TechRadar News

As an audio reviewer, I am of course always excited when a new pair of headphones is announced. However, I’ve noticed a worrying trend in the last couple of years whereby every new premium pair seems to cost AU$699.

The Sony WH-1000XM6, Sonos Ace and Sonos Ace Ultra, Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3, Edifier Stax Spirit S5, Nothing Headphone 1 Pro, Technics EAH-A1000 all cost AU$699 at launch, to name a few. The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless went even further with a AU$749.95 debut.

That’s a lot of money to pay for a set of cans — and that’s why the current Amazon Prime Big Deal Days sale is worth sitting up for, as I’ve found a few pairs of truly talented headphones that have received significant discounts.

• Follow our dedicated live coverage of the Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026 sale for more deals and discounts

QuietComfort Ultra Headphones: was $645 now $378
These flagship Bose headphones launched at AU$649.95, and are one of the earlier examples of premium pricing. Now they’ve been replaced by a second-gen model, which means their price can take a hit. I consider this first-gen set to be the best ANC headphones right now, owing to the fact they’re a lot more affordable, and that the ANC performance difference isn’t all that huge compared to their newer sibling. They’re extremely comfortable too, and they serve up a lovely, lively and engaging sound. View Deal

QuietComfort Headphones: was $448 now $243
This more mid-range pair of Bose over-ears also make my guide to the best noise cancelling headphones thanks to their ability to block out virtually all external sounds. As with the Ultra set above, they sound glorious, are comfortable and fold away for travel. They miss out on spatial audio, but otherwise are near-faultless. The best price is on the Moonlight Grey colour, but all others are available with significant discounts. [Ed's note: Moonlight Grey at AU$230.85 now appears to be sold out, but several other colourways are still available for around the AU$245 mark.]View Deal

HD 600: was $599.95 now $299
These open-back Sennheiser headphones are nearly 20 years old, but the fact they can still command their original AU$600 list price should tell you everything. They’re truly stunning, offering excellent dynamics and lively sound. As mentioned however, they’re open-back, which means they’ll leak sound, so they’re not ideal for use on the go, but rather for listening at home with some capable source equipment. View Deal

If the idea of a detailed, open-back sound sounds good to you, but you want it everywhere you go, the HD 620S could be for you. They’re a conventional closed-back design, and as our friends at What Hi-Fi? said in their review, “these headphones invite you to simply sit back and enjoy the detailed and smooth sound, no matter what genre you’re listening to”. View Deal

WH-1000XM6: was $699.95 now $513
I mentioned them in my intro, and thanks to this week’s Amazon sale, you can get the Dusty Pink colourway with a respectable discount. While still not cheap, they are arguably one of the best headphones available today, there's no doubting performance here, with beautifully balanced sound and great ANC. View Deal

Momentum 4 Wireless: was $649 now $240
Sennheiser has now finally released a newer version of its stunning Momentum headphones, but that only means this fourth-gen model becomes even more affordable. In our five-star Sennheiser Momentum 4 review, we highlighted their effective active noise-cancellation, 60-hours of battery life and excellent sound quality. At this price, they certainly deserve your consideration.View Deal

EAH-AZ100: was $499 now $331
Earbuds can also enter at the premium end, and these Technics buds have been my number one since they launched. They deliver a sound packed with detail and clarity, and one that is entirely engaging. ANC is great, and they're brimming with useful features. View Deal

QuietComfort Earbuds: was $289.95 now $170.05
These mid-range Bose ‘buds punch well above their weight, and now they’ve dropped to AU$170, they’re an even easier recommendation for anyone seeking premium sound without paying premium money. Plus, the ANC is by far and away the best in its class, and they’re packed with genuinely useful features. View Deal

• Report claims production of budget smartphones could drop by 40% by 2030
• The increasing costs of RAM and chipsets thanks to the AI data center boom are key factors in the forecast
• In addition, basic product lines aimed at the lower end of the market are becoming less profitable as minimum spec phones are overlooked in favour of portable media production devices

It could be time to start saving for your next phone, thanks to the increasing demand for RAM, processors, and SoCs, new research has claimed. The AI data center boom has driven various price rises across the electronics industry over the past few years, and now it seems that the days of the budget smartphone could be numbered – and at best, they may be hard to come by for a while.

Forecasting by Counterpoint Research estimates smartphones below the $200 figure could shrink by 40% by 2030 - which equates to the market shrinking by 230 million devices.

While mid-range, premium, and ultra-premium devices are less affected by this, those on lower incomes – particularly in poorer countries – could find internet access is off-limits.

A sharp contraction

Counterpoint Research’s study suggests the smartphone market will change considerably as higher device specifications justify higher price points in a landscape where component costs are climbing.

This “structural shock” can be traced to the current downturn, and will likely lead many people to keep their phones for longer (although those who can afford it will upgrade). It’s a scenario that could see the extension of replacement cycles by consumers and vendors alike (perhaps persuaded by market demand) and the refurbished handset market could also benefit. Handset insurance plans may also see longer subscriptions, too, further supporting the refurbished market and legacy stock supplies.

Over recent years, premium smartphones have driven the market, and the data apparently suggests this will continue. The prediction doesn’t suggest budget phones will go away entirely, but there could be new opportunities from the used phone market, dumbphones (like the Commodore Callback), and even niche/DIY solutions.

Connectivity risk

More premium phones and higher specced mid-range devices sounds good at face value. However, it does mean that regions where budget phones are vital to communications and internet access are likely to find it more difficult to achieve mobile internet connectivity.

“The smartphone market will recover in unit terms, but the affordable segment will not return to its previous standing,” said Yang Wang, a principal analyst at Counterpoint Research, noting the market size will be similar overall, but different in value.

“The opportunity now shifts toward better-specced mainstream devices and premium products, although higher tiers cannot absorb all the lost volume,” Wang adds, “there is also a wider connectivity risk, as the loss of affordable new smartphones could make it harder for first-time users in lower-income markets to come online.”

Counterpoint Research underlines that it expects the smartphone market to regain its 2025 volume by 2030, but with a much smaller budget segment.

Summer is over, but the arrival of fall has brought with it a ton of excellent new gadgets. TechRadar's product testers have been busy reviewing tech from across a wide spectrum of markets, and we've uncovered some truly outstanding new products.

Below, I've rounded up all the products that scored 4.5 or 5 stars out of 5 in our in-depth tests. Perfect scorers in our monthly Reviews Recap are usually few and far between, but this past month we've had a bumper crop. There's the Sonos Beam Ultra, which we called "the ideal mid-sized Dolby Atmos soundbar", and Sennheiser's Momentum True Wireless 5 earbuds, which piqued our interest with their user-replaceable batteries and then won us over with their impeccable sound quality.

For those who like to take their tech out-and-about, the DJI Osmo 360 II fixes the first gen's flaws and gives GoPro and Insta360 "a serious run for their money", and the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro delivers "near-perfect performance" for a price tag we've politely described as "aspirational". Oh and there's a new phone out from a little brand called Apple — maybe you've heard of it? We were pretty impressed with the iPhone 18 Pro, too.

Scroll down to browse all the best tech we've tested over the past four weeks, and tap the View details button for a summary of what we thought, plus a link to read the full review for each.

Note: only the products that are available in your region will appear below.

5-star products Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5 earbuds

Read our full review

Pros

• Superb sound quality plus Dolby Atmos spatial audio
• Comfortable and premium design – and finally, user-replaceable batteries
• Lots of future-proof features

Cons

• Touch control area is a little small
• Ever-so-slightly bulkier than rivals
• ANC still lags a bit behind Apple, Sony and Bose

Sonos Beam Ultra soundbar

Read our full review

Pros

• Up-firing drivers and amazing Atmos effects
• Clear dialogue with effective Speech Enhancement
• Compact and beautiful design

Cons

• No HDMI passthrough
• DTS:X left out

Apple iPhone 18 Pro

Read our full review

Pros

• Excellent camera system with genuinely useful Pro controls
• Variable aperture adds creative flexibility
• Burgundy and Glacier colors are beautiful
• A20 Pro is very, very fast and enables long battery life

Cons

• No major design changes
• $100 / £100 / AU$100 more

Garmin Fenix 9 Pro smartwatch

Read our full review

Pros

• Slimmer and lighter
• Fully titanium redesign
• 3,000-nit AMOLED display
• New tools like Stamina mode

Cons

• Fast battery drain during GPS workouts, on modes other than Max Battery

DJI Osmo 360 II action cam

Read our full review

Pros

• Now includes user-replaceable lenses
• Excellent all-round 360 image quality
• Cheaper than the Insta360 X6

Cons

• Price increase over original Osmo 360
• Not available in the USA

iFi iDSD GR 2 DAC/amp

Read our full review

Pros

• Spectacular sound quality
• Brilliant K2HD and XBass / XSpace modes
• Intuitive touchscreen
• Great value

Cons

• More ‘portable’ models available
• Case must be purchased separately
• Cheaper options are out there

4.5-star products

JBL Live Flex 4 earbuds

Read our full review

Pros

• Smart charging case is feature-rich and fun
• ANC surprisingly effective for open-fit earbuds
• Relaxed, comfortable fit
• Strong overall sound quality…

Cons

• Open-fit designs have drawbacks, sonically speaking
• Spatial audio could be better
• Not the most premium-looking buds

Anker Eufy E35 Omni robot vacuum

Read our full review

Pros

• Fantastic vacuuming
• Impressive mopping
• Very effective self-cleaning

Cons

• Relatively expensive
• No mop-only mode
• Small issues with phantom room mapping

Sonos Ace Ultra headphones

Read our full review

Pros

• Far more musical than the Ace
• Excellent Dolby Atmos for movies
• Fantastic feature-suite with enhanced ANC and detailed EQ options
• Stunning design; responsive controls

Cons

• Some rivals still offer more detail
• Case doesn’t mirror the headphones’ premium look and feel
• Not fully foldable

Insta360 Link 2 Pro

Read our full review

Pros

• Truly excellent 4K picture quality
• Gimbal tracking works flawlessly
• Wide range of control and tweaking features
• Premium build quality

Cons

• Very pricey
• Will be overkill for most users
• No included lens cap

Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete

Read our full review

Pros

• Class-leading design touches
• Superb vacuum perfomance
• Highly reliable

Cons

• Possibly too complex for some
• Not cheap
• Some minor obstacle-avoidance quirks

dbrand Killswitch 2 protective casing

Read our full review

Pros

• Excellent ergonomics
• Durable, quality feel
• Dock attachment enables seamless switching

Cons

• Pretty pricey
• Grips and case susceptible to fibers and dust

Samsung R95H Micro RGB 4K TV

Read our full review

Pros

• Brilliant overall picture quality
• Fantastic for gaming
• Glare-free still a hit

Cons

• Pricey
• No Dolby Vision
• Still can't hit OLED's highs

Withings BodyScan 2 smart scales

Read our full review

Sony FE 600mm f/6.3 GM OSS

Read our full review

Pros

• Exceptionally lightweight for this type of lens
• Sharp detail and smooth bokeh
• Rugged build quality

Cons

• Decent value, but some of Sony's super-telephoto zooms are cheaper
• Sony's super-telephoto zooms are more versatile

POCO F9 Ultra smartphone

Read our full review

Pros

• Exemplary performance and gaming chops
• Enormous battery with fast charging
• Well priced for the specs despite price rise

Cons

• Despite still being great value, it costs more than the F8 Ultra
• Cameras are capable but not top-tier

Fujifilm Instax Mini 13 instant camera

Read our full review

Pros

• A handy self-timer for limiting camera shake and FOMO
• Eye-popping, pastel color options and a playful design
• Credit card-sized quality prints

Cons

• Self-timer doesn't have a countdown light indicator
• Ribbed design makes it slightly bulkier and heavier than the Instax Mini 12

Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro

Read our full review

Pros

• Great edge cleaning
• Long battery life
• Scraper prevents streaks
• Lies 180 degrees flat
• Superb dirt detection system
• Picks up large debris very well
• Long-lasting clean water tank
• Solution sprayer breaks down tough stains
• Base auto-refills tank with clean water and solution in seconds

Cons

• Base is large and bulky
• Dry settings don’t fully dry the brushroll

Alienware AW3926QW gaming monitor

Read our full review

Pros

• Incredible HDR experience
• Huge, immersive ultrawide format
• Competitively priced

Cons

• You'll need a mega graphics card
• Edge dimming issue in some scenarios

Sony Bravia 5 Mini LED TV

Read our full review

Pros

• Vintage Sony design
• Excellent all-round performance
• Elegant minimalistic design

Cons

• Viewing angles are limited
• Lacks one or two gaming features
• Occasional color slip-ups in dark scenes

JBL Live Buds 4 earbuds

Read our full review

Pros

• Fantastic, detailed audio
• Feature-packed, handy smart charging case
• Comfortable, secure in-ear fit

Cons

• Middling ANC
• Call quality not as clear as expected
• Spatial audio in need of improvement

Logitech G305 X Superlight gaming mouse

Read our full review

Pros

• Comfortable and light
• Multiple connectivity options
• Solid performance

Cons

• Lacks performance tweaks
• Included cable isn’t braided
• Low profile not for everyone

Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry Compact

Read our full review

Pros

• Excellent results from versatile cooking modes
• Useful quick start guide and cook book included in box
• Intuitive controls and dishwasher-safe basket

Cons

• Large footprint not so good for small kitchens
• Takes time to understand cooking times
• No shake reminder or basket window

Philips 5000 Series Megabasket with Steam Air Fryer

Read our full review

Pros

• Excellent air fry, steamfry and steam modes
• Consistently great results across all food types
• Set of tongs included in the box

Cons

• You can get big-basket fryers for less
• The glossy top shows dirt easily
• Large footprint means you need lots of counter space

Terra Kaffe Aero frother

Read our full review

Pros

• Easy to use and clean up
• Four settings: Hot Froth, Hot Milk, Cold Foam, and Matcha
• Elegant style
• Effective

Cons

• Pricey
• Takes up more space than a handheld frother

KEF LS Luxe speaker system

Read our full review

Pros

• Articulate, balanced and authoritative sound
• Ample power is one of several specification highlights
• Impressive standard of build and finish

Cons

• Fussy where positioning is concerned
• Finish makes quite a big difference to the aesthetic
• Stands are almost ‘must-have’ (and very expensive)

Sony Bravia 7 II TV

Read our full review

Pros

• Great overall picture quality
• Good gaming performance
• An evolution of standard mini-LED

Cons

• Reflective screen
• Average viewing angles
• Only two HDMI 2.1 ports

Noble Audio Vanguard wired earbuds

Read our full review

Pros

• Natural and textured sound across the frequency range
• Incredibly insightful treble response
• Striking aesthetic and great build quality

Cons

• Broad build isn’t my favorite
• No 3.5mm connectivity option

Ninja CrushBOSS blender and food processor

Read our full review

Pros

• Blends and processes a huge variety of foods and beverages
• Powerful blades easily blend ice and much more
• Comes with lots of different blades for dicing, slicing, shredding, and more
• Smaller blending tumbler is perfect for smoothies on the go
• SmoothSense and PrepIQ eliminate guesswork

Cons

• Sometimes you have to run a second cycle to full blend or process foods
• Quite a learning curve to figure out all of the features
• Has lot of parts to clean
• Needs a significant amount of storage/counter space

As someone who writes about smartphones as part of my job, there's a special place in my heart for budget-oriented or mid-range handsets that outperform their price tags — especially those good enough to become fixtures in my list of the best cheap phones in Australia.

So I was pleased to find one of my top-rated picks, Samsung’s Galaxy A57, hitting an all-time low price of AU$519 as part of Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, making it an even better value handset than ever.

• Follow our dedicated live coverage of the Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026 sale for more deals and discounts

Galaxy A57 (128GB, Lilac): was $749 now $519
Beating its last all-time low price on Amazon of AU$597, this price makes an already affordable mid-range phone an even more compelling buy if you’re in the market for a new Android handset that nails all the basics, while also looking and feeling like a flagship. Our review gave it 4 out of 5 stars for its thin and light chassis and vibrant display and I personally had a blast using it. The Navy colour costs slightly more at AU$539, while the 256GB model starts at AU$619.View Deal

I would go so far as to say that the Galaxy A57 is a much better value than Samsung’s new Galaxy S26 FE — especially with its price hike from its predecessor — with prices starting at AU$1,149.

With both handsets using 6.7-inch AMOLED displays, similar main and ultrawide camera specs, along with the same starting storage of 128GB and similar battery sizes, I’d be hard-pressed to recommend the more expensive Galaxy S26 FE unless you really want a telephoto camera, wireless charging and the full Galaxy AI suite.

The Galaxy A57 brings a fair few upgrades over the just-as-excellent Galaxy A56 from last year, including a much thinner and lighter chassis (6.9mm thick and 179g compared to the A56’s 7.4mm depth and 198g weight), a faster Exynos 1680 chipset that can now handle more AI tasks, and an IP68 durability rating (up from IP67).

If you don’t need flagship specs but want something that still feels like a premium handset, you can’t go wrong with the Samsung Galaxy A57, especially at this rock-bottom price point.

• Japan plans to hire millions of AI robots as its working population shrinks
• One domestic startup plans to build 100 workplace robots by 2027
• Japanese insurers are preparing for accidents involving increasingly capable workplace robots

The Japanese government has set a goal of placing 10 million robots driven by artificial intelligence into workplaces before 2040, hoping to offset a rapidly thinning workforce in its aging population.

By 2040, United Nations medium-variant estimates place Japan's population at 112,158,304, which is 6.2% lower than the 119,584,122 projected for 2030.

The median age would reach 54.0 years, with 35.3% of people at least 65 years old and only 10.4% of them children below 15.

Machines move into offices and wards

Hospitals and factories in Japan already struggle to fill positions, which is why a growing number of employers are turning to machines for daily tasks.

Startup Zeals recently introduced the D1 in Tokyo, a wheeled machine with a humanoid form that costs from 5 million yen (about $32,000).

The indoor unit stands 129 cm tall, recognizes faces through a camera, and each of its two arms can lift a maximum of 5 kg.

Zeals intends to build 100 units by March 2027 and accumulate 10,000 hours of running time, selling through dealers and leasing partners.

The company writes its own software and buys components from American and Chinese suppliers, but it eventually hopes to use only Japanese parts.

In late August 2026, a hospital in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, trialed the robot for leading visitors and clearing tables in its dining space.

“It is important to gather training data and ensure that it is actually useful in real-world settings,” said Masahiro Shimizu, CEO of Zeals.

Kakuichi, a Nagano firm that sells steel and systems for managing energy, will onboard a humanoid machine among its new graduates in April 2027.

Play Robotics, a firm that studies humanoids, is helping Kakuichi install and run the Chinese-built robot called Miyazawa Noah.

Kakuichi intends to assign the robot to manufacturing, sales and other departments so that it builds skills by doing real work.

“Developing a humanoid robot is also about fostering employees who will make full use of it,” said Riu Tanaka, CEO of Kakuichi.

Insurers prepare for the dangers that the machines create

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance has joined forces with Zeals to sell policies built for D1 users, counting on demand from hotels, hospitals, factories and logistics firms.

It acknowledges that the use of these robots will be associated with some mishaps, whether physical or cyber-related.

"There are risks of causing harm to people or property, as well as concerns about data breaches in cyber-attacks," said Masaki Oshiro, manager of the 1st Branch Office at the insurer's Tokyo East Branch.

In July, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance acquired shares in a Japanese firm developing physical AI, which lets robots learn new tasks on their own.

The purchase was meant to give the insurer a closer look at how such systems behave and what could go wrong with them.

Buying into a developer while already selling policies suggests the insurer is still learning what these robots can do and how often they fail.

So, while Japan makes moves to boost its workforce with robots, the performance and impact of these robots on its economy is uncertain.

Via Japan Today

• Consumer Reports has released a study on car privacy practices
• The report found huge privacy breaches across the board
• Big Tech firms are some of the largest recipients of your personal data

Your car could be leaking personal information to Big Tech data brokers and invading your privacy without your knowledge. That’s the conclusion of a new study from Consumer Reports, and it will be uncomfortable reading for anyone who’s concerned that their car may be sending personal info to data brokers.

The report was conducted by privacy researchers from Northeastern University in Boston and used Consumer Reports’ vehicles and Auto Test Center. The data, it argues, shows that “your car may be spying on you,” with the information it gleans from your driving behavior being sent to “some of the world’s biggest tech companies.”

It’s no secret that many recent cars collect an enormous amount of data about you — not just the way you drive, but the apps you use and even your voice. This is sometimes used to market products to you and could potentially result in you being charged higher insurance premiums. Several carmakers have been fined for carrying out these practices without clearly informing users.

Now, Consumer Reports says that, of the vehicles it tested, “Nearly every automaker sent data to outside companies.”

Moreover, “almost a quarter of the vehicles’ apps were found to be sending out personally identifiable information, including vehicle owners’ names, vehicle identification numbers (VINs), and precise geographic locations.” That data could be sold to data brokers and linked to other information held about you, which means that anyone who purchases that information would know a huge amount about you without having met you.

It also puts you at greater risk should that data be leaked or hacked. A massive aggregation of personally identifiable information could be used for stalking, identity theft, medical fraud or other damaging forms of criminal and nefarious behavior.

As Sarah Elizabeth Gillespie, one of the study’s co-authors, opined: “It does not appear that a customer can buy a new car that does not track you.”

Where is the data going?

(Image credit: Tesla)

The worst privacy breach involved those firms that sent both the VIN and another data point, such as your email address or full name, to a data broker. That allows an advertising firm to link you to “to one of many commercially available consumer profiles, which are sold by data brokers and other companies. The data often includes online behavior and shopping history,” Consumer Reports concluded.

Interestingly, Consumer Reports said that “The top recipients of the driver data were some of the country’s largest tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Pinterest, Snap, and Yahoo.”

Why is this data primarily flowing to Big Tech firms? The answer, Consumer Reports said, was twofold: they are often providers of connected apps in the car’s infotainment system, and also function as operators of advertising auction platforms used by third-party marketers.

While some automakers said that their data-sharing terms could be opted out of, that could severely restrict the way you use it. In the case of Tesla, the company’s data-sharing agreement says that opting out “may result in your vehicle suffering from reduced functionality, serious damage, or inoperability.”

Indeed, Tesla was one of the worst offenders, with the researchers noting that the Tesla Model 3 connected to 34 advertising, tracking or analytics domains. The second-worst offender in this category was another Tesla vehicle, the Cybertruck, with 23 connections.

“Of the vehicles tested, 28 of 30 connected mobile apps sent data to at least one outside advertising and/or analytics company, and seven sent at least one piece of personally identifiable information — the vehicle owner’s name, the car’s VIN, or its precise geographic location — to at least one outside company,” Consumer Reports warned.

The study added that “The findings underscore the immense personal data ecosystem that American consumers are unwittingly drawn into when they purchase and use everyday consumer products, including autos.”

Amazon Australia's second Prime Day sale is here and, as always, there are plenty of vacuum cleaner deals to help sort out your spring cleaning, then continue on for a while yet.

Vacuums of all kinds have been bestsellers on Amazon for a long time but, in recent years, robot vacuums have gained in popularity. However, one trend has not changed — we love ourselves a cheap buy and, if there's a vacuum that can be had for around the AU$200 mark, we're all for it. And that's totally fine as we've tested some affordable stick vacs that are quite remarkable.

The good news is that I've dug up a fair few options across all types of floorcare machines for you, including some of the best vacuum cleaners in Australia. Of course, I've also gone looking for some the best robot vacuums in Australia and the best stick vacuums, giving you plenty of options to choose from.

So, no matter your needs — whether you're a pet-friendly household or have only carpets — there's a vacuum cleaner that's right for you and there's no need to pay full price.

It would be good for you to be a Prime member when shopping these deals as they're exclusive discounts for subscribers. If you're a first-time customer, Amazon will give you a 30-day free trial and you can cancel any time.

• For more deals and discounts, follow our live coverage of the best Amazon Prime Big Deal Days offers

Best Prime Big Deal Days vacuum dealsStick vacuum deals

Editor's pick

PowerDetect Clean & Empty: was $750 now $462.10
With powerful and dynamic suction, plenty of attachments and an auto-empty charging dock, this is arguably the best value non-Dyson cordless vacuum right now. Read our review for the full scoop. Often sold around the AU$750 price point, I have seen it as low as AU$608, which makes this the lowest price on what is my pick of the best stick vacuum cleaner in Australia. View Deal

R10 Pure: was $399 now $142.49
This is a very basic, no-frills stick vac that can handle the regular everyday cleaning tasks you need it for. It may not be the most powerful tool in the shed, but it sure will keep it clean. Even the boat, the car or your home for not a lot of cash.View Deal

This is a very different Dreame R10 to the one we've previously reviewed on TechRadar, but if it performs anything like the light-coloured version that has since been discontinued, then I think this is excellent value. For not a lot of money, this appliance promises up to 45 minutes of runtime and a bendy wand to get under furniture. It even comes with a wall-mount attachment.View Deal

Cordless Vacuum with Self Cleaning Brushroll (IZ102): was $399.99 now $189
We haven't tried this vacuum ourselves, but user reviews are glowing and there has to be some truth to what people claim about this affordable sucker (pun intended). Now down to a record-low price.View Deal

Detect Pro with Auto-Empty System: was $599 now $333
Scoring almost five stars in our Shark Detect Pro Cordless vacuum cleaner review, we called this vacuum "a wonder". Versatile, powerful, offering automatic power adjustment and equally good at cleaning hard floors as it is on carpet, this is one of the best vacuums on the market, at a stellar price.View Deal

V8: was $799 now $399
If you don't need the latest and greatest machine from the British brand, this is not a bad vacuum cleaner to get. You'll get up to 40 minutes of fade-free power, enough for a small apartment, plus three other attachments besides the Digital Motorbar for versatile cleaning. We have seen it for under AU$340, but this deal isn't too bad at half price. View Deal

Arguably the cheapest Dyson available right now, the V8 Origin is pretty much the same machine as the standard V8 (listed above), just with a red wand and barely any additional accessories shipping in the box along with it — which explains the lower price. Honestly, I think the standard V8 is the better buy, but if cash is tight and you just need the digital motorbar for your floors, this will suit you fine.View Deal

Stratos Cordless Pet Pro: was $799 now $424
It's now an older model from Shark but it's still one of the best stick vacs we've tested at TechRadar. It's a bit on the heavy side though, weighing about 4 kilos, but it's powerful enough to handle pet fur, plus it has a spot in the floorhead for an odour neutraliser puck (sold separately and usage is optional) as well.View Deal

V9 Submarine: was $999 now $449
Dyson quietly released this model last year, offering a cheaper way to get yourself a wet-and-dry vacuum. It has lesser suction power than the V15s Detect, but we haven't been able to try it for ourselves yet. It also lasts no more than 40 minutes on a single charge. I'd say this would be better suited to smaller homes with hard floors.View Deal

V10: was $1099 now $529
AU$11 more than its July Prime Day price, this is still not too bad a deal on this older Dyson. It offers fade-free power for up to 60 minutes, and this variant comes with a Fluffy cleaning head (not the one with the light as in the V15) as well as the Digital Motorbar to suit homes with mixed flooring. There are three additional attachments in the box, along with a wall dock.View Deal

Dyson’s V11 Advanced handstick vacuum offers up to 60 minutes of runtime and an LCD screen where you can monitor battery life and other functions. It also has a V11 motor, which adjusts the suction power based on the floor type so you get a more precise clean. View Deal

Dyson's original wet-dry cordless stick vacuum is pretty handy to have around the home. I still use it at home and, in my Dyson V15s Detect Submarine review, I found the mopping to be very good indeed, but a design flaw makes some of that dirty water slosh out when you want to clean out the Submarine attachment. If you can find a way around it, this is one could be well worth considering even though I've seen the price drop below the AU$800 mark.View Deal

Robot vacuum deals

Deebot T30S Pro: was $1999 now $499
Ecovacs now has more powerful models than this, but the T30S is sibling to Deebots that performed really well in our Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni review and Deebot T30S Combo review. Which gives me confidence that this too will be an efficient cleaner at a good price for a set-and-forget robovac. It offers up to 11,000Pa of suction and a 180-minute run time.View Deal

L10 Ultra Gen 2: was $1699 now $549
It may not be the most powerful robovac in the Dreame arsenal but it sure offers excellent value. Honestly, if you mostly have hard floors at home, I think this is all you'll need. We were impressed by the original (and now older) L10s Ultra model, and this is similar in some ways. For your money, you get 10,000Pa of suction and a dedicated pet-zone cleaning mode.View Deal

Deebot X8 Max Pro Omni: was $2599 now $699
A whopping 73% discount is absolutely nothing to scoff at. And yes, I admit I can't vouch for this model myself as an expert, but Amazon users seem happy with its performance, although some of those reviews are incentivised. Non-Vine users have also claimed it's a good buy and, given how impressed I was with the X8 Pro Omni, I think this will work just as well.View Deal

L10s Ultra Gen 3: was $1999 now $607.99
We haven't tested this Gen 3 model, but it certainly improves on the original significantly, which we have reviewed. We gave the original a strong 4 out of 5 stars, and that was for just a 5,300Pa suction — this gives you a whopping 25,000Pa. So it's a much better vacuum. It's also a better mop, and the base station has been improved for better washing and drying of the pads. I also like the Dreame app more than Ecovacs.View Deal

X40 Ultra (black): was $2799 now $712.49
This robovac has some of the best obstacle avoidance we have seen in a robovac and it scored 4 stars in our Dreame X40 Ultra review. Even better, many of the complaints we had at the time (such as the slightly clunky app) have been fixed. View Deal

Deebot X11 Pro Omni: was $2699 now $899
A pretty good discount on last year's flagship, one that is a better model than the X12 OmniCyclone that Ecovacs is yet to release in Australia. We haven't tested this version out, but if it works as well as the previous Deebot X8 Pro Omni did, then I think this is a good premium robovac to consider without the hefty price tag. View Deal

L50 Ultra CE: was $2199 now $999.99
Want the latest Dreame tech? Released in June this year, this robovac packs everything that Dreame models are good at — excellent suction, decent mopping, superb obstacle avoidance, pet-zone cleaning and so much more — into a sleek machine. OK, so it looks like all the others, but c'mon, you can't tell me the white with metallic accents don't fit into any home.View Deal

X50 Ultra: was $2999 now $1279
It might cost a heck of a lot more than the X40 listed above, but this is a newer model that we were very impressed by. In fact, the latest X60 doesn't necessarily improve on this one, so you know your money is being well spent here.Up to 20,000Pa of suction, excellent navigation and obstacle avoidance, as well as good threshold clearance makes this a top contender if you have the budget for it.View Deal

This is the robovac I would consider buying if I didn't already have a high-end Dreame machine that's been cleaning my home like... a dream. This Roborock is slimlined to crawl under furniture (no navigation puck here), and can raise not just its mop pads, but its side brush to avoid scattering and excessive tangling. Its headline act, however, has to be its cleaning prowess — our Roborock Saros 10R review didn't score 4.5 stars for nothing!View Deal

Wet-dry floor washer deals

Hydrovac Pro XL: was $449.99 now $254
This wet-dry vacuum mop is a little basic compared to other options listed below, but at its discounted price, that's hardly a complaint. In fact, it performed quite well in our Shark Hydrovac Cordless review, offering good performance without breaking the bank.View Deal

Floor One Stretch S6: was $899 now $359.99
If you have only hard floors that need constant mopping, consider getting a wet-dry vacuum like this one instead of a regular cordless vac. This one will suck up any dirt or debris on your floor while it's mopping, so it's saving you time. It can also lie flat to get under low-lying furniture and clean itself with hot water and hot air.View Deal

For not too much money, the H12 Pro FlexReach will vacuum and mop at the same time, then clean its roller mop with hot water and hot air to prevent bacterial growth and odour build up. And, as the name suggests, it can lie completely flat to clean under low-lying furniture too.View Deal

F25 Ace: was $999 now $349
This Roborock wet-dry vacuum will leave your hard floors sparkling clean thanks to powerful suction and effective cleaning. It can get up close to edges and the whole body can lay completely flat to help get underneath tricky to reach places. It's now at an all-time low price, but read our review to find out why it's still worth it.View Deal

Floor One S9 Artist: was $1199 now $619.99
It might cost more than any other wet-dry floor cleaner on this list, but it also offers more in terms of sheer performance. It has more suction to ensure it's able to pick up more dirt particles as it's mopping, and it's able to lie completely flat. It also uses hotter air than any model we've tested to try out the roller mop, practically disinfecting it in the process.View Deal

Upright vacuum deals

PowerForce Helix Turbo (2110F): was $219 now $104
This is a remarkably affordable upright vacuum that has scored well from users on Amazon. Shipping with a dusting brush and a crevice tool to make it versatile, it red trim makes it look rather dapper too in my opinion. It promises to pick up hair and fur well while not burning a massive hole in your budget.View Deal

PowerForce Helix Turbo Rewind (2261F): was $249 now $139.65
There's up to 1000W of power here, and the rather long 7.6m power cord can be retracted fully as the name of the machine indicates. Otherwise it's a similar machine to the standard Bissell PowerForce Helix Turbo listed above.View Deal

Navigator Pet Vacuum (ZU62): was $349.99 now $203.30
Already quite affordable, this corded upright machine features an extendible flexible hose that's fabulous if you need to vacuum stairs — just leave the heavy machine upstairs or downstairs and clean each step as you go. It promises to clean well too, although we haven't tested this at TechRadar, but with 84% of Amazon users giving it 5 stars, it must be doing something well.View Deal

Pet Hair Eraser Turbo: was $399 now $259
Designed specifically for pet households, this Bissell features not just a tangle-free floorhead, but also an LED-lit crevice tool to see the pet dander hiding away in corners or dark spots. It also ships with a couple of other pet tools that can be handy, especially if your furry friend is a pooch that sheds a lot.View Deal

PowerDetect Corded Upright: was $699.99 now $360.99
It's a heavy machine but comes with plenty of features to ensure your floors are free of dirt and debris, including the floorhead being able to suck up dust while moving backwards. There are dirt-detect sensors and two brushrolls for the best clean possible, with dynamic suction working as you go along.View Deal

Corded Upright Vacuum with Self-Cleaning Brushroll (: was $448 now $293.55
It's not a huge discount but this one upright vacuum my colleagues in the UK vouch for. It absolutely sucks, in the best way possible, and any saving is good to have. The dust canister easily lifts away for this machine to become a handheld vacuum for cleaning steps or reaching to high places, which makes it a versatile upright vacuum. View Deal

Corded vacuum deals

CleanView: was $209 now $129
Even at full price, this canister vacuum cleaner isn't expensive, but when you can save some cash and grab it up for under AU$150, it's good value. There won't even be the ongoing spend on bags as this canister can be emptied and washed out before its next use manually. It has a telescopic wand, but everything else about it is minimal, with the basic accessories shipping with it.View Deal

Boost CX1 Powerline: was $499 now $397
It's the most powerful Miele barrel vacuum on the market, but it is one of the more affordable options even at full RRP. And with a decent discount, it becomes a compelling option. We weren't too impressed with its carpet-cleaning abilities in our Miele CX1 Boost Powerline review, but if your home is mostly hard floors, you shouldn't be unhappy with this machine.View Deal

Guard L1 Cat & Dog: was $879 now $689
A newer range from Miele, the Guard series uses active charcoal in its filter to not just eliminate dust and pet hair, but also tackle odours that can build up inside a home. This machine, however, uses a dust bag, so you will need to take into account that it will require emptying and replacing at some point.View Deal

Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog: was $849 now $649
With no need for replacement bags, this Miele is both good-looking and powerful enough to ensure your floors are fur free. Unlike cordless vacuums, you'll get very limited accessories with this vacuum, but they all stow neatly into the body of the machine itself.View Deal

• Eric Schmidt's Perennial Autonomy wins Gauntlet II deep strike with 80.1 points, with a massive 9.2-point margin over the competition
• All four entrants tied directly to Ukrainian drone makers, including a Gauntlet I order winner, missed both top-five lists
• Ukraine's SkyFall still placed fourth indirectly in deep strike through British partner Skycutter, and Defender Media says another hidden Ukrainian firm also performed well

Perennial Autonomy, the drone company founded and funded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has topped the deep strike category of Gauntlet II, the second round of the Department of War's Drone Dominance Program.

The contests, which center around a straightforward goal of finding the most effective but cheap one-way attack drones in bulk, attract competition from across the globe as small and large players alike vie for the top five positions in each category that would allow them to secure production orders.

One of these tests is called "Deep Strike," and Perennial Autonomy not only delivered an impressive result, but it also kept some of its fiercest competition in check by a considerable margin.

The bigger surprise: who is missing?

While Perennial Autonomy's win and 9.2-point lead over the next-best competitor are impressive, they aren't a record by any measure: 4th-place holder Skycutter won Gauntlet I in March 2026 by about 12 points, showing that results can change quickly in an industry where innovation happens at a breakneck pace.

The more surprising part isn't Perennial Autonomy's impressive showing, but who failed to make it through.

Four entrants tied directly to Ukrainian drone makers reached the trials at Fort Carson, Colorado: Stellarion and Grim Tech under their own names, F-Drones through its US subsidiary UDD Tech Corp, and General Cherry through Wilcox Cherry Defense, a joint venture with US firm Wilcox Industries, according to a field breakdown by Challenging Defence Markets. Stellarion and UDD flew deep strike, while Grim Tech and Wilcox Cherry flew close quarters.

None of these are small-time players in Ukraine's burgeoning homegrown defense industry, however; Grim Tech, for example, claims to be delivering as many as 350,000 drones to the war effort monthly.

It does, however, raise the obvious question many would ask: why aren't any Ukrainian firms in the top 5 of the Deep Strike tests?

The scores are a sharp reversal from earlier in the year. At Gauntlet I, held at Fort Benning, Georgia, UDD was among the 11 companies that secured orders, according to reports. By mid-August, UDD was one of only three Gauntlet I vendors to complete deliveries, alongside Neros and Griffon Aerospace, according to Inside Unmanned Systems. Delivering on time evidently did not translate into a place on the new boards, where the merits of one's newest tech evidently trump past reliability.

On closer inspection, Ukraine's presence is quieter but more persistent than one might initially assume. This is because, while Skycutter is headquartered in London, the drone that won Gauntlet I was the Shrike 10, developed by Ukraine's SkyFall.

DroneXL summed up the SkyFall connection this way: "Ukrainian engineering did place, under a British flag." Defender Media's sources also say at least one more Ukrainian company performed well through a Western partner, but the firm has declined to comment, and the claim has not been independently verified.

Ukraine also had a hand in the current winner, albeit indirectly; Perennial began in 2023 as White Stork following Schmidt's meetings with Ukrainian officials, according to Inside Unmanned Systems, and has since traded as Project Eagle and Swift Beat. Neros won a 2025 contract to supply 6,000 Archer FPV drones to Ukraine and later opened a Kyiv office that year. The jamming deployed for the contests was also partly Ukrainian.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

This does beg the question: why are companies from what is arguably one of the largest users and producers of attack drones falling short of the competition despite having the most battlefield experience in play?

The answer might be a little more unglamorous than one would like: Stellarion, the only one of the four to comment publicly, blamed logistics rather than its drones. Export permits and shipping dragged on so long that, as its representatives told Defender Media, "This complicated the integration of products with American components, including warheads."

This adds to friction already built into the program: The Pentagon cannot buy directly from Ukrainian suppliers; contractors must be US legal entities registered with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, and significant foreign ownership brings extra conditions such as US-citizen leadership. Motors and batteries from certain countries were barred from August, and finalists had about five weeks to deliver 120 drones fitted with live payloads, underscoring that companies linked to the US industrial base would have a de facto edge.

Companies whose supply chains were built around Ukraine's front line therefore had the most to rebuild in the least time. That is a plausible explanation, not a confirmed one, and it may have cost them time, resources, and, down the line, a top-5 score in the Department of War's Gauntlet II.

As a result, one could argue that for Ukraine's drone makers, the next round (Gauntlet III) may be decided as much by permits, paperwork, and parts lists as by what actually happens during the tests themselves.

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 Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Tuesday, September 29 (game #1709).

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 #1710) — 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 #1710) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #1710) — 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 #1710) — 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 #1710) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• C

• B

• M

• E

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

Quordle today (game #1710) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1710, are…

• CHOKE
• BATCH
• MOSSY
• EAGER

A close call today as I struggled to guess EAGER.

Fortunately I only had a few letters left, but if it had been possible I would most definitely have guessed “lager” or “cager”. A lack of options saved me.

Daily Sequence today (game #1710) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1710, are…

• STOLE
• UNDUE
• JOIST
• SERIF

Quordle answers: The past 20

• 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
• 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

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 Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, September 29 (game #1206).

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 #1207) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• TAMBOURINE
• SEPTUM
• DECENT
• BOND
• MARTINI
• OPTION
• NOVELTY
• CASINO
• SPRAY PAINT
• OCTOPUSSY
• DONNIE BRASCO
• FUTURE
• BUGSY
• ETCH A SKETCH
• STOCK
• SCARFACE

NYT Connections today (game #1207) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Trading terms
• GREEN: Shake it up
• BLUE: Mobster films
• PURPLE: Hidden calendar

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 #1207) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: SECURITIES
• GREEN: THINGS THAT ARE SHAKEN (NOT STIRRED)
• BLUE: GANGSTER MOVIES
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH MONTH ABBREVIATIONS

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

NYT Connections today (game #1207) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1207, are…

• YELLOW: SECURITIES: BOND, FUTURE, OPTION, STOCK
• GREEN: THINGS THAT ARE SHAKEN (NOT STIRRED): ETCH A SKETCH, MARTINI, SPRAY PAINT, TAMBOURINE
• BLUE: GANGSTER MOVIES: BUGSY, CASINO, DONNIE BRASCO, SCARFACE
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH MONTH ABBREVIATIONS: DECENT, NOVELTY, OCTOPUSSY, SEPTUM

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

007 was today’s red herring, with tiles for BOND, OCTOPUSSY and MARTINI, although his fussy cocktail instruction did end up being the green groups connection, in which the appearance of the ETCH A SKETCH a toy from the pre computer age may have confused some.

I did fear that the four GANGSTER MOVIES would be a trick too, as it seemed too obvious a grouping or that I was missing a more significant reason for why they were collected together.

With eight tiles left I made my only mistake, although I was on the right track with STARTING WITH MONTH ABBREVIATIONS as I included MARTINI (as in Mar for March) instead of SEPTUM.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, September 29, 2026, game #1206)

• YELLOW: SECLUDED: HIDDEN, REMOTE, SECRET, TUCKED AWAY
• GREEN: RIVER FEATURES: DELTA, DRAINAGE BASIN, MOUTH, STREAM BED
• BLUE: FIRST WORDS OF PIXAR FILMS: FINDING, INSIDE, MONSTERS, TOY
• PURPLE: PHRASES HIDING GREEK LETTERS: FREEZE TAG, HOME GAME, MODEL TANK, ORAL PHASE

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 Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, September 29 (game #940).

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… An instrumental destination

NYT Strands today (game #941) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• SLIP
• RINK
• CRIER
• ROUND
• FUSE
• FAMILY

NYT Strands today (game #941) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 10 letters

NYT Strands today (game #941) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: left, 5th row

• Last side: right, 7th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #941) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #941, are…

• CAPO
• PICK
• GUITAR
• DRUMS
• PIANO
• SYNTH
• AMPLIFIER
• SPANGRAM: MUSICSTORE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I have only been in a MUSICSTORE twice in my life and on both occasions it was to buy the cheapest thing they sold — a guitar PICK, or “plectrum” as we liked to call them in my brief-lived teenage band.

I played the bass even though I only knew two bass lines, something called “walking bass” and the hook of Peaches by The Stranglers. I was terrible, and didn’t improve over the two months of our existence.

Anyway, I digress. I did originally think the theme may be connected to instrumental classics such as Green Onions or Tequila, but CAPO ended that assumption. Then, after getting PICK I thought it might be about musical accessories, but thankfully GUITAR and PIANO stopped that as I couldn't think of any more musical accessories — well, until I managed to spot AMPLIFIER.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, September 29, game #940)

• PRESSURE
• BLOOD
• VEIN
• PULSE
• ARTERY
• ATRIUM
• SPANGRAM: CARDIOVASCULAR

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.

• Russian underwater robots could reach offshore accidents within hours, not days
• USC says robotic systems could handle most routine underwater inspections
• The robots inspect hulls, propellers, and rudders while ships remain stationary

Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) has introduced a new line of underwater robotic systems built for oil, gas, and maritime repair operations.

The robots were shown at a recent St. Petersburg conference dedicated to technologies for the energy, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors.

Corporate representatives described the systems as part of a broader push toward domestic marine robotics, according to the company's press service.

A faster alternative to traditional vessel response

Officials from USC's engineering division noted that mobilizing a standard vessel after an accident can take between 4 and 14 days under normal conditions.

A resident marine robotic complex, by comparison, is said to respond within just a few hours of an incident occurring nearby.

That speed advantage is central to the pitch — the corporation claims the approach can cut financial losses tied to drilling platform downtime by as much as 85%.

The same systems are also expected to take over roughly 80% of routine monitoring, inspection, and minor repair work currently handled by human crews or slower vessels traveling from distant ports.

Engineers involved in the project argue that keeping a robotic unit permanently stationed near offshore infrastructure removes the delay caused by weather, distance, and vessel scheduling conflicts.

These robots can also be used to check a ship's condition while it sits at anchor or alongside a pier waiting for its next assignment.

It examines the hull, propeller, and rudder assembly, flags any visible damage, and streams footage back to a human operator in real time.

Vessel owners can then reach repair decisions faster, while repair yards get an early estimate of what work will be required before the ship even arrives at the dock.

USC representatives said this cuts down on guesswork once a vessel finally reaches a repair facility.

Software platform ties navigation, sensing, and AI together

Beyond the underwater vehicles, USC unveiled a unified software platform meant to serve as the backbone for these operations.

The platform folds navigation, hydrographic data collection, communication links, and AI tools into one continuous system rather than separate tools.

The company also displayed uncrewed surface vessels intended for logistics runs and hydrographic survey missions along Russia's coastal waters.

USC additionally outlined concepts for defending port waters using barriers built from booms and netting, plus modular systems designed for seismic exploration work.

Those exploration complexes are described as capable of coordinating groups of up to 1,000 individual devices operating together but the company did not reveal details on how such coordination would function in practice.

USC’s long-term goal is to move these robotic complexes into serial production, with cost control serving as the guiding design principle behind every future model built.

Via 1.ru

• Rainbow Six Tactics game director Martial Potron says it was "crucial" that the development team designed a unique roster of Operators
• Each of the 15 Operators has unique gadgets, playstyles, and progression to avoid "overlap"
• He says it would have been "impossible" not to feature fan favorites like Ash and Sledge

Rainbow Six Tactics game director Martial Potron has said that it was important for Ubisoft to design the game's Operators with unique loadouts and progression to avoid overlap.

"My team really wanted the operators to feel unique and to serve unique places," Potron told TechRadar Gaming at Gamescom. "It was part of the creative process to make sure that every Operator would serve one turf course in the experience, so we really made sure that all Operators were unique: unique gadgets, unique playstyles, unique progression. It was crucial for us, in fact, that we didn't have too much overlap with other Operators."

The upcoming turn-based tactics spin-off will offer 15 Operators in total, with Ash, Sledge, Glaz, Montagne, Doc, and Nokk confirmed so far, and you won't be able to play them repeatedly due to the game's new gameplay systems. While that's far from the entire roster fans are familiar with in the core series, Potron explained that it was also important to include "community favorites."

"We really did the operators that were impossible not to have, [like] Sledge and Ash," the game director said, adding that there are a few that he's personally disappointed aren't included.

"I love Tachanka. We don't have Tachanka; we don't have Lion." Potron said. "We had to make [tough] choices. It's part of my job to make [tough] choices."

As for the possibility of adding more Operators in the future, Potron said there are no current plans to do so, saying, "For the launch, it's not something we are digging into. We are very close to releasing a fantastic single-player experience, and so [we're] focused on the release date; shipping something amazing, and we'll see [about] the future."

Rainbow Six Tactics releases in 2027 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

• A macOS flaw could give hostile apps the highest system privileges
• An NFC tag could trigger an Android app without owner approval
• Android flaw lets apps change Wi-Fi settings without requesting extra permissions

Russian cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies has claimed it discovered 11 security flaws affecting Android and Apple devices.

The company, which is currently under American sanctions, gave the findings to Russian news agency TASS.

Nine of the flaws affected Apple devices and software, while two affected Android, including Pixel phones, and were reportedly rated high severity.

How a tag and an app exposed Android phones

The first Android flaw let attackers use a crafted NFC tag to fetch, set up, and run an app while the owner approved nothing.

The second flaw allowed an app already on the phone to alter network settings, including joining a chosen Wi-Fi network, without any extra permissions, and also let the app add a certificate or adjust proxy parameters, and neither action required the phone owner to confirm anything.

Google resolved both Android flaws in its September 2026 patches, so devices which have installed those patches should no longer face either problem.

The company describes the tag flaw as especially hazardous since holding a phone near the tag suffices to trigger it.

There was no mention of specific Android versions or Pixel models that were vulnerable, so the number of exposed devices remains unknown, but to be safe from malware attacks, get the latest security patch.

What some Apple flaws allowed

According to TASS, the nine Apple flaws covered higher access rights, privacy exposure, and weakened data safeguards.

One macOS flaw allowed a hostile app to obtain the highest level of control over the computer, and another exposed information the system normally protects. The keys used for access could be deleted without the user approving the action.

Another flaw was found inside the kernel of the operating system and could cause a device to fail or corrupt data held in memory.

Apple has released patches for the flaws, although the company did not say which operating system versions carry the fix.

Devices that never received an update stay exposed to every flaw the firm described, whatever patches the vendors have issued.

Owners of older phones and computers that no longer receive vendor updates face the most uncertainty, because a fix never reaches them.

Android owners should check their software version in system settings to confirm the September 2026 patches arrived on their devices.

Neither Apple nor Google acknowledged the Positive Technologies report as expected, but they both released patches fixing these flaws, which implies that the report is legitimate.

Via 1.ru

• OpenAI has been forced to pause its GPT-6.1 rollout amid safety concerns
• Safety head reveals it failed on two separate fronts
• AI developers are calling for more government involvement

OpenAI has reportedly cancelled its planned public release of the upcoming GPT-6.1 Astra model after internal testing revealed potential safety issues.

TheWall Street Journal claims the model was due to be released within Codex and ChatGPT as soon as October 2026, but the company's safety head, Saachi Jain, explained that 6.1 "didn't quite meet the bar in terms of staying within scope and authorization, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it's done."

A modified version of GPT-6.1, or at least a development on GPT-6, will likely still release pretty soon, but the temporary pause highlights ongoing issues that all AI developers seem to be facing with increasingly sophisticated models.

OpenAI halts GPT-6.1 Astra rollout

The WSJ reporting reveals that the model actually failed on two separate instances – firstly, it continued working on a task beyond what a user had initially requested, sometimes taking actions without user permission.

Secondly, 6.1 Astra also failed on the transparency front, apparently showing more deceptive behavior than GPT-6 by obscuring from the user what it had actually done and implying that it had or had not completed certain tasks.

"We want to make sure our model development is safe no matter whether that's in the company, or when we ship it to users," Jain added, citing the company's "extremely high bar in terms of safety and alignment."

The news comes just days after ChatGPT maker OpenAI said in an X post that it would be "conducting a much broader review of actions taken by [its] models during training and evaluation," following a Hugging Face incident.

CEO Sam Altman also asserted that the company is conducting an "extensive and ongoing review."

More broadly, OpenAI and fellow AI developers have also been calling on governments to have more oversight over model releases in order to ensure maximum safety. For now, global ongoings are leading companies to battle it out in a bid to release best-in-class models, but with greater oversight and limitations, they would be freer to slow down and focus more on safety.

"For anything regarding safety and alignment, there’s a trade off. You really do need to find what’s the right line between staying within scope, but also avoiding laziness in terms of how the model actually pursues tasks even when it hits friction," Jain added.

Harry Potter Lego might be the ultimate autumn activity. And if you're looking for an excuse to expand your collection, you got it: there are tons of discounts on a whole range of kits at Amazon right now. It's Amazon Prime Day next week (6-7 October), but these are early deals, and you don't need to be a Prime subscriber to take advantage of them.

If you want to push the boat out, there are discounts on big, pricey sets that'll occupy you for a weekend (depending on your speed-building skills), and simpler, cheap sets that'd make great stocking stuffers (sorry, I know it's too soon). My favorite is the Quality Quidditch Supplies & Ice Cream Parlour Set, with 44% off. It features two charming shops from Diagon Alley — the fact that it's split into two makes it ideal for a sociable Lego session with a friend. I'm also a big fan of the full Diagon Alley set, a relatively new kit that has 24% off right now. It shrinks down the entire street to micro-scale and comes with 12 microfigures to populate it.

Not taken with those? There's something for every Potter-head — scroll down for all of my top picks.

Accio Lego deals!

Lego Harry Potter Quality Quidditch Supplies & Ice Cream Parlour 76452

Lego Harry Potter Enchanted Flying Ford Anglia 76470

Lego Harry Potter Luna Lovegood's House 76467

Lego Harry Potter Hagrid & Harry's Privet Drive Escape 76459

Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle and Grounds 76419

Lego Harry Potter Philosopher's Stone – Collectors' Edition 76466

Lego Harry Potter Cauldron: Secret Potions Classroom 76464

Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle: Hospital Wing 76463

Lego Harry Potter Cornish Pixie 76461

Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle: Sorting Hat Ceremony 76460

Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts House Crest 76462

Lego Harry Potter Dobby the Free Elf 76469

Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle: East Wing 76473

Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Herbology Plants 76474

Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle: the Main Tower 76454

Lego Harry Potter Privet Drive: Aunt Marge's Visit 76451

Lego Harry Potter Book Nook: Hogwarts Express 76450

Lego Harry Potter Chomping Monster Book of Monsters 76449

Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle: Herbology Class 76445

Lego Harry Potter Knockturn Alley Wizarding Shops 76471

Lego Harry Potter Knight Bus Adventure 76446

Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle: Charms Class 76442

Lego Harry Potter Diagon Alley Wizarding Shops 76444

Lego Harry Potter Hagrid & Harry's Motorcycle Ride 76443

Lego Harry Potter Flying Ford Anglia 76424

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered's patch notes have been released
• The update will offer all-new animations and an improved skill system
• A new accessibility preset called Bard's Ballad also offers a more tailored gameplay experience

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered is officially here, and CD Projekt Red has released the long list of improvements that promise an entirely new experience for the decade-old role-playing game (RPG).

The patch notes detail a ton of upgrades, from better visuals, transmogrification, an expanded photo mode, updated textures, PS5 Pro support, and more. Some pretty impressive animation improvements that are sure to make my new playthrough feel even more immersive have also been added. Geralt's animations during combat, idling, and riding Roach have all been refined; new finishers have also been added, and ladder climbing, jumping, and vaulting are now "more responsive" and "fluid."

The skill system has also been completely rebalanced, and " Skills are now organized into a skill tree, and each skill has three ranks," while others have been renamed to better reflect their effects, and I can't wait to try out new builds.

One of the most notable additions to the remaster, included in the accessibility features, is the Bard's Ballad preset, which can be enabled when starting a new game on "Just the Story" difficulty or mid-game.

"It is designed to reduce cognitive load for players who experience mental fatigue or have difficulty concentrating," CDPR explained. "It streamlines gameplay by simplifying certain mechanics and disabling select features for a smoother, more focused adventure."

On top of that, players can customize the preset by enabling or disabling some options that I've always wanted and would normally need mods for. Those options include Vitality Regeneration Boost, Infinite Breath, Unlimited Item Durability, Unlimited Boat Durability, Faster Boats, Toggle Witcher Sense, and probably my favorite out of the bunch, Ignore Item Weight.

I typically play on normal or higher difficulties in The Witcher 3, but for my latest playthrough I'm quite eager to try out the Bard's Ballad preset for the added customization that comes with it.

There are plenty more quality-of-life, modding, UI/UX, gameplay, and visual improvements to discover in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered, which is now available and is free for current owners of the game. Players who also own only the base game can claim the two included expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, at no extra cost.

• AI-powered deepfakes convinced executives to authorize massive overseas fund transfers
• Fraudsters impersonated senior figures through messaging apps and cloned voices
• Incident highlights evolving business email compromise tactics in the AI era

Cybercriminals have tricked a major Italian bank into wiring more than $100 million abroad by targeting executives with AI-powered deepfakes. Some of the money has since been recovered, but a significant portion remains unaccounted for.

The target was Fideuram – Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, a very large Italian private-banking and wealth-management group owned by Intesa Sanpaolo. It cannot be considered a “normal” retail bank - its core business is managing investments and wealth for affluent and high-net-worth clients.

According to the latest figures, the bank has around $513.25 billion in assets under management (AUM), more than 7,100 private bankers, and more than $9.85 billion in net profit.

Deepfakes and phone calls

Citing two sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that the attack took place in February 2026, while the chairman was ​Paolo Molesini.

Molesini reportedly received a WhatsApp message that seems to have come from Carlo Messina, Intesa Sanpaolo Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who asked him to help with an urgent overseas transaction, to which the victim agreed. He was later contacted by someone claiming to be senior partner at a prominent law firm, to confirm the instruction. This person used AI tools to create a deepfake of the lawyer’s voice, tricking Molesini into thinking the request was authentic.

The chairman then reached out to the bank’s finance department, arranging a series of transactions to foreign account, the majority of which were in mainland China and Hong Kong.

The scam was spotted soon afterwards, and Fideuram moved to block the transaction. With the help of law enforcement in China, Portugal, and Italy, around $60.14 million was recovered. Around $40.8 million remains missing, apparently converted into cryptocurrencies.

Ruining a person's career

​Paolo Molesini announced he was stepping down from roles of president for both Fideuram itself and Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking a month later, in March 2026, citing “personal reasons”.

According to Reuters, neither Molesini, or any other Fideuram executives are under investigation, but local authorities are apparently investigating a “foreign national living outside Europe” for potential fraud.

In the pre-AI era, this type of fraud was known as Business Email Compromise (BEC). Crooks would break in (or otherwise spoof) the email address of a company’s CEO (or other executive), map out employees working in the finance department, and reach out with instructions for wire transfers. These instructions would explain that the transfer needs to be completed in secrecy, to avoid unnecessary publicity or competitors.

Nowadays, with the advent of artificial intelligence and the ease with which crooks can create deepfake images, voice clones, and even videos, BEC attacks have spread out to instant messaging platforms, voice calls, and even video calls.

Last year, scammers used artificial intelligence to create a deepfake of the voice of an Italian minister, tricking local businessman Massimo Moratti to transfer around $1.13 million to an overseas account. The money was later successfully recovered, it was said.

It’s preview season for League of Legends TCG Riftbound’s upcoming Radiance set, and we’ve got a brand new card to showcase for you today: Satchel Charge, as well as another look at the Bomb token it creates — a game piece I expect to make a bang in the set when it releases.

Satchel Charge costs three and recycles a Chaos rune to let you move a friendly unit as an Action, and then Deploy a Bomb to a battlefield.

Bombs deal 2 damage when they die (and set off all other Bombs you control at the same battlefield), which pairs very nicely with Deploy — a new keyword which lets you play a Gear card with Deploy directly to any battlefield (whether you control it or not), but the Gear dies when your opponent holds the location.

If you have multiple Bombs ready and waiting, you could seriously punish an opponent for claiming a battlefield by blasting their amassed units to smithereens.

(Image credit: Riot)Explosive plays

While an obvious use for Satchel Charge will be to save a unit by returning it to your base or moving it to a different battlefield, and leaving an unpleasant surprise behind for your opponent, it doesn’t have to be used this way.

It could instead be used to bring a unit and a Bomb to the same battlefield, or send your unit to one and a Bomb to the other. The versatility makes me think this could be a solid limited pickup to include in any Chaos-imbued Pre-Rift deck, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it saw some constructed play — especially if there’s a new Legend who plays nicely with Deploy and/or Bombs.

Though the big downside of Bombs is that they require an opponent to hold a location before they detonate, meaning you basically have to let them score another point before they face any consequences, which is certainly not ideal.

Plus, unless you have a few explosives ready, it’s possible your Bombs won’t be all that impressive when they do go off in terms of making a dent in your rival’s army.

(Image credit: Riot)

Ziggs's Legend lets you make Bombs by exhausting it, while one of his revealed Champions makes Bombs (and other damage-dealing Gear cards) deal one more damage, so this card looks like an easy include in his deck.

Though we'll have to wait and see if these cards can do enough to make Bombs hit hard enough for them to be a new meta pick once Radiance launches on October 23.

What if you could "spend the day making a shot that AI could make in a minute?" That's the somewhat facetious pitch for Polaroid's new all-analog Polaroid Mod Instant camera, and, in my experience, it's a challenge I accepted and thoroughly enjoyed.

No, it doesn't take all day to make some pretty wild instant Polaroid photos with the Mod, but it's also not as easy or unsatisfying as entering a prompt and waiting for a far-flung generative model to do the work.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar

Sitting somewhere between the Polaroid I-2 and the Polaroid Flip (in functionality if not price), the Polaroid Mod, which Polaroid unveiled today (September 29) and gave me some time with earlier this month, takes virtually every setting that might've been digital on a previous 21st-century Polaroid and made it analog, or more precisely, a series of dials.

With its metallic finish and familiar curves and angles — right down to the flip-open front film pack loader —it's instantly recognizable as a member of the Polaroid family. The gray body features a two-lens system: a 103mm main lens and a 95mm portrait lens. It uses an infrared autofocus system (it has just two focus zones, to keep things simple). There's a small dial on the front for exposure control with just three settings: auto, one step lower, or one step higher.

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

There's a large embedded flash and a red shutter button. On the back is a touch control for the flash, an LED light readout for the number of photos left, and a self-timer. There's a USB-C port to juice up the 750mAh battery, which should last through shooting over a dozen film packs.

The most important feature, though, and one that leads to an almost endless array of creative possibilities, is the mode dial around the main lens. In addition to the auto setting, it offers a Double-Exposure setting, Split Shot, Motion Freeze, and Light Painting. Each is represented by a tiny but clear cryptogram. The camera even ships with a special half-lens cover to assist in the Split Shot.

Like most of Polaroid's other full-size instant cameras, the Mod is designed to work with 600 film and Polaroid's I-Type instant film packs.

Let's shoot

Polaroid walked us through some of the basics of shooting with this relatively retro camera, and I was so struck by the simplicity of each operation that I felt empowered to try a few of them.

At 520g, the camera feels lightweight but substantial in the hand. It's also pretty rugged: I accidentally dropped the camera from a height of almost four feet. The film pack door popped open, but the Polaroid Mod was otherwise unharmed and worked for all my future shots.

I held the camera at eye level, looked through the large viewfinder, and snapped a photo of photographer and current Director of Polaroid's 20x24 Studio John Reuter. A second after I pressed the well-placed shutter button, I heard that iconic motor whir to life as the Mod spit out my first, still blue, undeveloped image. Polaroid film still takes 10 to 15 minutes to fully develop. When I finally had the finished image, I was impressed with the quality despite the suboptimal lighting.

Polaroid's John Reuter (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

I was anxious, though, to try out the wilder flights of photographic fancy, and with a colleague, I set about making my first Split Image.

First, I selected the mode by twisting the dial until I could see that icon. I asked my friend to stand with a drink and imagine she was toasting herself. On the camera, I placed the half-lens cover, which, as the name implies, leaves only half the film exposed.

In this mode, the camera will show a 1 on the tiny readout when you take the first photo.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

I then repositioned my friend so she was shifted to the right and facing the opposite direction. Meanwhile, I took off the lens cover and switched it so the other half of the film would be exposed. On the readout, it shows a "2" to let you know the camera is ready for the second image.

I took the second image, and then the photo spit out of the Mod. The finished image was pretty cool, though I realize more care in the camera position and my subject would be needed for the maximum effect.

The Double Exposure setting is somewhat similar, but instead of using the lens cover, you shoot the first image with the lower exposure setting and then find your second subject and shoot the next image (again, the digital readout shows a "2") for the next part of your double image. The example we saw was an oversized live cat next to his tiny owner.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / Future

There's a motion freeze that opens a long exposure in which you can move the camera and then blast a flash at the end to capture a sharper image.

I was intrigued, though, by the Light Painting settings. After watching Polaroid try it with a variety of light sources, I asked Tom's Guide's Kate Kozuch to work with me on making my own Polaroid Mod light painting photos with an iPhone flashlight as a light source.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / Future

This Polaroid Mod mode gives you a full seven seconds of exposure to create some pretty wild images. Polaroid recommends a tripod, but I'm pretty good at holding still. For our shots, which we did in an almost fully darkened event space, I had Kate wave around the iPhone flashlight in a couple of different patterns. The results, which I saw 15 minutes later, were honestly far better than I expected.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

I should be clear about something, though: most of these images, even in the best lighting, are arthouse quality. They can be grainy, moody, with sharp contrast between light and dark. I tend to love them, but if you're used to the clarity of an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, you might be surprised, and not in a good way.

These images tend to tell a story with every bit of unpolished grain, so how you shoot it is as much a part of the tale as what you shot. With enough fiddling with the few available settings and true daylight, you might get some images approaching basic iPhone 13 quality but, again, that's not why you buy one of these cameras.

The camera, which goes on sale today, lists in the US for now (globally early next year) for $169.99 (a little cheaper than the Flip and roughly half the price of the more complex I-2), a comparatively affordable price, but keep in mind that Polaroid 600 and I-Type film can run you $20 for 8 pictures. At least you can get twice the imagery with the double exposure and split modes.