several ways to the previous model, but comes with some big internal upgrades. It includes faster Wi-Fi and USB-C speeds, support for the Apple Pencil Pro, and a newer A17 Pro processor with 8GB of RAM to support Apple Intelligence. Otherwise, it boasts nearly identical specs and features as the last-gen model, meaning it has an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display and options for 5G. It may not be worth upgrading if you already own a sixth-gen Mini, but newcomers to the category will appreciate the upgrades.

The 2024 iPad Mini starts at $499 with 128GB of storage, which was the price for the previous generation’s 64GB model. Electing for 256GB of storage brings the price up to $599, and the cellular models start at $649. These are some big numbers for a small iPad, so the larger iPad Air might be worth considering if you prefer your dollar to go further with more screen real estate. But if you want an Apple tablet in the smallest possible form factor, this is where the action is.

Right now, the 128GB base model with Wi-Fi is modestly discounted at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo, dropping it to $489 ($10 off). We’ve seen this model drop to as low as $379 in the past, so if you’re working with a tighter budget, you may want to hold off for a more significant discount. That said, if you need additional storage, you can pick up the 256GB variant at Amazon and Walmart in select colors for $574.30 (about $25 off), or the 512GB model at Walmart starting at $762.28 (about $37 off).

The best iPad Air (2025) deals

11-inch iPad Air M3 Where to Buy:

• $599 $537 at Amazon (128GB, Wi-Fi)
• $699 $642.25 at Walmart (256GB, Wi-Fi)
• $899 $808.26 at Amazon (512GB, Wi-Fi)

13-inch iPad Air M3 Where to Buy:

• $799 $735.32 at Walmart (128GB, Wi-Fi)
• $899 $829.56 at Amazon (256GB, Wi-Fi)
• $1099 $999 at Amazon (512GB, Wi-Fi)

The 2025 iPad Air is little more than a spec bump over the previous model, with a few technical upgrades that should allow it to last longer into the future than either the entry-level iPad or the last-gen Air. It features an M3 chip with support for Apple Intelligence, plus compatibility with Apple’s latest Magic Keyboard that has a larger trackpad and an extra row of function keys. In short, the Air is a credible laptop replacement.

The 11-inch model starts at $599 and the 13-inch variant $799 — the same price as prior models — but it’s common to see discounts from third-party retailers. Right now, for instance, the 11-inch Air is on sale at Amazon in its base configuration with Wi-Fi and 128GB of storage for $537 (about $62 off). You can also grab the 256GB model at Walmart starting at $642.25 (about $57 off), or the step-up 512GB model at Amazon and Walmart starting at $808.26 (about $91 off). We often see the iPad Air discounted as much as $150 off, though, so it may be worth checking back later for a larger discount.

The larger 13-inch model, meanwhile, is on sale at Amazon and Walmart with 128GB of storage starting at around $735 (about $64 off). You can also pick up the 256GB model at Amazon and Walmart starting at $829.56 (around $73 off), or the 512GB variant at Amazon starting at $999 ($50 off).

The best iPad Pro (2024) deals

11-inch iPad Pro (2024) Where to Buy:

• $999 $899 at B&H Photo (256GB, Wi-Fi)
• $1199 $1098 at Amazon (512GB, Wi-Fi)
• $1599 $1499 at Amazon (1TB, Wi-Fi)

13-inch iPad Pro (2024) Where to Buy:

• $1299 $1187.99 at Amazon (256GB, Wi-Fi)
• $1499 $1349.99 at Amazon (512GB, Wi-Fi)
• $1899 $1699 at B&H Photo (1TB, Wi-Fi)

The 2024 iPad Pro is a far more impressive upgrade than the latest iPad Air. The 11- and 13-inch models still start at $999 and $1,299, respectively, and they were the first Apple devices to feature the company’s M4 chip, which brought moderate performance gains and introduced dedicated hardware for on-device Apple Intelligence processing. The last-gen Pro models can claim other firsts, too, such as being the first iPad models with OLED displays and the lightest Pros available, which is still true of both sizes. They also feature repositioned front-facing cameras that sit along the horizontal edge (also found in the 11th-gen iPad), which prevent you from looking as though you’re staring off into space on a video call.

As for deals, the base 11-inch iPad Pro with 256GB of storage is currently on sale at B&H Photo and Walmart starting at around $899 (about $100 off), while the model with Wi-Fi and 512GB of storage is on sale at Amazon, Walmart, and B&H Photo for around $1,098 (about $100 off). The sleek and super-thin 13-inch model, meanwhile, is on sale in its 256GB base configuration at Amazon for $1,187.99 ($112 off) or in its 512GB configuration at Amazon for $1,349.99 ($150 off). B&H Photo also has the 1TB model for $1,699 ($200 off) if you’re looking for more storage to hold your apps, photos, and videos.

While there are some enticing deals on the iPad Pro with the M4 chip, it’s worth noting that the current model is more than a year old. That means if you want the latest tech, you may want to consider springing for the iPad Pro with an M5 chip. Of course, since the upgraded model is brand new, we’re not expecting any notable deals anytime soon. However, that could change once Black Friday and Cyber Monday roll around in November.

Update, October 15th: Updated to reflect current pricing / availability and note that Apple has introduced a new version of the iPad Pro with an M5 chip.

Last month, OpenAI published a usage study showing that nearly 15 percent of work-related conversations on ChatGPT had to deal with "making decisions and solving problems." Now comes word that at least one high-level member of the US military is using LLMs for the same purpose.

At the Association of the US Army Conference in Washington, DC, this week, Maj. Gen. William "Hank" Taylor reportedly said that "Chat and I are really close lately," using a distressingly familiar diminutive nickname to refer to an unspecified AI chatbot. "AI is one thing that, as a commander, it’s been very, very interesting for me."

Military-focused news site DefenseScoop reports that Taylor told a roundtable group of reporters that he and the Eighth Army he commands out of South Korea are "regularly using" AI to modernize their predictive analysis for logistical planning and operational purposes. That is helpful for paperwork tasks like "just being able to write our weekly reports and things," Taylor said, but it also aids in informing their overall direction.

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Most modern smartphones are basically rectangles with a touchscreen on the front and a couple of cameras on the back. Every now and then a phone maker gets the bright idea if introducing a flip-out camera that lets the rear camera face forward so that you don’t even need a standalone selfie camera. The upcoming […]

The post Honor is making a phone with a flip-out camera on a robotic arm appeared first on Liliputing.

Google is introducing new recovery tools that aim to make it less frustrating to regain access when you're locked out of your account. The Verge: Instead of answering security questions or entering a recovery email address, Google's new security features allow account holders to verify their identity using a linked mobile number, or trusted friends or family members. The Recovery Contacts feature enables users to designate people to confirm their identity in order to regain access to accounts after getting hacked or losing their password or passkey. Google didn't specify how the verification process works, but says the feature provides "a simple and secure way to regain access when standard recovery methods fail." Recovery Contacts is available for eligible personal Google accounts, and can be found under the Security option in the account settings.

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The M5 MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,599, is available for preorder starting today. | Image: Apple

Apple recently announced revised 14-inch MacBook Pro and iPad Pro models, each equipped with the new M5 processor. As expected, Apple's new M5 chip is supposedly faster than the M4, with better performance for graphically demanding applications. Apple also says the M5 is significantly better at handling AI-based tasks because its 10-core GPU has a neural accelerator embedded in each core.

In terms of pricing, the new 14-inch laptop starts at $1,599, while the base 11-inch and 13-inch tablets start at $999 and $1,299, respectively. All three devices are slated to launch on Wednesday, October 22nd, but you can preorder them starting today fro ...

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Don’t let pings spoil the dingers.

When my household quit cable four years ago and I lost access to Seattle Mariners games on TV, I started streaming the radio broadcast on the Google Home speaker in my kitchen. Honestly? Baseball on the radio rules. You get to walk around and do stuff to the pleasant background sounds of the crowd. Sometimes you hear the crack of Cal Raleigh's bat hammering the ball into the stands one or 60 times. There's just one problem: spoilers.

I use the MLB app for live scores, which is especially handy to complement an audio-only game. I don't have to wait for the announcer to get around to repeating how many outs there are; I can just glance at my ...

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Alexis Ohanian, who helped build Reddit, says much of the internet has become dominated by bots and AI. Speaking on the podcast TBPN, he described the internet as increasingly "quasi-AI" and filled with what he called "LinkedIn slop." Ohanian referenced dead internet theory, the assertion that bot activity exceeds human activity on the web. In September, Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, posted that while he had not taken the theory seriously, he now sees "a lot of LLM-run twitter accounts."

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A stunning image of a rice weevil on a single grain of rice has won the 2025 Nikon Small World photomicrography contest, yielding valuable insight into the structure and behavior of—and providing a fresh perspective on—this well-known agricultural pest. The image was taken by Zhang You of Yunnan, China. Another of You's photographs placed 15th in this year's contest.

“It pays to dive deep into entomology: understanding insects’ behaviors and mastering lighting," You said in a statement. "A standout work blends artistry with scientific rigor, capturing the very essence, energy, and spirit of these creatures.”

There was an element of luck in creating his winning image, too. "I had observed rice weevils in grains before, but never one with its wings spread," You said. "This one was naturally preserved on a windowsill, perhaps in a final attempt to escape. Its tiny size makes manually preparing spread-wing specimens extremely difficult, so encountering it was both serendipitous and inspiring.”

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The Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket have been attached at the hip for the better part of two decades. The big rocket lifts, the smaller spacecraft flies, and Congress keeps the money rolling in.

But now there are signs that the twain may, in the not too distant future, split.

This is because Lockheed Martin has begun to pivot toward a future in which the Orion spacecraft—thanks to increasing reusability, a focus on cost, and openness to flying on different rockets—fits into commercial space applications. In interviews, company officials said that if NASA wanted to buy Orion missions as a "service," rather than owning and operating the spacecraft, they were ready to work with the space agency.

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Thousands of networks—many of them operated by the US government and Fortune 500 companies—face an “imminent threat” of being breached by a nation-state hacking group following the breach of a major maker of software, the federal government warned Wednesday.

F5, a Seattle-based maker of networking software, disclosed the breach on Wednesday. F5 said a “sophisticated” threat group working for an undisclosed nation-state government had surreptitiously and persistently dwelled in its network over a “long-term.” Security researchers who have responded to similar intrusions in the past took the language to mean the hackers were inside the F5 network for years.

Unprecedented

During that time, F5 said, the hackers took control of the network segment the company uses to create and distribute updates for BIG IP, a line of server appliances that F5 says is used by 48 of the world’s top 50 corporations. Wednesday’s disclosure went on to say the threat group downloaded proprietary BIG-IP source code information about vulnerabilities that had been privately discovered but not yet patched. The hackers also obtained configuration settings that some customers used inside their networks.

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The U.S. passport has fallen out of the top 10 most powerful passports globally for the first time in 20 years in the latest edition of the Henley Passport Index, which ranks nations based on the number of destinations a traveler can visit without needing a visa. From a report: The U.S. ranking is on a steep downward trend, with the U.S. passport now in 12th spot, tied with Malaysia, having already fallen from seventh place last year to 10th place in July. A decade ago, the U.S. passport topped the index. Christian H. Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners and creator of the index, said in a news release on Tuesday that the declining strength of the U.S. passport signaled a "fundamental shift in global mobility and soft power dynamics." Kaelin added: "Nations that embrace openness and cooperation are surging ahead, while those resting on past privilege are being left behind."

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Ever heard the saying, “There’s no such thing as bad weather—just bad clothes”? This most definitely applies to hand warmers too.

With the right hand warmer, you can pleasantly recreate in virtually any cold-weather setting and still enjoy toasty-warm digits.

After putting 11 warmers through their paces, taking long, chilly walks and spending longer, snowy days in the mountains, we concluded that the Zippo HeatBank 9s Plus Rechargeable Hand Warmer is the best hand warmer to carry in your pocket.

If you need a slimmer hand warmer to tuck into a glove, we have a recommendation for that as well.

The Apple-designed N1 wireless networking chip brings Thread to the iPad Pro. | Image: Apple

Apple’s new M5-powered iPad Pro is the first iPad to officially support the Thread smart home protocol. It comes with Apple’s new N1 wireless networking chip, which adds Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread — the three wireless protocols the Matter smart home standard runs on.

While other iPads and Macs reportedly have Thread radios, this is the first model launching with the protocol publicly listed in the specs, and it could lay the groundwork for the iPad to be a Home hub — again.

So, what does this mean? Well, not much right away. Just as the answer to why Apple added Thread to iPhones starting with the iPhone 15 Pro wasn’t immediately clear, the company also hasn’t said why it’s on the new iPad.

The most likely scenario is that, as eventually emerged with Thread-enabled iPhones, you’ll be able to use the iPad Pro to set up a Thread smart home device in your home, even if you don’t have a Thread border router.

This makes adding a Thread device — like a smart light, lock, or plug — easier as you won’t need to go buy an extra product just to use the one you bought. (Although some functionality may be limited until you get a border router.)

Apple could be considering bringing the iPad back into the Home hub fold

The iPad wouldn’t work as a Thread border router, as they need to be mains-powered devices, but having a Thread radio in a mobile device does allow for direct control of Thread gadgets, improving reliability and speed. And, if you already have a Thread border router but the power goes out, your iPad can step in to talk to battery-powered Thread devices such as smart locks.

Apple has been using Thread in Apple Home for several years now, since the launch of the HomePod Mini in 2020. The protocol offers several benefits in the smart home, including reduced latency, lower power use, and more reliable local control. While there aren’t many Thread devices available yet, the number is growing.

The less likely — but more intriguing — possibility is that Apple could be considering bringing the iPad back into the Home hub fold.

For years, any iPad could serve as an Apple Home hub, running automations and enabling remote control away from home. But when Apple introduced its new Home Architecture in 2022 as part of its transition to Matter, the iPad was eventually deprecated as a hub. While you can still control devices and create automations on an iPad with the Home app, you now need a separate hub, such as an Apple TV or HomePod Mini, for those more advanced features.

While we’re all waiting for Apple’s long-rumored HomePod smart display to arrive, bringing back the iPad as a Home hub would be a welcome move. However, Thread-enabled Home hub capabilities would be more useful on lower-cost models or more compact ones, such as the iPad Mini — using a $1,000 M5 iPad Pro to run your smart home feels like overkill.

Another reason I’m intrigued to see the N1 arrive in the iPad Pro is that it feels like a safe bet that we’ll see it again soon in future products, such as the rumored new Apple TV and HomePod Mini 2. Alongside upgraded processors, the N1 addition could give both those devices a big boost as smart home hubs by improving speed, responsiveness, and reliability.

Sundar Pichai at Trump’s inauguration, alongside other Big Tech CEOs.

A group of Democratic lawmakers are asking questions about YouTube’s $24.5 million settlement with President Donald Trump.

In a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, five Senators — Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) — asked for details about any settlement talks between those companies and the Trump administration. They’re interested in whether Google secured favorable treatment as a result of the payout, including leniency in multiple ongoing antitrust lawsuits, something they warn could constitute an illegal bribe.

The deal between Trump and YouTube settles a lawsuit Trump filed in 2021 after he was suspended from the platform. It’s raised eyebrows thanks to the weak legal rationale (courts have all but unanimously declared social media companies can ban users) and the fact that YouTube’s parent company would benefit greatly from winning Trump’s favor.

Google is entangled in multiple antitrust suits

Google recently appeared in court to determine how a judge should neutralize its monopoly in the ad tech sector — with the Department of Justice arguing for a dramatic breakup. The government could still choose to settle that case with far less drastic remedies. Google is also entangled in a search antitrust suit, where a judge proposed milder remedies than the preceding Biden administration asked for, and the Trump administration will be in charge of deciding how hard to push an appeal.

“The public deserves to know whether YouTube’s settlement will influence the Trump Justice Department’s decision regarding whether to appeal and seek the stricter remedies DOJ had originally sought against Google,” the letter says. If YouTube settled a “legally dubious lawsuit” to avoid those remedies, “the company and its executives may have run afoul of the law,” it says, citing the federal anti-bribery statute as well as California’s Unfair Competition Law.

The vast majority — $22 million — of YouTube’s payment was earmarked to support the construction of a new White House ballroom. Trump is reportedly scheduled to hold a fundraising dinner for the ballroom later today, according to CBS News.

Several of the senators previously wrote to Google and YouTube in August, before the settlement was announced, warning them against paying for favorable treatment. As noted in this latest letter, the companies responded saying they’d had “no discussion tying any potential settlement of the case to any official action or to any pending or potential future matters involving Alphabet or any of its affiliates, and there will be no such discussions.” The lawmakers are pushing to determine whether this was the truth.

YouTube isn’t the only company that has settled a spurious Trump lawsuit. The president extracted $16 million from Paramount as it sought merger approval from the government, and Xand Meta respectively paid “about $10 million” and $25 million to settle suits similar to the YouTube ones. Earlier this year, Warren said that the Meta settlement “looks like a bribe.”

The dust is still settling at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after a mass layoff on Friday, which former employees at the beleaguered agency are describing as a massacre.

In separate press briefings on Tuesday, a network of terminated CDC staff that goes by the name the National Public Health Coalition, and the union representing employees at the agency discussed what the wide-scale cuts mean for the American people, as well as the trauma, despair, and damage they have wreaked on the workers of the once-premier public health agency.

In a normal federal layoff—called a reduction in force, or RIF—the agency would be given a full outline of the roles and branches or divisions affected, as well as some explanation for the cuts, such as alleged fraud, abuse, or redundancy. However, the Trump administration has provided no such information or explanation, leaving current and former employees to essentially crowdsource what has been lost and only guess at the possible reasons.

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The UK should be prepared to cope with weather extremes as a result of at least 2C of global warming by 2050, independent climate advisers have said. BBC: The country was "not yet adapted" to worsening weather extremes already occurring at current levels of warming, "let alone" what was expected to come, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) wrote in a letter addressed to the government. The committee said they would advise that the UK prepare for climate change beyond the long-term temperature goal set out in the Paris Agreement. The letter came as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed that 2024 had seen a record rise of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. CO2 is the gas mainly responsible for human-caused climate change and is released when fossil fuels are burnt, as well as other activities.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

(From L) Political commentator Rogan O’Handley, aka DC Draino, TikToker Chaya Raichik, US conservative activist Scott Presler, commentator Liz Wheeler and US conservative political commentator Chad Prather carry binders bearing the seal of the US Justice Department reading “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” as they walk out of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 27, 2025. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Hello and welcome to a post-October Federal Holiday edition of Regulator.

Last week, I caught wind that House Speaker Mike Johnson, along with several top House Republican leaders, had held an exclusive press briefing about the government shutdown that was restricted to "new media." The contents of the meeting were published as a "scoop" by the Washington Reporter - a Congress-focused publication founded by several GOP operatives that'd been established as a Punchbowl for conservatives - which described the call as "set[ting] the record straight" and "the latest way that House Republicans are taking their messaging directly to the American ...

Read the full story at The Verge.

A great pair of binoculars expands your horizons, bringing far-away birds, plants, and landscapes into view.

To find the best binoculars, I spent nearly 200 hours field-testing 25 pairs against my own $2,500 Leica Ultravids. (I’m a professional ornithologist.)

After using those test pairs in the mountains and hills of Southern California, and then on research trips to the rainforests of southern Mexico and Costa Rica, I found that the Athlon Optics Midas ED 8x42 pair was the best of the group.

The Midas pair offered performance comparable to my Leica binoculars, for a fraction of the price, and had the widest field of view of all the binoculars tested. This means you’ll see more, and it will look better.

Last year Radxa introduced a mini-ITX motherboard called the Orion O6 that has a 12-core processor featuring high-performance Arm-based CPU cores and an NPU that delivers up to 30 TOPS of AI performance. Now the company has unveiled a smaller model. The new Radxa Orion 06N is a nano-ITX board with a similar processor. While […]

The post Radxa Orion O6N is a nano-ITX board with a powerful CIX P1 12-core processor appeared first on Liliputing.

On Wednesday, Anthropic released Claude Haiku 4.5, a small AI language model that reportedly delivers performance similar to what its frontier model Claude Sonnet 4 achieved five months ago but at one-third the cost and more than twice the speed. The new model is available now to all Claude app, web, and API users.

If the benchmarks for Haiku 4.5 reported by Anthropic hold up to independent testing, the fact that the company can match some capabilities of its cutting-edge coding model from only five months ago (and GPT-5 in coding) while providing a dramatic speed increase and cost cut is notable.

As a recap, Anthropic ships the Claude family in three model sizes: Haiku (small), Sonnet (medium), and Opus (large). The larger models are based on larger neural networks and typically include deeper contextual knowledge but are slower and more expensive to run. Due to a technique called distillation, companies like Anthropic have been able to craft smaller AI models that match the capability of larger, older models at functional tasks like coding, although it typically comes at the cost of omitting stored knowledge.

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Same device, different packaging. | Image: Amazon

Following the debut of Amazon’s $39.99 Fire TV Stick 4K Select, the company told The Verge that a name change was coming to the existing “Fire TV Stick 4K” to clarify where it sat in the lineup. Now, Amazon has introduced that new branding, relaunching the product as the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus.

Sure, the original name was confusing (is 4K better or worse than 4K Select?), but a mere name change in a lineup of four identical gadgets isn’t enough. It assumes you’re willing to do the mental gymnastics of recalling where other “Plus” products sit in their respective lineups, and what that might mean for this device’s capabilities. It doesn’t solve Amazon’s biggest problem, which is that it still sells three 4K-ready sticks within $10 of each other. Without a legible strategy, it probably shouldn’t have introduced the 4K Select in the first place.

The differences between Amazon’s 4K-ready Fire TV Sticks are small. The 4K Select includes half the RAM of the 4K Plus and the 4K Max, meaning it’ll almost certainly be slower to navigate between menus and jump into apps. I haven’t tested it out, but I don’t think there’s a good reason to buy it currently, or ever, especially during the many times that the pricier 4K models are discounted throughout the year. Right now, you can buy the superior 4K Max for $34.99 with a coupon code.

It should go without saying that there is absolutely no reason for any current or previous Fire TV Stick 4K owners to get this new one, as packaging aside, nothing else has changed.

Almost 70% of adults in the US would be deemed to have obesity based on a new definition, research suggests. From a report: The traditional definition of obesity, typically based on having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater, has long been contentious, not least as it does not differentiate between fat and muscle. In an effort to tackle the issue, in January medical experts from around the world called for a new definition to be adopted. This would encompass people either with a BMI greater than 40; or those with a high BMI and at least one raised figure for measures such as waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, or waist-to-height ratio; or those with two such raised figures regardless of BMI; or those with direct measures of excess body fat based on scans. In addition, they said obesity should be split into two categories: clinical obesity -- where there are signs of illness -- and pre-clinical obesity, where there are not. Now research suggests the revamped definition could result in a dramatic rise in the prevalence of obesity among adults in the US.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Videographers and photographers on the move need a laptop that can keep up with quick deadlines and handle any task from color grading to rendering 4K video. We recommend the Asus ProArt P16, which has an accurate 4K OLED display and fast processors that handle big 4K exports better than the competition. If you prefer Macs, the Apple MacBook Pro with Apple’s M4 Pro processor was a bit slower in some of our video-editing tests and weighs about a pound more, but its M4 Pro chip is quiet and energy-efficient, and it has a display that you can use outside on a sunny day.

The more budget-friendly 15-inch M4 Apple MacBook Air has a superb display for a laptop of its price, as well as a processor that’s easily capable of editing 1080p footage.

Rejecting opposition from the cable and real estate industries, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that aims to increase broadband competition in apartment buildings.

The new law taking effect on January 1 says landlords must let tenants "opt out of paying for any subscription from a third-party Internet service provider, such as through a bulk-billing arrangement, to provide service for wired Internet, cellular, or satellite service that is offered in connection with the tenancy." It was approved by the state Assembly in a 75–0 vote in April, and by the Senate in a 30–7 vote last month.

"This is kind of like a first step in trying to give this industry an opportunity to just treat people fairly," Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, a Democratic lawmaker who authored the bill, told Ars last month. "It's not super restrictive. We are not banning bulk billing. We're not even limiting how much money the people can make. What we're saying here with this bill is that if a tenant wants to opt out of the arrangement, they should be allowed to opt out."

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For artists, photographers, vigorous note-takers, productivity die-hards, and other creative professionals, a tablet can be a handy second device for getting work done.

Apple’s 2024 11-inch iPad Pro, with its fast M4 processor and impressive OLED display, is the best pro tablet we’ve tested. Apple’s updated Magic Keyboard and Pencil Pro accessories, designed to complement the newest iPad Pro, are also noticeable upgrades compared with past versions. But if you decide to splurge for the iPad Pro and both accessories, you’ll spend at least $1,400.

If you don’t want to pay iPad Pro prices, we also recommend the Apple M3 iPad Air. You miss out on only a few “pro” features while saving hundreds of dollars—the 11-inch iPad Air is $400 less than the comparable iPad Pro model and offers a similar experience.

Math teachers across American schools are contending with a classroom disruption that has proven impossible to contain. The numbers six and seven now trigger instant pandemonium among students. They scream the phrase and perform a palms-up seesaw hand gesture whenever the numbers appear in equations or instructions. Teachers have begun avoiding breaking students into groups of six or seven or asking them to turn to page 67. The meme has no meaning, reports WSJ. That absence of meaning is the point. The phenomenon traces back to late last year when Philadelphia rapper Skrilla released "Doot Doot (6 7)," a song referencing 67th street where his friends grew up. The phrase spiraled into youth culture in March through a viral video of a boy with forward-swept hair lurching toward a camera to deliver an animated "six seven." Skrilla is now touring venues where audiences wait for the six-seven line. Some teachers have attempted to neutralize the meme by saying it themselves.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple is releasing its new 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 chip in European markets without a charger. Customers in the U.S., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and other European countries must supply their own power adapter. Buyers in the U.S. and other regions will receive Apple's 70-watt USB-C adapter. Apple attributed the decision to environmental goals as the European Union implements regulations on electronic waste. A USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable remains included. The adapter costs 59 pounds in the United Kingdom.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We live in a digital world overflowing with images and screens. By creating a tangible photo book, you can reconnect with your images and those moments in time. Photo books also make sharing memories with family and friends so much easier.

After conducting more than 120 hours of research and testing (which included creating 29 photo books and consulting with a master printer on the results), we recommend Mixbook as the best online photo-book service. We also have recommendations for a premium album for capturing truly special life events, as well as a great budget option.

If you’re looking for a great 360-degree action camera for your next adventure, the Insta360 X5 is an excellent pick that’s on sale in black at Amazon and Best Buy for $499.99 ($50 off) through October 16th, which is an all-time low. It’s also available directly from Insta360’s online storefront for the same price with a free hardshell case.

In his review, former Verge staffer Vjeran Pavic remarked that he was surprised by just how much he liked the X5. Insta360’s latest action cam delivers noticeably better image quality than its predecessor, allowing you to capture 4K footage at up to 120fps — up from 100fps on the X4 — as well as 8K video at up to 30fps or 5.7K at 60fps. It also features larger 1/1.28-inch sensors and a new AI-powered PureVideo mode, resulting in sharper, more detailed images and better low-light performance with cleaner, richer color.

Insta360 X5 Where to Buy:

• $549.99 $499.99 at Amazon
• $549.99 $499.99 at Best Buy
• $549.99 $499.99 at Insta360 (with hardshell case)

Most notably, it now supports user-replaceable lenses with a $29.99 kit that allows you to quickly swap them out, so you can take creative risks without having to worry (as much) about potential damage. And while it’s a shame that the X5 isn’t compatible with batteries from prior models, it does charge nearly twice as fast as the X4, reaching 80 percent capacity in just 20 minutes instead of 38 on the X4.

Read our Insta360 X5 review.

A few more ways to save today

• Amazon Prime members can currently pick up the Marshall Emberton II on sale at Amazon for $94.99 ($75 off), which is cheaper than its recent Prime Day price and only $5 more than its best price to date. The retro-styled, omnidirectional Bluetooth speaker is relatively basic, but it still offers stereo sound and the ability to pair with other Emberton II speakers; it also carries a robust IP67 rating and lasts more than 30 hours on a single charge, ensuring well over a full day of use.
• The 4K Blu-ray version of Akira is on sale for $11.99 ($18 off) at Amazon and Walmart, which matches its best price to date. The movie tells the story of a teenage biker whose newfound psychic powers trigger a conflict that threatens the city. It’s one of the most influential anime films ever made, one that — despite being released decades ago — is still as visually stunning and thought-provoking as ever.
• Belkin’s second-gen BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Stand is on sale for $79.95 ($40 off) at Best Buy, nearly matching its best price to date. The Qi2 charger delivers up to 15W of power to Qi2-compatible phones, including the new iPhone 17 and Google’s Pixel 10 series. It also comes with a charging puck for fast-charging newer Apple Watch models and a second built-in Qi pad, so you can charge two additional devices at the same time.

The best Mac laptop for most people is the 13-inch MacBook Air with Apple’s M4 processor.

The 13-inch Air is fantastic for browsing the web, working on documents, coding, and light photo and video editing. If you’re seeking a large screen, better speakers, and slightly improved thermal performance, we recommend the 15-inch MacBook Air with Apple’s latest processor, the M4, as our upgrade pick.

We still recommend the M1 MacBook Air as a budget MacBook pick. This fast, reliable laptop now has a reduced price of $600, which makes it the most affordable MacBook.

More than half of American car buyers would consider a Chinese car brand for their next purchase, an increase of almost 25 percent compared to last year. That's according to a survey of prospective car buyers conducted annually by the research firm AutoPacific. And yes, those car buyers are conscious of the privacy and security fears.

AutoPacific spoke to 18,000 people who said they were planning to buy or lease a new car within the next three years for its 2025 Future Attribution Demand Study, and the company has been releasing snippets of data as it analyzes them, ahead of the full report's release later this year.

There has already been at least one surprise. Last year, partially automated driving systems like General Motors' Super Cruise or Ford's BlueCruise, or those developed by Tesla, were not in high demand. This year, that tech went to the top of the most-wanted list, with 43 percent of consumers saying they want hands-free partial automation. The same percentage also indicated a demand for rear automatic emergency braking. Wireless device charging, No. 1 in the list in 2024, didn't make the top 15 for 2025.

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An anonymous reader shares a report: On Wednesday, Pew Research Center published a survey assessing how parents in the US with children under 12 manage their kids' screen time, which revealed that 61% of respondents overall reported their child ever uses or interacts with smartphones -- including 38% of those with children under 2 years old. Much of this smartphone screen time is likely made up by parents streaming kid-friendly cartoons for their little ones to watch on the go: the study also found that YouTube use among children under 2 has risen sharply from 45% to 62% over the last five years. But it appears that most American toddlers only need to wait a few years before they can get devices of their very own. The same survey showed that almost one in four US parents overall allow their children aged 12 and under to have their own smartphones, and this ballooned to nearly 60% when just looking at kids aged 11-12 years old.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The outdated USB chargers clogging store shelves and online listings won’t charge your latest gear as fast as possible. New fast chargers are safe, affordable, and up to three times faster than the old ones many people have had lying around for years.

We’ve tested the best fast chargers and collected our recommendations — no matter what phone, tablet, or computer you use — on this page.

If you’re a side-sleeper, congratulations! According to the Mayo Clinic, side-sleeping is ideal compared to back or stomach sleeping for reducing snoring and keeping the airway open.

Side-sleepers need a cushy mattress to relieve pressure on their shoulders and hips. But it shouldn’t be too cushy because the gravitational pull will strain the spine. For most side-sleepers, that means choosing a medium-soft to medium mattress.

After hundreds of hours of testing, we have five to recommend.

We’ve also included descriptions of a few slightly firmer mattresses for side-sleepers who frequently shift onto their back and stomach or those who simply prefer a more-supportive feel.

You can read more about these picks and others in our guides to the best foam mattresses, the best hybrid mattresses, the best innerspring mattresses, and the best cheap mattresses.

Shopping for — and deciding on — a great gift can be stressful. And that’s especially true if your gift recipient is hard to shop for or seemingly already has everything.

That’s where Wirecutter’s gifts experts come in: They are constantly scouring the internet looking for the most unexpected and well-made gifts out there — so you don’t have to. Once a week in our newsletter, The Gift, they’ll help answer readers’ biggest gifting conundrums. Tell our editors a bit about your gift recipient for a chance to have them handpick gifts for you.

The Japanese government has made a formal request asking OpenAI to refrain from copyright infringement. The request came after Sora 2 began generating videos featuring copyrighted characters from anime and video games. Minoru Kiuchi spoke at the Cabinet Office press conference on Friday and described manga and anime as "irreplaceable treasures" that Japan boasts to the world. The request was made online by the Cabinet Office's Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters. Sora 2, which launched recently, generates twenty-second videos at 1080p resolution. Social media is getting filled with videos showing characters from One Piece, Demon Slayer, Pokemon and Mario. Digital Minister Masaaki Taira expressed hopes that OpenAI would comply voluntarily. He indicated that measures under Japan's AI Promotion Act may be invoked if the issue remains unresolved.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

It's getting harder to know what's real on the Internet, and Google is not helping one bit with the announcement of Veo 3.1. The company's new video model supposedly offers better audio and realism, along with greater prompt accuracy. The updated video AI will be available throughout the Google ecosystem, including the Flow filmmaking tool, where the new model will unlock additional features. And if you're worried about the cost of conjuring all these AI videos, Google is also adding a "Fast" variant of Veo.

Veo made waves when it debuted earlier this year, demonstrating a staggering improvement in AI video quality just a few months after Veo 2's release. It turns out that having all that video on YouTube is very useful for training AI models, so Google is already moving on to Veo 3.1 with a raft of new features.

Google says Veo 3.1 offers stronger prompt adherence, which results in better video outputs and fewer wasted compute cycles. Audio, which was a hallmark feature of the Veo 3 release, has reportedly improved, too. Veo 3's text-to-video was limited to 720p landscape output, but there's an ever-increasing volume of vertical video on the Internet. So Veo 3.1 can produce both landscape and portrait 16:9 video.

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If you turn in for the night by belly-flopping onto your bed, you should consider a firmer mattress that supports and cushions your midsection while keeping your spine aligned. This is crucial: sleeping on your stomach on an unsupportive mattress can lead to increased back, neck, and shoulder pain.

We’ve tested dozens of mattresses, and we recommend six specifically for stomach-sleepers.

Firmness levels are subjective, so consider this guide a starting point. Below, we start with the firmest picks (ideal for stomach-sleepers or stomach- and back-sleepers) and move on to increasingly more cushioned, though still supportive, options (most suitable for stomach-sleepers who sometimes roll onto their side). You can read about other mattresses in our foam, innerspring, and hybrid mattress guides.

Apple’s latest processor is making its debut in the 2025 MacBook Pro 14 laptop, the latest iPad Pro, and an updated Apple Vision Pro headset. Compared with the previous-gen Apple M4 chip, the new Apple M5 processor brings up to a 15 boost in CPU performance, almost 30 percent more memory bandwidth and big upgrades to […]

The post Apple’s M5 chip brings a big GPU upgrade for AI and gaming, debuts in new MacBook Pro 14, iPad Pro, and Apple Vision Pro appeared first on Liliputing.

Apple will increase investment in China, the company's CEO Tim Cook said during a meeting with the country's industry minister in Beijing on Wednesday, according to an official summary of their exchange. From a report: Many U.S. companies have become cautious about relations with China as the world's two biggest economies have clashed over trade tariffs and as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to promote manufacture in the United States rather than elsewhere. But Cook told China's industry minister Li Lecheng the iPhone maker will keep investing in China, the Chinese ministry said, although the summary gave no details of the size of the projected investment.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

On Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that the company will allow verified adult users to have erotic conversations with ChatGPT starting in December. The change represents a shift in how OpenAI approaches content restrictions, which the company had loosened in February but then dramatically tightened after an August lawsuit from parents of a teen who died by suicide after allegedly receiving encouragement from ChatGPT.

"In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our 'treat adult users like adults' principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults," Altman wrote in his post on X (formerly Twitter). The announcement follows OpenAI's recent hint that it would allow developers to create "mature" ChatGPT applications once the company implements appropriate age verification and controls.

Altman explained that OpenAI had made ChatGPT "pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues" but acknowledged this approach made the chatbot "less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems." The CEO said the company now has new tools to better detect when users are experiencing mental distress, allowing OpenAI to relax restrictions in most cases.

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Several leading news organizations with access to Pentagon briefings have formally said they will not agree to a new defense department policy that requires them to pledge they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official. The Guardian: The policy, presented last month by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has been widely criticized by media organizations asked to sign the pledge by Tuesday at 5pm or have 24 hours to turn in their press credentials. The move follows a shake-up in February in which long-credentialed media outlets were required to vacate assigned workspaces which was cast as an "annual media rotation program." A similar plan was presented at the White House where some briefing room spots were given to podcasters and other representatives of non-traditional media. On Monday, the Washington Post joined the New York Times, CNN, the Atlantic, the Guardian, Reuters, the Associated Press, NPR, HuffPost and trade publication Breaking Defense in saying it would not sign on to the agreement.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A couple of weeks ago, a YouTuber unboxed what appeared to be a refreshed iPad Pro in full retail packaging, suggesting it would be launching imminently. Today, Apple formally announced the new tablets, and it looks like pretty much everything uncovered by that YouTuber turned out to be accurate.

The new iPad Pros, powered by Apple's also-new M5 chip, use the same basic designs as the M4 iPad Pros from last year and are compatible with the same cases and accessories. The new iPad Pro starts at $999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299 for the 13-inch model, is available for pre-order today, and ships on October 22.

Apple's M5 is similar in composition to the M4—the fully enabled version uses four high-performance CPU cores, six high-efficiency CPU cores, 10 GPU cores, and a 16-core Neural Engine. But a memory bandwidth increase, from 120GB/s for the M4 to 153GB/s for the M5, enables a 30 percent improvement in GPU performance and a 45 percent increase to ray-traced graphics performance, according to Apple's estimates. Apple's press release also highlighted improvements to storage performance, with "up to 2x faster storage read and write speeds."

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Apple often releases a smaller second wave of new products in October after the dust settles from its September iPhone announcement, and this year that wave revolves around its brand-new M5 chip. The first Mac to get the new processor will be the new 14-inch MacBook Pro, which the company announced today on its press site alongside a new M5 iPad Pro and an updated version of the Vision Pro headset.

But unlike the last couple MacBook Pro refreshes, Apple isn't ready with Pro and Max versions of the M5 for higher-end 14-inch MacBook Pros and 16-inch MacBook Pros. Those models will continue to use the M4 Pro and M4 Max for now, and we probably shouldn't expect an update for them until sometime next year.

Aside from the M5, the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro has essentially identical specs to the outgoing M4 version. It has a notched 14-inch screen with ProMotion support and a 3024×1964 resolution, three USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, and a 12 MP Center Stage webcam. It still weighs 3.4 pounds, and Apple still estimates the battery should last for "up to 16 hours" of wireless web browsing and up to 24 hours of video streaming. The main internal difference is an option for a 4TB storage upgrade, which will run you $1,200 if you're upgrading from the base 512GB SSD.

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Why do some people endorse claims that can easily be disproved? It’s one thing to believe false information, but another to actively stick with something that’s obviously wrong.

Our new research, published in the Journal of Social Psychology, suggests that some people consider it a “win” to lean in to known falsehoods.

We are social psychologists who study political psychology and how people reason about reality. During the pandemic, we surveyed 5,535 people across eight countries to investigate why people believed COVID-19 misinformation, like false claims that 5G networks cause the virus.

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Apple's announcement of the Vision Pro headset in 2023 was pretty hyperbolic about the device's potential, even by Apple's standards. CEO Tim Cook called it "the beginning of a new era for computing," placing the Vision Pro in the same industry-shifting echelon as the Mac and the iPhone.

The Vision Pro could still eventually lead to a product that ushers in a new age of "spatial computing." But it does seem like Apple is a bit less optimistic about the headset's current form—at least, that's one possible way to read the fact that the second-generation Vision Pro is being announced via press release, rather than as the centerpiece of a product event.

The new Vision Pro is available for the same $3,499 as the first model, which will likely continue to limit the headset's appeal outside of a die-hard community of early adopters and curious developers. It's available for pre-order today and ships on October 22.

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Here at Ars, we have been writing about rumors of a portable Xbox for literal decades now. With the ROG Xbox Ally, Microsoft has finally made those rumors a reality in the weirdest, most Microsoft way possible.

Yes, the $600 ROG Xbox Ally—and its souped-up cousin, the $1,000, ridiculous-mouthful-of-a-name ROG Xbox Ally X, which we tested—are the first official handheld hardware to sport the Xbox brand name. But Microsoft isn’t taking the exclusive-heavy, walled garden software approach that it has been committed to for nearly 25 years of Xbox home consoles. Instead, the ROG Xbox Ally is, at its base, simply a new version of Asus’ Windows-based ROG Ally line with an Xbox-flavored coat of paint.

That coat of paint—what Microsoft is calling the Xbox Full-screen Experience (FSE)—represents the company’s belated attempt to streamline the Windows gaming experience to be a bit more console-like in terms of user interface and overall simplicity. While that’s a worthy vision, the execution in these early days is so spotty and riddled with annoyances that it’s hard to recommend over the SteamOS-based competition.

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There are plenty of smartphone operating systems that are mostly made from free and open source software, including de-Googled versions of Android like LineageOS, GrapheneOS, and e/OS and mobile Linux distributions like postmarketOS and Ubuntu Touch. But while the operating systems are open source, they often rely on proprietary, closed-source “blobs” to interact with the phone’s […]

The post Librephone project wants to remove proprietary “blobs” from smartphones that otherwise run open source software appeared first on Liliputing.

Most new Amazon Echo devices are powered by Amazon’s Linux-based Vega operating system. But older models shipped with a custom version of Android that’s been locked down to make them feel more like an Amazon appliance than Android tablets. But now it’s possible to unlock the bootloader and install custom ROMs on some older models, […]

The post Amazon Echo hacks: You can unlock the bootloader and install custom ROMS on some older models appeared first on Liliputing.

When one of its Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines recently surfaced off the coast of France, Russia denied that there was a problem with the vessel. The sub was simply surfacing to comply with maritime transit rules governing the English Channel, the Kremlin said—Russia being, of course, a noted follower of international law.

But social media accounts historically linked to Russian security forces suggested a far more serious problem on the submarine Novorossiysk. According to The Maritime Executive, "Rumors began to circulate on well-informed social media channels that the Novorossiysk had suffered a fuel leak. They suggested the vessel lacked onboard capabilities and was forced to surface to empty flooded compartments. Some reports said it was a dangerous fuel leak aboard the vessel, which was commissioned in 2012."

France 24 quoted further social media reports as saying, "The submarine has neither the spare parts nor the qualified specialists onboard to fix the malfunction," and it "now poses an explosion hazard."

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Federal prosecutors have seized $15 billion from the alleged kingpin of an operation that used imprisoned laborers to trick unsuspecting people into making investments in phony funds, often after spending months faking romantic relationships with the victims.

Such "pig butchering" scams have operated for years. They typically work when members of the operation initiate conversations with people on social media and then spend months messaging them. Often, the scammers pose as attractive individuals who feign romantic interest for the victim.

Forced labor, phone farms, and human suffering

Eventually, conversations turn to phony investment funds with the end goal of convincing the victim to transfer large amounts of bitcoin. In many cases, the scammers are trafficked and held against their will in compounds surrounded by fences and barbed wire.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi today said that Facebook removed an ICE-tracking group after "outreach" from the Department of Justice. "Today following outreach from @thejusticedept, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago," Bondi wrote in an X post.

Bondi alleged that a "wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs." She added that the DOJ "will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement."

When contacted by Ars, Facebook owner Meta said the group "was removed for violating our policies against coordinated harm." Meta didn't describe any specific violation but directed us to a policy against "coordinating harm and promoting crime," which includes a prohibition against "outing the undercover status of law enforcement, military, or security personnel."

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As if DirecTV doesn't have enough trouble keeping customers, the satellite TV provider's streaming devices will show AI-generated screensaver ads next year, according to an announcement today from partnering ads company Glance.

People who use either of DirecTV’s two Gemini streaming devices will start seeing the ads “in early 2026,” per the announcement. DirecTV’s Gemini Air is an Android TV-powered USB device that people can plug into a TV for access to live TV channels, as well as streaming apps. Gemini Air doesn’t require a DirecTV satellite connection, and DirecTV gives all of its Internet customers the device. DirecTV first started selling Gemini devices in 2023, when it launched a separate Gemini set-top box that connects through DirecTV satellite setups.

DirecTV made an agreement with Glance to show AI-generated content and ads on Gemini devices' screensavers. Currently, Gemini devices show Google wallpapers as screensavers, which are on by default. When the new screensavers launch, Glance's AI content will show if the TV is idle for 10 minutes, The Verge reported.

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The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 (CP514-5HN) is one of the most powerful Chromebooks with an Arm-based processor to date, thanks to its MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 processor. With a 14 inch IPS LCD touchscreen display and a 360-degree hinge, and up to 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage, it’s also a pretty versatile ChromeOS […]

The post Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 now available with MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 for $700 and up appeared first on Liliputing.

Meetings can be a real drain on productivity, but a new Gmail feature might at least cut down on the time you spend scheduling them. The company has announced "Help Me Schedule" is coming to Gmail, leveraging Gemini AI to recognize when you want to schedule a meeting and offering possible meeting times for the email recipient to choose.

The new meeting feature is reminiscent of Magic Cue on Google's latest Pixel phones. As you type emails, Gmail will be able to recognize when you are planning a meeting. A Help Me Schedule button will appear in the toolbar. Upon clicking, Google's AI will swing into action and find possible meeting times that match the context of your message and are available in your calendar.

When you engage with Help me schedule, the AI generates an in-line meeting widget for your message. The recipient can select the time that works for them, and that's it—the meeting is scheduled for both parties. What about meetings with more than one invitee? Google says the feature won't support groups at launch.

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Sometimes a remote control makes it easier to interact with your devices. TV remotes saved us from having to get off the couch to change channels. Garage door openers make it easier to pull your car in without getting out of your vehicle first. And while the original Chromecast used your smartphone instead of a […]

The post The $30 Kobo Remote is a wireless page turner for Kobo eReaders appeared first on Liliputing.

Some folks at Google Japan have a habit of designing impractical keyboards. A few years ago we saw a single-row keyboard with every letter, number and character laid out along a 5.4 foot strip. There are also Teacup, bubble wrap, and spoon bending keyboards, among others. Now the company has introduced its latest horribly inconvenient […]

The post Lilbits: Phosh 0.50.0, unofficial Windows Subsystem for FreeBSD, and Google Japan’s impractical keyboards appeared first on Liliputing.

The Orange Pi 4 Pro is a credit card-sized single-board computer that’s just a hair larger than a Raspberry Pi 5, and it even has a Raspberry Pi-compatible 40-pin GPIO header. But it stands out for a few reasons. For one thing there’s a M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 connector and an eMMC socket on the bottom […]

The post Orange Pi 4 Pro is a single-board PC with an Allwinner A733 processor with Arm and RISC-V cores appeared first on Liliputing.

Microsoft is ending mainstream support for Windows 10 on October 14th, 2025 and encouraging users to upgrade if they want to keep getting bug fixes and security updates. Folks in some regions with eligible PCs can safely put off migrating to Windows 11 for a year by getting a free year of extended security updates. […]

The post Windows 11 Media Creation Tool gets a buggy update on the eve of Windows 10’s EOL appeared first on Liliputing.

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor is expected to be one of the fastest chips available for smartphones. But as with any processor, you can eke even better sustained performance out of it if you use enhanced cooling to keep the chip from throttling as it gets warm. And the upcoming REDMAGIC 11 Pro aims […]

The post REDMAGIC 11 Pro could be the first liquid-cooled smartphone you can actually buy appeared first on Liliputing.

The Orange Pi line of single-board computers include a wide range of models featuring Arm-based chips. But while most are designed to compete in the same entry-level space as Raspberry Pi hardware, the new Orange Pi 6 Plus has features that make it seem more like a competitor for the Intel/Asus NUC line of mini PCs. […]

The post Orange Pi 6 Plus board has a 12-core CPU, 45 TOPS AI performance, dual 5 Gb Ethernet ports, and up to 64GB RAM appeared first on Liliputing.

Dual-screen handheld game consoles are having a moment. The AYANEO Pocket DS is a premium model that went up for pre-order this summer for $400 and up. The AYN Thor comes in two models: one with competitive specs to the Pocket DS, and a cheaper model that starts at $249. But the upcoming Anbernic RG […]

The post Anbernic RG DS dual-screen handheld will cost less than $100 appeared first on Liliputing.

Intel has been a major contributor to open source projects over the years, but the thing about open source software is that anybody can use it – including the company’s competitors. Now Intel says it plans to be more strategic about how it contributes to open source projects moving forward as part of an effort […]

The post Lilbits: Intel shifts strategy on open source contributions, Ubuntu 25.10 released, and TiVo exits the DVR business appeared first on Liliputing.

When Fitbit acquired smartwatch maker Pebble in 2016 the company stopped making new Pebble hardware and eventually shut down the app store and other cloud services used by Pebble watches. But a group of independent developers stepped in and created the Rebble Alliance, which maintains a set of third-party services that basically let you continue […]

The post The Pebble App Store is back, and this time it’s powered by Rebble appeared first on Liliputing.

The ONYX BOOX P6 Pro and ONYX BOOX P6 Pro Color are phone-sized eBook readers with 6.13 inch E Ink touchscreen displays, support for 5G cellular networks. They’re the most phone-like devices from Onyx BOOX to date, but they’re not phones – that 5G modem is data only and it’s designed to keep you connected to the […]

The post ONYX launches BOOX P6 Pro and P6 Pro Color in China: Phone-sized eReaders with 5G cellular and stylus support appeared first on Liliputing.

Intel is starting to reveal more details about its upcoming Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” chips for mobile devices. Unsurprisingly the company is promising big performance and efficiency gains – specifically we’re told that Panther Lake chips combine the energy efficiency of Core Ultra 2 “Lunar Lake” processors with the performance of Core Ultra […]

The post Intel Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” mobile chips pack up to 16 next-gen CPU cores and 12-core graphics appeared first on Liliputing.

Amazon’s Prime Big Deals Days run from October 7 through October 8th this year. And as pretty much always happens, a bunch of other retailers have decided to run their own sales on the same days – and some have decided to start theirs a day or two early. Here are some of the best […]

The post Deals Roundup: Prime Big Deals Days and beyond (October 2025) appeared first on Liliputing.

We’ve seen a bunch of efforts to develop free and open source smartphone operating systems over the past decade. But most have relied on at least some proprietary drivers and other software – even on hardware like the Pinephone and Librem 5 smartphones that are designed to run mobile Linux distributions. Now there’s a new […]

The post Free Software Foundation announces a Librephone initiative to develop fully free and open source smartphone software appeared first on Liliputing.

Earlier this year Synology announced that you’d need to use Synology-branded hard drives in its 2025 line of “Plus” branded network-attached storage devices if you wanted full functionality. While you could theoretically use a non-Synology drive with the Synology DiskStation DS225+, DS425+, DS925+ and other models, you’d be unable to create data storage pools, or […]

The post Synology backtracks and adds 3rd-party hard drive support to its 2025 NAS lineup (Network Attached Storage) appeared first on Liliputing.

This article takes a closer look at the NETGEAR Nighthawk RAXE500 WiFi Router.'s performance, specs and features. Also at reviews, tests and sales.

The post NETGEAR Nighthawk RAXE500 Product Guide: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on SmallNetBuilder.

The Archer AXE75 is a capable tri-band, good performing Wifi 6 router

The post The TP-Link Archer AXE75 a Product Guide appeared first on SmallNetBuilder.

SmallNetBuilder Tools are here to help you find the perfect wireless routers, NASes and other networking products. Compare and research product performance with our Charts. Router (old Charts) Wi-Fi Router NAS Wireless Wi-Fi System / Mesh Wireless Adapter / Bridge Wireless Extender Powerline Search for products by features with our Finders. Router (old Finder) Wi-Fi ... Read more

The post Tools appeared first on SmallNetBuilder.

Is a sub-$100 Wi-Fi 6 router worth buying? We look at three examples to find out.

The post Three Wi-Fi 6 Routers Under $100 Reviewed appeared first on SmallNetBuilder.

We round-up ASUS' ZenWiFi 6E ET8, WiFi 6 ZenWiFi XT8 and WiFi 5/6 RT-AX92U into the ol' test corral for a ride.

The post ASUS Mesh Roundup: Two Zens and a TriBand appeared first on SmallNetBuilder.

Linksys' Atlas Max 6E Wi-Fi Mesh System is the most expensive Wi-Fi mesh system you can buy, but save your money.

The post Linksys MX8500 Atlas Max 6E Wi-Fi Mesh System Reviewed appeared first on SmallNetBuilder.

Our new Wi-Fi Mesh System test process adds latency and multiband testing.

The post How We Test Wi-Fi Mesh Systems – Revision 2 appeared first on SmallNetBuilder.