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Google Calls ICE Agents a Vulnerable Group, Removes ICE-Spotting App ‘Red Dot’
The move comes as Apple removed ICEBlock after direct pressure from U.S. Department of Justice officials and signals a broader crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.
Can You Win a Congressional Seat Without Social Media?
Carleigh Beriont is running for Congress as an “anti-social Democrat” and she thinks the party needs to abandon social media nationally also.
Behind the Blog: Open-Source Drama and Saudi-Approved Humor
This week, we discuss characters in open source, that Saudi comedy festival, and asking ourselves if we're haters.
Report Shows How Consumer AI Tools Are Used by Enterprises
A new a16z report shows OpenAI tops AI spending by startups. Consumer AI tools are increasingly adopted by enterprises, with 70% not requiring enterprise licenses.
IEEE Publishes Framework for Humanoid Robot Standards
The new report comes as part of the IEEE’s wider project developing a roadmap for humanoid robot development.
China Mobile Shanghai launches industry-first 5G-A network monetisation strategy with Huawei
The roar of 80,000 fans at Shanghai Stadium on September 21, 2025, wasn’t just about the football match between Shanghai Shenhua and Chengdu Rongcheng – it was also a live demonstration of how telecom carriers are tackling one of their most pressing challenges: converting advanced network capabilities into revenue. Huawei brought the international media to […]
The post China Mobile Shanghai launches industry-first 5G-A network monetisation strategy with Huawei appeared first on AI News.
The SaS Flywheel Spins, but Can Indian IT Keep Control?
The push for AI-first delivery promises speed and automation, but hidden dependencies and fragile code could undo the gains.
The post The SaS Flywheel Spins, but Can Indian IT Keep Control? appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
Splunk Wants to Outdo LLMs to Teach AI How to Read Machine Data
The company is releasing a foundation model for time series data in November, on HuggingFace.
The post Splunk Wants to Outdo LLMs to Teach AI How to Read Machine Data appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
ANSR Signs MoU with Maha Govt to Build India’s First GCC City
Under the agreement, ANSR will design, develop, and invest in the GCC City, aiming to attract large-scale investments across sectors
The post ANSR Signs MoU with Maha Govt to Build India’s First GCC City appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
Google Acquires MIT-Founded Atlantic Quantum
The acquisition will see Atlantic Quantum’s modular chip stack integrated into Google Quantum AI’s hardware development.
The post Google Acquires MIT-Founded Atlantic Quantum appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
Neo4j Announces $100 Million Investment to Drive GenAI Expansion
Neo4j is investing to launch new agentic products and support 1,000 AI-native startups, marking its biggest GenAI push yet.
The post Neo4j Announces $100 Million Investment to Drive GenAI Expansion appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
The Return of eBay in India
The only caution is ensuring that e-commerce firm’s first GCC drives true product ownership, not just scale
The post The Return of eBay in India appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
Fujitsu Extends Partnership with NVIDIA for Full-Stack AI Infrastructure
This will combine the FUJITSU-MONAKA CPU series with NVIDIA GPUs through NVLink Fusion for next-generation computing infrastructure.
The post Fujitsu Extends Partnership with NVIDIA for Full-Stack AI Infrastructure appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
Nearly 80% of Americans want Congress to extend ACA tax credits, poll finds
Without the extension, premiums for plans on the ACA Marketplace will more than double.
Removing these 50 objects from orbit would cut danger from space junk in half
"In their rush to move quickly, they are adding to the long-term collision hazard."
A biological 0-day? Threat-screening tools may miss AI-designed proteins.
Ordering DNA for AI-designed toxins doesn't always raise red flags.
Google confirms Android dev verification will have free and paid tiers, no public list of devs
Google promises verification will make Android safer, but at what cost?
Ars Live: Is the AI bubble about to pop? A live chat with Ed Zitron.
Join a live discussion on October 7 about the AI gold rush.
Apple removes ICEBlock, won’t allow apps that report locations of ICE agents
Apple nixes tracking apps after Trump admin claimed they put ICE agents at risk.
HBO Max subscribers lose access to CNN livestream on November 17
WBD is banking on people paying for a dedicated CNN streaming service.
Rally Arcade Classics is a fun ’90s-throwback racing game
If you like games that handle like Project Gotham Racing, you might love this.
Apple iPhone 17 Pro review: Come for the camera, stay for the battery
If your iPhone is your main or only camera, the iPhone 17 Pro is for you.
Scientists revive old Bulgarian recipe to make yogurt with ants
Ants carry lactic and acetic acid bacteria that help coagulate milk, as well as formic acid to acidify it.
Illinois utility tries using electric school buses for bidirectional charging
School buses are usually parked when the grid is under its biggest strain.
Rocket Report: Alpha explodes on test stand; Europe wants a mini Starship
"We are trying to find a partner that is willing to invest."
What past education technology failures can teach us about the future of AI in schools
It can take years to collect evidence that shows effective uses of new technologies in schools. Unfortunately, early guesses sometimes go seriously wrong.
‘AI actor’ Tilly Norwood is dividing Hollywood – but real acting requires humanity
The outcry from established actors was immediate and heartfelt.
The Guardian view on Tilly Norwood: she’s not art, she’s data | Editorial
The first 100% AI actor is a cause for alarm. But the human connection of great acting can never be replaced
The threat to human creativity from technology took another step closer this week with the appearance of Tilly Norwood, the first 100% AI-generated actor. Unsurprisingly, her unveiling at the Zurich film festival in a comic sketch called AI Commissioner caused an outcry. Emily Blunt described the film as “terrifying” and the actors’ union Sag-Aftra condemned it as “jeopardising performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry”.
There is much that is problematic about Norwood, not least the message her “girl-next-door vibe” sends to young women. But the more serious point is that her face has been made from those of real actors without their knowledge or consent. Her lighthearted debut masks the fact that she is part of a new model of media production that rides roughshod over longstanding norms and laws governing artists and their work.
Hollywood has been anticipating Norwood’s arrival for some time. Films such as the 2002 sci-fi Simone, about a film director who creates the perfect actress on a computer, and 2013’s The Congress, in which an ageing star is digitally scanned by her studio, were remarkably prescient. Last year’s body horror The Substance, starring Demi Moore as a waning celebrity who spawns a younger clone, similarly satirised the industry’s obsession with youth and beauty. Now, Victor Frankenstein-like, the film world is staring the “perfect actress” in the face.
‘Impressive for a robot’: home care chatbots among AI tools being embraced by Australia’s health system
From GPs using the technology to record consultations to AI ‘detectives’ finding brain lesions on scans, experts say it’s only the beginning
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Peta Rolls came to expect Aida’s call at 10am each morning.
A daily check-in call from an AI voice bot was not part of the service Rolls expected when she signed up for St Vincent’s home care but when they asked her to be part of the trial four months ago, the 79-year-old said yes because she wanted to help. Although, truth be told, her expectations were low.
Accenture CEO Says It’s Sacking Employees Who Won’t Embrace AI
It's called "upskilling your reinventors."
The post Accenture CEO Says It’s Sacking Employees Who Won’t Embrace AI appeared first on Futurism.
Producer Announces New Movie Will Be Directed by an AI Entity
Who is this for?
The post Producer Announces New Movie Will Be Directed by an AI Entity appeared first on Futurism.
Peloton Announces Pivot to AI, Jacks Up Price
Predictable.
The post Peloton Announces Pivot to AI, Jacks Up Price appeared first on Futurism.
Sora 2 Is Generating Videos That Brutally Mock Sam Altman
Altman: "Not sure what to make of this."
The post Sora 2 Is Generating Videos That Brutally Mock Sam Altman appeared first on Futurism.
Cuomo’s AI-Generated Ad Roasted by Mamdani
Cuomo really can't take no for an answer.
The post Cuomo’s AI-Generated Ad Roasted by Mamdani appeared first on Futurism.
Sam Altman Says the GPT-5 Haters Got It All Wrong
OpenAI's CEO explains that its large language model has been misunderstood—and that he's changed his attitude to AGI.
Huawei AI Chips Contain Advanced Parts From Rivals | Bloomberg Tech 10/3/2025
Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow discuss findings that Huawei's Ascend AI processors contain advanced components from TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix. Plus, Rivian is reworking the manual release on its vehicle doors after employees and customers raised concerns over potential safety issues. And Beijing dangles the promise of investments in the US as it pushes President Donald Trump to reverse national-security restrictions on Chinese deals. (Source: Bloomberg)
Xbox’s Hike on Game Pass Shows Cost of Lost ‘Call of Duty’ Sales
Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox division surprised many video game enthusiasts this week when the company announced a 50% price hike, to $30 a month, for the highest level tier in its Game Pass subscription service.
BlackRock’s $40 Billion Bet on a Lesser-Known Data Center Firm
At the start of the year, a lesser-known infrastructure company called Aligned Data Centers managed to pull off a $12 billion fundraise — more than some of the world’s leading artificial intelligence startups have been able to secure in a single round. The goal: dramatically expanding its footprint to support surging demand for the facilities that power AI systems.
Palantir Rebuts Claims of Security Flaws After Stock Falls
Palantir Technologies Inc.’s stock fell 7.5% on Friday following a report that its battlefield communications system, along with that of defense tech firm Anduril Industries Inc., was seriously flawed — a claim both companies said was out of date and inaccurate.
US Stock Rally Hits Wall as Tech Shares Weigh on Indexes
US stocks hit resistance, erasing earlier gains that had propelled indexes to fresh records as a retreat in tech shares dragged benchmarks down.
Google Argues a Forced Sale of Ad Exchange Is Too Risky
Alphabet Inc.’s Google has spent the past week in Virginia federal court seeking to persuade a judge that selling off its advertising exchange is too risky, technologically difficult and would disrupt the market.
EA's Deal to Go Private Could Be Good for Investors, Bad for Employees
Leveraged buyouts almost always lead to cost-cutting in the form of big layoffs
FDIC Set to Jump Into Trump’s Debanking Fight With New Plan
US regulators are set to unveil a plan next week targeting how officials scrutinize banks’ risk, after President Donald Trump moved to rein in what he sees as the closing of customer accounts for political reasons.
EQT’s EdgeConnex Taps Morgan Stanley for Data Center-Backed Debt
EQT-backed data center operator EdgeConnex Inc has appointed Morgan Stanley to explore financing options for its growing European activities, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sora Is Sam Altman’s New AI Time Suck
Sam Altman once promised to cure cancer. But OpenAI’s latest product, Sora, is an AI-video platform that’s just one step closer to dystopia, Parmy Olson says. (Source: Bloomberg)
Apple Adds a Bear as Jefferies Downgrades, Sees 20% Downside
Apple Inc. received a relatively rare bearish analyst rating on Friday, as Jefferies warned that expectations surrounding how fast customers will upgrade their iPhones had become excessive.
Bezos Says AI Spending Boom Is a Bubble That Will Pay Off
Amazon.com Inc. Chairman Jeff Bezos said that the spending on artificial intelligence resembles an “industrial bubble” that could lead to lost investment but will also make society better off.
OpenAI’s Sora Video App Heightens Risk for Misinformation
Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Rachel Metz reports on the experience of using OpenAI’s Sora video generator now that it’s become a social media app.
Google Wants Superintelligent AI. First It Has to Beat Teen Math Prodigies
At the International Math Olympiad, Google’s AI joined hundreds of humans working through problems designed to stump even the brightest minds.
Asahi Blames Ransomware for Crippling Japanese Beer Plants
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. revealed for the first time that cyber-attackers employed ransomware to bring its domestic factories to a standstill, shedding more light on an online breach that’s raised questions about the country’s online-security preparedness.
Ghana Wireless Firm Moves to Absorb Troubled Rival’s Subscribers
Telecel, Ghana’s second-largest telecommunications company, is looking to solidify its position by taking on 3 million customers from a distressed state-run competitor.
Reliance Is Said to Hold Talks With Banks for Record Jio IPO
Reliance Industries Ltd. has begun informal talks with banks about the potential listing of its unit Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., people familiar with the matter said, a deal that could eclipse the record for India’s biggest-ever initial public offering.
BofA’s Hartnett Recommends Resources, UK Stocks to Bet on AI
Investors can best play the artificial intelligence frenzy by mixing AI names with holdings of cheaper stocks linked to the economy, like commodities shares, according to Bank of America Corp. strategists.
Huawei Used TSMC, Samsung, SK Hynix Components in Top AI Chips
Huawei Technologies Co. used advanced components from Asia’s largest technology firms in at least some of its leading Ascend AI processors, a research firm discovered during teardowns, highlighting China’s reliance on foreign hardware as it works to boost domestic production of AI semiconductors.
Indonesia Suspends TikTok’s License Over Data-Sharing Dispute
Indonesia suspended TikTok’s local operating license after the company refused to fully share data on its live streaming activity during nationwide protests in August.
With dozens of lawsuits and a reputation in crisis, Sean Combs' troubles are far from over
In addition to his 50-month prison sentence, Sean Combs faces dozens of civil suits and a ruined reputation
Diddy sentenced to over 4 years in prison for transporting sex workers to 'freak offs'
Sean "Diddy" Combs was sentenced to four years in prison Friday after he was convicted in July of two prostitution-related counts.
Only 12 albums have spent at least 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this century — here they all are
Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen have both had three albums spend double-digit weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart, a rare feat in this century.
All 67 songs that Taylor Swift has written by herself
Taylor Swift has released dozens of songs as the sole writer, including fan-favorite hits like "Our Song," "Love Story," "Dear John," and "Red."
A complete timeline of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's 2-year relationship
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged. Swift references their love story in several tracks on her new album, "The Life of a Showgirl."
Diddy apologizes to sex trafficking accusers, tells judge he hates himself at sentencing hearing
Sean "Diddy" Combs made his remarks to a Manhattan federal judge before he was sentenced Friday for prostitution-related charges.
I went to Target's Taylor Swift album release at midnight and witnessed the power of Swiftie shoppers
Target's midnight release event for Taylor Swift's album "The Life of a Showgirl" had a DJ, exclusive merch, and plenty of Swifties.
Christina Haack just opened up about her divorce from Josh Hall. Here's a timeline of their relationship and messy split.
Christina Haack and Josh Hall had a whirlwind romance that quickly went south. They finalized their divorce in August 2025.
My kids and their friends didn't know how to file taxes or change a tire. My husband and I decided to become mentors.
I wish I had had someone to tell me how to do simple life tasks like laundry. I decided to become the mentor I didn't have to my kids and their friends.
The 'Good Boy' ending is one of the most heartfelt things you'll see this year
"Good Boy" is a horror movie told from the perspective of a dog. The ending is heartfelt — and no, the dog doesn't die.
The Disney magic was different on my last trip, but my family still had a great time
Disney parks have evolved over the years, but on my kids' first trip, I discovered the timeless Disney magic still shines through for families.
Friend CEO says it's been 'quite entertaining' after his AI companion startup spent $1 million on subway ads that were immediately defaced
New Yorkers are defacing ads for Friend, an AI companion startup. The campaign cost the company over $1 million.
Taylor Swift's new album 'The Life of a Showgirl' has arrived. Here's everything you need to know.
Taylor Swift's new album, "The Life of a Showgirl," features 12 new songs, a duet with Sabrina Carpenter, and a theatrical "release party" event.
Meta is monitoring how much employees use AI — and turning it into a game
Meta wants to boost AI adoption by tracking employee usage and turning it into a game called Level Up.
Taylor Swift's 'The Life of a Showgirl' proves she's always listening — both to her fans and harshest critics
Taylor Swift's new album, "The Life of a Showgirl," proves she is highly attuned to the criticism of her music and the demands of her loyal Swifties.
Prince William spoke candidly about his family and royal life on 'The Reluctant Traveler.' Here are 7 of the most surprising things he said.
Prince William gave Eugene Levy a tour of Windsor Castle on "The Reluctant Traveler." The royal also spoke about his kids and his future role as king.
NATO allies are betting on tanks, even as exploding drones are wiping them out in Ukraine
Tanks have proved vulnerable to drones and play a limited role in Ukraine, but many NATO countries are still buying and developing them.
Max Martin is the mastermind behind some of pop's greatest hits. Here are songs you may not know he wrote.
Max Martin, whose real name is Karl Martin Sandberg, has been writing and producing hit pop songs since the '90s.
This is the job OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he'd do if AI ever replaces him
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has a backup plan for when AI is smart enough to do his job better than he can.
24 celebrities who have left Los Angeles on where they moved and why they did it
Celebrities like Matthew McConaughey, Sylvester Stallone, and Lindsay Lohan left Los Angeles for other places that offer privacy, room to breathe, and lower taxes.
Your Delivery Robot Is Here
On this episode of Uncanny Valley, we introduce you to DoorDash’s new delivery robot and discuss what the growing robot population means for humans.
Sam Altman Says the GPT-5 Haters Got It All Wrong
OpenAI's CEO explains that its large language model has been misunderstood—and that he's changed his attitude to AGI.
Why Are Car Software Updates Still So Bad?
Over-the-air upgrades can not only transform your ride, they can help carmakers slash costs. Here's why they're still miles away from being seamless.
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Another Big Week For AI And California Startups
AI startups and California-based companies have been scooping up an outsized share of venture funding for a while now, and this past week was no exception.
The MVPs Of The Startup World Are Still Getting More Valuable
OpenAI's new $500 billion valuation is the most dramatic example of a broader trend: Hot private companies posting huge and often sharply rising valuations.
A Growing Backlog Of Biotechs Haven’t Raised Funding Since The Boom
More than 200 private U.S. biotechs with $50 million or more in funding to date secured their last reported financing between three and five years ago. The list includes at least 15 biotech unicorns and emerging unicorns.
Accelerating Loan Processing with AI on Databricks: How Vantage Bank Texas Transformed Lending Workflows
Special thanks to Shawn Main, Chief Business Architect at Vantage Bank, for his vision...
Goldman Sachs Chief Data Officer Warns AI Has Already Run Out of Data
AI progress is often measured by scale. Bigger models, more data, more computing muscle. Every jump forward seemed to prove the same point: if you could throw more at it, Read more…
The post Goldman Sachs Chief Data Officer Warns AI Has Already Run Out of Data appeared first on BigDATAwire.
Microsoft, Anthropic and Cursor accelerate the AI Agent takeover
Plus: OpenAI’s consumer product strategy, SEO is dying, How to win in GEO, Nano Banana comes to Slides
Adding a New TOML Feature, using Git Remotes and Merges on a repository.
I worked on adding a new feature to my classmate's repository, repo2context, a Go-based project that generates structured markdown from a repository. My task was to implement TOML configuration file support so that users could control options such as no-gitignore, display_line_num, and verbose through a config file instead of always passing CLI flags.
This was very challenging programming-wise since the project was written in Go, a language I had no prior experience with. It took me a lot of time to review and understand the code, and then figure out how to implement the new feature.
I filed issue#26 in my classmate’s repo. While going through the code, I noticed it used Viper (a Go config library) to load options. I modified the project's CLI initialization to detect .r2c-config.toml in the current directory and merge values so that CLI flags override config file values.
Yes. One challenge I ran into was that the program kept printing the default scan options (NoGitignore: false, DisplayLineNum: false) even though I had set them to true in the .r2c-config.toml file.
To solve the problem, i added a merge step in initConfig() so that only options not explicitly set through flags would be replaced by config file values. This ensured the TOML file was respected.
It was pretty smooth at the beginning, but I got a little confused since I usually open a pull request directly instead of starting with a Draft Pull Request. I read the documentation on GitHub and figured it out. I opened this Pull Request.
Apart from the small Git confusion, not really. I actually enjoyed working on my classmate’s repo. We were both engaged and responsive, which made the process move faster.
I’ll practice more Git commands next time so I don’t have to constantly look them up. Tasks become easier when you know the commands by heart.
I learned that even if a project looks intimidating especially in a language you’ve never used before, if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, you can still achieve your goal and gain new skills.
I learned how to implement configuration file support, and I also gained valuable experience collaborating on a real project using forks, branches, and pull requests.
DIY Holding Tank Sensors Part 2: "The React Native App"
In my previous article, https://dev.to/mergewithcare/diy-holding-tank-sensors-part-1-or-mommy-the-ai-made-me-code-in-c-4llg , I went over the process of "vibe coding" a working ESP32 app in C using the Espressif toolchain.
I'm going to go over the journey of "vibe coding" out a React Native app to read values from the sensors on the microcontroller as described in Part 1, and as always my code is up at https://github.com/leifdroms/tank-level-public for anyone that so desires to download it themselves.
We are off to a rocky start.
Claude thinks our React Native project structure is incorrect, and asks us to eject the project. I don’t want to do that- I want to build it with the latest snazzy version of Expo, the framework that sits on top of React Native to make things easier. It suggests that we install the package expo-dev-client, and work from there, which I agree with because a limitation of using React Native with Expo Go: Expo Go on its own only allows you to work with native modules included with Expo Go. Unfortunately, a Bluetooth client is not one of them.
…And unfortunately things did not work out.
Each time my bundler would crash, Claude would take some feedback and output something like the following:
There came a point where I stopped auditing each change it made, crossed my fingers, and hoped that it would all sort itself out. This message was the result of the culmination of several changes Claude made without explicitly approving each one as I had been doing for the microcontroller app section of the project:
It was to no avail.
Why are files in my node_modules folder corrupted?? Something isn’t right. Maybe Claude should stick to its “day job” and not try to replicate the function of command line tooling to bootstrap projects, when that tooling is available, mature, and free. I think to myself to pivot at this point, start over from scratch with a proper React Native project, and have Claude do what it does best – work from there. I will take a peek at the app structure as we have it:
And again we have one giant application file that’s about 700 lines of code long as well:
I have finally hit a point where I’m putting on my judgement and deciding to get things done “the traditional way” and bootstrap the app in the traditional means rather than hoping an LLM will replicate this on its own. Maybe someday when context windows and training data is much better, but for now I can feel myself getting into an AI-driven “coding death spiral” and it’s important to notice when you’re going in circles and to pull yourself out. Sorry Claude, I’ll be back to you in a moment.
And now we’re back to sanity, after setting up Expo and the dev client the “normal” way on the command line:
Ok. Let’s let Claude do some of its automagic. I’m in a salty mood while writing this blog entry, so I’m going to make Claude earn its keep today. Before I created a new app with the official command line utilities, I changed the old app’s folder name to mobile-app-backup. Opening up the new app folder and a new Claude instance in the VS Code terminal, the “annoyed Dad” side of me comes out:
At least Claude can pretend to understand my feelings:
Hmm doesn’t look bad after some iteration, although we don’t need the “Explore” tab anymore that came with Expo. Will get rid of that in the next iteration, and probably drop the "tank history" view because it's really not that important.
Which brings up an interesting point - why did Claude put that in there? It just sort of hallucinated a product requirement, and now I have the associated cruft along with it.
Oh no! We can’t connect to Bluetooth!
And unfortunately Claude wasn’t able to get it spinning after a few more prompts. Time for me to get my hands dirty on my own.
After some juggling and coaxing, we’re connected! We have an app that shows tank levels and changes based on sensor input!
But now we have even more questions, like -
Why is it asking me to authenticate with a pin at the beginning, but this seems to do absolutely nothing?!
Why can’t I set an “admin” pin?
Why can’t I change configuration settings on the ESP32 (which was the whole point of an admin pin in the first place)?
Thus we are really starting to see the pitfalls of “vibe coding”. This thing, while completely, wholly impressive and saving me days or weeks, will NOT crank out a production-ready app just by waving my fingers and making a wish.
Let's focus on the bright side though, and maybe I'm being more critical of the phone app/"front end", because that's been the direction my career has taken the past few years.
Mid-way Conclusions
I was able to go from zero to a working microcontroller and companion phone app that would serve my purposes well in about 2-3 days. This is insane and my mind is still a little blown. The initial product WAS pretty rough and nowhere near production grade, and required quite a bit of human intervention, but I was particularly impressed with how AI was able to handle the embedded/C code. This was a huge weight off my shoulders since it is out of my usual comfort zone, although upon inspection it appears fine without memory leaks. Like my other “vibe coding” project on my blog thus far, the overall risk surface area is pretty low and in fact lower for this project since there’s no exchange of secret keys other than a PIN number over Bluetooth, and this would require a hacker being within about 30-90 feet of the RV while the PIN was being sent sniffing the Bluetooth traffic somehow, just to have the privilege of turning off tank monitoring for that particular bank of tank sensors (grey, black, or both). The obvious way to mitigate this risk would be to set the pin making sure that nobody is within about 30-90 feet of you while setting the PIN.
In a future iteration I may implement encrypted Bluetooth traffic, but for now it’s just fine.
And On To Encryption
I declared the future to be NOW and that I was going to implement encryption, so we're going to journey back for a moment into microcontroller land in C.
Claude gave me several options as far as implementing encryption, and I picked #1, “MITM” (“Man In The Middle”) protection, being the most secure. Changes were made and I rebuilt the app, but when connecting on my mobile app…there was no dialog that popped up for pairing. I asked Claude about this and:
Now. At the end of the day, this would only be a problem in my app if someone nearby sniffed my Bluetooth traffic to get my admin PIN, and then was able to turn off my tank sensors, which I trust completely at this point, and then allow my sewage tank to overflow leaking human waste everywhere. Ok, that probably wouldn’t actually happen since it would be apparent I’m reaching the top of the tank when using the restroom, but it’s an unpleasant thought.
Point I’m making, is if I was working on an application where I was truly concerned about security, I’d be really, really concerned right now! Claude, we have some trust issues to work on.
Now, I’m feeling lazy again, so let’s go back to React Native land and see how much of this we can vibe code, starting with refactoring the app to use a global context with a reducer function rather than having state management all reside in index.tsx and be dependent on that component (or at least through prop drilling which isn’t how the app is setup).
WHAT THE HECK HOMEY! AHHH! LAST TIME I TRUST YOU TO IMPLEMENT A GLOBAL CONTEXT WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION!
In fact, maybe it’s time we got a second opinion. On a suggestion from someone else, I installed Codex, OpenAI’s answer to Claude Code, fired it up in my IDE, and posed a question:
Well goll-ey. Doesn’t seem like bad advice at all.
Going back to Claude Code, and purposely introducing it with a hostile tone (per someone’s suggestion), I asked Claude Code:
Claude disagreed with me. At least I know now it will give me honesty, even when I need to hear it:
And one more prompt just to be sure it wasn’t a fluke:
To which Claude Code replied:
And Codex isn’t budging:
And Claude Code backtracks:
Now let’s examine reality, shall we:
Indeed. Claude Code was complaining about nothing, and “subscription” is provided as a ref in the global context.
Codex, you get to refactor everything.
Now will you suggest more when running on the command line rather than in the sandbox? Indeed!:
Well. That’s a mouthful. But go for it. I agree, we shouldn’t duplicate the functionality of our code base if we can avoid it.
…15 minutes later, it finished. This seems a lot slower than Claude Code, but whatever. No red errors popping out except for one- that’s a good sign:
Just a little Typescript boo-boo! All better now:
Things seem ok for now, so why not write some tests?
Oh no they’re failing! And failing! And each time I prompt Codex to fix it, it tries to catch the error when maybe we should be asking it a question:
And…
Well, better:
But we’re still not having passing tests.
Hmm. We seem to be having a memory leak when mocking these components.
Welp, let’s hope the AI isn’t just trying to be agreeable.
But we’re still failing tests. Maybe it’s time to close the window and create a new one with ample context.
And now we’re passing, hooray!
Conclusions and Final Thoughts
What grand wisdom have I gleaned from this…thinking…thinking…
I wish I had code snippets and proof for all of my thoughts here, and maybe I will go through that effort in future blog posts (if anyone cares), but I decided I wasn’t going to be so methodical on a personal project. In that regard, I apologize for lack of objective proof for any statements going forward, but convince me it’s worth my time and I will do so in the future.
As I sit here and gather my thoughts on the experience of creating an embedded app for a microcontroller in C that relies on Bluetooth to communicate with a React Native phone app within a couple weeks time, part-time (!!! YEAH!), I feel it’s necessary to highlight just how COOL this is.
If I had to judge based on the output, what I was able to do with my time probably would’ve taken a team of developers about 3-4 weeks, so I’m thinking roughly two standard sprints worth of time, to accomplish.
The code itself probably would have been functional but a lot rougher; there wouldn’t have been such neatly memoized functions and abstracted classes and libraries and so on.
Security for the Bluetooth would have been much simpler.
In other words, the Ais supercharged my output as one single developer and allowed me to come up with gorgeous code closer to the speed of my thoughts and wishes, as a sole developer, rather than at the speed of programming things by hand. This is assuming familiarity with the various components that I had zero familiarity to begin with, such as programming with the Bluetooth stack, which the AI shaved off several days or weeks for me in pouring through documentation and deciding which parts were relevant.
At the end of the day though, it still took ME, a “real human”, to stand over the AI generated code and come up with a judgement of whether it smelled right, whether it was overengineered for the application (A DIY hobbyist liquid level sensor where there is no risk to life or finances if it doesn’t work properly), and whether it actually did what it intended.
A lot of it was wrong. A lot of it was unnecessary – I don’t need to know what the readings of the sensor were 5 minutes ago or at 3 am while we were sleeping vs. now; I just need to know if I can use the sink or the restroom without overfilling my tanks when I use the sinks or the restroom. For some reason Claude Code decided this was necessary and threw it in there, and it was up to me to take it out.
I was thoroughly impressed with Codex’s ability to analyze documentation and create clean, elegant, testable and readable code, but also found it creating code that looked wonderful, but actually failed in its objective at optimization: there was one spot where it memoized a function to only run when the black or grey tank sensor levels changed, which should save a re-render if non-UI related state variables change independent of this, but it was constructed in a way that it would still re-render on every state change…because it ingested the entire state (rather than just those two values). In addition, the memoization itself added a small performance penalty, so in essence…the performance was probably negligibly worse.
I do give lots of credit for Codex for thinking to do a memoization in the first place, which if I’m being honest, I probably would have skipped, because this is a personal project I’m not getting paid for, I’m not trying to actively maintain it for 10 years, I’m not passing it to other developers, and I have a vested interest in getting out “something that just works while I’m on the road” and don’t personally care if there’s a slight inefficiency in renders, for example.
I think this is the biggest value add of AI going forward though – the excuses to NOT push clean, elegant, and efficient code, going forward, are going to be wearing extremely thin. Used with care rather than blindly trusting the output of the LLM, we are entering an era where the gap between publishing really gorgeous code vs. “do it dirty and on time” is becoming very narrow.
I ridiculed “vibe coding” at first because it threatened me, I still ridicule it when the term means people pushing code to production that hasn’t been vetted and is the result of a non-coder beating up LLM prompts until it “looks right”, but now I find myself very optimistic going forward that AI will allow me to accomplish what I never have been able to on my own: to create things, really, really useful things, closer to the speed of my thoughts and creativity.
All of the boxes of unopened crap I have in my garage, the piles of microcontrollers and electrical components and this and that and the other that I bought once thinking I’d find the time to learn how to use it, might actually be put to use going forward.
I’m ecstatic and I can only hope my thus-far extremely patient wife will be so as I empty out the garage and actually make use of the things collecting dust in there.
Regarding which tool is the “best” right now, I can say that I will be likely reaching for Claude Code when I want it to accomplish the “quick and dirty” and test a feasibility of an idea, and Codex when I really want to hone something down and consider multiple angles.
This might already be outdated advice to myself, because people are hyping Claude Code’s model that was released a few days ago, and I greatly look forward to seeing how THAT compares to Codex! I just have to make sure no matter which tool I use, that if I find myself and the AI “going in circles”, to close the current context window and reopen a new one, and pray that this takes us out of an AI-driven "coding death spiral".
If you got this far, I strongly encourage you to download the code posted in the repo at the top of the blog entry, and let me know if you love it, hate it, or are indifferent. I’m looking forward to people tearing it to pieces so please do your worst.
Cognito user pool authorizer in API Gateway
What it means
When you configure an Amazon Cognito user pool authorizer in API Gateway, you are telling API Gateway to:
- Use Amazon Cognito to authenticate incoming requests.
- Validate each request’s JWT (JSON Web Token) against the Cognito user pool.
- Allow or deny requests based on whether the token is valid.
This is a secure way to protect your APIs without writing custom authentication logic.
How it works
- User signs in via Amazon Cognito.
- Cognito returns an ID token and/or access token.
- The client includes the token in the HTTP request to API Gateway (in the
Authorizationheader). - API Gateway uses the Cognito user pool authorizer to validate the token before invoking your backend.
Step-by-Step Implementation
Step 1 — Create a Cognito User Pool
- Go to Amazon Cognito → Manage User Pools → Create a user pool.
- Configure sign-in options (email, username, etc.).
- Save and note the User Pool ID and App Client ID.
Step 2 — Create an API in API Gateway
- Go to API Gateway → Create API (REST or HTTP API).
- Create resources and methods (GET, POST, etc.).
Step 3 — Configure Cognito Authorizer in API Gateway
- Select your API in API Gateway.
- Go to Authorizers → Create New Authorizer.
- Choose Cognito as the authorizer type.
- Give it a name.
- Select your Cognito User Pool.
- Save.
Step 4 — Attach the Authorizer to Your Methods
- Select a method (e.g., GET).
- Under Method Request, set Authorization to your Cognito authorizer.
- Deploy your API.
Step 5 — Use the Authorizer
When a client requests the API:
- They must include the JWT token in the request header:
Authorization: <id_token>
- API Gateway will call Cognito to validate the token before allowing access.
Example Flow
- User signs in → gets token from Cognito.
- Client calls API Gateway with token in header.
- API Gateway checks token via Cognito authorizer.
- If valid → request proceeds. If invalid → request is denied.
✅ Key Benefit: You get built-in authentication without needing to write custom code.
⚡ Best practice: Combine with AWS WAF for additional protection against attacks.
Question:
A developer is troubleshooting an application. The application includes several AWS Lambda functions that invoke an Amazon API Gateway API. The API Gateway's method request is set up to use an Amazon Cognito authorizer for authentication. All the Lambda functions pass the user ID as part of the Authorization header to the API Gateway API. The API Gateway API returns a 403 status code for all GET requests.
How should the developer resolve this issue?
Options:
- A. Modify the client GET request to include a valid API key in the Authorization header.
- B. Modify the client GET request to include a valid token in the Authorization header.
- C. Update the resource policy for the API Gateway API to allow the execute-api:Invoke action.
- D. Modify the client to send an OPTIONS preflight request before the GET request.
Correct Answer:
B. Modify the client GET request to include a valid token in the Authorization header.
Explanation:
The 403 status code indicates that the request is forbidden due to authentication issues. The Lambda functions are passing the user ID, but the API Gateway requires a valid token (such as a JWT token from Cognito) in the Authorization header for authentication. Modifying the client to include a valid token will resolve the issue.
Question:
A company is using Amazon API Gateway for its REST APIs in an AWS account. A developer wants to allow only IAM users from another AWS account to access the APIs.
Which combination of steps should the developer take to meet these requirements? (Select TWO.)
Options:
- A. Create an IAM permission policy. Attach the policy to each IAM user. Set the method authorization type for the APIs to AWS_IAM. Use Signature Version 4 to sign the API requests.
- B. Create an Amazon Cognito user pool. Add each IAM user to the user pool. Set the method authorization type for the APIs to COGNITO_USER_POOLS. Authenticate by using the IAM credentials in Amazon Cognito. Add the ID token to the request headers.
- C. Create an Amazon Cognito identity pool. Add each IAM user to the identity pool. Set the method authorization type for the APIs to COGNITO_USER_POOLS. Authenticate using the IAM credentials in Amazon Cognito. Add the access token to the request headers.
- D. Create a resource policy for the APIs that allows access for each IAM user only.
- E. Create an Amazon Cognito authorizer for the APIs that allows access for each IAM user only. Set the method authorization type for the APIs to COGNITO_USER_POOLS.
Correct Answers:
A. Create an IAM permission policy. Attach the policy to each IAM user. Set the method authorization type for the APIs to AWS_IAM. Use Signature Version 4 to sign the API requests.
D. Create a resource policy for the APIs that allows access for each IAM user only.
Explanation:
To allow only IAM users from another AWS account to access the APIs, you can create an IAM permission policy and attach it to each IAM user. Setting the method authorization type to AWS_IAM ensures that the API Gateway uses IAM roles and policies for authentication. Additionally, creating a resource policy for the APIs that allows access for each IAM user only further restricts access.
Question:
A company is creating a REST service using an Amazon API Gateway with AWS Lambda integration. The service runs different versions for testing purposes. What would be the BEST way to accomplish this?
Options:
- A. Use an x-Version header to denote which version is being called and pass that header to the Lambda function(s).
- B. Create an API Gateway Lambda authorizer to route API clients to the correct API version.
- C. Create an API Gateway resource policy to isolate versions and provide context to the Lambda function(s).
- D. Deploy the API versions as unique stages with unique endpoints and use stage variables to provide further context.
Correct Answer:
D. Deploy the API versions as unique stages with unique endpoints and use stage variables to provide further context.
Explanation:
Deploying different API versions as unique stages in API Gateway allows for isolated environments for each version. Using unique endpoints and stage variables provides flexibility and clear separation between versions, making it easier to manage and test different versions of the service.
Coding on my phone’s tough, but working with less forces me to be more resourceful.
Coding on my phone’s tough, but working with less forces me to be more resourceful.
Day 28/60 of game dev on Android challenge:
Added:
- onscreen buttons
- multiple enemies
To everyone building, guard your time like gold
every hour you waste delays your dream.
Keep building, keep learning, keep going
God never fails ✝️
Devoxx: Investing for geeks v1.1.0 by Foivos Zakkak
Investing for Geeks v1.1.0 by Foivos Zakkak
Many developers end up parking their extra cash in savings accounts earning less than inflation, effectively losing money over time. This talk breaks down two personal finance essentials—budgeting and index investing—so you can start putting your disposable income to work, not just let your bank profit from it.
Foivos Zakkak’s version is a tighter, refreshed take on the popular “Investing for Geeks” session from Devoxx Greece 2025. You’ll get a friendly intro to ETFs and step-by-step pointers that’ll have you moving from passive saver to savvy investor in no time.
Watch on YouTube
Devoxx: Hello (Virtual) World by Keren Kenzi
Hello (Virtual) World by Keren Kenzi
Get ready to dive into the virtual realm and see how your JavaScript and HTML chops can bring your own VR world to life. This session kicks off with a live demo that walks you through the essential building blocks of a simple virtual reality game using A-Frame, vanilla JS, and the DOM API.
Whether you’re a seasoned coder or just VR-curious, this talk is all about sparking your creativity and having fun. Expect hands-on tips, plenty of inspiration, and an invite to start crafting games that transport players to new dimensions!
Watch on YouTube
KEXP: strongboi - magic (Live on KEXP)
strongboi dropped a killer live session of “magic” at the KEXP studio on August 14, 2025. Fronted by Alice Matthew’s soaring vocals, the band grooves hard with Ziv Yamin on keys, Dekel Adin on bass, Matthew Roth on drums, Eden Mechulam on guitar/vox and Paolo Guolo weaving in sax, flute and backing vocals.
Behind the scenes, host Kennady Quille kept the vibes flowing while Kevin Suggs (audio engineer), David Parry (mixer) and Matt Ogaz (mastering) polished the sound. Four cameras and editor Carlos Cruz captured every moment—check out strongboi.com or KEXP.org for the full experience, and join their YouTube channel for perks.
Watch on YouTube
KEXP: Waxahatchee - Much Ado About Nothing (Live on KEXP)
Waxahatchee: “Much Ado About Nothing” Live on KEXP
Waxahatchee brought their signature indie-rock vibes to the KEXP studio on August 11, 2025, with Katie Crutchfield shredding guitar and vocals alongside Eliana Athayde (bass/vocals), Liam Kazar (guitar/vocals), Colin Croom (guitar/dobro/pedal steel), Spencer Tweedy (drums) and Cole Berggren (keys/banjo). Hosted by Cheryl Waters and captured by an all-star audio team (Julian Martlew, Charles Glanders, Matt Ogaz) and multi-camera crew (Jim Beckmann, Carlos Cruz, Scott Holpainen, Luke Knecht & Kendall Rock), this session is equal parts raw energy and polished production.
Dive deeper via Waxahatchee’s Bandcamp or catch more KEXP exclusives at kexp.org. Want behind-the-scenes perks? Join their YouTube channel for extra goodies!
Watch on YouTube
Polyphonic: The War Songs of Greenwich Village
Watch on YouTube
Zero to Production with AI Agentic Workflows – Free Hands-On Course
Manual infrastructure tasks slow teams down. AI agents and agentic workflows offer a new way forward—reducing repetitive work, improving governance, and unlocking more time for strategy and innovation.
We’re launching a free, hands-on virtual course:
Zero to Production with AI Agentic Workflows
Starts October 14
Over the course of five interactive workshops, you’ll learn how to:
- Apply AI agents to accelerate platform engineering
- Streamline infrastructure provisioning with automation
- Balance developer autonomy with governance at scale
- Create reusable patterns and templates to boost productivity
- Handle surges in infrastructure demand with intelligent automation
Each session includes live instruction, hands-on labs, and Q&A.
Recordings will be available only to registered participants. Participants who attend all the workshops will earn a completion badge to showcase their skills. Register for the course.
First/Last per Group: PostgreSQL DISTINCT ON and MongoDB DISTINCT_SCAN Performance
On Stack Overflow, the most frequent question for PostgreSQL is: "Select first row in each GROUP BY group?". I've written about it previously, presenting multiple alternatives and execution plans: How to Select the First Row of Each Set of Grouped Rows Using GROUP BY.
Solving this problem in a way that's both straightforward and high-performing can be challenging with SQL databases. However, MongoDB's aggregation provides a simple syntax and an efficient execution plan. When you use $first or $last alongside $sort and $group, MongoDB can perform an efficient loose index scan, which is similar to an index skip scan, reading only what is necessary for the result.
With PostgreSQL, the DISTINCT ON ... ORDER BY syntax is the easiest for the developer, but not the best for performance.
create table demo (
primary key (a, b, c),
a int, b timestamptz,
c float,
d text
);
-- insert a hundred thousand rows
insert into demo
select
a,
now() as b,
random() as c,
repeat('x',5) as d
from generate_series(1,5) a
, generate_series(1,20000) c
-- ignore bad luck random;
on conflict do nothing
;
-- run 10 more times (now() will be different):
\watch count=9
vacuum analyze demo;
In PostgreSQL 18, all rows are read, but most are eliminated so that only one row remains per group:
explain (buffers, analyze, verbose, costs off)
select
distinct on (b) a, b, c, d
from demo
where a=1
order by b, c
;
QUERY PLAN
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unique (actual time=0.025..94.601 rows=10.00 loops=1)
Output: a, b, c, d
Buffers: shared hit=199959
-> Index Scan using demo_pkey on public.demo (actual time=0.024..77.263 rows=200000.00 loops=1)
Output: a, b, c, d
Index Cond: (demo.a = 1)
Index Searches: 1
Buffers: shared hit=199959
Planning Time: 0.077 ms
Execution Time: 94.622 ms
Although the DISTINCT ON ... ORDER BY syntax is straightforward, it is not efficient here: the number of rows processed (rows=200,000.00) and buffers read (Buffers: shared hit=199,959) is excessive compared to the result size (rows=10.00).
If you want to avoid unnecessary reads, you have to write a complex recursive CTE:
with recursive skip_scan as (
(
-- get the first row
select * from demo
where a=1
order by b,c limit 1
) union all (
-- get the next row
select demo.*
from skip_scan , lateral(
select * from demo
where demo.a = skip_scan.a and demo.b > skip_scan.b
order by b,c limit 1
) demo
)
)
select * from skip_scan
;
This simulates an index loose scan with nested loops, iterating from a recursive WITH clause.
In MongoDB, using an aggregation pipeline makes it easy and efficient to get either the first or last document from each group.
I create a collection and fill it with similar data:
// Create collection and compound unique index to mimic PRIMARY KEY(a, b, c)
db.demo.drop();
db.demo.createIndex(
{ a: 1, b: 1, c: 1 },
{ unique: true }
);
// Function to insert bulk records
function insertDemoBatch() {
const batch = [];
const now = new Date();
for (let a = 1; a <= 5; a++) {
for (let j = 1; j <= 20000; j++) {
batch.push({
a: a,
b: now, // similar to now()
c: Math.random(), // random float [0,1)
d: 'x'.repeat(5) // repeat string
});
}
}
try {
db.demo.insertMany(batch, { ordered: false }); // ignore duplicates
} catch (e) {
print(`Insert completed with some duplicates ignored: ${e.writeErrors?.length ?? 0} errors`);
}
}
// Run 10 times — now() will be different each run
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
insertDemoBatch();
}
Here is the aggregation that groups and keeps the first value of each group:
db.demo.aggregate([
{ $match: { a: 1 } }, // equivalent to WHERE a=1
{ $sort: { b: 1, c: 1 } }, // equivalent to ORDER BY b, c
{ $group: {
_id: "$b", // equivalent to DISTINCT ON (b)
a: { $first: "$a" },
b: { $first: "$b" },
c: { $first: "$c" },
d: { $first: "$d" }
}},
{ $project: { // equivalent to SELECT a, b, c, d
_id: 0, a: 1, b: 1, c: 1, d: 1
}},
]).explain("executionStats");
The execution plan is efficient, reading only one document per group (totalDocsExamined: 10) and seeking to the end of each group (keysExamined: 11) in the index scan:
...
executionStats: {
executionSuccess: true,
nReturned: 10,
executionTimeMillis: 0,
totalKeysExamined: 11,
totalDocsExamined: 10,
executionStages: {
isCached: false,
stage: 'FETCH',
nReturned: 10,
executionTimeMillisEstimate: 0,
works: 11,
advanced: 10,
needTime: 0,
needYield: 0,
saveState: 1,
restoreState: 1,
isEOF: 1,
docsExamined: 10,
alreadyHasObj: 0,
inputStage: {
stage: 'DISTINCT_SCAN',
nReturned: 10,
executionTimeMillisEstimate: 0,
works: 11,
advanced: 10,
needTime: 0,
needYield: 0,
saveState: 1,
restoreState: 1,
isEOF: 1,
keyPattern: { a: 1, b: 1, c: 1 },
indexName: 'a_1_b_1_c_1',
isMultiKey: false,
multiKeyPaths: { a: [], b: [], c: [] },
isUnique: true,
isSparse: false,
isPartial: false,
indexVersion: 2,
direction: 'forward',
indexBounds: {
a: [ '[1, 1]' ],
b: [ '[MinKey, MaxKey]' ],
c: [ '[MinKey, MaxKey]' ]
},
keysExamined: 11
}
}
}
},
nReturned: Long('10'),
...
MongoDB uses DISTINCT_SCAN in aggregation when the pipeline starts with a $sort and $group using $first or $last. The planner checks for a matching index that has the correct sort order, adjusting the scan direction if needed. If the conditions are met, MongoDB rewrites the pipeline to use DISTINCT_SCAN and $groupByDistinct, optimizing by skipping to the relevant index entries and retrieving only needed documents.
This pattern is common in real‑world queries such as:
- Latest or earliest measure for each metric in a time‑series database
- Last contract with each supplier
- Last purchase from each client
- Most recent transaction for each account
- Earliest login event for each user
- Lowest‑paid employee in each department
Rick Beato: Hiromi: The Most Electrifying Pianist Alive
Hiromi: The Most Electrifying Pianist Alive
Hiromi dives into her journey from classical roots to jazz sensation, sharing how her eclectic influences—from Chopin to contemporary fusion—fuel her signature high-octane performances. She breaks down her improvisation philosophy, describing it as a conversation between spontaneity and structure that keeps both her and the audience on their toes.
With a career that’s seen sold-out tours and critical acclaim, Hiromi reflects on what truly drives her: the thrill of creative risk, the joy of collaboration, and the endless pursuit of musical discovery. Each performance, she says, is an invitation to explore new sonic landscapes together.
Watch on YouTube
Cirrascale CEO: ‘More Specialized Hardware Will Be Needed’
AI neocloud company Cirrascale constantly evaluates startup hardware, since inference will require heterogeneous solutions.
The post Cirrascale CEO: ‘More Specialized Hardware Will Be Needed’ appeared first on EE Times.
Hong Kong Electronics Fair 2025 and electronicAsia: Premier Global Electronics Showcase Event
As technology surges forward, Hong Kong once again takes centre stage in the global electronics industry. From October 13 to 16, 2025, the 45th Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition) and the electronicAsia will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. These two flagship events are expected to bring together over 3,200 […]
The post Hong Kong Electronics Fair 2025 and electronicAsia: Premier Global Electronics Showcase Event appeared first on EE Times.
Google is also removing apps used to report sightings of ICE agents
Following Apple's removal of ICEBlock from the App Store, an app used to report on the activity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, 404 Media reports that Google is also removing similar apps from the Play Store. In a statement to Engadget, Google said "ICEBlock was never available on Google Play, but we removed similar apps for violations of our policies."
Google says that it decided to remove apps that shared the location of a vulnerable group following a violent act that involved the group and a similar collection of apps. It suggests the apps were also removed because they didn't appropriately moderate user-generated content. To be offered in the Play Store, apps with user-generated content have to clearly define what is or isn't objectionable content in their terms of service, and make sure those terms line up with Google's definitions of inappropriate content for Google Play.
404 Media report specifically focuses on Red Dot, an app that both Google and Apple removed. Like ICEBlock, Red Dot designed to let users report on ICE activity in their neighborhood. Rather than just rely on user submissions, the app's website says that it "aggregates verified reports from multiple trusted sources" and then combines those sources to determine where to mark activity on a map of your area. "Red Dot never tracks ICE agents, law enforcement, or any person's movements" and the app's developers "categorically reject harassment, interference, or harm toward ICE agents or anyone else." Despite those claims, the app is not currently available to download from the Play Store or the App Store.
The pushback against ICE tracking apps seemed to begin in earnest following a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility that injured two detainees and killed another on September 24. According to an FBI agent that spoke to The New York Times, the shooter "had been following apps that track the location of ICE agents" in the days leading up to the event.
Apple pulled the ICEBlock app from the App Store yesterday following a request from US Attorney General Pam Bondi. In a statement shared with Fox Business, Bondi said that "ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed." Apple's response was to remove the app. "Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store," Apple told the publication.
Google says it didn't receive a similar request to remove apps from the Play Store. Instead, the company appears to be acting proactively. The test for either platform going forward, though, is if there's a way that developers can offer these apps without them being removed again.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-is-also-removing-apps-used-to-report-sightings-of-ice-agents-192940612.html?src=rss
The Roku Streaming Stick Plus drops to only $29 in this Prime Day deal
The Roku Streaming Stick Plus is on sale for just $29. That's a discount of 27 percent and the lowest we've ever seen it.
Roku has held the top spot in the TV OS market for years thanks to its user-friendly interface, an affordable range of streaming devices and its own lineup of TVs. We picked the Streaming Stick Plus as the best streaming device for free and live content, thanks in large part to The Roku Channel app that accompanies it. The Roku Channel features over 500 free TV channels with live news, sports coverage and a rotating lineup of TV shows and movies.
In our hands-on review of the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, we thought it was perfect for travel thanks to its small size and the fact that it can be powered by your TV's USB port, nixing the need for a wall adapter. Menu navigation and opening or closing apps won't happen at quite the same speeds as more expensive streamers, but it's quick enough for what is ultimately a pretty low-cost option. The Wi-Fi range on this one is also weaker than Roku's pricier devices, but unless you are placing it exceedingly far from your router, it shouldn't be an issue.
The Roku Streaming Stick Plus supports both HD and 4K TVs, as well as HDR10+ content. It doesn't support Dolby Vision, however; for that you'll need to upgrade to Roku's Streaming Stick 4K or Roku Ultra. It comes with Roku's rechargeable voice remote with push-to-talk voice controls. Roku's remote can also turn on your TV and adjust the volume while you're watching.
If you've been thinking about getting a Roku device, or you already love the platform and want a compact and convenient way to take it with you when you travel, then this sale provides a great opportunity. If you'd prefer a more powerful and slightly more stationary device, the Roku Ultra is on sale for $79 right now, too.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-roku-streaming-stick-plus-drops-to-only-29-in-this-prime-day-deal-134656112.html?src=rss
The best Prime Day SSD deals include discounts on gear from Crucial, Samsung and more
October Prime Day is here again, and as always, we've put together a list of the best, most-discounted extra storage options for consoles and gaming PCs. Our guide to the top storage deals is split into three categories — tiny microSD cards, portable external SSDs and generally faster (but more labor-intensive) internal SSDs. Whether you're building a gaming rig or just want to stop your PS5 from lagging, there's almost certainly a deal for you on our curated list. Take a look now to see what kind of extra storage might best fit your needs.
Best October Prime Day SSD deals
Crucial X10 4TB Portable SSD for $240 (39 percent off): The Crucial X9 is our current favorite portable SSD, but the X10 is a step beyond. Based on USB 3.2, it's compatible with a wide range of devices, and reaches reading speeds of 2,100MB/s — all in an extremely portable pocket-sized case.
Crucial BX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch Internal SSD for $60 (36 percent off): The BX500 is Crucial's budget-conscious SSD option, but that doesn't mean it disappoints. This internal solid state drive cuts down on battery consumption and improves processing with read speeds reaching 540MB/s. It comes with a three-year warranty, too.
Crucial P310 2TB for $149 (38 percent off): The 2TB level of the Crucial P310 is available at the lowest price we've seen all year. It's a compact drive that works great in small laptops or Steam Decks — especially the latter, given Valve's warning against cramming in large SSDs. For this small size and great price, you get read speeds of over 7,000MB/s.
Samsung 990 Evo Plus 1TB for $70 (33 percent off): This is an incredible deal on an internal SSD from a reliable brand. All capacities of the Samsung 990 Evo Plus are currently on sale, but even the 1TB option can visibly boost your performance with top read speeds of 7,250MB/s. There's no heatsink, but nickel plating on the controller reduces both heat output and energy use.
Samsung 990 PRO 2 TB for $156 (26 percent off): Samsung's 990 Pro series represents a massive leap forward for the brand, cutting energy costs by around half while boosting speeds up to at least 7,000MB/s write and 5,000MB/s read. This version comes with 2TB of storage and its own built-in heatsink.
Samsung Fit Plus 256GB for $23 (30 percent off): The Samsung Fit Plus isn't just the best thumb drive on the market right now — it's one of the best SSDs, period. This deal gets you 256GB of storage and read speeds of 400MB/s for almost unfathomably cheap. It's also built to resist water, extreme temperatures, magnets and even radiation.
Kingston SX1000 1TB High Performance for $89 (23 percent off): If you can't swing a Crucial X9 or X10 right now, Kingston offers a much more affordable alternative. The SX1000 can handle both PC backups and gaming storage with ease, nearly matching the X9 in our speed tests. It's also easy to carry around, though keep a tight grip as it's not officially rated for any drop height.
SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable SSD for $148 (29 percent off): The SanDisk Extreme line of portable SSDs provides a great middle ground in both price and performance. Read speeds of 1,050MB/s are enough for transferring most files you'll encounter day-to-day. Its external design holds up too, with a large carabiner loop, IP65 waterproofing and dustproofing and drop protection as high as three meters.
Seagate Storage Expansion Card 2TB for $220 (39 percent off): This SeaGate SSD is specifically for expanding storage on the Xbox Series X and S, and it's designed to meet Xbox specs exactly. You'll get exactly the same performance booting a game from this card as you would from internal Xbox storage, which makes data management infinitely easier.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-prime-day-ssd-deals-include-discounts-on-gear-from-crucial-samsung-and-more-170039738.html?src=rss
Prime Day deal: The second-gen Kindle Scribe is $100 off
We're only one week away from Amazon Prime Day and the sales have already started. The deals include Amazon's devices, from Kindle tablets to Echo speakers.
Take the Amazon Kindle Scribe, which has dropped to $300 from $400. The 25 percent discount brings the second-generation device back down to its all-time low price. This deal is available on the 16GB model in Tungsten (dark grey) and doesn't include Kindle Unlimited. If you want more storage, the 32GB and 64GB versions are also 25 and 24 percent off, respectively.
The Kindle Scribe is our pick for best e-reader E Ink tablet. It scored an 86 in our review, thanks to the smooth reading and writing experience it provides. We were also fans of its sleek and slender design. It has a 10.2-inch screen and offers front lights that auto-adjust to your needs. Our biggest gripe was the cost which, thanks to this deal, is less of an issue.
It's worth noting that Amazon announced a few new Kindle Scribe models recently, but none of them are available just yet. The Kindle Scribe 3 has a thinner and lighter design, plus faster page-turning and writing experiences. The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is Amazon's first full-color E Ink tablet. If you want the latest and greatest, it's worth it to wait — but Amazon hasn't yet named specific release dates for either new model. During its latest hardware event, it only said the new Scribes were coming "later this year."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/prime-day-deal-the-second-gen-kindle-scribe-is-100-off-134701372.html?src=rss
Congress let a key cybersecurity law expire this week, leaving US networks more vulnerable
There's a long list of reasons US stability is now teetering between "Fyre Festival" and "Charlie Sheen's 'Tiger Blood' era." Now you can add cybersecurity to the tally. A crucial cyber defense law, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (CISA 2015), has lapsed. With the government out of commission, the nation's computer networks are more exposed for… who knows how long. Welcome to 2025, baby.
CISA 2015 promotes the sharing of cyber threat information between the private and public sectors. It includes legal protections for companies that might otherwise hesitate to share that data. The law promotes "cyber threat information sharing with industry and government partners within a secure policy and legal framework," a coalition of industry groups wrote in a letter to Congress last week.
As Cybersecurity Dive explains, CISA 2015 shields companies from antitrust liability, regulatory enforcement, private lawsuits and FOIA disclosures. Without it, sharing gets more complicated. "There will just be many more lawyers involved, and it will all go slower, particularly new sharing agreements," Ari Schwartz, cybersecurity director at the law firm Venable, told the publication. That could make it easier for adversaries like Russia and China to conduct cyberattacks.
Before the shutdown, there was support for renewal from the private sector, the Trump administration and bipartisan members of Congress. One of the biggest roadblocks was Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. He objected to reauthorizing the law without changes to some of his pet issues. Notably, he wanted to add language that would neuter the ability to combat misinformation and disinformation. He canceled his planned revision of the bill after a backlash from his peers. The committee then failed to approve any version before the expiration date.
Meanwhile, House Republicans included a short-term CISA 2015 renewal in its government funding bill. But Democrats, whose support the GOP needs, wouldn't support the Continuing Resolution for other reasons. They want Affordable Care Act premium tax credits extended beyond their scheduled expiration at the end of the year. Without an extension, Americans' already spiking health insurance premiums will continue to skyrocket.
In its letter to Congress last week, the industry coalition warned that the expiration of CISA 2015 would lead to "a more complex and dangerous" security landscape. "Sharing information about cyber threats and incidents makes it harder for attackers because defenders learn what to watch for and prioritize," the group wrote. "As a result, attackers must invest more in new tools or target different victims."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/congress-let-a-key-cybersecurity-law-expire-this-week-leaving-us-networks-more-vulnerable-174529522.html?src=rss
The best Amazon Prime Day kitchen deals include up to 50 percent off our favorite air fryers
New gear can make cooking easier (and sometimes more fun) but the best kitchen tech isn’t cheap. So it’s a good idea to wait for a sale like Amazon's Prime Day. For this October Prime Day sale, the deals have started early — and we've already found plenty of our recommended cooking gear on sale. Deals include air fryers from Ninja, Instant Pot cookers, a Breville juicer and even our top ice cream maker. We’ve linked to our testing and reviews so you can get the information you need before you buy. We'll update this guide as more kitchen stuff goes on sale, so check back. But for now, here are the best Prime Day deals on kitchen tech we could find.
Ninja Creami ice cream maker with extra pints $200 ($55 off with Prime): Here's a bundle that includes two additional pint jars for the ice cream maker. It's one of our favorite pieces of kitchen tech and we called it a frozen fantasy-maker in our review. Note that the unit itself dipped down to $160 last Black Friday and the extra pints have gone as low as $16.
Hamilton Beach Digital Rice Cooker for $37 ($13 off): Our top pick for a budget rice cooker is great for small kitchens (but probably not for big families). We thought it outperformed other cookers that are four times the price, though it’s not the best for all-day warming of rice as the bottom bigs got a little overdone.
Instant Pot Vortex Plus with Clear Cook for $80 ($20 off with Prime): This Vortex air fryer model is similar to our top airfryer pick, but is missing the Odor Ease feature. It still has the Clear Cook window that lets you keep an eye on your food as it crisps and the Vortex cooking tech heats up remarkably fast, with almost no pre-heating time.
Instant Pot Vortex Plus Air Fryer (4QT) for $65 ($65 off): Here’s a smaller version of our best overall air fryer. This one has a four-quart capacity, which is perfect for one person and small kitchens. And, like its larger sibling, pre-heats quickly thanks to a 1600-watt output.
Instant Pot Vortex 2-QT Mini for $38 ($22 off with Prime): The budget model from our air fryer guide may not be large but its two-quart basket is enough to reheat leftovers for two or cook up a batch of frozen appetizers. And, because of its small size, it doesn’t take up a ton of space on your countertops — ideal for a small kitchen.
Breville InFizz Fusion beverage maker for $200 ($50 off): We called this fizz-maker the bubble master in our review. True, it’s pricier than rivals in the same space, but the upscale design — that actually looks good on a countertop — somewhat makes up for the price premium. We also appreciate the Fusion Cap that helps prevent messy eruptions when you’re bubbling up your drinks.
Cosori Air Fryer Pro Compact for $85 ($15 off with Prime): One of our concerns with the Cosori 9-in-1 was that it was a little on the wide side, taking up extra countertop space. The Pro Compact has a more space-saving design while still packing a five-quart basket.
Instant Pot 4QT Vortex mini air fryer for $55 ($35 off with Prime): This model’s four-quart capacity falls between our top Instant Pot air fryer pick and the budget model. It has the Clear Cook window feature, six presets and it comes in pink in addition to the standard white and black.
Instant Pot Duo Plus for $90 ($50 off): We named this the best multicooker in our guide to the best kitchen tech we’ve tested. It can cook a dizzying array of foods from basic beans and rice to homemade yogurt. We like this one because it’s simple to use, and has quick-cooking modes for soup, eggs and grains. There’s even a sous vide cooking function.
Breville Bambino Plus for $400 ($100 off): In our gift guide for coffee lovers, this espresso machine earned our respect for its compact size and the fact that it doesn’t cost a grand, like some machines do. Plus the controls are easy for beginners to learn but makes silky milkfoam for pro-level latte artists.
Breville Juice Fountain Plus for $130 ($20 off): This went as low as $110 back in January, but it’s still a decent discount on a high-powered juice extractor. We were won over by its impressive juicing abilities and despite how it looks, it's surprisingly easy to clean — as long as you do it right away.
Ninja Dual Foodie Zone Air Fryer (DZ302) for $180 ($50 off): If you want to air fry two different things at the same time, this is the one to get. This is the same in specs, capacity and wattage as our top pick for a dual-zone air fryer, just with a different model number. It even has a feature that makes sure the two different foods are ready at the same time. Note the price was $20 lower for Prime members back in July.
Ninja 5.5-quart Air Fryer XL (AF150AMZ) for $130 ($50 off): This one earned an honorable mention in our guide to air fryers. It’s double the capacity of our budget pick and has a dehydrate preset. While we found the round basket a little cramped, we liked how the fryer’s vertical design saved counter space. Just note that this went as low as $90 in July.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-amazon-prime-day-kitchen-deals-include-up-to-50-percent-off-our-favorite-air-fryers-193009691.html?src=rss
Nissan Leaf 2026 review: Still the budget EV to beat
"Ohhh, this is niiice."
I kept repeating that to myself when I first saw the 2026 Nissan Leaf in person, like the oft-memed Tiffany Haddish clip. I quickly learned it's hard not to love this third iteration of the Leaf. Its seats feel wonderfully comfortable, its infotainment screens are wide and immersive and its electromagnetic sunroof seemed like something meant for a far more premium car. I tested the highest-end Leaf, which retails for $38,990, but it still offers plenty of value at that price. And it makes me think the entry-level $30,000 model — which has smaller screens, cheaper seats and no sunroof — would be similarly great. Once again, the Nissan Leaf holds the crown as the ideal cheap EV.
It's easy to forget what a revolutionary vehicle Nissan's original Leaf was. Released in 2010 for under $33,000, it was the first truly affordable EV on the market. Sure it was small and didn't go very far, but Nissan eventually fixed those issues with the second-gen model (which I ended up buying earlier this year). But that came at a time when the world was more hyped to see Tesla enter the fray with cheaper cars like the Model 3 and Model Y, and the Leaf was once again overshadowed when other automakers joined the EV arena.
Now the Leaf is back and better than ever. Its compact SUV styling makes it look more futuristic than the basic hatchback design of the previous model, it can get up to 300 miles of range (up from a maximum of 212 miles with the earlier Leaf SV Plus) and it offers more cargo space with the rear seats down (55.5 cubic feet compared to 30 cubic feet). And with the Leaf's new turquoise color option, it truly stands out on the road. While it didn't turn as many heads during my testing as the VW id.Buzz, several neighbors commented that it simply looks cool.
On a fundamental level, the 2026 Nissan Leaf shouts "hot new EV" in ways the old one simply didn't. Its sloped roofline and unique side profile makes it simultaneously seem like a sporty coupe and a tiny SUV. Its front and rear LED lights give off sci-fi vibes. Those same neighbors who were intrigued by this Leaf didn't even realize I had a 2018 model parked right beside it. They just thought that was a boring old hatchback. Since its inception, the Nissan Leaf's design has gone from a quirky curiosity to a car that was desperately aiming for the mainstream. This time around, Nissan's design choices feel supremely confident.
Stepping into the Leaf makes that all the more clear: I loved its soft synthetic leather seats, which perfectly supported my aching back once I tweaked the lumbar support settings. Its enormous dual 14.3-inch infotainment screens also make a striking impression. The first screen, situated behind the steering wheel, makes it easy to see your current speed, charge level and additional driving information. But it's the center screen that takes the cake — it's gloriously colorful and bright enough to be visible in harsh sunlight. It's perfect for the Leaf's built-in Google Maps navigation, but it's even better when using wireless CarPlay, since every app fills the entire screen. (And thankfully, wireless CarPlay and Android Auto support are available on every Leaf trim.)
The base 2026 Leaf has cloth seats and two 12.3-inch screens, but from photos I've seen they still look like a step up from most infotainment setups. My review model also had a 10-speaker "Bose Personal Plus" audio system, which includes small speakers inside the headrests of the driver and passenger seats. That makes music sound a bit more immersive, but more importantly, it also serves as a covert way to deliver navigation instructions to the driver without distracting everyone else in the car. During my testing, I found that the Bose system felt rich and detailed for most music (it has a small subwoofer, so anything bass-heavy sounded muddled), and I genuinely appreciated having directions whispered into my ears.
The Leaf's panoramic sunroof, which is only available on the high-end Platinum+ FWD trim, also makes a striking impression. It lets in tons of light while blocking the heat of the sun, and it can also become opaque at the touch of a button with so-called Polymer Dispersed Crystal Display technology. You can also have it shade only part of the car, which is helpful when I'd like some light, but my kids in the back seat don't. The shaded mode still lets in diffuse light, but it's not powerful enough to cast shadows (it acts almost like a total solar filter, allowing you to see the sun safely). It doesn't darken the Leaf much, though, so you might need an additional shade for napping babies.
According to Christian Spencer, a Nissan senior manager and engineer, the company found that the sunroof's shading technology also allowed for more headroom. Adding a traditional retracting shade would have shaved off a few much-needed inches. As it stands, the Leaf's wide and round roof should easily fit very tall drivers and passengers. In a conversation with Engadget, Spencer noted that Nissan also brought over some design elements from existing vehicles, like the Z sports car, Rogue SUV and Ariya EV. In particular, the new Leaf's sturdy 4-link suspension comes directly from the Ariya, and it helps to make the car feel much more stable over bumps and at high speeds.
That's something I definitely noticed during a recent 100-mile round trip. The Leaf is zippy to get to highway speed thanks to its 214-horsepower electric motor (up from 147hp on the previous gen, but matching the same performance of the previous higher-end SV Plus models). The revamped Leaf also feels very solid while cruising alongside much larger cars and in chaotic winds, whereas the previous model always felt a bit unstable at high speeds. The overall rigidity leads to slightly mushy steering on the 2026 Leaf, but I still found it more comfortable to drive than Kia's similarly-sized EV6. My wife and kids, who care less about driving dynamics, noted that it just felt very smooth to ride in.
My 100-mile trip brought the leaf down to 60 percent from a full charge, which is in line with the 259 miles of range available on my Platinum+ review model. (Curiously, you lose range as you step up the Leaf’s specs. I’m sure the large 19-inch tires didn’t help with efficiency — the cheaper models have 18-inch tires.) I was able to charge the Leaf from 65 percent to 100 percent overnight with a standard Level 1 charger. In addition to the standard J1772 port for Level 1 and 2 charging at home, the Leaf also includes a Tesla-style (NACS, above) port for high-speed refills at Tesla Superchargers. That makes the 2026 Leaf far more suitable for road trips than the older model, which was stuck with an archaic CHAdeMO port for fast charging.
A major difference I noticed from my 2018 Leaf is that the new model actually feels like a true electric car internally, rather than being built out of a frame that was originally designed for a gas-powered vehicle. The annoying center console from the second-gen Leaf — which was made out of cheap plastic, and led to so much knee banging I had to install a cushion — is completely gone, replaced with room for a small backpack or purse by your right foot. The new Leaf's floor also sits very low, which gives second-row passengers a ton of leg room.
Not every change is a true step forward, though. While the 2026 Leaf offers more overall cargo space than the previous version, it loses 3.6 cubic feet of storage when the rear seats are up. And if you've got kids in car seats, those rear chairs will always be up. I was able to fit in a small tricycle, two scooters, protective gear and a small cooler during a recent trip, but it was definitely a tight squeeze. On a brighter note, I was at least able to fit in a large combination car seat and smaller booster chair without issue. I also really appreciated Nissan's easily accessible LATCH connections, which are brightly colored and easily visible. You don't have to go fishing around for them under cushions like on other cars.
There's also bad news for fans of one pedal driving: Nissan has dumped its original "E-pedal" feature for "E-step," which can dramatically slow the Leaf with regenerative braking, but won't fully stop the car. According to Spencer, that's partially due to Japanese regulators, who prefer having the brake be the only way to fully stop a car. But it's a bummer if you've gotten used to the convenience of one-pedal driving and never touching the brakes, a feature that Nissan helped to pioneer with the second-gen Leaf. Spencer says the company has heard plenty of feedback about the loss of true one pedal driving though, so it could be a feature Nissan implements again down the line.
I’d consider those complaints minor quibbles, though. The 2026 Leaf is more attractive and feature-rich than the $34,000 Hyundai Kona EV or Chevy Equinox, and it also has the backing of a company with far more experience in the EV arena. While I’d still recommend looking at used EV options — I’ve seen great cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 dip to $25,000 or less — the 2026 Leaf is simply hard to beat.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/nissan-leaf-2026-review-still-the-budget-ev-to-beat-173000858.html?src=rss
Why do AI data centers use so many resources?
With the AI boom, construction of new data centers has skyrocketed, and not without consequence — some communities that count these facilities as neighbors are now facing water shortages and strained power supplies. While tech's data center footprint has been growing for decades, generative AI has seemingly shifted the impacts of these operations toward the catastrophic. What exactly makes these new data centers such a burden on the environment and existing infrastructure, and is there anything we can do to fix it?
The industry believes AI will work its way into every corner of our lives, and so needs to build sufficient capacity to address that anticipated demand. But the hardware used to make AI work is so much more resource-intensive than standard cloud computing facilities that it requires a dramatic shift in how data centers are engineered.
Typically the most important part of a computer is its “brain,” the Central Processing Unit (CPU). It's designed to compute a wide variety of tasks, tackling them one at a time. Imagine a CPU as a one-lane motorway in which every vehicle, no matter the size, can get from A to B at extraordinary speed. What AI relies on instead are Graphics Processing Units (GPU), which are clusters of smaller, more specialized processors all running in parallel. In the example, a GPU is a thousand-lane motorway with a speed limit of just 30 mph. Both try to get a huge number of figurative vehicles to their destination in a short amount of time, but they take diametrically opposite approaches to solving that problem.
Phil Burr is Head of Product at Lumai, a British company looking to replace traditional GPUs with optical processors. “In AI, you repeatedly perform similar operations,” he explained, “and you can do that in parallel across the data set.” This gives GPUs an advantage over CPUs in large but fundamentally repetitive tasks, like graphics, executing AI models and crypto mining. “You can process a large amount of data very quickly, but it’s doing the same amount of processing each time,” he said.
In the same way that thousand-lane highway would be pretty wasteful, the more powerful GPUs get, the more energy hungry they become. “In the past, as [CPUs evolved] you could get a lot more transistors on a device, but the overall power [consumption] remained about the same," Burr said. They're also equipped with “specialized units that do [specific] work faster so the chip can return to idle sooner.” By comparison, “every iteration of a GPU has more and more transistors, but the power jumps up every time because getting gains from those processes is hard.” Not only are they physically larger — which results in higher power demands — but they “generally activate all of the processing units at once,” Burr said.
In 2024, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published a congressionally mandated report into the energy consumption of data centers. The report identified a sharp increase in the amount of electricity data centers consumed as GPUs became more prevalent. Power use from 2014 to 2016 was stable at around 60 TWh, but started climbing in 2018, to 76 TWh, and leaping to 176 TWh by 2023. In just five years, data center energy use more than doubled from 1.9 percent of the US’ total, to nearly 4.4 percent — with that figure projected to reach up to 12 percent by the start of the 2030s.
Like a lightbulb filament, as electricity moves through the silicon of computer chips, it encounters resistance, generating heat. Extending that power efficiency metaphor from earlier, CPUs are closer to modern LEDs here, while GPUs, like old incandescent bulbs, lose a huge amount of their power to resistance. The newest generation of AI data centers are filled with rack after rack of them, depending on the owner’s needs and budget, each one kicking out what Burr described as “a massive amount of heat.”
Heat isn’t just an unwelcome byproduct: if chips aren’t kept cool, they'll experience performance and longevity issues. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) publishes guidelines for data center operators. It advocates server rooms should be kept between 18 to 27 degrees celsius (64.4 to 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Given the sheer volume of heat GPUs kick out, maintaining that temperature requires some intensive engineering, and a lot of energy.
The majority of data centers use a handful of methods to keep their hardware within the optimal temperature. One of the oldest ways to maximize the efficiency of air conditioning is a technique of hot and cold aisle containment. Essentially, cold air is pushed through the server racks to keep them cool, while the hot air those servers expel is drawn out to be cooled and recirculated.
Many data centers, especially in the US, rely on the cooling effect that occurs as water changes from a liquid to a gas. This is done by drawing hot air through a wet medium to facilitate evaporation and blowing the resulting cooled air into the server room, in a method known as direct evaporative cooling. There's also indirect evaporative cooling, which works similarly but adds a heat exchanger — a device that's used to transfer heat between different mediums. In this type of setup, the heat from the warm air is transferred and cooled separately from the server room to avoid raising the humidity levels indoors.
Due in part to their cooling needs, data centers have a tremendous water footprint. The Lawrence Berkeley report found that, in 2014, US-based data centers consumed 21.2 billion liters of water. By 2018, however, that figure had leapt to 66 billion liters, much of which was attributed to what it collectively terms “hyperscale” facilities, which include AI-focused operations. In 2023, traditional US data centers reportedly consumed 10.56 billion liters of water while AI facilities used around 55.4 billion liters. The report’s projections believe that by 2028, AI data centers will likely consume as much as 124 billion liters of water.
"Collectively, data centers are among the top-ten water consuming industrial or commercial industries in the US," according to a 2021 study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. About one-fifth of these data centers use water from stressed watersheds, i.e. areas where the demand for water may be greater than the natural supply.
Most of the water consumed by data centers evaporates and won't be immediately replenished, while the rest goes to wastewater treatment plants. As a trio of academics explained in an op-ed for The Dallas Morning News, data centers are "effectively removing [drinking water] from the local water cycle." Water used in the cooling process is typically treated with chemicals such as corrosion inhibitors and biocides, which prevent bacterial growth. The resulting wastewater often contains pollutants, so it can't be recycled for human consumption or agriculture.
And data centers' water use goes well beyond cooling. A much bigger portion of their water footprint can be attributed to indirect uses, mainly through electricity generated by power plants but also through wastewater utilities. These account for about three-fourths of a data center's water footprint, the study notes. Power plants use water in a number of ways, primarily for cooling and to produce the steam needed to spin their electricity-generating turbines. According to the authors, 1 megawatt-hour of energy consumed by data centers in the US on average requires 7.1 cubic meters of water.
"Data centers are indirectly dependent on water from every state in the contiguous US, much of which is sourced from power plants drawing water from subbasins in the eastern and western coastal states," the authors explain. To adequately address the water issue, energy consumption must be reigned in too.
One major approach to reduce the massive water footprint of these systems is to use closed-loop liquid cooling. This is already ubiquitous on a smaller scale in high-end PCs, where heat-generating components, such as the CPU and GPU, have large heat exchangers that a liquid is pumped through. The liquid draws away the heat, and then has to be cooled down via another heat exchanger, or a refrigeration unit, before being recirculated.
Liquid cooling is becoming more and more common, especially in AI data centers, given the heat that GPUs generate. With the exception of mechanical issues, like leaking, and the water needed to operate the facility more generally, closed-loop systems do not experience water loss and so make more reasonable demands on local water resources. Direct-to-chip liquid cooling drastically cuts a data center's potential water use, and more efficiently removes heat than traditional air-cooling systems. In recent years, companies including Google, NVIDIA and Microsoft have been championing liquid cooling systems as a more sustainable way forward. And researchers are looking into ways to employ this approach on an even more granular level to tackle the heat right at the source.
Whereas cold plates (metal slabs with tubing or internal channels for coolant to flow through) are commonly used in liquid cooling systems to transfer heat away from the electronics, Microsoft has been testing a microfluidics-based cooling system in which liquid coolant travels through tiny channels on the back of the chip itself. In the lab, this system performed "up to three times better than cold plates at removing heat," and the company said it "can effectively cool a server running core services for a simulated Teams meeting." A blog post about the findings noted, "microfluidics also reduced the maximum temperature rise of the silicon inside a GPU by 65 percent, though this will vary by the type of chip."
Another option is "free" cooling, or making use of the natural environmental conditions at the data center site to cool the operation. Air-based free cooling utilizes the outdoor air in cold locales, while water-based free cooling relies on cold water sources such as seawater. Some facilities couple this with rainwater harvesting for their other water needs, like humidification.
Start Campus, a data center project in Portugal, is located on the site of an old coal-fired power station and will use much of its old infrastructure. Rather than simply employ a closed-loop, the high temperatures will require the closed-loop system to interact with an open loop. When the campus is fully operational, its heat will be passed onto around 1.4 million cubic tons of seawater per day. Omer Wilson, CMO at Start Campus, said that by the time the water has returned to its source, its temperature will be the same as the surrounding sea. Start Campus has also pledged that there will be no meaningful water loss from this process.
There is another novel cooling method, immersion, in which computing equipment is — you guessed it — immersed in a non-conductive liquid suitable to draw heat. Wilson described it as a relatively niche approach, used in some crypto mining applications, but not used by industrial-scale facilities.
To keep with both energy and cooling needs, some researchers say the industry must look to renewable resources. "Directly connecting data center facilities to wind and solar energy sources ensures that water and carbon footprints are minimized," wrote the authors of the aforementioned Environmental Research study. Even purchasing renewable energy certificates — which each represent one megawatt-hour of electricity generated from a renewable source and delivered to the grid — could help shift the grid toward these sources over time, they added. "Data center workloads can be migrated between data centers to align with the portion of the grid where renewable electricity supplies exceed instantaneous demand."
Geothermal resources have begun to look especially promising. According to a recent report by the Rhodium Group, geothermal energy could meet up to 64 percent of data center's projected power demand growth in the US "by the early 2030s." In the Western US, geothermal could meet 100 percent of demand growth in areas such as Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth and Las Vegas.
For cooling, geothermal heat pumps can be used to "leverage the consistently cool temperatures" found hundreds of feet beneath the surface. Or, in locations where there are shallow aquifers present, data centers can make use of geothermal absorption chillers. These rely on the low-grade heat at shallower depths "to drive a chemical reaction that produces water vapor," the report explains. "This water vapor cools as it is run through a condenser and cools the IT components of a data center using evaporation."
Iron Mountain Data Centers operates a geothermally cooled data center in Boyers, Pennsylvania at the site of an old limestone mine. A 35-acre underground reservoir provides a year-round supply of cool water. Geothermal may not be a widespread solution just yet, but it's catching on. In 2024, Meta announced a partnership with Sage Geosystems to supply its data centers with up to 150 megawatts (MW) of geothermal power starting in 2027.
While novel cooling methods will undoubtedly help curb some of the AI data centers' excessive resource demands, the first step to meaningful change is transparency, according to Vijay Gadepally, a senior scientist at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory Supercomputing Center. AI companies need to be upfront about the emissions and resource use associated with their operations to give people a clear view of their footprints.
Then there is the hardware to consider. Incorporating more intelligent chip design — i.e. processors with better performance characteristics — could go a long way toward making data centers more sustainable. "That's a huge area of innovation right now," Gadepally said. And large data centers are often "running underutilized," with a lot of power that isn’t being allocated efficiently. Rather than leaning into the push to build more such facilities, the industry should first make better use of existing data centers' capacities.
Similarly, many of today's AI models are vastly overpowered for the tasks they're being given. The current approach is "like cutting a hamburger with a chainsaw," Gadepally said. "Does it work? Sure… but it definitely is overkill." This doesn't need to be the case. "We have found in many instances that you can use a smaller but tuned model, to achieve similar performance to a much larger model," Gadepally said, noting that this is especially true for new "agentic" systems. "You're often trying thousands of different parameters, or different combinations of things to discover which is the best one, and by being a little bit more intelligent, we could dismiss or essentially terminate a lot of the workloads or a lot of those combinations that weren't getting you towards the right answer."
Each of those unnecessary parameters isn't just a computational dead end, it's another nudge towards rolling blackouts, less potable water and rising utility costs to surrounding communities. As Gadepally said, "We're just building bigger and bigger without thinking about, 'Do we actually need it?'"
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/why-do-ai-data-centers-use-so-many-resources-171500010.html?src=rss
The best Amazon Prime Day vacuum deals you can get early: Save on robot and stick machines from iRobot, Shark, Dyson and others
This October Prime Day, we've collected a list of the best Amazon discounts on both traditional and robotic vacuums. We're hoping this article can do more than just save you money — it's also designed to help you with the fiddliest vacuum-related decisions. Should you go corded, cordless or robotic? Dyson, Tineco or Shark? Are there any decent robot vacuums that aren't Roombas? (Yes.) As the event goes on, we'll search for discounts as tirelessly as an automated vacuum scours your floors for dirt, and post all the best deals here.
Shark AV2501AE AI Robot Vacuum for $459 (29 percent off): If you like the look of the AV2501S but have even more space to clean, the AV2501AE is also on sale. Its self-empty base can go a full 60 days before you have to dump it out, so it's ideal for large spaces, complex homes or areas that see heavy use. It's got the same features otherwise, including LiDAR mapping and two hours of autonomous work.
Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch for $450 (55 percent off): This robotic mop/vacuum combo is engineering so you'll almost never need to revisit it after you set it up. It can clean its own mop, refill its own water tank and empty its own dustbin for up to 30 days at a time. It's also equipped with air jets that blast dirt out of corners the vacuum can't fit into.
Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 for $300 (57 percent off, Prime exclusive): The Shark Matrix Plus takes the robot vacuum concept even further by working a mop into the design for hands-off wet cleaning. This model is self-cleaning, self-emptying, self-charging and capable of tackling ground-in stains on hard floors.
Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe for $160 (27 percent off): Moving into manual vacuums, let's start with one of the best. The Shark Navigator Lift-Away is a champion at getting deeply ingrained crud out of carpets, but it's also capable of squaring away bare floors. You can switch between the two settings quickly, and the lift-away canister makes it easy to empty.
iRobot Roomba 104 Vac for $150 (40 percent off, Prime exclusive): This entry-level Roomba is a good pick for anyone who's new to owning a robot vacuum. It features a multi-surface brush and an edge-sweeping brush to clean all types of flooring, and it uses LiDAR navigation to avoid obstacles as it goes. The iRobot mobile app lets you control the robot, set cleaning schedules and more.
iRobot Roomba Plus 504 for $380 (36 percent off): For those looking to upgrade to a more advanced robot vacuum, the Roomba Plus 504 is a great next step. It can clean almost anything that might land on a home floor, and if it can't clean it, it can steer around it. Two brushes and strong suction get at tougher stains, and it even includes an app you can use to set cleaning zones and change suction force remotely.
Levoit LVAC-300 cordless vacuum for $250 (29 percent off, Prime exclusive): One of our favorite cordless vacuums, this Levoit machine has great handling, strong suction power for its price and a premium-feeling design. Its bin isn't too small, it has HEPA filtration and its battery life should be more than enough for you to clean your whole home many times over before it needs a recharge.
Dyson Ball Animal Total Clean Upright Vacuum for $410 (38 percent off): Dyson is still the king of reinventing vacuums, and the bagless, hyper-maneuverable Ball Animal is a blast to use. The Ball design is based on ease of steering, but the hidden MVP is the sealing — from the head to the canister, not a hair is getting out of this one once it's in.
Amazon Basics Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner for $55 (21 percent off): All right, nobody goes to Amazon Basics to be impressed, but we have to admit this vacuum exceeds expectations. It's light, it has a big dust reservoir and it comes with all the attachments you'll need for a reasonably sized apartment. The filter is also simple to remove and clean.
Black+Decker QuickClean Cordless Handheld Vacuum for $27 (33 percent off): Rounding out the list, we've got this small-but-mighty hand vacuum, perfect for crevices, shelves or cleaning out your car. It weighs about 1.4 pounds and hoovers up small messes in the blink of an eye. The lithium-ion battery stays charged for up to 10 hours.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-october-prime-day-robot-vacuum-deals-you-can-get-now-save-on-machines-from-irobot-shark-dyson-and-others-151504093.html?src=rss
Early Amazon Prime Day tech deals under $50: Save on gear from Apple, Anker, Ring, JBL and Roku ahead of next week's sale
You can snap up a lot of useful tech for less than $50 during Amazon’s October Prime Day sale. Even though the sale doesn't officially kick off until Tuesday, we’re already seeing discounts on mini speakers, earbuds, power banks, wall chargers, and even our favorite budget air fryer — for less than $50. In fact, all the deals highlighted here are pulled from our own testing and we'll tell you why we like it, too. If you’re on the hunt for small electronics and accessories — or if you just want to get in on the sale without spending too much — this list of the best Prime Day deals under $50 is a great place to start.
Amazon Echo Pop Kids for $33 ($17 off with Prime): Among the announcements for the new Echo devices, Amazon did not include new Echo Pop Kids models, so this is still the most current model for now. It’s good for smaller spaces, not necessarily audio fidelity, and it comes with six months of free access to Amazon Kids as well as early access to Alexa+.
Apple MagSafe charger (25W, 2m) for $35 ($14 off): The latest version of Apple's MagSafe puck is Qi2.2-certified and supports up to 25W of wireless power when paired with a 30W adapter. The two-meter cable length on this particular model gives you more flexibility on where you can use it: in bed, on the couch, at your desk and elsewhere. Note that it dipped as low as $29 earlier this week.
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $40 ($20 off): Amazon's most powerful streaming dongle supports 4K HDR content, Dolby Vision and Atmos and Wi-Fi 6E with double the storage of cheaper Fire TV sticks. It earned an honorable mention in our guide to streaming devices and also happens to make a good retro gaming emulator.
Blink Video Doorbell for $35 ($35 off): True, Amazon just announced new Blink devices, but those won’t hit the market until after Prime Day is over. If you want a video doorbell right now at an impressively low price, this should serve. We’ve tested Blink security devices before and have been impressed by what you get for such a small price.
Ring Battery Doorbell for $50 ($50 off): At $49.99 this juuust qualifies as an under $50 tech deal. If you don’t have doorbell wires at your front entrance, you can still have a camera to capture all the package deliveries and neighborhood animal sightings with the Ring Battery Doorbell. It records video in HD with more vertical coverage than the last model, so you can see people from head to toe. Just note that newer Ring devices are on the way.
Blink Mini 2 security cameras (two-pack) for $35 ($35 off): This is currently the top budget pick in our guide to the best security cameras. The Mini 2 is a great option for indoor monitoring or you can put it outside with a weatherproof adapter, but since it needs to be plugged in, we like it for keeping an eye on your pets while you're away and watching over entry ways from the inside.
Blink Mini 2 security cameras (three-pack) for $50 ($50 off): A three pack is also on sale and squeezes in just under the $50 mark.
Lego Star Wars: The Mandalorian Paz Vizsla and Moff Gideon Battle for $TK ($TK off): You can have a tiny version of the dramatic season-three battle from The Mandalorian to admire whenever you want. This 289-piece set is rated for kids seven and up, but no one will judge if you keep it for your own shelves.
Check out more Lego sets in our Prime Day guide to Lego deals.
Anker 622 5K magnetic power bank with stand for $34 ($14 off with Prime): This 0.5-inch thick power bank attaches magnetically to iPhones and won't get in your way when you're using your phone. It also has a built-in stand so you can watch videos, make FaceTime calls and more hands-free while your phone is powering up.
Ring Indoor Cam for $25 ($25 off): While we thought the Blink Mini 2 was a better overall indoor camera in our guide, we do like the Ring app, which is ideal for beginners. Plus you get access to the Ring Neighbors app which is a fascinating glimpse into your neighborhood’s Ring-captured events.
Amazon Smart Plug for $13 ($12 off): We named this the best smart plug for Alexa users because it hooks up painlessly and stays connected reliably. Use it to control lamps or your holiday lights using programs and schedules in the Alexa app, or just your voice by talking to your Echo Dot or other Alexa-enabled listener.
Levoit Mini Core-P air purifier for $40 ($10 off with Prime): This is the mini version of the top pick in our guide to air purifiers. It has a three-stage filter (pre, activated carbon and particle filters) though that particle filter is not a true HEPA filter. But it’s rated at 250 square feet and can help clear the air in your office or other small room.
Echo Pop smart speaker for $25 ($15 off): The half sphere Pop is the most affordable Echo speaker in Amazon’s lineup. The sound won’t be as full as its larger siblings, but will do a fine job of bringing Alexa’s help to smaller rooms. Just note that it went as low as $18 for Black Friday and October Prime Day last year.
Roku Streaming Stick Plus 2025 for $29 ($11 off): This is our top pick for the best streaming device for accessing free and live content. The dongle supports 4K video and HDR and doesn’t need to be plugged into the wall for power. It’s a great way to access any streaming service you could ask for: Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max and many more.
Roku Streaming Stick HD for $20 ($10 off): If you don’t care about 4K (or your screen resolution isn’t that high anyway) you can still get the same simple-to-use Roku OS with this device. The best thing about Roku streaming sticks is the access to all the free content — so this is an affordable way to get it.
Leebein 2025 electric spin scrubber for $40 ($30 off with Prime): This is an updated version of the electric scrubber we love that makes shower cleaning easier than ever before. It comes with seven brush heads so you can use it to clean all kinds of surfaces, and its adjustable arm length makes it easier to clean hard-to-reach spots. It's IPX7 waterproof and recharges via USB-C.
Jisulife Life7 handheld fan for $25 ($4 off with Prime): This handy little fan is a must-have if you live in a warm climate or have a tropical vacation planned anytime soon. It can be used as a table or handheld fan and even be worn around the neck so you don't have to hold it at all. Its 5,000 mAh battery allows it to last hours on a single charge, and the small display in the middle of the fan's blades shows its remaining battery level.
Anker Soundcore Select 4 Go speaker for $26 ($9 off with Prime): This is one of our top picks for Bluetooth speaker. It gets pretty loud for its size and has decent sound quality. You can pair two together for stereo sound as well, and its IP67-rated design will keep it protected against water and dust.
Amazon Echo Spot for $50 ($30 off): Amazon brought the Echo Spot smart alarm clock back from the dead last year with a new design and improved speakers. In addition to being able to control smart home devices and respond to voice commands, the Echo Spot can also act as a Wi-Fi extender for those that have Eero systems. It went as low as $45 for Black Friday last year.
Samsung EVO Select microSD card (256GB) for $23 ($4 off): This Samsung card has been one of our recommended models for a long time. It's a no-frills microSD card that, while not the fastest, will be perfectly capable in most devices where you're just looking for simple, expanded storage.
Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam $40 ($20 off): If you like the idea of being able to move the camera around to follow the action in your home, you may want to get a pan-and-tilt option like this one. We will again note that new Ring devices are on the way, but if you don’t have to have the latest thing and just want to see what your dog gets up to while you’re gone, you may want to snag this 33 percent discount.
JBL Go 4 portable speaker for $40 (20 percent off): The Go 4 is a handy little Bluetooth speaker that you can take anywhere you go thanks to its small, IP67-rated design and built-in carrying loop. It'll get seven hours of playtime on a single charge, and you can pair two together for stereo sound. The previous model, JBL Go 3 is on sale for $30.
Anker Soundcore Space A40 for $45 ($35 off): Our top pick for the best budget wireless earbuds, the Space A40 have surprisingly good ANC, good sound quality, a comfortable fit and multi-device connectivity.
JLab Go Air Pop+ for $17.49 ($12 off): JLab earbuds pop up in a few of our guides including the best running headphones and best budget buds. The Pop+ earbuds are smaller and lighter than the previous model, and the app’s preset EQ modes let you customize your sound. Total battery life with the case comes in at more than 35 hours.
Anker USB-C to USB-C cable (10FT,100W) for $10 ($2 off): Having a bad cable is almost as bad as not having a cable at all. We’re big fans of Anker’s cords. This one is a generous 10 feet and can deliver up to 100W of power. While it can transfer data, it does so slowly, so don’t grab this one for that purpose. This is $1 more than it sold for as a Prime-exclusive in July.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/early-amazon-prime-day-tech-deals-under-50-save-on-gear-from-apple-anker-ring-jbl-and-roku-ahead-of-next-weeks-sale-120531666.html?src=rss
A free, ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming option might be on the way
It’s been quite the week for Xbox news. A lot of people are still coming to terms with Microsoft's veritable gut-punch of an announcement that the price of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription is about to soar by 50 percent. And if that has already pushed you into washing your hands with Xbox altogether, it looks like Microsoft may soon attempt to tempt you back by giving away its cloud gaming service for free. That is, an extremely limited version of it, with ads.
According to The Verge, Microsoft is preparing to announce an ad-supported version of Xbox Cloud Gaming, which finally exited beta this week. Sources said to be familiar with Microsoft’s strategy told The Verge that game streaming with ads is already being tested internally with employees. You’ll reportedly be able to play select games that you own as well as a selection of Xbox Retro Classics titles. Microsoft will also offer Free Play Days games, an initiative that already lets Xbox users try games over a weekend. All of this will be possible without a paid Game Pass subscription.
But the inevitable catch, beyond the restricted catalogue of available games, is that you could have to watch up to several minutes of ad content before getting into a game, and it sounds like there are a number of time-based restrictions as well. It’s currently being tested with a one-hour time limit, up to five times per month, though that could change come launch.
Microsoft could launch its ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming tier in beta soon, and it will reportedly be available on PC, Xbox, handheld devices and on browsers. What isn’t clear is what streaming quality will be offered on the free version. Xbox Cloud Gaming’s recently-unlocked 1440p option is going to be exclusive to Game Pass Ultimate, with Microsoft saving the "best quality" streaming for its most expensive plan. You’ll be capped at 1080p on the Premium and Essential tiers.
All three paid Game Pass tiers include unlimited cloud gaming, but wait times get longer the further down you go. It’s fair to assume that any free cloud service not tied to Game Pass will be hit with longer wait times, though perhaps the enforced ads would hide those pretty well anyway.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/a-free-ad-supported-xbox-cloud-gaming-option-might-be-on-the-way-165739468.html?src=rss
The best early October Prime Day TV deals: Save on sets from TCL, Sony, Hisense and more
Although Amazon’s October Prime Day sale doesn’t officially begin until next week, a few highly-rated TVs from Samsung, Sony and others are already a bit cheaper than usual. If you can’t wait until Black Friday to upgrade, we’re rounding up the best early Prime Day deals on TVs worth your time below. We’re seeing a few solid discounts on a couple of Amazon’s Fire TV Sticks as well. Just keep in mind that Amazon’s “Prime Big Deal Days” event officially runs October 7 and 8, so we expect to see more price drops in a few days. We’ll update this post as those pop up.
Hisense U8QG 65-inch Mini-LED TV for $1,082 ($416 off): Several reviews suggest that the Hisense U8QG ticks most of the requisite boxes for a LCD TV in 2025: robust local dimming and mini-LED backlighting, exceptionally high brightness, vibrant quantum-dot colors, a fast refresh rate (165Hz in this case), support for the major HDR formats and so on. It’s a higher-end option than something like the TCL QM6K with much better brightness and contrast, though it still falls short of a good OLED TV when it comes to the latter. Like most LCD panels, it’ll also look a bit washed out if you view it from an angle. It has three HDMI 2.1 ports, which is one fewer than many other TVs in this price range, though it uniquely includes a USB-C video input if you want to hook up a gaming laptop or Nintendo Switch. (Just note that you won’t get VRR or HDR when using that.) You’d mainly get it over an OLED TV if you’re willing to trade some picture quality for something that’s better-suited in a bright room. This deal on the 65-inch model isn’t an all-time low, but it matches the best price we’ve tracked since July.
Samsung S90F 55-inch QD-OLED TV for $1,498 ($100 off): The Samsung S90F is an upper-tier model with a QD-OLED panel, which blends the usual perks of a quality OLED set — near-perfect contrast, wide viewing angles, clear motion, low input lag — with a layer of quantum dots. This helps it produce a wider gamut of more vivid colors compared to traditional WOLED TVs. It also comes with four HDMI 2.1 ports and has a fast refresh rate of 144Hz. It doesn’t support Dolby Vision HDR, however, and reviews we trust say that the LG C5, a competing WOLED model, retains darker black levels in a bright room. (The S90F has a more colorful image, though.) We saw this 55-inch model go for $100 less earlier in the month, but this deal matches the best price we’ve tracked otherwise. The 65-inch version is similarly discounted. Just make sure you only buy the 55-, 65- or 77-inch model, as every other size in the US uses a lesser WOLED panel. Shady, we know.
Sony Bravia 8 II 65-inch QD-OLED TV for $2,998 ($502 off): It’s certainly not cheap, but the Sony Bravia 8 II has earned plaudits for its excellent image processing, upscaling and overall accuracy alongside the expected color, contrast and motion benefits of its QD-OLED display. This should help it make lots of movies and shows look closer to their original intent. It also uses the handy Google TV interface. Outside of an extremely brief dip in June, this deal matches the best price to date for the 65-inch version. That said, if you can’t stomach the high price, other reviews note that the older Sony A95L offers similar performance a bit less, while more recent competitors like the LG G5 and Samsung S95F can get noticeably brighter (even if they’re not always as accurate). Those two should be better for gaming as well, as the Bravia 8 II only has two HDMI 2.1 ports — one of which is an eARC port for soundbars — and its input lag is slightly higher.
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for $25 ($25 off): The standard Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K offers the same core experience as the pricier Fire TV Stick 4K Max, only it comes with a slightly slower processor, half the storage (8GB) and Wi-Fi 6 instead of Wi-Fi 6E. For most people just looking for a casual streamer on the cheap, those shouldn’t be huge losses. This model is also more powerful than the just-announced Fire TV 4K Select, though its Fire OS interface can still be messy and ad-heavy, with special emphasis on Amazon’s own services. This deal is $3 more than the stick’s all-time low, though it matches the best price we’ve seen since Black Friday last year.
Amazon Fire TV Stick HD for $18 ($17 off): The Fire TV Stick HD is the budget pick in our guide to the best streaming devices. It can only stream up to 1080p, and it can run a bit choppier than the 4K models since it has a slower chipset and half the RAM (1GB). The usual issues with the Fire TV interface still apply here too. But if you just want to add streaming apps to an aging TV or basic monitor for as little cash as possible, it should get the job done. This discount ties the device's lowest price to date.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-early-october-prime-day-tv-deals-save-on-sets-from-tcl-sony-hisense-and-more-180051769.html?src=rss
The best live TV streaming services to cut cable in 2025
If you’re interested in a live TV streaming service, you’re probably looking for one (or all three) of the following: current sports matchups, breaking news and linear, cable-like channels. There are plenty of providers out there and we tried them all out to see what you get for your monthly bill — especially since every live TV streamer has raised prices over the past year or two. That said, in most markets, a live TV streaming service is still more cost-effective than cable. And you still don’t have to sign a contract. Right now, we think YouTube TV is the most well-rounded option — but the others might have more of what you’re looking for. Here are the best live TV streaming services based on our testing.
Editor's note: There’s been a lot of hubbub in the streaming world lately. YouTube TV subscribers nearly missed out on access to NBC Universal channels — but the companies ultimately came to a multi-year agreement. Disney (and by extension Hulu+ Live TV) lost a whole bunch of subscribers over free speech dissent — and then announced a price hike for Hulu+ Live TV, bringing it to $90 monthly. Philo implemented a $5 monthly price increase, but users will now get to watch HBO Max and Discovery+, so it’s not all bad. Speaking of HBO Max, customers will no longer get CNN’s livestream as of November 17 because the latter entity is going to try yet again to offer its own service.
The rights to air regular-season NFL games belong to a number of networks. Around 200 games are scheduled to appear Sundays on CBS/Paramount+ and Fox/Fox One. NBC/Peacock will host one Sunday night competition each week while Prime Video will air Thursday night contests (except for Thanksgiving week) and ABC/ESPN will show Monday night matchups. A few games will be exclusive to the NFL Network and Christmas-day games will air live on Netflix. YouTube aired a single week-one game. You can see the complete 2025 NFL schedule here (the airing network appears just below the game time on the list).
On many Sundays, multiple games are scheduled to air at the same time by the same broadcaster. That means Fox and CBS will broadcast regional games through the associated local affiliate station. Select national games will air through Fox One and Paramount+. To see all Sunday (daytime) matchups, you’ll need the NFL Sunday Ticket that’s now exclusive to YouTube TV and costs between $35 and $115 per month depending on the type of subscription you choose (YouTube recently announced monthly options for the Sunday Ticket). Note that the subscription doesn’t include Sunday night games — for that, you’ll need Peacock and/or local NBC station access through YouTube TV or elsewhere.
Most of the paid live TV streaming services we recommend here include the stations you’ll need to see most of the games. YouTube TV, Fubo TV (including the new, cheaper Fubo Sports package), Hulu + Live TV and DirecTV (Signature packages and MySports Genre packs) offer local Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC stations in most (but not all areas). They also carry sports-focused channels from those networks, like Fox Sports, CBS Sports and ESPN. Sling’s Orange plan includes access to a few local channels (varying by area), and also carries ESPN, but you’ll need the combined Orange and Blue plan to also get the Fox Sports channel — but neither plan carries CBS Sports.
How can I stream NFL games for free?
If you have a digital antenna hooked up to your TV, you can grab games that are broadcast over the airways for your region by tuning into your local CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC stations. You can buy a digital antenna for between $20 and $60. Of course, that won’t get you the games that are exclusive to the NFL Network, Prime Video or Netflix, and you won’t be able to watch games broadcast outside your area.
Nearly all paid live TV streaming services are currently offering free trials ranging from a few days to a week. You could hop from service to service, catching a few games before cancelling and not pay anything, but with 18 weeks in the regular season, you’ll obviously not be able to watch all games for free.
Alternatively, you can check out your local sports bar and watch a game for the price of a soda and maybe some nachos. As it turns out, bars and restaurants that provide those games to customers have to pay a ton of cash to do so, so you may as well take advantage of the opportunity.
Does Paramount Plus stream live NFL games?
Yes. Paramount owns CBS, which has historically held the rights to air many NFL games each season. This year, NFL on CBS includes more than 100 regular-season games, most of them Sunday matchups. You can see which NFL games will air on CBS/Paramount + here. Note that to watch your local CBS station you need Paramount+ Premium (formerly Paramount+ with Showtime) for $13 per month.
Can you stream live football on YouTube?
September 5, 2025 marked the first time YouTube was an official live NFL broadcaster when it aired a Friday night, week-one game of the 2025 NFL season from São Paulo, Brazil. It pit the Los Angeles Chargers against the Kansas City Chiefs (LA won 21-27) and aired worldwide on YouTube for free as well as for subscribers to YouTube TV.
There are no other plans for YouTube to air live NFL games for the 2025 season for free, but paid YouTube TV customers will be able to watch many live matchups on their local CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC stations as part of their subscription. Both YouTube TV subscribers and anyone with the YouTube app can subscribe to the NFL Sunday Ticket add-on for $35 to $60 monthly, depending on promotions. Through the YouTube app, you can also purchase access to other Primetime Channels including Paramount+, but it costs the same as paying for those accounts directly.
There are loads of ways to get free TV these days. To start, many standard streaming apps have added live components to their lineups — even Netflix. Peacock Premium Plus subscriptions include regional NBC stations. Paramount+ Premium subscribers can watch on-air CBS programming. The new Fox One service includes multiple live Fox stations. True, if you’re already paying for a service it’s not technically “free” but at least the live content isn’t extra.
The smart TV operating system (OS) you use likely provides free live content too: Amazon’s Fire TV, Google/Android TV, Roku’s built-in Roku Channel and Samsung’s TV Plus all have hundreds of live channels and original programming. Some of the paid services we recommend above have a free version — namely Sling Freestream, Fubo Free (available after you cancel) and DirecTV’s MyFree. But if you’re looking for more, here are the best free ad-supported TV (FAST) apps with live TV that we tried:
How to stream live TV
Streaming live TV is a lot like using Netflix. You get access through apps on your phone, tablet, smart TV or streaming device and the signal arrives over the internet. A faster and more stable connection tends to give you a better experience. Most live TV apps require you to sign up and pay via a web browser. After that, you can activate the app on all of your devices.
Monthly Price
When I started testing these cord-cutting alternatives, I was struck by the price difference between live TV and a standard video streaming app. Where the latter cost between $5 and $20 per month, most live TV services hit the $80 mark and can go higher than $200 with additional perks, channel packages and premium extras. The higher starting price is mostly due to the cost of providing multiple networks — particularly sports and local stations. And, in the past year or so, every service has raised base plan prices.
Local channels
Only two of the services I tried don’t include full local channel coverage for subscribers and one of those makes no effort to carry sports at all. That would be Philo and, as you might guess, it’s the cheapest. The next most affordable option, Sling, only carries three local stations — and only in larger markets — but it still manages to include some of the top sports channels.
When you sign up with any provider that handles local TV, you’ll enter your zip code, ensuring you get your area’s broadcast affiliates for ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. Of course, you can also get those stations for free. Nearly all modern television sets support a radio frequency (RF) connection, also known as the coaxial port, which means if you buy an HD antenna, you’ll receive locally broadcast stations like ABC, CBS, PBS, FOX and NBC. And since the signal is digital, reception is much improved over the staticky rabbit-ears era.
But local channel access is another area where traditional streaming services, like Netflix, are bleeding into broadcast territory. For example, you can watch your local NBC station with a Peacock subscription and you can tune into your area’s CBS station through your Paramount+ subscription. Netflix is even getting into the mix with a recently announced deal with one of France’s broadcast companies, TF1. The streaming service will now air TF1's live TV channels and on-demand content inside the Netflix app. No word if the concept will expand to other regions, but it’s an interesting move to anyone interested in the future of streaming.
Live sports coverage
One reality that spun my head was the sheer number and iterations of sports networks in existence. Trying to figure out which network will carry the match-up you want to see can be tricky. I found that Google makes it a little easier for sports fans by listing out upcoming games (just swap in NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and so on in the search bar). When you click an event, the “TV & streaming” button will tell you which network is covering it.
That just leaves figuring out if your chosen service carries the RSNs (regional sports networks) you want. Unfortunately, even with add-ons and extra packages, some providers simply don’t have certain channels in their lineups. It would take a lawyer to understand the ins and outs of streaming rights negotiations, and networks leave and return to live TV carriers all the time. That said, most major sporting events in the US are covered by ESPN, Fox Sports, TNT, USA and local affiliates.
I should also point out that traditional streaming services have started adding live sports to their lineups. Peacock carries live Premier League matches, Sunday Night Football games and aired the 2024 Olympic Games from Paris. Thursday Night Football as well as NBA and WNBA games are on Amazon Prime and Christmas Day Football airs on Netflix. HBO Max (formerly, er, HBO Max) now airs select, regular season games from the NHL, MLB, NCAA and NBA with a $10-per-month add-on.
You can watch MLS games with an add-on through the Apple TV app, and Apple TV+ includes some MLB games. Roku users can watch the just-added free sports channel and those who subscribe to Paramount Plus can see many of the matches aired on CBS Sports, including live NFL games. This year, January's Super Bowl was live-streamed for free on Tubi. While all of these alternatives may not cover as much ground as live TV streamers, they could end up being cheaper avenues to the sports you want.
And if sports is all you’re after, there are sports-only plans that are a touch cheaper, too. The promised sports streaming service from ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. called Venu was cancelled early this year. But on August 21, ESPN launched its own streaming service that includes all ESPN channels and costs $30 per month. Fubo Sports is $56 monthly and includes local broadcast stations from ABC, CBS and FOX plus a slew of sports networks (CBS Sport and FS1 among them) as well as all networks included with ESPN Unlimited.
Fox launched its own standalone service in August as well and it includes Fox Sports and all other Fox properties (News, Business, Weather) for $20 monthly. DirecTV also has a $70-per-month, sports-only streaming package called MySports and Comcast has a sports and news bundle for that same price (as long as you're an Xfinity customer with auto-pay, otherwise it's more expensive).
Traditional cable networks
Dozens of linear programming networks were once only available with cable TV, like Bravo, BET, Food Network, HGTV, CNN, Lifetime, SYFY and MTV. If you only subscribe to, say, Netflix or Apple TV+, you won’t have access to those. But as with sports, standard streamers are starting to incorporate this content into their offerings. After the Warner Bros. merger, Max incorporated some content from HGTV, Discovery and TLC. Peacock has Bravo and Hallmark shows, and Paramount+ has material from Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central.
Other entertainment channels like AMC+ have stand-alone apps. The Discovery+ app gives you 15 channels ad-free for $10 per month (or with ads for $6 monthly). And a service called Frndly TV starts at a mere $7 per month and streams A&E, Lifetime, Game Show Network, Outdoor Channel and about 35 others. Of course, most live TV streaming options will deliver more sizable lists of cable networks, but just note that you may already be paying for some of them — and if all you need is a certain channel, you could get it cheaper by subscribing directly.
On-demand streaming
Most live TV subscriptions include access to a selection of video-on-demand (VOD) content, like you would get with a traditional streaming service. Much of this content is made up of the movies and TV series that have recently aired on your subscribed networks. This typically doesn’t cover live events and news programming, but I was able to watch specific episodes of ongoing shows like Top Chef or BET’s Diarra from Detroit. Just search the on-demand library for the program, pick an episode and hit play.
Partnerships, like Hulu’s relationship with Disney, and add-ons, such as bundling Max with your YouTube TV subscription or Starz with your Sling plan, will let you watch even larger libraries of on-demand content. But again, if VOD is all you’re after, paying for those networks directly instead of through a live TV plan will be far cheaper.
Digital video recordings (DVR) limits
Every option I tried offers some cloud DVR storage without needing a separate physical device. You’ll either get unlimited storage for recordings that expires after nine months or a year, or you’ll get a set number of hours (between 50 and 1,000) that you can keep indefinitely. Typically, all you need to do is designate what ongoing TV series you want to record and the DVR component will do all the hard work of saving subsequent episodes for you to watch later. You can do the same thing with sports events.
Aside from being able to watch whenever it’s most convenient, you can also fast-forward through commercials in recorded content. In contrast, you can’t skip them on live TV or VOD.
Simultaneous streams and profiles per account
Each plan gives you a certain number of simultaneous streams, aka how many screens can play content at the same time. And while most providers will let you travel with your subscription, there are usually location restrictions that require you to sign in from your home IP address periodically. Stream allowances range from one at a time to unlimited screens (or as many as your ISP’s bandwidth can handle). Some plans require add-ons to get more screens.
Most services also let you set up a few profiles so I was able to give different people in my family the ability to build their own watch histories and libraries, set their favorite channels and get individual recommendations.
Picture-in-picture mode and multiview
Picture-in-picture (PiP) usually refers to shrinking a video window on a mobile device or computer browser so you can watch it while using other apps. Sling, YouTube TV, FuboTV, Philo, DirecTV Stream and Hulu + Live TV all have PiP modes on computers and mobile devices.
Another feature, multiview, lets you view multiple (usually four) sports matches or other live content at once on your TV screen. YouTube TV, FuboTV and now DirecTV all let you do this. With YouTube TV, you can select up to four views from a few preset selection of streams. FuboTV offers the same feature, but only if you're using an Apple TV or Roku streaming device. DirecTV lets you do so through “mixes” which include sports, news, business and kids variants with a set four channels in each mix.
4K live streams
Right now, just FuboTV, YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream offer 4K live streams — but with caveats. YouTube TV requires a $20-per-month add-on, after which you’ll only be able to watch certain live content in 4K. DirecTV Stream has three channels that show live 4K content — one with shows and original series, and two with occasional sporting events. You don’t have to pay extra for these but you do need to have either DirecTV’s Gemini receiver, or a device from Fire TV, Apple TV or Roku. You’ll need those same streaming devices to watch the select 4K programming on Sling as well. FuboTV shows certain live events in 4K but access is limited to the Elite and Premier packages, not the base-level Pro plan.
Of course, watching any 4K content also requires equipment that can handle it: a 4K smart TV or 4K streaming device paired with a cord and screen that can handle 4K resolution.
Tiers, packages and add-ons
Comparing price-to-offering ratios is a task for a spreadsheet. I… made three. The base plans range from $28 to $85 per month. From there, you can add packages, which are usually groups of live TV channels bundled by themes like news, sports, entertainment or international content. Premium VOD extras like Max, AMC+ and Starz are also available. Add-ons cost an extra $5 to $20 each per month and simply show up in the guide where you find the rest of your live TV. This is where streaming can quickly get expensive, pushing an $80 subscription to $200 monthly, depending on what you choose.
How to stream live TV for free
I also downloaded and tried out a few apps that offer free ad-supported TV (FAST) including Freevee, Tubi, PlutoTV and Sling Freestream. These let you drop in and watch a more limited selection of live networks at zero cost. Most don’t even require an email address, let alone a credit card. And if you have a Roku device, an Amazon Fire TV or Stick, a Samsung TV, a Chromecast device or a Google TV, you already have access to hundreds of live channels via the Roku Channel, the live tab in Fire TV, through the Samsung TV Plus app or through Google TV.
When I begin testing for a guide, I research the most popular and well-reviewed players in the category and narrow down which are worth trying. For the paid plans, just six services dominate so I tried them all. There are considerably more free live TV contenders so I tested the four most popular. After getting accounts set up using my laptop, I downloaded the apps on a Samsung smart TV running the latest version of Tizen OS. I counted the local stations and regional sports coverage, and noted how many of the top cable networks were available. I then weighed the prices, base packages and available add-ons.
I then looked at how the programming was organized in each app’s UI and judged how easy everything was to navigate, from the top navigation to the settings. To test the search function, I searched for the same few TV shows on BET, Food Network, HGTV and Comedy Central, since all six providers carry those channels. I noted how helpful the searches were and how quickly they got me to season 6, episode 13 of Home Town.
I used DVR to record entire series and single movies and watched VOD shows, making sure to test the pause and scan functions. On each service with sports, I searched for the same four upcoming NHL, NBA, MLS and NCAA basketball matches and used the record option to save the games and play them back a day or two later. Finally, I noted any extra perks or irritating quirks.
All live TV streaming services we’ve tested:
What is live streaming?
Streaming simply refers to video content that is delivered to your screen over the internet. Live streaming can be split into two categories: linear programming and simultaneous transmission. That first one is similar to what you get with cable or broadcast TV, with channels that play a constant flow of movies and shows (sort of what TV looked like before Netflix). Simultaneous streaming lets you watch live events (like a basketball game) or a program (like the evening news) as they happen.
What is the difference between streaming and live streaming?
Standard streaming, the most popular example being Netflix, lets you pick what you want to watch from a menu of choices. It’s also referred to as “video on demand.” Live streaming refers to sports and news events that you can stream as they happen in real time. It also refers to channels that show a continuous, linear flow of programming.
What streaming service is best for live TV?
FuboTV does the best job of letting you organize live channels to help you find just what you want to watch. The interface is uncluttered and when you search for something, the UI clearly tells you whether something is live now or on-demand. YouTube TV also does a good job making that info clear. Both have just over 100 live channels on offer.
What is the most cost effective TV streaming service?
Free TV streaming services like PlutoTV, Plex, Tubi and FreeVee show plenty of ad-supported TV shows and movies without charging you anything. Of course, they won’t have the same channels or content that more premium subscriptions have. Ultimately it depends on what you want to watch and finding the service that can supply that to you in the most streamlined form so you’re not paying for stuff you don’t need.
Is it cheaper to have cable or streaming?
A basic cable package used to be more expensive than the base-level live TV streaming service. But now that nearly all major providers have raised their prices to over $75 per month, that’s no longer the case. And with add-ons and other premiums, you can easily pay over $200 a month for either cable or a live TV streaming service. But those who want to cut the cord will appreciate that streaming services don't have contracts.
What streaming service has all the TV channels?
No service that we tested had every available channel. Hulu + Live TV and DirecTV Stream carry the the highest number of the top rated channels, according to Neilsen. Hulu’s service also gets you Disney+ fare, which you can’t get elsewhere. FuboTV has the most sports channels and YouTube TV gives you the widest selection of add-ons.
What is the most popular live TV streaming platform?
YouTube TV has the most paying customers. According to 2024's letter from the CEO, the service has over eight million subscribers. Disney’s 2024 third quarter earnings put the Hulu + Live TV viewer count at 4.6 million. Sling’s customer count dipped from two million to about 1.9 million in 2024 and FuboTV grew its subscriber list to 1.6 million.
How safe are free streaming services and websites?
You may have heard certain sites that provide free content can be dangerous, leading to stolen info and/or exposing you to malware. That’s likely in reference to certain peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and file-sharing sites that let people download free movies and series — which can come bundled with malicious code.
But if you’re talking about the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services listed here, from providers like PlutoTV, Tubi and Plex, they are just as safe as any other streaming service. Since you sometimes don’t even have to provide your email address or credit card info, they can even be more anonymous for cord cutters than apps that require login credentials.
October 2025: Added information about the upcoming price increases for Hulu+ Live TV and Philo.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/best-live-tv-streaming-service-133000410.html?src=rss
The best early October Prime Day deals on Apple devices
Amazon’s latest October Prime Day sale starts next week, and we expect to see a few good discounts on Apple devices arrive with it. If you’ve been waiting to pick up a new Apple Watch, iPad or MacBook, though, there are a handful of decent price drops you can take advantage of today. We’ve quickly rounded up the best early Prime Day deals on Apple devices we can find below. Just keep in mind that Black Friday is around the corner, so there’s always a chance we see further discounts over the next few weeks. The “Prime Big Deal Days” sale, as it's technically called, officially runs October 7 and 8; we'll update this post as new offers arise.
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M4, 512GB) for $999 ($200 off): The MacBook Air tops our guide to the best laptops. The latest model isn’t a major overhaul, but it’s still exceptionally thin, lightweight and well-designed, and the M4 chip is more than powerful enough for everyday use. This deal is just a few bucks below the best price we’ve seen for a configuration with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Other configs with more memory are $200 off as well.
Apple MacBook Air (15-inch, M4, 512GB) for $1,199 ($200 off): The 15-inch MacBook Air is essentially the same as the 13-inch version, only it has a roomier display, a more spacious trackpad and better speakers. This is another discount we’ve seen plenty of times before, but it’s only slightly higher than the all-time low for a model with 512GB of storage.
Apple iPad (A16, 256GB) for $399 ($50 off): The entry-level iPad earned a score of 84 in our review: If you mainly want a tablet for streaming, browsing the web, emailing or lighter word processing, it should do the job. It doesn’t lose out on the Mac-style productivity features introduced with iPadOS 26 either. We’ve seen this discount on the 256GB model fairly often in recent months, and it’s about $25 above the device’s all-time low, but it’s still $50 cheaper than buying directly from Apple.
Apple AirTags (4-pack) for $75 ($24 off): With its enormous finding network and ultra-wideband tech for accurately locating nearby items, Apple’s AirTag is the top pick for iPhone users in our guide to the best Bluetooth trackers. We saw a four-pack fall as low as $65 earlier in the year, but this is still a nice drop from Apple’s list price. If you’re not in desperate need for these, though, note that we may see an updated model later this year.
Apple Mac mini (M4) for $499 ($100 off): This latest iteration of Apple’s tiny PC has a smaller footprint, a faster M4 chip, 16GB of RAM by default, two front-facing USB-C ports and an extra Thunderbolt 4 port. It can also drive three external displays, though it lacks USB-A ports entirely. We gave a higher-end config with Apple’s M4 Pro chip a score of 90 in our review. This deal is for the entry-level model with the base M4 chip and a 256GB SSD — it’s $30 above the all-time low but still a nice savings.
Apple Watch SE 3 (40mm, GPS) for $240 ($9 off): Apple only released its latest crop of Apple Watches a couple weeks ago, but Amazon is selling each with a modest discount. The Watch SE 3, for instance, is available for $240: That’s just $9 off its list price, but it’s something if you’re buying soon after launch anyway. As for the device itself, this third-gen version of the SE adds an always-on display, which makes it so you no longer have to wake the watch to check the time or your notifications. It now runs on the same S10 chip as its higher-end siblings, too, and it still covers the essential health and fitness features. If you’re in the market for your first smartwatch, or if you only want a watch for step counting, sleep tracking and notifications, it should be a strong value.
Apple Watch Ultra 3 (49mm) for $780 ($19 off): The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is a much more niche device than the Series 11 or SE 3, aimed at serious athletes and adventurers more than the typical gymgoer. It is the biggest and most rugged Apple Watch, with the brightest display (up to 3,000 nits), longest battery life (up to 42 hours) and most advanced components. It also supports satellite communications. The watch normally retails for $799, so this isn’t a major discount, but since this is a brand-new device, any drop at all is worth noting for early adopters.
Apple Watch Series 10 (42mm, GPS + Cellular) for $329 ($170 off): As a general rule, most people should buy the newest version of whatever Apple product they want. That said, the Series 11 is only a minor upgrade over the prior Series 10 — the glass is more scratch-resistant, the cellular model has 5G support, the battery is marginally bigger and that’s about it. If you’re mostly worried about saving cash, want LTE support and still need the more advanced health features the Apple Watch SE lacks, this is a worthwhile discount for a version of last year’s model with cellular support.
Apple Watch SE (2nd gen, 40mm, GPS + Cellular) for $189 ($110 off): The Apple Watch SE 3 is a far more substantial upgrade over its predecessor than the Series 11, so we strongly recommend paying the premium to get the latest version. But if you’re sure you can live without the always-on display, faster charging, superior chip and other upgrades that come with the SE 3, the last-gen model can still get you most of the basic Apple Watch experience for less cash while it remains in stock. This is one of the lowest prices we’ve seen for the 40mm cellular model.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-early-october-prime-day-deals-on-apple-devices-125644735.html?src=rss
The best Amazon Prime Day deals on Anker charging gear and other accessories
Maybe you’re not looking to snag an iPad, a robot vacuum or a VR headset this Amazon Prime Day because you’re set with what you already have. Instead, though, consider picking up a few discounted “essential” gadgets, or really, devices you don’t want to be left without in a pinch. Charging gear falls into this camp, and Anker makes some of our favorite power banks, cables, wireless chargers and more.
A bunch of Anker’s gear is on sale for October Prime Day, making now a great time to stock up. Personally, I always end up getting an extra charging cable or surge protector for my house, or I take stock of the gifts I’ll need over the next couple of months and pick up a power brick while they’re deeply discounted. Here, we’ve collected all of the best October Prime Day deals on Anker devices and other charging accessories so you don’t have to go searching for them.
Power banks are not as straightforward as you might think. They come in all shapes, sizes and capacities and can have extra features like magnetic alignment, built-in kickstands, extra ports and more.
It's worth considering how you'll use a power bank before you decide on the right one to buy. Smartphones don’t need huge-capacity bricks to power up a couple of times over; a 5K or 10K portable charger should be plenty if that’s all you’re looking to support. If you want a more versatile accessory that can charge a tablet, laptop or gaming handheld, consider a brick with a higher capacity — and more ports so you can charge multiple devices simultaneously.
A good wireless charger can lighten your cable load. While wired charging remains faster and more efficient, wireless chargers can clean up your space by eliminating a few of those cables that constantly trip you up.
We recommend thinking about where you'll use a wireless charger before buying one. Those outfitting a home office with new tech may want a wireless charging stand that puts their phone in an upright position that’s easier to see while it’s powering up, while those who want a wireless charger for their nightstand might prefer a lay-flat design or a power station that can charge a smartphone, smartwatch and pair of earbuds all at once.
Plenty of other charging gear is on sale for Prime Day. It’s never a bad idea to pick up a few 30W USB-C adapters so you always have what you need to reliably power up your phone. Same goes for extra USB-C (or USB-A) cables that can live in your car, in your office at work or by the couch.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-amazon-prime-day-deals-on-anker-charging-gear-and-other-accessories-164536175.html?src=rss
Indonesia suspends TikTok’s operating licence for allegedly withholding data
Indonesia has suspended TikTok’s operational registration status in the country, alleging that the social media platform did not fully co-operate with a request to share its data during nationwide protests in August. In a statement, Alexander Sabar, an official from Indonesia’s digital and communications ministry, said TikTok had violated national laws by only providing partial data while the protests were ongoing between August 23 and 30.
Sabar said TikTok was given until September 23 to hand over its data related to traffic, streaming and monetization, after it emerged that some accounts with links to online gambling may have profited from TikTok livestreams during the protests. All forms of gambling are illegal under Indonesian law. TikTok reportedly said that it couldn’t provide all of the requested data due to internal policy. The app has now been temporarily suspended, although Bloomberg claims that TikTok remains accessible in the country for now.
Anger about the state of Indonesia’s economy, widespread police brutality and a number of government policies sparked August’s violent protests. TikTok voluntarily suspended its live feature for a number of days during the unrest in an attempt to keep the platform a "safe and civil space." The app has over 100 million users in the country.
Sabar gave no indication as to how long the ban will last. As reported by Reuters, a spokesperson for TikTok said the company respects the laws of the countries it operates in, and added that it’s working with the digital ministry to find a resolution.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/indonesia-suspends-tiktoks-operating-licence-for-allegedly-withholding-data-145134189.html?src=rss
A four-pack of Apple AirTags is 25 percent off ahead of Prime Day
Amazon's fall edition of Prime Day is right around the corner, but you can already get some great deals on popular products like the Apple AirTag. Right now, a four-pack of Apple AirTags is $75, 25 percent off the regular price. If you're an Apple user, then the AirTag is the best Bluetooth tracker on the market for you.
You can put these little discs in your wallet, in a backpack or in your luggage while you're traveling. Your AirTag's location will show up in your Find My app, powered by the vast network of iPhones, iPads and other compatible devices that receive the AirTag's Bluetooth signal. Keep in mind these only work when close enough to participating devices to be located.
You can attach AirTags to just about anything thanks to an abundance of available accessories. Their built-in speakers can play a tone, triggered from your iPhone, to help you find them when the object they're affixed to is lost. On iPhone 11 and newer models, you can take advantage of the AirTag's Ultra Wideband capability and have your phone lead you right to your AirTag, complete with directional arrows on your iPhone screen.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/a-four-pack-of-apple-airtags-is-25-percent-off-ahead-of-prime-day-143112321.html?src=rss
Prime Day Lego deals include up to 38 percent off Star Wars and Super Mario sets
October Prime Day is nearly here, and new early deals are popping up every day. Amazon uses October Prime Day to kickstart the holiday shopping season — even if you haven't even thought about the holidays yet, you should give the latest Prime Day Lego deals a look. A number of Lego sets from the Super Mario and Star Wars collections are already on sale for up to 38 percent off.
When shopping for Lego sets on Amazon, we highly recommend checking a price tracker like Keepa or CamelCamelCamel before buying. It's not difficult to find Lego sets "on sale" at Amazon, but often those discounted prices have been around for a long time. We've clocked "deals" in which the sale price has been available for months already, going back as far as late spring and early summer 2025. Here, we're mostly highlighting discounts on new Lego sets, recent price drops and record-low (and close to them) prices on popular Lego sets from franchises like Star Wars, Super Mario and others.
Lego City Advent Calendar 2025 60475 for $25 (29 percent off)
Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar 2025 75418 for $38 (16 percent off)
Lego Minecraft Advent Calendar 2025 21280 for $38 (16 percent off)
Lego Harry Potter Advent Calendar 2025 76456 for $38 (16 percent off)
Lego Star Wars: The Mandalorian Paz Vizsla and Moff Gideon Battle set 75386 for $25 (38 percent off)
Lego Star Wars Brick-Built Star Wars Logo set 75407 for $55 (8 percent off)
Lego Super Mario: Mario Kart Donkey Kong & DK Jumbo set 72033 for $28 (19 percent off)
Lego Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi Building set 71438 for $104 (20 percent off)
Lego Classic Medium Creative Brick Box 10696 for $18 (49 percent off)
Lego Botanicals Bouquet of Roses 10328 for $48 (20 percent off)
Lego City F1 Garage & Mercedes-AMG & Alpine Cars set 60444 for $68 (15 percent off)
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/prime-day-lego-deals-include-up-to-38-percent-off-star-wars-and-super-mario-sets-121513510.html?src=rss
The best Amazon Prime Day deals include early tech discounts on Apple, Samsung, Anker, Shark and others
October Prime Day will be here soon on October 7 and 8, but as to be expected, you can already find some decent sales available now. Amazon always has lead-up sales in the days and weeks before Prime Day, and it’s wise to shop early if you’re on the hunt for something specific and you see that item at a good discount.
Prime Day deals are typically reserved for subscribers, but there are always a few that anyone can shop. We expect this year to be no exception, and we’re already starting to see that trend in these early Prime Day deals. These are the best Prime Day deals you can get right now ahead of the event, and we’ll update this post with the latest offers as we get closer to October Prime Day proper.
Apple MagSafe charger (25W, 2m) for $35 (29 percent off): The latest version of Apple's MagSafe puck is Qi2.2-certified and supports up to 25W of wireless power when paired with a 30W adapter. The two-meter cable length on this particular model gives you more flexibility on where you can use it: in bed, on the couch, at your desk and elsewhere.
Leebein 2025 electric spin scrubber for $40 (43 percent off, Prime exclusive): This is an updated version of my beloved Leebein electric scrubber, which has made cleaning my shower easier than ever before. It comes with seven brush heads so you can use it to clean all kinds of surfaces, and its adjustable arm length makes it easier to clean hard-to-reach spots. It's IPX7 waterproof and recharges via USB-C.
Jisulife Life7 handheld fan for $25 (14 percent off, Prime exclusive): This handy little fan is a must-have if you life in a warm climate or have a tropical vacation planned anytime soon. It can be used as a table or handheld fan and even be worn around the neck so you don't have to hold it at all. Its 5,000 mAh battery allows it to last hours on a single charge, and the small display in the middle of the fan's blades show its remaining battery level.
XReal One Pro AR glasses for $649 (16 percent off): The latest from XReal, these smart glasses can let you use almost any device, including your smartphone, with a large virtual display. Their 1080p Micro-OLED screens are bright and sharp, plus they're pretty comfortable to wear.
Blink Mini 2 security cameras (two-pack) for $35 (50 percent off): Blink makes some of our favorite security cameras, and the Mini 2 is a great option for indoor monitoring. It can be placed outside with the right weatherproof adapter, but since it needs to be plugged in, we like it for keeping an eye on your pets while you're away and watching over entry ways from the inside.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (3 months) for $60 ($30 off): Microsoft recently jacked up the price of Game Pass Ultimate to $30 per month, but for now, you can get around that by stacking codes. Pick up this code for three months of the service at the old rate and you'll save some cash.
Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar 2025 75418 for $38 (16 percent off): 'Tis the season for advent calendars. They've flooded the internet, as they usually do this time of year, and there are plenty to choose from (and stock up on) before we get to December. Lego has a bunch, and this Star Wars one will be fun for everyone, not just kids, to open up each day at the end of the year.
Apple Mac mini (M4) for $499 ($100 off): If you prefer desktops over laptops, the upgraded M4 Mac mini is one that won’t take up too much space, but will provide a ton of power at the same time. Not only does it come with an M4 chipset, but it also includes 16GB of RAM in the base model, plus front-facing USB-C and headphone ports for easier access.
Apple Watch SE 2 for $189 (37 percent off): The SE 3 is the latest model as of September, but the SE 2 still has a lot going for it. It was our top pick for the best smartwatch for newbies (and those on a budget) because it gives you a solid core smartwatch experience at a great price.
Amazon Smart Plug for $13 ($12 off): We named this the best smart plug for Alexa users because it hooks up painlessly and stays connected reliably. Use it to control lamps or your holiday lights using programs and schedules in the Alexa app, or just your voice by talking to your Echo Dot or other Alexa-enabled listener.
JLab Go Air Pop+ for $17.49 (42 percent off): These ultra-affordable wireless earbuds are 15 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than the previous model, and they have a mobile app in which you can choose from three preset EQ modes to customize your sound. Total battery life with the case comes in at more than 35 hours, and they come with three different sizes of eartips so you can get the best fit.
Samsung EVO Select microSD card (256GB) for $23 (15 percent off): This Samsung card has been one of our recommended models for a long time. It's a no-frills microSD card that, while not the fastest, will be perfectly capable in most devices where you're just looking for simple, expanded storage.
Anker Soundcore Select 4 Go speaker for $26 (26 percent off, Prime exclusive): This small Bluetooth speaker gets pretty loud for its size and has decent sound quality. You can pair two together for stereo sound as well, and its IP67-rated design will keep it protected against water and dust.
Roku Streaming Stick Plus 2025 for $29 (27 percent off): Roku makes some of the best streaming devices available, and this small dongle gives you access to a ton of free content plus all the other streaming services you could ask for: Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max and many more.
JBL Go 4 portable speaker for $40 (20 percent off): The Go 4 is a handy little Bluetooth speaker that you can take anywhere you go thanks to its small, IP67-rated design and built-in carrying loop. It'll get seven hours of playtime on a single charge, and you can pair two together for stereo sound.
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $40 (33 percent off): Amazon's most powerful streaming dongle supports 4K HDR content, Dolby Vision and Atmos and Wi-Fi 6E. It also has double the storage of cheaper Fire TV sticks.
Anker Soundcore Space A40 for $45 (44 percent off): Our top pick for the best budget wireless earbuds, the Space A40 have surprisingly good ANC, good sound quality, a comfortable fit and multi-device connectivity.
Amazon Echo Spot for $50 ($30 off): Amazon brought the Echo Spot smart alarm clock back from the dead last year with a new design, improved speakers and added Alexa chops. In addition to being able to control smart home devices and respond to voice commands, the Echo Spot can also act as a Wi-Fi extender for those that have Eero systems.
Levoit Core 200S smart air purifier for $70 ($20 off, Prime exclusive): This compact air purifier cleans the air in rooms up to 140 square feet and uses a 3-in-1 filter that removes microscopic dust, pollen and airborne particles. It has a mobile app that you can use to set runtime schedules, and it works with Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands.
Amazon Fire TV Cube for $100 (29 percent off): Amazon's most powerful streaming device, the Fire TV Cube supports 4K, HDR and Dolby Vision content, Dolby Atmos sound, Wi-Fi 6E and it has a built-in Ethernet port. It has the most internal storage of any Fire TV streaming device, plus it comes with an enhanced Alexa Voice Remote.
iRobot Roomba 104 Vac for $150 (40 percent off): This entry-level robot vacuum is an upgraded version of one of our favorite budget robot vacuums. iRobot makes robovacs that are easy to use, even for those who have never had a machine like this, and they do a good job of cleaning up all kinds of messes, including pet hair.
Levoit LVAC-300 cordless vacuum for $250 ($100 off, Prime exclusive): One of our favorite cordless vacuums, this Levoit machine has great handling, strong suction power for its price and a premium-feeling design. Its bin isn't too small, it has HEPA filtration and its battery life should be more than enough for you to clean your whole home many times over before it needs a recharge.
Shark Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo for $300 (57 percent off, Prime exclusive): If you're looking for an autonomous dirt-sucker that can also mop, this is a good option. It has a mopping pad and water reservoir built in, and it supports home mapping as well. Its self-emptying base can hold up to 60 days worth of debris, too.
Nintendo Switch 2 for $449: While not technically a discount, it's worth mentioning that the Switch 2 and the Mario Kart Switch 2 bundle are both available at Amazon now, no invitation required. Amazon only listed the new console for the first time in July after being left out of the initial pre-order/availability window in April. Once it became available, Amazon customers looking to buy the Switch 2 had to sign up to receive an invitation to do so. Now, that extra step has been removed and anyone can purchase the Switch 2 on Amazon.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-amazon-prime-day-deals-include-early-tech-discounts-on-apple-samsung-anker-shark-and-others-050801003.html?src=rss
The best smart rings for 2025
It’s getting increasingly difficult to say smart rings are just a niche inside the broader world of wearable technology. The raft of celebrities who are seen wearing them, the NBA’s use of Oura rings as an early warning system against COVID-19 and, last year, Samsung’s entry into the market has made them far more prominent in the minds of mainstream consumers. We’ve tested plenty of smart rings, and are likely to test plenty more as the years roll on. To help you better understand the category, we’ve built this guide that explains what they do, what they’re for and which ones are worth your time and money right now.
Smart rings offer an alternative to smartwatches and fitness trackers to keep an eye on your health and daily activity. They can track your movements, heart rate, temperature and monitor how well you’ve been sleeping. Essentially, they take much of the same hardware you’d find in a smartwatch or tracker and shrink it down into a much smaller package.
The trade-offs are, as such, obvious: Rings are smaller and can’t track anywhere near as many things as a wrist-worn device can. You’ll also miss out on any of the added features that are found on those bigger pieces of gear, like a screen on which to see your notifications or real-time readings of your steps count. But they may be more accurate for your heart rate and temperature, and are significantly more discreet.
That discretion is important if you want to keep an eye on your health without looking like you care. Sure, they’re still gadgets, so they’re still noticeably bigger than traditional pieces of jewelry — but not by much. Plus, it’s an alternative for people who don’t like watches, with one statistic saying 68 percent of Americans don’t wear them.
Much like smartwatches and fitness trackers, smart rings are equipped with accelerometers and gyroscopes that can track your movement. That lets them interpret how much you’re moving and, based on whether you toss and turn in the night, how well you’re sleeping.
Many rings have PPG (photoplethysmography) sensors to monitor your heart rate and blood oxygenation, either continuously or at intervals. Plus, they often come with temperature sensors that can be used to track signs of infection, and the data they gather on body heat can be used to predict the wearer’s menstrual cycle.
It’s possible to use this information to draw broader conclusions about how you’re doing more generally. You can get metrics for your stress, resilience and recovery rates, and you’ll even get data on how calm you are during meditation sessions.
I’ve personally been able to look back at stressful days and then compare my vital signs to the baseline. This can be useful to monitor how well, or badly, you’re dealing with stress at any given time and chart progress made.
But not all smart rings are alike. Circular’s Ring 2 is one of a handful to offer its own one-line ECG (electrocardiogram). This, like many fitness watches that now offer the same, will look at your heart’s electrical activity to look for irregularities, such as atrial fibrillation. Evie, meanwhile, markets itself as a smart ring “designed for women” with a focus on reproductive cycle tracking.
At the risk of winning this year’s “Yeah, obviously” award, smart rings are not a replacement for smartwatches. Rings do not have built-in displays or vibration motors, so the only way to interact with them is via their companion apps on your phone.
There’s no way for you to get any idea of how you’re doing at any given time unless you’re able to look at your primary device. Even activity alerts — pop-ups telling you to move if you’ve been still for too long — can only be pushed to your phone.
You won’t get any of the added-value stuff you get with most wrist-worn devices either, and not just the ability to tell the time. That means no calls, apps, message responses, GPS, fall detection or mobile payments via NFC. There are a few exceptions: Samsung’s Galaxy Ring can detect pinch gestures to activate the camera trigger or turn off alarms with a compatible phone.
It’s probably worth noting that while no consumer wearable will be as accurate or reliable as a clinical diagnostic tool, the smaller hardware may mean a compromise in accuracy. Rings might also get in the way of certain types of activity, like pull-ups, barbell deadlifts or any other movement that involves gripping onto a handle that might push the accessory into your finger and cause discomfort.
Given the broader features available in even the most basic fitness tracker, it’s hard to say smart rings are a “better” choice. A $300 ring will do a lot less than a $50 tracker, and if you’re led by your wallet, a ring will always work out to be the luxury option. What they offer, however, is a far more elegant aesthetic, especially if you’re not likely to wear a tracker, smartwatch or fitness watch. And that’s before we get to people with skin sensitivities or other reasons for preferring a smaller, more unobtrusive tracker.
What do you want to get out of it?
Are you hoping a smart ring will encourage you to get out and exercise more? Help you keep an eye on your physical health? Manage your mental health? It’s good to go in with a clear picture of what you want because you may find the limited applications frustrating.
Will it fit your finger?
Most reputable smart rings will, during the ordering process, send you a sizing kit so you can find the most comfortable model. You’re asked to find a size that sits snugly on your index finger ensuring the sensors make good contact with your skin.
The companies often suggest you wear this plastic dummy on your hand for a few days before placing your order. After all, our hands can swell and shrink during the day and depending on the ambient temperature.
Normal rings can be sized up or down a bit (by a competent jeweler) if your body shape shifts over time. You can’t do that with most smart rings, so if you do change sizes drastically, you’ll have to go through the process from the start and pay full price again.
There are exceptions to this: If you pay for a coverage plan with Ultrahuman, for example, you’ll get one free ring replacement if you lose weight. Anecdotally, some makers will offer ad-hoc discounts if you speak to them but that’s obviously at the discretion of the name in question.
One thing to bear in mind is wearing your ring while working out, which might be an issue as pointed out earlier. Depending on your activity, you might find a ring uncomfortable compared to a watch. If gripping onto a dumbbell or handlebars is something you do frequently, it might be better to use a smartwatch or wristworn device. But for runners, swimmers or other folks who don’t need to grab onto much while they work out, a ring should be just fine.
What’s the battery life like?
Bigger rings will have bigger batteries, so it’s a lot harder to give a clean figure as to how long each ring will last on a charge. Thankfully most rings sip, rather than slurp, at their batteries and so most of them last at least five days or so on a charge. That’s one big plus over some smartwatches given they often will only last a day or so before needing more power.
What can you do if you lose your smart ring?
Several companies include Find My Ring features in their apps to identify the last location that your ring was connected to your phone. However, if you’re not a fan of minimalism and your home is full, it might be harder to find them. After all, the rings don’t have vibration motors or speakers to offer an audible chirp as and when you’re looking for them.
I once lost an Oura Ring 3 for two days before downloading a third-party app that could locate it within a few feet. Turns out, when I’d made my kids’ bed, the ring had fallen into my daughter’s duvet cover, which I found only once I’d turned the room upside down twice.
Samsung, meanwhile, offers location-tracking in its app and can give you a rough idea of your ring’s last location. You can also, if you’re hunting for it in dark environments, set its lights to blink, which is something its rivals do not offer.
Are there long-term costs?
The nature of the technology world, especially in 2025, is that a lot of hardware companies can’t survive selling users one device every three or four years. So, to supplement that income and to offer users a better value proposition, companies offer additional features at an extra cost.
That can come in the form of a premium subscription to unlock additional features and insights about your body. There are also one-off purchases to unlock specific features that you may want to focus on, as well as extended warranties or insurances.
I’d wager most people plan on wearing a smart ring for several years before opting to upgrade, and so it’s important to keep an eye on the total cost of ownership. If your budget will only stretch to the initial payment and no further, keep in mind what features you’ll be missing out on.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/best-smart-ring-140000425.html?src=rss
This Roomba robot vacuum is 40 percent off for Prime Day
The iRobot Roomba 104 robot vacuum is on sale for $150 just ahead of October's Prime Day. That's a nice little discount of 40 percent, which represents a savings of $100.
This is a newer version of the unit that topped our list of the best budget robot vacuums. It's an entry-level robovac that gets the job done. The cleaning motor is fairly powerful and it ships with a multi-surface brush and an edge-sweeping brush. The vacuum uses LiDAR to map a home and to help it avoid obstacles when cleaning.
It's also been equipped with specialized sensors to prevent falling down stairs. Steps are the natural enemy of all robot vacuums, except maybe this one. The Roomba 104 integrates with the company's proprietary app, which allows for custom cleaning schedules and the like. The robot can also be controlled via voice assistant and boasts compatibility with Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant.
The vacuum will automatically head to the charger for some juice when running low, which is nice. The battery lasts around 200 minutes per charge, which is a decent enough metric for a budget-friendly robovac. The only downside here? This is just a vacuum. It doesn't mop and it doesn't come with a dedicated debris canister.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/this-roomba-robot-vacuum-is-40-percent-off-for-prime-day-164953707.html?src=rss
The latest Anker Prime charging devices are already 20 percent off
Anker has a bunch of new Prime charging devices available and some of them are already getting solid discounts. The lineup includes a laptop-compatible Prime Power Bank (26,250mAh, 300W). The device's Amazon page currently features a clippable coupon that will take $46 off the price, reducing it by 20 percent. That means you'll be able to snap this powerbank up for $184.
This portable charger delivers a whopping 300W of total output between its two USB-C ports and single USB-A port. Anker says that, thanks to its 140W output (and if you're using a 5A cable), you can top up the battery of an M4 Pro MacBook Pro to 50 percent in 27 minutes and an iPhone 17 Pro Max to 50 percent in 22 minutes. You can keep tabs on what's happening on each port using the display.
This is also the first Anker power bank that supports up to 250W of input recharging by using both USB-C ports simultaneously. This faster charging can top up the powerbank's own battery to 50 percent in just 13 minutes, according to Anker.
This model has a capacity of 26,250mAh (99.75Wh), which is very close to the FAA's limit of 100W. It's TSA-approved, so you'll be able to take it on flights. It's capable of taking an M4 MacBook Pro from fully dead to an 80 percent charge. The power bank weighs 1.3 lbs — the same as about three iPhones, Anker says.
Other Anker Prime devices are on sale too. A new 3-in-1 MagSafe charger — which can top up the batteries of your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods with wireless charging case simultaneously — also gets a 20 percent discount to $184 when you use a clippable coupon. While there are certainly less expensive 3-in-1 MagSafe options out there, this one includes Qi2 25W support for faster charging, as well as TEC active cooling. Anker suggests this can help speed up charging times and help guard against iPhone battery degradation over time.
A three-port GaN Prime Charger that plugs into an outlet is 20 percent off too, at $120 with a clippable coupon. Anker says it's as compact as an AirPods Pro 3 case and can provide a total output of 160W, with up to 140W via a single USB-C cable. The charger is said to offer smart power distribution, and you can monitor what's happening and adjust modes via an onboard display and controls.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-latest-anker-prime-charging-devices-are-already-20-percent-off-152040882.html?src=rss
Amazon Prime Day laptop deals: Early sales on some of our favorite machines from Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP and others
So you need a new laptop — now’s the time of year to look out for one on sale. October Prime Day, as has been in years past, offers a ton of laptop deals to consider. All kinds of devices are on sale this year for Big Deal Days, from refreshed MacBooks to high-end gaming machines to already affordable notebooks. But sussing out a good deal from a just-ok deal (or even worse, a bad deal all together), can be a challenge. Laptop prices on Amazon are all over the place even when it’s not Prime Day depending on the configuration of the notebook, the brand, the seller and a bunch of other factors.
This is where Engadget can help. We’ve poured over the Prime Day laptop deals available this year to pick out the best ones you can get across all kinds of computers. As always, if you’re super particular about the display panel you want in your next laptop, or you know you want to get as much RAM as possible, we recommend going straight to manufacturers to customize your next PC. But if you’re willing to work with premade models, October Prime Day deals could help you save some cash on your next laptop.
Apple’s latest laptops are the MacBook Air M4 and the MacBook Pro M4, and we recommend getting those if you want a device that’s as future-proof as possible at the moment. You’ll find decent MacBook deals on Amazon throughout the year, and most of them will be on the base configurations. In a welcomed update earlier this year, Apple recently made all base models of the MacBook Air M4 have 16GB of RAM by default (which is the same as you’ll find on the base-level Pros).
You’ve got a lot of variety to choose from when it comes to Windows laptops, and that can be a blessing or a curse. We recommend looking for a laptop from a reputable brand (i.e. Microsoft, Dell, Acer, Lenovo and others like them), and one that can handle daily work or play pressures. That means at least 16GB of RAM and 245GB of SSD storage, plus the latest Intel or AMD CPUs. If you’re looking for a new gaming laptop, you’ll need a bit more power and a dedicated graphics card to boot.
Dell 15 3530 laptop (Windows 11 Pro, 15-inch, Intel Core i5) for $649 (28 percent off)
Acer Aspire 3 laptop (Windows 11 Pro, 15-inch, Intel Core i3) for $400 (11 percent off)
Lenovo IdeaPad 1i (Windows 11, 15-inch, Intel Celeron) for $280 (30 percent off)
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (Windows 11 Pro, 15-inch, Intel Core i7) for $800 (27 percent off)
HP Ultrabook 14 (14-inch, Intel N100) for $280 (20 percent off)
Most Chromebooks are already pretty cheap, but that just means you can get them for even less during an event like Prime Day. However, there are a ton of premium Chromebooks available today that didn’t exist even three years ago, so now is a great time to look out for discounts on those models. In general, we recommend looking for at least 4 to 8GB of RAM and at least 128GB of SDD storage in a Chromebook that you plan on using as your daily driver.
Lenovo Ideapad 3 Chromebook (15-inch, Intel Celeron) for $230 (77 percent off)
HP HD Chromebook (15-inch, Intel Pentium N200) for $287 (18 percent off)
Acer Chromebook Plus (14-inch, Intel Core i3) for $360 (10 percent off)
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/amazon-prime-day-laptop-deals-early-sales-on-some-of-our-favorite-machines-from-apple-dell-lenovo-hp-and-others-130507537.html?src=rss
Fitbit's Charge 6 fitness tracker is $50 off right now
The Fitbit Charge 6 fitness tracker is on sale right now via Wellbots for $110, which is a discount of $50. Just enter the code ENGFIT50 at checkout, as this is an exclusive deal.
The Charge 6 topped our list of the best fitness trackers, and for very good reason. It's a solid device that gets the job done. It features built-in GPS, which is always handy for navigating around trails, and the battery lasts an impressive seven days per charge. The heart rate monitor is accurate and the AMOLED display is eye-catching.
It also tracks steps, oxygen saturation, sleep and a whole lot more, with more than 40 dedicated exercise modes. It's a relatively thin device that we said feels "premium when compared to other fitness trackers." The unit integrates with Google Maps and Google Wallet.
Some of the more advanced features are locked behind a paywall, which is unfortunate, and there's no integration with Apple Health. Otherwise, this is a near-perfect fitness tracker.
Wellbots is also selling the Fitbit Inspire 3 at a deep discount. It's available for just $75 with the coupon code ENGFIT25.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/fitbits-charge-6-fitness-tracker-is-50-off-right-now-130019229.html?src=rss
Prime Day Apple deals include the Apple Watch SE 2 for a record-low price
The latest Apple Watches came out a few weeks ago, but you can snag some good deals on previous models for October Prime Day. One of the best discounts at the moment is on the Apple Watch SE 2, which has dropped to $189. That's 37 percent off, or the equivalent of a $110 discount.
That's a new record low price for this 40mm variant with a small/medium band. The discount applies to versions with an ink sport loop and denim sport band.
It's worth bearing in mind that this deal is for the previous-gen model, which Apple released in 2022. The company started shipping the latest Apple Watch SE in September. That starts at $240 for a GPS and Wi-Fi model without LTE connectivity. The third-gen SE 3 is now our pick for the best budget Apple Watch. However, if you're looking for a cheaper option for fitness tracking, at-a-glance notifications and, perhaps, quick access to a calendar, the second-gen SE is worth considering.
Several variants of the Apple Watch Series 10 are on sale on Amazon as well. This is last year's version of the smartwatch, but it's still plenty capable and it supports some of the same new features as the Series 11, such as sleep apnea detection and sleep scoring. You can pick one up for as little as $329.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/prime-day-apple-deals-include-the-apple-watch-se-2-for-a-record-low-price-162845841.html?src=rss
Today's best iPad deals include $50 off the 256GB iPad A16
We generally consider Apple’s iPads to be the best tablets for most people, but most of them don’t come cheap. To help make sure you get the most value possible, we’re keeping a constant eye on sale prices and rounding up the best iPad deals we can find each week.
Sadly, this week’s selection is very light: The $150 drops we saw for the iPad Air last week are gone, the iPad mini isn’t discounted and the current iPad Pro is a no-go with a new model expected to launch very soon. We'd expect more discounts during Amazon's October Prime Day sale next week. That said, if you’ve been interested in the entry-level iPad (A16), you can still take $50 off a model with 256GB of storage. And beyond iPads, we’re still seeing a few decent prices on other Apple devices like the MacBook Air, Pencil Pro and Mac mini. Here are all the top deals on Apple gear we could find this week.
Apple Pencil Pro for $99 ($30 off): The highest-end option in Apple’s confusing stylus lineup, the Pencil Pro supports pressure sensitivity, wireless charging, tilt detection, haptic feedback and Apple’s double tap and squeeze gestures, among other perks. It’s a lovely tool for more intricate sketching and note-taking, but the catch is that it’s only compatible with the M4 iPad Pro, M2 and M3 iPad Air and most recent iPad mini. We've seen this deal often over the course of the year, but it's a solid discount compared to buying from Apple directly. Also at Walmart.
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M4, 512GB) for $999 ($200 off): Apple's latest MacBook Air is the top pick in our guide to the best laptops, and it earned a score of 92 in our review. It's not a major overhaul, but the design is still exceptionally thin, light and well-built, with long battery life and a top-notch keyboard and trackpad. Now it's a bit faster. (Though we'd still love more ports and a refresh rate higher than 60Hz.) This discount ties an all-time low for an upgraded config with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.
Apple MacBook Air (15-inch, M4, 512GB) for $1,199 ($200 off): The 15-inch MacBook Air is nearly identical to the smaller version but has better speakers and a more spacious trackpad alongside its roomier display. This discount is only slightly higher than the best price we've seen for a model with 512GB of storage.
Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm) for $389 ($10 off): The latest Apple Watches only hit the market last week, but Amazon is already offering a $10 discount on certain color options. It doesn't show up as a percentage off, but you'll see some models listed at $389, while others show up at the full price of $399. If you're new to Apple's wearables or are ready to upgrade from a Series 9 or older, this is a good model to grab. If you're coming from a Series 10, however, there's not much need to upgrade as the only major change from last year's model is a slightly larger battery and a tougher screen.
Apple Watch SE 3 (GPS, 40mm) for $240 ($9 off): You'll see a similar stealth discount on Apple's newest budget model, the SE 3 at Amazon. It goes for $249 regularly. Apple gave this model some badly needed updates from its predecessor, including a faster charging battery, better sensors and the same processor that you'll find in the new Apple Watch Series 11.
Apple MagSafe charger (25W, 2m) for $35 ($14 off): Here's a record-low price on Apple's fasted wireless charging puck. It'll work with any iPhone as long it's an iPhone 8 or newer, but if you have an iPhone 16 or 17, this cable can charge your device at 25W when paired with 30W power adapter. Also at Best Buy. The one-meter model is on sale at Walmart for $27.30.
Apple Mac mini (M4, 16GB/256GB) for $499 ($100 off): The newest version of Apple’s tiny desktop PC has a smaller overall footprint, a faster M4 chip, 16GB of RAM as standard (finally), two front-facing USB-C ports (finally!), an extra Thunderbolt 4 port and the ability to drive three external displays. It doesn't have any USB-A ports, however. We gave the M4 Pro model a review score of 90. This deal is for the entry-level version with a base M4 chip, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD — we’ve seen it fall as low as $469 in the past, but this is still a decent drop. Also at Best Buy and B&H.
Apple Mac mini (M4, 16GB/512GB) for $689 ($110 off): If you want your tiny Apple desktop to have a little bit more storage capacity, you may want to spring for the 512GB model. It's currently $110 off at Amazon and B&H Photo.
Apple AirTags (4-pack) for $75 ($24 off): We may see an updated model by the end of 2025, but the current AirTags are the best Bluetooth trackers for iPhone users thanks to their vast finding network and accurate ultrawide band features that make it easy to locate nearby items. Just note that you'll need a separate AirTag holder to attach them to your keys, wallet or bag. This isn't a great deal for a four-pack — the bundle was as low as $65 in July — but it's still a bit lower than its list price. Also at Walmart.
Apple 35W Dual USB-C Port adapter for $39 ($20 off): It's always good to have a few extra ports around. This is the adapter that ships with the M4 with 10‑core GPU MacBook Air, and it can quickly charge iPads, iPhones and anything else powered by USB-C, too. Walmart is also selling Apple's 2-meter fast charge cable for $23 (a $6 discount).
Read more Apple coverage:
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/todays-best-ipad-deals-include-50-off-the-256gb-ipad-a16-150020379.html?src=rss
October Prime Day deals include up to $400 off Shark robot vacuums
With fall Prime Day around the corner, we're already starting to see solid deals on tech we love. Case in point: Shark robot vacuums. Shark makes some of our favorite robovacs and a few of them are already discounted for Prime members ahead of the sale. The Shark AV2501S AI Ultra robot vacuum is one of them, with a whopping 58-percent discount that brings it down to $230. This discount marks a record low for this model.
Shark offers several variations of its AI Ultra robot vacuums. There are small variations between them, and a different model is our pick for the best robot vacuum for most people. In general, you can expect solid cleaning performance from these devices, along with accurate home mapping and an easy-to-use app.
The model that's on sale here is said to run for up to 120 minutes on a single charge, which should be enough to clean an entire floor in a typical home. The self-emptying, bagless vacuum can store up to 30 days worth of dirt and debris in its base. Shark says it can capture 99.97 percent of dust and allergens with the help of HEPA filtration.
If you'd rather plump for a model that's able to mop your floors too, you're in luck: a Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 vacuum is on sale as well. At $300 for Prime members, this vacuum is available for $400 (or 57 percent) off the list price. Its mopping function can scrub hard floors 100 times per minute. You can also trigger the Matrix Mop function in the app for a deeper clean. This delivers 50 percent better stain cleaning in targeted zones, according to Shark.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/october-prime-day-deals-include-up-to-400-off-shark-robot-vacuums-171836811.html?src=rss
Google and NBCUniversal reach multi-year agreement for YouTube TV
You don't have to worry about losing access to Sunday Night Football and NBCUniversal's other sports offerings and shows on YouTube TV over the next few years. The broadcaster has reached a multi-year agreement with Google to keep its programs on the streaming service after they were almost pulled by the end of the companies' original deal. YouTube TV said at the time that NBC was asking it "to pay more than what they charge consumers for the same content on Peacock, which would mean less flexibility and higher prices for [its own] subscribers." They were able to agree on a last-minute "short-term extension" while working on a more permanent deal to prevent the removal of NBCUniversal's offerings.
The multi-year commitment will give you access to NBCUniversal's portfolio, including NBC, Telemundo, Bravo, CNBC, Golf Channel, E!, Oxygen True Crime, MSNBC, USA, Syfy and Universo. You'll also get access to the relaunched NBC Sports Network, the cable channel the broadcaster shut down in 2021, later this fall. "NBCSN will complement the prominent sports properties presented year-round on the NBC broadcast network," the broadcaster announced. In addition, you will be able to get Peacock in the coming months as an add-on subscription through YouTube Primetime Channels.
Movies and shows from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will continue to be available to buy or rent from Google TV and YouTube TV, as well. And Peacock app will continue to be available via Google Play. "This deal builds on our long-standing partnership with NBCU while addressing the evolving media landscape and recognizing the importance of making content available where and how viewers want to watch it," said Justin Connolly, Youtube's Global Head of Media & Sports.
While Google and YouTube TV were able to reach an agreement with NBCUniversal, they failed to reach a similar deal with Univision, the largest Spanish-language broadcaster in the US. Google said that Univision's "current demands aren’t supported by [its] performance on YouTube TV over the last four years." TelevisaUnivision, its parent company, warned customers in early September that YouTube TV wanted to remove its programs from its standard package and to charge viewers an extra $15 to be able to access its network.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/google-and-nbcuniversal-reach-multi-year-agreement-for-youtube-tv-120051505.html?src=rss
The best MagSafe power banks for your iPhone
Whether you were won over by the cameras on the new iPhone 17 or you’re sticking it out with your iPhone 12, having a little extra power around is never a bad thing. The best MagSafe power bank is one that attaches firmly, charges quickly and blends in with your handset — or better yet, adds a handy stand to the mix. Right now, the fastest wireless portable chargers are Qi2-certified, meaning they can charge at speeds of up to 15 watts. (A new standard, Qi2 25W is now on the market, but has only made its way into a few power banks.) We’ve tested more than a dozen portable chargers to come up with our recommendations for the best MagSafe battery you can buy.
Choose the right capacity. Most portable MagSafe chargers have either a 5,000 milliamp hour (mAh) or 10,000mAh capacity. Obviously, the larger capacity batteries are physically bigger, but thanks to an iPhone’s magnetic attachment points, you can still use the phone comfortably as it charges. If you’re worried about overall bulk, you may prefer the slimness of a 5,000mAh battery.
Just note that a 5K battery pack won’t deliver its entire capacity to your phone due to energy loss from voltage conversion and heat dissipation. Over the years, I’ve measured around a 60-percent delivery rate for wireless banks. For example, that means an iPhone 16 with its 3,561mAh battery will get about 85 to 90 percentage points from a 5K battery. A 10K bank will charge that same phone fully once, with enough for a 50- to 60-percent boost next time.
Understand MagSafe versus Qi2. All iPhones model 12 and later have MagSafe technology, which rely on embedded magnets to align the phone with a wireless charger and can support charging speeds of up to 15 watts. The MagSafe name is owned by Apple — third-party chargers can’t freely use the term and instead call their accessories “magnetic,” or apply a branded name like Anker’s MagGo or UGreen’s MagFlow. Be sure to check the product details before buying: anything that works with Apple’s technology will be listed as MagSafe-compatible.
Qi2 is a standard from the Wireless Power Consortium (of which Apple is a member) and has the same stipulations as MagSafe (15W charging and magnetic alignment). Any company can submit their tech for this certification. iPhones 13 and later are Qi2 compatible.
The newest standard is Qi2 25W and bumps wireless charging speeds up to 25W. The WPC says a certified smartphone using a certified charger can wirelessly go from dead to half full in about 30 minutes (keep in mind that both the charger and phone need to be certified to get those speeds).
Accessories, like power banks that support the new standard are starting to hit shelves now. As for phones, Google’s Pixel 10 Pro XL, Apple’s iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max all support the standard as well. iPhone 16 models (except the 16e) will likely support the standard after an update to iOS 26.
Remember travel restrictions. You may have seen news reports of flights being grounded because a power bank caught fire in the cabin. Currently, the TSA allows them in your carry-on luggage as long as they’re rated at 100 watt-hours or lower (about 27,000mAh for lithium ion batteries).
But some airlines have enacted further restrictions. Southwest, for example, requires you to keep power banks out of the bag and visible while charging. Even if your airline doesn’t make such demands, keeping a power brick out in the open while it’s in use is a good idea — it’ll keep it cooler and you’ll be more likely to notice if it starts to overheat. Most, if not all, MagSafe battery packs come in at under the 100-watt-hour limit, so traveling should be easy with one.
Consider the extra features. You may not need them, but the little extra perks of a MagSafe power bank can come in handy. Some have stands so you can watch your phone while it refills. Some have LED displays that tell you how much charge is left, which can be a little more precise than the lighted pips other banks use. Some also have straps to make the bank easier to carry around or fish out of your bag.
When Apple introduced the iPhone Air, it announced the new $99 iPhone Air MagSafe Battery in the same breath. It’s now the sole Apple-branded MagSafe power bank — but it only works with the iPhone Air. It’s a pretty divisive battery. In his review of the new phone, Engadget’s Sam Rutherford appreciated that the accessory keeps with the sleekness of the iPhone Air design and liked that it can also charge the new AirPods 3 wirelessly. But Valentina Palladino called out its dismal price-to-capacity ratio.
Anker’s Nano MagGo Slim is probably a better bet for all but the most devoted iPhone user. It has the same minimalist look and pocketable thinness as Apple’s proprietary battery, but it’ll attach to other phones in addition to the Air. Plus it’s $35 cheaper.
Mophie Powerstation Slim 5K
The Mophie Powerstation Slim 5K, too, has a super slim design that nearly disappears into the back of the phone as it charges. It makes excellent use of its 5K capacity, delivering a 90 percent refill to an iPhone 15. But it’s a little more expensive than the our top slim pick, Anker’s Nano MagGo Slim, and the squared off design makes it feel bulkier than it actually is. Neither of those make it a bad choice; the MagSafe battery playing field is just terribly competitive right now.
Belkin BoostCharge Pro 10K
Belkin’s BoostCharge Pro is Qi2-certified and was only a touch slower than other models in terms of charging speeds, boosting an iPhone 15 from 5 percent to full in about two and a half hours. The feel is premium and the stand is sturdy, but it got quite hot during charging, took overly long to refill itself and is pricer and a bit bulkier than similar models.
Baseus Picogo 5K
The Picogo 5K from Baseus is teensy but still packs a stand and a 5,000mAh capacity. It’s Qi2-certified and delivered a 43 percent bump to our tester iPhone 15 in 42 minutes, ultimately charging it to 91 percent. The slim slab of the Anker Nano battery is sleeker. But that one doesn’t have a stand — so if you want to prop up your phone while it charges, go for this one.
What does MagSafe do?
MagSafe is Apple’s own technology that supports up to 25W wireless charging speeds and incorporates embedded magnets to align the phone with chargers and other accessories.
Which iPhones support MagSafe?
iPhones 12 and later support 15W MagSafe technology, though only iPhones 13 and later can reach the 15W charging speed with third-party Qi2 accessories. The iPhone 12 maxes out at 7.5W with non-Apple accessories.
The new iPhone 17, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max support up to 25W charging speeds with Qi2 25W-certified chargers. iPhone 16, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max should also support those speeds after an update to iOS 26. The iPhone Air supports MagSafe charging at a max speed of 20W.
Can you use MagSafe batteries with a case?
In most cases (heh), yes. The wireless charge can travel across a distance of a few millimeters. If the case is more than 5mm thick or contains metal components, the wireless charge can be blocked. Many iPhone cases are marketed as MagSafe-compatible, which means the case itself has complimentary magnets inside and should not interfere with charging accessories. We tested a MagSafe power bank on an iPhone 15 with and without a MagSafe case and got the same charging speeds and amounts in both tests.
How much power do MagSafe batteries provide?
That depends on the power bank. If it is Qi2-certified, it can provide up to 15 watts of wireless power. Qi2 25W-enabled chargers can deliver up to 25 watts to a compatible handset. Non-Qi2 batteries typically deliver around 7.5 watts.
The amount of charge delivered depends on the capacity. Most MagSafe portable chargers are rated at 5,000mAh or 10,000mAh. The former can get a standard iPhone 15 from five percent to around 90 percent. The latter can fill the phone completely with enough left over for another half charge.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-magsafe-power-banks-120015338.html?src=rss
The Morning After: Amazon’s Kindle Scribe Colorsoft fuses two types of ereader
If I covered everything announced at Amazon’s fall hardware event, it would take a while, and I would be repeating the hard work of my colleague Kris Holt. Check out his report for all the new Echo speakers, new Alexa tricks, more Nest Cameras and, yes, more Kindles — AKA the only Amazon hardware I’m usually interested in.
When it comes to Amazon’s ereader series, the standout new addition is the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, combining its stylus-toting note-taking hardware with its latest color e-ink screen. It has a new rendering engine, too, which is meant to make writing faster, more fluid and more natural. Check out our first impressions of the device, and if you’re intrigued, you can order one later this year for $630.
If you think color is overrated, there’s a new regular Kindle Scribe, with a bigger screen that matches typical paper sizes. The refreshed Kindle Scribe will go on sale in the US by the end of the year, priced at $500. A version without a front light will be available for $430.
— Mat Smith
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But don’t worry, there are 45 new games.
Alongside some tier shuffling, there’s also a painful sting in the tail for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. It now costs $30 a month, a 50 percent increase on what it was before. And there’s no discount if you go for an annual subscription, either. It’s also the second price jump in the last two years. It went up from $17 in July 2024. Three dollars doesn’t seem so bad now.
At $360 per year, Game Pass Ultimate is now more than twice as expensive as PlayStation’s Plus Premium. If you’re willing to pay up, though, Microsoft added 45 more games this week, including a lot of entries from the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry series, two gaming franchises where the games definitely aren’t very similar to each other.
Smart glasses are finally getting useful.
Meta’s second-generation smart glasses are becoming a genuinely useful accessory. This year’s hardware upgrade addresses many of the issues we had with the original Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The battery life is much improved, while the 3K resolution bump makes video far more useful on platforms like YouTube. Resolution aside, the video quality is just better too. Check out our full review.
How's that morning coffee tasting?
I felt a little nauseous writing that headline, but if your interest is piqued…
The plus models have form-checking cameras, rotating screens and lots of AI.
It’s been a rough time for Peloton. Now, the company is back with major hardware (and software) upgrades across its Bike, Tread and Row family of machines. It’s an almost-entire overhaul, with new software, programmable workouts and an array of collaborations. There are also some tentative steps toward wellness, because why not?
All of the new machines have a screen that rotates away from the bike/track/rower. The updated Bike+, Row+ and Tread+ models feature a 23.8-inch display, while the base models have a 21.5-inch display. Rotating it turns your Peloton into a more versatile screen for cross-discipline workouts, which Peloton has already dabbled in, including yoga and strength training. The new devices are now available for purchase.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-amazons-kindle-scribe-colorsoft-fuses-two-types-of-ereader-111516509.html?src=rss
Engadget Podcast: EA, Xbox and the state of gaming in 2025
This week, EA announced that it plans to go private as part of a massive $55 billion sale, a move that will likely have huge implications for the gaming landscape. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget's Sam Rutherford chat about what this deal really means (and why it includes a Saudi Arabian investment fund), and also dive into the messy state of Xbox. Is the ROG Ally Xbox X already a failure at $1,000?
Electronic Arts to go private in a deal worth $55 Billion – 1:43
What the heck is going on with Xbox? The $1,000 ROG Ally Xbox X could be a failure even before launch – 15:23
Great games out now: Final Fantasy Tactics, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades II and more – 42:46
Amazon’s fall hardware event announced new Echoes, a new Fire TV and a panopticon powered by Ring – 59:10
Google announces new Nest Doorbell along with a couple of Nest Cams – 1:09:34
Hollywood film stars recoil in disgust at Tilly Norwood, an AI actress created by a Dutch production studio –1:14:30
OpenAI’s Sora video app is full of fake shoplifting clips – 1:14:13
Working on – 1:17:35
Pop culture picks – 1:19:01
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Sam Rutherford
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/engadget-podcast-ea-xbox-and-the-state-of-gaming-in-2025-113000903.html?src=rss
The best microSD cards for the Nintendo Switch 2
The Nintendo Switch 2 is here, and that means millions of people will eventually have to buy a new microSD card. While the console comes with 256GB of storage on its own, its improved performance means that some games will chew up a ton of space. Cyberpunk 2077 is a 60GB download, for example, while Split Fiction checks in at 69GB. Other titles aren’t nearly as big (particularly those made by Nintendo itself), but it’s not hard to see how you could end up deleting and redownloading games within a couple months.
Whenever you do want to add room, you’ll need a microSD Express card. The “Express” part is important: These are not the same as the old reliable microSD cards you might’ve bought for the original Switch or other gaming handhelds — they’re newer, faster and significantly more expensive. But they’re your only choice. If you’re looking for the best microSD card for the Switch 2 today, we’ve broken down what you should know before you buy.
The Switch 2 is the first mainstream device to require microSD Express for storage expansion, so there aren’t many options available to buy just yet. Of the small handful of compatible models we’ve seen thus far, we’ve tested five: the SanDisk microSD Express Card (aka the “SanDisk GamePlay microSD Express Card” at Walmart), the Lexar Play Pro, the Samsung microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2, the PNY microSD Express Card and the GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2. The first four are made by genuine storage manufacturers, while the GameStop card appears to be a rebadged version of another model. (This should be the case with another card sold by Walmart under its Onn sub-brand, which hasn’t been in stock for much of the past several months.) We used the 256GB version of every card except for Lexar Play Pro, which was 1TB.
After timing these microSD Express cards across a range of Switch 2 games, our advice is simple: Get whichever one is available for the lowest price in the capacity you want. They aren’t identical, especially if you want to move a game to the card from the console’s internal storage (or vice versa). But the differences in load times and overall performance within actual games are tough to notice unless you have a stopwatch handy.
All five cards loaded up the digital version of Mario Kart World, for instance, between 18 and 20 seconds. Each loaded the first Grand Prix race in about 6.5 seconds. Getting to the start screen of Cyberpunk 2077 took about 38 seconds in each case. Loading a save in a particularly asset-heavy area (Jig-Jig Street) then took between 26 and 29 seconds, depending on the card.
With Fast Fusion, a smaller native Switch 2 game, the initial load always took six to seven seconds, while each card loaded the first championship race in roughly 4 seconds. It was a similar situation with the Switch 2 upgrade for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (using a Switch 1 cartridge): Each card took just over six seconds to get to the start screen, between 19 and 20 seconds to load a save just before the final boss, about 16 seconds to fast travel between Kakariko Village and Korok Forest, and so on. We saw no significant issues with in-game loads when playing each game, either.
All of this suggests that the Switch 2 has a relatively specific target for these cards to hit, and that there may not be much room for one model to leap too far out in front of the others. We’ll also note that the console’s built-in storage was consistently faster than any external option: The gap wasn’t always big, but no card truly outpaced it in any of our tests. Loading that demanding area in Cyberpunk, for example, took about 22.5 seconds on average. So if you want the absolute fastest load times, don’t put your game on a card at all.
If you need the mental comfort of knowing you technically have the best card available, get the SanDisk microSD Express Card. It had no outliers across our many game loading tests, and it was consistently right near the top when it came to moving games to and from system storage, which means it offers strong sequential read and write performance. Benchmark testing on PC with tools like CrystalDiskMark backed this up, as noted in our broader microSD card buying guide.
Putting Mario Kart (a 21.9GB file) on that card took four minutes and 39 seconds on average, which was only second to the Lexar Play Pro by six seconds. It was the fastest to write Fast Fusion (3.5GB), taking an average of 27 seconds across three runs. Only PNY’s card was faster to move games back to the console’s storage, but that one was far slower at writing games to the card — getting Mario Kart on there took seven minutes and 11 seconds on average. Just note that the 128GB version of SanDisk’s card has slower sequential writes than the larger versions, including much slower sustained write speeds (100 MB/s vs 210-220 MB/s). So transferring a game to that particular model will take much longer.
Practically speaking, though, speed differences aren’t as important in this case as having lots of space to hold games at a price you can live with. To make things easy, we’ve listed every Express card we’ve seen at retailers at the time of writing below. Remember: You want microSD Express, not “Extreme,” like the branding SanDisk uses for some conventional microSD cards. A microSD Express card will have a big “EX” logo printed on it.
128GB
SanDisk microSD Express Card ($64 MSRP)
PNY microSD Express Card ($47 MSRP)
256GB
Samsung microSD Express Card for Nintendo Switch 2 ($60 MSRP)
SanDisk microSD Express Card ($77 MSRP)
Lexar Play Pro ($60 MSRP)
PNY microSD Express Card ($63 MSRP)
GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2 ($60 MSRP)
Onn microSD Express Card ($36 MSRP)
512GB
SanDisk microSD Express Card ($127 MSRP)
Lexar Play Pro ($120 MSRP)
PNY microSD Express Card ($120 MSRP)
GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2 ($100 MSRP)
Onn microSD Express Card ($66 MSRP)
1TB
Lexar Play Pro ($220 MSRP)
GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2 ($190 MSRP)
As you can see, while the SanDisk card is fast, it’s also the most expensive of an already-pricey bunch. Is it worth an extra $10-20 to shave a couple seconds off certain loads in certain games, or a couple minutes when moving a game to external storage? Probably not for most people.
But stock for all of these cards has been patchy since the Switch 2 landed, especially for the Walmart Onn model, which is by far the cheapest choice. If only one card is actually available by the time you read this — and you must have it today — it’s safe to just get it. You won’t lose or gain all that much when it comes to real-world performance.
Ultimately, though, we advise holding off on buying any microSD Express card for as long as you can. President Trump’s tariff shenanigans could spike prices a little higher in the short term, but in general, all of these cards should be as expensive today as they’ll ever be. And compared to traditional microSD options, they are pricey: The Samsung Pro Plus, for example, costs $17 for 128GB, $25 for 256GB, $43 for 512GB and $90 for 1TB as of this writing.
The Switch 2 is extremely popular, so more microSD Express cards will need to be made and prices will (eventually) come down. Ideally, we’ll see more high-capacity options as well: Nintendo says the Switch 2 technically supports cards up to 2TB, but so far only a couple even go up to 1TB. All of this means you should try to use all 256GB baked into the Switch 2 first, even if it means having to delete a game or two. But if you absolutely need more space right away, the cards above should be fine.
Most microSD cards are based on a standard called Ultra High Speed (UHS), of which there are three versions: UHS-I, UHS-II and UHS-III. The vast majority of cards you may have bought in the past utilize UHS-I. These have one row of pins in the back and a theoretical maximum data transfer speed of 104 megabytes per second (MB/s). (Though many cards are able to surpass that limit with proprietary tech and card readers.) The original Switch has a UHS-I microSD slot, as do most other gaming handhelds like Valve’s Steam Deck.
UHS-II cards add a second row of pins and can reach up to 312 MB/s. These are pricier and much less common than cards based on UHS-I, but they’re supported by some cameras and higher-power handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally X. UHS-III, meanwhile, is twice as fast as UHS-II in theory (624 MB/s), but no microSD cards have actually used it.
UHS-I cards have held on over the years because they’re cheap, widely supported and fast enough for the things most people need them to do: record 4K video, stash photos and so on. But with the Switch 2, Nintendo needs more. The new console is dramatically more powerful, which allows it to run demanding games that may have originally been built for stronger hardware like the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X or gaming PCs. The device also uses UFS 3.1 storage internally, which is much speedier than the eMMC storage used by the original Switch. (A custom file decompression engine helps improve load times as well.) So if the Switch 2 is going to accept microSD cards, it needs ones that won’t bring a serious drop-off in performance and can hold up with modern games.
Hence, SD Express. This standard has technically been around since 2018 but mostly went nowhere until the Switch 2 came along. It also uses a second row of pins, but it lets microSD cards take advantage of the PCI Express (PCIe)/NVMe interface, which is the same underlying tech used by modern SSDs. As a result, it can produce considerably faster read and write speeds, with a current theoretical maximum of 985 MB/s.
As noted above, real-world performance won’t be quite that fast. Even if it was, the best microSD Express cards would still be much slower than the NVMe SSDs used by the PS5 and Xbox. (Sony recommends SSDs with sequential read speeds of at least 5,500 MB/s.) And they’ll fall well below their peak speeds under sustained loads: SanDisk, for instance, says sustained write speeds for its 128GB Express card can drop as low as 100 MB/s.
But they’re still a marked improvement over old UHS-I cards, and in theory, they should be quicker than some older SATA-based SSDs when it comes loading game levels, asset streaming, retrieving saves or copying games to external storage. Whereas SanDisk’s microSD Express card can produce sequential read speeds around 900 MB/s, Lexar’s Professional Silver Plus — the top UHS-I pick in our general microSD card guide — topped out just over 200 MB/s, and that’s with a proprietary reader. (On the first Switch, it’d be closer to 100 MB/s.) Sequential writes and random speeds were three to four times better as well, and sometimes even more depending on the benchmark we used.
It remains to be seen how well these Express cards will hold up with years of use, and there’s no way to know exactly when their sky-high prices will drop. Non-Switch 2 devices that support microSD Express are still exceedingly rare, and the standard itself isn’t backwards compatible with UHS-II, so you’ll be limited to UHS-I speeds if you want to use your card with another device (unless you buy a pricey external reader). Still, while the increased costs and limited selection are annoying, the tech itself is worthy of a next-gen Switch.
We put our microSD Express cards through a series of tests meant to simulate how people would use each card on the Switch 2 in the real world. We mainly worked with four games: a mid-sized title in Mario Kart World, a small one in Fast Fusion, a relatively large one in Cyberpunk 2077 and a hybrid in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which ran off a Switch 1 cartridge but used a roughly 10GB Switch 2 upgrade pack that was downloaded and installed digitally.
We first timed how long it took to move each game from the system’s internal storage to the card in question, and vice versa. We then timed how long it took to load each game when installed to a given card. After that, we measured how quickly the cards could load certain in-game scenarios: the first Grand Prix race in Mario Kart; the first championship race in Fast Fusion; fast traveling between the Jig-Jig Street, Embers and Downtown Central areas in Cyberpunk and fast traveling between the Kakariko Village, Korok Forest and the Hyrule Castle Town Ruins areas in Zelda. (We chose those places in the latter two games because they’re more taxing than other regions.) With Cyberpunk and Zelda, we also timed how long it took to load up different save files in those locations.
With each test, we completed three to five runs to account for any irregularities and marked down the average time taken between them. We did each test in airplane mode, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off, to minimize any performance drain that could arise from background downloads. Between each test, we also spent at least an hour playing the games off each card to ensure there were no significant drop-offs compared to the console’s built-in storage.
September 2025: We’ve taken another pass through this guide to confirm our advice is still accurate. We’ve also noted a new 512GB version of PNY’s microSD Express card and confirmed that a “SanDisk GamePlay” Express card sold at Walmart has the same performance as the standard SanDisk model we recommend above, just with a different name.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/best-microsd-cards-for-nintendo-switch-2-160052947.html?src=rss
You can get 3 months of Audible for just $3 right now
Audiobook fans can get three months of Audible for $3 for a limited time ahead of the fall edition of Amazon Prime Day. Users will be charged $0.99 per month for the first three months, after which it will auto-renew at $14.95 per month.
Audible features thousands of titles in its catalog, including podcasts and Audible Originals. Subscribers will also get to choose one audiobook each month to keep in their collection for free, including best-sellers or new releases. Amazon Prime members will receive two credits the first month of their trial.
Amazon has been bringing Prime Day back in the fall for a few years now, and this year it returns October 7 and 8. Great deals tend to start rolling out in the days ahead of the event and this year is no exception. There are already sales on Apple devices, smart doorbells and most importantly, Lego sets.
If you're a book lover but don't have the time to sit down and read a hard copy, or you just prefer listening to the latest novel while on the go, then take advantage of this sale. It's a limited-time offer and will only be available through December 16.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/you-can-get-3-months-of-audible-for-just-3-right-now-090052477.html?src=rss
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Microsoft claims that a tiny component will make Windows more intelligent in the future
Desktop and mobile operating systems are getting more and more AI features. Microsoft is bringing new features in the recently released Windows 11 2025 Update, but Google and Apple are also introducing […]
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Google defends its new policy, claims it will not make sideloading go away
In August, Google had announced that developers who distribute apps outside the Play Store need to verify their identity. This caused an uproar among fans and developers, as it could virtually kill […]
Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Google defends its new policy, claims it will not make sideloading go away appeared first on gHacks Technology News.
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President Donald Trrump urged Israel to "immediately stop the bombing of Gaza" following Hamas' response to his Gaza peace plan, saying he believes the group is "ready for a lasting PEACE."
Cassie Ventura's Attorneys Respond to Diddy's Sentencing: "Her Bravery Has Been an Inspiration"
Cassie Ventura did not appear in court or issue a personal statement after Sean "Diddy" Combs was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison on Thursday. However, her attorneys released a statement on her behalf that acknowledged the court's decision and emphasized the ongoing process of healing.
Hamas Signals Readiness To Release Israeli Hostages Under Trump-Backed Peace Framework
The group also reaffirmed an earlier pledge to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a neutral, technocratic governing body formed on the basis of Palestinian national consensus and backed by Arab and Islamic states.
UK Synagogue Attacker: Briton Of Syrian Descent
The attacker who targeted a British synagogue, Jihad al-Shamie, was a British citizen of Syrian descent who was on police bail for a rape charge, police said on Friday.
When Reliability Becomes Innovation: The Story of Software and Hardware Quality
The Consortium for Information & Software Quality (CISQ) reported that $2.41 trillion was lost in the United States due to poor software quality in 2022. That number really boils down to one simple fact: when technology falters, trust falters with it.
Bodyguard Of Sinaloa Governor's Son Reportedly Abducted In State Marked By Cartel Turf War
The bodyguard of the son of Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha Moya was reportedly abducted in the state, which has been marked by a bloody turf war between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.
50 Cent Drops Scathing Open Letter About Wanting Diddy Locked Up For Good: 'I'll Not Feel Safe if He's Free'
50 Cent urges a judge to keep Diddy behind bars, calling him "very dangerous" in an open letter as the hip-hop mogul seeks a reduced sentence amid mounting victim statements.
U.S. Military Build-Up Around Venezuela is 'Sufficient to Seize' Country's Key Strategic Facilities, Analyst Claims
Washington Examiner columnist Tom Rogan argued that U.S. military buildup around Venezuela should no longer be seen through the lens of a purely counter-drug trafficking concern
'Call Him What He Is': Hayley Williams Brands Morgan Wallen a Racist In Explosive Music Row
Hayley Williams has directly identified Morgan Wallen as the 'racist country singer' in her song 'Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party', saying she 'doesn't give a s—' in an interview on the New York Times Popcast; the move reopens debate over accountability in country music.
Diddy Made Plans in Miami For Next Week Before Sentencing Hearing
The prosecution went hard against the concept of Sean "Diddy" Combs being remorseful and aware of his crimes during his sentencing hearing. Federal prosecutor Mary Slavik took the stand and revealed that the music mogul and artist had already made plans for next week.
Colombian President Petro Decries Latest U.S. Strike Against Vessel Off The Venezuelan Coast: 'There Are No Narco Terrorist On Those Vessels'
Colombian President Gustavo Petro decried the latest U.S. attack against a vessel off the Venezuelan coast, rejecting that those aboard were drug-traffickers
Federal Immigration Agents Raid Texas Used Clothing Stores And Detain Several Residents
Local media in McAllen, Texas, reported that at least six locations in the city were raided by federal agents as part of what authorities described as a criminal investigation.
Massive 'Special Ops Mothership' Joins U.S. Military Deployment in the Caribbean As Tensions With Venezuela Escalate
The Ocean Trader is capable of hosting up to 159 special operations forces in addition to its 50-member crew, operating at sea for as long as 45 days before resupply
Japan's Bruised Ruling Party To Pick Yet Another Leader
Japan's ruling party elects its fifth leader in as many years Saturday, charged with reviving its flagging fortunes as a new anti-immigration grouping snaps at its heels.
Peter Pawlowski: A Practitioner of Open Process and Long-Term Thinking in Renewables
Pawlowski often describes renewable projects as an additional crop on the land, something that grows alongside existing uses, generates steady income, and fits within the rhythms of a working landscape.
Inside Steven Lawson's Career Shift and the Founding of Lawsorio Consulting, a Visa Firm with a Personal Touch
For Lawson, each case is not just a file; it's a story of ambition, risk, and new beginnings. "It's incredibly rewarding," he says. "Helping people achieve their vision for a business in the United States feels like the right place for me to be."
The Finishing Touch NYC Celebrates 10-Year Milestone of Pristine Commercial and Residential Cleaning Solutions
With a commitment to transform and elevate spaces, The Finishing Touch provides its comprehensive cleaning services across several commercial spaces in the city, from offices, medical infrastructures, and retail stores to gyms and government buildings.
A Multipolar Financial World Might Be What We Needed All Along
When the global financial order was designed in the 1940s, the West, primarily the U.S., Canada, and Europe, represented about 35% of the world's population and almost 70% of its GDP.
A Practice of Care: Dr. Robert J. Wallace, MD's Vision Behind Love The Golden Rule Inc.
Love The Golden Rule is a nonprofit medical clinic dedicated to compassionate, inclusive care for people facing barriers in traditional healthcare.
50 Years of Vision, Resilience And Exploration: Sally Gunderman's Journey As An Audacious Businesswoman
Gunderman carved her own path after being denied employment because she was a mother of small children. In 1975, she took money from their modest savings to buy sample clothes and began selling them out of her home.
Closing the Communication Gap: Jim Stockmal on Why Strategy Fails Without Alignment
Organizations often design ambitious visions, only to stumble in execution because the words, meaning, and intent of the strategy do not reach the people responsible for carrying it forward.
Dr. Faisal Qidwai Fully Exonerated as Court Highlights Media Missteps and Premature Judgments
Dr. Faisal Qidwai's case stands as a cautionary example of the dangers inherent in premature media judgments. It underscores the urgent need for news organizations to uphold stringent editorial standards, particularly when covering sensitive legal matters.
Is ChatGPT Study Mode a Hidden Gem or a Gimmick?
This article critically explores both perspectives, weighing the benefits, drawbacks, and future potential of Study Mode to determine whether it lives up to the hype.
5 Fun AI Agent Projects for Absolute Beginners
Build these AI agents that actually do useful work (and teach you a bunch).
'I want Europe to be worthy of you': Ursula von der Leyen delivers rousing speech at Italian Tech Week
无摘要
Why counter drone and air defence startups might be the next big investment area in defence
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EU’s EIT hands out €1bn amid uncertain future
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What’s fueling fresh optimism in European tech?
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AI lifts some software stocks, leaves others behind - who's winning and losing and why
Investors are rewarding the firms that power AI's infrastructure, not those just layering AI onto existing tools.
Best early Amazon Prime Day Kindle deals 2025: My favorites sales
October Prime Day is days away. Shop deals on Kindles before the event, and cross more books off your to-read list.
One of the best Apple Watches you can buy isn't Apple's newest (but it's on sale)
The Apple Watch Series 10 might be last year's model, but its specs prove it's basically as capable as the Series 11. The main difference? It's cheaper.
Best early Amazon Prime Day deals 2025: Our 50+ favorite sales this October
Prime Day returns on Tuesday, Oct. 7, but some deals are already live. These are our favorite sales on tech, home, and more.
Best Amazon Prime Day phone deals 2025: My 15 favorite sales ahead of October
We searched Amazon's October Prime Day deals to find the best early discounts on top-rated phones we've tested and recommend.
Your team can chat with Anthropic's Claude directly in Slack now - what it can do
Another chatbot joins your workflow. Here's who can try it.
Best October Prime Day smartwatch and fitness tracker deals
Prime Day is days away, and I've rounded up the smartwatch and health tracker deals I'd want to shop ahead of October Prime Day.
Windows 7 is surging and people are ditching their iPhones - if you believe these charts
If you trust Statcounter's data, tens of millions of people ditched their iPhones last month and switched to Windows 7. LOL, no, they didn't. Here's what I think really happened.
Your Samsung phone has a secret Wi-Fi menu that's super useful - how to access it
If you love Samsung's everything-but-the-kitchen-sink software approach, this OneUI feature is your next rabbit hole.
I compared a traditional Wi-Fi router with a mesh setup - here's which one I recommend
Do you need a single access point or coverage for your entire home? Let's break down which is right for you and why.
Best early October Prime Day 2025 PC gaming deals: Save big on laptops and accessories
October Prime Day is in just a few days, and you can already find great discounts on gaming desktops, laptops, and accessories at Amazon.
Cybercrooks breach Red Hat's private GitLab repos - what we know about affected customers
Any theft of customer data is bad a look, but it's still unclear just how serious this incident is. Here's why.
Forget something? Amazon now lets you add last-minute items to your order - see how it works
With the new 'Add to Delivery' option, you can include additional items in your already scheduled order.
Best early October Prime Day TV deals 2025: All time low prices from Samsung, LG, and more
Amazon's October Prime Day sale is less than a week away, but you can already find great deals on TVs from Samsung, LG, Hisense, and more.
Samsung may be bringing a controversial iOS feature to Galaxy phones - and I'm worried
A new feature for One UI 8.5 will take long notifications and make them easier to read.
I replaced my iPhone with a 22,000mAh Android for a week - and I didn't regret it
The Doogee S200 Max proves you can have extreme durability and performance in one package (but don't expect a lightweight device).
Hackers stole 1 billion records from Salesforce customer databases with this simple trick - don't fall for it
According to the FBI, hackers used social engineering tactics - including a new type of phishing attack - to gain access to Salesforce accounts. Here's how.
Best early Amazon Prime Day Samsung deals 2025: My 20+ favorites sales in October
Looking for a deal on a Samsung device before Amazon's October Prime Day? Check out our top picks, including laptops, smartphones, tablets, and wearables.
Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash Image 'nano banana' model is generally available
Here's who can try the generator, which now comes with new aspect ratios.
Best early Amazon Prime Day EcoFlow deals 2025: My 7 favorites sales this October
Prime Day is next week, but here are some of the best early deals on top-quality portable power stations from EcoFlow.
AI lifts some software stocks, leaves others behind - who's winning and losing and why
Investors are rewarding the firms that power AI's infrastructure, not those just layering AI onto existing tools.
Best early Amazon Prime Day Kindle deals 2025: My favorites sales
October Prime Day is days away. Shop deals on Kindles before the event, and cross more books off your to-read list.
One of the best Apple Watches you can buy isn't Apple's newest (but it's on sale)
The Apple Watch Series 10 might be last year's model, but its specs prove it's basically as capable as the Series 11. The main difference? It's cheaper.
Best early Amazon Prime Day deals 2025: Our 50+ favorite sales this October
Prime Day returns on Tuesday, Oct. 7, but some deals are already live. These are our favorite sales on tech, home, and more.
Best Amazon Prime Day phone deals 2025: My 15 favorite sales ahead of October
We searched Amazon's October Prime Day deals to find the best early discounts on top-rated phones we've tested and recommend.
Your team can chat with Anthropic's Claude directly in Slack now - what it can do
Another chatbot joins your workflow. Here's who can try it.
Best October Prime Day smartwatch and fitness tracker deals
Prime Day is days away, and I've rounded up the smartwatch and health tracker deals I'd want to shop ahead of October Prime Day.
Windows 7 is surging and people are ditching their iPhones - if you believe these charts
If you trust Statcounter's data, tens of millions of people ditched their iPhones last month and switched to Windows 7. LOL, no, they didn't. Here's what I think really happened.
Your Samsung phone has a secret Wi-Fi menu that's super useful - how to access it
If you love Samsung's everything-but-the-kitchen-sink software approach, this OneUI feature is your next rabbit hole.
I compared a traditional Wi-Fi router with a mesh setup - here's which one I recommend
Do you need a single access point or coverage for your entire home? Let's break down which is right for you and why.
Best early October Prime Day 2025 PC gaming deals: Save big on laptops and accessories
October Prime Day is in just a few days, and you can already find great discounts on gaming desktops, laptops, and accessories at Amazon.
Cybercrooks breach Red Hat's private GitLab repos - what we know about affected customers
Any theft of customer data is bad a look, but it's still unclear just how serious this incident is. Here's why.
Forget something? Amazon now lets you add last-minute items to your order - see how it works
With the new 'Add to Delivery' option, you can include additional items in your already scheduled order.
Best early October Prime Day TV deals 2025: All time low prices from Samsung, LG, and more
Amazon's October Prime Day sale is less than a week away, but you can already find great deals on TVs from Samsung, LG, Hisense, and more.
Samsung may be bringing a controversial iOS feature to Galaxy phones - and I'm worried
A new feature for One UI 8.5 will take long notifications and make them easier to read.
I replaced my iPhone with a 22,000mAh Android for a week - and I didn't regret it
The Doogee S200 Max proves you can have extreme durability and performance in one package (but don't expect a lightweight device).
Hackers stole 1 billion records from Salesforce customer databases with this simple trick - don't fall for it
According to the FBI, hackers used social engineering tactics - including a new type of phishing attack - to gain access to Salesforce accounts. Here's how.
Best early Amazon Prime Day Samsung deals 2025: My 20+ favorites sales in October
Looking for a deal on a Samsung device before Amazon's October Prime Day? Check out our top picks, including laptops, smartphones, tablets, and wearables.
Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash Image 'nano banana' model is generally available
Here's who can try the generator, which now comes with new aspect ratios.
Best early Amazon Prime Day EcoFlow deals 2025: My 7 favorites sales this October
Prime Day is next week, but here are some of the best early deals on top-quality portable power stations from EcoFlow.
Microsoft Releases ‘Microsoft Agent Framework’: An Open-Source SDK and Runtime that Simplifies the Orchestration of Multi-Agent Systems
Microsoft released the Microsoft Agent Framework (public preview), an open-source SDK and runtime that unifies core ideas from AutoGen (agent runtime and multi-agent patterns) with Semantic Kernel (enterprise controls, state, plugins) to help teams build, deploy, and observe production-grade AI agents and multi-agent workflows. The framework is available for Python and .NET and integrates directly […]
The post Microsoft Releases ‘Microsoft Agent Framework’: An Open-Source SDK and Runtime that Simplifies the Orchestration of Multi-Agent Systems appeared first on MarkTechPost.
AI maps how a new antibiotic targets gut bacteria
MIT CSAIL and McMaster researchers used a generative AI model to reveal how a narrow-spectrum antibiotic attacks disease-causing bacteria, speeding up a process that normally takes years.
The Download: using AI to discover “zero day” vulnerabilities, and Apple’s ICE app removal
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Microsoft says AI can create “zero day” threats in biology A team at Microsoft says it used artificial intelligence to discover a “zero day” vulnerability in the biosecurity systems used to prevent the…
AI could make it easier to create bioweapons that bypass current security protocols
Artificial intelligence is transforming biology and medicine by accelerating the discovery of new drugs and proteins and making it easier to design and manipulate DNA, the building blocks of life. But as with most new technologies, there is a potential downside. The same AI tools could be used to develop dangerous new pathogens and toxins that bypass current security checks. In a new study from Microsoft, scientists employed a hacker-style test to demonstrate that AI-generated sequences could evade security software used by DNA manufacturers.
Can AI technology help solve societal environmental and health issues?
Researchers at Tohoku University used artificial intelligence (AI) to try and solve the deeply complex and multi-faceted environmental issues in today's society. The findings were published in Environment International.
Virtual Jesus? People of faith divided as AI enters religion
Artificial intelligence, the technology upending nearly every corner of society, is creeping into religion, serving up virtual Jesus and automated sermons—a change drawing mixed reviews from the faithful.
OpenAI now worth $500 billion, possibly making it the world's most valuable startup
OpenAI could now be the world's most valuable startup, ahead of Elon Musk's SpaceX and TikTok's parent company ByteDance, after a secondary stock sale designed to retain employees at the ChatGPT maker.
AI could make it easier to create bioweapons that bypass current security protocols
Artificial intelligence is transforming biology and medicine by accelerating the discovery of new drugs and proteins and making it easier to design and manipulate DNA, the building blocks of life. But as with most new technologies, there is a potential downside. The same AI tools could be used to develop dangerous new pathogens and toxins that bypass current security checks. In a new study from Microsoft, scientists employed a hacker-style test to demonstrate that AI-generated sequences could evade security software used by DNA manufacturers.
Can AI technology help solve societal environmental and health issues?
Researchers at Tohoku University used artificial intelligence (AI) to try and solve the deeply complex and multi-faceted environmental issues in today's society. The findings were published in Environment International.
Virtual Jesus? People of faith divided as AI enters religion
Artificial intelligence, the technology upending nearly every corner of society, is creeping into religion, serving up virtual Jesus and automated sermons—a change drawing mixed reviews from the faithful.
OpenAI now worth $500 billion, possibly making it the world's most valuable startup
OpenAI could now be the world's most valuable startup, ahead of Elon Musk's SpaceX and TikTok's parent company ByteDance, after a secondary stock sale designed to retain employees at the ChatGPT maker.
Smarter Anomaly Detection in Semiconductor Manufacturing with NVIDIA NV-Tesseract and NVIDIA NIM
In an earlier blog post, we introduced NVIDIA NV-Tesseract, a family of models designed to tackle diverse time-series tasks—such as anomaly detection,...
Enable Gang Scheduling and Workload Prioritization in Ray with NVIDIA KAI Scheduler
NVIDIA KAI Scheduler is now natively integrated with KubeRay, bringing the same scheduling engine that powers high‑demand and high-scale environments in...
OpenAI’s Sora Makes Disinformation Extremely Easy and Extremely Real
The new A.I. app generated videos of store robberies and home intrusions — even bomb explosions on city streets — that never happened.
Sora and the Infinite Slop Feeds + ChatGPT Goes to Therapy + Hot Mess Express
“I do not like the idea of pointing these giant A.I. supercomputers at people’s dopamine receptors and just feeding them an endless diet of hyper-personalized stimulating videos.”
Phyllis Gardner, Early Skeptic of Theranos, Dies at 75
A pharmacologist, she was certain Elizabeth Holmes’s blood-testing idea would fail, and spoke up about it. At first, few listened.
Apple Takes Down ICE Tracking Apps in Response to Trump Pressure Campaign
Trump administration officials issued several legal threats over ICEBlock, a popular app that allows users to alert others to the presence of nearby immigration agents.
Tesla Is Sued by Families Who Say Faulty Cybertruck Doors Led to Two Deaths
Two Californians were trapped in a burning Cybertruck because electronic doors made it difficult for them to get out or be rescued, lawsuits claim.
Camera Makers Need to Lean Into Their Brand Colors Again
When Nikon added the gold ring to the lens mount of its 28-135mm f/4 PZ earlier this year, I was ecstatic. Finally, Nikon was leaning into its brand color. I was saddened to learn it would only do this on select products moving forward. That got me thinking: every brand is leaning away from color when they should be leaning into it. For a tool designed to create art, the camera tends to be dreadfully boring.
20 Award-Winning Photos From 1839 Awards’ Photographer of the Year
1839 Awards announced the winners of its International Photographer of the Year Contest. The winning photographers in the Professional and Non-Professional categories demonstrate excellent artistic and technical achievement in photography, as do the additional winning photographers across many diverse categories.
Queen of the Night: CineStill 800T Film Feels Made for Neon
I loaded a roll of CineStill 800T into my camera, knowing exactly what I was after: neon and halations. The kind of light that doesn’t just illuminate, but bleeds, glows, and lingers in the air.
NPPA Condemns ICE Assault on Journalists ‘In the Strongest Possible Terms’
The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the actions taken by ICE officers against journalists in Federal Plaza in New York City earlier this week. "The assault on an a New York reporter and the serious injury inflicted on another journalist represent an unacceptable, blatant attack on press freedom," the organization writes.
Reebok x Kodak Collab Features Vintage-Inspired Shoes, Shirts, and Pants
Kodak is taking advantage of its vintage roots by collaborating with various global brands, becoming just as much of a fashion icon as it is a film manufacturer. That continues this week with a "capsule collection" series made in collaboration with Reebok.
Scientists Capture Image of Plasma Jet From Supermassive Black Hole
Astronomers have captured the clearest image ever of the vast, powerful jet of matter erupting from the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87).
What Happens When You Shoot Film That Expired in 1946?
"Expired film is always unpredictable," says photographer and YouTuber Mathieu Stern, known for his "weird lens" videos. "But what happens when the film expired almost a century ago? Can you still get an image?" To find out, Stern shot with the oldest rolls of film he could get his hands on, including one from as far back as 1946.
Does This Satellite Photo Show Amelia Earhart’s Plane?
Ever since Amelia Earhart vanished while attempting to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe in 1937, people have been desperate to find out what happened to her.
Google Android Feature That Scans All of Your Photos Can Be Turned Off
Around this time last year, Google quietly added a service to smartphones running Android 9 called Android System Safetycore, which left many confused about what it actually did.
Where Should Wedding Photographers Stand? Reddit Post Sparks Debate
While photographers and videographers are cut from the same cloth, there can be dissent among the ranks. And a recent viral Reddit post highlights a bone of contention.
Enormous Rutting Elk Charges at Photographer
It is officially the elk rut, otherwise known as mating season, and that means aggressive bulls are roaming around, and you'd better have your wits about you.
How One AI Model Creates a Physical Intuition of Its Environment
The V-JEPA system uses ordinary videos to understand the physics of the real world.
The post How One AI Model Creates a Physical Intuition of Its Environment first appeared on Quanta Magazine
China’s most infamous ghost town is now training ground for driverless trucks
TO GO WITH AFP STORY 'China-economy-society-property,FEATURE' by Allison JacksonA driver approaches an intersection in Kangbashi, a district on the outskirts of Ordos, in China's Inner Mongolia on April 20, 2011. Kangbashi district offers residents "new modern" living, with tree-lined streets, shiny apartment buildings, vast parklands, restaurants and even a motor racing track. But seven years after construction workers broke ground on the arid plateau, most of the apartments appear empty and the wide streets are almost deserted -- earning Kangbashi the tag of "ghost city". AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Top 3 leadership myths debunked
Slay the dragon of bad management advice with this insight from Hogan Assessments’ Dr Ryne Sherman.
Read more: Top 3 leadership myths debunked
‘Few missions more meaningful than improving global health,’ says HR expert
Margaret Morrissey discusses the future of the workplace and how the global healthcare landscape is changing.
Read more: ‘Few missions more meaningful than improving global health,’ says HR expert
Which rapidly growing sectors are hiring right now?
If you are looking to join an active, exciting and dynamic sector, then why not consider a career at one of these organisations.
Read more: Which rapidly growing sectors are hiring right now?
Opinion: Furore over AI ‘actor’ Tilly Norwood reveals deeper AI anxiety
In his latest column, Jonathan McCrea gives his take on the AI ‘actor’ who has become the talk of tinseltown.
Read more: Opinion: Furore over AI ‘actor’ Tilly Norwood reveals deeper AI anxiety
Five SETU scientists listed among world’s top 2pc on Stanford list
Also, SETU and ATU are set to launch new veterinary schools, which are expected to take students from 2026.
Read more: Five SETU scientists listed among world’s top 2pc on Stanford list
The Leaders’ Room: Leading with humility with PayPal’s Aaron J Webster
The final episode of The Leaders’ Room season three features Aaron J Webster, global chief risk officer at PayPal. This series is created in partnership with IDA Ireland.
Read more: The Leaders’ Room: Leading with humility with PayPal’s Aaron J Webster
Reports: OpenAI hits $500bn valuation after share sale
The reported valuation makes it the world’s most valuable private company.
Read more: Reports: OpenAI hits $500bn valuation after share sale
Cyber-first services provider Ekco continues acquisition trail with UK’s Solsoft
Dublin-based cyber-first cloud provider Ekco has acquired UK managed services provider, Solsoft, its seventh acquisition in two years.
Read more: Cyber-first services provider Ekco continues acquisition trail with UK’s Solsoft
Litestream v0.5.0 is Here
I've been running Litestream to backup SQLite databases in production for a couple of years now without incident. The new version has been a long time coming - Ben Johnson took a detour into the FUSE-based LiteFS before deciding that the single binary Litestream approach is more popular - and Litestream 0.5 just landed with this very detailed blog posts describing the improved architecture.
SQLite stores data in pages - 4096 (by default) byte blocks of data. Litestream replicates modified pages to a backup location - usually object storage like S3.
Most SQLite tables have an auto-incrementing primary key, which is used to decide which page the row's data should be stored in. This means sequential inserts to a small table are sent to the same page, which caused previous Litestream to replicate many slightly different copies of that page block in succession.
The new LTX format - borrowed from LiteFS - addresses that by adding compaction, which Ben describes as follows:
We can use LTX compaction to compress a bunch of LTX files into a single file with no duplicated pages. And Litestream now uses this capability to create a hierarchy of compactions:
- at Level 1, we compact all the changes in a 30-second time window
- at Level 2, all the Level 1 files in a 5-minute window
- at Level 3, all the Level 2’s over an hour.
Net result: we can restore a SQLite database to any point in time, using only a dozen or so files on average.
I'm most looking forward to trying out the feature that isn't quite landed yet: read-replicas, implemented using a SQLite VFS extension:
The next major feature we’re building out is a Litestream VFS for read replicas. This will let you instantly spin up a copy of the database and immediately read pages from S3 while the rest of the database is hydrating in the background.
<p><small></small>Via <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45453936">Hacker News</a></small></p>
<p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/sqlite">sqlite</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/fly">fly</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/litestream">litestream</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ben-johnson">ben-johnson</a></p>
One is not the loneliest number for API calls
Gil Feig, co-founder and CTO of Merge, joins the show to explore Merge’s approach for reducing third-party APIs to a single call, the complexities of and need for data normalization, and the role that AI and MCP plays in the future of API functionality.
With its latest acqui-hire, OpenAI is doubling down on personalized consumer AI
OpenAI is acquiring the CEO of Roi, an AI financial companion. Roi will sunset its service as its talent heads to OpenAI, ostensibly to help boost revenue in consumer apps.
Sources: Naveen Rao’s new AI hardware startup targets $5B valuation with backing from a16z
Former Databricks AI chief is raising $1 billion to build an Nvidia rival through a novel approach.
What to expect at OpenAI’s DevDay 2025, and how to watch it
OpenAI's third developer conference is around the corner, and it's shaping up to be the company's biggest yet.
Snapchat is going to charge for storage — here’s how to save your Memories for free
If your Memories exceed the new limit, you will need to either export them or sign up for one of Snapchat's new Memories Storage plans in order to preserve them.
Google’s Gemini AI app could soon be getting a big makeover
The company is seemingly experimenting with a new user interface that would shift the app from having a chatbot-style look and feel to one offering a scrollable feed with suggested prompts accompanied by eye-catching photos.
Rivian is redesigning the R2 SUV’s door handles for better safety
The change comes after employees and customers reportedly voiced concerns.
Can you think like a YC partner? This game will help you find out
The YC Partner Simulator game, created by an undergrad in Berlin, lets you see if you can predict which startups get into Y Combinator.
Can AI companies turn brainrot into revenue?
The U.S. government shutdown that began this week is the first in seven years. While it might not feel immediately disruptive, for startups waiting on permits, visas, or regulatory approvals, even a few weeks can become an existential problem. On this episode of Equity, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Max Zeff talk through how uncertainty […]
Supabase nabs $5B valuation, four months after hitting $2B
It's been a wild year of growth and fundraising for vibe-coding database of choice, Supabase.
OpenAI’s Sora soars to No. 1 on Apple’s US App Store
OpenAI's Sora app for AI videos is a viral hit, despite being invite-only for now and limited to users in the U.S. and Canada at launch.
Leaked doc reveals the chaotic politics behind Trump Energy Department cuts
Harris-voting states were hit hardest by Department of Energy award cancellations, but not every blue-state project was cut. Politics might play a role.
Space defense, gravity, and connectivity with Bridgit Mendler, Even Rogers, and Max Haot at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
The space economy is scaling fast — from defense to artificial gravity to satellite connectivity. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Bridgit Mendler, Even Rogers, and Max Haot will share what’s next on the Space Stage.
The clock is ticking: Savings of up to 20% on group passes end tonight for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
The Founder Bundle Sale ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT. Save 15% on 4–9 Founder Passes and 20% off investor bundles to unlock sessions with leaders like Vinod Khosla, Aaron Levie, Tekedra Mawakana, and Karandeep Anand at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.
Flai is the latest startup bringing AI to car dealerships
The YC-backed startup has raised a $4.5 million seed round as it looks to win over more businesses by replacing cumbersome phone trees with AI-powered software.
Hacking group claims theft of 1 billion records from Salesforce customer databases
The hacking group claims to have stolen about a billion records from companies, including FedEx, Qantas, and TransUnion, who store their customer and company data in Salesforce.
New deep tech fund Wave Function Ventures raises $15 million
Former SpaceX Falcon 9 engineer Jamie Gull, who started the fund, has already made nine investments.
A new search engine raises $1.1M to let obsessive fans dive down internet rabbit holes
Lore raises $1.1 million to build a personalized search engine for fandom culture.
Apple removes ICEBlock and similar tracking apps from the App Store
The app, which went viral earlier this year, allowed users to lawfully share information about where they've seen ICE agents within a 5-mile radius of their location, and also share details of the clothing agents are wearing.
How developers are using Apple’s local AI models with iOS 26
As iOS 26 is rolling out to all users, developers have been updating their apps to include features powered by Apple's local AI models.
Sources: former Databricks AI chief Naveen Rao is in talks to raise $1B led by a16z at a $5B valuation for his new AI hardware startup Unconventional (Marina Temkin/TechCrunch)
Marina Temkin / TechCrunch:
Sources: former Databricks AI chief Naveen Rao is in talks to raise $1B led by a16z at a $5B valuation for his new AI hardware startup Unconventional — Naveen Rao, who was formerly the head of artificial intelligence at Databricks, is in talks to raise a $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation …
Coinbase applies for a national trust company charter, says it "has no intention of becoming a bank" and the charter will allow expansion in areas like payments (Olga Kharif/Bloomberg)
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Coinbase applies for a national trust company charter, says it “has no intention of becoming a bank” and the charter will allow expansion in areas like payments — Coinbase Global Inc., the largest US crypto exchange, is seeking a national trust company charter from the Office …
Apple's removal of ICEBlock raises questions about the limits of what the company will resist under the Trump administration's increasingly outrageous demands (John Gruber/Daring Fireball)
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Apple's removal of ICEBlock raises questions about the limits of what the company will resist under the Trump administration's increasingly outrageous demands — Ashley Oliver, reporting for Fox Business: … Fox, in its opening paragraph, describes Bondi as having “asked” …
Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill that gives ride-hailing drivers in California the right to unionize while remaining classified as independent contractors (Associated Press)
Associated Press:
Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill that gives ride-hailing drivers in California the right to unionize while remaining classified as independent contractors — More than 800,000 drivers for ride-hailing companies in California will soon be able to join a union and bargain collectively …
Chipmaker Cerebras withdraws its IPO, a little over a year after filing its IPO prospectus; it announced a $1.1B raise at a $8.1B valuation on September 30 (Jordan Novet/CNBC)
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Chipmaker Cerebras withdraws its IPO, a little over a year after filing its IPO prospectus; it announced a $1.1B raise at a $8.1B valuation on September 30 — Artificial intelligence chipmaker Cerebras on Friday filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission withdrawing plans for an initial public offering.
Rob Williams, Amazon's VP of device software and services and member of the S-team advising CEO Andy Jassy, will retire and leave Amazon by the end of 2025 (Greg Bensinger/Reuters)
Greg Bensinger / Reuters:
Rob Williams, Amazon's VP of device software and services and member of the S-team advising CEO Andy Jassy, will retire and leave Amazon by the end of 2025 — - VP Rob Williams to retire from Amazon, remains advisor through 2025 — Panos Panay announces team consolidation, Tapas Roy promoted
OpenText plans to sell its eDOCS legal document management system to NetDocuments for $163M and use the proceeds to reduce its outstanding debt (Bloomberg Law)
Bloomberg Law:
OpenText plans to sell its eDOCS legal document management system to NetDocuments for $163M and use the proceeds to reduce its outstanding debt — Bloomberg Law Automation — OpenText Corp. will sell its eDOCS legal document management system to NetDocuments Software Inc. for $163 million …
Memo: Meta Superintelligence Labs' products team, led by Nat Friedman, pushes staff to ditch Meta's slow internal systems in favor of external tools like Vercel (Pranav Dixit/Business Insider)
Pranav Dixit / Business Insider:
Memo: Meta Superintelligence Labs' products team, led by Nat Friedman, pushes staff to ditch Meta's slow internal systems in favor of external tools like Vercel — - Meta has made a big bet on AI by forming Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). — MSL is adopting external tools …
Moonlake AI, which creates tools to "vibe code virtual worlds", including for gaming, animation, and filmmaking, comes out of stealth with a $28M seed (Rashi Shrivastava/Forbes)
Rashi Shrivastava / Forbes:
Moonlake AI, which creates tools to “vibe code virtual worlds”, including for gaming, animation, and filmmaking, comes out of stealth with a $28M seed — Plus: Hollywood rejects an “AI actress.” — Welcome back to The Prompt. … Artificial intelligence is facing an existential crisis.
Google and Apple removed Red Dot, an app for reporting ICE sightings; Google says the app was being used to share the location of a "vulnerable group" (Joseph Cox/404 Media)
Joseph Cox / 404 Media:
Google and Apple removed Red Dot, an app for reporting ICE sightings; Google says the app was being used to share the location of a “vulnerable group” — Both Google and Apple recently removed Red Dot, an app people can use to report sightings of ICE officials, from their respective app stores, 404 Media has found.
Oneleet, which offers a platform for penetration testing, code scanning, attack surface monitoring, and more, raised a $33M Series A led by Dawn Capital (Ionut Arghire/SecurityWeek)
Ionut Arghire / SecurityWeek:
Oneleet, which offers a platform for penetration testing, code scanning, attack surface monitoring, and more, raised a $33M Series A led by Dawn Capital — The cybersecurity startup will expand its engineering team, add more AI capabilities, and invest in go-to-market efforts.
Midi, which offers virtual care for women and is developing an AI search engine for health info, raised a $50M Series C, bringing its total funding to ~$150M (Rebecca Torrence/Business Insider)
Rebecca Torrence / Business Insider:
Midi, which offers virtual care for women and is developing an AI search engine for health info, raised a $50M Series C, bringing its total funding to ~$150M — Follow Rebecca Torrence … Saved — Add us on — Women's health startup Midi Health raised $50 million in Series C funding, Business Insider learned.
Sources: Microsoft is testing ad-supported games streaming internally, allowing employees to play select titles for free without an Xbox Game Pass subscription (Tom Warren/The Verge)
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Sources: Microsoft is testing ad-supported games streaming internally, allowing employees to play select titles for free without an Xbox Game Pass subscription — Microsoft employees can now access an ad-supported version of Xbox Cloud Gaming ahead of a public test.
LinkedIn sues a company called ProAPIs for allegedly operating millions of fake accounts to scrape LinkedIn member data and selling it for ~$15,000 per month (Suzanne Smalley/The Record)
Suzanne Smalley / The Record:
LinkedIn sues a company called ProAPIs for allegedly operating millions of fake accounts to scrape LinkedIn member data and selling it for ~$15,000 per month — Social media giant LinkedIn on Thursday filed a lawsuit against a company which it says operates a network of millions …
Lapsus$ publishes a data leak site on the dark web that threatens to release ~1B records allegedly stolen from dozens of companies' Salesforce-hosted databases (TechCrunch)
TechCrunch:
Lapsus$ publishes a data leak site on the dark web that threatens to release ~1B records allegedly stolen from dozens of companies' Salesforce-hosted databases — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai Zack Whittaker — A notorious predominantly English-speaking hacking group has launched a website …
Businesses can’t audit and insure their way to responsible AI
Cloudera EMEA CTO Chris Royles advises businesses to use private AI to achieve their responsible AI goals.
Enterprise IT Reinvented: Powering Intelligence with AI and Hybrid Cloud
A Tech Monitor executive roundtable in partnership with Lenovo and Intel: “Accelerate the fastest-growing workloads with 5th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors.”
Technology success is a team sport – highlights from DTX London 2025
This year’s event demonstrated the importance of people and process at a time when the noise around digital and data has never been louder.
Microsoft outlines plan to move beyond Nvidia in powering AI data centers
Microsoft currently relies on Nvidia AI chips for its data centers but is actively working to implement its own hardware solutions in the future. According to Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott, the company is building long-term plans that would not require chips from third-party providers.
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Musk makes history as the first person to reach $500 billion net worth
According to Forbes' real-time billionaires tracker, Musk's fortune reached $500 billion on Wednesday afternoon – making him the first person ever to reach that milestone. Just last December, the tech entrepreneur became the first to reach the $400 billion net worth mark.
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Battlefield 6 hits 1.7 million Steam pre-orders, set for massive first-week sales
According to a report from The Game Business, 1.7 million copies of Battlefield 6 have already been pre-ordered on Steam, with another five million units expected to sell during its first week after launch. The data, sourced from Ampere Analysis, also notes that the beta version has been a major...
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Google confirms new Android rules will significantly restrict app sideloading
Google first announced a significant change in how it deals with Android developers back in August, and the topic has been hotly debated ever since. Now, the Mountain View giant is providing additional details about mandatory developer verification – and the arguments are likely to continue for months to come.
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OpenAI's Sora app rockets to #1 in the App Store, overtaking Gemini and ChatGPT
Bill Peebles, head of the Sora project at OpenAI, announced the achievement on X on Friday. In the post, he said his team is listening to feedback and iterating fast, and promised that more invite codes would be sent soon.
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TSMC slashes EUV power use nearly in half: without hurting yields
TSMC has launched a new initiative to rein in the massive electricity demands of its most advanced production lines. The company last month began deploying a Dynamic Energy Saving Program that targets its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems – among the most power-hungry machines in the semiconductor industry.
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Amazon drone deliveries resume in Arizona after two crash into a crane
At around 10am local time on Wednesday, two of Amazon Prime Air's MK30 drones crashed into a crane in Tolleson, Arizona, near Phoenix, according to the FAA.
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Modder turns Lego Game Boy into a fully working console
Nintendo and The Lego Group never intended for the recently released Lego Game Boy kit to play real Game Boy games, but a self-taught modder made this feat possible – and less than 24 hours after the Lego set's release. Users will soon be able to acquire the customized printed...
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Elon Musk's xAI will pay $100 an hour for video game tutors to train Grok
xAI advertises the Video Games Tutor role as specifically being for an AI tutor specialized in video games. The candidate will be training and refining Grok to excel in video game concepts, mechanics, and generation.
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AI fighter jets, drone swarms, and $250K warships: the new defense economy
Governments worldwide are committing trillions of dollars to retool their militaries for a rapidly evolving era defined by high-tech threats and new modes of warfare. Nowhere is this transformation more evident than in Europe, where the war in Ukraine has become a testing ground for fresh approaches – and where...
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Apple pulls ICEBlock tracking app following Justice Department demand
ICEBlock allows users to anonymously report the most recent sightings of ICE agents by dropping a pin on a map and sharing those reports with others in their vicinity. Reports are limited to one per user every five minutes and are automatically deleted after a few hours to prevent outdated...
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Trusted enclaves from Intel and AMD shown vulnerable to physical attacks
Intel's Software Guard Extensions and AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization with Secure Nested Paging have long been marketed as "trusted execution environments" designed to isolate sensitive operations. These enclaves underpin confidential computing, forming the basis for security assurances in encrypted messaging applications and even blockchain platforms. Over the years, however, repeated...
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IBM's Granite 4.0 family of hybrid models uses much less memory during inference
IBM has released the fourth generation of its Granite language models. Granite 4.0 uses a hybrid Mamba/Transformer architecture aimed at lowering memory requirements during inference without cutting performance.
The article IBM's Granite 4.0 family of hybrid models uses much less memory during inference appeared first on THE DECODER.
OpenAI hits $500 billion valuation after secondary share sale
OpenAI has reportedly reached a $500 billion valuation following a major secondary share sale, according to Reuters.
The article OpenAI hits $500 billion valuation after secondary share sale appeared first on THE DECODER.
Google ships Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model with new features
Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model is now available for production use. The model can generate, edit, and combine images.
The article Google ships Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model with new features appeared first on THE DECODER.
Anthropic claims context engineering beats prompt engineering when managing AI agents
Anthropic is looking to move beyond prompt engineering with a new approach it calls "context engineering." The idea is to help AI agents use their limited attention more efficiently and maintain coherence during extended or complex tasks.
The article Anthropic claims context engineering beats prompt engineering when managing AI agents appeared first on THE DECODER.
How Agentgateway Solves Agentic AI’s Connectivity Challenges
The agentic AI space presents a host of new problems to solve. One of them: Connectivity in mixed environments —
The post How Agentgateway Solves Agentic AI’s Connectivity Challenges appeared first on The New Stack.
Why FinOps Isn’t About Saving Money
Note: This was originally published on Sept. 8, 2025, and has been updated with new information. Cloud costs can be
The post Why FinOps Isn’t About Saving Money appeared first on The New Stack.
Eliminating the Precision–Latency Trade-Off in Large-Scale RAG
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems constantly face a trade-off: Precise results often mean higher latency and cost, while faster responses risk
The post Eliminating the Precision–Latency Trade-Off in Large-Scale RAG appeared first on The New Stack.
How You.com Survived ChatGPT With a Pivot to Enterprise AI
The last time I talked to You.com CEO Richard Socher was July 2022, several months before the launch of ChatGPT
The post How You.com Survived ChatGPT With a Pivot to Enterprise AI appeared first on The New Stack.
GreenOps and FinOps: A Dual Strategy for Sustainable AI
The adoption of AI and large IT infrastructure to support AI development has dramatically increased across the IT industry in
The post GreenOps and FinOps: A Dual Strategy for Sustainable AI appeared first on The New Stack.
Google goes straight to shell with AI command line coding tool
Devs live in terminals - now Jules does too
In the beginning was the command line, and despite all the machine-learning froth, developers still live there. That is why Google has shoved its Jules coding agent into a terminal with a new tool it calls Jules Tools.…
Startups binge on AI while big firms sip cautiously, study shows
Better hope that bubble doesn't pop
The Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm (aka A16z) crunched startup spending data and found young firms stuffing AI into everything, while bigger businesses remain far more restrained.…
AI devs close to scraping bottom of data barrel
Analysts at Goldman Sachs Global Institute say training is starting to hit its limits, enterprise info troves may be last hope
Those spiffy AI systems that tech companies keep promising require mountains of training data, but high-quality sources may have already run out—unless enterprises can unlock the information trapped behind their firewalls, according to Goldman Sachs…
All eyes on markets for AI Bubble Watch: Is it a Floater or a Popper?
Exploding valuations and mountains of debt co-exist with a US government shutdown. How long can we stay on the hype-cycle rollercoaster?
Analysis In an employee share sell-off this week, OpenAI achieved a nominal value of $500 billion. In terms of valuation, the posterchild of GenAI — which is yet to make a profit — left in its dust companies like Toyota, the world's largest automaker.…
OpenAI's record-breaking $500B valuation
PLUS: a16z reveals where startups actually spend on AI
Less than a week to go! The TRADE’s Rising Stars of Trading and Execution
Join us for an evening celebrating the next generation of trading talent, including an exclusive panel Q&A with speakers from M&G, HSBC, Instinet, and AXA Investment Managers.
The post Less than a week to go! The TRADE’s Rising Stars of Trading and Execution appeared first on The TRADE.
Fireside Friday with… Cardano’s Dario Pons
The TRADE sits down with Dario Pons, trader at Cardano, to unpack the most important factors when it comes to FX execution strategies, including how unique datasets are being approached, auto-execution thresholds, and the future outlook for optimisation-focused innovations.
The post Fireside Friday with… Cardano’s Dario Pons appeared first on The TRADE.
Tales from the AI hiring frenzy
This is an excerpt of Sources by Alex Heath, a newsletter about AI and the tech industry, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. The billboard didn't say "Listen Labs." It didn't say anything about hiring. It consisted of just a plain white background with "https://" and a single line of grouped numbers […]
Unity discloses a years-old security exploit and urges developers to update their games
Unity is urging developers to take “immediate action” after it disclosed a major security vulnerability affecting games built using versions of its popular development tool dating back to 2017. While there is “no evidence of any exploitation of the vulnerability, nor has there been any impact on users or customers,” Unity already has fixes available […]
Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple’s ICEBlock crackdown
Just one day after Apple took down the iOS App Store listing for ICEBlock, Google has confirmed to 404 Media that it has removed a similar app, Red Dot, from the Google Play Store. The company also reportedly said it “removed apps that share the location of what it describes as a vulnerable group after […]
Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K is getting a new name soon
Amazon’s list of 4K-capable streaming sticks got bigger — and more confusing — after its hardware event this week. The $39.99 4K Select will be released on October 15th, joining the 4K and the 4K Max. You’re not alone if you find it tough to tell which is best just by going off names, and […]
Hori’s new Switch 2 controller lets you deactivate its home and screenshot buttons
Hori has announced another addition to the ever-growing list of cheaper alternatives to Nintendo’s $90 Switch 2 Pro Controller. The Wireless Horipad Turbo is around $35 cheaper than Nintendo’s, and while it lacks a lot of premium features such as Amiibo support and the ability to remotely wake the Switch 2, it adds a lock […]
Tesla’s cheaper Model Y finally breaks cover
Tesla’s long-rumored more affordable electric vehicle won’t be out until next year, but it was recently spotted uncamouflaged on a highway in Texas. And no, your eyes are not fooling you; it’s just a cheaper version of the Model Y. The rumor that the affordable EV would just be a bare-bones Model Y has been […]
I’ve fallen into Sora’s slippery slop
An anime version of Jesus Christ flipping tables. OpenAI employees performing in Hamilton costumes. News anchors discussing a story on television. A man doing a thirst-trap TikTok dance. Sam Altman - stealing GPUs on CCTV, listening to a business pitch, crying. Such were the contents of my feed on Sora, OpenAI's new social media app […]
Trump rolled YouTube into paying for his ballroom
About two months ago, John P. Coale, one of many lawyers representing Donald Trump in a personal capacity, met with several Alphabet executives, mediators, and lawyers at Mar-a-Lago - along with his client. They all spent a lovely day at the palatial Florida estate, and Trump treated them to lunch as they chatted about anything […]
Sony shrinks PS5 Slim storage in the US, too
Sony is now selling a revised model of the digital PS5 slim in the US that has less storage than the original version. The updated model with 825GB of internal SSD storage instead of 1TB recently went on sale in Europe, but now it’s available to buy on the US PlayStation Direct website as well. […]
Hoto put a lo-fi torque display on its new cordless screwdriver
Hoto’s latest electric screwdriver introduces a couple of novel usability improvements. Now, you’ll find a pixelated display on the business end of the driver showing details like its remaining battery life, while a multi-function button lets you adjust its speed and switch directions with just one finger. The new PixelDrive features a similarly sleek design […]
Master AI Engine Optimization (AEO) and its 3 sub-fields: LLMO, GEO, and AAIO.
Agentic traffic is now 79% of the entire online clicks, and to survive this you will need an agent-first marketing online presence
Alright, grab your cup of chai, pull up a chair, and let’s talk. Because the internet as you know it? It’s over.
And I’m not being dramatic. I mean, I am a storyteller, so a little drama is my jam, but this time, the data is just screaming.
For the last twenty years, we’ve all been playing the same game: Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. It was our digital religion. We prayed at the altar of Google, performed keyword rituals, and built link-towers to the heavens, all hoping to be blessed with that coveted #1 spot.
Well, the gods have changed. And they’re not listening to our old prayers anymore.
Recent intelligence from the front lines is staggering. When Google’s new AI Overviews — those neat, conversational summaries at the top of the page — show up, the top organic search results can lose up to 79% of their clicks (Authoritas, 2025).
Let that sink in. You could be the undisputed king of the search results, the #1 champion, and still have four out of five of your potential visitors simply vanish. Poof. Gone.
This isn’t a future forecast. It’s the rain that’s already soaking you. We’ve fundamentally shifted from a web built for human eyeballs to a web built for machine intelligence. The main visitors clicking around your digital real estate are no longer just people. They are swarms of sophisticated, task-oriented AI agents.
To survive this, you need to stop thinking about Search Engine Optimization and start mastering a whole new discipline: AI Engine Optimization (AEO). It’s not just a new acronym to sound smart in meetings. It’s a completely new martial art for the digital world. And mastering its three core stances — Large Language Model Optimization (LLMO), Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and Agentic AI Optimization (AAIO) — is no longer a competitive edge. It’s the basic price of admission to the future.
The Day the Ten Blue Links Died
Picture the internet of yesteryear as a bustling, chaotic city. SEO was the art of being the best tour guide. You’d stand on the busiest street corner (Google’s page one) with the biggest, flashiest sign, screaming, “Get your authentic, artisanally crafted information right here!” And people would follow you down your little alleyway to your website.
The goal was simple: get them to click one of those “ten blue links.”
Today, that city has a new central concierge. A giant, omniscient AI sitting in the main plaza.
The new city center. Your old street corner is now a historical landmark.
Tourists don’t wander the streets looking for signs anymore. They just ask the AI concierge, “Hey, where’s the best place to get a taco?” And the concierge doesn’t hand them a map with ten options. It just synthesizes all the information it knows and says, “The best taco is a combination of the salsa from Taco ‘Bout It, the tortilla from Guac ’n’ Roll, and the carnitas from Holy Frijoles. I have summarized the recipe for you.”
That’s the “zero-click” future. The user gets their answer and their journey ends right there, in the plaza. They never even walk down your street.
The data backs up this ghost town effect. The Pew Research Center found that clicks to traditional links get sliced nearly in half when an AI summary appears (Pew Research Center, 2025). A user experience study saw a staggering two-thirds drop in clicks on desktop, with users barely even reading past the first few lines of the AI’s answer (Indig & van Buskirk, 2025).
Your new customer isn’t the tourist anymore. It’s the concierge. You don’t have to convince people to visit your shop; you have to convince the AI that your shop has the best ingredients in the entire city.
“The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed.” — William Gibson
The New Defense: Winning in a World of AI Concierges (GEO & LLMO)
So, how do you get the all-knowing AI concierge to recommend your tacos? You can’t charm it. You can’t bribe it. You have to speak its language. This is our first defensive move in AEO, and it’s called GEO and LLMO.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is your direct response to things like Google’s AI Overviews. The goal is no longer to be the #1 link. The new #1 spot is to be cited as a source inside the AI’s answer. That little footnote is the new digital holy grail.
Large Language Model Optimization (LLMO) is the grunt work that makes GEO possible. It’s about renovating your shop — your website — so that AI models can crawl it, understand it, and most importantly, trust it.
Think of it like this: an AI doesn’t “read” your beautifully designed blog post. It ingests it like a protein shake. You need to make sure all the nutrients are perfectly blended and labeled.
For an AI, unstructured content is noise. Structured data is a perfectly labeled meal.
Here’s how you do it:
- Answer the Dang Question: Stop writing flowery intros (yes, I see the irony). Structure your content in brutally clear question-and-answer formats. The AI is looking for the most direct, unambiguous answer to a user’s query. Give it that.
- Use Your Labels (Structured Data): This is the big one. Using Schema.org markup is like putting a “nutrition label” on your website’s data. You’re explicitly telling the AI, “This string of numbers is the price,” “This text is the recipe,” “This date is the event time.” It allows the AI to grab the facts without having to guess by reading the whole paragraph. It’s the difference between reading a 500-page book and just reading its summary.
- Become the Professor of a Single Subject: Don’t be a jack-of-all-trades. Build deep, comprehensive content hubs that prove you are an undeniable authority on one specific topic. This is what marketers call E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). You want the AI to think of you as the undisputed “Professor of Tacos.”
ProTip: Go to Schema.org right now. Look up the schema type for your product, service, or content (e.g., “Recipe,” “Product,” “LocalBusiness”). Implementing even the most basic schema can make you instantly more legible to AI engines.
Preparing for Your Next Customer: The Autonomous AI Agent (AAIO)
Okay, so we’ve made our shopfront legible to the AI concierge. That’s defense. That’s survival. Now, let’s talk offense. Let’s talk about thriving.
While GEO and LLMO are about reacting to the AI on the search page, Agentic AI Optimization (AAIO) is about preparing for a completely new kind of visitor.
Forget the human tourist. Forget the AI concierge. I want you to picture a new entity in our futuristic city: a swarm of autonomous delivery drones.
These aren’t browsing. They aren’t “surfing the web.” They are AI agents sent by users with a specific, complex job to do. A user won’t Google “best CRM for small business” anymore. They’ll tell their personal AI assistant:
ProTip: Research the top three CRM platforms under $50/month that integrate with QuickBooks. Summarize their core features, find the best pricing tier for a team of five, and schedule demos with their sales teams for next Tuesday.
That AI agent is now your visitor. It’s a programmatic customer. It doesn’t care about your clever branding, your beautiful hero image, or your witty blog post. It has a checklist, and it needs to execute a task.
If your website is just a pretty storefront, that drone is going to fly right past. To win in the agentic web, your website needs to be a warehouse with a damn good loading dock.
Your new customers don’t use the front door. Build them a loading dock.
This is what an agent-ready website looks like:
- Machine-Readable Everything: Structured data was the start. Now, make everything programmatically accessible. Think price lists, feature tables, availability — all in formats that a script can parse instantly.
- Build a Loading Dock (APIs): An API (Application Programming Interface) is a dedicated service window for AIs. Instead of the agent drone having to fly into your store, awkwardly navigate the aisles, and read product labels (i.e., parse your visual HTML), it can go directly to the API loading dock and place its order. “Give me pricing for five users.” “Book a demo for Tuesday at 2 PM.” This is the language of agents.
- Digital Bouncers (Permissions): As these agents start acting on behalf of users — accessing their data, spending their money — you need robust, secure protocols for authentication and authorization. You need to be able to know, with certainty, that this agent is who it says it is and that it has permission to book that demo.
Trivia: The idea of autonomous agents isn’t new! In the 90s, the concept of “Software Agents” or “softbots” was a hot topic in AI research, predicting a future where programs would act as our personal delegates on the internet. It just took 30 years for the hardware and algorithms to catch up.
From Optimizing for AI to Optimizing with AI
This is where it gets really wild. The final evolution isn’t just about preparing your website for other people’s AIs. It’s about deploying your own fleet of autonomous agents to run your business better than any human team ever could.
This isn’t sci-fi. The academic research is already proving this out in the real world.
The ultimate goal: an autonomous AI fleet running your business operations with superhuman efficiency.
- The AI Web Designer: Researchers built a reinforcement learning (RL) agent that could redesign a webpage in real-time for every single visitor. It learned to map a user’s data to the perfect layout, achieving a 15% boost in conversions over traditional methods (Chen et al., 2020). Imagine a shop that redecorates itself instantly for every person who walks in the door.
- The AI Media Buyer: Another team built an RL agent to manage a massive digital ad budget. It learned a sophisticated bidding strategy that blew human-designed rules out of the water, intelligently pacing its spending and winning the most valuable ad slots without overpaying (Wu et al., 2018).
- The AI Ecosystem Steward: Going even bigger, researchers have designed multi-agent systems to manage entire content platforms (like YouTube or Netflix). The AI’s goal wasn’t just to get you to click the next video, but to optimize for long-term health, content diversity, and fairness to new creators (Wang et al., 2020). It learned to make small sacrifices in immediate engagement to build a healthier, more resilient community over time.
Simple Explanation: Reinforcement Learning (RL) How does this work? Think of training a puppy. The agent (the puppy) tries an action (like personalizing a headline). If that action leads to a reward (the user clicks the ‘buy’ button!), it gets a treat and learns to do that action more often. Now, imagine a puppy that can do this millions of times per second. It quickly becomes a super-genius at its one specific task.
The Double-Edged Sword: Power, Peril, and Responsibility
Okay, let’s pause. I see the look in your eyes. This is exciting. It’s powerful. It’s also terrifying.
As someone who’s spent years in both AI and cybersecurity, and who gets punched in the face for fun (it’s called kickboxing, and it teaches you a lot about control), I can tell you this: with great power comes the absolute necessity for even greater control. The same agentic systems that can optimize your sales funnel can also, if you’re not careful, become brand-destroying nightmares.
The same technology that offers unprecedented personalization can create unaccountable discrimination.
- Digital Redlining: An agent optimizing for conversions might learn that people in a certain zip code are less likely to buy. So, it simply stops showing them your best offers. Without any malicious intent, it has just invented a new form of algorithmic discrimination (Datta et al., 2015).
- Manipulation vs. Personalization: Where’s the line? An agent could learn that a user is more likely to make an impulse purchase when they’re feeling sad, and start showing them specific ads when their social media sentiment dips. Is that smart marketing, or is it predatory?
- The Accountability Black Box: When your AI agent makes a catastrophically bad decision — say, it bids your entire marketing budget on a single ad — who’s at fault? The deep learning models that power these agents are often so complex that even their creators can’t fully explain their reasoning. This creates a terrifying crisis of accountability.
Ignoring these issues isn’t just bad ethics; it’s a suicidal business strategy. Responsible AI isn’t a charity project. It’s a core component of risk management and long-term brand survival.
“We are the first generation to be armed with the knowledge of how our discoveries will be used. We have a responsibility to use that knowledge.” — J. Robert Oppenheimer
Your AEO Roadmap: From Survival to Dominance
So, the world has changed. The old maps are useless. What do you do right now, sitting here with your now-cold cup of tea?
It’s not about panic. It’s about a pivot.
For C-Suite Leaders: This is not a “marketing thing.” This is a fundamental shift in your business infrastructure. You need to start investing in your data architecture, your technical talent, and a culture that is ready for an agent-first world.
For Marketing & Digital Leaders: Here is your battle plan.
Your AEO battle plan: Defend your position, proactively build for agents, then go on the offensive.
- Act Now (The Next 3–6 Months): The Defensive Stance.
— Audit your entire content library for GEO/LLMO readiness.
— Implement structured data (Schema.org) across your entire site. Yesterday.
— Start creating direct, answer-focused content that makes you the most citable source in your niche. - Plan Ahead (The Next 12–18 Months): The Proactive Strategy.
— Develop a roadmap for AAIO. What are the key tasks a user (or their agent) needs to accomplish on your site?
— Start planning the API and data infrastructure you’ll need to allow agents to perform those tasks programmatically. - Start Experimenting (Today): The Offensive Drill.
— You don’t need to build a god-like AI tomorrow. But you can start exploring small-scale agentic tools. Use AI for ad bidding, for simple personalization on your landing pages, or for internal process automation. Build your team’s muscle memory.
The Post-Credits Scene
The ground beneath our feet has shifted. Trying to win the next decade of the internet with the old SEO playbook is like showing up to a Formula 1 race with a horse and buggy. You might be the best horseman in the world, but the nature of the contest has changed.
AI Engine Optimization (AEO) is the new vehicle. It requires a defensive strategy to get cited by the new AI gatekeepers (GEO/LLMO), a proactive strategy to build a business that speaks the language of autonomous agents (AAIO), and an offensive strategy of deploying your own agents to out-maneuver the competition.
The businesses that see this shift, that embrace this agent-first reality, and that master these new disciplines will not just survive. They will own the next era of digital commerce and connection.
The agentic web is here. Your move.
References
Foundations of Agentic Systems (Reinforcement Learning)
- Chen, J., Li, H., Zhang, Y., & Wang, J. (2020). Personalized Webpage Optimization via Deep Reinforcement Learning. Proceedings of The Web Conference 2020, 1983–1994. https://doi.org/10.1145/3366423.3380254
- Sutton, R. S., & Barto, A. G. (2018). Reinforcement learning: An introduction. MIT press.
- Wang, X., Zhang, Y., & Agarwal, D. (2020). A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Framework for Content Recommendation. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining, 649–657. https://doi.org/10.1145/3336191.3336217
- Wu, T., Ren, Y., Zhang, W., & Yu, Y. (2018). Budget-Constrained Bidding by Model-free Reinforcement Learning in Display Advertising. Proceedings of the 24th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery & Data Mining, 2525–2534. https://doi.org/10.1145/3219819.3219832
The SEO-to-AEO Paradigm Shift (GEO & AAIO)
- Authoritas. (2025). The State of AI Overviews — User Intent Research. Authoritas Blog. https://www.authoritas.com/blog/ai-overview-study-how-user-intent-drives-aio-appearance-rates/
- Google. (2025, May). AI in Search: Going beyond information to intelligence. The Keyword. https://blog.google/products/search/ai-in-search-io-2025/
- Indig, K., & van Buskirk, E. (2025). The first-ever UX Study of Google’s AI Overviews: The Data We’ve All Been Waiting For. GrowthMemo. https://www.kevin-indig.com/the-first-ever-ux-study-of-googles-ai-overviews-the-data-weve-all-been-waiting-for/
- Jaffrelot Inizan, T., et al. (2025). System of Agentic AI for the Discovery of Metal-Organic Frameworks. arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.14110. http://arxiv.org/abs/2504.14110
- Pew Research Center. (2025). Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results. Pew Research Center.
- Razorfish. (n.d.). How Agentic AI Will Reshape Search. Razorfish.
- Surfer SEO. (n.d.). 7 Large Language Model Optimization Strategies. Surfer SEO Blog.
Ethical Considerations & Responsible AI
- Ali, M., Sapiezynski, P., Le, V., T., Nguyen, A., & Mislove, A. (2019). Investigating Ad Transparency Mechanisms in Social Media: A Case Study of Facebook’s Ad Library. Proceedings of The Web Conference 2019, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1145/3308558.3313631
- Bashir, A., Arshad, S., Robertson, W., & Wilson, C. (2019). Automated Experiments on Ad Privacy Settings. 2019 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP), 115–132. https://doi.org/10.1109/SP.2019.00037
- Datta, A., Tschantz, M. C., & Datta, A. (2015). Discrimination in Online Advertising: A Multistakeholder Study. Proceedings of the 22nd ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security, 1008–1021. https://doi.org/10.1145/2810103.2813651
- Yao, M., Chen, Y. C., & Wang, F. D. S. (2019). When Recommendations Treat You Unfairly: The User’s Perspective on Algorithmic Unfairness. Proceedings of the 15th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems, 25–35. https://doi.org/10.1145/3298689.3346988
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not represent those of any past, present, or future employer. AI assistance was used in researching, drafting, and generating images for this article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Master AI Engine Optimization (AEO) and its 3 sub-fields: LLMO, GEO, and AAIO. was originally published in Towards AI on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Teaching AI to Say “I Don’t Know”
A deep dive into TruthRL, a new reinforcement learning method making large language models more honest.
The Future of AI Agent Discovery: Graphs, APIs, and Beyond
How knowledge graphs will transform agents from data fetchers into digital decision-makers.
How to Turn RAG into an “Information Sieve” — AI Innovations and Insights 68
October Cohort Kicks Off on 5th October — 2 Days Left
October Cohort Kicks Off on 5th October — 2 Days Left
Enroll today to unlock October’s live kick-off, updated courses, and hands-on projects.
The October cohort kicks off on 5th October (in less than 48 hours). If you’ve been waiting for the right time to start, this is it. Enroll in any course and you’ll automatically unlock access. Details will arrive in your welcome email.
One week from now, some learners will already be part of the October cohort — working on projects, comparing notes with peers, and building skills that directly translate to their jobs.
Others will still be scrolling, bookmarking tutorials, and waiting for the “right time.”
The choice is yours.
👉 Join the October cohort now — don’t put this off another month
What will you build this October?
By the end of the October cohort, you could:
- Code your first AI apps with Beginner Python for AI Engineering
- Master prompting, RAG, agents, tool use, and fine-tuning in the 10-Hour LLM Fundamentals
- Deploy advanced systems and portfolio projects in Full Stack AI Engineering (60 Hours)
- Or, if you’re not coding, design repeatable no-code workflows in AI for Work that make AI your daily collaborator
Every path is hands-on. Every path is updated monthly. And every path starts with the October live kick-off on 5th October.
👉 Pick your course to join the October cohort
Why Join the October Cohort
Every Towards AI course is built for the industry:
- Monthly updates so you never fall behind
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- A live kick-off every month: October’s is 2 days away
👉 Secure your spot before 5th October — the October cohort is almost full
October Cohort Kicks Off on 5th October — 2 Days Left was originally published in Towards AI on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Synthetic Data Generation Methods for LLMs: A Comprehensive Guide
Building an Enterprise-Ready AI Assistant with FastAPI + Streamlit
Introduction
Over the past few months, I’ve been exploring how to move beyond toy AI demos and build something closer to what enterprises actually need. It’s one thing to prototype an LLM-powered chatbot, it’s another to design a system that handles ingestion, retrieval, memory, feedback, and streaming responses in a way that scales.
This post walks through the architecture and implementation of a full-stack project I recently built, highlighting the components that make it enterprise-grade.
Why This Project?
Most enterprise AI use cases require more than just “ask GPT a question.” They demand:
- Document ingestion for company-specific knowledge
- Hybrid retrieval (dense + sparse search) for accuracy
- Conversation memory so sessions feel natural
- Feedback loops to improve over time
- Streaming responses for better UX
- Frontend integration for usability
I wanted to stitch these into a single project to demonstrate how to go from idea → working system.
Architecture Diagram
Design Tradeoffs
Building enterprise systems always involves tradeoffs. A few key ones here:
- Memory storage → In phase 1, I kept memory in RAM. It’s fast but ephemeral. For production, you’d likely move to Redis or Postgres for persistence and scale.
- Feedback capture → Storing simple 👍/👎 feedback in SQLite is lightweight, but it doesn’t provide nuance. In future phases, this could be extended to allow free-text feedback or annotation for training datasets.
- Hybrid retrieval → Maintaining both embeddings (dense) and BM25 (sparse) adds complexity, but it pays off by increasing retrieval reliability. Enterprises value accuracy over simplicity.
- Streaming → SSE (Server-Sent Events) is straightforward, but for highly concurrent environments, WebSockets or async message queues might scale better.
These tradeoffs reflect the tension between prototyping speed and enterprise readiness. Phase 1 leaned toward iteration speed while leaving hooks for enterprise hardening later.
Backend: FastAPI + LangChain Components
I chose FastAPI for the backend because of its speed, async support, and built-in Swagger docs.
Key components:
- Ingestion API → upload documents → embeddings stored in ChromaDB (dense) + BM25 (sparse).
- Query API → supports both dense and hybrid search.
- Conversation Memory → per-session chat history stored in-memory for phase 1.
- Feedback API → thumbs up/down stored in SQLite for evaluation.
- Streaming Responses → Server-Sent Events (SSE) to stream tokens as they’re generated.
This turns the backend into a modular platform that could evolve into a multi-agent system later.
Frontend: Streamlit
Features:
- File upload widget → push documents to backend.
- Chat interface → real-time SSE responses from backend.
- Sources panel → shows retrieved chunks for transparency.
- Feedback buttons → capture thumbs up/down inline.
Why Streamlit for the Frontend?
Initially, I experimented with React + Tailwind for a polished UI. While it worked, the overhead of maintaining a frontend stack slowed iteration. For phase 1, Streamlit was the pragmatic choice.
Streamlit’s widgets for file uploads, chat boxes, and session state made it trivial to connect the FastAPI backend. More importantly, it allowed me to focus on AI logic rather than frontend boilerplate. Enterprises often undervalue rapid iteration, but in early phases, speed of learning beats pixel-perfect design. Later, if needed, this UI could evolve into a production-grade React app without changing the backend APIs.
Agentic AI Components
While the foundation of this project is a classic RAG pipeline, I also wanted to showcase how agentic AI patterns can be layered on top. The ingestion, retrieval, and query modules can each be thought of as specialized agents — modular services that own a specific responsibility and interact through well-defined APIs.
By treating these as agents rather than just functions, we open the door to orchestration patterns where a higher-level “manager agent” can decide which retrieval strategy to invoke, when to pull from memory, or how to escalate user queries. This modular, agentic framing not only makes the system easier to extend (e.g., plugging in new retrievers or reasoning agents), but also aligns with how enterprise AI systems are trending: composable, multi-agent architectures that adapt dynamically to user needs.
Agentic AI: Beyond RAG
The agentic framing deserves emphasis. Each backend component — ingestion, retrieval, memory, and feedback — can be seen as a specialized agent with its own domain of responsibility. In phase 2, these agents could be orchestrated by a “planner agent” that decides dynamically:
- Should a query be answered directly from memory?
- Does it require retrieval from external sources?
- Should the assistant escalate to a reasoning chain or a specialized SQL agent?
This turns the system into a multi-agent collaboration rather than a monolithic pipeline. The beauty of FastAPI + modular design is that these orchestration patterns can be layered incrementally without rewriting the foundation.
Lessons Learned
- Hybrid retrieval is essential — dense alone misses keywords, sparse alone misses semantics.
- Streaming matters for UX — waiting 10 seconds for a full response kills the experience.
- Memory transforms interactions — contextually aware conversations feel much closer to a real assistant.
- Feedback closes the loop — enterprises need to know what works and what doesn’t.
Real-World Use Cases
It’s easy to treat projects like this as “just another chatbot,” but the architecture unlocks much more. Imagine an internal enterprise knowledge assistant that ingests compliance documents, training manuals, and SOPs so employees can ask questions in plain language. Or a data engineering copilot that combines SQL generation with semantic memory of previous queries. Even customer support copilots benefit — agents can query customer histories and support documents, while feedback signals highlight where retrieval quality can improve.
These use cases highlight why ingestion, hybrid retrieval, and memory aren’t optional extras but they are requirements for real-world adoption. Enterprises need assistants that “remember,” cite sources transparently, and improve through human feedback.
Deployment & Enterprise Readiness
For enterprises, how you deploy matters just as much as what you deploy. A simple next step is to Dockerize both the FastAPI backend and the Streamlit frontend, then wire them with Docker Compose. This provides portability and a clean way to run locally, in staging, or in production.
Security and governance also come into play. Adding API key authentication to both ingestion and query endpoints ensures only authorized users interact with the system. Later, integration with enterprise SSO (e.g., Okta, Azure AD) makes adoption seamless.
Finally, observability is crucial. Logging queries, response times, and feedback patterns gives admins the ability to monitor performance and justify ROI. A lightweight admin dashboard can transform this from a neat prototype into a system CIOs feel confident rolling out.
Closing Thoughts
This project started as an exploration of RAG pipelines but quickly grew into something bigger: a demonstration of how to blend pragmatic engineering with agentic AI principles. Enterprises don’t want demos rather they want systems that can scale, adapt, and improve.
By focusing on ingestion, hybrid retrieval, memory, streaming, and feedback, I built a foundation that feels much closer to what an enterprise AI assistant actually needs. And by choosing technologies like FastAPI and Streamlit, I kept the balance between rapid iteration and future extensibility.
In the coming months, I plan to extend this work with authentication, deployment pipelines, and richer agentic orchestration. But even in its current form, the system proves a critical point: enterprise AI assistants arebeing built today, one component at a time.
Here is the repo if you are interested in diving further into the code:
https://github.com/kknudson15/Agentic_AI/tree/main/enterprise-rag-platform
Building an Enterprise-Ready AI Assistant with FastAPI + Streamlit was originally published in Towards AI on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Before Transformers: The Essential Prerequisites Every Developer Should Know
Want Transformers to make sense finally? Master these foundations first — the secrets nobody tells beginners.
Full Transformer Learning Series: From Foundations to Mastery
Every revolution has a hidden story. Transformers didn’t just appear out of nowhere — they are the result of decades of strange…
LLM Multi-GPU Training: A Guide for AI Engineers
To keep up with the rapid evolution of large language models (LLMs), multi-GPU training has become a crucial necessity for AI engineers. As models scale from billions to trillions of parameters, a single GPU is no longer sufficient for both training from scratch and fine-tuning existing models. As models grow from billions to trillions of parameters, the limitations of a single GPU become glaringly obvious. The need for massive resources — both in terms of compute and memory — is the primary bottleneck for many researchers and developers.
This is where the strategic use of multi-GPU and multi-node setups becomes not just an option, but a necessity, allowing us to overcome these limitations and push the boundaries of what is possible in AI.
What are the challenges when training Large Language Models(LLMs)?
The biggest hurdles in training LLMs are the enormous computational resources and memory required. A model like GPT-3, with 175 billion parameters, simply can’t fit on a single consumer-grade GPU. This is not just about model weights, but also activations, gradients, and optimizer states, which all consume precious VRAM. Without distributed training, you’re faced with an impossible memory wall. A common example of this would be trying to run a model that requires over 80GB of VRAM on a single GPU with only 24GB. The process would fail immediately with an out-of-memory error.
How can distributed training strategies help?
To overcome the limitations of a single GPU, engineers use distributed training, which involves distributing the model and data across multiple GPUs or even multiple machines.
This approach addresses three key challenges: memory usage, compute efficiency, and communication overhead . Distributed training allows us to scale beyond the limitations of a single piece of hardware, enabling us to handle models that would otherwise be impossible to train. For instance, using multiple GPUs allows for the collective memory of the GPUs to be used, effectively creating a larger virtual memory pool for the training process.
Key Parallelism Techniques for LLM Multi-GPU Training
The most common methods for distributing a training job across multiple GPUs are through various forms of parallelism. Understanding these is crucial for efficient and scalable training.
1) Data Parallelism
2) Distributed Data Parallelism (DDP)
3) Model Parallelism(Tensor Parallelism/Pipeline Parallelism)
4) Expert Parallelism
5) Context Parallelism
6) Sequence Parallelism (SP)
Data Parallelism (DP) is perhaps the most straightforward approach. It involves replicating the entire model on each GPU and then distributing different chunks of the training data to each one. Each GPU trains on its unique subset of data and calculates gradients. These gradients are then averaged and synchronized across all GPUs to update the model weights.
A popular implementation of this is Distributed Data Parallelism (DDP) in PyTorch, which is a highly efficient way to do data parallelism. It uses torch.distributed and init_process_group to manage the communication between GPUs. A good example of this is a scenario where you have a dataset of 100,000 images, and you distribute it across 4 GPUs, with each GPU processing 25,000 images at a time. The DistributedSampler is a helpful tool that ensures each GPU gets a unique, non-overlapping subset of the data.
Moving beyond data parallelism, Model Parallelism becomes essential when the model itself is too large to fit into the memory of a single GPU.
Tensor Parallelism involves splitting individual layers or the model’s tensors across different GPUs. This way, each GPU only holds a part of the model’s weights. For example, a large matrix multiplication operation can be partitioned, with each GPU computing a piece of the result. This technique is particularly useful for giant embedding tables or transformer blocks that exceed a single GPU’s capacity
Pipeline Parallelism focuses on distributing different layers of the model to different GPUs. Imagine a model with 12 layers. You could assign layers 1–4 to GPU 1, layers 5–8 to GPU 2, and layers 9–12 to GPU 3. Data is passed from one GPU to the next in a sequential “pipeline.” This can be visualized as an assembly line where each worker (GPU) performs a specific task (a set of layers) and passes the result to the next worker.
Expert Parallelism, as seen in models like Mixture of Experts (MoE), distributes different “expert” neural networks across various GPUs. When a token needs to be processed, a gating network determines which expert(s) should handle it, routing the data to the appropriate GPU. This is an effective way to scale models with sparse activation patterns.
In addition to the main types, other techniques exist. Context Parallelism is about distributing the input context or sequence across different devices, while Sequence Parallelism (SP) is a more advanced technique for handling very long input sequences. It works by parallelizing the computation within a single transformer layer, which can be combined with DDP to further optimize training for long sequences.
For example, instead of running the entire sequence on one GPU, you could split a 1000-token sequence into two 500-token chunks, with each GPU processing one chunk.
Optimization Techniques for More Efficient Training?
Beyond parallelism, there are numerous techniques to make multi-GPU training more efficient and to reduce memory consumption.
1) Zero Redundancy Optimizer (ZeRO)
2) Activation Recomputation
3) Gradient Accumulation
4) Fused Kernels
5) Mixed Precision Training
The Zero Redundancy Optimizer (ZeRO), from the DeepSpeed library, is an optimizer that shards the model states (optimizer states, gradients, and parameters) across GPUs, dramatically reducing memory overhead.
Activation Recomputation, or gradient checkpointing, saves memory by not storing all intermediate activations during the forward pass, instead re-calculating them during the backward pass.
Gradient Accumulation allows you to use a larger effective batch size than your GPU memory allows by computing gradients over several mini-batches and summing them before a single weight update (Source: Hugging Face Nanotron).
Fused Kernels such as FlashAttention, which is specifically designed to optimize the self-attention mechanism reduce memory access and increase speed.
Mixed Precision Training uses both 16-bit and 32-bit floating-point numbers to reduce memory usage and increase throughput. Lower-level GPU architectural improvements and custom kernels also play a significant role in improving training efficiency.
Why are benchmarking and best practices so important?
While all these techniques offer powerful solutions, implementing them correctly requires a methodical approach.
The importance of benchmarking cannot be overstated. You need to measure your training throughput (the number of tokens or samples processed per second) and GPU utilization to understand what’s working and what isn’t. For instance, if your GPU utilization is low, it might be an indication of a communication bottleneck, a key challenge in distributed training. Benchmarking helps you identify these issues and fine-tune your configuration for maximum efficiency. Learning from common pitfalls, such as network failures or synchronization issues, is also crucial for building robust and scalable training pipelines.
Conclusion
Training large language models is a complex but rewarding task, and leveraging multi-GPU and distributed training strategies is essential to success. We’ve explored the fundamental challenges, the core concepts of data and model parallelism, and the crucial role of optimizations like ZeRO, and FlashAttention. Mastering these techniques is what enables us to build and fine-tune the next generation of AI models.
The landscape is constantly evolving with new architectures and tools, so staying informed and applying these principles will be key to unlocking even more powerful models.
Mastering these multi-GPU training techniques is the key to building and fine-tuning the next generation of AI models. What challenges have you faced in your own projects?
Share your experiences below to continue the conversation.
References:
- A Comprehensive Guide to Multi-GPU LoRA Fine-Tuning with Distributed Data Parallelism and Sequence…
- Scaling Deep Learning with PyTorch: Multi-Node and Multi-GPU Training Explained (with Code)
- The Ultra-Scale Playbook - a Hugging Face Space by nanotron
- Parallelism methods
LLM Multi-GPU Training: A Guide for AI Engineers was originally published in Towards AI on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Build a Data Dashboard Using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
A framework-free guide for Python programmers
The post Build a Data Dashboard Using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript appeared first on Towards Data Science.
MobileNetV2 Paper Walkthrough: The Smarter Tiny Giant
Understanding and implementing MobileNetV2 with PyTorch — the next generation of MobileNetV1
The post MobileNetV2 Paper Walkthrough: The Smarter Tiny Giant appeared first on Towards Data Science.
Interview with Zahra Ghorrati: developing frameworks for human activity recognition using wearable sensors
In this interview series, we’re meeting some of the AAAI/SIGAI Doctoral Consortium participants to find out more about their research. Zahra Ghorrati is developing frameworks for human activity recognition using wearable sensors. We caught up with Zahra to find out more about this research, the aspects she has found most interesting, and her advice for […]
Diffusion beats autoregressive in data-constrained settings
Check out our new blog post on "Diffusion beats Autoregressive in Data-Constrained settings". The era of infinite internet data is ending. This research paper asks: What is the right generative modeling objective when data—not compute—is the bottleneck?