Anna Schubert, formerly the head of IFA and Group at AIA NZ has started her own advice business - the second former AIA head to strike out on their own this year. Read...

Another Wellington store has had to shut up shop, as the cost of living and council projects continue to bite business owners. Read...

Going into business with friends takes away some of the risk of a startup, says Creative HQ’s Chief Innovation Officer Brett Holland. Read...

Microsoft’s support for Windows 10 officially ends on October 14th, 2025, although there are ways to use Windows 10 a little while longer. With extended security updates (ESU), you can receive a year of extra updates that’ll keep you protected while you weigh your options. There are risks to continuing use of your Windows 10 PC after end of support without getting extended updates. For some, the only real option is to upgrade to a newer PC with Windows 11—but that would mean tossing their Windows 10 PC, which isn’t ideal for the environment due to all the e-waste it would create. Fortunately, that seems to be on Microsoft’s mind too. Apparently, some users are receiving offers from Microsoft to trade in their old Windows 10 computers. Windows Latest has reportedly discovered evidence of this trade-in program, but there’s been no official announcement of it. In the ESU Assistant, which currently isn’t available in all countries, there’s a new path for trading in old Windows 10 PCs: Windows Latest The offer apparently exists for both consumer and business devices, and it leads to the Microsoft Store where you can choose whether you want to exchange your computer for money or “recycle for good.” The latter is possible if your PC isn’t accepted for trade-in. Whether your PC is accepted and how much you can get for trade-in value will depend on several factors, presumably including the age of your device and the hardware components in it. Microsoft obviously wants that money to be invested in new Windows 11 PCs. Read...

Last year I wrote an editorial in which I stated that I block every single advertisement on YouTube. And, despite being a writer whose income depends upon advertising, I was not — and am not — ashamed of these actions. The reasons are many, but basically, YouTube has typified “enshittification.” Making a platform worse, then charging to make it better again, is something everyone resents. YouTube is still getting worse YouTube hasn’t gotten any better in the last year. It’s gotten worse in just about every metric that I can think of, unless you’re Google. Users are inundated with horrible ads, often for products that have been accused of being scams. Shorts is overrun with stolen, effort-free content, much of which is also “AI” slop, much of which is also provided by Google itself. The most frustrated users of YouTube might be its own content creators, who already had to scramble to chase algorithm-driven views and create videos in siloed categories and on grueling upload schedules to remain profitable, when the obtuse and broken administrative element wasn’t actively sabotaging them. Now they have to contend with an “AI” content filter that’s arbitrarily demolishing their views. That’s on top of censoring themselves with infantile terms like “unalive” and “R-word” when talking about any topic above kindergarten level, which was already happening. YouTube is, in short, crap, and only becoming more crap with almost every move Google makes. These moves include adding AI filters to videos without creators’ knowledge or permission, and now actively shoveling more AI slop into every aspect of the experience. But like Facebook and Google’s own search engine before it, it is the de facto home of video on the web, so its position is unassailable. Are you dismayed that YouTube seems to be actively hostile to both its users and the people that provide the content it relies upon? Too bad. YouTube is the platform for video on the web, almost everywhere on Earth outside of China. Simply choosing not to use it is almost impossible if you spend any time online. There are alternatives like Nebula, and many YouTube creators use them. But they still use YouTube too, because declining the platform means going out of business — that’s how a monopoly works. What would get me to pay? So the situation hasn’t improved from my perspective. And I’m still blocking every ad, despite working at a company that uses the platform heavily. But Google’s latest shovel-full of AI slop got me wondering: At this point, is there anything that would get me to pay for YouTube in any capacity? Yes, there is. Google, I will pay for YouTube Premium, and pay it with a minimum of grumbling, if you give me the option to block AI from my feed. Make it a toggle, right up there with the language, appearance, and broken “Restricted Mode” button. YouTube already requires content created with generative AI to carry a warning label (which, as far as I can tell, is a policy that it doesn’t care to enforce at all). And now it’s giving creators cheap, easy means of inserting AI slop into basically every facet of the experience. So it has, or should have, a method of tagging which videos are using generative AI for video or robotic audio. Let me turn it off. That’s worth $15 a month for me. Hell, I’d even watch a few ads if it meant I didn’t have to scroll past a sea of uncanny valley thumbnails. …but it’ll never happen Google will absolutely not do this, of course. The company is spending seventy-five billion dollars on AI this year, and forcing Gemini and other tools into every product it makes, both user-facing and corporate. Even the implication that some people might not want to constantly dodge slop in one of those products, one that was built on human connection and creativity, would simply be bad optics. Google In the best case scenario that it brought in millions of dollars of revenue from curmudgeons like me, Google still could not tolerate the implication that generative AI is less than desirable in any situation. Whether or not all those billions spent on AI tools and data centers is creating a return for the company, I couldn’t say. Though I suspect that trying to force users to pay for Gemini won’t win it many fans. But I would love to be proven wrong in my cynicism. There’s my carrot, YouTube. I ask for something that’s fairly simple to implement, something that will materially improve the experience for me and many others. I know that Google no longer pretends that it has a problem with being evil, and I’ve accepted that — even after switching away from the search engine and the browser, Google is too big to fail, and too big to avoid for most users. Give me a way to hide the slop on YouTube, and I’ll happily pay for it. Until then, well, AdGuard and Revanced are still working fine, despite Google’s best efforts to the contrary. Read...

Clear visuals can make complicated ideas easier to understand, and Microsoft Visio Professional 2024 is designed to help you create them. Right now, you can get a lifetime license for Windows for $79.97 (MSRP $579.99). Visio 2024 offers updated shapes, templates, and styles that make building diagrams more efficient. Whether you’re an IT professional mapping a network, an engineer planning a design, or a business user creating organizational charts, this software can handle a variety of projects. Key features of Microsoft Visio Professional 2024 ?? Extensive diagram types including flowcharts, floor plans, process maps, network diagrams, and org charts ?? Over 250,000 professional shapes and templates for quick customization ?? Data-linked diagrams that update automatically when connected to Excel, SQL Server, and other data sources ?? Advanced formatting tools and enhanced visual styles for polished, professional results ?? Real-time collaboration so multiple users can edit diagrams simultaneously ?? Integration with Microsoft 365: embed PowerPoint, Word, or Teams and storage in OneDrive or SharePoint ?? Enterprise-grade security to keep your information protected The software is compatible with Windows 10 and 11 and integrates seamlessly with the Microsoft ecosystem, making it a versatile choice for professionals across industries. If you need to present information clearly or collaborate on complex projects, this deal offers a cost-effective upgrade to your toolkit. Get Microsoft Visio Professional 2024 for Windows for $79.97 (reg. $579.99, 86% off). Microsoft Visio Professional 2024: Lifetime License for WindowsSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Radware revealed ShadowLeak, a zero-click flaw letting attackers silently steal data from ChatGPT`s AI agents on OpenAI servers, risking millions of business users. Read...

Tenable launches Exposure Management Leadership Council to help CISOs bridge the cyber risk communication gap with business leaders across key sectors. Read...

If you’re wondering what effect Intel’s blockbuster deal with Nvidia will have on its existing product roadmaps, Intel has one message for you: it won’t. “We’re not discussing specific roadmaps at this time, but the collaboration is complementary to Intel’s roadmap and Intel will continue to have GPU product offerings,” an Intel spokesman told my colleague, Brad Chacos, earlier today. I heard similar messaging from other Intel representatives. Nvidia’s $5 billion investment in Intel, as well as Nvidia’s plans to supply RTX graphics chiplets to Intel for use in Intel’s CPUs, have two major potential effects: first, it could rewrite Intel’s mobile roadmap for laptop chips, because of the additional capabilities provided by those RTX chiplets. Second, the move threatens Intel’s ongoing development of its Arc graphics cores, including standalone discrete GPUs as well as integrated chips. We’re still not convinced that Arc’s future will be left unscathed, in part because Intel’s claim that it will “continue” to have GPU product offerings sounds a bit wishy-washy. But Intel sounds much more definitive on the former point, in that the mobile roadmap that you’re familiar with will remain in place. So far, Intel’s public roadmap calls for Intel’s “Panther Lake” processor to debut this fall, probably shipping in early 2026. Intel’s been talking about that chip for months and months, and there’s no reason to believe those plans will change. Intel has also publicly disclosed Nova Lake, the next-next-generation mobile processor for laptops, which is also due in late 2026 and will probably enter laptops in early 2027. According to a leaked roadmap from a Spanish PC maker, Wildcat Lake might be a 2026 part, too. What we’ve been told, however, implies that any work that comes out of the Nvidia-Intel partnership will be additive. Essentially, there will be additional products that will be added to the roadmap: premium products, attached to markets like consumer, gaming, creator, and business. To me, that sounds like Intel could be adding a premium version or option to its established lines. Remember, we don’t know what Panther Lake or Nova Lake will be designed as. We do know, however, that Meteor Lake, the first-generation Core Ultra chip, was designed with a specific GPU tile. One might imagine that Intel could ship a processor with a GPU tile that could either be Intel’s own Arc chip, or a replacement architected by Nvidia. Whether that would be possible or not is unknown — that’s just speculation. Though Intel and Nvidia have been working on this partnership for about a year, according to Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, we also don’t expect to get that much information about future products anytime soon. Though, with a rabid technology press corps eager to follow up on the question financial reporters didn’t ask during the Nvidia-Intel press conference, who knows what will emerge? Read...

Father says son started his own business in competition and said he would “f... us over”. Read...