The Case for Alien Life on Saturn’s Moon Just Got a Boost

Etched from death-defying ledges 12 stories high, vast rock panels of camels and horses preserve the talents of Ice-Age artists in the Arabian desert.

India’s Chip Dream Starts at the Back End, Not the Foundry Front

“OSAT facilities are significantly less complex, less capital-intensive, and much faster to implement.”

The post India’s Chip Dream Starts at the Back End, Not the Foundry Front appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.

Pentagon contract figures show ULA’s Vulcan rocket is getting more expensive

A close examination of this year's military contracts reveals some interesting things.

ICE wants to build a 24/7 social media surveillance team

ICE plans to hire contractors to scan platforms to target people for deportation.

How different mushrooms learned the same psychedelic trick

Scientists may have additional tools to produce psilocybin to use for medical purposes.

In a world where techlords rule us by whim, Australia’s stance against deepfakes is reason to celebrate | Van Badham

Could courage be contagious? Let’s hope so, because in the absence of powerful regulation, the normalisation of awful blooms

A man who posted non-consensual, pornified “deepfake” images of Australian women has been ordered to pay $343,500 in civil penalties for doing so by a federal court. Everyone, everywhere, should be thrilled by this decision.

What Anthony Rotondo did by uploading these images was perpetrate “image-based abuse” against his victims. It’s a wanton, wilful act of cruelty intended to harm and humiliate its targets, and it is against Australian law.

Continue reading...

OpenAI launch of video app Sora plagued by violent and racist images: ‘The guardrails are not real’

Misinformation researchers say lifelike scenes could obfuscate truth and lead to fraud, bullying and intimidation

OpenAI launched the latest iteration of its artificial intelligence-powered video generator on Tuesday, adding a social feed that allows people to share their realistic videos.

Within hours of Sora 2’s, release, though, many of the videos populating the feed and spilling over to older social media platforms depicted copyrighted characters in compromising situations as well as graphic scenes of violence and racism. OpenAI’s own terms of service for Sora as well as ChatGPT’s image or text generation prohibit content that “promotes violence” or, more broadly, “causes harm”.

Continue reading...

Advocates raise alarm over Pfas pollution from datacenters amid AI boom

Tech companies’ use of Pfas gas at facilities may mean datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought

Datacenters’ electricity demands have been accused of delaying the US’s transition to clean energy and requiring fossil fuel plants to stay online, while their high level of water consumption has also raised alarm. Now public health advocates fear another environmental problem could be linked to them – Pfas “forever chemical” pollution.

Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon often need datacenters to store servers and networking equipment that process the world’s digital traffic, and the artificial intelligence boom is driving demand for more facilities.

Continue reading...

‘Let’s learn from that history’: opera looks to luddites for how to deal with AI

New work by Ben Crick and Kamal Kaan suggests we could benefit from knowing more about the ‘machine-wreckers’

If you ask artificial intelligence when in history we can learn lessons about the global challenges of AI it does, thankfully, agree with the composer Ben Crick: 200 years ago in the north of England.

Crick believes we could all benefit from knowing more about the luddites, the “Industrial Revolution machine-wreckers”, and we need to draw lessons from them to address what is, for some, the biggest existential question of our time.

Continue reading...

AI Endangering Tourists by Sending Them to Nonexistent Landmarks in Hazardous Locations

"The proliferation of AI is an impending threat to travel."

The post AI Endangering Tourists by Sending Them to Nonexistent Landmarks in Hazardous Locations appeared first on Futurism.

You Are Not Prepared for Merriam-Webster’s Announcement of Its New AI Model

"It never hallucinates. It does not require data centers, and uses no electricity."

The post You Are Not Prepared for Merriam-Webster’s Announcement of Its New AI Model appeared first on Futurism.

Mourning Women Say OpenAI Killed Their AI Boyfriends

"OpenAI, please feel free to toss yourself off the nearest cliff at your earliest convenience."

The post Mourning Women Say OpenAI Killed Their AI Boyfriends appeared first on Futurism.

AI Data Centers Are Skyrocketing Regular People’s Energy Bills

How is this fair?

The post AI Data Centers Are Skyrocketing Regular People’s Energy Bills appeared first on Futurism.

Former OpenAI Employee Horrified by How ChatGPT Is Driving Users Into Psychosis

"Believe me when I say: the things that ChatGPT has been telling users are probably worse than you think."

The post Former OpenAI Employee Horrified by How ChatGPT Is Driving Users Into Psychosis appeared first on Futurism.

AI “Friend” Startup Overwhelmed With Hatred

"Befriend something alive."

The post AI “Friend” Startup Overwhelmed With Hatred appeared first on Futurism.

Horrific Sora 2 Video Shows Sam Altman Grilling a Dead Pikachu

"Alright Nintendo it may be time to assemble your famed lawyer squad."

The post Horrific Sora 2 Video Shows Sam Altman Grilling a Dead Pikachu appeared first on Futurism.

These little robots literally walk on water

HydroSpread, a breakthrough fabrication method, lets scientists build ultrathin soft robots directly on water. These tiny, insect-inspired machines could transform robotics, healthcare, and environmental monitoring.

RAISE 2025 panel statement on aligning AI to clinical values

Recently, I attended the Responsible AI for Social and Ethical Healthcare 2025 “2.0” Symposium organized by, among others, Harvard Medical School. The symposium featured various panels on topics surrounding generative AI, in particular multimodal LLMs, in healthcare. I was invited to speak on a panel about aligning AI to clinical values. In this article, I want to share a brief statement I prepared for this panel.

The post RAISE 2025 panel statement on aligning AI to clinical values appeared first on David Stutz.

Indonesia Revokes TikTok License Suspension After Data Submitted

Indonesia revoked a suspension on TikTok’s local operating license after the social media platform shared data requested by the government.

Why Fears of a Trillion-Dollar AI Bubble Are Growing

Investors have parted with unprecedented sums of money to help AI fulfil its lofty promise. But no one really knows how it will all pay off

German Army to Tap Anti-Drone Startup Tytan for Air Defense: FAS

The German army is set to tap local defense startup Tytan Technologies to help it build a shield against drone attacks, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.

The Big AI Trade in Europe Is All About Data Centers and Power

As the artificial intelligence frenzy drives global equities to record highs, in Europe the momentum is flowing into industries critical to powering the technology.

'SNL' returns to a late-night world still finding its footing in Trump's 2nd term

Political satire has long been a hallmark of "Saturday Night Live." The climate for late-night comedy, however, has changed.

I thought my twins were fraternal, but no one can tell them apart. They refused to take a DNA test for me.

Born as fraternal twins, my sons may actually be identical. At 23, they don't want to know — and I've learned to accept the mystery.

Taylor Swift is breaking her own records with 'The Life of a Showgirl'

Taylor Swift released her 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl," on Friday and its already breaking records.

OpenAI appears to be walking back its Sora copyright policy

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will give rightsholders more control over the use of their characters.

My 34-year-old daughter will always live at home. Still, I'm proud of how far she has come.

Samantha Elisofon was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. Now a successful actor and singer, she still lives at home with her mother, Marguerite.

Parents often say the teenage years are the hardest. But my kids are in high school, and I love this phase.

I was nervous about my kids becoming teenagers, but I'm loving it. They're turning into fun adults, and their activities aren't kid-focused anymore.

My family of 3 moved from the UK to the US. I'm lonely and worry about our aging parents being so far away.

Clare Brown moved with her husband and son from England to Florida. She and her teen have struggled with loneliness through their years in the US.

34 details you might have missed in '10 Things I Hate About You'

"10 Things I Hate About You" was released 26 years ago. Now it's available to stream on Netflix.

7 mistakes you should never make on a first date, according to etiquette experts

According to etiquette experts, showing off financially, arriving late, and oversharing are a few of the things you should never do on a first date.

I've lost over 50 pounds while prioritizing easy-to-prep meals and a high-protein diet. Here are 12 things I get at Costco.

Throughout my weight-loss journey, I've lost over 50 pounds while prioritizing a high-protein diet and easy-to-prep meals and snacks from Costco.

China is making big aircraft carrier moves. Here's how its flattops stack up against the US Navy.

China released footage of carrier Fujian's electromagnetic catapults last month, showing off a technology only the US had previously.

Naomi Watts read about infertility 'in secret' when her perimenopause began at 36: 'It's a sin to age in our industry.'

Naomi Watts was diagnosed with perimenopause at 36. It took her over a decade to publicly speak about symptoms like infertility and dry skin.

My daughter was never close to my mother. Now, it's too late, and I feel guilty.

I never invited my mother to family gatherings, so my daughter never really knew her grandmother. I now know relationships need to be nurtured.

Taylor Swift's 12th album is out. BI breaks down what 'The Life of a Showgirl' is all about.

In this Saturday edition of Business Insider Today, we're talking about Taylor Swift's latest album, "The Life of a Showgirl."

This hidden street in New York City looks like the European countryside — and two condos on it are for sale

Pomander Walk is a hidden street on New York City's Upper West Side with Tudor-style units. Two condos are on sale now.

No outfit is complete without a watch. These are the timepieces successful men swear by.

Watches are a core part of the wardrobes of many successful men. While some wear affordable, chic options, others splurge on luxury timepieces.

My 76-year-old mother moved from Florida to New York to live with me, but left after 2 years because I was too boring

My 76-year-old mother moved to New York to live with me, but we realized she's more social than I am. She moved back to Florida and is much happier.

Ford's CEO says a Japanese management practice he picked up from rival Toyota helps him make better decisions

Ford CEO Jim Farley said the practice of "gemba," or seeing processes in person, is helping him modernize the 122-year-old automaker for the EV age.

These co-CEOs can't imagine running things on their own

Spotify, Comcast, and Oracle have recently named co-CEOs. Dual chiefs share what it's like to make decisions together and split responsibilities.

Telegram's CEO explains his philosophy for using a phone as little as possible — and allocating 11 to 12 hours for sleep

Pavel Durov, Telegram's CEO, discusses his approach to limiting mobile phone distractions and prioritizing 11 to 12 hours of sleep.

Post 2/10 — Reliability by Design: Probes, PodDisruptionBudgets, and Topology Spread Constraints

Now you’ve laid a baseline of namespace isolation, quotas, network policy, and PSA (if not, see Post 1 of the series), the next layer is reliability. In this post I walk you through the key Kubernetes primitives that help your workloads survive disruptions and evolve safely: probes, PDBs, topology constraints, and rollout strategies. This blog dives deeper into these nuanced offerings by Kubernetes, buckle up for some fun, hope you enjoy the ride.

• Use liveness, readiness, and startup probes to let Kubernetes detect and recover from unhealthy application states.
• A PodDisruptionBudget (PDB) ensures voluntary disruptions (e.g. node drain, rolling upgrades) don’t violate your availability SLO.
• TopologySpreadConstraints force pods to be balanced across failure domains (zones, nodes) to reduce blast radius.
• Carefully configure rollout strategies (surge, maxUnavailable) in your Deployment to control downtime vs speed.
• Together, these tools let you design reliability from the start—preventing cascading failures rather than firefighting.

• You already have a Kubernetes cluster with kubectl access (as assumed in Post 1).
• You have an existing Deployment (or create one) that you can modify.
• You have at least two nodes (ideally in different zones or failure domains) to test spread constraints.
• You can cordon/drain nodes (kubectl drain) to simulate disruption.

A. Probes: Liveness / Readiness / Startup

• Definition: Probes are periodic checks (HTTP, TCP, exec) that Kubernetes makes into containers to detect their health or readiness. Without them, a stuck process can stay “Running” indefinitely, and traffic may go to unhealthy pods.

• Best practices:

  • Always include readiness in your services so endpoints only include truly ready pods.
  • Use startup probe for apps with long initialization (so liveness doesn’t kill them prematurely).
  • Be conservative: gentle probe intervals and timeouts to avoid false negatives under GC / background load.
  • Test locally to find thresholds under load.

Commands / YAML snippets:

readinessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /health
    port: 8080
  initialDelaySeconds: 5
  periodSeconds: 5
  timeoutSeconds: 2

livenessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /live
    port: 8080
  initialDelaySeconds: 15
  periodSeconds: 10
  timeoutSeconds: 2

startupProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /ready
    port: 8080
  failureThreshold: 30
  periodSeconds: 10

Before → After:

• Before: Pod is “Running” perpetually, even if app crashes internally; Service routes traffic to a dead process.
• After: Kubernetes restarts the pod automatically (liveness), and the pod is only added to load via readiness when healthy.

When to use: Always for production; startup probes if your app has long boot phases.

B. PodDisruptionBudget (PDB)

• Definition: A PDB is a policy that defines the minimum number (or fraction) of pods that must remain available during voluntary disruptions. Ensures your system doesn’t accidentally violate availability during upgrades, node drains, or autoscaling events.

• Best practices:

  • Use minAvailable when you want a floor on availability, or maxUnavailable for a cap on disruption.
  • Don’t set them too tight (you might block your own updates). Leave wiggle room.
  • Align PDBs with your rolling update strategy (surge / unavailable) to avoid deadlocks.
  • Monitor PDB status (kubectl get pdb) to detect stuck updates.

Commands / YAML snippet:

apiVersion: policy/v1
kind: PodDisruptionBudget
metadata:
  name: my-app-pdb
spec:
  minAvailable: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: my-app

Before → After:

• Before: During a node drain, all pods could be disrupted and cause downtime.
• After: Only one pod can be evicted at a time, preserving minimal availability.

When to use: For any service with more than one replica; optional for batch jobs but still beneficial.

C. TopologySpreadConstraints

• Definition: A declaration in pod spec that controls how Kubernetes spreads pods across failure domains (nodes, zones) to enforce balance. Avoid overconcentration: if one zone or node goes down, you don’t lose your entire workload.

• Best practices:

  • Use well-known node labels: e.g. topology.kubernetes.io/zone or kubernetes.io/hostname.
  • maxSkew = 1 is a typical starting point (difference <=1 pod across domains).
  • whenUnsatisfiable: use DoNotSchedule for strict spreading or ScheduleAnyway for softer enforcement.
  • Use the same spread constraints on all revisions of your Deployment to maintain consistency.

Commands / YAML snippet:

spec:
  topologySpreadConstraints:
  - maxSkew: 1
    topologyKey: topology.kubernetes.io/zone
    whenUnsatisfiable: DoNotSchedule
    labelSelector:
      matchLabels:
        app: my-app
  - maxSkew: 1
    topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
    whenUnsatisfiable: DoNotSchedule
    labelSelector:
      matchLabels:
        app: my-app

Before → After:

• Before: All pods end up in one zone or node (fastest node, better resources).
• After: Pods evenly distributed across zones/nodes, reducing risk if one fails.

When to use: For replicated workloads in HA setups, especially multi-zone or multi-node clusters.

D. Rollout Strategies (Surge / maxUnavailable)

• Definition: In a Deployment’s strategy.rollingUpdate, maxSurge is how many extra pods can be created during upgrade; maxUnavailable is how many pods are allowed to drop at once. They control the trade-off between speed and availability during upgrades.

• Best practices:

  • Use maxUnavailable: 0 and maxSurge: 1 (or more) for zero-downtime (if resources allow).
  • For batch or low-priority workloads, allow some unavailability for faster rollout (e.g. 20–30%).
  • Always test with your PDB + spread settings to ensure upgrade doesn’t stall.

Commands / YAML snippet:

strategy:
  type: RollingUpdate
  rollingUpdate:
    maxSurge: 1
    maxUnavailable: 0

Before → After:

• Before: Default 25% surge/unavailable may drop too many pods at once, violating SLO during high load.
• After: You control how many can be updated and how many remain live.

When to use: Always set explicitly rather than relying on defaults; vary per workload type.

Let’s walk through building an app that has probes, PDB, and topology spread constraints. Then simulate node disruption and see your reliability in action.

Step 1: Namespace + sample deployment

kubectl create ns reliability-demo
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=reliability-demo

Deploy a simple app (e.g. HTTP echo) with 3 replicas:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: echo
  labels: { app: echo }
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels: { app: echo }
  template:
    metadata:
      labels: { app: echo }
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: app
        image: hashicorp/http-echo:0.2.3
        args:
        - "-text=hello"
        ports:
        - containerPort: 5678

kubectl apply -f echo.yaml
kubectl get pods -o wide

Step 2: Add probes, PDB, and topology constraints

Edit the above spec:

# inside spec.template.spec.containers[0]:
        readinessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /health
            port: 5678
          initialDelaySeconds: 3
          periodSeconds: 5
        livenessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /live
            port: 5678
          initialDelaySeconds: 10
          periodSeconds: 10
# Also add at spec
  strategy:
    type: RollingUpdate
    rollingUpdate:
      maxSurge: 1
      maxUnavailable: 0
  topologySpreadConstraints:
  - maxSkew: 1
    topologyKey: topology.kubernetes.io/zone
    whenUnsatisfiable: DoNotSchedule
    labelSelector:
      matchLabels: { app: echo }
  - maxSkew: 1
    topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
    whenUnsatisfiable: DoNotSchedule
    labelSelector:
      matchLabels: { app: echo }

Create a PDB:

apiVersion: policy/v1
kind: PodDisruptionBudget
metadata:
  name: echo-pdb
spec:
  minAvailable: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: echo

Apply both:

kubectl apply -f modified-echo.yaml
kubectl apply -f pdb-echo.yaml

Check status:

kubectl get pods -o wide
kubectl get pdb
kubectl describe pdb echo-pdb

Step 3: Simulate node drain and verify behavior

Pick one node:

NODE=$(kubectl get nodes -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')
kubectl cordon $NODE
kubectl drain $NODE --ignore-daemonsets --delete-emptydir-data --disable-eviction

Watch pods:

kubectl get pods -o wide -w

Expectations:

• One pod evicted (PDB ensures minAvailable 2 remain).
• New pods rescheduled onto other nodes (respecting topology constraints).
• No downtime for readiness endpoints if requests route to healthy pods.

Restore node:

kubectl uncordon $NODE

Bonus: Trigger a rollout:

kubectl set image deployment/echo app=hashicorp/http-echo:0.3.0
kubectl rollout status deployment/echo

Observe that upgrades are safe, respecting availability and spread.

• Misconfigured probes kill healthy pods / false positives.
  Probe timeouts too aggressive lead to unnecessary restarts. Tune after load testing.

• PDB deadlocks your upgrades.
  If your PDB demands minAvailable = replicas, plus you set maxUnavailable = 0 and maxSurge = 0, your rollout cannot make progress. Always allow some headroom (e.g. maxSurge: 1) or loosen PDB.

• Skew violations during rolling updates.
  Spread constraints sometimes misbehave during updates: the scheduler considers old and new pods together in balancing, so you may temporarily skew. Use ScheduleAnyway as fallback or trigger rescheduling.

• Asymmetric zones or resource imbalance.
  If one zone has less capacity, strict constraints may block scheduling. Use a softer whenUnsatisfiable: ScheduleAnyway or allow some skew.

• Spread constraints don’t rebalance after scale-down.
  When pods are removed, existing pods may end up unevenly distributed. Use a Descheduler or manual intervention to rebalance.

• Startup probe too permissive or missing disables liveness protection.
  Without startup probe, a slow boot may trigger liveness failure. With one, if too lenient, you delay detecting broken pods.

With probes, PDBs, topology spread, and rollout control, you now have a robust reliability foundation. Your services will survive node drains, upgrades, and zone outages while satisfying availability SLOs.

In Post 3, we’ll build on this: version upgrades, canary/blue-green deployments, cluster upgrades, and rollback strategies, so you can evolve your system safely under load.

Diagram 1 — Rolling update timeline

Diagram 2 — Zone spread visualization

Drop a comment if you learned something new and share your thoughts. Thank You.

Indexing, Hashing & Query Optimization in SQL

Have you ever noticed how some database queries return results almost instantly — even when the table has thousands of rows?
That’s the magic of Indexing, Hashing, and Query Optimization.
In this post, we’ll see how these techniques make databases faster and smarter — using a simple Students table as our example.

Let’s start by creating the table and inserting 20 sample records to work with.

B-Tree indexing is the default and most common type of index in relational databases.
It helps in quickly locating rows based on range queries or sorted data.

CREATE INDEX idx_rollno_btree
ON Students(roll_no);

Now, let’s use that index to fetch a student’s details efficiently.

Result: The database uses the B-Tree index to find the record in milliseconds.

A B+ Tree index is an enhancement of the B-Tree — perfect for range-based queries, such as finding all students with CGPA above a threshold.

Result: The database quickly retrieves qualifying students without scanning the entire table.

Hash indexing is great for exact matches, such as looking up a department by name.
It uses hash functions to map keys directly to data locations — extremely fast for equality checks.

HASH index using an in-memory table:

A MEMORY table is stored in RAM. If the database server restarts, the MEMORY table disappears. Use it only for temporary, very fast lookups.

Result: The database directly jumps to all CSBS records using the hash key — no full scan required.

Indexes and hashing dramatically improve performance by reducing search time and optimizing query execution plans.
To see the difference, you can run:

EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM Students WHERE cgpa > 8.0;

Result: The plan shows the use of indexes, confirming optimized access paths.

• B-Tree Index – Ideal for range and sorted queries
• B+ Tree Index – Efficient for range lookups with dense leaf nodes
• Hash Index – Perfect for equality comparisons
• Query Optimization – The key to high-speed, low-latency data retrieval

Indexes are like shortcuts for the database — they make searching faster, queries smarter, and performance smoother.

SQL #Indexing #Hashing #QueryOptimization #Database #Learning #DevCommunity

ProofOfThought: LLM-based reasoning using Z3 theorem proving

In recent years, the emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) has revolutionized the way we interact with and leverage artificial intelligence. However, while LLMs excel at generating coherent text, they often struggle with reasoning and logical inference tasks. Enter ProofOfThought—an innovative approach that combines the power of LLMs with formal verification techniques using the Z3 theorem prover. This synthesis allows developers to create systems that not only generate text but also reason about it coherently. In this blog post, we will explore the architecture of ProofOfThought, its implementation, and practical applications, equipping you with actionable insights to leverage this technology in your own projects.

Understanding the Components of ProofOfThought

Large Language Models (LLMs)

LLMs, such as OpenAI's GPT and Google's BERT, have excelled in natural language processing (NLP) tasks. They are trained on vast amounts of text data, enabling them to generate human-like responses. However, their inherent limitations lie in complex reasoning tasks, where logical consistency and correctness are paramount. For instance, while an LLM can generate plausible answers to questions, it may fail to validate these answers against a set of logical constraints.

The Role of Z3 Theorem Prover

Z3 is a high-performance theorem prover developed by Microsoft, which serves as a tool for checking the satisfiability of logical formulas over one or more theories. By integrating Z3 with LLMs, we can not only generate responses but also validate them against logical constraints. This integration enables a more robust reasoning mechanism that can be vital in various applications, from legal reasoning to programming assistance.

Architectural Overview of ProofOfThought

The architecture of ProofOfThought can be broken down into several key components:

1. Input Processing: User queries are pre-processed to extract relevant information, which is then transformed into a format suitable for LLMs and Z3.
2. LLM Integration: The LLM generates an initial response based on the processed input, creating a plausible answer that may or may not be logically sound.
3. Theorem Proving with Z3: The generated response is subsequently passed to Z3, where logical checks are performed to ensure consistency and correctness.
4. Output Generation: Based on the results from Z3, the system either confirms the generated response or prompts the LLM to revise it, creating a feedback loop for improved accuracy.

This architecture not only promotes a more interactive experience but also ensures that the generated content adheres to logical standards.

Implementation Steps for Developers

To implement ProofOfThought in your projects, follow these steps:

1. Set Up Your Environment: Ensure you have Python installed along with the necessary libraries, such as Transformers for LLMs and Z3 for theorem proving. You can install these using pip:

   pip install transformers z3-solver

1. Load Your LLM: Use the Transformers library to load a pre-trained LLM. Here’s an example using Hugging Face's Transformers:

   from transformers import pipeline

   llm = pipeline('text-generation', model='gpt-3')

1. Integrate Z3: Initialize Z3 and define your logical constraints. Here’s a simple example:

   from z3 import *

   def check_consistency(statement):
       s = Solver()
       # Example logical constraints
       x = Bool('x')
       s.add(x == True)  # Replace with your own logic
       return s.check() == sat

1. Create the User Interaction Loop: Set up a mechanism to handle user queries, generate responses, and validate them:

   while True:
       user_input = input("Ask a question: ")
       response = llm(user_input)
       if check_consistency(response[0]['generated_text']):
           print("Answer:", response[0]['generated_text'])
       else:
           print("The response is not logically consistent. Please rephrase.")

Real-World Applications

Legal Reasoning

One of the most compelling applications of ProofOfThought is in the legal domain. Legal texts are intricate and often laden with logical nuances. By employing LLMs for generating legal arguments and Z3 for validating them, law firms can expedite research and ensure the validity of arguments presented in court.

Programming Assistance

Another exciting application lies in programming. Imagine an AI-powered assistant that not only writes code snippets but also verifies their correctness. By integrating ProofOfThought into IDEs, developers can receive real-time feedback on code logic, reducing errors and improving productivity.

Performance Considerations

When implementing ProofOfThought, consider the following performance optimization techniques:

• Batch Processing: If you anticipate high traffic, batch process multiple queries to minimize Z3's overhead.
• Caching Results: Store frequently checked logical statements to avoid redundant computations.
• Asynchronous Processing: Use asynchronous programming techniques to ensure that the user experience remains smooth, even during lengthy validation processes.

Security Implications

As with any AI system, security must be a priority. Here are some best practices:

• Input Validation: Always validate user inputs to avoid injection attacks or malformed queries that could compromise the system.
• Access Control: Ensure that sensitive operations, such as modifying the logical constraints, are restricted to authenticated users only.
• Data Protection: Encrypt sensitive data and employ secure communication protocols to safeguard user queries and responses.

Conclusion: Key Takeaways and Future Directions

ProofOfThought represents a significant advancement in the integration of LLMs and formal reasoning. By leveraging the capabilities of Z3, developers can create systems that not only generate text but also validate it, opening doors to applications in various fields. As AI continues to evolve, the fusion of reasoning and language generation will likely lead to more robust and intelligent systems.

For developers looking to explore this technology, the steps outlined above provide a solid foundation. As we continue to refine these techniques, the potential for future applications—from enhanced legal reasoning to more intelligent programming aides—will undoubtedly grow. Embrace the challenge of integrating these technologies, and stay ahead in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI and machine learning.

Testing the product as an end user.

🧪 Testing isn’t about ticking boxes. It’s about thinking like a user.

Requirements are written with assumptions; they tell you what’s expected.
Users arrive with expectations, and they need experience they really don't care about user stories in Jira.

The gap between the two? That’s where startups succeed… or stumble.

At Bugmagnets, we test like your first customer, your 100th customer, and your toughest investor. 🐞🚀

Great startups don’t just launch features; they launch experiences people believe in. We identify the gap between user expectations and user stories of your product.

KEXP: strongboi - magic (Live on KEXP)

strongboi hit KEXP on August 14, 2025 to deliver a lush in-studio take on “magic,” fronted by Alice Matthew’s vocals, with Ziv Yamin on keys, Dekel Adin on bass, Matthew Roth on drums, Eden Mechulam on guitar/vox, and Paolo Guolo on sax, flute, and backing vox. The session was hosted by Kennady Quille and captured by an ace crew: engineer Kevin Suggs, mixer David Parry, masterer Matt Ogaz, and camera team Carlos Cruz, Leah Franks, Scott Holpainen, Luke Knecht & Ettie Wahl (edited by Carlos Cruz).

Dive into the full performance at KEXP.org or on strongboi.com, and join their YouTube channel for exclusive perks!

Watch on YouTube

The Game Theorists: Game Theory: How DEADLY Is Donkey Kong's Punch?

MatPat’s latest Game Theory dives into just how devastating Donkey Kong’s iconic punch really is—both in Smash and in the upcoming Donkey Kong Bananza. Expect physics estimates, damage calculations, and a few surprising real-world comparisons that might make you think twice before standing in DK’s way.

Along the way he shouts out sponsors like Boot.Dev (25% off with code “THEGAMETHEORISTS”), teases Theorywear merch, and credits the behind-the-scenes team (writers Tom Robinson & Zaech Stew, editors Axellent, Koen Verhagen, Marc Schneider & Jerika, plus sound designer Yosi Berman).

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GameSpot: Pokemon Legends: Z-A – Official Gameplay Overview Trailer

Pokémon Legends: Z-A Launch Trailer Highlights

Get ready to explore Lumiose City when Pokémon Legends: Z-A drops on October 16, 2025 for both Nintendo Switch and the new Nintendo Switch 2. Real-time catching, battling, and Mega Evolution bring nonstop action for veteran Trainers and first-timers alike.

Plus, if you already own the game on Nintendo Switch, you can snag the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition with an upgrade pack—no need to start over!

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GameSpot: Battlefield 6 Everything To Know

Battlefield 6 drops on October 10th, and it could be the franchise’s grand return.

This guide walks you through everything you need to know—new modes, class roles, weapon-customization options, the full campaign rundown, multiplayer features and more—so you’ll be ready when the action kicks off.

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GameSpot: Ghost of Yotei - The Most Stylish Armor Combinations

Ghost of Yōtei rewards players with a mountain of vanity gear, but piecing together a standout outfit can be tricky. This quick guide highlights the coolest armor combos you can replicate or tweak, so you’ll always look sharp on the battlefield.

Whether you’re chasing a stealthy ninja vibe or bold samurai flair, these outfit ideas will help you level up your in-game style and stand out in Yōtei.

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GameSpot: skate. | Early Access Season 1 Overview Trailer

skate.™ Season 1 is now in Early Access—drop in for free on PS4/PS5, Xbox One/Series X|S, and PC (EA App, Epic Games Store, Steam). Discover fresh skate spots, tackle weekly Challenges, and collect rewards to show off your style in a buzzing social world, complete with evolving Community Parks, new music, and branded gear.

Level up even more with the skate.Pass: cruise the standard track through gameplay or upgrade to the premium track via purchase. Just download, log in with an EA account, stay online, and you’re all set to roll—age and platform subscriptions apply.

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GameSpot: Call of Duty Developers Share Their Favorite Loadouts

The Black Ops 7 devs have finally let us in on their secret weaponry setups, walking us through everything from heavyweight ARs to slick SMGs and the perks they can’t live without. It’s like slide-into-DM level intel for your next match.

Want the nitty-gritty? Hit up GameSpot’s full breakdown and swipe these director-approved loadouts before the beta wraps up.

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GameSpot: Heck of a Week to Start a Gaming News Show | Kurt & Lucy Gotcha Covered

Heck of a Week to Start a Gaming News Show

Kurt Indovina and Lucy James kick off the first episode of Kurt & Lucy Gotcha Covered, diving into the latest gaming headlines, wild challenges, and plenty of heated debates. They cover everything from the Xbox Game Pass price hike and a $100 Steam sale showdown to saving EA and dreaming up the ultimate Lord of the Rings game.

Along the way, they weigh in on whether losing Bully 2 was a fair trade, rave about Rockstar’s The Warriors, debate Halo’s future, and even hit the track in Sonic Racing Crossworlds. Plus, you can catch the audio version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or the RSS feed—just don’t forget to send in your letters!

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Kingmakers, the medieval battle game with modern weapons, has been delayed

Redemption Road's absolutely bonkers-looking medieval shooter, Kingmakers, was slated to launch in Early Access on October 8, but now its release has been pushed back with no new date in sight. The developers posted an update on Steam to say that the scheduled launch, just days away, "will no longer be possible," going on to explain that they need "a bit more time on content polish before we feel good about charging money for it."

Redemption Road Games

Kingmakers has generated a fair amount of hype since it was announced last year, and it sits among the top wishlisted titles on Steam. The game sends players "back in time to a war-torn medieval era with a vast arsenal of modern weapons," from guns to tanks. And if you've seen the trailers, you know it's not just the concept that's bananas — the gameplay we've been shown so far is completely over the top. In its statement about the delay, the team said that Kingmakers is "an incredibly ambitious, uncompromising game, and we don't want to cut any planned features, for the sake of getting it out the door earlier."

"With Kingmakers, we set out to push the Unreal Engine 4 codebase to its absolute limits, while still providing true 60fps to midrange PCs, without the need for fake frames," the team wrote. "We are an 80% engineering team, who got into this business to push technological barriers. We currently have tens of thousands of soldiers, each with AI and pathfinding that rivals what you'd expect from a AAA third person shooter. When you walk away from a battle, it continues to play out. Nothing is faked."  

The developers haven't provided any update on what the timeline looks like now beyond the fact that the game won't be ready for October 8. But, they added, "We will be presenting a half hour long deepdive on Kingmakers gameplay very soon, with a comprehensive overview of everything we've been working on."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/kingmakers-the-medieval-battle-game-with-modern-weapons-has-been-delayed-211935670.html?src=rss

OpenAI acquires an AI-powered personal investing app

Just a day after dethroning SpaceX as the most valuable private company in the world, OpenAI has acquired another startup. This time, the AI giant acquired Roi, an app that offers a one-stop shop for all your financial portfolios and an AI chatbot that provides personalized investing advice. Details of the acquisition weren't made public, but TechCrunch reported that Sujith Vishwajith, the startup's CEO and co-founder, will be the only one joining OpenAI's team.

It might come as a surprise for OpenAI to venture into the personal finance space, but this latest acquisition offers some hints at what the company could have in store for the future. OpenAI could be leaning into an AI chatbot that provides more than just responses to general queries and offers more personalization as a "proactive assistant," as detailed in its blog post introducing Pulse.

OpenAI is also no stranger to acquiring smaller companies that offer something that could advance ChatGPT. In May, the company acquired io, an AI hardware startup cofounded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, for $6.5 billion. OpenAI followed up that major purchase by spending another $1.1 billion to acquire Statsig, a startup that focused on product testing, in September.

The best Prime Day SSD deals include discounts on gear from Crucial, Samsung and more

A portable storage device can make a world of difference to intensive processing tasks, from running massive video games — which feels like all of them these days — to core operating system functions. A solid-state drive (SSD) gives your hard drive more bandwidth than it comes with by default, making huge chunks of data easier to digest and keeping your device from running too hot. This October Prime Day, we've rounded up the best deals on SSDs, portable SSDs and microSD cards. Not only are these some of the best products in the field, but their prices are lower than they're likely to be for some time.

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

What to read this weekend: Ghost stories to kick off October

Here are some recently released titles to add to your reading list. This week, we read Bora Chung's Midnight Timetable: A Novel in Ghost Stories, and started a new series from Mad Cave Studios, It Killed Everyone But Me.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/what-to-read-this-weekend-ghost-stories-to-kick-off-october-182937425.html?src=rss

California regulators threaten to revoke Tesla's insurance license for mishandling claims

Tesla launched its own auto insurance options for California customers back in 2019, but it may soon lose its authorization to do just that. The California Department of Insurance (CDI) issued enforcement actions against Tesla Insurance, which acts as an agent for State National Insurance Company and is also named in the legal notice. The issued warning claims that Tesla Insurance and State National saw "repeated failures to comply with long-standing claims handling laws." The agency also accused Tesla Insurance of "egregious delays" when responding to its customers' claims and not conducting "thorough, fair and objective investigations of claims."

According to the filing, the CDI received 97 complaints about State National in 2022 and determined that 21 were justified, while also noting that the insurance provider committed 40 violations of the state's insurance regulations. The numbers skyrocketed over the years, eventually hitting 1,095 received complaints about State National, which were boiled down to 415 justified complaints between January 1, 2025 and September 22, 2025. Within this year's complaints so far, the CDI said that State National committed 1,498 violations of the state's insurance code. 

As for Tesla Insurance, the CDI received 842 complaints and said that 166 of which were justified in the same time period. The agency also accused Tesla of committing 532 violations. On top of the violations, the state agency claimed that Tesla Insurance's Head of Claims position was left vacant for several months, and when eventually filled, saw frequent turnover between April 2023 and May 2025.

After the filing on Friday, Tesla Insurance and State National have 15 days to respond to the CDI. If the two insurance providers don't resolve the issues laid out in the complaint, they will be put in front of a judge who will determine if they can continue offering insurance in the state. Along with the potential regulatory consequences, Tesla Insurance and State National will face "monetary penalties up to $5,000 for each unlawful, unfair, or deceptive act, or up to $10,000 for each such act determined to be willful."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/california-regulators-threaten-to-revoke-teslas-insurance-license-for-mishandling-claims-180942929.html?src=rss

The best Amazon Prime Day kitchen deals include up to 50 percent off our favorite air fryers

Cooking is all about timing, right? So if you’re a home chef looking for an opportunity to save money on new kitchen gear, your deals timer should be pinging right about now. Amazon’s October Prime Day sale has extended to lots of the kitchen appliances and gadgets that Engadget staffers use and recommend. We found deals on Ninja air fryers, Anova sous vide machines, Breville appliances, KitchenAid gadgets and many more. Here are the best Prime Day deals on kitchen tech we could find — along with links to our reviews and guides so you can make informed (and timely) purchases.

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

Prime Day deal: Amazon's Echo Spot alarm clock drops to only $45

If you’re looking to replace your old alarm clock with an Alexa-powered modern smart alternative then, well, you’re more overwhelmed with options than ever. But a $35 saving on last year’s updated Echo Spot might make your decision a bit easier.

The latest incarnation of the diminutive Spot was introduced in July 2024, and this matches its record-low price. For that you get a comfortably bedside-sized device with a sharper display than its predecessor, as well as superior sound. The front face is divided into two halves, with a speaker positioned below the hemispherical display.

What screen you do have is more than enough to display the time and weather information, plus it can show you the song or album title and accompanying artwork when you’re listening to music on those improved speakers. It can naturally be used to boss around your other connected smart devices, too.

Alexa might be baked in, but the Echo Spot is intended to be a fairly bare-bones smart alarm clock, so don’t expect as many features as you’ll find on something like the Echo Show 5. But a lot of people just want a modern alarm clock, and arguably the biggest selling point for the Echo Spot is its total lack of a camera. While that means it can do less than the original 2017 Echo Spot, which Amazon did put a camera in, the decision to remove it from a device that lives right next to your bed was probably for the best.

Amazon’s Prime Day sale returns on October 7, so you can expect a range of deals on its various Echo devices. For our guide to all of the best early deals, head here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/prime-day-deal-amazons-echo-spot-alarm-clock-drops-to-only-45-142550797.html?src=rss

The best October Prime Day TV deals: Early discounts on sets from Sony, Samsung, TCL and others

It’s time for another October Prime Day sale, and that means Amazon is selling a number of well-regarded TVs for lower prices than usual. Not every deal is exclusive to the event, and it’s still more than possible that these sets drop even further as we get closer to Black Friday. For now, though, a few recommended sets from the likes of TCL, Hisense, Samsung and Sony are on sale. We’ve rounded up all the best October Prime Day TV deals we’ve seen thus far below, and we’ll update this post as more arise. Just note that you may need to be an Amazon Prime subscriber to access some of the discounts.

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-october-prime-day-tv-deals-early-discounts-on-sets-from-sony-samsung-tcl-and-others-180051602.html?src=rss

Best Amazon Prime Day laptop deals: Early sales on machines from Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP and more

Regardless of if you need a new laptop for work or play, October Prime Day may have just what you’re looking for at a good price. Amongst the clothing, shoes, household essentials and other tech gear are some decent laptop deals that you can snag if you’re a Prime member — and even some that you can grab without a Prime subscription.

But deciphering what constitutes a “good deal” on a laptop during Prime Day can be a bit challenging. That’s due in part to the manic nature of laptop prices on Amazon in particular: they fluctuate often depending on model, brand, configuration, seller and more. But Engadget can help by collecting all of the best October Prime Day laptop deals here so you don’t have to go searching for them.

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).

• Apple MacBook Air (15-inch, M4) for $1,078 (10 percent off)

• Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4) for $1,399 (13 percent off)

• Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4) for $2,249 (10 percent off)

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.

• HP Ultrabook 14 (14-inch, Intel N100) for $280 (20 percent off)

• Lenovo IdeaPad 1i (Windows 11, 15-inch, Intel Celeron) for $280 (30 percent off)

• Acer Aspire 3 laptop (Windows 11 Pro, 15-inch, Intel Core i3) for $400 (11 percent off)

• Dell 15 3530 laptop (Windows 11 Pro, 15-inch, Intel Core i5) for $649 (28 percent off)

• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (Windows 11 Pro, 15-inch, Intel Core i7) for $800 (27 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/best-amazon-prime-day-laptop-deals-early-sales-on-machines-from-apple-dell-lenovo-hp-and-more-130507583.html?src=rss

Pick up this battery-powered Ring doorbell while it's 47 percent off for Prime Day

The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is on sale for almost half off and is at the lowest price we've ever seen for this model. Normally retailing for $150, the smart doorbell is on sale for $80, a discount of 47 percent. This aggressive sale comes ahead of another Prime Day that runs October 7-8.

The Battery Doorbell Plus offers a 150-by-150-degree "head to toe" field of vision and 1536p high-resolution video. This makes it a lot easier to see boxes dropped off at your front door since it doesn't cut off the bottom of the image like a lot of video doorbells.

This model features motion detection, privacy zones, color night vision and Live View with two-way talk, among other features. Installation is a breeze since you don't have to hardwire it to your existing doorbell wiring. Most users report that the battery lasts between several weeks and several months depending on how users set up the video doorbell, with power-heavy features like motion detection consuming more battery life.

With most video doorbells today, you need a subscription to get the most out of them, and Ring is no exception. Features like package alerts require a Ring Home plan, with tiers ranging from Basic for $5 per month to Premium for $20 per month. You'll also need a plan to store your video event history.

Ring was acquired by Amazon in 2018, and now offers a full suite of home security products including outdoor cameras, home alarm systems and more. This deal is part of a larger sale on Ring and Blink devices leading up to Prime Day.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/pick-up-this-battery-powered-ring-doorbell-while-its-47-percent-off-for-prime-day-154508948.html?src=rss

The best Amazon Prime Day vacuum deals you can get right now: Save on machines from iRobot, Shark, Dyson and others

Robot vacuums are more than just a gimmick. Sure, we all enjoy anthropomorphizing a Roomba from time to time, but they're not gadgets for the sake of gadgetry — keeping your living space clean is an incredibly rewarding task to automate. The only problem is that robot vacuums, and frankly all decent vacuums, are expensive. Fortunately, the steep discounts offered on Amazon this October Prime Day make the purchase a lot more justifiable, whether you want a robot buddy or a traditional vacuum cleaner. In this article, we're sharing a constantly updated list of vacuum discounts worth taking advantage of.

Dyson V15 Detect Plus for $570 (33 percent off): Our top pick for the best cordless vacuum on the market right now, the V15 Detect has some of the strongest suction power you'll find in a stick vacuum, plus a lightweight design and a dustbin that can hold more dirt and debris than it might seem. This model comes with five cleaning attachments, including the Fluffy Optic cleaner head that has LEDs to illuminate the floor as you're vacuuming so you can better see where all the dust bunnies are.

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.

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.

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-amazon-prime-day-vacuum-deals-you-can-get-right-now-save-on-machines-from-irobot-shark-dyson-and-others-151504387.html?src=rss

Microsoft sneakily drops DLC discounts that come with Xbox Game Pass

After Microsoft decided to jack up the price of its Xbox Game Pass subscriptions to up to $30 a month, it has another unwelcome surprise for members. In a statement provided to multiple outlets like Insider Gaming, a spokesperson for Microsoft confirmed it has removed the discounts for DLC that come with a Game Pass subscription, replacing them by offering points for its Rewards program.

While initial reports discovered the change with the Call of Duty franchise, the Microsoft statement later clarified that this major shift isn't "specific to any one game and reflects all games and DLC purchases." To replace the discount, Ultimate subscribers will get 10 percent of their purchase back in Rewards points, while Premium members get five percent, when buying qualifying games from the Game Pass library.

Earlier this month, Microsoft detailed in a post that its goal with Game Pass was to "deliver unmatched value" along with an expansive offering of included games. In the same post, Microsoft announced that it would add 45 more games, along with introducing the $10 price hike. With this latest move, Game Pass subscribers even lose out on the immediate 10 percent discount from their purchases and are forced to accept Game Pass store credit instead. This barrage of news has some members questioning their Xbox Game Pass subscription, but there are still ways to secure the previous rate with pre-paid codes.

The best Amazon Prime Day deals under $50: Early sales on tech from Apple, Anker, Ring, JBL, Roku and others

Prime Day sales are a great opportunity to nab an expensive bit of shiny new tech you’ve been eying — it’s also an excellent time to get a discount on smaller electronics and accessories. For this list, we compared what’s on sale right now with the stuff we recommend in our guides. For less than $50 each, we found deals on some of our favorite tech including batteries, iPhone paraphernalia, mice, earbuds, speakers, holiday gifts and smart home gear. Some deals require you to be a Prime member, others are open to anyone with half a Benjamin earmarked for Amazon. Here are the best October Prime Day tech deals under $50.

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/the-best-amazon-prime-day-deals-under-50-early-sales-on-tech-from-apple-anker-ring-jbl-roku-and-others-120531085.html?src=rss

The best Amazon deals for Prime Day include two Blink Mini 2 cameras for $35

Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days are coming up, and you can get a jump on things today. A mainstay of Prime Day sales, a pair of Blink Mini 2 cameras is on sale for only $35. That's 50 percent off, a record low and less than what you'd usually pay for one. It's also Engadget's pick for the best budget security camera.

This budget-friend, wired camera is well-suited for nighttime video: It has a built-in LED spotlight, color night vision and a low-light sensor. Day or night, it records in sharp 1080p resolution. It also has a wider field of view than its predecessor.

The Blink Mini 2 is primarily designed for indoor use. But you can use it outdoors, too. You'll just need to fork over $10 for a weather-resistant adapter. Wherever you use the camera, it works with Alexa and supports two-way audio. ("Hello, doggy, I'll be home soon.")

It also supports person detection. (That's a neat feature that differentiates between people and other types of movement.) However, the feature requires a Blink Subscription Plan. They start at $3 per month or $30 per year for one device.

The camera is available in black or white. Both colors are available for the $35 Prime Day deal, but they can't be mixed unless you buy each separately. It's worth noting that this deal is open to anyone — no Prime subscription necessary. Amazon recently announced an upgraded version of this camera that supports 2K video, but it won't be available until later in October.

You can also save on a bunch of other Blink (and Ring) security gear for Prime Day. The Blink Outdoor 4 cameras are some of our favorites, and most configurations are on sale for Prime Day, including bundles like this three-camera system that's 61 percent off.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-amazon-deals-for-prime-day-include-two-blink-mini-2-cameras-for-35-201049763.html?src=rss

The best Amazon Prime Day deals on Anker wireless chargers, power banks and other accessories

You may not be looking to spend big on tech this October Prime Day, but it's still a good idea to look for tech essentials during the shopping event while you can get some at good discounts. Anker makes some of our favorite charging gear and I always end up picking up an accessory or two during Prime Day to ensure I have what I need when I need it most, and I feel better knowing I didn't spend full price on it.

For example, in sales past, I picked up a couple of extra USB-C charging cables so I could keep one in my carry-on luggage so I always have one when I travel. My partner will likely be upgrading to an iPhone 17 this year, so we'll have to get a few more USB-C cables now that Lightning is officially banished from our home. Also, every year it seems I need yet another surge protector, so even though I picked one up the year before — but one can never have too many. Here, we've collected all of the best October Prime Day deals on Anker devices and other charging gear we could find, and we'll update this post as the event goes on with the latest offerings.

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-wireless-chargers-power-banks-and-other-accessories-164536013.html?src=rss

Prime Day deal: Pick up Amazon's Smart Plug for only $13

There are few things as simple yet exceedingly annoying as having to get up and turn off a light. Whether you're already comfortable in bed or live with mobility limitations, smart plugs can be a great option — especially when they're on sale.

Right now, you can pick up an Amazon Smart Plug for a record-low price of $13, down from $25. The 48 percent discount comes as part of Amazon Prime Day sales. You can also pick up a two-pack of Amazon's Smart Plugs for $24, down from $50 — a 52 percent discount.

The Amazon Smart Plug is our pick for best smart plug if you have an Alexa-enabled home. You can tell Alexa to turn off the lights or control it with the Alexa app. It's compatible with most plugged in devices, from lamps and fans to even kitchen appliances. You can also set it to turn on lights or devices at a certain time each day.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/prime-day-deal-pick-up-amazons-smart-plug-for-only-13-130446583.html?src=rss

Prime Day Lego deals include up to 38 percent off Star Wars and Super Mario sets

With October Prime Day comes deals on all sorts of things, including tech and toys. Amazon has used the event to kickstart the holiday shopping season for the past few years, making it a good time to pick up early gifts for less and stock up on things for yourself without spending full price. Maybe you haven’t even thought about the holidays yet, but it’s worth giving 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 Star Wars R2-D2 set 75379 for $80 (20 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)

• Lego Brick Tile backpack for $50 (29 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 early October Prime Day deals on Apple devices: Save on AirTags, iPads, Apple Watches and more

Amazon’s October Prime Day sale has brought a handful of decent discounts on Apple devices, from iPads to Apple Watches to accessories like the Apple Pencil and AirTags. If you’ve been waiting to take the plunge and don’t want to hold out until Black Friday, here are the best Apple deals we could find from the Prime Big Deal Days event. We’ll update this post if we find anything new. As a refresher, the two-day sale officially runs October 7-8, and you’ll need to be a Prime member to view some of the deals.

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-save-on-airtags-ipads-apple-watches-and-more-125644340.html?src=rss

Apple's 25W MagSafe charger is only $35 with this Prime Day deal

On the heels of the iPhone 17 lineup being released a few weeks ago, you can pick up Apple's 25W MagSafe charger for a song. The two-meter version of the more powerful charging cable has dropped by 29 percent from $49 to $35. That's a record-low price.

As it happens, that actually makes the two-meter version of the cable less expensive than the one-meter variant. The shorter cable will run you $39 as things stand.

If you have an iPhone 16, iPhone 17 or iPhone Air, this cable can charge your device at 25W as long as it's connected to a 30W power adapter on the other end. While you'll need a more recent iPhone to get the fastest MagSafe charging speeds, the charger can wirelessly top up the battery of any iPhone from the last eight years (iPhone 8 and later). With older iPhones, the charging speed tops out at 15W. The cable works with AirPods wireless charging cases too — it's certified for Qi2.2 and Qi charging.

The MagSafe charger is one of our favorite iPhone accessories, and would pair quite nicely with your new iPhone if you're picking up one of the latest models. If you're on the fence about that, be sure to check out our reviews of the iPhone 17, iPhone Pro/Pro Max and iPhone Air.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-25w-magsafe-charger-is-only-35-with-this-prime-day-deal-143415981.html?src=rss

The best Amazon Prime Day deals: Get up to 57 percent off gear from Apple, Shark, Anker, Dyson, Samsung and others

Now that we know October Prime Day is on the horizon, it’s time to start thinking about what you may want to snag at a discount during the sale. If you pay the $139 annual fee for Prime, sale events like these are a great time to stock up on essentials and cross things off your wishlist while you can save some money.

Most discounts will be exclusively available to Prime subscribers, but there are always a few that anyone shopping on Amazon can grab. Similarly, there are always early deals in the days and weeks leading up to Prime Day, and this year is no different. Here, we’ve collected the best Prime Day deals you can shop for right now and we’ll keep updating this post as we get close to 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.

Dyson V15 Detect Plus for $570 (33 percent off): Our top pick for the best cordless vacuum on the market right now, the V15 Detect has some of the strongest suction power you'll find in a stick vacuum, plus a lightweight design and a dustbin that can hold more dirt and debris than it might seem. This model comes with five cleaning attachments, including the Fluffy Optic cleaner head that has LEDs to illuminate the floor as you're vacuuming so you can better see where all the dust bunnies are.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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-get-up-to-57-percent-off-gear-from-apple-shark-anker-dyson-samsung-and-others-050801311.html?src=rss

Discord users' IDs and data compromised in customer service provider hack

One of Discord's third-party customer service providers has been infiltrated by an unauthorized party who was able to gain access to users' information. Discord said it recently discovered the incident, which took place on September 20. The compromised data includes a "small number" of government IDs like driver's licenses and passports, which some users may have submitted to verify their ages. To be clear, Discord itself wasn't hacked, and you would only be affected by the data breach if you've ever communicated with the messaging service's Customer Support or Trust & Safety teams. That also means the bad actors didn't get access to your messages within the service, just whatever you may have communicated with customer support. 

Discord has been sending out emails to people affected by the breach, even those who have no accounts but have contacted their support teams for any reason. In the email, the service said that the compromised information may include your real name, your username if you have one, your email and other contact details, the last four digits of any credit card associated with your account and your IP addresses. The service will also specify in the email it sends you if any ID you'd submitted has been compromised, which puts you at higher risk of identity theft than other users. Discord clarified that the breach would not have compromised your full credit card number, your physical address and your password. 

The service said it quickly revoked the provider's access to its system after learning about the breach and notified law enforcement of the incident. It also said that it will "frequently audit [its] third-party systems" to ensure they meet Discord's standards.

You can still get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $20 a month by buying pre-paid codes

Microsoft recently jacked up the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to $30 a month, but you may not have to pay that increased rate just yet. Online retailers are still selling codes for prepaid Game Pass subscriptions at the previous $20-per-month rate. Case in point: you can pay just $60 for three-month code from Amazon, stack your codes and keep your subscription without having to downgrade or cancel.

As the highest tier in Game Pass, an Ultimate subscription gives you the ability to download and play a library of over 200 games on your PC or Xbox. With Xbox Cloud Gaming, you can also stream the majority of those games to other devices, too, whether it's a smartphone, LG TV or in-car display. It's worth noting, though, the benefits of Ultimate did change with the introduction of the higher price. Microsoft shared that Ultimate subscribers will now also receive the benefits of an Ubisoft+ subscription at no additional cost, a $16 a month value that unlocks access to a back catalog of Ubisoft games from franchises like Assassin's Creed and Far Cry. Starting in November, the new Ultimate subscription also includes access to Fortnite Crew, Epic's $12 a month plan that gives you V-Bucks, battle passes and more in Fortnite.

While those new benefits might justify a higher price monetarily, whether that's a convincing reason to stay subscribed is a separate question. This likely won't be the last time Microsoft will raise the price of its subscription service. Avoiding those fees by buying pre-paid Game Pass codes seems like an excellent way to try out the new Ultimate before committing to cancelling your subscription, downgrading your plan or sticking with Microsoft's new price. You can purchase three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $60 a month. Stacking four three-month codes should come out to around $240.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/you-can-still-get-xbox-game-pass-ultimate-for-20-a-month-by-buying-pre-paid-codes-222333599.html?src=rss

Engadget review recap: Ray-Ban Meta, GoPro Max 2 and more

If you prefer some variety in your review roundups, we cover quite the gamut this time. The headliner is the new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, but we’ve recently tested a powerful gaming laptop, two action cameras and a wireless mouse (yep, still need those). Catch up on all the reviews we’ve published over the last two weeks by scrolling down below.

While the second-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses may look similar to the original model, a lot has changed in terms of features. There are also two big upgrades over the last version: battery life and video quality. “The Ray-Ban Meta glasses have a lot of features that didn't exist when I first reviewed them two years ago, largely thanks to AI,” senior editor Karissa Bell said. “And with the release of its second-generation frames, there's still a lot to look forward to, like new camera features and AI-powered audio.”

If you’re in the market for a powerful gaming laptop with a unique design, the Alienware 16 Area-51 might be for you. Of course, you’ll have to live with a machine that ‘s big and heavy — and also expensive. “Even though the Alienware 16 Area-51 might not be as portable as some of its rivals, it's got a lot to offer,” senior reviews writer Sam Rutherford wrote. “There’s a striking design, a nice screen (though more options would be nice), tons of ports and class-leading performance with plenty of configurability so you can dial in its specs exactly how you like.”

GoPro’s new product this fall wasn’t another Hero action camera. Instead, the company opted to take the 360 route, debuting the Max 2 for spherical videos. “With a mix of pro features like Timecode, GP-Log (with LUTs) alongside mobile-focused editing, GoPro clearly hopes the Max 2 will appeal to demanding and casual users alike,” contributor James Trew observed. “The company has also focused heavily on improving the user experience rather than going for pure technological advances and after a week or so of testing, that feels like a sensible move.”

In case you missed it, tiny action cameras with detachable displays are a thing now. DJI’s first attempt at one of these products takes direct aim at Insta360’s duo of Go models. And despite better video quality than the competition, there’s still work to be done for the Osmo Nano. “With the Nano, DJI leaned on its camera experience and mostly matches or beats its main rival in terms of video quality,” reporter Steve Dent said. “However, the company is still lagging behind in a few areas, particularly its editing app — something that’s important for many creators.”

Three years after releasing the MX Master 3S, Logitech is back with another update to its productivity mouse. Shopping for the new version isn’t exactly a straightforward endeavor though. “The MX Master 4 may not be a essential upgrade if you’re happy with an older MX Master mouse, and if those didn’t work for you before, this one probably won’t work for you now,” senior buying advice reporter Jeff Dunn wrote. “But if you’re a power user in the market for a new productivity mouse, we’d expect this newest iteration to be as popular as its predecessors.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-ray-ban-meta-gopro-max-2-and-more-130000492.html?src=rss

How to clear the cache on your PS5

If your PlayStation 5 has started feeling sluggish, freezes mid-game or acts a little weird, clearing the cache might be the quick fix you need. The cache is where your console stores temporary files to keep things running smoothly, but sometimes those files pile up and cause more problems than they solve.

Clearing your PS5 cache won’t delete your games, saves or settings, but it can clear out the junk data that’s slowing things down. Whether you’re troubleshooting crashes or just want to keep your console running at its best, wiping the cache is one of the simplest steps you can take.

In order to clear your PS5 cache, you’ll need to start your console in Safe Mode. Similar to a PC, entering Safe Mode on a PS5 gives you access to basic functions on your console, including restarting your PS5, changing video output, repairing console storage, updating system software, restoring default settings, clearing the cache and rebuilding the database, resetting the PS5 and resetting the PS5 by reinstalling System Software.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an option on your PS5 to enter Safe Mode via the Settings, but you can (safely) enter this mode by following these steps:

1. Hold the PS button on your controller, then select Power > Turn off PS5. Alternatively, you can hold the power button on the PS5 for three seconds.

2. Wait for the console to turn off; the power indicator will blink for a few moments before fully turning off.

3. Press and hold the power button on the console, then release after you hear the second beep (this should take around seven seconds).

4. Connect the controller with a USB cable, then press the PS button on the controller.

It’s important to note that although you can turn off your PS5 with the controller, you must turn the console on using the power button on the PS5, using the steps above, to enter Safe Mode.

Once in Safe Mode, you’ll see several options appear on the screen. Select Clear Cache and Rebuild Database, then Clear System Software Cache.

Once you’ve selected the Clear System Software Cache option, you’ll need to confirm your choice by selecting OK. Your PS5 will begin the process of clearing the cache. If your console restarts during this process, don’t worry; let it do its thing.

The other option you'll see in the Clear Cache and Rebuild Database menu is Rebuild Database. This option is also recommended by Sony is users are experiencing system failure issues. Selecting this option will not delete any data from your PS5, so it's another route to try if clearing the cache doesn't solve all your problems.

Although clearing the cache on a PS5 won’t result in saved game progress or data being deleted, it’s not a bad idea to know how to back up your data, just in case your PS5 encounters any issues. If you want to be extra safe, do this before clearing your cache.

1. Connect a USB drive to your PS5 (FAT32 or exFAT).

2. Navigate to Settings > System.

3. Select System Software > Back Up and Restore > Back Up Your PS5.

4. You’ll have the option to select the type of data you want to back up (Games and Apps, Saved Data, Screenshots and Video Clips or Settings). Select the option(s) you want to back up.

5. Select Next > Back Up. This will start the back up process, where your console will restart.

6. Once the Backup Complete screen is displayed, select OK.

Like a lot of technology, maintenance is required to keep your tech running top-notch, and the PS5 is no different. You won’t need to clear your PS5 cache often, but when things start going wrong, it can save you a lot of frustration. The cache is where the console stashes temporary system data. Most of the time it helps your games and apps load faster, but once in a while those files can get corrupted or outdated and cause trouble instead.

One of the most common signs is lag in the system menu. If it takes forever to scroll through your library or even open Settings, a clogged cache might be to blame. It can also show up as random crashes, where a game boots up and then kicks you straight back to the home screen for no reason.

You might also notice glitches with online play. Sometimes cached network data interferes with your connection, leaving you with login issues or games that won’t sync properly. After a major system update, clearing the cache can also help smooth over odd behavior, like apps failing to launch or downloads stalling.

The good news is clearing the cache doesn’t wipe your saves, your installed games, or your account. It’s a low-risk way to rule out the simple stuff before you start digging into bigger fixes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/how-to-clear-the-cache-on-your-ps5-120012999.html?src=rss

Lego parties, hundreds of Xenomorphs and other new indie games worth checking out

Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. A bunch of new games arrived this week, alongside demo drops, reveals and details about upcoming titles. But if there are some you've had on your wishlist for a while and have been waiting for a solid discount, now might be the time to take the plunge.

That's because Steam's autumn sale is underway. It's arguably not as massive as the summer or winter editions, but there are still lots of bargains on the storefront. During the platform's big sales, I think it's always worth taking a look at the list of deep discounts for some particularly good deals. I've been meaning to check out Haven from Cairn developer The Game Bakers for quite a while now, and at 90 percent off, that's an easy pickup for me. 

There are lots of solid offers elsewhere in the sale, including half off Tunic, Cult of the Lamb and Nine Sols; 35 percent off Turbo Kid; 40 percent off Another Crab's Treasure; and 25 percent off Animal Well and Blue Prince. Lots of blockbuster games are on sale too, of course, including the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 (75 percent off), Returnal (50 percent off), Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered (50 percent off) and Assassin's Creed Shadows (40 percent off).

Elsewhere, I thought this news nugget was pretty interesting. Evil Empire, the studio behind The Rogue Prince of Persia, has taken over development of Brotato. Original developer Blobfish Games is moving onto other projects.

Brotato never hooked me as much as the similar Vampire Survivors did, but the game has more than 10 million players. Evil Empire is releasing an update for Brotato this month that brings a new mob to the game, but the studio's track record is what makes this change most intriguing. It handled several updates and expansions for Dead Cells, including the Return to Castlevania DLC. So, there could be some pretty neat stuff on the way to Brotato in the coming months and years, especially with Evil Empire teasing DLC.

Two Lego games arriving in the space of a couple of weeks might seem like a lot, but the latest one is a world away from Lego Voyagers. Lego Party — from SMG Studio and publisher Fictions — is a party game for up to four players and it has dozens of minigames. Think Mario Party, but blockier and with the smooth trademark humor of Lego games.

It supports local and online cross-platform multiplayer and there are tons of different ways to customize your minifigure. Let's just hope no one gets too mad if you mess up their turn. Lego Party is out now on Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.

Alien: Rogue Incursion - Part One is now available for the first time outside of virtual reality platforms thanks to the new Evolved Edition. It hit PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam and Epic Games Store this week. 

This is a first-person shooter from Survios that's set between Alien and Aliens. The game pits a marine colonel against hundreds of Xenomorphs and other nasty things. I can't imagine I would have kept my cool if I were playing this in VR and a Facehugger jumped onto my head, but the flatscreen version might not be so scary. Maybe.

Puzzle adventure game Éalú sees you taking control of a wooden, clockwork mouse that's attempting to escape from a labyrinth. Designer Ivan Owen of Beyond the Bark created all of the stop-motion animations by hand, including all possible outcomes for each scenario, and did so mostly in a garden shed.

It looks charming, though the mouse faces some rather grisly-sounding fates if you're not careful. Éalú is out now on Steam.

An edition of the PC Gaming Show took place during Tokyo Game Show last weekend, and it featured more than 30 games. One of them was Kaiju Cleanup. This is a cleaning sim in which you'll clean up kaiju carcasses by slicing up the monsters into smaller pieces, disposing of "various jellies" and powerwashing the last little bits away. 

If your character dies due to acidic fluids or explosive organs, just send in a clone and clean up that mess too. It's dangerous work, but someone's gotta do it. 

This is a fun idea. There's no release window for Kaiju Cleanup as yet, but Brightrock Games and publisher Mythwright say you can expect it to hit Steam at some point in the next 15 years. 

I kind of love the ethos of Wolf Haus Games. "We make the games we wanted to play when we were 13, because now we're grown ups and nobody can tell us what to do," the studio says on its website. After collectively accruing decades of experience in AAA games and movies, the team is working on its first game, Join Us.

In this co-op survival RPG, you'll set up a chapter of a doomsday cult. You can choose the belief system and recruit members for your cause while amassing a stockpile of weapons. Naturally, you'll need to build a compound for your collective and manage your resources. You can put your followers to work by assigning them roles like farmer, doctor and mission support, which will hopefully help you avoid permadeath.

Join Us is coming to Steam in 2026. I already feel like I might stick with this one for longer than I did Valheim, one of the more prominent co-op survival games of the last few years. That's largely because this one has buses with machine gun turrets, along with pigs and bears you can ride into battle.

Earth Must Die is another game that was unveiled at the latest PC Gaming Show. This is a point-and-click adventure from Size Five Games and publisher No More Robots that has an appealing, cartoon-y art style, but it's the cast that really catches the eye here. 

It features performances from the likes of Joel Fry (Game of Thrones, Our Flag Means Death), Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hades 2) and a host of people who have appeared on the brilliant comedy panel show Taskmaster, including series creator Alex Horne. Earth Must Die is slated to hit Steam later this year.

Speaking of Taskmaster, a game called Task Time seems like it was inspired by the show. This is a competitive party title from ReadGraves and publisher Wired Productions in which you'll compete with up to seven other players to complete random tasks. There are more than 500,000 variants of tasks that you might be asked to take on. 

It looks chaotic in a good way, and appear to tap into the DNA of the likes of Fall Guys (which shouldn't be surprising given that some of the dev team has experience of working on that game). There's local and online multiplayer support for this one. Task Time is coming to Steam and Epic Games Store "soon." If you're quick, you can join the Steam playtest, which ends on Sunday.

Rising Heat reminds me a little of Minishoot Adventures, a lovely Zelda-esque RPG from last year (40 percent off in the Steam sale, by the way). The only things they actually seem to have in common, though, is that you play as a little ship and they each have a top-down perspective.

That's because Rising Heat is a twin-stick, bullet-hell survival roguelike. I dig the explosive, colorful visual effects (is that a black hole I see?) and the co-op mode sounds compelling. You can play with a friend locally or online, and your ships are tethered by a beam that can damage enemies and possibly pull your partner into danger if you're not careful. 

Rising Heat was supposed to arrive on October 14, but Fuzzy Sock Studios and publisher Apogee Entertainment have delayed it until December 2. However, you can try out a demo on Steam now.

Here's another demo, and I'm very excited about this one. Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the latest side-scrolling beat-'em-up from Tribute Games and publisher Dotemu, the teams behind the terrific Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.

Although this game is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S as well later this year, the demo is currently only available on Steam. It features nine of the game's 15 playable heroes: Spider-Man, Wolverine, She-Hulk, Storm, Venom, Nova, Phyla-Vell, Rocket Raccoon and Captain America. You can pick two and switch between them any time to deliver powerful team-up attacks. 

There's couch and online co-op available, and the demo is fully playable on Steam Deck. I definitely need to carve out some time for this over the weekend. Ghost of Yōtei can wait a bit longer.

Dogpile is another in a long line of Suika Game clones (where you combine two objects to make a larger one without spilling over the top of a container). This is all about smushing together very good dogs, so it's automatically one of the best ones. It has an utterly perfect title too.

Dogpile switches up the format a bit since it's a deckbuilder and you can customize the puppers with their own traits. Dog tags alter how the pooches and their traits work, and using them smartly can help you discover synergies. 

Studio Folly and Toot Games are the developers behind Dogpile, and they have audio design assistance from A Shell in the Pit and help from the co-publishing team at Wings. There's no release window as yet. But there's a demo out on Steam right now and I don't know why you're still reading this instead of rushing off to play it immediately.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lego-parties-hundreds-of-xenomorphs-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110000144.html?src=rss

‘Payday’ Dev Starbreeze Kills Co-Op ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Game

The hits keep coming for Starbreeze, and it's had to cancel its 'Dungeons & Dragons' game so it can make things right with 'Payday.'

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Almost Had an Echo/Punisher Teamup

If we've got these different street characters popping up in 'Daredevil,' what's the harm in letting them have the spotlight for a hot second?

‘The Batman II’ Should Be Out This Weekend. Why Do We Care?

Fans don't just want 'The Batman Part II' to come out, they want to know everything about it—and this isn't the only thing they're fixated on.

Even More Pasta Just Got Recalled in That Deadly Listera Outbreak

Check your freezer because the best-by dates are 2027.

Here’s Why We Haven’t Seen ‘Fast and Furious 11’ Yet

The road to 'Fast & Furious 11' has been long and windy, and getting there may require some cutbacks.

Philips Hue Play Wall Washer Review: A Spendy TV Glow-Up for Movie Night at Home

More than a TV-syncing light accessory, the Play Wall Washer can do plenty in the right home.

Space Startup Wants to Deliver Cargo Anywhere on Earth in One Hour

Arc is designed to deliver cargo anywhere in the world within an hour's time.

Scientists Discover Surprising Allergy Fix: UV Light

Allergies to things like cats and dust mites are tough to mitigate because the allergens can stick around long after the animals are gone.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Took Money Directly From Chinese Investors, Company Insider Testifies

Newly unsealed testimony marks the first time direct Chinese investment in the company has been disclosed, raising new questions about foreign ownership interests in one of America’s most important military contractors.

Lego Game Boy Review: The Designers Share All the Secrets to the Fun, Nostalgic Set

We interviewed Lego designers Carl Merriam and Simon Kent to unearth some of the brick Game Boy’s Easter eggs.

Announcing the AI Native Dev Landscape

Your one-stop map for the latest AI dev tools—built for developers, researchers, and VCs.

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Choosing the Right AI IDE for Your Team: Cursor vs. Windsurf vs. Copilot

Dive into a hands-on comparison of Cursor, Windsurf, and Copilot with GPT-5, highlighting their strengths in greenfield and brownfield projects.

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GitHub Copilot Strikes Back: New Features Aim to Fend Off Cursor and Windsurf

GitHub Copilot is fighting back with powerful new features like Agent Mode, custom prompt management, and integration tools.

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Vercel Introduces Drains for Unified Data Export

Vercel has released Vercel Drains, a system for exporting observability data from its platform into external services. The feature unifies logs, distributed traces, web analytics events, and performance metrics into a single streaming mechanism.

Syria Selects Members Of First Post-Assad Parliament In Contested Process

Syria will select members of its first post-Assad parliament on Sunday in a process criticised as undemocratic, with a third of the members appointed by interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Negotiators Due In Cairo For Gaza Ceasefire, Hostage Release Talks

Negotiators were converging on Cairo on Sunday ahead of talks aimed at ending nearly two years of war in Gaza, with Israel's leader expressing hope that the hostages still being held there would be released in a matter of days.

Trump Authorizes Troops To Chicago As Judge Blocks Portland Deployment

President Donald Trump authorized deployment of troops to Chicago after a federal agent shot an allegedly armed motorist Saturday, while a judge blocked the Republican leader's attempt to send the military into Portland, another Democratic-run city.

US Envoys Head To Mideast As Trump Warns Hamas Against Peace Deal Delay

Donald Trump's son-in-law and a senior envoy were heading to Egypt Saturday to finalize hostage release details, as the US president warned he would "not tolerate delay" by Hamas in implementing a peace plan with Israel.

Hundreds Of Thousands Turn Out At Pro-Palestinian Marches In Europe

Huge numbers turned out at pro-Palestinian rallies in Europe on Saturday, calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the release of activists on board a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the territory.

Arsenal Go Top Of Premier League As Man Utd Ease Pressure On Amorim

Declan Rice came back to haunt former club West Ham as Arsenal moved top of the Premier League, while Manchester United handed Ruben Amorim some relief with a 2-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday.

'We Were Treated Like Animals', Deported Gaza Flotilla Activists Say

International activists who arrived in Istanbul after being deported from Israel following the military's interception of their Gaza-bound flotilla said Saturday they had been subjected to violence and "treated like animals".

Rival Rallies In Madagascar After Deadly Gen Z Protests

Backers and foes of Madagascar's cornered government staged rival rallies in the capital Antananarivo on Saturday following days of fatal youth-led protests the president has termed a coup bid.

Gazans Hail Trump Ceasefire Call As Hamas Agrees To Free Hostages

Smoke billowed over Gaza City on Saturday, yet for the first time in months, residents felt a ceasefire was within reach as they welcomed US President Donald Trump's call for Israel to stop bombing.

Childcare Funding Cuts Result in Protests by Education Advocates in Front of Arkansas State Capitol

Hundreds gathered at the Arkansas State Capitol to protest the recent childcare funding cuts.

Government Shutdown Prompts Concern Among Education Officials for Potential Impacts to Schools and Student Loans

Here's how the government shutdown can impact schools and student loans.

Childhood Obesity: How Parents Can Help Their Kids Who Are Overweight

Learn how to help your child who is experiencing being overweight and avoid getting into obesity.

Smelling Salts for Teenage Athletes: The Benefits and Risks Parents Should Know

Here's what parents should know about smelling salts and their benefits and risks for teenage athletes.

Man Faked Being a Teenager Using Bogus Birth Certificate To Enroll in Minnesota High School, Prompts Investigation

An adult male faked his birth certificate to pose as a teenager to enroll at a Minnesota high school.

ICE Under Fire After Agents Drag Children Out of Their Homes and Raid Buildings in Chicago

ICE agents are under fire for recent efforts where they dragged residents, including children, out of their homes and ransacked buildings.

Kyren Lacy Death: Lawyer Claims Crucial Footage Clears LSU Star in Fatal Crash That Destroyed His NFL Dream

Attorney claims Kyren Lacy was wrongly blamed for a fatal crash before his tragic death, raising new questions about the case and his cause of death.

Hugh Jackman Heartbreak: Deborra-Lee Furness' 'Fiendish Delight' As 'Wolverine' Star's New York Show Plunges Into Crisis

Hugh Jackman's new show faces a 'real crisis' over poor ticket sales, sparking 'fiendish delight' in his ex-wife Deborra-Lee Furness, who says the 'love rat' star deserves it.

Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban Divorce: Actress 'Struggling To Accept' Split But Singer Showed 'No Signs Of Wanting To Fix Things'

Nicole Kidman was 'blindsided' by Keith Urban's split after 19 years. The star is 'struggling' as Urban moves out and shows 'no signs of wanting to fix things.'

'Roblox Fistborn' Codes October 2025: Throw Your Strongest Punches in This PVP Close Combat Game

Discover the latest "Fistborn Roblox" codes for free tokens and learn how to redeem them before they expire to boost your fighting power fast.

Amazon Confirms Departure of Key VP Just Days After Device Launches

Amazon VP Rob Williams steps down just days after device launch event, marking a rare S-team departure.

NBA Trade Rumors: Kings Can Get Claxton After Valanciunas' Exit

The Sacramento Kings could get Nic Claxton in a major trade that could transform their roster into a true Western Conference contender.

Google Play Points Launches New Perks for Austin City Limits Festival Fans

Google Play Points members can now claim exclusive festival perks, artist merch, and VIP experiences at the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Discord's Customer Service Now Compromised, Leaking User Info, Photo IDs

Discord's customer service provider has been compromised in the latest case of data breach, resulting in the leak of sensitive information.

Rite Aid Announces Full Closure of Stores Following Second Bankruptcy Filing

Rite Aid closes all stores after second bankruptcy, with prescriptions transferring to other pharmacies.

NFL Trade Rumors: Where Could Mac Jones Go If 49ers Decide to Trade Him?

Mac Jones' rise with the 49ers sparks trade buzz as NFL teams eye the QB's value. But what teams could pick him up?

The best power banks of 2025: Expert tested and reviewed

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Despite AI-related job loss fears, tech hiring holds steady - and here are the most in-demand skills

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Google Proposes TUMIX: Multi-Agent Test-Time Scaling With Tool-Use Mixture

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The post Google Proposes TUMIX: Multi-Agent Test-Time Scaling With Tool-Use Mixture appeared first on MarkTechPost.

Can a Small Language Model Predict Kernel Latency, Memory, and Model Accuracy from Code? A New Regression Language Model (RLM) Says Yes

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A Coding Guide to Build an Autonomous Agentic AI for Time Series Forecasting with Darts and Hugging Face

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Amazon is overhauling its devices to take on Apple in the AI era

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Let the LLM Write the Prompts: An Intro to DSPy in Compound Al Pipelines

Let the LLM Write the Prompts: An Intro to DSPy in Compound Al Pipelines

I've had trouble getting my head around DSPy in the past. This half hour talk by Drew Breunig at the recent Databricks Data + AI Summit is the clearest explanation I've seen yet of the kinds of problems it can help solve.

Here's Drew's written version of the talk.

Drew works on Overture Maps, which combines Point Of Interest data from numerous providers to create a single unified POI database. This is an example of conflation, a notoriously difficult task in GIS where multiple datasets are deduped and merged together.

Drew uses an inexpensive local model, Qwen3-0.6B, to compare 70 million addresses and identity matches, for example between Place(address="3359 FOOTHILL BLVD", name="RESTAURANT LOS ARCOS") and Place(address="3359 FOOTHILL BLVD", name="Los Arcos Taqueria"').

DSPy's role is to optimize the prompt used for that smaller model. Drew used GPT-4.1 and the dspy.MIPROv2 optimizer, producing a 700 token prompt that increased the score from 60.7% to 82%.

Why bother? Drew points out that having a prompt optimization pipeline makes it trivial to evaluate and switch to other models if they can score higher with a custom optimized prompt - without needing to execute that trial-and-error optimization by hand.

Tags: geospatial, gis, ai, prompt-engineering, generative-ai, llms, drew-breunig, overture, dspy

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
Anker paid users of its Eufy security cameras $2 per video of staged or real package and car thefts to train its AI systems from December 2024 to February 2025  —  Earlier this year, Anker, the Chinese company that makes Eufy security cameras, offered its users money in exchange for videos of package and car thefts.

Steven Levy / Wired:
An interview with Sam Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman on the tepid initial reception to GPT-5's launch, scaling, reinforcement learning, AGI, and more  —  OpenAI's CEO explains that its large language model has been misunderstood—and that he's changed his attitude to AGI.

Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
Huawei's Zurich Lab unveils SINQ, an open-source quantization method that it claims can reduce LLM memory use by 60-70% without significant quality loss  —  - Dual-Axis Scaling: Instead of using a single scale factor for quantizing a matrix, SINQ uses separate scaling vectors for rows and columns.

Nic Carter / Murmurations II:
A look at challenges facing Tether and Circle's stablecoin duopoly, such as intermediaries like exchanges and DeFi protocols exploring their own stablecoins  —  Circle equity is worth $30.5b.  Tether's topco is reportedly raising capital at $500b.  Together, the two stablecoins boast $245b in supply …

@openai:
OpenAI updates GPT-5 Instant to better recognize and support people in distress; ChatGPT will route such sensitive parts of conversations to the model  —  We're updating GPT-5 Instant to better recognize and support people in moments of distress. Sensitive parts of conversations will now route to GPT-5 Instant to quickly provide even more helpful responses. ChatGPT will continue to tell users what model is active when asked.

John Burn-Murdoch / Financial Times:
GWI: Time spent on social media globally peaked in 2022 and is steadily declining; North America is the exception, with usage up 15% in 2024 compared to Europe  —  As platforms degrade into outrage and slop, users are turning away  —  In years to come, we may well look back on September 2025 …

Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
How rising unemployment in computer-related fields in the US, where foreign nationals make up ~20% of 2.3M software devs, pushed the H-1B issue to the forefront  —  The president's decision to charge employers $100,000 per visa for skilled workers seemed to come out of nowhere.

Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:
PitchBook: VCs have invested $192.7B in AI startups so far this year, putting 2025 on track to be the first year when 50%+ of VC funding goes to the AI industry  —  Venture capitalists poured $192.7 billion into AI startups so far this year — setting new global records and putting 2025 …

Bloomberg:
A look at the tussle between the US and China over subsea cables; US Big Tech now accounts for 70%+ of all used subsea-cable capacity, from <10% a decade ago  —  A high-stakes rivalry is playing out over a vast but vulnerable web of underwater cables that carry nearly all global internet traffic

Andrew Moseman / IEEE Spectrum:
How researchers at Microsoft, IBM, and other organizations are using AI to speed up the search for new materials and chemicals for batteries  —  Microsoft and IBM pinpoint candidates from millions of options  —  Andrew Moseman is the online communications editor at Caltech and a freelance contributor to IEEE Spectrum.

Om Malik / Crazy Stupid Tech:
Q&A with iRobot founder Rodney Brooks on his startup Robust.AI, which builds warehouse robots, unrealistic expectations around humanoid robots and AI, and more  —  Every so often, we find ourselves in the middle of a massive technological wave that starts to upend our presumptions and our ideas about the past, present, and future.

Nilesh Christopher / MIT Technology Review:
An investigation finds rampant caste bias in ChatGPT and Sora; a researcher also finds caste bias in Sarvam AI, which touts itself as a sovereign AI for India  —  When Dhiraj Singha began applying for postdoctoral sociology fellowships in Bengaluru, India, in March, he wanted to make sure …

Ruth Reader / Politico:
Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O'Neill says the Trump administration doesn't support CHAI, an effort by OpenAI, Mayo Clinic, and others to vet AI tools for healthcare  —  AI is transforming care.  Hospitals are adopting high-tech systems to improve diagnoses and recommend treatments, but there's little formal regulation.

Mother Jones:
Inside the aftermath of FTX's collapse, law firm Sullivan & Cromwell's role, and an interview with SBF, who is preparing to appeal his conviction in November  —  In exclusive prison interviews, the convicted crypto king is still fighting to control the narrative ahead of a high-stakes appeal.

Bloomberg:
Kioxia, whose stock has more than tripled since its public debut in Tokyo last December, expects NAND storage demand to grow by ~20% annually amid the AI boom  —  Kioxia Holdings Corp. anticipates demand for NAND storage will grow by roughly 20% each year as AI data center operators keep scaling up.

OpenAI has acquired the AI finance startup Roi, known for offering investment advice based on individual financial data.

The article OpenAI has acquired AI finance startup "Roi" appeared first on THE DECODER.

ChatGPT still dominates the AI market, but Google Gemini is catching up.

The article ChatGPT continues to dominate the AI market, but Google Gemini is gaining ground appeared first on THE DECODER.

Alibaba's Qwen group has released two new small-scale multimodal models, Qwen3-VL-30B-A3B-Instruct and Qwen3-VL-30B-A3B-Thinking.

The article Alibaba releases Qwen3 compact open source multimodal models appeared first on THE DECODER.

Mathematician Terence Tao recently described how he used ChatGPT to help solve a math problem on MathOverflow.

The article Terence Tao says ChatGPT saved him hours solving a math problem appeared first on THE DECODER.

Synthesia has launched version 3.0 of its video avatar platform, adding several new features focused on interaction and realism.

The article Synthesia rolls out version 3.0 of its video avatar platform appeared first on THE DECODER.

Tencent researchers are testing new ways to teach AI models strategic thinking by training them on the game Honor of Kings. Their research shows that under certain conditions, smaller AI systems can outperform much larger ones.

The article Tencent trains AI that can explain and execute game strategies in Honor of Kings appeared first on THE DECODER.

When OpenAI rolled out Sora just a few days ago, copyright wasn’t much of a concern. That was likely by design.

The article OpenAI suddenly remembers that copyright law exists after a few days of wild Sora videos appeared first on THE DECODER.

There seems to be an underlying assumption that the best language for an agentic web is JavaScript. Chris McCord, an

The post Phoenix Creator Argues Elixir Is AI’s Best Language appeared first on The New Stack.

This week, Netlify introduced a new feature called Agent Runners, which are AI agents designed to run in a Netlify

The post New Netlify Agents Offer AI Workflows for Developers appeared first on The New Stack.

AI and new wave of offshoring mean graduates can't get gigs

Feature  Shubh Kumar graduated from IIT Patna, one of India's famed Institutes of Technology – universities that attract millions of applicants but admit only 18,000 undergraduates.…

A deep dive from a power user who has spent over a thousand hours in apps like Lovable, Bolt, Replit, and beyond

The shift from code to vibe

For most of computing history, coding meant syntax and scaffolding. You learned a language, wrestled with frameworks, then glued services together until something shipped. Over the past year, I have lived inside modern AI builders and IDEs, logging well over a thousand hours testing where they shine and where they stall. The big idea behind all of them is simple. You describe what you want in natural language. The system turns that intent into working software. That is the core of vibe coding.

What exactly is vibe coding?

Vibe coding shifts the interface of creation from code to intent. You narrate the product you want and the system composes the code, assets, and infrastructure that fit.

The essentials:

1. Natural language first. You describe features, flows, and constraints in plain English (or your native language).
2. Conversational iteration. You adjust the build in a loop. The system keeps state and refines without losing momentum.
3. Execution beyond mockups. The goal is not a demo that looks right. It is a deployed, full-stack product with data, auth, payments, and a URL people can use.
4. Agentic capacity. The long-term direction is collaborative AI that behaves like a real team with specialized roles rather than a single all-purpose helper.

Where current tools help, and where they stall

Three products define today’s vibe for many builders:

• Lovable markets “create apps and websites by chatting with AI,” which makes getting from prompt to runnable code fast. Public materials center on chat-based creation and hosting. Lovable
• Bolt.new lets you “create stunning apps and websites by chatting with AI,” and the open source repo describes it as an AI-powered web development agent you can prompt, run, edit, and deploy in the browser. bolt.new+1
• Replit AI presents an “Agent” that can turn an app idea into a deployed project with one-click deploy and repo-wide help inside a cloud IDE. Replit+1

These are strong on speed and approachability. In practice, complex, cross-feature dependencies, backend rigor, and long-running coordination often expose limits because most public implementations still revolve around a single primary model or agent process per session, even if there are multiple calls under the hood. This is not a knock on the tools. It is the architectural ceiling of a single orchestrator pattern.

Advanced coding agents from foundation model providers

Two lines of progress are worth noting because they raise the bar on what a coding “agent” can do:

• Anthropic’s Claude Code. Recent updates add a native VS Code extension, a more autonomous terminal interface, and checkpoints for longer tasks, all powered by Sonnet 4.5, which Anthropic positions as its strongest model for coding, complex agents, and computer use. Anthropic+1
• OpenAI’s Codex (2025). OpenAI’s latest Codex is a cloud-based software engineering agent that can run many tasks in parallel inside sandboxed environments preloaded with your repo, propose PRs, and work end to end on features. OpenAI+2OpenAI+2

These advancements push beyond autocomplete. They still read as powerful single agents that can span many tasks, rather than a built-in team of specialized agents that coordinate with each other.

Multi-agent frameworks are emerging outside the “vibe coding” UX

A separate track is maturing in the developer ecosystem: frameworks for composing multiple agents with roles, memory, and governance. Examples include:

• Microsoft Agent Framework (successor path that converges Semantic Kernel and AutoGen) for building and orchestrating multi-agent systems with Python and .NET, with an emphasis on observability and durability. Visual Studio Magazine+3Microsoft for Developers+3Microsoft Azure+3
• LangGraph from LangChain for stateful, multi-agent workflows and graphs that coordinate specialized behaviors. LangChain Blog+1
• CrewAI for role-based teams of agents that collaborate on complex tasks, with a simple developer experience and YAML scaffolding. crewai.com+2GitHub+2

These show where the industry is heading: away from one giant helper toward teams of focused agents that can negotiate trade-offs and catch each other’s mistakes.

The agentic ecosystem difference

This is the crux. Most vibe coding tools today give you a very capable assistant. A next-gen platform gives you a team.

What a built-in agentic ecosystem enables:

• Specialization. A database agent can focus on schema quality and migrations while a backend agent guards API contracts, a UI agent maintains design consistency, and a QA agent hunts regressions.
• Coordination and conflict resolution. Agents can negotiate the impact of a new feature on existing flows, propose refactors, and stage risky changes behind flags.
• Resilience over time. Long-running work benefits from shared memory, checkpoints, and handoffs that prevent context loss.
• End-to-end execution. From prompt to schema to tests to deployment, the team handles the full lifecycle, not just the first draft.

A year in the trenches, and what I am building now

I have spent the past year embedded in Lovable, Bolt, Replit, and the new wave of coding agents. I have pushed them hard, appreciated what they unlock, and also mapped where they top out. That work led me to a simple conclusion. The interface we want is natural language, but the engine that sustains real products is a coordinated team of agents, not a single model trying to do everything.

I am now building a next-generation platform called F1ow, designed with an agentic ecosystem at its core. I have hired developers and researchers to focus on specialization, orchestration, and deployment that holds up as projects grow. I will share a waitlist soon. This article is about the concept first, not a pitch, but it explains exactly why I am taking this path.

Where vibe coding goes next

Prototype to production without switching tools. Natural language stays the interface across design, code, tests, and deploy.

• Teams before headcount. Founders validate with agent teams, then add people when it makes sense.
• Education flips. Students build working software early because expressive language is enough to create.
• Open ecosystems. Multi-agent platforms interoperate with external frameworks and IDEs rather than force a walled garden, so teams can plug in Claude Code, Codex, or others where they fit. Anthropic+2Anthropic+2

Closing

Vibe coding is the bridge between what you think and what ships. The current generation of tools makes that bridge real for the first time. The next generation makes it durable, collaborative, and production-ready through agentic ecosystems. That is the gap I am working on now. F1ow Launches next week. Get ready for the next evolution in vibe coding.

Until Next Time My Friends,

More Links From The Author:

Get My #1 Amazon best-selling book “The Final Business Model” here: https://amzn.to/3GKgcng
Follow me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drakewolfe1/
Follow me on X here: https://x.com/DrakeAtlasWolfe

What is Vibe Coding? was originally published in Towards AI on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Imagine you’re running a restaurant:

• The Chef (LLM) is brilliant at cooking but doesn’t know what’s in the pantry or what customers ordered yesterday.
• LlamaIndex is like your organised pantry manager — it catalogs every ingredient (data source) so the chef can quickly grab what’s needed.
• Haystack is your kitchen workflow system — it decides the order of steps, ensures the right ingredients are prepared, and optimises the cooking process for speed and quality.
• n8n is your waitstaff and delivery team — they take the finished dish and make sure it reaches the right table, or even deliver it to a customer’s home.

Without these roles, your chef might guess recipes, forget orders, or never get the food out the door. Similarly, in AI systems:

• LlamaIndex ensures your LLM has the right context.
• Haystack structures the reasoning pipeline.
• n8n executes real-world actions like sending emails, updating CRMs, or triggering APIs.

Introduction

The rise of agentic AI systems is reshaping how organisations operationalise Large Language Models (LLMs). While LLMs excel at reasoning and language, they lack private, up-to-date knowledge and can hallucinate. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) addresses this by retrieving authoritative context before the model answers. Frameworks like LlamaIndex and Haystack make RAG practical, while n8n turns agent decisions into real-world actions across APIs and SaaS tools. Together, they enable grounded, auditable, and actionable AI solutions — from HR assistants to multi-step research agents and production-grade chat systems.

Content Index

1. What is Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)?
2. LlamaIndex: The Data Bridge for LLMs

• Key Components
• How It Works
• Enterprise Use Cases

3. Haystack: Modular RAG Pipelines for Production

• Core Architecture
• Retrieval, Ranking, and Generation
• Agent Support & DAGs

4. n8n: The Automation Layer for Agentic AI

• Why It Matters
• Integration Patterns

5. Putting It Together: LlamaIndex + Haystack + LangChain + n8n

6. Architecture Diagrams

• RAG High-Level
• LlamaIndex Ingestion & Query
• Haystack DAG Pipeline
• End-to-End Agent + Automation

7. Real-World Use Cases

8. FAQs

9. References

What is Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)?

RAG augments an LLM with a retrieval step: before answering, the system fetches relevant snippets from authoritative sources — internal policy PDFs, knowledge bases, or live systems — and injects them into the prompt so the answer is grounded in facts. Benefits include reduced hallucinations, source attribution, lower cost vs. fine-tuning, and freshness without retraining .

LlamaIndex: The Data Bridge for LLMs

LlamaIndex (formerly GPT Index) is an open-source framework that connects LLMs to external data via connectors, indexes, retrievers, and query engines. It supports structured pipelines for parsing, indexing, and querying, making external knowledge feel “native” to the model .

Key Components

• Data Connectors: APIs, files, databases, SaaS (see LlamaHub).
• Indexes: Vector/graph/list/tree structures optimized for LLM consumption.
• Retrievers: Efficiently select the most relevant chunks.
• Query/Chat Engines: Orchestrate retrieval and format LLM-ready prompts .

How It Works

1. Load/Parse (files/web/APIs) → 2) Index (vector/tree/list) → 3) Retrieve (similarity or structured) → 4) Generate (LLM answer) .
2. It plugs into LangChain, AutoGen, and CrewAI as a retriever or memory module, and integrates with vector stores like FAISS, Chroma, and Weaviate.

Enterprise Use Cases

• HR bots grounded in policy PDFs
• Research assistants verifying sources before actions
• Multi-turn chat grounded in private knowledge.

Haystack: Modular RAG Pipelines for Production

Haystack (by deepset) is a production-grade RAG framework emphasising modularity, reproducibility, and scalability. It provides components for document stores, retrievers, readers/generators, rankers, and pipelines (including graph/DAG orchestration) .

Retrieval, Ranking, and Generation

• Retrievers: Sparse (BM25) and dense (vector embeddings).
• Reader/Generator: Extract precise spans or synthesise answers with LLMs/transformers.
• Ranker: Reorders candidates by semantic relevance/confidence to improve precision .

Agent Support & DAGs Haystack agents can choose tools dynamically (retrievers, web search, calculators), and its graph/DAG pipelines enable multi-step control flows — branching, loops, and fallbacks — for robust production systems. It integrates with LangChain and AutoGen.

n8n: The Automation Layer for Agentic AI

n8n is an open-source workflow automation platform (400+ integrations) that turns structured agent outputs into actions — send emails, update CRMs, call internal APIs, or orchestrate cloud ops. It supports webhooks, API triggers, and custom code nodes, and is deployable self-hosted or in the cloud — ideal when agents must do things beyond answering.

Integration Patterns

• Agents hand off action payloads to n8n via webhook/API.
• n8n executes multi-app sequences with retries, conditionals, and secrets management.

Putting It Together: LlamaIndex + Haystack + LangChain + n8n

A common blueprint:

LlamaIndex handles ingestion/indexing and fast retrieval;

Haystack composes the retrieval, ranking, and generation steps into observable pipelines;

LangChain orchestrates multi-step reasoning and memory;

n8n executes real-world side effects (tickets, notifications, CRM updates)

Architecture Diagrams

1) RAG High-Level Flow

2) LlamaIndex Ingestion & Query

3) Haystack DAG Pipeline (Retrieval → Rank → Read/Generate)

4) End-to-End Agent + Automation (LangChain to n8n)

Real-World Use Cases

• Internal Knowledge Assistants: HR/legal/compliance bots grounded in PDFs and Confluence spaces.
• Customer Support: Deflect tickets with evidence-backed answers and n8n follow-ups (e.g., create a Zendesk ticket if confidence < threshold).
• Research & Intelligence: Multi-hop retrieval with rankers surfacing best sources, then validated by agents before n8n triggers downstream workflows.\ These patterns map directly to the frameworks’ strengths: LlamaIndex for indexing and retrieval, Haystack for pipelines and ranking, n8n for automation .

FAQs

Q1: Why not just fine-tune the LLM instead of using RAG?

Fine-tuning is costly and static; RAG is cheaper, fresher, and preserves source attribution, reducing hallucinations without retraining .

Q2: Can I combine LlamaIndex and Haystack?

Yes. A common pattern is LlamaIndex for data ingestion/indexing and Haystack for DAG pipelines and observability around retrieval/ranking/generation.

Q3: Is n8n necessary if I already use LangChain?

LangChain orchestrates reasoning; n8n excels at real-world integrations and side effects (APIs, CRMs, messaging). They’re complementary.

Q4: Which vector stores are supported?

Both frameworks integrate with popular stores such as FAISS, Weaviate, Chroma, and Pinecone (via connectors/plugins).

Q5: Why is Haystack a strong fit for agentic pipelines?

Because it provides graph/DAG orchestration for multi-step logic, integrates with LangChain/AutoGen, and allows agents to invoke tools dynamically (retrievers, calculators, web search).

Q6: Does Haystack replace LLMs with rule engines?

No. Haystack works with LLMs — structuring retrieval and reasoning around them — rather than replacing them.

Q7: Can Haystack design my chatbot UI/UX?

No. Haystack focuses on backend retrieval/ranking/generation; UI/UX is handled by your app or third-party tooling.

Q8: How does n8n differ from traditional iPaaS tools?

n8n is open-source, supports custom code nodes, offers webhooks/API triggers, and is self-hostable, which suits privacy-sensitive agentic workflows.

Q9: Where do LangChain and LlamaIndex overlap?

Both can act as retrievers/memory; LlamaIndex focuses deeply on indexing/retrieval abstractions, while LangChain emphasizes chain/agent orchestration and tool use.

Q10: How do I productionize RAG (monitoring & evaluation)?\

Use Haystack’s pipelines for clear component boundaries, add rerankers for quality, log prompts/responses, track confidence, and implement fallbacks (e.g., escalate to human or create a task in n8n when confidence < threshold).

References

1. LlamaIndex Documentation — concepts, quickstart, connectors, indices, query/agents
2. Haystack (deepset) Docs — components, pipelines, agents, production patterns
3. n8n Docs — workflow automation, integrations, webhooks, self-hosting
4. AWS: What is RAG? — overview, benefits, architecture
5. Azure AI Search: RAG Overview — enterprise RAG design pattern
6. Haystack Site — product positioning for agentic systems
7. Wikipedia: RAG — definition, history, limitations, citations
8. Choosing a RAG Framework (LangChain/LlamaIndex/Haystack) — comparative overview
9. Haystack Core

• Pipelines (graphs/branches/loops): docs.haystack.deepset.ai/docs/pipelines
• Retrievers overview (sparse/dense): docs.haystack.deepset.ai/docs/retrievers
• BM25 retriever (Elastic example): docs.haystack.deepset.ai/docs/elasticsearchbm25retriever
• Hybrid retriever (OpenSearch): docs.haystack.deepset.ai/docs/opensearchhybridretriever
• Hybrid retrieval tutorial (fusion): haystack.deepset.ai/tutorials/33_hybrid_retrieval
• Rankers (cross‑encoder, API & on‑prem): docs.haystack.deepset.ai/docs/rankers
• PromptBuilder (LLM prompting): docs.haystack.deepset.ai/docs/promptbuilder
• First RAG pipeline tutorial (generator/reader flow): haystack.deepset.ai/tutorials/27_first_rag_pipeline
• Metadata filtering: docs.haystack.deepset.ai/docs/metadata-filtering
• Tracing/observability: docs.haystack.deepset.ai/docs/tracing

Building Smarter AI Agents with LlamaIndex, Haystack, and n8n: A Deep Dive into RAG and Automation was originally published in Towards AI on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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