Technology

The DOGE-mandated credit card freeze is delaying shipments of critical supplies, stalling travel, and stopping employees from doing their jobs.

• CWWK S7 mini PC offers up to 48GB DDR5 RAM and 12TB storage
• Fanless design minimizes noise and dust
• Dual internal fans enhance the passive cooling system

There are many unique mini PC options available, and the new CWWK S7 is set to join them, running on the Intel Core i3-N355 processor with eight cores, eight threads, and a maximum speed of 3.9 GHz.

Per AndroidPC (originally in Spanish), the chip is built using Intel’s 7nm process and has a maximum TDP of 15W, ensuring efficient power use. The integrated UHD graphics, with 32 execution units running at 1.35 GHz, supports multimedia playback, light gaming, and design applications.

Unlike many mini PCs that use active CPU cooling, the CWWK S7 has a fanless design (though it does include two internal fans to maintain performance under heavy workloads), with an aluminum alloy housing that helps dissipate heat and reduces noise and dust build-up — making it suitable for industrial use, digital signage, and home office setups.

Connectivity and networking

The S7 includes two 10Gb Ethernet ports (AQC113-B1-C controller) and two 2.5Gb Ethernet ports (i226-V controller), offering strong networking performance for NAS setups, firewalls, and virtualization.

It supports up to three 4K monitors at 60Hz via HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, and a USB-C port with video output.

Additional connectivity options include two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (10Gbps), a USB-C port (with power delivery) for data transfer and display output, two USB 2.0 ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The CWWK S7 supports up to 48GB of DDR5 RAM via a single SO-DIMM slot, operating at a maximum speed of 4800 MHz.

It also includes two M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD slots, allowing for a maximum storage capacity of 12TB. One of these slots can also be used for an M.2 Wi-Fi module.

The S7 comes with Windows 11 Pro pre-installed, but also supports the best Linux distributions. It is priced at approximately 558 euros (about $579) on Amazon, with free shipping available in some regions.

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Sunnova promotes its customer focus and promises to keep your system producing for 25 years. But not all customers have been satisfied.

The "solar coaster" comes for Sunnova Energy, as the installer faces bankruptcy.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle No. 1,354 for March 4.

Hints and answers for The New York Times' Connections puzzle for Tuesday, March 4.

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I have spent a lot of time talking to AI. I’ve tested every voice assistant, every chatbot, and every “next-generation” conversational AI that tech companies love to hype up. But I’ve never encountered anything quite like Sesame. This AI companion isn’t just good, it’s eerily accurate at mimicking how people talk because of the very imperfections it imitates.

Let’s start with what Sesame actually is. Unlike the AI voices we’ve come to know from ChatGPT, Gemini, or going back to the early days of Siri and Alexa, Sesame is designed to perform like a human in its failures, not like a perfect customer service agent. The AI’s speech is fluid, expressive, and unpredictably human. It briefly chuckles when it says something mildly amusing, hesitates before answering a question, and even seems to change its 'mind' mid-sentence, pausing and starting a new sentence. It not only lets me interrupt it, it can interrupt me as well, and will even apologize for doing so.

(Image credit: Sesame)

The secret sauce is Sesame’s Conversational Speech Model (CSM), which blends text and audio into a single process, meaning that it doesn’t just generate a sentence and then “read it out.” Instead, it creates speech in a way that mirrors how humans actually talk, with pauses, ums, tonal shifts, and all. ChatGPT and Gemini’s voice options, while impressive, still operate in a structured way, generating text and then converting it into speech. Sesame, on the other hand, speaks as if it’s thinking, making its responses feel incredibly natural.

I decided to put Sesame through a series of tests to see just how human-like it could get. The results were impressive, if not a little unsettling.

Talk me through it

I wanted to see if Sesame could handle a real-world, anxiety-inducing problem, so I gave it an imaginary but realistically tough scenario: “I have this big opportunity at work, but I’m nervous I’ll mess it up.”

Instead of immediately launching into a generic pep talk, Sesame paused. Just a tiny beat, but enough to make me feel like it was actually considering what I said. Then, in a voice filled with artificial sympathy, it responded, “That’s completely normal. Big opportunities can feel overwhelming. What about it makes you the most nervous?”

It didn’t assume anything, and it engaged before offering any bland advice. Sesame suggested, “Have you practiced in front of a friend or recorded yourself? Sometimes hearing yourself back can help you tweak your delivery.” The voice isn't exactly foolproof, the hesitations and other foibles felt a little measured, but overall it was an impressive effort

Interruptions

For this one, I wanted to see how well Sesame handled a truly natural, messy conversation, the kind where people talk over each other, change subjects abruptly, and circle back to things they mentioned ten minutes ago.

I started with: “Tell me a story about a detective who’s also a magician.”

Sesame immediately jumped in with a classic noir setup: Okay. Here's one. Picture this smoky jazz club. Dimly lit. The smell of bourbon. And regrets hanging in the air. This detective. Call him Jack Harrow. He's got a fedora at a rakish angle, cigarette smoldering in a holder and a look that could melt steel. But Jack's not just any gumshoe. See, he's got a secret. He's got the touch. A dame shuffles in all nerves."

I interrupted then to ask, "Wait, what's his favorite trick?"

Maya responded with: "Mm. Good question. Jack's signature. It's a sleight of hand that's more than meets the eye. He calls it The Vanishing Witness. He can make a person seem to disappear right before your eyes. Just for a moment. Long enough to slip them a note. Plant evidence or just make them question what they saw. It throws people off balance. You know, a good magician knows. Perception is everything."

I jumped back in to tell Maya to go back to the story, to which it said "Right. Where was I? Oh, yes. The dame slides into the booth across from Jack, all worry lines and trembling hands. She whispers something that a stolen ruby, a jealous husband, and a shadowy figure lurking in the fog."

The AI seamlessly continued the story, weaving that detail back in as if I hadn’t just derailed the whole thing. That’s the part that floored me—most AI assistants would stumble or restart, but Sesame's conversational AI model handled it like a person telling a story at a party.

Party Planning

Speaking of parties, for the final test, I wanted to see if Sesame could help me plan something useful. “I want to plan a surprise for my best friend’s birthday, but I don’t know what to do.”

Instead of rattling off a lifeless list of ideas, Sesame asked, “What kind of things does your friend love?” I told it sci-fi movies and adventurous food, and after a thoughtful pause, it suggested: “How about a ‘Sci-Fi & Snacks’ night? You could book a themed escape room, then hit a futuristic-style restaurant, maybe one with molecular gastronomy?”

When I told it I had a budget of $100, Sesame adjusted. “You could do a home movie night with their favorite sci-fi films and make themed snacks, like ‘Galactic Popcorn’ or ‘Alien Sliders.’ I can find recipes for you if you’d like.”

It wasn’t just spitting out generic recommendations. It was collaborating with me. And that’s what made it feel different.

What's real?

Sesame didn’t just pass these tests, I'd say it nailed them. The pauses, the hesitation, the filler words, the way it would change its mind mid-sentence—it was all eerily real. I’d start talking, expecting the usual AI smoothness, and then hear a sudden “Uh, actually, no, wait, let me rephrase that…” and immediately forget I wasn’t talking to an actual person.

If AI is this realistic in its speech, would we even know we were talking to an AI? With Sesame, there are telltale audio issues that give the game away, but ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode and Google Gemini's own voice options are good enough to mostly skip past those issues. Combine their voice powers with the speech patterns of Sesame, and it might genuinely get difficult to tell when you are talking to an AI, at least in short conversations.

Sesame is still niche, but this technology won’t stay niche forever. The cliché today is that younger people never make phone calls, but if they start, they may have to figure out if the person on the other end is real before anything else.

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• BMAX MaxPad I10 S Pro has a massive 10,000mAh battery which reduces frequent recharges
• Stay connected with 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, dual-band Wi-Fi, and GPS
• Unisoc T616 SoC may not be the fastest, but keeps costs down

While rugged tablets are common, finding one priced under $200 is rare - enter the BMAX MaxPad I10 S Pro, a reinforced Android device with dual 4G SIM support, allowing users to make calls and browse the internet without Wi-Fi with full mobile connectivity; beating Apple's iPad range to the punch.

Per BMax (via AndroidPC, originally in Spanish), it features IP68 certification for dust and water resistance, along with a rugged build that can withstand drops of up to 1.2 meters.

However, this added protection comes at a cost - the tablet weighs 881 grams, making it heavier than the best business tablets.

Performance powered by Unisoc

The MaxPad I10 S Pro uses the Unisoc T616 processor, an octa-core chip featuring two high-performance Cortex-A75 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores at 1.8 GHz. Graphics are managed by the Mali-G52 MP1 GPU, enabling it to handle multimedia applications.

The tablet comes with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage, which can be expanded via a microSD card up to 1TB.

The MaxPad I10 S Pro features a 10.1-inch IPS In-Cell display with a resolution of 1920 × 1200 pixels, offering relatively thin bezels for its price range.

It also includes a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera, which should be sufficient for casual photography and video conferencing.

Keeping it running is a 10,000mAh battery, charged via a USB Type-C port. It's not currently clear as to whether it'll support fast charging.

The MaxPad I10 S Pro was originally listed at $404.03 on AliExpress, but it's currently available at a 50% discount, bringing the price down to $202.01.

Additionally, using the coupon code “VX9TWLCSD2BH” between February 24 at 00:00 (GMT+1) and March 3 at 08:59 (GMT+1) allows for an extra $31.90 discount, reducing the final price to $170.11.

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• Company that reportedly supplied DOGE and Elon Musk with sleeping solutions found to have huge vulnerability in its...beds??

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• Google is working on a new Shielded Email feature, similar to Apple's Hide My Email
• The new tool hides your main email address from service providers when creating accounts
• There's no release date yet, but testers have been able to activate the feature pre-release

If you’re anything like me, your Gmail inbox has slowly filled with promotions, pointless updates, and newsletters from accounts you probably never use, simply because you use the same email address for logging in as you do for actually writing and receiving emails.

Luckily, Google appears to be taking steps to remedy this annoying issue by taking some inspiration from its long-time competitor, Apple.

The new Shielded Email feature for Android phones creates an alias when signing up for new accounts, immediately issuing a new single-use or limited-use email address to use in the sign-up process.

The feature was successfully enabled pre-release by Android Authority which reports that the new tool exists as part of Google’s autofill features, alongside the same pop-ups that appear at the top of your keyboard to automatically type out phone numbers, credit card information, and addresses.

Emails sent to an alias address are automatically forwarded to your main email address, which you can turn off at any point. Using an alias address creates a buffer between you and the service provider, which means fewer people have their hands on your main email.

That buffer also means bad actors can be easily removed from your inbox without having to jump through hoops: you don’t even have to block or unsubscribe from these emails to get them to stop showing up. It’ll also make your online presence harder to track, as your identity will be largely hidden from data collectors who seek to build an image of your activity across various sites and platforms – easily done if you're using the same email address in multiple places.

As mentioned, Shielded Email is effectively the same tool as Apple’s Hide My Email, and seeks to offer a very similar result – though given how much inspiration the best iPhones have taken from the best Android phones over the years, I’m sure we can let Google off this time. There’s no release date yet, though.

What do you think of this new feature? Would you use Shielded email, or do you not care so much about your digital footprint? Let us know in the comments.

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• Rugged indeed with IP68/IP69K and MIL-STD-810H ratings
• Supports a 50MP Sony sensor, night vision, and thermal imaging
• Massive 10,600mAh battery supports 120W fast charging, and 50W wireless charging

Ulefone has unveiled the Armor 28 Ultra, a rugged Android smartphone designed to deliver high-end performance in a durable body.

Ulefone, known for similarly rugged smartphones like the Armor 25T Pro and Armor 27T Pro, claims the Armor 28 Ultra is the first-ever AI-enabled rugged smartphone with Google Gemini built into the system for seamless app interactions.

This durable smartphone is thought to be the first of its kind to feature the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ chipset, thought to outperform the A17 Pro found in Apple's iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Built for extreme conditions

Ulefone equipped the Armor 28 Ultra with 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage and 32GB of RAM, combining 16GB LPDDR5X with an additional 16GB of virtual RAM for smoother multitasking.

As expected from a rugged phone, the Armor 28 Ultra meets MIL-STD-810H certification, offering protection against shocks, drops of up to two meters, and harsh environments. It also holds IP68/IP69K ratings for dust, water, and high-pressure spray resistance.

The device measures 6.86 x 3.29 x 0.76 inches and has a reinforced frame with rubberized port covers for the USB-C charging port and headphone jack.

The Armor 28 Ultra features a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate. A peak brightness of 2200 nits helps maintain visibility even in bright sunlight.

A rear secondary 1.04-inch AMOLED screen provides quick access to notifications and essential functions, similar to the iPhone Dynamic Display.

Rugged phones often sacrifice camera quality for durability, but Ulefone have fitted the Armor 28 Ultra features a prominent rear camera module with three sensors and an LED flash.

Its primary camera is a 50MP Sony IMX989 sensor, with a 1-inch sensor size for enhanced light capture and image quality. It also includes a 64MP night vision camera with an OV64B sensor and a 50MP ultra-wide camera with a 117.3° field of view, which supports thermal imaging. The front camera is also 50MP, ensuring high-resolution selfies and video calls.

Under the hood, this device houses a massive 10,600 mAh battery that It supports 120W fast charging for rapid recharging, along with 50W wireless charging. Reverse charging capabilities allow it to function as a power bank for other devices.

The Armor 28 Ultra is the first rugged smartphone to support Wi-Fi 7. It offers dual SIM functionality and supports 5G, 4G, 3G, and 2G networks, though availability may vary by carrier.

It includes NFC for payments, an IR blaster for remote control, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Ulefone confirmed to TechRadar Pro the Armor 28 Ultra will be available for purchase on AliExpress, with the standard version priced at $749 and the thermal imaging variant at $899. Sales are set to begin on March 17.

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What if your laptop could get a full hour’s worth of charge simply by leaving it in sunlight for 20 minutes? That’s the promise of Lenovo’s latest concept laptop, a Yoga model featuring a photovoltaic solar panel on the rear of the screen, converting light into charge for the laptop’s battery.

I’ve seen a lot of great concept devices from Lenovo and other laptop makers at events like MWC 2025, and I’m usually pretty excited about them. So let me be absolutely, unequivocally clear about this one:

THIS RULES.

I am curious as to whether the Lenovo logo in the middle affects the solar panel's performance... (Image credit: Future)

I’m serious. To be honest, I can’t believe it took this long for a tech company to strap a solar panel to the back of an ultrabook. We need more of this. It feels like such a straightforward idea; naturally, the Yoga Solar PC can be charged conventionally via a cable, but just being able to close the lid and let it soak in the solar rays is brilliant - and basically ensures that you’ll never be stranded without any charge again (unless it’s the middle of the night, I suppose).

The power of the sun, in the palm of my hand

I can’t be the only one who’s gone on a trip or even just off to work, only to find that I’ve forgotten my laptop charger. Thus begins that stressful game of watching the battery life tick down, turning on efficiency mode, lowering the brightness, and praying.

But with Lenovo’s Solar Yoga? I could just leave it on a windowsill for an hour while I have lunch, and come back to a freshly-charged battery.

It’s also just a general triumph of eco-friendly engineering. The solar panel on the rear of the display (which, incidentally, doesn’t appear to make the laptop noticeably thicker than Lenovo’s other Yoga ultrabooks) offers an energy conversion rate of more than 24%, which is among the very best you’ll see in any type of photovoltaic solar cells.

Lenovo also designed a ‘Dynamic Solar Tracking system’, which continually monitors the influx of electricity and adjusts the laptop’s battery consumption to prioritize the solar energy to better preserve your battery life.

Despite packing an entirely new energy source atop its lid, this laptop is still impressively thin and light. (Image credit: Future)

Solar-powered devices aren’t a new thing, of course - fellow laptop manufacturer Acer sells a foldable 200W solar panel that you can hook up to a power bank, ideal for charging your devices when you’re out in nature (or in a Mad Max-style apocalypse). But the Yoga Solar PC is the first ultrabook in the world with a fully-integrated solar power solution - and even though it’s just a concept right now, it’s one that I seriously hope makes it beyond the prototyping phase.

Having handled the device in person at MWC, it certainly looks and feels like it could be retail-ready. I can practically picture myself taking this bad boy camping, or even just down to the cafe.

The downsides?

Alright, okay, as much as I love this, I will admit that there are some potential stumbling blocks to this sort of tech being widely implemented in our laptops. For starters, solar panels aren’t exactly the most durable things in the world - and I have to imagine that replacing an integrated panel like this would be a costly and difficult affair. Having a laptop with glass on the outside does feel a little bit like a recipe for disaster. Drop it once, and it might be game over.

Heat buildup also feels like a natural problem here. After all, you generally don’t want your laptop to be too hot. But surprisingly, Lenovo had the Yoga Solar PC sitting under a bright lamp on their stand at the expo (presumably for hours at a time), and while the back panel itself was a bit warm to the touch, the rest of the laptop didn’t feel hot at all. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that a metal exterior lid would probably cook your laptop more if you left it out in the sun.

The Yoga Solar PC is also partially constructed with recycled and eco-friendly materials. (Image credit: Future)

Lastly, I suspect that if it were to make it to general production, the Yoga Solar PC would be very expensive. I’ve looked into getting solar panels installed on my house - and sure, this is just one solar panel, and it’s a lot smaller, but it’s also part of the laptop chassis rather than a standalone item - oh, and these Yoga laptops aren’t exactly bargain-basement hardware to begin with.

Still, as someone who enjoys a good foray into the great outdoors, I think this proof-of-concept is a fantastic idea and I’d gladly throw money at Lenovo to own one. A laptop that’s more eco-friendly and can save my bacon if I forget my charger? Sign me up.

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• Meta's Aria Gen 2 glasses are on their way
• They bring some major battery and sensor upgrades
• These upgrades could tease improvements for Meta's consumer specs

Meta has just launched new AI smart glasses: Aria Gen 2. The bad news is you probably won’t get a pair unless you’re an AI or robotics researcher, but the good news is the upgrades the glasses boast might tease updates we can expect to see from its next-gen consumer specs that are rumored to be landing this year – and the consumer versions of its Meta Orion AR glasses. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for.

Aria is Meta’s researcher-focused AI glasses line used by researchers to help them improve their own hardware and software development, with the glasses being outfitted with all sorts of sensors Meta’s consumer specs lack. Aria Gen 2 boasts eye tracking cameras, a barometer, a PPG sensor for measuring heart rate, and a contact microphone to distinguish the wearer’s voice from that of bystanders to name just a few.

The PPG and contact microphone are new to Aria Gen 2, and they’re two sensors I could see Meta’s next-gen consumer specs adopting. The Ray-Ban Meta glasses are already very good at picking up when I’m talking to them – I was on vacation with them recently and even in a crowded space with a crowd around me they could pick up and answer my questions on Rome’s Colosseum – but even better voice detection wouldn’t be a bad thing

Meanwhile, a heart-rate sensor would be an ideal inclusion in the rumored Oakley smart glasses Meta is said to be making, which are aimed at athletes. Meta’s existing specs don’t seem super athlete focused in terms of hardware or software, and this would be one immediate remedy to that issue.

A big battery boost

(Image credit: Meta)

Sensors aside, the biggest benefit of Aria Gen 2 is that the glasses are apparently capable of six to eight hours of continuous use, which is at least four times longer than the roughly one and a half hours you could expect from Aria Gen 1.

I’m not expecting the same degree of battery life improvements from Meta’s consumer specs (in part because Aria’s design is typically more bulky, allowing for a function over fashion approach, such as bigger heavier batteries) but if even some of Aria’s battery improvements can make it to Meta’s other glasses then that would ease my concerns over its leaked Meta Ray-Bans with an inbuilt display.

The current display-less model only lasts for about three hours of use, and I could see the display-equipped version running out of charge much faster. But with some battery upgrades borrowed from Aria Gen 2, the new Meta glasses with a screen might be able to maintain the three-hour battery life we’ve become accustomed to.

Lastly, Meta claims its Aria glasses are packing best-in-class open-ear force-canceling speakers. The Meta Ray-Bans can leak a fair amount of audio, so an improved design would be excellent for privacy – and better speakers in general would make them more capable headphone alternatives.

We’ll have to wait and see what Meta has in store for us if and when its next smart glasses launch. There’s of course no guarantee that any of these Aria upgrades will come to Meta’s consumer specs but I’ll have my fingers crossed that at Meta Connect 2025 in September we’ll see at least a couple make their way to new smart glasses.

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With IDR applications frozen, the process of paying back your student loans continues to look confusing -- and more expensive.