Zion Williamson took flight at Rod Laver Arena on Friday night as an NBA team made its long-awaited first appearance in Australia. Read...

Amazon’s fall hardware events can usually be counted on for a couple of things: an avalanche of new devices, and at least one new product that’s genuinely nuts.  Take the Amazon Astro, a two-wheeled Alexa-powered robot that was rolled out—literally—during Amazon’s fall 2021 hardware event. A year prior, there was the Ring Always Home Cam, an indoor airborne drone that could patrol your home in a preset flight pattern.   Other gems from yesteryear include the Echo Loop, an early stab at a smart ring that put Alexa on your finger, while the Echo Look was a camera that allowed Alexa to give you a morning fashion check.  Even the introduction of the newly AI-enhanced Alexa—the first unveiling was back in 2023, mind you—was delightfully unhinged, with the “supercharged” Alexa channeling HAL-9000 during its spirited back-and-forth conversations. (In contrast, the February 2025 Alexa+ announcement focused on more prosaic applications such as shopping and smart home control.)  So for Amazon’s big hardware reveal in New York City earlier this week—the first one in two years, as well as the first to be hosted by ex-Microsoft executive Panos Panay, now the head of Amazon’s hardware division—I was ready for a firehose of new products, as well as something crazy. Personally, I was betting on a new, Alexa+-tinged take on the third-generation Echo Show 10, an Echo smart display with a motorized screen that could follow you around the room, perfect for allowing the new AI Alexa to scan your kitchen and guide you as you toiled over dinner prep.  Amazon showed off plenty of pratical upgrades at its fall hardware event, but nothing genuinely nuts.Ben Patterson/Foundry Or, how about this: a new generation of Echo Frames that would compete with Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, complete with tiny integrated cameras that would let you take Alexa+ out into the world. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?  Well, it turns out I was only half-right about Amazon’s fall hardware event this year. There was a truckload of new products, including four new Echo devices, more than a half-dozen Ring cameras, a couple of Kindles and a series of new Fire TV sets, plus a budget Fire TV 4K stick.  Disappointingly, though, there was no crazy—no Echo robots, no Echo Show displays with autonomous rotating screens, no flying Ring drones, nothing to wear with Alexa+ on board. What gives?  Well, one answer could be that Amazon’s become much more practical about its devices in the past couple of years, with a renewed focus on profitability as Panay took the reins from longtime Amazon hardware chief David Limb in fall 2023—which was, incidentally, the year Amazon uncharacteristically skipped its regular hardware event.  Previously, Amazon seemed to take a throw-it-on-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks approach with its hardware, which led to a lot of wild pitches—and, consequently, a lot of abandoned products. That Ring Always Home Cam drone? Never left its early “Day One Edition” status. Same for the Echo Loop, while the Amazon Astro bot was briefly repurposed into a business-oriented guard dog before being summarily ditched. The Echo Look camera? Deactivated long ago.  Instead, we got a lineup of sensibly refreshed products, including spiffy new Echo speakers and displays with beefed-up internals, the first 4K-capable Ring cameras, and revamped Fire TVs with AI-enhanced search.  The upgrades all appear quite solid and practical, with reasonable price tags and no need to sign up for an early access ticket. In short, Amazon played it safe with this year’s new hardware—a smart move, from a business perspective.   Me, I miss the crazy. Read...

It’s been almost 10 years since Brave launched, and slowly but surely the privacy-focused web browser is attracting more and more users. It’s been a long road with some ups and downs, but it’s paying off. According to a recent company blog post, Brave says its browser has crossed a new milestone: 100 million active monthly users. That’s as of September 2025, representing a huge jump up from the 50 million users milestone it reached back in 2021. That’s a four-year doubling! “Across the globe, users are choosing privacy and control over their online experience, instead of Big Tech’s tracking and abuse,” said Brave CEO Brendan Eich. “Every product we’ve launched since our browser—our search engine, our premium products, our ad platform—has been built with privacy protections.” Meanwhile, the post also mentions that Brave Search—a privacy-focused alternative to Google Search—now serves over 20 billion search queries per year. That’s compared to the 2.3 billion annual search queries served back in 2021, representing an 8.7-fold growth. We previously highlighted Brave as one of the best browsers for security, primarily for its built-in features that prioritize the user—features like ad blocking, tracking protection, disallowing JavaScript and cookies, blocking Windows Recall, and private browsing via the Tor network. Further reading: This one feature sold me on the Brave browser Read...

Yesterday, Google announced that Google Workspace users who have access to Gmail client-side encryption will now be able to use full end-to-end encryption in the Gmail client even if the recipient uses a non-Gmail email provider. Nice! End-to-end encryption means that the content of your email is fully encrypted by the Gmail client before it gets sent off to Google’s email, protecting it from eavesdropping. (Note, the subject line and addressed recipients are NOT covered by end-to-end encryption.) Google Google says you can now send end-to-end encrypted emails from the Gmail client even to recipients who are using another email service, like Outlook or their own email server. Upon receipt, the recipient will see a notification that the content of the email is encrypted, and must confirm their login to decrypt the email to read. End-to-end encryption started rolling out on September 30th to all users who have access to Gmail client-side encryption, but it could take up to 15 days before all users have access to the feature. Read...

As the nights grow longer and a crisp chill fills the air, thoughts turn to jack-o-lanterns, spooky stories, and trick-or-treating. Since we’re all about tech around here, however, let me show you how you can give your Halloween a bit of a techy upgrade this year. On top of the plastic skeletons and fake cobwebs, here are some of the coolest Halloween tech ideas to try, from smart home devices that create haunted house effects on command to interactive costumes that light up and react to their surroundings. Set the mood with Govee Curtain Lights 2 Govee The Govee Curtain Lights 2 is a great pick for folks who want to decorate their home all year round. Featuring 520 LEDs and covering an area of 4.9 by 6.6 feet, these lights can help you set a spooky mood. There are tons of presets available in the Govee app, including for Halloween and, later on, Christmas. In the offseason, you can even get these lights to “dance” to the rhythm of your music or turn whatever colors you want. They integrate with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Matter, allowing you to control them with voice commands. Get the Govee Curtain Lights 2 and set the moodBuy now at Amazon Add some fog with Agptek Fog Machine AGPTEK If you want to set the mood on your porch to delight the trick-or-treaters, then this Agptek fog machine is the way to go. This thing features 13 colorful LED lights, pumping up the fog’s magical qualities, and there’s a remote controller so you can turn it on and off or swap the colors. It’s also handy for any parties you host throughout the year! Get the Agptek Fog Machine and set the mood even furtherBuy now at Amaon Play spooky music with Anker Soundcore 2 Bluetooth Speakers Anker If you want to make your Halloween experience that much more memorable for visitors, you may want to look into getting a few Bluetooth speakers and hiding them around in bushes and other spots. These Anker Soundcore 2 speakers are fairly small and easy to hide, and they deliver great sound. Plus, they come with an IPX7 waterproof rating, which is nice when they’re outside during the spooky season. You’ll get to have plenty of fun with these throughout the year too, as they’re perfectly good as Bluetooth speakers for any occasion. Get the Anker Soundcore 2 to play spooky music and soundsBuy now at Amazon Entertain the neighborhood with TMY Portable Mini Projector TMY One way to make things even more interesting this year is to use something like this TMY portable projector. Set it up in your yard or on your porch and have it stream spooky scenes on the wall. It works with laptops, TV sticks, smartphones, and more, so there are plenty of ways to play your video content. It’s fairly affordable too, so you won’t be sinking a ton of money into this side project. Get the TMY portable projector for wall-side funBuy now at Amazon Pepper in some holograms with Aaxa Halloween Projector Aaxa If you want a different type of projector, try the Aaxa Halloween holographic projector. This one comes with several pre-loaded holographic videos you can show off on your windows, doorways, or out in the yard. They’ll make it seem as if you have ghosts and skeletons in the house, which is pretty cool. Outside of Halloween, you can use it as a regular projector for movies and gaming. Get the Aaxa Halloween Projector for holographic entertainmentBuy now at Amazon More ghostly decorations with Atmos FX Atmos FX If you want some professionally done projections, you can buy digital decoration collections via AtmosFX. Not only are these amazingly high quality, but you get instant access since they’re digital. We’re talking 1080p video files in both horizontal and vertical orientations, and AtmosFX also sells projectors, screens, props, and other goodies if you don’t have any yet and want a convenient one-stop shop. Get high-def digital decorations for your projectorsBuy now at Atmos FX Techify your Halloween costume with Depointer Life LED Mask Depointer Another way to bring tech into your Halloween celebration is to get one of these awesome LED masks by Depointer Life. More than just a mask, the LEDs can transform into any facial pattern you want. There are around 50 styles to pick from, and there’s a rechargeable battery built in. It also has gesture sensing, so you can swap out the facial design on the mask by holding your hand in front of the sensor for a few seconds. Get the Depointer Life LED Mask and impress your friendsBuy now at Amazon Decorate your garage door Garage Buddy If you want to turn your garage door into a Halloween decoration, then Garage Buddy offers various garage door covers to pick from, with prices depending on size and design. These covers come with hooks attached, so they’re easy to take off when the season is over. Deck out your garage doors with Halloween coversBuy now at Garage Buddy Take your yard to the next level Home Accents Holiday And because it looks so cool, we couldn’t resist including this absolutely massive 12-foot levitating reaper. Not only is the reaper animated, but it features changing colors and even has some pre-programmed phrases. Just imagine hiding a Bluetooth speaker at its base and playing all the right spooky background sounds! Terrorize your street with this 12-foot levitating reaperBuy now at Home Depot Read...

Microsoft increased the prices for Xbox Game Pass this week, causing a lot of consternation from players who were already less than pleased with price jumps on almost all game consoles and the high MSRP of the incoming ROG Xbox Ally. But if you know where to look, you can still get Game Pass Ultimate at the older $20/month price, at least for a while. It’s all in the code, or codes. No, I’m not saying you should hack Microsoft like a grungy 90s movie star (or a cringey 2000s TV star). I’m saying there are tons of prepaid Game Pass cards out there that are still going for the original price. These are the little plastic credit card-sized gift cards you often see in grocery stores and drug stores, next to dozens of others for Netflix, Audible, etc. It looks like there are still plenty of them out there going for $20 USD (or three months for $60), and there are digital alternatives delivered via email that work just as well. GameStop has said it’s still selling Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions at the previous $20/month price (via Tom’s Hardware), presumably because that’s the price the stores themselves paid for the cards. There are also digital versions on Amazon at that price (or tripled for $60), and a few others for things like Game Pass Core (now called “Essential”) or the PC-only Game Pass. Because the codes on these cards or emails are redeemed for a specific tier of service and not a set value in currency like a standard gift card, you’re essentially getting a huge discount on the new prices. Once purchased, they can be redeemed anytime. If you want to keep playing Game Pass at the old price, hunt down these cards and codes wherever you can. Check physical retailers to see if they’ve raised the price to $30/month (or $90 for three months) for Ultimate. If they haven’t, you just found some free money… okay, not actually free money, but free value in the form of a bunch of PC and console games you can play or stream. But considering how rapidly these services are enshittifying, you might want to load up on the old price while you can. It’s only going to go up. Read...

Since last fall, many users have been unable to upgrade to version 24H2 of Windows 11 due to a compatibility issue with some webcams. Unfortunately, we still don’t know exactly which webcams are involved, nor what caused the error. However, Windows Latest reports that Microsoft’s developers have finally managed to overcome the webcam issue, which means that users who were once blocked are now free to upgrade to 24H2 (or 25H2). On November 11th, the official support for version 23H2 of Windows 11 will end, so you have a little over a month to upgrade to Windows 11 24H2 or the newer 25H2 update if you haven’t already done so. Read...

The Earth is reflecting less and less sunlight into space, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. The decline over the last 20 years is clearly measurable, as current NASA data shows. A research team led by Dr. Norman G. Loeb from NASA’s Langley Research Center investigated how much radiant energy the Earth reflects back into space. To do this, they analyzed satellite data from the last 24 years, including values for solar radiation, albedo, and radiation balance. The result? Since 2001, both Northern and Southern Hemispheres have become darker and now reflect less sunlight. Radiation absorption has increased by a total of 0.83 watts per square meter per decade. The Northern Hemisphere is particularly affected, absorbing an additional 0.34 watts per square meter. Although some of this excess is offset by air and ocean currents, a net increase of 0.21 watts per square meter per decade remains. Earlier studies suggested that such currents largely equalize the imbalance between north and south, but current measurements now indicate that this balance is being increasingly disturbed. Several factors for reduced reflection Shrinking ice: In the Arctic, areas of snow and ice are receding and darker surfaces are absorbing more energy. Aerosols and clouds: Air pollution has decreased in Europe, China, and the US. Fewer suspended particles means less cloud formation and therefore less reflected radiation. Southern Hemisphere effects: Bushfires and the volcanic eruption of Hunga Tonga have released extra aerosols, which have increased reflection in the short term, but not enough long-term. Consequences for global climates The shift in reflection shows that equalization mechanisms—such as clouds and ocean currents—are no longer fully effective. This means that the Earth, especially the Northern Hemisphere, is storing more energy over the long term. For regions such as Europe and North America, this could mean additional warming. The study emphasizes how important it is to include these changes in climate models. Whether the global system can rebalance itself in the long term or whether the symmetry break will persist remains to be seen, but it’s a crucial question for the future of global climates. Read...

This might be the best price I’ve ever seen for a gaming monitor. Today, if you mosey on over to eBay, you can find a refurbished Acer Nitro display going for just $103.55. This is a 27-inch 1440p display with 180Hz of refresh… and it has an IPS panel! That’s an absolute banger of a deal. Normally, even for a refurb, you’re looking at about $200-ish for this. Aside from the color-accurate IPS panel (much better than the VA panels found on most new gaming monitors), this is a pretty basic design. The Acer Nitro KGB271U doesn’t feature any other inputs aside from HDMI and DisplayPort, and it isn’t even rated for AMD FreeSync. But if you don’t need any bells and whistles, you’ll be absolutely gobsmacked by the value here. The popular 27-inch 2560×1440 form factor is a great upgrade to any standard 1080p display, and 180Hz of refresh plus 0.05ms of response time should be enough for smooth playback on any modern game if your desktop or laptop can handle it. I’d add on a VESA monitor arm with the savings. This is a refurbished model coming directly from Acer’s official eBay store, along with a two-year Allstate warranty. The sale price is $108.55 with free shipping, but you can take an additional $5 off with coupon code YUSFSITHZW9NGCCM at checkout (or at least that’s what’s showing for me) for a final price of $103.55. Hot diggity dog, that’s a great price. If it’s not quite what you’re looking for, then check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best monitors. And know that there are plenty of other early October Prime Day monitor deals to be found! Get an Acer 27-inch 1440p IPS gaming monitor for just $104Buy now via eBay Read...

You can never have too much external storage on hand, especially when it’s as portable and performant as this one. I’m talking about the 2TB SanDisk Extreme Pro Dual Drive, which is an eye-catcher for two reasons (more on that below). It’s currently on sale for $149.99 on Amazon (was $189.99), and that’s a great price for this absolute winner. The first big advantage of this portable SSD is that it’s smaller than pocket-sized—extremely compact, extremely fast. You’re basically getting SSD transfer speeds in a flash drive form factor. With read speeds up to 1,000 MB/s and write speeds up to 900 MB/s, you’ll be transferring files (folders, videos, archives, etc.) in a snap. It also has 128-bit AES encryption, keeping your data safe against snoopers. The second big advantage of this portable SSD is that it’s double-sided with both USB-A and USB-C connectors. That makes it supremely versatile, able to connect to pretty much any modern device. Just spin it around as needed, no adapters required. (The clever casing design keeps the unused end protected while it’s plugged in.) It’s the perfect all-in-one portable SSD for use with laptops, phones, gaming consoles, and more. The SanDisk Extreme Pro Dual Drive is okay at retail price, but it’s downright fantastic with this discount. Get it now for $149.99 before this limited-time Amazon deal expires! Get 2TB of ultra-portable SSD storage for $40 off while you canBuy now at Amazon Read...