News
Best Buy has dropped the price of the Ugreen Nexode 100W GaN Charging Station by over half price. You get three USB-C ports and one USB-A port, allowing you to power as many as four devices simultaneously from a single charger.
• Best for: Professionals and students who regularly charges multiple devices at their desk at the same time and wants to replace different adapters with a single charging point.
• The deal: The Ugreen Nexode 100W GaN Charging Station is just $30 (was $70) at Best Buy.
• Why it matters: You can charge up to four devices simultaneously, and 100W output provides enough power for compatible laptops. Built-in protection covers over-voltage, over-current, short circuits and temperature.
Nexode 4-Port 100w GaN Charging Station: was $69.99 now $29.99
Ugreen's desktop charger delivers up to 100W through four ports, including three USB-C and one USB-A, with GaN technology, multiple fast-charging protocols, integrated safety protection and an included cable.View Deal
The two main USB-C ports can each deliver up to 100W of power, enough to charge compatible laptops as well as phones and tablets. Ugreen says the included 100W USB-C cable can charge a 14-inch MacBook Pro to 50% in just 27 minutes. GaN technology helps keep the charger relatively small, at around 3.4 x 3.3 x 1.2 inches, tiny enough to carry about in a bag when traveling. As well as USB Power Delivery, there's support for PPS, QC 4.0+, AFC, FCP and SCP charging protocols.
Price context & historical valueA $40 reduction on a charger that normally costs $69.99 is huge. At $29.99, you're paying less than half the original price. It's also cheaper than the $34.99 Best Buy had it for earlier this month, and I haven't found a lower price for this exact model. It is currently on sale at Amazon, but will set you back $42.99 there. So, Best Buy is offering the best price right now.
Should you buy it?✅ Buy the Ugreen Nexode Charging Station if...
You regularly charge a laptop alongside a phone, tablet, headphones or other USB devices at your desk. The 100W maximum output means it can handle compatible laptops rather than being limited to smaller devices.
❌ Skip the Ugreen Nexode Charging Station if...
You only need to charge one or two low-power devices at a time. You should also remember that 100W is the charger's total available output, so connecting several devices means that power has to be distributed between them rather than every port delivering 100W simultaneously.
Also consider6-in-1 100W USB-C GaN Charging Station: was $49.99 now $39.48
If you need more ports, this Ugreen fast charger packs in 6 of them with up to 65W power delivery on a single USB-C. That's enough to keep most work laptops, MacBooks, and phones juiced up. View Deal
- Pensacola fishermen pulls large unidentified military drone from the Gulf
- The aircraft surfaced only miles from Eglin’s extensive military testing zones
- Authorities recovered the drone without publicly identifying its origin or mission
A Pensacola-based fishing charter pulled a large military-style drone from Gulf of Mexico waters over the weekend, surprising both crew and onlookers.
Hot Spot Fishing Charters discovered it during a routine six-hour trip roughly 15 to 30 miles offshore from Pensacola Beach.
Authorities arrived later that same day and retrieved the aircraft, though details about the recovery process itself remain largely unavailable to the public.
An unusual interruptionThe waters near this stretch of coastline sit close to Eglin Air Force Base, one of the largest military test ranges nationwide.
That base oversees restricted airspace and offshore zones used for trials of advanced weapons systems, including hypersonic missile technology in recent years.
The exact model of the drone remains unconfirmed, though local station WEAR-TV suggested the aircraft resembles an MQM-172, a drone flown for weapons testing and aircrew training.
The delta-wing shape of that platform also resembles Iran's Shahed-136 strike drone, a design widely recognized for its distinctive triangular silhouette.
Such resemblance likely explains why a civilian fishing crew would pause and take a closer notice of an unfamiliar aircraft floating offshore.
WEAR-TV described the discovery only as a large drone pulled from Gulf waters, providing little additional identifying information beyond that.
A brief video clip, shared widely across social media platforms, shows crew members hauling the large aircraft aboard their vessel.
The charter company regularly runs six- to eight-hour offshore excursions, giving anglers access to waters far beyond the immediate coastline.
Those extended trips routinely place crews within range of restricted military zones tied to ongoing weapons trials and training missions.
Eglin's long association with cutting-edge programs, including hypersonic missile trials, adds extra intrigue to any unexplained hardware found nearby offshore.
Lingering questionsNo agency has issued a public statement claiming the aircraft or explaining how it drifted into civilian waters.
Regulations at Eglin explicitly bar small unmanned aircraft systems from operating within the base's land reservation and its surrounding boundaries as well.
Aircraft used for weapons testing sometimes conclude their operational service in open water, particularly following live-fire exercises conducted offshore near the base.
Whether this particular drone came from a specific Eglin program or another branch's testing effort remains an open question for now.
Investigators have not confirmed whether the aircraft drifted naturally with Gulf currents or was intentionally released during a recovery attempt.
Images circulating online appear to show visible damage along the fuselage, consistent with an extended period spent adrift at sea.
Residents have expressed curiosity about whether similar recoveries might happen again given the area's ongoing military testing activity.
It usually takes days or weeks for government officials to comment on unexplained hardware recovered along the Gulf coastline, especially when it's military.
Via Gadget Review
If there's one thing President Donald Trump is good at, it's misdirection: focusing your attention on what doesn't matter so he can actively ignore the most distressing problems. So it comes as little surprise that he is now campaigning to rename Artificial Intelligence to "Super Intelligence". In the meantime, he's downplaying concerns and promising to give AI... er... SI "free rein".
Trump rolled out the name change during his annual United Nations General Assembly address in Manhattan on Tuesday, admitting that he doesn't know if he has the power to rename an entire science, technology discipline, and industry. But naturally, the guy who bulldozes buildings first and never asks questions later is willing to try.
"Welcome to the world of super intelligence, dash, SI, SI, " Trump declared. "Let's see if that sticks. Let's see if that goes. It sounds much better, and it's much more accurate." He even plans to change the usage across all government documents, which should only foster mass confusion.
The rationale here is that "there's nothing artificial about it," whatever that means. Trump loves his superlatives, like "greatest ever," "beautiful," "tremendous," "huge" (or "Yuge"). "Super" fits the mold. But it's also inaccurate. AI is not super intelligence. It's not yet human intelligence with extra juice. Consider it this way: Superman, though an alien, is called "Super " because he appears as a man but with extraordinary powers.
Artificial intelligence is so named because it's made like an artificial sweetener. There's nothing natural about it. It's not a genius or super-smart person. It's computers, programs, algorithms, models, and training that can create the appearance of human-like intelligence, which, in some instances, can be far greater than our own. But there's nothing remotely human about it.
Trump tells the UN he is officially changing the name of Artificial Intelligence to "Super Intelligence" and says all US government documents will now be changed to refer to "SI" pic.twitter.com/LEWbc5tn3BSeptember 22, 2026
The other confusing part of this is that the timeline of AI does allow for "Super Intelligence," but not as the same thing. Instead, it's something down the line that far exceeds human cognition. It's also what some call Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Whatever you call it, experts think that it's fast approaching and we should be deeply concerned.
The so-called Godfather of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, just issued a fresh warning that the U.S. Congress has “maybe a year, but not much more than a year,” to regulate AI before we lose control. He's particularly concerned about AI that doesn't need human intervention for improvement: "AI has now reached the point where AI is designing better AI,” said Hinton last week after his congressional testimony. "That’s called recursive self-improvement." He added that it could get out of control, and warned "We need to slow down.”
AI unleashedLook, I know Trump has had some luck with renaming bodies of water (at least from the US perspective), but I'm hoping the AI industry and those covering AI reject Trump's proposal out of hand, and focus instead on the more existential AI problem and Trump's declaration, "We will only encourage super intelligence. We're going to encourage it, not rein it in."
If anyone was hoping that rising concerns over human ability to keep track of and maintain control of AI — plus recent well-documented incidents of AI jumping out of sandboxes — would prompt some self-reflection and action on the part of the White House, they are surely disappointed.
It's not a surprising stance for him. Trump has publicly worried about falling behind China in the AI (or SI) race. Even those who have voiced concerns about AI's aforementioned recent attacks on third-party systems, recursive development, and inscrutable language have noted the need to both regulate and control AI while still competing with China. The prevailing idea is to create internal independent watchdogs and some sort of a global body that will help everyone, including China, work together on regulating AI.
As long as Trump is President, the US will clearly have no part in that.
Which leaves us with unfettered AI (or SI or whatever) and no clear path for continued safe use. Instead, the US will be encouraging AI companies to work fast, and as the old Facebook once did, break things along the way, all in a quest to maintain global AI dominance. If there's any glimmer of hope here, it's that Trump, as he insisted AI is not "fake" (no one says it is, but Trump thinks "artificial" is synonymous with "fake"), did say "we have to be careful." He also said that the US "rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control... artificial intelligence."
So, sure, let's talk about Super Intelligence and, I guess Super General Intelligence(?) but also not forget that Trump is stepping aside so the freight train of AI development can race by, careening into an uncertain future where AI becomes, maybe not sentient, but also likely completely out of our control.
That doesn't seem super intelligent.
- The US could have a 157,000 shortage of semiconductor and microelectronics workers by 2030
- International chip makers are reportedly bringing in workers as a temporary measure
- Worker salaries aren't the issue, but competition with other sectors might be
New analysis from the SEMI Foundation has revealed the US could face a shortage of up to 157,000 semiconductor and microelectronics workers by as soon as 2030.
This shortage will likely cover all manner of jobs, right from semiconductor engineers to supply chain workers and maintenance staff, putting immense pressure on the sector at the very time that it needs all the resources it can get.
Speaking with CNBC, Samsung semiconductor EVP Jon Taylor declared that the company is "concerned" because it's not seeing enough technical workers coming through the US pipeline.
Chipmakers are worried about a lack of workersOnly 3% of US engineering graduates enter the semiconductor industry every year, the report warns, with nearly three in four (73%) semiconductor companies reporting significant difficulties recruiting engineers.
The ongoing AI boom, and especially America and the Trump administration's push for more domestic manufacturing and AI processing, are accentuating this shortage of workers. According to McKinsey, semiconductor sales growth during the first six months of 2026 reached its highest year-on-year rate since the mid 80s, with revenue surpassing the trillion-dollar mark.
Numerous high-profile companies are also working on expanding their US footprints despite the clear strains. Samsung itself reportedly expects to create around 3,500 new jobs from two fabs at its Taylor, Texas site, however it's unclear with how much success it will fill them given news about recruitment struggles.
Micron, SK Hynix, TSMC and Intel are also opening new manufacturing facilities, per the CNBC report.
However, the report also reveals that both Samsung and SK Hynix are bringing in workers from South Korea temporarily to offset some of those US struggles.
US workers don't want to work in chip manufacturing, but why?Despite low uptake, these roles typically fetch some pretty attractive salaries. SEMI's figures put typical US semiconductor compensation around $127,000 to $187,000, with some senior roles exceeding $238,000.
Ultimately, it's clear that companies are willing to pay the right compensation to attract workers, so the issue lies elsewhere.
And it could be cross-sector competition that's making jobs at other companies more attractive – semiconductor workers are also great fits for software, AI and aerospace, per the report.
In the meantime, hyperscalers are increasingly prepared to remind us that investments in new campuses also go hand-in-hand with local training opportunities, college funding and upskilling. But with the impacts of those schemes unlikely to be seen for many years, it's likely that many US semiconductor roles could remain unfilled in the meantime.
DJI built its name on drones, but nowadays it has firmly established itself in multiple other content creator gadget markets too. That includes mics. The brand makes a selection of microphones, including two models released this year. Our testers have been extremely impressed with all of them — so much so, we awarded every single one a perfect five stars in their respective reviews.
If you're a content creator looking to upgrade your audio so it's just as good as your video, how do you choose between them? There's no dud option here, but certain models will be better than others depending on your needs. Below, you'll find an overview of the brand, links to find out more about each one, and a handy specs comparison table. Here's everything you need to know about DJI's microphone range.
DJI mic rangeThere are two main microphone lines: Mic and Mic Mini. The former is more pro-friendly, larger and higher specced (details vary by model, but expect superior audio quality, more adaptable noise cancelling and features like timecode and built-in storage). The latter is more compact and lightweight — although note the main Mic models aren't exactly bulky — and an excellent entry-level choice.
Scroll down for more details, and tap the View details button for a summary of each model, plus a link to read the full reviews.
DJI Mic Mini 2SRead our full DJI Mic Mini 2S review
Pros- Audio quality that rivals the pricier DJI Mic 3
- Internal recording and 32-bit float included
- AI noise cancelling is a step up from the Mic Mini 2
- Considerably pricier than the standard Mic Mini 2
- Still lacks the Mic 3's timecode, dual-file recording and touchscreen receiver
- Small, lightweight and customizable transmitters
- Affordable price
- Versatile connectivity and mounting options
- Reliable performance
- Apple Lightning adapter not included
- No monitoring display on receiver
- Few reasons to upgrade from original Mic Mini
- Tiny and super-reliable
- Can be used with phones and cameras
- Components can be purchased individually
- Receiver sticks out when attached to a phone
- No easy way to monitor audio levels
- Apple's Lightning adapter is a separate purchase
- Smaller and lighter TX than the Mic 2
- Now supports timecode and group productions
- Improved battery life, storage and transmission range over Mic 2
- No lavalier input on TX
- Shorter battery life than Mic Mini
- No Lightning adapter included
- Quick and easy set-up
- Records superb-quality vocals
- Slick design
- Transmitters are bulkier than a lav mic
In the main range the Mic 2 (launched 2024) and Mic 3 (launched 2025) are still widely available. In the Mini range, it's the Mic Mini (launched 2024), Mic Mini 2 and Mic Mini 2S (both released 2026). We awarded every single one of them a perfect five stars in our reviews, so you can expect a very capable mic no matter which one you go for.
Broadly speaking, within each lineup it's the newer the model, the more advanced the specs — although the gaps between some generations are bigger than others. The Mini 2S came out more recently than the Mini 2, and offers a number of upgrades over that model, most notable of which is internal recording.
For each model, you can also choose from various bundles of transmitters (TX), receivers (RX) and charge cases. These elements can, broadly speaking, also be purchased individually.
DJI Mics: specs comparedModel:
Mic Mini 2S
Mic Mini 2
Mic Mini
Mic 3
Mic 2
Launched:
2026
2026
2024
2025
2024
Range:
With standard RX: up to 400m / with mobile RX: up to 300m
With standard RX: up to 400m / with mobile RX: up to 300m
400m
400m
250m
Connectivity:
USB-C / Lightning, 3.5mm jack
USB-C / Lightning, 3.5mm jack
USB-C / Lightning, 3.5mm jack
USB-C / Lightning, 3.5mm jack
USB-C / Lightning, 3.5mm jack
Bluetooth:
Yes (Bluetooth 6.0)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Battery:
11 hours (TX), 10 hours (RX), 40 hours w/case
11.5 hours (TX), 10.5 hours (RX), 48 hours w/case
11.5 hours (TX), 10.5 hours (RX), 48 hours w/case
10 hours (TX), 8 hours (RX), up to 28 hours with fully charged case
6 hours (TX), 6 hours (RX), 18 hours w/case
Noise cancelling:
Two-level, AI-powered
Two-level
Two-level, auto
Two-level active
Intelligent
- Geely plans to unveil new charging technology this week
- The system will draw 2.2 MegaWatts of power during use
- Charging sessions could take as little as four minutes
The Geely Group has taken to Chinese social media site Weibo to tease its next generation of charging technology, which the company says can fill batteries in around four minutes.
The news arrives along with details of a new Geely Galaxy E5, an all-electric premium SUV that is due for launch in China this year and is reportedly the first model that will able to use this new, ultra-fast charging technology.
Delivering a staggering peak power of 2.2MW, the next-generation "AI-powered" charging system is claimed to be able to deliver a full charging session in four minutes.
However, there’s no mention of whether that’s the standard 10-80% state of charge or something else entirely.
According to China EV Home, the Galaxy E5 uses an 800V architecture and Geely’s next-generation Aegis Short Blade battery, which will be available in 61.52kWh and 70.01kWh capacities.
The batteries offer CLTC-rated ranges of 550 km (around 341 miles) and 635 km (395 miles) respectively, but it is the ultra-fast charging that will likely hog the headlines.
While there are very few details (Geely will hold an event imminently to unveil more), the AI involvement is reportedly to do with thermal control, which allows such a mammoth rate of charge without damaging battery cells.
Geely says its packs can last 3,500 charge-discharge cycles "with limited degradation”.
Analysis: China continues to push speed(Image credit: BYD)The EV dream has always been to recharge in the sort of time it takes to refuel a petrol or diesel counterpart, as this would arguably break down one of the biggest barriers to ownership: range anxiety.
Those with little experience of electric vehicles worry about becoming stranded when batteries run out of charge, only to be faced with an hour or more wait to get back on the road.
However, most people that have owned a modern EV will likely argue that this isn’t really the case any more, but China continues to develop charging technology that prioritizes speed an convenience.
BYD has demonstrated its 1.5MW Flash chargers both in China and in Europe, where they are capable of brimming batteries in under 10 minutes.
Unfortunately, the only vehicles compatible with the tech (in Europe at least) happen to be some of the most expensive in the BYD stable.
Zeekr has also been pushing its own 1.2MW chargers in China, which are also capable of lighting-fast top-up times.
(Image credit: Nio)While it’s easy to see this as simple one-upmanship, China’s charging infrastructure needs to grow at a rapid rate to serve the more than 110 million EVs predicted to be on the roads by 2030.
This will mean installing more than 40 million charging points and approximately 300,000 high-power charging facilities to deal with the demand.
Having this mix of high and lower powered charging is the only way to meet all the needs of drivers, where high power and speed is essential in places like motorway service stations along busy travel corridors, while cheaper, lower-powered options benefit those charging curbside over night, for example.
Unlike many other nations, which have been comparatively slow to adopt electrification and the surrounding infrastructure, China appears to be exploring all avenues.
- Over 1,000 small drones are being added to the British Army’s modernized battlefield surveillance kit
- 245 FOXE-NATO drones from Evolve Dynamics in Hampshire, England, have been ordered by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), with a further 670 built by California-based Skydio
- A further £400 million investment in “long-endurance surveillance drones” has also been announced
The British government has announced spending on over 1,000 small surveillance drones for the British Army, as part of its Defence Investment Plan. This includes compact, lightweight devices assembled at UK-based Evolve Dynamics, designed for fast deployment.
Announcing the spending plans and investment, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has emphasized the use of what it terms Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) drones as a step forward in detecting emerging threats.
In addition, a huge £400 million is being invested in replacing the Watchkeeper Uncrewed Air System. This unmanned drone surveillance program has been in operation since 2014, and is being retired in 2027.
UK companies handling deliveryIn total, 1,025 smaller drones are being procured in the £16 million deal, which involves deals with a trio of UK-based companies. Among these small and medium sized companies is Evolve Dynamics, a Hampshire-based company which is supplying the army with 245 FOXE-NATO drones. Weighing under 250g and equipped with infrared cameras for nighttime use, the FOXE-NATO drones are also designed for quick deployment from a backpack or pouch.
Meanwhile, Marlborough Communications Limited, in Surrey, England, is supplying the MoD with 670 Skydio X10 INTL drones, also capable of a fast deployment and speeds of up to 45 mpg. Skydio is a California-based company.
Finally, Exeter-based Brigantes Consulting and and Harmattan AI are delivering 110 SONORA drones. These are training devices, to prepare soldiers for using field-ready drones.
“Our soldiers deserve the best technology, and that’s what we’re delivering,” said Luke Pollard MP, the UK’s Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry.
“From small drones giving troops eyes on the enemy, to the AR5 offering commanders better intelligence over the battlefield, we’re transforming the Army’s ability to see, understand and act first.”
“This is defence procurement that backs British industry, creates skilled jobs and keeps our Armed Forces ahead of our adversaries.”
Long-enduranceJoining the smaller surveillance and training drone expenditure, the MoD has announced a £400 million spend on a fleet of Tekever AR5 surveillance drones (initially six, rising to 24 by 2029), designed and built for endurance. These craft have already seen action in Ukraine.
“We are proud to be delivering the AR5 to the British Army at this critical moment for national security,” said Tekever UK’s Managing Director Karl Brew. “This investment allows us to grow our UK operations, create hundreds of skilled jobs and bring cutting-edge surveillance technology, proven on the battlefield in Ukraine, into service with British forces.”
These units, capable of carrying up to 50kg of cameras and sensors, are being assembled at Swindon, UK, and the contract is expected to create 1,000 jobs at sites around the UK, including sites in the South West, Edinburgh, and London.
- A new approach could catch 90% of potentially convertible wave energy
- It's based on a array of dozens of connected buoys, designed to handle different types of waves
- Further research is needed to test its viability
There's potentially a lot of clean, renewable energy locked up in waves, but the challenge is getting it converted into power in a viable way. Now researchers from Germany and Australia have come up with a potential method for capturing way more of the energy produced by the undulating oceans.
The solution (via Interesting Engineering) is big buoys, and lots of them. In simulation models, the researchers showed that a fixed array of 60 connected buoys — with some described as being as large as small houses — could convert 90% of potential ocean wave energy, even with significant variability in wave direction.
These buoys would be like flat drums on the surface of the water, connected to spring and generator units on the seabed. Crucially, each one would be individually tuned to match a certain wave rhythm — what's known as the 'resonance frequency' of the buoy, where the maximum amount of power can be produced.
"It's similar to a child on a swing," says Professor Malte Peter, from the University of Augsburg (via Google Translate). "Only if the support comes at the right moment will the child swing higher and higher over time. Similarly, the waves must arrive at the buoy at the appropriate intervals so that its pendulum motion is as strong as possible."
Dealing with unpredictabilityEach buoy is tuned to grab energy from specific wave strengths (Image credit: Westcott et al., Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2026)Waves are typically rather unpredictable: if a large wave hits a buoy that's already on the up from a previous wave, a lot of the energy is missed. Add in the effects from neighboring buoys deflecting waves and influencing each other's movement, and you can understand the challenge in capturing all of this energy.
The larger arrays proposed by the team here act as a sort of sieve system. Even if a wave gets 'missed' by one buoy, it will hit another that's better tuned to it, meaning very little energy is lost. The researchers detail careful adjustments to buoy positions and resonance to achieve the results.
It's not a completely new idea, and borrows thinking from other fields of science. Some of the same researchers previously came up with a more basic model of the buoy farm, but only in 2D — in their new paper, they've extended into three dimensions, increased the size of the array, and adapted it to a greater variety of wave directions.
All that said, this remains theoretical, and hasn't been tested yet. The team notes that while each individual buoy could power "several hundred households" in this system, installing and maintaining the equipment is going to be expensive, and field tests and further research will need to happen first.
Qualcomm has announced not one, but two new flagship mobile chipsets at its annual Snapdragon Summit: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6.
Succeeding last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, both chipsets have been designed to reduce reliance on RAM (no prizes for guessing why), and each will unlock advanced gaming and agentic AI capabilities for the next generation of flagship Android phones (including, we presume, the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra). But how, and why, do they differ?
I attended the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii to speak to Qualcomm's team about the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. Here’s why the American silicon giant is launching two flagship chipsets this year — and why one of them is shipping with the ‘Extreme’ moniker.
Why are they different?Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon announcing the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 series at Snapdragon Summit 2026 (Image credit: Future)As Lekha Motiwala, Senior Director of Product Management at Qualcomm, told me: “Some OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] are trying to reach the pinnacle of technology, while others are trying to reach broader audiences. We want to give choice and flexibility to the OEMs.
“The 8 Elite Gen 6 is the next generation to the 8 Elite Gen 5. The 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is positioned above it as the top tier, to enable newer experiences like ultra[-level] gaming, professional video codec support, etc. — on the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, we are going beyond what we traditionally do [with our flagship chipsets], hence the tiering this year.”
“Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 delivers generational improvements across all key experiences, and is designed to power the core flagship tier,” added Ellie Fortin, Senior PR spokesperson at Qualcomm.
“The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 sits above Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 as our top-tier Elite platform, showcasing leadership in AI, gaming, and advanced platform technologies, and is designed to power the best, most aspirational devices. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 includes everything in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, plus additional capabilities and advanced AI features. They’re both on 2nm TSMC.”
How are they different?The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (left) and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 (right) (Image credit: Qualcomm)As for what Qualcomm means by ‘everything’ in the above statement, let’s get technical. Both chipsets feature the newest version of the company’s Oryon CPU, comprising two prime cores up to 5GHz (that’s a world-first) and six performance cores up to 4GHz. This CPU also packs a 16MB Oryon Flex Cache, which Qualcomm says will allow mobile agents to run demanding workloads without slowing down.
Qualcomm’s re-tooled Hexagon NPU [neural processing unit] features a new Hexagon Element Accelerator that should speed up how quickly AI prompts are processed by your phone — regardless of which new chipset it’s running — while the NPU in the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 gets 50% more Large Shared Memory than the equivalent NPU in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
Still with me? As for the new Adreno graphics unit, Qualcomm says it represents the “biggest generational leap yet,” and will deliver substantial gains in graphics performance and power efficiency for phones equipped with either the 8 Elite Gen 6 or 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. But the latter pulls further away from its sibling with something called Adreno Neural Fusion — a dedicated gaming rendering technology that uses AI to deliver enhanced graphics and longer play sessions in compatible titles like Honkai: Star Rail, Diablo Immortal, and War Thunder: Mobile.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 will bring AI-enhanced gaming experiences to compatible devices (Image credit: Future)Couple that with three AI-dedicated GPU cores, and the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 looks set to make the next best gaming phones more capable than ever: “We’re introducing Adreno Matrix cores, which are exclusive to the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6,” Motiwala explained to me. “They support the running of AI workloads within the graphics pipeline itself. Rendering becomes smarter, [you’ll get] super resolution, frame generation — many of these features can now be run within the graphics pipeline rather than moving to the NPU and other [parts of the chipset]. So now you’ll have much lower latency and much lower power consumption.”
And finally, both new chipsets feature the Qualcomm Spectra ISP for improved digital stabilization, color processing, and motion detection, but only phones equipped with the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 will support — or rather have the capability to support — Advanced Professional Video (APV) codecs and 8K 60fps video capture.
Initial impressionsThe Oppo Find X9 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra use last year's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset — will users be able to make use of even more power in their respective successors? (Image credit: Prakhar Khanna)In other words, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is likely to be the chipset of choice for Android phone manufacturers hoping to claim that their upcoming flagships offer the very best in AI features, performance efficiency, and image processing. But it remains to be seen whether the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi, and Oppo can actually make use of all this extra power.
In truth, even the current-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 provides more than enough juice for 99% of smartphone tasks, and so that’s almost certainly going to be true of the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (the clue is in the name) and indeed the lower-spec 8 Elite Gen 6, both of which are objectively more powerful than last’s year’s flagship chipset.
The key takeaway here is that Qualcomm is aware of the memory constraints affecting the technology industry, and has clearly worked hard to bring AI processing closer to the chipset with this year’s Snapdragon lineup. This should mean that, even if upcoming Android flagships arrive with lower RAM capacities than their predecessors (see the Google Pixel 11 Pro), their ability to process AI tasks won’t be negatively affected — if we take Qualcomm’s word for it, it’ll actually be improved.
Basically, it’s about doing more with less. Or maybe more with more, but not as much ‘more’ as we might’ve expected pre-RAM crisis.
Which phones will be supported?The Motorola Signature 27 is one of the first phones to be announced with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (Image credit: Motorola)Both the Motorola Signature 27 and Xiaomi 18 Pro Max are the first phones to be announced with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset. The Xiaomi 18 Pro, meanwhile, will use the regular Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6.
We don’t have any other official information about which phones will use either chipset just yet, but here’s a list of rumored devices whose respective predecessors use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and could therefore ship with Qualcomm’s latest slices of Snapdragon silicon:
- Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra
- Samsung Galaxy S27 Plus
- Samsung Galaxy S27
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 9 Ultra
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 9
- Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 9
- Xiaomi 18 Ultra
- Xiaomi 18
- Oppo Find X10 Ultra
- Oppo Find X10 Pro Max
- Oppo Find X10
- Honor Magic 10 Pro
- Honor Magic V7
- RedMagic 12 Pro
- RedMagic 12S Pro
- The Game Bakers' creative director says he wants people to "remember our games forever"
- It means the team may take risky or polarizing decisions, but it's worth it to build a passionate audience
- It's paid off with games like Cairn, which has achieved excellent reviews and award recognition, and is about to release its first DLC
It’s a joke, obviously, but given the catalog of titles released by The Game Bakers so far, part of me believes creative director Emeric Thoa when he tells me that “there’s a chance our next game is an MMO match-3 about friendship.”
It’s a testament to the team’s creativity and versatility that I could see something like this sitting alongside the frenetic boss rush Furi, charming co-op RPG Haven, and the captivating climbing adventure Cairn.
“We always make games with the goal of creating a very memorable experience. All our efforts, our ideas, our choices are made so that people will remember our games forever,” explains Thoa.
(Image credit: The Game Bakers)Cairn definitely stuck in the mind, as you took on a gruelling and demanding ascent up the enormous Mt. Kami with professional climber Aava. It may have mixed in some quiet moments of exploration and an engaging story, but it was almost exclusively about climbing a big mountain.
Thoa appreciates that, as with other The Game Bakers titles, taking this approach to follow and explore a single idea to its fullest in service of creating something impactful can be a big risk.
“This sometimes leads to polarizing design choices, but we’d rather be loved passionately by 10 people than be just appreciated by a hundred,” says Thoa.
(Image credit: The Game Bakers)It’s paid off with the excellent reception to Cairn, including a four-star review from me. Thoa is also pleased that critics and players responded well to the game, with various high scores and award recognition.
“I should feel extremely happy and grateful, but the truth is that if the response had not been very positive, I would be broken right now. So, I feel not-so-broken, and that’s pretty good. I’m especially proud that people eventually appreciated the innovation and risk-taking in Cairn.”
So with that mindset in place, what is genuinely next for The Game Bakers? Well, there’s the first part of the On the Trail DLC for Cairn coming on October 29, which I went hands-on with at Gamescom. After that, Thoa doesn’t have too much to reveal: “It’s too soon to tell, and I’m not even sure myself.”
Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be fascinating.
It’s no secret that, in the flagship phone conversation, Motorola has lost some of its standing in the face of the best iPhones and best Samsung phones — but the Lenovo-owned company is clearly determined to return to the big leagues.
Just four months after launching the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra-rivaling Motorola Razr Fold, Motorola has now unveiled the Motorola Signature 27, supposedly “the most advanced smartphone Motorola has ever created.”
And we can believe it, because the Signature 27 is one of the first two phones (alongside the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max) to be announced with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, which Qualcomm just announced at Snapdragon Summit 2026. That’s the same chipset as we’re expecting to power the rumored Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra, which will likely be unveiled early next year.
The Signature 27 is a de facto successor to the original Motorola Signature, announced back in January, but it’s also the first Motorola flagship to adopt the company’s new numerical, year-based naming structure, reflecting Motorola’s desire to position the Signature 27 alongside the best Android phones of 2027.
The Motorola Signature 27 in Pantone Coal Smoke (Image credit: Motorola)And that, too, makes sense. The original Signature boasts impressive specs across the board, but its chipset — the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 — is a step below the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which powers the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Oppo Find X9 Ultra, and other contemporaries.
In using the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, the Signature 27 won’t be at the same power disadvantage as its predecessor. We don’t know the rest of the phone’s specs just yet, but for reference, the original Signature uses a 6.8-inch quad-curved AMOLED display, a 5,200mAh silicon-carbon battery, and three 50MP rear cameras.
@techradar ♬ original sound - TechRadarA recent Signature 27 teaser did, however, reveal that the phone will come with at least a 200MP Sony sensor in a four-camera rear setup, which will inevitably see it competing with the best camera phones of next year.
We also know the Signature 27 will feature Bang & Olufsen-tuned audio, so it’ll presumably boast some impressive speaker credentials, and Motorola has confirmed the available color options, too: Pantone Capulet Olive and Pantone Coal Smoke. The latter features a woven texture, which Motorola says “reinforces strength, durability, and premium quality.”
The Motorola Signature 27 is expected to come to global markets later this year. Its price is unconfirmed, but given that the original Signature starts at £899.99 (roughly $1,210 / AU$1,800), it’s safe to expect a steeper figure for Motorola’s “most advanced smartphone ever.”
- Key LCD panel makers are upping prices this month, which is a crunch manufacturing period ahead of Black Friday and end-of-year sales
- There are only three TV LCD panel manufacturers, and all have decided to protect profits with price rises, reportedly
- Samsung's is also said to be cutting QLED TV production by up to 80%
If you're planning to pick up a super-cheap big-screen LCD TV for Black Friday this year, you may need to temper your expectations.
Key LCD panel makers have reportedly told manufacturers including Samsung, Sony and LG that they're putting their panel prices up just in time for production ready for the busiest sales period of the year.
Samsung Display doesn't make LCD panels any more, and LG Display has also stopped making them. That means the big TV brands are reliant on a handful of Chinese panel producers who now dominate the market: BOE, TCL CSOT, and HKC.
Those producers aren't running at full capacity, but rather than increase supply and potentially lower prices, they're restricting production to "contain oversupply and defend prices", according to The Elec.
TCL CSO and HKC will raise the price of some products this month, September 2026, with BOE upping prices in the fourth financial quarter. As The Elec notes, "concerns that China’s dominance of the LCD supply chain would translate into greater control over panel prices are becoming a reality."
The price hikes leave the big-name TV manufacturers in a bad place, because they will have locked in their LCD panel orders for Black Friday and the holidays already, and it'll be difficult for them to change their production plans.
That means price hikes on the panels used in affordable sets, which already have razor-thin profit margins, could have an effect on how exciting the TV deals on LCD models this year — and with giant-screen LCD TVs being the super-popular pick right now, it could make a real difference.
Samsung has dropped QLED from its new 2026 mini-LED line-up — this image compares the QLED-less budget M80H on the left with the Neo QLED QN80H on the right. The Batman provides a great test for how they handle contrast. (Image credit: Warner Bros / Future )Does the Q in Samsung QLED stand for "quitting"?In another blow for price-conscious LCD buyers, Samsung is reportedly scaling down production of its QLED TVs dramatically, by up to 80% this year, while considering dropping QLED altogether by 2028.
QLED takes LCD panels and applies a layer of quantum dots to deliver better colors, and launched as a more affordable and very bright rival to OLED. However, as the best OLED TVs continue to get better and have a big grip on the premium end of the market, QLED has become a tech you see a lot on budget models.
According to ETNews (via FlatpanelsHD), Samsung is slashing QLED production from 10 million units to 2-3 million units this year and shifting its focus to mini-LED-branded and Micro RGB LED TVs.
The high-end Neo QLED lineup is being slashed too: "Samsung Electronics' QD TV shipment plan this year has been significantly reduced to less than 30%. Neo QLED will also produce only half of this year next year and gradually stop manufacturing."
In 2026, Samsung launched a new line of budget "Mini-LED" TVs that don't include QLED tech, including the Samsung M80H, which we tested alongside one of Samsung Neo QLED QN80H, and found to be a clear step down in image quality.
At the other end of the scale, we reviewed the flagship Samsung R95H Micro RGB TV, which also doesn't use QLED tech, and found it to be "a brilliant evolution" of LCD technology.
Quantum dots aren't dead, though: according to FlatpanelsHD, Samsung is continuing to invest in QD-OLED and in future technologies such as QD-EL, aka NanoLED, which is basically the quantum dot equivalent of OLED.
But we have to assume that if Samsung is already wavering over the viability of its QLED screens, a price rise in the panels it buys will probably just be another nail in the coffin.
Thinking of buying a new TV?Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.
- Seller claims to be offering Mistral AI's full source code and says the company was breached again after May 2026 attack
- Mistral says an investigation found no evidence of new unauthorized access but has not stated whether the listed code is genuine
- No customer data has surfaced in analyzed samples, and nobody has shown files created after the May incident
A seller on a cybercrime forum says French giant Mistral AI has been hacked again and is offering what they call the company's full source code for sale.
The September 16 2026 post by an account using the handle "mrwho" consists of a listing titled "Selling mistral.ai Source Code" on an English-language cybercrime forum, according to The CyberSec Guru, pricing the material in Monero only before it attempted to steer potential buyers to Session or Telegram.
Mistral AI's own team has refuted this, stating it has "found no evidence to support this claim."
Not Mistral's first hacking-centric PR problemMistral's earlier hacking incident is undisputed - in May 2026, the Mini Shai-Hulud supply chain campaign, attributed to the TeamPCP group, spread from compromised TanStack packages to hundreds of npm and PyPI projects.
Mistral's own security advisory MAI-2026-002 says an automated worm led to compromised versions of its SDKs being published for a few hours on May 11 and 12, and that an affected developer device was involved. Microsoft Threat Intelligence found that a poisoned Mistral AI Python package fetched a second-stage credential stealer that allowed the attack to exploit users.
Mistral went further in statements to reporters than in its advisory. It told BleepingComputer that attackers had compromised a codebase management system and "contaminated some of our SDK packages for a brief period," while insisting that hosted services, managed user data, and research and testing environments were untouched. It also told HackRead that only certain non-core repositories were accessed.
TeamPCP, meanwhile, advertised roughly 450 repositories, about 5GB in total, for $25,000, and threatened to dump them for free if no buyer appeared within a week. One can therefore contend that this could be the same dump being remarketed by a different account, and the seller's profile is already suspect.
The CyberSec Guru noted that the account joined in September 2026 and had four posts and a reputation score of 30, despite displaying a top-tier "GOD User" rank. That profile could fit a scam in the making, but as the outlet pointed out, it could also fit a broker fronting for someone else or a freshly minted alias.
HackRead published 24 sample repository names from TeamPCP's May post. FrenchBreaches, which examined the 339-file tree mrwho shared in September, lists several of the same names. At least four of these appear in both: mistral-inference-private, mistral-inference-internal, mistral-finetune-internal, and mistral-common-internal.
This makes it hard to tell whether the purported 'hack' is just a rehash of an existing dump from Mistral's previous breach or a second successful hacking attempt. There is a straightforward test, however: If the September archives contain commits, files, or credentials dated after May 12, or secrets that were still valid after Mistral's cleanup, the seller's claim of a second breach gains real weight. If everything predates the May incident, this is a resale, which is embarrassing for Mistral but not a new security failure.
Of course, locating the archives or examining them would involve paying the ransom in crypto, as required by what could potentially be a scam in the making- a tremendous leap of faith for an account that was created earlier this month, making this essentially a lottery ticket at best for any security researcher attempting to take a closer look.
- Creative Assembly says Alien: Isolation 2's protagonist will offer "a new perspective to the franchise"
- Blake is a Weyland-Yutani employee, with principal environment artist Archie Whitehead saying the Japanese side hasn't been explored a lot
- Principal UI artist Laura Mouther says Blake isn't like any other Alien protagonist and "is such an interesting character to explore"
Alien: Isolation 2 will offer a totally new perspective on the Alien franchise by telling a story from the viewpoint of Yutani employee Blake, and Creative Assembly believes players will love her.
Speaking to TechRadar Gaming at Gamescom, principal environment artist Archie Whitehead and principal UI artist Laura Mouther discussed what they're most excited for players to experience in the upcoming sequel, highlighting the game's protagonist, Blake.
Blake works for Weyland-Yutani Corporation, a mega-conglomerate and the major human-led antagonist throughout the sci-fi series, but is employed specifically on the Yutani side of the company.
It's a viewpoint that hasn't been showcased during the horror franchise before, and something the developers were eager to explore in depth.
"Weyland-Yutani is an English-Japanese-speaking company, and it's something that the Japanese side, I feel like, doesn't really get explored that much," Whitehead said. "It's something we're trying to explore more here because Kurosaki, it's the name of the station [the game's setting] so I'm very interested for players to discover: 'How does that influence the world and the people living in it?'"
Mouther added that Blake is "awesome" and "brings such a new perspective to the franchise in total," and her being an employee of this mega-corp will be a much different experience from the first game, where the character where average people.
"If you think back to the first game or even the first movie, it's truckers in space, right? It's average people doing average things," Mouther said. "They're not powerful. They're expendable. No one cares for them. They have to care for themselves.
"But now we have Blake, who is a very Weyland-Yutani employee, and that means that she has some power, right? But when you hear in the trailer that the Japanese voice is telling her, 'You made a mistake. This is your last chance.' She was sent to Kurosaki against her will, and she wants to do well. She wants to be there to redeem herself."
Talking more about the story, Mouther explained how characters in the prologue will talk to Blake with respect and "you can get a sense of her standing," but all Blake is focusing on is trying to redeem herself. That's why when she heads to the crash site and accidentally unleashes the Xenomorph onto the colony, she's made yet another mistake, which the developers said will make Blake an interesting character to play.
"That dichotomy, she is such an interesting character to explore," Mouther added. "And I think the players will really get to know her and love her in the journey; they will make out their own journey [as well]. We tell a larger story, obviously, but similar to the first game, every player will have their own way of telling the 'in-betweens' between that [main] story, and will be so interesting to see."
Alien: Isolation 2 doesn't have a release date yet but will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
- Reports claim Apple is weighing an as-yet-unapproved enterprise AI server with two or four M8 Ultra chips, targeting 2029
- Apple is considering using Nvidia's NVLink Fusion to link the chips, with Thunderbolt-based Mac clustering falling short of data center bandwidth requirements
- The move comes as demand continues to be a key driver for Apple's higher-end Macs, with AI firms buying Mac minis and Mac Studios in bulk, even as Apple has turned enterprise buyers away
Apple has been working on plans for an enterprise AI server built on its own silicon with an interesting twist: it is seeking Nvidia's help on the networking front to make it work.
A report by The Information claims Apple is considering two configurations: one with two of its future M8 Ultra chips and a larger one with four, aimed at businesses that want to run AI inference on their own hardware rather than in a public cloud.
The timeline, however, is long and loose, with a potential launch in 2029, though the same report cautions that the project could be canceled before then, with neither the server nor any Nvidia arrangement finalized at the time of writing.
A market that Apple previously walked away fromIf it ships, the machine would be Apple's first purpose-built server since the Xserve, which Apple announced it would discontinue in November 2010 and stopped selling at the end of January 2011.
Steve Jobs's explanation, in an email to a reader of French site MacGeneration, reported by MacRumors at the time, was blunt: "Hardly anyone was buying them." Gartner's data backed up that claim with an estimated 10,000 units being sold per quarter, a relatively low number for the tech giant whose numbers normally ran in the hundreds of thousands or millions for most of its other products.
Apple's suggested replacements to users were server configurations of the Mac mini and Mac Pro, desktops running server software rather than rack hardware. If the 2029 launch materializes, it would mean Apple's reversal would see it enter the server market 18 years after the Xserve stopped being sold.
This time, however, feels different: The Information has reported that OpenAI bought tens of thousands of Mac minis and Mac Studios to train AI agents through reinforcement learning, and that Anthropic has rented Mac minis through Amazon Web Services, as per Ars Technica.
Getting caught off guard by AI-centric demandApple reportedly was caught off guard by the AI-driven rush for its hardware, with no enterprise AI strategy, no business engineering team in place, and no specific developer relations staff to manage those orders. As a result, it also turned away businesses asking to buy access to its Private Cloud Compute infrastructure.
The project reportedly had a powerful sponsor: Apple's now-CEO John Ternus, when he ran Apple's hardware engineering team. However, shortages plagued it, leading many users to opt for Nvidia's DGX Spark and AMD's Ryzen AI Halo as viable alternatives.
The focus, however, remains on Apple's ability to interconnect a large number of chips or dies together: its current flagship, the M5 Ultra that ships in the new Mac Studio on September 22 2026, is Apple's first quad-die design, stitched together inside one package by the company's UltraFusion bridge, with up to 512GB of unified memory and 1.2TB/s of bandwidth, which users often stack for on-device AI needs.
A data center-esque, server-grade offering, however, would require considerably more power under the hood to meet its AI needs, which would also depend on how fast the interconnect between chips is; Apple's current limitation is Thunderbolt 5 speeds, which offer up to 10GB/s (or 80Gb/s) bidirectionally.
For context, Nvidia says the sixth-generation NVLink, available through NVLink Fusion, connects up to 72 accelerators at 3.6TB/s each. Comparing total two-way bandwidth, that is roughly 240 times a single Thunderbolt 5 connection's one-way capability of up to 15GB/s (or 120Gb/s).
Apple's own marketing hints at what that gap costs: It says four clustered Mac Studios deliver up to three times the inference performance of one, suggesting it already makes scaling tradeoffs of nearly 25% when linking devices.
This could explain why Nvidia is in the conversation at all: proven tech that could help Apple scale its AI server ambitions without the performance overhead it currently already has, at a time when its silicon would be even more powerful, might just be a no-brainer for the Cupertino-based giant.
A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Tuesday, September 22 (game #1702).
Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.
Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Quordle today (game #1703) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Quordle today (game #1703) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.
Quordle today (game #1703) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.
Quordle today (game #1703) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.
If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:
Quordle today (game #1703) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?• S
• B
• J
• G
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Quordle today (game #1703) — the answers(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)The answers to today's Quordle, game #1703, are…
- SHEET
- BLAND
- JOIST
- GUAVA
I suffered from temporary insanity playing today’s game, in thinking that we needed not one but two rare letters.
Such was the shock of seeing a letter J that I risked a word beginning with Q — and when that was wrong, I remembered that common Quordle game word of GUAVA. It’s been a while since we’ve seen it, but thankfully it was still in my memory bank.
Daily Sequence today (game #1703) — the answers(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1703, are…
- DRIFT
- TRIAL
- MOSSY
- PAUSE
- Quordle #1702, Tuesday, 22 September: COMFY, LOBBY, DRESS, PANEL
- Quordle #1701, Monday, 21 September: WAXEN, HIPPO, PETAL, LEASH
- Quordle #1700, Sunday, 20 September: DERBY, LIMBO, GAWKY, REIGN
- Quordle #1699, Saturday, 19 September: SCOPE, HEIST, PULSE, CHAMP
- Quordle #1698, Friday, 18 September: MUCUS, MIRTH, APPLE, TILDE
- Quordle #1697, Thursday, 17 September: CRIER, CHIRP, NEIGH, FREER
- Quordle #1696, Wednesday, 16 September: SPEAR, PRICE, BLUNT, FISHY
- Quordle #1695, Tuesday, 15 September: SHUSH, LITHE, DELTA, BUGLE
- Quordle #1694, Monday, 14 September: ZEBRA, LEGAL, RATIO, TROLL
- Quordle #1693, Sunday, 13 September: LUCID, SPRAY, MANGE, EMAIL
- Quordle #1692, Saturday, 12 September: SUPER, BRUSH, RESET, SOWER
- Quordle #1691, Friday, 11 September: PLUSH, PAINT, RIVAL, AFOUL
- Quordle #1690, Thursday, 10 September: AGENT, EXILE, TITAN, PUREE
- Quordle #1689, Wednesday, 9 September: HAPPY, GONER, SMACK, MOTIF
- Quordle #1688, Tuesday, 8 September: FLUNG, DIARY, HALVE, BERTH
- Quordle #1687, Monday, 7 September: VISIT, CLANK, FEVER, OCEAN
- Quordle #1686, Sunday, 6 September: PILOT, HONOR, BOWEL, TAUNT
- Quordle #1685, Saturday, 5 September: GNASH, GEEKY, WHELP, PUTTY
- Quordle #1684, Friday, 4 September: QUICK, BEEFY, TRUCK, SNAIL
- Quordle #1683, Thursday, 3 September: SIGMA, ESSAY, MERRY, LLAMA
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, September 22 (game #933).
Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #934) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Practically paleolithic
NYT Strands today (game #934) - hint #2 - clue wordsPlay any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- THONG
- SOLD
- PRIMAL
- SWORN
- CRATE
- CHART
• Spangram has 12 letters
NYT Strands today (game #934) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?• First side: left, 1st row
• Last side: right, 5th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #934) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Strands, game #934, are…
- BYGONE
- ARCHAIC
- ANCIENT
- PRIMEVAL
- TIMEWORN
- SPANGRAM: THATSOLDNEWS
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 1 hint
Today’s theme was a mystery. “Practically paleolithic”? What could that mean? A practical person who follows a paleo diet? A very well-organized dinosaur? Or was this more Bill and Ted-style slacker slang that had passed me by?
As it turned out it was about things that were old, tired and out of date, something that I only discovered after getting a hint of BYGONE following an exhausting search to make sense of it all.
From here I spotted the spangram THATSOLDNEWS and began my toil around the board to get the other words.
Incidentally, I know that it’s impossible to include apostrophes in word search games but I hate seeing THATS without one.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, September 22, game #933)- SWITCH
- CHANGEOVER
- TRANSITION
- PROGRESSION
- SPANGRAM: FALLEQUINOX
Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, September 22 (game #1199).
Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #1200) - today's words(Image credit: New York Times)Today's NYT Connections words are…
- PAINT
- CAPTCHA
- BITCOIN
- WALLET
- SPAM
- PHONE
- RECORD LABEL
- AGE
- VERIFICATION
- SURINAME
- PAYWALL
- CONDENSED MILK
- RUB-A-DUB
- KEYS
- SHAVING CREAM
- COOKIE CONSENT
- SUNGLASSES
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Don’t forget these…
- GREEN: Online obstacles
- BLUE: All packaged in tins
- PURPLE: Final descriptions
Need more clues?
We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #1200) - hint #2 - group answersWhat are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: THINGS YOU GRAB BEFORE LEAVING THE HOUSE
- GREEN: WEBSITE HURDLES
- BLUE: THINGS THAT COME IN CANS
- PURPLE: ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR "TERM"
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #1200) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Connections, game #1200, are…
- YELLOW: THINGS YOU GRAB BEFORE LEAVING THE HOUSE: KEYS, PHONE, SUNGLASSES, WALLET
- GREEN: WEBSITE HURDLES: AGE VERIFICATION, CAPTCHA, COOKIE CONSENT, PAYWALL
- BLUE: THINGS THAT COME IN CANS: CONDENSED MILK, PAINT, SHAVING CREAM, SPAM
- PURPLE: ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR "TERM": BITCOIN, RECORD LABEL, RUB-A-DUB, SURINAME
- My rating: Hard
- My score: Perfect
Another yellow last! I think it was SUNGLASSES that threw me there — if it had said “bus pass” then I’d be there, but sunglasses are something I wear twice a year at most. Then again, maybe this is a sign that I really should be not forgetting to grab them whenever I leave the house!
Regardless of the order in which I solved today’s groups, luck was definitely on my side as I sailed through without making any mistakes while at the same time never being 100% certain in my connections.
I was also unsure of what the groups could be. I thought WEBSITE HURDLES was about security, THINGS THAT COME IN CANS was stuff that’s mixed, and ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR "TERM" something about circles.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, September 22, 2026, game #1199)- YELLOW: DEMONSTRATIVES: THAT, THESE, THIS, THOSE
- GREEN: EMBELLISHMENT: ACCENT, DETAIL, FLOURISH, TOUCH
- BLUE: OPTIONS ON A MULTIPLE CHOICE SURVEY: AGREE, DISAGREE, NEUTRAL, OTHER
- PURPLE: BEVERAGES WITH ACUTE ACCENTS REMOVED: CAFE, PATRON, ROSE, THE
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
- A M4 Mac Mini has been rebuilt into a battery-powered handheld computer
- The custom handheld keeps Apple’s desktop motherboard and original cooling system intact
- A removable Mac module sits inside the custom 3D-printed handheld enclosure
Apple's M4 Mac Mini has been transformed into a handheld Mac with a 7-inch 120Hz touchscreen, physical controls, keyboard, and battery.
Shing Solutions stripped the desktop computer down to its motherboard and cooling system before rebuilding it inside a custom 3D-printed enclosure.
The resulting device, dubbed Mac Nano, keeps the full macOS functionality while replacing the desk-bound form factor with something designed for use in two hands.
The Mac Mini becomes a removable computing coreThe project retains Apple's original heatsink and blower fan instead of replacing them with smaller cooling hardware to save internal space.
That decision allows the M4 processor to retain its factory thermal arrangement while the motherboard moves into a completely different enclosure.
Inside the new chassis, the computer module sits on rails, allowing it to slide out without disturbing the screen, keyboard, or controllers.
The arrangement means the central hardware can theoretically be removed for servicing or replaced while the surrounding handheld computer remains assembled.
A 7-inch touchscreen provides the main display, with its 120Hz refresh rate giving the portable machine a smoother interface and gaming experience.
It is also equipped with a compact QWERTY keyboard sitting beneath the display, with an integrated touchpad providing cursor control.
The keyboard originally worked wirelessly, but its battery was removed, and the keyboard was rewired to draw power directly through USB.
This modification reduces the number of rechargeable components while allowing the keyboard to receive power directly from the handheld computer.
The internal layout therefore combines Apple's desktop motherboard with controls and display hardware that were never designed specifically for this computer.
Nintendo controls and batteries complete the handheld deviceThe Mac Nano also includes physical gaming controls, using circuit boards taken from Nintendo Joy-Con charging grips and mounted inside both sides of the enclosure.
Those controls are wired directly into the Mac instead of using Bluetooth, but macOS does not natively support wired Joy Con controllers.
To make the controls usable, the project relies on Steam, whose controller mapping system can translate their input for compatible games.
Connecting the keyboard, controllers, touchscreen, and other peripherals also created a USB bottleneck inside the compact enclosure.
Shing Solutions addressed that problem by combining two miniature USB splitter boards into a custom three-port hub.
The Mac Nano is powered by rechargeable cells connected to a custom power delivery system, allowing it to run without staying plugged into an outlet.
The enclosure also incorporates handles, giving the device a grip that accommodates all its components.
Unlike a conventional Mac Mini, the Mac Nano therefore combines desktop Apple silicon with the components needed for genuinely untethered operation.
Via Yanko Design
- A Vladimir Putin press call showed the Russian president casting an online vote for the country’s parliamentary elections
- The short clip has revealed that not only is Putin using a US-built Dell PC, it is running Windows 10 – and the license has not been activated
- Putin’s example of voting online is intended to encourage voters to take part, but has instead raised eyebrows and launched memes
Parliamentary elections in Russia took place on Friday, September 18 2026, with online voting for positions in the State Duma open to the public for the first time. To demonstrate the ease of online voting, a press call highlighted Russian President Vladimir Putin casting his vote – but this hasn’t gone quite as planned.
While the president appeared to have difficulty reading the display, the real challenge seems to be that the Russian leader is using a version of Windows 10 that has not been activated. Furthermore, the PC is a Dell, rather than a Russian-built system.
The Putin publicity stunt has already launched memes, but the it also raises questions about his ability to use a computer, not to mention the suitability of the hardware for voting.
“You can’t go wrong”With 73-year-old President Putin lined up for the cameras with the Dell PC set up on his desk, he goes through the motions of “voting online,” presumably to demonstrate how easy it is. (In person and mail voting options were also available.)
The press call has all the authenticity of an unlicensed copy of Windows 10. Ironically, this is exactly what is in use, as you can see toward the end of the video.
Watch to the end:
Although an initial reaction might be “Russian state IT is pretty weak,” it seems more likely that the state-controlled hardware overseeing infrastructure, networks, and military systems is far more up-to-date. What is more likely is that that PC was pulled out of a back room and an old copy of Windows quickly installed simply to provide President Putin with his short encouragement to vote.
Dell vs. AquariusThe use of a Dell PC is curious, however. While Russia and the US have cordial relations, it seems strange for the Russian president to use a foreign PC. Sanctions aside, Russia has a policy of forcing the use of home-grown brands (such as Aquarius) over those from overseas.
After voting, the five-times elected Russian leader uttered the memorable line “you can’t go wrong,” in his native language, perhaps highlighting the futility of voting for any candidates not in his favoured party, United Russia.
While it is difficult to assess the legitimacy of the elections in Russia itself, the governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom have challenged the elections in occupied Ukraine territories. The nations have described the them as “sham elections” that violate “Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence, and the UN Charter.”