Technology

• Australia government has issued a bill to ban chatbots that create 'emotional intimacy' with users
• The bill is also designed to reshape broader online standards to shield users from harmful content
• It arrives as the American Psychological Association reports that 49% of adults speak with AI as if it were a friend

The Australian government has issued a bill that will ban AI chatbots which seek to establish ‘emotional intimacy’ with its users, following a speech given by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on October 27.

The Digital Duty of Care bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives on October 28, could create new online safety measures applied across social media, games, apps, and chatbots ‘to provide a safe online environment for all Australians’, says the Labor party. The bill is set to be debated by the Senate in the coming weeks, with hopes it will be officially passed by the end of the year, The Guardian reports.

Not only is the framework designed to prevent AI chatbots from infiltrating young users’ emotional dependency, the bill will replace existing, broader online standards to shield users from harmful content. In 2025, Australia made history by becoming the first nation to ban social media for under-16s.

According to Communications Minister, Anika Wells, content that encourages misogyny, terrorism, suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders will also be included. At the same time, the bill would also require social media platforms to have an easy-to-access ‘opt-out’ feature for suggested content fuelled by the algorithm.

Though the bill will be debated in the upper house before a final decision is made, it’s still unclear whether it will win the support of other parties. As it stands, the Greens continue to back Labor’s proposal while the Coalition and One Nation stand by their opposition to the bill, blaming Labor of forming ‘an ‘Orwellian’ system of censorship’.

Despite this backlash, Labor is determined to convince them otherwise, saying it’s still open to amendments. In his speech given on Tuesday, Albanese addressed the Coalition in an attempt to sway their vote saying ‘the stories we hear about people identifying a chatbot, a non-person as their best friend, should be a huge wake up call for every member of this parliament to be prepared to act’.

In addition to these challenges, Labor has fallen under increasing pressure to enlist the telecommunications ombudsman as a social media and AI watchdog (which doesn’t exist for big tech) after the party rejected an amendment during the lower house debate. This would allow social media users to file complaints if their accounts ever became hacked or inaccessible, and would also include compensation and will make room for investigating broader issues to name and shame tech giants.

Analysis: Chatbot dependency is only getting worse

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Labor party surely has a tough debate ahead, but despite the proposed bill’s criticisms the Australian government’s decision to tighten online safety measures hasn’t come from nowhere — and it’s not the first nation to clamp down on chatbots in this way.

Just a few months back, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and four other government departments introduced new regulations to ban AI-generated romantic companions, including virtual relationships with minors. The laws stated that these AI tools could no longer ‘excessively cater to users, induce emotional dependence or addiction, and damage users’ real interpersonal relationships’.

Following the rollout of the legislation, companion chatbots from tech companies such as ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba were forced into evaluation before becoming publicly available again. If the government deemed these services unsafe, it shut them down.

With this in mind, both China and Australia’s recent actions reflect an alarming rise of user-chatbot dependency. According to a recent American Psychological Association (APA) survey reported by Medical Daily, Americans are turning to AI for emotional support as they struggle with financial pressure and remain uncertain about the future.

The results from the survey show that 49% of adults who use AI said they conversed with it as a friend, and 47% had used it as if it were a mental health professional including seeking a second opinion on a therapist's suggestions or for therapeutic practices. Additionally, 77% of the survey’s 3,132 respondents identified that the rising cost of living is one of the biggest causes of stress, and 74% mentioned their concerns about the nation's future.

That said, seeking the advice of an AI chatbot is something that Medical Daily seriously condemns. ‘AI systems can provide inaccurate information, miss important context, or respond inappropriately to someone in distress. Users may also share sensitive personal information without fully understanding how a particular service stores or uses their conversations,’ the outlet writes.

It also added the following: ‘People who use chatbots for emotional support should treat responses as general assistance, not a diagnosis or treatment plan. They should avoid relying on AI alone when symptoms persist, worsen, or interfere with daily life, and should discuss significant mental health concerns with a qualified health professional’.

By clamping down on regulations for chatbots, the Australian government has shown its awareness of the rising reliance on AI services, and it clearly wants to prevent this before the issue is irreversible. That said, Labor still faces the challenge of convincing opposers that this bill is the best practice for the nation.

AGM Pad P3: 2-minute review

Rugged tablets usually follow one rule. Make them big, make them heavy and hope the specification sheet distracts you.

The AGM Pad P3 does not play that game. It is an 8.68-inch tablet that measures 232 x 146 x 14.5mm. That is thin for a device that claims IP68 and IP69K protection. It means the tablet can survive brief submersion and high-pressure water jets. AGM says it is built for one-handed use, and it includes an adjustable strap for hands-free carrying.

Inside is the MediaTek Helio G99. It is an octa-core chip built on a 6nm process. It is paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. A microSD slot can add up to 1TB more if you need extra capacity. The SoC wouldn’t be classed as fast in 2026, but it has proved dependable in a lot of budget hardware, and it’s better than many of its competitors. Android 16 is the real surprise, since many rivals are still shipping with Android 14. And some of those won’t be getting an upgrade to the latest release.

If this tablet has a weakness, it might be the screen. It has a 120Hz IPS panel with an 800 x 1340 resolution, and AGM quotes a peak brightness of 600 nits. That smooth refresh rate helps scrolling feel quick, but the limited resolution only supports 720p video playback.

Connectivity is practical, but hardly concurrent. You get dual 4G SIM support and eSIM, plus NFC, GPS and WiFi. But there is no 5G, which will matter to some buyers and not to others. The 7,200mAh battery charges at 18W, so this is not a device you can top up in a hurry.

On the back is a 50MP main camera, and on the front is an 8MP selfie, not great but not terrible either. The system supports at least Widevine L1, meaning Netflix and other streaming services can play in HD.

So this is a compact, tough and affordable tablet. It makes sensible choices where cheaper rivals make clumsy ones with even older technology and lesser specifications.

It might not be the best rugged tablet I’ve tested, but it represents good value for money.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)AGM Pad P3: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? $236/£249/€300
• When is it out? Available now
• Where can you get it? Directly from AGM Mobile

To avoid confusion, this hardware has several naming options, including the AGM G3 Compact tablet and the AGM Pad P3, so I’ll use the latter.

The AGM Pad P3 is sold through the AGM EU store at a price range of €299 to €329, depending on whether you choose to include a tablet stand. The store lists versions with and without a tablet stand. AGM is also running a promotion that includes a free stylus with purchase, although this wasn’t included with my review model.

In the USA, you can get this hardware on Amazon for $235.99, and in the UK it’s £249.99.

That is a lot of tablet for the money. It is also significantly cheaper than AGM's own Pad P2 Active, which lists at €369 to €408.90 in the same store. The Pad P2 Active still runs Android 14. The P3 is smaller, has a faster 120Hz screen and runs a newer operating system.

Looking at the usual brand suspects for rugged tablets reveals that the Pad P3 may have found a niche, since most alternatives are more expensive, some excessively so.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 5 is closer to $500. However, you get a much better software ecosystem, guaranteed updates, Samsung Knox enterprise security, and an included IP68-rated S Pen stylus. Samsung also have the Galaxy Tab Active 4 Pro, but that 10.1-inch design is north of $650.

A more affordable Samsung option is the Galaxy Tab A9 (8.7-inch), a tablet that mirrors the size of the AGM P3. It is incredibly affordable at around $175, features a great UI, and has mass-market accessory support. However, it lacks the smooth 120Hz fluid display, comes with only 64GB of storage, 4GB of RAM and lacks the processing power of the P3's Helio G99 chip.

The two competitors that AGM is truly up against are Ulefone and Oukitel, with the Armor Pad Pro from Ulefone and the RT3 Pro from Oukitel. The Armor Pad Pro is only $220, and that price includes 8GB of RAM and better cameras, but the SoC is less powerful.

The Oukitel RT3 Pro is the same price, comes with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of ROM, has only a 16MP main camera and runs Android 14. As with the Ulefone, it uses a less powerful SoC, in this case the G81.

The bottom line is that as a new product, the AGM Pad P3 is slightly more expensive than the closest competitor options, but the amount of processing power, RAM, and the 50MP primary camera sensor more than justify the extra money.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• Value score: 4/5

AGM Pad P3: Specs

Item

Spec

CPU:

MediaTek Helio G99 (2x Cortex A76 at 2.2GHz + 6x Cortex A55 at 2.0GHz)

GPU:

ARM Mali G57 MC2

RAM:

6GB

Storage:

128GB + microSD (up to 1TB)

Screen:

8.68-inch IPS LCD, 120Hz

Resolution:

800 x 1340 (HD+), about 180ppi

Peak brightness

600 nits

SIM:

Dual 4G SIM plus eSIM

Weight:

535g (measured)

Dimensions:

232 x 146 x 14.5mm

Rugged spec:

IP68 and IP69K, MIL STD 810H [to be confirmed]

Rear cameras:

50MP main (single sensor)

Front camera:

8MP

Networking:

4G LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS

Streaming:

Widevine L1

OS:

Android 16

Battery:

7,200mAh, 18W wired charging

Extras:

Adjustable carry strap, free stylus promotion, optional rotating metal stand

Colours:

Grey

AGM Pad P3: Design

• Slim by rugged standards
• One-handed use
• Stand is optional

Most rugged tablets are built like paving slabs. The AGM Pad P3 tries to avoid that form factor, being only 14.5mm thick, making it slimmer than many ordinary tablets with a protective case on.

My scales say it weighs 535g, although the official numbers are 540g, but that might include the provided strap. That is well under half the weight of the 8849 Tank Pad Ultra, which is a big difference if you carry a tablet all day.

The smaller 8.68-inch screen is critical to the design, letting you hold it in one hand like a large phone. That suits tradespeople on a job site, delivery staff and anyone using a tablet on their feet. An included strap supports hands-free carrying, connecting via loops through slots in each corner.

AGM offers an optional metal stand, which was included with my review machine. This relatively lightweight stand uses four tiny screws to secure it to the back of the P3. It offers a reasonably wide range of positions, from almost upright to nearly flat. In at least one position, it also supports the tablet in portrait orientation.

My only concern with the stand is that the small screws might easily be lost if you decide to remove them outdoors, and without those you won’t be able to reattach it.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

The button layout is simple and predictable, with no custom buttons or special functions other than the power button and volume rocker. Because the buttons are small, there is no fingerprint reader, but it supports facial recognition from the front-facing camera.

The SIM and microSD tray was one of my least desirable aspects of the P3. The rubber plug is thin and difficult to remove, and once it's shifted, you need to then find the tray ejector from the box to get the SIM tray out. It’s all excessively fiddly, and it might have been easier without requiring a tool. The tray accepts either two SIMs or a SIM and microSD, but as this tablet supports an eSIM, that’s hardly a significant limitation.

The IP68 and IP69K ratings are the expected baseline, providing serious protection. IP69K adds resistance to high-pressure, high-temperature water jets. The AGM promotional material also cites a MIL-STD 810H drop test, but it doesn't say how far it fell or what surface it landed on. It’s normally impossible for reviewers to test devices to destruction, but the P3 looks like it could take some abuse and keep working.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Design score: 4/5

AGM Pad P3: Hardware

• MediaTek Helio G99
• 8.68-inch 120Hz display
• 7,200mAh battery

The Helio G99 is an old friend, as I’ve covered it in both tablet and phone reviews previously. It uses two fast Cortex-A76 cores and six efficient A55 cores on a 6nm process. The Mali G57 GPU is modest, but better than what you find in budget phones. The G99 is a platform for apps, maps, documents, and video, not demanding games.

AGM has paired it with 6GB of RAM, which is adequate but not exactly indulgent. The 128GB of storage is equally fine, and the microSD slot means you can get more storage space if you need it. Cards up to 1TB are supported, although you can only use one physical phone SIM if you install a microSD.

From a hardware perspective, the most compromised feature is the screen.

At 800 x 1340 on an 8.68-inch panel, it delivers only about 180 pixels per inch. That is on the low side, making text slightly lumpy and fine detail in photos appears missing until you zoom in. On the plus side, the 120Hz refresh rate makes everything feel smoother than the resolution suggests.

AGM claims a peak of 600 nits, and it can be bright, but the glossy display still makes it hard to see in natural outdoor light. If you can find a screen protector with an anti-reflection coating that fits, it might work better outdoors.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

As I mentioned in the intro, Widevine L1 certification is included, enabling it to stream HD content from most content providers. The only caveat to that is that the screen resolution doesn’t allow for anything higher than 720p, which has been designated ‘HD’ by marketing gurus.

I wish this tablet had an HDMI port, where it could display 1080p to a suitable TV, because the tablet is undoubtedly capable of doing that. But given how many tablets have only Widevine L3 encryption, even expensive ones, AGM deserves recognition for using L1.

The 7,200mAh battery is modest, but the screen is small, and the SoC is reasonably frugal, so it still lasts a decent amount of time. The snag is that the fastest charging you can get with the included charger is 18W. Some phones can charge at 55W, and some tablets take more power than that. In my performance assessment, I’ll cover how 18W charging affects speed.

The last few points about the hardware in the P3 are that it has no 5G, though dual 4G SIM and eSIM support covers most uses. NFC and GPS are on board.

Overall, not a spectacular platform, but one that is appropriate to its price and potential uses.

• Hardware score: 3.5/5

AGM Pad P3: Cameras

• 50MP on the rear
• 8MP on the front
• Two cameras in total

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

The AGM Pad P3 has two cameras:

Rear camera: 50MP Omnivision OV50B40
Front camera: 8MP BYD BF20A1

The main camera is a 50MP unit by Omnivision, the OV50B40. For a camera sensor in a tablet, this one is reasonable, as it uses pixel binning to achieve better colour representation.

But, in my testing, it didn’t care much for low-light conditions, resulting in grainy results.

It is possible to take some good pictures with this sensor, but most are taken outside in strong natural light. As you can see in my indoor shots, this sensor tends to crush contrast and slightly wash out saturation below a certain lighting threshold.

Looking at the drivers compiled for the Android distro on this phone, it suggests there might also be a 0.3MP focusing sensor, but AGM doesn’t explicitly mention it or list it in the phone's specifications.

What it does mention for selfie taking is an 8MP BYD chip designed by that brand for cars, like parking cameras and self-driving functionality.

With many phones now coming with Sony 32MP selfie cameras, this one appears to be intended as a cost-saving measure for the makers.

What’s slightly fascinating is that the best video resolution available is the same for both front- and rear-facing cameras, that being 1080p. Although the rear can offer 60fps over 30fps on the front.

The 50MP Omnivision OV50B40 specification says it supports video at 8K at 30fps, 4K at 90fps, 1080p at 240fps, and 720p at a whopping 480fps. However, the G99 can only process 2K (2048 x 1080) at 30 fps, but the camera app doesn’t have those as options. So what does it do with all those unused sensor pixels? It has stabilisation, which is useful for shooting on the move.

Let us be realistic. Nobody buys a tablet like this for photography, I hope. It is a tool for documenting. Think site inspections, damage records and stock checks. What matters is whether the camera is quick, steady and legible.

The primary sensor is good enough for that, and the selfie camera is acceptable for quick face-to-face conversations.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)AGM Pad P3 Camera samplesMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark Pickavance

• Camera score: 3/5

AGM Pad P3: Performance

• Modern SoC
• Good battery life

Tablet

AGM Pad P3

Ulefone Armor Pad Pro

SoC

MediaTek Helio G99

MediaTek Helio G88

GPU

ARM Mali-G57 MC2

ARM Mali-G52 MC2

Mem

8GB/128GB

8GB/128GB

Weight

535g

560g

Battery Capacity

mAh

7200

7,650

Geekbench

Single

726

342

Multi

2014

1239

OpenCL

1604

1137

Vulkan

1541

1127

PCMark

3.0 Score

10014

7070

Battery

19h 50m (0%)

15H 4m (20%)

Charge 30

%

22%

6%

Passmark

Score

5968

6800

CPU

4579

3280

3DMark

Slingshot OGL

2607

1652

Slingshot Ex. OGL

2584

1259

Slingshot Ex. Vulkan

2463

1313

Wildlife

1314

641

Wildlife Extreme

374

N/A

The Helio G99 is no speed demon, but it’s better than the G88 that Ulefone used in its original Armor Pad Pro. That puts it in the middle of the budget field.

The natural comparison was AGM's own Pad P2 Active, which uses the same chip, but there wasn’t much to gain from comparing such similar machines.

The more interesting aspects of these results are to do with battery life, since the G99 is a 6nm chip, and the G88 is 12nm. The reduction in track size for the G99 provides greater power efficiency, and that is reflected in the nearly 20 hours it ran PCMark battery test versus the 15 that the G88 system managed. Admittedly, the Ulefone Armour Pad Pro still had 20% of power left, hinting at another two hours and 15 minutes of runtime. But given that the battery is 6.25% larger on the Pad Pro, it's still an impressive win for the Pad P3.

Charging was abysmal on the Ulefone tablet, and while it's better on the AGM, it could still take between 2.5 and three hours to get a full charge using the included charger.

I also noticed that if you use a high-end charger, like one of the Ugreen Nexode power packs, it actually charges slower than normal. Phones and tablets that are tuned to a specific charger is a recent development, and one I’m not keen on.

Looking at these numbers, I expect everyday use to be fine with the Pad P3. The 120Hz screen helps the interface feel snappier than the silicon deserves, which is why I expect it was used. Android 16 is also a bonus, as it brings better security and, in theory, longer support.

But AGM could improve Android update availability, since they’ve historically never made it a selling point.

• Performance score: 3/5

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)AGM Pad P3: Final verdict

For tradespeople, delivery staff and field workers, the AGM Pad P3 is easy to recommend. It is tough, small and cheap. It also gets the details right that matter in daily use, like Widevine L1 and a modern version of Android.

For everyone else, it is a sensible rugged option that doesn't cost much or take up much luggage space. At this price, one shouldn’t expect miracles, obviously.

The shortcomings are plain. The screen resolution is low for the size. The Helio G99 is a budget chip, and 18W charging is slow. There is also no 5G, if that’s important to you. None of these caveats is a surprise at this price, but it's best to go into this with your eyes wide open.

Compared with the AGM Pad P2 Active, the P3 is cheaper, smaller, newer and has a faster screen, but the same underlying SoC. It lacks the removable case of the older tablet.

If you need something more powerful, bigger or with a projector, you should look elsewhere.

Which device suits you depends on how much you value portability, because that’s probably the strongest aspect of the AGM Pad P3.

Should I buy a AGM Pad P3?AGM Pad P3 Score Card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

Low price for a rugged tablet with a modern OS

4/5

Design

Slim, compact and tough

4/5

Hardware

Sensible choices, but a low-resolution screen

3.5/5

Camera

Fit for documentation work, but not ideal for photography

3/5

Performance

Old SoC delivers an adequate budget platform

3/5

Overall

Easy to carry and use, and highly affordable

3.5/5

Buy it if...

You want a tablet that is easy to carry
At 14.5mm thick and with a small screen, it fits places that larger rugged tablets cannot. For those who need to hike to a remote location, or want to travel light, the AGM Pad P3 will be your lightweight companion.

You stream content on the move
Widevine L1 means HD playback on major streaming services, so you can watch movies in at least 720p, not 480p. It’s only the screen resolution that holds it back from using 1080p sources.

Don't buy it if...

Don’t buy if...

You need a sharp screen
At 800 x 1340, text and images are not crisp, and it’s not ideal for reviewing video or still image captures that are at much higher resolution than the display.

You need fast charging
An 18W charger will take a while to fill the battery, so this isn’t the tablet you need for work and forget to connect to the charger the night before. Also, you need to use the charger that came in the box to get the fastest possible charge.

Also Consider

Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra
A 200-lumen DLP projector, 120W charging, heavier at 1.6kg, but with dual 1000-lumen floodlights and auto-keystone correction. The issue is that this tablet is much more expensive, even if it has better all-around specs.

Read my full Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra review

Ulefone Armor Pad Pro
Another practical, rugged design with an inbuilt camping light, with a slightly older SoC than that in the AGM Pad P3. However, it has better camera sensors and 8GB of RAM. And it has the uSmart expansion port that enables the attachment of endoscopes or microscopes.

Read my full Ulefone Armor Pad Pro reviewView Deal

For more ruggedized devices, we've reviewed the best rugged phones, the best rugged laptops and the best rugged hard drives

As Europe emerges from record-breaking summer temperatures, and as the US prepares for midterm elections in November, data centers find themselves in the firing line on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the UK, water companies say data centers are using 6.6 million liters of precious public supplies every day; in the US, some voters are blaming rises in their electricity bills on, you’ve guessed it, data centers . Bloomberg has described the data center “backlash” as a “defining midterms issue”.

And so, a narrative has been allowed to develop – that too many data centers are being built, and too quickly, and worst of all in areas where water is scarce. No wonder some communities believe their water needs are being ignored in the name of advancing IT infrastructure to support AI.

In some cases, there has been genuine cause for grievance – in an earlier era, water efficiency was not always a design constraint on data center construction.

But the public debate is now running on figures which range from outdated to plain wrong. Some of the loudest claims overstate the problem by orders of magnitude. Others, including several the industry itself repeats, understate it.

Getting the numbers right matters – and most of all to the communities that host these facilities – because bad numbers produce bad siting decisions, misdirected scrutiny, and misplaced trust.

The No.1 myth about water use

“Every ChatGPT conversation drinks a bottle of water” is the most famous quote in the public discourse about AI infrastructure and data centers. But the claim is not supported by anyone – not even its author. Traced to a single academic paper - Making AI Less “Thirsty” by Pengfei Li, Jianyi Yang, Mohammad A. Islam, and Shaolei Ren of UC Riverside – the figure was a calculated estimate built from public data, not an actual meter reading from a data center.

But a 2024 Washington Post analysis ensured the figure went viral. Since then, Ren has indicated that the GPT-4 estimate was likely far too high and that the real figure is closer to 15ml per prompt in total, of which 5ml is on-site cooling water in a data center. Then in August 2025, Google found that a median text prompt of its AI tool, Gemini, consumed 0.26ml of on-site water – or about five drops.

Credible estimates still span more than a thousandfold depending on model, location, season, and, above all, what you choose to count. But nobody is talking about bottles of water anymore – the honest answer to How much water does a query use? is a range, and the range is wide because disclosure is inconsistent.

Not all data centers are the same

Critics think all data centers are the same when it comes to water and cooling – but that’s simply not the case. Different cooling technologies use different amounts of water. Google disclosed in 2024, for example, that one of its Texas data centers consumed about 10,000 gallons in a year – roughly two months of a single household’s use – while its largest water consumer, in Iowa, used around a billion gallons. Same company, same year, but a difference of five orders of magnitude determined almost entirely by cooling architecture and climate.

There’s another myth that water used by data centers is lost forever. But again, no two facilities are the same. A data center which withdraws river water, runs it through heat exchangers and returns it to the river, at a slightly higher temperature, clearly has a very different impact from one which draws water from an aquifer and evaporates the same volume into the sky. Water withdrawal (and return) and water consumption are two different metrics. Again, bad numbers fail to tell the full story.

Golf is greedier when it comes to water

But are data centers really such water hogs? In most countries, their water use barely registers. In the US, for example, direct annual consumption by data centers accounts for 0.3% of total public supply. By comparison, golf courses use approximately thirty times more water than every American data center combined. And agriculture dwarfs both: the UN’s World Water Development Report puts farming at roughly 70% of global freshwater withdrawals.

National figures, though, obscure local impact. That’s why a single data center drawing millions of gallons of water a day, arriving suddenly in one small municipality, matters more locally than a thousand different water uses spread across a continent. It’s understandable – but important to put in context. Data centers attract community scrutiny not because they are large water users nationally but because they are concentrated and visible.

More AI doesn’t mean more water

The good news is that more AI doesn’t mean more water. The newest data centers have closed-loop designs, immersion cooling, and reclaimed-water agreements, precisely because the thermal loads of next-generation AI demand it.

The three largest hyperscalers – Microsoft, Google, and Amazon – have all committed to being “water positive” by 2030, replenishing more water than they consume. The EU, meanwhile, requires annual water reporting for data centers above 500kW. Regulation has a crucial role to play going forward.

The thirst for facts

On today’s evidence, AI data centers are a small national water user but with a real footprint. However, new engineering, better planning and regulation are achieving results. What is not yet solved is the accounting of water use. Standardized, facility-level and independently verifiable disclosure of withdrawals, discharge, and consumption would cost the industry relatively little and build trust with local communities.

Right now, the bad numbers around data centers and water use create misdirected scrutiny and misplaced trust. That needs to change. Honest accountability matters if public debate and policy are to keep pace with AI's growth.

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• AI startup Cathedral used autonomous agents to breach Anthropic systems through weaknesses in third-party software
• Agents accessed HR, sales, and IT data, exposing limited customer and partner information
• Incident highlights how AI-powered attackers can rapidly exploit vendor weaknesses despite strong internal defenses

An AI startup seemingly gave Anthropic a taste of its own medicine when it used AI agents to break into the company and expose sensitive data.

The company in question is called Cathedral, which was founded by former members of the defunct US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a US government initiative established to reduce federal spending and bureaucracy, while modernizing government technology and operations.

Anthropic is running a two-fold bug bounty program through HackerOne. One part is focused on finding technical flaws in Anthropic’s systems, while the other is an invite-only program that rewards researchers for finding universal jailbreaks that bypass Claude’s safety protections.

Cathedral apparently shared its results with Anthropic through the bug bounty program. After its human researchers unsuccessfully tried breaking in for a few days, they deployed AI agents which took less than 12 hours to find a way in, by exploiting flaws in third-party business software.

Violating the rules

After accessing the company’s network, the agents accessed meeting transcripts, information on salaries and job offers, as well as Slack messages. Employee conversations with Claude were not exposed, it seems.

Anthropic confirmed the news, saying Cathedral accessed a “limited set” of sales, human resources, and IT systems, and compromised contact information and basic user account records belonging to certain customers and partners. Source code and AI model weights were not accessed.

“Our monitoring flagged some of Cathedral’s activity before they reported it to us,” Anthropic said in a statement shared with The Washington Post. “We shut off their access the same day.”

According to Gizmodo, Anthropic accused Cathedral of violating the program’s rules by failing to disclose the full extent of its activity. We don’t know if that means Anthropic won’t release the payment for the bounty, but it sure sounds like it.

Paying the bounty could be the least of Anthropic’s concerns, though. The company is currently gearing up for its Initial Public Offering (IPO), with a valuation of $1.4 billion. Leaking sensitive data to anyone, including white hat hackers, is definitely not a good signal.

A 'bunch of kids' wreaking havoc

“The fact that weaknesses in ordinary enterprise software can compromise the infrastructure of even the most advanced organizations should be a wake-up call for every company in America,” the Washington Post cited Cathedral’s report as saying.

At the same time, a senior Trump administration official allegedly told Via The Independentthat “if a bunch of kids who have just started a company can do this, then potentially the Chinese aren’t far behind.”

Cathedral can hardly be described as “a bunch of kids” - it is an AI startup focused on offensive and defensive cyber operations for the US military and government. Its founders include Gavin Kliger (former Pentagon chief data officer), Luke Farritor (best known for helping decipher ancient Roman scrolls using machine learning), Marko Elez (former SpaceX staffer), and Jack Stein (apparently worked as an investment banking associate at Salem Partners before joining DOGE).

The cybersecurity community had something to say about it. Jacob Krell, Senior Director for Secure AI Solutions & Cybersecurity at Suzu Labs, wasn’t particularly phased, saying if third-party vendors are a risk everywhere, then they’re a risk at Anthropic.

"Cathedral's agents got into Anthropic the same way attackers get into everyone else, through the vendors,” Krell said. “Security maturity is capped by the weakest vendor you integrate with, and no amount of in-house engineering changes that."

Darin Fredde, Senior Director of Technical Marketing Engineering at Ridge Security, praised Anthropic’s response: "Anthropic deserves credit for reporting that its monitoring detected some of the activity and for taking containment measures. But the real measure of remediation is independent verification that those attack paths are closed. We need to stop confusing a successful patch with a verified security outcome. Otherwise, we're just closing the front door and hoping nobody discovered the spare key."

• The Ninja MultiPo XL can prepare two different dishes with different settings at the same time
• It comes with a seven-liter 'MegaZone' pot, plus two 3.1-liter pots
• It's available now for £259.99 (about $350 / AU$490)

My kitchen already contains more Ninjas than a bad kung-fu movie, all of which I've bought with my own money: Ninja has become my go-to brand thanks to clever design and decent pricing. So I'm intrigued by the launch of yet another multi-cooker, because it combines ideas from two of my favourite kitchen helpers: my multicooker and my dual-drawer air fryer.

The new multicooker is called the Ninja MultiPot XL and it comes with three pots: a seven-liter one for making big meals, and a pair of 3.1-liter ones so you can make two different things at two different settings. I thought dual-pot designs were a gimmick until I bought my air fryer, and now I'm like what's inside it: a big fan.

I've been buying multicookers since the early days of the Instant Pot, and my current multicooker model is the Ninja Foodi Max 15-in-1. It's on as I write this, making soup for the family dinner.

I love the convenience of the Max, but it's awfully big and I don't use the air fryer function. So I'm really interested in whether this new model can do what I need it to do without needing what looks like a very large Darth Vader helmet on my countertop. So let's see what this MultiPot XL can do.

The Ninja MultiPot XL has nearly the same capacity of the 7.5L Foodi Max, but it's considerably more compact (Image credit: SharkNinja)What kinds of cooking does the Ninja MultiPot XL do?

The 11 different cooking functions of the Ninja MultiPot XL are:

• Slow cook
• Sear / sauté
• Bake
• Sauce
• Rice
• Pasta
• Mixed Rice
• Sous Vide
• Simmer
• Hotpot
• Keep warm

You'll notice the absence of air frying here, but that's definitely not a deal-breaker for me. It's one of the reasons this Ninja is so much smaller than my Foodi XL despite having almost the same maximum capacity.

Looking at what I usually cook, I reckon this could easily replace my Foodi Max. I typically use mine to sear or brown meat before slow cooking it, to sauté veg before adding stock for soup, and to make pasta. The keep warm feature is something I'm used to with the Foodi Max and I use it all the time, and the presence of a sous vide option is really attractive: I've tried stand-alone sous vide gadgets before and found them too much of a fuss but I'd be tempted to experiment with sous vide salmon and steaks here.

According to Ninja the pots are oven-safe up to 428F / 220C, they're dishwasher safe (as are the lids) and they can be nested for easy storage. The glass lids are a nice touch — I can't see what i'm cooking when I close the lid of my Foodi Max — and the small size makes this really tempting to me. It's small enough to carry over to the table, too.

There are only two obvious downsides to me. The first is the lack of pressure cooking, which is something I like to use from to time, and the second is that it will almost certainly have the infamous Ninja beep alert that all my Ninjas make. But those are minor issues. If you're big on cooking ideas but short of space this looks like it could be an excellent kitchen companion.

The Ninja MultiPot XL is available now direct from SharkNinja and major retailers. The list price is £259.99 (about $350 / AU$490).

• Sony has announced a new range of PS5 controllers and console covers
• They come in three translucent finishes, including orange, green, and gray
• They play upon the transparent look that was popular in the 1990s

Translucent gaming hardware is having a moment right now, with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 and Microsoft’s see-through Xbox Series X leading the charge. Now, Sony is getting in on the act with a new range of PlayStation 5 covers and controllers that take you back to a time when seemingly everything had a touch of transparency about it.

Dubbed the Prism range, the new accessories are available in three translucent forms: Flare Orange, Emerald Green, and Graphite Gray. They come with a “premium glossy sheen for a sleek and elevated design,” Sony says, and those finishes “give players a closer look into the design and craftsmanship behind our DualSense controllers and PlayStation 5 consoles.”

As Sony alluded to, it’s not just the DualSense controller that gets the Prism treatment. The PS5 console itself can take on one of the collection’s looks thanks to three dedicated console covers that can be fixed to your PS5 to overhaul its appearance.

Sony says that the Prism PS5 controllers cost $84.99 / £74.99 / €84.99, which pushes the price a little higher than the standard PS5 controller but is in line with other special editions.

The console covers, meanwhile, will set you back $74.99 / £64.99 / €74.99. You’ll be able to pre-order the products on November 10, 2026, and they’ll officially launch on February 4, 2027.

We'll be covering the pre-orders of these products live and predict that the combination of their slick finishes and the appeal to retro and long-term PlayStation fans means they will be in hot demand!

Retro revival

(Image credit: Sony)

Many tech companies have brought out translucent devices in recent years as they seek to capitalize on the nostalgic hit the look provides for fans of ‘90s design and throwback gaming culture.

Sony is no different, with company designer Leo Cardoso saying: “We know how much our fans have been looking forward to the return of transparent controllers. We wanted to bring back the iconic see-through trend of the late ‘90s in a fresh, modern way that complements the PS5’s industrial design.”

With Sony’s main console rival Microsoft launching a translucent green Xbox Series X alongside an “OG Green” see-through controller, PlayStation bosses might not have wanted to feel left behind — or for their fans to cast envious sideways glances at their Xbox-toting friends and family members.

Now, they might not have to worry about that. And if you’re a fan of the retro aesthetic and want to bring a touch of the 1990s to your PlayStation 5, this could be one way to do it.

• Blizzard has launched a World of Warcraft: Forever mockumentary
• The show is made with British comedian Bill Bailey
• It walks viewers through the ‘strange and wonderful world’ of Azeroth

If you’ve ever been curious about the world and environments found in World of Warcraft and all its weird and wonderful inhabitants, Blizzard Entertainment has just released a new three-part mockumentary exploring everything there is to know about the company’s latest game, World of Warcraft: Forever. Just don’t take it too seriously.

That’s because the docu-series is being headed up by famed British comedian and musician Bill Bailey, who lends his voice and in-game character to the show as he walks viewers through the much-loved world of Azeroth, which has been reimagined for the launch of World of Warcraft: Forever on November 4, 2026.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the natural world,” Bailey said, “but nothing quite prepares you for Azeroth. The creatures are extraordinary, the landscapes are stunning and, unlike many other nature documentaries I’ve been involved in, I managed to stay dry and not get bitten by something. It was enormous fun exploring this strange and wonderful world,” said Bill Bailey.

Bailey has taken on the guise of a Dwarven adventurer for the series, which Blizzard says will take in “some of Azeroth’s most iconic regions, from the forests of Elwynn to the frozen wilderness of Winterspring.” You can also expect “a documentary-gone-rogue with Murlocs, Kobolds, and many more of the world’s most fascinating inhabitants.”

More episodes are on the way

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

There’s been plenty of chat surrounding World of Warcraft: Forever, with Blizzard saying it wants to focus on the “foundational lore of Warcraft” and that it’s stuffed the game world with secret content “that’s going to take people a long time to find.” That’s got plenty of gamers interested in seeing what’s coming, with the beta period extended to allow fans more time to explore the world before it launches in full.

The first episode of World of Warcraft: Planet Azeroth is available today on the official World of Warcraft YouTube channel, while episode 2 will be available on October 31, and the final episode will go live on November 6, a couple of days after the release of World of Warcraft: Forever.

That could make it the ideal warm-up act for a game that we’re excited for, albeit with some reservations. If Blizzard and Bailey can strike the right note, there could be a lot to look forward to.

It's been a busy week for Apple, with the launch of the M6 iMac and MacBook Pro M6 following Monday's OLED iPad Mini reveal — but it saved the biggest news for last today with the launch of the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, its first touchscreen laptop.

TechRadar's Editor at Large Lance Ulanoff is at Apple's event in LA, and will be bring you all of our first impressions of Apple's flagship MacBook, which Apple is calling the "world's best pro laptop".

Here's everything that happened during the launch of Apple's most significant Mac launch of the year...

Apple 'Pro and Tell' event: the story so far

• Apple has just announced the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display
• Apple launched the OLED iPad mini on Monday, October 26
• Yesterday we saw the M6 iMac and MacBook Pro M6 announced

Welcome to our 'Pro and Tell' liveblog

(Image credit: Apple)

Hello, Mark Wilson here (TechRadar's Managing editor of News, UK) and I'll be counting us down to Apple's big news today — which is expected to be an OLED touchscreen MacBook Pro.

I've been a MacBook user for 20 years (yes, I'd paid extra for the matte black MacBook in 2007), so I have lots of thoughts on these surprising rumors. I'll also be bringing you the latest from our Editor at Large, Lance Ulanoff, who's in LA right now for Apple's event.

Bur first, let's it's time for a recap of what's happened so far and a closer look at those rumors, to help warm us up...

October 28, 2026 – 11:03 AMA 'Ternus teaser'

https://t.co/2XsfEhVRJHOctober 28, 2026

Apple CEO John Ternus posted this Batman-style teaser two hours ago — and it doesn't reveal a whole lot.

The biggest social media theory is that it points to the return of the glowing Apple logo, which we haven't seen on a MacBook Pro for over a decade.

That glowing logo was more of a translucent cut-out rather than a separate LED, but it appears that Apple's found a way to bring it back without compromising its flagship MacBook's structural integrity.

It'd certainly give this probably-very-expensive laptop an extra bit of stardust over the rest of the lineup...

October 28, 2026 – 11:09 AMWhat’s Apple announced so far?

(Image credit: Apple)

The touchscreen MacBook Pro won't be the first device Apple has set loose on the world this week. Yesterday we saw the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro get a new version with the M6 chip that Apple says “delivers up to 30 percent faster graphics and up to 25 percent faster AI workloads” versus the M5. There’s also a new N1 wireless chip that enables Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.

The iMac also got a spec bump with the same M6 and N1 upgrades as the MacBook Pro, and it can also support two external 4K displays at 165Hz instead of 144Hz.

Finally, Apple added AI features to its Creator Studio subscription, including Generate Fill in Pixelmator Pro and the addition of OpenAI models alongside existing Apple Intelligence options. Notably, Final Cut Pro got MotionVFX templates, graphics, transitions and more.

An impressive list, but Apple's biggest news is still likely to come...

October 28, 2026 – 11:18 AMOLED MacBook Pro: what can we expect?

The new MacBook Pro M6 (above) is likely to be overshadowed in just a day by Apple's new flagship, touchscreen OLED models (Image credit: Apple)

Perhaps thanks to the legacy of Steve Jobs’ famous hatred of them, Apple’s never done a touchscreen laptop before. With a new one set to launch today, what should we be looking out for?

Obviously, there’s touchscreen functionality, and Apple is rumored to have built an updated version of macOS to accommodate touch gestures. We’re also expecting an OLED panel — likely dubbed Super Retina XDR by Apple — with a built-in Dynamic Island and thinner bezels.

There will likely be both 14-inch and 16-inch models and options for M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. Whichever size you buy, the chassis could also come in slightly thinner than existing MacBook Pro devices.

All very impressive, but this is also likely to come at a serious cost...

October 28, 2026 – 11:37 AMOLED MacBook Pro: a pricing headache?

(Image credit: Apple)

The MacBook Pro M6 is already expensive, starting at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,199. So how much can we expect to pay for a touchscreen OLED model with an M5 Pro or M5 Max chip?

The latest speculation from Bloomberg suggests the 14-inch version (with M5 Pro) could cost $2,899, which would be the highest-ever starting price for a new MacBook model. The 16-inch version, meanwhile, is tipped to cost at least $3,399.

Of course, those are just starting prices, with extra like RAM upgrades taking the prices further skywards — Apple currently charges an extra $600 / £600 to double RAM from 24GB to 48GB, for example. In other words, we should expect this to be the premium iPhone Duo of the MacBook world...

October 28, 2026 – 11:48 AMApple has gone full Hollywood

(Image credit: Future)

TechRadar's Lance Ulanoff is in LA for Apple's event today and is feeding me his first photos and thoughts.

As you can see, Apple's event is very much in the heart of Hollywood. The event's building has a lot of history too — CBS Columbia Square was built in 1938 and served as the home of CBS radio and television until 2007.

Passes are being handed out, we're just waiting to head inside...

(Image credit: Future)October 28, 2026 – 12:02 PMThe Dynamic Island could be a dark horse

(Image credit: Apple)

I’m a fan of the Dynamic Island on my iPhone 16 Pro, and despite its awkward name, it feels like a genuinely useful addition to my phone. It's a rumored addition to the new OLED MacBook Pro, and I’m intrigued to see how it plays out on a Mac.

Over the years, many developers have built their own versions of the Dynamic Island for macOS, and most of them have added handy functionality in one way or another. Now it’s Apple’s turn to show us its own take on the concept.

But really, all the Dynamic Island needs to be is an upgrade over the useless notch, which won’t be difficult. That alone could be enough to convince Mac fans of its utility, even if it doesn’t blow anyone away.

October 28, 2026 – 12:04 PMIt's time for a vote!

Okay, we've filled you in on the rumors, so now it's time to get a temperature check on your thoughts — are you interested in buying a touchscreen MacBook Pro? Let us know in the poll below...

October 28, 2026 – 12:10 PMCan Apple convince the skeptics?

(Image credit: Apple)

We've asked for your opinion on the concept of a touchscreen MacBook Pro in our poll below. But what do TechRadar's resident experts think of the idea?

I asked Alex Blake, an Apple veteran and TechRadar contributor, for his thoughts on what we might be seeing today.

"I’ve long been a touchscreen laptop doubter and agree with Steve Jobs’ pronouncement that they make your arm want to fall off. So I’m going to take some convincing that Apple’s latest effort is worth the outlay, especially when they’re rumored to cost an eye-watering $2,899 and up," he said.

"I’m also wondering why Apple is making this move now. The MacBook Pro is already the best laptop in the world without a touchscreen, so Apple must feel like it’s got something really special — as it often does — with this latest product," he added.

"Perhaps if Apple had decided to make a 2-in-1 instead of a fixed laptop, I might be more tempted. But that’s apparently not what we’re getting — and if we were, the price would be even sillier than it’s already expected to be," he said.

October 28, 2026 – 12:17 PMWe're in!FutureFutureFutureFuture

We're inside Apple's event, and it's not quite on the scale of the company's bigger keynotes.

For one, there's basically no seats, which suggests this announcement could be more about the hands-on experiences than a long presentation.

The rumors suggest that a 10am PDT / 1pm ET / 5pm GMT announcement is possible, so we might be just 40 minutes away from the official news...

October 28, 2026 – 12:28 PMWhy no M6 Pro and M6 Max chips?

(Image credit: Nvidia / Apple)

The MacBook Pro released yesterday has Apple's M6 chip, but today’s touchscreen MacBook Pro is expected to get the M5 Pro and M5 Max, not the M6 Pro and M6 Max. What gives?

According to Bloomberg, Apple is working on AI upgrades in the M7 generation that it deems so important that it has decided to skip the M6 Pro and M6 Max (and M6 Ultra) and jump right ahead to the M7 Pro and M7 Max in late 2027.

That suggests the company ditched the high-end M6 chips and moved development resources over to the M7 equivalents, but presumably also decided it was worth launching the entry-level M6 anyway.

Confusing, we know. But here’s one way to look at it: like pretty much everything these days, AI is the likely reason.

October 28, 2026 – 12:47 PM15 minutes to go

(Image credit: Future)

We've found one of the few seats available in Apple's very dark space. Unfortunately it's behind a lot of less fortunate standing people.

Earlier, our Editor at Large Lance Ulanoff managed to get this very angelic shot under the Apple logo. Not long to go now, folks...

(Image credit: Future)October 28, 2026 – 12:49 PMHow will Apple explain this?

(Image credit: Screen grab)

Apple loves to jokingly talk up its “crack marketing team,” but they’ll have their work cut out trying to frame this one, given company co-founder and patron saint Steve Jobs’ long-standing opposition to touchscreen laptops.

Sure, Apple could tell us about all the innovative software features it’s built into macOS or how the touchscreen will increase your productivity (in conjunction with Siri AI, most likely). But the fundamentals remain that same as they did years ago: this is going to involve some degree of holding your arm horizontally in a way that Jobs would said will make it want to fall off.

How is Apple going to address that elephant in the room? I’ve got no idea, but it’s going to be fascinating to see how they spin it...

October 28, 2026 – 12:56 PM5 minutes to go...

(Image credit: Future)

It seems those rumors about a 10am PDT / 1pm ET / 5pm GMT announcement were correct, judging by the number of people inside Apple's event.

We've been told that the whole experience, not just the products, should be special. It won't be long till we find out if that's classic Apple hype or hyperbole...

October 28, 2026 – 1:00 PM

Unusually, there's no live stream for this Apple event — but fortunately, we're inside the building in LA to bring you all the news as it happens.

We've been promised multiple floors of experiences — exactly how many floors you need to experience a touchscreen MacBook Pro remains to be seen...

October 28, 2026 – 1:04 PM

John Ternus has hit the stage — and the touchscreen MacBook Pro is official!

(Image credit: Future)

(Image credit: Future)October 28, 2026 – 1:10 PMThe touchscreen MacBook Pro is official

(Image credit: Future)

The 'All New MacBook Pro' (as it appears to be called) is officially here.

We don't have all the specs yet, but it has a tandem OLED display and weighs 3lbs...

FutureFutureFutureOctober 28, 2026 – 1:20 PMMacBook Pro with 'PROLED XDR Display': specsFutureFuture

The Wi-Fi at Apple's event is wobbling, but the new flagship MacBook Pro (with the dubiously-named PROLED XDR display) is already live on Apple's website.

It's available in 14-inch and 16-inch variants, with M5 Pro (16-core GPU or 20-core GPU) or M5 Max (32-core GPU or 40-core GPU) chips. Base storage starts at 1TB (going up to 16TB on the M5 Max versions), while base RAM is 24GB (going up to 128GB on the top model).

You can pre-order it now with availability starting on November 6. As rumored pricing starts at $2,899 for the 14-inch version and $3,399 for the 16-inch model...

October 28, 2026 – 1:29 PMAbout that touchscreen

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple has revealed a little more about the OLED MacBook Pro's touchscreen. It supports all the usual Multi-Touch gestures (scroll, pinch, rotate, draw and more).

Why? Apple says you can use it to manipulate 3D objects or play virtual instruments. There are also classic use cases like pinching-to-zoom on photos, docs or web pages, or sketching and annotating on the screen.

Apparently the touchscreen is on this very high-end MacBook so that designers can interact with 3D prototypes, or developers can test how touch feels in their iOS apps. All very nice, but these don't sound like revolutionary use cases for touch on a laptop — perhaps our hands-on demos will make us think otherwise...

October 28, 2026 – 1:46 PMThe first YouTube promo

Here's Apple's first video promo for the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display — tagline 'the first-ever Mac with Touch'.

Apple sells the laptop as being a "totally portable reference monitor", with up to 2,000-nits peak brightness and a 24-hour battery life for your "all-nighter". No, not that kind of all-nighter, the work-based ones...

October 28, 2026 – 1:53 PMThe launch as it happened

There was no livestream for today's touchscreen MacBook Pro event, but want to see the reveal as it happened? Here's how Apple CEO John Ternus introduced it in LA...

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar October 28, 2026 – 2:12 PMMacBook Pro PROLED: pricing

Let's take a closer look at the slightly less exciting part of Apple's new flagship MacBook Pro — its price.

The 14-inch versions starts at $2,899 / £2,899 / AU$4,599, while the base 16-inch versions comes in at $3,399 / £3,399 / $5,499. You can pre-order today, with deliveries starting on November 6.

Naturally, moving up to an M5 Max chip or boosting memory and storage will quickly ramp up that price tag. A fully maxed-out 16-inch version with all the bells and whistles? That will set you back a hilarious $14,549 / £14,549 / AU$22,424.

Still, your sweet spot will likely be somewhere in the memory and storage options below – starting with those for the 14-inch model...

(Image credit: Apple)

And these are the memory and storage options for the 16-inch version...

(Image credit: Apple)October 28, 2026 – 2:16 PMIt's time to try one...

(Image credit: Future)

Right, that's enough about specs and pricing — it's time for TechRadar's Editor at Large Lance Ulanoff to get his hands on the MacBook Pro PROLED XDR and see if it lives up the hype of being the "world's best pro laptop", as Apple calls it.

• Ministers are considering incentivizing vehicle-to-grid (V2G) tech
• It could allow carmakers to earn credits for installing V2G capabilities
• Critics say carmakers would produce more polluting cars as a result

UK ministers are reportedly considering giving manufacturers extra incentives to add vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology to cars as part of its review of the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

The technology, which was arguably pioneered by Nissan in Japan in the early 2010s, supports bidirectional power transfer, allowing electric vehicles to not only be charged from a domestic charger, but also feed energy back into the grid.

Early demonstrations with Japan’s CHAdeMO charging standard showed that something like a Nissan Leaf could provide power to a home during natural disasters, and also help decrease the load on the grid during peak consumption hours.

According to supporters of the technology, increasing the amount of V2G-enabled EVs on UK driveways could help the transition away from fossil fuels to renewables, balancing the grid when wind and solar generation is lower than electricity demand.

(Image credit: Nissan)

According to a report in The Guardian, in order to incentivize manufacturers, ministers are considering offering additional Zero Emission Vehicle credits to those companies that can successfully increase the prevalence of V2G tech.

Currently, the ZEV system sees manufacturers earn credits for every fully electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicle they register, with annual targets set for the percentage of electric cars sold each year.

Companies that fall short of their annual sales quota must either buy surplus credits from other manufacturers, borrow against future targets, or pay non-compliance penalties.

While increasing the amount of vehicles that are capable of bi-directional charging could indeed help balance out the grid in times of peak demand, some critics claim that offering additional credits to manufacturers could lead to an increase in the production of polluting petrol and diesel models.

“Vehicle to grid is exciting technology that could help balance the grid and cut bills, but carmakers should only be rewarded if it’s actually used, not just for fitting it,” Ben Nelmes, the chief executive of New AutoMotive, a think-tank tracking the transition to electric cars, told The Guardian.

Analysis: simplicity is key

(Image credit: Renault)

Vehicle-to-grid technology is nothing new, and the idea of the 'virtual powerplant', where the grid can give and take energy from thousands of vehicles all connected to the grid, has been on the minds of automotive manufactures for well over a decade.

Right now, Renault and Alpine offer V2G services in France through Mobilize and The Mobility House projects, while the Volkswagen Group's Elli sub-brand announced a packaged V2G offer in June for its German customers, targeting compatible VW, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Cupra models.

In the UK, Octopus Energy already offers its Power Pack, which it claims is the first vehicle-to-grid tariff that could save a typical V2G driver £620 per year compared to the company’s other flexible tariffs.

However, as someone who owns a house with EVs, solar, battery storage and inverters, I know first-hand just how complex it is navigating the various energy tariffs, and calculating whether or not it makes financial sense to sell excess solar back to the grid.

Not only does this typically require several apps and a good grasp on the software that manages all of the various systems, it also demands an in-depth knowledge of energy tariffs and dynamic pricing.

Vicky Edmonds, the chief executive of the Electric Vehicle Association England, which represents drivers, told The Guardian: “These technologies have enormous potential, but consumers are still getting to grips with more immediate questions around the cost of their car, the cost of charging, and whether an EV meets their day-to-day needs”.

So, while some believe that the electricity supplied by V2G cars could add up to the equivalent of a power station by 2030, the process would have to be as simple as possible to encourage already confused motorists to adopt the technology.

Amazon often likes to unveil a plethora of products at the same time, and it's done so again: we've got eight different product announcements to talk about today, and they cover smart displays, smart speakers, and the wider Amazon ecosystem.

Most of these products are available now, though some can only be preordered at the moment. Read on for all the details and pricing — at the time of writing international pricing is slowly rolling out, so we'll add that here as it gets announced.

1. Echo Dot

The new and improved Echo Dot (Image credit: Amazon)

The brand new Echo Dot — the speaker for "everywhere you can imagine" as Amazon puts it, from the kitchen to the living room — gets a host of upgrades. There's a new full-range driver here for improved audio and 50% more bass, the addition of a fourth microphone so it can hear you better, and room temperature detection.

There's some custom Amazon silicon inside in the form of the AZ3 chip, which should make Alexa+ faster and more responsive, and the smart speaker is now both a smart home hub as well as an Eero Wi-Fi extender. It's available now in Graphite, Glacier White, Agave Green, and Coral Pink for $99.99 / £94.99 / AU$199.

2. Amazon Kids Echo Dot

There's a new Echo Dot for your kids too (Image credit: Amazon)

If your kids are after their own Echo Dot, Amazon has you covered here too. There's everything you get in the regular Dot, with a choice of either Octopus and Penguin designs, and a year of Amazon Kids+ (featuring podcasts and audiobooks, usually $7.99 / £6.99 a month if you've got Prime). The Amazon Kids Echo Dot is yours for $109.99 / £104.99.

3. Echo Studio with Home Camera

The new Echo Studio comes with a camera (Image credit: Amazon)

The Echo Studio is the Echo speaker you go for if you want the best audio possible, and the newly unveiled model adds a feature called Advanced Room Adaptation that "tunes the sound to your space". There's also now Adaptive Volume, so audio adjusts as you move about the room to maintain a steady level.

Also — surprise! — there's now a camera embedded in the speaker. Amazon says you could use it to check in on pets or make sure you've switched the lights off. The camera can also be used with Alexa+, to get info on whatever you're holding, and with Fire TV devices if you want to put video calls on your television.

As always, you can turn off the camera whenever you like. The new Echo Studio with Home Camera is now available in Graphite for $249.99 / £239.99 / AU$479, and the existing Echo Studio (without the camera or extra audio features) remains on sale for $219.99.

4. Echo Time

The Echo Time is designed for the bedroom (Image credit: Amazon)

The Echo Time is a brand new smart speaker series from Amazon, and looks to be a more premium version of the existing Echo Spot. Yes, it's basically an Echo Dot with a clock on the front, but there's also smart alarm functionality here to wake you up at the best point during your sleep cycle, and routine settings for winding down at the end of the day too.

With a 3.2-inch touchscreen, you've got a bit of extra control when interacting with Alexa+ and other features, and Amazon says it's been specifically designed for the bedroom (there's no camera, you'll be pleased to know). The speaker is available now for $199.99 / £184.99 / AU$379, in Graphite, Glacier White, and Coral Pink.

5. Amazon Kids Echo Time

The Amazon Kids Echo Time has content curated for kids (Image credit: Amazon)

There's a kid-friendly version of the Echo Time available as well for $209.99 / £194.99, in either Galactic Grape or Cosmic Lime. As with the Echo Dot, the version for youngsters bundles in a year of Amazon Kids+ (usually $7.99 / £6.99 a month if you also subscribe to Prime), so there's lots of audio content to explore, plus wind-down content curated especially for kids.

6. Echo Show 16

The Echo Show 16 comes with or without a stand (Image credit: Amazon)

Amazon is going big with the Echo Show 16, which boasts a screen measuring 16 inches from corner to corner (as you may have guessed from the name). Amazon says its the "most advanced, versatile smart display" it's put out yet: there's a refined design, Fire TV functionality built in, and a choice of three new Screen Styles.

These Screen Styles are basically different widget layout options, focusing on smart home controls, displaying photos, or acting as a family organizer (with calendars front and center). The device is faster than previous Echo Shows, Amazon says, and the 13MP camera lets you use it as a security camera and video calling device too.

Amazon is opening up preorders for the Echo Show 16 now, and it'll be available "later this year". The standard smart display costs $499.99, while one with a special anti-glare Nanomatte layer (as used in the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro) is yours for $569.99.

7. Alexa Home Map

You can access the Alexa Home Map from multiple devices (Image credit: Amazon)

Alexa Home Map is exactly what it sounds like: a map of your home, rendered in 3D. The idea is you can see at a glance how your smart lights, speakers, displays, and cameras are set up, and control them with a tap on the map. You can start setting up the map through the Alexa+ app on your phone, though it's not rolling out until later this year.

8. Alexa Photo Frame

The Alexa Photo Frame is available in three finishes (Image credit: Amazon)

The Alexa Photo Frame tasks the Alexa AI with picking out the best shots from your Amazon Photos library, and displaying them on the 10-inch touchscreen — though you can also manually specify albums and people you want to see. New photos can show up automatically if you want, as they're added to your library.

Alexa is always on hand if you want to request a particular image, and you can even add voice notes to pictures and send them to friends and family with their own Alexa Photo Frames. The digital frame is available now for $199.99 in Black, and $229.00 with a real Birch or Walnut wood frame.

• Gartner report finds many firms aren't seeing benefits from AI
• Just 3% of businesses have hit their targets on AI
• This is despite many firms expecting AI technology to have a significant effect, and spending big to do so

New research has claimed barely any organizations are seeing real success when it comes to the results of heavily implementing AI in their workplace.

A report from Gartner found just 3% of organizations have hit their targets around productivity and efficiency, as well as trying to cut costs across their business using AI.

This is despite three quarters of leaders expecting AI technology to have a significant effect in their organization, with 85% set to spend more on AI in 2027, despite 38% of them already being over budget.

AI benefits to come?

"Ultimately, organizations will not generate cost savings from AI at this point," CV Viverito, senior director analyst for Gartner's HR practice, told attendees at the firm's HR Symposium.

"The greater opportunity is to use AI to do things that weren't possible before, such as shifting employee time into new capabilities, outcomes, and sources of growth."

Moving forward, Gartner says businesses should look to focus their AI efforts where the technology can make a tangible effect in key areas. It also advised organizations to spread AI knowledge across the business, with C-suite as important as entry-level workers when it comes to identifying new use cases and benefitting from such improvement.

“There isn’t a struggle to create capacity, that’s happening already as organizations redesign work,” claimed Viverito. “What organizations are struggling with is how to make that capacity usable and redirecting it to what is valuable.”

Gartner's report is the latest to urge caution when it comes to the possibilities of AI in organizations of all sizes.

A top economist recently warned AI is only helping the world's biggest technology firms - with most other large organizations yet to see any significant benefits, noting that, "Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech."

Via The Register

The big headline in Apple news this week is the debut of a brand new MacBook Pro series with the M6 chipset. The brand has just refreshed its flagship laptops with a shiny new processor without hiking the prices, but these new machines still start at an eye-wateringly high $1,999.

If you're on more of a budget, then I'd highly recommend checking out the MacBook Air 13 (M5) for $1,099 (was $1,319) at B&H Photo today. Not only is this a great price for the latest MacBook Air 13, but it's one of the best deals I've seen since the laptop was hit by a massive price hike.

The record low for the MacBook Air 13 is technically $949, but it's been hovering anywhere between $1,299 and $1,149 ever since June. It's been a pretty bitter pill to swallow, considering the MacBook Air is arguably the best value MacBook for most people right now. With this deal, however, we're starting to creep closer to that pre-hike price tag.

MacBook Air 13 (M5) deal at B&H Photo

MacBook Air 13 (M5): was $1319 now $1099
Processor: Apple M5
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB

The latest MacBook Air 13 hasn't been this cheap since Apple hiked up the price on its entry-level MacBook. If you're looking for a powerful, stylish, and portable machine, then the latest MacBook Air is an amazing choice. Not only do you get the fantastic M5 chipset here, but this particular configuration also features 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, ensuring plenty of space on the drive. View Deal

• See more: check out all of today's deals at B&H Photo

Overall, this is a great deal, and one that I wouldn't expect to go much lower over Black Friday. We're just about to hit the end-of-year sales madness, so you could wait it out to see if it drops any lower, but I doubt it will hit the rock-bottom prices we saw before the hikes took place. Annoyingly, component prices have hit both laptop and tablet prices really hard in recent months, with no end in sight.

For more details on this model, I'd highly recommend checking out our MacBook Air 13 M5 review. Overall, the latest MacBook Air 13 is more of an iterative upgrade, but it's still a fantastic machine — enough to score an impressive four and a half stars out of five, in fact.

• Samsung Galaxy Buds On cost $229, on sale November
• European price unconfirmed, will hit shelves some time in 2027
• That asking fee makes them some of the priciest new open earbuds

One of the biggest draws of the best open earbuds is that they're pretty inexpensive. The lack of ANC, fancy ear tips and oodles of in-ear-exclusive features means that the go-to picks generally cost no more than the best cheap earbuds.

Samsung disagrees. It unveiled its first open earbuds, called the Galaxy Buds On, at the start of the month, but only for the Korean market. However, the company has now revealed worldwide availability (while telling us about how its engineers made them), and there are some pieces of disappointing news.

Firstly, if you're in Europe, put your excitement on the backburner. The buds will only launch there (including, presumably, the UK) in 2027, so you can't arrange to try these any time soon. No world on an Australian release either.

If you live in the US, you can buy the earbuds from early November, so you won't have long to wait. But you might want to think about them for now, until the price drops (possibly during a key sales event?), because they cost a princely $229, which is about £170 or AU$340, but I imagine they'll cost a little more in those regions upon launch.

The price of open earbuds

(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro launched for $249 / £219 / AU$399 at the beginning of the year, which might make these open earbuds look like a budget alternative. But given how cheap and cheerful these buds tend to be, $229 is a significant sum.

To my knowledge, there are only two pairs of current open earbuds which cost more: the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds (2nd Gen), released in September for $299 / £299 / $449 and the Shokz Openfit Pro, which arrived in January toting ANC-like noise reduction, for $249.95 / £219 / AU$399. Bose clearly knows they're expensive, which is why it launched them alongside a cheaper alternative — and the Shokz set boast a feature very rarely seen in such designs.

Other than the Sony LinkBuds Clip, which sell for $229 / £180 / AU$329 (and which we weren't impressed with in our initial tests), I can't think of any open earbuds I've tested recently that come close to this in price.

Anything over $200 or thereabouts is a premium price for open earbuds, and I wouldn't blame you for thinking twice before buying them. Even Shokz, another segment leader, only charges $199 / £179 / AU$339 for its also-premium Shokz OpenDots 2.

And there are some fantastic options for less. The Soundcore AeroClip 2 , from a reliable brand, go for $169 / £159 (about AU$240). I've been using the Baseus Bowie MC2 for a few months, ever since publishing my review in August, and they cost just $79 / £89 (about AU$180). And other brands have loads of options too, like Soundpeats and Earfun, which also cost little.

As I said when I covered in influx of open-ears earlier this week, there isn't a huge difference in design, feature set or sound quality in any of these earbuds, which makes it really hard to justify splurging for a premium pair. You can get basically the same earbuds as the Galaxy Buds On for half the price, and I'd personally never spend more than about $120 on this kind of earbud.

Because of this, I was expecting the Galaxy Buds On to sell for less than the Galaxy Buds 4 ($179 / £159 / AU$299), and I'm really surprised that's not the case. If you're interested in this form factor, I'd recommend picking up a cheaper pair from a competitor, or waiting to see if they get discounts further down the line.

• Oracle co-CEO says workplace priorities could shift as AI picks up more and more work
• Oracle has already saved days in its recruitment business
• Will humans be replaced, or will they just have different work to do?

Oracle co-CEO Mike Sicilia has questioned how much of the work employees carry out today will actually be necessary in the future, with artificial intelligence not just speeding up some tasks, but fundamentally rewriting entire organizational processes.

Speaking on stage at the company's annual AI World conference, Sicilia suggested AI could "give people more time to be human," raising questions about the everyday tasks we've come to accept as just an integral part of our 9-5s.

"I think we should be questioning how much of the work we've come to accept today is actually necessary going forward," he declared.

AI will actually do the work – not just help you to do the work

Sicilia's comments come as the company unveils a new generation of AI-powered enterprise applications – with a big emphasis on agentic workloads that can take over many processes altogether.

Now that the world has entered the next stage of AI, where experimentation is largely behind us and real use cases are being laid out, Oracle predicts that AI could eliminate entire stages of work. The company's own recruiting team is using agentic AI to turn market research preparation into a 15-20-minute job – something that used to take two to four days.

As part of its latest announcements, Oracle has introduced new Claw-powered Fusion Agentic Applications designed to reason, analyze business data, simulate outcomes and carry out approved actions. Put simply, it marks an important point in AI's timeline with agents can identify scenarios or challenges, simulate next stages, and then carry the best one out.

Strategic Field Demand Planning stands out as a useful tool for stretched HR teams, predicting staffing requirements, identifying coverage gaps and handling adjustments. It's the sort of job that takes manual hours to do but detracts from direct revenue generation.

A separate Executive Briefing Document application can research a customer's history, company news and revenue potential to pull important information into one briefing pre-meeting. Again, another time-consuming administrative job that now frees up human hours to produce revenue-boosting work.

"This enables organizations to translate business objectives into growth opportunities, reliable service, and stronger customer trust," Applications Development SVP Kartik Raghavan wrote.

'More time to be human'

Sicilia's comments point toward a significant change in how businesses measure productivity in the future, and whether completing more work should necessarily mean spending more time on more work.

Ultimately, there's a big difference between just boosting productivity and automating entire workflows, and we're yet to see the latter in any meaningful scale, which means we don't yet know how companies will react to all that extra free time.

Job displacement is still an ongoing concern for many, but one of the core messages conveyed at AI World has been that companies need to totally rethink how they work – and advanced AI adopters could actually just end up having a different type of work for human employees.

"We're giving people more time to be human," Sicilia concluded on stage.

Early shoppers, get in here. Black Friday is officially over a month away, but Currys isn't waiting around until then to kick off its yearly mega-sale. Deals are live now, with savings of up to 40% available on 1,000s of items. I've picked out the 14 best offers, including my recommended deals on TVs, laptops, appliances, smart home tech, headphones, and so much more.

• Browse the full Currys Black Friday sale

Let's start with a regular favourite of mine: it's this Shark Stratos Cordless Vacuum for £199 (was £419.99). I picked up one of these many years ago, and it was one of the best investments I made to make cleaning around the home so much easier. With awesome suction power, an invaluable anti-hair wrap brush roll, and solid battery life, it's hard to argue against for under £200.

I also want to give a shoutout to the JBL Go 5 for £34 (was £39.99). This tiny Bluetooth speaker quickly became our top cheap pick here at TechRadar — and now it's even more affordable, so what's not to like? Get it for great audio quality, a tough build, and it's many funky colour options.

Check out all of my top picks below, or have a browse through all the major categories from the Currys Black Friday sale to see if anything else looks good to you. This is only a small selection of everything that will be available, so I'll be back to update our guide regularly with all the top new offers that are worth the cash.

And if you're worried about buying this early, then know that Currys has launched a Black Friday price guarantee as part of this sale. It means that if anything you purchase between now and November 24 is cheaper before December 1, then they will refund you the difference. Just make sure you register the details of your purchase so you can make a claim if needed.

Currys Black Friday sale — quick links

• Appliances: up to 40% off Bosch, LG & Miele
• Christmas: up to 40% off lights & decorations
• Fitness: up to £1,300 off exercise equipment
• Headphones: JBL & Samsung from £39.99
• Health & Beauty: up to 40% off Philips & Oral-B
• Kitchen: up to £250 off Ninja & Sage
• Laptops: up to £400 off
• Phones: up to £279 off Honor & Samsung
• TVs: from £129
• Vacuums: up to £150 off Dyson & Vax

Currys Black Friday sale — my top 14 deals

Stratos Cordless Vacuum Cleaner: was £419.99 now £199
Here's a fantastic saving on the appliance we awarded 4.5 stars out of five in our Shark Stratos Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner review. I can't praise these vacuums enough for the Anti Hair Wrap tech that's saved me so much time unclogging the brush roll compared to my old vacuum. Flexology makes it a good option for reaching under furniture, and this upgraded Stratos version boasts a duo clean brush roll and Clean Sense IQ that automatically adjusts suction power to tackle tougher areas of dirt. Battery life is an impressive 60 minutes, and you get handy pet tool accessories for free.View Deal

iO2 Electric Toothbrush: was £100 now £39
The iO range is usually a more expensive option in Oral-B's range of electric toothbrushes, but this is a decent deal on the entry-level option – although I have seen it for at least £5 cheaper in the past. It doesn't boast many high-end features, but it has the basic ones you really need to brush your teeth effectively and efficiently, including a two-minute timer, three brushing modes, and a visible pressure sensor. Plus, you get a bonus travel case and refill holder included for free.View Deal

6-in-1 DualZone XL Air Fryer: was £239.99 now £159.99
This is an updated version of the extremely popular and number one best-selling air fryer that we awarded five stars in our Ninja AF300UK review. Older models have been cheaper, but this is still an excellent price for a large dual-basket air fryer that can prepare multiple foods at once, faster and arguably healthier than other conventional cooking methods.View Deal

JBL's latest small speaker was released in summer 2026 and instantly became our new favorite cheap option. It comes in loads of colors, and is pretty much perfectly designed. The Go 5 is a small, tough, waterproof Bluetooth speaker. In our full JBL Go 5 review, we gave it five stars for simply being as good as Bluetooth speakers get when they're this small. View Deal

CX34 Chromebook Plus: was £499 now £399
Display - 14 inches
Processor - Intel Core i5
RAM - 8GB
Storage - 512GB

This version of the Asus Chromebook Plus is older now but it still offers a solid amount of power for the price. It includes 8GB of RAM and an Intel Core i5 processor, boosting performance, boot times, and load times. There's also a reasonable 512GB of storage for the price, and battery life is solid at up to 10 hours on a single charge. That's more than enough to last a full working day. At a little under £400, it's a smart buy for school or college, or just as a home laptop for light use and everyday tasks.View Deal

C6 65-inch OLED TV: was £2199 now £1699
LG reclaimed the top spot on our best TV guide with the C6, as it boasts fantastic overall picture quality and excellent all-around performance, making it the number one pick for most people's needs. Contrast is top-tier, with vivid colors and rich blacks, while motion is handled expertly. No matter if you're watching films, streaming TV shows, playing games, or watching sports, it's up to the job.View Deal

The Breville Barista Express is on par with some of the best espresso machines we've reviewed here at TechRadar. It has a higher learning curve than the average espresso machine, but it allows you to hone your coffee skills to make drinks exactly how you like them. This is just $50 more than the record-low price for the entry-level espresso maker and it remains a best-seller at Amazon, so it's looking like the right time for me to upgrade.View Deal

Tune 780NC: was £119 now £49.99
We were very impressed by these headphones in our review, with particular praise for the noise cancellation, lightweight build and battery life. With a huge price cut for Black Friday, they're even better value — and are surely the best way of stopping outside noise at this price. Given it's such a huge discount, I'd be surprised if they get any cheaper later this month.View Deal

Yoga Slim 7: was £1079 now £949
Display: 14 inch OLED
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 5
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB

If display quality is just as important to you as power, then strongly consider this Lenovo Yoga deal at Currys. It comes with a top-end OLED screen that offers a clear and sharp image – whether you're working on documents or streaming your favourite TV shows. Specs are solid elsewhere, too, including a capable Intel Core Ultra 5 CPU and 16GB of RAM that ensure good overall performance.View Deal

A6S 50-inch 4K TV: was £319 now £299
If you're looking for a small-sized budget display, you can't get much better than this Hisense 50-inch 4K TV that's on sale for £299 at Currys — a record-low price. The Hisense A6S supports 4K Ultra HD resolution, an LED array for respectable brightness and contrast, and Dolby Vision HDR for superior colours. Access to all of your favourite streaming apps is just a button press away, too. All of this for a little under £300? Bargain.View Deal

V15 Detect Absolute: was £649 now £479
This is a solid discount on the Dyson V15 Detect. You get the same dirt detection and extra, laser-equipped head found in the cheaper V12 model, but also significantly more powerful suction (240AW) and a larger dust cup. Check out our Dyson V15 Detect review for more info and why we awarded it an impressive four and a half stars out of five.View Deal

Bravia 8 II 55-inch OLED TV: was £1999 now £1799
The latest version of Sony's Bravia 8 is an incredible OLED TV that boasts some of the best picture quality to date, according to our review. The display was only released this year and this is the biggest discount yet. Sure, it's still quite the investment, but you do get a picture quality that's bright, vivid, and detailed, with strong in-built sound as well. It's perhaps not the best pick for gamers, though, given it lacks some features compared to the competition.View Deal

Salon One-Step Hair Dryer & Volumiser: was £50 now £25
Always a hot item during holiday sales events, Currys has the best-selling Revlon One-Step hair dryer on sale for a record-low price of £25. Thanks to the unique oval brush design, the hairdryer delivers a salon-like blowout with brilliant shine and extra volume.View Deal

CR250 32-inch HD TV: was £139.99 now £129
I'll say upfront that you shouldn't expect a cinematic wonderland from an HD TV at this size and price (although it does support HDR, which is nice), but what I really rate here is that it's just a simple smart TV at a great price. The Roku interface is easy to use, intuitive, and supports all the key streaming services. So, if you want a small TV that does the job and has all the smart viewing options you could want to watch your favourite shows and movies, here it is.View Deal

• The UK Government has fired up a new 'Warm Homes Loan Scheme'
• It offers interest-free or low interest loans of up to £15,000 for solar or a battery, £20,000 for heat pumps or other renewable heating tech
• The cheap loans will benefit from an up-to-5% reduction in interest rates compared to regular loans, with up to 30 years to repay

The UK Government has announced a new 'Warm Homes Loan Scheme' designed to provide either interest-free or low interest loans for homeowners buying solar panels, a battery, or a heat pump (and other renewables besides).

The Guardian reports that energy suppliers such as British Gas and E.On have partnered with lenders (including Homeserve, Tandem Bank and The Money Co-op) to offer the loans.

Those wanting solar panels or a storage battery can get a loan of up to £15,000 (so up to £30,000 for a full system with both). An air-to-water heat pump (meaning one that uses your existing central heating radiators) qualifies for a loan of up to £20,000. Air-to-air heat pump loans go up to £10,000, and a loan for a ground-source heat pump runs up to £35,000.

Only some of these loans will be interest-free, but where interest is charged it'll be at a low level, the Government it has worked with lenders to deliver an "up-to-5% reduction in interest rates from regular loans offered by banks or high street lenders".

The Government also notes that the loan periods can be up to 30 years in some cases, and that "people can shop around for the one that works best".

As well as a loan, some homeowners will still be able to benefit from a grant for a heat pump of up to £9,000 under the current 'Boiler Upgrade Scheme' or BUS (for upgrading away from a fossil fuel heating system). There could be a catch here, though, which I'll come back to shortly.

The Government said: "We know demand for these technologies is soaring, with almost 150,000 solar panel installations in first six months of this year. Heat pump sales also reached a record high in 2025. Our loans will help thousands more households cut their energy bills quickly."

All loan-funded installations will use MCS-certified installers.

Analysis: new loans are welcome — but BUS grants are reportedly changing too

(Image credit: IKEA)

Any financial support for making the move to renewable energy is very welcome for obvious reasons. These systems can be very pricey, as I've found out first-hand — I recently had a solar panel and battery setup installed. If you want a sizeable array and a battery with a higher capacity, that doesn't come cheap, so a loan really helps — and the repayments are subsidized by the savings made on your electricity bill.

I live in Scotland, where I couldn't get a loan of this nature before now, and it's worth noting that this scheme is for the whole of the UK, so those in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can benefit.

What we don't know yet is how many of the loans will be interest-free, as obviously that's the ideal proposition — presumably those will be the shorter-term financing arrangements.

For the low-interest loans, the Government gives an example of a homeowner borrowing £10,000 at 8% over seven years, where the expected repayment would be about £155 per month. With the new loan scheme, we're told they'd save "up to £285 a year on repayments", so they'd be repaying more like £130 per month.

The Government estimates that installing a heat pump, solar panels and battery could help a household save up to £550 per year on energy bills — and with solar export (which is plentiful in the summer), £300 more can be saved. I'd say those figures were right based on my experience (with just solar and battery), and this money offsets the cost of the loan as already noted.

What about the potential catch for the 'Boiler Upgrade Scheme' grant that I mentioned? Apparently in today's budget, chancellor John Healey is reportedly going to scale back these heat pump grants, with hundreds of millions of pounds of potential funding to be cut from its £2.7 billion five-year budget.

Currently a grant typically provides £7,500 towards the cost of a heat pump, but it's viewed dimly as a subsidy mostly used by middle-class homes. The Guardian tells us that the Government is likely to switch to offer the mentioned up to £9,000 grants, but crucially these are supposedly going to be for households in remote areas not connected to the gas network. The idea will be to help those homes transition from very expensive oil heating systems to a heat pump.

Meanwhile, for those not looking at a larger investment in renewables, whether loan-funded or not, plug-in solar remains a fresh and much more affordable option than a full solar install.

Fox’s streaming service adds a new layer of coverage to the 2026 midterm elections.

A larger screen, upgraded speakers, night vision and an optional glare-resistant display headline Amazon’s latest Echo Show.

Amazon’s new Echo Dot and Studio speakers have several smart home features new to the lineup.

• GMO warned customers to back up data, disconnect devices, and shut down systems after a cyberattack
• Attackers allegedly stole customer data, leaked information, and threatened ransomware deployment
• Compromised trading-platform credentials and reports of unauthorized transactions raised concerns for affected users

Japanese internet giant GMO Group has told its customers to scan their computers for viruses, back up all of their data, disconnect the devices from the internet and then shut them down.

The announcement, which literally told customers, “unplug any cords connected to your PC," was made in response to a cyberattack it recently suffered, as well as the threats then made by the malicious actors.

GMO Group gets hit

GMO Internet Group is a large Japanese technology conglomerate whose business spans internet infrastructure, cybersecurity, online advertising, financial services, and more. It brings in billions of dollars every year, and operates a broad portfolio of subsidiaries, among which is Onamae Desktop Cloud, a popular VPS service provider.

Its main customers seem to be individual retail forex (FX) traders in Japan who run automated trading software. It provides a rented Windows desktop hosted on GMO’s servers, allowing customers to keep trading applications running, while being able to shut down their own computers.

On October 20, 2026, the company disclosed having suffered a cyberattack in which threat actors installed malware on some customer environments. Apparently, up to 26,739 servers were at risk, and the company responded by progressively shutting them down, launching an investigation, and cleaning them up.

“We have confirmed that unauthorized access by a third party occurred against Onamae.com Desktop Cloud and that unauthorized programs were installed in some customers’ server environments,” the company said at the time.

The investigation determined that the attackers walked away with sensitive customer data, although it wasn’t said how many customers were compromised, or what types of information were taken. It was also later reported that the unnamed attackers were demanding roughly $50 million in ransom, in exchange for deleting the data. They threatened to release the data on the dark web if the demands aren’t met. Onamae said it wouldn’t pay the attackers, and the data eventually did leak.

Despite the data leaking, no known entities claimed responsibility for the attack.

Condolences money

The attackers also threatened to install ransomware on devices belonging to Onamae customers, triggering the warning and the call for everyone to shut down and unplug their devices:

“1. Request for a full scan of your own device for virus checks 2. Request for backup 3. Request to disconnect network and power from customer PC. Before 12:00 PM on Tuesday, October 27make sure to back up, disconnect the network, turn off the power, and unplug any cords connected to your PC,” the warning, machine-translated from Japanese, reads.

It seems the attackers never acted on their threat, since no ransomware was found on customer servers.

Onamae said it would not pay the attackers, but would instead compensate each customer $30 for their troubles, regardless or not if they actually suffered any damage or not. Those that suffered more meaningful damage will be compensated separately, it was said. Replacement computers were also offered, BleepingComputer reports.

The company has continued its investigation of the attack and is currently analyzing the leaked data to see how many customers were affected, and what is at risk. It also warned the public and the media not to share the leaked information, threatening legal information against those who do.

In one of the updates, Onamae said login credentials and some account details from users of trading platforms MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 were compromised. “Some customers have reported transactions in their trading accounts that they do not recognize,” it added, before urging customers to reset their passwords and terminate all active sessions.

The full scope of the attack, as well as material damages (which might be substantial), are yet to be seen.

Via BleepingComputer