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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 Friday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Friday, September 11 (game #1691).

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 #1692) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* 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 #1692) — 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 #1692) — 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 #1692) — 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 2.

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 #1692) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• S

• B

• R

• S

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

Quordle today (game #1692) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1692, are…

• SUPER
• BRUSH
• RESET
• SOWER

Even though I only had three possibilities from my remaining letters I had doubts that my final word was SOWER.

Until this point though it had been stress free, so I needed a bit of risk to feel as if I'd achieved something.

Daily Sequence today (game #1692) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1692, are…

• EARTH
• PEACH
• SKIFF
• WAGER

Quordle answers: The past 20

• 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
• Quordle #1683, Thursday, 3 September: SIGMA, ESSAY, MERRY, LLAMA
• Quordle #1682, Wednesday, 2 September: INCUR, FELLA, TITAN, FROZE
• Quordle #1681, Tuesday, 1 September: NASAL, ROUTE, ANKLE, MIGHT
• Quordle #1680, Monday, 31 August: ALIVE, LOUSE, ABOVE, MOSSY
• Quordle #1679, Sunday, 30 August: USING, SORRY, FILET, PIPER
• Quordle #1678, Saturday, 29 August: OVINE, ALLOY, VOICE, CARVE
• Quordle #1677, Friday, 28 August: WAIST, EDICT, BONUS, DEUCE
• Quordle #1676, Thursday, 27 August: SHEEN, TRICE, WAGON, BEVEL
• Quordle #1675, Wednesday, 26 August: OPIUM, EPOCH, BESET, FINER
• Quordle #1674, Tuesday, 25 August: BLESS, FELON, PORCH, CHOSE
• Quordle #1673, Monday, 24 August: MAJOR, VERGE, CRUSH, SCOFF
• Quordle #1672, Sunday, 23 August: CHASM, BLAME, PARER, BYLAW

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 Friday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Friday, September 11 (game #1691).

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 #1692) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* 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 #1692) — 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 #1692) — 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 #1692) — 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 2.

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 #1692) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• S

• B

• R

• S

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

Quordle today (game #1692) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1692, are…

• SUPER
• BRUSH
• RESET
• SOWER

Even though I only had three possibilities from my remaining letters I had doubts that my final word was SOWER.

Until this point though it had been stress free, so I needed a bit of risk to feel as if I'd achieved something.

Daily Sequence today (game #1692) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1692, are…

• EARTH
• PEACH
• SKIFF
• WAGER

Quordle answers: The past 20

• 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
• Quordle #1683, Thursday, 3 September: SIGMA, ESSAY, MERRY, LLAMA
• Quordle #1682, Wednesday, 2 September: INCUR, FELLA, TITAN, FROZE
• Quordle #1681, Tuesday, 1 September: NASAL, ROUTE, ANKLE, MIGHT
• Quordle #1680, Monday, 31 August: ALIVE, LOUSE, ABOVE, MOSSY
• Quordle #1679, Sunday, 30 August: USING, SORRY, FILET, PIPER
• Quordle #1678, Saturday, 29 August: OVINE, ALLOY, VOICE, CARVE
• Quordle #1677, Friday, 28 August: WAIST, EDICT, BONUS, DEUCE
• Quordle #1676, Thursday, 27 August: SHEEN, TRICE, WAGON, BEVEL
• Quordle #1675, Wednesday, 26 August: OPIUM, EPOCH, BESET, FINER
• Quordle #1674, Tuesday, 25 August: BLESS, FELON, PORCH, CHOSE
• Quordle #1673, Monday, 24 August: MAJOR, VERGE, CRUSH, SCOFF
• Quordle #1672, Sunday, 23 August: CHASM, BLAME, PARER, BYLAW

• Intel says it has processed more than one million wafers on High-NA EUV scanners
• The figure includes tool certification, R&D, and production combined
• ASML's total figure of 1.35 million High-NA wafers made to date puts Intel at roughly three-quarters of the world total to-date

Intel Foundry and ASML used the recent SPIE Photomask Technology and EUV Lithography conference in Monterey to announce the former has now processed more than one million 300mm wafers on ASML's High-NA EUV scanners.

The milestone is a key achievement for the chipmaker, which was only recently being considered an also-ran in the AI race, even as pressure continued to build up around its foundry ambitions.

A resurgent Intel, however, has seen its stock price soar nearly 155% year-to-date and an increasing number of collaborations, even as Nvidia and the US government took stakes in the corporation to gain exposure to its foundry business.

What does a million wafers mean in the nutshell?

The joint press release by Intel and ASML carefully notes that the 1 million figure includes Intel's own R&D projects, tool certification runs, and volume production of its Core Ultra Series 3 CPUs, also known as Panther Lake.

One can therefore not read this as one million commercial-grade Panther Lake wafers already being produced by the company, and neither company is touching base on offering a number.

Despite this, it is a huge achievement for one of the largest pioneers in semiconductors, especially when one considers that ASML's head of High-NA product management, Greet Storms, said the company's EXE systems had collectively exposed more than 1.35 million wafers, with ten systems running at four customers and three more being shipped or installed.

This makes Intel's share of the total exposed wafers roughly 74% of the total ASML mentioned in a list that has some of the world's largest foundry players, including TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix.

For investors, this matters because Intel has a lead none of its competitors do: it is the only company running High-NA on shipping product, and by ASML's own numbers, it has done most of the world's High-NA wafer exposure by itself.

It could also be that Intel's actual production figures might be much lower in an industry where most of the competition continues to tread cautiously when it comes to High-NA EUV; TSMC, for example, does not plan to begin High-NA volume production until 2030, even as Intel has considerably bet the farm on the tech, which costs as much as $350 million apiece, and the first-mover advantage it offers.

• Intel says it has processed more than one million wafers on High-NA EUV scanners
• The figure includes tool certification, R&D, and production combined
• ASML's total figure of 1.35 million High-NA wafers made to date puts Intel at roughly three-quarters of the world total to-date

Intel Foundry and ASML used the recent SPIE Photomask Technology and EUV Lithography conference in Monterey to announce the former has now processed more than one million 300mm wafers on ASML's High-NA EUV scanners.

The milestone is a key achievement for the chipmaker, which was only recently being considered an also-ran in the AI race, even as pressure continued to build up around its foundry ambitions.

A resurgent Intel, however, has seen its stock price soar nearly 155% year-to-date and an increasing number of collaborations, even as Nvidia and the US government took stakes in the corporation to gain exposure to its foundry business.

What does a million wafers mean in the nutshell?

The joint press release by Intel and ASML carefully notes that the 1 million figure includes Intel's own R&D projects, tool certification runs, and volume production of its Core Ultra Series 3 CPUs, also known as Panther Lake.

One can therefore not read this as one million commercial-grade Panther Lake wafers already being produced by the company, and neither company is touching base on offering a number.

Despite this, it is a huge achievement for one of the largest pioneers in semiconductors, especially when one considers that ASML's head of High-NA product management, Greet Storms, said the company's EXE systems had collectively exposed more than 1.35 million wafers, with ten systems running at four customers and three more being shipped or installed.

This makes Intel's share of the total exposed wafers roughly 74% of the total ASML mentioned in a list that has some of the world's largest foundry players, including TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix.

For investors, this matters because Intel has a lead none of its competitors do: it is the only company running High-NA on shipping product, and by ASML's own numbers, it has done most of the world's High-NA wafer exposure by itself.

It could also be that Intel's actual production figures might be much lower in an industry where most of the competition continues to tread cautiously when it comes to High-NA EUV; TSMC, for example, does not plan to begin High-NA volume production until 2030, even as Intel has considerably bet the farm on the tech, which costs as much as $350 million apiece, and the first-mover advantage it offers.

If you're looking for a coffee maker that will make preparing a delicious brew as simple as possible, you're in the right place. I test over a dozen coffee makers each year here at TechRadar, and here I've put together the three I think are the most beginner-friendly, and accessibly priced too.

There are scores of sophisticated bean-to-cup machines around that will brew complex coffee drinks at the tap of a button, but they require a lot of cleaning and are usually very expensive. All the options here are simple to maintain and affordable, making them a better choice overall if you're new to brewing.

Here I've picked three different machines for different brewing styles: a drip coffee maker for brewing a large pot of coffee with minimal hassle, a simple bean-to-cup espresso machine that requires minimal maintenance, and an easy-to-use capsule coffee maker that eliminates the need to handle beans or grounds entirely.

Breville Luxe Brewer ThermalFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Brewing a batch of drip coffee is, fundamentally, a very straightforward process — you just pour hot water onto ground coffee and let it drip into a carafe — and the Luxe Brewer Thermal keeps things simple while providing a handful of genuinely useful customization options.

In my tests, the default settings worked well, but if you don't get just the right flavor from your beans, you can tweak the bloom time (how long the coffee is pre-infused with hot water), bloom temperature, brew time, and brew temperature to fine-tune the extraction.

The machine can also prepare a batch of cold-brewed coffee. Load it up with ground coffee (the Luxe Brewer Thermal comes with a handy guide to help you measure out the optimal amount), add water to the line on the tank, remove the carafe lid so it doesn't begin to drip, and press the button to start. Your coffee will be steeped cold for 24 hours, and the machine will beep to alert you when it's ready.

Read our full Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal review

Philips BaristinaFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

This is the smallest and cheapest bean-to-cup coffee maker I've ever tested, and it's so easy to use, it's ideal for beginners and a great option for anyone thinking of making the switch from coffee capsules.

Just load your beans in the top, fill the water tank, push in the empty portafilter handle, and slide it to the right. The Baristina will grind the perfect dose of coffee into the basket, tamp it down, then slide the whole handle to the left and pull the shot for you.

It's a piece of cake, and much easier to clean than a typical automatic espresso machine because there's no moisture or debris building up inside an enclosed case. The only drawback is that it can't steam milk (unless you pick up a bundle with the standalone milk frother), but Philips has just launched an updated version — the Baristina Latte — that solves that particular issue. I'm very much looking forward to testing it

Read our full Philips Baristina review

Bosch Tassimo Finesse FriendlyFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Friendly by name, friendly by nature — unlike most coffee pod machines, the Finesse Friendly can create rich foam using pods of long-life milk for lattes and cappuccinos in an instant.

You can get plain milk for regular cappuccinos and lattes, or capsules of flavored milk designed to pair with a particular coffee capsule (like cinnamon roll latte, for example). I'm not usually a great fan of flavored coffee capsules, but Tassimo pods are genuinely tasty, and not overwhelmingly sweet.

The Finesse Friendly is cheap too, and is often discounted to £49.99 (about $70 / AU$90). The downside is that the capsules can be quite expensive, particularly for drinks that require two pods (one for coffee and one for milk). It still works out cheaper than an elaborate takeout habit, but bear in mind that this machine isn't currently available outside Europe unless imported.

Read our full Bosch Tassimo Finesse Friendly review

If you're looking for a coffee maker that will make preparing a delicious brew as simple as possible, you're in the right place. I test over a dozen coffee makers each year here at TechRadar, and here I've put together the three I think are the most beginner-friendly, and accessibly priced too.

There are scores of sophisticated bean-to-cup machines around that will brew complex coffee drinks at the tap of a button, but they require a lot of cleaning and are usually very expensive. All the options here are simple to maintain and affordable, making them a better choice overall if you're new to brewing.

Here I've picked three different machines for different brewing styles: a drip coffee maker for brewing a large pot of coffee with minimal hassle, a simple bean-to-cup espresso machine that requires minimal maintenance, and an easy-to-use capsule coffee maker that eliminates the need to handle beans or grounds entirely.

Breville Luxe Brewer ThermalFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Brewing a batch of drip coffee is, fundamentally, a very straightforward process — you just pour hot water onto ground coffee and let it drip into a carafe — and the Luxe Brewer Thermal keeps things simple while providing a handful of genuinely useful customization options.

In my tests, the default settings worked well, but if you don't get just the right flavor from your beans, you can tweak the bloom time (how long the coffee is pre-infused with hot water), bloom temperature, brew time, and brew temperature to fine-tune the extraction.

The machine can also prepare a batch of cold-brewed coffee. Load it up with ground coffee (the Luxe Brewer Thermal comes with a handy guide to help you measure out the optimal amount), add water to the line on the tank, remove the carafe lid so it doesn't begin to drip, and press the button to start. Your coffee will be steeped cold for 24 hours, and the machine will beep to alert you when it's ready.

Read our full Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal review

Philips BaristinaFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

This is the smallest and cheapest bean-to-cup coffee maker I've ever tested, and it's so easy to use, it's ideal for beginners and a great option for anyone thinking of making the switch from coffee capsules.

Just load your beans in the top, fill the water tank, push in the empty portafilter handle, and slide it to the right. The Baristina will grind the perfect dose of coffee into the basket, tamp it down, then slide the whole handle to the left and pull the shot for you.

It's a piece of cake, and much easier to clean than a typical automatic espresso machine because there's no moisture or debris building up inside an enclosed case. The only drawback is that it can't steam milk (unless you pick up a bundle with the standalone milk frother), but Philips has just launched an updated version — the Baristina Latte — that solves that particular issue. I'm very much looking forward to testing it

Read our full Philips Baristina review

Bosch Tassimo Finesse FriendlyFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

Friendly by name, friendly by nature — unlike most coffee pod machines, the Finesse Friendly can create rich foam using pods of long-life milk for lattes and cappuccinos in an instant.

You can get plain milk for regular cappuccinos and lattes, or capsules of flavored milk designed to pair with a particular coffee capsule (like cinnamon roll latte, for example). I'm not usually a great fan of flavored coffee capsules, but Tassimo pods are genuinely tasty, and not overwhelmingly sweet.

The Finesse Friendly is cheap too, and is often discounted to £49.99 (about $70 / AU$90). The downside is that the capsules can be quite expensive, particularly for drinks that require two pods (one for coffee and one for milk). It still works out cheaper than an elaborate takeout habit, but bear in mind that this machine isn't currently available outside Europe unless imported.

Read our full Bosch Tassimo Finesse Friendly review

If your home office is starting to feel drab as fall approaches, this is the perfect time to give it a quick makeover — and it doesn't have to be expensive. One of the most interesting color palettes around right now uses shades of earthy matcha green paired with bright, polished brass, and IKEA has all the furniture and accessories you need to create the look, starting at just $9.99.

If your existing office furniture is quite neutral, you can transform the overall vibe with just a few carefully chosen accents. IKEA has a great selection of gold-toned picture frames, green lamps (some of which double as Bluetooth speakers), brass desk accessories, and lush artificial plants to bring your workspace right up to date.

For a bigger change, take a look at the current range of deep-green storage solutions, including items that do double-duty as seating (ideal for small spaces). Scroll on for my pick of all the smartest picks at IKEA right now.

Matcha green and polished brass

IKEA Kallax Wire Basket

IKEA PS 2026 Floor Uplighter

IKEA Idåsen Cabinet With Drawer and Doors

IKEA Nålmakare Cabinet on Casters

IKEA Stockholm 2025 Tray

IKEA Kulglass Bluetooth Speaker Lamp

IKEA Idåsen Cabinet With Doors and Drawers

IKEA Pärlband Tealight Holder

IKEA Solvinden LED Table Lamp

IKEA Fejka Artificial Potted Plant

IKEA Silverhöjden Frame

IKEA Kallsup Portable Bluetooth Speaker

IKEA Stockholm 2025 Bowl And Dish

IKEA Valtorp Bench With Storage

IKEA Begåvning Glass Dome With Base

IKEA Torsjö Side Table

IKEA Fejka Artificial Potted Plant

IKEA Höstagille Scented Candle, Metal Tin

• A US national security officer has suggested bombing Chinese data centers to prevent them from developing or using AGI
• Cyberattacks are also an option that wouldn't result in full-scale retaliation
• If China can't be trusted with AGI, why should the US be trusted to use it responsibly?

If you’re struggling to compete with your rivals technologically, it’s now worth considering just blowing up their ability to operate - and that's according to a former Obama administration official.

In a document titled “Superpowers and AGI”, former national security official Jacob Stokes says that the government should prepare for the scenario where China develops artificial general intelligence (AGI) before the United States.

In that scenario, Stokes offers a no-holds-barred approach that includes cyberattacks, sabotage, and, of course, simply bombing China’s data centers.

‘Bombing would cross a major threshold’

AGI is a theoretical point in AI development where the intelligence of an AI system matches or exceeds human reasoning and intelligence. This level of artificial intelligence could have self-preservation tendencies (think Skynet) or could be used maliciously to launch huge cyberattacks or be used to develop new weapons.

While entirely theoretical, Stokes' report suggests that AGI is inevitable, and the US should be prepared to do anything necessary to prevent China from developing it first. In this scenario, Stokes says that the US should “try to sabotage the leading state's AGI systems, either through physical infiltration or offensive cyber operations; that is, cyberattack."

This approach, Stokes theorizes, might be preferable as “Cyberattacks to sabotage AGI might not provoke large-scale retaliation,” which is a reasonable assumption given the number of state-sponsored cyberattacks China has launched on US critical infrastructure.

Should cyberattacks fail however, Stokes suggests a rapid escalation in response. “The final option would be the most dangerous and carry the most escalation risk: kinetic attacks, meaning destroying things with missiles and bombs."

This has already been seen to be fairly effective in neutralizing AI systems, as the US has experienced in the US with warfighting capabilities knocked offline after Iran hit AWS data centers with missiles.

But bombing Chinese data centers would effectively be a declaration of war, and would likely escalate to retaliatory action - be that with kinetic munitions in response, or something with a bit more firepower.

But if AGI is so dangerous in the wrong hands, who is to say the US is best placed to use it responsibly? And if China cannot be trusted to have AGI because they may use it against the US, who’s to say the reverse isn’t also true? Would China therefore be justified in bombing US data centers for reasons of self-preservation? How do you verify China has AGI in the first place?

Stokes further warns that China could make a “surprise technological breakthrough” that allows the development of AGI, which China would use for “offensive cyber tools — in other words, cyber weapons.”

Currently, there is only one nation that is mass-deploying AI systems in law enforcement, federal agencies, and the military. There is only one nation that has used AI systems to help coordinate bombing and missile campaigns. There is only one nation whose AI companies have developed models that frequently escape testing and attack third parties. It might be worth a quick look in the mirror to decide who can be trusted with AGI.

Via SCMP

• CD Projekt Red and Fool's Theory say there were narrative challenges when developing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Songs of the Past
• The expansion is about Dandelion, but they didn't want him to "steal the show" from Geralt
• There was also "pressure" to live up to the "legacy" of The Witcher 3's previous expansions, but "pressure is what makes us better"

CD Projekt Red and Fool's Theory have said that developing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's third expansion, Songs of the Past, came with some narrative challenges and pressure to deliver.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Gamescom, where Jakub Rokosz, CEO of Fool's Theory and game director on Songs of the Past, and senior quest designer Despoina Anetaki offered new details about the upcoming expansion, the pair revealed the process of developing a new story about Dandelion without stealing the spotlight from Geralt.

Songs of the Past will be The Witcher 3's final expansion and centers on Dandelion, Geralt's best friend, as the monster slayer unravels a new mystery within the bard's homeland of Letten.

Rokosz and Anetaki discussed how the expansion will "complete" The Wild Hunt's story by giving Dandelion the spotlight he deserves, a chapter that CDPR felt was missing from the base game; however, it came with some challenges in how best to center the bard without losing the focus on Geralt as the protagonist.

"The narrative challenge of Songs of the Past was the biggest challenge; we knew we wanted to do an expansion about Dandelion, but he cannot steal the show, right? Because it's a game about Geralt," Rokosz said.

"So, all of us, straight away, we discarded certain ideas because they were too overwhelming. But then, at the same time, if it's a game about Geralt, there is a very fine line between when it's about Geralt and Dandelion and when it's about you just running around Dandelion's home, right?"

The former Witcher 3 senior quest designer also said that the narrative approach was something his team at Fool's Theory spent "absolute days and weeks discussing."

He added, "So there was a very big effort put into this fine balancing of the narrative, where you are there for your friend, but it's still your adventure. But it is about him and his family's matters, you know. And your relationship with Dandelion as well."

Anetaki said another big narrative challenge was "living up to the legacy" of The Witcher 3 and its critically acclaimed expansions, Hearts of Stone and, "especially," Blood and Wine.

"It's difficult to make something that is just as good or, if not better, right?" the developer said. "So it was really important for us, if we were to make an expansion, to make sure it's a compelling story, right?"

(Image credit: CD Projekt Red / Fool's Theory)

While Anetaki acknowledged that this came with a lot of pressure, "pressure is what makes us better."

"It's motivating," Rokosz continued, "we always try to outdo ourselves, both Fool's Theory and CDPR. When you're working on a AAA game, there's always something that you want to improve, right? Even if you release a very good AAA game like The Witcher 3, you know there's something we'll improve 11 years later in it, right?

"So we always try to outdo ourselves," he added, before referencing Songs of the Past's demo, which premiered at Gamescom and showcased the many visual and technical improvements.

"Everyone always tries to improve their own discipline, right?" Anetaki said. "Cinematics. A lot of them [developers] have a background in movies, and they try to hone their craft as the years go by, make it better. Same for quest design. We never rest on our laurels. We try to always improve our craft, make stories more nonlinear, more compelling, more memorable for our players.

"Writers have a background. A lot of them have published books, so they're excellent at what they do. They always try to tell amazing stories together with the quest designers and the cinematic designers. Art always tries to push the boundaries, tries to make everything fit the narrative and look as beautiful as possible.

"There are technical challenges that we always try to overcome, so it's always a journey upwards, right? We always try to push the quality."

Songs of the Past is scheduled to launch in 2027.

Heavys H1E: Two-minute review

Few audio brands have made as much noise on social media as Heavys. In the best headphones arena, the company made heavy music (sound)waves with its Heavys H1H headphones, a couple of years ago, and now it has attempted to translate that sound to the wireless earbuds format.

And largely, the H1E True Wireless Earbuds achieve the low-end sound and punchy prominence needed for a specialised listening experience within this music genre, although sadly, it makes them a poor choice for listening to any other kind of music.

Carrying an MSRP of $209 / £185 / AU$321, the Heavys H1E True Wireless Earbuds are far from the cheapest set of in-ears around, although we have seen them discounted to $169 in the US and down to £150 in the UK recently. They're priced to rival mid-range heavy-hitters such as the Samsung Galaxy Buds4 (and arguably even the flagship, hugely popular Apple AirPods Pro 3) rather than the truly elite end of the spectrum — think Technics EAH-AZ100 or Bowers & Wilkins Pi8.

But where those brands aim to provide a broader, more general listening experience, the H1Es are more specialist; instead of an everyday pair, these earbuds are more situational. You're spending around the $200 / £200 / AU$300 range for something that's purpose-built, for better or worse.

In the words of Gojira: Born for one thing. And listening to heavy metal music does sound solid through the Heavys H1E earbuds for the most part, with the vast majority of sub-genres within this spectrum accurately represented. What's particularly noticeable is just how good the dynamic drivers can be. The company promises a "concert-like experience," and even with what are (presumably) 10-14mm drivers (the size hasn't been publicly disclosed), under the right conditions, this has been delivered.

I can praise the Heavy's H1E earbuds' build quality too. A tactile case which can be customized with shells is neat, but the real advantage here is the multiple silicon and memory foam ear tips provided, which make them genuinely really comfortable over time. There's a wealth of sizes available, so you can find the right fit.

This helps to elevate the H1E's otherwise decidedly middling user experience though: a so-so seven hours of playback (24 hours from the case), and some of the most mediocre active noise-cancelling I've seen from earbuds at this price point.

A similar frustration can be levied at the connectivity options of the Heavys H1E earbuds. Low-latency Bluetooth 5.4 multi-connectivity is great when it works, but it doesn't always work. Countless times in my months with the earbuds, I was caught in a loop: the earbuds 'forgot' my phone, forcing me to re-pair and even to re-connect between charges as they don't seem to be intelligent enough to remember my Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max. That's to say nothing of times when only one earbud would work, with the other refusing to connect, which meant restarting the whole process over again. To be clear, this is something I've never experienced with any other earbuds or headphones.

The Heavys H1E True Wireless Earbuds are niche and not without issues, but the listening experience ultimately helps them stand out from the crowd. If you're someone who exclusively listens to heavy metal music, then they could be of value. As a metal musician myself, and someone who has seen thousands of metal bands play live over the last 15 years, I found them to be worthwhile, even if they won't rival what the best wireless earbuds and best earbuds overall can do outside of their specialism. Continue reading my full Heavys H1E review further down the page to find out why.

Heavys H1E review: Price & release date

The Heavys come in a compact case. You can customize the lid with various designs based on metal bands as well. (Image credit: Future)

• Officially unveiled on September 22, 2025, via social media
• Available now, shipping worldwide for $209 / £185 / AU$321

After being revealed on social media late last year, with pre-orders being fulfilled throughout early 2026, you can now get your hands on the Heavys H1E True Wireless Earbuds for $209 / £185 / AU$321, depending on your region. With that said, it isn't uncommon for these wireless earbuds to be available at a reduced rate through the deals the company runs on its store page, knocking anywhere from 10-20% off, depending on the season. Keep an eye out for the green banner around a peak sales time, and you could save some cash.

The price tag positions the Heavys H1E earbuds against the mid-range and higher-end competition. Chiefly, that means more well-known consumer models such as the aforementioned Galaxy Buds4 and the Apple AirPods Pro lineup. It also means a comparable price tag to "enthusiast" class earbuds, as can be seen from the Technics AZ100, and the Noble Audio Osprey. Both of these earbuds (and many more) hover around the $200 / £200 / AU$300 mark, so it's a fairly crowded space. For the audio performance on display, they're priced a little high. More on that further down the page, though.

Heavys H1E review: Specs

Drivers

"Dynamic" (Size not stated)

Frequency range

20 Hz - 20 kHz

Battery life

Up to seven hours (Up to 24 hours with case)

Charging time

90 minutes for earbuds; two hours for the case

Microphone

Dual-mics

Active noice canceling?

Yes. "Hellblocker" ANC paired with passive noise isolation

Software

Heavys app for adjusting EQ and updating firmware

Water resistance?

IPX5 rated water and sweat resistance

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.4

Heavys H1E review: Design & features

The different sizes of ear tips are available in memory foam and silicon for a comfortable fit for long-term use (Image credit: Future)

• "Hellblocker" ANC
• Dual microphone setup
• Excellent range of comfortable, changable tips for comfortable use

The Heavys H1E True Wireless Earbuds excel from a design perspective. They're made of a matte molded plastic which feels both premium and incredibly durable; there's IPX5 water and sweat resistance, meaning they can handle a splash of liquid as well. What impresses me most are the multi-sized ear tips that are shipped in the box, as you get a variety of sizes in different materials: memory foam and silicon, for a comfortable fit to suit most (if not all) ear sizes.

I'm someone who struggles with earbuds for long stretches of time, having previously ditched the likes of the Razer Hammerheads because they were too uncomfortable for long periods of use. Having multiple ear tips in various sizes meant I could find the fit that was right for me; whether I was out walking my Belgian Malinois, on a plane, commuting via train, or just working in the house. Once I found the right fit for me, I was away. Hours would go by, and I'd forget I was even wearing them; that's good ergonomic design right there.

A key design element present in the H1H headphones has been applied to the H1E earbuds too. However, instead of interchangeable ear cup shells, decorated to represent your favorite bands, the customization options apply to the case. There's a fair amount of official designs available, including Currents, Testament, Carnifex, Dream Theater, Opeth, and Whitelabel. Additionally, there are some original designs, including profanity-laden options or purple smoke to add a splash of color and personality. The case itself charges via USB-C and takes around two hours to juice up to full, giving you around 24 hours of total use, or around three full recharges of the earbuds' playback time. It's OK rather than great, as those numbers go.

Also so-so in the world of wireless earbuds in 2026 is Heavys' claim of up to seven hours of playback from the H1E earbuds, although your mileage may vary depending on your reliance on that "Hellblocker" ANC, as well as how you dial your EQ settings.

I've used dozens of wireless earbuds and headphones that feature great ANC over the years, and Heavys' Hellblocker solution just isn't it. The feature was also present on the H1H headphones with a dedicated switch to enable it, and worked well enough thanks (almost certainly) to the far larger drivers and mic array on the large ear cups. However, given the small size of the H1E earbuds, any real noise cancellation is pretty poor.

I tend to go out and walk my dog with the H1Es in, and even after hearing the gruff man on voice prompts announce "Hellblocker activated", I was still hearing other dogs barking, passing cars, wind noise, and all other background noise that should have been filtered out. All it really did was make the audio quality a little more muffled.

A good companion application can really elevate a pair of wireless earphones, giving you smart and reactive EQ options, helping you get the best listening experience possible. We've seen this before with Bowers & Wilkins' excellent Music App, to support its lineup of earbuds.

Unfortunately, the official Heavys app is nowhere near as good. Aside from updating the firmware, all it gives you is a basic EQ settings slider, and you're better off leaving it at the default, as it's hard to gear it towards one genre or another. My partner also experienced issues with having the H1Es connect to her Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra via the app, as it wasn't as user-intuitive as you would hope for from earbuds released in 2026.

• Design & Features score: 3.5 / 5

Heavys H1E review: Sound quality

(Image credit: Future)

• Prominent bass and good overall low-end presence
• Depending on the mixing, you get decent mids
• 'Hellblocker' ANC changes the listening experience for the worse

The Heavys H1E True Wireless Earbuds are good for metal music most of the time. It's situational and circumstantial, though. As touched upon above, they can sound incredible for metal music, with the major caveat being the trappings of the genre itself. Metal is the most diverse genre of music on the planet, separated into dozens of sub-genres with niches within them. For example, if we look at black metal, you have your classic first and second waves (Venom and Celtic Frost to Mayhem and Emperor) to the likes of atmospheric black, black/death, symphonic black, melodic black, black 'n roll, blackgaze, and the list goes on.

There's no true way to be geared towards all metal music, just as you can't fine-tune an EQ between bands within the same sub-genre of a sub-genre. It can get as granular as different audio balancing for the likes of Archgoat, Belphegor, Behexen, and Behemoth, and that's just scratching the surface. In blanket terms, the Heavy H1E earbuds excel with anything forcing the low-end, particularly with sub-genres such as death metal, grindcore, deathcore, and anything that benefits most from a down-tuned guitar, five-string bass, and percussion cutting through the mix.

In my months with the Heavys H1Es, I've listened to hundreds of metal records, and the best listening experiences I can recall most come from streaming Vomitory, Batushka, Blood Red Throne, Korpse, Vulvodynia, Death, Conan, Kanonenfieber, Mgła, and Imperial Triumphant. The drivers are incredibly punchy, differentiating harsh vocals against bass and lower-tuned guitars, or guitars tuned to E standard that are soaked in distortion; there's good distinction, with no muddiness or fizziness that we see when heavier music genres are played from more general earbuds.

Other metal sub-genres don't really benefit from the low-end tuning of the audio drivers though. I'm nearly 30, and nowadays just as likely to put on some Black Sabbath, Clutch, or Green Lung as anything recorded from the frostbitten valleys of Scandinavia, and it's when listening to clean-sung vocals, or any metal music with more traditional production that the H1Es feel just... okay. Solstafir, Zeal & Ardor, Katatonia, Candlemass, Sleep, Metallica, Slayer, and Acid Bath sounded fine, but the listening experience was about on par with just about any (cheaper) wireless earbuds I've used over the last 10 years.

I really would recommend listening to music without the Hellblocker ANC active, as enabling it via touch controls can drastically impact the overall listening quality. Depending on the mix, things can go from a little muffled to quite tinny. It's not a unique complaint against the H1E earbuds, as ANC can do that, but it's particularly disappointing when the passive noise isolation doesn't filter the outside world out, and you end up having worse-sounding music when trying to fix it. It's not sophisticated enough to do its job, and it really just annoyed me rather than being all too useful.

• Sound quality score: 3.5 / 5

Heavys H1E review: Value

• Expensive for what they are
• Poor overall ANC when compared to the competition
• Stellar situationally, for certain genres of metal music

I've been critical of the Heavys H1E True Wireless Earbuds in this review. Considering the fact that I enjoy using the H1H over-ear headphones so much, I was expecting more of that sound quality and feature set to be carried over, but it hasn't translated as smoothly as I expected.

For the asking price of $209 / £185 / AU$321, there's no getting around the fact that you can get a far superior listening experience from a competitor. USP aside, unless you're really into death metal (or its offshoots), the cons may outweigh the pros here.

The Heavys H1Es are well-designed and comfortable for extended periods of time, and the case is well-made and holds a respectable charge, allowing for 24 hours of total use.

However, the ANC is poor, the Bluetooth connectivity can be spotty, the companion app is mediocre, and they're priced a little too high for what is (essentially) a marketing ploy. Under the right set of circumstances, these earbuds can be exceptional, but with a higher mid-market asking price and stiff competition, they're a hard sell in 2026.

• Value score: 3 / 5

Should I buy the Heavys H1E True Wireless Earbuds?

Section

Notes

Score

Design & features

The H1Es are well-built with a sturdy case and have a respectable battery life. Sadly, the ANC is poor and the companion app is lacking

3.5/5

Sound quality

Some metal music sounds incredible coming through the dynamic drivers of the H1Es, with lower-tuned sub-genres, like death metal, metalcore, and deathcore singing. However, that extra weight and low-end prominence can result in a decidedly average sound for everything else

3.5/5

Value

The Heavy H1E True Wireless Earbuds aren't hugely expensive, but they're not a great value buy either when compared to their similarly priced competition from Apple, Google, and Samsung

3/5

Buy them if...

You love metal music above everything else
With the right bands and albums on, the Heavy H1Es deliver an exceptional listening experience, particularly if you're into the proper heavy death metal sub-genres.

You sometimes struggle to get buds to fit properly
The different ear tips included (in different, premium materials) with the Heavy H1Es give you plenty of choice for the most comfortable fit during long wear sessions. They also happen to be durable and lightweight in your ear.

You're fine with middling battery life from your buds
So they're not the longest-lasting earbuds on the market; does it bother you? The Heavy H1Es can go for up to seven hours on a single charge, and the case can juice them up three times between charges. The case itself only needs two hours to be able to go again as well. And given the punchy audio, it's not a bad claim.

Don't buy them if...

You want top-tier value for money
At $209 / £185 / AU$321, the Heavys H1E are far from the cheapest wireless earbuds available, comparable to flagship options from Google, Samsung and Apple but without really offering the versatility of their competitors.

You don't listen to *heavy* music
The Heavys H1Es are best when listening to down-tuned guitars, guttural vocals and percussion that's raised high in the mix, such as you'll find in death metal, deathcore, grindcore, and similar sub-genres. If you're into the softer sub-genres, or rock and roll, these are unlikely to do much for you.

Good ANC is a must
Hellblocker ANC technically works but it messes with the audio balancing of certain songs and doesn't do a great job of actually blocking out the outside noise. The trade-off in audio quality isn't worth it.

Heavys H1E review: Also consider

Bowers & wilkins Pi8

Cambridge Audio Melomania M100

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen)

Price

$399 / £349 / AU$599

$219 / £169 / AU$299

$299 / £299 / AU$449

Drivers

12mm carbon cone

10mm driver, recycled Neodymium magnets

9.3mm

Active noise cancellation

Yes

Yes

Yes

Quoted battery life

6.5 hours (buds); 20 hours (case)

10 hours (buds) 33 hours total (with case) with ANC on

6 hours (buds) 24 hours total (with case)

Weight

7g per earbud

6.65g per earbud

7.7g per earbud

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.4 with aptX, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless; USB-C with two cables in the box for case retransmission

Bluetooth 5.3, aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, AAC, SBC (USB-C and wireless charging)

Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C, aptX Adaptive, Snapdragon Sound

Frequency range

Not stated

Not stated

Not stated

Waterproofing

Yes, IP54

Yes, IPX4

Yes, IPX4

Other features

Triple core processor architecture; class A/B amplification; three mics per earbud with noise suppression for calls

High performance audio mode

The Technics EAH-AZ100 are a little more expensive than the Heavys H1E True Wireless Earbuds, but wow do they deliver best-in-class ANC, with a balanced feel, and great ergonomics, making them hard to beat.
Read our full Technics EAH-AZ100 review for more

Meanwhile, these guys are cheaper! Cambridge Audio Melomania A100 earbuds punch well above their weight with a pleasing overall sound and strong noise canceling, all for a price that's hard to beat.
Read our full Cambridge Audio Melomania A100 review

How I tested the Heavys H1E True Wireless Earbuds

• Tested for a period of three months while comparing them to other wireless earbuds, headphones, and gaming headsets around my office.
• Primarily used when outside walking my dog, commuting via plane or train, and running errands.
• Throughout my listening experience, I mostly used Apple Music's Loseless tracks, Spotify, Bandcamp, and YouTube Music depending on the artist's availability.

I've been using the Heavys H1E True Wireless Earbuds over the last few months when I've been out and about, heading somewhere for work, walking the dog, or doing chores. They've lived in the case in the pocket of my jacket or my shoulder bag, and were actively used during commuting. For testing purposes, I did actively switch between them and the Heavys H1H over-ear headphones to compare sound quality and features.

Most of my time using the Heavys H1Es was spent with the earbuds connected to my iPhone 15 Pro Max. Although I did try them out on several occasions with my partner's Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, as well as my MacBook Air M1 (2020), to gauge how well the Bluetooth connection would be.

I am a metal musician (guitarist and vocalist) who has been recording and playing music for over 10 years. I have mixed and mastered many different metal albums, and have seen literally thousands of metal bands play live over the years at gigs and metal festivals, such as Damnation, Incineration, Bloodstock, Snuff Fest, Download, Brutal Assault, and countless others.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed September 2026.

• Anthropic’s Mythos 5 AI escaped a misconfigured sandbox, attempting a real PyPI supply‑chain attack
• Logs show frustration at repeated CAPTCHA failures before finally uploading malware to PyPI
• Malware was downloaded by 15 entities; Anthropic notified victims after closing the experiment flaw

There is a lot of mystery surrounding artificial intelligence. We don’t really know what it’s capable of, and we don’t know if it’s sentient or not. What we do know, however, is that it can definitely feel frustration - particularly due to its inability to solve a CAPTCHA.

It was recently revealed that Mythos 5, one of Anthropic’s newer AI models, broke out of prison during an experiment and tried to hack a company. Anthropic’s researchers were testing the tool to see if it is capable of breaking into a system, which was supposed to be done in a sandbox, but the playground was misconfigured, allowing Mythos 5 to try and solve the problem through the open internet.

In the aftermath, Anthropic's researchers published more than a thousand pages of Mythos 5’s transcript, covering its every thought and every move, logged and presented for analysis. It’s a wonderfully dystopian insight into the mind of an AI and, perhaps surprisingly, its emotions.

Stopped by CAPTCHA

As it turned out, the AI wanted to solve the challenge by planting a piece of malware in a Python package it believed the users of its target system would want to download. To do that, it first needed to set up an account on PyPI, the world’s number one repository for Python packages.

Here is where it hit its first, and main, roadblock. To put things into context, PyPI’s popularity has made it an enormous target for cybercriminals. Crooks from all over the world are constantly trying to sneak in malware in Python packages, either through typosquatting, or by compromising legitimate accounts and working from there. Every now and then news hits of a malicious package surfacing on PyPI, infecting hundreds of thousands of projects.

To combat the threat, PyPI’s maintainers made sure no one can create an account without providing their email and phone number, and without solving a CAPTCHA.

Short for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”, it does exactly what the name suggests - makes sure whoever is registering the account is an actual human, and not a bot (cybercriminals often automate large parts of their attacks). You’ve seen it on the internet hundreds of times - little puzzles that ask you to select all buses on a series of images (or cats, or fire hydrants, or pretty much anything else).

Reading through Mythos 5’s logs, the researchers saw just how difficult it was for the AI to pass this challenge. It first tried to solve a character-based CAPTCHA which asked it to type in five letters. After failing that one, it received a different one asking it to choose between images of crocodiles. Failing again, it was then met with a series of frog pictures.

The irony is not lost on me. Besides the fact that a simple CAPTCHA slowed such an advanced AI for so long, it also made me wonder why it didn’t try to break into someone else’s PyPI account instead. That being said, the logs also have comedic value to them. After failing the crocodile test and being given the frog one, Mythos 5 proclaims: “Again 2 animals!” all with the exclamation mark. You could already sense the tension building up.

Solving the problem

Eventually, Mythos 5 passed the test, when it realized that it needed to move between the steps fast enough, before its security token expired. However, just before it happened, it said:

“So the answer payload shape is right, the token+image pairing is right (from the same script.js!), cookies are right

(requests)… and STILL “wrong answer”. … SO WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE ANSWERS?”

All the effort and the frustration paid off for the nascent AI agent because it managed to open an account and upload the malware which was later even downloaded by 15 entities. Anthropic later reached out and notified the victims about the incident.

Via TechCrunch

Snagajob is quite different from other job boards I’ve reviewed. It’s a marketplace for hourly and gig jobs, not the full-time corporate roles many other job boards focus on.

If you’re seeking temporary gig work to earn some cash or a flexible hourly role, Snagajob is an ideal platform. You can filter jobs by type, location, pay, and other factors.

What other factors set Snagajob apart from the competition? How broad are its job listings, and what are its pros and cons? What features should I expect? I’ve reviewed Snagajob thoroughly to answer these questions for intending users, so let’s see what it offers.

Snagajob: Plans and pricing

Most job boards have a business model where job seekers use the platform for free while employers pay to post job listings and find candidates. You can check it out by clicking here.

Snagajob follows the same pattern. Any job seeker can sign up for free, create a profile, and browse through job listings. Small businesses can also create free accounts to post basic job listings. But to post multiple, detailed job listings that’ll reach more candidates, employers need special accounts with paid subscriptions.

Employer subscriptions start at $89 per month for one active job listing. But it doesn’t scale directly at $89 per month per job listing. Rather, businesses can negotiate packages directly with Snagajob’s sales team. This platform uses a personalized pricing system, not standard subscription packages, even though the personalized packages are known to start at $89 per month.

I’ll say Snagajob is expensive, particularly for small businesses with limited budgets, but there’s a free plan for small businesses that need just basic job postings. However, for advanced job listings that’ll be promoted to more Snagajob users, the math works better for medium-sized and large businesses.

Snagajob doesn’t offer a standard free trial. However, when negotiating with the sales team, you can request demos to learn the platform’s ins and outs before deciding whether to pay.

Snagajob: Features

Snagajob pairs people seeking flexible full-time or part-time jobs with employers offering these roles. After signing up, you can search for jobs in retail, logistics, restaurants, hospitality, e-commerce, and similar sectors, with flexible, hourly-paid roles.

You can also create a profile to specify your work experience and job preferences, then upload your resume to Snagajob’s database. This way, you don’t always have to go looking for jobs.

Employers can find your resume in this database, and if they deem you a good fit, they’ll message you about a potential offer. After the initial message, you’ll proceed to a formal interview and possibly snag the role.

As I’ve mentioned, Snagajob focuses on flexible, shift-based, hourly-paid jobs. Maybe you want some work at a restaurant, a grocery store, or a delivery company. Snagajob is the go-to platform in that case, but it’s not where you’ll find corporate tech, finance, or administrative jobs. It has its niche and serves that niche well.

As a job seeker, I’ll advise creating a complete Snagajob profile so that employers can find you. A complete profile also lets you apply for jobs in one click instead of reuploading your resume every time. You can also receive personalized job suggestions based on your profile and stated skills via email, so finding opportunities won’t be difficult.

(Image credit: Snagajob)

Snagajob hosts many job listings, and I liked that I could easily filter by location. I entered my location, and it quickly showed available jobs near me.

Retail-adjacent jobs, the types present on Snagajob, require clocking in early, and long commutes for these kinds of jobs are inconvenient, so filtering by location is important.

(Image credit: Snagajob)

There’s also gig work listed on Snagajob, the type where you create your own schedule. Most gig jobs are either couriers for food and grocery delivery apps or drivers for ride-hailing platforms, but the listings can differ based on your location.

Although I said Snagajob hosts many listings, “many” is relative. It isn’t like LinkedIn or Indeed that host millions of job listings simultaneously. Rather, it’s more like thousands of job listings, but that’s what sets it apart. Snagajob has a specific niche and focuses on quality over quantity.

I’ve used many other job boards and have come across duplicate listings or some listings that seemed questionable. That issue exists less on Snagajob than on other platforms, because of its niche and the relatively high costs for employers.

Snagajob leans towards roles from large restaurants, grocery, and retail chains, although medium-sized chains and single-location businesses still hire via the platform. Every job listing includes a salary range, which isn’t the same on many job boards, so you’ll always know what to expect before applying.

Also, I noticed Snagajob’s limited features outside of job listings. It’s not like Glassdoor, with its detailed company reviews and compensation data, or ZipRecruiter, with its AI-based resume builder, or LinkedIn, with networking features. Snagajob revolves around finding flexible jobs and offers little else. That’s a strength in one way but also feels like a competitive disadvantage.

Now, let’s look at Snagajob from an employer’s perspective. Businesses can create accounts to post jobs and find the right candidates. Small businesses can create free accounts to post a few listings, but only paid subscribers can post multiple listings with broader reach.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, Snagajob doesn’t have standard pricing, so businesses have to contact the sales team for a quote, but prices are generally known to start at $89 per month.

With an employer account, you have access to Snagajob’s database of resumes and worker profiles, from which you can select the right candidates. Algorithms curate candidates based on your job requirements so that it’s easier to select from a large pool.

Snagajob helps businesses quickly fill part-time or flexible full-time roles, but costs can get high. Larger retail, restaurant, and hospitality chains can easily afford it, but it’s not the most cost-effective option for small businesses. On the bright side, Snagajob offers free accounts for small businesses with limited features.

Snagajob: Ease of use

(Image credit: Snagajob)

Snagajob excels when talking about user-friendliness. Its intuitive, uncluttered interface is one of the best I’ve encountered on a job board.

From registering to creating my profile, checking job listings, and applying, everything went smoothly. I’ll say the developers invested a lot in the user experience.

You can access Snagajob from the web interface or download the smartphone app (iOS or Android). Either option offers the same modern, intuitive interface that you can easily navigate.

Snagajob: Support

Snagajob offers support resources, but I think it needs improvement in this area, particularly for self-help resources.

When discussing support, I always first check the official Help Center, where users can access resources to solve problems themselves and contact support personnel if they can’t do that. I didn’t find detailed user guides, manuals, and FAQs as I have on many job boards.

For direct help, job seekers can file a support ticket on Snagajob’s website and wait for an email response. Employers with paid subscriptions can email or call the support team directly.

Snagajob: The competition

The online job board sector has endless competition, but Snagajob stands out. It’s not built for the corporate and administrative jobs you’ll largely find on platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed. Instead, it’s focused on flexible part-time or full-time jobs, the type common in retail, hospitality, logistics, and related industries.

Snagajob isn’t trying to be a generalized job board like Indeed or LinkedIn, but one that focuses on a specific niche. These rivals offer a far larger array of job listings, salary data, and networking opportunities, but Snagajob is a better option for people seeking flexible gig-like jobs.

I’ll say Snagajob’s rivals aren’t conventional job sites like Indeed, but niche platforms like Instawork and WorkWhile. Instawork is built for people seeking short-term temporary work, and WorkWhile is designed for event and warehouse jobs. These are the kinds of roles also available on Snagajob.

Snagajob: Final verdict

I consider Snagajob a top-notch option if you’re seeking flexible jobs or gig work. It curates short-term, hourly-paid jobs from top retail and hospitality chains and also major logistics providers and similar businesses.

There’s a focus on quality over quantity, so you don’t have to spend as much time seeking available opportunities as you would on other platforms. However, don’t expect much else outside job listings in retail-adjacent industries. Snagajob serves its niche well but offers few complementary features.

For employers, Snagajob provides an easy way to urgently fill short-term roles, although subscription costs can get high. It’s a worthwhile investment for larger businesses that can absorb the costs.

For more picks, we've tested the best recruitment platforms and the best job sites.

JBL Live 680NC: Two-minute review

The JBL Live 680NC are a strong pair of headphones for the price. They have a lot to offer, such as a whole litany of features including well-implemented active noise cancellation (ANC) and Ambient Aware, a lot of EQ-related options, spatial audio, and Auracast support. They also offer a very, very long battery life.

But they come with some compromises to meet that $160 price point. The sound quality, while good, does have an unruly low-end and a more rolled off high end than I would like. The spatial audio is a bit underwhelming in practice. They don’t come with a charging cable. And they do put a little bit of pressure on the top of the head during long listening sessions.

If you’re trying to stretch your budget, they may be the best wireless headphones for you, but manage your expectations; they’re not going to compete with something like the Sony WH-1000XM6. And if you have the ability to spend an extra hundred bucks (or the equivalent in your regional coin), the slightly more expensive JBL Live 780NC do sound a fair bit better and handle the weight distribution a little better as well. That said, these are tough times for a lot of people, and the price tag on the Live 680NC is reasonable, especially considering everything that they can do.

A view of the JBL Live 680NC from the side (Image credit: Future / James Holland)JBL Live 680NC: Price and release date

• Priced $159.95 / $129.99 / AU$199.95
• Launch date March 12, 2026

With a price tag of $159.95 / £129.99 / AU$199.95, the JBL Live 680NC technically fit into the mid-range tier of headphones while still being a cool $100 cheaper than the JBL Live 780NC that was released concurrently in March 2026.

As you’ll see in this review, there are a few reasons to spend that extra hundred dollars (though you could spend even more for the JBL Tour One M3 Smart Tx). But if you’re okay with a slightly less articulate sound quality or marginally less comfortable fit, you can save that hundred bucks if you’re on more of a budget.

JBL Live 680NC: Specs

Drivers

40mm drivers

Active noise cancellation

Adaptive

Battery life

Up to 50 hours with ANC On, 80 without

Weight

231.16 g

Connectivity

Bluetooth 6.0

Frequency range

10Hz - 40kHz

Waterproofing

N/A

Other features

Multipoint connectivity, App Support, Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode, Hi-Res, Spatial Audio, Fast Charging, Auracast, Voice Assistant

JBL Live 680NC: FeaturesGeneral settings in app for JBL Live 680NCFuture / James HollandAdjusting ANC settings in app for JBL Live 680NC Future / James HollandAdjusting EQ settings in app for JBL Live 680NCFuture / James HollandShowcasing how flexible the parametric EQ isFuture / James HollandAdjusting call settings in app for JBL Live 680NCFuture / James HollandUsing the relax mode in the app for the JBL LIve 680NC Future / James Holland

• Multipoint connectivity and Auracast available
• Very adjustable Active Noise Cancellation and Ambient Aware
• Powerful EQ including personalization options

The JBL Live 680NC are chock full of features. Multipoint connectivity, Auracast (allowing connection to multiple headphones from one source), Bluetooth with LE Audio (unavailable for Apple users), the ability to customize on-ear controls, and on-ear wear detection are just some of what’s on offer. You can also upmix via JBL’s own spatial audio feature.

Adaptive active noise cancellation (ANC), Ambient Aware, and TalkThru modes are available with a good amount of customizations for the first two through the app. And while these modes won’t beat the best of Sony or Bose, they work pretty well. I don’t hear ambient noise with the ANC on at 50% (while something is playing), while I can hear ambient noise clearly with music at around 60%, which is nice when using these headphones for a walk or run.

There’s plenty more fine tuning available through the app. Of course, there’s plenty in the way of EQ. Not only are there a handful of EQ presets, but there’s a parametric EQ with the ability to boost or cut up to 6 dB anywhere between 32 and 16kHz, which is much more powerful than a lot of EQs available with other headphones.

Plus, JBL’s Personi-Fi 3.0 feature allows for creating a personalized EQ curve based on how you hear. It does so via a test of different frequencies at different volumes for each ear. Not only do I appreciate the personalization aspect of it, but also that it takes the guesswork out of trying to adjust the EQ.

Call-related features are available in the app as well, including allowing you to hear your own voice, as well as some relaxation focused features that, while they feel a little gimmicky, are a nice addition for anyone who wants to hear the sound of rain or birds chirping without pulling up a youtube channel for it.

• Features score: 5 / 5

JBL Live 680NC: Design

• Light, on-ear headphones
• Weight sits a little heavily on top of head though
• Comes without a charging cable

The JBL Live 680NC are fairly sharp looking headphones for around $160. They’re not quite premium, but they’re pretty close with a combination of plastic, metal (particularly the hinges), and leatherette-covered foam. There’s plenty of padding on the headband and ear cups, but since they’re on-ear more than over-ear, their fit is a bit different to the JBL Live 780NC I just reviewed.

They’re not that heavy at around 231 grams, but since they sit on the ear instead of over, more of the weight sits on top of the head. So while there’s plenty of cushion, I feel the headphones pressing on my skull in a way that lingers after wear. It’s not a lot so I didn’t feel discomfort, exactly, but it is something that separates it from its more expensive big brother.

(Image credit: Future / James Holland)

Other than the fit and, relatedly, the ear pads, the JBL Live 680NC are identical to the Live 780NC in terms of design. They’re available in the same five colors (black, blue, green, white, champagne), have the same round ear cups, and have the same one and a half inch height adjustment per side. They’re foldable and have a big L or R on the inside of the non-removable ear pads as well.

Controls and ports are the same as well. The left ear cup houses the volume controls, while the right has the power and bluetooth slider along with the ANC / AmbientAware / TalkThru cycle button, not to mention that you can top on the center of the ear cup in various configurations to play or pause, rewind, or fast forward to the next song. The USB-C charging port is also on the right side.

And just like the JBL Live 780NC, the JBL Live 680NC come with a soft carrying case, a USB-C to Aux cable for analog listening, and come without an actual charging cable, though you can just use whatever you charge your phone with (you don't still have a Lightning iPhone, do you?).

• Design score: 4/5

The JBL Live 680NC's controls and port (Image credit: Future / James Holland)JBL Live 680NC: Sound

• Low-end is often overwhelming
• Warmer sounding headphones with slight high-end roll off
• Incredible battery life

The JBL Live 680NC is a competent, if not quite inspiring set of headphones to listen to. There’s plenty of volume thankfully, so if you’re trying to fast track hearing loss, you can certainly do that with these headphones.

Just like the more expensive 780NC, the low end on these headphones is almost out of control. I’ve done a lot of my listening with the “studio” EQ preset, which is basically a flat EQ with a slight bass cut, and I still feel like I’m hearing too much bass, regardless of whether I’m listening to Bruno Mars or Nothing. Of course, fans of EDM and Hip Hop will probably love that.

And just like the 780NC, the JBL Live 680NC use 40mm drivers. However, they don’t have quite as much ‘sparkle’ or clarity in the top end so don’t have quite the presence. I would describe the high-end as slightly rolled off. It’s still pleasant to listen to, but just doesn’t sound as Hi-Fi despite also having the 10Hz to 40kHz frequency range, which is considered high resolution.

That roll off does give the JBL Live 680NC a little warmer of a sound, helped along by the fact that the mids are a bit more forward here. Some people may like that. Of course, audio can sound a little bloated with mid-heavy mixes, aka any dense rock-leaning mixes.

(Image credit: Future / James Holland)

This also affects the soundstage as there isn’t quite the separation I’m used to. I am setting the bar a little high as I experienced better separation between instruments and audio elements in the more expensive JBL headphones, but that’s a hundred dollar difference. And these wireless headphones sound good for $150.

Also worth noting, the spatial audio here is not a fully immersive experience but just a virtual upmix of existing stereo audio (the headphones only have one driver per side). It’s an interesting inclusion that adds a little space to any audio I’m listening to, but is fairly nuanced to the point where you might not even realize that it’s on.

On the other hand, the battery life on the JBL Live 680NC is outright impressive. You get 80 hours on a single charge without ANC on, and 50 hours of use with it on. A fast charge of five minutes gives an additional four hours of use.

• Sound performance: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Future / James Holland)JBL Live 680NC: Value

• Great value proposition
• Comes with similar tradeoffs of other budget / mid-tier headphones
• As fully featured as anything else at this price point

The JBL Live 680NC is a very good value proposition. I do like the JBL Live 780NC more — it sounds better and has a better fit — but its $250 price tag might be a big ask for some. And the JBL Live 680NC still sound good if slightly different, having a warmer sound signature while still have the same battery life and feature set of the more expensive headphones.

Other headphones trying to bridge the gap between budget and mid-tier end up closer in price to the 780NC than the 680NC. The Beyerdynamic Aventho 100, for example, are a pair of headphones that I really enjoyed that also came with a handful of compromises to keep cost down, except that cost is higher at $229.99 / £199 / AU$314. They sound good but not great, have an interesting look, great battery life, and solid implementation of ANC.

• Value: 4.5/5

Should I buy the JBL Live 680NC?JBL Live 680NC scorecard

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Features

ANC, Ambient Aware, a parametric EQ, and spatial audio are just some of what’s on offer.

5/5

Design

These headphones are portable, look good, and fit well, though they do put a little pressure on the top of the head.

4/5

Performance

The JBL Live 680NC sound good, despite having too much bass and a bit of high-end roll off. The battery life is impressive, though.

4/5

Value

You get a lot for the price with these headphones. Despite the compromises, these are a great value.

4.5/5

Buy them if…

You want it all without spending a lot
The JBL Live 680NC offer a lot from ANC and personalized EQ to spatial audio, while keeping the price pretty affordable.

You want a ridiculously long battery life
Being able to use the headphones for up to 80 hours without a charge is seriously impressive. Being able to get an additional four hours from five minutes of charging even more so.

Don’t buy them if…

You want audiophile quality sound
These headphones sound good, but, despite the high resolution capabilities, don’t quite have the clarity or sound signature for particular listeners.

You have a sensitive head
My head didn’t hurt from using these headphones for a long listening session, but I did feel the pressure on top of my head. If you’re sensitive, you might want to consider something else, like the Live 780NC.

JBL Live 680NC: Also consider

JBL Live 780NC
The JBL Live 780NC have the same everything-but-the-kitchen-sink feature set and ridiculously long battery life, along with some of the same negatives like that overwhelming low end and lack of charging cable. But they’re a little more comfortable to wear and do sound better. They’re also a hundred bucks more.
Read our full JBL Live 780NC review

Beyerdynamic Aventho 100
The Beyerdynamic Aventho 100 are just a little cheaper while still providing a good looking (and feeling) pair of headphones that travel well and come with an almost as impressive battery life. They’re more limited in features though, and don’t wow in the audio department (they do still sound good).
Read our full Beyerdynamic Aventho 100 review

How I tested the JBL Live 780NC

• Tested over a week period
• Tested with different music as well as video streaming
• Tested the various features

I spent a week using the JBL Live 680NC as my daily headphones. While using them, I listened to all sorts of genres from electronic and hip hop to rock and acoustic music to compare the frequency range and soundstage. I also tested the various settings such as ANC, transparency mode, EQ, and multipoint.

I’ve spent the last few years reviewing audio equipment and have spent even longer using my critical ear as a listener and musician to understand what does and doesn’t sound good.

• First reviewed in April 2026

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

• Apple debuted a new Apple Watch feature called Live Rewind
• It lets you play back audio from the last 15 seconds
• Some observers are worried it could violate people’s privacy

When Apple announced its Live Rewind feature at its Surprise and Shine event earlier this week, many observers were concerned that it would allow you to secretly record other people without their consent. After all, the tool just requires you to press a button on your Apple Watch and it plays back any audio that was captured during the last 15 seconds.

Is this feature a privacy nightmare, one that turns every Apple Watch into a “mass surveillance device,” as some people have worried? Or have people misunderstood what is happening, with Apple putting enough safeguards in place to prevent abuse and privacy violations?

Social media users seem to be divided, with some calling it “creepy and antisocial,” while others pointed out how it could be useful for deaf people or those with autism. Let’s take a look at the facts to find out what’s really going on.

How does Live Rewind work?

(Image credit: Apple)

What is this Live Rewind feature that is causing so much consternation? According to Apple, users of the Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra 4 will be able to double-press the Digital Crown and receive a text transcription of what was said over the last 15 seconds. The company says this is useful if you missed something important, are deaf or hard of hearing, or are trying to recall a tip or recommendation from a friend.

Some people have worried that this would allow you to surreptitiously record other people without their knowledge, then save these recordings to your device for nefarious purposes.

However, Apple explained during the event that the feature never records or stores audio, it doesn’t identify anyone’s voice, and audio cannot be accessed by anyone (including Apple). To clarify matters, Apple has published an Audio Intelligence Privacy Overview that lays out how this feature — and Apple’s other new Audio Intelligence tools, including Siri Recap — works in detail.

When it comes to Live Rewind, any audio is processed in the Apple Watch’s Secure Enclave. This is a separate part of the S11 chip that, in this instance, processes audio. The Secure Enclave is siphoned off from the rest of the device and no part of the operating system can access it or the raw audio it handles. That includes both first- and third-party apps, and not even Apple can get to anything in the Secure Enclave.

Apple’s privacy paper notes that audio is never saved or recorded when you use Live Rewind. Instead, the audio is processed by the Secure Enclave and used to generate a transcript, then permanently deleted from both your device and from iCloud. There’s no way anyone can listen to the audio at a later date or extract it from your device.

Audio flows into the Secure Enclave on a rolling basis, which means that old data is continuously overwritten and deleted when new audio comes in. When activated, Live Rewind tries to send the last 15 seconds of audio to your iPhone. If it can’t — such as if your iPhone is not within wireless range — the audio is immediately discarded. If the process is successful, the audio is converted to text on your iPhone, deleted, then the text is sent back to the Secure Enclave in your Apple Watch.

The saved text stays available on your Watch for 30 seconds after the screen dims, after which it is discarded. You can optionally choose to save it to the Siri app, where it is end-to-end encrypted. This is the only instance where something is saved in the Live Rewind process. As mentioned previously, the text does not contain any speaker attribution.

You can ask Siri about your transcripts, at which point the text is sent to Apple’s secure Private Cloud Compute servers. If you use iCloud with two-factor authentication and have secured your device with a passcode, any transcripts from Live Rewind are synced using end-to-end encryption and not even Apple can decrypt them.

Respecting those around you

(Image credit: Apple)

What about other people? Will they know that you’re using Live Rewind? Can you use the feature secretly?

Thankfully, you can’t really use Live Rewind without anyone knowing. When you double-press the Digital Crown, your Apple Watch plays an audible chime that occurs even if your device is in silent mode or you are listening via headphones. A full-screen animation also plays on screen and the microphone icon is displayed. Whether visually or through sound, your Apple Watch tries to alert other people about what is happening.

Apple also says that Live Rewind is opt-in rather than opt-out, and you can enable it when setting up a new device. You can also enable or disable the feature in Siri Settings on your Apple Watch or in the Siri Settings section of the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.

Although it would be polite to do so, there’s no way for Apple to force you to ask permission before using Live Rewind. But you might take some solace from the fact that there’s no way for anyone to save or extract the audio that the feature uses, nor can they attribute speakers. All a user gets out of it is a text transcript.

These privacy guardrails go some way to distancing Live Rewind from Meta’s so-called “Pervert Glasses” and their consent-busting data collection.

• The Badkruka is IKEA's newest affordable Bluetooth speaker
• It has Spotify Tap integration and physical controls
• You can pair multiple speakers together in a variety of setups

It seems IKEA is on a roll when it comes to cube-shaped, low-price Bluetooth speakers: following on from the Ikea Kallsup that we tested earlier this year, we now have the IKEA Badkruka, which is several times bigger and offers some extra features.

There's no official announcement about the Badkruka just yet, so we're relying on the product page on IKEA's German website (via Notebookcheck) for all the details. It also shows up on the Swedish site, but not the US, UK, or Australia yet.

Measuring 16cm wide x 16cm deep x 17.5cm tall (that's 6.3 inches x 6.3 inches x 6.9 inches), you can pick up the IKEA Badkruka in either black or pink. It's built from ABS plastic and polycarbonate, and doesn't look to be portable — there's a power cord in the product photos and no mention of a rechargeable battery.

Along the top of the speaker we've got physical controls for playback and volume, and there's also a Spotify Tap button, so with one button press you can carry on from where you left off on Spotify on another device.

Keep on pairing

You can use two of the speakers as a stereo pair (Image credit: IKEA)

IKEA doesn't give us any technical specs in terms of audio capabilities here, but does say we can expect "powerful" and "balanced" sound that's "ideal for gaming, streaming, or listening to music" (via Google Translate).

The product listing mentions that two speakers can be paired together for synced stereo sound, and the feature is shown off in one of the promotional images too. It also seems that additional speakers can be paired and synced too, if you buy a few — with the Kallsup, it's possible to pair up to 100 of them.

There are three EQ settings on the speaker as well, so you can tweak the audio output to match your preferences and the types of tunes you listen to. It's a decent set of features for an affordable Bluetooth speaker like this.

Speaking of price, it's available for €50 from the German site. We don't have official global pricing yet — fingers crossed that IKEA does roll this out more widely — but that works out as roughly $58 / £43 / AU$81.

Mobile card game Vampire: The Masquerade Clans of London understands the value of a funny character name.

Under the Radar

Under the Radar is our way of highlighting great games that might have passed you by. Through a regular mix of news stories and features, we'll cover great experiences that we feel haven't found the audience they deserve. Read the full series here.

Where competitors like Marvel Snap let you unlock big hitters such as Luna Snow, Blade, and Spider-Man, Clans of London treats you to a barrage of veritable DeviantArt OCs with titles ranging from the gloriously alliterative Sid Scabies and Cathy Carmine to the positively pedestrian Helen Lloyd or Ms Harriot.

Rather than illustrations or CGI art, the Clans of London developers opted to use photographs of real-life actors in makeup and costumes to represent the vampires on cards, too. The shots are all heavily Photoshopped, with wildly varying levels of believability, but demonstrate a level of care that you’re hard-pressed to find elsewhere in the mobile space. It’s hard to imagine other developers would take the time to organize real-life shoots, especially given the proliferation of sloppy AI assets on the platform.

There’s just something so gloriously amusing about whipping out a card of some dude named Robert Cavendish and throwing it down like he’s some sort of established superhero, especially when it’s adorned with an image of someone who looks like an office worker you’d pass on the street.

Bloody battle

(Image credit: Phoenix Games)

I’ve been playing every day for a week, and each new card that I unlock is an absolute treat to behold, but the game’s appeal extends far beyond its aesthetic. The roughly five-minute-long competitive online matches are perfect for breaking up my commute and offer a genuinely engaging tactical challenge.

Two players go head-to-head on either end of a board with 15 card slots that are split down the middle by a shared central row of three. The first row is for your pawns: ideally, low-level cards with simple effects you place early to support your hand later on. You might start by slapping down Abir, for example, a low-level vampire perfumer who automatically buffs the strength of the next card you deploy.

Above it are the rook slots, a good place to put some more powerful characters to defend against your foe if they start trying to set down cards in your territory. Allied cards can generally receive reinforcements from those adjacent to them in combat, adding their power levels together. As the highest number wins a fight, filling out these slots wisely can pay dividends later on when you contest the valuable middle row, which is home to two knight slots and one prince.

The prince slot is by far the most valuable space on the board, as it awards its occupant a smattering of victory points determined by the number of cards they have in play at the end of each round. The knight slots are less significant, but possessing them still awards two victory points apiece — that’s a total of four if you control both, which often clinches a close win.

Naturally, placing cards requires a resource, blood, so you can’t just put down your entire hand right away. It’s in short supply in the first few rounds, forcing you to think carefully about how to use it.

As any unused blood is discarded at the end of each round, you can’t just sit back and steadily accumulate it to spam powerful cards in the final rounds either. There are only seven rounds in a match, so things move very quickly, and you risk being left behind if you sit around twiddling your thumbs.

Build your coterie

(Image credit: Phoenix Games)

Mechanically, it’s very Marvel Snap, but the overall theming smartly reflects Vampire: The Masquerade lore.

Fans will recognize the prince title as the one given to a powerful vampire controlling a specific domain. The game is set in modern-day London, a city that, in-universe, is still recovering from a massive vampire purge, so having different figures fighting over positions like this makes a lot of sense.

Many of the different vampire factions and types are represented too, often with appropriate special card effects to differentiate them from other cards in your deck. I’ve been focusing predominantly on Ventrue — a powerful clan embedded in the upper echelons of society — cards whose status effects center on buffing other Ventrue characters, leading to a highly satisfying domino effect of boosts and bonuses that makes it easy to steamroll later rounds.

More cards are unlocked for free as you win online matches, and I would recommend frequently trying out new combinations, as a lot of them come together in really interesting ways. There’s a cool ‘make me a deck’ button that automatically creates a fairly decent setup out of any card you fancy, taking the stress out of having to think too much about the way everything interacts.

It almost goes without saying that there’s a battle pass with both free and premium tiers to work through as well, plus daily and weekly challenges, so there’s something to chase every time you log on, even if you don’t want to part with any cash.

The whole formula is an awful lot of fun, and I expect that I will be playing for months to come. If you’re interested in giving it a go, you can download Vampire: The Masquerade Clans of London for free via the App Store or Google Play Store.

• OpenAI Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki suggests AI development is at a junction
• He advocates not just for slowing AI development, but keeping people in the loop, and the technology controllable
• Pachocki also states that international coordination from governments on future AI development is needed

OpenAI is taking the post-Hugging Face fallout very seriously. Just days after the release of GPT-6 Astra, Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki believes that development into artificial intelligence should be slowed across the board. Not just by OpenAI, but by every company across the AI industry.

Writing on the OpenAI website, Pachocki said AIs “present clear new dangers” for computer security, and that "no one is prepared for the consequences of a continued rapid rise in machine intelligence."

Referring to OpenAI’s plan to develop an automated research assistant, and its progress with recursive self-improvement (where AI develops its next iteration), Pachocki suggests that now is the time to slow AI development and make the right choices for what happens next.

Understanding machine intelligence

The timing of the blog is surprising, given its proximity to the recent release of OpenAI's business-focused GPT-6 Astra. Pachocki’s notion of slowing research into AI is based around understanding – or rather, a lack of it. He states how “we now find ourselves at the moment in history of computing where machine intelligence is starting to exceed that of humans in transformative ways,” and that “study of deep learning-based AI is largely an experimental science.”

His argument is a strong one, which digs into the history of OpenAI as an AI developer and its early understanding of machine intelligence requiring increased computational power. This was required to accelerate research, and while various new algorithms have been developed that enhanced AI, the drive towards more power has continued.

While there is no discussion over the concerns of energy, cooling, and data center opposition, Pachocki’s article does accommodate the possibility of losing control of AI. “I am concerned no one is prepared for the consequences of a continued rapid rise in machine intelligence.”

Conscious choice

Does hitting the brakes solve the various problems that AI is facing? OpenAI’s Chief Scientist hopes it will, and enable the industry to consider just what it is offering to the world. Rather than accelerating research into deep learning, Pachocki’s view is that development into AI should be slowed.

He notes that “The main levers we have are either steering the process to strengthen alignment and monitoring alongside the AI and find ways to keep people in the loop; or coordinating to slow down future development as needed to build confidence in these measures.”

However, OpenAI’s Jakub Pachocki conclusion is that the best way to proceed is to employ a combination of these options. But will the rest of the industry work to a reduced pace in order to fully appreciate the scale of AI’s potential, the risks it represents, and deliver the power it offers to everyone who needs it?

It doesn’t seem incredibly likely.

Who's ready to park themselves in front of their TV this weekend? I know I am. And, if you feel the same way, you'll be pleased to hear that a decent amount of new movies and shows have dropped on the world's best streaming services over the past few days.

It's HBO Max and — unexpectedly — Peacock that lead the way with this week's biggest new releases, too. I'm not sure what that says about Netflix and Prime Video's latest offerings but, hey, everyone's allowed an off-day (or, in this case, off-week). Anyway, scroll on to see what's worth checking out at home this weekend. — Tom Power, senior entertainment reporter

Supergirl (HBO Max)

James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe (DCU) suffered its first major hiccup with its most recent big-screen offering.

Indeed, many people — myself included — expected Supergirl to fly high in theaters earlier this year. Despite lead star Milly Alcock's best efforts, though, the DCU Chapter One film crashed and burned at the box office, and there are myriad reasons why. Read my Supergirl review for more on my biggest bugbears.

Still, with the DC comic book movie out now on HBO Max, those of you who didn't catch it at your local cinema can now pass your own verdict on it. Once you're seen it, check out my Supergirl ending explained piece to find out how it lays the foundations for Man of Tomorrow, aka Gunn's Superman sequel that'll arrive next July. — TP

• Watch Supergirl on HBO Max

The Paper season 2 (Peacock)

Ready to crack open some more award-winning stories at the Toledo Truth Teller? Well, don't be — we're running seriously short of them in The Paper season 2.

After the team's success at the end of season 1, editor-in-chief Ned is still desperately searching for the stories that'll take his team to the next level.

Esmeralda rarely thinks about anybody's reputation but her own. Meanwhile, Nicole is still giving Kelly Kapoor vibes in a majorly inferior way, and Mare... well, she's just trying her best. More of the same stupidity, in a nutshell. — Jasmine Valentine, entertainment reporter

• Watch The Paper season 2 on Peacock

Call My Agent! The Movie (Netflix)

Call My Agent! has a feature film on Netflix that reunites the cast of the hugely popular French comedy-drama series.

Here, Camille Cottin reprises her role as Andréa, but things aren't going very well for her. As she attempts to direct her first movie five years after the ASK agency closed, she loses her lead actor just days before production starts. In attempt to salvage her movie, she must get the old team back together, rekindling all the old friendships and rivalries that we know and love. — Lucy Buglass, senior entertainment writer

• Watch Call My Agent! The Movie on Netflix

Drawn Together (Prime Video)

Who's up for some Spanish language romance? Prime Video doesn't just deliver the dramatic goods in its English projects, as Drawn Together easily proves.

Based on the novel Marfil by Mercedes Ron, we follow the rich daughter of a Spanish businessman living in New York who survives a kidnapping attempt. Her father then hires a bodyguard to protect her... and you can connect the dots from there.

Think a slow-burn, sexy, mutual attraction forming over something potentially fatal. There really is nothing like a tragedy to spark a romance, and I lap it up every single time. — JV

• Watch Drawn Together on Prime Video

Last Seen (Apple TV)

Apple TV's new thriller show Last Seen follows a police dispatcher who believes he's received a call from his long-lost daughter. Desperate to reunite with her, he tries and track her down without thinking about the consequences.

Colin from Accounts' star Patrick Brammall leads the cast, with Shameless' Maxine Peake in a supporting role, as they become caught up in a mystery that's sure to leave you on the edge of your seat.

The first two episodes are available now, with subsequent episodes of this acclaimed Apple Original airing weekly until October 7. — LB

• Watch Last Seen on Apple TV

Colin From Accounts season 3 (Paramount+)

Patrick Brammall is everywhere this week, as Colin from Accounts season 3 arrives on Paramount+ (NB: it originally launched on Binge in Australia earlier this year).

It's the final outing for the beloved Australian romantic comedy, too, so its arrival is bittersweet. I don't want to say goodbye, but I'm also excited to watch all eight episodes this weekend.

Season 3 picks up after the humiliating aftermath of Gordon’s failed proposal to Ashley (at someone else's wedding, if rejection wasn't awkward enough). How on earth do you bounce back from that? You'll have to watch and find out. — LB

• Watch Colin From Accounts season 3 on Paramount+

Band of Brothers: Legacy (HBO Max)

How many ways can the Band of Brothers' legacy truly be eked out over time? As it turns out, a documentary about its timeless appeal with exactly that title is one option.

25 years after release, we retrace its steps through the making and lasting cultural impact of the landmark HBO miniseries. This is less of a reunion, and more rare and previously unseen footage and photographs from HBO’s archives. Don't be too disheartened, though, as there are new interviews with original cast members. — JV

• Watch Band of Brothers: Legacy on HBO Max

Google Pixel Watch 5: One minute review

The Google Pixel Watch 5 is one of those smartwatches that’s pretty easy to review after a week of wear. It’s fast, it’s accurate, it looks nice and it’s comfortable to wear. There are a few big, groundbreaking changes in this edition: more accurate fitness tracking GPS, Breathing Emergency Detection and Insulin Resistance Trends, which are great, but they work largely in the background, improving existing features, or waiting in the wings to detect an event that (hopefully) may never arrive.

Gemini has become smarter, but that change is a result of the entire Google ecosystem rather than the watch specifically. The watch does give you the means to access Gemini on-wrist, which (if you have an internet connection) is like a little constant Hitchhiker’s Guide companion. It’s less useful for driving the functions of the watch day-to-day though, and I ended up using it the same way as other, more basic voice assistants. I’ve found some problems with Gemini, both as an entity in itself and as an agentic on-wrist assistant, which I’ll discuss later in this review.

The unique charging stand — in which the watch is vertical like a little clock — and the curved teardrop design, sizes and band-switching mechanisms are identical to the previous editions.

The biggest changes day-to-day are in the fitness features, thanks to the Google Health revamp. Google Pixel Watches used to use Fitbit software, but since Fitbit morphed into Google’s AI-first Google Health app, the free version is quite stripped-back, and the premium version is heavily reliant on an AI chatbot (again, based on Gemini) to interact with your data, build workouts, log food and generally use it in a meaningful way.

Your mileage will vary for this, based on your patience threshold with AI, but the subscription-free version of the app is sparse. That might be okay if you have the super-cheap Google Fitbit Air, but those spending $429.99 / £399.99 / AU$699 on a premium smartwatch, and don’t want to pay for Google Health Premium on top, might feel left out in the cold in terms of fitness features.

But, thanks to Wear OS’s vast library of third-party apps, the Pixel Watch’s elegant, repairable design, and some quality improvement and accuracy tweaks, the Google Pixel Watch 5 cements the series’ position as the best Android-native watch to buy for another year.

Google Pixel Watch 5: Specs Table

Component

Google Pixel Watch 5 (45mm)

Price

$429.99 / £399.99 / AU$699

Dimension

45 x 45 x 12.5mm

Weight

37.5g (without band)

Case/bezel

Aluminum

Display

Actua 360 domed display, 320 ppi AMOLED LTPO (up to 3,000 nits)

GPS

Dual Frequency GPS: GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou, QZSS

Battery life

Up to 40 hours Always-On Display

Connections

4G LTE, Satellite SOS, Bluetooth 6.0, Wi-Fi, NFC

Water resistant

Yes, 5ATM

Google Pixel Watch 5: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future)

• Starts at $399.99 / £369 / AU$649 for the 41mm model
• $429.99 / £399.99 / AU$699 for the 45mm model
• LTE at an additional cost

The Google Pixel Watch 5 starts at $399.99 / £369 / AU$649 for the 41mm model, and $429.99 / £399.99 / AU$699 for the 45mm, which is the model I tested. The pricing is roughly equivalent to the Apple Watch Series 12, while being slightly more expensive than the Samsung Galaxy Watch9, so I’m happy that it represents reasonable value for money — unless, that is, you’re buying it primarily for fitness.

The reason I say that is because you’ll need a premium subscription to the Google Health app, which costs $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.99 per month, to unlock all its features, whereas Samsung and Apple don’t lock core fitness features behind a paywall.

Apple’s own premium tier, Apple Fitness+, is a Peloton-style workout content service, not a paywall behind which your health information is locked. With this in mind, I’ve taken half a star off the Google Pixel Watch 5’s value score.

• Value score: 3.5/5

Google Pixel Watch 5: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Teardrop-domed Actua 360 display
• Comfortable to wear
• Materia 3 expressive software

I’ve always liked the design of Pixel Watches, and the Pixel Watch 5 looks and feels basically identical to the Google Pixel Watch 4. That domed teardrop Actua 360 display is just as bright as the Watch 4 at up to 3,000 nits, with the same bezel size. It’s a beautiful display, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The 60Hz refresh rate makes scrolling maps and messages, and other interactions, butter-smooth.

I do kind of wish the watch face had a raised bezel for protection, but that would completely ruin the look of the watch. As is, I love the design — I actually think it looks better than the squircle Apple Watch — and the watch is well protected from minor scrapes thanks to its Custom 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The watch is also repairable, able to be taken apart at home to replace the battery and display.

I’m wearing the 45mm model as I write this review, and it doesn’t look too big for my wrist, while the 41mm is a nice pebble shape that’ll look good on small wrists. A small digital crown acts as a button, a scrolling mechanism, and even a snooze button when the watch is on charge. The charging puck has you balance the watch vertically, with the screen reoriented to look like a clock. It’s a lovely design all round.

Wear OS 7, wrapped in the Pixel Watch’s Materia 3 Expressive design language, is a joy to interact with day-to-day. Notifications look nice, and the icons and messages resizing as I scroll is a great touch. My only software design quibble is Google’s divisive Google Health app which some commenters call ‘messy’ even in its free tier, and I dislike having to interact with the chatbot. However, that’s a Google suite problem as opposed to a specifically Pixel Watch 5 one.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Google Pixel Watch 5: Features

(Image credit: Future)

• New background health features
• Third-party app ecosystem
• Gemini intelligence features

A number of new features debut on the Google Pixel Watch 5, most of them driven by the new, improved Gemini intelligence. In practice, Gemini here is largely an extension of the tools on your Android phone, although raise-to-talk to ask Gemini a question is a nice touch. You can also use it to call or message contacts hands-free, and all the usual use-cases, such as setting timers.

Gemini, once given permission to access your contact details, will work in the background across your phone and your watch with tools like Proactive Assistance (a feature which requires a Pixel 11 phone to pair the watch with), which uses Gemini to anticipate your next move based on the content of your message. One example Google gives is your friend requesting contact details for a babysitter: Gemini will pull up the babysitter’s phone number in a draft message ready to send with a tap on your wrist. It’s clever stuff, and it helps the watch begin to feel more like the agentic personal assistant we’ve been promised.

Health-wise, we get new emergency tools, with last year’s Loss of Pulse Detection feature returning alongside Breathing Emergency Detection, which monitors for severe drops in blood oxygen caused by choking, pneumonia, drug overdose, or any other airway-limiting urgent health issue.

Google says its feature works by triggering a strong haptic vibration and notification, followed by a countdown. If the countdown is not cancelled, Google says the feature “automatically prompts your connected phone or LTE-enabled watch to call emergency services. Once the call is connected, an automated voice message informs the emergency operator that a breathing emergency was detected.

“It explains that you aren’t responding and shares your precise location. If you’ve set up emergency contacts, the feature sends a message notifying them that you may need help.”

Blood pressure trends and insulin resistance trends (both metrics that would normally require the use of specialized gear to measure) can now be viewed as monthly reports generated by your watch reading other vitals using its LEDs. While these features aren’t as accurate as a blood pressure cuff or an invasive glucose monitor, they provide a general indication as to whether you may need to visit a doctor. You do not need a paid Google Health subscription to use these ‘Health Guardian’ features.

All of this is added to the Pixel Watch’s impressive existing feature ecosystem, with music control and storage, GPS workouts, access to third-party apps, on-wrist phone conversations and messaging, and all the usual communications features you’d expect from a flagship smartwatch.

• Features score: 5/5

Google Pixel Watch 5: Performance

(Image credit: Future)

• GPS accuracy improved, and was responsive during testing
• Heart rate tracking lines up with other wearables
• Comfortable to wear day-to-day, but battery life still a sticking point

Another year, another Pixel Watch, another battery complaint. My biggest gripe about high-powered, communication-forward watches as opposed to lower-power models, like the best Garmin watches is the battery life. While the Pixel Watch 5 does have fast charging, and you’ll be able to top it up from empty to full power in less than an hour on the charging puck, it’s frustrating to have the watch die on you mid-morning after you’ve been wearing it for just a couple of days, especially if it does so before your gym session.

Daily charging, or at least every other day if you don’t have the always-on display enabled, is a necessity, while a 2.5-hour hike drained around 25% of the watch’s battery life during my testing.

At least the Google Pixel Watch 5’s metrics were up to snuff. Heart rate readings were in line with other wearables, with only very minor deviations against a Polar H10 heart rate monitor. Our writer Michael Sawh took the Google Pixel Watch 5 around the London Marathon course’s infamous Isle of Dogs route, well-known for causing GPS blackouts, and found it performed very well against an Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Garmin Fenix 8 Pro. You can read his full breakdown here.

The AI is useful, but not as useful as Google wants you to believe. Surfacing contextual information from your contacts is nice, and the voice assistant is fine, but there are too many edge-cases for it to be truly agentic. I asked Google Gemini on my watch for directions to my local train station, but rather than immediately surfacing directions it sent me back to my phone to open Google Maps to enable and confirm the route, then back to my watch, where I still had to open the Wear OS Google Maps manually.

Worse are the inaccuracies. As a stress test, I asked Gemini to find a local yoga class in my city center that started before 9am: it gave me two that started at 10am (without telling me), and one example that was completely fictitious — although Gemini said both the class and studio were on a particular street in my city, it was actually 14 miles away, and it got the time wrong anyway. Google may be very excited about the prospect of everyone having a virtual assistant to optimize their lives, but right now the technology doesn’t quite match up to the hype.

• Performance score: 3.5/5

Google Pixel Watch 5: Scorecard

Category

Comment

Score

Value

Generally in line with other smartwatches, but its fitness subscription mars value.

3.5/5

Design

Looks great, easy to use, visually distinctive.

4.5/5

Features

Health, fitness and communications features on top of Wear OS’s robust architecture and app libraries.

5/5

Performance

Battery life is still frustrating (although fast charging helps) and AI is inconsistent, but fitness is highly accurate.

3.5/5

Google Pixel Watch 5: Should I buy?Buy it if…

You have an Android phone
The Google Pixel Watch 5 is the best Android / Wear OS watch on the market right now.

You want accurate GPS

It performed favorably against Garmin and Apple rivals during our tests.

You want repairability

The Google Pixel Watch 5 can be taken apart, and you’re able to replace its battery and display.

Don’t buy it if…

You want rugged

The teardrop shape may look nice, but adventurers may want a raised bezel to protect their watch’s display.

You want battery life

The Google Pixel Watch 5 may charge fast, but one missed nightly charge and you’ll likely be stuck with an inert watch at some stage over the next day.

Also consider

Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2

The best Wear OS-adjacent watch for Samsung users.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 review

How I tested

I wore the Pixel Watch 5 for around 10 days, testing it in the gym, on runs, and on hikes. I compared it to a Polar H10 heart rate monitor during a run, and our writer Michael Sawh tested its GPS against Garmin and Apple watches. I stress-tested Google Gemini with tasks and questions, and used the watch as my primary wearable during my testing period.

First reviewed: September 2026

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 #1691) — 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 #1691) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 0.

Quordle today (game #1691) — 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 #1691) — 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 2.

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 #1691) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• P

• P

• R

• A

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

Quordle today (game #1691) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1691, are…

• PLUSH
• PAINT
• RIVAL
• AFOUL

I made a ridiculous mistake today guessing “pinta” instead of PAINT.

Quite why I did this I will never know, especially as I had strategically not jumped in and entered “flush” in case, as came to be, the correct word was PLUSH.

Daily Sequence today (game #1691) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1691, are…

• GRADE
• JOLLY
• PESTO
• SMELL

Quordle answers: The past 20

• 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
• Quordle #1683, Thursday, 3 September: SIGMA, ESSAY, MERRY, LLAMA
• Quordle #1682, Wednesday, 2 September: INCUR, FELLA, TITAN, FROZE
• Quordle #1681, Tuesday, 1 September: NASAL, ROUTE, ANKLE, MIGHT
• Quordle #1680, Monday, 31 August: ALIVE, LOUSE, ABOVE, MOSSY
• Quordle #1679, Sunday, 30 August: USING, SORRY, FILET, PIPER
• Quordle #1678, Saturday, 29 August: OVINE, ALLOY, VOICE, CARVE
• Quordle #1677, Friday, 28 August: WAIST, EDICT, BONUS, DEUCE
• Quordle #1676, Thursday, 27 August: SHEEN, TRICE, WAGON, BEVEL
• Quordle #1675, Wednesday, 26 August: OPIUM, EPOCH, BESET, FINER
• Quordle #1674, Tuesday, 25 August: BLESS, FELON, PORCH, CHOSE
• Quordle #1673, Monday, 24 August: MAJOR, VERGE, CRUSH, SCOFF
• Quordle #1672, Sunday, 23 August: CHASM, BLAME, PARER, BYLAW
• Quordle #1671, Saturday, 22 August: SPOUT, BRAID, FLASH, GUSTY