Technology

Some celebrations are in order today, as it’s been one year since NBN Co rolled out its ‘Accelerate Great’ program, giving Australia’s internet a much-needed boost and providing some excellent new entries in my guide to the best NBN plans.

On September 14, 2025, millions of Australians connected to the fixed-line NBN network via fibre to the premises (FTTP) or hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) became eligible for substantially faster internet speeds.

NBN 100 — or Home Fast — received the biggest uplift, jumping fivefold from 100Mbps to 500Mbps, while the NBN 250 Home Superfast tier was tripled to 750Mbps. The Home Ultrafast tier retained its near-gigabit download speeds but had its maximum upload speed doubled to 100Mbps.

NBN Co also introduced Home Hyperfast, its first residential multi-gigabit tier, offering wholesale speeds of up to 2,000/200Mbps over FTTP and 2,000/100Mbps over HFC.

It was one of the biggest changes to the NBN since the network's rollout began. But one year later, did Australia's fixed-line network actually cope with all that extra speed?

The short answer appears to be yes.

The NBN got faster — even if one number suggests otherwise

Using data supplied by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), we can obtain a particularly useful before-and-after snapshot.

Its September 2025 report used measurements taken in the May prior, several months before Accelerate Great arrived. At that point, fixed-line NBN services delivered an average of 102% of their advertised download speed during the busy evening hours.

The ACCC's next round of testing began on September 14 — the same day the new tiers launched — and measured upgraded services only after they had transitioned to their faster speeds.

Average busy-hour performance subsequently slipped to 100% of plan speed. By the ACCC's final report in June 2026, based on March measurements, it stood at 99.4%. While these average download speed figures appear to show a dip in performance, the opposite is in fact true.

This is because the percentage is relative to the speed customers are paying for. Before the upgrade, a connection delivering 102% of a 100Mbps plan would be achieving roughly 102Mbps. A connection delivering 100% of a 500Mbps plan is achieving around 500Mbps.

The latter statistic shows not only that NBN Co delivered on its promise of accelerated download speeds, but that the superior FTTP infrastructure was capable of delivering stable connections to Australian homes during the busiest hours of the day. If you still connect via fibre to the node (FTTN) or fibre to the curb (FTTC), upgrading to FTTP can therefore open the door to substantially faster speed tiers, while removing the copper-based limitations that can affect them.

Indeed, immediately after the launch of the Accelerate Great program, FTTP customers on the new NBN 500 tier averaged 102.5% of their plan speed during the busy hours of 7pm to 11pm. That's equivalent to a little over 500Mbps. HFC NBN 500 connections averaged 97.4%, or roughly 487Mbps.

NBN 750 services over FTTP averaged 97.3%, equivalent to around 730Mbps.

So, rather than struggling under the sudden increase in available bandwidth, the fixed-line network was generally able to deliver close to the full speed of these substantially faster plans.

NBN 500 quickly became the new normal

I’m not alone in thinking the best NBN 500 plans are the goldilocks option for the majority of Australian homes — NBN Co itself has deemed it to be the most popular. And the change in the ACCC's testing sample perfectly illustrates just how quick the uptake of this particular tier was.

Before Accelerate Great, NBN 100 dominated the ACCC's monitored higher-speed connections, with 530 services in its May 2025 sample. For added context, there were just over 2.1 million active NBN 100 connections in the ACCC’s June 2025 Wholesale Market Report.

In the first testing period after the upgrade, there were already 462 NBN 500 connections and 112 NBN 750 connections, while the number of NBN 100 services had fallen to 124. At the same time, the ACCC’s Wholesale Market Report showed a huge decrease in active NBN 100 connections, to just over 780,000. Subsequently, the number of active connections of 100Mbps and faster (they’re currently not split by download data rate) jumped from around 695,000 to just over 2.4 million.

By March 2026, the ACCC was monitoring 624 NBN 500 services. There are also now over 3 million active connections 100Mbps and faster, while 100Mbps connections have dipped further still to just over 713,000.

In other words, the mainstream high-speed NBN connection had effectively shifted from around 100Mbps to around 500Mbps in a matter of months.

What’s more, that extra speed didn't appear to come at the expense of widespread network reliability. The ACCC's final report recorded an average of 0.16 outages lasting more than 30 seconds per fixed-line service per day, which it said was consistent with previous reports.

That's significant. Accelerate Great dramatically increased the amount of bandwidth available to many households, but there isn't an obvious corresponding spike in outages or a collapse in evening performance.

There is one catch

While the published figures indicate a positive outcome for the Accelerate Great program, it’s not all good news all round. The ACCC’s data also shows that not every connection has been able to make full use of the extra speed.

Before the upgrades, around 3% of the fixed-line services monitored by the ACCC were classified as underperforming. An underperforming service is one which “rarely or never attains plan speed”. The percentage of underperforming services increased to around 4% immediately following Accelerate Great and increased further to 5.6% by the final report.

Historically, underperforming connections were overwhelmingly associated with fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), where the final section of the connection still travels over copper. Following the introduction of the new tiers, however, the ACCC started seeing a greater proportion of underperforming FTTP and HFC services as well.

That doesn’t necessarily mean FTTP or HFC were struggling with the increased bandwidth. The ACCC identified customer-side equipment as one possible cause of underperformance, including network hardware and cabling incapable of supporting the new higher speeds.

Moving from 100Mbps to 500Mbps suddenly makes parts of your home network that previously weren't a limitation much more important. Primarily, I’m talking about network equipment. For example, an older or lower-spec router could become the weak link, preventing you from seeing the full benefit of a 500Mbps or 750Mbps NBN connection over Wi-Fi.

In some respects, Accelerate Great has therefore moved the bottleneck. For many households, the question is no longer whether the NBN connection itself is capable of delivering enough bandwidth, but whether the equipment inside the home can keep up with it.

You can learn more about the equipment best suited to take advantage of the new speed tiers here.

A year later, the upgrade looks like a success

There are caveats to the ACCC's figures. Its Measuring Broadband Australia program used a sample of volunteer households rather than every NBN connection in the country, and the make-up of that sample changed between reports.

But the overall picture is difficult to interpret as anything other than positive.

Eligible NBN users were given substantially more bandwidth, the majority of monitored services continued to deliver around their advertised speeds, and the network did so without an obvious deterioration in reliability.

That's especially impressive considering how large the jump was. Going from 100Mbps to 500Mbps wasn't a modest annual speed bump — it increased the headline download speed of one of Australia's most popular NBN products fivefold.

A year later, the ACCC's figures suggest the network was largely ready for it.

And that's also why anyone still sitting on an NBN 50 plan with an eligible FTTP or HFC connection should probably take another look at what's available.

The move to NBN 500 is far more substantial than switching from 50Mbps to 100Mbps. The extra bandwidth won't make every web page load five times faster, but it can make a considerable difference in homes where several people are simultaneously streaming, gaming, downloading large files, using cloud services or working from home.

With Australian households connecting more devices and consuming increasing amounts of data, those benefits are only likely to become more relevant.

One year after Accelerate Great arrived, the most encouraging thing isn't simply that NBN plans became faster. It's that when NBN Co substantially raised the speed limit, the network largely managed to keep up.

The plans to get

If you're eligible for the free fibre upgrade, have yet to make the switch, but are interested in doing so, then you may wish to find out more about the fastest NBN plans. These are, understandably, going to be the ones that will see you taking advantage of the superior infrastructure.

If you're looking for some quick and easy recommendations, look no further.

Exetel One | 500Mbps | AU$80p/m

It's really going to have to take something special for an NBN 500 plan to dethrone Exetel as my top recommendation. Yes, it's possible to pay less in the first year of service, but from year two it's unrivalled. The telco has been found to overdeliver on speeds in ACCC reportingand even deliver fast ping speeds, ideal for gamers. Plus, you have the option of boosting your speed even further for AU$1 a day. It's simply the best.

• AU$80 minimum cost
• AU$960 yearly costView Deal

Kogan Internet Gold Plus | 500Mbps | AU$68.90p/m (first 12 months, then AU$85.90p/m)

If you want to pay as little as possible an NBN 500 plan, perhaps just to see if it's for you, then Kogan Internet's plan is the unequivocal choice, being the cheapest over the first 12 months. That's thanks to a generous 12-month discount, combined with a low introductory cost, that's recently gone lower still. Plus, the telco receives generally favourable reviews from customers.

• AU$68.90 minimum cost
• AU$826.80 first year cost
• AU$1,030.80 ongoing yearly costView Deal

Spintel Home Turbo Fast | 750Mbps | AU$69p/m (first 6 months, then AU$94.95p/m)

If it's the most affordable NBN 750 plan you seek, you simply can't ignore this option from Spintel. It has gone slightly lower in price before, but the AU$69 introductory monthly cost is still the cheapest I can currently find. As a result it's the only provider to come in under AU$1,000 in the first year of service.

• AU$69 total minimum cost
• AU$983.70 first year cost
• AU$1,139.40 ongoing yearly costView Deal

Superloop | 860Mbps TES | AU$84p/m (first 6 months, then AU$114p/m)

Superloop did increase the monthly cost of its NBN 1000 as of July 1, but it remains my top pick. This is primarily because it's been found to overdeliver on speed promises, to speed in excess of 900Mbps, so you are getting a lot for your money. Plus, the telco receives overwhelmingly positive reviews from customers.

• AU$84 minimum cost
• AU$1,188 first year cost
• AU$1,368 ongoing yearly costView Deal

• Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons has a smaller spell set, each with multiple uses, for controller accessibility
• Invoke studio head Dominic Guay says this also means the combat won't slow down if there were a spell wheel
• He says there's also a bit of "resource management" to spells, and players will need to blend melee and magic combat

Invoke Studios has confirmed that Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons has a smaller spell set, with each spell offering multiple uses, rather than a large variety, mainly for controller accessibility.

That's according to studio head Dominic Guay, who told TechRadar Gaming in an interview at Gamescom that a smaller spell set opened up new playable opportunities, making combat more approachable on a controller while also keeping the action fast-paced.

This meant abandoning a classic spell wheel and narrowing its spell options, so they're all accessible on the gamepad.

"The breakthrough for us, it started with making direct access to these spells on the controller," Guay said. "A lot of games in the past where you had powers or spells, you had a lot of stuff to select from, and that's cool, and that was even our first reflex. But when you do that, you slow things down, and there's a limit to going through a wheel and choosing powers. There's a limit to that."

He added, "By making everything accessible on a controller, we started playing with our spells a lot more."

During the same interview, Guay explained why the team chose a warlock protagonist, saying "creative magic" was central to the story and gameplay.

The studio head also said it was a challenge to manage the game's magic system because, when you consider Dungeons & Dragons, "it can do everything," and Invoke needed to pick its spells wisely.

"Instead of adding like 100 spells, we thought, let's have less, which makes sense for a warlock also," he continued, "and let's make them more multiple-use cases, connect them, one to another. Connect them with some enemies. The way these enemies behave in a challenge."

Spells, which are anchored to magic objects, tomes, monsters, and more, also have their own upgradeable skill trees and can be used alongside melee combat. This creates a "rhythm," with Guay explaining that players can't just stick to long-range spells and will need to go into close quarters with enemies, which works well for protagonist Kaatri, a warrior-turned warlock.

Players can use spells to set up enemies, giving them an "advantage" for critical hits, and there are various ways to do this with different types of enemies.

"There's a bit of resource management too. You can't just do spells forever," Guay said. "There's a point where you're going to be low on ability to cast spells, so you're going to have to get in there at some point."

Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons launches in 2027 for PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.

Lanterns episode 5 has landed on HBO Max — and it's not only the DC Universe (DCU) TV show's most devastating chapter so far for myriad reasons, but it also wraps up its 2016 storyline. From here on out, then, we'll be back in 2026, aka the DCU's current timeline.

Its present-day plot will have to wait another week, though, because we need to dissect all the hugely significant events that happened in Lanterns' fifth episode. Consider this your one and only warning: full spoilers immediately follow for Lanterns chapter 5, titled 'Lights Out'. If you haven't seen it yet, bookmark this page for later and return once you're caught up.

Who dies in Lanterns episode 5?

Will Macon is one of three major casualties in the DCU TV show's fifth chapter (Image credit: John Johnson/HBO Max)

Frankly, lots and lots of people die. Innocent Rushville civilians caught in the crossfire and foot soldiers in Will Macon's militia and Antaan's extraterrestrial forces all bite the dust in the HBO Max show's latest installment.

Three notable individuals also lose their lives — the first two being the aforementioned Macon and Antaan. Macon is actually killed by Antaan, the latter believing the former is the Manhunter that Antaan's forces have been pursuing for some time.

However, after Antaan murders Macon and cuts out his heart to confirm Macon is the Manhunter — remember, a Manhunter's heart crystallizes once they die — he realizes Macon isn't the Manhunter. Cue Antaan going after Hal Jordan because the latter lied about the Manhunter's identity when the pair crossed paths earlier in episode 5.

Unfortunately for Antaan, he doesn't last much longer. In an attempt to kill Hal, he activates the explosive device woven into his skeleton. But before he goes out with a bang, trying to take Earth's first Green Lantern with him, Hal uses his ring to make a whirlwind construct that flings Antaan into the air before he detonates.

Zoe is the third and final important character who meets their demise (Image credit: HBO Max)

Of this episode's three big deaths, though, Zoe's is arguably the most significant.

Lanterns episode 4 finally revealed Zoe was the Manhunter, but she also appeared to meet her end in that chapter after her truck was destroyed by a lethal laser satellite attack. As it turns out, she survived that ordeal — one she instigated herself to try to trick Hal (with a little help from John Stewart) into thinking she was no longer a threat to him, the Green Lantern Corps, or the Guardians, which would finally make Hal leave Rushville.

It's ironic, then, that Stewart is the one who puts her down. The pair slept together twice in the DCU Chapter One show's first four episodes. Meanwhile, Zoe saved Stewart's life after he was critically injured when his rental car — you know, the one that Hal purposefully crashed in last week's entry — exploded. So, it stands to reason that Stewart wouldn't be the one who takes Zoe out.

Not so. Stewart shoots Zoe in the head and cuts out her heart, which crystallizes in his hands, so he can not only prove to the Guardians that the Manhunter has been destroyed, but also that he's worthy of being Hal's replacement. Speaking of which...

Why does John Stewart give up the Green Lantern ring?

John's been training for this moment for his entire life, so why does he walk away from it? (Image credit: HBO)

Plainly, Stewart doesn't actually believe he's worthy of the Green Lantern mantle. That much is clear in his decision to give Hal's ring and lantern, which he wrestled off his mentor in a climactic duel, back to the Guardians of the Universe.

There are other reasons why Stewart makes this choice, though. Ultimately, he doesn't believe in working for a manipulative group of individuals like the Guardians, nor does he feel that, despite training to become a Green Lantern for as long as he can remember, it's his dream to join the space cop agency. Remember, he was pushed into this by his parents and, after plenty of measured introspection, it's evident Stewart doesn't want his parents to live vicariously through him anymore. As such, he takes ownership of his life and walks away from the lofty goal they've projected onto him since day one.

What will happen in Lanterns episode 6?

We'll finally start to investigate Hal Jordan's demise in Lanterns' next entry (Image credit: DC Studios/HBO Max)

With 'Lights Out' officially bringing Lanterns' 2016 storyline to a close, all eyes will now turn to the sci-fi crime series' present-day plot.

First and foremost, the DC comic book show's sixth episode will need to pick things up around Hal Jordan's death. It feels like an age since Lanterns shockingly revealed Jordan's demise at the end of its first chapter, so it'll be interesting to see if next week's episode begins where the show's premiere left off, or if it'll go back prior to this pivotal event.

Who murdered Hal Jordan? (Image credit: John Johnson/HBO Max)

If the 2026 storyline starts before Jordan is murdered, we'll likely find out what he and Stewart have gotten up to in the decade since we last saw them. I wouldn't be amazed if we also learn what happened to the likes of Bill Macon, why Sheriff Kerry Kane stuck around Rushville after the town's near-decimation in 2016, and the wider impact that those explosive events had on those who had to pick up the pieces.

Last but by no means least, I wager we'll discover when and why Guy Gardner became Earth's new Green Lantern. It's clear he was chosen by the Guardians after Stewart refused to answer the call. However, we don't know how long he's been operating as a Green Lantern or, based on a clip shown on a recent episode of The Jimmy Kimmel Show, how Gardner and Stewart know each other. Over to you, Lanterns.

• Sony corrected reports claiming its disc production would collapse by 90%
• The company's final disc plant will reduce output by 10%
• Sony still plans to stop producing new physical games in 2028

Sony has denied reports suggesting it plans to abandon physical disc manufacturing entirely, despite widespread speculation surrounding its future operations.

The company instead confirmed that its sole remaining disc-making plant will simply reduce output by 10%, not the previously reported 90%.

Sony DADC clarified the figure after earlier remarks caused considerable confusion among industry observers.

Clearing up a misread statement

“To clarify and avoid any misleading information: in that statement Dietmar anticipated an overall product volume decline by 10 percent, not a decline down to 10 percent,” said a Sony DADC spokesperson.

The correction arrived roughly two months after earlier reports claimed the plant was already being repurposed away from discs entirely.

Sony has consistently maintained that new physical game production will still end entirely in January 2028, despite this week's clarification.

The clarification means Sony's Thalgau plant will still operate at nearly full capacity beyond the original 2028 cutoff for releases.

Sony DADC did not respond to a separate fact-check request regarding whether all 300 plant employees face retraining toward alternative roles.

Reports from earlier this year suggested employees were being shifted away from discs toward microlens production at the same facility.

Discs survive, but ownership questions remain

Sony confirmed publishers may continue reordering existing disc-based games even after new physical production formally ceases in January of 2028.

PlayStation disc games already on shelves will remain available to buy for the foreseeable future.

This arrangement suggests the transition away from physical media will happen gradually rather than through an abrupt cutoff for publishers.

Even so, wider industry trends continue pointing toward digital distribution gradually replacing physical discs across most major platforms.

Several major publishers remain notably absent from Microsoft's own separate disc-to-digital initiative, raising questions about industry cooperation levels.

Sony recently argued in court that consumers cannot reasonably believe they truly own purchased games, since copies can exist simultaneously.

This legal stance, combined with the recent production clarification, still leaves genuine uncertainty around long-term disc availability for players worldwide.

Sony's carefully worded statement corrects one misunderstanding but does little to settle deeper doubts about ownership rights among consumers today.

Whether the Thalgau plant continues producing discs well beyond 2028 also remains unclear, given how quickly assumptions were proven wrong.

Consumers hoping for full clarity on Sony's long-term disc strategy will likely need to wait, since key details remain unconfirmed.

For now, the disc format appears to be shrinking gradually rather than disappearing suddenly, as many observers had initially feared.

Via The Verge

• Sony corrected reports claiming its disc production would collapse by 90%
• The company's final disc plant will reduce output by 10%
• Sony still plans to stop producing new physical games in 2028

Sony has denied reports suggesting it plans to abandon physical disc manufacturing entirely, despite widespread speculation surrounding its future operations.

The company instead confirmed that its sole remaining disc-making plant will simply reduce output by 10%, not the previously reported 90%.

Sony DADC clarified the figure after earlier remarks caused considerable confusion among industry observers.

Clearing up a misread statement

“To clarify and avoid any misleading information: in that statement Dietmar anticipated an overall product volume decline by 10 percent, not a decline down to 10 percent,” said a Sony DADC spokesperson.

The correction arrived roughly two months after earlier reports claimed the plant was already being repurposed away from discs entirely.

Sony has consistently maintained that new physical game production will still end entirely in January 2028, despite this week's clarification.

The clarification means Sony's Thalgau plant will still operate at nearly full capacity beyond the original 2028 cutoff for releases.

Sony DADC did not respond to a separate fact-check request regarding whether all 300 plant employees face retraining toward alternative roles.

Reports from earlier this year suggested employees were being shifted away from discs toward microlens production at the same facility.

Discs survive, but ownership questions remain

Sony confirmed publishers may continue reordering existing disc-based games even after new physical production formally ceases in January of 2028.

PlayStation disc games already on shelves will remain available to buy for the foreseeable future.

This arrangement suggests the transition away from physical media will happen gradually rather than through an abrupt cutoff for publishers.

Even so, wider industry trends continue pointing toward digital distribution gradually replacing physical discs across most major platforms.

Several major publishers remain notably absent from Microsoft's own separate disc-to-digital initiative, raising questions about industry cooperation levels.

Sony recently argued in court that consumers cannot reasonably believe they truly own purchased games, since copies can exist simultaneously.

This legal stance, combined with the recent production clarification, still leaves genuine uncertainty around long-term disc availability for players worldwide.

Sony's carefully worded statement corrects one misunderstanding but does little to settle deeper doubts about ownership rights among consumers today.

Whether the Thalgau plant continues producing discs well beyond 2028 also remains unclear, given how quickly assumptions were proven wrong.

Consumers hoping for full clarity on Sony's long-term disc strategy will likely need to wait, since key details remain unconfirmed.

For now, the disc format appears to be shrinking gradually rather than disappearing suddenly, as many observers had initially feared.

Via The Verge

• NATO disrupted Russia’s Arctic cable exercise before the reported weapon could be deployed
• Russian submarines rehearsed attacks that could leave little evidence afterward
• Two 1,400km cables connect Svalbard with mainland Norway beneath Arctic waters

NATO allies disrupted a Russian naval exercise near Svalbard after detecting preparations involving a secret device intended for damaging subsea communications infrastructure.

British, Norwegian and American forces confronted vessels linked to Russia’s deep-sea research directorate during exercises conducted in Arctic waters this spring.

The reported operation did not damage any cable, but officials said the equipment could remove evidence that would identify its use after an attack.

NATO confronted Russian vessels during Arctic cable exercise

The equipment was reportedly being tested by GUGI, a Russian military organization responsible for specialized underwater operations and deep-ocean missions.

Officials said the device could cut communications lines while leaving little physical evidence capable of connecting Moscow to the incident.

The confrontation occurred near Svalbard, where two fiber-optic cables extend for about 1,400km and descend roughly 2,700 meters underwater.

Those lines support data transfers from SvalSat, a major satellite ground facility that also serves NASA’s Near Space Network in orbit.

The cables are only around garden-hose thickness, yet they support services carrying enormous quantities of information between the Arctic territory and Norway.

Norway is developing another connection involving Svalbard and Jan Mayen, with completion expected during 2028 under its current infrastructure plans.

The location matters militarily because vessels from Russia’s northern naval facilities must cross the Bear Gap when entering Atlantic waters.

That passage spans roughly 400 miles, making nearby infrastructure significant for communications and surveillance across the wider High North region.

Why NATO is concerned about the cable-cutting capability

Western intelligence officials have become increasingly concerned that Moscow could expand covert disruption against critical infrastructure across Europe’s vulnerable networks.

Three American officials told Reuters that subsea communications lines could feature in a future attempt to test NATO’s collective-defense commitment.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe travelled to Moscow in August for discussions that included warnings about escalating sabotage activity in Europe.

Russia has rejected accusations that it conducts sabotage inside NATO countries or seeks direct military confrontation with the alliance, but Norway is not having it.

"Through our joint operation, we sent a clear message to Russia that they cannot operate covertly," Norway's Defense Minister Tore Sandvik declared in a statement.

"We have made it unequivocally clear to Russian authorities that any attempt to target our critical infrastructure will be detected and met with consequences."

Earlier British disclosures also linked Russian deep-sea submarines with activity near British waters involving energy pipelines and telecommunications systems.

Britain subsequently allocated another $136 million toward P-8 maritime patrol aircraft as suspicious Russian vessel movements increased around vulnerable infrastructure.

Undersea cables carry about 99% of Britain’s international telecommunications and data traffic, raising concerns about disruptions to essential public services.

British and Norwegian officials have carried their findings to Moscow, apparently hoping public disclosure would discourage any future use of the technology.

However, reports so far do not establish that Russia has used this device against a cable, but rather that it has rehearsed its deployment.

Via United24media

• NATO disrupted Russia’s Arctic cable exercise before the reported weapon could be deployed
• Russian submarines rehearsed attacks that could leave little evidence afterward
• Two 1,400km cables connect Svalbard with mainland Norway beneath Arctic waters

NATO allies disrupted a Russian naval exercise near Svalbard after detecting preparations involving a secret device intended for damaging subsea communications infrastructure.

British, Norwegian and American forces confronted vessels linked to Russia’s deep-sea research directorate during exercises conducted in Arctic waters this spring.

The reported operation did not damage any cable, but officials said the equipment could remove evidence that would identify its use after an attack.

NATO confronted Russian vessels during Arctic cable exercise

The equipment was reportedly being tested by GUGI, a Russian military organization responsible for specialized underwater operations and deep-ocean missions.

Officials said the device could cut communications lines while leaving little physical evidence capable of connecting Moscow to the incident.

The confrontation occurred near Svalbard, where two fiber-optic cables extend for about 1,400km and descend roughly 2,700 meters underwater.

Those lines support data transfers from SvalSat, a major satellite ground facility that also serves NASA’s Near Space Network in orbit.

The cables are only around garden-hose thickness, yet they support services carrying enormous quantities of information between the Arctic territory and Norway.

Norway is developing another connection involving Svalbard and Jan Mayen, with completion expected during 2028 under its current infrastructure plans.

The location matters militarily because vessels from Russia’s northern naval facilities must cross the Bear Gap when entering Atlantic waters.

That passage spans roughly 400 miles, making nearby infrastructure significant for communications and surveillance across the wider High North region.

Why NATO is concerned about the cable-cutting capability

Western intelligence officials have become increasingly concerned that Moscow could expand covert disruption against critical infrastructure across Europe’s vulnerable networks.

Three American officials told Reuters that subsea communications lines could feature in a future attempt to test NATO’s collective-defense commitment.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe travelled to Moscow in August for discussions that included warnings about escalating sabotage activity in Europe.

Russia has rejected accusations that it conducts sabotage inside NATO countries or seeks direct military confrontation with the alliance, but Norway is not having it.

"Through our joint operation, we sent a clear message to Russia that they cannot operate covertly," Norway's Defense Minister Tore Sandvik declared in a statement.

"We have made it unequivocally clear to Russian authorities that any attempt to target our critical infrastructure will be detected and met with consequences."

Earlier British disclosures also linked Russian deep-sea submarines with activity near British waters involving energy pipelines and telecommunications systems.

Britain subsequently allocated another $136 million toward P-8 maritime patrol aircraft as suspicious Russian vessel movements increased around vulnerable infrastructure.

Undersea cables carry about 99% of Britain’s international telecommunications and data traffic, raising concerns about disruptions to essential public services.

British and Norwegian officials have carried their findings to Moscow, apparently hoping public disclosure would discourage any future use of the technology.

However, reports so far do not establish that Russia has used this device against a cable, but rather that it has rehearsed its deployment.

Via United24media

• StarCraft is making a shift from the real-time strategy genre to the open-world shooter genre
• The development team realised during early discussions that "we weren't talking about a game from above"
• According to StarCraft general manager Dan Hay, "it was boots on the ground every time" when the team was talking about the game

The process of StarCraft shifting from real-time strategy to open-world shooter emerged naturally from repeated team discussions about "the story we wanted to tell," as well as in-game moments, armor, exploration, discovery, and the desire to experience the world from ground level, according to the game's general manager, Dan Hay.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at BlizzCon 2026 in Anaheim, Hay went on to describe the process that will see the series' perspective change entirely in the next StarCraft game: "Every time we drew a picture or every time we talked about it, it was boots on the ground every time."

These conversations then snowballed, gathering up other game features and elements, it seems, which kept the direction of travel going towards taking StarCraft into being a shooter. "We started to talk about perspective and how that's going to work; we started to talk about the armor, and we started to talk about what could attack that armor and how it could rip it apart if it needed to.

"We would talk about things with the characters [too], and we started to very quickly realize we weren't talking about a game from above; we were talking about a game down on the ground where you felt every inch of the game," described Hay.

He added, giving a nod to the narrative in store for players when StarCraft releases, that it was obvious that the game would be "down on the ground, and that just made sense for the story."

But as well as changing the player's perspective from looking down to looking out and around, the team looked at this change for the series to embrace the open-world exploration and discovery aspects of the upcoming game.

"[We wanted to] make sure that there is an opportunity to explore. Make sure that there's an opportunity to discover. See a thing off in the distance and go — 'is that something that I saw from the first game? Is it?' And then head off to it."

StarCraft was teased with a cinematic trailer at BlizzCon 2026 and is slated to release in 2030.

• Two AMD cards cost $18,775 yet beat GPT-5.6 Sol within hours weekly
• Multi-Token Prediction nearly doubled throughput to 320.2 tokens every second
• Twenty million monthly tokens save a team $11,738 yearly against Sol pricing

A hardware reviewer compared a dual-GPU AMD workstation against cloud subscription pricing to determine which option delivers cheaper AI inference over time.

Two AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 cards, each carrying 32 GB of memory, were installed inside a workstation costing roughly $18,775 as tested.

The evaluation measured electricity draw, token throughput, and amortized hardware cost, then set those figures against several cloud subscription tiers for comparison.

How cloud pricing sets the bar

Cloud AI providers charge customers per million tokens generated, with prices ranging from $1.20 for GPT-5.6 Luna up to $30 for GPT-5.6 Sol.

Mid-tier models sit in between, with Claude Sonnet 5 at $10 and Claude Opus 5 at $25 per million output tokens generated.

The more expensive the cloud model a team would otherwise use, the sooner owned hardware pays for itself.

Testing both AMD cards together, the workstation generated 156.2 tokens every second while serving eight simultaneous users during this test.

A speed technique called Multi-Token Prediction nearly doubled that figure, pushing throughput up to 320.2 tokens every second, with identical output quality.

At that 320.2 token-per-second speed, the machine only needs 3.5 hours of weekly use to beat GPT-5.6 Sol on cost, 4.2 hours to beat Claude Opus 5, and 8.8 hours to beat Gemini 3.1 Pro.

A team generating above 20 million tokens per month against GPT-5.6 Sol pricing gains real savings using this owned hardware setup.

At that volume, running the workstation costs about $6,262 yearly in electricity and amortized hardware, against roughly $18,000 yearly in matching Sol fees.

That $11,738 yearly gap is the actual evidence behind the claim that heavy monthly usage makes AMD's rig worthwhile.

If a company instead relies on GPT-5.6 Luna, priced at just $1.20 per million tokens, that math flips entirely in the other direction.

The workstation would then need 94.3 hours of weekly use just to match that far cheaper cloud subscription's total cost.

Since a single week only contains 168 hours total, reaching that particular break-even point remains genuinely difficult without near constant, saturated usage.

Electricity itself was a minor factor throughout, since both cards together drew between 310 and 510 watts under sustained load conditions.

Where the economics tip in AMD's favor

A smaller team producing only five million tokens monthly, priced against Gemini 3.1 Pro, would spend $6,262 yearly to displace just $720 in cloud costs, a clear loss.

That comparison shows the hardware only makes financial sense once usage climbs high enough to close a large yearly cost gap.

A single R9700 card handled an eight billion parameter AI model alone, processing 34.5 tokens every second without help from a second card.

Running just one card also lowers the effective break-even point further, since a lone card draws far less power under equivalent load.

That single card pulled between 221 and 283 watts depending on simultaneous user count, well under the 310 to 510 watts both cards drew together.

Smaller models therefore offer a second path into positive economics, letting lighter workloads justify a $1,880 single-card purchase long before a team can justify the full $3,760 dual-card upgrade.

Price alone still does not settle the question, since these locally run models measurably trail top cloud systems on complex reasoning benchmarks.

On one independent intelligence index, the 27 billion parameter AMD model scored 37 points against Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro scoring 46 points instead.

Therefore, a team chasing the cheaper token count may be trading away real reasoning quality, not just cloud subscription fees.

Via Puget Systems

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, September 13 (game #1693).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1694) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1694) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #1694) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1694) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1694) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• Z

• L

• R

• T

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1694) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1694, are…

• ZEBRA
• LEGAL
• RATIO
• TROLL

A very rare outing for the letter Z and the magnificent striped animal ZEBRA.

Before this, though, I had made yet another silly mistake on what became LEGAL, placing A in a position that had already been ruled out.

My excuse is I’m playing Quordle with a heavy cold, but I really should know better by now.

Daily Sequence today (game #1694) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1694, are…

• WRECK
• COMIC
• MAUVE
• OLIVE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1693, Sunday, 13 September: LUCID, SPRAY, MANGE, EMAIL
• Quordle #1692, Saturday, 12 September: SUPER, BRUSH, RESET, SOWER
• Quordle #1691, Friday, 11 September: PLUSH, PAINT, RIVAL, AFOUL
• Quordle #1690, Thursday, 10 September: AGENT, EXILE, TITAN, PUREE
• Quordle #1689, Wednesday, 9 September: HAPPY, GONER, SMACK, MOTIF
• Quordle #1688, Tuesday, 8 September: FLUNG, DIARY, HALVE, BERTH
• Quordle #1687, Monday, 7 September: VISIT, CLANK, FEVER, OCEAN
• Quordle #1686, Sunday, 6 September: PILOT, HONOR, BOWEL, TAUNT
• Quordle #1685, Saturday, 5 September: GNASH, GEEKY, WHELP, PUTTY
• Quordle #1684, Friday, 4 September: QUICK, BEEFY, TRUCK, SNAIL
• Quordle #1683, Thursday, 3 September: SIGMA, ESSAY, MERRY, LLAMA
• Quordle #1682, Wednesday, 2 September: INCUR, FELLA, TITAN, FROZE
• Quordle #1681, Tuesday, 1 September: NASAL, ROUTE, ANKLE, MIGHT
• Quordle #1680, Monday, 31 August: ALIVE, LOUSE, ABOVE, MOSSY
• Quordle #1679, Sunday, 30 August: USING, SORRY, FILET, PIPER
• Quordle #1678, Saturday, 29 August: OVINE, ALLOY, VOICE, CARVE
• Quordle #1677, Friday, 28 August: WAIST, EDICT, BONUS, DEUCE
• Quordle #1676, Thursday, 27 August: SHEEN, TRICE, WAGON, BEVEL
• Quordle #1675, Wednesday, 26 August: OPIUM, EPOCH, BESET, FINER
• Quordle #1674, Tuesday, 25 August: BLESS, FELON, PORCH, CHOSE

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, September 13 (game #1693).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1694) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1694) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #1694) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1694) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1694) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• Z

• L

• R

• T

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1694) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1694, are…

• ZEBRA
• LEGAL
• RATIO
• TROLL

A very rare outing for the letter Z and the magnificent striped animal ZEBRA.

Before this, though, I had made yet another silly mistake on what became LEGAL, placing A in a position that had already been ruled out.

My excuse is I’m playing Quordle with a heavy cold, but I really should know better by now.

Daily Sequence today (game #1694) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1694, are…

• WRECK
• COMIC
• MAUVE
• OLIVE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1693, Sunday, 13 September: LUCID, SPRAY, MANGE, EMAIL
• Quordle #1692, Saturday, 12 September: SUPER, BRUSH, RESET, SOWER
• Quordle #1691, Friday, 11 September: PLUSH, PAINT, RIVAL, AFOUL
• Quordle #1690, Thursday, 10 September: AGENT, EXILE, TITAN, PUREE
• Quordle #1689, Wednesday, 9 September: HAPPY, GONER, SMACK, MOTIF
• Quordle #1688, Tuesday, 8 September: FLUNG, DIARY, HALVE, BERTH
• Quordle #1687, Monday, 7 September: VISIT, CLANK, FEVER, OCEAN
• Quordle #1686, Sunday, 6 September: PILOT, HONOR, BOWEL, TAUNT
• Quordle #1685, Saturday, 5 September: GNASH, GEEKY, WHELP, PUTTY
• Quordle #1684, Friday, 4 September: QUICK, BEEFY, TRUCK, SNAIL
• Quordle #1683, Thursday, 3 September: SIGMA, ESSAY, MERRY, LLAMA
• Quordle #1682, Wednesday, 2 September: INCUR, FELLA, TITAN, FROZE
• Quordle #1681, Tuesday, 1 September: NASAL, ROUTE, ANKLE, MIGHT
• Quordle #1680, Monday, 31 August: ALIVE, LOUSE, ABOVE, MOSSY
• Quordle #1679, Sunday, 30 August: USING, SORRY, FILET, PIPER
• Quordle #1678, Saturday, 29 August: OVINE, ALLOY, VOICE, CARVE
• Quordle #1677, Friday, 28 August: WAIST, EDICT, BONUS, DEUCE
• Quordle #1676, Thursday, 27 August: SHEEN, TRICE, WAGON, BEVEL
• Quordle #1675, Wednesday, 26 August: OPIUM, EPOCH, BESET, FINER
• Quordle #1674, Tuesday, 25 August: BLESS, FELON, PORCH, CHOSE

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, September 13 (game #1190).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1191) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• STRAW
• CRAB
• COOT
• LEMON
• BLUE
• CANARY
• TEAL
• RAT
• LOON
• BAG
• WHEAT
• CUTLERY
• SNITCH
• GOOSE
• STIRRER
• STOOLIE

NYT Connections today (game #1191) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Aquatic fowl
• GREEN: Tell-tale
• BLUE: Disposable things
• PURPLE: Add a green word

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1191) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: WATERBIRDS
• GREEN: INFORMANT
• BLUE: COMMON SINGLE-USE PLASTIC ITEMS
• PURPLE: ____GRASS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1191) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1191, are…

• YELLOW: WATERBIRDS: COOT, GOOSE, LOON, TEAL
• GREEN: INFORMANT: CANARY, RAT, SNITCH, STOOLIE
• BLUE: COMMON SINGLE-USE PLASTIC ITEMS: BAG, CUTLERY, STIRRER, STRAW
• PURPLE: ____GRASS: BLUE, CRAB, LEMON, WHEAT

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 3 mistakes

This was a really difficult game for me, although thankfully the frustration didn’t extend beyond the first group.

Seeing COOT and GOOSE I automatically knew we were looking for bird-themed tiles, but I didn’t see that we were looking for WATERBIRDS and kept on trying to include CANARY. I got there eventually though, after remembering that TEAL was a type of duck.

From here, I completed the other groups in difficulty order — although after looking at the four groups afterwards, purple seemed the easiest of the lot.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, September 13, 2026, game #1190)

• YELLOW: LACKING IN FIRMNESS: DROOPY, FLACCID, SAGGING, SLACK
• GREEN: U.S. PRESIDENTS: CLEVELAND, GARFIELD, GRANT, MADISON
• BLUE: WORDS THAT SOUND LIKE TWO LETTERS: EMPTY, EXCESS, KEWPIE, ODIE
• PURPLE: ENDING IN ELEVATED LANDFORMS: DOUBLESPEAK, HEATHCLIFF, PARAMOUNT, PORRIDGE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, September 13 (game #1190).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1191) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• STRAW
• CRAB
• COOT
• LEMON
• BLUE
• CANARY
• TEAL
• RAT
• LOON
• BAG
• WHEAT
• CUTLERY
• SNITCH
• GOOSE
• STIRRER
• STOOLIE

NYT Connections today (game #1191) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Aquatic fowl
• GREEN: Tell-tale
• BLUE: Disposable things
• PURPLE: Add a green word

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1191) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: WATERBIRDS
• GREEN: INFORMANT
• BLUE: COMMON SINGLE-USE PLASTIC ITEMS
• PURPLE: ____GRASS

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1191) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1191, are…

• YELLOW: WATERBIRDS: COOT, GOOSE, LOON, TEAL
• GREEN: INFORMANT: CANARY, RAT, SNITCH, STOOLIE
• BLUE: COMMON SINGLE-USE PLASTIC ITEMS: BAG, CUTLERY, STIRRER, STRAW
• PURPLE: ____GRASS: BLUE, CRAB, LEMON, WHEAT

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 3 mistakes

This was a really difficult game for me, although thankfully the frustration didn’t extend beyond the first group.

Seeing COOT and GOOSE I automatically knew we were looking for bird-themed tiles, but I didn’t see that we were looking for WATERBIRDS and kept on trying to include CANARY. I got there eventually though, after remembering that TEAL was a type of duck.

From here, I completed the other groups in difficulty order — although after looking at the four groups afterwards, purple seemed the easiest of the lot.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, September 13, 2026, game #1190)

• YELLOW: LACKING IN FIRMNESS: DROOPY, FLACCID, SAGGING, SLACK
• GREEN: U.S. PRESIDENTS: CLEVELAND, GARFIELD, GRANT, MADISON
• BLUE: WORDS THAT SOUND LIKE TWO LETTERS: EMPTY, EXCESS, KEWPIE, ODIE
• PURPLE: ENDING IN ELEVATED LANDFORMS: DOUBLESPEAK, HEATHCLIFF, PARAMOUNT, PORRIDGE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

This year has already brought massive changes to the Overwatch roster, and next season adds two reworks of longtime problem heroes.

From durability to cameras and battery life, here’s how the premium foldable phones stack up.

Despite its price, more people who don’t use tech the way I do should own this iPhone.

Apple’s lower-cost smartwatch still has plenty of useful features, even with the new Series 12 going on sale soon.

If you’re considering an upgrade from the iPhone 14 Pro to the iPhone 18 Pro, you’ll see a lot of improvements.

Even Realities Even G2 Smart Glasses: 30-second Review

It's a weird time for smart glasses. After a moment in the sun (as sunglasses!) where companies like Meta sold millions of frames to willing customers seeking on-their-face intelligence and the ability to life-log with ever-present, eyebrow-level cameras, the worm has turned. Now people refer to smart glasses with cameras as "pervert glasses". Even Realities Even G2 smart display glasses (Even Realities G2) would seem to be the antidote to those concerns.

The relatively stylish specs live up to the smart expectations by connecting you to phone-based AI and delivering useful information to your eyes where and when you need it, but without the concerning cameras.

In some ways, Even Realities' approach is rather quaint. Instead of Augmented Reality, you get binocular, monochromatic waveguide displays that offer eye-level access to notifications, notes, translations, news, even a teleprompter, that only you can see. The imagery is sharp, but not rich. It's glanceable info that could be handy in a pinch, but is also stuff you can easily ignore.

Even Realities G2 glasses pictured with the included charging case and optional R1 smart ring on its charging base. (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

These are smart lenses in the narrowest sense. They have four mics for listening, but no speakers. The microphones let you summon the AI (Even AI), which lives on the Even Realities iPhone app, but with no speakers, Even can't talk back to you. Even AI's responses appear before you as text on the waveguide screens.

The AI is not quite good enough to fully control the glasses, but that's where the gestures come in. While Even's G2 glasses look much like any other analog pair you'd wear, each arm ends in a large pill shape that houses the batteries and touch sensors. If you don't want to keep touching behind your ear, you can buy the $249 Even R1 ring, which Even Realities did supply to me. You wear the R1 on your index finger and use your thumb to recreate the taps, long presses, and swipes you'd do on the glasses. The Ring also records temperature, heart, and step measurements, readouts of which you can view on the glasses.

It's easy to see (pun intended) how useful these could be for turn-by-turn directions delivered from the app's map to the screen, and teleprompter text gently scrolling up, but inconsistent operation, missing features, finicky controls, and an overall feeling of, "Do I really need this?" left me wondering if half-way smart glasses are worth making the trip at all.

Even Realities Even G2 Smart Glasses: Price and availability

Even Realities G2 smart glasses were unveiled earlier this year and are now shipping for $599 / £599 / AU$649. If you need prescription lenses, which they do support, be sure to factor that into the price (expect at least another $150). My review unit arrived with my prescription in place, and I often forgot I was wearing them.

Even in monochrome, in-lens displays are a premium feature, which accounts for a price tag that’s considerably more than, say, Meta’s recently launched $299 EssilorLuxottica smart glasses, which do feature a camera and speakers.

• Value: 3.5/5

Even Realities Even G2 Smart Glasses: Design

• Thin, light, and durable
• Premium materials
• Mostly look like regular glasses
• Comfortable
• Stem bulbs look a little odd but are mostly hidden

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / Future

Even Realities G2 display smart glasses are easily the most normal-looking smart glasses I've ever seen or worn. The gray titanium-and-magnesium frames are thin, light, and quite stylish. Where many smart glasses are bulky, heavy, or uncomfortable (or look ridiculous), Even Realities G2 frames are as comfortable as my regular prescription glasses. Yes, the stems end in pill-shaped nodules that house sensors and the batteries, but those elements are mostly hidden behind the ears.

The glasses ship with extra stem covers for comfort and a larger set of nose pads, though I was fine with the default set. There’s also an included charging case.

I didn’t think they looked bad, though my wife, who noticed that, unlike standard glasses, the fronts of the G2 lenses are flat and reflective, called them weird. “They don’t have cameras," I added hopefully.

I asked her if she could see anything on the lens, meaning the display I was viewing. She said no, but still remained unmoved. Some people are never gonna love smart glasses of any stripe, even ones I think look almost like regular glasses.

• Design score: 4/5

Even Realities Even G2 Smart Glasses: Display

• Solid waveguide technology
• Low resolution but mostly fit for purpose
• Virtually large enough to be useful
• Plenty bright

I challenge anyone looking at these to know they're smart glasses.Lance Ulanoff / FutureYou can just detect the screen in this video camera capture.Lance Ulanoff / FutureThe lenses are 98% translucent.Lance Ulanoff / Future

Even Realities G2 glasses use micro-LEDs embedded in the frames and waveguide technology, which basically guides the 640 x 350 monochrome (day-glo green) imagery in front of both eyes. Remarkably, the embedded displays are almost imperceptible to the naked eye (even with content running on them).

With my prescription lenses, the single-floating-image effect is perfect. The bright green imagery looks like a monochrome, 15-inch display floating in front of my face. It sits slightly above my eyeline, meaning I could easily look below the display to see what’s in front of me or just slightly up to see the display. It’s not so high on the frame that if you’re looking at the display, someone will think you’re not looking at them.

Even in daylight, the 1,200 nit display is clear, sharp, and very viewable. There are settings to adjust the display brightness, and while the resolution sounds low, you don’t need much for what is essentially CRT-grade imagery.

• Display score: 4/5

Even Realities Even G2 Smart Glasses: Software and Performance

• There aren't a lot of features
• Main menu access takes practice
• Teleprompt is a highlight
• News feed is nice to have
• Translate could be useful if you remember to pre-set your language choices for the location
• Navigation purposely is missing a key feature
• No real access to smartphone features
• AI shows promise but has noted limited access

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

While you might imagine a certain level of complexity with smart glasses, Even Realities keeps it pretty simple. The Dashboard, which you raise with a double tap on one of the stem sensors (or on the optional ring), reminds me of one of those old 1990s personal assistant devices or even a slightly more informative digital clock. There’s a large time readout on the left, with smaller, dare I call them digital watch-like complication elements arrayed around it. At the top is the day and date. To the right is the battery life of the glasses and, if you have it, the R1 smart ring. On the bottom left is the local temperature, and to the right of that is the number of notifications. To the right is a large square news feed.

With another sensor tap, I can open the feed and swipe backwards on the sensor to scroll through it. One more tap opens a news item, which, yes, I can scroll through by swiping on the stem sensor. You can see why someone might want to opt for the R1 ring. Who wants to be touching and swiping near their ear all the time?

(Image credit: Future)

Double taps pull you back out of the news feed, all the way to the Dashboard.

One of the less obvious interactions is how you bring up the main menu. I must admit, it took me a while to get the hang of the tap-and-hold gesture to open it. Once you master that — assuming you do — you get just seven options:

• Notifications
• Conversate
• Teleprompt
• Translate
• Navigate
• Dashboard
• Silent Mode

You can swipe up or down to go through them and tap to open one. The gesture-based control system is so finicky that I often ended up in the wrong place, and there’s no confirmation; the system simply starts, for instance, “Coversate,” which is basically a speech-to-text note-taking app.

More interesting is Teleprompt, the one feature that could potentially be the reason someone invests in these glasses. As the name suggests, it puts a teleprompter that no one else can see in front of your face.

(Image credit: Future)

To test it, I imported some text into the app (it supports txt, Docx, and PDFs). The app lets you expand or contract the margins, which controls the length of each line you read, but it lacks a way to control the line spacing — a key teleprompter feature. On the glasses, the text appears in front of you, and voice recognition detects you saying each word. As a result, there’s no need to mess with speed or stop and start the text scroll. It’s all controlled by your voice. That’s pretty cool.

Unfortunately, you might look a little odd while using it. I took a picture of myself while reading a script and noticed that I was looking up instead of at the audience in front of me. The key to teleprompters is that they're usually projected over, say, a camera lens, so you are reading while looking directly into the camera. To use Even Realities G2 for this task, you have to look up just a little bit.

(Image credit: Future)

Navigate launches turn-by-turn directions, but you can’t do much until you put locations in the iPhone app’s navigation section. I added my home and office addresses and then used them to start navigating from my current location. The only two navigation options are walking or cycling. That's because Even Realities intentionally excluded driving directions, as they might be too distracting in a heads-up display. I disagree with their exclusion.

Glancing at monochrome, see-through, heads-up directions while driving should not be distracting, but I'm not going to argue with the safety concern. Still, I suggested to them that they think about enabling driving directions that can be reviewed before starting the trip and then use detection of the iPhone's Driving Mode to disable that feature as soon as you start driving.

As for what navigation looks like, there’s a small turn-by-turn map on the lower left, distance and time to destination on the upper right, time and a walking icon on the upper left, and next turn on the lower left. Another tap on the sensor shows the full map route, which is a bright green line on a dimmer green map with no labels. I'm not sure how useful that is.

The Translate feature works pretty well, although despite the onboard mics, it does not auto-detect languages. Instead, I had to choose the to-and-from-translation languages in the app. Then, when I played a Spanish-language video, I watched the live translation on screen. Basically, before you go to a different country, you’d want to pre-load the appropriate language settings.

(Image credit: Future)

Silent mode instantly turns the G2 frames into dumb glasses, silencing all notifications and ensuring the screen doesn’t turn on, which it can even when you tip your head up. To un-silence it, you put one finger on each sensor.

Of course, there is AI, in the form of Even AI, which I summoned by saying, “Hey Even”. It wasn't the best at listening and getting my requests right, and there are many, many things it cannot do. Even AI has no access to your phone at large, just the app and its relatively limited features.

(Image credit: Future)

I did have some success. For instance, when I asked about the latest news on tech companies, I got a nice summary that I could read on the display.

I struggled to get notifications working, though. I was unaware of texts, Slacks, and incoming emails – basically anything I really needed.

Things did not improve when I tried to get clever. I had this idea that I could have the shopping list in my iPhone Notes app float in front of me while I walked around the grocery store. Yet, when I asked Even AI to read my files from the Notes app, it told me it couldn’t access them, but I could access the App’s Quick List. So I tried to build a Quick List, but every time I tried, the glasses would state “Quick List saved” before I even gave it a list. Then it had a bug where it told me the “Command execution” failed. Not useful.

• Performance score: 3.5/5

Even Realities Even G2 Smart Glasses: Battery

• Small-ish battery on the glasses (to save the design)
• Sizable battery is included in charging case

Even Realities G2 with the optional, snap-on sunglass cover (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Even Realities G2 smart glasses are equipped with a 192mAh battery rated to last two days. My first charge ran out after three days of intermittent use. The included charging case has a 2,000mAh battery for up to seven recharges.

Considering there’s no camera, I would expect a longer battery life, but I think Even Realities purposely sacrificed some battery capacity for its exceptionally svelte style.

• Battery score: 3.5/5

Should you buy the Even Realities Even G2 Smart Glasses?Even Realities Even G2 Smart Glasses Scorecard

Attribute

Comment

Score

Value

A bit pricey for what they do. You end up paying a premium for the impressive waveguide technology and their normal-glasses style.

3.5/5

Design

The rare smart glasses that's thin, light, and kind of attractive, if you ignore the oddness of the flat lenses (only on the front).

4/5

Display

The low resolution waveguide displays are used to mostly good effect here. Everything is bright, sharp, and readable.

4.5/5

Software and Performance

Even Realities software and operation on the G2 smart glasses is a true mixed bag, with inconsistent performance and only occasional delight. The relatively spare features do not really sell it as a must-have wearable.

3.5/5

Battery

Tiny batteries on the glasses can stretch to a few days use, but it's the charging case that saves the day.

3.5/5

Buy it if…

You want camera-free smart glasses
The Even Realities G2 does away with the one thing that's freaking people out — at least when it comes to smart glasses

You want on your face teleprompter
The voice-activated teleprompter feature is cool

Don’t buy it if…

You wanted full-featured smart glasses
Even Realities G2 offers baseline features and decent AI, but it's not enough to make this a truly compelling wearable

You don’t want to spend almost twice as much as the nearest smart glasses
Even Realities G2 offers less for more, reminding you how expensive it is to build in-lens display wear.

You want cameras and audio
These glasses are not the smart glasses for you

Also consider

Weighing just 76g, the X3 Pro proves that cutting-edge AR hardware no longer has to crush your nose. The display is a genuine glimpse of the future. But the future has a small battery, and the X3 Pro's 245mAh cell is, alongside the price, the device's biggest obstacle.

Read our RayNeo X3 Pro reviewView Deal

Xreal Air 2
If you want to stick with Xreal, the Xreal Air 2 or its electrochromic dimming-enhanced Xreal Air 2 Pro are both solid options that cost a little less – though expect a slightly lower-quality image and noticeably inferior audio.
Read our Xreal Air 2 reviewView Deal

Meta Quest 3
While not a direct competitor to Xreal’s glasses, the Quest 3 is an XR product that you should consider if you want to experience what VR and MR have to offer – it’s simply superb.
Read our Meta Quest 3 reviewView Deal

How I tested the Even Realities G2 display smart glasses

I spent the last week or so wearing these glasses instead of my normal prescription eyewear. I tried all the features and sometimes used the smart ring to control them.

Read more about how we test.

• First reviewed September 2026

Prusa is at the heart of the open-source 3D printing community, and this machine really shows it, as its partnership with Bondtech has produced one of the finest machines on the market today.

What's even more surprising is that you can buy the simple four-tool kit for less than £2,000/$2,000 assembled, and the eight-tool set that I'm looking at in this review is a touch over that £2,000/$2,000.

That money not only gets you access to eight-tool printing, but also to one of the most reliable and solid-performing 3D printers I've ever used. The machine is based around the CORE One, a machine that I'm just upgrading to the One+, and is still the most used and reliable 3D printer in the workshop.

Whilst that's machine is only one filament, upgrading that reliable system into this eight-tool-changer machine absolutely makes sense.

I went for the fully assembled version because I just don't have time to assemble a machine, but if you do fancy the kit, you can save almost £300/$300 over the pre-assembled version that I'm looking at.

While the eight-tool-changer printing is obviously the major headline here, it's only when you start using it and put it side-by-side against the likes of the Bambu Lab H2C and, at the cheaper end, the Snapmaker U1 that you really start to see the full potential.

The speed is a significant upgrade on both of those machines, and even with the H2C's far larger print bed, in a head-to-head printing a 5-color print, whilst on the Core One+ INDX it had to be done in several batches, the new 3D printer was able to produce substantially more models than the larger machine in less time.

At present, considering the price, the multifilament printing reliability and speed, this is the best 3D printer I've ever tested (and I've tested many). It makes it hard to recommend any other machine, and with the CORE One L now also adapted to utilise the INDX system, Prusa once again leads the field for this scale of machine, from small to large-scale projects.

Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2) INDX 8-Tool: Price and Availability

The Original Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2) INDX 8-Tool is available directly from Prusa. Prices start at $2249 / £2039 assembled, and $1949 / £1769 for the kit.

Shipping starts October 15.

If you already own a CORE One or CORE One+, you can buy the upgrade kit, which is $999 / £909 for the 8-tool version (a 4-toolhead is also available). Other INDX conversion kits from Prusa can also be found here.

Essentially, like the very first model, it doesn't matter what Original Prusa machine you have; there is always an upgrade route to the latest version.

Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2) INDX 8-Tool: Design

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

I looked at the original Prusa CORE One back in January 2025, and at the time it was a significant update to the MK4S, their previous machine. Since then, we've seen the larger version, the original Prusa CORE One L, and more recently the Plus upgrades to both. Now we also have the INDX from Bondtech and Prusa Research.

Since the machine is from Prusa, you have several ways to buy it, unlike most companies these days. The first is to buy it off the shelf as a fully assembled, ready-to-go option, which is exactly the option I went with in this review.

If, however, you really want to see the inner workings of the machine, and for many people running print farms or small businesses, I would probably recommend at least buying one machine in kit form so that you can see how it works. This gives you a good idea of how to repair it if something does go wrong.

Taking a look at the machine, the first thing you notice is that, from the outside, it looks almost identical to the CORE One. In fact, the main body and build area are the same, and it's only the 8 reels on the outside that really give it away.

I've used them without the dry boxes you can attach as well, really because I only have two and need to purchase another six to ensure my machine looks balanced. Still, aside from the four reel holders on each side, the major difference here is the INDX system bolted onto the front top of the machine.

This added dock essentially covers the view to the platform and contains the eight new toolheads, which are all heated through induction rather than traditional wires. This means that they can be attached to their magnetic dock along the front of the machine cold, heated up in just a few seconds, and printing following a filament change can start within a few seconds, far faster than any other system.

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

The other major difference here is that, obviously, the CORE One was a fully enclosed machine. This carries over to the INDX expansion, with a hinged top lid, secured in place by two rotating holders that are, of course, 3D printed.

The area is slightly smalled the original Prusa CORE One because because of the new additions but only marginally at 248 x 205 x 270 mm, dropping from 250 x 220 x 270 mm, so 2mm in one direction and 15mm in the other while the height remains the same.

Essentially, the Prusa CORE One+ INDX is the original Prusa CORE One+, the second generation, with the Bondtech INDX system incorporated.

While it may look very similar asthetically, in practice, this machine's potential goes far beyond what was available before and at this price.

• Design: 4.5/5

Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2) INDX 8-Tool: Features

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)Specs

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

Print Technology: FFF/FDM, eight-tool INDX tool-changing system

Build Area: 248 x 205 x 270 mm

Minimum Layer Resolution: 0.05mm

Maximum Layer Resolution: 0.30 mm

Dimensions: Width: 620 mm, Depth: 470 mm, Height: 690 mm

Weight: 24.5 kg

Bed: Heated print bed; heated chamber up to 55°C

Print Surface: Removable print sheet; multiple sheet finishes available

Software: PrusaSlicer

Materials: PLA, PETG, TPU, PC, nylon and other engineering filaments; abrasive materials will wear the nozzle

One of the great features of the Prusa machines is their customizability, so one of the first decision you have when looking at a Prusa machine is do you buy it assembled or as a kit. If you're a business and buying several, I would personally buy the majority as assembled and one as a kit, it will just give you that insight that can be invaluable.

Either way, if you need to keep costs down, you can opt for the assembled version without the camera, advanced filtration system, or additional print sheets, which keeps it at its base level. Or, if you want those more advanced features, they can be added on as well, so you can have the camera, advanced filtration, and different sheet finishes depending on the materials you're actually printing.

The machine is also available as a 4, or 8-tool option, with about £300 difference between the two. If you can stretch to it, I would definitely opt for the eight-tool version, which I'm looking at in this review, but if you can't, you can always buy the eight-tool upgrade kit later.

When it comes to the print volume, the machine offers an area of 248 x 205 x 270 mm, which isn't the largest for a machine of this size and a slight reduction over the Core One+, but it's still pretty decent.

Like the CORE One and One+, it's designed for engineering materials such as PC and nylon and has a heated chamber that reaches up to 55°C.

The main feature is its advanced tool changer. Unlike other multifilament machines that have one or two nozzles, or, in the case of the H2C 6, U1 4, here we see 8 individual nozzles that are preloaded with filaments during the initial calibration process.

Those nozzles sit cold in a docking station across the front of the machine, and only when the head picks up each nozzle does it use induction rather than wiring to heat it to the right temperature in about 12 seconds per material, so it's ready for use. This process dramatically cuts both filament waste and the time it takes to get up to speed.

What's impressive here is that when those tools are back in the dock, they cool right down. They're actually just passive toolheads, so whilst the filament is loaded within them, there are no electronics, making it even easier to change those nozzles when needed.

One feature Prusa highlights is that bed levelling is done through pressure, so the nozzles touch the print bed before printing starts; a load cell reads the force, and the machine knows exactly where the print bed is. This differs from many newer printers that have started using optical solutions. Whilst these are generally good, they're not always 100% accurate.

One of the big changes for Prusa, and something the company has tried to avoid until now, is a silicone wiper. Positioned just to the right of the machine, there are some silicone pads which each of the nozzles wipes across to remove any blobs before printing, and this is positioned right next to the purge collector, which, as I found through the test, even after hundreds of hours of printing, gathers very little waste material.

The INDX head features conductive electronics that heat each passive toolhead. Still, it's more than just technology: the extruder is self-adjusting, so it can alter its grip for different materials. This essentially means that, using the same system, you can print with soft materials such as TPU and rigid engineering filaments without having to stop the extruder for each.

Finally, because each one is passive, it takes literally seconds to change them. So, if you want to go from the standard 0.4 to 0.25 at the finest, up to a big, thick 0.8, then the tool-change process takes a couple of seconds. Simply unload the filament, remove the toolhead from the dock with a pull and release the feeder tube; plug in the new one, pop it back in the dock, load the filament, and you're set to go.

Each toolhead needs to be calibrated, and an automatic tool-offset calibration sensor is mounted on the outside of the print area. The speed at which this works, and the fact that it all works automatically, is impressive. To keep things running smoothly, I rerun the full calibration at the end of the week after clearing out any debris from the machine, which is probably one reason this machine has been so reliable.

Once again, to reduce vibration from movement in the machine, and so it sits in with most workshop devices, it features an all-steel build. As you pick up the machine and move it around, it is relatively heavy but easy to manoeuvre, with decent grip handles on either side, so you can move it from one side of the workshop to the other without too much issue.

And these days security is a huge issue, and it's nice to see that Prusa has taken this seriously and offers a 100% offline and, if you want, private solution to transferring files over to the machine. If you want to remove the Wi-Fi module, that's very easy to do, and if you want higher security, Prusa again offers a range of advanced features.

• Features: 5/5

Prusa CORE One+ (Gen 2) INDX 8-Tool: Performance

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

There's been a lot of anticipation around the Prusa CORE One+ INDX 8T in the 3D printing community. Essentially, it blends the robust printing abilities of the Prusa CORE One with Bondtech's tool changer, and the result is an absolutely stunning printer that produces exceptionally fine multicolor prints at a very reasonable price, considering the competition in this sector.

There are, of course, a few small downsides, such as the fact that the print bed on the CORE version is relatively small compared with what we've been used to seeing recently, and on my initial few runs I did have a couple of misprints. But as the printer itself bedded in and I became more familiar with the system, I was able to resolve all issues and also learn more about the printer, which gave me greater confidence that, as with their previous printers, if anything goes wrong, I would be able to fix it without the wait that I've experienced with many other multitool machines.

That getting-started process is, in essence, no more complicated than with any other machine, and from the box to sitting on the workshop bench ready to produce its first print took no more than 10 minutes. It was faster than I expected, especially since I set up the XL a couple of years ago.

Essentially, the main machine is complete, and then it's just a matter of opening the box with all the nozzles, popping them into the front of the machine, and inserting each feeder tube. Then you're essentially set and ready to go once the power cable has been inserted.

Also supplied is a USB-C key with plenty of models to get you started. As I loaded the eight reels onto the side of the machine, it did expand the space needed either side of the printer, but it still fit neatly next to some of the machines in the test area.

What I also really like is that I can easily shift this printer around the workshop without too much issue. It's heavy, but nothing compared with some of the larger machines. It is that stopgap between the Snapmaker and the Bambu Lab H2C.

As I started the test, the big question that I had was: with a standard-size print bed, would this printer actually be a viable option for people running print farms? Was it fast enough even though that platform wouldn't be able to print the same volume of models? As the first few test models that Prusa supplied came off the print platform, I was instantly impressed by the complexity of the models produced and by the time it took to print.

I tried out a series of multi-filament and, in some cases, multi-material prints, and they took far less time than I would've expected, even with the H2C set to its fastest usable print speeds.

I ended up running a head-to-head between the two with a dragon model, and this is where the speed of the new Prusa CORE One+ INDX 8T really stood out.

On the H2C, the platform was able to take 14 dragons, which was impressive, whilst the Prusa INDX was restricted to 9. When it came to the time it would take for the dragons to print, this is where the biggest difference came, and whilst there were five additional dragons on the H2C, it takes 3 days and 10 hours to make that print, while the Prusa will took one day and 35 minutes according to the software. When translated to the actual time these printers took to run through those prints, they were quite accurate, plus or minus about 30 minutes. Notably, by the time the H2C, with much the same speed setting as the Prusa INDX, had finished its 15 prints, I had 27 from the CORE One INDX. Obviously there is the inconvenience of clearing the platform after each print run.

Another point here is that there is no purge tower. Instead, a small amount of filament is scraped from the toolhead before it's used, but the tool-change speed is far faster than other tool changers. Essentially, that induction system works incredibly quickly, meaning sometimes you can't even really tell that the tool change has happened, as the printer is only not printing for a few seconds.

This test was also a great time to ensure calibration and accuracy for both printers were spot-on, and it actually took a couple of days to get 100% reliability from both the Prusa and the H2C through tuning. But since I ran the test right at the start, both machines have been running side-by-side flawlessly.

Setting down the models from each printer, what's instantly apparent is how little quality difference there is between the two. Layer by layer, the walls look smooth and the transition between colors is neat. You can obviously still see the layers. These prints are as fine as any.

Through the test, as always, there were plenty of firmware updates, and some of the early issues that I had were with tool eight, which for some reason would always print just a little bit high was resolved.

After an update, a good vacuum of the inner chamber and a full recalibration, that seemed to kick into life and resolved the issue. It was a bit of an odd one. It worked in the initial stages of the test, then after a firmware update and a particularly messy misprint, it stopped working correctly, and then it worked again after the next update. It's now been three weeks, and that particular nozzle is now working absolutely fine.

There are a few other small issues that I've come across. My biggest issue whilst using the machine is the filament mount on the side of the machine, not so much that it's on the side, but the fact that those filaments are exposed. Prusa does sell individual dry cases for each of those filaments, which is a good thing, but these are very much bolt-on, and while they work, there are neater solutions.

Then there's the filament feed, and this is the part that started to get to me over the weeks with plenty of filament changes. Essentially, unlike the Snapmaker or Bambu multi systems, you still have to feed the filament into the machine, and with four filament reels on each side, this can get a little bit messy.

If space is tight, getting your hands in and feeding the reel around while pushing the filament up into the feeder tube all the way to the hot end is one of those tedious, fiddly things. I would love to see some sort of auto-feed system.

Then, for less experienced users, the camera and filtration system on the back need to be fitted, and it's not as simple as plugging them in and attaching them. You do need to remove the panel, feed the cable through, and plug it into the board, which takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

It's not complicated; it's just one additional step rather than being ready out of the box. The idea is that you can customise the machine to your exact needs. Not everyone wants a camera, but since cameras are such a standard part of many setups, it's something you expect.

The other surprise is that the nozzles aren't designed for abrasive printing, so if you do want to use PETG-CF, PC-CF, or another abrasive material, the nozzles will wear out relatively quickly. Essentially, they're rated for 10 kg of PETG-CF or 5 kg of PC-CF. While checking all the different material types, I noted that if you're using Prusament Ultra Glow, you'll get through just 0.5 kg of filament before the nozzle likely needs replacing. These are not hardened nozzles, although those are on the way very soon.

The point is that the print area is just 248 x 205 x 270 mm. That reduces the CORE One's build plate from 250 x 220 x 270 mm, giving a slightly smaller build area again.

One of the good things is that many of the early issues, such as stringing issues with the nozzles carrying filament back into the machine and other early performance problems, have all been addressed by each firmware update.

Obviously, for this review sample, it is an early production model, and what is striking is that with every firmware update that came in, and as I became more familiar with the machine and it bedded in, the machine became more accurate and reliable.

It's now been three weeks since I've had to do anything to it, and it's been running continuously printing ready for a new term. I will obviously give it a bit of oil as it requires, but otherwise this is a multitool machine that will print thousands of models without much maintenance, and that is one of the key points of Prusa machines.

Dimensional accuracy - score of 4

Target 25 = X: 24.76mm / 0.24mm Error | Y: 24.70mm / 0.30mm Error

Target 20 = X: 19.82mm / 0.18mm Error | Y: 19.80mm / 0.20mm Error

Target 15 = X: 14.75mm / 0.25mm Error | Y: 14.72mm / 0.28mm Error

Target 10 = X: 9.88mm / 0.12mm Error | Y: 9.83mm / 0.17mm Error

Target 5 = X: 4.88mm / 0.12mm Error | Y: 4.78mm / 0.22mm Error

X Error Average = 0.182

Y Error Average = 0.234

X&Y Error Average = 0.208

Fine Flow Control - score of 4

Fine Negative Features - score of 5

Overhangs - score of 5

Bridging - score of 4

XY resonance - score of 2.5

Z-axis alignment - score of 2.5

Add the totals for a final score of 27 out of 30.

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

Before I leave the performance section, another point about the prints is the new color-blending mode within PrusaSlicer known as Prusa Color Mix, and this is something I'm still trying to get my head around. It's quite incredible how it works.

Essentially, like a dot matrix, it blends the colors you have together to create more colors by creating fine layers of filament rather than physically blending the two or more. With two fish models I printed very early on, I was first impressed that they printed.

They're quite complex models, and I set them aside for a few days. Then it occurred to me that there were about three or four different greens within the print, yet I only had one green loaded onto the machine. At that point, I realised that the color mix was in full flow with these models.

I went back to PrusaSlicer and started trying some color-blending modes myself and, again, was impressed by how easy it was to use. I would say that randomly loading different-colored filaments onto the spools will get you some pretty interesting results. If you really want headline-worthy features, careful filament choice is definitely needed. However you approach it, the results are incredibly impressive.

Whilst I've just touched on the beginning of how this technology works, it's probably one of the most exciting enhancements from any 3D printer that I've seen, meaning that those eight filament spools, especially if you get the color combinations right, can produce thousands of different colors.

• Performance: 5 / 5

Original PRUSA CORE One: Final verdict

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

The Original Prusa CORE One+ INDX 8T is a 3D printer in a different league, and while the build area is smaller than even the CORE One, the speed at which you can do a multicolor print is much faster than any off-the-shelf machine I've tried.

Most of the initial misprints and small issues I had were mainly the machine bedding in rather than any major problems, and this is an early review sample with fixes coming through the firmware updates. Still, even then as an early production sample its performance has been absolutely solid and rivals and beats any of the machines I have in the workshop.

Unusually, it has also been of major interest to several friends who run 3D print farms and engineering businesses, particularly for prototyping with multiple materials and colors. The production times of those models are vastly reduced, and whilst 3D printing already cut down their prototyping time dramatically, the Prusa CORE One+ INDX once again cuts down that time even further.

What's surprising here is that, even with a fully assembled machine pretty much ready to go out of the box, and with all those new firmware updates and obviously the knowledge that's out there as well, this becomes one of the cheapest multitool machines on the market whilst also being easily one of the best.

Some machines have a refined, fully product-designed, more plastic aesthetic that gives them a high-quality feel, and they are obviously extremely impressive.

The Prusa's more workshop-style design means it's a far better fit for many businesses; if anything ever goes wrong, you have full access to the plans, a huge knowledge base, and one of the best support networks available from any 3D printer manufacturer. You'll never be stuck without a printer.

Should you buy the Original PRUSA CORE One?

Value:

Excellent value for 8-tool printing, giving reliability, speed and repairability when you need it

5

Design:

Robust and practical design, although spool handling and bed size are a compromise.

4.5

Features:

The 8 tools, color mixing, offline operation and essential easy maintenance make this a great business option.

5

Performance:

Fast and reliable multicolor printing with excellent quality after initial bedding in an calibration.

5

Total:

A superb multitool printer that combines speed, flexibility and reliability.

5

Buy it if...

You need fast multicolor printing.

Eight independent toolheads make filament changes extremely fast, cutting delays for multicolor and multi filament printing.

You want a machine you can maintain yourself.

A repairable design, accessible components, and strong support make maintenance easier and reduce reliance on servicing.

Don't buy it if...

You regularly print very large models.

The modest build area makes larger prototypes and models better suited to bigger-format printers instead.

You want completely automated filament handling.

Loading eight reels can be fiddly, while regular material changes still require some manual intervention.

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