Technology

AI adoption has moved beyond theory into the mainstream and mid-market companies are in a prime position to capitalize on the many benefits. Typically, these mid-market companies are more nimble than their enterprise counterparts, which means that when it comes to technical transformation, they can act quickly, initiate change and deploy AI in targeted ways to solve a real need in the business.

Recent research, however, found that 90% of mid-market companies that have explored AI are still at an early stage or have experienced stalled pilots. Despite their agility, it’s clear many mid-market companies remain stuck in the experimental phases. The challenge is that many are held back by uncertainty over where to start, which technologies to deploy and how to invest with confidence.

This uncertainty and lack of confidence can translate into projects that are not tied to tangible business outcomes and that, ultimately, fail to move into full deployment and deliver real impact.

For businesses to break out of this pilot purgatory, it’s imperative to overcome three root causes of this stagnation. Specifically, building and mobilizing the right expertise and skillsets, establishing robust data and technology foundations and ensuring the right governance guardrails are in place across each project.

Bridging the expertise gap

Many debates and conversations around AI deployment highlight the importance of building the right skillsets. It stands to reason that having access to specialist expertise is essential to the success of any technology projects, including AI. Without it, businesses are more likely to experience AI paralysis, where they don’t know where to start or become overwhelmed by too many options.

Expertise, however, is a broad term and what is often missed is the exact nature of the skills needed. AI deployments have many facets, including strategy and use case prioritization, tooling and understanding the vendor landscape, through to data readiness, security and privacy.

Teams might feel confident in some areas but unintentionally overlook where they have a fundamental skills gap. What’s interesting is that businesses will often feel confident overall with their capabilities but that confidence might mask a very different reality.

There is a big difference between theoretical confidence and having the practical ability to deliver. Some teams will be equipped to tackle data readiness, for example, but still struggle with the deeper knowledge required in areas such as integration or change management.

What’s needed is a fully rounded team, often with a blend of different resources, that can move beyond theory and establish more mature, execution-focused capabilities.

Addressing the data and technology foundations

It’s not possible to discuss AI success without first looking at the fundamental foundations on which they are built. Putting in place robust data and technology frameworks is essential to moving from pilot to full deployment but many mid-market companies often struggle to achieve this and for good reasons. They’re faced with a multitude of historical issues, including legacy technology, poor data quality and incomplete guardrails.

Enterprise applications such as ERP, CRM and HRIS increasingly come equipped with AI capabilities and, in some cases, as AI-native systems. While these offer many advantages, a lot of companies operate with legacy enterprise applications that lack integration capabilities, have limited functionality and contain outdated data models. All this creates a significant barrier when it comes to AI adoption.

Data quality is also a vital component but, all too often, mid-market companies are faced with poor data quality, which can quickly become one of the biggest blockers of AI deployments.

Data readiness is an integral part of any AI strategy and it’s important for businesses to treat it as such and integrate it into projects from the outset rather than address it as an afterthought. Those that can improve data accuracy, ownership and accessibility will be in the best position to accelerate pilots into production and ensure projects succeed.

Another crucial element of the technology foundation is the guardrails that surround it, including governance, ethics, security and privacy. This is also an area where some mid-market companies fall short. They might have a comprehensive framework in place but have yet to implement formal policies, controls or both.

A practical path forward

Ultimately, for AI to scale beyond pilots, it needs to be embedded into the right environment. For mid-market companies, that requires them to go beyond deploying individual tools and address the systems, data and controls that ensure AI can operate both safely and effectively.

This foundational work is important but it also needn’t hold up projects. Speed can be critical and so addressing issues such as data quality can be done effectively in parallel with deployments, so long as it is considered, mapped out and integrated from the outset.

What is important is that these are all solvable challenges. Knowing and understanding the problems is the first important step. Without full awareness of the issues, companies will inevitably continue to experience the same pilot failures. They can then begin making the right strategic investments, in the right teams to build a full range of skillets, and in the right foundations to create a stronger platform for AI.

Only then will mid-market companies be able to use their agility to its full potential and deliver measurable, sustainable value from their AI investments.

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It is no longer news that AI is driving incredible demand for electricity.

You may have read that data centers were using 6% of the electricity supply in the UK and the US as of May this year, or that these centers require 40% more energy than originally expected. Electric vehicles, heat pumps, and the growth of locally generated renewable energy are cranking up the pressure on an already complex energy system.

But the physical grid is only part of the infrastructure that now has to change.

Energy companies depend on a complex digital backbone to keep the business moving. ERP, finance, procurement, HR, customer systems, and more all support essential services. Regulatory obligations don’t disappear just because an IT transformation is underway.

In most industries, leaders might look for a quiet weekend to complete a major system migration. Retail brands, for example, can literally change their entire platform overnight, with some careful planning.

Energy companies do not have that luxury. Demand does not stop. Assets still need to be monitored, and operational teams still need access to the information that helps them make safe decisions.

That means downtime must shape the transformation from the outset, rather than being seen as an obstacle to navigate at the end of the process. For organizations supporting critical infrastructure, the real measure of a successful migration is whether the business and its customers can keep operating while that change takes place.

Move less, move smarter

Achieving this means wrestling with cumbersome legacy technology estates that have slowly grown over decades of acquisitions, divestments, regulatory change, and necessary short-term fixes.

The result is a web of heavily customized platforms, duplicated records, undocumented dependencies, and data that has outlived the process it was originally created to support. Change one part without understanding the rest, and the consequences can surface somewhere completely unexpected.

The National Grid offers a useful sense of the scale involved. One of its key S/4 systems alone contains around 1.9 terabytes of data, before accounting for its legacy ECC and HR environments or 20 years of financial information. The organization has also completed three divestments in six years, requiring its data estate to keep changing alongside the structure of the business.

A migration at this scale is not automatically a modernization. A ‘lift and shift’ from the existing environment into a new one can inadvertently preserve the very complexity that made transformation necessary in the first place.

Before anything is moved, energy providers therefore need a clear view of what they hold, what the business still depends on, and what no longer belongs in the live environment. Some data must remain immediately accessible. Some must be retained for regulatory or contractual reasons. Other information can be archived, consolidated, or removed altogether.

That work may not sound as dramatic as a major system launch, but it is what determines whether an organization emerges with a cleaner, more adaptable platform – or falls into the trap of recreating yesterday’s problems in a more expensive environment.

What are you migrating?

Once you understand what is inside the estate, the next question is not simply how to move it. It is what you move, and what you leave behind.

Legacy systems accumulate data almost by default. Energy companies have legal, regulatory, and contractual responsibilities that may extend for years, including for parts of the business they no longer own.

Organizations should separate the data that is needed to run the business from the data that only needs to remain accessible. Completed transactions, technical logs, duplicate records, and data inherited through previous acquisitions or divestments can remain long after their operational value has disappeared.

Cleaning and archiving that information, making it available again when required, is a fundamental measure of success here. This simultaneously makes the migration smaller and the target environment healthier. Teams gain a clearer view of the information they use and can avoid carrying unnecessary complexity into every project that follows.

This is becoming a regulatory priority as well as an operational one. In January 2026, Ofgem expanded its Data Best Practice framework across industry codes, emphasizing the need for energy providers to understand, structure, and manage data consistently. The message was that data should be governed according to its value, rather than simply accumulated.

The same discipline is important in testing. Transformation teams often need realistic copies of production data to confirm that payroll, finance, integrations, and other critical processes will behave correctly. But those copies may contain names, addresses, banking details, or sensitive employee and customer information.

Simply avoiding that data is not an option, because inadequate testing creates its own operational risk. It needs to be masked or scrambled in a way that protects the individuals concerned without making the test environment useless.

In this context, selective migration becomes an opportunity: a chance to decide what the future system should contain. If you’re able to protect sensitive information properly and remove some of the baggage that is making change so difficult in the first place, the organization is in a good position to plan how to move what remains without bringing the business to a halt.

Keep the business live

Once organizations have reduced what needs to be migrated, they can turn to the question that matters most: how to complete the move without bringing essential processes to a halt.

Traditionally, that has meant choosing between a phased migration and a single ‘big bang’ cutover. The first can leave old and new systems operating alongside one another for months. The second concentrates considerable risk into one carefully planned event.

But those are not the only options. With a near-zero-downtime approach, most data can be transferred while the existing system remains operational. Changes made during that process are captured and synchronized separately, leaving only a small final set to be moved during a tightly controlled cutover.

This migration must be rehearsed, the target environment tested, and responsibilities agreed across technology and operational teams. Everyone needs to know which processes can pause, which cannot, and what happens if the cutover does not proceed as expected.

For energy companies, speed and continuity shouldn’t be seen as competing objectives. Moving less data through a controlled, well-rehearsed process allows the organization to modernize while the essential work beneath it continues.

Build for what comes next

For critical national infrastructure and the energy companies that run it, a successful transformation should do more than get them to the next go-live. A cleaner core, supported by well-governed data, makes every subsequent change easier – whether that means adopting AI, moving further into the cloud, responding to new regulation, or managing another acquisition or divestment.

Energy companies cannot afford to stop evolving, because the infrastructure, demand patterns, and risks around them will not stand still. Underlying systems must be equally capable of change.

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• One in two business travellers currently manage their own internet abroad
• Holafly says a secure connection should be the workplace's responsibility
• Current policies cover what not to do, but not what workers should actually do

While many companies have strict internet access policies when it comes to working from the office, and even working from home, many overlook account security when workers travel abroad, with more than half (53%) of business travellers managing their own internet access.

In its new Summer Travel & eSIM Report, Holafly argues that providing workplace VPNs isn't strictly enough. Despite protecting data to and from company systems, they don't determine how employees get online in the first place.

With many international travellers having to connect to potentially risky airport, hotel and other public networks, Holafly says the most secure companies are actually the ones who consider the initial, secure connection.

Should employers provide travellers with eSIMs?

In its report, Holafly argues that issuing instructions like 'use a VPN' and 'avoid public networks' isn't enough for travellers who are already having to negotiate other international challenges, and it leaves room for misinterpretation as to how they should actually get online.

By providing a travel eSIM, employers can regain control over something that they've been leaving in the hands of employees for too long. "t provides a trusted connection from the moment the plane touches down, proving that a solid cybersecurity strategy doesn't begin when the VPN is turned on; it begins with that crucial first step of securely providing the connection itself," Holafly summarized.

Interestingly enough, with many business travellers left without their own coverage and having to connect to potentially risky public networks, security is a top priority for 42% of business travellers, so Holafly argues that providing an eSIM could actually be a welcome move by employers, and not be seen as yet another IT restriction.

Holafly is already a known brand to some consumers, but it also has its own Business Center where IT admins can manage and distribute company eSIMs for international travellers. Once issued, admins can send the eSIM's QR code or details to workers to install the connection on their devices.

• The Fitbit Edge has leaked with similar specs to the Fitbit Air, plus an added screen
• This reportedly gives it access to apps like Google Maps and YouTube Music
• It could launch as soon as this month

In recent years, Google has seemed more focused on the Pixel Watch line than its Fitbit trackers, but it hasn’t abandoned those devices completely, with the screen-free Fitbit Air landing earlier this year — and now, a new wearable reportedly dubbed the Fitbit Edge has been sighted.

This device has been extensively leaked by Android Headlines, complete with images — some of which you can see below — and specs, but it sounds a lot like a Fitbit Air with an added screen. Like the Air, the Edge reportedly has up to seven days of battery life, GPS, elevation tracking, automatic activity tracking, and support for both Android and iOS.

But thanks to its screen, it also supports a handful of apps, like Google Maps, YouTube Music, and Find My Phone. You’ll also be able to get notifications on your wrist, and of course, you’ll be able to view things like your step count and heart rate without having to look at your phone.

Android HeadlinesAndroid HeadlinesA middle ground

So the Fitbit Edge should essentially sit somewhere between the screen-free Air and the Google Pixel Watch 5 — the latter being a full smartwatch with even more capabilities, but with worse battery life and no iOS support.

Android Headlines notes that you could also look at it as a successor to the Fitbit Charge line — a series which we haven’t seen a new entry in since 2023.

According to Android Headlines, the Fitbit Edge will come in black, green, and orange shades, with the potential for more options down the line.

It doesn’t sound like the site has any inside information on the price or release date, but it speculates that the Edge could launch this month, so that it’s on shelves in time for the holiday season, and that it might cost between $149 (roughly £110 / AU$215) and $199 (around £150 / AU$285).

OpenAI had an oddly casual way of apologizing to the Australian Government to explain how one of its experimental AI agents gained unauthorized access to a government health statistics system while trying to complete a routine research task. More casual than one might expect for such a huge security concern.

The agent was looking for publicly available information about medicine spending, but after failing to get what it wanted through the normal route, it found a vulnerability in and used it to access internal files, though no individual patient records.

The incident is a striking example of the risks that come with increasingly autonomous AI agents, but almost as striking is how OpenAI admitted what happened. OpenAI says it discovered the Australian activity in mid-August but did not notify Australia until September 10. When it finally did, the company sent a brief, almost jaunty email about it, as shared on LinkedIn by an ABC reporter:

"We are notifying you of a security vulnerability identified during our review of OpenAI model activity involving Services Australia’s Medicare Statistics service," the email begins before explaining what happened. "We recommend that the team responsible for the service investigate the vulnerability and assess the changes needed to prevent it. We would be glad to brief your security team and provide supporting evidence as available."

The message ends with "Best," though the letter hardly feels like it means it.

Won't accept a no

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The model was researching government spending per person on medicines for skin conditions in communities in Victoria in June. It was supposed to find publicly available statistics. Instead, it discovered a route into the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service that gave it non-public access.

Essentially, the model asked for information it shouldn't have access to and took the denial as a sign to find another way in. The ethics of the matter did not arise.

"We did not intend for this activity to occur, and the access to the service and follow-on activity should not have happened," OpenAI wrote in its follow-up explanation.

The timing makes the note considerably worse as, while OpenAI discovered in July what happened in June, it did not notify Services Australia until September 10.

That means the most significant delay was between discovery and disclosure. OpenAI now admits it still waited too long. In its expanded apology, the company said it should have shared preliminary findings sooner and kept Australian agencies updated as it learned more.

While using the public disclosures email is legitimate for the average person finding a security flaw, it seems odd for a company of OpenAI's size to report its own model's error this way.

Not really the 'best' way to say sorry

The apology also revealed that Medicare was only part of the story. OpenAI said its models had interacted with several Australian government services during training and evaluation. An agent accessed the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research's public Crime Mapping Tool, while agents found an exposed access key associated with a Victorian health reporting system and retrieved configuration information and aggregate survey statistics.

OpenAI said no individual medical or criminal records were accessed in those incidents. But OpenAI later expanded its response, adding that a model researching wildfire statistics had used crafted queries against the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service's Fire History service to infer database metadata that was not intended to be publicly exposed.

The growing list makes the Medicare incident harder to dismiss as a quirky model finding a single vulnerability. It suggests experimental agents were repeatedly interacting with real websites in ways their creators did not expect. OpenAI itself has responded by pausing training and evaluation involving tool use for its most capable models until additional safeguards are in place.

OpenAI also said that newer monitoring has already caught a model obtaining live internet access during another training run, allowing humans to stop it. The Australian government is investigating whether laws were broken and working on fixing older public-facing government systems to prevent it from happening again.

AI companies increasingly want us to trust agents with doing tasks autonomously on our behalf. The selling point is that an agent can encounter an obstacle and independently figure out how to accomplish its goal. This is an unusually vivid example of what happens when that feature works a little too enthusiastically.

The Medicare agent was assigned to find statistics about medicine spending, not penetrate a government server. But it simply steered toward a more direct route, ignoring every consideration but effectiveness. The technology had crossed a boundary its developer says it never intended the model to cross, and the company took weeks after discovering the incident to tell the organization on the other side of that boundary. That's why the email feels like more than a funny piece of corporate communication.

The follow-up acknowledges responsibility and describes concrete safeguards while admitting that notification should have come sooner. It also recognizes that the company now has work to do to rebuild trust. It's a much better message. "Best" is a way to end an email to a professional acquaintance, not when your experimental AI has hacked national medical databases.

Artificial intelligence is moving beyond the chatbot. Across enterprises, AI now does more than summarize documents, draft emails or answer questions. Organizations are increasingly piloting autonomous AI agents that read communications, retrieve information from business systems, update customer records, trigger workflows and execute operational actions with limited human oversight.

That autonomy creates a new kind of exposure. Our research finds 76% of organizations are piloting or rolling out autonomous AI agents, and 42% have already had a confirmed or suspected AI-related incident. Agentic AI is already inside the workplace; the real test is whether organizations can govern it without strangling the productivity gains it delivers.

Unlike traditional generative AI, which responds to a question and stops, agentic AI pursues an objective. It interprets a request, selects tools, accesses data and acts across connected business environments. A conventional assistant might summarize an email chain. An autonomous agent could read it, pull details from a CRM, draft a response, update a Zendesk ticket and schedule a follow-up call.

Each stage may look legitimate on its own, yet the end result could still be wrong, excessive or manipulated. Blocking AI tools outright isn't practical. It just pushes employees toward unapproved services where activity and data flows are harder to see. Leaders need to treat AI agents as a new category of digital worker, with clear boundaries, oversight and accountability.

Moving beyond traditional access control

Securing autonomous AI agents means moving from access control to behavior-aware governance. Permission to act matters less than whether that action fits the original request, the data it touches, and the consequences it could trigger.

Traditional enterprise security assumes a person makes the decision and a system executes it. Agentic AI compresses that chain. A human writes the prompt, the AI interprets it, pulls in connected tools, and triggers the action itself, often without a checkpoint between decision and execution.

That works fine for low-risk, repetitive, reversible tasks. But once an agent can send external communications, modify sensitive records, approve transactions or change permissions, a misunderstood instruction, or a malicious one, turns into an immediate consequence.

Security teams must assess what an agent is doing, why it is doing it, and whether its actions remain aligned with organizational policy and human intent. Governance has to cover the full chain of activity, from the original request through to the outcome inside a business system.

The risk of semantic privilege escalation

One emerging concern is semantic privilege escalation, where an agent stays fully within its access rights but stretches them further than the user intended.

An employee asks an agent to "organize customer communications." With access to a CRM, an email platform and a customer database, the agent could read that instruction broadly enough to email confidential pricing details to the wrong contact, message an entire distribution list instead of one recipient, or push through a change that should have needed a manager's sign-off.

The agent stays within its authorization the entire time; the mismatch is between its behavior and human intent. Static permissions can't catch that gap. Organizations need controls that weigh an action's purpose, context and likely impact before it completes, not just its permission level.

Human risk and data protection

AI agents are directed by prompts, shaped by whatever information they receive, and trusted by employees who assume the output is correct. Three failure points follow from that: what data goes in, how the agent interprets it, and how much employees trust what it produces.

Employees paste sensitive data into prompts or upload confidential files without thinking twice. An agent can misread a request, or get steered by hidden instructions buried in an email, document, chat message or webpage. And employees often wave AI-generated recommendations through without the scrutiny they'd give a colleague's advice.

Prompt injection is the clearest example: attackers hide instructions inside content they know an AI agent will process. If the agent treats that content as trustworthy, it can ignore policy, leak data, alter a workflow or act on an instruction no human ever approved. Against a chatbot, that produces an embarrassing wrong answer. Against an agent with direct access to tools and systems, it produces an executed action.

Data leakage compounds this. Agents typically need broad access to enterprise data, which means sensitive information can travel through prompts, uploads, generated responses, logs and retrieval workflows. Data loss prevention has to extend into these AI environments, flagging sensitive content before it reaches an AI tool, and controlling where that tool can send it.

Email and collaboration platforms deserve particular attention. They sit at the intersection of people, data and autonomous workflows, while also serving as common routes for phishing, malicious links, manipulated files and prompt injection. Among organizations reporting an AI-related incident, 67% saw threat activity in email, 57% in SaaS or cloud applications, and 53% in AI assistants or agents.

Requiring human approval for every automated action would defeat the purpose of deploying agents in the first place. Targeted human-in-the-loop controls work better, reserved for high-impact, irreversible or sensitive decisions such as financial transfers, external communications, permission changes and regulated data sharing.

Lower-risk actions can run autonomously within clear boundaries. Higher-risk actions should pause for human confirmation, require step-up authentication or face additional policy checks.

Agentic AI security rests on four pillars: visibility into human-AI interactions, controls on sensitive data, governance over agent behavior, and audit trails that hold up under scrutiny. These agents are becoming digital colleagues with real system access and real authority to act. They warrant the same scrutiny organizations already apply to privileged users, critical applications and high-risk business processes.

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• Five of Europe's biggest payment providers have agreed to enable cross-border payments
• European Network for Payments is a common framework for interoperability
• Combined, they already reach over 70% of the EU/Norway's population

Five European payment providers have come together to create the European Network for Payments (ENP) following a memorandum of understanding signed by the companies earlier in 2026.

With the ENP, the five platforms – Italy's Bancomat, Spain's Bizum, Portugal's MB WAY, the Nordics' Vipps MobilePay and Europe's Wero – will support Europe-wide interoperability.

Instead of replacing any of those platforms, the Network (ENP) will act as an interoperability layer between those companies – and potentially more in the future – so that users can send more payments to more people, without having to ditch their favorite app.

European Network for Payments is all about Europe-wide interoperability

In a press release, the Network revealed that those five platforms alone already reach 130 million users, which represents more than 70% of the EU and Norway's combined populations.

The goal is to enable instant account-to-account payments, but rollout is set to happen in stages, beginning with person-to-person payments across international borders. E-commerce will come later, and then physical, in-store payments will form the final release.

"By connecting strong national solutions through a common framework, we are enabling seamless cross-border experiences while preserving the diversity, trust and proximity that each system has built in its own market," Bancomat CEO Fabrizio Burlando explained – a hint to the bloc's ongoing digital sovereignty efforts.

In an earlier investigation, the Commission had already noted differences in standards covering QR codes, NFC and Bluetooth, impacting borderless payments. The Commission also declared that "the EU’s electronic payments market is dominated by a few large global players."

The European Central Bank also revealed that three in five (61%) card transactions in the euro area in 2022 were handled by international card schemes.

As for what's next, the European Network for Payments hopes to have implemented all three types of payments (person-to-person, e-commerce and physical retail) by the end of 2027.

Digital trust has rested on the simple assumption that behind every login or decision, there is a person. Passwords and multi-factor authentication were built to confirm that whoever was asking had the right access.

They were never built to answer a question that AI agents are now making unavoidable: not just whether you can get in, or even who you are, but who authorized you to act, what exactly you can do, and for how long.

Break it down, and there are really three separate checks. Authentication: can you access this? Identity: who are you? Authority: who authorized you to do this, what can you do, and for how long? Most of today's infrastructure was built to answer the first two. Agents are what make the third one impossible to ignore, and it's where the interesting problem now sits.

AI agents are completing transactions and handling admin tasks that used to require a person, often with minimal oversight. Many of the systems checking who's on the other end of a request weren't built to tell a person from an agent, or a legitimate agent from an unauthorized one. They confirm that someone, or increasingly something, holds the right credentials, not whether it has authority for the action it's taking.

The UK has spent the past couple of years building the infrastructure to answer the identity part of this equation. The Data (Use and Access) Act has put Digital Verification Services (DVS) on statutory footing.

Some use cases are going further still, introducing mandatory identity verification for directors and people with significant control. That's progress. But as agents start acting more inside business workflows, a second question is emerging that this infrastructure wasn't designed to answer: not who someone is, but who is acting, and with what authority.

Identity is only the first check

For businesses, proving a person's identity has always gone hand in hand with checking what they are authorized to do. Take an employee approving a payment on a company's behalf: the organization relying on that action needs to know not just who they are, but whether they're currently entitled to do it. Financial services and healthcare already layer eligibility and role checks on top of identity verification, because identity alone doesn't tell you what someone is allowed to do.

AI agents make that distinction unavoidable everywhere else, too. Identifying the agent behind a request doesn't show who authorized the action or whether it falls within the permission originally granted. The infrastructure built so far is much stronger on identity verification than on applying delegated authority, and that gap will widen as more of what businesses do is offloaded to agents.

Minimum necessary authority

The same discipline that good identity design applies to documents should apply to authority: ask for, and grant, only what a transaction actually needs. An agent completing a task should be able to prove it holds a specific, limited mandate for that task, not standing access to everything behind it.

Broad, standing access is easier to build, but it means a single compromised or mis-scoped agent can do far more damage than a narrowly scoped one ever could.

Preparing for delegation

So how should businesses actually close this gap? The starting point isn't a new verification step. It's moving that check earlier, so authority is confirmed before an agent acts rather than discovered after something's gone wrong. An organization should give an agent a specific, limited job rather than a copy of a person's own access, and keep a clear record of who granted that authority and when it can be pulled.

For any agentic action, a business should be able to answer five questions: Who, or what, is acting? Who authorized it? What can it do? Under what constraints? And is that authority still valid? It's a simple test, but it's a useful one, and it maps closely onto the ‘on-behalf-of’ (or OBO) delegation models already used in identity standards, which is a promising foundation to build on rather than starting from scratch.

Without those answers, a mis-scoped agent could quietly approve a payment it was never meant to touch. Waiting for a regulator to define the standard first only leaves that exposure open for longer.

Where the framework needs to catch up

The government's role here too is to extend what already exists rather than build new infrastructure from scratch. The DVS Trust Framework already recognizes delegated authority when a person acts on behalf of somebody else or an organization. What it doesn't yet address is how that same principle should apply when the delegate is software, and the UK now needs to work out how its existing delegated-authority thinking extends to that case.

Whatever shape that takes, an agent needs to be able to present a machine-verifiable mandate: who authorized it, what it can do, under what constraints, for how long, and whether that authority is still valid. Digital wallets are one plausible home for that mandate, sitting alongside a person's or organization's verified credentials so it can be checked or revoked.

They're not the only answer, but they point at the kind of infrastructure this problem needs, and the UK has a narrow window to work it out before agent deployments outpace the systems meant to govern them.

With the Data (Use and Access) Act, the DVS Trust Framework is already laying much of the groundwork for secure, reusable digital identity, the UK has an opportunity to get ahead of this shift, extending principles it has already established rather than inventing new ones.

In the near future, trust online will no longer depend on whether something can pass a login. It will depend on whether we can prove who, or what, is really acting behind the screen, on whose authority, and for how long.

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• BT agrees rescue deal to buy broadband operator TalkTalk
• However DCMS has already stepped in over competition concerns
• TalkTalk has 1.5 million retail customers and one million wholesale customers across the UK

BT has signed a rescue deal to save TalkTalk in a move which could have major ramifications across the UK market.

TalkTalk, which is the UK’s fourth-largest broadband company with 1.5 million retail customers and a million wholesale customers across the country, had been on the edge of potential administration due to rising debts.

However the UK government may still have its say on the deal, which covers both TalkTalk and its wholesale arm PlatformX Communications (PXC), and it will need to be approved by the Competition Markets Authority (CMA) due to the range of control it would give BT over the UK broadband market.

BT-TalkTalk deal

“This is a genuinely unprecedented situation, where millions of citizens and businesses were at risk if TalkTalk had collapsed," said Allison Kirkby, Chief Executive of BT Group.

"BT is the digital backbone of the country, with a presence in every postcode. We have been connecting the nation for generations, stepping up in the moments that matter, and BT acquiring TalkTalk is now the only viable option to keep millions of customers connected and supported."

The terms of the deal have not been revealed, but BT's press release noted that the estimate of the total cash impact in its FY27 would be around £400 million.

TalkTalk, which employes around 900 people in the UK, made around £1.2bn in revenue over the last 12 months, but was still loss-making, BT said.

“Our immediate priority is to stabilise the business and provide a safety net for the households and businesses who rely on TalkTalk," Kirkby added.

"Once the regulatory process has been concluded, TalkTalk’s customers will benefit from access to the UK’s best network, and the full range of market-leading products and services that BT offers. And, over a period of time, the transaction will create value for all our stakeholders – customers, colleagues, the country, and our owners.”

Hurdles ahead?

Given the scale of the move, the deal immediately drew intervention from the UK Government, with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) issuing a press release alongside BT's announcement.

In it, it noted that "given these exceptional circumstances and the potential risk to life and public services", it would be utilising Enterprise ‌Act powers that will permit Secretary of State Lisa Nandy to consider the wider public interest following the CMA's ruling.

The CMA has been told to file its report by October 19, 2026, when further Government intervention may be considered.

“Phone and broadband services are vital national infrastructure. If TalkTalk services fail, there is a genuine risk to life and public services – including to hospitals, schools and emergency care," Nandy added.

“These are unprecedented circumstances that require action now. That is why I am acting with urgency to ensure that impacts on public health, critical national infrastructure and supply to vulnerable customers are fully considered as part of this process.”

TalkTalk customers have been told that no changes will happen to their services for the time being, with no adjustments to bills or services until the deal closes.

• Oregon’s data center tax breaks have become a major political flashpoint statewide
• A warning about one election cycle helped accelerate Oregon’s grassroots organizing
• More than $450 million in exemptions intensified scrutiny of Oregon data centers

Oregon’s expanding data center industry has triggered an increasingly organized political backlash involving residents, environmental groups, educators, farmers and elected officials.

The dispute intensified after reports showed Oregon data centers receiving more than $450 million in property tax exemptions during 2026, including about $85 million in the Hillsboro area.

The resistance is a grassroots coalition led by the nonprofit 1000 Friends of Oregon, which has already helped unseat a Hillsboro-area senator and pushed Governor Tina Kotek to reverse course.

A warning turns into political action

Sam Diaz, executive director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, said his concerns deepened after seeing how facilities affected communities and resources around Prineville.

In 2022, a rancher told him water allocations had been reduced because large server buildings had arrived nearby.

A later warning from a Virginia land-use executive gave Diaz another reason to accelerate organizing before data centers became harder to regulate politically.

“They said, ‘Once this takes hold in your state, you really got to get ahead of it, and you probably have one election cycle before you really start seeing politicians do the bidding of data centers,’” Diaz recalled.

Trouble escalated when Senator Janeen Sollman proposed opening 1,700 acres of farmland to industry and doubling a tax break that data centers already had.

Intense pushback forced her to drop the plan to double that tax break within days of the 2026 session starting, yet the backlash had already begun.

Sollman later lost her seat to Myrna Muñoz, though she blamed a separate bill on strike benefits rather than data centers for her primary defeat.

Criticism intensified again after Hillsboro was found to have approved incentives for 17 data centers shortly before a statewide moratorium took effect.

Tax incentives bring an unlikely coalition together

The incentive decisions helped bring previously separate groups into a common campaign involving education funding, environmental concerns, farmland and tax policy.

In June, 1000 Friends and 11 other plaintiffs sued Hillsboro and companies connected with the facilities, questioning whether the city had legal authority to approve the agreements.

“The first question of, ‘Does the city have the authority to do what it did?,’ and then the second question is, ‘Even if they did, do these applications even meet the Enterprise Zone Act requirements?’” Diaz said.

The coalition argues that reduced property-tax collections can affect public services, including education funding through Oregon’s State School Fund.

The Oregon Education Association, representing 41,000 teachers, joined the lawsuit over what it described as financial consequences for statewide schools.

These concerns have also become part of the coalition’s agenda for the 2027 legislative session, where members want changes to subsidies, land-use rules and public spending on economic development.

The lawsuit also brings major technology companies into the dispute because their facilities are connected to the tax incentives being challenged by the plaintiffs.

It names major technology companies including CoreWeave, Adobe and NVIDIA among firms tied to the disputed Enterprise Zone tax arrangements.

None of these companies has issued an official statement on the lawsuit or allegations concerning their involvement.

Via Street Roots

Private companies are taking cremated remains and stunt payloads to the moon. Former NASA attorney Steve Mirmina warns that there’s nothing stopping them.

• Control Resonant composer Petri Alanko says a musical score is "an emotional vessel"
• He explains that it's his duty "to represent the story in the most beautiful light possible"
• Alanko adds that the music "must be able to exist by itself, without the game and the story"

Control Resonant composer Petri Alanko thinks of a game's musical score as another way to tell the story, and it's his job to do that, even if he sometimes takes some creative liberties.

"In my thoughts, a score is what one might call an emotional vessel - or a tray for the story," Alanko told TechRadar Gaming in an interview about Remedy Entertainment's latest action game. "My duty is to represent the story in the most beautiful light possible, to help drill the ideas and the vision into the heads of those who experience the events."

The composer compared it to his band, where on stage it's his role to help the soloist "be the best version of themselves and showcase their talents in the most elegant way possible," saying that the "Same applies" to a video game.

"What I do is a series of deep bows towards the story; I love the story; it’s an honour for me to make it even more approachable and beautiful," he said. "But… it must be able to exist by itself, without the game and the story. Otherwise, it’d be just a pointless collection of noodling. I carry the responsibility of respecting both the story creator and especially those who enjoy the story."

Alanko went on to liken what he does to a customer service business, but added, "Trust me: I wouldn’t do anything just to please others; I do this to please myself. Simple as that."

"If I don’t like what I do, nobody else will, and, just to be clear and precise, I do really enjoy what I do," he reiterated, "my self-confidence is in very good shape that way (laughs). If something moves me, there’s a good chance it might move someone else, too."

While Alanko believes that it's a composer's job to translate the Remedy's story to the audience with his talent, he admitted: "I sometimes offer the story in a different light, as contradicting the on-screen events can be really delicious."

"It’s a very human feature to make errors, to have a sudden twist of a knife in your side in the middle of the most heroic event, as if someone reminded you of your mortality and how different the outcome would be if this-or-that happened," Alanko added. "A bit like memento mori. It makes you humble; it makes you human."

You can play Control Resonant now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S, and PC.

Asus has beaten every other manufacturer to market with the ROG Rapture GT-BN98, the world's first commercially available Wi-Fi 8 gaming router.

It's a bold flagship release for a wireless standard that isn't even finalized yet — and with zero Wi-Fi 8 client devices currently on sale, reviewers had to get creative just to test what it can actually do. I dug into three in-depth reviews to see whether it's worth buying now.

What reviews say

Build quality drew consistent praise. It's "extremely well constructed with very good attention to detail," said Blacktubi, while Guru3D leaned into the router's dramatic looks, joking that unboxing it feels like "a small alien spacecraft has crash-landed on the desk."

YouTuber Landpet was blunt about the performance side, calling it flat-out "an absolute beast of a router."

On paper, the GT-BN98's theoretical link rates are identical to its Wi-Fi 7 predecessor, the GT-BE98 — Blacktubi pointed out the headline numbers "are the exact same." But real-world range and throughput told a different story.

Design

Hiding it would be counterproductive, since the antennas require space to be positioned correctly and the chassis benefits from unobstructed airflow

Guru 3D

The chassis is large by any standard. It measures roughly 35cm by 35cm and weighs over 2kg. It needs "a proper, dedicated spot" rather than a small shelf, and ruling out wall mounting altogether given the size.

The antennas dominate the look, adjustable around the perimeter and giving the router an almost insect-like silhouette when fully extended. The top panel mixes a metallic finish with geometric detailing and translucent panels, plus the expected Aura RGB lighting.

Build quality feels solid throughout — no flex, clean panel fit, antenna arms that hold their position. Front-edge LEDs give a quick status read without opening the app.

Thermally, this Asus router added a thicker aluminum top plate and an upgraded heatsink layer for passive cooling. Stress testing turned up no signs of throttling.

Design & ports

Inside is a 2.6GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM, running a quad-band radio setup — 2.4GHz, dual 5GHz bands, and a single 6GHz band — for a combined theoretical throughput of 25,000Mbps.

A North America-only "Pro" variant swaps the second 5GHz band for an extra 6GHz band on the UNII-8 spectrum, which isn't approved for use in most other regions.

For wired gear, there are two 10GbE ports (one general-purpose, one dedicated gaming port), four 2.5GbE ports, and a single gigabit port, with up to six LAN ports active depending on configuration. USB 3.2 Gen1 and USB 2.0 round things out for network storage or 4G/5G backup internet.

Performance

This is officially the fastest wireless backhaul router that I've tested, which is insane

Landpet

Real-world speed testing — done entirely with Wi-Fi 7 client devices, since Wi-Fi 8 hardware doesn't exist yet — found wired and wireless backhaul holding up strongly even at 100 feet away

Over a wired 10G connection, speeds matched his 5 Gbps ISP plan exactly in both directions. On Wi-Fi, internet speeds hit 4.1 Gbps down and 2 Gbps up.

Local network testing — where speed isn't capped by the ISP — pushed even higher: 4.6 Gbps down and 4.2 Gbps up over wireless backhaul between two mesh units, with wired backhaul close behind at 4.5 Gbps down and 4.2 Gbps up.

Range held up well too. At 20ft, speeds stayed around 4 Gbps down; at 50ft outdoors, 2.7 Gbps down; and even at 100ft, it still managed 1.92 Gbps down, though upload dropped sharply to 718 Mbps.

A more controlled comparison, pairing two GT-BN98 units against two GT-BE98 units, found "significantly higher" throughput at long range with the newer hardware.

The more surprising finding: those gains aren't limited to future Wi-Fi 8 gear. Testing with an existing Wi-Fi 7 MacBook still measured "more than 10% higher average throughput" on the GT-BN98 versus the older Wi-Fi router — evidence that upgraded radio components benefit today's devices too, even without any Wi-Fi 8 features actually switched on.

Firmware

The ASUSWRT 6.0 was singled out as a real step up, with the interface "noticeably more modern and much more responsive" than Asus's decade-old firmware.

The headline addition is the new Adaptive QoE engine, which "smartly allocates network resources to balance gaming, streaming, and daily tasks," replacing the older Adaptive QoS system.

Security also got an upgrade via the revamped AiProtection suite, which was called "genuinely impressive" for including network-level ad and tracker blocking at no extra cost.

The new Wi-Fi Insight tool also correctly flagged interference from a Zigbee smart home devices on the 2.4GHz band, a decent addition which impressively “works as intended”.

Price

Pricing is still rolling out region by region ahead of the router's wider October 2026 launch.

The flagship GT-BN98 Pro is currently the only model on sale, listed on ASUS's Canadian eStore at CA$1,299.99.

A US launch price of around $899 has been floated by early previews but isn't yet official.

The standard GT-BN98 (non-Pro) has also been priced at €960 in Europe, though North American pricing for that specific model hasn't been confirmed yet.

Given the router is shipping ahead of Wi-Fi 8's official IEEE finalization — not expected until 2028 — buyers are paying an early-adopter premium on top of already-flagship router pricing.

Who should buy it

This is a router for enthusiasts buying ahead of the curve, not something you need for Wi-Fi 8 today — compatible client devices aren't expected until 2027 at the earliest.

Still, the benefits aren't purely theoretical: better range, backhaul speed, and firmware improvements apply right now, even to existing Wi-Fi 7 devices.

Verdict

The good

- Meaningfully better range and throughput, even on older Wi-Fi 7 devices

- Premium build quality with no thermal throttling under load

- Adaptive QoE and free-included ad/tracker blocking are genuine upgrades

The bad

- No Wi-Fi 8 client devices exist yet to fully prove the standard

- Large footprint requires dedicated desk space

- High price tag

The verdict

Worth it if you want the best router hardware available today and don't mind future-proofing ahead of the Wi-Fi 8 ecosystem. Hold off if you're not running multi-gig internet or don't need flagship-level range right now.

ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BN98 specs

Spec

Detail

Wi-Fi standard

Wi-Fi 8 (802.11bn)

Bands

Quad-band: 2.4GHz, dual 5GHz, single 6GHz

Max theoretical throughput

25,000 Mbps combined

Channel bandwidth

Up to 320MHz, 4096-QAM

Processor

2.6GHz quad-core

Memory

2GB RAM

Wired ports

2x 10GbE, 4x 2.5GbE, 1x Gigabit

USB

1x USB 3.2 Gen1, 1x USB 2.0

Backup connectivity

4G/5G cellular backup WAN

Key software

Adaptive QoE, WiFi Insight, AiMesh, Guest Network Pro, AiProtection, GTNet game acceleration

Guest networks

Up to 5 SSIDs via Guest Network Pro

Dimensions/weight

~35cm x 35cm, 2kg+

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 Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Saturday, October 3 (game #1713).

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 #1714) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* 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 #1714) — 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 #1714) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1714) — 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 #1714) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• I

• R

• T

• A

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

Quordle today (game #1714) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1714, are…

• INFER
• RAINY
• THING
• ARENA

A tricky one today, with multiple possibilities to navigate.

ARENA, though, was just hard to get because of the mental block of thinking of words ending in vowels. However, with the N in the fourth position and few other options I knew it had to end with N-A.

Daily Sequence today (game #1714) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1714, are…

• MUSIC
• FLUTE
• BRAWN
• VIVID

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1713, Saturday, 3 October: CHORE, FLYER, STICK, PURSE
• Quordle #1712, Friday, 2 October: IVORY, SADLY, ANGEL, LLAMA
• Quordle #1711, Thursday, 1 October: NAVEL, SHEER, BIRTH, TACKY
• Quordle #1710, Wednesday, 30 September: CHOKE, BATCH, MOSSY, EAGER
• Quordle #1709, Tuesday, 29 September: BILGE, MEDAL, LODGE, PORCH
• Quordle #1708, Monday, 28 September: BRUNT, TORSO, STONE, HEATH
• Quordle #1707, Sunday, 27 September: VALET, CHEST, VIGIL, PUREE
• Quordle #1706, Saturday, 26 September: SNORT, BIBLE, LAPSE, CRANE
• Quordle #1705, Friday, 25 September: SWEAR, FLOOD, GUPPY, GROAN
• Quordle #1704, Thursday, 24 September: TOPIC, METRO, SCALP, FREED
• Quordle #1703, Wednesday, 23 September: SHEET, BLAND, JOIST, GUAVA
• Quordle #1702, Tuesday, 22 September: COMFY, LOBBY, DRESS, PANEL
• Quordle #1701, Monday, 21 September: WAXEN, HIPPO, PETAL, LEASH
• Quordle #1700, Sunday, 20 September: DERBY, LIMBO, GAWKY, REIGN
• Quordle #1699, Saturday, 19 September: SCOPE, HEIST, PULSE, CHAMP
• Quordle #1698, Friday, 18 September: MUCUS, MIRTH, APPLE, TILDE
• Quordle #1697, Thursday, 17 September: CRIER, CHIRP, NEIGH, FREER
• Quordle #1696, Wednesday, 16 September: SPEAR, PRICE, BLUNT, FISHY
• Quordle #1695, Tuesday, 15 September: SHUSH, LITHE, DELTA, BUGLE
• Quordle #1694, Monday, 14 September: ZEBRA, LEGAL, RATIO, TROLL

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 Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, October 3 (game #1210).

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 #1211) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• WIG
• FILM
• AUCTION
• TABLE
• PADDLE
• COLLAR
• GAVEL
• LOT
• BUNCH
• BALL
• PARTNER
• NET
• ROBE
• HEAP
• TREATMENT
• STACK

NYT Connections today (game #1211) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: A pile of things
• GREEN: Ping pong equipment
• BLUE: All rise
• PURPLE: Begin with a noiseless 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 #1211) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT
• GREEN: TABLE TENNIS NEEDS
• BLUE: PARTS OF A JUDGE COSTUME
• PURPLE: SILENT ____

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

NYT Connections today (game #1211) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1211, are…

• YELLOW: CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT: BUNCH, HEAP, LOT, STACK
• GREEN: TABLE TENNIS NEEDS: BALL, NET, PADDLE, TABLE
• BLUE: PARTS OF A JUDGE COSTUME: COLLAR, GAVEL, ROBE, WIG
• PURPLE: SILENT ____: AUCTION, FILM, PARTNER, TREATMENT

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

In the UK we call a PADDLE a bat, a cultural difference that slowed me down a little and meant that I began with a group I was more certain about.

The four tiles of PARTS OF A JUDGE COSTUME seem very odd to me — that one of the most important and respected roles in society involves people wearing a WIG and using something called a GAVEL. Frankly, it’d make just as much sense if you had to wear a wig and GOWN to play table tennis.

The real annoyance of today was missing a very gettable purple group. Kudos, if you spotted it — I got too hung up on thinking AUCTION was a red herring because it matched with LOT and ended up ignoring other possible connections.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, October 3, 2026, game #1210)

• YELLOW: STARTING WITH TERMS FOR "TOILET": CAN OPENER, HEAD WAITER, JOHN DENVER, W.C. FIELDS
• GREEN: ENDING IN MUSICALS: ELBOW GREASE, FAT CATS, LINDA HAMILTON, SOMETHING WICKED
• BLUE: STARTING WITH U.S. MUSEUMS: BROAD BEAN, GETTY IMAGES, MET HALFWAY, WHITNEY HOUSTON
• PURPLE: ENDING IN FANTASY CREATURES: DIET SPRITE, MERV GRIFFIN, NY GIANT, RIVER PHOENIX

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 Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, October 3 (game #944).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

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

NYT Strands today (game #945) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Grab your tokens

NYT Strands today (game #945) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• STAG
• SEAT
• GATES
• RIDE
• GORE
• DECADE
• SONG
• BELT

NYT Strands today (game #945) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 11 letters

NYT Strands today (game #945) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: bottom, 1st column

• Last side: top, 6th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #945) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #945, are…

• PONG
• FROGGER
• ASTEROIDS
• CENTIPEDE
• SCRAMBLE
• SPANGRAM FIRST: ARCADEGAMES

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

When I saw today’s theme “grab your tokens” I immediately thought of video games and went in search of the word “arcade”. And thus ARCADEGAMES became my 107th Spangram First.

Arcades trigger plenty of memories for me, but mainly how laughably awful I was at every single game I tried — everyone else I knew was amazing at them and would stay on for ages, whereas I’d lose my life in seconds even on simple games such as Pac-Man. I didn’t mind, though; I was an enthusiastic spectator.

Having said all that, despite getting PONG, FROGGER and ASTEROIDS in a quick blast, the lesser-played CENTIPEDE and SCRAMBLE were harder to spot.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, October 3, game #944)

• MIRAGE
• ILLUSION
• CHIMERA
• SPECTER
• PHANTASM
• SPANGRAM:WILLOTHEWISP

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

Only recently, the internet was ablaze with news that Volkswagen will be applying a proper GTI badge to both its ID.3 and electric Polo models, the former of which will be the most powerful car to wear the iconic insignia.

Granted, that’s not quite VW committing to a fully-electric Golf GTI, but it’s about as close as we are going to get for now.

Often considered the king of the hot hatches, a Golf GTI has long offered the blueprint for high-performance, everyday vehicles that will carry out mundane hatchback duties without complaint, but will happily transform into grin-inducing back-road destroyers when the mood takes.

(Image credit: Peugeot)

But the German marque isn’t the only one to enjoy hero status when it comes to small, feisty automobiles, as Peugeot also enjoys a long and illustrious history with a GTi badge of its own.

It's fitting, then, that Peugeot should also unveil its own electrified hatchback with those unmistakable three letters stamped upon its rump.

The sub-£35,000 Peugeot E-208 GTi (around $46,300 / AU$66,000) is further proof that rapid, affordable small cars are very much back on the menu.

The French firecracker

(Image credit: Peugeot)

Unlike numerous EV startups, as well as many established automotive players, Peugeot has enjoyed a long and fruitful love affair with both motorsports and the souped-up road-going creations that have been spawned.

The latest E-208 GTi, despite lacking an internal combustion engine, can trace its roots back to the very first 604 GTi of the early 1980s, the OG 205 GTi and, of course, the respected 308 and 208 GTi models that spanned 2013 to the early 2020s.

This electrified hot hatch starts with the same basic 54kWh battery as the regular E-208, but Peugeot Sport (responsible for the French marque’s endurance racing program) has substantially reworked the powertrain, battery management and chassis around it.

(Image credit: Peugeot)

The culmination of all this is a vehicle that feels destined to tackle fun, twisty routes.

The electric motor, which is mounted to the front axle, produces 281PS (around 278bhp) and 345Nm of torque. The result is a 0-62mph time of 5.5 seconds and a top speed of 112mph.

Peugeot quotes 182bhp per ton, which, while not quite as featherweight as its GTi-badged forebears, is still a good deal lighter than the majority of bloated performance EVs on the market.

The culmination of all this is a vehicle that feels destined to tackle fun, twisty routes, with enough power to raise smiles but not so much that the driver feels like they are hanging on for dear life.

This is made possible by the fact that Peugeot Sport has comprehensively reworked the chassis, lowering the car by 30mm and widening the tracks by 56mm at the front and around 28mm at the rear.

(Image credit: Peugeot)

The springs, dampers, steering and anti-roll bars have all been recalibrated, while a mechanical limited-slip differential is integrated into the gear reducer to corral the machine around corners.

Depress the accelerator and the E-208 GTi scampers off the line with puppy-like enthusiasm.

It isn’t Tesla Ludicrous levels of neck-snapping acceleration, but the whiff of torque steer and minor loss of traction as the front wheels spin up immediately cast minds back to the halcyon days of those legendary Renault RS, GTi and SRi badges.

To further aid driver involvement, Peugeot Sport didn’t want to muddy the performance waters with vague regenerative braking. So, when Sport Mode is selected, the E-208 GTi relies solely on its hydraulic braking system, with 355mm front discs and fixed four-piston calipers.

Up in the rain-soaked hills of Scotland, the E-208 GTi came alive, tucking into corners and propelling out of them like a go-kart. Hours and hours of fun.

The brakes might not be endowed with phenomenal feel and feedback, but they inspire tons of confidence, while the limited-slip differential and gently guiding traction control keep lead-footed drivers largely out of trouble.

There’s no fake gearbox to contend with, but a subtle synthesized engine note acts as a soundtrack in Sport Mode. It’s not as booming or in-your-face as Kia’s (more on that later), but does a good job of keeping EV motion sickness at bay.

Everyday thrills

(Image credit: Peugeot)

Despite the sports seats and gloriously retro GTi badging throughout the cabin of the warmed-up E-208, this remains a car that can be used every day. There’s room in the back for two adults, a decent-sized trunk and all the infotainment modern conveniences you could want.

Alas, driving like your pants are on fire will seriously eat into the 233-mile WLTP range, with enthusiastic journalists on this particular test drive returning from the roughly 90-mile Scottish route with a mere 5% battery remaining. That's shocking.

But Peugeot says you won’t have to wait too long to charge it, with a 20-80% session taking less than 30 minutes from a 100kW outlet.

If all that sounds like too much of a compromise for some red-hot electric fun, Kia has a slightly more “sensible” option.

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Its latest EV4 GT, which borrows heavily from Hyundai’s N performance division, offers a more usable 313 miles of official range from its much larger 81.4kWh NMC battery.

There’s a 145kW permanent-magnet motor at the front producing 283Nm, joined by a 70kW rear induction motor making 185Nm.

Combined output is 215kW, or 288bhp, with 468Nm of torque. That’s enough for 0-62mph in 5.6 seconds, while 50-75mph takes just 3.9 seconds.

It is undeniably heavier than the lithe Peugeot and it certainly feels it, but the extra punch from the dual motors makes it feel equally brisk off the line.

Like Peugeot’s sporting division, Kia has also introduced a comprehensive chassis overhaul, including electronically controlled suspension, adaptive dampers, hydraulic bushings and electronically controlled Dynamic Torque Vectoring Control.

(Image credit: Kia)

Pile on the revs and it’s possible to hit a purely virtual “limiter".

There are also larger 325mm brakes and a six-speed Virtual Gear Shift system borrowed from Hyundai’s N division, designed to make the power delivery feel more familiar to anyone used to a performance gas-powered car.

Pile on the revs and it’s possible to hit a purely virtual “limiter", while the paddles behind the steering wheel transform from regenerative braking adjusters in regular modes to a full-on flappy-paddle gearbox when the shiny GT button on the steering wheel is pressed.

Compared with the E-208 GTi, it’s the more comfortable daily cruiser, too, with bags of room in the rear for passengers and an ultra-modern, comfortable cabin that’s perfect for longer trips.

(Image credit: Kia)

Regardless, on the winding roads of southern France, the EV4 GT’s hottest modes proved more than tempting and, despite being the larger and heavier vehicle, it still managed to prove that electric vehicles can be so much more than one-trick drag-strip ponies.

However, Kia is asking around £49,345 (around $65,300 / AU$93,100) for its souped-up EV, which is almost £15,000 (around $19,850 / AU$28,300) more than the Peugeot E-208 GTi. The latter was by far the most fun, if you can overlook the terrible range.

But with manufacturers now clearly placing an emphasis on more affordable and genuinely entertaining small EVs, it looks like driving enthusiasts will soon have arguably the most tempting shortlist there has ever been.

And for that, I’m grateful.

• A new Ban Flock Act has been introduced in Congress
• It cites privacy concerns over camera tracking systems
• All ALPRs are covered, not just those made by Flock

The momentum behind banning Flock cameras and other surveillance tech continues to build, with Senators Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley, together with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, filing a new Ban Flock Act that does exactly what you might expect given its name.

As TechCrunch reports though, it goes beyond Flock: the bill covers all automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), and would stop federal agencies from acquiring, possessing, accessing or otherwise using one of these devices.

Exceptions could be approved by Congress, the bill states, with toll collection one use case that would be exempt from the rules. If any exemptions did get cleared. data retention would be limited to 48 hours.

The proposed ban is at the federal level, which means states and local areas could still invest in ALPR systems using their own money, if they chose to — but central government funding would then be removed, so in practice, the cameras would be banned at this level too. Private companies and use by residents associations would still be allowed.

What happens nextBernie Sanders introduces bill to ban the federal government from using Flock from r/technology

If you're not familiar with the workings of the US political system, the next stages are for the bill to get committee, House, and Senate approval. However, the likelihood of it passing before the end of Congress in January is slim, considering the timing and the balance of party control in both chambers.

With that in mind, the Ban Flock Act is more of a statement of intent and opinion than anything likely to become law in the near future. There are in fact already two similar bills sitting at the committee stage that haven't made progress yet.

Those long odds of the bill's success are reflected in reaction online, though Redditors say future laws 'should go beyond ALPRs' and there is broad support for these camera systems being regulated more tightly or banned outright.

The accompanying press release leans heavily on privacy. "We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state," says Sanders, with the text pointing to past misuse of the cameras and data they collect — including police officers using plate readers to track wives, girlfriends, and exes.

Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance promises a fresh expedition into the skies, with players summoned there by the resurgence of ancient dragons and the promise of upgraded weaponry. At Tokyo Game Show 2026, I went hands-on with this upcoming expansion, getting up close and personal with the downloadable content's (DLC) interconnected aerial archipelagoes and battling against two brutal monsters with the use of the brand-new Boost Bracer.

The demo opens in a camp, with the reliable Alma serving up two important quests: Hunt the Alpha Araketa, a level 2 monster, and Slay the Teostra, a level 5 monster. Before jumping straight into the hunt, though, it only felt right to check things out at home first. The camp itself is a visual marvel in keeping with the high standards set by the base game — something here about how it looked; check demo vids online.

The demo is keen to focus on gameplay, though, and understandably offers little in the way of non-player character (NPC) chatter. Still, I was pleased to find a small jump across a ravine hides a barrel-rolling side game that, while unnecessary, was a fun side activity nonetheless. But I digress; it was finally time to break some monster parts.

Falling with style

(Image credit: Capcom)

The first expedition dropped me on a jagged island floating high above any visible Earth, where I was set to track the Araketa. The design of the space lands somewhere between James Cameron’s Pandora and the ruins of a medieval coastal castle. Rocky structures hang in the air above my eyeline, with aggressive tree roots tunnelling through them and disrupting their typical form.

As I came upon an unnervingly empty open area, I spied what looked like petrified dragon wings and tails buried in the white rubble, the blistering blue sky illuminating the stone and casting a dusty screen — so much so that I could almost feel my throat dry up as I stepped through the chalky stone.

Eventually, I spotted the Alpha, but it wasn’t alone. Typical of head honchos, the beast had two underlings, identical in species but much smaller in size.

(Image credit: Capcom)

New to Monster Hunter, the Araketa is a wyvern with a smooth, stone-like exterior painted with what looks like a turquoise-and-yellow platter pattern. Unlike a typical dragon-faced beast, the Araketa features a bulbous, boulder-like head, two wings with sharp claws at the back, and a long, winding tail. While beautiful, the most important note is that all three of these extremities are used in combat.

As I entered the battlefield and alerted the trio to my presence, the Alpha let out an ear-splitting screech before taking battle formation. As one of the underlings jumped up into the air, the Alpha and the second monster flew towards me at a startling pace. In no time, their attacks began, the younger creature attempting to headbutt me with its hammerhead, while the Alpha flanked me from behind.

Diving side to side, the Alpha then took its turn, digging its claw into the earth and performing a spin attack that knocked me off balance. As I regained my footing, the third skybound monster, which had been suspiciously absent, used its momentum to swoop down and take a swipe, too. It was overwhelming, but exhilarating.

(Image credit: Capcom)

My weapon of choice for this battle was the Insect Glaive, which proved useful for platforming around their bombardment. Thankfully, as I started to feel overwhelmed, I remembered I had a new tool to flex: Boost Driver attacks.

Another new addition to Monster Hunter Wilds is that players now wear a Boost Bracer, which enables weapon-specific special attack types. At the bottom of your screen, you’ll see a gauge with three charge slots. As you attack the monster, these slots will illuminate light blue, indicating you have charge. When in position, you can press R1, circle, and triangle in tandem to unleash a visually striking brutal attack.

For the glaive, this saw my character throwing his body into a series of explosive shifting sweeps. Beyond the spectacle and boosted damage, the upgraded moves did well to reset momentum, and I was particularly pleased to see I didn’t need any specific resources to harness its power.

As the battle drew to a close, I had just enough time to look around and take in the ambient wildlife of the new biome, spotting all kinds of creatures from rocky-backed alligators to fluffy, chicken-like birds.

Among the structures, I also got to experience the new wind mechanics mentioned in the marketing material and made use of my Seikret to dive across them, which was fun if not a little rigid — perhaps I’ll have more control in the full release.

The belly of the beast

(Image credit: Capcom)

The second quest sent me to a wholly oppositional location. Instead of blue skies and white rock, I was met with sludge and volcanic ash plumes rising from various organic chimneys dotted across the horizon. This area was composed of tones of grey, occasionally disrupted by orange or red illuminations.

The castle ruins had also been swapped out for what looked like giant pots, akin to Elden Ring's Iron Fist Alexander if he fell into some wet tarmac. Unlike the ambient wildlife of the first area, there was little more than Sisyphian dung beetles here, continuously rolling a solitary ball up a hill.

Descending to the bowels of the cave system, I spotted my prey, slumbering amongst fire and brimstone. Unlike the Araketa, the Teostra isn’t new to the franchise, with the elder dragon appearing in Monster Hunter World and long before that in Monster Hunter 2. However, it is the beast's first appearance in a long time, and he’s packing some serious heat this time around.

Before I could begin my barrage, a pop-up on screen alerted me to an unskippable step — if I didn’t drink a cool drink, I would lose health during the fight, presumably from boiling alive in my own skin. I’m happy to report that ignoring this message was a silly mistake, and it wasn’t long before I fainted and was forced to make the descent again.

(Image credit: Capcom)

Salve applied; I dove headfirst into what already appeared to be a complicated fight. Double my height, the Teostra’s feline form was blazing, its attacks involving a mixture of fizzing fire bombs and cat-like swipes. When used in tandem, it became steadily overwhelming, and I was pleased I had my attention-stealing Palico to draw away some of the heat, both literally and metaphorically.

To keep from burning alive, I leapt in and out of its proximity, buckling its back legs and taking huge swaths of damage — safe to say, in the twenty minutes I had to win, I was not successful. Thankfully for the sake of my pride, as I returned to the camp a loser, I noticed the player next to me was struggling against the Teostra as well; even with a different weapon and impressive dexterity, they failed to kill the beast in the time allotted.

It’s clear Monster Hunter: Wilds Ascendance intends to escalate the hunting in the base game, enabling players to wield powerful tools in environments designed to genuinely test their preparation and survival skills. As someone who dropped off the base game after hitting credits, this expansion provides more than enough reason to kit back up and head into its refreshed, uncompromising world.

Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance is releasing in 2027.

Electric power washers range in price from $100 to $400. I tested one at each end of the price spectrum to see how they compare.