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• Residents near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, file class-action lawsuit against Microsoft over “excessive noise” from its Fairwater AI data center
• Complainants also report light pollution from the facility
• Microsoft says it has taken “immediate steps to address the sound concerns”

While it is an inherently useful technology, AI comes with many challenges, not least the impact of data centers on the landscape and local environment. Microsoft’s new $7.3 billion AI data center in Milwaukee is demonstrating some of those challenges, having amassed complaints during construction and now a class-action lawsuit from Wisconsin residents.

Residents of Sturtevant, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are situated just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the Mount Pleasant “Fairwater 1” datacenter, which came online in April. Following noise during construction, the installation itself has since been blamed for “not only excessive, but consistent and pervasive” noise.

Over 1,000 homes in the Mount Pleasant area are affected, and these are represented by three citizens who filed the lawsuit.

How noisy is Microsoft’s Fairwater 1 data center?

According to the filing, “Through its operation and maintenance of the Data Center, Defendant has emitted, and continues to emit, unreasonable and excessive noise onto Plaintiffs’ properties, thereby causing property damages through private nuisance and negligence.”

While no formal test results have been published, one resident stated in the lawsuit “It sounded similar to the whirring engine of a freight train parked nearby. We heard it 24 hours a day, and eventually realized it was coming from the Microsoft campus.” This followed a period of six months when previous issues concerning noise and dust had subsided.

Meanwhile, a resident told Wisconsin Public Radio that light pollution is a problem, noting "“It was so dark out there, you could see all the stars, and now you have a hard time seeing the stars with all the light.”

The filing (reported by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) notes that the Fairwater 1 data center "generates significant noise pollution from diesel generators and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, including chillers, cooling towers, air-handling units, and condenser fans."

Microsoft is yet to respond

As the demand for cloud AI increases, more installations like Fairwater 1 (up to 15 Microsoft data centers are planned for the location) need to be developed.

So far, Microsoft has responded to the previous complaints about noise and dust with street cleaners, but these concerns have made it into the filing, along with accusations that Microsoft failed to "implement adequate acoustic barriers, shields, or walls that absorb, mitigate, and/or prevent the escape of noise, thereby resulting in the offsite emission of excessive noise beyond its property."

At the other side of this argument, however, are the 375 employees at Microsoft’s Mount Pleasant facilities, many of whom live locally.

While Microsoft is yet to respond to the lawsuit, it previously posted on its blog that it will “continue to work on short-term mitigation, and [...] also install additional sound reduction components and continue to monitor sound at the site.”

Families can still benefit even if their children aren't eligible for the free $1,000 contribution from the federal government.

(Image credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for July 9, No. 1,124.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for July 9, No. 858.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for July 9, No. 1,846.

We’re hurtling towards the October release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, and it seems like everyone has already forgotten about Black Ops 7.

Last year’s entry wasn’t perfect (I still stand by my verdict that it has one of the worst campaigns in the series), but if there’s one area where it seriously delivers, it’s the core multiplayer experience. It took the strong foundations established in its predecessor, Black Ops 6, and refined them expertly, augmenting the slick omni-movement system with a new wall jump and finally cutting the awkward tactical sprint to save us all from sore thumbs.

It was a compelling offering at launch, but over the last few months it’s become even better thanks to a steady stream of impressively expansive, high-quality updates. I can’t think of the last Call of Duty game I’ve stuck with this long after launch, and, having spent close to 400 hours playing now, I’m sad that it's coming to an end.

Quantity (and quality)

(Image credit: Activision)

What’s made Black Ops 7’s post-launch offering so enjoyable? Volume, for starters. Seasons 1 and 2 came packed with a whopping nine core maps each, offering a good mix of new arrivals, remastered classics, and some favorites carried over from Black Ops 6.

Season 3 kept up the pace with another seven, adding to the massive 16 available at launch, meaning there’s no shortage of combat environments to master, even as things begin to slow down, with the current Season 4 bringing just five.

(Image credit: Activision)

It’s not like “just five” is an insubstantial number either — it’s still more than double what most seasons of 2022’s Modern Warfare 2 would give you. They’re all well-made maps with a good mix of aesthetics, ranging from the brightly colored neon skyscrapers of a futuristic Tokyo in Yakei to the psychedelic corridors of an imagined hospital in Paranoia.

There’s just so much more variety than you had in previous games, which seriously helps stave off boredom after hundreds of hours of play.

You could argue that Black Ops 7 lacks a coherent visual direction and setting, and I would wholeheartedly agree, but, as disappointing as it is for someone who cares quite a lot about the series’ universe and lore, on a practical level the total abandonment of stodgy military theming opens the door to so many cool design possibilities.

You have maps filled with floating platforms to parkour off, buttons that open secret passageways to reward those who pay attention to their surroundings, or magic portals that teleport you to the other side of the map to help you get the jump on the enemy team.

I can’t remember the last time Call of Duty felt this experimental and free. It’s reinvigorating.

Broken, but in the best possible way

(Image credit: Activision)

The developers took the same approach with the weapons, adding a boatload of them every season. They’re completely stupid and often massively unbalanced, but that’s what makes them so much fun.

You’ve got one-shot rifles galore, an SMG that loads with three magazines at once, a secondary that’s somehow a full-size rifle that fires homing bullets, and an energy weapon that shoots slow-moving, glowing balls that can take out entire groups of foes.

The unlockable weapon attachments are delightfully nuts as well. Earlier this month, I spent a weekend grinding through weekly challenges to unlock the latest attachment for the XR-3 Ion sniper rifle.

It’s a grip that transforms the unwieldy weapon into a literal minigun that shreds foes by rapidly firing high-power sniper bullets with a massive ammo pool, which I immediately deployed to rampage through the tiny Nuketown map in some public matches.

バカ武器ありがとう#cod #bo7 #CallofDuty pic.twitter.com/clCe6pNWcHJune 26, 2026

It joins a pantheon of unapologetically bonkers additions, like the high-tech magazine for the Carbon 57 SMG that literally 3D prints new bullets in between shots so you never have to reload or the customized barrel that converts the Maverick X9 assault rifle into a long-range harpoon gun.

At this point, I’m convinced the developers are trying to one-up themselves with something even crazier in every update — and make no mistake, I’m absolutely here for it.

Throw in a deluge of quality limited-time events with a strong line-up, free and paid rewards, some of the nicest-looking battle pass skins yet, countless progression systems to work towards, and it’s no wonder that I’m logging in every day for more.

As a frequent visitor to a handful of Call of Duty subreddits, I know that I’m not the only one having a great time either. “We are very lucky that we didn’t listen to the internet and bought Black Ops 7,” wrote one poster just last week, who praised the “huge” amount of content on offer. “We are so lucky that we experienced the best Call of Duty multiplayer and zombies since 2015,” they added.

“I’m also a little sad we only have 1 more Season left”, responded a commenter, with another calling Black Ops 7 the “Best COD of the 2020s”. Sure, the campaign underdelivered, but if we’re going off multiplayer alone, I’m inclined to agree.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is out for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC.

• Two US army websites were defaced on their 404 error pages
• The messages included an expletive insult targeting Donald Trump and Tom Barrack
• The messages appear to be written by people sympathetic to the Kurdish cause

Two pages belonging to the US Army had their error pages defaced with pro-Kurdish messages criticizing US President Donald Trump.

Cybersecurity researcher Ronald Lovelace discovered the defaced pages, before notifying both the US Army and Cyberscoop.

One of the messages on a 404 error page read, “FREE KURDISTAN,” while another said “Kurdish sr was here.”

Kurds deface Army websites

One of the pages defaced belongs to the Artificial Intelligence Integration Center (AIIC), and the second belongs to the Army’s Open Innovation Lab (OIL). These sectors of the Army were founded in 2019 and 2020 respectively, with the AIIC working to improve the integration of AI technologies within the Army and train personnel, while OIL established to help test new software and cyber capabilities.

The defaced error messages also labelled Donald Trump a “pedophile & thief,” likely referring to the President’s connections to financier and child sex offender Jeffery Epstein. An expletive message also referenced United States Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack.

Lovelace noted that the affected websites are hosted using WordPress and Microsoft cloud infrastructure. Numerous WordPress plugins are frequently exploited by hackers to gain control over websites, although how the hackers defaced the Army website still has not been confirmed. The websites have since been taken down.

Who are the Kurds and why are they targeting Trump and Barrack?

The Kurdish peoples are an ethnic group who occupy a stateless nation that covers southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, and northern Syria.

The US and the Kurdish people have worked together on numerous occasions, even being considered allies when it suited the US, particularly in the fight against Suddam Hussein and later against ISIS.

But the US has since turned away from supporting the people of Kurdistan, with the President recently endorsing a Turkish bombing campaign targeting the area of Kurdistan that falls within their territory, hence the messages targeting Tom Barrack.

It appears that whoever is responsible for the defacement of the US Army websites feel betrayed by this shift in policy.

Moana is an absolute blast thanks to solid performances by Catherine Laga'aia and Dwayne Johnson, who is simply magical as demigod Maui.

AI images, videos and writing used to be relatively easy to spot. There were too many fingers, warped backgrounds, strange nonsensical text and other visual artefacts that really quickly gave the AI game away. Deepfake videos often had delayed lip-syncing and AI-generated writing felt repetitive and formulaic, like reading a clunky LinkedIn post.

But AI has improved. A lot of AI-generated images, videos and messages now look convincing enough to fool even the most careful observers and experts. Which means some of the older tricks for spotting what's AI and what's not no longer work as reliably as they once did.

So this isn't about spotting signs and glitches. It's about taking extra steps to verify what you're seeing and hearing. We can't rely on zooming in to see six fingers in a strange-looking ad anymore. We need to know what questions to ask and which tools to use when something doesn't feel quite right.

Fact-checking Facebook pages

(Image credit: Shutterstock / mundissima )

AI-generated content is all over Facebook, particularly photos and videos designed to trigger a strong emotional response.

In May, a Full Fact investigation examined pages sharing AI-generated stories about UK politicians and found that many were managed from outside the UK, despite using names that sounded British. The posts featured heartwarming tales of politicians donating millions, rescuing dogs or helping sick children. None of it was true.

One useful tool in situations like this is Facebook's Page Transparency feature. Found within a page's profile, it can reveal where a page is managed from, when it was created, whether it has changed names in the past and other clues about who is really behind it. If those details don't match the image the page is trying to project, that's often a good reason to be sceptical.

Spotting scams on LinkedIn

(Image credit: LinkedIn)

Job scams aren't new, but AI is making them harder to spot. Scammers can now generate realistic recruiter messages, professional-looking profiles and convincing emails on a huge scale.

Some recent campaigns have even imitated LinkedIn notifications and job alerts, using urgency and curiosity to pressure people into clicking malicious links or sharing sensitive information.

Before responding to an unexpected job offer, do some basic checks. Is the recruiter connected to a real company? Does their profile look legitimate? Does the business exist on Companies House? Taking a few minutes to verify the opportunity could save a lot of trouble later.

Verifying viral videos

(Image credit: Getty Images / We Are)

Deepfake videos are getting eerily realistic. At normal speed, an AI-generated video may now look completely authentic. But you could try increasing the playback speed, which is when subtle inconsistencies can become easier to spot. Watch for lip movements that don't quite match the speech, unnatural blinking, strange pacing or facial movements that feel slightly out of sync with the audio you’re hearing.

It's also worth paying attention to facial expressions. Now, of course no one reacts perfectly all the time, but if a person's expressions consistently feel disconnected from what they're saying, it may be worth investigating further.

Investigating AI influencers

(Image credit: Xicoia)

Sometimes the answer is hiding in plain sight. You just need to know where to look. AI influencers, AI-assisted fashion shoots and AI-generated advertising campaigns are often disclosed by brands and creators, but the information could be hard to find in a caption, hashtag, profile description or small print. For example, lifestyle publisher and brand SheerLuxe creates AI-generated content and influencers under the name Sheerluxe lab.

You could also try a reverse image search. Uploading an image to Google Images can sometimes show you where it first appeared online, if it’s been altered and whether the person in the image actually exists anywhere else on the internet. If an influencer only appears in AI-generated content and nowhere else, that’s a pretty big sign they might be completely made up.

Take the AI or not quiz

• The Topolino will start from $13,995
• Customers will have to pay extra to make it road legal
• A/C comes courtesy of removing the doors

The US is about to get one of the cheapest electric vehicles ever offered for sale, as the Stellantis Group has confirmed that the tiny Fiat Topolino will be available Stateside.

Starting from just $13,995 (plus a $990 destination fee), the compact electric runaround features an equally minuscule 5.4kWh battery pack that delivers just 46 miles of range on a full charge. There's also a distinct lack of creature comforts.

Based on the Citroën Ami, the glorified golf cart is designed to offer a mobility solution for busy European cities, with the model classed as a light quadricycle (category L6e) that sees the law regard it more like a four-wheeled scooter or moped than a traditional passenger car.

FiatFiatFiatFiatFiat

This allows drivers as young as 14 to get behind the wheel in some European countries, and with the lack of a stereo, air conditioning, or an infotainment display (there is a smartphone cradle), the vehicles are about as basic and easy to maintain as they come.

That said, micromobility options like this are on the rise in the USA, where a craze for golf carts seems to be sweeping the nation.

According to a report by Today, residents of affluent neighborhoods are using electric carts for everything from grocery shopping trips to school drop-offs.

Golf cart manufacturer Club Car says the market value has soared from $1 billion pre-pandemic to more than $5 billion today.

Fiat hopes to cash in on this boom, with a range of stylish Topolinos that arguably have slightly more character than your average golf course transportation.

Analysis: Cute, but not really a car

(Image credit: Fiat)

Thanks to its restricted top speed, diminutive proportions, and limited crash safety features, the Fiat Topolino isn't really classed as a traditional "car" in North America.

In fact, should customers want to use it on public roads, they will have to pay for a special conversion kit to raise the top speed to 25 mph and make it street legal on roads with speed limits of 35mph or less.

According to CNBC, Stellantis won't charge extra for this, but a mandatory destination fee of $990 will see the final price increase to $14,985.

The impossibly cute car, which roughly translates to "little mouse" from its native Italian, will also go on sale in the UK, with prices starting from £8,995.

Numerous models and special editions have already been touted, including a Sport edition that adds bespoke wheels, colors, and badges.

Fiat also unveiled a Multiplina concept (see above) that takes the Topolino platform and stretches it to act as "the missing link between a Topolino and a car," according to its maker.

There's no word on when we will see that go into production, but order books for the standard micro machine are already open in most markets.

• The first agentic ransomware attack has been dubbed JADEPUFFER by researchers at Sysdig
• Threat exploited a known vulnerability, adapted to obstacles, and targeted an Alibaba Nacos
• Unfortunately for victims, paying up means nothing, as JADEPUFFER fails to back up the data

Has ransomware become self-aware? Sysdig researchers have analyzed an attack on an internet-facing Langflow instance, and discovered what they believe to be the first ransomware infection driven not by a human, but by AI.

As the attack progressed via a vulnerability, it accessed a server, removed data, overcame challenges, and phoned home regularly – all controlled not by a remote operator, but by a large language model (LLM).

Dubbed “JADEPUFFER” the attack seems to point to the direction of travel for extortion-based cybercrime -- if not for the entire sector, then certainly for the cybercrime-as-a-service (CaaS) market. As highlighted in Sysdig’s conclusion: “It’s a marker of where extortion tradecraft is heading.”

Fully autonomous hack

Using a code-injection attack on a Langflow deployment, Sysdig reported that the attack was fully automated, and after exploiting the vulnerability (CVE-2025-3248) JADEPUFFER sought out credentials for LLM providers, databases cloud platforms, and cryptocurrency wallets.

It also harvested data from the Langflow instance’s Postgres database, and committed various acts of destruction before the intended Alibaba Nacos (Naming and Configuration Service) and connected MySQL database were reached.

At this point, the ransomware demand was issued, with 1,342 Nacos configuration items encrypted and crucial database tables dropped. What is interesting about this is that random encryption was applied, but no backup was made and no key or report was created – so even if the ransom was paid, the data would remain unrecovered.

(Langflow fixed the vulnerability in April 2025, so this attack could have been avoided if the instance had been patched. Ironically, Langflow is also an AI platform, providing low-code solutions to build and deploy chatbots, agents, and advanced workflows using artificial intelligence.)

A new phase in cybersecurity

Security researchers have been on the lookout for Agentic Threat Actors (ATAs) for a while now, so the arrival of JADEPUFFER is not completely unexpected. Its arrival essentially means that anyone can create and operate a ransomware (or other cyberthreat) operation, relying on intelligent prompts and low-effort, fully automated testing in the wild, from which the LLM can learn and improve.

If this does indeed represent the dawning of a new age of cybersecurity, it isn’t all bad news. This incident has demonstrated how LLM-based attacks can be detected.

It used historical vulnerabilities, for example, but the most interesting thing about it is that this attempt was pretty verbose. The Sysdig team noticed that when JADEPUFFER was presented with obstacles to its primary aim, it adapted and shared its rationale.

While this narration is common among LLMs, other threats don’t do this, which offers an advantage for detecting LLM-based threats like JADEPUFFER and the variants which will inevitably appear.

Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution.'/>

The Supreme Court annual financial reports shed light on the justices' gifts, travel and personal lives.

(Image credit: Mario Tama)

• A new update is coming to Meta's smart glasses
• It should stop modders from disabling the light that lets people know you're using the camera
• Meta is also targeting modders on and off its platform

Last month we shared details of reports that Meta glasses were being modded to bypass privacy protections and turn them into secret spy glasses. Now Meta has revealed it will update the glasses’ software to detect whether its light has been tampered with (or destroyed) to prevent recording.

Whenever you take a photo or video with Meta glasses, a white light appears on the front of the glasses to signal to people around you that you’re filming.

For creeps looking to be more secretive with their recordings, this light is a hindrance, but Meta has imposed more basic tamper-proof features since launch. That is, any attempt to use the camera while the light is blocked — such as by a piece of tape — wouldn’t be allowed. The trouble is, modders have found ways to open up the glasses and disable or damage the light and its mechanisms that prevent it from showing, without getting flagged by the system — meaning you can use the camera as you normally would, but without anyone else knowing.

(Image credit: Meta)

This is (to put it bluntly) not good, and when the reports came out, a Meta spokesperson told me that the company was looking into ways to disable this workaround.

They also explained that Meta is working hard to stamp out advertisements for these kinds of services — some of which appeared on its own Facebook Marketplace platform — with its latest announcement explaining this means banning accounts, taking down listings, and taking legal action against people or businesses that tamper with its tech.

Beyond the detail of updating software to prevent tampering, the whole article from Meta is focused on privacy, and crucially how Meta keeps you and others safe.

Thanks to people misusing its tech, the wider notoriety these gadgets are getting again, and reports of contractors seeing recorded images and videos that Meta glasses users might not have fully realized they could see, Meta and smart glasses makers have been facing major privacy questions.

With this article, Meta seems to answer many of them, though we’ll have to wait and see if it can convince users — or if they might be tempted by the rise of cameraless smart glasses.

The only way is cameraless?

(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)

Even Realities, another smart glasses firm, recently announced it has raised $150 million in investment at a $1 billion valuation — not too shabby for a company that only launched its first XR gadget in 2024.

Instead of Meta’s camera-first approach, Even Realities went for a display-first approach. Information is shown visually as green text and basic diagrams to provide features such as AI advice, navigational directions, or a speech appearing on a virtual prompter. Its specs also lack speakers, though that’s not true for all glasses of their kind.

Losing out on the camera is, of course, a major privacy win for some, as there’s no possible way for the glasses to see something they shouldn’t or be used to spy.

The thing is, I think these kinds of glasses are pretty terrible. Having tested a few at home, the ones without a camera just aren’t worth wearing.

(Image credit: Future / Hamish Hector)

Smart glasses, despite being increasingly popular, are in their infancy, which in the tech world means you can expect to pay a fair sum for relatively limited features — that’s the price of being an early adopter. That’s especially true, I’ve found, for these XR glasses specifically, because while they can offer several tools like navigation, on-screen translations, a prompter, and notification pop-ups, their usefulness is pretty limited.

How often do you need a prompter? Or one-way translation tools? In the case of the latter, because these kinds of glasses often have you rely on your phone to set up the translation feature or access other features, you might as well just turn to something like Google Translate — which has conversation modes so that two people can talk and see translations through a single device.

The software I’ve found for these types of specs can also be pretty terrible with sluggishness, inaccuracies, and crashes — and if I, as someone who tests smart glasses professionally, have trouble, I can’t imagine what less techy people must think.

Additionally, the green text can be hard to make out on a bright day if you’re outside, making on-screen directions difficult to see.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

While admittedly more limited feature-wise, the Meta glasses and smart specs like them feel like way better value for money. From Meta specifically, the software is generally very reliable, and more broadly, the ability to snap a photo whenever — either to capture a moment or to provide context for an AI’s response — comes in handy so often.

Even if it isn’t as good as my phone camera, the ability to record a memory, hands-free and without being taken out of the moment, is so utterly delightful.

Yes, there are privacy challenges which need to be hashed out more formally, as even without the ability to record privately there is still plenty of room for creeps to harass people with this kind of gadget, but if you want a pair of smart glasses right now there simply isn’t a better option.

The passports feature an image of President Trump and are only available in person at the Washington Passport Agency — and only by appointment.

(Image credit: Michele Kelemen)

When we tested the Ugreen NASync DH2300, we called it “the perfect starter NAS.” It's compact, quick for home office use, and affordable.

Right now, the Ugreen NASync DH2300 is $200 (was $220) at Amazon. It's not the biggest discount in the world, but if a NAS system has been on your list, this one is the approachable entry point worth buying.

In our review, we found the DH2300 hit around 115MB/s read and 105MB/s write speeds over Gigabit Ethernet — comfortably fast enough to stream 4K content to multiple devices at the same time, handle automatic backups from a few computers without slowing anything down, and serve files to phones and laptops across the house. It’s not a speed demon, but for a home or small office NAS running two drives in RAID 1, those figures are exactly what you need.

Today's top NAS deal

A compact 2-bay NAS with a quad-core ARM processor, 4GB of DDR4 RAM, and UGOS — Ugreen’s own operating system — pre-installed. Drives go in vertically and click into place with a magnetic lid. There’s a 4K HDMI port for hooking it directly to a display (uncommon at this price), USB-C 3.2 on the front, two USB-A ports on the rear, and a single gigabit Ethernet port. RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD support. Diskless — add your own drives. Quiet, efficient, and idle power draw of just 8W.View Deal

The UGOS operating system is where Ugreen has genuinely impressed us. Most entry-level NAS software is either overwhelming (QNAP’s QTS requires time investment to master) or too limited to be useful. UGOS lands in a sensible middle ground: clean enough that a first-time NAS owner can set it up without a tutorial, but capable enough to run cloud sync apps, computer backup agents, and media serving to local screens via the HDMI port. The HDMI output is a feature that even TerraMaster, which includes the port, doesn’t actually have working apps for — the DH2300 can genuinely use it.

The vertical drive mounting is an unusual design choice that actually works well. Drives slide in and sit vertically rather than horizontally in trays, which makes them easy to install and remove. Screws are required for 3.5-inch drives (3.5-inch tool-free trays would be nicer), but this isn’t something most buyers will do more than once or twice. The magnetic lid clicks on securely and comes off easily when you need to swap a drive.

Being diskless is a feature rather than a limitation for most buyers in this category. You get to choose your drives — WD Red or Seagate IronWolf NAS drives are the standard choices, and picking your own capacity (1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, 16TB per bay) gives you flexibility over cost and total storage. For RAID 1, both drives should match. For JBOD or a single-drive start, one drive is enough to get going, with space to add a second later.

At just 8W idle power draw, the DH2300 is one of the more efficient NAS options available — the kind of machine you leave on permanently without worrying about what it’s adding to your electricity bill. It runs quietly in our testing, making it suitable for a home office, bedroom, or living room without being a distraction.

Also consider: More NAS deals

The diskless Ugreen NAS DXP6800 Pro features a powerful 10-core Intel Core i5-1235U processor, 8GB of DDR5 RAM, a built-in 128GB system SSD, dual 10GbE networking, and dual M.2 NVMe slots. Designed for demanding creators and professionals, it delivers fast, centralized, and highly expandable storage.View Deal

This diskless NAS combines a 6-core Intel Core i3-1215U processor with 8GB of DDR5 RAM, dual high-speed networking, and six drive bays for massive storage expansion. Built for creators, professionals, and growing businesses, it delivers fast, centralized, and secure data storage and management.View Deal

• See all network-attached storage deals at Amazon

The D.C. circuit appeals court denied all of President Trump's arguments that sought to stop the removal of his name from the Washington, D.C., arts institution.

(Image credit: Alex Wroblewski)

Network switches have long been one of the easiest ways to expand and organize a wired network. That's true whether you're adding more PCs, security cameras, wireless access points, or network storage.

Now, I've found a terrific deal on the Zyxel GS1915-24EP smart switch that's just $200 (was $282) at Newegg. That's definitely an appealing price if you're upgrading your setup without paying enterprise prices.

This 24-Gigabit-port unit packs plenty of networking power into a compact chassis, making it a great option for small businesses, growing home offices, and anyone managing multiple wired devices.

Today's top network switch deal

Offering 24 Gigabit ports, including 12 PoE+ connections with a 130W budget, this smart managed switch supports free Nebula cloud management, NebulaFlex standalone operation, remote device power cycling, and compact, near-silent operation for growing networks.View Deal

With 24 Gigabit ports, including 12 PoE+ connections, it offers plenty of flexibility without pushing you toward expensive enterprise hardware.

Nebula cloud management doesn’t require an additional software or hardware controller. You can manage the switch through a web browser or the Nebula mobile app, giving you remote access to monitor your network, reboot powered devices, and make configuration changes wherever you are.

Although cloud management is available, you aren’t locked into it. NebulaFlex technology lets you switch between standalone local management and Zyxel's free cloud platform whenever it suits your setup.

Twelve PoE+ ports share a 130W power budget, giving you enough capacity for wireless access points, IP cameras, VoIP phones, and other powered devices without filling your workspace with separate power adapters.

That simplifies installations and reduces cable clutter, especially in smaller offices.

Beyond power delivery, the GS1915-24EP delivers Gigabit speeds across all 24 Ethernet ports and supports a wide range of networking standards, including link aggregation, VLANs, spanning tree protocols, energy-efficient Ethernet, and Layer 2 management features.

Those capabilities help keep business networks organized while providing room to expand as additional devices are added.

Remote management also includes the ability to power cycle connected PoE devices through the Nebula app.

If an access point or security camera stops responding, you can restart it remotely instead of making an on-site visit, which could save you plenty of time.

Despite offering 24 ports, the switch measures just 13 x 9.1 x 1.7 inches, making it easy to place on a desk, mount on a wall, or install in a rack.

Smart fan management keeps noise under control, making it suitable for offices where loud networking equipment could quickly become distracting.

For more top-performing picks, check out our round up of the best network switches.

Also consider: More network switches at Newegg

The GS308 compact unmanaged switch adds eight Gigabit Ethernet ports with simple plug-and-play setup, requiring no software or maintenance. A fanless design keeps operation silent, while energy-saving features automatically adjust power consumption based on connected devices and cable length.View Deal

This unmanaged switch delivers eight Gigabit Ethernet ports with PoE+ support, supplying up to 62W of shared power for compatible devices. Silent fanless operation, non-blocking performance, advanced PoE controls, and flexible mounting make deployment straightforward in almost any workspace.View Deal

Featuring eight Gigabit Ethernet ports with an 83W PoE+ power budget, this unmanaged switch powers access points, IP cameras, and phones through a single cable. Automatic PoE balancing, silent fanless operation, and plug-and-play installation keep networking simple.View Deal

This unmanaged switch expands your network with eight Gigabit Ethernet ports and simple plug-and-play installation. A sturdy fanless metal enclosure, traffic prioritization for voice and video, reliable data transfer, and automatic power saving make it ideal for everyday networking.View Deal

• See all switch deals at Newegg

Crude oil prices jumped and stock prices fell after President Trump declared an end to the ceasefire with Iran, adding fresh uncertainty to an already shaky outlook for the global economy.

(Image credit: Michael M. Santiago)

I track laptop deals for a living, so I have a good idea of what’s a genuine bargain, and what just looks like one. Dell has one of the best laptop deals I’ve seen in a while, but you’ll have to act fast if you want to get it.

The price of the Dell 14 Laptop has been slashed to $700 (was $1230) at Dell. That's a massive $530 discount, making it the lowest priced 14-inch laptop in the Dell line-up right now. If you need a dependable everyday system for work, study, or creative projects, this one definitely fits the bill.

The Windows 11 Home laptop is powered by an Intel Core 7 150U processor, which pairs 10 cores with boost speeds of up to 5.4GHz for responsive multitasking. Intel Graphics handle everyday workloads, media streaming, photo editing, and office tasks without trouble.

Today's top Dell laptop deal

Powered by an Intel Core 7 processor, Dell's 14 Laptop pairs 16GB of DDR5 memory with a 1TB NVMe SSD, a 14-inch FHD+ IPS display, Wi-Fi 6, aluminum construction, and a fingerprint reader for fast, secure access.View Deal

The 14-inch FHD+ display delivers a 1920 x 1200 resolution, an anti-glare finish, and a 300-nit IPS panel that provides extra vertical screen space compared to a standard Full HD display.

A metal Platinum Silver chassis gives the laptop a premium finish while keeping the weight as low as 3.44lb.

Dell includes 16GB of DDR5 memory running at 5200MT/s alongside a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD which offers plenty of room for documents, photos, videos, and applications.

You get two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with Power Delivery and DisplayPort, HDMI, an SD card slot, and a headset jack. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth.

A backlit keyboard includes Microsoft's Copilot key, while the power button doubles as a fingerprint reader for quick and secure sign-ins.

The laptop also packs a 1080p webcam with dual-array microphones, stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos Core, a Precision touchpad, and a 54Wh battery paired with a 65W charger.

Knocking $530 off the original price turns an already well-equipped laptop into a terrific buy.

Between the modern processor, generous 16GB of memory, roomy 1TB SSD, premium aluminum construction, and practical feature set, Dell's latest offer delivers plenty of value for the money.

For more buying options, take a look at our roundup of the best Dell laptops.

• See all desktop and laptop deals at Dell