TechRadar News

Update: This article previously stated the hearing enhancement feature was $149.99 a month, rather than $149.99 as a one-time payment. This has been ammended and the original story continues below.

All eyes were on Meta Connect 2026. The annual hardware showcase is where the company debuts its latest wearables, and this year’s event comes at a time when anti-smart glasses sentiment seems to be at an all-time high — though that didn’t stop Meta showcasing several brand new pairs of specs.

Smart glasses are getting banned from offices, event spaces, pubs, and courtrooms (among other venues), and folks are expressing their uneasiness at being under the gaze of camera-equipped specs — especially given the potential for wearers to film those around them covertly.

Perhaps that’s why Meta has debuted, for the first time, smart glasses that entirely lack cameras, in the shape of the Ray-Ban Meta Audio — though in the pre-Connect briefing I had for the glasses (I’m writing this ahead of the showcase, so can’t speak for what Mark Zuckerberg will say in his version of the keynote) Meta didn’t attempt to link its Audio glasses with the privacy backlash.

Instead, Meta focused on the advantages of these glasses — chiefly their longer 12-hour battery life. We’ll need to see how this figure holds up in our day-to-day testing, though it sounds like these glasses will be able to provide AI assistance and music playback for much longer stretches of your day than previous models.

@techradar

Meta's answer to creepy smart glass behavior is here — what do you think about these camera-free Meta Ray-Ban Audio specs?

♬ original sound - TechRadar

You’ll be able to enjoy wearing them for longer too. The specs now weigh just 43g (down from 49g for the lightest Gen 2 design), and they also boast some of the Ray-Ban Meta Optics’ (Meta's prescription glasses line) fit adjustments, like ergonomic hinges and adjustable temple tips. Based on my time wearing the Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses, these features help to make them some of Meta’s comfiest yet — though my demo was only for about 20 minutes or so which isn’t the same as all-day wear.

Audio performance is also getting a boost thanks to Dolby Atmos support. The glasses' microphones are much better at picking up an immersive soundscape, and the speakers are better at playing it back to you.

I heard a few examples in my demo where the video swapped between Atmos and standard Stereo playback, and the difference was night and day. With Atmos I felt so much more immersed.

If you’ve wanted to pick up a pair of smart glasses, but don’t want ones with a camera, these could be the specs for you when they launch on October 13, priced at $349 / £319 / AU$529.

(Image credit: Meta)Problem solved?

Of course, Meta hasn’t abandoned its camera glasses — it just announced its Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 model — and in my briefing Meta pushed back on claims its specs can be used covertly.

It described the recording indicator as being “a light you can’t miss,” and noted how it has improved its glasses’ tamper-protection features in recent updates. It didn’t provide details on if or how it will make the indicator more obvious (many I’ve spoken to would disagree with Meta’s “can’t miss” claim), though given the existential threat to its business the ‘perv glasses’ moniker poses, I expect more protections and safeguards are on the horizon (assuming they aren’t announced at Connect).

(Image credit: Meta)

Audio-only glasses present a partial solution to the issue. They can still capture audio of yourself and those around you, and aren’t as useful as camera-equipped glasses — you can’t provide visual context to the Muse AI, for example — but the lack of snappers also means they’re a lot less invasive.

And despite being more limited, the glasses can still offer some useful support. Meta has announced a new Hearing Enhancement feature for its specs. The feature is designed to help people with mild or moderate hearing loss enhance the audio of the world around them. It's not free, however, as it'll cost $149.99 as a one time purchase (pricing outside the US TBC), or it'll come as part of a Meta One subscription.

Possible added costs aside, this feature is an incredible tool — and a showcase for the good things new tech like smart glasses can provide — and some of the Meta employees at the event told me it's the best thing they've worked on while at the company.

Besides the new Meta VR Glasses, the Ray-Ban Meta Audio are probably the glasses I’m most excited to experience, although camera-less specs aren’t my favorite, as they often lack audio capabilities and use a display — Meta’s specs are the opposite, with no display and Dolby Atmos audio, and that’s much more my style.

I want a casual audio experience with the occasional AI assistance, not a constant HUD that feels mildly useful at best, and annoyingly distracting at worst. I’ll be interested to see what others think, though.

The Meta Audio and Gen 3 Ray-Ban glasses (Image credit: Meta)

Will this camera-less design face less backlash, will it be widely accepted? Or has the negativity around smart specs gone too far for brands to be able to win people back?

I think there’s still time for smart glasses to be saved, though ignoring the cameras problem is only a half step. Better privacy protections are still needed, but we’ll have to wait and see who acts next — will Meta and others properly regulate themselves, will the court of public opinion continue to rule against 'perv glasses', or will government regulators take the decision out of everyone else’s hands?

Meta Connect just ended, and the biggest announcement of the night for me was easily the debut of Meta’s VR Glasses — even if they were leaked ahead of schedule by Meta’s own prescription tutorial.

Ahead of their official reveal, I got to spend 30 minutes with the new tech, experiencing a wide range of demos that might have convinced me this isn’t merely Meta’s best VR headset yet — it could be the best VR headset I’ve used yet.

The only downside is we’ll be waiting a little longer to wear it. The headset isn’t due to launch until “Spring 2027” (March, April or May), but at least we know it’ll cost just $1,299 when it does land (price elsewhere TBC).

Slimmer than ever

Let’s start with the design.

Slimmer and lighter than anything that has come before (the actual headset part you wear is down to just around 100g); this headset looks like a pair of glasses. They even swap the headstrap for glasses stems to stay on your head.

The bulk of the weight is instead housed in a puck you carry in your pocket — a lot like the puck used by the Apple Vision Pro or Samsung Galaxy XR. The big difference here is Meta’s isn’t just a battery pack, it also houses all of the headset’s compute. It’s tethered to the headset via an optical cable, but this wire never got in the way while I used the headset — whether I was up and moving, playing a game like Beat Saber Flux, or sitting being productive with multitasking across multiple windows.

The headset can support controllers; however, it doesn’t come with any in the box. Instead, you’ll need to rely on hand controls: either reaching out and grabbing, or the look and pinch controls popularized by Apple’s Vision Pro and Samsung’s Galaxy XR.

Lastly, I should note that, despite being called glasses, this is a headset. They have an opaque front cover that only appears to be see-through to the wearer because of passthrough. This live video feed of the real world isn’t yet perfect (it’s still a little grainy and there’s a slight delay), though it seems at least as good as the competition based on my experience so far.

(Image credit: Meta)

They do support pescription inserts too. They connect magnetically to the display lenses and don't disrupt the slimness of the headset at all based on my experience.

The device is just so supremely comfortable to wear. My demo was only around 30 minutes, but at one-fifth the weight of a Meta Quest 3 or Samsung Galaxy XR, the difference is immediately noticeable — this is a headset I don’t see myself needing to take off, even after multiple days of working with it on.

Plus, it’s so portable you can easily take this everywhere in whatever bag you have on hand. No dedicated carry case required. I can’t wait to travel with this thing.

(Image credit: Meta)An all-round powerhouse

While this can be used for all existing Meta Quest 3-compatible apps (though you will need controllers for those that don’t support hand tracking, either as a new paid add-on or by commandeering your Quest’s handsets), where this headset truly shines is static experiences: productivity and entertainment.

We know VR headsets are excellent for multitasking. You can arrange virtual project app windows around you, and even bring your PC screen into XR to create the perfect setup. Meta’s headset boasts two useful additional features.

(Image credit: Meta)

First, you aren’t limited to the number of displays your physical setup has when you connect it to your headset. Each laptop or PC can be extended to up to three virtual monitors, a tool that some previous iterations of virtual desktop apps haven’t been able to offer (You could open multiple VR app windows, but only as many connected device windows as you had physical monitors).

Secondly, Meta’s headset can turn any surface into a keyboard. It just scans the surface in front of you — be it a cafe table, a seat tray on a plane, or a bench at the park — and then virtually projects a keyboard and trackpad you can type and swipe on. It works seamlessly. In my demo, I was able to type as swiftly and accurately as I could on a physical accessory, and in terms of portability, this is yet another win for Meta’s VR Glasses.

(Image credit: Meta)

Moving on to entertainment, it seems Disney Plus’ Apple exclusivity has ended as the app and its library of 3D films are hitting Meta’s new headset. Because it’s an app, you can download content to watch on the go, which includes brand new immersive watching experiences.

While it was still just a demo, I got to experience watching a clip of Avengers: Endgame that extended beyond the screen in a souped-up version of Philips Ambilight.

It’s the scene where Thor is forging his new axe, I was sitting in that same forge. The room lit up and reacted as events unfolded in the film, ending with lightning flying out of the screen as Stormbreaker helped Thor return to full strength. It was a bit gimmicky, but also fun — not something I’d want for every movie, but an experience I’d want when returning to a big tentpole.

(Image credit: Meta)

All of this content, be it immersive movies, a VR game, or a work document, looks beautiful on the 5K micro-OLED screen. It boasts a 37 pixel-per-degree resolution, which is around the PPD that its rivals, the Apple Vision Pro and Samsung Galaxy XR, boast (Samsung and Apple haven’t revealed these figures, but they have been estimated during product teardowns).

This is significantly better than the Quest 3’s mere 25PPD, and it meets the standard of being able to deliver the IMAX Enhanced Format — with superb audio and visuals. I got a taste of this in my demo, and I’m keen to experience more.

I need this yesterday

I’m about to jet set to LA for a press trip, and I so desperately wish I could be taking the Meta VR Glasses with me for the flight — both for getting work done and for immersing myself in a movie on a big screen rather than the back of the chair in front of me.

Alas, the VR specs aren’t due to land until 2027, though we know how much they’ll cost: $1,299. Much less than a Vision Pro, or a Galaxy XR, and cheaper than the highest price Xreal has said its Aura glasses — the closest thing I’ve tried to the Meta VR Glasses — could be.

(Image credit: Meta)

At the time of writing, Meta hasn’t revealed too much in the way of specs (I’m writing this up based on a pre-Connect briefing). The Meta VR Glasses can run any Quest 3 app and can multitask across six windows at once, so it must be at least somewhat capable. I expect it boasts at least 12GB of RAM and the latest Snapdragon XR chipset.

I’m just impressed Meta can commit to such a relatively low price, especially months in advance. There are so many unknowns over trade and RAM demand that we’ve seen companies not reveal prices until as close to the last second as possible. Meta has bucked a trend here, but I expect it would only do so if 100% confident the cost won’t budge — if it doesn’t, I’ll be very, very happy.

Even as public opinion turns against camera-equipped smart glasses, Meta is pushing forward with its generally well-received and quite popular Ray-Ban Meta line. Alongside the much-anticipated Meta Ray-Ban Audio glasses, which skip cameras entirely and come in two styles, Clubmaster and Burbank, there's also the next generation of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

Like the previous generation, the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) still features onboard cameras with the all-important glowing LED ring that alerts you when a photo is being taken or a video is being recorded. It's an important safeguard, and Meta has added more protections against folks who try to disable or conceal it, but concerns remain.

Meta's pushing forward with the Gen 3, even if the audio-only models prove more popular. They're launching today in three styles: Ray-Ban Meta Aviator, Ray-Ban Meta Zena, and a new version of the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer. Pricing starts at $449 in the United States; we're working to confirm UK and Australia pricing.

(Image credit: Meta)

The story across the board is better hardware, all tucked into smart glasses that more closely resemble real glasses, with lighter and thinner builds where possible. The Aviators are particularly exciting to see adopted for the AI and smart era. The frames are thicker than the classic wire ones, but they still frame the face well. Zena is decidedly modern and sleek as a cat's eye, while Wayfarer is still the iconic, cool frame that Ray-Ban introduced years ago.

I'm testing the Ray-Ban Meta Aviator in a brown shade, and you can see my unboxing video embedded below. I like this color, especially compared with my speckled brown Gen 1 Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarers.

There are 27 total combinations when you account for colors and lens types, and if you're willing to pay for it, you can fit these with transition lenses and even prescription lenses.

Regardless of frame style or lens type, you benefit from improved tech onboard. For starters, the cameras — if you choose to use them, and as mentioned, the ring will glow when you do — can take 12-megapixel photos and record 3K Ultra HD video, with Dolby Atmos support for a more cinematic audio experience during playback. There's also a Dynamic Photo mode, similar to Live Photos on iOS, which snaps a few shots so you can pick the best one.

Battery life is also improved. It isn't quite at the 12 hours of the new Meta Ray-Ban Audio models, but the Gen 3s last up to nine hours on a full charge. That's an hour longer than the Gen 2s, and the included charging case lets you recharge on the go.

Finally, just like the Meta Glasses — including the Kylie edition — that launched earlier in 2026, the Gen 3s get more microphones. Six of them improve voice pickup, whether you're drafting a message, asking Meta AI a question, or on a call. Meta promises they cut over 90% of background noise, and we look forward to putting that to the test.

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

While it's not a night-and-day difference over the second generation, the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) shows that Meta has settled on the core feature set it wants for its AI glasses. Now, in a move likely to broaden their appeal, it's focusing on offering more styles, and its partnership with Ray-Ban is clearly still evolving. The Gen 3s continue the quest for smart glasses that feel closer to the regular versions of these frames, while adding the latest tech for a compelling experience.

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

Just how compelling will be weighed against the added privacy concerns, but let's hope Meta keeps adding more privacy features and keeps cracking down on those who try to block out the LEDs.

We'll be back soon with our full thoughts — and if you ask us, the Aviators look pretty, pretty nice — but if you're already sold, the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) are up for order right now, starting at $449 in the US, from Meta, Ray-Ban, and other authorized sellers.

• Russia is testing ammunition that splits apart to confront small drones
• Russian testing found separated elements reaching critical components inside drones
• The ammunition fits standard rifles instead of requiring specialized counter-drone weapons

The Russian military is developing a multi-bullet cartridge designed to give standard Kalashnikov rifles a new way to engage small drones during combat.

The ammunition separates into several elements during flight, creating multiple projectiles from a single round fired through a compatible rifle.

Military expert Yury Knutov said the design is intended for troops who may encounter drones without having access to specialized firearms.

A multi-part cartridge for standard rifles

The reported cartridge uses the 5.45mm format and can be loaded into a standard AK-12 magazine without requiring a different rifle platform.

Its unusual construction keeps several elements together before firing, after which they separate while travelling toward the aerial target.

The concept has drawn comparisons with a Matryoshka doll because multiple components are contained within one projectile before separating in flight.

Pervy Tekhnichesky reported in April that Kalashnikov Concern had developed and tested the ammunition as a potential option for engaging small drones.

The reported trials included individual shots and bursts, providing an initial assessment of how the multi-part projectile performed against unmanned aircraft.

Some of the separated elements reportedly reached batteries, electronic boards, and power-related components during those tests.

Those components are critical to drone operation, making their reported involvement in the testing relevant to the cartridge's intended aerial application.

The ammunition is therefore being developed specifically around small unmanned aircraft rather than as a general replacement for ordinary rifle rounds.

Different performance against personnel

The cartridge has different limitations when used against personnel, particularly when protective equipment is involved during an engagement.

Body armor can reduce its penetrating effect, while hitting an exposed area would still depend on accurate placement of the separated elements.

That distinction keeps the ammunition's reported purpose focused on small aerial targets rather than conventional engagements involving protected ground personnel

“Our specialists have made bullets that separate into several parts, which are used against drones,” said Yury Knutov, a military expert.

“You just need two magazines, one loaded with regular bullets, the other with these special multi-bullets.”

Internal testing reportedly showed that components reached internal drone parts, but that does not establish overall battlefield effectiveness.

As drone warfare continues expanding across the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, new countermeasures keep emerging from both sides of the front line.

Military analysts frequently propose innovative solutions on paper, yet battlefield conditions often reveal weaknesses that laboratory testing simply cannot anticipate.

The new multi-bullet promises theoretical advantages that still require genuine combat validation before earning credibility.

Until Russian forces deploy this ammunition extensively under real combat pressure, its actual reliability and effectiveness in battle cannot be ascertained.

Independent verification, therefore, remains essential before military observers can responsibly assess whether this technology delivers meaningful battlefield advantage.

Via 1.ru

Meta Connect 2026 is busy. Alongside the next-generation Meta Glasses, a camera-free version of the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, and a new collaboration with Korean pop star Lisa, Meta is adding a significant new capability to its glasses: hearing enhancement.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the feature, which turns a pair of Meta Glasses into a hearing aid for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. It amplifies sound based on your hearing profile and uses machine learning to boost voices and suppress background noise.

Meta isn't the first here, though. Apple's AirPods Pro 2 are already cleared as over-the-counter hearing aids and Nuance offers a pair of smart shades with a similar function. Meta, though, is betting on its form factor: glasses sit outside the ear, and many people already wear them all day.

It's not free, though. The feature launches with a free 30-day trial, after which it costs a one-time payment of $149.99, or comes as part of a Meta One subscription. In the US, it's also FSA/HSA eligible, with Meta saying it will share more details closer to the launch, which in the US is set for later in 2026. Even including the price of compatible glasses, Meta says it's significantly cheaper than traditional hearing aids.

The feature is launching in the US first, with Meta planning to expand to other countries as it works through each region's medical device regulations.

I spoke with Ravish Mehra, Director of Research Science at Meta, about why Meta thinks glasses are the right home for hearing enhancement. Mehra, who has spent nearly 12 years at the company, says the work started more than five years ago.

"We have a very unique audio platform that has microphone arrays, that has glasses, is socially acceptable in terms of people wearing glasses, and we have onboard compute," he says.

According to Mehra, one in six Americans have mild to moderate hearing loss, yet only around 15% of them do anything about it. He notes that hearing aids are expensive, uncomfortable to wear all day, and signal to others that you have a hearing impairment. So people "put the issue under the rug," Mehra says, telling themselves, "Okay, it's just people are mumbling, and that's why I'm not able to hear."

Glasses sidestep the stigma in his view: "Nobody else can tell just by looking at your glasses that you have hearing impairment.”

A hearing test at home

"Every person's hearing loss is slightly different," Mehra says. Instead of a clinic visit and multiple fittings, Meta's hearing test takes around one to two minutes with your phone, through the Meta AI app, and your glasses. You listen to sounds at different frequencies, indicate when you can barely hear them, and the system builds a hearing profile showing where you need amplification.

"You don't have to go anywhere to get these glasses fit for your hearing profile," Mehra says. "You just do a very simple test at home, and whenever your hearing needs change, you just redo the test."

That test was central to the FDA clearance. Meta tested the feature with a group of people with mild to moderate hearing loss, and its results showed the phone-based test was equivalent in performance to a professional fitting, within an acceptable margin.

"We are actually the first self-fitting hearing aid on glasses in the market," Mehra says.

How it works

The glasses' six microphones capture sound around you — currently being used on Meta Glasses — which is then amplified where your profile shows a deficit. That also amplifies noise, so a machine learning model trained to recognize voices brings the background down. It all runs on-device, and speed is critical. "All of this has to happen in a very short latency, because otherwise you start hearing echoes or start hearing distortions," Mehra says.

There are two modes: 360 mode amplifies sound all around you, while Focus mode suits environments like a restaurant, where you want to hear the person across the table.

"We actually use the microphones to first do beamforming, which is like focusing in the forward direction more," Mehra explains. "And then […] we train the system to enhance the voices while not enhancing or suppressing the noise."

The frame helps, too. "Because the glasses have a much wider baseline, you can put the microphones much farther away," says Mehra. This makes it easier to isolate speech from noise than with microphones placed millimeters apart in the ear.

I got a brief demo: Meta had us put in earplugs to simulate hearing loss, then wear the glasses. They did properly amplify the people directly around me, and even those a bit farther away. Focus mode noticeably singles out the person in front of you, but it wasn't perfect, and of course earplugs are no substitute for real hearing loss.

The feedback problem

Amplifying sound isn't the hardest part, though. "One of the issues that any kind of real-time amplification feature faces is called feedback," Mehra says. "When you amplify something through the speakers, they feed back into the microphones."

On glasses, with their open-ear design, nothing separates the speakers from the microphones. Meta's system has to detect feedback before it builds, suppress it, and still deliver enough amplification. "If you're not able to cancel that feedback, then you hear these very sharp noises," Mehra says.

Then there's processing, which is added on top of a broader feature set the glasses offer, so Meta had to squeeze the feature into what Mehra calls "a very small envelope" of onboard compute power.

Meta hasn't confirmed which glasses will support it, only that they must meet a minimum performance bar, or confirmed a rollout schedule other than late 2026. Given the processing involved, I'd be surprised to see it on older models like the first-gen Ray-Ban Meta glasses; all of the demos at Meta Connect have been on the more recently released Meta Glasses.

Meta isn't just trying to make its glasses hear for you; it's trying to help you hear, too. It's a new category for the company, but Mehra is in no doubt about the bet, telling me: "We strongly feel like glasses is the ideal form factor."

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Wednesday, September 23 (game #1703).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1704) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1704) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #1704) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1704) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1704) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• T

• M

• S

• F

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

Quordle today (game #1704) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1704, are…

• TOPIC
• METRO
• SCALP
• FREED

I should have known better than to risk using a rare letter, but after the letter J appeared yesterday I followed a hunch and guessed “toxic”.

Fortunately, my hunches paid off after getting TOPIC, although I did come close to incorrectly submitting “retro” instead of METRO.

Daily Sequence today (game #1704) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1704, are…

• BLURB
• KRILL
• ENEMY
• QUART

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1703, Wednesday, 23 September: SHEET, BLAND, JOIST, GUAVA
• Quordle #1702, Tuesday, 22 September: COMFY, LOBBY, DRESS, PANEL
• Quordle #1701, Monday, 21 September: WAXEN, HIPPO, PETAL, LEASH
• Quordle #1700, Sunday, 20 September: DERBY, LIMBO, GAWKY, REIGN
• Quordle #1699, Saturday, 19 September: SCOPE, HEIST, PULSE, CHAMP
• Quordle #1698, Friday, 18 September: MUCUS, MIRTH, APPLE, TILDE
• Quordle #1697, Thursday, 17 September: CRIER, CHIRP, NEIGH, FREER
• Quordle #1696, Wednesday, 16 September: SPEAR, PRICE, BLUNT, FISHY
• Quordle #1695, Tuesday, 15 September: SHUSH, LITHE, DELTA, BUGLE
• Quordle #1694, Monday, 14 September: ZEBRA, LEGAL, RATIO, TROLL
• Quordle #1693, Sunday, 13 September: LUCID, SPRAY, MANGE, EMAIL
• Quordle #1692, Saturday, 12 September: SUPER, BRUSH, RESET, SOWER
• Quordle #1691, Friday, 11 September: PLUSH, PAINT, RIVAL, AFOUL
• Quordle #1690, Thursday, 10 September: AGENT, EXILE, TITAN, PUREE
• Quordle #1689, Wednesday, 9 September: HAPPY, GONER, SMACK, MOTIF
• Quordle #1688, Tuesday, 8 September: FLUNG, DIARY, HALVE, BERTH
• Quordle #1687, Monday, 7 September: VISIT, CLANK, FEVER, OCEAN
• Quordle #1686, Sunday, 6 September: PILOT, HONOR, BOWEL, TAUNT
• Quordle #1685, Saturday, 5 September: GNASH, GEEKY, WHELP, PUTTY
• Quordle #1684, Friday, 4 September: QUICK, BEEFY, TRUCK, SNAIL

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, September 23 (game #1200).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1201) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• THE BEAR
• FOAM FINGER
• POGO STICK
• FACE PAINT
• BOBBLEHEAD
• BEER HAT
• UNCLE SAM
• CAPE
• CREATION OF
• ADAM
• TRAMPOLINE
• FANGS
• BREATHE
• FAKE BLOOD
• I'M WITH STUPID
• SHIRT
• SNAKES IN A CAN
• HERB TEA

NYT Connections today (game #1201) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Dracula disguise
• GREEN: Bouncy items
• BLUE: It could be you
• PURPLE: Letters in common

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1201) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: PARTS OF A VAMPIRE COSTUME
• GREEN: THINGS WITH SPRING/S
• BLUE: FEATURING POINTING
• PURPLE: ANAGRAMS

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

NYT Connections today (game #1201) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1201, are…

• YELLOW: PARTS OF A VAMPIRE COSTUME: CAPE, FACE PAINT, FAKE BLOOD, FANGS
• GREEN: THINGS WITH SPRING/S: BOBBLEHEAD, POGO STICK, SNAKES IN A CAN, TRAMPOLINE
• BLUE: FEATURING POINTING: CREATION OF ADAM, FOAM FINGER, I'M WITH STUPID SHIRT, UNCLE SAM
• PURPLE: ANAGRAMS: BEER HAT, BREATHE, HERB TEA, THE BEAR

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

I got away with only making one mistake today, but it could have easily been more — as I yet again felt utterly baffled by the 16 tiles.

My mistake was linking FOAM FINGER, FACE PAINT, BEER HAT and BOBBLEHEAD, thinking they all had something to do with being a sports fan — not that I actually know what a BOBBLEHEAD is, except that it sounds like tat.

After this, PARTS OF A VAMPIRE COSTUME was the only group I felt confident in. For THINGS WITH SPRING/S I felt TRAMPOLINE and POGO STICK had bouncing in common and took a guess with the other two, while FEATURING POINTING I thought was all about comedy T-shirts.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, September 23, 2026, game #1200)

• YELLOW: THINGS YOU GRAB BEFORE LEAVING THE HOUSE: KEYS, PHONE, SUNGLASSES, WALLET
• GREEN: WEBSITE HURDLES: AGE VERIFICATION, CAPTCHA, COOKIE CONSENT, PAYWALL
• BLUE: THINGS THAT COME IN CANS: CONDENSED MILK, PAINT, SHAVING CREAM, SPAM
• PURPLE: ENDING IN SYNONYMS FOR "TERM": BITCOIN, RECORD LABEL, RUB-A-DUB, SURINAME

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, September 23 (game #934).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #935) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Just outside the door

NYT Strands today (game #935) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• HOBO
• WINK
• WINGS
• TRACK
• FAME
• TRAP

NYT Strands today (game #935) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 8 letters

NYT Strands today (game #935) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: left, 5th row

• Last side: right, 5th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #935) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #935, are…

• SANDBOX
• TREEHOUSE
• SWINGS
• POOL
• TRAMPOLINE
• FORT
• SPANGRAM: BACKYARD

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

The first word I saw on the board was “tree”, but fortunately I wasn’t switched on enough to see the adjoining word “house” and put them together.

I say 'fortunately', because in the absence of spotting a game word I did see the spangram and gave a little whoop of joy as the letters turned yellow.

This was also quite a melancholy game for me, as it reminded me of all the clutter that used to fill up my BACKYARD that is no longer there — a sign that my kids have grown up and no longer need a SANDBOX or SWINGS or the safety nightmare that is a TRAMPOLINE.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, September 23, game #934)

• BYGONE
• ARCHAIC
• ANCIENT
• PRIMEVAL
• TIMEWORN
• SPANGRAM: THATSOLDNEWS

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

Dual-screen phones are having a moment (hello, iPhone Duo), but if you’re not yet ready to go full foldable, Xiaomi will meet you halfway: the Xiaomi 18 Pro comes with one-and-a-bit screens, and it’s shipping “globally” next year.

The successors to last year’s China-only Xiaomi 17 Pro, the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max boast an extra display on their respective rear panels: a 2.66-inch OLED for the Pro and a 2.86-inch, 120Hz OLED for the Pro Max. These mini screens can display widgets, wallpapers, and media controls, and can be used to frame selfies taken with the phones’ rear cameras.

That’s similar to what was on offer with last year’s Xiaomi 17 Pro devices, though with this year’s phones, Xiaomi is introducing its own — and potentially even better — take on Samsung’s popular Privacy Display technology.

@techradar

♬ Push To Start - Noizu & Westend

Like Privacy Display on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Xiaomi’s Smart Privacy Display can restrict side-on viewing to prevent people from snooping on you at angles beyond 60 degrees. It can also work its magic on notifications and widgets without affecting the rest of the display.

Notably, though, Xiaomi’s take on the technology can be applied to apps used in split-screen mode (maybe you only want to obscure one app, and not the other), as well as to specific locations and app notifications (because some pop-ups may be more risqué than others).

(Image credit: Future)

Smart Privacy Display is a feature of both the Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, though the latter obviously has a larger screen: it’s 6.9 inches vs. 6.4 inches on the Pro.

I got the chance to get hands-on with the smaller Pro model at Snapdragon Summit 2026 (thanks, Qualcomm, for flying me out to Hawaii), and although I wasn’t able to unlock the display unit to test Smart Privacy Display, the rear OLED display was partially functional.

I used it to snap a few selfies using the Xiaomi 18 Pro’s 200MP main lens, which can be activated with a wave gesture or a press of the volume button.

FutureFuture

As for the size and weight of the device, it’s (very) similar to the iPhone 18 Pro, which I suspect is a deliberate choice on Xiaomi’s part. Lest we forget that the iPhone Duo-like Xiaomi 18 Fold launched exactly one day before the iPhone Duo last month.

Other specs include the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipsets for the Pro and Pro Max, respectively, as well as a shared triple-lens camera array comprising a 200MP main lens, a 200MP telephoto lens, and a 50MP ultra-wide lens.

The Pro comes equipped with a 7,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, while the Pro Max gets a larger 8,500mAh cell. Those capacities may be smaller outside of China, though.

FutureFuture

We also don’t have much clarity on what Xiaomi means by a “global” launch. As mentioned, neither the Xiaomi 17 Pro nor 17 Pro Max launched outside of China, but the Xiaomi 17 Ultra did arrive in the UK and Europe, so I'd wager that those regions will get at least one of the Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max at some point. A US or Australia launch for either phone seems unlikely, though.

As for price, the 18 Pro will start at ¥5,999 CNY (around $900 / £675 / AU$1,300), and the 18 Pro Max at ¥6,999 (around $1,050 / £785 / AU$1,500). If and when these phones do arrive outside of China, though, their respective prices are likely to be much higher.

• Tether's African model supports 19 languages while running directly on local devices
• Tether removed 96% of low-quality training material before building AfriSLM
• EuroNano supports 90 translation directions while occupying only 36MB

Tether AI Research has unveiled a new set of translation systems that work entirely offline, requiring no connection to any network.

The release includes QVAC TranslatePsy-AfriSLM, built for 19 African languages, alongside QVAC TranslatePsy-EuroNano, built for nine European languages.

Each model processes translations directly on the device, keeping personal data local rather than sending it to remote cloud servers.

Translation designed for devices with limited resources

The African release includes Hausa, Amharic, Yoruba, Lingala, Swahili, Igbo, Zulu, Somali, Oromo, Malagasy, Kinyarwanda, Xhosa and Afrikaans.

It also handles Wolof, Luganda, Nyanja, Shona, Tswana and Southern Sotho, covering languages used across several regions of Africa.

Tether says those 19 languages collectively account for about 50% of the continent's population — the figure represents language reach rather than individual users.

AfriSLM contains 800 million parameters, yet Tether says the LLM surpassed Qwen3.5-122B-A10B, TranslateGemma-27B and NLLB-3.3B.

The comparisons were measured using FLORES-200, BOUQuET and SMOL, although benchmark performance does not establish identical results across every practical translation situation.

Tether attributes the results partly to a data-screening system that discarded as much as 96% of material judged unsuitable.

The company also released smaller and larger versions, including 0.8B, 2B and 4B parameter configurations for different hardware requirements.

EuroNano takes another approach, using English as an intermediary language while connecting European languages through 90 possible translation routes.

That package occupies only 36MB, which Tether says represents about 94% less storage than a comparable Firefox offline arrangement.

The compact footprint means translation can remain available after connectivity disappears, without requiring separate downloads for every language combination.

That distinction matters for field workers, travellers and local applications where storage capacity and network availability can both impose practical constraints.

Why Tether is starting with African languages

Tether's African focus also connects with the physical infrastructure it has developed across parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The company has installed solar-powered kiosks that provide phone charging, battery exchanges and access to digital financial services in communities.

Those locations could eventually provide another route for distributing educational material, agricultural information and other locally translated content without depending on continuous connectivity.

“Four billion people were left behind by the traditional financial system, and the most powerful technology of our age has repeated that failure,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.

“Language should not determine who can benefit from artificial intelligence. Open translation models like these are a step toward a future where education and AI tools reach hundreds of millions of people who have neither reliable connectivity nor access to expensive systems.”

The same technology could also operate alongside QVAC MedPsy, Tether's smaller model intended for healthcare-related applications on local devices.

“A mother could get real medical information she understands, instead of guessing. A child could learn in their own language. That is the future we are building through QVAC,” Ardoino added.

AfriSLM is currently available through Hugging Face, and the associated research has also been accepted for presentation at EMNLP 2026.

• Meta's glasses can no longer record if the capture LED is covered at any time, says independent test
• But the light is too hard to see if you're not very close, says German data protection agency
• EU bodies recommend actively getting full consent from anyone recorded, not assuming it

Detailed testing confirms that the Meta Glasses firmware update, designed to stop a potential privacy problem with surreptitious recording, does what it's supposed to do — but Germany's privacy enforcement agent says it's not enough, because the light itself is insufficiently visible.

The update was designed to address a simple exploit that bypassed the "no recording when the recording light is covered" feature.

In theory, that feature meant that it was impossible to secretly record someone or something by hiding the camera capture LED. The glasses could detect if the light is covered, and wouldn't record if that was the case.

In reality, it was immediately defeated by the kind of people who've helped earn the 'pervert glasses' label for the smart glasses: they discovered that the glasses only checked the light at the very beginning of recording, so you could simply start capturing, cover up the light and keep recording with the light now hidden.

The new update prevents them from doing that by re-checking the light every few seconds — but privacy watchdogs say it doesn't make much difference: even uncovered, the capture light on current models isn't good enough when it comes to privacy, consent or potential illegality.

(Image credit: Future / Cas Kulk)Why a little LED isn't enough to protect other people's privacy

In a detailed report by the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, which involved a tear-down of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses and a detailed privacy analysis (via Notebookcheck.net), the Commissioner found that the LED light "is not easily visible in many environments, particularly outdoors and in direct sunlight". Meaning that even if you're using them as intended, that doesn't mean people can necessarily see (or recognize) the recording light

It's not just the lack of brightness. The beam angle is very narrow too, the report says, and that means you need to be pretty close and looking almost directly at the wearer to be able to see if the light is on.

The report also notes that the second-gen glasses behave differently to the first generation when the wearer asks about something or someone nearby. With the first generation, the LED "glows, very dimly". But in the second generation it doesn't glow at all.

The report argues that in most cases, if you're not recording friends or family only, then you can't assume informed consent. It recommends additional steps such as text notifications or signage, or actively speaking to the people you intend to film.

That ties in with a recent report by the French e-Enfance association, which reported this month that simply assuming someone saw the capture light does not necessarily mean they've consented to the storage, processing and distribution of their image.

A person needs to not only to have seen the light, but they must also understand what it indicates and be able to withhold their consent. And if minors are being filmed, e-Enfance says parents must provide permission.

It's wise to pay attention if you'll be filming in the country: French privacy laws are notably strict, with prison sentences and five-figure fines for deliberately invading someone's private life.

It's worth noting that these reports are based on European law, whereas US law is much more lenient: the US doesn't have the data protection and privacy protections members (and former members, such as the UK) of the European Union have, and its lawmakers are much more tech-friendly.

But no matter where you live, if you're a smart glasses wearer and could be recording others who aren't part of your close circle, it may be wise to ensure you can demonstrate that the people you're filming knew you were doing it, were able to opt out, and provided their consent.

There's a growing backlash against the use of smart glasses by various bad actors, and simply assuming consent, or even assuming that people are aware of what your glasses are doing just because they have a light, may not be enough to protect wearers from future legal consequences.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.

Lightweight down jackets really start to come into their own in the fall. These jackets pack up small and light, and deliver a surprising amount of cosiness for their bulk and weight. They're also great for layering, if you need a little extra protection against the elements.

A number of big outdoor retailers are running deals events right now, with some particularly good discounts on down (and synthetic down) jackets. I've rounded up my top recommendations below — including a number of my favorite brands from my time spent reviewing outdoors kit.

Some of these are pretty major discounts, so it stands to reason they're selling quickly. I've tried to stick to options where there's still a good range of sizes left, but if you're in the mood for some digging around, there are more excellent down jacket deals (with limited stock and sizes) available on each retailer's site. Pick one up now and you'll thank me when the cold weather really sets in.

Men's down jacket deals

Hop to the women's down jacket deals section

Rab Electron Pro Down Hoody - Men's

The North Face Terra Peak Hoodie Insulated Jacket - Men's

REI Microtrek Insulated Hoodie - Men's

The North Face Terra Peak Insulated Jacket - Men's

Marmot WarmCube Active Novus Insulated Jacket - Men's

Helly Hansen Verglas Down Hybrid Hooded Jacket 2 - Men's

Helly Hansen Verglas Down Jacket 2.0 - Men's

Patagonia Light Gust Jacket - Men's

Cotopaxi Fuego Hooded Down Jacket - Men's

The North Face Aconcagua 3 Down Jacket - Men's

Rab Microlight Alpine Down Jacket - Men's

Women's down jacket deals

The North Face Classic Down Jacket - Women's

Cotopaxi Capa Insulated Hooded Jacket - Women's

Helly Hansen Avanti Down Mid-Layer Jacket - Women's

Arc'Teryx Cerium Down Hoody - Women's

Mammut Aenergy IN Hooded Jacket - Women's

Helly Hansen Verglas Down Hybrid Hooded Jacket 2.0 - Women's

Mountain Hardware Stretchdown Insulated Hoody - Women's

backcountry Stretchdown Jacket - Women's

The North Face ThermoBall Hooded Parka - Women's

Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer Hooded Down Jacket - Women's

• MORENA beat 26 tested models despite having only 1.5 billion parameters
• The model from Vambo AI was built specifically around African languages from scratch
• MORENA uses fewer tokens to represent African text than major rivals

Vambo AI has released MORENA, a 1.5B parameter language model covering 12 languages spoken across Africa, plus English, French and code.

The developers say it beats models from Google, Meta, Alibaba and HuggingFace on African language modelling and translation while being up to 8x smaller.

On a key benchmark, this LLM scored 1.408 bpb — the best of 26 models tested — beating its closest rival, which carried over five times as many parameters yet still scored only 1.423 bpb.

Training without a borrowed foundation

The model covers Nigerian Pidgin, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Kiswahili, ChiShona, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Kinyarwanda, Setswana, Afrikaans, and isiNdebele.

Most projects serving these languages continue training an existing Llama variant, which forces them to keep a vocabulary meant for English and programming text.

Vambo AI instead fixed the tokenizer, the data mixture, and the language list before training began, after comparing several vocabulary sizes for cost and efficiency.

MORENA's vocabulary encodes African text with 1.39 times fewer tokens than Gemma 3 and 1.53 times fewer than Llama 3.2 on identical passages.

African text still costs 0.249 tokens for each byte against 0.234 for English, roughly 6% more, and the team cannot fully explain the difference.

The nearest competitor, Lugha-Llama-8B, an Africa-adapted Llama 3.1 variant, scores 1.423 bpb and loses to MORENA in eight languages out of 12.

The 12B Gemma system, by comparison, consumes roughly 11 times the compute of MORENA while producing a weaker score on the same text.

The chat-tuned instruct version scores 1.441 bpb, trailing Lugha-Llama-8B overall but leading it in five shared languages while using about 20% of its parameters.

The instruct model, after seeing three sample translations, renders English into five languages from Africa at 45.8 chrF++, statistically level with one dedicated translation system.

It trails a larger translation model by about 1.4 points, while general models of similar size typically land in a range from 9 to 14.

A family built on 22,000 GPU hours

MORENA used 251.7B tokens during pretraining, followed by another 63B tokens during its mid-training stage.

Over 22,000 A100 GPU hours were reportedly required during development, with the associated computing resources valued at roughly $40,000.

According to the developers, this project was supported by UNDP, AIHub4SD, and CINECA, providing computing resources and other assistance during development.

This project also includes smaller releases, with versions containing 0.5B and 0.2B parameters available alongside the principal 1.5 billion model.

The 0.5B variants reportedly exceed every external system tested across 11 of the 12 languages covered by the project.

The 0.2B nano version is intended for speech-recognition rescoring, keyboard applications, and text normalisation tasks.

This nano version also costs 58 times less than Lugha-Llama-8B for each byte processed and generates 104 tokens each second on one A100 GPU.

A CPU-compatible build of the model also runs offline on a laptop, which suits settings where reliable GPU access is not guaranteed.

That gives the developers several model sizes for different computing requirements, rather than relying exclusively on the largest release.

MORENA also supports conversational applications, translation, and connections to other AI tools through its instruction-focused release.

Via Glitch Front

• Alien: Isolation 2 principal environment artist Archie Whitehead says the Xenomorph uses legacy animations that Creative Assembly designed for the first game
• He explains that the studio didn't have the technology to implement it at the time
• The sequel animations have been improved so the alien is "more responsive"

Alien: Isolation 2 principal environment artist Archie Whitehead has revealed that the game's Xenomorph uses improved legacy animations that Creative Assembly designed for the first game but didn't have the technology to implement 12 years ago.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Gamescom, Whitehead confirmed that working around the alien's intelligence will be a core part of gameplay—even with the added exterior environment—and if players use a flamethrower or repeatedly hide in lockers, their actions will be less effective against the Xenomorph.

But the developer said the fear of hiding from the alien isn't just about its intelligence, but about how players perceive it visually; he explained that its animations and transitions have been improved from the first game, making it scarier.

"Intelligence is about perception," Whitehead said. "It's about what the player sees. If the alien was a cube sliding around, it might still kill you; it might still be scary, but you probably wouldn't perceive it as that intelligent if it was just a rotating cube, right?

"Obviously, the model, the character, the mesh for it; it's much more improved. There's a lot of layers there that I can't talk about the specifics, but it's more responsive, more reactive. It's really, really terrifying."

Whitehead went on to reveal that the Xenomorph uses animations and transitions that were initially designed for the first game, but Creative Assembly "didn't have the technology at the time" to use them. However, they've been polished for the upcoming sequel.

He explained that he chatted with animation director Simon Ridge, who worked on the first game, and saw some legacy animations that appeared to be unused, but were "really scary" and "amazing transitions" where the alien was looking at the player.

"I was studying when the original came out, so I wasn't on the first game," he said. "So, I was coming to this as a big fan, and I was chatting to him, and he was showing me these legacy animations he had, and I was like, 'I played the original a lot of times, I don't recognize these animations.'

"The vision was there, but they didn't have the technology at the time [or] whatever exactly they needed to implement it."

He added that this is a "benefit" for the sequel coming out 12 years later instead of immediately after the first game.

"We're able to use that kind of stuff, and obviously it's still going to be polished up, and it's a new setup and everything," he said, "but it's one of the things that makes it [the Xenomorph] feel smarter is its reactivity; making it feel like it's not just looking at the player, it's not just pointing its head in your direction. You feel like it's looking at you, and that's the kind of stuff that, again, when they show it off within the team, everyone's getting chills, and it's super exciting. We're super excited to show you."

Alien: Isolation 2 will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. A release date hasn't been announced.

• Microsoft has revealed a new Surface Pro 12-inch tablet and Surface Laptop 13-inch
• Both consumer devices are built around a 6-core Snapdragon X2 Plus processor
• They go on sale on October 13, 2026, starting at $1,149.99 / AU$1,999 for the Surface Pro and $1,199 / AU$2,099 for the Surface Laptop

It seems like Microsoft might be getting its mojo back for its Surface line-up of products, with Brett Ostrum, Corporate Vice President, Surface Devices, announcing at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit that the company will be releasing a new Surface Pro 12-inch tablet and Surface Laptop 13-inch. Both will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Plus chips, which explains the venue choice. (I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that the Snapdragon Summit is held in Hawaii).

According to Microsoft, the two new Surface devices with Snapdragon X2 Plus CPUs will be up to 17% faster for Office workloads, up to 18% more battery efficient, and offer over 60% faster graphics performance.

As these are Microsoft products, there is also the now-customary boasting about AI performance, with the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU offering 80 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second) resulting in a claimed 95% faster local AI performance.

The Surface Pro 12-inch (2026) is a Windows 11 tablet built around the 6-core Snapdragon X2 Plus processor, partnered with either 16GB or 24GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and 256GB or 512GB storage. The 12-inch LCD display has a resolution of 2196 x 1464 and a refresh rate of up to 90Hz. The screen of this new model is, according to Microsoft, 25% brighter than the previous model, and there’s a new black color. Microsoft estimates around 15.5 hours of local video playback and 13 hours of web use on a single charge. It’ll start at $1,149.99 / AU$1,999 (around £900) and goes on sale on October 13, 2026.

The Surface Laptop 13-inch (2026) features the same 6-core Snapdragon X2 Plus chip and is available in the same memory and storage configurations as the Surface Pro. The 13-inch touchscreen has a resolution of 1920 x 1280 and a refresh rate of 60Hz, which I’m not going to lie, is a bit disappointing in a laptop these days, although Microsoft claims the 500-nit display is 25% brighter than the last model.

It also has two USB-C (USB 3.2) ports and a USB-A port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Microsoft claims up to 22.5 hours of battery life, which if accurate is very impressive.

The Surface Laptop will start at $1,199 / AU$2,099 (around £920) and will also go on sale on October 13, 2026.

Ready to take on the MacBook Air?

Microsoft’s announcement of two new consumer Surface devices is definitely welcome. Surface Pro tablets and Surface Laptops used to be Microsoft’s flagship products and showcases for cutting-edge Windows features. They certainly felt like Microsoft’s attempts to create a MacBook Air. The problem is, they never reached that potential, and when Apple switched to using its own Arm-based M series chips in 2020, the gap widened even further.

Surface devices also had a larger than life cheerleader in the form of Panos Panay, who had a major role at Microsoft and whose passion for the Surface line-up, that he helped create, was infectious (even if that infection didn’t translate into sales). After Panay left Microsoft for Amazon, it felt like the wind had been taken out of Surface’s sails, which wasn’t helped when Microsoft aimed recent Surface devices at commercial and business users, rather than mainstream consumers.

So, it’s good to see that these new Surface devices are firmly pitched at consumers, and the price points are around the same as the MacBook Air since Apple increased prices earlier this year. It also pits them against new Googlebooks, which are going on sale soon as well, and are priced similarly.

Will this mean Microsoft finally has a MacBook Air rival? While I’m glad it’s trying again, I’m not too sure. The Snapdragon X2 Plus is a decent mid-range chip, but the 6-core variant in the new Surface devices falls short of the 10-core CPU in the M5, especially as the M5 offers better single-core performance.

My main concern with the Surface Laptop is that the 1920 x 1280 screen just won’t compare to the display of the MacBook Air, which offers a 2560 x 1664 resolution for a much sharper image.

I’ve also seen the first five new Googlebook laptops, and they all come with higher resolution screens, and some also feature OLED.

The screen of the Surface Pro 12-inch (2026) is more promising, though if you want to use it as a laptop, you’ll need to buy a keyboard accessory, which adds to the price. However, it should still come in at under the price of Apple’s 13-inch iPad Pro.

So, I’m not entirely sure that these will be the MacBook Air/iPad Pro killers Microsoft needs them to be, but I’m glad Microsoft is at least trying again, and I could be proved wrong when we get the new Surface devices in for review soon.

• TENKU Note Pro AI uses a full Windows 11 Pro setup inside its tiny convertible chassis
• The 960g notebook folds completely around its touchscreen for tablet use
• Intel's Core Ultra 5 125U brings dedicated AI hardware to TENKU's compact computer

TENKU has launched a compact Windows 11 Pro computer in Japan, combining Intel processing hardware with a touchscreen and convertible design.

The Note Pro AI uses a Core Ultra 5 125U processor with 12 cores and 14 threads, alongside hardware dedicated to selected AI workloads.

At 960g, the laptop combines a 10.51-inch screen with a physical keyboard while remaining considerably smaller than conventional full-size notebooks.

A convertible design built around Intel's mobile processor

The device uses a 360-degree hinge, allowing its keyboard section to fold behind the screen when tablet operation becomes more suitable.

Its touch panel recognizes ten simultaneous inputs, while an optional digital pen supports 4,096 pressure levels for writing and drawing applications.

The IPS panel produces 1,920 x 1,280 pixels, providing a 3:2 display area for Windows applications and productivity software.

Intel's Core Ultra 5 125U also includes an integrated NPU, which supports functions such as background processing and noise reduction during video calls.

The system includes 16GB of LPDDR5 memory and a 512GB M.2 SSD for applications, documents, and other locally stored data.

Wireless connectivity covers 802.11a, b, g, n, ac, and ax standards, with Bluetooth 5.2 available for compatible accessories and peripherals.

Battery capacity, dimensions and pricing

Under the hood, the device packs a 3,800mAh battery that is smaller than many smartphone batteries today, yet TENKU rates it for 17 hours.

According to the company, the chassis of this notebook measures 243mm across, 177.6mm from front to back, and 17.5mm thick.

Its compact chassis leaves less internal space than larger notebooks, while retaining the hardware required for its convertible configuration and cooling system.

On the software end, this device comes installed with Windows 11 Pro, giving the computer access to desktop applications rather than restricting its use to tablet-oriented software.

The available AI functions depend on software support, meaning the processor's dedicated hardware does not automatically provide every possible feature across Windows.

TENKU has listed the Note Pro AI in Japan, and it is currently retailing for about 176,800 yen (about $1,127) including tax.

There is also a launch promotion that cuts the price by 25% through Highbeam's official online store and physical outlets.

The 25% discount takes the promo retail price to 132,600 yen (about $845), and the offer ends on September 24 2026.

Amazon Japan is also offering a separate 15% reduction during the same promotional period, giving buyers another discounted purchasing channel until September 24.

Via Hermitage Akihabara (originally in Japanese)

• XMG has announced price rises for its laptops due to the increased cost of components
• The laptop maker points out that DDR5 RAM for laptops is now close to 6x the price it was before the memory crisis
• We're also hearing that Micron has pulled the plug on its 2GB modules of GDDR7, and Nvidia's supply of VRAM could feel an impact from this

The RAM crisis sadly keeps rolling on and finding fresh pricing misery to heap on us, and that includes new laptop hikes and a hint that Nvidia GPUs could be in yet another spot of bother.

VideoCardz spotted the development with laptops, as manufacturer XMG announced on Reddit that its notebooks are subject to price hikes of either €100 or €150 for most models, or €300 in one case (that's for a Schenker portable, which is XMG's parent company, so it's all under the same umbrella).

Some laptop upgrades have got pricier, too, with a €120 premium on an RTX 5090 configuration, and as XMG observed: "The reason [for the price rises] is another increase in purchasing costs. This is no longer just about RAM and SSDs: PCBs, electronic components, CPUs, graphics cards and video memory are also contributing to the higher cost level."

In other words, everything is subject to price inflation, including the motherboard and associated chips, as well as the mentioned key components.

XMG highlighted data drawn from Geizhals (which tracks German retail prices) showing that DDR5 RAM for laptops is close to 6x the price it was before the memory shortage began (in mid-2025).

The laptop maker also made it clear that discrete GPUs and GDDR7 video memory have become more expensive, as have the prices of AMD and Intel laptop processors.

Also on the subject of GPUs, Wccftech reports that another slight worry is that Micron is no longer making 2GB modules of GDDR7 video RAM which are used in some Nvidia RTX 5000 GPUs.

Uniko's Hardware flagged up this news in a post on X, noting that these chips have "reached end of life" and that this is the case for all Micron 2GB modules, with only 3GB GDDR7 chips now listed on the memory maker's website.

the micron gddr7 28gbps 2gb chip d8fhl (MT68A512M32DF-28:A) used on some rtx50 cards, has reached end of life.in fact, all micron 2gb g7 chips listed on their website are now eol, leaving only 3gb options avaliable. https://t.co/W70J3DMYGS pic.twitter.com/ltj6Sab6MfSeptember 22, 2026

With Micron apparently no longer supplying Nvidia with those 2GB modules, that means more of a squeeze on the availability of video memory for RTX 5000 graphics cards, at least in theory. This could hit stock levels and put a bit more pressure on pricing (which is already climbing fast).

Analysis: yet more pressure

(Image credit: XMG)

We need to season the claims around Micron here, as this isn't a definitive statement from the company itself, and more to the point, it's only a minor supplier for Nvidia's gaming GPUs. Team Green gets the majority of its GDDR7 from Samsung and SK Hynix, and so the impact here should be relatively slight.

However, I'd argue that any impact is bad news given the current climate which is rapidly worsening for GPUs, particularly those from Nvidia which are heading upwards at a rate of knots for some models. The RTX 5090 has got completely ridiculous, the RTX 5080 is similarly out of hand, and even the RTX 5070 is now feeling the pricing heat, with a 30% price rise compared to two months ago in the US (and a similar picture elsewhere).

So, even small extra pressures are really not going to help Nvidia's GeForce GPUs here.

As for the laptop price hikes, this is a sign of the RAM supply times, and XMG is following other makers who have had to jack up prices (like Dell for example, which just bumped up the XPS 13 in a roundabout way).

It's a commendable level of transparency from XMG here, with the company making it clear that it isn't turning any extra profit from these laptop price increases. XMG also observed that other factors are in play with increased costs for notebook makers, and that includes rising air freight costs (due to conflicts in the Middle East) and difficulties with shipping by sea, too.

• Garmin may have bought a fitness company aimed at serious athletes
• The purchase could add ‘muscle oxygen’ stats to future Garmin products
• The acquisition has not yet been officially confirmed

The best Garmin devices can do a lot, but there are a few ways they fall short right now. But if a new rumor is correct, Garmin fans could expect to see an interesting new feature for dedicated athletes in future products.

That idea comes from the5krunner, which recently published a report claiming that Garmin has quietly snapped up specialist fitness firm Moxy Monitor, with that impression supposedly confirmed by “a source with direct knowledge of the transaction.”

Moxy Monitor makes muscle oxygen (SmO2) sensors that are used by elite athletes to help them train more effectively. It’s a market that Garmin has apparently been considering entering, with the company filing a patent for an algorithm to measure SmO2 data earlier this year, the 5krunner says.

The report adds that a response by Moxy Monitor’s founder to the outlet’s questions “implicitly confirms the deal.” That’s because Moxy Monitor’s founder directed questions towards Garmin rather than his own company’s press office. Garmin itself has made no comment on the rumored acquisition.

Keeping up with rivals

(Image credit: Moxy Monitor)

If you’re a high-level athlete, the revelation of Garmin’s rumored purchase might be an exciting one. If it proves to be accurate, future Garmin wearables might be able to integrate SmO2 measurements and help serious sportspeople improve their performance.

As the5krunner points out, the deal could also lead to Garmin releasing new devices. Since you can’t take SmO2 readings from your wrist and instead need to use a near-infrared spectroscopy sensor, the5krunner says that new hardware would be required if Garmin were to put Moxy Monitor’s tech to good use.

And the report points out that Garmin competitor Whoop has patented its own SmO2 strap. That means that Garmin’s purchase of Moxy Monitor gives it a way to keep up with its rivals in this area without having to build an entirely new system from scratch.

Garmin products can already read SmO2 data from third-party straps, and that will likely to continue to be refined with Moxy Monitor on board. That might be the most immediate change we see, with new hardware further out on the horizon.

Whatever the outcome, anyone wanting to get more serious fitness metrics from their Garmin devices might just get a boost if this acquisition turns out to be the real deal. But with Garmin not confirming anything for now, we’ll likely have to wait for confirmation before knowing exactly how this could play out.

Tom Clancy's The Division and The Division 2 are two of my favorite online and co-op games of all time; I still play The Division 2 most months (at least) and have done so since launch.

The second game still has a committed player base and is a game that keeps on going and keeps on giving for fans who play regularly and those who come back occasionally.

It's established a rich universe full of interesting lore, gripping side stories, and compelling characters, with novels, a mobile game, DLC and expansions, and books, all playing a part in filling out its brilliant world. And with more expansions and content coming all the time — even now in 2026, more than seven years after release — there's loads to get into.

As a result, there's plenty to draw on for my bumper Division quiz, and there's sure to be some stuff in here that'll have even the most experienced players a little, well, quizzical.

Good luck and let me know how you get on!

What did you think of our quiz on all things The Division? Let me know how you got on in the comments, and let me know what else we could do quizzes on!

With memory prices soaring throughout 2026, upgrading your desktop PC has become increasingly expensive. Fortunately, there are still decent occasional discounts to be found, including this offer on the stylish white Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5 memory kit.

Best for: Desktop PC owners who need 32GB of DDR5 RAM for demanding productivity, creative applications and extensive multitasking.

The deal: The white Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5-5200 RAM kit is now $408 (was $508) at Corsair.

Why it matters: With RAM prices remaining super-high in 2026, a $100 discount is decent news anyone planning a desktop memory upgrade. Hitting the advertised speed requires compatible hardware and enabling the appropriate XMP settings.

32GB Vengeance DDR5-4800 White: was $508.99 now $407.99
The white Corsair Vengeance kit includes two 16GB UDIMMs rated for 5,200MT/s, CL40 latency and 1.25V, featuring aluminum heat spreaders, Intel XMP support and iCUE-controlled onboard voltage regulation.View Deal

Why we recommend it

This Corsair Vengeance kit includes two 16GB DDR5 modules. Running at up to 5,200MT/s with CL40 latency, the modules feature aluminum heat spreaders to manage temperatures. Their compact, low-profile construction makes them suitable for desktop builds where larger memory modules could interfere with CPU coolers.

Corsair has optimized the kit for Intel motherboards, with compatibility covering Intel 600, 700 and 800 series platforms. The white finish is a decent attraction if you're building a color-coordinated desktop with a window in the case.

Price context & historical value

The discount from $508 to $407.99 knocks just over $100 off the current price, equivalent to saving almost 20%. The wider memory market has experienced huge price increases during 2026, so any sizable discount is worth considering, even if it's still very expensive compared to last year.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the 32GB Corsair Vengeance White DDR5 kit if...

You accept that pricing is through the roof and modern deals don't compare with last year's costs. This is a good offer if want more control over your desktop's memory configuration and are comfortable tweaking performance settings. The kit supports Intel XMP profiles, allowing compatible systems to apply its rated memory settings without manually entering every timing and voltage parameter.

Built-in voltage regulation provide additional control for anyone looking to fine-tune their systems.

❌ Skip the 32GB Corsair Vengeance White DDR5 if...

You're assembling a budget desktop or upgrading an older system that doesn't support DDR5. Given current prices, it's worth checking whether your existing memory genuinely limits everyday performance before spending more than $400 on an upgrade.

Also consider

32GB Vengeance DDR5 memory: was $505.99 now $399.99
This 32GB Vengeance DDR5 kits combines two 16GB modules with speeds up to 4,800MT/s, CL40 latency and a compact design optimized for compatible Intel motherboards.View Deal

• Shop all computer memory on sale at Corsair.