It’s been almost 10 years since Brave launched, and slowly but surely the privacy-focused web browser is attracting more and more users. It’s been a long road with some ups and downs, but it’s paying off. According to a recent company blog post, Brave says its browser has crossed a new milestone: 100 million active monthly users. That’s as of September 2025, representing a huge jump up from the 50 million users milestone it reached back in 2021. That’s a four-year doubling! “Across the globe, users are choosing privacy and control over their online experience, instead of Big Tech’s tracking and abuse,” said Brave CEO Brendan Eich. “Every product we’ve launched since our browser—our search engine, our premium products, our ad platform—has been built with privacy protections.” Meanwhile, the post also mentions that Brave Search—a privacy-focused alternative to Google Search—now serves over 20 billion search queries per year. That’s compared to the 2.3 billion annual search queries served back in 2021, representing an 8.7-fold growth. We previously highlighted Brave as one of the best browsers for security, primarily for its built-in features that prioritize the user—features like ad blocking, tracking protection, disallowing JavaScript and cookies, blocking Windows Recall, and private browsing via the Tor network. Further reading: This one feature sold me on the Brave browser Read...

As the nights grow longer and a crisp chill fills the air, thoughts turn to jack-o-lanterns, spooky stories, and trick-or-treating. Since we’re all about tech around here, however, let me show you how you can give your Halloween a bit of a techy upgrade this year. On top of the plastic skeletons and fake cobwebs, here are some of the coolest Halloween tech ideas to try, from smart home devices that create haunted house effects on command to interactive costumes that light up and react to their surroundings. Set the mood with Govee Curtain Lights 2 Govee The Govee Curtain Lights 2 is a great pick for folks who want to decorate their home all year round. Featuring 520 LEDs and covering an area of 4.9 by 6.6 feet, these lights can help you set a spooky mood. There are tons of presets available in the Govee app, including for Halloween and, later on, Christmas. In the offseason, you can even get these lights to “dance” to the rhythm of your music or turn whatever colors you want. They integrate with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Matter, allowing you to control them with voice commands. Get the Govee Curtain Lights 2 and set the moodBuy now at Amazon Add some fog with Agptek Fog Machine AGPTEK If you want to set the mood on your porch to delight the trick-or-treaters, then this Agptek fog machine is the way to go. This thing features 13 colorful LED lights, pumping up the fog’s magical qualities, and there’s a remote controller so you can turn it on and off or swap the colors. It’s also handy for any parties you host throughout the year! Get the Agptek Fog Machine and set the mood even furtherBuy now at Amaon Play spooky music with Anker Soundcore 2 Bluetooth Speakers Anker If you want to make your Halloween experience that much more memorable for visitors, you may want to look into getting a few Bluetooth speakers and hiding them around in bushes and other spots. These Anker Soundcore 2 speakers are fairly small and easy to hide, and they deliver great sound. Plus, they come with an IPX7 waterproof rating, which is nice when they’re outside during the spooky season. You’ll get to have plenty of fun with these throughout the year too, as they’re perfectly good as Bluetooth speakers for any occasion. Get the Anker Soundcore 2 to play spooky music and soundsBuy now at Amazon Entertain the neighborhood with TMY Portable Mini Projector TMY One way to make things even more interesting this year is to use something like this TMY portable projector. Set it up in your yard or on your porch and have it stream spooky scenes on the wall. It works with laptops, TV sticks, smartphones, and more, so there are plenty of ways to play your video content. It’s fairly affordable too, so you won’t be sinking a ton of money into this side project. Get the TMY portable projector for wall-side funBuy now at Amazon Pepper in some holograms with Aaxa Halloween Projector Aaxa If you want a different type of projector, try the Aaxa Halloween holographic projector. This one comes with several pre-loaded holographic videos you can show off on your windows, doorways, or out in the yard. They’ll make it seem as if you have ghosts and skeletons in the house, which is pretty cool. Outside of Halloween, you can use it as a regular projector for movies and gaming. Get the Aaxa Halloween Projector for holographic entertainmentBuy now at Amazon More ghostly decorations with Atmos FX Atmos FX If you want some professionally done projections, you can buy digital decoration collections via AtmosFX. Not only are these amazingly high quality, but you get instant access since they’re digital. We’re talking 1080p video files in both horizontal and vertical orientations, and AtmosFX also sells projectors, screens, props, and other goodies if you don’t have any yet and want a convenient one-stop shop. Get high-def digital decorations for your projectorsBuy now at Atmos FX Techify your Halloween costume with Depointer Life LED Mask Depointer Another way to bring tech into your Halloween celebration is to get one of these awesome LED masks by Depointer Life. More than just a mask, the LEDs can transform into any facial pattern you want. There are around 50 styles to pick from, and there’s a rechargeable battery built in. It also has gesture sensing, so you can swap out the facial design on the mask by holding your hand in front of the sensor for a few seconds. Get the Depointer Life LED Mask and impress your friendsBuy now at Amazon Decorate your garage door Garage Buddy If you want to turn your garage door into a Halloween decoration, then Garage Buddy offers various garage door covers to pick from, with prices depending on size and design. These covers come with hooks attached, so they’re easy to take off when the season is over. Deck out your garage doors with Halloween coversBuy now at Garage Buddy Take your yard to the next level Home Accents Holiday And because it looks so cool, we couldn’t resist including this absolutely massive 12-foot levitating reaper. Not only is the reaper animated, but it features changing colors and even has some pre-programmed phrases. Just imagine hiding a Bluetooth speaker at its base and playing all the right spooky background sounds! Terrorize your street with this 12-foot levitating reaperBuy now at Home Depot Read...

Of all the gaming laptops we’ve reviewed this year, there are few we love more than the powerful Alienware 16X Aurora. We loved it even at retail price, but right now you can score it with a massive $400 discount. With the Alienware 16X Aurora just $1,699.99 at Best Buy, now’s an incredible opportunity if you’re in the market for a beast of a gaming laptop. You’re looking at a powerhouse machine that features a super-speedy Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 32GB of memory, and a massive 2TB of SSD storage. Even better, it’s user-upgradeable with two PCIe 4.0 SSD slots and two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots, meaning you can push it even further down the line with some added hardware when needed. The 1080p webcam is even Windows Hello compatible for extra security! And let’s not forget that Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card that paves the way for DLSS 4, ray tracing, and all the other goodies that come with a cutting-edge RTX 50-series GPU. You’ll be able to play whatever games you want and you’ll enjoy them on this laptop’s gorgeous 16-inch 2560×1600 screen with its fast 240Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness. Port-wise, you get two USB-C video ports (one is Thunderbolt 4), two USB-A ports, a full HDMI, Ethernet, and 3.5mm headset. “The Alienware 16X Aurora has a high-end CPU, a fast GPU, and a beautiful display. You’d have a hard time finding comparable hardware at this price,” reads our review of the laptop—and that’s when it was selling for $1,999.99. It’s a downright steal now. Don’t miss this chance to grab the Alienware 16X Aurora for $1,699.99 before this Best Buy deal expires! If you don’t think it’s the right laptop for you, though, I recommend hopping over to our roundup of the best gaming laptops to find one that you’ll love. This incredible Alienware RTX 5070 gaming laptop is $400 off todayBuy now from Best Buy Read...

In 2015, ahead of my first vacation to Italy, I wanted to learn some Italian. It’s polite to know at least some basic words and phrases when visiting a foreign country, right? Enough to get by, anyway. With about three months to learn, I landed on Duolingo—and instantly fell in love with the way it teaches a language through implicit learning and gamification. As someone who’s never been particularly academic, I still remember those days with a special fondness because I’d never had so much fun while learning something new. A lot of that had to do with the fact I could see (and feel) how much progress I was making. Duolingo has been part of my life for a decade now, but I’m falling out of love with it. What was once my favorite app has turned into something I dread, and the fun I once had is no longer there. What happened? I was using the free version of Duolingo, but liked it enough to start paying That first Italian vacation I mentioned above went pretty well and I was able to enjoy basic conversations in Italian with the locals. Duolingo actually helped, and since then I’ve used the app to learn the basics of several other languages when visiting other countries. For a long time, it was the most exciting app on my phone. Dave Parrack / Foundry And in fact I liked Duolingo enough that I started paying for the privilege of using it. It was so useful that I felt the developers deserved some compensation, and more than that it was actually entertaining. So, why not? I rarely pay for premium subscriptions, but I gladly handed over my hard-earned money for a 12-month Super Duolingo plan. Things went well for a couple of years, and I didn’t mind seeing my Super Duolingo subscription automatically renew every year… but then some frustrations started creeping in. The negative quirks of Super Duolingo For one, I became more concerned about maintaining my Duolingo streak and gaining XP—whether to make the top 3 in my current league, to get promoted to a higher league, or to avoid demotion to a lower league—instead of actually learning the languages. I found myself just doing the personalized practice session every day to earn a quick 20 XP. (For those unfamiliar, practices only review mistakes and weak areas.) With Duolingo, I could earn more total XP by completing actual language lessons where I’m learning new words and phrases, but doing so takes a lot more time and effort. In order not to break my streak, I felt compelled to take the easy way out with easy XP sources. This meant I was making zero progress towards learning new languages. Dave Parrack / Foundry The gamification was great for building my streak—but once that streak was built, the gamification started backfiring. There’s also the fact that Super Duolingo gives unlimited hearts, and that robs the whole gamified learning process of its stakes. With limited hearts, I’m encouraged to apply myself and do my best so I don’t lose any of them. With unlimited hearts, I can half-ass my way through lessons, knowing I can just try again if I mess up. I end up going through the motions without taking anything in or testing myself. Recently, Duolingo has switched from its hearts system to an energy system, where every lesson costs a bit of energy. Energy slowly refills over time or instantly refills by watching a rewarded ad. You also get bonus energy for a perfect lesson. Is this better for learning? The jury’s still out. I canceled Super Duolingo when I realized it was preventing me from learning A couple of years later, when I realized the quirks of Super Duolingo—personalized practice being the easiest source of XP and unlimited hearts making it easy to coast through lessons—were holding back my learning, I decided to cancel my premium subscription. Now I’m back to using the free version of Duolingo… and I’m actually enjoying it again. I’m actively learning new languages again, having returned to completing 1 or 2 lessons most days. With limited hearts (or now energy), I have to pay attention and do well. Consequences are a great tool for focusing the mind and putting in effort. Dave Parrack / Foundry Unfortunately, the free version of Duoling has its own annoyances to deal with, like paywalled features and advertisements. Don’t get me wrong. Both of those things make sense for any freemium app. I understand that Duolingo isn’t a charity, that they need to earn revenue to keep the lights on and the app active developed. But it is an annoyance, nonetheless, and it’s kind of ironic that it keeps prodding me to try Super Duolingo for free. I’ve already tried it! And it’s no good. I’m adapting to using the free version again, despite its many flaws I still have Duolingo installed on my phone and I still use it most days. However, I’m now doing it on my own terms, tackling lessons when it suits me. I’m no longer subject to Duo’s passive-aggressive reminders to start a lesson so as not to lose my streak. Ultimately, I’ve realized that maintaining a streak isn’t important. My streak was greater than 1,200 days at the time I canceled Super Duolingo, and losing it was the best thing that could’ve happened. It was freeing. I can now miss a day and not care less. Back to zero? Oh well. The world keeps turning and I can keep learning another day. Dave Parrack / Foundry Ultimately, I think Duolingo has got the balance wrong. The paid version encourages you to focus on the wrong stuff and takes away the good pressures that matter. You care more about keeping streaks and reaching new leagues instead of completing courses and passing actual learning milestones with real meaning behind them. As for the free version, it feels set up to annoy you enough to subscribe to the paid version. I still think Duolingo has a lot of value and can be used to learn new languages in a fun and accessible way. However, right now, it’s hard to recommend it to anyone not already using it. Read...

Whether you’re a small business trying to promote your services, a content creator looking to polish your latest YouTube post, or simply someone who wants to experiment with making cool home videos, using the right software is essential. If it’s too complex, then it can get in the way of your creativity. Alternatively, not having enough tools to fully realise your vision is a very frustrating experience.  Adobe understands this and provides a variety of solutions so you can get just what you need. Plus, the incorporation of the latest AI technology means you can easily do a lot more than you might have thought possible. So, which is the right package for you? Adobe Firefly makes dreams a reality Thanks to its powerful generative AI capabilities, Adobe Firefly is the perfect tool for creating short videos that can boost a presentation or social media post. Using ordinary language prompts or an existing image, you can quickly transform your ideas into professional-looking clips with just a few words. There’s even a built-in prompt enhancer to help produce the results you’re after with the minimum of fuss.  Adobe You don’t need any pro video skills, as Adobe Firefly takes care of everything, but you do get a great level of creative control over aspects such as lighting, camera motion, animation timings, cinematic effects, and video style. There’s also the ability to instantly translate the audio or text in the video to another language and open up the global appeal of your content. Adobe Firefly is one of the fastest ways to generate video ideas, making it perfect for B-roll, storyboards, or just to bring a bit of sparkle to your work. Videos run for 5 seconds, all in high-fidelity 1080p, are designed to be safe for commercial use and can be downloaded as MP4 files that are easy to share or import to other software. Adobe Express brings AI power to your existing videos If you already have video you’ve shot, then Adobe Express is a great platform on which to assemble, polish and output your finished mini-masterpiece. That doesn’t mean it’s old-school though, as Adobe Express is enriched with AI-powered tools that make editing smarter, faster and more inventive. At the heart of the software are one-click tools that streamline edits such as trimming, splitting, and adjusting the speed of footage. These are joined by the option to enhance speech, add captions automatically, or record vocals over the video – all directly within the app. Clip Maker is an amazingly useful new tool that goes through an existing video and pulls out the key moments to create short-clips for sharing on social media. Something that would have taken hours before is now done in minutes. Adobe As Firefly is baked into Adobe Express, you can also use the generative AI capabilities to convert a static scene into animated video, again without the need for any expert skills. When you’re done, there are templates available to format and post videos to social media platforms, with outputs available as GIFs or MP4. Invent new worlds without astronomical prices You might think that the vast array of creative and editing options on offer in Adobe Express and Adobe Firefly would make them out of reach for normal people, but that’s far from the truth. Adobe Firefly has a free tier where you can experiment with its amazing capabilities, and if you want to create more videos then there’s the Standard plan that costs only $9.99/£9.98 p/m. Sign up to Adobe Firefly today! Adobe Express also has a free tier that includes many of the editing tools mentioned above, with a Premium plan that adds advanced features and generative AI capabilities for $9.99/£9.98p/m. If you’re still not sure, then there’s a 30-day free trial so you can get to grips with all it has to offer before you sign up to a subscription. Try Adobe Express for Free Video is the communication method of the modern internet, so make yours the best they can be, all without having to learn loads of editing commands or investing in expensive software. Let Adobe Firefly and Adobe Express take care of the hard work so you can concentrate on being creative. Read...

Mini PCs are great for fitting into a tight desktop workspace, that’s why a lot of them can be mounted to the rear of a monitor on a VESA plate. But in order to turn it on, you still have to, well, turn it on. What if you could do that like a modern TV with a console or sound bar, just by pressing the monitor’s power button? This little MSI mini PC does just that. Adam Patrick Murray has the MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG in the PCWorld Labs, and like he’s done with the last few mini PCs, he’s taking it apart in our latest PCWorld YouTube video. The outside has a few interesting features, including a fingerprint scanner on the power button and a header port so you can run a secondary power button on a cable. The inside is a little funny, because there’s an internal speaker mounted to the bottom tray, something you don’t always see. With an Intel Lunar Lake laptop chipset (Ultra 7 258V in this case), you get memory that’s included on the CPU itself, so the only things the user can service are the SSD (standard M.2 2280) and the Wi-Fi card. The rear of the device holds its unique selling point: an HDMI port with CEC functionality. “Consumer Electronics Control” just means that a few things can be done over HDMI, including a full power on and off for either component. With a compatible monitor that can handle HDMI 2.1 and CEC, you can press the monitor’s power button and the PC will start. With the Cubi mounted to the rear of said monitor, you’ve basically just rolled your own all-in-one desktop PC, like the iMac or similar designs. Neat! This is definitely focused on the business market, possibly for use in an area with multiple users who won’t need to reach around to adjust things. (The integrated speaker makes a little more sense in that regard.) The MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG doesn’t appear to be on sale in the US just yet, but it should be coming before too long. For more looks at the latest mini PCs, be sure to subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube and check out our weekly podcast The Full Nerd. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Beginner-friendly setup (when its GPS works correctly) Traction Mode mapping is a great innovation Impressive obstacle avoidance Cons Very low maximum cutting height (for U.S. grasses) Persistent GPS issues Unrealistic advertised LoRa communication range (LoRa depends on line-of-sight) Our Verdict Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: UBHome M10 Retailer Price $1,299 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices We’ve seen our share of robot mowers from large companies and well-capitalized startups, but very few crowd-funded ones. UBHome is an exception, raising HK $1.6 million (~$200,000 USD) this spring to bring its M10 robot lawn mower to market. The UBHome M10 features artificial intelligence combined with RTK (real-time kinetics) positioning, which reminds me of the Segway X3 series mowers, albeit with a different price tag and maximum yard size. The M10 costs just $1,499, which makes it one of the lower-priced robot mowers we’ve tested. The M10 uses a reference station and a LoRa (Long Range) gateway to determine position and communicate with the mower. In theory, no mower should have any problems maintaining a connection anywhere in my yard, but its unusual shape and plethora of obstructions make it a good test location. Mapping my entire yard with the UBHome M10 was so user friendly I was able to do it for the first time in many reviews. Installation and setup My yard quickly looked well-manicured thanks to the UBHome M10’s attention to detail. It spent extra time on the faster-growing portions.Ed Oswald/Foundry Getting the UBHome M10 set up wasn’t easy, not because the hardware was difficult to deal with or that the robot’s mapping controls were deficient—in fact, I loved the latter and will discuss them in more detail later—but because the M10 had persistent issues acquiring GPS signals. This occurred even in areas where the robot has a clear view of the sky. The M10 is super-reliant on GPS positioning, requiring 20 satellites just to install. That is a very high number of satellites to expect—I was maxing out at 15 to 17 at my location in Pennsylvania, which initially meant I couldn’t move forward with the review. I encountered a similar issue with a Yarbo mower, an issue that has plagued that platform for years: a refusal to connect to GPS satellites that are reliably in view. A view of the sky from the UBHome M10’s reference station, looking due south and tilted approximately 120 degrees. As you can see, apart from the horizon and a portion of the southwestern sky, there is a reasonably clear view at this location.Ed Oswald/Foundry The good news? Yarbo’s problems came down to a software issue, and I highly suspect the same thing is happening here. I eventually found another five or so satellites (although this part of the install was done a day later) and was therefore able to map my yard using the M10’s excellent in-app controls. Unlike many other mowers I’ve tested, the UBHome M10 doesn’t lurch with the slightest tap of its in-app controls. In areas where I wasn’t experiencing issues with GPS connectivity, I was able to map the terrain relatively quickly. It also has a slightly bizarre yet novel mapping method it calls Traction Mode, which involves looping a rope around the front grille of the M10 and pulling it behind you to create a map. If you struggle with remote control operation, this might be an attractive alternative (and it really works). UBHome deserves credit for thinking out of the box here. Mapping was so user friendly that I was able to use it to map my entire property for the first time in many reviews. I was also curious to see how well the LoRa technology could handle the more distant parts of our yard. UBHome says LoRa support endows its mower with a communication range of 576,000 square yards (138,000 square meters), a claim I was rightly skeptical of. What the company’s marketing materials don’t point out is that LoRa networks are heavily dependent on line of sight. So, that range might be achievable if you’re mowing a pasture, but having buildings in the picture quickly changes things. The UBHome app has a great user interface, and the ultra-precise positioning can tell you exactly where your mower has been. The barebones scheduling options, on the other hand, need a makeover.Ed Oswald/Foundry UBHome’s infrastructure consists of a gateway, an antenna, and a base station, which isn’t all that beginner friendly, but the company’s instructional materials clearly show all the steps you need to get started. While the production value of its video won’t earn an Emmy, it makes it abundantly clear what you need to do. UBHome’s app will also walk you through the process with helpful text directions. Using the UBHome M10 The UBHome M10 is a daytime-only mower due to the absence of LiDAR navigation or any headlamps. I assume most people reading this review aren’t likely to mow their lawns in the middle of the night, like I do, so I don’t see this as a negative. What’s most important is the cut, and even with all the installation difficulty, the UBHome redeemed itself in that regard. The M10 has a very low maximum cutting height of just 2.36 inches (6cm). That might be too low for the types of grass commonly found in American lawns. I generally keep our grass at 2.5 inches or higher, as anything lower tends to expose brown patches. I’ve noticed this quirk in many mowers that initially launched overseas. The M10’s front wheels move freely, so its rear wheels try to compensate, causing the mower to “waddle” slightly on open straightaways.Ed Oswald/Foundry It’s also because the U.S. itself is an aberration: The grasses that make up most of our lawns are a result of homesick American colonists favoring European grass species—and importing their seeds—instead of planting native North American grasses. The M10 does have a high-grass mode for when you need to cut grass that is significantly above the mower’s maximum cutting height, but UBHome warns that this setting could impair the mower’s obstacle avoidance. That said, I saw no substantial effects, even when the mower got close to the slope in my yard. That slope has been proven to be the Achilles’ Heel of so many rear-wheel drive mowers I’ve tested here. The mower has three mowing methods, the last of which is optional. The first is your traditional mow, where the mower takes long passes to cover as much ground as possible. In oddly shaped or narrow areas, you can use “spot mowing,” where the mower moves in a manner that covers spots close to the edge of the mowing area or where it may have missed. Finally, the optional “perimeter mowing” rides the edge of the mowing area to provide that finished look. You can monitor all of this in the app in real time. LoRa helps to ensure that the app’s positioning is exact, and it also results in a significantly longer mowing time than most robot mowers, but the results are worth it. There are two situations where you’ll encounter trouble with the M10: Roughly 2 to 3 hours before sundown, and in low-light conditions. To avoid this, I recommend mowing in the late morning or early afternoon.Ed Oswald/Foundry I experienced issues with sun blindness being misinterpreted as an obstruction when the sun was low in the sky. This is typical of robot mowers that aren’t equipped with LiDAR navigation. To get around the problem, program the mower to cut any portions of the lawn that will have the mower moving directly into the sun at least three hours before sunset. Mowing the easiest part of my yard went so well that I decided to tackle the more problematic areas next. I tempered my expectations given the amount of trouble I’ve had with other rear-wheel drive (RWD) mowers. Things went well, for the most part. I set the M10 to its slowest setting while cutting narrow strips of grass, which kept it on the median rather than in the street, where so many other mowers have ended up (the mower did fall off the curb while running at its standard speed). On slopes, the M10 seemed to correct the drift of its front wheels to either side much faster than any other RWD mower I’ve tested. The M10, however, lost its connection to the Reference Station about 300 feet through my detached garage. This wasn’t entirely surprising, given LoRa’s dependence on line-of-sight communication; in fact, it performed better than most of its competitors in this area. That said, it didn’t come anywhere close to the 138,000 square meters of communication range that’s advertised. The mower also had difficulty staying within its assigned boundaries while it was in that section, confusing a small strip down the alley as an edge, likely due to connectivity issues. Using the UBHome app UBHome’s app has an excellent user interface; it’s well-organized and clean, and I appreciate how the most critical actions are assigned to buttons at the bottom of the screen, so I can use the app with one hand. The scheduling portion of the app, on the other hand, is too barebones; it shows scheduled mow days and times, but not the areas to be mowed. The UBHome M10 is an AI+RTK mower that uses a trio of cameras and seven sensors to navigate your yard and avoid obstacles.Ed Oswald/Foundry A log show displays all recent actions and alerts, and there’s a remote control feature if you feel like driving the mower yourself. I experienced sporadic connectivity problems from time to time, which were usually remedied by restarting the app. While you can set mowing direction within the app, there doesn’t appear to be any type of automatic adjustment for each successive mow. That said, it might not be necessary, as the M10 will switch between modes based on the height of the grass and if it spots areas where grass is growing faster than others. Should you buy a UBHome M10 robot mower? With a price tag of less than $1,500, the UBHome M10 punches above its weight. Its dependence on GPS for navigation, however, comes with risks. The mower’s sporadic inability to find satellites in areas where it had a clear view of the sky is disappointing. Apart from that, the mower is surprisingly flawless and fun to use. I initially thought such out-of-the-box ideas as Traction Mode were silly, but when I used them, I discovered they’re an innovative way to speed up the most irritating part of robot mower setup. The Ml10 delivers outstanding cut quality, and its obstacle avoidance works well even in high-grass mode. This rear-wheel drive mower’s ability to successfully mow my lawn without falling down its slope is also notable. And for the most part, it stayed within its assigned boundaries, something many other mowers have failed to do, especially on my yard’s median strips. If you’re in the market for a robot lawn mower, most of your yard has a clear view of the sky, and you have a limited budget, the UBHome M10 is an option to consder. I do hope UBHome solves this machine’s GPS issues with a firmware update, because that’s holding back an otherwise excellent robot lawn mower. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best robot lawn mowers. Read...

Would you like a browser that browses the web for you? Presumably excluding malware or other nasty stuff that’s been a concern for decades? Then Perplexity’s Comet “AI” browser might be for you…though the $200-a-month price tag for the company’s “Max” plan might not. But now it’s free, with some big limits. The Comet browser was always intended to be a free competitor to Chrome and other browsers, though it started out locked behind that massive “AI” paywall. (In fact, Perplexity is so committed to the browser bit that it briefly entertained buying Chrome from Google, before the U.S. government decided that antitrust laws are more like guidelines.) As of today it’s free for anyone to use, along with its LLM-powered Sidecar feature, according to TechCrunch. Though the download site still indicates you either need a subscription or an invitation to use it, I was able to download and install it without logging in. But in order to get the full powers of the browser, you’ll still need that $200-a-month subscription. Without it you’re rate-limited for its various tools, including text generation, shopping, and even logging in and “browsing” using your identity. Just be careful — like many LLM tools it has some rather glaring security issues. Chris Hoffman tried out Comet in an extended test, and found it interesting but pretty barebones once you get beyond the “agentic AI” features. “Comet doesn’t feel designed to be your day-to-day browser—as it is right now, it’s more of a flashy demo,” he says. Read...

You know, a good laptop doesn’t have to cost a fortune. As long as you’re not too picky and all you really need is a decent daily driver, you can get one for pretty cheap. But every once in a while, you can nab a fantastic laptop at a budget-friendly price. Today, this Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 laptop is down to just $599.99 at Best Buy with a crazy $400 discount! Performance-wise, it offers just the right specs to handle Windows 11 and all your everyday apps and all your web browsing needs without slowing to a crawl. That includes an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor, 16GB of LPDDR5X memory, and a 512GB SSD that could be bigger but isn’t terrible at this price. That right there is already decent. Then there’s the 16-inch IPS screen for color accurate images at a crisp 1920×1200 resolution and touch capabilities. With this being a 2-in-1, you can fold the screen back 360 degrees and use it like a tablet, or tent it so the screen is propped up for comfortable reading of documents and watching of videos. The Intel Arc integrated graphics can handle basic gaming, and the CPU qualifies this as a Copilot+ PC, meaning you get access to all the AI features in Windows 11. For longevity, you’re looking at a 65-watt-hour battery that lasts up to 15 hours (depending on what you’re doing). For connectivity, you get dual Thunderbolt 4, an HDMI, a USB-A, a microSD card slot, 3.5mm audio, plus Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3. Other niceties include 1080p webcam, backlit keyboard, fingerprint reader, and built-in GPS. That’s a hefty configuration for just $599.99, so get this from Best Buy at this price while you still can! Copilot+ PCs don’t come this cheap, and the ones that do aren’t this good. If you aren’t happy with this one, though, go ahead and check out our favorite laptops for every type of user. Save $400 on this AI-ready touchscreen laptopBuy now from Best Buy Read...

Google recently published a support page that explains how it’s going to reorganize Gmail by removing two features in January 2026. Many users have been relying on these two features: first, the Gmailify extension, and second, the retrieval of emails via the POP protocol. The end of Gmailify benefits Gmailify was introduced in 2016 and made it possible to upgrade external email accounts—from Yahoo! or Outlook, for example—with certain Gmail extras, including a reliable spam filter, automatic sorting of the inbox into categories, better push notifications on smartphones, and an extended search function with special operators. These benefits will no longer be available come January 2026. Anyone using third-party email accounts in Gmail will therefore have to do without these additional benefits starting next year. The end of POP support in Gmail The retrieval of emails via the POP protocol will also be discontinued. Previously, Gmail users were able to integrate messages from other email accounts directly into Gmail. This option to “retrieve messages from other accounts” will no longer be available come January. Instead, Google will refer to IMAP, which is already supported by most email providers and is considered the modern standard. Users should check the settings of their email provider(s) to see whether IMAP is activated and switch from POP to IMAP as soon as possible. What will stay the same? These changes only affect future emails. Emails that have already been synchronized in the Gmail account will remain the same. External accounts can still be used in the Gmail app, but only via IMAP. Google also recommends that users with work or education accounts contact their administrators if a Google Workspace migration is needed. For many Gmail users, these changes will likely mean getting used to the new system. Anyone who previously upgraded their external email accounts with Gmailify or integrated them via POP will have to switch to IMAP by January 2026 at the latest and do without some convenient functions, like spam filters and automatic sorting. Further reading: I switched from Gmail to Proton Mail and prefer it Read...