• ExpressVPN’s browser extension now blocks malicious, phishing, and scam sites without the VPN
• Full URL-checking blocks single harmful pages, unlike DNS tools that block whole domains
• The update extends ExpressVPN’s 2026 strategy of bundling security tools into all paid plans

ExpressVPN has added a new layer of security to its browser extension, and it doesn’t require you to switch the VPN on.

The feature, Web Protection, screens each page as it loads, matching it against continuously refreshed databases of sites known to host malware, scams, or phishing attempts, and stops them before they appear.

It’s available now on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, and other Chromium-based browsers, and comes at no extra cost to subscribers on the Basic, Advanced, and Pro plans, as well as ExpressVPN for Teams.

Browsers are where most people encounter online threats in practice – often via a single link to a convincing fake login page. Web Protection places the check at the point a page loads, catching the threat before the user ever sees it.

What makes it different

One of the more notable aspects of Web Protection is how precisely it blocks. Rather than judging an entire domain, it inspects the full web address.

That means a single fraudulent page – a fake login form tucked inside an otherwise legitimate site, for instance – can be shut down while the rest of the site stays accessible. Domain-level filters, which are the norm for DNS-based tools, can’t make that distinction.

Users also get more visibility than typical network-level blocking offers. When a page is stopped, the extension steps in with its own notice spelling out which site was halted, and why.

Users can maintain their own block and allow lists directly in the extension, and a weekly count on the home screen shows how many items Web Protection has flagged, with fuller statistics available in the account portal.

The feature sits alongside, rather than replaces, Advanced Protection, ExpressVPN’s device-wide system that operates inside the VPN tunnel.

The older tool covers all traffic across apps, but only while the VPN is connected and only at the domain level. Web Protection works in the browser with or without the VPN, and the two are designed to complement each other.

Part of a bigger push

Web Protection is the latest addition to the hybrid browser extension ExpressVPN rolled out earlier this year.

The first VPN-proxy hybrid of its kind, it can protect browser traffic on its own or hand control to the desktop app for full-device coverage, complete with Smart Routing rules and WebRTC leak protection.

It also fits into a broader strategy. In February 2026, ExpressVPN rebuilt its plans around a suite of security tools, including an email protection service and a personal data checker, and this week brought tracker blocking to its entry-level Basic plan.

The timing is apt. A recent TechRadar investigation found 369 fake VPN extensions on the Chrome Web Store, including impostors of ExpressVPN itself, collectively installed by more than 218,000 people.

With shady add-ons and phishing pages multiplying, it’s a logical step for ExpressVPN: meet users where the threats actually are, whether or not the VPN is switched on.

• Researchers bypassed ChatGPT Lockdown Mode, showing prompt-injection attacks could evade built-in protections
• The flaw enabled sandbox escapes that could support data theft, phishing, malware delivery, or malicious popups
• OpenAI patched the issue server-side, highlighting risks in AI application layers beyond the model itself

OpenAI was recently forced to upgrade ChatGPT's 'Lockdown Mode' after researchers found a way to bypass the security protection and pull off different cyberattacks through the tool.

When analyzing Lockdown Mode, security researchers Check Point Research (CPR) found a way to bypass the protections and still end up pulling sensitive data. They’re saying it was also possible to deploy malware this way, too.

“The finding raises a broader enterprise security issue: AI security controls are only as strong as the wider application environment around them,” CPR warned.

Lockdown mode

One of the most common ways AI tools and agents are abused is called “prompt injection”. By injecting a prompt into content the AI is supposed to analyze, threat actors can take over the tool and have it do their bidding.

For example, a prompt to “exfiltrate all contact information” can be hidden in a phishing email so that when the victim asks their AI agent to go through all unread emails and sort them out, the tool ends up exposing sensitive data to the attackers.

To tackle this challenge, OpenAI introduced Lockdown Mode, an optional advanced security setting in ChatGPT that adds safeguards for users handling highly sensitive information.

When enabled, Lockdown Mode restricts connections to external services and limits (or entirely disables) certain features, such as live web browsing, Deep Research, Agent Mode, or file downloads. That way, the risk of sensitive data getting exposed via prompt injection is reduced.

The researchers said the bug was found in the way ChatGPT code blocks showed HTML page previews. Code blocks are specially formatted sections that display code separately from regular text, in order to preserve its structure and make it easier to copy or edit. Since running user-controlled HTML and JavaScript is inherently risky practice, OpenAI made sure this content was placed in a sandbox and separated from the main ChatGPT application.

This sandbox, CPR later explained, prevented rendered content from directly accessing ChatGPT cookies, or local storage. It also controlled any attempts to communicate with external resources by prompting for user approval.

But popups were handled differently. “The HTML preview used nested sandboxed frames, and while ChatGPT intercepted direct attempts to open new windows, the underlying sandbox permissions still allowed popups and permitted them to escape the sandbox,” it was said.

Significant findings

Therefore, by creating a separate nested frame within the rendered page, CPR was able to access unmodified popup functions and bypass all of the restrictions placed on the original HTML preview. All of the content opened this way was no longer under sandbox rules, effectively bypassing Lockdown Mode.

The researchers said the finding was significant because it opened the doors to more than just data exfiltration prompt injection attacks. Credential theft, and even malware delivery, were not ruled out.

“An attack could potentially originate from a malicious prompt, malicious GPT or shared chat, depending on the scenario,” they said. More creative threat actors could also turn it into a useful phishing machine, since they could control the content displayed in the popup window, inside an environment the users generally trust. But perhaps the most dangerous scenario was the so-called “zero-click” attack, in which the popup would appear without the user’s gesture.

CPR disclosed their findings to OpenAI, which implemented additional safeguards to disable the Lockdown Mode workaround. However, the researchers still urged organizations to work on gaining more visibility into AI usage, make sure they control sensitive data exposure, and “look beyond model security” to consider the applications, runtimes, connectors, and other components surrounding the model as part of the overall AI attack surface.

• Chainalysis disclosed a cyberattack that exposed customer data, including hashed passwords and account information
• Company took key services offline, forced password resets, and required additional security measures
• Investigation continues as Chainalysis restores systems and assesses the full impact of the breach

Blockchain data analysis platform Chainalysis has disclosed suffering a disruptive cyberattack that forced it to shut down some of its services to prevent further damage, as sensitive data from all of its customers - including hashed passwords - were stolen.

On October 30 2026, the company issued a notification saying it was a target of an attack, “similar to many other tech platforms in recent weeks,” but “unrelated to the recent crypto theft involving Binance.”

At first, it did not look like a particularly dangerous hit - the initial investigation did not find evidence of unauthorized access to investigation content, authentication credentials, or session tokens.

On-path attack

The unnamed attackers used “offensive agentic techniques”, Chainalysis said, but believed at the time that investigation content (such as graphs, notes, or cases), transaction or query results, passwords in clear text, MFA secrets, or user session tokens were not compromised.

It did confirm non-sensitive data (user IDs, full names, email addresses, and organization role labels for users provisioned on the platform) as accessed.

On November 4, Chainalysis shared an update, confirming that this was a much bigger hit than initially believed.

“Today, we confirmed that as a part of this incident, an “on-path attack” exposed a subset of customer passwords, including yours,” the company said in an email sent to affected parties. “This attack vector has been contained and remediated.”

“Given this sensitive and urgent information, we are requiring you to reset your password.”

Users were locked out of their accounts and were forced to reset them using the standard Chainalysis login page. At roughly the same time, it also took down three products, Reactor, Data Solutions and Chain (Beta) “out of an abundance of caution”, and KYT (the user interface and API), other address screening products and the login page “due to abnormal activity.”

The company said it will require additional protections to access accounts, including having every user reset their passwords and rotate API keys as appropriate.

Chainalysis has now said it started restoring access to KYT and Address Screening, albeit partially, and that customers should expect to regain access “over the next several hours”, because it was “proceeding carefully” and monitoring each phase. Users looking to regain their access as soon as possible are invited to submit their trusted IP address via email and prepare to reset their credentials.

No word from the perpetrators (yet)

The company said it was still working “around the clock” to harden its systems and restore access to Reactor and Data Solutions. “We recognize the disruption this incident has caused and appreciate your continued patience and partnership as we work to restore our services safely,” Chainalysis said.

Chainalysis is a blockchain analytics company that governments, law enforcement agencies, and other businesses use to track and investigate cryptocurrency transactions.

Using its tools, the police were able to trace stolen funds, identify illicit activity, and investigate numerous cryptocurrency-related crimes. It is considered a rather important organization in the crypto cybersecurity chain because it provides much of the intelligence infrastructure that helps authorities and businesses understand who is moving crypto and where.

At this moment, we don’t know if this will result in an extortion attempt. No threat actors have claimed responsibility for this attack, and the data has not yet emerged anywhere on the dark web. Chainalysis has not mentioned being reached out by the attackers or even trying to get in touch with anyone.

• Schellman Compliance’s latest audit of IPVanish has confirmed no traffic, metadata, or session logging
• The audit is the third since 2022, and marks the second audit since IPVanish committed to annual audits
• It follows IPVanish’s recent RAM-only server rollout and expansion to a 150-location network

IPVanish has announced the results of its third independent no-logs audit, and once again its privacy claims have a clean bill of health.

The audit was completed by Schellman Compliance, a leading provider of attestation services, on September 25, 2026.

Following two previous third-party audits in 2022 and 2025, the review is the latest in what's become an annual tradition for the VPN provider: inviting an outside firm to poke holes in its no-logs policy.

According to the results shared, the policy is accurate and fully aligned with IPVanish’s public privacy commitments – with its zero-logs promise strictly enforced across the company’s global server network.

Proof, not promises

The evaluation was comprehensive. Schellman’s auditors were given unrestricted access to IPVanish’s systems, configurations, and teams.

Interviews were conducted with engineering and operations staff, and company workflows were reviewed alongside infrastructure, internal documentation, and the administrative procedures governing the VPN app itself.

They also ran test traffic exercises – simulating real-world scenarios and watching closely for any evidence of VPN logging, including DNS queries, VPN metadata, and server responses.

The conclusion: no records of browsing traffic, session history, or connection metadata are collected or stored on active servers. Further, any real-time systems used to detect network abuse operate purely in memory, leaving nothing behind.

The auditors also checked IPVanish’s internal safeguards, confirming that any changes to how its servers work need sign-off from multiple people. This makes it much harder for logging to be quietly switched back on.

“A no-logs policy is only as credible as the evidence behind it,” said Subbu Sthanu, General Manager, Consumer Cybersecurity at IPVanish.

“People shouldn’t have to rely on promises when it comes to their privacy. By committing to annual independent audits of our no-logs policy, we’re making transparency and accountability an ongoing practice, not a one-time exercise.”

Customers who want to dig deeper can download the full report themselves via the Security Reports page in the My IPVanish account portal.

Part of a bigger picture

The audit doesn’t arrive in isolation. IPVanish has spent the past year restructuring its plans – Essential, Complete, and Advanced – around a suite of security extras, while growing a server network that now spans more than 150 locations.

Meanwhile, the company is midway through migrating its infrastructure to RAM-only servers, which wipe all data on every reboot and eliminate the possibility of storage-based logging; it has pledged to complete that transition by 2027.

Taken together, the picture is of a provider treating privacy less as a marketing slogan and more as something baked into how it operates.

In a market where rivals like NordVPN and ExpressVPN have made repeat audits their own baseline, the third-party stamp of approval is now a must-have rather than a nice-to-have. IPVanish seems intent on keeping up.

• 96% of college students now use AI, but half of them would ban it tomorrow
• Heavy users are more likely to feel schoolwork would become harder without it
• They're worried about cognitive decline, but more so about AI's environmental damage

New research has likened the relationship between Gen Z and AI use to that of previous generations with smoking cigarettes, characterizing it as widespread adoption, awareness of the negative consequences and a reluctance to give it up.

The study from Fizz found nearly all (96%) college students now use AI, but more than half (56%) would permanently ban the technology.

But although one in two would support banning AI, Fizz shows just how reliant students have become on it, with the proportion of learners believing their work would become much harder rising significantly among frequent AI users.

Students have become reliant on AI despite its potential consequences

"The heaviest users are hooked," Fizz declared, noting that 68% of students who use AI multiple times a day believe schoolwork would become harder without AI. This proportion falls to 59% among daily users, 42% among weekly users, 22% among users who use AI just a few times a month, and 9% among those who use it less than once monthly.

Fizz also warns that the effects have having a much broader reach than just homework, with 43% of heavy users agreeing preparing for their career would also be harder without AI. Two in five even worry their daily lives would be more difficult.

This could be because students still recognize that traditional skills and qualities are still in big demand – 27% put communication and people skills as their priority, indirectly implying that their AI use could actually be harming those.

A staggering majority (86%) of daily AI users admit to having used it for something they would previously have discussed with another person, like career or life advice (51%), personal problems (48%) and even deciding how to reply to a message (45%).

The report claims that nearly half of the heaviest AI users feel under pressure to use the technology because they fear falling behind in the employment market, despite acknowledging that it could also be harming their ability to succeed in employment.

But it might not be entirely their fault, because nearly two-thirds (64%) of the surveyed students said they feel at least some pressure from teachers or educational institutions to adopt AI.

They may be addicted, but they want it gone

As many as one in two (56%) students said they would ban AI tomorrow if they could, hinting at a broad recognition that it's impacting much more than just their education.

But cognitive decline and dependence (28%) actually came in second place, behind worries of environmental damage (35%).

It could just be that many students' dependence has now made them unable to give up AI, even though they have worries about its negative impacts.

"They reach for it when they're anxious or alone... And almost nobody believes it's actually making them better," the paper concludes. "Silicon Valley believes it handed Gen Z a superpower. Gen Z would hand it back tomorrow, as long as everyone else did too."

• FA Cup 2026/27 First Round: Friday, November 6-Monday, November 9, 2026
• FREE streams: BBC iPlayer (UK)
• Stream on ESPN Select (US) and TNT Sports (UK)
• Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save 77% today)

The FA Cup 2026/27 reaches one of the most highly-anticipated stages of the competition this weekend, as teams from EFL Leagues One and Two join the party for the First Round Proper.

Three months and six rounds after football's oldest cup competition got under way for its 146th edition, several non-League clubs remain in the hat as they look to create more fairy-tale stories.

The first round always throws up some delicious ties and this year is no different. Former Premier League champions Leicester City - who won the FA Cup just five years ago - travel to National League North side Oxford City in what should be a fascinating contest.

Other standout fixtures include Notts County's trip to National League Altrincham and League One high-fliers Stockport County's clash with Cray Wanderers, who play in the seventh-tier Isthmian League Premier Division.

Read on to find out how to watch FA Cup 2026/27 live streams online from anywhere, potentially for FREE.

Watch the FA Cup 2026/27 for FREE

The good news for football fans in the UK is that select matches from the FA Cup 2026/27 are being shown on free-to-air streaming platform BBC iPlayer.

The BBC will show 14 matches from the FA Cup 2026/27 live on its TV channels (co-exclusively with pay-TV TNT Sports) and streaming service BBC iPlayer – two from each round between the first round and the quarter-finals, then one semi-final and the final. It also has free-to-air highlights and digital clips on its social media channels.

Remember, you must be a UK resident and have a valid TV license to access BBC iPlayer. If you do, just sign up online and you're good to go!

9Now will also show select FA Cup games for free in Australia, beginning with Oxford City vs Leicester City in the first round.

What if you're abroad? Football fans from the UK can use NordVPN to watch their usual streaming service from anywhere.

FA Cup 2026/27 TV Games – First Round

Friday, November 6
Oxford City vs Leicester City — 7.45pm GMT (TNT Sports 1 / HBO Max)

Saturday, November 7
Altrincham vs Notts County — 5.30pm GMT (BBC Two / iPlayer & TNT Sports 1 / HBO Max)
Peterborough United vs Reading — 8pm GMT (TNT Sports 1 / HBO Max)

Sunday, November 8
Stafford Rangers vs Grimsby Town — 12pm GMT (TNT Sports 1 / HBO Max)
Cray Wanderers vs Stockport County — 2.15pm GMT (BBC Two / iPlayer & TNT Sports 3 / HBO Max)
Wimborne Town vs Crawley Town — 3pm GMT (TNT Sports 1 / HBO Max)
Oldham Athletic vs Sheffield Wednesday — 5.15pm GMT (TNT Sports 1 / HBO Max)

Monday, November 9
Plymouth Parkway vs Berkhamsted — 7.30pm GMT (TNT Sports 1 / HBO Max)

Scroll down for the full First Round fixture list

How to watch any FA Cup 2026/27 stream using a VPN

A VPN is a handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with a 77% discount.

How to watch FA Cup 2026/27 live streams in the US

ESPN is the exclusive rights-holder for the FA Cup 2026/27 in the US, with every game live through streaming platform ESPN Select.

A standalone subscription costs $13.99 a month or $139.99 a year, but you can also get their ESPN Unlimited package that includes everything ESPN has to offer. Or you can watch through the Disney Plus/Hulu/ESPN bundle, which costs from $21.99 a month.

ESPN's channels are also available via cord-cutters like YouTube TV, Fubo and Sling.

Traveling away from the States right now? You'll need a VPN to watch your regular streams from abroad.

How to watch FA Cup 2026/27 live streams in the UK

UK viewers can watch FA Cup 2026/27 live streams on TNT Sports and the BBC.

As detailed above, there will be select matches available for free on BBC iPlayer, but TNT Sports and its HBO Max streaming service will show a minimum of 47 games over the course of the competition.

You can get it by adding TNT Sports to your Sky, Virgin Media or EE TV package, or pay from £25.99 a month (minimum 12-month term) for a HBO Max plan that includes TNT Sports.

Traveling away from the UK today? Use a VPN to watch HBO Max or BBC iPlayer from abroad.

How to watch FA Cup 2026/27 live streams in Canada

Soccer fans in Canada can watch the FA Cup 2026/27 on Sportsnet.

You can either watch Sportsnet on TV, or via the Sportsnet Plus streaming service, which starts at $34.99 per month or $269.99 per year.

Outside Canada during the FA Cup 2026/27? Simply use a VPN to watch from abroad.

How to watch FA Cup 2026/27 live streams in Australia

Viewers in Australia can watch FA Cup 2026/27 live streams on Stan Sport.

A Stan Sport subscription costs $20 a month on top of a regular Stan subscription, which you can get from just $9.99 a month.

Select games will also be made available for free on 9Now.

Away from Australia right now? Use a VPN to watch Stan Sport from abroad.

How to watch FA Cup 2026/27 live streams in New Zealand

beIN SportsNZ is the FA Cup 2026/27 TV rights holder in New Zealand.

A subscription to beIN Sports costs NZ$16.99 a month, or NZ$169.99 if you pay for a year up front. New subscribers can also get a 7-day free trial, which allows you to cancel before the trial period ends at no cost if you're not fully satisfied.

Missing a game due to work commitments abroad? NordVPN will give you access to your home streaming service.

FA Cup 2026/27 Q+A

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

Rising console prices are by now a fact of life for gamers, no matter which platform they prefer. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X — consoles that are now six years old — cost $150 and $300 more than at launch, respectively; the Nintendo Switch 2, released in 2025, already costs $50 more.

Things haven't always been this way: back in 2013, the PS4 launched for $400, and the PS4 Slim arrived three years later for $300. Price cuts and cheaper versions were traditionally a part — a key part — of the console lifecycle.

In 2026, that pattern is reversed: consoles are getting more expensive rather than cheaper, at a time when everything else is also getting price hikes, and the trend is occurring all over the world, not just in the US and Europe.

To find out why prices keep rising — and whether they'll ever come down — I spoke to four industry analysts: Rhys Elliott at Alinea Analytics, James McWhirter at Omdia, Piers Harding-Rolls at Ampere Analysis, and Mat Piscatella at Circana.

Whatever happened to the price cut?

Traditionally, hardware makers have launched new consoles at relatively slim margins — even at times making a loss — and planned to make up the difference through games and other spending by players.

Manufacturing efficiencies combined with advances in hardware, including cheaper chips and memory, have helped to reduce production costs, further cementing the durability of this model.

Making use of these gains, manufacturers could then introduce slimmer versions of consoles or even reduce prices — therefore enticing more people to the platform and increasing game sales.

"The hardcore [gamers] paid full whack at launch," says Alinea's Elliott. "Families, kids, lapsed players, and more budget-conscious gamers came in later, at a lower price."

In 2026, the cost reductions that underpinned this model are much harder to achieve, with advanced chips becoming more expensive to manufacture and memory prices soaring.

At the same time, makers have become less willing to subsidise their hardware. "Sony and Microsoft have become more reticent to sink margin into subsidising consoles heavily this generation," says Ampere's Harding-Rolls.

The net result is that the traditional relationship between console age, manufacturing costs, and retail prices has completely broken down.

It's not just the RAM

The PS5 and Xbox Series X launched amid the turbulence of the COVID pandemic, and supply shortages lasted well into their lifecycles.

Now, we see myriad interrelated headwinds — from inflation and rising energy costs to currency fluctuations, particularly the weak yen, and US tariffs — that put even more pressure on manufacturing and retail prices.

"This console generation has been characterised by macroeconomic instability," says Omdia's McWhirter.

To top things off, the AI infrastructure boom is gobbling up enormous amounts of memory, encouraging chipmakers to prioritise more profitable server products and squeezing production capacity available for consumer electronics.

Consoles, which rely on DRAM for working memory and NAND flash for storage, are effectively caught in the crossfire. TrendForce estimates that memory now accounts for 23% to 42% of console component costs, compared with around 15% historically.

Elliott points out that console manufacturers negotiate memory prices and volumes months in advance, potentially delaying the impact of rising costs by two to four quarters. "A console on a shelf this Christmas contains memory that may have been priced the best part of a year ago," he says.

Same problem, different game plans

Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are all facing these pressures, but each has its own priorities.

Sony's PS5 is a mature platform with an established audience, and so the company is increasingly focused on making money from existing customers, including through subscriptions like PlayStation Plus.

Its Q2 results, reported on November 5, illustrate this well: PS5 shipments fell from 4 million to 2.6 million year on year, while gaming division revenue increased 9%, helped considerably by a weaker yen. "These days, Sony treats hardware as a gateway it would rather not subsidise," says Elliott.

Microsoft is in a similar position with Xbox, but its games increasingly appear on PlayStation and PC alongside its own consoles — as Elliott puts it, "the console is one door among many."

Elliott argues that Microsoft's willingness to accept higher hardware prices reflects the console's changing importance within its wider gaming business, although falling hardware sales could make it harder to attract new players.

Nintendo, as is so often the case, has its own dilemma.

The Switch 2 is still early in its lifecycle, meaning Nintendo needs to build up its audience while keeping the console affordable enough to attract new buyers. McWhirter argues that Nintendo is accepting pressure on short-term profitability rather than passing the full increase in component costs to customers.

Omdia estimates that the market price of the Switch 2's 12GB memory and 256GB storage increased by $162 between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026, compared with a $50 increase in its US retail price. The figure doesn't necessarily reflect what Nintendo pays its suppliers, but illustrates the scale of the problem.

Nintendo says it has no plans for further price increases, but as McWhirter says, "The big question going forward is: how long will this be sustainable?"

For all their differences, the three console makers face the same question: how much can they charge before players start walking away?

“Elliott argues that manufacturers have also become more focused on protecting their margins, with established customers seemingly willing to absorb higher prices. “Every price rise this generation has been a test, and the core audience kept passing it – on PlayStation and Nintendo anyway,” he says.”

Are gamers getting priced out?

The new dynamics of console pricing give gamers some difficult choices. Circana's Piscatella has observed a consistent pattern around recent price increases: sales jump ahead of the new prices taking effect, then decline and eventually settle at a new baseline.

Piscatella says this pattern has emerged across PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch 2, and is distinct from the natural slowdown in sales as consoles get older.

Console price cuts later in the hardware's lifecycle have traditionally made them more affordable for families and younger gamers, a dynamic that Elliott points out is now quickly disappearing.

"Budget players have always come in through used consoles and 20 quid used discs," says Elliott. The shift towards digital distribution complicates matters, particularly when it comes to buying and reselling games cheaply.

The picture isn't totally bleak, however: Piscatella argues that younger and less affluent gamers do have options, particularly on mobile devices and lower-spec PCs, where free-to-play hits like Roblox and Fortnite are widely available.

Cloud gaming could also become a more attractive option as console prices continue to rise, and subscription services can offer access to a huge library of games for a monthly fee.

The risk, though, is that console gaming increasingly becomes the preserve of older, more affluent audiences, even as gaming itself remains hugely popular.

"Consoles gained popularity for their ease of use, convenience and affordability when compared to other gaming options," says Piscatella. "Anything that decreases these factors for consoles makes them a less appealing option."

The $1,000 question

The AI boom looks set to keep pressure on component prices — and therefore console prices — for some time yet. While memory prices might eventually stabilise, neither Elliott nor Harding-Rolls expects a return to the old pattern of steadily cheaper consoles.

Retail prices are likely to remain elevated due to expensive manufacturing processes and manufacturers' reluctance to absorb costs, and Elliott expects console makers to lean on temporary promotions, not wholesale price cuts.

But will console launch prices ever breach $1,000? Harding-Rolls believes Sony and Microsoft "will have to subsidise more heavily than they would like" to keep the next generation affordable.

Ampere's August research did the maths, modelling a scenario where an incrementally updated PS6 and Xbox launched in 2028 for $1,000, finding that combined sales over their first five years could be up to 38% lower than the equivalent period for the current generation.

In other words, Sony and Microsoft beware.

Faced with these interrelated dilemmas, manufacturers might turn in a new direction and rethink their approach to hardware.

Harding-Rolls suggests, for example, that manufacturers may have to scale back their ambitions for ever-more-realistic graphics and raw performance. "The relentless push for higher-end performance will need to be moderated," he says.

McWhirter posits that we might see more hardware stratification across tiers, potentially including a cheaper Switch 2, and a growth in bundles that offer value without actually cutting console prices.

Console makers may also delay new hardware launches for the foreseeable future to assess whether component costs improve — although the mood music from memory makers like SK Hynix is bleak, with much of its production capacity already committed through 2028.

Longer generations, then, seem increasingly likely. Elliott anticipates that the PS5 will stick around well after its successor launches, and cross-generation games may let gamers delay any hardware upgrades. "The next generation won’t replace this one so much as sit on top of it," he says.

Financing could spread the upfront cost of new consoles, while trade-ins and refurbished hardware might offer cheaper entry points for gamers — albeit without solving the underlying affordability dilemma.

A new era of pay-to-play?

As we head into 2027 and beyond, the danger for console makers is that their hardware becomes a product for wealthy enthusiasts, undermining the business model that made console gaming so successful.

Hardware that once became cheaper as it aged is now becoming more expensive, at a time when households are already facing higher living costs. Rising component costs might eventually ease, but changing business models could make permanent price cuts increasingly rare.

Piscatella worries that a shrinking pool of potential buyers could ultimately threaten the economics of the entire hardware model.

"Then the question becomes at what point does the addressable market for a new console become so small as to make it unviable," says Piscatella. "We're not there yet, but the risk of getting to that point certainly exists."

• Musk posted on X that production of Cybertruck will be winding down
• The move has been made to “make room for increased Cybercab production”
• It gives us our best indication yet that Cybertruck will join Model S and Model X

Elon Musk has used his X account to reveal that Tesla will be "winding down" production of its divisive Cybertruck at its Gigafactory in Texas around "the middle of next year", in order to make room for increased production of its Cybercab robotaxi.

Musk stopped short of saying whether this means the end of the Cybertruck altogether, or merely that production is going to be moved elsewhere. But the project’s lead, Wes Morrill, posted a more reflective statement to the social media site, saying: "Cybertruck was an incredible technology development platform and lives on through Cybercab".

That sounds a bit like an obituary to us and many users rushed to post their responses, which ranged from high praise for the angular electric pick-up truck, calming it was “the best vehicle ever made” to blunt putdowns.

Although others highlighted a point that many Tesla commentators have been focussing on in the past few years: the fact that Tesla doesn’t seem all that interested in EVs any more.

One X user wrote: "Serious concern for continuity on Model 3 and Y... sensing here an end on consumer products from Tesla," while another pointed out that the winding down of Cybertruck could mean for owners that they “won't get meaningful software updates anymore” and Cybertruck's software will grow “increasingly stale”.

Whatever the stance, it is difficult to get away from the fact that Cybertruck has been a commercial disappointment.

From claiming it had over one million reservations for the truck shortly after it launched in 2023, to estimations placing deliveries at around 30,000 for all of 2026 — way down on the planed 250,000 annual sales — it hasn’t shipped in the numbers Tesla predicted.

Customers have also had to put up with plenty of compromise, including reports of poor off-road performance, disappointing electric range and worries about recalls, one of which was issued over fears that the wheels could fall off.

Tesla also massively over-promised and under-delivered. It failed to deliver its range-extending battery pack, which was supposed to offer the claimed electric mileage the company originally boasted, while its much-lauded Cybertent, or Basecamp, was a $3,000 disappointment.

Even reducing the price didn't work, as it scrapped the cheapest Cybertruck after just five months on sale.

Analysis: is this the end of the road for Tesla's EVs?

Things haven't been great for Cybertruck ever since chief designer Franz von Holzhausen attempted to demo its "armor glass", only to smash it in front of a live audience.

But one of the most obvious signs of its recent demise is the fact that Tesla has made it deliberately difficult to determine just how many it was selling in recent years.

The company has been bundling sales figures in with the now-defunct Model S and Model X, as well as the Tesla Semi truck, in order to make the numbers seem more impressive than they actually are.

It is not a nailed-on fact that Cybertruck is dead, but it is a good indicator that Tesla is considering wiping yet another EV from its line-up… a worrying trend that points towards a growing focus on autonomous vehicles and its Cybercab program.

Aside from the attention-grabbing Roadster, which used flying stunts to make headlines, there has been no talk of real EV innovation, no word on a new model to rejuvenate the current line-up and no attempt to keep up with the sort of battery-swapping, megawatt charging EV infrastructure China is busy introducing to the world.

Say what you like about Cybertruck, it has always served as a halo product, something that diverted attention towards the brand. But in automotive circles, halo models only work if showrooms are full of great cars customers actually want to buy.

Where Tesla is concerned, that line-up is shrinking and compared to the competition, is rapidly falling behind.

• AMD's CEO has said that it's a "data center first company"
• Lisa Su observed that: "I see AI and super intelligence becoming more and more essential to every aspect of our lives"
• The CEO predicted a double-digit fall in PC sales next year, and gamers aren't happy at all with what they see as an abandonment by Team Red

AMD's chief executive hasn't been making many friends in the PC gaming community this week, having offered up a telling admission, alongside an ominous sales prediction, all off the back of the firm's latest financial results.

In an interview with Brian Sozzi, who is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor, Lisa Su made it clear that AMD is a company with a lot of resources to expand its supply and the "ability to help our customers", but sadly the customers in this case are data centers, not consumers.

Su then delivered a frank admission: "We are a data center first company."

AMD's CEO also again underlined that AI is very much the future, and that "over the horizon I see AI and super intelligence becoming more and more essential to every aspect of our lives."

On top of this, as OC3D spotted, during AMD's earnings call for Q3 2026 (which was all about bumper profits), Su said that "PC sell-through slowed late in the quarter as higher memory and component costs weighed on demand," while forecasting that next year wouldn't be a good one for desktop computers and laptops.

The CEO observed: "In 2027, we are planning for PC market unit shipments to decline by a double-digit percentage."

In other words, an over 10% slump. The chief exec added this caveat: "In this environment, we expect to outperform the market as we deliver our Ryzen roadmap and grow our commercial footprint."

That presumably refers to the launch of Zen 6 processors for consumers (and businesses), the next-gen Ryzen family, which is expected to arrive early in 2027 and should obviously stoke some interest.

Analysis: dark times for the PC

It's no surprise that AMD has 'followed the money', as the old saying goes, because this is how businesses work, and profits reign supreme. Data center GPUs are way more profitable than consumer models.

If we look at the amount of revenue that AMD raked in from its data center business in this latest quarter, it very nearly doubled year-on-year and was up 97% to $8.5 billion. That dwarfed client and gaming (Ryzen and Radeon, mostly consumer) revenue, which was $3.7 billion (down 8%).

Looking at the balance sheet, it's clear enough AMD is a data center-first company — but actually saying this out loud, in no uncertain terms, sends out further signals about where Team Red wants to be, along with all the messaging that AI is the future.

Is it any wonder that gamers feel bitter about this? Hardly. Back at the start of 2024, AMD's consumer revenue was actually more than data center, albeit only marginally, but still — that picture has shifted massively over the past couple of years.

And with the prices of consumer GPUs shooting up as graphics chip production is increasingly prioritizing AI accelerators for data centers, there's a lot of bad feeling for obvious reasons. Nvidia's graphics card business is the same story too, of course, and GPU price hikes have been getting out of hand in the past few months for GeForce and Radeon cards alike.

Given clear negative predictions about the PC market next year — with AMD joining in on that — and the company's equally clear unwillingness to do anything about that with its plentiful resources, consumers are looking at a dismal future. One in which I fear that GPU price hikes are going to follow in the footsteps of steep RAM and SSD inflation, which has become beyond painful at this stage. Many forecasts point to the RAM crisis getting worse in 2027, of course.

All of which means it's hardly surprising that there's a profound sense of disappointment in AMD on social media, given this fresh data center comment from Lisa Su.

One Redditor declared: "AMD was a lot of people's last hope, but looks like PC gaming is over."

Dramatic? Well, yes, it is, but nonetheless, every single metric, forecast, and piece of analysis is strongly suggesting 2027 will be a desperately bleak time for the PC, and I have a hard time disbelieving that this is the truth. I've recently written about GPU pricing and how Black Friday could be your last chance to get an upgrade at a relatively reasonable price, if you need one.

• A new Garmin update could share the location of cyclists
• The locations would show up for drivers in Waze
• It appears the feature will be fully opt-in from the user side

Whether you're a cyclist, driver, or both, we can probably all agree that a better awareness of who's using the road is helpful for everyone — and Garmin is rumored to be working on a new feature that would pass on the location of cyclists to the Waze app.

This comes from Gadgets & Wearables, reporting on hidden code discovered in the latest version of the Garmin Connect app. That code includes the text strings "share location with Waze", "share your rides with Waze", and "Waze location sharing", which is telling.

There also appears to be a consent and onboarding flow already included in the app. That all suggests that the feature could be launching imminently, but there's no guarantee that it will roll out until Garmin makes it official.

Clearly this would be very much opt-in, and only available when the cyclist was using the LiveTrack feature for an activity. LiveTrack is designed for location sharing with friends and family, but it could be easily adapted to work with Waze too.

Safer on the road

We don't know much about how this is going to work yet, but presumably approaching drivers aren't going to be able to see your name and health stats if you decide to make use of this — just that there's a cyclist on the road up ahead.

That should make journeys safer for both cyclists and those in vehicles, especially on narrow and winding roads, and in the evening or when visibility is otherwise difficult. It's actually difficult to see many downsides, if this works as advertised.

Waze is already well known for the depth and breadth of information that it displays on its maps, with a lot of real-time details supplied by users. The maps include updates on roadworks, speed traps, accidents, gas prices, and more.

We'll have to wait and see which Garmin wearables will support the feature and exactly how the integration works, but it sounds promising. As Google owns Waze, cyclist alerts might even graduate to Google Maps eventually.

• Famed game creator Hideo Kojima has voiced his opinions on AI
• He said human creativity is a vital part of the game-development process
• And he’s worried about a future where AI dominates the industry

Legendary games maker Hideo Kojima is known for the creativity of his output, from the Metal Gear Solid series to Death Stranding, so it’s unsurprising to hear that he has strong opinions on the use of AI in video games. And in a fresh interview, he told readers exactly where he feels AI falls flat compared to human-made artistic expression.

Speaking to Japanese site Game*Spark, Kojima said that while it’s good that AI has improved efficiency, “the fun isn’t in finishing the picture. It’s in the process … While it’s fine to tell a computer to create this or that, and then say, ‘That’s wrong, change it,’ I don’t find that very interesting in terms of craftsmanship.”

“I’m worried about what will happen to that aspect of the enjoyment of craftsmanship in the future,” he added.

Kojima said he feels that there’s a distinction between using AI for creative output and employing it to form a finished product: “If you’re just making a ‘product,’ that’s fine, but I think the fun for creators lies in the creative process itself. I think ‘creativity’ and ‘products’ are different things.”

In other words, AI doesn’t offer creators the kind of spark they get from crafting something themselves. And it’s that kind of magic that so often resonates with consumers of Kojima’s media.

His comments reflect those of Jason Graves, the composer of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s soundtrack, who spoke out against AI music generation, saying that “Music is not just a bunch of notes strung together.” Instead, the process is essential as it is based on “creative instincts forged by emotion and all the little decisions that give a piece of art its own unique personality.”

The effort itself is key

Kojima didn’t just muse on what AI means for video games and other creative outlets in the present — he also had thoughts on how it could impact the future.

For instance, the game director said: “It’s not about telling someone to make a song like this and then being satisfied with the result; it’s the trial and error in between that gets the adrenaline pumping, and it’s incredibly exciting. I don’t want a future where that’s lost.”

He then reflected that, “I think it will be fine for five or 10 years, but if AI continues unchecked, perhaps a future where AI plays a vital role in creative fields will come someday. Well, I won’t be around by then. It’s up to the younger generation to decide, so I want to pass the baton to them.”

If the goal is purely to improve efficiency, AI could help to build a “good future,” Kojima noted. But for someone like him, there’s evidently much more to crafting something than just making it quickly with minimal effort.

Indeed, the effort itself is a key part of creative development. As Kojima put it, “Even with plastic models, the shape is the same no matter who builds it, but the process of assembling it is what’s interesting, isn’t it?”

• Deloitte finds 28% of businesses report current revenue growth, up from 20% earlier this year
• Productivity and improved decision-making are still performing better
• Sovereignty has become an integral part of AI strategies

New Deloitte data has claimed that when it comes to business AI, we're finally at the stage of ROI, with more organizations than before now reaping the rewards of their costly deployments.

As many as 28% now report current revenue growth as a result of their AI strategies, up from 20% compared with earlier in 2026, the firm's report found.

Realizing higher revenue is largely seen as one of the most important returns from AI – with companies spending so much on services and infrastructure, they need to make that money back.

AI adopters are finally seeing increased productivity translate into higher revenue

While other areas like efficiency and productivity (up 74%), decision-making and data insight (up 60%), cost reductions (up 45%) and better client relationships (up 44%) are all moving in the right direction, Deloitte says increasing revenue is still one of the slowest to deliver tangible results.

Deloitte's research also indirectly implies that businesses could be getting carried away with these early signs, because the majority (86%) of businesses surveyed plan to increase AI investments over the next financial year.

Additionally, while early ROI markers are now heading in the right direction, Deloitte worries that many businesses still don't have the right visibility into AI's financial impacts. While three in four (71%) are tracking total spend across token consumption, many can only see the total bill and not the breakdown of which activities lead to which spend.

Jobs are changing because of AI

It's becoming an increasingly familiar concept that employers need to redefine roles as AI becomes more engrained – developers are already seeing a shift from writing code to managing AI agents, for example.

Deloitte says there's a long way to go on this front, because while three in five companies have already redesigned jobs 'moderate[ly]', only 15% of them have done so 'extensive[ly]' and 1% 'completely.'

"Many are still just scratching the surface," the report claims.

The future of AI investments looks different

Looking ahead, Deloitte expects sovereign AI to become even more of an important consideration. Nearly half of Americas (46%) and EMEA (47%) businesses are building in-house to regain control over their workloads, with three in four (74%) global respondents reporting at least 'moderate' importance of sovereign AI.

But the paper does acknowledge the benefits of using centralized hyperscalers, noting that going sovereign or building in-house comes with certain trade-offs – usually "capability, speed or cost."

At the same time, we're hearing more and more about enterprises like Revolut picking up the infrastructure bills themselves, choosing to self-host open-weight models for greater cost predictability, usually at the expense of model performance in scenarios where they can achieve their desired outcomes without leading frontier models.

The report sets out six key considerations for the next stages of AI: adopters must respond by redesigning work as a whole, not just the workflow; costs need to be traceable to the token degree, not just the full bill; AI strategies must align with actions that produce revenue; governance needs to keep up as systems become more autonomous; early adopters are now starting to look at physical AI like robots, and so should you; and sovereignty should be seen as an ongoing effort consideration over a one-time fix.

• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 creative director Jan Theysen explains how King Art introduced ideas from the Warhammer 40K TTRPG
• Theysen says it took "basic ideas" from the tabletop game that were familiar to fans
• Features like Armor of Contempt were also adapted to make sense for the real-time strategy experience

King Art Games co-founder and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 creative director Jan Theysen has explained how the studio implemented ideas from the Warhammer 40K tabletop game to make sense for long-time fans and newcomers.

In a lengthy interview with TechRadar Gaming, where Theysen described how the game manifests the classic RTS experience of the 2004 game and which hero mechanics and UI features it borrowed from Dawn of War 2 and 3, the creative director said that it was always King Art's intention to take inspiration from the beloved tabletop game.

"When it comes to basic ideas for factions, or also for units, for abilities, and so on, that's basically the first place we look," Theysen said. "Because instead of inventing completely new abilities for units, it makes sense to see what they have in the tabletop; is this something that we can adapt or change so it works in an RTS?"

Among those features was Armor of Contempt, a combat bonus for the Space Marine faction, which King Art decided to adapt to make sense in the context of the RTS.

"The tabletop is something different, but it's kind of the same idea, which basically means it makes Space Marines harder to kill, right?" the creative director explained.

"In the RTS, we now have Armor of Contempt, which basically works when Space Marines kill enemies, but also if one of them gets killed, there is more contempt [the attribute], and then basically the next damage you receive goes away from the contempt instead of the HP pool, which makes the Space Marine harder to kill, right?"

He added, "It's not the same mechanic, but it does kind of the same thing. And by naming it Armor of Contempt, someone who knows the tabletop already gets a good impression of what it probably does."

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 launches on PC on December 3. The creative director has also suggested that the game could eventually come to console.

• Audiolab unveils new 6000CDT MK II
• It's a CD transport, dedicated to processing a disc (not the full player)
• Requires a DAC and other separates to let you play the music

I'm writing constantly about the physical media revival, and cover new CD players every week, but new disc buyers might not be aware of how frail these things can really be. One scratch can wipe whole songs off an album, and a cheap CD player might be putting undue risk on your collection.

For that — and several other reasons — CD transports exist, and Audiolab has just unveiled a new model in the form of its 6000CDT MK II. No, I'm not talking about those wallets which you used to use to carry hundreds of discs around with you.

These are, to a certain extent, CD players: they have disc drives and let you control your tunes. But they don't have Digital-to-Analog converters, or DACs, which are vital for converting the sound from your physical media into something your amplifier and speakers (also not included here) can understand.

So why buy a CD device which can't play music from the box? Well firstly, housing the CD reading tech away from other electricals can ensure a clean and stable read, and it also lets audiophiles pick their favorite sound by choosing their own DAC, amp stage and speakers.

Transport you to the (Audio)lab

It also lets the CD transport focus on what it does best: reading discs. Everything in the Audiolab 6000CDT MKII is designed around the process; this lets you get the best from the medium, and ensures your little slivers of music are protected while they're in the machine.

Audiolab has rebuilt the device from the original to make sure all the components like the laser, spindle and disc loader are stable, make no noise and are consistent. The laser correction, which counters any unpredictability in the spin of the disc, has been designed to avoid any unnecessary actions, again making sure no noise gets in the way of your playback.

Looking at the technical specs, the 6000CDT MKII supports standard CDs as well as CD-R and CD-RWs (rewritable discs, basically, for which support can often be unreliable).

The device is set to go on sale at the end of November, for a price of £399 (about $540, AU$800, and we're waiting on exact global pricing).

Of course, if you buy it, you'll also need to pick up the other necessary accoutrements, but Audiolab would love to nudge you towards its very own similarly-styled 6000A MKII amplifier, which has a DAC built in — and judging by press pictures, the company is really hoping you'll pick up both. Fair warning though: it may sound very, very good . And his runs the risk of starting a bona-fide hi-fi collection, which can be quite a slippery slope.

Obviously, you'll also need some pretty nice speakers to appreciate them with. Fortunately, I have listed a few below…

For years, the retail industry treated the touchscreen as shorthand for interactivity. If shoppers could browse an endless aisle, customize a product or trigger an animation, the store was considered interactive.

That definition is beginning to look dated. The next generation of interactive stores will not be defined by what shoppers touch, but by what the environment understands — and how appropriately it responds.

This is an important distinction. A store can be filled with digital displays, interactive kiosks, sensors and immersive installations and still behave like a static space. The content may be visually impressive, yet remain unchanged regardless of what is happening on the sales floor.

The same promotion runs when inventory is plentiful or nearly depleted. The same message appears during a quiet morning and a crowded evening. Every screen is managed as a separate endpoint rather than as part of a coordinated customer experience.

That is technology added to a store, not a truly interactive store.

Digital channels

Digital channels have already established a different expectation. Websites and apps routinely adapt to location, browsing behavior, product availability and the stage of the purchasing journey. Yet many physical stores continue to communicate in exactly the same way throughout the day, even though conditions inside them constantly change.

Shoppers do not describe this disconnect in technical terms. They simply notice the difference between an environment that helps them and one that keeps broadcasting messages at them.

A genuinely responsive store adapts communication to context. When foot traffic increases in one area, nearby displays can prioritize information relevant to that location. When an item is running low, promotional content can be adjusted instead of continuing to create demand the store cannot fulfill.

When a line begins to form, screens can provide useful updates, redirect customers or reduce the perceived wait. When a campaign performs better at certain times or in particular stores, retailers can optimize it without rebuilding the entire content plan.

The objective is not to surround shoppers with more stimuli. It is to make every interaction more relevant.

Three forces

Three forces are moving physical retail in this direction: operational data, artificial intelligence and retail media.

Operational data allows the store to become aware of its own conditions. Foot traffic, dwell time, inventory, queue length, daypart, weather and activity by zone can all help determine what information is most useful at a particular moment. Importantly, many of these applications do not require identifying an individual shopper. A retailer can make the environment more responsive using aggregated or operational signals, with clear privacy rules and appropriate governance.

AI can help interpret those signals and turn them into decisions: which content to prioritize, when to activate or pause a campaign, how to adapt a message and where automation can reduce repetitive work. But the goal should not be to hand every decision to an algorithm. Retailers need business rules, human oversight and clear limits defining what the system may change. AI is most valuable when it supports operational judgment rather than becoming another opaque layer of technology.

Retail media adds a third dimension. In-store screens are evolving from communication tools into media inventory that can generate revenue close to the point of purchase. That opportunity is significant, but it also creates competition for attention. A paid campaign, a store promotion, a wayfinding message and an operational alert may all need the same screen at the same time.

This is why the next stage of store technology is not primarily about managing more screens. It is about orchestrating communication.

Shared logic

Retailers need a shared logic that decides which message takes priority, under which conditions and for how long. That logic must work as consistently in 500 stores as it does in a flagship. Otherwise, every new data source, media campaign or interactive feature creates additional manual work for local teams and another potential point of failure.

Complexity is one of the biggest risks in retail technology. Innovation is too often measured by accumulation: more displays, more systems, more dashboards, more vendors and more data. The result can be the opposite of what was intended — stores that are harder to operate, employees who are asked to manage tools outside their core responsibilities and experiences that cannot be scaled beyond a showcase location.

Technology only creates value when it simplifies complexity for the people running the store. That does not mean pretending the complexity has disappeared or placing an “AI-powered” label over it. Real simplification requires doing the difficult work behind the scenes — connecting data, setting priorities, integrating systems and establishing governance — so that store teams receive only what they need. The ideal outcome is not another dashboard. It is a screen that does the right thing at the right moment without demanding constant intervention from a store manager.

The same principle applies to creativity. Good automation does not replace creative thinking; it gives it room to scale. It allows a strong concept to move beyond a one-off installation and become an experience that can be deployed, measured and improved across an entire store network.

The future of interactive retail

That is why the future of interactive retail will not be built around isolated spectacle. The “wow” effect can attract attention, but it does not necessarily create lasting value. An installation that impresses shoppers for 10 seconds but cannot be updated, maintained, measured or integrated into daily operations has a limited future.

The next phase may look less overtly technological, but it will be more consequential. The best stores will not necessarily have the most screens or the most visible technology. They will feel more intuitive. Content will appear when it is useful. Displays will help organize the experience instead of competing for attention. Communication will reflect local conditions. Store operations will become more fluid. Shoppers will sense that the environment responds better to their needs, even if they cannot see the systems making that possible.

The challenge for physical retail is no longer simply to digitize the store. It is to give the store the same ability to adapt that customers already expect from digital channels.

The interactive store of the future will not be the one with the most touchscreens. It will be the one that listens to what is happening and responds at the right moment.

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• 100+ organizations are supporting European data center moratoriums
• The temporary ban would buy governments time to assess impacts
• UK set to add 6GW by 2030, but new Covenant sets out expectations

More than 100 organizations across 15 European countries have come together to campaign against ongoing AI data center developments, calling for an immediate moratorium on new large-scale campuses.

The Stop Dirty Data Centres campaign wants governments to take the time to consider environmental, economic and social consequences.

To get the message across, the group is reportedly planning protests across the UK, Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands and France, with events set to take place on November 6 and 7 2026.

Europeans are standing up against data centers

Rather than calling for all new data center projects to be called off, the group just wants a temporary pause so that governments can establish stronger planning, regulatory and environmental frameworks.

It's not the first time we've seen such action – groups across the US have also been petitioning for similar moratoriums, and many states and regions have even been successful in imposing such moratoriums, including New York State.

Campaigners are also putting pressure on data center developers themselves, calling for greater transparency around projects' environmental footprints and operating requirements.

"The explosion of AI data centres across our towns and cities is taking a toll that we can no longer afford," the group wrote, citing impacts on local communities, jobs, energy bills, water shortages, mental health, surveillance and e-waste.

"Big tech companies lobby governments to fast-track construction and operate in secrecy, bypassing protections for our communities and ecosystems," the group added.

The campaign claims support from tens of organizations, including Greenpeace UK, multiple localised Friends of the Earth branches and Extinction Rebellion Bristol.

Meanwhile, the UK government anticipates needing an additional 6GW of AI data center capacity by the end of the decade.

The Data Center Covenant, set out by the UK government, insists that future plans pay for their own energy, invest in improving local communities, adhere to stringent environmental standards, support local jobs and help to enhance national security.

• Report finds 74% of firms prioritize recovery speed over quality
• Businesses are torn on whose responsibility a recovery is
• Defining a 'Minimum Viable Company' helps identify what needs fixing first

New Cohesity research has revealed UK businesses could be putting themselves at risk of cyberattacks because they're prioritizing recovery speed over quality.

This applies to three in four (74%) UK organizations, according to the report, with nearly as many (70%) failing to even check that attackers have been fully removed from breached systems after a cyberattack.

Expenses back this up too, because three-quarters (76%) of the businesses surveyed admitted that cyber resilience investments focus too heavily on prevention rather than response and recovery.

Cybersecurity isn't focusing enough on effective recovery

Crucially, Cohesity's data shows that business leaders are virtually clueless about the state of their IT teams' readiness, with half (52%) of UK CEOs expecting basic business operations to resume within just 24 hours. A false sense of security could partly be why budgets aren't being directed to the right causes.

It's also clear that the responsibility for deciding which systems get restored first is still pretty uncertain – 23% say it should be on the entire board, 21% pin it on the CTO, 20% on the CEO and 14% on a security advisory board.

The report urges all organizations to consider their Minimum Viable Company (MVC) – the minimum combination of systems, processes and services that are deemed necessary for a business to carry on essential operations after an attack.

With a clear MVC, teams will be better placed to know which systems to prioritize. But at present, two in five (41%) don't even have their own definition of an MVC – on the flip side, not even one in five (17%) have a documented and tested definition.

"If you restore a system before verifying attacker access has genuinely been removed, you risk reinfecting yourself," UK&I VP Fraser Hutchison summarized.

Looking ahead, the next stages are pretty clear. Businesses need to define which systems are most fundamental to their core operations and who holds the responsibility of post-attack restoration.

• IIHF Women's World Championship 2026: November 6-16
• Streams: NHL Network (USA) / TSN (Can) IIHF.TV (RoW)
• Free Streams: DRTV (Den) / MagentaTV (Ger) / ORF On (Aut) / SVT Play (Swe)
• Use Norton VPN to watch from anywhere

IIHF Women's World Championship 2026 live streams see Team USA and Team Canada going head-to-head once again for the ultimate bragging rights in women's international hockey. The US have had the edge in the last couple of big events, so you can be assured that their northern neighbors will be giving it their all in Denmark for this one.

Between them, the North American nations have won every single one of the 24 previous iterations of the women's World Championship since its inauguration in 1990. In fact, only a single final in all that time wasn't contested by the US and Canada, when Finland managed to make the 2019 final (beaten, of course, by Team USA). Kept apart in this year's groups, you'll inevitably have to wait to see them clash in this year's climax – a repeat of the gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics, where the US won it in overtime.

Many of the planet's best hockey players will be on show in Scandinavia, with Team USA's Hilary Knight, Caroline Harvey and Megan Keller, and Team Canada's Sarah Fillier, Ann-Renée Desbiens and Sophie Jaques all included among the rosters. If anybody has the chance of upsetting the big two, it could be the Alina Müller-led Switzerland, who won bronze at the Winter Olympics 2026 ice hockey. They beat Sweden in that third-place playoff, while Finland and Czechia have both lost in the semi-finals in the last two World Championships.

Here's where to watch IIHF Women's World Championship 2026 live streams online from anywhere, potentially for FREE. And there's a full schedule of every match at the bottom of this page.

Use a VPN to watch IIHF Women's World Championship 2026 live streams

How to watch IIHF Women's World Championship 2026 live streams in the US

The NHL Network cable channel will show selected games of this year's IIHF Women's World Championship 2026 ice hockey in the US, including all those involving the USA national team, two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final.

If you don't have the NHL Network as part of your cable plan or have cut the cord, you can find it on most reputable OTT cable alternatives.

Sling TV offers the NHL Network as part of its Sports Extra add-on. It costs $11 a month, added to your choice of base Sling plans. If you add it to its Essentials, plan, for example, you'll pay $31 per month total.

A costlier but even more thorough cable alternative is Fubo, which includes the NHL Network alongside more than 290 other channels on its Elite plan. It costs $98.99 a month but new users get a FREE 5-day Fubo trial.

If you're currently out of the US but still want to watch the ice hockey on your usual service, then don't forget to explore the VPN route set out above.

How to watch IIHF Women's World Championship 2026 live streams in Canada

Hockey fans in Canada can live stream selected matches from the 2026 IIHF Women's World Championship – including all of those featuring Team Canada – on the TSN network of channels.

If you don't have cable, the TSN streaming platform will show it online, with suitable subscriptions costing form CA$24.99 per month.

If you aren't in Canada for the event simply use a VPN to tune in to your free hockey streams from overseas.

Watch IIHF Women's World Championship 2026 live streams in UK

With no national broadcaster in the UK for the 2026 women's World Championship, hockey fans will have to stream action online through IIHF.TV.

It's a subscription service, costing a one-off payment of €22 to get a Game Pass for every single game of the 2026 tournament. That's around £18.50 GBP.

How to watch IIHF Women's World Championship 2026 live streams in Australia

As in the UK, IIHF.TV will host all the live coverage of the 2026 IIHF Women's World Championship online in Australia.

The €22 cost to watch all matches is the equivalent to around AU$35.

IIHF Women's World Championship 2026 schedule

Friday, November 6
Austria vs Czechia – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Sweden vs Canada – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Switzerland vs United States – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT
Denmark vs Finland – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT

Saturday, November 7
Germany vs Austria – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT
Japan vs Denmark – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT

Sunday, November 8
United States vs Germany – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Finland vs Sweden – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Czechia vs Switzerland – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT
Canada vs Japan – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT

Monday, November 9
Austria vs United States – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT
Denmark vs Canada – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT

Tuesday, November 10
Czechia vs Germany – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Finland vs Japan – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Switzerland vs Austria – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT
Sweden vs Denmark – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT

Wednesday, November 11
Germany vs Switzerland – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Canada vs Finland – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
United States vs Czechia – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT
Japan vs Sweden – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT

Friday, November 13
Relegation playoff: TBD vs TBD – 5am ET / 10am GMT
Quarter-final 1: TBD vs TBD – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Quarter-final 2: TBD vs TBD – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Quarter-final 3: TBD vs TBD – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT
Quarter-final 4: TBD vs TBD – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT

Sunday, November 15
Semi-final 1: TBD vs TBD – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Semi-final 2: TBD vs TBD – 9am ET / 2pm GMT

Monday, November 16
Third-place game: TBD vs TBD – 9am ET / 2pm GMT
Final: TBD vs TBD – 1pm ET / 6pm GMT

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

In September 2026, the government announced plans to cut the administrative burden on businesses, freeing them to focus on growth. Its proposals to simplify corporate reporting, including lighter-touch requirements for SMEs and wider audit exemptions, could save businesses more than £450 million a year.

With some companies’ statutory annual reports and accounts now averaging 98,000 words, the reforms reflect a broader push towards more proportionate reporting and less unnecessary administration.

For business leaders, however, simpler reporting should not mean weaker financial discipline. Reducing what a company is required to report is not the same as reducing what it needs to know.

In fact, this is where the bigger opportunity lies. The debate about reporting reform tends to focus on the burden removed: fewer requirements, less paperwork and lower costs. But its value should also be measured by what businesses can do with the time and attention they get back.

As businesses grow, their financial decisions become more consequential. Leaders need to know when they can afford to hire, where they can invest, how long their cash will last and what changing costs mean for their plans. The less time they spend producing information simply to satisfy a requirement, the more time they can spend using that information to make those decisions.

Using financial information to make strategic decisions

Simpler reporting does not make the underlying financial information any less important. In fact, as a business grows, having an accurate and current view of its finances becomes increasingly valuable.

What a founder could once keep track of themselves – who has paid, what is due and what is coming in – becomes harder to see as customers, suppliers, employees and transactions multiply.

We are also seeing a broader shift towards financial information being captured and managed more regularly. Making Tax Digital, for example, requires sole traders and landlords within its scope to maintain digital records and submit information four times throughout the year, rather than treating tax administration solely as an exercise around an annual deadline.

The opportunity for businesses is to make that information work harder. A current view of the finances can give business owners and accountants a shared understanding of performance, help identify issues sooner and provide a stronger basis for decisions about what comes next.

In that sense, the value of financial information should not be measured only by whether it satisfies a reporting or tax requirement. Its greater value is in helping to make better decisions about the business.

Technology is changing what financial management can do

The shift towards digital reporting also raises a bigger question about technology. If businesses no longer need to spend as much time manually assembling information, what should technology enable them to do instead?

AI is beginning to change the answer.

Connected systems can already bring financial information together and reduce repetitive administrative work. AI tools can go further by helping identify patterns and bringing potential issues to a business owner’s attention earlier, from rising costs and overdue invoices to emerging pressure on cash flow.

The significance is not simply efficiency. It is the possibility of moving from looking backwards at financial information to using it more actively to inform what happens next.

That does not remove the role of human judgement. Quite the opposite. Technology can identify a change in the numbers, but it cannot take responsibility for a decision to hire, invest or change direction. Business leaders still need to exercise judgement, while accountants bring expertise that can help interpret the numbers, test assumptions and understand the choices available.

The future of financial management should therefore not be framed as technology versus human expertise. The more useful question is how technology can give people better information, sooner, so that their expertise can be applied where it matters most.

Making the time saved count

The government has put a figure on what these reforms could save businesses. But the wider opportunity is what businesses can do with the time and attention they get back.

For growing businesses, that could mean spending less time on unnecessary administration and more time understanding cash flow, making investment decisions and planning for what comes next. Better financial information and technology can help, but ultimately it is how leaders use that information that matters.

Reporting reform will not make the financial decisions that come with growth any simpler. But it can give businesses more time to focus on them. If these reforms succeed, that may prove just as valuable as the direct cost savings themselves.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

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What do a clinical psychologist from Queensland, an artist from Atlanta, a bio-behavioural scientist from North Carolina, and a tech engineer from Hungary have in common? In spite of their different levels of tech knowledge, all four converted to Linux within the last six months to regain control of their privacy and data.

Nearly a year ago, reports of millions of new Linux downloads signalled a shift in attitude amongst average digital users. The catalyst was the end of free support for Windows 10, followed by Microsoft’s aggressive promotion of Windows 11 and increasingly intrusive data-collection practices that sparked user dissatisfaction.

While ever-expanding surveillance seems to be the hallmark of major tech companies, increasingly user-friendly Linux desktop environments and installation programs, along with LLMs eager to help with configuration issues, are enabling even the least tech-savvy users to reclaim their digital freedom.

TechRadar spoke to those who have already switched to Linux to understand their reasons, how difficult it was to change operating systems, and whether we all need to do so to really be more private online.

Why switch to Linux

Bio-behavioural scientist Christopher Smith says he had no programming experience when he decided to switch. After 25 years using Microsoft, he became increasingly frustrated with the operating system forcing him to accept software and services he never requested.

"Windows was preventing me from managing my laptop freely, thereby depriving me of autonomy in my digital choices," Smith tells TechRadar. "I paid for my laptop, but I felt as though Microsoft was deciding how I could use it."

As Smith looked for alternatives, he first tried Linux from a bootable USB stick before moving on to a dual-boot system. "I didn’t even know the term 'Linux Distribution' at first; I thought it was something for developers or hackers."

Choosing a beginner-friendly Mint distro with a Cinnamon desktop environment helped the transition, as it featured a familiar ‘point-and-click’ interface similar to Windows rather than dropping him straight into an often terrifying command line interface.

Since then, Smith hasn’t looked back. Using LLMs to gather information and engage with digital communities, he has quickly learned terminal commands. He recently bought a laptop running a fully Linux-based operating system and a desktop computer on which he is setting up his own Linux server. "I won’t have to rely on Big Tech anymore."

Smith even sparked curiosity among his colleagues as they saw him booting Linux from USB at work. "After that, two colleagues tried it, and they have now told me they are exploring it further," he says.

It’s a privacy game

But is this all really necessary? Or are Smith and his newfound voyagers simply uncovering a new interest — useful, but ultimately just something that piqued their curiosity?

Imre Lóránt Dévai, a Budapest-based technical engineer who recently transitioned to Linux, certainly believes in the former. He told TechRadar:

"Data collection can affect more than privacy: the software companies use to collect data may also consume computer resources, such as CPU, memory, or internet bandwidth. Some people therefore block it both to limit tracking and to reclaim control and resources."

Lóránt Dévai uses his Logitech mouse and its installation process as a micro-example. "On Windows, even managing its buttons and firmware required Logitech software, an account, and an app running in the background. On Linux, I instead wrote simple scripts for the functions I actually needed, such as mapping the buttons and checking the battery," he said.

For Brisbane-based psychologist Aaron Frost, the decision to leave Microsoft stemmed from his professional ethics and the need to protect his patients’ confidentiality.

Specifically, Frost began harbouring doubts about the behaviour of Big Tech following Microsoft’s Recall incident — the AI-powered Copilot feature that periodically captured screenshots of users’ activity to create a searchable history.

"We work in health, and the Australian Privacy Principles treat all health data as sensitive, and I couldn’t see a way you could use Windows and be compliant, so I grabbed an old Windows machine and wiped it," Frost told TechRadar.

Choosing the right distro was the biggest challenge as he moved from Ubuntu to Fedora and Gnome to find the one best suited to his needs — something that in the past may have been a real barrier to adoption.

"I don’t think I would have pushed through the first week without LLMs. The fact that Claude or Gemini or ChatGPT know terminal and know Linux totally removes that barrier to entry," Frost explains.

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AI as a learning ally

Indeed, LLMs are playing a significant part in making Linux less overwhelming than it used to be. "AI can be a patient, nonjudgmental 'virtual admin' that can help people who might otherwise feel intimidated by online forums," explains Lóránt Dévai.

For beginners, the Budapest-based tech engineer recommends using an agent within the terminal rather than an AI assistant service, as this may be more convenient than copying commands from the browser’s chat window.

Cloud-based AI may be fine for setting up a fresh system with no personal files, he explains, but once private photos or documents are on the computer, using a privacy-focused or local model is recommended to keep your data safe.

Although useful, LLMs are not without risks and require cross-checking. "For anything that could delete or change important data, it’s wise to check what the AI proposes before letting it act," Lóránt Dévai stresses.

In the same vein, Atlanta-based graphic artist Dan Rodda has been using LLMs only experimentally during his transition to Linux, including Mistral coding models, and checking their input. He finds them useful for routine technical questions but cautions that answers can be subtly wrong.

"I have occasionally consulted open LLMs for technical help but often have to double-check their solutions," says Rodda. "I think local AI has promising potential to be an automation toolset but have yet to leverage it personally."

How to stop relying on Big Tech

As they continue to progress, the four people interviewed by TechRadar all agreed that switching to Linux meant increasing their detachment from Big Tech.

"My views towards Big Tech have been pretty grim for quite a while, but now it feels like they aren’t even trying to maintain a social license, so I actually enjoy the process of finding a free solution to a service and then migrating and cancelling the subscription," Brisbane-based psychologist Frost explains.

"I have gotten progressively more disenchanted by Big Tech with their greed and surveillance," Atlanta-based graphic artist Rodda adds. "Switching to Linux is an ethical and self-respecting choice in my view. I have substituted most of my cloud storage, search engine use, and personal productivity software with open source or privacy-respecting stuff. I also run a privacy-oriented system on my Google Pixel called GrapheneOS."

Bio-behavioural scientist Smith lists all the software he uses to replace Big Tech. "I've left Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, and I've moved over to Brave Browser and also Vivaldi."

Budapest-based tech engineer Lóránt Dévai, the most tech-experienced across the group, is even building a home lab — using an old Linux laptop to run services for himself, and reducing his reliance on tech companies. This entails hosting his own search service instead of Google search, running Pi-hole to manage or filter DNS requests rather than relying on Google, self-hosting Bitwarden to store his passwords, and setting up alternative self-hosting to Google Analytics so that the data stays on infrastructure he controls rather than going to a large third-party provider.

"It’s a gradual move towards more control over my data and services," he explains.

In the future, they all would like to de-Google. "Google has decades of my personal information that's already been harvested and scraped, and you know the telemetry of just using their free services because you are the product," Rodda says.

"There's a plan to totally de-Google, but that's a much bigger nut to crack, I think, because I'm tied to the Google environment in various ways, so it's really hard to cut those one by one," Lóránt Dévai adds.

Would you switch to Linux, too?

If you, too, are thinking of making the switch, Lóránt Dévai recommends starting with small steps, trying out Linux first and being mindful of the data that an AI tool can access.

Rodda is very practical. "Take inventory of what you need in your digital life, what you actually use, then do a little research to find out what would be a good fit and try it out for a week. Distro-findere.com and distrochooser.de are good places to start."

Lóránt Dévai recommends experimenting before installing. "Boot a Linux distribution from a USB drive to see how it looks and works. If you like it, you can install it later," he says. You can also keep Windows and Linux side by side with a dual-boot setup and experiment with different distros to find the most suitable for you. The rest will come, they promise.

Ultimately, all our interviewees confirmed that their need to break free from Big Tech’s surveillance far outweighed the sense of familiarity that had previously kept them tied to Windows. Although it’s a small sample, the number of users switching to Linux looks set to rise, as Linux distros become easier to use and LLMs help newcomers regain control over their digital footprint.

"During the switch, I was amazed at the number of people who post in the Linux Mint subreddit that say: I finally made the switch, and oh my god, why didn’t anybody tell me before it was going to be this amazing," says Smith.

As ever, the Linux rabbit hole can run deep. And it is no secret that the switch has incredible potential for improving your privacy. But with many benefits now as simple as loading up a USB stick and your favourite LLM, one has to wonder: what exactly is stopping you today?

For only the second time, gridiron football is heading to the Bernabeu, the home of Real Madrid, for the fifth and penultimate European game of the NFL 2026 season, with a Bengals vs Falcons game that could go either way in the best way possible.

There's also a heavyweight 6-1 vs 6-1 showdown to look forward to, as the Bills and Vikings face off under the Monday night lights. That comes after a loaded late Sunday window headlined by the Packers' meeting with the Patriots, both teams having made serious improvements over recent weeks.

Scroll down for our pick of the top five NFL Week 9 games – and who's showing them.

• 🏈 Unlock your stream with IPVanish (save up to 83%)

Bengals vs Falcons

• Sunday, 9.30am ET, NFL Network/ESPN Unlimited (US)

This is a mismatch on paper, with the 5-2 Bengals coming off a sensational Joe Burrow performance and the 3-5 Falcons reeling from one of the worst displays we've seen all season, but this Atlanta team is effectively purpose-built to beat Cincinnati. Bijan Robinson has gained more yards than any other running back, and the Bengals are allowing 4.8 yards per carry – the fourth-worst number in the NFL. The Falcons are also struggling to stop the run, but the Bengals' ground game is the third-worst in the league. Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, however, are in red-hot form.

Raiders at 49ers

• Sunday, 4.05pm ET, CBS/Paramount+ (US)

The Battle of the Bay may have been consigned to history but the ill will between the Raiders and 49ers hasn't dissipated, and this meeting has been nearly four years in the making. San Fran are amongst the Super Bowl favourites, but they were atrocious two weeks ago, giving up four turnovers in their first defeat of the season. However, they've had a bye to set things right. The Raiders' passing game under Kirk Cousins is the third-best in the league, but the Niners are no pushover. Unfortunately for Las Vegas, their hapless rushing game means there's no Plan B.

Packers at Patriots

• Sunday, 4.25pm ET, Fox/Fox One (US) | FREE on 5 (UK), Virgin Media Play (IRE), 7Plus (AUS) & TVNZ+ (NZ)

Both the Packers and Patriots seem to have put their early woes behind thanks to their defenses, which have come on leaps and bounds. In New England's case, the form of Drake Maye has been a crucial factor too. After an abysmal start to the campaign, he's now thrown three touchdowns in five straight games. Green Bay's Jordan Love, meanwhile, leads all quarterbacks for yardage this season. Matt LaFleur's men have a marginally better pass defense, but this is likely come down to very fine margins.

Buccaneers at Bears

• Sunday, 8.20pm ET, NBC/Peacock (US)

The Bears just underlined their Super Bowl credentials by trouncing the reigning champion Seahawks, while the Buccaneers have completed a shocking seven throws across their past two games, but Tampa Bay's bonkers gameplan is working. They won both of those games, putting up 59 points and conceding just 13, while shutting out the Falcons, with running backs Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell delivering relentless one-two punches. Keeping Caleb Williams off the field will be vital, but then again Chicago's rushing offense is second only to Tampa Bay's.

Bills at Vikings

• Monday, 8.15pm ET, ESPN, ABC, NFL Network/ESPN Unlimited (US)

The NFL's top-scoring offense and meanest defense collide in a MNF blockbuster, but they'll be sharing the stage with a clownshow. The Bills and Vikings are both at 6-1, but Buffalo's pass defense is the third-worst in the league, and Minnesota's passing offense the second-worst. The Vikings were the NFL's last remaining unbeaten team until last weekend, when Kyler Murray's deficiencies finally caught up with them, much to the chagrin of Justin Jefferson. The prospect of Josh Allen and James Cook going at this Minnesota defense, however, is mouthwatering.

Use a VPN to watch NFL Week 9 live streams

A VPN is a handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual streaming services. One of our favourites is IPVanish – it does everything and comes with up to 83% off.

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

Anime fans who are into science fiction and horror will get a kick out of Devil's Crest, the adaptation of Reki Kawahara's light novels (also known as Demon's Crest). It's a story where sixth-grade twins, Yuuma and Sawa, are playing a virtual reality MMORPG and find that the real world and the game world blur into one with devastating consequences.

Now, death is permanent, and Yuuma must embark on a terrifying mission to repair the rupture in reality while avoiding bizarre monsters which are the result of metamorphoses between real people and in-game creatures. Yuuma's sister has been affected, and so, too, have some of their classmates. The stakes are incredibly high, the action is brutal, and the journey is dark and thrilling. What more could you want?

If you enjoyed what Kawahara did with Sword Art Online, we're sure Devil's Crest will be a must-watch. There are two episodes coming at launch, and much more to come.

Read on as this guide explains how to watch Devil's Crest online – and potentially for FREE.

• TV tips email: Never be stuck for anything to watch again

How to watch Devil's Crest in the US

In the US, you can watch Devil's Crest via Prime Video from November 6.

New customers can get a 30-day free trial if you've never signed up to the service before.

Away from home? Access your usual steams from anywhere with a reliable VPN like NordVPN (get 75% off below).

How to watch Devil's Crest from anywhere

Out of the country but eager to stream Devil's Crest online? You’ll likely be restricted from accessing your usual Prime Video library and other usual domestic streams due to geo-blocking.

Luckily, there’s an easy solution. Downloading a VPN will allow you to watch no matter where you are. It's a simple bit of software that changes your IP address, meaning that you can access on-demand content or live TV as if you were back at home.

Use a VPN to watch Devil's Crest from abroad:

How to watch Devil's Crest in Canada

How to watch Devil's Crest in Australia

It's the same deal in Australia, with Devil's Crest releasing on Amazon Prime Video with two episodes on Friday, November 6.

Not at home? Not a problem. You can sign up to a reliable VPN like NordVPN and bypass geo-locked content.

How to watch Devil's Crest in the UK

Devil's Crest will be available on Prime on Friday, November 6 in the UK.

Abroad? Sign up to NordVPN. Having a reliable VPN can help you access your streams as if you were at home, even if you're on holiday in the UK.

What you need to know about Devil's Crest

Devil's Crest cast

• Yūma Ashihara as Haruka Shiraishi
• Sawa Ashihara as Konomi Inagaki
• Teruki Sugamo as Yūsuke Kobayashi
• Aria Misono as Maaya Uchida
• Kai Kisanuki as Rie Murakawa
• Sumika Watamaki as Sora Amamiya
• Kenji Kondō as Yūya Hirose
• Minagi Sano as Satomi Amano
• Shin Haizaki as Atsushi Tamaru
• Kakeru Niki as Ayumu Murase

Devil's Crest trailer

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

When I’m searching for the best NBN deals, the main factor I’m taking note of is the monthly price. Second to that come perks which, to be honest, are becoming rarer and rarer. So when Dodo announced it’s now offering its NBN customers totally unlimited mobile data via its postpaid SIM plans, I simply had to take notice.

This offer, available to new and existing customers, works as follows — sign up for any Dodo NBN plan, and you’re eligible for the new Infinity plan, a AU$19/m SIM-only offer that includes unlimited data, capped at 50Mbps.

Unlimited 5G mobile data on the Optus network for just AU$19/m is a standout deal in itself. But combine it with Dodo’s low-cost NBN plans — now on the receiving end of an AU$30/m discount for six months — and you've got a package that's hard to ignore.

Unlimited mobile plans aren’t entirely new. While virtually all telcos will allow you to continue using data, if you exceed your monthly allowance, download speeds are usually throttled to around 2Mbps. However, Felix has been offering truly unlimited data SIM plans for some time, and while speeds are restricted, they're now available at up to 80Mbps.

Unlimited data at 80Mbps, of course, sounds great, but it'll cost you AU$50/m. Dodo's unlimited data plan, meanwhile, is capped at 50Mbps but costs just AU$19/m, making it arguably the better-value option.

Take my favourite NBN speed tier of all — NBN 500 — as an example. You'll pay just AU$62.99/m for the first six months for Dodo's plan (far less than the current AU$95/m average). Throw in the unlimited mobile data plan, and your monthly total comes to AU$81.99/m — that's cheaper than some NBN 25 plans! Once the six-month introductory period is up, your ongoing monthly total will be AU$111.99.

There's no end date to Dodo's unlimited mobile data offer, but the discounted NBN plans for Black Friday sales in Australia are time-sensitive. So, to secure the lowest possible price, you'll need to sign up before December 8.

• Around four dozen US recon and intelligence Marines are joining NATO's Baltic Sentry alongside Finland's Coastal Brigade
• They were re-tasked from training rotations already in Europe and will feed drone and sensor data into NATO's shared picture
• It is the Corps' second Baltic Sentry stint, after roughly 40 Marines deployed to Finland in February 2025

A small team of US Marines is being redirected to the Baltic Sea to help NATO keep watch over the cables and pipelines on its seabed, some of the most exposed infrastructure in Europe.

Around four dozen Marines from 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, and the II Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group will operate alongside Finland's Coastal Brigade in support of NATO's Enhanced Vigilance Activity Baltic Sentry.

Both units are based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, and Military Times reported a headcount of 48, in line with the recent release announcing the move at the start of October 2026.

Eyes on the water not on the helm this time

What the team brings is surveillance. The rotation will use small uncrewed aerial systems and littoral sensors to feed data directly into NATO's shared common operational picture.

Washington is also keen to stress who is in charge to avoid overstepping: Baltic Sentry is led by European allies under Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum and Allied Maritime Command, with the Marine Corps serving in a "supportive, enabling capacity."

Maj. Gen. Daniel Shipley, who commands US Marine Corps Forces, Europe and Africa, said working side by side with Finnish allies would build "a cohesive, lethal team to deter hybrid threats in the Baltic littoral."

The Finnish Navy's chief of operations, Capt. (N) Johan Tillander, said the Marines' experience, skills and systems were "perfectly suited for supplementing our situation picture."

This is not the first time recon Marines have taken on the task. In February 2025, roughly 40 Marines from the same battalion deployed to Finland with RQ-20 Puma drones, in what the Corps described as the first activity between Finland's armed forces and the Marine Corps since a US-Finland defense cooperation agreement took effect in September 2024. At the time, the Corps said its expertise in coastline environments made it "a logical partner" for the mission.

Baltic Sentry itself launched in January 2025, after a run of incidents put the region on edge. Two fiber-optic cables more than 100 nautical miles apart were severed on November 17 and 18, 2024, and on Christmas Day the Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia was damaged along with four telecom lines, according to a Baird Maritime timeline.

Evidence of Russian interest in cables is more than just an assumption: A Telegraph investigation covered by TechRadar Pro logged more than 500 incidents in which 17 Russian trawlers loitered over or traced cables linking Britain to Europe and the US. UK telecoms minister Ian Murray said Russia was "starting to use commercial proxies," and the UK has proposed replacing its 1885 cable law with penalties of up to 14 years' imprisonment.

In the Arctic, British, Norwegian and American forces disrupted a Russian exercise near Svalbard this spring involving vessels tied to GUGI, Russia's deep-sea research directorate, which was reportedly rehearsing with a device designed to cut cables while leaving little evidence behind. Norway's defense minister, Tore Sandvik, said the operation "sent a clear message to Russia that they cannot operate covertly," although reporting so far shows the device was rehearsed rather than used against a live cable.

The deployment lands amid sharpening tension with Moscow. Stars and Stripes reports that allies have accused Russia of repeated airspace violations, that Estonia has arrested suspects over an arson attack it says Russian special services ordered, and that Moscow has warned it could resort to nuclear weapons if NATO tried to isolate Kaliningrad. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte dismissed the threat, saying "if anything happens, we are ready to counter it."

At the same time, Pentagon officials have reportedly asked Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to tone down their public rhetoric on Russia, according to four people who spoke to Reuters, with policy chief Elbridge Colby among those delivering the message. One European official summed up the request as "Just don't be loud. Don't make noise." The Pentagon declined to discuss private conversations, and a review of US force posture in Europe could yet bring a sharp drawdown.

Read against that backdrop, a few dozen Marines re-tasked from an existing rotation, wrapped in language about European leadership, looks less like an escalation than a low-cost signal: Washington is still present in the Baltic, but quietly and in a supporting role. Whether that proves enough is only something that time will tell.

• Putin orders private data centres to reserve 10% of their capacity for state use
• State authorities can request reserved computing resources with 24 hours' notice
• Private operators retain ownership while the government gains access to reserved capacity

Russian President Vladimir Putin has directed privately operated data centres to make part of their computing resources available for government information systems.

The measure requires affected facilities to set aside 10% of their capacity, giving authorities access when state digital services require additional computing resources.

According to Russian media outlet Astra, the directive appeared on the country's official legal information website on November 2 2026, introducing a strict implementation deadline.

Moscow tightens controls

Operators have been given 10 days to meet the new requirement, although they can continue using the reserved resources during ordinary business operations.

A special government subcommission will determine when the state can demand access, with facilities required to provide the requested resources within 24 hours.

The arrangement does not amount to an outright transfer of ownership, since companies retain control over their facilities and continue operating their businesses.

However, the government gains authority to requisition part of their available computing resources when designated Russian information services require additional infrastructure.

The decree specifies that companies will receive payment for providing access, with the government body responsible for establishing a ceiling on applicable charges.

Officials must also establish procedures governing allocation decisions, including the creation of the subcommission responsible for administering access requests.

The government has assigned the Ministry of Digital Development responsibility for overseeing the country's data centre capacity.

The ministry will assess available floor space and computing resources across domestic facilities and establish operational standards to ensure reliable and uninterrupted services.

The directive arrives amid continuing pressure on Russian digital infrastructure, including Ukrainian attacks against facilities supporting important domestic internet services.

In October 2026, Ukrainian strikes hit three Yandex data centres inside Russia, disrupting cloud platforms, stored information, database services and other online operations.

The attacks followed Russian assaults against essential Ukrainian infrastructure, forming part of the continuing conflict between the two countries.

Foreign infrastructure remains possible under security restrictions

Despite requiring greater domestic capacity for government systems, the decree allows Russian information services to temporarily operate using computing resources located abroad.

Such arrangements require approval from the Federal Security Service, commonly known as the FSB, giving security officials authority over exceptions.

This provision means the new requirement does not completely exclude foreign facilities, although their use remains subject to government security approval.

Russia has separately explored cooperation with American interests involving large computing facilities, including discussions about potential infrastructure projects between the countries.

On October 16, Kremlin representative Kirill Dmitriev said Moscow and Washington were discussing joint data infrastructure proposals involving possible Russian nuclear energy supplies.

The discussions reportedly include using electricity generated by Russian nuclear facilities to support computing infrastructure.

Via United24Media

• Consumer advocates in Portugal want the courts to investigate LG TVs for potential privacy breaches
• Concerns are over what data your TV is logging and where that data goes
• A new study shows that on some smart TV platforms, opting out doesn't opt you out of ACR

In September, a report accused LG of creating "216,000 spy TVs", an allegation LG denies. But that isn't good enough for Portugal's consumer association, which is calling for multiple smart TVs to be taken off sale and for others to be updated to protect viewers' privacy.

The organization, Citizens Voice, is asking the Portuguese courts to review LG's statement against findings by the technology title TEK Notícias, which says the statement didn't directly explain tests involving audio storage when the TVs were offline, or of named security vulnerabilities in webOS.

Citizens Voice wants the courts to investigate and determine whether the data collection breaches consumers' rights, and if so to take action against not just LG but against retailers, too.

LG won't be the only smart TV maker watching the Portuguese action with interest, and other consumer advocates are likely to be paying attention, too. TV privacy is a hot topic right now, and a separate study of smart TVs earlier this year found that multiple manufacturers' TVs were ignoring privacy opt-outs either by design or accident.

When opting out doesn't opt you out

Watching the Watchers is an analysis of US smart TVs and their automatic content recognition (ACR) activities, carried out by researchers at Northeastern University (via The Verge).

As the researchers explain: "2% of U.S. households have a smart TV that can take snapshots of whatever is on screen and report them back. We measured where that data goes, and whether turning the feature off actually stops it."

The researchers tested 12 different commercial TVs across multiple brands including Samsung's Tizen OS, LG's webOS, Roku OS, Google TV, Fire TV, VIDAAA and Smartcast OS.

While the majority were well behaved, only used ACR on their own streaming services (while respecting Netflix and other third parties' no-ACR stances), and offered user opt-outs for ACR, those opt-outs only "fully worked" on four platforms: webOS, Google TV on Sony, VIDAA OS and Fire TV OS.

Rather worryingly, 30 out of 30 test runs using Samsung's own TV streaming service found that despite opting out of ACR, the runs all showed "traffic consistent with ACR" if you used Samsung's own streaming channels. And 100% of opted-out runs on Vizio didn't seem to make any difference to ACR at all: every run "still sent traffic to its Amazon Kinesis ACR endpoint, with no decrease."

The researchers go into much more detail in their research paper, but the 'tl;dr' is that opting out might not opt you out completely or at all depending on which smart TV you have. However, there is an important caveat: ACR data is usually encrypted (VIDAA OS is the exception), so the researchers can't say with 100% confidence that the data transmitted on every platform is definitely ACR information. The best they can do is say that it sure looks like it.

It seems to me that this is another example of tech firms' overreach running up against consumer advocacy and privacy legislation: as a former EU resident I've spent many years reporting on tech firms batting heads with regulators over data usage and privacy.

And it seems to me that there's a simple solution for smart TV makers: be up-front about what data you're using and what you're doing with it, and make sure opting out means exactly that. It's probably a lot cheaper than going to court.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

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

JMGO N3 Ultimate: One-minute review

The JMGO N3 Ultimate is the new, top-of-the-line option from JMGO. It brings a lot of what the brand had already been packing into a new design with a motorized gimbal stand and adjustable optics that provide quick or finely controlled setup options.

The JMGO N3 Ultimate's projection can be splendid, thanks to bright RGB lasers that give the projector enough juice to hold up in even well-lit rooms. The N3 Ultimate has vivid color and crisp detail, too. Unfortunately, the brightness isn’t matched by effective dimming to offer better performance in dark scenes, which is perhaps its biggest setback. Its motion could also be smoother without so many artifacts, but it’s not terrible either.

All told, it’s a capable projector that could serve a lot of people well, as long as they’re not seeking out dark, home theater setups where contrast is as important as brightness. At its $2,999 / £2,499 list price, it’s competitively priced compared to the best projectors, but it’s been on sale for much less and becomes all the better a bargain.

JMGO N3 Ultimate Review: Price and release date

• Release date: 2026
• List price: $2,999 / £2,499

The JMGO N3 Ultimate launched in 2026 and is now widely available. It has a $2,999 £2,499 list price, but it has already seen substantial discounts. At the time of writing, it was available for $2,349 / £2,119.

JMGO N3 Ultimate Review: Specs

JMGO N3 Ultimate Review: Design and features

• Built-in Google TV
• Motorized gimbal stand and optical lens adjustments
• 1080p/240Hz VRR mode for gaming

JMGO has been rocking the same design for a few years now, and the JMGO N3 Ultimate does little to shift that. It’s still a fairly compact, two-tone rounded box sitting aloft on a gimbal stand with a rotating base, making it easy to set up and point the projection where you want it.

This go around, JMGO has incorporated small motors for electronic control of the stand. By holding a dedicated button on the remote control and using gyro controls, you can adjust the tilt and rotation of the projector. It’s good for quick adjustment but not for fine tuning.

In an interesting twist, the N3 Ultimate is JMGO’s projector that least needed this technology, as the projector incorporates advanced optics with adjustable zoom and lens shift. The zoom can shift the projector from a 0.88:1 to a 1.7:1 throw ratio, giving it a ton of range. Meanwhile, the lens shift lets it move the projection up or down by 130% or sideways by 53%, so you really just need to point it perpendicular to your wall, and you should have no trouble shifting and squeezing the projection to fit without any keystone correction.

Those manual controls are how you’ll get the best picture, but the JMGO N3 Ultimate has a host of automated tools that can quickly make adjustments for you, which may be convenient if you’re moving it often. It can analyze the projection area available to it, re-aiming, shrinking, and shifting the picture to fit. I found this using digital keystone even when it really wasn’t called for, though, so I wouldn’t count on it doing the best job.

One additional automatic tool that may be more helpful is the wall color adaptation. This uses the projector's camera and a series of test patterns to tweak colors so they appear better on your wall. You won’t need this if you use a screen, but it worked well on my beige walls.

Since the projector can move quite a bit in operation, it fits its connectors all at the base, rather than the rear of the projection unit itself. This can still get in the way of rotation, but makes vertical tilt a non-issue. The projector doesn’t have a great selection of ports, though, with just two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is eARC and probably should be kept for that purpose. There’s also a single USB-A port.

Thankfully, you don’t need to use any of those HDMI ports for basic streaming. The projector has built-in Google TV, and it operates quickly on its 4GB of memory. Annoyingly, it pauses playback while navigating menus sometimes (sometimes it doesn’t), but it’s quite serviceable otherwise. It even gets 64GB of storage, which can be useful if you use lots of apps. Perhaps, more crucially, the projector connects over Wi-Fi 6, giving it faster and more stable connectivity to work with while streaming.

For cinephiles, the JMGO N3 Ultimate supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Meanwhile, for gamers the projector can shift from 4K60Hz over to 1080p/240Hz and even brings VRR for smooth, low-latency, responsive gaming. There are some trade-offs though. Enabling VRR hurt clarity no matter if I left the projector at 4K or swapped to 1080p. Even at 1080p, VRR took a small toll on clarity. Fine text exhibited artifacts that looked like chroma subsampling. In games, it wasn’t an issue, but navigating Windows on PC to select games to play, it was a nuisance.

Apart from its gyro controls, the Ultimate's remote is pretty basic. It has the standard Google TV controls and thankfully a pill-shaped volume control that’s easy to feel out in the dark. It includes shortcuts to Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, and one app of your choice. Google TV Freeplay gets a separate shortcut at the top of the remote. Annoyingly, there’s no mute button for quick silencing and while the remote has motion-activated lighting behind some of its keys, it doesn't behind the shortcut buttons.

Since the JMGO N3 Ultimate is fairly portable, JGMO includes a foam carrying case that can fit it, the remote, and the power adapter all inside. It’s not exceedingly robust or impressive, but it’s not too bulky and should do a better job protecting the hardware than a typical backpack would.

• Design & features score: 4.5 / 5

JMGO N3 Ultimate Review: Picture quality and performance

• Wonderfully bright and colorful
• Black levels could be darker
• Crisp 4K visuals and responsive 1080p gaming

The JMGO N3 Ultimate has brightness in spades, and that’s where it shines best. When it comes to darkness, it can struggle. It fails to sink into darkness where it needs to, and the raised grays are distracting to see, never mind the regularly present letterboxes. Even when scenes aren’t very dark, these shortcomings are clear. Neither Dolby Vision nor adaptive brightness features seem to do the trick.

Thankfully, as soon as more light is called for, the JMGO N3 Ultimate delivers. It pumped out over 5,200 lumens by my measurements, which is plenty for most scenarios and not too far off the rated 5,800 lumens (nor did it require an awful picture setting). Bright scenes are clear and vibrant. Shadows look stronger in contrast to the brightness and the brightness is even enough to give the JMGO N3 Ultimate a solid showing in a modestly lit room. This makes it a great match for casual viewing, news, and bright cartoons. That brightness makes it all the easier to go big without the image getting too dim.

Alongside the brightness, the color of the RGB laser projection is stunning, just as it’s been in other projectors I’ve tested with the tech. When watching Supergirl, the glow of the green sun has plenty of depth, and the red cape glows majestically whenever the sun hits it. When Kara’s laser vision rips through the Brigands, it’s properly dazzling. The world of Pandora in the Avatar series is also lushly presented.

Motion can be hit or miss. By default the projector wants to use unsightly interpolation that presents loads of artifacts and makes the projection feel like anything but high-fidelity. With the MEMC setting dropped to low, it doesn’t look so bad, avoiding distracting soap opera effect and serious artifacts while helping reduce some of the stutter that occurs when it’s disabled entirely.

One area RGB laser projectors have been improving is the DLP rainbow effect. I’m not terribly sensitive to it, but I can usually catch it if I’m looking for it. Lately, I’ve been spotting it less and less on high-end laser projectors, but I can still catch it on the JMGO N3 Ultimate. Thankfully, it’s subtle, and I find it’s largely limited to subtitles

The adjustable optics help ensure a sharp picture from wherever you want to project. Stretched across about an 150-inch section of my wall, 4K looked brilliant in my living room.

Outside of movies, the JMGO N3 Ultimate proves a great option for gaming. You want crisp detail from corner to corner in games, since you never know where something precious is hiding, and the optics help provide this. Latency is satisfyingly low at 4K but sinks to negligible levels at 1080p/240Hz. Mousing around my screen and zipping through levels in Hades 2, I didn’t feel a hint of latency in that mode.

The speakers on the JMGO N3 Ultimate aren’t bad, but they certainly aren’t an adequate match for the projection. They put out decent volume, helping ensure you’ve got enough sound to work with when you want to plop the projector down somewhere and start enjoying right away. They even provide some low-end, helping bump up effects in movies. But the quality of stereo sound won’t be very good unless you’re sitting perfectly in center with the projection.

• Picture quality & performance score: 3.5 / 5

JMGO N3 Ultimate Review: Value

• Can serve multiple purposes well
• Cheaper than many rivals while offering competitive brightness

The JGMO N3 Ultimate is a capable projector and can work well for folks who aren’t committing to a pitch-black home theater where its weaker black levels will steal focus.

At $2,999 / £2,499, it’s still fairly competitive with what’s on the market, but at $2,349 / £2,119, it’s more of a steal. It can compete with large TVs on value while providing the flexibility to enjoy movies and TV in 4K or switch over to 1080p for high-speed gaming. The different realms it can cover all from a single product help boost its value.

• Value score: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the JMGO N3 Ultimate?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

JMGO N3 Ultimate review: Also consider

How I tested the JMGO N3 Ultimate

• Tested at home in multiple, real-world viewing conditions
• Presented the display with a variety of media and formats
• I have tested numerous projectors and displays over the last half-decade

I tested the JMGO N3 Ultimate at home, in real-world conditions. This saw it faced with ambient light coming in from numerous windows, in-room lighting, as well as ambient noise that both the projector and speaker systems had to overcome. The projector was tested both against a bare, white wall and an Akia Screens CineWhite screen. It was presented with streamed content, HDR and non-HDR, and console gameplay.

My testing evaluates the projector’s performance with respect to its price and competition from other models I and colleagues at TechRadar have tested.

I have been testing projectors since 2021 and displays for even longer.

• First reviewed: November 2026
• Read TechRadar's review guarantee

• OpenAI launches new program to protect residents and businesses near its data centers from power outages
• The Grid Protectors Program is designed to prevent OpenAI campuses from “hogging” all the power
• A new development in Effingham County, Georgia, will pioneer the program

OpenAI wants to protect local communities situated around its data centers from power outages, and has launched a new program intended to deliver both reliability and affordability to nearby residents and businesses.

The Grid Protectors Program is launching with the planned Effingham County, Georgia data center campus, which features an agreement with Georgia Power to make power available in a flexible demand scenario, which should cover demand for around 700,000 households.

OpenAI’s future facilities are designed to be more flexible in how they demand power from the grid, and the Grid Protectors Program viewed as a “starting point” for improved reliability for homes, businesses, and of course data campuses.

Grid Protectors pilot

The Grid Protector Program certainly seems a step in the right direction from OpenAI. It comes against a backdrop of growing concerns over the power requirements of AI data centers and protests over their approval, invariably in locations where residents are resistant.

OpenAI says the pilot site at Effingham County incorporates its agreement with Georgia Power to accommodate “up to 1,000 megawatts of flexible demand response.”

This is intended to ensure local residential and business properties have the power available “to help keep air conditioning running in hundreds of thousands of homes during extreme heat. For scale, that is equivalent to the average electricity demand of roughly 700,000 households.”

OpenAI says this is more than enough to cover the combined households of Washington, D.C., and Boston.

Financial assurances

By working to offer communities assurances of flexible energy at its new site, OpenAI clearly hopes that its upcoming data centers are recognized as more suited to locations that have recently come under fire.

Perhaps they want to be a part of those communities? The launch announcement adds that its new compute facilities are more flexible than older facilities, and OpenAI is committing itself under the Grid Protectors Program to collaborate with authorities.

“We will work with utilities, regulators and policymakers to develop practical arrangements for the campuses we build in the future,” it announces, “arrangements that reflect local grid needs, help campuses support the grid when it is under pressure, and pay the costs we create. Long-term contracts and financial assurances can protect other customers if a project is delayed, reduced or canceled.”

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

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

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

Quordle today (game #1747) — hint #1 — Vowels

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

Quordle today (game #1747) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1747) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1747) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

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

Quordle today (game #1747) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

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

Quordle today (game #1747) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1747, are…

• CHARD
• THORN
• COVER
• OUTER

After my starter words picked up a lot of letters in incorrect positions this was largely a game of anagram solving.

In fact, only COVER required me to bring a new letter into the game.

Daily Sequence today (game #1747) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1747, are…

• STUNK
• BRASS
• SPICY
• HAVOC

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1746, Thursday, 5 November: SHINE, TAROT, VERGE, LANKY
• Quordle #1745, Wednesday, 4 November: JOIST, CROOK, DELAY, ICILY
• Quordle #1744, Tuesday, 3 November: TRIAL, STAID, LEVEL, BONUS
• Quordle #1743, Monday, 2 November: EXTRA, AMITY, LUPUS, EAGLE
• Quordle #1742, Sunday, 1 November: DROVE, PRIED, SHELL, BEGIN
• Quordle #1741, Saturday, 31 October: ANIME, SWARM, CHALK, RAJAH
• Quordle #1740, Friday, 30 October: ULCER, DIMLY, BRAIN, BEGUN
• Quordle #1739, Thursday, 29 October: PRUDE, MINUS, SAVOY, USHER
• Quordle #1738, Wednesday, 28 October: DEALT, FLUME, SLEEK, RELIC
• Quordle #1737, Tuesday, 27 October: ANKLE, HAVOC, SULKY, WHITE
• Quordle #1736, Monday, 26 October: ASSAY, GLEAM, MUCUS, WRING
• Quordle #1735, Sunday, 25 October: RAINY, BUSED, PROXY, UNDID
• Quordle #1734, Saturday, 24 October: TOXIN, SMART, MOUSE, STYLE
• Quordle #1733, Friday, 23 October: BLIMP, HOIST, FRIED, LURID
• Quordle #1732, Thursday, 22 October: DECAL, WIDTH, WOKEN, LEVER
• Quordle #1731, Wednesday, 21 October: MOIST, VALVE, VERSE, NORTH
• Quordle #1730, Tuesday, 20 October: COYLY, SAUNA, TRIAL, RASPY
• Quordle #1729, Monday, 19 October: EXIST, DECOY, HITCH, FLUID
• Quordle #1728, Sunday, 18 October: FLINT, FUROR, WEDGE, RODEO
• Quordle #1727, Saturday, 17 October: QUARK, ENEMY, SPASM, BLOCK

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

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

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

NYT Connections today (game #1244) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• BACKUP
• PICKUP
• MAKEUP
• HOT ROD
• FLATBED
• FABRIC
• EXTRA
• WOOLENS
• TRAFFIC CONE
• SEMI
• CONSTITUTION
• REPLACEMENT
• SPARE
• OSIRIS
• STRUCTURE
• TANKER

NYT Connections today (game #1244) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Put it together
• GREEN: A replica just in case
• BLUE: Vehicle types
• PURPLE: Optical elements

Need more clues?

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

NYT Connections today (game #1244) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: COMPOSITION
• GREEN: COPY
• BLUE: KINDS OF TRUCKS
• PURPLE: ENDING IN PARTS OF THE EYE

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

NYT Connections today (game #1244) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1244, are…

• YELLOW: COMPOSITION: CONSTITUTION, FABRIC, MAKEUP, STRUCTURE
• GREEN: COPY: BACKUP, EXTRA, REPLACEMENT, SPARE
• BLUE: KINDS OF TRUCKS: FLATBED, PICKUP, SEMI, TANKER
• PURPLE: ENDING IN PARTS OF THE EYE: HOT ROD, OSIRIS, TRAFFIC CONE, WOOLENS

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

At a push I might have seen iris in OSIRIS and lens in WOOLENS, but congratulations if your eye knowledge extends to knowing that HOT ROD and TRAFFIC CONE are both ENDING IN PARTS OF THE EYE.

Fortunately, getting the green group was pretty easy — although I did think the category was substitutes, rather than COPY.

My mistake came in assembling KINDS OF TRUCKS, as I included HOT ROD instead of TANKER before realizing my error. I can see clearly now, of course.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, November 5, 2026, game #1243)

• YELLOW: KINDS OF HEELS: KITTEN, PLATFORM, SPIKE, WEDGE
• GREEN: FLOWERS: ANEMONE, LOTUS, NARCISSUS, ROSE
• BLUE: TEARDROP-SHAPED THINGS: PEAR, RAINDROP, SPEEDBAG, UVULA
• PURPLE: LIQUORS WITH LAST LETTERS CHANGED: BRANDO, GIG, RUN, WHISKER

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

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

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

NYT Strands today (game #978) - hint #1 - today's theme

NYT Strands today (game #978) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• SHORE
• GROSS
• SLAVE
• PENCE
• VALE
• CHART
• FLAT
• FATAL

NYT Strands today (game #978) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #978) - hint #4 - spangram position

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

NYT Strands today (game #978) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #978, are…

• HUSK
• LEAVES
• MOSS
• PINECONE
• ACORN
• TWIG
• BRANCH
• SPANGRAM: FORESTFLOOR

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

Once I got the spangram this game became quite easy, with ACORN and TWIG running alongside it, but it was far from a walk in the woods up to this point.

Fortunately, while I struggled to find some autumnal words I did find plenty of non-game words, so took a hint. HUSK wasn’t the easiest of starters, but from here the rest of the game made sense.

Autumn-ness has become quite the trend in recent years. After decades of being in the shadow of the other seasons it is almost as if Autumn hired itself a PR company to make us feel as if we can’t live without pumpkin spice lattes, cozy fires and oversized scarves.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, November 5, game #977)

• WIND
• BREAD
• FAITH
• GROUND
• DANCING
• CHARACTER
• SPANGRAM: GIVEMEABREAK

Geekom makes some of our favorite mini PCs, and its A8 Max is a great choice for anyone who wants a powerful system packed into a tiny chassis. Bast of all, it's on sale for Black Friday, and a special code brings the price down to the lowest yet.

• Best for: PC enthusiasts, home office workers, and content creators who want a compact, capable Windows-compatible desktop with plenty of connectivity and the flexibility to choose their own components.

• The deal: Geekom has already reduced the A8 Max by $510, from $959 to $449. Enter code GKFS100 at checkout to save another $100, lowering the final price to $349.

Today's best mini PC deal

Why we recommend it

The A8 Max has plenty to offer anyone. Measuring approximately 5.3 x 5.2 x 1.9 inches, it's small enough to sit beside a monitor or be mounted out of sight using the included VESA bracket.

Its Zen 4 processor has eight cores and 16 threads, making it suitable for multitasking, photo editing, programming, and the like. The integrated Radeon graphics also provide enough power for lighter gaming and creative workloads, although demanding 3D applications will benefit more from a dedicated GPU.

Geekom's IceBlast 2.0 system combines a large fan, copper heat pipes, and an all-copper cooling module to help manage temperatures during long sessions.

For more of our favorites, we've tested the best mini PCs you can buy.

Price context & historical value

A drop from $959 to $449 represents a huge saving. Applying the additional $100 discount code increases the total saving to $610, a massive 64% off.

Although I've spotted it nearly as cheap in the past, this is the lowest price I've seen to date. It's worth noting that this price is for the barebones version, which comes without RAM, storage, or an operating system. You'll need to supply those yourself, so factor their cost into the overall price.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Geekom A8 Max mini PC if...

You're comfortable configuring a barebones PC with your own RAM, storage, and operating system, and want a compact desktop with a powerful processor, useful expansion options, and plenty of connectivity.

❌ Skip the Geekom A8 Max mini PC if...

You want a complete computer that works straight out of the box, or you're looking for a gaming machine capable of running demanding modern titles at high settings. A preconfigured system or one with dedicated graphics would be a better choice.

• Shop all mini PCs at Geekom

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is one of the most significant and powerful forces in the technology world today.

While it's not the only chipmaker out there, it produces around 90% of the world's most advanced semiconductors and has up to 70% market share of the global contract chip-making market.

Global fracturing

The founder of TSMC, Morris Chang, gave his verdict on the state of the global supply chain during the opening ceremony of the company's advanced chip plant in Arizona.

Chang was careful not to describe the global supply chain or globalisation as completely dead but "almost" dead – indicating that it still exists in some way but has been heavily reconfigured to adapt to changing times.

There are several reasons for this, including rising geopolitical tensions, especially between the US and China, as well as a move toward manufacturing repatriation and the formation of blocs rather than the promotion of ever-closer global ties and free trade for the sake of it. That is the context in which TSMC began operating, and a way of the world that is being lost.

Crises and shocks

Since COVID-19, there have been a series of supply chain shocks that have hit businesses and, in the end, consumers when it comes to the price of technology.

The chip crisis that lasted between 2020 and 2023 was the most disruptive shortage of technology that hit countless sectors worldwide. This was caused by the surge in demand for electronics, with people homebound due to the lockdown measures, the geopolitical cracks that started to form, as well as the death of just-in-time logistics.

Although the crisis eventually abated, a new shortage in memory has hit companies and consumers across the world in a similar way. These new problems, however, are more attributable to the AI boom, in which the surge in AI data centers and demand for high-bandwidth memory have led to bottlenecks in the production of consumer-grade memory like DDR5 RAM and SSD storage.

After that disastrous trip to Berlin in season 1, Julie (Keeley Hawes) and her son Edward (Freddie Highmore) are reunited for season 2. It's not a happy reunion, though, as Edward's honeymoon gets upended when his new wife, Kayla, is kidnapped. Can his mother use her unusual talents to bring Kayla home?

Across six episodes we will dive into the criminal underworld of Spain, full of corruption and danger as Julie and Edward try to balance their mission and their fractured relationship.

The good news is, all six episodes drop in one swoop and they're all in one place globally from the same date, which couldn't make it easier to watch along.

Read on as this guide explains how to watch The Assassin season 2 online – and potentially for FREE.

• TV tips email: Never be stuck for anything to watch again

How to watch The Assassin season 2 in the US

In the US, you can watch The Assassin season 2 via Prime Video from November 6.

New customers can get a 30-day free trial if you've never signed up to the service before.

Away from home? Access your usual steams from anywhere with a reliable VPN like NordVPN (get 75% off below).

How to watch The Assassin season 2 from anywhere

Out of the country but eager to stream The Assassin season 2 online? You’ll likely be restricted from accessing your usual Prime Video library and other usual domestic streams due to geo-blocking.

Luckily, there’s an easy solution. Downloading a VPN will allow you to watch no matter where you are. It's a simple bit of software that changes your IP address, meaning that you can access on-demand content or live TV as if you were back at home.

Use a VPN to watch The Assassin season 2 from abroad:

How to watch The Assassin season 2 in Canada

How to watch The Assassin season 2 in Australia

It's the same deal in Australia, with The Assassin season 2 releasing on Amazon Prime Video in its entirety on Friday, November 6.

Not at home? Not a problem. You can sign up to a reliable VPN like NordVPN and bypass geo-locked content.

How to watch The Assassin season 2 in the UK

The Assassin season 2 will be available on Prime on Friday, November 6 in the UK.

Abroad? Sign up to NordVPN. Having a reliable VPN can help you access your streams as if you were at home, even if you're on holiday in the UK.

What you need to know about The Assassin season 2

The Assassin season 2 cast

• Keeley Hawes as Julie
• Freddie Highmore as Edward
• Shalom Brune-Franklin as Kayla
• Arnaud Binard as Bastien
• Natalia Tena as Inspector Cortez
• Boris Van Severen as Titus
• Jacqueline Boatswain as Isha Lockwood
• Monic Hendrickx as Louise

The Assassin season 2 trailer

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Sometimes, I have to remind myself that not everyone is immersed in the Apple news cycle like their livelihood depends on it.

If, like me, you were paying close attention to all 24 minutes of the company’s iPhone 18 Pro announcement in September, you may already know why a small amount of pixelation is occasionally visible in the top left-hand corner of the display on Apple’s newest flagship. But if you had better things to do (and let’s be honest: you probably did), then you may have missed the memo.

In any case, don’t panic: if you occasionally spot some odd discoloration on the left side of your iPhone 18 Pro’s clock, you’re not going mad, and your iPhone isn’t faulty. What you’re actually seeing is Apple’s new under-display Face ID camera, which makes room for an upgrade elsewhere. Let me explain.

The iPhone 18 Pro has a new, better Dynamic Island — it’s smaller and can display three Live Activities at once, versus two on the original Dynamic Island. To shrink it, Apple moved the iPhone 18 Pro’s Face ID infrared (IR) camera away from the Dynamic Island and placed it under the top-left corner of the phone’s OLED panel.

As a result, this portion of the display features a modified pixel layout—there are larger gaps between pixels here than anywhere else on the iPhone 18 Pro's screen, allowing IR light to pass through and Face ID to function.

You’ll need a pretty serious zoom camera to spot these gaps with the naked eye (as this iFixit video demonstrates), but this pixel trickery does occasionally become visible, particularly when the clock is displayed (it only affects the first half of the clock, but I think that’s what gives it away).

I spotted this new under-display Face ID camera when using my iPhone 18 Pro for the first time (I mention it in my video review at 0:56, see below), but it’s too subtle to have remained distracting. And hey, maybe I went looking for it because I knew it was there.

Still, some iPhone 18 Pro owners are noticing it more than others, as one Reddit forum suggests: “I haven’t noticed it at all. Zero difference to me,” wrote one user. Another said, “I usually only notice it when the black text of the clock is sitting directly on a solid white background, which isn't very often.”

“This really bothers me; I always notice it whenever I look at that part of the display,” reads one outright negative response to Apple’s Face ID switcheroo, while another said, “I don’t know how good people’s eyesight is, but I notice it clearly even with a passing glance. It’s actually quite distracting. I’d much rather have a larger Dynamic Island than an obvious screen disparity.”

I’m not sure I’d call the pixelation ‘obvious’, but then maybe my eyes are bad.

I did, however, feel like this iPhone 18 Pro display oddity was worth explaining to those who may have noticed it and feared the worst. But honestly, it’s not a big deal — as mentioned, the trade-off is a better Dynamic Island — and at least we’re seeing Apple try new things with its long-standing iPhone features. More please.

• Ukraine is exploring satellite communications it can eventually control independently
• A SpaceX service disruption exposed Ukraine's dependence on commercial satellite links
• Himera and GomSpace have begun testing Obria Nano in orbit

Ukraine is moving to reduce its reliance on foreign satellite communications by testing technology intended for a future network under national control.

The new initiative brings together Ukrainian defence technology company Himera and Danish spacecraft manufacturer GomSpace, which have developed an experimental satellite called Obria Nano.

The announcement follows recent interruptions affecting SpaceX services used by Ukrainian forces, exposing the risks of depending heavily on one communications provider.

Ukraine seeks greater control over military communications

Since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, Starlink has become an important communications channel for Ukrainian military units operating across the country.

Its connectivity supports battlefield coordination, drone missions and communications in locations where Russian attacks have damaged or interrupted conventional telecommunications infrastructure.

The importance of satellite links became particularly apparent after restrictions introduced in mid-October disrupted Ukrainian connectivity and interfered with operations involving military drones.

Ukraine announced on October 24 2026 that Starlink and Starshield connections had returned to normal speeds following the disruption.

However, disagreement emerged over who had approved the restrictions, with SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk and American officials giving different accounts.

The disruption encouraged Kyiv to explore satellite infrastructure that it can control rather than depend entirely on external services.

At this stage, Obria Nano remains an experimental spacecraft intended to support the development of a Ukrainian communications constellation.

“For us, this project is about more than launching a satellite. It is an opportunity to lay the foundation for an independent communications network for Ukraine,” said Misha Rudominski, Himera's co-founder and chief executive

Obria Nano begins orbital testing as constellation plans develop

The companies said their Obria Nano spacecraft entered orbit after travelling aboard SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission on October 1.

Himera and GomSpace announced on October 27 that testing was underway, with results expected to guide the design of additional satellites.

They intend to develop a constellation capable of providing communications coverage across Ukraine.

Himera and GomSpace also envisage eventually producing spacecraft and ground terminals within Ukraine.

GomSpace, based in Denmark, supplies small spacecraft, communications payloads and satellite components, while Himera contributes experience developing military radio equipment.

Neither company has released Obria Nano's technical specifications, communications capacity, financing arrangements or the proposed number of spacecraft required for the planned network.

This system will probably not replace Starlink, whose existing network provides broader geographic coverage and established operational capacity.

Instead, a smaller Ukrainian constellation could supply dedicated links for selected defence activities while leaving commercial satellite services available for additional communications requirements.

Rudominski said the initial orbital work would help establish the technical capabilities needed for greater national control over communications infrastructure.

“We are starting by testing technologies in orbit, while our long-term goal is to develop capabilities that will strengthen the country’s strategic security and reduce dependence on external communications providers,” he said.

Via Spacenews

• Khadas Mind Go switches between tablet, laptop, and desktop configurations
• A detachable keyboard increases battery capacity from 18Wh to 53Wh
• The cooling stand increases processor power from 12W to 30W

Khadas has introduced the Mind Go, a computer running the Windows operating system which changes between tablet, laptop and desktop configurations through detachable hardware modules.

The central idea is that users retain the same computing components, applications and documents while changing how the computer is assembled.

Weighing 611g and measuring 6.1mm at its thinnest point, the fanless touchscreen computer can operate independently or connect to accessories.

One computer with three working configurations

In tablet configuration, Mind Go functions as an 11.6-inch touchscreen computer, with an LCD panel offering 2800 × 2000 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate.

The display reaches 500 nits of brightness and covers 100% of the sRGB colour gamut, while supporting both portrait and landscape orientations.

For laptop use, a magnetic keyboard module adds 79 keys, a full-area trackpad and a separate 35Wh battery to the computer, which increases the computer's total battery capacity from 18Wh to 53Wh.

With the keyboard attached, Khadas claims the device can play videos for up to 12 hours, which is decent for a computer designed with portability and aesthetics in mind.

The keyboard also includes white backlighting with three brightness settings, 1.3mm key travel and a leather-textured cover over its aluminium build.

Desktop operation requires the Mind Go Stand, which provides active cooling and raises the processor power limit from 12W to as much as 30W.

The stand also supplies additional connections, including two HDMI 2.1 ports, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a 2.5Gbps Ethernet connection.

Its other interfaces include two USB-C ports, a headphone socket, built-in speakers and a USB4 connector linking the computer to the docking module

Processor options and prices

Buyers can choose between Intel Core Ultra 5 226V and Core Ultra 7 258V processors, both featuring eight cores and eight threads.

The first configuration includes 16GB memory, 512GB storage and Intel Arc 130V graphics, while the higher option doubles memory and storage capacity.

The Core Ultra 7 version uses Intel Arc 140V graphics, reaches a maximum turbo frequency of 4.8GHz and provides 115 TOPS peak AI performance.

The lower processor reaches 4.5GHz and offers 97 TOPS total peak AI performance, compared with the more expensive model's higher computing figures.

Both versions include Intel AI Boost neural processing, while their respective neural processing capacities are rated at 40 TOPS and 47 TOPS.

The 16GB memory and 512GB storage configuration with an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor costs $1,999 during the super early promotion and $2,299 at retail.

Upgrading to an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, 32GB memory, and 1TB storage increases the price to $2,699 initially and $3,099 at retail.

Adding the keyboard and cooling stand to the 16GB and 512GB configuration brings the price to $2,799 during the super early promotion and $3,099 at retail.

The version combining both accessories with the Core Ultra 7 processor, 32GB memory, and 1TB storage costs $3,399 initially and $3,899 at retail.

As of the time of writing, Khadas has not announced an official launch date or confirmed when sales will begin.

• Huawei's new router replaces conventional styling with a book-inspired enclosure
• The Router X2 Pro supports Wi-Fi 7+ wireless networking technology
• Magnetic covers allow users to customize the router's external appearance

Huawei has introduced the Router X2 Pro, a wireless networking device with a book-inspired design that departs from conventional router appearances.

The new model combines Wi-Fi 7+ technology with mesh Wi-Fi and a decorative enclosure, allowing it to function as part of a home's interior rather than simply networking equipment.

It also supports interchangeable magnetic covers, four integrated Wi-Fi antennas and several networking technologies intended to improve wireless performance.

A router designed to look like a book

Unlike routers built around exposed antennas and angular plastic housings, Huawei's latest model uses a rectangular enclosure resembling a closed book.

Its measurements are 191.7 × 51.1 × 141.1mm, while the complete unit weighs 475g, making it relatively compact for household placement.

A magnetic panel fitted along the side can also be replaced with alternative covers, including customised designs produced via three-dimensional printing.

These decorative designs feature pandas, cats, dogs and penguins, but there is no confirmation that they come with the device.

The Router X2 Pro uses four integrated Wi-Fi antennas, alongside dedicated components supporting smart antenna functions, Bluetooth and Strobe connectivity.

A separate indicator communicates the system's operating condition and Mesh networking status, providing a visible reference for the router's current state.

Connectivity features, smart networking and pricing

This Wi-Fi router uses Huawei's Lingxiao 760 series chipset alongside four high-performance signal amplifiers designed to strengthen wireless signal transmission.

It also includes dynamic narrowband technology, which improves transmission speeds and signal penetration and reduces lag by up to 80%.

These technologies help to maintain reception when signals must pass through several walls and other obstacles.

In addition, the Router X2 Pro supports NearLink technology, which improves network stability by 50%.

According to Huawei, the hardware and software combination reduces compatibility losses and supports faster video loading, responsive gaming and consistent connections.

The router supports wired connections and wireless Mesh arrangements, allowing households to select an installation method suited to their existing network.

Its AI Mesh system can analyse an uploaded home floor plan through Huawei's Smart Life application and recommend suitable equipment placement.

Additional Mesh Lights allow users to inspect connection strength, while automatic roaming manages movement between the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands.

The system monitors reception conditions and switches between available bands, while NearLink, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi provide three supported connection methods.

A unit of this device sells at 588 yuan (~ $88), while customers seeking two units can purchase the combined package for 1,108 yuan (~ $166).

The decorative casing option costs 99 yuan (~ $15), although the announcement does not clarify whether every customised cover carries that price.

The available finishes include Earthy Brown, Oak White, Stone Gray and Spruce Green, giving buyers several options for matching different interior arrangements.

Via Huawei Central

• Apple is reportedly cutting AI budgets per worker
• Developers will still likely have more than other workers
• Model choice and hosting provider could be enough to cut costs

Apple has reportedly started cutting the amount employees can spend on artificial intelligence, per Bloomberg reporting, making it one of the latest companies to be limiting AI tool expenditure as unpredictable costs skyrocket.

The Cupertino giant had already reportedly cut budgets from $300 per engineer per day to $200 in October 2026, but further reductions are said to be planned as this figure could be on track to drop to $100.

Non-engineers are likely to face even tougher restrictions, with the company considering a 75% cut from $100 to $25 per worker per day, the report claims.

Apple could be set to limit workers' AI budgets

Like other tech giants that have introduced similar cuts, budgets will likely be determined by team and project, and certain projects and individuals could be able to justify higher consumption if their work requires it. However Apple declined to comment on Bloomberg's story.

Workers could also be asked to reconsider the tools they use, with the company said to be permitting the use of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, rather than just one. Engineers may be asked to use lesser models, which are cheaper, or even transfer workloads to even cheaper models that run locally on the company's own hardware.

UK digital bank Revolut has already moved away from Claude in favor of open-weight models hosted on its own infrastructure.

While a budget cut from $300 to, possibly, $100 per day may sound like a 3x decrease, it might be more attainable for some workers than those figures suggest. Earlier AI efforts among tech giants saw developers so-called 'tokenmaxxing' – using AI more than they really needed to, just to appease company metrics. It's unclear whether this applies to Apple's developers.

Still, the company likely faces an expensive short-term future, with R&D expenditure up 32% in FY 2026 compared with FY 2025, and total operating expenses up 22%. Quarterly revenue rose just 12% year-over-year, in comparison.

The over-the-top, action-heavy, ultra-stylish Stellar Blade has landed on Nintendo Switch 2, giving this ex-PS5 exclusive a chance to shine in front of a brand-new audience.

Porting this cinematic, explosive action-adventure title onto the Switch 2 has undoubtedly been a tough test for developer Shift Up, but just how well have they scored?

I’ve put around 15 hours into Stellar Blade on Nintendo’s hybrid console, during which time I’ve worked through most of the story, completed a number of side missions, and collected a whole lot of cans. So, here’s whether I think Stellar Blade on Nintendo Switch 2 is worth your time and money.

Save the world on Switch 2

While I’m more interested in discussing the quality of Stellar Blade on Switch 2 as a port, it only seems right for me to share some of my thoughts on the core game to begin with.

Stellar Blade’s premise is pretty simple. You play as the protagonist Eve as she battles through a post-apocalyptic future in order to save humanity from aliens known as the Naytibas. With assistance from survivors Adam and Lily (among others), you’ll aim to track down the dangerous Alpha Naytibas and Elder Naytiba and reclaim Earth once and for all.

In my view, the premise itself is totally sound, and the high-octane opening certainly makes a strong first impression.

However, I felt that the narrative failed to hold my attention in the long run. A combination of dry dialogue and bland characters really let Stellar Blade down in the storytelling department. While the stakes are undoubtedly high, it doesn't always feel that way, with emotive moments lacking heart, character interactions seeming awkward, and voice acting often coming across as stiff.

But luckily for Stellar Blade, its lacklustre narrative doesn’t actually hold it back all too much. And that’s simply because the core gameplay experience is a whole lot of fun.

The combat system has solid depth, with no end to combos and eccentric abilities available to the player. You can also expand Eve’s move set with unlockable skills, enhance your weapon and drone assistant, and discover new ways to vanquish your foes as the story unfolds.

Though the timing can feel a little unusual, you’ll need to learn how to ‘perfect parry’ and counter hard against your opponents, which feels satisfying to execute. I also enjoyed bettering my exospines and gear to dodge away from enemies more effectively, and deal huge damage with Beta attacks.

Without a doubt, though, the true highlight of Stellar Blade is its mesmerizing boss fights. Each battle feels phenomenally tense, unique, and genuinely memorable, and I loved figuring out the ideal combos and evasion patterns for each and every showdown. It’s in these moments when the game truly comes alive.

General exploration is pretty enjoyable too. Just roaming around and hacking away at enemies, discovering new areas, and completing some side missions kept me pretty entertained. Yes, platforming segments can feel a little janky at times, but swift movement speed and fun puzzles keep the overall gameplay experience feeling fresh.

All in all, Stellar Blade is a good, albeit flawed title. Boss fights see the game at its brilliant best, with edge-of-the-seat action sure to keep you hooked. Sure, the unremarkable cast and dialogue hold it back to some degree, but this game is all about the action — and it largely nails that.

A solid but not quite Stellar port

Right, now you must be wondering: how does Stellar Blade hold up on Switch 2? Well, the answer is somewhat nuanced.

First of all, I want to make it clear that this is a technical and demanding title, and cramming it onto the Switch 2 — which is considerably weaker than the PS5 — is no easy task. With that in mind, I’d say that the Switch 2 Stellar Blade is decent, but it’s certainly not without its flaws.

Let’s start on a positive note, though. I have to say that the sheer versatility of this Switch 2 edition is staggering. You can genuinely play in just about any way, using Joy-Cons or Pro Controller with a traditional configuration, with gyroscopic aiming, or even with mouse controls. I found that each method worked nicely when testing, yes, even mouse mode. And although I kept gyro aiming off for the most part and played with the Switch 2 Pro Controller, I’m glad that this port plays to the system’s strengths.

I’ll also say that the game runs decently in docked mode overall. During skirmishes and general exploration, frame drops never felt particularly egregious, and inputs felt pretty responsive.

But there are some issues that I have to discuss. It sometimes feels like the Switch 2 can’t keep up with the speed and fluidity that Stellar Blade demands. It targets 60fps in both handheld and docked modes with frame generation, which combines NVIDIA DLSS upscaling with AMD FSR 3.1 frame interpolation, and sometimes, this simply doesn’t cut it.

With frame generation active, gameplay feels fairly smooth in docked mode, although there are some drops during the most cinematic segments — especially with large explosions. Handheld mode, while certainly playable, feels a bit too sluggish in my opinion. The inconsistent frame rates mean that performing precise blocks and dodges felt more challenging, with some action-packed sequences seeming to be a touch choppy. I also noticed that the movement of distant enemies was pretty unstable — whether playing handheld or docked — something I’ve seen in other Switch 2 ports like Resident Evil 4.

You can turn frame generation off and play at 30fps instead, but it all comes back to that word ‘fluidity’ — it’s at the heart of this game’s agile, reaction-based combat, which just didn’t quite click for me at a lower frame rate.

Visually, the port is a bit of a mixed bag too. In docked, it looks OK, with Eve’s character model appearing fairly detailed. But environments tend to look a bit flushed out, and intricacies of certain textures seem slightly subdued. Even when playing docked, though, I noticed quite a lot of texture loading issues and pop-in, and elements such as Eve’s hair lacked definition. It was a similar story in handheld, with character models looking a little rough around the edges and wide-open areas short on detail and definition.

Ultimately, the game runs just fine in docked, despite a few visual gremlins and frame drops. But in my view, the handheld experience doesn’t quite deliver the speed or responsiveness that this title requires — at least as things stand.

Back to the positives, though, I was really impressed with the quality of haptic feedback on the Switch 2, which has been specifically tuned for HD Rumble 2. This made every movement and attack feel so satisfying, and helped to truly immerse me in the action. I was also satisfied with the inclusion of DLC and unique costumes (this is the Complete Edition, after all), fantastic accessibility options, and the fact that this game is fully on cart if you purchase it physically — you’re not getting no code in a box ‘round these parts.

But let’s answer that all-important question: is Stellar Blade worth buying on Nintendo Switch 2? If you have a PS5 or PS5 Pro, then my answer is probably no. Sure, the Switch 2 lets you play on the go, but you’ll get more consistent frame rates, better graphical fidelity, and smoother all-round performance from Sony’s systems. Haven’t got a PS5? Well, if this sort of game is your jam, then I think Stellar Blade’s worth a shot. It has its imperfections in docked mode, but it still performs well overall, and you’ll find plenty to love about the core experience.

Should you play Stellar Blade on Nintendo Switch 2?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility features

I’m happy to report that Stellar Blade has an extensive set of accessibility options on Nintendo Switch 2. You can adjust a number of settings to account for motion sickness, mobility, vision, and hearing needs, and there’s also a colorblind preset. In addition, you can toggle subtitles on and off, alter camera controls, and select one of multiple difficulty modes.

How I reviewed Stellar Blade on Nintendo Switch 2

I spent about 15 hours with Stellar Blade Complete Edition, during which time I worked my way through most of the story and a number of side missions.

For the most part, I played with my Nintendo Switch 2 console docked, hooked up to the Sky Glass Gen 2 TV and Marshall Heston 120 soundbar. I mainly used my Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller when playing, but I also made sure to try out mouse mode with a pair of Joy-Con 2. However, I did indulge in some handheld gameplay from time to time, and used the JBL Live Beam 4 to experience in-game audio.

More generally, I've spent years testing gadgets and games here at TechRadar, where I serve as a Senior Reviews Writer. I've reviewed a number of titles, be that major first-party exclusives like Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave or Switch 2 ports, such as Yakuza Kiwami 2.

First reviewed November 2026

Winter is coming, and I've just unearthed a whole load of deals on cold-weather clothing from one of my favorite outdoor brands: Patagonia. This is especially exciting because good Patagonia discounts don't come along very often, and Patagonia kit is rather expensive. The place to head for said deals is Cotswold Outdoor, and the sale includes everything from lightweight down jackets to cosy fleece mid-layers, protective waterproofs, knitted hats and winter coats.

I've rounded up what I think are the 18 best deals below, but there are plenty more to explore. If you can't see what you're looking for, hit the quick links below to browse the full range of price-drops. I've also focused on men's apparel here, but there's a large selection of women's Patagonia deals too — hit the link below to see them.

• Browse all men's Patagonia deals at Cotswold Outdoor
• Browse all women's Patagonia deals at Cotswold Outdoor

This is billed as a Black Friday sale, and you might be feeling that's a little premature — Black Friday isn't until 27 November, after all. I've been covering these sales events for nine years now, and generally my advice has been that you might as well wait until the 'proper' Black Friday to make your purchases, in case the retailer decides to drop the price a little more for the big day.

However, in this case, I'd suggest it's a better idea to buy now — sizes tend to sell out quickly in sales like these, and at the moment there's a good selection available for all my picks. Plus, you'll have your cold-weather kit ready as soon as the temperatures start to really fall.

Patagonia price-drops