All the News that Matters

• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS: python-apt Important Denial of Service Fix USN-7916-2
  USN-7916-1 introduced a regression in python-apt

• Oracle Linux 10 ELSA-2026-0697 gnupg2 Important Memory Issue Fix
  The following updated rpms for Oracle Linux 10 have been uploaded to the Unbreakable Linux Network:

• Oracle Linux 10 net-snmp Important Security Fix ELSA-2026-0668
  The following updated rpms for Oracle Linux 10 have been uploaded to the Unbreakable Linux Network:

• Oracle Linux 10 vsftpd Moderate Threat Fix ELSA-2026-0606 CVE-2025-14242
  The following updated rpms for Oracle Linux 10 have been uploaded to the Unbreakable Linux Network:

• Oracle Linux 10: ELSA-2026-0594 Moderate libpq Update Remote Risk
  The following updated rpms for Oracle Linux 10 have been uploaded to the Unbreakable Linux Network:

• Oracle Linux 9: ELSA-2026-50006 Kernel Important Security Advisory
  The following updated rpms for Oracle Linux 9 have been uploaded to the Unbreakable Linux Network:

• Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ 2 Released & Designed For Running GenAI Models
  In late 2024 the folks at Raspberry Pi announced the Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ as an AI accelerator capable of 26 TOPS and costing $110 for pairing with Raspberry Pi single board computers. Today they announced the much more capable Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ 2 that can begin to take on some generative AI "GenAI" models...

• Kdenlive 25.12.1 Brings Welcome Screen Polishing and Audio Fixes
  Kdenlive 25.12.1, an open-source video editor, is out with stability fixes, workflow improvements, and continued polishing of the new welcome screen.

• Burn 0.20 Released: Rust-Based Deep Learning With Speedy Perf Across CPUs & GPUs
  A significant update to Burn was released today, the MIT and Apache 2.0 licensed tensor library and deep learning framework written in the Rust programming language. Burn 0.20 brings some low-level changes as it continues to strive to deliver high performance AI across the diverse hardware ecosystem...

• MSI PRO DP10 A14MG Features 14th-Gen Intel CPUs in a Compact Chassis
  MSI has added the PRO DP10 A14MG to its Business & Productivity PC lineup. The system is built around a slim, vertical chassis intended for office environments where desk space, manageability, and connectivity are priorities. While physically compact, the platform targets everyday professional workloads rather than entry-level use. The PRO DP10 A14MG series supports 14th-generation […]

• You Can Now Run Debian GNU/Linux on the OpenWrt One Open-Source Router
  Collabora shares with us today a new project that lets you install and run the Debian GNU/Linux operating system on the open-source OpenWrt One router.

• Collabora Shows How to Run Debian on the OpenWrt One Using NVMe Storage
  Collabora has shared a new project demonstrating how the OpenWrt One can be repurposed from a traditional networking appliance into a compact, general-purpose Linux system. The project, called openwrt-one-debian, enables users to install and run a full Debian operating system on the device by booting directly from NVMe storage. The OpenWrt One is designed as […]

• Tails 7.4 Anonymous Linux OS Released with Persistent Language and Formats
  Tails 7.4 has been released today as the fourth minor update in the Tails 7.x series of this portable Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux and designed to protect you against surveillance and censorship.

• oVirt 4.5.7 Released After Two Years With New OS & CPU Support
  The oVirt 4.5.7 open-source virtualization management platform released this week after not seeing any new releases in two years. While Red Hat had started the oVirt open-source project for which their Red Hat Virtualization platform is based, since they shifted that to maintenance mode to focus on the Red Hat OpenShift platform and stopped contributing to oVirt, it's been up to the open-source community to keep it going...

• Ubuntu 25.04 “Plucky Puffin” Reached End of Life, Upgrade to Ubuntu 25.10
  This is your friendly reminder that Ubuntu 25.04 “Plucky Puffin” reached the end of its supported life today, January 15th, 2026, and it is no longer supported by Canonical with software and security updates.

• How to Customize Bash Prompt Style on Linux (Beginner Friendly)
  In this video, I show how to customize the Bash prompt style on Linux by editing the .bashrc file.This is a simple and beginner-friendly way to change. Perfect for Linux users who want a clean, modern, and personalized terminal.

• EndeavourOS Ganymede Neo Is Out with Linux Kernel 6.18 LTS and KDE Plasma 6.5.4
  The EndeavourOS team announced today the general availability for download of EndeavourOS Ganymede Neo as the latest stable snapshot of this Arch Linux-based distro featuring the KDE Plasma desktop environment.

• Renesas Expands ForgeFPGA Line with New 2k-LUT Ultra-Low-Power Devices
  Renesas Electronics has introduced three new ForgeFPGA devices that significantly expand the company’s low-density FPGA portfolio. The newly announced SLG47912, SLG47920, and SLG47921 more than double the available logic resources compared to earlier 1k-LUT ForgeFPGA parts, targeting space-constrained and cost-sensitive edge designs. Renesas notes that ForgeFPGA is positioned as an alternative to traditional low-end FPGAs, […]

• Garuda Linux Publishes First ISO Refresh of 2026 With NVIDIA 590 Drivers
  Arch-based Garuda Linux ISO 260115 ships with NVIDIA 590 drivers, which no longer support NVIDIA 1000 series GPUs.

• Opera GX Gaming Browser Confirms Native Linux Version
  Opera GX, the gaming-focused web browser, is coming to Linux, with the company confirming active development.

• Anthropic Claude wants to be your helpful colleague, always looking over your shoulder
  Just be careful not to entrust the AI model with your sensitive dataAnthropic on Monday announced the research preview of Claude Cowork, a tool for automating office work that comes with the now familiar recitation of machine learning risks.…

• Intel Panther Lake GSC Firmware Published Ahead Of Laptop Availability
  While Intel has been upstreaming various Panther Lake firmware bits to linux-firmware.git for pairing with their open-source kernel drivers ahead of Core Ultra Series 3 laptops shipping, one piece of the puzzle only published today is the GSC firmware for the Panther Lake graphics...

• Firefox 147 brings GPU boost, tidier tabs, and video that follows you around
  Latest update focuses on hardware acceleration, security tightening, and a handful of quality-of-life tweaksThe latest Firefox is here with some handy changes – most of which differ depending on what OS and type of CPU you run it on.…

• Python Software Foundation Receives $1.5 Million From Anthropic
  Anthropic commits $1.5 million to the Python Software Foundation to strengthen CPython and PyPI security over a two-year partnership.

• Fedora Games Lab Approved To Switch To KDE Plasma, Become A Better Linux Gaming Showcase
  Back in December we reported on drafted plans for revitalizing Fedora Games Lab to be a modern Linux gaming showcase. This Fedora Labs initiative has featured some open-source games paired with an Xfce desktop while moving forward they are looking to better position it as a modern Linux gaming showcase...

• Use This Tool to Reduce Your Docker Images Size and Improve Performance
  SlimToolkit helps shrink Docker images safely, keeping only required files to improve performance, speed, and storage efficiency.

• Canada Reverses Tariff On Chinese EVs
  Longtime Slashdot reader hackingbear shares a report from the Washington Times: Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff [back to 6.1%] on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. He said there would be an initial annual cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports to Canada, growing to about 70,000 over five years. Prior to the 100% tariff, China exported about 41,000 vehicles to Canada in 2023. In exchange, China will reduce its total tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, from 84% to about 15%, he told reporters. Carney said China has become a more predictable partner to deal with than the U.S, the country's neighbor and longtime ally. [hackingbear writes: "After helping the U.S. arrest Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who was later released without admitting guilty by the Biden administration after bickering with China, Canada had followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney's predecessor."] China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said.
  
  
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• TSMC Says AI Demand Is 'Endless' After Record Q4 Earnings
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Thursday, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) reported record fourth-quarter earnings and said it expects AI chip demand to continue for years. During an earnings call, CEO C.C. Wei told investors that while he cannot predict the semiconductor industry's long-term trajectory, he remains bullish on AI. "All in all, I believe in my point of view, the AI is real -- not only real, it's starting to grow into our daily life. And we believe that is kind of -- we call it AI megatrend, we certainly would believe that," Wei said during the call. "So another question is 'can the semiconductor industry be good for three, four, five years in a row?' I'll tell you the truth, I don't know. But I look at the AI, it looks like it's going to be like an endless -- I mean, that for many years to come." TSMC posted net income of NT$505.7 billion (about $16 billion) for the quarter, up 35 percent year over year and above analyst expectations. Revenue hit $33.7 billion, a 25.5 percent increase from the same period last year. The company expects nearly 30 percent revenue growth in 2026 and plans to spend between $52 billion and $56 billion on capital expenditures this year, up from $40.9 billion in 2025.
  
  
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• Britain Has 'Moved Away' From Aligning With EU Regulation, Financial District's Ambassador Says
  An anonymous reader shares a report: The prospect of Britain realigning its financial rules with the European Union has passed, and the country should avoid linking its regulations to any single jurisdiction, the ambassador for London's financial services sector told Reuters. Nearly a decade after Brexit, newly appointed Lady Mayor of London Susan Langley said that while maintaining dialogue with the EU remained important -- particularly on defence -- Britain should work with all nations that share its values and respect the rule of law. "We've still got huge alignment with Europe, cash flows between us are huge... Would we ever go back in terms of regulation? I think we've moved away from that," she said.
  
  
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• Microplastics From Washing Clothes Could Be Hurting Your Tomatoes
  A new study from Cornell and University of Toronto researchers has found that polyester microfibers shed from synthetic clothing during laundry can interfere with cherry tomato plant development [non-paywalled source] when these particles accumulate in agricultural soil. Plants grown in contaminated soil were 11% less likely to emerge, grew smaller and took several days longer to flower and ripen. Household laundry is a leading source of this contamination. Treated sewage sludge retains roughly 90% of microfibers from washers, and farmers in some countries apply this material to up to 75% of cropland as fertilizer. Some scientists have questioned the methodology. Willie Peijnenburg, a professor of environmental toxicology at Leiden University, told WaPo the microfiber concentration used was much higher than field observations. His research suggests plants primarily absorb microplastics through airborne particles entering leaf stomata rather than through soil.
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• PhD Students' Taste For Risk Mirrors Their Supervisors'
  A researchers' propensity for risky projects is passed down to their doctoral students -- and stays with trainees after they leave the laboratory, according to an analysis of thousands of current and former PhD students and their mentors. From a report: Science involves taking risks, and some of the most impactful discoveries require taking big bets. However, scientists and policymakers have raised concerns that the current academic system's emphasis on short-term outcomes encourages researchers to play it safe. Studies have shown, for example, that risky research is less likely to be funded. Anders Brostrom, an economist studying science policy at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, and his colleagues decided to examine the role of doctoral education in shaping risk-related behaviour -- an area that Brostrom says has been largely overlooked. "We often focus on thinking about how we can change the funding systems to make it more likely for people to take risks, but that's not the only lever we have," says Chiara Franzoni, an economist at the Polytechnic University of Milan in Italy. This study is "refreshing" because "we've discussed policy interventions a lot, but we haven't discussed training," she adds. [...] The team found that students' risk-taking dispositions matched those of their supervisors. This link was stronger when students and their supervisors communicated frequently, and weaker when students were also mentored by scientists outside their lab.
  
  
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• Partly AI-Generated Folk-Pop Hit Barred From Sweden's Official Charts
  An anonymous reader shares a report: A hit song has been excluded from Sweden's official chart after it emerged the "artist" behind it was an AI creation. I Know, You're Not Mine -- or Jag Vet, Du Ar Inte Min in Swedish -- by a singer called Jacub has been a streaming success in Sweden, topping the Spotify rankings. However, the Swedish music trade body has excluded the song from the official chart after learning it was AI-generated. "Jacub's track has been excluded from Sweden's official chart, Sverigetopplistan, which is compiled by IFPI Sweden. While the song appears on Spotify's own charts, it does not qualify for inclusion on the official chart under the current rules," said an IFPI Sweden spokesperson. Ludvig Werber, IFPI Sweden's chief executive, said: "Our rule is that if it is a song that is mainly AI-generated, it does not have the right to be on the top list."
  
  
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• Ads Are Coming To ChatGPT in the Coming Weeks
  OpenAI said Friday that it will begin testing ads on ChatGPT in the coming weeks, as the $500 billion startup seeks new revenue streams to fund its continued expansion and compete against rivals Google and Anthropic. The company had previously resisted embedding ads into its chatbot, citing concerns that doing so could undermine the trustworthiness and objectivity of responses. The ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT answers on the free tier and the $8-per-month ChatGPT Go subscription in the U.S., showing only when relevant to the user's query. Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscriptions will remain ad-free. OpenAI expects to generate "low billions" of dollars from advertising in 2026, FT reported, and more in subsequent years. The revenue is intended to help fund roughly $1.4 trillion in computing commitments over the next decade. The company said it will not show ads to users under 18 or near sensitive topics like health, mental health, or politics.
  
  
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• Seattle is Building Light Rail Like It's 1999
  Seattle was late to the light rail party -- the city rejected transit ballot measures in 1968 and 1971, missing out on federal funding that built Atlanta's MARTA, and didn't approve a plan including rail until 1996 -- but the Pacific Northwest city is now in the middle of a multibillion-dollar building boom that has produced the highest post-pandemic ridership recovery of any US light rail system. The Link system opened its first line in 2009, funded largely by voter-approved tax measures from 2008 and 2016. The north-south 1 Line now stretches 41 miles after a $3 billion extension to Lynnwood opened in June 2025 and a $2.5 billion leg to Federal Way debuted in December. Ridership is up 24% since 2019, and 3.4 million people rode Link trains in October 2025. Test trains have been running since September across the I-90 floating bridge over Lake Washington -- what Sound Transit claims is the world's first light rail on a floating structure -- preparing for a May 31 opening. The Crosslake Connection is part of the 2 Line, a 14-mile, $3.7 billion extension voters approved in 2008 that was originally slated to open in 2020. The expansion hasn't come without problems. Sound Transit faces a roughly $30 billion budget shortfall, and a planned Ballard extension has ballooned to $22 billion, double original estimates.
  
  
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• Verizon Offers $20 Credit After Nationwide Outage Stranded Users in SOS Mode For Hours
  Verizon is offering affected customers a $20 account credit following a nationwide network outage on Wednesday that left users across the US unable to connect, forcing phones into SOS mode for roughly ten hours before the carrier restored service around 10:15PM ET. Customers will receive a text message when the credit becomes available and can redeem it through the myVerizon app by clicking "Take action."
  
  
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• AI Has Made Salesforce Engineers More Productive, So the Company Has Stopped Hiring Them, CEO Says
  Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said this week that his company's software engineering headcount has remained "mostly flat" over the past year as internal AI tools have delivered substantial productivity gains. Speaking on TBPN, Benioff said he has about 15,000 engineers who are "more productive than ever." The company has redirected its hiring efforts toward sales and customer engagement roles, hiring 20% more account executives this year as it pushes its Agentforce agentic AI service. Human salespeople remain essential for explaining the "intricacies and nuances" of agentic AI to skeptical enterprise customers, he argued. Other parts of the business have seen deeper cuts. In a separate appearance on The Logan Bartlett Show, Benioff said that Salesforce had reduced its customer support workforce by roughly 50%.
  
  
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• Ruby on Rails Creator Says AI Coding Tools Still Can't Match Most Junior Programmers
  AI still can't produce code as well as most junior programmers he's worked with, David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and co-founder of 37 Signals, said on a recent podcast [video link], which is why he continues to write most of his code by hand. Hansson compared AI's current coding capabilities to "a flickering light bulb" -- total darkness punctuated by moments of clarity before going pitch black again. At his company, humans wrote 95% of the code for Fizzy, 37 Signals' Kanban-inspired organization product, he said. The team experimented with AI-powered features, but those ended up on the cutting room floor. "I'm not feeling that we're falling behind at 37 Signals in terms of our ability to produce, in terms of our ability to launch things or improve the products," Hansson said. Hansson said he remains skeptical of claims that businesses can fire half their programmers and still move faster. Despite his measured skepticism, Hansson said he marvels at the scale of bets the U.S. economy is placing on AI reaching AGI. "The entire American economy right now is one big bet that that's going to happen," he said.
  
  
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• China Clamps Down on High-Speed Traders, Removing Servers
  An anonymous reader shares a report: China is pulling the plug on a key advantage held by high-frequency traders, removing servers dedicated to those firms out of local exchanges' data centers, according to people familiar with the matter. Commodities futures exchanges in Shanghai and Guangzhou are among those that have ordered local brokers to shift servers for their clients out of data centers run by the bourses, according to the people, who said the move was led by regulators. The change doesn't only affect high-frequency firms but they are likely to feel the biggest impact. The Shanghai Futures Exchange has told brokers they need to get equipment for high-speed clients out by the end of next month, while other clients need to do so by April 30, the people said. The clampdown will hit China's army of domestic high-frequency firms but will also impact a swathe of global firms that are active in the country. Citadel Securities, Jane Street Group and Jump Trading are among the foreign firms whose access to servers is being affected, the people said, asking not to be named as the matter is private.
  
  
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• Hard Drive Prices Have Surged By an Average of 46% Since September
  Tom's Hardware: Extensive research into the pricing of some of the best hard drives on the market for large capacity, economical storage indicates that prices are beginning to increase sharply, with some of the most popular models on the market seeing increases upwards of 60%. According to research from ComputerBase, pricing analysis on 12 of the most popular mainstream drives on the market indicates an average price increase of 46% over the last 4 months. While the research and price checks on these drives track movement based on European prices (ComputerBase is a German outlet), Tom's Hardware checks on similar or identical SKUs in the U.S. indicate that the trends are indeed replicated, or perhaps worse, on the other side of the pond. CB reports that various drives like Seagate's IronWolf NAS line, Toshiba's Cloud Scale Capacity Drives, Western Digital's WD Red, and Seagate's BarraCuda lines are all showing price increases of between 23% and 66%. As noted, the average price increases clock in at 46% since September 2025.
  
  
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• Code.org: Use AI In an Interview Without Our OK and You're Dead To Us
  theodp writes: Code.org, the nonprofit backed by AI giants Microsoft, Google and Amazon and whose Hour of AI and free AI curriculum aim to make world's K-12 schoolchildren AI literate, points job seekers to its AI Use Policy in Hiring, which promises dire consequences for those who use AI during interviews or take home assignments without its OK. Explaining "What's Not Okay," Code.org writes: "While we support thoughtful use of AI, certain uses undermine fairness and honesty in the hiring process. We ask that candidates do not [...] use AI during interviews and take-home assignments without explicit consent from the interview team. Such use goes against our values of integrity and transparency and will result in disqualification from the hiring process." Interestingly, Code.org CEO Partovi last year faced some blowback from educators over his LinkedIn post that painted schools that police AI use by students as dinosaurs. Partovi wrote, "Schools of the past define AI use as 'cheating.' Schools of the future define AI skills as the new literacy. Every desk-job employer is looking to hire workers who are adept at AI. Employers want the students who are best at this new form of 'cheating.'"
  
  
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• Amazon Is Buying America's First New Copper Output In More Than a Decade
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Wall Street Journal: Amazon is turning to an Arizona mine that last year became the first new source of U.S. copper in more than a decade, to meet its data centers' ravenous appetite for the industrial metal.The mine was restarted as a proving ground for Rio Tinto's new method of unlocking low-grade copper deposits. Rio signed a two-year supply pact with Amazon Web Services, a vote of confidence for its Nuton venture, which uses bacteria and acid to extract copper from ore that was previously uneconomical to process. The move by Amazon is the latest example of a technology company rushing to secure the power and critical materials necessary to build and operate artificial-intelligence data centers. The Nuton copper will satisfy only a sliver of Amazon's needs. The biggest data centers each require tens of thousands of metric tons of copper for all the wires, busbars, circuit boards, transformers and other electrical components housed there. The 14,000 metric tons of copper cathode that Rio expects the Arizona Nuton project to yield over four years wouldn't be enough for one of those facilities. Rio deployed its bioleaching process in the recent restart of a mine east of Tucson and has partnerships to take the technology to several others in the Americas. The idea is to uncork the low-grade ore left behind at old mines and is key to Rio's plans to boost output when new discoveries are harder than ever to bring online and copper demand is surging. [...] "We work at the commodity level to find lower carbon solutions to drive our business growth," said Chris Roe, Amazon's director of worldwide carbon. "That means steel, and that means concrete, and it absolutely means copper with regard to our data centers." Roe said the copper will be routed to companies that produce components for Amazon's data centers. As part of the deal, Amazon is supplying Rio with cloud-computing and data analytics to optimize Nuton's recovery rates and help the miner expand production.
  
  
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• Celebrating the Second Year of Linux Man-Pages Maintenance Sponsorship
  Sustaining a Core Part of the Linux Ecosystem The Linux Foundation has announced a second year of sponsorship for the ongoing maintenance of the Linux manual pages (man-pages) project, led by Alejandro (Alex) Colomar. This critical initiative is made possible through the continued support of Google, Hudson River Trading, and Meta, who have renewed their [0]
  
  The post Celebrating the Second Year of Linux Man-Pages Maintenance Sponsorship appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Disaggregated Routing with SONiC and VPP: Lab Demo and Performance Insights  Part Two
  In Part One of this series, we examined how the SONiC control plane and the VPP data plane form a cohesive, software-defined routing stack through the Switch Abstraction Interface.` We outlined how SONiC’s Redis-based orchestration and VPP’s user-space packet engine come together to create a high-performance, open router architecture. In this second part, we’ll turn [0]
  
  The post Disaggregated Routing with SONiC and VPP: Lab Demo and Performance Insights  Part Two appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Disaggregated Routing with SONiC and VPP: Architecture and Integration  Part One
  The networking industry is undergoing a fundamental architectural transformation, driven by the relentless demands of cloud-scale data centers and the rise of software-defined infrastructure. At the heart of this evolution is the principle of disaggregation: the systematic unbundling of components that were once tightly integrated within proprietary, monolithic systems.` This movement began with the separation [0]
  
  The post Disaggregated Routing with SONiC and VPP: Architecture and Integration  Part One appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Kubernetes on Bare Metal for Maximum Performance
  When teams consider deploying Kubernetes, one of the first questions that arises is: where should it run? The default answer is often the public cloud, thanks to its flexibility and ease of use. However, a growing number of organizations are revisiting the advantages of running Kubernetes directly on bare metal servers. For workloads that demand [0]
  
  The post Kubernetes on Bare Metal for Maximum Performance appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• How to Deploy Lightweight Language Models on Embedded Linux with LiteLLM
  This article was contributed by Vedrana Vidulin, Head of Responsible AI Unit at Intellias (LinkedIn). As AI becomes central to smart devices, embedded systems, and edge computing, the ability to run language models locally — without relying on the cloud — is essential. Whether its for reducing latency, improving data privacy, or enabling offline functionality, local AI [0]
  
  The post How to Deploy Lightweight Language Models on Embedded Linux with LiteLLM appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Automating Compliance Management with UTMStacks Open Source SIEM 8 XDR
  Achieving and maintaining compliance with regulatory frameworks can be challenging for many organizations. Managing security controls manually often leads to excessive use of time and resources, leaving less available for strategic initiatives and business growth. Standards such as CMMC, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC2 and GDPR demand ongoing monitoring, detailed documentation, and rigorous evidence collection. Solutions [0]
  
  The post Automating Compliance Management with UTMStacks Open Source SIEM & XDR appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• A Simple Way to Install Talos Linux on Any Machine, with Any Provider
  Talos Linux is a specialized operating system designed for running Kubernetes. First and foremost it handles full lifecycle management for Kubernetes control-plane components. On the other hand, Talos Linux focuses on security, minimizing the user’s ability to influence the system. A distinctive feature of this OS is the near-complete absence of executables, including the absence [0]
  
  The post A Simple Way to Install Talos Linux on Any Machine, with Any Provider appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Using OpenTelemetry and the OTel Collector for Logs, Metrics, and Traces
  OpenTelemetry (fondly known as OTel) is an open-source project that provides a unified set of APIs, libraries, agents, and instrumentation to capture and export logs, metrics, and traces from applications. The project’s goal is to standardize observability across various services and applications, enabling better monitoring and troubleshooting. Read More at Causely
  
  The post Using OpenTelemetry and the OTel Collector for Logs, Metrics, and Traces appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Project Tazama, A Project Hosted by LF Charities With Support From the Gates Foundation, Receives Digital Public Good Designation.
  Exciting news! The Tazama project is officially a Digital Public Good having met the criteria to be accepted to the Digital Public Goods Alliance ! Tazama is a groundbreaking open source software solution for real-time fraud prevention, and offers the first-ever open source platform dedicated to enhancing fraud management in digital payments. Historically, the financial [0]
  
  The post Project Tazama, A Project Hosted by LF Charities With Support From the Gates Foundation, Receives Digital Public Good Designation. appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Xen 4.19 is released
  Xen Project 4.19 has been officially out since July 31st, 2024, and it brings significant updates. With enhancements in performance, security, and versatility across various architectures like Arm, PPC, RISC-V, and x86, this release is an important milestone for the Xen community. Read more at XCP-ng Blog
  
  The post Xen 4.19 is released appeared first on Linux.com.
  

Engadget"Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics"

• The best VPN service for 2026
  As frustrating as it is that governments and businesses are running roughshod over our online freedoms, at least we have plenty of good VPNs to choose from to keep us protected online. There are so many fast, intelligently designed, full-featured and affordable services on the market that the biggest problem is picking one. For any use case, you can bet at least two providers will be neck-and-neck for first place.
  
  On the other hand, the VPN world is still the Wild West in some ways. It9s easy enough to slap a cheap VPN together that the market is flooded with low-quality apps that put more money into advertising than infrastructure. They may look good, but it9s all styrofoam under the hood.
  
  I built this list of the best VPNs after intensive testing to help you reorient your focus on the providers that actually deserve your time and money. Which one truly fits your needs is dependent on who you are and what you do online, but if you pick any of my seven recommendations, you can9t go too far wrong. If you9re interested in a service you can use without paying, head over to my list of the best free VPNs — and if you9re willing to pay but want to save money, I keep a list of the best VPN deals updated weekly.
  
  For each VPN on this list, I9ve shared which platforms it works on, how much it cuts into your download speed, where it offers servers, what other features are included and how much the best available deal costs. At the end, I9ll list some honorable and dishonorable mentions, then answer some of the most common questions I hear about VPNs.
  
  Editor9s note: This list is up-to-date as of January 2026. We intend to revisit this list every three months at a minimum, at which time our picks may be adjusted based on changes in pricing, features, testing results and other factors.
  Table of contents
  Best VPNs for 2026?
  
  Other VPNs we tested?
  
  What to look for in a VPN?
  
  VPN FAQs?
  Best VPNs for 2026
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Other VPNs we tested
  The VPNs in this section didn9t crack our top list above, but we9re summarizing them here so you can see their positives and negatives as of the time of our evaluation. 
  Windscribe
  Windscribe is another well-known free VPN supported by paid subscriptions. In many ways, it takes the best from both Mullvad and Proton VPN, with the former9s no-nonsense privacy and the latter9s healthy free plan. Without paying, you can connect to 10 of Windscribe9s server locations on an unlimited number of devices at once.
  
  Unfortunately, Windscribe didn9t copy the most important part of Proton VPN9s free plan — the unlimited data. You9re only allowed to use 10GB per month, which isn9t enough for regular streaming. It9s also committed to a cramped and headache-inducing user interface that stands out from the crowd in all the worst ways.
  Private Internet Access
  Private Internet Access (PIA VPN) has a deeply annoying name — I assume whoever invented it also likes to hop in their Toyota Forward Motion to grab a gallon of Sustaining Cow Extract from the grocery store — but it9s a worthwhile VPN whose pricing provides incredible value. Its monthly and yearly plans are good enough, but its three-year plan is the clincher. Not only is it longer than average, but you can continue to renew at the three-year level, so you won9t see an unpleasant price jump the first time you re-up.
  
  PIA9s apps have a dark UI reminiscent of Proton VPN, which is always a good thing. It also supports port forwarding, custom DNS and the use of a SOCKS5 or Shadowsocks proxy as a second step in the VPN connection. You can even set the maximum data packet size to help out a struggling connection, as I cover in my full PIA VPN review.
  
  The downside is that your connection will struggle a lot. While well-designed, PIA9s apps have a tendency to lag. In my most recent battery of tests, it dragged oddly on my internet in ways that weren9t directly reflected in the speed tests. It9s also not always capable of unblocking streaming services in other countries, and while its server network offers 152 IP address options in 84 countries, it9s heavily bulked out by virtual locations.
  TunnelBear
  TunnelBear has a decent interface, which its target audience of VPN beginners will find very easy to use. Its speeds are perfectly good too, and I appreciate the depth and breadth of its transparency reports. But it9s far too limited overall, with few extra features, less than 50 server locations and a free plan that caps data at 2GB per month.
  VyprVPN
  VyprVPN often flies under the radar, but it has some of the best apps in the business and a very good security record (there was a breach in 2023, but it didn9t crack the VPN encryption itself). It9s also got a verified privacy policy, a solid jurisdiction and runs every connection through an in-house DNS to prevent leaks.
  
  Despite all that, it didn9t make the top seven because its connection speeds aren9t up to scratch — you9ll likely notice a bigger slowdown than average. It also has a troubling history of wild, seemingly experimental swings in its pricing and simultaneous connection limits.
  Norton VPN
  Norton VPN is part of the Norton 360 package that includes the well-known antivirus software and other security apps. It9s a nice bonus if you use Norton already, but as a standalone VPN, it falls short. My tests repeatedly showed it dropping encryption and revealing my IP address whenever I switched servers, and not all of its locations managed to unblock Netflix.
  
  This isn9t to say Norton VPN is terrible. It has a fairly large server network, user-friendly apps and some cool features like an IP rotator. It also recently revamped its OpenVPN infrastructure to improve speeds on Windows. But you probably won9t find those things sufficient to balance out significant speed drops on other platforms or poorly written FAQs. I especially advise against Norton VPN for Apple users, as its Mac and iPhone apps are much more limited than their Windows and Android counterparts.
  What to look for in a VPN
  Choosing a VPN can quickly get you mired in analysis paralysis. We9re here to help, but since only you know your particular needs, you should know the major red and green flags so you can make the final call yourself. Every reputable VPN provider offers a free trial or refund guarantee you can use to run the tests below.
  
  Compatibility: First, make sure your VPN works on all the platforms you plan to use it on. Most VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, but those apps aren9t always created equal — check that the app for your chosen OS is user-friendly and has all the features you need.
  
  Speed: Use a speed testing app to see how fast your internet is before and after connecting to the VPN (I use Ookla9s speedtest.net). To check security, look up your IP address while connected to a VPN server and see if it9s actually changed your virtual location. Be sure it9s using expert-vetted protocols like OpenVPN, WireGuard and IKEv2. Try connecting to streaming services and seeing whether the VPN changes the available content.
  
  Background: Do some outside research into the VPN9s origins, especially its parent company, privacy policy and any past incidents. It9s a dealbreaker if you can9t figure out where the VPN is headquartered (which indicates a lax approach to transparency) or if it seems to have never passed a real third-party audit.
  
  Server network: Look at the server network to make sure the VPN has locations near you and in any countries where you9ll want an IP address — e.g. if you need a VPN to unblock Canadian Netflix, look for multiple server locations in Canada.
  
  Customer Service: I also advise testing the customer support options by looking for the answer to a straightforward question. If phone support (versus email and chat) is important to you, make sure to prioritize that — and make sure it9s available at convenient times in your timezone.
  
  Pricing: Finally, check prices. See if the VPN is affordable and decide whether you9re comfortable taking a long-term subscription for better savings. If you do get a multi-year plan, check what price it will renew at, since many of the cheapest subscriptions are only introductory deals.
  VPN FAQs
  To wrap up, let9s answer some of the most common questions we get about VPNs. Feel free to get in touch if you have a query I don9t cover here.
  What is a VPN?
  VPN stands for virtual private network. There are a few different types of VPNs, but for this list, we9re talking about commercial services that let individual users access the internet with an assumed identity.
  
  Whenever you get online, you9re assigned an IP address — a digital nametag that tells websites where to send the information you request. For an IP address to work, it needs to be unique, which means it9s possible to create a record of what an individual does online.
  
  When you use a VPN, all the data you send to the internet goes through one of the VPN9s servers before heading to its final destination. The VPN encrypts the connection between your computer and its server so the data won9t trace back to you. Any website, ISP or third party that cares to look will only see the VPN9s IP address, not yours. If you9re interested in more detail, I9ve written a whole article on how a VPN works.
  What are some things VPNs are used for?
  The three main use cases for a commercial VPN are security, privacy and entertainment. Using a VPN conceals your real IP address from anyone who might want to use it for nefarious purposes like cyberstalking, DDoS attacks or deducing your real location. It also keeps your ISP from profiling you for ads based on where you live or what you do online.
  
  One side effect of borrowing a VPN9s IP address is that you can make it appear as though your connection is coming from another country. You can use this to access streaming content and platforms that are only available in certain regions due to copyright. Changing your location can even get you better prices when shopping online.
  
  Location spoofing can also be used to get online in countries that censor internet access, like China and Russia, as well as certain US states or countries — like the UK — that are adding barriers like age-gating to previously unfettered online access. All you have to do is connect to a neighboring country (or locality) where the internet isn9t blocked. If you plan to do this while traveling, make sure you have the VPN downloaded before you go, as some nations prevent you from even loading a VPN9s homepage. Make sure you check with local laws regarding the legality of VPN use as well — just because your VPN traffic is encrypted doesn9t mean that authorities can9t detect that it9s being used in a given location.
  Are VPNs worth it?
  Whether a VPN is worth the price depends on how much you value those three use cases above. It9s no secret that your personal information is profitable for a lot of people, from illicit hackers to corporations to law enforcement. A VPN will not make you completely anonymous, nor is it a license to commit crimes (see the next question) but it will give you a lot more control over what you transmit to the world.
  
  With entertainment, the value is even clearer. You can use a VPN to fight back against streaming balkanization by getting more shows and movies out of a single platform — for example, a lot of shows that have been kicked off American Netflix are still on Netflix in other countries.
  What information does a VPN hide?
  A VPN does not make it impossible for you to be unmasked or taken advantage of online. It prevents you from passively leaking information, keeps your IP address undiscoverable on public wi-fi networks and gets you around online censorship.
  
  However, if you share personal information of your own volition, there9s nothing the VPN can do. If you reveal your password in a social media post or click a link in a phishing email, that information bypasses the VPN. Likewise, if you do anything sensitive while logged into an account, the account holder will have that information even if you9re using a VPN.
  
  A VPN is a critical part of your online security, but it can9t do the whole job by itself. Healthy passwords, malware scanners, private search engines and common sense all have roles to play. Never forget, too, that using a VPN means trusting the VPN provider with access to information that9s concealed from everyone else — make sure you trust the privacy policy before signing up.
  Are VPNs safe?
  As far as we can determine, all the VPNs recommended in this story are safe to use. As with anything you subscribe to online, due diligence is important, but there9s very little inherent risk; generally, the worst thing a bad VPN will do is fail to work, leaving you no worse off than before.
  
  All that said, there are some VPNs (usually offered for free) that transmit malware, and others that pretend to be independent services while all secretly working off the same backend. Always make sure to look up any complaints or warnings about a service before you download it.
  Can you get a VPN on your phone?
  Absolutely — almost every VPN has apps for both desktop and mobile devices. A good VPN will redesign its app to be mobile-friendly without dropping too many features. Both iOS and Android natively support VPN connections, so you9re free to choose whichever provider you like.
  What about Google9s One VPN?
  Google One VPN was, as you might expect, a VPN provided by Google. It was launched in 2020 for Google One subscribers and discontinued in 2024 due to lack of use. If you really want a Google VPN, you can still get one if you have certain Pixel models or if you9re a Google Fi subscriber.
  
  That said, I don9t recommend using a VPN from Google even if you do still have access to one. Google is one of the worst big tech companies at protecting user privacy. While its VPN might not leak, I wouldn9t trust it to guard your sensitive information.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/best-vpn-130004396.html?src=rss

• X is fully online after going down for most of the morning
  X seems to be working again after struggling with an outage that took the service offline and made it slow to load for much of the morning. According to X’s developer platform page, there is an ongoing incident related to streaming endpoints that’s caused increased errors. The incident started at 7:39AM PT, according to the page.
  
  That roughly coincides with a spike in reports at Down Detector. The issues seemed to be somewhat intermittent. At some points, X’s website loaded partially and only showed older posts. At other times, the app and website failed to load at all.
  
  As of 9:30AM PT, X’s Explore and trending pages were loading, but the “following” tab wasn’t showing posts and instead suggested users “find some people and topic to follow” (as shown in the screenshot below).
  Posts aren9t loading.X
  As of 11:15AM PT, X’s developer site was still indicating ongoing issues, so there may still be some lingering problems even though the website seems to be functioning normally again. Reports on Down Detector have also dropped off considerably.
  
  X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the outage. As TechCrunch notes, this is the second time this week that X has experienced significant issues. The service also went down for many users around the world on Tuesday.
  Bluesky changed its profile photo earlier in the week.X
  But while the latest issues were widespread, some posts are were still managing to go through. Rival Bluesky, which earlier in the week changed its profile picture on X to its butterfly logo in a bikini, took the opportunity to throw some shade.
  
  At 1PM PT, X updated its status page to indicate the issue had been resolved after nearly six hours. It didn’t elaborate on the underlying cause.
  
  Update, January 16, 2026, 2:09PM PT: Updated with the latest information from X’s status page.
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/x-is-fully-online-after-going-down-for-most-of-the-morning-171843711.html?src=rss

• Google is appealing the ruling from its search antitrust case to avoid sharing data with rivals
  Google has filed its appeal to the Department of Justice’s antitrust case that ended with a federal judge ruling that the company was maintaining a monopoly with its search business. While the company goes through the appeals process, it’s also asking that implementation of the remedies from the case, which include a requirement that Google share search data with its competitors, also be paused.
  
  “As we have long said, the Court’s August 2024 ruling ignored the reality that people use Google because they want to, not because they’re forced to,” Google said in a statement. “The decision failed to account for the rapid pace of innovation and intense competition we face from established players and well-funded start-ups. And it discounted compelling testimony from browser makers like Apple and Mozilla who said they choose to feature Google because it provides the highest quality search experience for their consumers.”
  
  The company says that the requirement that it “provide syndication services to rivals” and share search data is a privacy risk and could “discourage competitors from building their own products.” Both remedies where compromises based on what the Justice Department originally proposed, which included forcing Google to sell its Chrome web browser.
  
  After a 10-week trial held in 2023, Google was found to have a search monopoly in 2024 because of the placement it maintained as the default search engine on multiple platforms, and the control it exerted over the ads that appear in search results. Both arguments were key points in the DOJ’s original 2020 lawsuit.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-is-appealing-the-ruling-from-its-search-antitrust-case-to-avoid-sharing-data-with-rivals-215107905.html?src=rss

• Get up to 78 percent off ExpressVPN two-year plans
  If you9re looking to up your privacy game on the internet in the new year, you can do so for a little less than usual thanks to ExpressVPN9s latest deal. Its two-year plans are up to 78 percent off right now: the Advanced tier is on sale for $101 for two years, plus four additional free months. That works out to $3.59 per month during the promotional period.
  
  We’ve consistently liked ExpressVPN because it’s fast, easy to use and widely available across a large global server network. In fact, it9s our current pick for best premium VPN. One of the biggest drawbacks has always been its high cost, and this deal temporarily solves that issue.
  
  
  
  In our review we were able to get fast download and upload speeds, losing only 7 percent in the former and 2 percent in the latter worldwide. We found that it could unblock Netflix anywhere, and its mobile and desktop apps were simple to operate. We gave ExpressVPN an overall score of 85 out of 100.
  
  The virtual private network service now has three tiers. Basic is cheaper with fewer features, while Pro costs more and adds extra perks like support for 14 simultaneous devices and a password manager. Advanced sits in the middle and includes the password manager but only supports 12 devices.
  
  The Basic plan is $78 right now for 28 months, down from $363, and the Pro plan is $168, down from $560. That9s 78 percent and 70 percent off, respectively. All plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee for new users, so you can try it without committing long term if you’re on the fence.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-up-to-78-percent-off-expressvpn-two-year-plans-180602525.html?src=rss

• CyberGhost VPN review: Despite its flaws, the value is hard to beat
  CyberGhost is the middle child of the Kape Technologies VPN portfolio, but in quality, it9s much closer to ExpressVPN than Private Internet Access. I mainly put it on my best VPN list because it9s so cheap, but I wouldn9t have done that if it didn9t earn its place in other ways — affordable crap is still crap, after all.
  
  My universal impression of CyberGhost is a VPN that9s not perfect but is always genuinely working to make itself better. It makes decisions based on what will help its users, not to set itself apart in a crowded market. This makes it similar to a lot of other VPNs, but that9s not a bad thing — especially at such a low price.
  
  Other than its price, the best things about CyberGhost are its intuitive app design, its frictionless user experience and the super-low latencies that make it an ideal pick for gamers. Download speeds are great up close but middling far away. While I love how many servers it9s got in Africa and South America, a few too many of them are virtual locations. I9ll get into all this and more in the review; feel free to read straight through or use the contents table to find the area that interests you most.
  
  Editor9s note (1/16/26): We9ve overhauled our VPN coverage to provide more detailed, actionable buying advice. Going forward, we9ll continue to update both our how a VPN works. The extension library pages for the CyberGhost proxies are vague about this, but they9re no substitute for a full VPN. They9re free and may be convenient for occasional streaming if they don9t get caught, but they aren9t secure.
  CyberGhost speed test
  I conducted all these tests on a wireless connection using the WireGuard protocol. For each, I selected either a physical server or a virtual location close to its physical source. Here9s what each metric means in the table below:
  
  Ping, measured in milliseconds (ms), is a measure of latency — how long it takes to send a signal from your device to its destination via the VPN server. Lower pings are better. Since signals can only move so quickly, latency tends to increase with distance.
  
  Download speed, measured in megabits per second (Mbps), is what you probably think of as "internet speed" — how fast websites load and how much video you can stream without any pause to load.
  
  Upload speed, also measured in Mbps, determines the rate at which data travels from your device to its destination. It9s useful for posting content, saving files to the cloud, torrenting and two-way video calls.
  
  Server location
  
  Ping (ms)
  
  Increase factor
  
  Download speed (Mbps)
  
  Percentage drop
  
  Upload speed (Mbps)
  
  Percentage drop
  
  Portland, USA (unprotected)
  
  16
  
  —
  
  58.70
  
  —
  
  5.80
  
  —
  
  Seattle, USA (fastest location)
  
  22
  
  1.4x
  
  55.88
  
  4.8
  
  5.60
  
  3.4
  
  New York, USA
  
  155
  
  9.7x
  
  45.43
  
  22.6
  
  5.43
  
  6.4
  
  Montevideo, Uruguay
  
  111
  
  6.9x
  
  46.25
  
  21.2
  
  5.55
  
  4.3
  
  Lisbon, Portugal
  
  328
  
  20.5x
  
  45.60
  
  22.3
  
  4.36
  
  24.8
  
  Johannesburg, South Africa
  
  632
  
  39.5x
  
  34.12
  
  41.9
  
  3.68
  
  36.6
  
  Vientiane, Laos
  
  350
  
  21.9x
  
  38.04
  
  35.2
  
  4.78
  
  17.6
  
  Average
  
  266
  
  16.6x
  
  44.22
  
  24.7
  
  4.90
  
  15.5
  
  CyberGhost9s speed test gave me mixed results — mostly good, but with some reasons for caution. To start on the positive side, latency results were excellent. No matter where I went in the world, the numbers only jumped above 400 milliseconds in one place, and that was the Johannesburg server that had problems across the board. CyberGhost9s 266 average is significantly better than I got when testing Surfshark, currently the fastest VPN overall.
  A speed test using the fastest location chosen by the CyberGhost app. Sam Chapman for Engadget
  Download and upload speeds looked good in my fastest location, Seattle. Using CyberGhost only slowed my browsing by 4.8 percent and dropped my upload rates by 3.4 percent, comparable to most of its leading competitors. At a distance, though, speeds started to falter. Things in New York remained reasonably fast, but with a lot of fluctuation between tests; unlike Seattle, numbers swung between the 30s and 50s.
  
  As I virtually traveled the world, I saw more and more swings, plus sharp declines in South Africa (which is always the problem child of VPN servers, for some reason). To put this in perspective, CyberGhost never dragged that much on my browsing speed, and the internet remained usable no matter where I went. It9s just slightly more sluggish than my favorite VPNs in every area — except latency, where it soars ahead.
  CyberGhost security test
  VPNs need to secure your internet activity against two things: intentional attacks and leaks due to negligence. A VPN should be watertight enough that it never lets your information slip by accident, while also defending your data against outside interference.
  
  It9s not hard to test whether a provider is meeting these two criteria. First, make sure it9s using safe VPN protocols with modern encryption. Second, use an IP address checker to test for DNS, WebRTC and IPv6 leaks. Third, test encryption itself to ensure it9s being applied equally to all data packets. Let9s get started.
  VPN protocols
  CyberGhost supports three different VPN protocols, all of them up-to-date and secure. OpenVPN, available on Windows, Android, Linux and Fire TV, is my typical recommendation, balanced and secured through a multi-decade history of refinement. WireGuard, supported on every platform, is the new hotshot on the block, fast and stable but not quite as rigorously tested as OpenVPN. IKEv2, which works on macOS, iOS and Windows, connects more quickly than the others but isn9t open-source.
  
  I have some quibbles about how available these protocols are. OpenVPN should always be an option for everybody; leaving it off Apple devices doesn9t make sense. I’ve asked CyberGhost about this and will update here when I get a reply. In the meantime, I can9t complain about the protocols themselves, which use uncracked encryption ciphers and present no obvious weak points.
  Leak test
  I used here if you9d like to follow along. It starts with the usual promise of "uncompromising protection": CyberGhost swears that "we are NOT storing connection logs, meaning that we DON9T have any logs tied to your IP address, connection timestamp or session duration" (all emphasis theirs).
  
  That9s the standard I9ll be checking against: a total lack of any way for CyberGhost to read or share information on its own users. Let9s see how it holds up.
  These may just be words, but they have legal force, at least in civil court. Sam Chapman for Engadget
  The privacy policy wins early points by clarifying all the data it collects. You can see the whole quote in the screenshot above, but to summarize, any PII (like your email or IP address) will never be connected with anything you do online. Since absolute anonymity is impossible, this is the best we can hope for from a VPN.
  
  Later on, the policy clarifies everything CyberGhost might do with personal data, none of which involves turning it over to authorities or selling it to advertisers. The most suspicious reasons given are "fraud detection/prevention" and "To enforce the terms of service," but these both relate to kicking users off CyberGhost itself, not tattling on them to the government.
  
  The only potential problem comes in the section titled "Sharing Your Personal Data." Here, CyberGhost states that "we may communicate your personal data to a member of our group of companies," meaning all subsidiaries of Kape Technologies. I won9t rehash the case against Kape in full — my ExpressVPN review covers it in detail.
  
  Suffice to say the only real risk here is that CyberGhost might share PII with another Kape company located in a region with worse privacy laws than Romania or the EU. To me, this isn9t a serious concern. First of all, Kape doesn9t own any companies based in truly anti-privacy nations like China, India or Russia.
  
  Moreover, the privacy policy states that CyberGhost won9t share information with any entity not "located in the EU or another jurisdiction offering equivalent data protection standards." Every bit of data gets the same protections. This may mean PII enters a country in the Five/Nine/14 Eyes alliance, but the Eyes only matter if a VPN is already logging data it shouldn9t have. It9s not that abuse of intelligence-sharing agreements isn9t a problem; it9s just that the risk it poses starts with the VPN itself, not where it9s located.
  
  To sum up, I didn9t see any red flags or loopholes in the CyberGhost privacy policy. Some clauses could be tightened up, and it always pays to be suspicious, but I9m confident that using this VPN doesn9t risk your personal privacy.
  Independent corroboration
  CyberGhost has been audited twice by Deloitte Romania, once in 2022 and again in 2024. Following that pattern, I9ll be looking out for another one this year. You need an account to read the full audit report, but it9s only 10 pages and easy to summarize: the auditors found nothing in CyberGhost9s systems that conflicted with its privacy policy.
  
  The audit notes CyberGhost9s server infrastructure as evidence. All servers are run on RAM with full-disk encryption, making any information they store completely ephemeral. Even if CyberGhost staff wanted to spy on you, they wouldn9t see anything. The same goes for third-party hackers.
  
  CyberGhost also posts a regular transparency report that lists how often law enforcement has asked it for information. As far as I could find, after hundreds of requests, there9s never been a case where CyberGhost provided any information to cops.
  Can CyberGhost change your virtual location?
  For this section, I used Netflix to test whether CyberGhost9s virtual location changes are detectable by other websites. Ideally, every time I change location with CyberGhost, Netflix would accept it as real and show me the content library from that country. If either of those things doesn9t happen within three tests, the VPN has a problem.
  
  Since CyberGhost has servers built for streaming, I used those for each of the five locations. You can see my results below.
  
  Server location
  
  Unblocked Netflix?
  
  Changed content?
  
  United Kingdom
  
  3/3
  
  3/3
  
  Japan
  
  3/3
  
  3/3
  
  Germany
  
  3/3
  
  3/3
  
  Australia
  
  3/3
  
  3/3
  
  Brazil
  
  3/3
  
  3/3
  
  This test was a smashing success for CyberGhost. Every time, it showed me the proper video library for the location I chose and never once got caught by Netflix9s firewalls. It9s the best result I9ve seen in this section since I tested Proton VPN, and that9s high praise if you know me.
  CyberGhost unblocks Netflix Japan, revealing exclusive titles. Sam Chapman for Engadget Investigating CyberGhost9s server network
  CyberGhost has 125 server locations in 100 countries. Of those locations, 75 are real and 50 are virtual, which makes the math easy: CyberGhost9s VPN server network is 60 percent bare-metal and 40 percent virtual. That9s good, since physical servers let you calculate how much performance will deteriorate over distance — virtual servers are just as safe, but speeds might fluctuate depending on where they really are.
  
  Region
  
  Countries with servers
  
  Total server locations
  
  Virtual server locations
  
  North America
  
  9
  
  21
  
  5
  
  South America
  
  9
  
  9
  
  9
  
  Europe
  
  45
  
  56
  
  13
  
  Africa
  
  6
  
  6
  
  3
  
  Middle East
  
  6
  
  6
  
  4
  
  Asia
  
  23
  
  23
  
  16
  
  Oceania
  
  2
  
  4
  
  0
  
  Total
  
  100
  
  125
  
  50
  
  Looking at the distribution of servers, we get good news and bad news. The good news is that there really are 100 different countries and territories to choose from, encompassing nearly all the virtual globetrotting you9re likely to need. There are also lots of servers in the southern hemisphere, which is often the last place VPNs grow into. There9s a wealth of choices in South America, plus several options in Africa and Central Asia.
  CyberGhost9s selection of VPN servers. Sam Chapman for Engadget
  The bad news is that the distribution of real servers is skewed toward Europe and the United States. None of the nine South American servers are actually located in South America; worse, a large number of them are physically located in Miami. If you9re using CyberGhost in Argentina, don9t expect top speeds from the Buenos Aires server, since it9s actually over 4,000 miles away. CyberGhost9s support center does include a list of where the virtual servers are relayed through, but it9s not up to date.
  Extra features of CyberGhost
  CyberGhost has a few features beyond the VPN itself, though not as many as you might think. Compared to a provider like NordVPN, which goes all in on extra features, CyberGhost9s offerings look pretty lean. But that doesn9t matter as much if the features work well. Let9s see how they do.
  Kill switch
  CyberGhost takes an unusual approach to its kill switch. In case you aren9t familiar with the term, a kill switch cuts off your internet connection if your link to the VPN ever drops, protecting your anonymity in case of unexpected incidents. Most VPNs let you toggle the kill switch on and off, but on CyberGhost, it9s fully engaged 100 percent of the time — except on Windows, where you can turn it on and off as desired.
  
  Turning on the kill switch is almost always a good idea, but it9s still annoying that Cyberghost gives many of its users no way to turn it off. In rare cases, kill switches can get overzealous, preventing you from getting online even when conditions are safe. It9s an odd choice to remove a potential troubleshooting step from the user9s control.
  Split tunneling
  Split tunneling lets you name some apps or websites that will run unprotected even while the VPN is active. This can help with certain services that refuse to work if they detect a VPN, or alternatively, can protect only one sensitive app or site while the others enjoy faster unprotected speeds.
  
  CyberGhost only has full split tunneling on Android. It also offers a slightly different feature called Exceptions on Windows. Android split tunneling works by app, while Exceptions works by URL. In both cases, you choose individual apps or websites to leave out of the VPN. It9s limited, but works as advertised.
  Optimized servers
  As I mentioned in the Netflix testing section, CyberGhost includes specialized servers designed for specific tasks. Other than the add-on dedicated IP servers, these come in four forms: "For gaming," "For torrenting," "For streaming" and "NoSpy." Gaming servers are apparently built to keep latency low, but I couldn9t see much difference between them and the normal servers.
  
  "For torrenting" is called "For downloading" on Mac, but it9s all the same torrent-optimized servers. These are built to meet the download and upload speed requirements for effectively using P2P filesharing clients. CyberGhost has P2P servers in 86 countries, which makes it a good VPN for torrenting; only the lack of port forwarding keeps it from being truly great.
  A few of CyberGhost9s specialty servers on a MacBook. Sam Chapman for Engadget
  Each streaming server is built to unblock a specific streaming site in a particular country, occasionally for a single type of device. For example, United States streaming servers are aimed at Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video and more, many in their Android or Smart TV forms. UK servers work for Netflix UK, BBC iPlayer, ITV and more. In total, there are 106 streaming servers in 22 countries — not quite as extensive as the overall list, but it9s important to remember that non-optimized servers still work fine for streaming.
  
  Finally, the NoSpy options connect to a set of servers in Romania that CyberGhost claims to manage entirely in-house, with nobody able to access them except CyberGhost9s own team. This is good, but it leaves me suspicious about who9s running the rest of the servers. Are they all run by third parties except the NoSpy locations? That9s relatively common, but it creates vulnerabilities if the VPN provider doesn9t insist on high standards from collaborators.
  Content blocker
  CyberGhost9s content blocker is underwhelming. All you can do is turn it on and off. There9s no customization like you get with Windscribe9s R.O.B.E.R.T. and no clear statement of where it9s getting its list of domains to block. In practice, it does block in-page ads, but without specifics I couldn9t test it in more detail.
  There9s no customization on CyberGhost9s blocker -- just turn it on or off. Sam Chapman for Engadget Smart Rules
  The Smart Rules automation suite is the crown jewel of CyberGhost9s features and the most common reason I recommend it. Using Smart Rules, you can automate CyberGhost9s behavior to a degree inconceivable on most other VPNs.
  You can program CyberGhost to take different actions on each of your usual networks. Sam Chapman for Engadget
  Smart Rules come in two forms: actions performed automatically when CyberGhost launches or connects and actions that respond to new Wi-Fi networks. In the former category, you can set CyberGhost to connect when you open the app, determine which location it connects to and even set an app to automatically open after it connects.
  
  Wi-Fi rules depend on whether the network CyberGhost detects is secured or not. For each type of network, you can set the VPN to connect, disconnect, ask you what to do or ignore it entirely. Once it recognizes a Wi-Fi network, you can set specific rules for that network. It9s at once very easy to use and capable of surprising depth.
  CyberGhost customer support options
  CyberGhost primarily offers customer assistance through its online portal, which can be reached at a Zendesk portal. This gives you all the time you need to frame your question and add supporting materials, at the cost of waiting longer for a reply.
  
  Your other option is to access live chat, which you can do from anywhere on Private Internet Access, plus two websites that review VPNs) is bad enough without having to look for additional conspiracies. It9s up to you to decide whether or not CyberGhost9s parent company presents a hard line you won9t cross.
  Final verdict
  At the end of my journey with CyberGhost, I may not be blown away, but I9m definitely pleased. After my poor experience with PIA, I was afraid the only budget VPN I could wholeheartedly recommend was a two-year subscription to Surfshark. CyberGhost is a meat-and-potatoes VPN — it9s not pushing any envelopes, but it9s cheap and it does the job.
  
  All that said, I recommend it more to casual users than to people who really need secrecy. There are just enough reddish flags that I wouldn9t necessarily trust it with life-and-death information: the (possible) use of third-party managers for all servers outside Romania, the freedom to share information with any Kape subsidiary, the loss of encryption when switching servers. It9ll keep you anonymous and let you stream foreign TV for cheap, but you should still choose Proton VPN if you need serious privacy.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/cyberghost-vpn-review-despite-its-flaws-the-value-is-hard-to-beat-200000250.html?src=rss

• Anthropic opens up its Claude Cowork feature to anyone with a $20 subscription
  Claude Cowork, Anthropic9s AI assistant for taking care of simple tasks on your computer, is now available for anyone with a $20 per month Pro subscription to try. Anthropic launched Cowork as an exclusive feature for its Max subscribers, who pay a minimum of $100 per month for more uses of Claude9s expensive reasoning models and early access to experimental features. Now Claude Cowork is available at a cheaper price, though Anthropic notes "Pro users may hit their usage limits earlier" than Max users do.
  
  Like other AI agents, the novelty of Claude Cowork is its ability to work on its own. If you have the macOS Claude app and a Pro subscription, you can prompt Claude Cowork to work on tasks on your local computer, like creating documents based on files you have saved or organizing your folders. The feature is an evolution of Claude Code, Anthropic9s AI coding agent, and can similarly use connectors and the Claude Chrome plugin to work with other apps and the web.
  
  As part of this expanded rollout, Anthropic has included a few fixes inspired by early user feedback. You9ll now be able to rename sessions with Claude Cowork ("Tasks" in the parlance of the Claude app) and the company says the AI assistant will offer better file format previews, more reliable use of connectors to other apps and confirmation messages before it deletes files.
  
  Coding agents top the list of applications of AI that have gained real traction in the last year, so Anthropic applying what it learned with Claude Code to a more general collection of computer tasks makes sense. Claude Cowork is still limited to macOS and Anthropic9s paid subscribers, but assuming the AI agent continues to be popular, it wouldn9t be surprising if the company brought it to other platforms.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-opens-up-its-claude-cowork-feature-to-anyone-with-a-20-subscription-194000021.html?src=rss

• Anthropic launches Claude Cowork, a version of its coding AI for regular people
  If you follow Anthropic, you9re probably familiar with Claude Code. Since the fall of 2024, the company has been training its AI models to use and navigate computers like a human would, and the coding agent has been the most practical expression of that work, giving developers a way to automate rote programming tasks. Starting today, Anthropic is giving regular people a way to take advantage of those capabilities, with the release of a new preview feature called Claude Cowork.
  
  The company is billing Cowork as "a simpler way for anyone — not just developers — to work with Claude." After you give the system access to a folder on your computer, it can read, edit or create new files in that folder on your behalf.
  
  Anthropic gives a few different example use cases for Cowork. For instance, you could ask Claude to organize your downloads folder, telling it to rename the files contained within to something that9s easier to parse at a glance. Another example: you could use Claude to turn screenshots of receipts and invoices into a spreadsheet for tracking expenses. Cowork can also navigate websites — provided you install Claude’s Chrome plugin — and make can use Anthropic9s Connectors framework to access third-party apps like Canva.
  
  "Cowork is designed to make using Claude for new work as simple as possible. You don’t need to keep manually providing context or converting Claude’s outputs into the right format," the company said. "Nor do you have to wait for Claude to finish before offering further ideas or feedback: you can queue up tasks and let Claude work through them in parallel."         
  
  If the idea of granting Claude access to your computer sounds ill-advised, Anthropic says Claude "can’t read or edit anything you don’t give it explicit access to." However, the company does note the system can "take potentially destructive actions," such as deleting a file that is important to you or misinterpreting your instructions. For that reason, Anthropic suggests it9s best to give "very clear" guidance to Claude.   
  
  Anthropic isn’t the first to offer a computer agent. Microsoft, for example, has been pushing Copilot hard for nearly three years, despite seemingly limited adoption. For Anthropic, the challenge will be convincing people these tools are useful where others have failed. The fact Claude Code has been universally loved by programmers may make that task easier.
  
  Anthropic briefly made Cowork preview only available to users of its pricey Claude Max subscription. That changed on Friday when the company expanded access to include customers of its $20 per month Pro plan. If you want to try Cowork for yourself, you9ll need a Mac with the Claude macOS app installed.
  
  Update 01/16/26 2:30PM ET: Updated to reflect Claude Cowork is now also available to Claude Pro customers.
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-launches-claude-cowork-a-version-of-its-coding-ai-for-regular-people-193000849.html?src=rss

• OpenAI is bringing ads to ChatGPT
  OpenAI plans to start testing ads inside of ChatGPT "in the coming weeks." In a blog post published Friday, the company said adult users in the US of its free and Go tiers (more on the latter in a moment) would start seeing sponsored products and services appear below their conversations with its chatbot. "Ads will be clearly labeled and separated from the organic answer," OpenAI said, adding any sponsored spots would not influence the answers ChatGPT generates. "Answers are optimized based on what9s most helpful to you." 
  
  OpenAI says people won9t see ads appear when they9re talking to ChatGPT about sensitive subjects like their health, mental state of mind or current politics. The company also won9t show ads to teens under the age of 18. As for privacy, OpenAI states it won9t share or sell your data with advertisers. The company will also give users the option to disable ad personalization and clear the data it uses to generate sponsored responses. "We’ll always offer a way to not see ads in ChatGPT, including a paid tier that’s ad-free," OpenAI adds. Users can dismiss ads, at which point they9ll be asked to explain why they didn9t engage with it.   
  Users will be able to ask follow-up questions about sponsored content. OpenAI
  "Given what AI can do, we9re excited to develop new experiences over time that people find more helpful and relevant than any other ads. Conversational interfaces create possibilities for people to go beyond static messages and links," OpenAI said. However, the company was also quick to note its "long-term focus remains on building products that millions of people and businesses find valuable enough to pay for."
  
  To that point, OpenAI said it would also make its ChatGPT Go subscription available to users in the US. The company first launched the tier in India last August, marketing it as a low-cost alternative to its more expensive Plus and Pro offerings. In the US, Go will cost $8 per month — or $12 less than the monthly price of the Plus plan — and offer 10 times higher rate limits for messages, file uploads and image creation than the free tier. The subscription also extends ChatGPT9s memory and context window, meaning the chatbot will be better at remembering details from past conversations. That said, you9ll see ads at this tier. To go ad-free, you9ll need to subscribe to one of OpenAI9s more expensive plans. For consumers, that means either the Plus or Pro plans.       
  
  According to reports, OpenAI had been testing ads inside of ChatGPT since at least the end of last year. As companies continue to pay a high cost for model training and inference, all chatbots are likely to feature ads in some form.
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-is-bringing-ads-to-chatgpt-192831449.html?src=rss

• The mother of one of Elon Musk's children is suing xAI over nonconsensual deepfake images
  Although X removed Grok’s ability to create nonconsensual digitally undressed images on the social platform, the standalone Grok app is another story. It reportedly continues to produce “nudified” deepfakes of real people. And now, Ashley St. Clair, a conservative political strategist and mother of one of Elon Musk’s 14 children, has sued xAI for nonconsensual sexualized images of her that Grok allegedly produced.
  
  In the court filing, St. Clair accused xAI’s Grok chatbot of creating and disseminating deepfakes of her “as a child stripped down to a string bikini, and as an adult in sexually explicit poses, covered in semen, or wearing only bikini floss.” In some cases, the chatbot allegedly produced bikini-clad deepfakes of St. Clair based on a photo of her as a 14-year-old. “People took pictures of me as a child and undressed me. There’s one where they undressed me and bent me over, and in the background is my child’s backpack that he’s wearing right now,” she said.
  
  “I am also seeing images where they add bruises to women, beat them up, tie them up, mutilated,” St. Clair told an open letter from 28 advocacy groups — neither company has removed the X or Grok apps from their app stores. Both the App Store and Play Store have policies that explicitly prohibit apps that generate such content.
  
  Neither Apple nor Google has responded to multiple requests for comment from Engadget. That includes a follow-up email sent on Friday, regarding the Grok app continuing to “nudify” photos of real women and other people.
  
  While Apple and Google fail to act, many governments have done the opposite. On Monday, Malaysia and Indonesia banned Grok. The same day, UK regulator Ofcom opened a formal investigation into X. California opened one on Wednesday. The US Senate even passed the Defiance Act for a second time in the wake of the blowback.
  
  “If you are a woman, you can’t post a picture, and you can’t speak, or you risk this abuse,” St. Clair told The Guardian. “It’s dangerous, and I believe this is by design. You are supposed to feed AI humanity and thoughts, and when you are doing things that particularly impact women, and they don’t want to participate in it because they are being targeted, it means the AI is inherently going to be biased.”
  
  Speaking about Musk and his team, she added that “these people believe they are above the law, because they are. They don’t think they are going to get in trouble, they think they have no consequences.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-mother-of-one-of-elon-musks-children-is-suing-xai-over-nonconsensual-deepfake-images-191451979.html?src=rss

• Lego's latest educational kit seeks to teach AI as part of computer science, not to build a chatbot
  Last week at CES, Lego introduced its new Smart Play system, with a tech-packed Smart Brick that can recognize and interact with sets and minifigures. It was unexpected and delightful to see Lego come up with a way to modernize its bricks without the need for apps, screens or AI. 
  
  So I was a little surprised this week when the Lego Education group announced its latest initiative is the Computer Science and AI Learning Solution. After all, generative AI feels like the antithesis of Lego’s creative values. But Andrew Silwinski, Lego Education’s head of product experience, was quick to defend Lego’s approach, noting that being fluent in the tools behind AI is not about generating sloppy images or music and more about expanding what it means by teaching computer science.
  
  “I think most people should probably know that we started working on this before ChatGPT [got big],” Silwinski told Engadget earlier this week. “Some of the ideas that underline AI are really powerful foundational ideas, regardless of the current frontier model that9s out this week. Helping children understand probability and statistics, data quality, algorithmic bias, sensors, machine perception. These are really foundational core ideas that go back to the 1970s.” 
  
  To that end, Lego Education designed courses for grades K-2, 3-5 and 6-8 that incorporate Lego bricks, additional hardware and lessons tailored to introducing the fundamentals of AI as an extension of existing computer science education. The kits are designed for four students to work together, with teacher oversight. Much of this all comes from learnings Lego found in a study it commissioned showing that teachers often find they don’t have the right resources to teach these subjects. The study showed that half of teachers globally say “current resources leave students bored” while nearly half say “computer science isn’t relatable and doesn’t connect to students’ interests or day to day.” Given kids’ familiarity with Lego and the multiple decades of experience Lego Education has in putting courses like this together, it seems like a logical step to push in this direction. 
  
  In Lego’s materials about the new courses, AI is far from the only subject covered. Coding, looping code, triggering events and sequences, if/then conditionals and more are all on display through the combination of Lego-built models and other hardware to motorize it. It feels more like a computer science course that also introduces concepts of AI rather than something with an end goal of having kids build a chatbot.
  
  In fact, Lego set up a number of “red lines” in terms of how it would introduce AI. “No data can ever go across the internet to us or any other third party,” Silwinski said. “And that9s a really hard bar if you know anything about AI.” So instead of going to the cloud, everything had to be able to do local inference on, as Silwinski said, “the 10-year-old Chromebooks you’ll see in classrooms.” He added that “kids can train their own machine learning models, and all of that is happening locally in the classroom, and none of that data ever leaves the student9s device.”
  
  Lego also says that its lessons never anthropomorphize AI, one of the things that is so common in consumer-facing AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and many more. “One of the things we9re seeing a lot of with generative AI tools is children have a tendency to see them as somehow human or almost magical. A lot of it9s because of the conversational interface, it abstracts all the mechanics away from the child.” 
  
  Lego also recognized that it had to build a course that’ll work regardless of a teacher’s fluency in such subjects. So a big part of developing the course was making sure that teachers had the tools they needed to be on top of whatever lessons they’re working on. “When we design and we test the products, we9re not the ones testing in the classroom,” Silwinski said. “We give it to a teacher and we provide all of the lesson materials, all of the training, all of the notes, all the presentation materials, everything that they need to be able to teach the lesson.” Lego also took into account the fact that some schools might introduce its students to these things starting in Kindergarten, whereas others might skip to the grade 3-5 or 6-8 sets. To alleviate any bumps in the courses for students or teachers, Lego Education works with school districts and individual schools to make sure there’s an on-ramp for those starting from different places in their fluency.
  
  While the idea of “teaching AI” seemed out of character for Lego initially, the approach it’s taking here actually reminds me a bit of Smart Play. With Smart Play, the technology is essentially invisible — kids can just open up a set, start building, and get all the benefits of the new system without having to hook up to an app or a screen. In the same vein, Silwinski said that a lot of the work you can do with the Computer Science and AI kit doesn’t need a screen, particularly the lessons designed for younger kids. And the sets themselves have a mode that acts similar to a mesh, where you connect numerous motors and sensors together to build “incredibly complex interactions and behaviors” without even needing a computer.
  
  For educators interested in checking out this latest course, Lego has single kits up for pre-order starting at $339.95; they’ll start shipping in April. That’s the pricing for the K-2 sets, the 3-5 and 6-8 sets are $429.95 and $529.95, respectively. A single kit covers four students. Lego is also selling bundles with six kits, and school districts can also request a quote for bigger orders. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/legos-latest-educational-kit-seeks-to-teach-ai-as-part-of-computer-science-not-to-build-a-chatbot-184636741.html?src=rss

• Canada cuts tariffs on Chinese EVs as part of new deal
  Canada has agreed to drastically reduce its tariffs on imported Chinese EVs from 100 percent to 6.1 percent as part of a
  
  between the two countries. In return, China will be reducing tariffs on Canadian canola seeds from 84 percent to about 15 percent.
  
  The move is a break from the United States, which maintains a 100 percent tariff on EVs from China, effectively banning them in the country. Mexico currently tariffs the vehicles at 50 percent after
  
  last year.
  
  Under the agreement, which Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
  
  "preliminary," Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese EVs into the country, with that number rising to 70,000 after five years. Until now the three major North American trading partners had been aligned in trying to protect their domestic electric vehicle manufacturing. Chinese EV companies benefit from
  
  , and as such can often be priced at a far better value than domestic alternatives.
  
  “Our relationship has progressed in recent months with China. It is more predictable and you see results coming from that,” Carney
  
  . A warmer relationship may be forming in response to the Trump administration9s
  
  , with China hoping that alienated nations may
  
  with the Eastern power.
  
  As to concerns that cheaper electric vehicles from China could hurt the Canadian auto market, the prime minister was unconcerned, saying "it’s still in low, single-digit proportion of the size of the Canadian auto sector," Carney added, “Canadians buy about 1.8 million autos a year.” China remains Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the United States.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/canada-cuts-tariffs-on-chinese-evs-as-part-of-new-deal-174241990.html?src=rss

• The latest Legend of Zelda Lego set pays tribute to Ocarina of Time's final battle
  We already knew something Ocarina of Time-related was coming from Nintendo and Lego in 2026, and now we know exactly what that set will look like. Weighing in at a surprisingly modest 1,003 pieces, the typically word salad-y Lego The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - The Final Battle is the second Lego Zelda set, following the 2,500-piece Great Deku Tree set in 2024.
  
  While the latter lets you choose between building either a Breath of the Wild or OoT-themed replica of the wise old guardian of the forest, the upcoming set is aimed squarely at fans of the series’ debut 3D outing. As you can probably guess from the name, it’s a brick-built tribute to Link and Princess Zelda’s climactic battle with Ganondorf in the seminal Nintendo 64 game, in what remains of the castle. Inside the rubble are three recovery hearts.
  
  It’s hard to see how this works without a video, but Lego says you can release Link’s nemesis by pressing a button that raises him from the debris. As well as the minifigures for Zelda and Link — complete with his Master Sword and Hylian Shield — you also get a suitably transparent Navi to display. And then there’s the large poseable Ganon (the pig demon version of Ganondorf), which is probably the highlight of the whole set.
  
  Interestingly, the new Ocarina of Time set is the first high-profile Lego announcement since unveiling its new Smart Brick at CES, but it looks like we’ll be playing with regular dumb Lego only here. You’ll just have to do the final Hyrule-saving "Hyah!" yourself, I guess.
  
  Lego The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time - The Final Battle is available to pre-order from today and will be available from March 1, priced at $130.
  
  
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-latest-legend-of-zelda-lego-set-pays-tribute-to-ocarina-of-times-final-battle-172212137.html?src=rss

• TikTok sued by former workers over alleged union-busting
  You know things are messed up when a Big Tech company fights accusations of union-busting by insisting it was only AI layoffs. That9s where things stand after a group of fired TikTok moderators in the UK filed a legal claim with an employment tribunal. The Guardian reported on Friday that around 400 TikTok content moderators who were unionizing were laid off before Christmas.
  
  The workers were sacked a week before a vote was scheduled to establish a collective bargaining unit. The moderators said they wanted better protection against the personal toll of processing traumatic content at a high speed. They accused TikTok of unfair dismissal and violating UK trade union laws.
  
  "Content moderators have the most dangerous job on the internet," John Chadfield, the national officer for tech workers at the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said in a statement to The Guardian. "They are exposed to the child sex abuse material, executions, war and drug use. Their job is to make sure this content doesn9t reach TikTok9s 30 million monthly users. It is high pressure and low paid. They wanted input into their workflows and more say over how they kept the platform safe. They said they were being asked to do too much with too few resources."
  
  TikTok denied that the firings were union-busting, calling the accusations "baseless." Instead, the company claimed the layoffs were part of a restructuring plan amid its adoption of AI for content moderation. The company said 91 percent of transgressive content is now removed automatically.
  
  The company first announced a restructuring exercise in August, just as hundreds of moderators in TikTok9s London offices were organizing for union recognition. At the time, John Chadfield, CWU9s National Officer for Tech, said the workers had long been "sounding the alarm over the real-world costs of cutting human moderation teams in favour of hastily developed, immature AI alternatives."
  
  "That TikTok management have announced these cuts just as the company9s workers are about to vote on having their union recognised stinks of union-busting and putting corporate greed over the safety of workers and the public,” Chadfield said.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/tiktok-sued-by-former-workers-over-alleged-union-busting-170446921.html?src=rss

• Audible deal: Three months of access is only $3 right now
  One way to read more in the new year is to incorporate audiobooks as part of your reading habit. Audible is having a sale right now that makes that easier and cheaper to do: you can get three months of access for only $1 per month, or a total of $3. The promotion runs through January 21.
  
  An Audible subscription grants one audiobook per month to keep. This can be selected from a massive catalog of new releases and bestsellers. The collection here has just about everything.
  
  
  
  However, it9s easy to plow through a single book in a month. Users also get streaming access to thousands of curated titles. Think of it like Netflix for audiobooks. The catalog is limited, but it gets the job done in a pinch. Subscribers do get access to all Audible original content and they will receive discounts on purchasing audiobooks outright.
  
  In other words, it9s a neat little service and well worth a buck. The regular price is $15, so make sure to cancel at the end of that three months if you aren9t enjoying the platform.
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/audible-deal-three-months-of-access-is-only-3-right-now-193859977.html?src=rss

• How to claim Verizon's $20 credit for Wednesday's service outage
  Verizon is offering a very small mea culpa after Wednesday9s massive outage, which drew more than 1.5 million reports on Downdetector and lasted hours. Initially, the carrier posted on X that it will offer a $20 credit, but customers must redeem it in the myVerizon app. The company then said the credit could be claimed though customer service (via phone or chat), but our editors’ attempts to do so via chat were met with a message to wait for a text with further instructions.
  
  Engadget editors began receiving the texts this morning (Jan 16) with a link to redeem. From there, you need to log into your account and visit the Account Overview section. Up top, there should be a Take Action or Mobile Actions button with a red notification circle. Click that and you’ll see a pop-up about the credit and a Redeem Now button. After you click that, you’re done, and Verizon says you should see the credit in one or two billing cycles. Of course, you’ll want to keep an eye out that it actually happens and contact the company if it doesn’t show up.
  
  "This credit isn’t meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can," the company wrote. "But it’s a way of acknowledging your time and showing that this matters to us." Incensed customers have largely replied with incredulity, both at the miniscule amount, and that it isn9t being applied automatically. The entire redemption process takes a few clicks and about a minute to complete, which makes it even more frustrating that it can’t be automatically applied to every customer’s bill.
  
  Update, January 15 2026, 11:57 PM ET: Verizon says the credit can be claimed through customer service via phone, chat and online in addition to the myVerizon app. 
  
  Update, January 16 2026, 10:29 AM ET: This story has been updated with detailed info about the redemption process which Verizon now says is completed with a link that will be texted to customers.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/how-to-claim-verizons-20-credit-for-wednesdays-service-outage-171909695.html?src=rss

• Engadget Podcast: Why did Apple choose Gemini for next-gen Siri?
  Apple9s next-gen Siri is still far off, but this week the company announced that it9ll be using Google9s Gemini AI for its new foundation models. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget9s Igor Bonifacic discuss why Apple teamed up with Google again, instead of OpenAI or Anthropic. Also, they chat about Meta9s Reality Lab layoffs, which is refocusing the company on AI hardware like its smart glasses.
  Subscribe!
  iTunes
  
  Spotify
  
  Pocket Casts
  
  Stitcher
  
  Google Podcasts
  Topics
  Meta announces 1000+ layoffs, closes 3 VR studios as it shifts focus to AI hardware – 2:12
  
  Gemini can now pull context from the rest of your Google apps including photos and Youtube history – 12:31
  
  Framework raises the price of its desktop by $460 because of the global RAM shortage – 18:36
  
  NVIDIA may revive the RTX 3060 and kill off 5070 Ti due to its VRAM demands – 21:57
  
  Apple creates a subscription bundle for Pro creative apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic, and others – 23:00
  
  Tesla’s Full Self Driving is also going subscription only, a year costs $999 – 29:15
  
  Matthew McConaughey trademarks himself to fight unauthorized AI likenesses – 33:27
  
  Apple announces that its long delayed ’smarter Siri’ will be powered by Google Gemini – 35:15
  
  X finally responds to Grok’s CSAM and nudity generation with limits – 51:46
  
  Cursor claims their AI agents wrote 1M+ lines of code to make a web browser from scratch, are developers cooked? – 57:52   
  Credits
  Host: Devindra Hardawar
  Guest: Igor Bonafacic
  Producer: Ben Ellman
  Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/engadget-podcast-why-did-apple-choose-gemini-for-next-gen-siri-150000993.html?src=rss

• Get $100 off Apple's Mac mini M4 desktop
  The holiday season is fully in the rear view mirror and real life is here to stay. But that doesn9t mean the time for gifts is over — especially ones for yourself. You can still take advantage of great January sales on some awesome tech products.
  
  Take the Apple Mac mini M4, which is down to $500 from $599. The 17 percent discount gives you 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD for only about $20 more than the computer9s Black Friday sale. Its beefier models are also on sale: opting for 512GB of SSD will cost you $690, down from $799, while also upping your RAM to 24GB is available for $890, dropping from $999.
  
  We gave the Apple Mac mini M4 a 90 in our review thanks in large part to its powerful chip. The M4 works very fast despite being in such a small device. It also offers front-facing headphone and USB-C ports. You can further upgrade to the Apple M4 Pro chip for $1,270, down from $1,399 — a nine percent discount. The Pro model also has Thunderbolt 5 support. 
  
  
  
  Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-100-off-apples-mac-mini-m4-desktop-141615926.html?src=rss

• Our favorite 3-in-1 wireless charger is on sale for 32 percent off
  Now that the winter holidays are well and truly past, now9s the perfect time to take stock of your tech setup. If you were gifted (or gifted yourself) some new gear in December, make sure that you9ve got the proper accessories to keep that gear performing at its best. If a new way to power all those batteries would be a benefit, Amazon9s currently running a discount on an excellent wireless charging pad. The UGREEN MagFlow Qi2 3-in-1 Charger Station 25W is on sale for $95. That9s only a little bit above the lowest price we9ve ever seen for the product (which was $90), and it9s still a 32 percent discount off its usual cost.
  
  
  
  This is our top pick for a 3-in-1 charging pad thanks to its versatility. The UGREEN can work equally well as a permanent fixture in your home or act as a portable charging station. It boasts a foldable design and has smart little design details to keep it feeling like a premium product.
  
  The Qi2 25W charging works across a range of iPhone models and accessories, such as AirPods. There9s also a dedicated part of the pad9s design for an Apple Watch, which uses a proprietary charging standard, to power up too. Just note that you9ll need a newer model of phone and the latest iOS 26 in order to take full advantage of the 25W charging capability. The wireless pad also comes with both a charging plug and a cable. We felt this UGREEN model was a great value at $140, so being able to snag one for a third of the usual price is an even better deal.
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-3-in-1-wireless-charger-is-on-sale-for-32-percent-off-214707127.html?src=rss

• Netflix will give WBD movies 45-day theater exclusivity if deal goes through
  The fate of Warner Bros. Discovery remains the biggest story in Hollywood, with Paramount Skydance refusing to back down from its rival bid to the proposed Netflix acquisition of the company. If the Netflix deal does go through, the company’s co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, has attempted to ease concerns around what that could mean for theaters.
  
  In an interview with reported that it had been told by sources that Netflix was supportive of a 17-day window, which would obviously be far more damaging to theaters. This came after the Stranger Things finale reportedly banked north of $25m during its brief theatrical run over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
  
  Sarandos was also asked if he regretted saying the theatrical business as we know it today is an "outmoded" idea. He told the NYT: "You have to listen to that quote again. I said 9outmoded for some.9 I mean, like the town that 9Sinners9 is supposed to be set in does not have a movie theater there. For those folks, it’s certainly outmoded. You’re not going to get in the car and go to the next town to go see a movie." (Movies are actually nascent technology in Sinners, which is set in the 1930s. Bad example, Ted!) He went on to explain that for someone like his daughter, who lives in Manhattan and has a number of theaters within walking distance of her home, the term does not apply in the same way.
  
  The Netflix co-chief exec’s latest comments seem to be designed to appease theater owners as much as the movie-going public, after a number of chains opposed the proposed WBD sale. "Such an acquisition will further consolidate control over production and distribution of motion pictures in the hands of a single, dominant, global streaming platform in a market that is already highly concentrated," said trade organization Cinema United in a statement to Congress.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/netflix-will-give-wbd-movies-45-day-theater-exclusivity-if-deal-goes-through-141223786.html?src=rss

• Meta is closing down its VR meeting rooms as part of its wider cull
  Meta is killing the standalone Workrooms app on February 16, 2026. The company presented Workrooms as a virtual reality space where teams can meet and collaborate in an immersive environment when it launched the product. Now Meta says its Horizon platform has evolved enough to support “a wide range of productivity apps and tools,” so it “made the decision to discontinue Workrooms as a standalone app.”
  
  The company recently slashed its spending on the metaverse and started the process to lay off more than 1,000 employees from its Reality Labs division. Due to those layoffs and organizational changes, it closed three of its VR studios. Reality Labs had lost more than $70 billion since 2021, and Meta told Engadget that it had decided to shift some of its investments from the metaverse towards wearables, such as its AI-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses. The company is also discontinuing Horizon managed services, its subscription service that helps organizations manage their Quest headsets, in February.
  
  Users will no longer be able to access the Workrooms app or any of their data in it starting on February 16. Meta is allowing people to download their data if they need it until that date.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-is-closing-down-its-vr-meeting-rooms-as-part-of-its-wider-cull-140000422.html?src=rss

• Italian regulators are investigating Activision Blizzard's monetization practices
  The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has opened two investigations into Microsoft-owned game studio Activision Blizzard, centered around the mobile games Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty: Mobile. The AGCM alleges the free-to-play games use "misleading and aggressive practices" to encourage in-game purchases.
  
  Regulators say the games rely on a "deceptive user interface design" meant to encourage longer and more frequent play sessions while bombarding players with reminders and opportunities to spend real money in-game. Players might be reminded to buy a limited-time item before it9s gone or urged not to miss out on rewards, with in-app messages and push notifications that reach players during and outside gameplay. The authority also raised concerns about virtual currency and in-game currency bundles that can make it harder to understand real-world costs.
  
  Parental control settings are also being scrutinized as the AGCM says the default settings are too permissive, such as allowing in-game purchases and unlimited play time. The watchdog will also investigate potential violations of consumer contractual rights and practices that may encourage players to unknowingly give up those rights, such as the EU9s 14-day right of withdrawal.
  
  Free-to-play games have long leaned on loot boxes and other in-game purchases to drive monetization. Unlike full-priced games like Diablo IV, these systems can blur the line between natural progression and pay-to-win. For an idea of how quickly costs can add up, consider one player who reportedly spent $100,000 on Diablo Immortal.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/italian-regulators-are-investigating-activision-blizzards-monetization-practices-135057481.html?src=rss

• Apple's latest MagSafe charger is on sale for $30
  One way you can reduce the number of cables you have to deal with on the regular is by investing in a few wireless chargers. Those with iPhones should consider Apple9s own MagSafe charger not only because of its sleek and effective design, but also because it9s on sale right now at Amazon. The Qi2.2-rated MagSafe charger is down to $30 for the one-meter version, or $40 for the two-meter version.
  
  
  
  If you have an iPhone 16, iPhone 17 or iPhone Air, this cable can charge your device at 25W as long as it9s connected to a 30W power adapter on the other end. While you9ll need a more recent iPhone to get the fastest MagSafe charging speeds, the charger can wirelessly top up the battery of any iPhone from the last eight years (iPhone 8 and later). With older iPhones, the charging speed tops out at 15W. The cable works with AirPods wireless charging cases too — it9s certified for Qi2.2 and Qi charging.
  
  The MagSafe charger is one of our favorite iPhone accessories, and would pair quite nicely with your new iPhone if you9re picking up one of the latest models. If you9re on the fence about that, be sure to check out our reviews of the iPhone 17, iPhone Pro/Pro Max and iPhone Air.
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-latest-magsafe-charger-is-on-sale-for-30-141707636.html?src=rss

• XREAL files lawsuit against rival smart glass maker Viture
  San Francisco-founded Smart glasses maker Viture has been sued in a US court by rival XREAL over claims it infringed on its patents, XREAL announced in a press release. The complaint, lodged in a federal Texas court, accuses Viture of illegally incorporating XREAL9s patented tech into its products including the Luma Pro, Luma Ultra and Beast models. 
  
  "The lawsuit is not merely about enforcing a single patent," the company wrote. "It is about stopping a pattern of intellectual property infringement that undermines the integrity of innovation and endangers continued technological development in this industry." 
  
  XREAL has already won a preliminary injunction against Viture in Germany. That resulted in a sales freeze in that country, which could spread to nine other European nations including France, Italy and Spain. That injunction affects Viture9s Pro, Luma and Luma Pro smart glasses.
  
  Both companies make augmented reality (AR) glasses with built-in displays that connect to smartphone or laptops, letting you play games, watch movies or do productivity tasks. Their products offer similar display resolutions and fields of view, both of which are key specifications for those products. 
  
  In response, Viture issued its own statement: "Our product does not infringe upon the cited patent in any way," the company told Tom9s Guide. "We encourage everyone to look closely at the patent itself and form their own judgment, it becomes clear very quickly how weak and questionable it is. XREAL has simultaneously circulated false claims suggesting that Viture is 9banned across nine European countries.9 This is entirely untrue." The company added that it9s taking legal action itself because of XREAL9s comments. 
  
  Viture is a relatively new player in the AR/VR world, but XREAL9s lawsuit could be a prelude to similar actions, judging by the wording in its press release. XREAL holds over 800 patent and patent applications around the world around AR, VR and other tech, and claims that Viture has fewer than 70 and none in the US and Europe. At CES 2026, XREAL unveiled several new products, including the ROG X R1 AR glasses built in conjunction with ASUS. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/xreal-files-lawsuit-against-rival-smart-glass-maker-viture-133018692.html?src=rss

• Disney+ and Hulu deal: Get the bundle for only $10 for one month
  You have the best chance to save on streaming services during the holiday shopping season, but throughout the year, the occasional deal pops up that9s worth considering. Case in point: this new Disney+ deal. New and eligible returning subscribers can sign up for the Disney+ Hulu bundle (with ads) for $10 for one month of access. That9s $3 off the usual price of the bundle for one month, and more than 58 percent off if you consider the cost of each service individually (Disney+ at $12 per month and, separately, Hulu also at $12 per month).
  
  We9d be remiss if we didn9t mention that this isn9t quite as good as the Black Friday deal we saw last year, which offered the same bundle for $5 per month for one year. However, if you missed that offer or just want to try out Disney+ and Hulu for a brief period of time, this is a good way to do so.
  
  
  
  Disney+ and Hulu make one of the most balanced streaming pairs available, blending family-friendly favorites with acclaimed originals and network TV staples. Disney+ brings a vast library of animated classics, blockbuster franchises and exclusive content from Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and National Geographic. It’s the place to stream nearly every Star Wars film and series, plus the full Marvel Cinematic Universe lineup and Disney’s most recent theatrical releases.
  
  Hulu balances things out with a more adult-oriented lineup of current TV shows, next-day network episodes and a growing roster of award-winning originals. The platform hosts series like The Bear, The Handmaid’s Tale and Only Murders in the Building, alongside comedies, thrillers and documentaries that regularly feature in awards conversations. It’s also the home for next-day streaming of ABC and FX shows, making it especially useful if you’ve already cut the cable cord but still want to keep up with primetime TV.
  
  The Duo Basic bundle ties these two services together under a single subscription, offering a simple way to expand your library without juggling multiple accounts. This tier includes ads on both platforms, but the trade-off is significant savings compared with paying for each service separately. For many households, that’s an acceptable compromise when it means access to such a wide range of content.
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/disney-and-hulu-deal-get-the-bundle-for-only-10-for-one-month-192814913.html?src=rss

• One of our favorite budgeting apps is only $50 for the year for new users
  The start of the new year is a great time to get your finances in order, and a good budgeting app can help with that. Instead of laboring over a spreadsheet, you can try one of our favorite budgeting apps for less than usual. Monarch Money is running a sale that gives new users 50 percent off one year of the service, bringing the final cost down to just $50. Just use the code NEWYEAR2026 at checkout to get the discount.
  
  Monarch Money makes for a capable and detailed budgeting companion. You can use the service via apps for iOS, Android, iPadOS or the web, and Monarch also offers a Chrome extension that can sync your Amazon and Target transactions and automatically categorize them. Like other budgeting apps, Monarch Money lets you connect multiple financial accounts and track your money based on where you spend it over time. Monarch offers two different approaches to tracking budgeting (flexible and category budgeting) depending on what fits your life best, and the ability to add a budget widget on your phone so you can know how you9re tracking that month.
  
  
  
  How budgeting apps turn your raw transactions into visuals you can understand at a glance is one of the big things that differentiates one app from another, and Monarch Money offers multiple graphs and charts to look at for things like spending, investments or categories of your choice based on how you9ve labelled your expenses. The app can also monitor the spending of you and your partner all in one place, to make it easier to plan together.
  
  The main drawbacks Engadget found in testing Monarch Money were the app9s learning curve, and the differences in features (and bugginess) between Monarch9s web and mobile versions. Still, for 50 percent off, the Monarch Money is well worth experimenting with if you9re trying to save money in 2026, especially if you want to do it collaboratively with a partner.
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/one-of-our-favorite-budgeting-apps-is-only-50-for-the-year-for-new-users-204507183.html?src=rss

• ASUS changes mind, will continue selling the RTX 5070 Ti after all
  After telling the YouTube channel press release." The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB have not been discontinued or designated as end-of-life (EOL). ASUS has no plans to stop selling these models."
  
  ASUS further clarified that supply fluctuations, primarily due to memory supply constraints, have temporarily affected production output and stocks. "As a result, availability may appear limited in certain markets, but this should not be interpreted as a production halt or product retirement. ASUS will continue to support the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB and is working closely with partners to stabilize supply as conditions improve."
  
  Yesterday, Hardware Unboxed said that ASUS "explicitly told us this model is currently facing a supply shortage and, as such, they have placed the model into end-of-life status." In a new pinned comment, the channel noted that the new information "completely walks back their original statement to us."
  
  Hardware Unboxed learned of the shortage by speaking to resellers in Australia, who said that the 5070 Ti is “no longer available to purchase from partners and distributors,” adding they expect that to be the case throughout at least the first quarter of the year. Based on that, along with ASUS9s statement, they released the video in question yesterday. 
  
  Although ASUS now says that it will still make both of those GPUs, being able to buy one could be next to impossible, based on what retailers told Hardware Unboxed. The AI boom has sent the cost of memory soaring, leading to price hikes for GPUs and other PC components. That in turn has led to anger among gamers, and the problem may get much worse before it gets better. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/asus-changes-mind-will-continue-selling-the-rtx-5070-ti-after-all-130934271.html?src=rss

• TikTok tightens age verification across Europe
  TikTok is bolstering its age-verification measures across Europe. In the coming weeks, the platform will roll out upgraded age-detection tech in the European Economic Area, as well as in the UK and Switzerland.
  
  The systems will assess the likely age of a user based on their profile information and activity. When the tech flags an account that may belong to a user aged under 13 (the minimum age to use TikTok), a specialist moderator will assess whether it should be banned. TikTok will send users in Europe a notification to tell them about these measures and offer them a chance to learn more.
  
  Also, if a moderator is looking at content for other reasons and thinks an account might belong to an underage user, they can flag it to a specialist for further review. Anyone can report an account they suspect is used by someone under 13 as well. TikTok says it removes about 6 million underage accounts in total from the platform every month.
  
  Those whose accounts are banned can appeal if they think their access was wrongly terminated. Users can then provide a government-approved ID, a credit card authorization or selfie for age estimation (the latter process has a blog post. "At TikTok, we9re committed to keeping children under the age of 13 off our platform, providing teens with age-appropriate experiences and continuing to assess and implement a range of solutions. We believe that a multi-layered approach to age assurance — one in which multiple techniques are used — is essential to protecting teens and upholding safety-by-design principles."
  
  TikTok is rolling out these practices after a pilot in Europe over the last year. That project helped the platform to identify and remove thousands more underage accounts. It worked with the Data Protection Commission (its main privacy regulator in the EU) to help ensure it complied with the bloc’s strict data protection standards.
  
  These measures are coming into force amid intensifying calls to keep kids off social media. A social media ban for under 16s in Australia went into effect last month. Affected platforms have collectively closed or restricted millions of accounts as a result. Reddit has filed a lawsuit over the ban. 
  
  A similar ban might be on the cards in the UK amid public pressure and cross-party support. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said "all options are on the table" and that he was watching "what is happening in Australia."
  
  The House of Lords is set to vote on proposals for an under-16 social media ban next week. If an amendment passes, members of parliament will hold a binding vote on the matter in the coming months.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-tightens-age-verification-across-europe-130000847.html?src=rss

• The Morning After: ASUS stops making some NVIDIA GPUs due to memory supply crunch
  If you thought we were Matthew McConaughey just trademarked himselfIn the fight against AI.Getty
  Matthew McConaughey filed trademark applications to prevent AI companies from using his likeness without permission, and the US Patent and Trademark Office has approved eight so far.
  
  Trademarks were for video and audio clips featuring the actor staring, smiling and talking. One was for an audio recording of him saying “alright, alright, alright,” his catchphrase from the movie Dazed and Confused. Under the law, it’s already prohibited for companies to steal someone’s likeness to sell products. However, given the vague rules governing the use of someone’s likeness, McConaughey is taking a proactive approach. McConaughey himself is an investor in ElevenLabs and has partnered with the AI startup to create a Spanish version of his newsletter. Está bien, está bien, está bien.
  
  Amazon is making a Fallout competition reality TV showAddiction! Radiation poisoning! Skeletal law enforcement?X says Grok will no longer edit images of real people into bikinisBut image generation isn’t going anywhere.
  Following numerous complaints and several state and national investigations, X is revising its policies on Grok’s image-editing capabilities. New safeguards will place Grok’s image-generating features behind X’s subscription offering, and it will geoblock all users’ ability to generate images of real people in… well, less clothing, in regions where it’s illegal.
  
  California Attorney General Rob Bonta cited one analysis that found “more than half of the 20,000 images generated by xAI between Christmas and New Year depicted people in minimal clothing.” That’s been the primary use?
  
  Continue reading.
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121506027.html?src=rss

• The best midrange smartphone for 2026
  Gone are the days in which you needed to spend a fortune to get a good smartphone. In 2026, features once exclusive to high-end smartphones – big batteries, multi-camera arrays, high refresh rate OLED displays and more – have made their way down to more affordable models. Yes, you’ll still need to buy a flagship smartphone to get the best camera or fastest processor, but you don9t have to make nearly as many compromises as you once did if you have a strict budget to adhere to when you go shopping for your next smartphone. If you have less than $600 to spend, let us help you figure out what features to prioritize when trying to find the best midrange smartphone.
  Table of contents
  Best midrange phones in 2026?
  
  What is a midrange phone??
  
  What to consider before buying a midrange smartphone?
  
  What won9t you get from a midrange phone?
  Best midrange phones for 2026
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What is a midrange phone?
  While the term frequently appears in articles and videos, there isn’t an agreed-upon definition for “midrange” beyond a phone that isn’t a flagship or an entry-level option. Most of our recommendations cost between $400 and $600 — any less and you should expect significant compromises. If you have more to spend, you might as well consider flagships like the Apple iPhone 17 and the Samsung Galaxy S25 if you want the best smartphone experience. Devices like Pixel phones often sit in this price range too, offering some of the best value for Android buyers.
  What to consider before buying a midrange smartphone
  Buying a new device can be intimidating, but a few questions can help guide you through the process. First: what platform do you want to use? If the answer is iOS, that narrows your options down to exactly one phone. (Thankfully, it’s great.) And if you’re an Android fan, there’s no shortage of compelling options. Both platforms have their strengths, so you shouldn’t rule either out.
  
  Of course, also consider how much you’re comfortable spending. Even increasing your budget by $100 more can get you a dramatically better product. Moreover, manufacturers tend to support their more expensive devices for longer with software updates and security updates, so it’s worth buying something toward the top limit of what you can afford. 
  
  Having an idea of your priorities will help inform your budget. Do you want a long battery life or fast charging? Do you value speedy performance above all else? Or would you like the best possible cameras with high megapixel counts? While they continue to improve every year, even the best midrange smartphones still demand some compromises, and knowing what’s important to you will make choosing one easier.
  What won’t you get from a midrange smartphone?
  Every year, the line between midrange and flagship phones blurs as more upmarket features and functions trickle down to more affordable models. When Engadget first published this guide in 2020, it was tricky to find a $500 phone with waterproofing and 5G. In 2026, the biggest thing you might miss out on is wireless charging – and even then, that’s becoming less true.
  
  One thing your new phone probably won’t come with is a power adapter; many companies have stopped including chargers with all of their smartphones. Performance has improved in recent years, but can still be hit or miss as most midrange phones use slower processors that can struggle with multitasking. Thankfully, their camera systems have improved dramatically, and you can typically expect at least a dual-lens system on most midrange smartphones below $600 with decent camera quality, selfie performance and software support to keep things running smoothly for years to come..
  Midrange smartphone FAQs How long do midrange phones get software updates?
  Support varies by brand, but most midrange phones receive around three to five years of software and security updates. Apple tends to support iPhones longer while companies like Google and Samsung now promise several years of Android and security patches for their midrange models. Budget-focused brands might offer less so it’s worth checking the update policy before you buy.
  Are midrange phones good for gaming?
  Yes, many midrange phones handle gaming well, especially popular titles like Fortnite, Genshin Impact and Call of Duty Mobile. They usually include capable processors, though you won’t always get the smoothest performance in the most demanding mobile games or at max settings. If you play casually or stick to less graphically intensive titles a midrange phone will feel more than adequate.
  
  Georgie Peru contributed to this report.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/best-midrange-smartphone-183006463.html?src=rss

• Kathleen Kennedy steps down as Lucasfilm president, marking a new era for the Star Wars franchise
  Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as president of Lucasfilm. Although she will continue as a producer for several Star Wars projects, including upcoming movie The Mandalorian and Grogu, the company will now be helmed by a duo in Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan. It9s a big changing of the guard for Star Wars fans, and marks the start of a fresh chapter for the sci-fi universe. 
  
  Before taking over at Lucasfilm, Kennedy had seen great success as a producer with a couple little films you may have heard of: E.T. and Jurassic Park. She became Lucasfilm9s president in 2012 when the company was acquired by Disney. At that point, it had been several years since the last Star Wars movie; Revenge of the Sith closed out the generally panned prequel trilogy in 2005. Fans9 best option for Star Wars content was The Clone Wars, a standalone film and animated series which were well-regarded but primarily popular among the hardcore devotees rather than reaching the widespread cultural relevance of the prior feature films. 
  
  During Kennedy9s tenure, Star Wars returned to the big screen with The Force Awakens in 2015. Although that J.J. Abrams-led trilogy was also a roller coaster for many fans, it marked a renaissance for the franchise. Lucasfilm embarked on two standalone movies in Rogue One and Solo, which generated yet more buzz and more money for the company. Star Wars got the full cinematic universe treatment, with critically acclaimed live-action television projects and several new video games. The world fell in love with Baby Yoda. Ewan McGregor finally got to don his Obi-Wan Kenobi robe in a better vehicle. The franchise was back in the mainstream, with the budgets and expectations of media behemoth Disney at its back. No matter your feelings on the current state of Star Wars, it9s an impressive accomplishment by Kennedy and a big legacy that she leaves behind at Lucasfilm.
  
  So now that Lucasfilm has arguably ended this phase on a high note, what9s next? Dave Filoni moving into the top spot isn9t much of a surprise. He9s long been seen by fans and seemingly by the company as George Lucas9 spiritual successor. Filoni was also the showrunner on The Clone Wars back in the day and has been involved in some capacity with many of the recent TV series, most notably The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. All that history means his new role of President and Chief Creative Officer is pretty expected, and the Star Wars faithful likely feel that they are in good hands. 
  
  As the title implies, Filoni will be responsible for the artistic side of the operation, while as Co-President, Lynwen Brennan will be in charge of the business side. Brennan may be a less familiar name, but her tenure with Lucas9 businesses dates back to 1999 when she joined the legendary effects studio Industrial Light & Magic. Dividing the art and the commerce can yield good results if the two are able to find a good synergy. Star Wars has proven that it9s a moneymaker even when the films and series aren9t particularly well-received, but here9s hoping that Filoni and Brennan will each be able to maintain high standards for Lucasfilm and the Star Wars fandom.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/kathleen-kennedy-steps-down-as-lucasfilm-president-marking-a-new-era-for-the-star-wars-franchise-003407687.html?src=rss

• ASUS has stopped producing the NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB, saying they've reached 'end of life'
  YouTube channel RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB due to the ongoing memory crunch. In its most recent video, the channel states ASUS “explicitly” told it the RTX 5070 Ti is “currently facing a supply shortage.” As a result, the company has “placed the model into end of life status,” and no longer plans to produce it.
  
  Hardware Unboxed also spoke to retailers in Australia, who told the channel the 5070 Ti is “no longer available to purchase from partners and distributors,” adding they expect that to be the case throughout at least the first quarter of the year. The 5060 Ti 16GB “is almost done as well," with ASUS stating it no longer plans to produce that model going forward either. Both GPUs are 16GB models, making them more expensive to manufacture in the current economic climate. And while there might be some hope of the 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB returning later this year, the channel suggests both are unlikely to make a comeback.
  
  “Demand for GeForce RTX GPUs is strong, and memory supply is constrained. We continue to ship all GeForce SKUs and are working closely with our suppliers to maximize memory availability,” a NVIDIA spokesperson told Engadget. ASUS did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request.
  
  After uploading its video, Hardware Unboxed published a clarification. “ASUS did not tell us that NVIDIA said the RTX 5070 Ti has been discontinued. ASUS told us there is very little supply of the 5070 Ti, so their own 5070 Ti products (e.g, the Prime and TUF Gaming) have been put into end of life status,” the channel said. “With retailers also unable to source 5070 Ti SKUs from any AIB, this effectively makes it a dead product.”
  
  The AI boom has created an insatiable demand for RAM and other computer components from data center infrastructure companies. In response, many memory manufacturers have shifted their production lines to focus on high bandwidth memory for those clients at the expense of their regular offerings, leading to dramatically increased prices among consumer RAM kits, GPUs and SSDs. In December, Micron Technology announced it would wind down its consumer-facing Crucial brand to focus exclusively on providing components to the AI industry.
  
  ASUS is the first of NVIDIA’s add-in board (AIB) partners to comment on the memory crunch. AIBs are the companies that produce the majority of GPUs you can buy from NVIDIA and AMD. Historically, NVIDIA has provided its board partners with both the die and memory needed to make a graphics cards. However, a recent rumor suggested the company had told it partners they would need to start sourcing memory on their own.
  
  Update 12:55PM ET: Added more context.
  
  Update 2:06PM ET: Added comment from NVIDIA.
  
  Update 6:31PM ET: Added additional comment from Hardware Unboxed.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/asus-has-stopped-producing-the-nvidia-rtx-5070-ti-and-5060-ti-16gb-saying-theyve-reached-end-of-life-162012253.html?src=rss

• Senate passes minibus bill funding NASA, rejecting Trump's proposed cuts
  After a tumultuous 2025 that saw it lose around 4,000 employees, NASA finally has an operating budget for 2026, and one that largely preserves its scientific capabilities. On Thursday, the Senate passed an appropriations bill funding NASA, alongside the National Science Foundation and a handful of other federal agencies. 
  
  Going into the appropriations process, the president called for a 24 percent year over year reduction to NASA9s total operating budget. As part of that plan, the White House wanted to reduce the Science Mission Directorate9s funding by nearly half, a move that would have forced NASA to cancel 55 ongoing and planned missions, including efforts like OSIRIS-APEX. The bill effectively rejects President Trump9s plan, reducing NASA9s total operating budget by just 1.6 percent year over year to $24.4 billion. 
  
  Per the new appropriations, NASA9s science budget will stand at $7.25 billion, 1.1 percent less relative to fiscal 2024, while shuffling the remaining funds to focus on different priorities. For instance, the House and Senate allocated $874 million (+8.7 percent) for the agency9s heliophysics work; planetary sciences, which oversees missions like New Horizons, was cut to $2.5 billion (-6.5 percent) compared to 2024. At the same time, NASA9s STEM engagement office, which the president proposed eliminating, escaped unscathed with its funding maintained at parity.
  
  "It9s almost everything we had been asking for, and it9s very encouraging to see a House and Senate run by the president9s own party agreeing that we need to keep investing in things like NASA science," says Casey Dreier, chief of policy at the Planetary Society, a nonprofit founded by Carl Sagan that advocates for the exploration and study of space. "It contains very clear and direct language that not only is this funding made available to these projects, but that it will be spent on the initiatives that Congress states."
  
  Lawmakers also rejected Trump9s effort to scuttle the Space Launch System after its third flight. NASA9s heavy-lift rocket is billions of dollars over budget, but remains — as of now — the only spacecraft ready to ferry astronauts to the Moon. Compared to the rest of NASA, the fate of the SLS was never really in doubt. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) secured funding for the rocket as part of Trump9s Big Beautiful Bill. "I9ve been saying for a long time you should never underestimate the political coalition behind the SLS, and I think that was very much validated this year," says Dreier. 
  
  More importantly, it appears the Goddard Space Flight Center will be safe from further damage. Over the summer, the future of the facility, known for its work on projects like the James Webb Space Telescope, was put in jeopardy. By some estimates, the campus has lost a third of its staff due to workforce cuts, and dozens of buildings, including some 100 laboratories, have been shut down by management. One of the casualties was NASA9s largest library, which houses irreplaceable documents chronicling the history of the space race. As part of a "consolidation" effort, many of those documents will be thrown out.
  
  Under the appropriations bill, the Senate has directed NASA to “preserve all the technical and scientific world-class capabilities at Goddard.” It has also instructed the agency to ensure employees of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies are able to continue their work with "minimal disruption." The New York-based office, one of America9s leading climate labs, was sent into limbo last spring after the Trump administration moved to shut it down. 
  
  The bill also provides a lifeline for NASA9s to bring back samples of Martian dirt collected by the Perseverance rover. Congress has effectively cancelled the official program tied to that ambition, the Mars Sample Return (MSR), but has set aside $110 million for the agency to continue developing technologies for future science missions to the Red Planet. MSR advocates have argued the mission could lead to significant scientific discoveries, but Dreier notes the program was "ripe for cancellation" after it became mired in mismanagement. 
  
  "I worry MSR now has this stink of bloat, excess cost and threat of overruns that are really going to make it challenging to restart this without having a dramatically different approach," says Dreier, adding that deciding what to do with mission will likely be top of mind for the agency9s new administrator, Jared Isaacman. 
  
  The 2026 budget leaves NASA with fewer resources. Even in areas where Congress allocated the same amount of funds as it did in 2024, the agency will need to do more with less due to inflation. Compared to the absolute blood bath that would have been Trump9s proposed budget, a marginal funding cut is the best case scenario given the circumstances, but the circumstances remain less than ideal. 
  
  "There will be another presidential budget request coming out in the next couple of months," Dreier said. "They could do this all over again if they wanted to."
  
  In the immediate future, NASA and its employees are at least protected from the potential fallout of another impending government shutdown. Congress has until January 30 to fully fund the federal government, and as of earlier this week, it has yet to find a way forward on appropriations for agencies like the Department of Labor.  
  
  Correction 9:05PM ET: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Casey Dreier’s surename as Drier. We regret the error.
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/senate-passes-minibus-bill-funding-nasa-rejecting-trumps-proposed-cuts-231605536.html?src=rss

• A $250 billion trade deal will see Taiwan bring more semiconductor production to the US
  The US and Taiwan have signed an agreement that will see a multi-billion dollar investment into domestic development of semiconductors and related infrastructure. The US Department of Commerce announced that Taiwanese businesses will make an upfront investment of at least $250 billion into their US production capacity, while Taiwan9s government will provide credit guarantees of at least another $250 billion in support of the semiconductor industry and supply chain in the US. 
  
  In exchange, Taiwan will receive a better deal on tariffs. Reciprocal tariffs will be limited to 15 percent, compared with the previous 20 percent rate. Generic pharmaceuticals and their generic ingredients, aircraft components, and unavailable natural resources will be not be subjected to reciprocal tariffs under the arrangement. Taiwanese companies with US production will also see increased import amounts without being charged duties under the Section 232 framework.  
  
  According to reports from $100 billion in its US operations over four years. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC in an interview that the current US government wants to bring 40 percent of Taiwan9s semiconductor supply chain stateside, continuing to use tariffs as an incentive. "If they don’t build in America, the tariff’s likely to be 100 percent,” Lutnick said.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/a-250-billion-trade-deal-will-see-taiwan-bring-more-semiconductor-production-to-the-us-224326501.html?src=rss

• Bluesky's 'Live Now' badge is available to everyone
  After testing the feature in a limited beta, Bluesky is making its "Live Now" badge for streamers available for everyone on the social network to try. Live Now is included as part of Bluesky9s v1.114 update, alongside "cashtags," a separate type of hashtag for collecting conversations about publicly-traded companies.
  
  Bluesky first started testing its Live Now badge in May 2025 with a limited group of accounts, including the official NBA account. The feature lets Twitch streamers with Bluesky profiles append a Live Now badge to their profile picture that links directly to their livestream. Live Now badges are limited to Twitch links for now, but Bluesky says "support for other streaming platforms may follow" as it learns from the beta. Linking to other social platforms shouldn9t be a radical concept, but since Bluesky9s competitor X has tried to prevent users from posting links in the past, the company has made it a point of trying to do the opposite.
  
  Cashtags are a similar attempt to appeal to a certain type of veteran X user. Originally a feature of pre-Musk Twitter, cashtags work like a hashtag, marking posts in a way that makes them easy to find in a search or by tapping the cashtag itself. On Bluesky, by typing a dollar sign ($) and the stock abbreviation of a company (AAPL for Apple, for example), you can add a cashtag to your post that links it to other posts using the same cashtag. So far, the cultural makeup of Bluesky hasn9t seemed as business-oriented as X, but the feature suggests Bluesky wants the option to be available for anyone who jumps ship.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/blueskys-live-now-badge-is-available-to-everyone-223335221.html?src=rss

• Amazon's New World: Aeternum MMO will go offline January 31, 2027
  Today, Amazon shared more details about the final chapter of its game New World: Aeternum. The company announced in October that it would wind down support for the MMO, with the Nighthaven season to be its last. New World will be delisted and no longer available for purchase starting today, but the game9s servers will not be taken offline until January 31, 2027. People who own the game will be able to continue playing until that date. Nighthaven season will continue through to that end date.
  
  Players who had previously purchased New World: Aeternum will be able to re-download and continue playing up to the shutdown date. In-game currency such as Marks of Fortune will no longer be available to buy starting July 20, 2026, and refunds will not be offered for Marks of Fortune purchases.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/amazons-new-world-aeternum-mmo-will-go-offline-january-31-2027-205449407.html?src=rss

• Netflix's expanded Sony deal includes streaming rights to the Legend of Zelda movie
  As part of a new agreement, films from Sony Pictures Entertainment will stream on Netflix first, the companies announced via a joint statement. The new deal expands on the exclusive rights Netflix had to Sony films in the US, and means the service will be the first place people will be able to stream upcoming projects like the live-action adaptation of The Legend of Zelda, and a quartet of biopics about The Beatles.
  
  Sony9s films will stream worldwide on Netflix in what9s called "Pay-1," the first window of availability after a movie9s theatrical and VOD releases. As part of the deal, Netflix is also licensing an undisclosed number of films and television shows from the Sony Pictures back catalog to help fill out its library. Netflix says the new arrangement "will roll out gradually" as licensing rights become available throughout the year, with full availability happening sometime in 2029. Neither company shared how long this new setup will last, but did describe the deal as a "multi-year agreement."
  
  Netflix and Sony9s partnership has been fruitful so far. Films like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Uncharted and Anyone But You have had popular second lives on the streaming service. In the case of a profitable theatrical run. Netflix will pay Sony north of $7 billion for this new deal, a similar deal with Universal, which has brought other Nintendo adaptations to the streaming service like The Super Mario Bros Movie. Beyond licensing, the company has an even bigger purchase in mind, though: buying Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion. In an effort to prevent the deal from going through, Paramount is now suing Warner Bros. Discovery for ignoring its own competing bid for the company.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflixs-expanded-sony-deal-includes-streaming-rights-to-the-legend-of-zelda-movie-203011384.html?src=rss

• Flaw in 17 Google Fast Pair audio devices could let hackers eavesdrop
  Now would be a good time to update all your Bluetooth audio devices. On Thursday, Google9s one-tap (Fast Pair) protocol.
  
  Security researchers at Belgium9s KU Leuven University Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography group, who discovered the security hole, named the flaw WhisperPair. They say a hacker within Bluetooth range would only require the accessory9s (easily attainable) device model number and a few seconds.
  
  "You9re walking down the street with your headphones on, you9re listening to some music. In less than 15 seconds, we can hijack your device," KU Leuven researcher Sayon Duttagupta told Wired. "Which means that I can turn on the microphone and listen to your ambient sound. I can inject audio. I can track your location." The researchers notified Google about WhisperPair in August, and the company has been working with them since then.
  
  Fast Pair is supposed to only allow new connections while the audio device is in pairing mode. (A proper implementation of this would have prevented this flaw.) But a Google spokesperson told Engadget that the vulnerability stemmed from an improper implementation of Fast Pair by some of its hardware partners. This could then allow a hacker9s device to pair with your headphones or speaker after it9s already paired with your device.
  
  "We appreciate collaborating with security researchers through our Vulnerability Rewards Program, which helps keep our users safe," a Google spokesperson wrote in a statement sent to Engadget. "We worked with these researchers to fix these vulnerabilities, and we have not seen evidence of any exploitation outside of this report9s lab setting. As a best security practice, we recommend users check their headphones for the latest firmware updates. We are constantly evaluating and enhancing Fast Pair and Find Hub security."
  
  The researchers created the video below to demonstrate how the flaw works
  
  In an email to Engadget, Google said the steps required to access the device’s microphone or audio are complex and involve multiple stages. The attackers would also need to remain within Bluetooth range. The company added that it provided its OEM partners with recommended fixes in September. Google also updated its Validator certification tool and its certification requirements.
  
  The researchers say that, in some cases, the risk applies even to those who don9t use Android phones. For example, if the audio accessory has never been paired with a Google account, a hacker could use WhisperPair to not only pair with the audio device but also link it to their own Google account. They could then use Google9s Find Hub tool to track the device9s (and therefore your) location.
  
  Google said it rolled out a fix to its Find Hub network to address that particular scenario. However, the researchers told Wired that, within hours of the patch’s rollout, they found a workaround.
  
  The 17 affected devices are made by 10 different companies, all of which received Google Fast Pair certification. They include Sony, Jabra, JBL, Marshall, Xiaomi, Nothing, OnePlus, Soundcore, Logitech and Google. (Google says its affected Pixel Buds are already patched and protected.) The researchers posted a search tool that lets you see if your audio accessories are vulnerable.
  
  In a statement sent to Engadget, OnePlus said it9s investigating the issue and "will take appropriate action to protect our users9 security and privacy." Marshall said it patched the issue in November and is working with Google to avoid similar issues in the future (see full statement below). We also contacted the other accessory makers and will update this story if we hear back.
  
  The researchers recommend updating your audio devices regularly. However, one of their concerns is that many people will never install the third-party manufacturer9s app (required for updates), leaving their devices vulnerable.
  
  The full report from Wired has much more detail and is worth a read.
  
  Update, January 15 2026, 4:04PM ET: “We can confirm that Marshall has issued the necessary firmware updates and security patches to address the headphones potentially affected,” a company representative told Engadget. “These updates have been available since November and have been offered to all users since then. While this is an industry-wide issue, we take it seriously and are working closely with Google to reduce the risk of similar vulnerabilities in the future.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/flaw-in-17-google-fast-pair-audio-devices-could-let-hackers-eavesdrop-194613456.html?src=rss

• Amazon is making a Fallout Shelter competition reality TV show
  The second season of Amazon9s excellent Fallout show is currently airing, but the company is already looking to expand its programming around the popular franchise. Prime Video has greenlit a unscripted reality show titled Fallout Shelter. It will be a ten-episode run with Studio Lambert, the team behind reality projects including Squid Game: The Challenge and The Traitors, as its primary producer. Bethesda Game Studios’ head honcho Todd Howard is attached as an executive producer.
  
  Amazon9s description of Fallout Shelter is: "Across a series of escalating challenges, strategic dilemmas and moral crossroads, contestants must prove their ingenuity, teamwork and resilience as they compete for safety, power and ultimately a huge cash prize."
  
  It seems fitting that the producer is the same as Squid Game: The Challenge, where a show critiquing capitalism is turned into a competition about winning money. A reality show sounds like the sort of thing you9d find in a Fallout game side quest accompanied by pointed commentary about greed rather than an activity people of the Wasteland would take seriously. Maybe the new series will be an interesting mix of survival skills and dark humor that feels true to the Fallout ethos. But, and I say this as a big viewer of reality shows, I’m not holding my breath.
  
  The name echos the free-to-play mobile game Bethesda released in 2015. Fallout Shelter lets people build and improve their out Vault-Tec residence, managing the resources for a growing cadre of underground survivors. It seems pretty likely that there will be some type of tie-in between the game and the show, but any details about that might pop up closer to when the program is ready to air. It9s currently casting, and no release timeline has been shared.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/amazon-is-making-a-fallout-shelter-competition-reality-tv-show-190151855.html?src=rss

• Heist game Relooted gets a release date
  The intriguing Africanfuturist heist game, Relooted, is out on February 10. Developed by independent South African studio Nyamakop, the game focuses on a ragtag crew from Johannesburg that liberates real-life African artifacts from a series of fictionalized Western museums.
  
  Relooted is best described as a 2.5d side-scrolling action platformer with stealth and puzzle elements. You have to carefully plan each heist with your fellow teammates, knowing where to place each crew member and how you’re going to get in and out in one piece. Once you’ve grabbed the artifact you’re looking for in each mission, an alarm will sound and you have a limited amount of time to escape, so good preparation is vital.
  
  The studio’s previous game, the platformer Semblance, was significant for being the first South Africa-developed IP to come to a Nintendo console when it launched on Switch in 2018. At E3 that same year, Nyamakop programmer Cukia Kimani and designer Ben Myres talked to Engadget about the difficulties of getting your game in front of the major platform-holders as an indie developer based in sub-Saharan Africa. Without notable local industry events or reps in the country, the developers had to do a lot of globe-trotting in order to get their game noticed.
  
  At the time of writing there’s no Switch or Switch 2 release lined up for Relooted, but the game is coming to PC and Xbox consoles next month.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/heist-game-relooted-gets-a-release-date-173456541.html?src=rss

• The Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 expansion has arrived earlier than expected
  For a number of very obvious reasons, we don’t want to roll back the clock to early 2020. No thank you. But if there was a feel-good lockdown story, it was the perfectly timed arrival of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which allowed friends who could no longer meet up IRL to do so virtually on their carefully pruned islands.
  
  The game will almost certainly never be as popular as it was back then again, but Nintendo is hoping a good chunk of lapsed islanders will return for its latest DLC drop, which arrived on January 14, a day earlier than planned. The Switch 2 update went live as expected on January 15. As spotted by
  
  , the free Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0update is available to download now and, as previously announced, brings a host of new features to the cozy life sim, including a brand new resort hotel on the pier that you can help decorate.
  
  There are new items and quality-of-life additions too, as well as the ability to build fresh islands with your friends and family in the “Slumber Island” dream world. All you need to do is go to the New Horizons game icon on your Switch’s home screen and download the software update.
  
  Nintendo also announced last year that New Horizons would be coming to Switch 2 on January 15, improving the visuals, unlocking mouse controls and GameChat functionality, and expanding the online multiplayer capacity from eight players to 12. As of now, the Switch 2 edition is live, as well as the 3.0 update. Upgrading costs $5, while first-time players can purchase the Switch 2 version of Animal Crossing: New Horizons for $65.
  
  Update, January 15, 2026, 12:20PM ET: Updated to note that the Switch 2 edition is live.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-animal-crossing-new-horizons-30-expansion-has-arrived-earlier-than-expected-160739394.html?src=rss

• Wikimedia announces AI partners including Meta and Microsoft
  As part of Wikipedia9s 25th anniversary, parent company Wikimedia announced a slew of partnerships with AI-focused companies like Amazon, Meta, Perplexity, Microsoft and others. The deals are meant to alleviate some of the cost associated with AI chatbots accessing Wikipedia content in enormous volumes by giving the tech companies streamlined access.
  
  As noted by The Verge, the timeline on these deals is a little squirrely. The Wikipedia foundation says that several companies became enterprise partners "over the past year," while listing Amazon, Google and Meta as "existing" partners. It appears today is the first time they have been officially announced.
  
  The organization sounded the alarm on this issue last year, saying the reduction in traffic due to LLMs and AI summaries could prove existential for the nonprofit and the world9s largest online encyclopedia. Wikipedia9s 65 million free articles have served as rich training data for AI chatbots, but all that scraping has driven up server costs at the organization.
  
  Wikimedia had been hoping to move these large firms over to its enterprise platform to help with costs. "It took us a little while to understand the right set of features and functionality to offer if we9re going to move these companies from our free platform to a commercial platform ... but all our Big Tech partners really see the need for them to commit to sustaining Wikipedia9s work," Lane Becker, president of Wikimedia Enterprise told Reuters.
  
  Under the deal, these companies will have access to high-throughput APIs that can supply chatbot systems with content from Wikipedia as well as Wikimedia’s other projects, including Wikivoyage, Wikibooks, Wikiquote and more.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/wikimedia-announces-ai-partners-including-meta-and-microsoft-162834383.html?src=rss

• Indie RPG Sea of Stars hits iOS and Android on April 7
  The indie RPG Sea of Stars is being released for mobile platforms on April 7. The iOS and Android versions are priced at just $10, which is a steal considering it cost $35 when it was first released for PC and consoles. Heck, it still costs that much on many platforms.
  
  This is a mobile release, so it9s not an exact port. The interface has been revamped to allow for complete touch control. It9s also compatible with controllers, which is always a good thing with smartphone ports. The Android version has a couple of unique features. It offers Google Play Games achievements and cloud saves across various Android devices.
  
  Otherwise, this is the same great game we know and love. There9s a reason, after all, why Sea of Stars snagged best indie game in a particularly crowded field at The Game Awards two years back.
  
  This is a fantastic retro-inspired RPG with more than a few things in common with the 1990s classic Chrono Trigger. The story is utterly charming, the turn-based battle system is just deep enough and the art and character designs are gorgeous. It9s more than just an homage to 1990s RPGs.
  
  The older versions offer three-player couch co-op, which isn9t available here for obvious reasons. The mobile port will also not allow access to the recently-released Throes of the Watchmaker DLC. That9ll probably come as a paid update down the road. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/indie-rpg-sea-of-stars-hits-ios-and-android-on-april-7-162339690.html?src=rss

• More than 100 classic episodes of Sesame Street are now streaming on YouTube and YouTube Kids
  If you’re looking for something to entertain your kids for the next several months (and potentially longer), YouTube would like you to know that more than 100 classic episodes of Sesame Street are announced last year and encompasses both old episodes as well as new content. Some of the themed compilations that have also been added to YouTube and YouTube Kids focus on specific educational topics such as ABCs and STEM, while others have broader themes like “Adventure & Imagination” and “Friendship & Play.”
  
  Media history enthusiasts also have good reason to check out the new Sesame Street archive. The very first episode, which aired in 1969, is included, back when Kermit the Frog was still hanging out with the likes of Big Bird and Bert.
  
  The YouTube partnership is not to be confused with the deal Sesame Workshop also recently penned with Netflix, which saw new episodes of Sesame Street — now in its 56th season — move to the streamer and PBS from its former home on HBO. The network opted not to renew a partnership that lasted a decade.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/more-than-100-classic-episodes-of-sesame-street-are-now-streaming-on-youtube-and-youtube-kids-151959561.html?src=rss

• Mentra’s first smart glasses are open-source and come with their own app store
  Mentra will soon start shipping its first smart glasses, the Mentra Live. At first glance, there’s nothing obvious setting Mentra’s glasses apart from its more well-known competitors, but they come with their own dedicated app store, and employ an open-source OS with an SDK that developers have had access to since early 2025.
  
  Mentra says the MiniApp Store is the first app store of its nature for smart glasses, and it will be available to iOS and Android users through the Mentra app. It might be a bit of a reach to call it the smartphone-ification of smart glasses at this early stage, but that seems to be Mentra’s aim. Apps might do something as simple as saving hand-written notes on the fly, but a more specific example is "Chess Cheater," which will use the front-facing camera and AI to analyze your position and literally whisper a suggested next move to you.
  Mentra
  As for the glasses themselves, they’re powered by a Mediatek MTK8766 chipset and feature a 12-megapixel camera with a 119-degree FOV. There are three microphones and built-in stereo speakers. The front-facing camera also does HD video, with livestreaming functionality supported to the likes of X, YouTube, Twitch and Instagram. You can also listen to music and take calls from WhatsApp, FaceTime and any other calling app you might use.
  
  At 43 grams, Mentra says its specs are among the lightest smart glasses you can buy, while battery life is said to be more than 12 hours, with 50+ hours of additional charge stored in the 2,200mAh charging case. The Mentra Live smart glasses are prescription-ready and cost $299. 1,000 pairs were made available for the first batch, which will ship on February 15. Batch two will include a limited amount of glasses available to ship on February 28th.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/mentras-first-smart-glasses-are-open-source-and-come-with-their-own-app-store-150021126.html?src=rss

• Samsung’s refreshed Mobile Gaming Hub is trying to make it easier to discover new games
  During CES 2026, Samsung unveiled plenty of new TVs, monitors and other hardware. However, the company is also looking to expand further into video games and has announced a significant refresh to its Gaming Hub on smartphones.
  
  Engadget spoke with Samsung’s Jong Woo, VP of Game Services, who explained that the update will offer more personalized, faster ways to play and place greater emphasis on up-and-coming titles. Now available on Galaxy devices, with further updates planned, the new hub wants to be a more active space for the latest mobile games.
  
  "We believe that gamers want to find new content that is personalized to them," said the VP of Samsung Games Services. He continued: "We want to bring content to users and make it immediately available for them to play. We have instant plays where, through our cloud streaming technology, we can take Android-native games and put them in the cloud, so that when users want to try them, they don9t have to go through the friction of downloading them first.”
  
  According to Samsung, the mobile Gaming Hub attracts over 160 million users across smartphones and other devices. However, the VP of Game Services at Samsung believes that, despite the vast library of games across many genres available to mobile users, "mobile game discovery is broken."
  Samsung
  Initially, the mobile Gaming Hub was a supplemental app for all purchased games, allowing users to track their collection. With this update, all games purchased from both Google Play and the Galaxy Store are stored in the Gaming Hub. It9s designed to be a single place for players to view their owned games, find recommendations, access cloud streaming for select games and even watch highlights from content creators.
  
  According to Woo, the larger goal of the new Samsung mobile Gaming Hub is to personalize and guide the mobile gaming experience for players, which has remained nebulous compared with gaming discovery experiences on PC and consoles.
  
  “We9re getting a lot of feedback from the users, a lot of it from focus testing and beta testing, and what we9re finding is that we believe we are solving pain points for mobile gamers," said Woo about rebuilding the Gaming Hub. "We9re getting an idea of gamer preferences at the individual, personalized level. Based on all of that, we9re able to provide different types of recommendations."
  
  Another reason for the new changes to the Samsung Gaming Hub was to help foster a community for mobile gamers, including players and developers. In addition to sharing YouTube videos and content from gaming creators and streamers, the company plans to add more social elements to the Gaming Hub to make mobile gaming feel more active and less isolating.
  
  "Mobile is a very personal experience, right? It9s your personal device, and oftentimes when you play games on mobile, it feels like a solitary experience,” said Woo. Currently, the revamped Mobile Gaming Hub is only available for Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Users on non-Galaxy devices will still use the previous version of the Gaming Hub, for now.
  
  Compared with PC and console online hubs like Steam and PlayStation Network, it9s clear that mobile platforms are still figuring out how to create an equally compelling space for engagement. Even with the vast user base, mobile game hubs tend to be a go-between for users to get to the products. There9s more work to do, but the new Gaming Hub could be the first step in the right direction.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/samsung-refreshed-mobile-gaming-hub-150010632.html?src=rss

• Roblox's age verification system is reportedly a trainwreck
  Roblox9s age-verification system was designed as a response to allegations it has a child predator problem. Less than a week in, how9s it going? Well, Wired reported on Tuesday that, in some cases, it9s classifying children as adults and adults as children. So, not so great!
  
  Last week, Roblox made age verification mandatory for anyone using the platform9s chat feature. That process involves either submitting a facial age estimate via selfie or (optionally for anyone 13 or older) uploading a government ID check. After verifying, you can only chat with groups of players around your age.
  
  The move came after reports grew of predators using the platform to groom young children. That, in turn, led to lawsuits from Louisiana, Texas and Kentucky. Meanwhile, Florida9s attorney general has issued criminal subpoenas.
  
  So, it might not be hyperbole to say Roblox9s survival could depend on how it handles this problem. It isn9t exactly off to a hot start. There are reports of a 23-year-old being misidentified as a 16- to 17-year-old. ("I don9t want to be chatting with fucking children," they said.) Another report claimed an 18-year-old was placed in the 13 to 15 range.
  
  But the problem is happening in reverse, too. Online videos show children spoofing the system into believing they were adults by using avatar images. One clever kid drew wrinkles and stubble on his face and was instantly deemed 21+. Another flashed a photo of Kurt Cobain and got an adult classification.
  The feature isn9t working as planned, to say the least.Roblox
  In addition, Roblox posted last week that some parents were providing age checks on behalf of their children, leading to their children being placed in the 21+ category. The company said it9s "working on solutions to address" that particular problem and will share more soon.
  
  Roblox shared the following statement from Matt Kaufman, the company’s Chief Safety Officer:
  
  “To suggest that our age check technology isn9t working is a fundamental misunderstanding of what it takes to shift safety at scale. With a global community of over 150 million daily active users, we are pleased with where we are in the roll out process. It’s a process that will take time, you can’t flip a switch while building something that hasn’t existed before. 
  
  Tens of millions of users have already completed the process, proving that the vast majority of our community values a safer, more age-appropriate environment. Expecting the system to be flawless overnight is ignoring the scale of this undertaking. We’ve already shared updates with our creator community to make this a smoother transition. This technology is the foundation of a new gold standard that limits communication between adults and minors by default. 
  
  We are building for the next decade of the internet, not the next news cycle. We will continue to innovate, continue to require age checks, and continue to lead the industry where others have been too hesitant to go.”
  
  Developers with games on Roblox are upset. The platform9s dev forum includes thousands of negative comments about the updates, with many of them wanting the entire update reversed. One shared a graph showing that the percentage using the chat feature dropped from around 90 percent to 36.5 percent.
  
  Where does this leave Roblox? Well, with some developers describing games on the platform as feeling "lifeless" or like "a total ghost town," the company has its hands full. It will have to figure out how to balance its priorities of keeping predators out without breaking things for everyone else. The full report from Wired is worth a read.
  
  Update, January 15, 2026, 9:52AM ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from Roblox.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/robloxs-age-verification-system-is-reportedly-a-trainwreck-220320016.html?src=rss

• 007 First Light dev admits it messed up PC specs announcement
  IO Interactive raised a few eyebrows last week when it announced the minimum and recommended PC specs for 007 First Light. To run the James Bond adventure at in 1080p at 60 fps, IOI initially said you9d need to have a rig with at least 32GB of RAM and a GPU with 12GB of VRAM. The studio has now revised those numbers and other elements of the specs after "the community flagged some inconsistencies in an earlier version of the listing."
  
  The developer blamed an "internal miscommunication" which led to it sharing an older version of the specs. One of the recommended GPUs in the original version was an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which has 8GB of VRAM — not enough to meet the supposed recommended VRAM settings. 
  
  It seems a little odd to think that it took IOI over a week and an enormous pile of negative press and online reaction before addressing the inconsistency (not to mention the demand for 32GB of RAM for relatively modest 1080p, 60 fps performance). The studio says it updated the specs after "a thorough re-examination and additional testing."
  We are providing today an update to the PC system requirements for 007 First Light after the community flagged some inconsistencies in an earlier version of the listing.
  
  The earlier mistake was due to an internal miscommunication leading to an older version of the specs to be… pic.twitter.com/2M8BBoCjWX
  — 007 First Light (@007GameIOI) January 15, 2026
  In the recommended hardware section of the latest version, IOI revised down the VRAM from 12GB to 8GB and it halved the RAM requirement to 16GB. IOI also "fixed" the minimum CPU info. The original specs stipulated that gamers would need at least an Intel Core i5 9500K or AMD Ryzen 5 3500. The former has now been revised down to an Intel Core i5 9500K.
  
  For the tape, then, the minimum PC specs to run 007 First Light with a performance target of 1080p at 30 fps are:
  
  Processor: Intel Core I5 9500, AMD Ryzen 5 3500
  
  Memory: 16GB RAM
  
  Video RAM: 6GB
  
  Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660, AMD RX 5700 or Intel Discrete GPU equivalent
  
  And the recommended specs for a performance target of 1080p at 60 fps are:
  
  Processor: Intel Core I5 13500, AMD Ryzen 5 7600
  
  Memory: 16GM RAM
  
  Video RAM: 8GB
  
  Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, AMD RX 6700 XT or Intel Discrete GPU equivalent
  
  The required operating system is the same on both counts with a 64-bit version of Windows 10 or 11. The storage space needed is also the same at 80GB. 
  
  IOI apologized for "the confusion” it caused with the mixup. It promised to share more details about 007 First Light ahead of the game9s arrival on May 27 — including details of additional performance targets. Given the way RAM and GPU prices are going, here9s hoping IOI isn9t looking for too much more to run the game at 1440p or 4K at a decent framerate.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/007-first-light-dev-admits-it-messed-up-pc-specs-announcement-143000670.html?src=rss

• NBA League Pass subscriptions are up to 55 percent off right now
  Basketball fans can save on NBA League Pass right now, which lets you catch a bunch of out-of-market NBA games via streaming. The League Pass Premium subscription is on sale for $75, down from the usual $160, and League Pass Standard is marked down to $50 from $110. Considering we9re almost halfway though the season, the discount makes sense and is a good deal for anyone who wants to keep a close eye on the rest of the games to be played this year.
  
  The Standard plan includes commercials and support for only one device at a time, while the Premium tier offers no commercials, in-arena streams during breaks in the game, offline viewing of full games and concurrent streams on up to three devices at once.
  
  
  
  Last year, League Pass added multiview, which allows you to view up to four games at once on a single screen. This is included across both subscription tiers. The service also added a smart rewind tool that automatically selects key highlights and plays from each game.
  
  Outside the US and Canada, League Pass carries every single NBA game live, but within these countries a bevy of restrictions apply. In the US, any games being shown on your regional sports network will be blacked out as the service is meant for out-of-market games only. Also, any nationally broadcast games will not be available live, but instead will be available for on-demand viewing at 6AM ET the following day. The service is only for regular-season games.
  
  If you9re an avid NBA fan that follows multiple teams then the League Pass almost certainly carries dozens of games you can watch even with the restrictions in the US. Subscribers can get a list of applicable blackouts by entering their ZIP code before signing up.
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/nba-league-pass-subscriptions-are-up-to-55-percent-off-right-now-163421756.html?src=rss

• Valerion VisionMaster Max projector review: Near-perfect image quality comes at a price
  After a widely hyped and successful Kickstarter campaign, Valerion’s 4K VisionMaster Max laser projector has finally arrived. It’s the company’s new flagship model in the VisionMaster series, offering better image quality and more convenience than its other models. However, it’s quite expensive and has some stiff competition from Anker’s Nebula X1 and XGIMI’s Horizon 20 Max.
  
  I was eager to see how it compared to those models and if it delivers on Valerion’s promise of “pure cinema.” It does offer better image quality, but the difference isn’t quite enough to justify the big jump in price for most users.
  
  
  Features and design
  The VisionMaster Max has a classy squarish design with a glossy black finish up front and chrome fins on the side that house two 12W speakers. It’s smaller and fit my decor better than Nebula’s tall, plasticky X1, though to be fair the latter is also designed for outdoor use. The VisionMaster Max has a similar form factor to XGIMI’s Horizon 20 Max, but that model pivots on its stand, while the Valerion uses a kickstand-like support.
  
  For setup, the VisionMaster Max is quite flexible. It comes with a 0.9-1.5x optical zoom, so it can be installed between 7.8 and 13 feet away for a 120-inch screen size, which covers a wide range of scenarios. It also features a +/- 105 percent vertical shift option that helps you get an optically perfect screen fit without moving the projector or employing digital “keystone” adjustments that affect picture quality.
  
  If that still doesn’t work, you can swap out the included lens with a long-throw 0.9-2.0:1 option once it becomes available. The company has even promised an anamorphic lens for users with CinemaScope screens. Both of those items will be available for purchase separately with the prices yet to be disclosed.
  Steve Dent for Engadget
  For my space, I placed the VisionMaster Max on a table about 12 feet from my 120-inch screen and centered it horizontally as there’s no horizontal shift option (it can also be ceiling mounted, of course). Then, I went into the auto-alignment setting, made sure that the projected image was larger than my screen and hit “start alignment” to get a perfect fit to my screen. Though it lacks a motorized lens gimbal like the Nebula X1, the lens shift option provides the same flexibility, so setup was just as easy.
  
  For inputs, the VisionMaster Max comes with three HDMI 2.1 ports, including one with eARC for a sound bar, along with S/PDIF optical and 3.5mm audio outputs. Impressively, it includes a gigabit ethernet connection so you can either hardwire it to the internet or connect via Wi-Fi.
  
  The VisionMaster Max lacks liquid cooling like the Nebula X1, but Valerion claims a similar fan noise level of 28db. When I compared them side by side, it was only a touch louder than the X1 and not at all bothersome.
  
  Google TV is built in for streaming and projector control via the high-quality, partially backlit remote. It provides a large library of apps via Google Play along with a familiar interface. You get certified versions of Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, Max and others, plus Chromecast and AirPlay support, and Google Assistant for voice control. With 4GB of RAM and 128GB of ROM, the software felt a bit more responsive than Google TV on the Nebula X1.
  Image quality Steve Dent for Engadget
  The VisionMaster Max has a number of features designed to optimize image quality. It’s one of the few consumer projectors with a dynamic iris and a feature called Enhanced Black Level (EBL) for improved contrast. It uses an RGB triple-laser light source (rated for 25,000 hours) paired with a 0.47-inch DLP chip that projects 1080p natively or 4K video via pixel shifting. This same chip is used on almost every consumer-level 4K projector, but XGIMI’s upcoming Titan Noir Max projector will pack a much larger 0.78-inch DMD chip that should deliver a sharper picture.
  
  The VisionMaster Max also supports every HDR format, including Dolby Vision and Samsung’s HDR10+, along with Valerion’s own tone-mapping HDR setting. You can choose from seven picture modes for SDR, eight for HDR, three for Dolby Vision and four for HDR10+. The projector handled most HDR content well, though it occasionally lost detail in extra-bright shots. However, that can largely be fixed using the extensive manual color controls.
  
  With all those features, the VisionMaster Max can output 4K 60 fps video at up to 3,500 ANSI lumens with a 50,000:1 contrast ratio, easily besting its main rivals. On top of that, it promises an impressive 110 percent of the Rec.2020 HDR color spectrum, with a delta E (color accuracy) value of less than 0.8 straight out of the box (any delta E less than 2 is undetectable by the human eye). Another key feature is reduction of the rainbow effect that can occur with DLP projectors.
  
  After some fine-tuning that’s typically required with new projectors, I was highly impressed with the image quality. Brightness was high enough in “standard” mode to watch content like sports or TV shows without lowering the blinds, and can be increased if you don’t mind compromising color accuracy.
  
  When used in ideal conditions like a darkened room, the VisionMaster Max’s image quality is the best of any projector I’ve tested to date. In Filmmaker mode (with the EBL setting enabled), contrast levels are outstanding, with true blacks showing in dark-lit scenes instead of the washed-out greys seen on most projectors. However, I kept the EBL mode at the minimum setting as I noticed it caused some color shifting at the other levels. Dynamic iris projectors can cause excessive “pumping” or sudden changes in light levels, but after adjusting the iris to a medium setting, I saw no signs of that.
  The famously dark Game of Thrones Night King battle scene was easy to see on the VisionMaster Max. Steve Dent for Engadget
  Color accuracy is outstanding straight out of the box both in HDR and non-HDR modes, particularly, again in Filmmaker mode. Visually, I couldn’t detect any anomalies when looking at color bars or other charts, though my Calibrite Color Checker told me that the gamut of hues was slightly less than what Valerion claims (under 100 percent of BT.2020).
  
  Still, the Max’s high color accuracy allowed me to see TV series and movies exactly as the filmmakers intended for a range of HDR and non-HDR movies including White Lotus season 3, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Andor and Dune 2. The projector’s excellent dynamic range and contrast revealed shadow details in Game of Thrones’ Night King battle, which has famously dark scenes that are difficult to see on some TVs.
  
  I have a slight amount of sensitivity to the “rainbow” effect, but the RBE Reduction feature effectively eliminated that visual artifact for me. However, it also introduced a slight amount of noise, so I disabled it. The feature might be a godsend for some users who are particularly susceptible, but it still needs a bit more refinement.
  Audio and gaming
  Of all the luxury projectors I’ve tested to date, the VisionMaster Max is the best for gaming — even compared to some dedicated models. It delivers latency as low as 4ms and a refresh rate up to 240Hz at 1080p, and 15ms for 4K at 60Hz. I tested a couple of PC titles including Cyberpunk 2077 and Hollow Knight: Silksong and found them to be as responsive as I’ve seen on any TV, but with far more immersion thanks to the huge, bright and color-accurate image.
  Steve Dent for Engadget
  You can output audio via the S/PDIF optical output, 3.5mm headphone jack, HDMI 2.1 ports and even USB 3.0 Type A ports. The built-in 12W stereo speakers work well and are fairly loud, so you can use them in a pinch. However, since it supports both DTS:X and Dolby Atmos, you’ll ideally want to connect it to a nice home theater audio system with support for at least 5.1 surround sound.
  
  In comparison, the Nebula X1 doesn’t have Dolby Atmos support, but it does give you the option to purchase and easily connect stereo Bluetooth speakers at a relatively cheap price. For around the same cost as the Valerion Max, Anker is also offering the Nebula X1 Pro that comes with a giant outdoor sound system and does support Dolby Atmos.
  Wrap-up
  The Valerion VisionMaster Max is a highly capable indoor projector that offers the best image quality I’ve seen thanks to the dynamic iris and Enhanced Black Level features. However, it’s also a lot more expensive than rival models at $5,000. It’s pretty hard to justify that extra money, unless you’re really fussy about picture accuracy and gaming performance, or need other features like the 1Gbps ethernet port.
  
  Most buyers would be better off spending a lot less on Valerion’s own $2,699 VisionMaster Pro2, Anker’s $2,999 Nebula X1 or the $2,999 XGIMI Horizon 20 Max. Again, the difference in picture quality is too slight to justify the huge price jump to the VisionMaster Max. You might also want to wait to see how much XGIMI’s incoming Titan Noir Max 4K costs, as it also offers a dynamic iris but has a much bigger DLP chip.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/valerion-visionmaster-max-projector-review-near-perfect-image-quality-comes-at-a-price-140045939.html?src=rss

• Trump administration imposes a 25 percent tariff on high-end chips
  President Trump has signed a proclamation imposing a 25 percent tariff on “certain advanced computing chips,” the White House has announced. As threatened much bigger and broader tariffs for chips. Trump even said that he was going to impose a 100 percent tariff on companies unless they invest on semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.
  
  The new tariff will only affect advanced chips imported into the US and are meant to be re-exported to other countries to sell. In its announcement, the White House specifically named AMD MI325X and NVIDIA H200 as two products that will be affected by the tariff. The president recently approved H200 for export to China, saying that it isn’t NVIDIA’s most advanced AI chip anyway and that the company now has newer and more powerful products, such as its Blackwell semiconductors. “[W]e9re going to be making 25 percent on the sale of those chips, basically,” Trump said.
  
  Semiconductors imported into the US for use in products to be sold in America or for use in data centers in the country, will not be affected by the new tariff. “This tariff will not apply to chips that are imported to support the buildout of the US technology supply chain and the strengthening of domestic manufacturing capacity for derivatives of semiconductors,” the White House wrote. But that could still change: The administration said that it may still impose broader tariffs on semiconductor imports and the products that use them in the near future.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trump-administration-imposes-a-25-percent-tariff-on-high-end-chips-140000138.html?src=rss

• EU OS: A Bold Step Toward Digital Sovereignty for Europe
  Image
  A new initiative, called "EU OS," has been launched to develop a Linux-based operating system tailored specifically for the public sector organizations of the European Union (EU). This community-driven project aims to address the EU's unique needs and challenges, focusing on fostering digital sovereignty, reducing dependency on external vendors, and building a secure, self-sufficient digital ecosystem.
  What Is EU OS?
  EU OS is not an entirely novel operating system. Instead, it builds upon a Linux foundation derived from Fedora, with the KDE Plasma desktop environment. It draws inspiration from previous efforts such as France's GendBuntu and Munich's LiMux, which aimed to provide Linux-based systems for public sector use. The goal remains the same: to create a standardized Linux distribution that can be adapted to different regional, national, and sector-specific needs within the EU.
  
  Rather than reinventing the wheel, EU OS focuses on standardization, offering a solid Linux foundation that can be customized according to the unique requirements of various organizations. This approach makes EU OS a practical choice for the public sector, ensuring broad compatibility and ease of implementation across diverse environments.
  The Vision Behind EU OS
  The guiding principle of EU OS is the concept of "public money – public code," ensuring that taxpayer money is used transparently and effectively. By adopting an open-source model, EU OS eliminates licensing fees, which not only lowers costs but also reduces the dependency on a select group of software vendors. This provides the EU’s public sector organizations with greater flexibility and control over their IT infrastructure, free from the constraints of vendor lock-in.
  
  Additionally, EU OS offers flexibility in terms of software migration and hardware upgrades. Organizations can adapt to new technologies and manage their IT evolution at a manageable cost, both in terms of finances and time.
  
  However, there are some concerns about the choice of Fedora as the base for EU OS. While Fedora is a solid and reliable distribution, it is backed by the United States-based Red Hat. Some argue that using European-backed projects such as openSUSE or KDE's upcoming distribution might have aligned better with the EU's goal of strengthening digital sovereignty.
  Conclusion
  EU OS marks a significant step towards Europe's digital independence by providing a robust, standardized Linux distribution for the public sector. By reducing reliance on proprietary software and vendors, it paves the way for a more flexible, cost-effective, and secure digital ecosystem. While the choice of Fedora as the base for the project has raised some questions, the overall vision of EU OS offers a promising future for Europe's public sector in the digital age.
  
  Source: It's FOSS
  European Union

• Linus Torvalds Acknowledges Missed Release of Linux 6.14 Due to Oversight
  
  Linus Torvalds Acknowledges Missed Release of Linux 6.14 Due to Oversight
  
  Linux kernel lead developer Linus Torvalds has admitted to forgetting to release version 6.14, attributing the oversight to his own lapse in memory. Torvalds is known for releasing new Linux kernel candidates and final versions on Sunday afternoons, typically accompanied by a post detailing the release. If he is unavailable due to travel or other commitments, he usually informs the community ahead of time, so users don’t worry if there’s a delay.
  
  In his post on March 16, Torvalds gave no indication that the release might be delayed, instead stating, “I expect to release the final 6.14 next weekend unless something very surprising happens.” However, Sunday, March 23rd passed without any announcement.
  
  On March 24th, Torvalds wrote in a follow-up message, “I’d love to have some good excuse for why I didn’t do the 6.14 release yesterday on my regular Sunday afternoon schedule,” adding, “But no. It’s just pure incompetence.” He further explained that while he had been clearing up unrelated tasks, he simply forgot to finalize the release. “D'oh,” he joked.
  
  Despite this minor delay, Torvalds’ track record of successfully managing the Linux kernel’s development process over the years remains strong. A single day’s delay is not critical, especially since most Linux users don't urgently need the very latest version.
  
  The new 6.14 release introduces several important features, including enhanced support for writing drivers in Rust—an ongoing topic of discussion among developers—support for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile chip, a fix for the GhostWrite vulnerability in certain RISC-V processors from Alibaba’s T-Head Semiconductor, and a completed NTSYNC driver update that improves the WINE emulator’s ability to run Windows applications, particularly games, on Linux.
  
  Although the 6.14 release went smoothly aside from the delay, Torvalds expressed that version 6.15 may present more challenges due to the volume of pending pull requests. “Judging by my pending pile of pull requests, 6.15 will be much busier,” he noted.
  
  You can download the latest kernel here.
  Linus Torvalds kernel

• AerynOS 2025.03 Alpha Released with GNOME 48, Mesa 25, and Linux Kernel 6.13.8
  Image
  AerynOS 2025.03 has officially been released, introducing a variety of exciting features for Linux users. The release includes the highly anticipated GNOME 48 desktop environment, which comes with significant improvements like HDR support, dynamic triple buffering, and a Wayland color management protocol. Other updates include a battery charge limiting feature and a Wellbeing option aimed at improving user experience.
  
  This release, while still in alpha, incorporates Linux kernel 6.13.8 and the updated Mesa 25.0.2 graphics stack, alongside tools like LLVM 19.1.7 and Vulkan SDK 1.4.309.0. Additionally, the Moss package manager now integrates os-info to generate more detailed OS metadata via a JSON file.
  
  Future plans for AerynOS include automated package updates, easier rollback management, improved disk handling with Rust, and fractional scaling enabled by default. The installer has also been revamped to support full disk wipes and dynamic partitioning.
  
  Although still considered an alpha release, AerynOS 2025.03 can be downloaded and tested right now from its official website.
  
  Source: 9to5Linux
  AerynOS

• Xojo 2025r1: Big Updates for Developers with Linux ARM Support, Web Drag and Drop, and Direct App Store Publishing
  Image
  Xojo has just rolled out its latest release, Xojo 2025 Release 1, and it’s packed with features that developers have been eagerly waiting for. This major update introduces support for running Xojo on Linux ARM, including Raspberry Pi, brings drag-and-drop functionality to the Web framework, and simplifies app deployment with the ability to directly submit apps to the macOS and iOS App Stores.
  
  Here’s a quick overview of what’s new in Xojo 2025r1:
  1. Linux ARM IDE Support
  Xojo 2025r1 now allows developers to run the Xojo IDE on Linux ARM devices, including popular platforms like Raspberry Pi. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for developers who want to create apps for ARM-based devices without the usual complexity. Whether you’re building for a Raspberry Pi or other ARM devices, this update makes it easier than ever to get started.
  2. Web Drag and Drop
  One of the standout features in this release is the addition of drag-and-drop support for web applications. Now, developers can easily drag and drop visual controls in their web projects, making it simpler to create interactive, user-friendly web applications. Plus, the WebListBox has been enhanced with support for editable cells, checkboxes, and row reordering via dragging. No JavaScript required!
  3. Direct App Store Publishing
  Xojo has also streamlined the process of publishing apps. With this update, developers can now directly submit macOS and iOS apps to App Store Connect right from the Xojo IDE. This eliminates the need for multiple steps and makes it much easier to get apps into the App Store, saving valuable time during the development process.
  4. New Desktop and Mobile Features
  This release isn’t just about web and Linux updates. Xojo 2025r1 brings some great improvements for desktop and mobile apps as well. On the desktop side, all projects now include a default window menu for macOS apps. On the mobile side, Xojo has introduced new features for Android and iOS, including support for ColorGroup and Dark Mode on Android, and a new MobileColorPicker for iOS to simplify color selection.
  5. Performance and IDE Enhancements
  Xojo’s IDE has also been improved in several key areas. There’s now an option to hide toolbar captions, and the toolbar has been made smaller on Windows. The IDE on Windows and Linux now features modern Bootstrap icons, and the Documentation window toolbar is more compact. In the code editor, developers can now quickly navigate to variable declarations with a simple Cmd/Ctrl + Double-click. Plus, performance for complex container layouts in the Layout Editor has been enhanced.
  What Does This Mean for Developers?
  Xojo 2025r1 brings significant improvements across all the platforms that Xojo supports, from desktop and mobile to web and Linux. The added Linux ARM support opens up new opportunities for Raspberry Pi and ARM-based device development, while the drag-and-drop functionality for web projects will make it easier to create modern, interactive web apps. The ability to publish directly to the App Store is a game-changer for macOS and iOS developers, reducing the friction of app distribution.
  How to Get Started
  Xojo is free for learning and development, as well as for building apps for Linux and Raspberry Pi. If you’re ready to dive into cross-platform development, paid licenses start at $99 for a single-platform desktop license, and $399 for cross-platform desktop, mobile, or web development. For professional developers who need additional resources and support, Xojo Pro and Pro Plus licenses start at $799. You can also find special pricing for educators and students.
  
  Download Xojo 2025r1 today at xojo.com.
  Final Thoughts
  With each new release, Xojo continues to make cross-platform development more accessible and efficient. The 2025r1 release is no exception, delivering key updates that simplify the development process and open up new possibilities for developers working on a variety of platforms. Whether you’re a Raspberry Pi enthusiast or a mobile app developer, Xojo 2025r1 has something for you.
  Xojo ARM

• New 'Mirrored' Network Mode Introduced in Windows Subsystem for Linux
  
  Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) continues to evolve with the release of WSL 2 version 0.0.2. This update introduces a set of opt-in preview features designed to enhance performance and compatibility.
  
  Key additions include "Automatic memory reclaim" which dynamically optimizes WSL's memory footprint, and "Sparse VHD" to shrink the size of the virtual hard disk file. These improvements aim to streamline resource usage.
  
  Additionally, a new "mirrored networking mode" brings expanded networking capabilities like IPv6 and multicast support. Microsoft claims this will improve VPN and LAN connectivity from both the Windows host and Linux guest. 
  
  Complementing this is a new "DNS Tunneling" feature that changes how DNS queries are resolved to avoid compatibility issues with certain network setups. According to Microsoft, this should reduce problems connecting to the internet or local network resources within WSL.
  
  Advanced firewall configuration options are also now available through Hyper-V integration. The new "autoProxy" feature ensures WSL seamlessly utilizes the Windows system proxy configuration.
  
  Microsoft states these features are currently rolling out to Windows Insiders running Windows 11 22H2 Build 22621.2359 or later. They remain opt-in previews to allow testing before final integration into WSL.
  
  By expanding WSL 2 with compelling new capabilities in areas like resource efficiency, networking, and security, Microsoft aims to make Linux on Windows more performant and compatible. This evolutionary approach based on user feedback highlights Microsoft's commitment to WSL as a key part of the Windows ecosystem.
  Windows

• Linux Threat Report: Earth Lusca Deploys Novel SprySOCKS Backdoor in Attacks on Government Entities
  
  The threat actor Earth Lusca, linked to Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups, has been observed utilizing a new Linux backdoor dubbed SprySOCKS to target government organizations globally. 
  
  As initially reported in January 2022 by Trend Micro, Earth Lusca has been active since at least 2021 conducting cyber espionage campaigns against public and private sector targets in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Their tactics include spear-phishing and watering hole attacks to gain initial access. Some of Earth Lusca's activities overlap with another Chinese threat cluster known as RedHotel.
  
  In new research, Trend Micro reveals Earth Lusca remains highly active, even expanding operations in the first half of 2023. Primary victims are government departments focused on foreign affairs, technology, and telecommunications. Attacks concentrate in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and the Balkans regions. 
  
  After breaching internet-facing systems by exploiting flaws in Fortinet, GitLab, Microsoft Exchange, Telerik UI, and Zimbra software, Earth Lusca uses web shells and Cobalt Strike to move laterally. Their goal is exfiltrating documents and credentials, while also installing additional backdoors like ShadowPad and Winnti for long-term spying.
  
  The Command and Control server delivering Cobalt Strike was also found hosting SprySOCKS - an advanced backdoor not previously publicly reported. With roots in the Windows malware Trochilus, SprySOCKS contains reconnaissance, remote shell, proxy, and file operation capabilities. It communicates over TCP mimicking patterns used by a Windows trojan called RedLeaves, itself built on Trochilus.
  
  At least two SprySOCKS versions have been identified, indicating ongoing development. This novel Linux backdoor deployed by Earth Lusca highlights the increasing sophistication of Chinese state-sponsored threats. Robust patching, access controls, monitoring for unusual activities, and other proactive defenses remain essential to counter this advanced malware.
  
  The Trend Micro researchers emphasize that organizations must minimize attack surfaces, regularly update systems, and ensure robust security hygiene to interrupt the tactics, techniques, and procedures of relentless threat groups like Earth Lusca.
  Security

• Linux Kernel Faces Reduction in Long-Term Support Due to Maintenance Challenges
  
  The Linux kernel is undergoing major changes that will shape its future development and adoption, according to Jonathan Corbet, Linux kernel developer and executive editor of Linux Weekly News. Speaking at the Open Source Summit Europe, Corbet provided an update on the latest Linux kernel developments and a glimpse of what's to come.
  
  A major change on the horizon is a reduction in long-term support (LTS) for kernel versions from six years to just two years. Corbet explained that maintaining old kernel branches indefinitely is unsustainable and most users have migrated to newer versions, so there's little point in continuing six years of support. While some may grumble about shortened support lifecycles, the reality is that constantly backporting fixes to ancient kernels strains maintainers.
  
  This maintainer burnout poses a serious threat, as Corbet highlighted. Maintaining Linux is largely a volunteer effort, with only about 200 of the 2,000+ developers paid for their contributions. The endless demands on maintainers' time from fuzz testing, fixing minor bugs, and reviewing contributions takes a toll. Prominent maintainers have warned they need help to avoid collapse. Companies relying on Linux must realize giving back financially is in their interest to sustain this vital ecosystem. 
  
  The Linux kernel is also wading into waters new with the introduction of Rust code. While Rust solves many problems, it also introduces new complexities around language integration, evolving standards, and maintainer expertise. Corbet believes Rust will pass the point of no return when core features depend on it, which may occur soon with additions like Apple M1 GPU drivers. Despite skepticism in some corners, Rust's benefits likely outweigh any transition costs.
  
  On the distro front, Red Hat's decision to restrict RHEL cloning sparked community backlash. While business considerations were at play, Corbet noted technical factors too. Using older kernels with backported fixes, as RHEL does, risks creating divergent, vendor-specific branches. The Android model of tracking mainline kernel dev more closely has shown security benefits. Ultimately, Linux works best when aligned with the broader community.
  
  In closing, Corbet recalled the saying "Linux is free like a puppy is free." Using open source seems easy at first, but sustaining it long-term requires significant care and feeding. As Linux is incorporated into more critical systems, that maintenance becomes ever more crucial. The kernel changes ahead are aimed at keeping Linux healthy and vibrant for the next generation of users, businesses, and developers.
  kernel

• Linux Celebrates 32 Years with the Release of 6.6-rc2 Version
  
  Today marks the 32nd anniversary of Linus Torvalds introducing the inaugural Linux 0.01 kernel version, and celebrating this milestone, Torvalds has launched the Linux 6.6-rc2. Among the noteworthy updates are the inclusion of a feature catering to the ASUS ROG Flow X16 tablet's mode handling and the renaming of the new GenPD subsystem to pmdomain.
  
  The Linux 6.6 edition is progressing well, brimming with exciting new features that promise to enhance user experience. Early benchmarks are indicating promising results, especially on high-core-count servers, pointing to a potentially robust and efficient update in the Linux series.
  
  Here is what Linus Torvalds had to say in today's announcement:
  Another week, another -rc.I think the most notable thing about 6.6-rc2 is simply that it'sexactly 32 years to the day since the 0.01 release. And that's a roundnumber if you are a computer person.Because other than the random date, I don't see anything that reallystands out here. We've got random fixes all over, and none of it looksparticularly strange. The genpd -> pmdomain rename shows up in thediffstat, but there's no actual code changes involved (make sure touse "git diff -M" to see them as zero-line renames).And other than that, things look very normal. Sure, the architecturefixes happen to be mostly parisc this week, which isn't exactly theusual pattern, but it's also not exactly a huge amount of changes.Most of the (small) changes here are in drivers, with some tracingfixes and just random things. The shortlog below is short enough toscroll through and get a taste of what's been going on. Linus Torvalds

• Introducing Bavarder: A User-Friendly Linux Desktop App for Quick ChatGPT Interaction
  
  Want to interact with ChatGPT from your Linux desktop without using a web browser?
  
  Bavarder, a new app, allows you to do just that.
  
  Developed with Python and GTK4/libadwaita, Bavarder offers a simple concept: pose a question to ChatGPT, receive a response, and promptly copy the answer (or your inquiry) to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere.
  
  With an incredibly user-friendly interface, you won't require AI expertise (or a novice blogger) to comprehend it. Type your question in the top box, click the blue send button, and wait for a generated response to appear at the bottom. You can edit or modify your message and repeat the process as needed.
  
  During our evaluation, Bavarder employed BAI Chat, a GPT-3.5/ChatGPT API-based chatbot that's free and doesn't require signups or API keys. Future app versions will incorporate support for alternative backends, such as ChatGPT 4 and Hugging Chat, and allow users to input an API key to utilize ChatGPT3.
  
  At present, there's no option to regenerate a response (though you can resend the same question for a potentially different answer). Due to the lack of a "conversation" view, tracking a dialogue or following up on answers can be challenging — but Bavarder excels for rapid-fire questions.
  
  As with any AI, standard disclaimers apply. Responses might seem plausible but could contain inaccurate or false information. Additionally, it's relatively easy to lead these models into irrational loops, like convincing them that 2 + 2 equals 106 — so stay alert!
  
  Overall, Bavarder is an attractive app with a well-defined purpose. If you enjoy ChatGPT and similar technologies, it's worth exploring.
  ChatGPT AI

• LibreOffice 7.5.3 Released: Third Maintenance Update Brings 119 Bug Fixes to Popular Open-Source Office Suite
  
  Today, The Document Foundation unveiled the release and widespread availability of LibreOffice 7.5.3, which serves as the third maintenance update to the current LibreOffice 7.5 open-source and complimentary office suite series.
  
  Approximately five weeks after the launch of LibreOffice 7.5.2, LibreOffice 7.5.3 arrives with a new set of bug fixes for those who have successfully updated their GNU/Linux system to the LibreOffice 7.5 series.
  
  LibreOffice 7.5.3 addresses a total of 119 bugs identified by users or uncovered by LibreOffice developers. For a more comprehensive understanding of these bug fixes, consult the RC1 and RC2 changelogs.
  
  You can download LibreOffice 7.5.3 directly from the LibreOffice website��or from SourceForge as binary installers for DEB or RPM-based GNU/Linux distributions. A source tarball is also accessible for individuals who prefer to compile the software from sources or for system integrators.
  
  All users operating the LibreOffice 7.5 office suite series should promptly update their installations to the new point release, which will soon appear in the stable software repositories of your GNU/Linux distributions.
  
  In early February 2023, LibreOffice 7.5 debuted as a substantial upgrade to the widely-used open-source office suite, introducing numerous features and improvements. These enhancements encompass major upgrades to dark mode support, new application and MIME-type icons, a refined Single Toolbar UI, enhanced PDF Export, and more.
  
  Seven maintenance updates will support LibreOffice 7.5 until November 30th, 2023. The next point release, LibreOffice 7.5.4, is scheduled for early June and will include additional bug fixes.
  
  The Document Foundation once again emphasizes that the LibreOffice office suite's "Community" edition is maintained by volunteers and members of the Open Source community. For enterprise implementations, they suggest using the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners.
  LibreOffice