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There has been an explosion of AI-powered products released over the past four years, with most built on top of leading foundation models. Startups, enterprise software vendors, and even large incumbents route their core intelligence through APIs from the leading AI labs, and a growing but still narrow set of open-weight alternatives.

This arrangement has most certainly enabled a genuine burst of AI products, but it has also created a structural fragility which can be remedied through the democratization of model creation and training.

Defining a wrapper

In its simplest form, an AI wrapper is a product whose core function is an interface sitting on top of a third-party foundation model's API, with little to no proprietary technology beneath that layer.

That approach can have a short lifespan and Jasper can illustrate that. Once the standout of the AI writing boom with a $1.5 billion peak valuation, Jasper saw its core market vaporized when ChatGPT introduced free, native writing features. Its revenue fell from approximately $120 million in 2023 to approximately $55 million in 2024. Jasper did survive, by redirecting its efforts toward enterprise workflows and brand-specific training.

Generally speaking, analysis shows that, among AI startups that have wound down in the US in 2025, 81% were "wrappers and apps". Copilots and assistants layered on foundation models, AI productivity tools, content generators, and vertical SaaS products whose core differentiation was an LLM front-end rather than proprietary data or infrastructure.

In Jasper’s case, and in many others, what pressured the company wasn't a competitor out-executing them. It was the platform they built on top of simply absorbing the feature they'd built their company around.

Not all wrappers are equal

It would be a gross generalization to say that all AI wrappers are the same. A thin prompt-and-display wrapper is different from a product that does heavy retrieval, tool orchestration, agentic workflows, or domain-specific fine-tuning. The latter can have real defensibility even while sitting on top of a third-party base model. The model call is one component, but certainly not the whole product.

Some companies also use multiple foundation models or fine-tune/distill their own smaller models for specific tasks after prototyping on a frontier API. Open-weight models add variety too as not all wrappers call a closed-source frontier model.

The wrapper problem

Regardless of where an AI product sits on the wrapper complexity scale, they all share the same problem. When a company's core value proposition depends entirely on an API call to a third party, that company does not fully control its own product.

It cannot control pricing changes, rate limits, deprecations, shifts in model behavior, or the possibility that the platform provider decides to compete directly in the same vertical.

This is not a theoretical risk, though how much it affects any given company likely depends on how much of its value sits above the model layer.

The economics of the wrapper

So what is the defensibility of an AI wrapper in practice?

The short answer is that it comes down to intellectual property.

Where a company benefits from an existing distribution advantage, established customer relationships, regulatory licensing, network effects, or years of accumulated brand trust, model-layer differentiation may not matter as much. But if what makes a wrapper distinctive is observable from outside the organization and replicable by a competent competitor within a limited period, it seems reasonable to expect it will eventually be replicated.

That is the unfortunate economic truth beneath the wrapper model. The cost of replication is near zero for the platform that controls the underlying model, and near total for the startup that doesn't. A wrapper's moat, if it has one, has to come from something other than the model call itself. Absent those, a wrapper is unlikely to have a lasting competitive advantage.

The barrier to the solution

At this point, you might be inclined to agree that model ownership is one solution to this problem. But that's easier said than done.

The reason so few companies own their models is not a lack of desire. It’s, more plausibly, financial. Training a frontier-competitive model requires enormous compute budgets, specialized talent, proprietary or expensively licensed data pipelines, and the infrastructure to run reinforcement learning at scale. These costs put model creation out of reach for all but the best-funded companies.

For companies to build on their own models as a norm, this barrier has to fall meaningfully. Several forces are already pushing in this direction, open-weight models being one of them. But even then, hosting and fine-tuning an open-weight model is no small task. It still demands technical talent and compute infrastructure most startups don't have access to.

True democratization of model ownership

Democratization, in this context, doesn't mean every company training a frontier-scale model from scratch. That goal is neither realistic nor necessary. It means democratization reaching the training layer the same way access to AI has been democratized for end users.

Democratizing model training and ownership could be what gives founders a lasting chance at turning an idea into a business that doesn't eventually get absorbed by a model provider as a simple feature. And if that happens, the stakes may go beyond individual business durability.

As things stand, access to models is cheap. Access to training is not. This needs to change. The ability to train an AI model should be fully democratized so that the value, the control, and the responsibility can be distributed rather than centralized.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

Trump presses to find an end to the war in Ukraine while courting Russia, campaigning reaches fever pitch with Election Day two weeks away, DOJ charges 28 people in California with voting crimes.

What makes the 9Barista espresso machine stand out, and is it worth $740?

You don't need to understand the mechanics of AI tools to understand what's happening to traditional technology pricing. AI is breaking the link between effort, cost and value that technology services have relied on for decades.

Imagine two managed service providers responding to the same production incident. One assigns an engineer who spends five hours tracing logs, checking dependencies and isolating the root cause.

The other uses AI-enabled observability to identify the issue in minutes, trigger the appropriate remediation and restore service before users notice. The second provider used fewer hours but delivered more value. Should they be paid less?

Enterprise technology services are running into the same pricing challenge, but on a larger scale. The old pricing model equated more hours with higher cost and, in theory, greater value. But today, AI is enabling organizations to move from reactive support to self-healing operations. In our own client engagements, we're seeing auto-generated tickets fall by as much as 70%, roughly one in five operational events resolved autonomously, and up to 45% fewer major outages where predictive models are in place.

That should translate into straightforward cost savings, but the reality that CIOs and CFOs are grappling with is more complicated. AI can deliver the same or greater value, with significantly less effort, which undercuts the assumptions behind what they are paying for. Managed services providers are facing the inverse of this same problem: How do you price services when the traditional relationship between effort, cost and value no longer holds?

Increasingly, predictability is replacing capability as the bigger challenge to address.

What senior leaders are saying about AI

The challenges of identifying the right AI use cases are coming up in conversation after conversation with CXOs and increasingly with business leaders beyond IT. Leaders of all kinds are recognizing that a successful AI program begins with an operational problem, and the sophistication of the AI needs to be matched to the scale of that problem.

That also means organizations must be willing to redesign their operations around what AI makes possible. Only then can clients and providers have a meaningful conversation about value and how to price it. For example, one enterprise client's finance team was struggling to get a single, accurate view of its cash position across dozens of markets and currencies.

Each region had recorded the same transactions differently for years, and leadership had spent more than five years trying to standardize the process without success. Before this, there was no credible baseline for measuring improvement, making it nearly impossible to agree on the value AI was expected to create.

A client’s business operations are often just as unsettled as the technology helping run them. The contracts holding the two together were built for a past world with more predictable staffing, fixed scope and stable demand.

There is no one right pricing model

The natural response to this uncertainty is to look for a new pricing model to replace the old one. But no single model solves the problem. Outcome-based, consumption-based, and AI-enabled pricing approaches each have advantages in the right circumstances and introduce new trade-offs. The challenge lies in creating enough flexibility to operate when effort, cost and demand no longer move predictably.

Outcome-based pricing works well when a result can be clearly defined and attributed. That gets much harder once AI-driven workflows start feeding into one another, making it difficult to trace which system or step contributed to a business result several automated stages downstream.

Consumption-based pricing ties cost to usage, which sounds fair until you run into the token paradox. While the price of a single AI query keeps falling, total spend keeps climbing anyway, because usage is no longer limited to one person typing one prompt. It's chains of AI agents running continuously in the background, each step triggering the next and including its own line item.

Take a lesson from a banking client running a 20-developer modernization program. Token costs per developer had climbed to roughly $1,000 a month. The team reduced that to $200 by routing simple work to lower-cost models, identifying usage patterns where token consumption was four times higher than the team average, and using deterministic automation for repetitive tasks where AI wasn't needed.

Gain-sharing models sound intriguing because the provider takes on more risk in exchange for a share of the outcome. However, they can become difficult to manage when both parties disagree about which improvements resulted from the provider’s work and how much credit each side deserves.

Why pricing flexibility is vital

These pricing models each assume either effort, cost or demand will remain predictable enough to price against. Increasingly, that is not the case.

While the market has not settled on a single approach, we believe hybrid structures have the greatest potential to become the preferred commercial model for AI-enabled managed services. A hybrid model combines a predictable base fee for core services, a variable component tied to AI consumption and outcome-based incentives where results can be accurately measured.

For CIOs, this approach provides greater budget predictability while offering some protection against consumption spikes. For providers, it helps manage AI consumption volatility while creating incentives for efficiency, continuous improvement and value creation.

Designing partnerships for uncertainty

The goal was never to find the perfect pricing model for AI, but rather to build commercial structures that can flex when conditions change again. That starts with determining clear baselines before any gain-share or outcome-based conversation begins.

It continues by intentionally building in scheduled points to recalibrate scope and pricing instead of being locked into the traditional three-year contract. Transparency around performance, costs, governance and AI outcomes also needs to be prioritized so that both sides trust the numbers.

We are still in the early innings of figuring this out. But it’s clear that AI is changing the role of the technology partner, from delivering capacity to helping enterprises manage uncertainty and accelerate business outcomes. Enterprises must build enough flexibility into their pricing models to adapt as the technology, demand and value equation changes.

While no one can perfectly price the future, we can design commercial models that evolve alongside the technology and the value it creates.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

Samsung's Galaxy A56 One UI 9 update has expanded beyond South Korea, bringing Android 17 and new customization features, but not every Galaxy AI capability.

The post Galaxy A56 One UI 9 Update Expands Globally: What’s New and What’s Missing? appeared first on TechRepublic.

• Watch NBA 2026/27 FREE on YouTube (India) / CCTV5 (China)
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• NBA 2026/27: Tue, Oct 20 – June 2027

Watch NBA 2026/27 live streams as the New York Knicks (in five!) seek to defend their crown, having beaten San Antonio Spurs 4-1 in June to break a 53-year duck and lift the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy for the first time.

It felt momentous in the present, and there's a growing sense now that the sands are shifting. Faced with the prospect of becoming yesterday's men, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo each hit the nuclear button in the offseason, their respective moves to the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat having been precision-engineered for instant gratification.

For it's NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, face of the league Victor Wembanyama and two-time top-scorer Luka Doncic who are the star turns now – and unlike the others, Wemby and Doncic are yet to taste what it's like to stand at the top of the mountain.

Here's how to watch NBA 2026/27 from anywhere in the world – starting with FREE options.

Can I watch NBA 2026/27 for free?

Yes. Select NBA games are shown on the NBA YouTube channel in India, and on free-to-air CCTV5 in China.

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How to watch NBA 2026/27 live streams in the US

National coverage of the 2026/27 NBA season is being provided by a wide array of TV channels and streaming services, including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and NBC.

If you're a cord-cutter, Sling TV is an OTT service that unlocks access to a good proportion of televised games. Its Sling Orange package ($4.99/day, $14.99/week, $45.99/month) carries ESPN and ESPN2, while its Blue plan (from $45.99/month) includes ABC and NBC in select cities.

You can combine them with the Orange + Blue plan for $60.99/month.

Alternatively, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and NBC are also carried by YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV and Fubo, each of which offers a free trial to new users.

Amazon Prime is showing Friday night double-headers, late-season Thursday night games, late-season Saturday afternoon games, select NBA Cup ties and the European games. A subscription costs $14.99/month or $139/year after a 30-day free trial. Students and 18-24 year-olds can get it for $7.49/month.

ABC, ESPN and ESPN2's NBA coverage is available to live stream on ESPN Unlimited, which costs $31.99/month or $319.99/year.

NBC's NBA coverage is available to live stream on Peacock, which starts at $12.99/month or $129.99/year for a plan that carries live sports. However, you can access Peacock virtually for free with a Walmart Plus 30-day trial for $1.

Every out-of-market game, meanwhile, is available to live stream on NBA League Pass, which starts at $16.99/month or $109.99 for the entire season.

Outside the US for a game? Use Norton VPN to access your usual coverage.

How to watch NBA 2026/27 live streams in Canada

NBA coverage, including that of Toronto Raptors fixtures, is split between Sportsnet and TSN in Canada.

If you don't have cable, the Sportsnet+ streaming service starts at CA$34.99/month or CA$269.99/year to access what goes out on Sportsnet channels.

TSN+ offers streaming access to TSN channels, with prices starting at CA$24.99/month or CA$249.99/year.

66 games are exclusive to Amazon Prime, which costs CA$9.99/month or CA$99/year after a 30-day free trial. Students and 19-24 year-olds can get it for CA$4.99/month or CA$49/year.

Every out-of-market game, meanwhile, is available to live stream on NBA League Pass, which starts at CA$19.99/month or CA$129.99 for the entire season.

If you're out of Canada but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

How to watch NBA 2026/27 live streams in the UK

(Image credit: Other)

Sky Sports shows several NBA games each week in the UK, across a range of channels.

Sky Sports packages start at £35/month, with £22/month pricing available to existing Sky customers. You can also tune in via a NOW Sports membership that carries the Sky Sports channels.

Amazon Prime is showing 66 games this season, including the NBA Cup. A subscription costs £8.99/month or £95/year after a 30-day free trial. Students and 18-24 year-olds can get it for £4.49/month or £47.49/year.

Alternatively, every single game is available to live stream on NBA League Pass, which starts at £16.99/month or £114.99 for the entire season.

Not in the UK right now? To access your usual streaming service from outside the UK, you'll need to download a good VPN, as detailed above.

How to watch NBA 2026/27 live streams in Australia

In Australia, several NBA games are shown each week on ESPN via Foxtel, with live streaming available via Kayo Sports and Disney+.

Kayo Sports subscriptions start at AU$30 per month after a 7-day free trial, as detailed above. Alternatively, you can get your first month for AU$1.

A Disney+ subscription starts at AU$9.99/month or AU$179.99/year, but if you sign up before 11:59pm AEDT on Wednesday, October 21, you can get a 12-month plan for just AU$125.99.

66 games are exclusive to Amazon Prime, which costs AU$9.99/month or AU$79/year after a 30-day free trial.

Every single game, meanwhile, is available to live stream on NBA League Pass, which starts at AU$24.99/month or AU$174.99 for the entire season.

Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like Norton VPN to watch the action as if you were back home.

When do the NBA 2026/27 playoffs start?

The 2026/27 NBA regular season runs until Sunday, April 11, after which the playoffs will begin on Saturday, April 17, starting with the play-in tournament.

When is NBA Cup 2026?

The 2026 NBA Cup runs from Friday, October 30 to Friday, December 11.

Who are the recent NBA champions?

NBA champions

2026 – New York Knicks
2025 – Oklahoma City Thunder
2024 – Boston Celtics
2023 – Denver Nuggets
2022 – Golden State Warriors
1921 – Milwaukee Bucks
2020 – Los Angeles Lakers
2019 – Toronto Raptors
2018 – Golden State Warriors
2017 – Golden State Warriors

Can I watch NBA 2026/27 on my mobile?

Of course! Each of the major broadcasters has a streaming platform that you can access through a mobile app or via your phone's browser.

You can also stay up-to-date with the key NBA 2026/27 moments on the official social media channels on Instagram (@NBA), YouTube (@NBA) and Facebook (@NBA).

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Five degrees might not sound like much when you look at the weather forecast. But for the networks our everyday lives depend on, it can mean the difference between equipment running reliably and being pushed past the limits it was built for.

That matters more every year as extreme heat becomes more common. Heatwaves, wildfires, severe storms, and prolonged periods of high temperatures are putting IT infrastructure under pressure in places that were never designed for these conditions.

At the same time, the hardware inside our networks is becoming more powerful and densely packed, making it even harder to keep cool.

Traditionally, outdoor wireless equipment has been designed to operate at temperatures of up to 60°C, taking into account both the heat outside the equipment and the heat generated by the hardware itself. But some vendors are now lowering that ceiling to around 55°C.

As temperatures rise and access points generate more heat of their own, that five-degree difference could be critical.

Our networks are getting hotter

The pressure is building as wireless technology evolves. Access points, for example, have gone from housing two radios to three or four, and each extra radio adds more heat that has to be dissipated. As a result, vendors are having to think carefully about how they balance heat and power as they pack in more performance benefits.

Wi-Fi 8 could also raise the stakes even further. Future wireless platforms are expected to incorporate more AI-assisted processing at the edge, increasing demand for compute resources, memory and power. But that extra processing power and memory will also need more power and will generate more heat, creating another challenge for vendors trying to keep their equipment reliable in demanding environments.

Solar load is an increasingly critical factor too. Direct solar exposure can raise equipment temperatures well beyond ambient conditions, making solar load a critical factor in outdoor network design. It’s important to consider both how hot the air around the equipment is becoming and how much additional heat the hardware is absorbing from the sun. Together, this extra heat can push already hot equipment much closer to its limits.

There is a cost to resilience

Designing hardware to operate reliably across a wider temperature range is more complicated than it might seem. Temperatures are rising and are becoming more unpredictable, and the conditions outdoor access points face today could look very different in just a few years.

Every component has its own operating limits, so each part needs to be selected based on the temperatures it’s expected to encounter. However, building access points capable of operating at temperatures closer to 70°C might need industrial or automotive-grade parts. These can be significantly more expensive and aren’t always as widely available globally, creating their own supply chain challenges.

Cooling increasingly powerful access points brings its own trade-offs, too. Fans help dissipate heat, but they add more moving parts and another potential point of failure. Larger heat sinks and liquid cooling can be helpful alternatives, but they also make the equipment bigger, heavier, and more expensive.

At the same time, customers want more powerful and capable equipment at competitive prices. For vendors, however, building more powerful outdoor access points that can withstand higher temperatures increases hardware cost and complexity.

Lowering the maximum operating temperature can therefore help keep costs down. But that five-degree reduction matters, since it can limit the countries, climates and outdoor environments where an access point can be reliably deployed.

Is your network ready for the heat?

As extreme weather becomes more common, organizations need to think carefully about the conditions their network infrastructure may need to operate in over the coming years. That means looking beyond day-one performance specifications and considering how equipment will cope under sustained heat, solar load and other environmental stresses throughout its expected lifespan.

The concern isn’t that an access point will suddenly fail the moment temperatures rise. However, as equipment becomes more powerful and densely packed, thermal management becomes an increasingly important part of maintaining reliable performance over the long term. Designing hardware to operate reliably in demanding conditions can help protect performance, reliability and the lifespan of the investment.

For networking vendors, that means balancing power, performance, cost and thermal design, while ensuring equipment is appropriately designed and tested for the environments in which it will be deployed. For organizations investing in their networks, it means taking a more forward-looking approach and considering not just the conditions equipment faces today, but what it may need to withstand several years from now.

That starts with asking the right questions before deployment. How much environmental headroom does the equipment have? What conditions has it genuinely been designed and tested to withstand? How does it perform under solar load and other real-world stresses? And will that resilience continue to support the network throughout its expected lifespan?

The goal is to build networks for the future, with the resilience to keep performing as both technology and the environment around them change.

Keep powered outdoors with the best portable power stations.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

The Rays will face the NL champion Milwaukee Brewers in the first matchup in which both teams are seeking their first World Series title since 1980.

(Image credit: David J. Phillip)

Voters in Canada's oil-rich province of Alberta have rejected a proposal to begin a process toward independence, results showed early Tuesday, delivering a victory for supporters of Canadian unity.

(Image credit: Ty O'Neil)

As more and more companies press their workers into coming back into the office, even if only for a few days in increasingly popular hybrid working models, the need for effective and reliable communication technology has never been greater.

A common sight in offices and homes across the world, Logitech is ideally placed to monitor trends in what workers at every level require - and at its recent Logi Work 2026 event, it took the opportunity to show off how its latest suite of releases can revolutionize the collaboration experience for all.

To find out more, I spoke to Henry Levak, VP and general manager, Logitech, to see what it sees as the future of meeting rooms, offices, and even the humble home working desk.

Broad portfolio paying off

“We want people to think of us as that simple and flexible partner - the word 'proprietary' and being locked in is luckily something we're moving away from,” Levak tells me.

“The reality is that you will have a world of different configurations,” he notes, highlighting how many of Logitech’s customers are asking workers to come back into the office, meaning the company needs to broaden its offerings even further.

“That's been a huge catalyst for our success,” he notes, “we have an incredibly broad portfolio that covers people working from home, to people working in the boardroom, and everything in between.”

At the event, Levak had spoken about the upcoming launch of Logitech’s new portfolio, which the company had described as its biggest enterprise-focused launch in years.

The new lineup, which includes the Rally Bar 2, Rally System 2 Pro and Sound Shape technology, will revolutionize the way businesses of all sizes collaborate and communicate, with not only more powerful, but more customizable technology being the watchword.

For example, the new Rally Bar 2, the successor to the popular sound bar now seen in boardrooms and meeting spaces across the globe, not only features a Qualcomm Dragonwing chip to allow for better AI processing, but offers a 115 degree POV and much easier wall mounting due to its smaller form factor

(Image credit: Logitech)

The Rally System 2 Pro provides a “modular yet streamlined” offering which looks to simplify complex installs which can be difficult to maintain and manage - making larger rooms better spaces to have these vital meetings in.

In spite of its new range of releases, Logitech had spoken about its goal to “simplify everything” - so I ask Levak how the company can pursue that goal while still offering a range of products attractive to all different kinds of customers.

“It's a big pain point,” he says, “one of the things you can almost always predict is that simplifying will be a request...people want things to be dramatically simpler - but they also want consistency and experience.”

“What they don't want, is that if you walk into a room, like a smaller space with some sort of AI features and capability - and then you walk into a larger room, and for some reason that space doesn't have that feature.”

“The technology should just disappear and blend away into the background, and everyone should just focus on collaboration and creation, not necessarily the technology - and the only way to achieve that is if you have consistent technology.”

Simplify, simplify

Going forward, this will mean that even in a large room or meeting space, customers will only require a small simple device such as a video bar set up, Levak says, removing unnecessary friction and allowing everyone to work effectively.

“The way you simplify it is by dramatically reducing the number of components,” he points out, “what we're doing is something that dramatically simplifies all of that, from installation, provisioning, setup and deployment - it's a reduction in terms of complexity of what's out there today.”

“In terms of what it can bring, it's the first time modern AI is available in much larger rooms - now you have a full ecosystem of components that will deliver that experience.”

Looking forward, Levak is keen to point out the role AI can play in spaces as incongruous as meeting rooms.

With AI agents playing an increasingly important role for many workers, the need for context has never been greater. Such information needs to be collected by a range of sensors, and Logitech feels that products such as microphones and cameras could play a key role in expanding this - as long as effective privacy controls are used - making its equipment the physical layer of a company’s AI ecosystem.

“You can see the power when (an AI agent) has context about you, and the same thing will apply at work,” Levak says, “at a higher level, we’re deploying these sensors in every space, so that the context you need in order to build out a more thoughtful agent for you.”

“We're making sure the products are built for what's coming next,” he concludes, “both from the simplicity and elegance perspective, but also from features and capability.”

Windows 11 Photos is getting a faster editor, improved viewer, and connected gallery. Here's what's changing and when the update arrives.

The post Windows 11 Photos Gets a 25% Faster Editor — Here’s Who Gets It First appeared first on TechRepublic.

Microsoft's October Windows Server updates may disrupt Exchange email. Here's what administrators need to know about the temporary workaround.

The post Microsoft Warns Windows Server Updates May Disrupt Exchange Email — Here’s the Workaround appeared first on TechRepublic.

Disney+ may not have been the only streaming service to increase its prices over the past year, but it certainly stood out for increasing its prices in two consecutive years — first in February 2025 when service added ESPN, and once again in April 2026.

So it was refreshing to see Disney+ introduce a generous 30% discount on its Standard and Premium annual subscription tiers earlier this month — representing a 42% discount compared to 12 months of the full monthly prices.

But be quick if you're looking to take on this offer, as Disney+ will be reverting back to the usual annual subscription prices tomorrow.

If you're fine with 1080p resolution, you can still get ad-free streaming on Disney+ with this deal. While the price here reflects the Australian discount, subscribers in New Zealand can also take advantage of the same offer and get the Standard tier for NZ$132.99. This brings the price down to about the same as that for the Disney+ ad-supported tier that costs AU$9.99 / NZ$9.99 per month. You'll get two simultaneous streams with this subscription, with downloads available on up to 10 devices.
See all discounts below in Australia and New Zealand:
Disney+ Standard (AU): AU$179.99 now AU$125.99
Disney+ Premium (AU): AU$249.99 now AU$174.99
Disney+ Standard (NZ): NZ$189.99 now NZ$132.99
Disney+ Premium (NZ): NZ$259.99 now NZ$181.99View Deal

Disney+ boasts a rich library of popular TV shows and movies via its own properties like Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, 20th Century and classic animation, as well as a more diverse library via its Hulu content hub.

The platform's recent addition of ESPN in Australia and New Zealand also makes it perfect for US sports fans with its extensive coverage of the NBA, NFL, MLB and more.

Some of the movies you can currently stream on Disney+ in Australia and New Zealand include Toy Story 5, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, Deadpool & Wolverine and many more.

As for shows, you can also stream the new Marvel series VisionQuest, homegrown miniseries The Clearing and The Artful Dodger. I also recommend Andor, Shogun, The Bear, The Americans, the Scrubs revival and many more.

And of course, a lot of the popular comfort watches like Schitt’s Creek, New Girl, The Office (US), Parks and Recreation and more should make a full 12-month subscription definitely worth your while.

It’s been a busy month for coffee machine maestro, Breville. Not only did it celebrate International Coffee Day at the start of the month, but this October is also the company’s birthday month. And to mark the occasion, you can save up to AU$550 on a range of top-performing espresso machines.

And that’s not all, as you can save a further 10% on discounted models with our exclusive Breville coupon code. Alternatively, you can use our exclusive promo code sitewide on the complete range of Breville appliances.

You’ll need to hurry though, as the Breville Birthday Sale comes to a close at 11:30pm AEDT 21 October.

Breville is, of course, responsible for some of the best coffee machines in Australia, and as a result, it can make choosing the ideal model for your household a little bit trickier. To help guide you to cafe-quality coffee at home, I’ve picked out some of my favourite models below. All of them have received an initial discount, and I’ve listed the final price after our 10% discount code has been applied.

Barista Express Impress (BES876): was $869 now $719.10
The Barista Express Impress is one of the true standout models in Breville's repertoire. Key to its success is the Impress tamping lever, which ensures you apply the same tamping force to your ground beans each time for optimal results. It also benefits from smart dosing, which will automatically correct the grind size if the machine detects the previous espresso was under- or over-extracted.View Deal

The Barista Touch is a great choice for anyone who wants to see the drink they're hoping to make. A large colour touchscreen dominates the front panel, with a drinks menu to swipe through. Making adjustments to your coffee is a breeze, and combined with a compact integrated grinder, tamping functionality, auto-dosing, and auto milk frothing, and even Thermo Jet technology for quick heat-up times, it's practically foolproof.View Deal

The Oracle Jet is no doubt an investment, but one that's well worth it if you take your coffee seriously. It too gets a large colour touchscreen, making it easy to select and see whatever drink you want. It will grind and tamp for you (and give intelligent feedback), and can steam milk (including non-dairy) automatically too. Plus, it heats up and is ready to use in seconds. View Deal

If it's a more simple coffee maker you're after, then the Bambino Plus deserves your attention. It make look basic, but it's rather intelligent, and can take care of most of the coffee making process for you. Grind some beans into the porta filter (you will need a separate grinder), insert it into the group head and use the one-touch controls to brew. It also has a hands-free milk texturing system for expertly frothed milk, while ThermoJet technology means the machine is ready to use in seconds. There's very little you need to do other than simply enjoy the results.View Deal

The Barista Express is about as iconic as they come. It has everything one needs for cafe-quality coffee at home, including built-in grinding, dosage control and a hand tamp. You can also customise the water volume and temperature for the perfect espresso. While it's available in various colours, the three different shades of black work out to be the most affordable once our coupon code is applied. View Deal

The Oracle is one of Breville’s older machines, but it still more than holds its own against newer alternatives. It boasts automatic grinding, dosing, tamping and milk texturing, while its dual boiler means you can extract espresso and foam milk at the same time. View Deal

Here are hints and the answers for today’s NYT Mini Crossword for Oct. 20, 2026.

• Russia and the US discuss nuclear-powered data centers despite continuing sanctions
• Putin's envoy expects further economic agreements following the Russian diesel deal
• Small nuclear reactors emerge as a potential focus of US-Russia cooperation

Russia and the United States are discussing several joint projects, including data centers powered by small nuclear reactors, following a recent diesel supply agreement.

Kirill Dmitriev, an investment envoy of President Vladimir Putin, disclosed the talks on Friday at the Russian Energy Week conference in Moscow.

There are no details on locations, financing, timelines or participating companies, but further initiatives are expected to be announced soon.

Sanctions stand between the two governments

Dmitriev, who heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund, has long pushed for deals on minerals and energy and takes part in peace negotiations.

He said American sanctions create serious obstacles and called the Graham Act, which Trump signed in September, a "misguided" law.

The legislation seeks to cut Moscow's income from energy sales using tariffs and penalties, yet Dmitriev said both governments are considering other economic cooperation.

"There are so many layers of sanctions piled on top of one another that everyone has become confused; it's difficult now to figure out how to navigate a way out of this situation," Dmitriev said.

"Brainstorming sessions are already under way regarding how to lift these sanctions - ​that is exactly what the United States is currently working on."

Diesel deal – the starting point

Trump recently announced a diesel arrangement that would bring Russian fuel to American and global buyers and lower prices before November's midterm elections.

The arrangement requires lifting certain penalties Trump himself placed on Russian crude, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has sharply condemned it.

Washington's Treasury Department asked the Russian sovereign fund to help settle complicated payment questions tied to the diesel deal.

Dmitriev said the Russian Direct Investment Fund will ensure payments are efficient, though he supplied no figures on the value of the diesel deal.

The Kremlin has complained that Washington made any new agreements dependent on a peace deal for Ukraine, which remains out of reach.

Despite Zelenskiy’s opposition to the Diesel deal, Washington is focused on moving on with the deal — abandoning the Ukraine clause approach.

“The ice has, in fact, begun to break. We are effectively implementing projects with the United States of America at this very moment...” Dmitriev added.

Russia says its cooperation with Washington will continue until its “special military operation” in Ukraine ends.

The transcontinental country has a decent base for small nuclear reactors as it already controls two 35 MW small reactors commissioned in 2020.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia plans to build 38 nuclear power units over two decades to expand the computing capacity that artificial intelligence requires.

With reactors running and designs underway, Russia brings the technology to the table, and the open question is which projects both sides choose.

Via Reuters

Need a Connections: Sports Edition hint today? Get a hint for each color group in NYT Connections: Sports Edition No. 757 on Tuesday, Oct. 20, then all four answers.

Around $3 billion was lost in 2025 to fraud from people aged 60 and over in the US.

• Google’s AI explored magnetic field equations relevant to experimental fusion reactors
• AI agents found new magnetic configurations within hours of starting their investigation
• Gemini helped extend mathematical solutions linked to a 59-year-old fusion research problem

Google’s Gemini 4 Argon has helped researchers extend mathematical solutions to a problem involving magnetic fields inside experimental fusion reactors, building on research that challenged a longstanding scientific conjecture.

The achievement concerns calculations used to model how magnetic fields contain superheated fuel, rather than a breakthrough that produces electricity or makes fusion commercially viable.

Instead of proving that an impossible problem could finally be solved, the team used AI to extend existing solutions into configurations that earlier examples had not covered.

Gemini finds new solutions by extending existing mathematics

Magnetic confinement fusion uses powerful fields to contain extremely hot, electrically charged gas, preventing it from escaping before atomic nuclei can combine and release energy.

Scientists need accurate mathematical models of those fields because computer simulations help them understand plasma behaviour and design configurations capable of maintaining confinement.

In 1967, physicist Harold Grad proposed a conjecture about the mathematical conditions governing equilibrium in three-dimensional magnetic fields, influencing research into plasma configurations.

In September 2026, University of Maryland researcher Matt Landreman published exact solutions that contradicted this conjecture, with assistance from OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra Pro.

Those earlier solutions mattered because they supplied mathematical examples that researchers could use to test software modelling magnetic confinement, rather than relying entirely on approximations.

However, both families of solutions shared a particular geometric symmetry, leaving researchers without equivalent exact examples for configurations that lacked that property.

A subsequent study by Opal Issan, Jonathan Citrin, Landreman and Brendan Tracey extended the existing solutions by introducing a parameter that breaks this symmetry.

The resulting mathematical configurations give researchers additional reference cases for checking computer programs that calculate magnetic equilibrium in complicated three-dimensional arrangements.

AI shortened the search, not the entire scientific process

The researchers used Gemini 4 Argon through Google’s Antigravity environment, where multiple AI agents explored Landreman’s earlier results and investigated ways to extend them.

The agents found ways to remove a mathematical symmetry restriction from Landreman’s solutions, producing new configurations that researchers could verify.

The researchers reported that promising mathematical candidates emerged within hours, suggesting AI can accelerate difficult investigations involving extensive calculations and interconnected mathematical conditions.

This speed matters because developing and examining potential solutions requires researchers to work through complicated calculations and determine whether the resulting mathematical relationships hold together.

However, the initial discovery was only part of the process, since the researchers still needed to check the derivations and establish that the proposed solutions were mathematically consistent.

The team also used computational verification and AI assistance when preparing parts of the research manuscript, while the authors retained responsibility for the published work.

The immediate achievement is a more extensive set of exact mathematical solutions for researchers studying magnetic confinement, not evidence that AI has solved nuclear fusion or removed its engineering obstacles.

Via arXiv

When the remake of Resident Evil 4 launched in 2023, it was met with universal acclaim, even netting a Game of the Year nomination. And that came as no surprise to me. This is a brilliant entry in Capcom’s legendary series, packing in spectacular survival horror gameplay, a massively engaging story, and a memorable cast of characters.

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, PC, iOS
Release date: October 16, 2026 (Switch 2 edition)

And now, Resident Evil 4 (Gold Edition) has arrived on Nintendo Switch 2. I’ve put about 20 hours into the game, during which time I’ve played through a good chunk of the main story and completed many a request. So how does this game hold up on Nintendo’s hybrid platform? Here’s everything you need to know.

Let me start by saying that the core Resident Evil 4 remake experience is incredible. Leon is a charming and likeable protagonist, the gunplay is excellent with a fantastic suite of weapons to choose from, and the narrative is top-class too. Sure, this entry perhaps lacks the chilling, claustrophobic atmosphere of its predecessors, but there’s plenty of high-octane action segments, fun puzzles, and big scares to experience. So if you haven’t played this game just yet, I highly recommend it.

A remake that's great on the go...but has a few graphical gremlins

(Image credit: Capcom)

How exactly does this title perform on Switch 2, though? Well, between this game and the other two entries recently ported to Nintendo Switch 2 — Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 — Resident Evil 4 is the one that has the highest amount of performance issues. This is totally understandable — it’s a newer release than the other two entries and carries a higher technical demand — but this isn’t quite the definitive way to play through Leon’s adventure.

So, let’s take a look at some of the blemishes I noticed on this port. The largest of these relates to texture pop-in. Whether I was playing in handheld or docked mode, some visual elements — such as trees or cliffs — would appear lower in resolution from a distance, and suddenly appear more detailed and intricate as I drew closer to them. Is this a major issue? Not really. It had no impact on my ability to vanquish my foes. But it’s something I did encounter regularly, and it could sometimes make the experience a little less immersive.

In addition, I encountered a few frame drops throughout my playthrough. When I ventured into a cave with a purple flickering flame, the game appeared to run less smoothly. This only lasted for a second or two, but it happened a good handful of times during my time with the game. Like the Resident Evil 2 Switch 2 port, and the Resi 3 Switch 2 port, the motion of some distant enemies appeared shaky, with some noticeable frame drops. With that said, combat was generally very smooth, and I rarely found said frame drops to give me a disadvantage in skirmishes.

Another thing worth noting is that this version of the game supports motion controls, something I was really hoping to see in the recent ports of the game’s predecessors. This is a most welcome inclusion, giving fans of gyro aiming another way to play…but it could’ve been implemented more effectively. While vertical aiming feels precise and responsive, horizontal movement is sluggish by comparison. Still, traditional controls work like a dream, and there are a number of schemes you can choose from in the Options menu to suit your personal preferences.

Best bit

(Image credit: Capcom)

When I rescued the friendly dog (wolf?) in the village, I felt like I’d done my good deed for the day. And what do you know, when it was time to face off against a towering giant, the trusty pooch came to my aid, distracting my towering foe as I blasted him repeatedly with my rifle. Talk about good karma.

I want to be clear: this game doesn’t perform badly, not by any means.

For the most part, Resident Evil 4 plays nicely on the Switch 2, with largely smooth performance and solid graphical fidelity, especially in docked mode. Of course, some textures look a bit less refined in handheld mode, but the dark and dismal environments still translate over nicely. The game also has HDR support for enhanced contrast, and character models look pretty sharp too. And all in all, I found the port to be totally serviceable — just expect an experience closer to the PS4 version than the PS5 one.

In the end, the Nintendo Switch 2 port of the Resident Evil 4 remake is decent. A lot of the issues, like pop-in and occasional frame drops, feel relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, though I wish motion controls felt more precise. Still, you get generally smooth performance, good visual fidelity, and all of the major DLC bundled in, including the excellent Separate Ways.

Is this the definitive way to play through Leon Kennedy’s journey? Perhaps not. But if you want to experience Resident Evil 4 on the go, this Switch 2 port is a perfectly fine option.

Should you play Resident Evil 4 for Nintendo Switch 2?

(Image credit: Capcom)Play it if…

You want to experience Leon’s adventure on the go
As is the case with any Switch 2 port, the system’s hybrid capabilities are a huge plus. The game runs relatively well, even in handheld mode, so if you want to take Leon on the go, the Switch 2 version is a serviceable way of doing so.

You’re yet to experience the RE4 remake
If you missed the Resident Evil 4 remake, now is the time to play it. The Switch 2 version is the Gold Edition, meaning you get the base game along with the major DLC like Separate Ways.

Don’t play it if…

You want best-in-class performance
While Resident Evil 4 runs fairly well on Switch 2, there are some clear blemishes. The most obvious is texture pop-in, which means that some parts of the environment, like trees and cliffs, switch from a lower to a higher resolution as you approach them. There are also a few frame drops here and there, which isn’t overly problematic, but still something you’re less likely to experience on PS5, for instance.

You’re new to Resident Evil
The story beats of Resident Evil 4 won’t hit as hard for you if you’ve not played some previous entries in the series, mainly Resident Evil 2. I highly recommend playing that title first, and believe me it’s well-worth it.

Accessibility features

The options menu allows you to make a few changes to your experience, with a range of camera options, a number of control schemes including motion aiming, toggle or hold run modes, and a range of voice and text languages available. What’s more, you can change the color of the reticle, laser dot sight, and biosensor scope, alter HUD opacity, and tone down damage display if you’d prefer.

How I reviewed Resident Evil 4 for Nintendo Switch 2

(Image credit: Capcom)

I put more than 20 hours into the Resident Evil 4 remake on Nintendo Switch 2, during which time I played through the main story and completed as many requests as possible while playing in both docked and handheld mode.

The vast majority of the time, I played the game docked, with my Switch 2 connected to the Sky Glass Gen 2 TV and Marshall Heston 120 soundbar. I also dabbled in handheld gameplay now and then, though, and used my JBL Live Beam 4 earbuds to experience the game’s virtual spatial sound.

More generally, I’m an experienced gaming hardware and software reviewer, and have been testing all kinds of games and accessories at TechRadar for years now, where I serve as a Senior Reviews Writer. I’ve reviewed all sorts of Nintendo Switch 2 titles, from major first-party releases like Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave to ports like Yakuza Kiwami. I’ve also played a number of Resident Evil games, including the Switch 2 ports of the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes.

First reviewed October 2026