Being a technology journalist isn’t nearly as cool as you might think. Most of the time it’s just reading and analyzing information, writing, talking with people via chat and email, and occasionally trying out a cool new laptop. But once in a great while you get to see things that very, very few people ever see, like the inside of one of the world’s most advanced factories. And by “you,” I mean Adam, Mark, and Will, not me. Because I’m too far away from Arizona to see Intel’s massive industrial fabrication center. And I’m not jealous at all, not even a little bit. Sadly, because it’s 1) a clean facility that’s ten times as strict as an average surgical theater in terms of cleanliness and 2) stuffed floor-to-very-high-ceiling with proprietary technology and industrial secrets, the PCWorld team didn’t get to take photos or video of the brand new Fab 52-18A facility, which is gearing up to produce Intel’s next-generation Panther Lake chips for 2026. The team did get to take notes and had a nice long chat in the Arizona sunshine about their experiences. For a deep dive on what has to be one of the most complex facilities on the planet, check out the full conversation. And if you want to be the first to know when we can actually try out Panther Lake for ourselves, subscribe to PCWorld and The Full Nerd podcast. Read...

Roku is jumping onto the AI bandwagon with its next batch of software updates. In the months ahead, the company will add AI-powered voice search for its smart TVs and streaming players. While Roku’s existing voice search can find specific programs, actors, or genres, the upgrade will allow for more conversational queries, such as “What’s the Barbie movie about?” or “How scary is The Shining.” It will also support follow-up questions. Other forthcoming Roku features include a “What do you like to watch?” feature to tweak Roku’s home screen recommendations, live scores in the Sports section, and a search function in Roku’s live TV guide. Roku is also updating its recently-launched Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus to support private listening through Bluetooth headphones and earbuds. TV-focused AI Unlike rivals Amazon and Google, Roku isn’t trying to launch an all-purpose AI that also happens to work on TVs. Roku doesn’t sell its own smart speakers, and users primarily interact with voice control through the mic button on Roku remotes. “Even in this case, with us evolving Roku voice to now answer entertainment Q&A, we are specializing in a TV-related solution only,” Amit Desai, Roku’s director of product and UX for voice and conversational AI, told reporters. He added that the feature will use a combination of in-house and commercial AI technology. Roku While it’s not yet clear what will happen if you ask about non-entertainment topics, Desai said Roku will tailor its responses for TV users, for instance by offering links to the shows being discussed along with related programming. Other streaming platforms haven’t quite nailed that experience. You can ask the same questions on a Google TV or Fire TV device, for instance, but you might get a voice-only response with no quick way to access the movie or show in question. (In Google’s case, that’s because it’s using completely different voice assistant technologies for conversation and navigation.) We’ve yet to see a live demo of Roku’s AI, but it could make for a less frustrating voice control experience if it works as advertised. More features to come Roku Along with Roku’s AI voice upgrade, the company announced a slew of other software features and some hardware news: “What do you like to watch?” This feature will present a series of movie and show tiles that users can mark with a thumbs up. Roku will automatically add suggestions to users’ Save Lists and tweak its home screen recommendations accordingly. Sports scores and reminders: Roku’s Sports section, which tracks upcoming live events from across different streaming services, will display scores (which can be hidden). Users can also set reminders that will trigger a notification in Roku’s mobile app. Roku Channel search: Roku will add a search button to its Live TV menu, with a search function in its live TV grid guide to follow. Trailer links: Trailers that you watch from Roku’s home screen will have quick links in the video player to add the program to your Save List or see where it’s available to watch. Mobile app updates: Roku’s iPhone and Android apps are getting some quick shortcuts for things like closed captions, sleep timers, the remote finder function. The app will also get links to sections such as TV Shows and Sports, along with an easier way to rate shows or mark them as watched. Roku More hardware: Walmart will soon sell a $198 portable projector from Vankyo with Roku’s software built-in. It looks pretty similar to the Aurzen model that launched on Amazon last month for $250 (but quickly dropped to $180 as of this writing). The company has also added Pioneer to its stable of brands building Roku TVs. Streaming Sticks add Bluetooth: It turns out that the Roku’s $30 Streaming Stick and $40 Streaming Stick Plus support Bluetooth after all. A software update will allow them to play TV audio through wireless headphones or earbuds. That’s one less reason to consider the $100 Roku Ultra instead. It’s unclear exactly when the new software features will arrive, other than in the “coming months.” The updates will likely trickle out to Roku TVs and streamers over time, making it tough to product when you’ll start seeing them on yours. Read...

Apple on Wednesday announced the launch of its M5 processor, saying the chip “ushers in the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon.” The M5 appears in new editions of the iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, and Vision Pro, all of which are available for U.S. and U.K. customers to pre-order as of today. ‘A faster, more efficient, and more capable chip’ The M5, as you would expect, is a higher-performance chip than its M4 predecessor. Although it’s still built using 3-nanometer technology (albeit 3rd-gen, compared to 2nd-gen on the M4), Apple claims substantial improvements in graphical speed in particular. According to the announcement, the M5’s 10-core GPU architecture, with a Neural Accelerator in each core, delivers “over 4x the peak GPU compute performance compared to M4” as well as “enhanced graphics capabilities and third-generation ray tracing.” Overall, Apple claims, the new chip is capable of up to 45 percent higher graphics performance than the M4. On the CPU side, what Apple describes as “the world’s fastest performance core” promises a 15 percent bump in multithreaded performance compared to the M4. And unified memory bandwidth has been improved by almost 30 percent to 153GB/s. All of which sounds good on paper, but what’s all this theoretical power for? Apple makes this very clear: AI. Unlike the M4 announcement in May 2024, which referenced AI only twice in the first seven paragraphs, the M5’s press release mentions the current tech obsession in the headline, the standfirst, the first subhead, the captions of the first two pictures, twice in the first paragraph, twice in the second paragraph, three times in the third paragraph… So we can expect lots more discussion of Apple Intelligence in the year to come, then. But for now, we can focus on the first three products to feature the M5 chip. Rival chips inbound: Panther Lake unveiled: A deep dive into Intel’s next-gen laptop CPU and Benchmarked: Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme crushes Intel’s laptop CPUs New iPad Pro There’s a new iPad Pro for fall 2025, and the M5 is its main, indeed almost its only, significant upgrade. The M5 Pro is the same size, the same design, available in the same colors, and appears to be otherwise virtually identical to the M4 model in every respect except four: it gets the M5 chip, Wi-Fi 6E has been bumped to Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 has been bumped to Bluetooth 6, and there’s a new fast-charging capability. The M5 is clearly the headline change, and Apple claims this means the new device offers “up to 3.5x the AI performance than iPad Pro with M4 and up to 5.6x faster than iPad Pro with M1.” The last addition on my list could be an appealing upgrade, too, however. Apple says the new iPad Pro can be charged to 50 percent in 30 minutes if you’ve got the right adapter. There’s one other change, but it only affects the cellular models. They get Apple’s C1X modem that was introduced with the iPhone 17. The M5 iPad Pro starts at $999/£999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299/£1,299 for the 13-inch model. It’s available to preorder starting today and will go on sale on Wednesday, October 22. For more details about this product, check out our iPad Pro news hub. New MacBook Pro As was rumored ahead of the announcement, Apple is only announcing new MacBooks with the standard M5 chip; there’s no sign of higher-end models with an M5 Pro or M5 Max. As before, the M5 laptop is only available in a 14-inch size. As on the iPad Pro, the MacBook Pro’s main upgrade is the M5 chip. Apple says this delivers “up to 3.5x the AI performance and up to 1.6x faster graphics than the previous generation.” But there’s also an upgrade to battery life (an estimated 24 hours, compared to 22 hours on the 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro), and faster SSD performance. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 starts at $1,599/£1,599. It’s available to preorder starting today and will go on sale on Wednesday, October 22. For more details about this product, check out our MacBook Pro M5 news hub. New Vision Pro Finally, the M5 makes an appearance on a second iteration of Apple’s Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. The company says this will mean “faster performance, sharper details throughout the system, and even more battery life, setting a new standard for what’s possible in spatial computing.” Other than the M5 chip, the new Vision Pro features a new cushioned Dual Knit Band to improve comfort. Owners of the M2 Vision Pro can order a new band for $99. The updated Vision Pro is available to preorder starting today for customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UAE, the UK, and the U.S, and will go on sale in those countries on Wednesday, October 22. Other countries will follow. This article originally appeared on our sister publication Macworld. Read...

Mozilla is testing a free, integrated VPN service within Firefox that will complement its existing paid Mozilla VPN service. A support page from Mozilla reveals that the company has been working on an “IP concealment” technology for over two weeks. However, Mozilla has since renamed the page “Firefox VPN” to show off the new experimental, beta feature present in the browser. Mozilla says that the technology will be free, but it’s only being offered to a small, randomly chosen set of test users. The free VPN service will apparently complement the paid Mozilla VPN service that Mozilla already offers. Our tests, however, found Mozilla’s paid VPN service somewhat wanting. Integrating a VPN service into the browser has been a feature of niche browsers for years — including Mozilla. In 2019, Mozilla began testing the Firefox Private Network, a VPN-like service that obscured the user’s IP address. The trial was part of a beta program, and the technology was never really commercialized. Opera, too, launched a more sophisticated integrated VPN service. In March, Vivaldi teamed up with Proton for an integrated VPN into the browser, as well. If you’ve been chosen to participate in Mozilla’s trial, you’ll see this notification. Mozilla’s VPN effort will route your web traffic through Mozilla-managed VPN servers, and you’ll need a Mozilla account to access it. “Web traffic originated in Firefox will be routed through the most performant VPN location available, within the United States,” Mozilla says, and the feature can be toggled on and off. Firefox says that it hasn’t assigned any usage limits to the new feature, and that it won’t affect your browsing speed, either. If you do subscribe to the paid Mozilla VPN service, however, you should delete the free VPN option to avoid duplication, the company says. As for data collection, Mozilla says that it collects only the technical data needed to keep Firefox VPN reliable and secure,” it said. “For example, we may log whether a connection succeeded or failed, or record that your account used 2GB of data on a certain day.” Don’t expect to be able to access international servers using the new free Mozilla VPN. After three months, logs linked to your account are deleted. However, Mozilla said that it will never log the sites you visit or keep track of the content you download. GHacks was among the first to report the new Mozilla feature. Read...

The robotic vacuum market is crowded with devices that promise automation but often fall short when it comes to true adaptability and long-term hygiene. Dreame’s Aqua10 Ultra Roller stands out by addressing both challenges head-on: smarter navigation powered by NVIDIA’s AI stack and a re-engineered mop system designed to keep itself as clean as the floors it scrubs. Looking at its features in depth, it’s clear this isn’t just an incremental update but one of the most ambitious robotic cleaners yet. Navigation: NVIDIA-powered AstroVision™ Most robots rely on simple LiDAR or front cameras for navigation. The Aqua10 Ultra Roller upgrades this with AstroVision™ obstacle intelligence, combining dual HD AI cameras with NVIDIA Isaac Sim training. The cameras capture depth to form 3D maps with 1mm precision, and reinforcement learning helps the robot recognize and adapt to dynamic environments. In practice, this translates into fewer collisions and smoother routing around furniture. Dreame highlights support for 240+ object categories, with features like Active Pet Avoidance and Chaos-Proof Routing—ideal in homes where toys, pet bowls, and clutter shift constantly. The Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller MSRP is $1,599.99. From October 13 to October 31, U.S. and Canadian consumers can get an extra 5% off with code DMPWAQUANA on Amazon and the Dreame website. Dreame Carpet strategy: flexible and customizable Vacuum-mop hybrids typically struggle with carpets. Dreame addresses this with a multi-layered carpet strategy that feels more like a system than a patch: Carpet identification: Users can mark all carpeted zones—even irregular ones—in the app for accurate detection. Suction boost: The main brush, roller mop, and side brush all lift when crossing carpets, while suction power intensifies for a deeper clean. Carpet cleaning first: A scheduling option lets the robot vacuum carpets before moving to wet cleaning tasks. The combination works well for mixed-floor homes, especially those with both wall-to-wall carpets and small rugs. Dreame’s AutoSeal™ Roller Guard also prevents mop water from seeping into carpet fibers—a rare feature that directly solves a common frustration. Dreame Low-space cleaning: VersaLift™ LDS sensor One standout innovation is VersaLift™, a retractable LiDAR system that allows the robot to maintain spatial awareness in both open and low-clearance environments. Raised, it scans wide areas efficiently. Retracted, it relies on its dual AI cameras with LED lighting to continue mapping under beds and sofas. This approach makes the Aqua10 Ultra Roller one of the few robots that can reliably clean under low furniture without losing its bearings. Dreame claims 100% accuracy in positioning and obstacle avoidance in these scenarios, which, based on early testing, isn’t far-fetched. Dreame Mop technology: clean mop, clean floor Where Dreame really differentiates itself is mop hygiene. Many hybrid robots simply drag a damp cloth until it’s dirty, effectively spreading grime. The Aqua10 Ultra Roller introduces a real-time fresh water circulation system combined with industry-first mop technologies. Continuous fresh water: A 12-nozzle system sprays clean water onto the roller while a scraper removes dirty water, which is pumped into a separate tank. FluffRoll™ module: A counter-rotating roller running at 1000rpm keeps mop fibers loose and effective at lifting dried-on dirt. ThermoHub™ 212°F self-cleaning: At the dock, the mop undergoes high-temperature washing to dissolve grease and sanitize fibers, followed by 158°F hot-air drying to prevent mildew. This is safe for everyone as after cleaning the washboard’s PTC system temperature automatically drops to a safe level before the robot leaves the base station. AutoSeal™ Roller Guard: Automatically prevents dripping when moving onto carpets. In effect, the robot is always mopping with a clean surface. This not only improves stain removal but also reduces odors and contamination—a major upgrade for hygiene-focused users. Mixed-flooring and mobility: AgiLift™ and ProLeap™ Mobility is another area where Dreame has gone further than most competitors. The Triple-Wheel AgiLift™ chassis dynamically adjusts wheel height for smoother transitions between tiles, hardwood, and rugs. For more complex terrain like door sills, the ProLeap™ retractable leg system lifts the chassis, with sensors calculating the safest ascent and descent angles. These systems reduce the chances of the robot getting stuck mid-task, a frequent frustration with lower-end models. The integration of shock absorption also helps it run more quietly despite its 30,000Pa Vormax™ suction, which is near the top of the industry. Dreame Edge and corner cleaning Corners and edges remain tricky for many robotic vacuums, but Dreame takes a two-pronged approach: MopExtend™: Extends the roller mop by 40mm to cover wall edges. SideReach™ Brush: Extends and retracts over 10mm to sweep into corners while avoiding contamination of freshly mopped areas. Combined with StereoEdge™ obstacle recognition, the robot is noticeably better at navigating cables, books, or pens that often derail less capable bots. Lifestyle and ecosystem features On top of cleaning, Dreame has layered in features that reflect modern smart-home expectations. Matter protocol support ensures compatibility across ecosystems, while direct voice control simplifies operation. Pet owners also benefit from real-time monitoring, automatic pet activity hotspot cleaning, and even pet vlogs, which use the robot’s cameras to capture and compile clips. Intelligent home cleaning The Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller isn’t just an iterative update—it rethinks the fundamentals of robotic vacuum-mop design. AstroVision™ AI navigation handles cluttered and dynamic environments with precision, while its multi-stage mop self-cleaning system sets a new standard for hygiene. Add in intelligent carpet care, under-furniture cleaning, and obstacle-crossing agility, and you get one of the most comprehensive solutions available. The Aqua10 Ultra Roller delivers genuine value where it matters: true adaptability and consistently clean results. For homes with mixed flooring, pets, or high traffic, it’s one of the most compelling robot cleaners on the market today. 5% Dreame discount with code DMPWAQUANA View Discount Read...

If you’re into MMOs, then you need a proper mouse to fire all your skills and spell combos with ease. The Razer Naga V2 HyperSpeed is the mouse for that, and right now it’s available for 38% off. That means you can grab it for just $62.49, considerably less than its original $99.99 and close to its cheapest sale price of all time. The Razer Naga V2 HyperSpeed isn’t just uber-fast with a 30K optical sensor, but it also comes with an insanely high number of programmable buttons. I’m talking a total of 19 buttons that you can set up to do whatever you need, with 12 of them being on the side of the mouse. Just imagine playing World of Warcraft and cycling through your action rotation without touching your keyboard. Fantastic! The Naga V2 HyperSpeed also features Razer’s HyperScroll technology, which allows you to quickly scroll through all the content you need at blazing speed, even entering free-spin mode. It’s totally wireless—with both 2.4GHz and Bluetooth options—also has excellent battery life, with a single AA battery providing almost 400 hours of usage, which is pretty great because you won’t be spending a fortune on batteries. If you’re into MMOs, you’ll love the convenience of a button-loaded wireless mouse like this. Get the Razer Naga V2 HyperSpeed for $62.49 while you still can and level up your MMO experience! The Razer Naga V2 HyperSpeed is a dream for all MMO gamersGet the Naga V2 mouse for 38% off Read...

Broadcom said Tuesday that it has already begun sampling the first Wi-Fi 8 silicon to select partners, as a precursor for rolling out the first Wi-Fi 8 consumer hardware at a future date. Broadcom actually announced four different designs — the BCM6718 for the residential access point market, the BCM43109 for mobile handsets, plus the BCM43840 and BCM43820 for enterprise APs — that it will sell as chips as well as license as intellectual property. The sampling process has already begun, Broadcom said. Wi-Fi 7 is already well established in both PCs and handsets across the world. That Wi-Fi 7 technology, launched in 2023, is still being worked on: Intel’s Panther Lake laptop processor, for example, includes Wi-Fi 7 Release 2 support, which works toward better communication between your PC and the access point to reduce latency and increase the overall performance. That’s the whole point behind Wi-Fi 8, which broke cover in late 2024 and is set to be formally adopted probably by late 2028. That’s never stopped wireless chip vendors, however, which tend to put as much as they know of the specification into silicon as soon as they can to start landing design wins with customers just as soon as possible. It’s probably not a coincidence that the latest Wi-Fi 7 standards are transitioning into the overarching guidelines behind Wi-Fi 8: To improve the quality and reliability of Wi-Fi 8 wireless connections, rather than just improve performance. Wi-Fi 8 still can transmit data at up to a hypothetical, optimized speed of 23Gbps, according to rival Mediatek, but Wi-Fi 8’s most important technologies are essentially all qualitative, focusing on ultra-high reliability. Broadcom cited key features which included inter-AP coordination, which allows APs to target signal beams at devices to improve connectivity; and multiple ways of avoiding congestion. Wi-Fi 8 is also designed to extend the range of Wi-Fi, though Broadcom didn’t cite specifics. Broadcom said that the increasing ubiquity of AI, and the constant, high-bandwidth streams of data back and forth between devices and the cloud, necessitate Wi-Fi 8. In an interesting twist, each of Broadcom’s Wi-Fi 8 chips includes a hardware-accelerated telemetry engine, which “collects real-time data on network performance, device behavior, and environmental conditions, serving as a critical input for AI models.” Broadcom said that the telemetry engine can be used for optimizing the quality of the Wi-Fi expercience, or running “predictive maintenance” or to strengthen security. Broadcom’s BCM6718 for residential access points includes a 4-stream radio, packet scheduler, and telemetry engine, along with advanced eco modes and digital pre-distortion to reduce power. Broadcom also promises “full compliance” with IEEE 802.11bn and the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Wi-Fi 8 specifications. The company didn’t announce a radio specifically for PC, though the BCM43109 chip for handsets includes a two-stream Wi-Fi radio instead. It will also include Bluetooth capabilities as well as low-range WPAN, including ZigBee Pro. It, too, promises IEEE 802.11bn and Wi-Fi 8 compliance. Read...

Money is the most `marvellous, innovative, expressive technology` humans have ever created, says economist David McWilliams. Read...

Emergency services are using Device Location Information technology to find people in emergency situations Read...

Givealittle uses advanced technology to streamline donations, boosting NZD $325 million given locally and reshaping New Zealand’s culture of generosity. Read...