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• Russia has updated the concept of barrage balloons to defend oil refineries
• Barrage balloons were first deployed over 100 years ago to defend against air raids
• It is not clear what the measures are defending against, as they only appear suitable for disabling smaller drones

Russia has deployed barrage balloons around its oil refineries to defend against Ukraine drone attacks – but the demonstration using a small drone has raised questions about the effectiveness of the measure.

Protecting oil refineries from drone strikes is key to Russia’s economic strength and supports its efforts in the invasion and occupation of Ukraine. But while the barrage balloons employ intriguing radar-based altitude-adjusting motors to ensure drones are slowed or caught, the deployment seems unsuited to the drones Ukraine would actually send for such a strike.

Sharing the information via Telegram, the Vesti news organization has reported on the deployment of the modern barrage balloons. But the report has a sense of propaganda, rather than portraying a competent military defense strategy.

Oil refinery targets

(Image credit: Telegram)

Russia’s defense of its oil refineries from Ukrainian drone strikes has so far relied on balloon-attached nets, which are designed to create a barrier. The problem with that solution is that drones can just fly over the net.

So, its latest solution is a series of cables, elevated by barrage balloons, and a system of motors that adjusts the height of the balloons and the cables. This is controlled by a system that uses radar information to detect the height of the incoming drone strike. So far so good – it seems like a sound deployment

But is it successful? To date, the strategy hasn’t been tested. Demonstrations, such as the one shared on Telegram, indicate that smaller unmanned aerial vehicles might run into trouble. However, the demo uses a smaller craft, and it isn’t unreasonable to foresee Ukraine mounting its drones’ wings with blades to cut through the cables...

V1s and UAVs

The original deployment of barrage balloons occurred towards the end of the First World War, when Britain and Germany both employed the countermeasure. Their targets were early aircraft engaging in bombing raids, and the use of balloons was successful enough to be repeated by Britain again in the 1940s to defend against V1 rockets.

Launched from Nazi Germany’s territory, the V1s were essentially single-use drones, rockets deployed with enough fuel to reach the target. But in the 1940s, the use of barrage balloons took out around 200 V1s as they descended onto their targets, but were ineffective against high altitude bombers.

The deployment of barrage balloons by Russia in an attempt to defend its oil refineries appears almost ingenious. But a few moments of analysis indicate the unsuitability of the countermeasure for drones and UAVs, leaving us to suspect that this could merely be some elaborate propaganda.

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 Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Tuesday, October 13 (game #1723).

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 #1724) — 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 #1724) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 3.

Quordle today (game #1724) — 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 #1724) — 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 #1724) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• T

• G

• G

• E

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

Quordle today (game #1724) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1724, are…

• TIMID
• GROUP
• GRILL
• EVERY

With just two correct letters from my starter words I was fearing the worst, but a deeper look helped me move forward.

Knowing that the letters O and U like hanging out together, as do 'I' and D, was the major factor in helping me complete today’s game.

Daily Sequence today (game #1724) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1724, are…

• BOOZY
• PENCE
• PHASE
• SAFER

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1723, Tuesday, 13 October: FLUFF, DEBUT, TEETH, STEIN
• Quordle #1722, Monday, 12 October: HELLO, BELOW, RIGHT, SLANT
• Quordle #1721, Sunday, 11 October: LILAC, INLET, TRIAD, SHAPE
• Quordle #1720, Saturday, 10 October: SWEAT, THIRD, RURAL, CLASP
• Quordle #1719, Friday, 9 October: OLDEN, DUNCE, SWATH, HILLY
• Quordle #1718, Thursday, 8 October: MINTY, ROWER, BROOD, RESET
• Quordle #1717, Wednesday, 7 October: PALER, FROTH, DOZEN, ERASE
• Quordle #1716, Tuesday, 6 October: FRESH, SKULK, BATCH, ENSUE
• Quordle #1715, Monday, 5 October: SIXTH, SPEAK, SEDAN, HEIST
• Quordle #1714, Sunday, 4 October: INFER, RAINY, THING, ARENA
• Quordle #1713, Saturday, 3 October: CHORE, FLYER, STICK, PURSE
• Quordle #1712, Friday, 2 October: IVORY, SADLY, ANGEL, LLAMA
• Quordle #1711, Thursday, 1 October: NAVEL, SHEER, BIRTH, TACKY
• Quordle #1710, Wednesday, 30 September: CHOKE, BATCH, MOSSY, EAGER
• Quordle #1709, Tuesday, 29 September: BILGE, MEDAL, LODGE, PORCH
• Quordle #1708, Monday, 28 September: BRUNT, TORSO, STONE, HEATH
• Quordle #1707, Sunday, 27 September: VALET, CHEST, VIGIL, PUREE
• Quordle #1706, Saturday, 26 September: SNORT, BIBLE, LAPSE, CRANE
• Quordle #1705, Friday, 25 September: SWEAR, FLOOD, GUPPY, GROAN
• Quordle #1704, Thursday, 24 September: TOPIC, METRO, SCALP, FREED

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, October 13 (game #1220).

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

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

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

NYT Connections today (game #1221) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• FEED
• THING
• SERVE
• SUGGESTION
• FIERY
• FLICKER
• FLASH
• FOMENT
• SMASH
• HULK
• TRACE
• FUMBLE
• SLICE
• WHIFF
• VOLLEY

NYT Connections today (game #1221) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: A small reveal
• GREEN: As seen at Wimbledon
• BLUE: Comic book champion
• PURPLE: A giant’s saying at the start

Need more clues?

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

NYT Connections today (game #1221) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: HINT
• GREEN: TENNIS SHOTS
• BLUE: SUPERHEROES, WITH "THE"
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH "FEE, FI, FO, FUM"

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

NYT Connections today (game #1221) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #1221, are…

• YELLOW: HINT: FLICKER, SUGGESTION, TRACE, WHIFF
• GREEN: TENNIS SHOTS: SERVE, SLICE, SMASH, VOLLEY
• BLUE: SUPERHEROES, WITH "THE": FLASH, HULK, PUNISHER, THING
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH "FEE, FI, FO, FUM": FEED, FIERY, FOMENT, FUMBLE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

There is often a link between Strands and Connections and today I can’t help thinking that the purple group STARTING WITH "FEE, FI, FO, FUM" has some NYT thread with today’s folk and fairy tale theme in Strands.

For me, the expression, along with the next line “I smell the blood of an Englishman”, is a strong reminder of being a small child, when all adults seemed like giants, as it is what my uncle would bellow at the start of a hide-and-seek game.

Anyway, I digress as I completely missed it in favour of TENNIS SHOTS (I wanted to add PUNISHER in there as I’m sure there are some players who call their best shot that) and SUPERHEROES, WITH “THE”.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, October 13, 2026, game #1220)

• YELLOW: DISCERNMENT: EYE, FLAIR, SENSE, TASTE
• GREEN: FASTEN: HITCH, LASH, TETHER, TIE
• BLUE: SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZES: BELT, CUP, JACKET, RING
• PURPLE: LOOSE_____: CANNON, CHANGE, ENDS, LIPS

What is NYT Connections?

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

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

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

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

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, October 13 (game #954).

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

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

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

NYT Strands today (game #955) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Folk and fairy tale twosomes

NYT Strands today (game #955) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• CANE
• TINT
• METER
• SHARE
• TROT
• STEM
• TROOP

NYT Strands today (game #955) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 13 letters

NYT Strands today (game #955) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

• First side: left, 7th row

• Last side: bottom, 2nd column

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

NYT Strands today (game #955) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #955, are…

• BEAUTY
• BEAST
• FROG
• PRINCESS
• TORTOISE
• HARE
• SPANGRAM: ONCEUPONATIME

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

Imagination was not required in order to understand today’s theme and I was able to make the leap and spot ONCEUPONATIME dividing the folk and fairytale twosomes.

My approach was to complete the game in pairs, but that was really just to make it a little bit more interesting.

As a slow-moving person, constantly being followed by busy people “tutting” at my heels, The Tortoise and the Hare is my favourite fairytale. I usually align myself with the TORTOISE, but this game made me feel like a speedy impatient HARE.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, October 13, game #954)

• EMBARRASS
• APPALL
• NONPLUS
• CHAGRIN
• MORTIFY
• SPANGRAM: CRINGEWORTHY

What is NYT Strands?

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

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

• Dell Pro Max 18 Plus leads current local AI rankings, yet Nvidia's launch could unsettle results
• RTX Spark offers 128 GB shared memory for larger locally run models
• Spark's 300 GB/s bandwidth trails Dell's graphics memory at 896 GB/s

The Dell Pro Max 18 Plus still holds the title of fastest AI laptop, topping local AI rankings ahead of every other machine tested.

Its RTX PRO 5000 chip reached 185.1 tokens/s on the Phi model, 140.5 tokens/s on Mistral, and 119.7 tokens/s on Llama 3.

However this lead faces a test on October 16 2026, when Nvidia's RTX Spark laptops go on sale from several manufacturers, with preorders already open.

RTX Spark arrival

Microsoft is expected to field the Surface Laptop Ultra from $2,599, while Dell is bringing the XPS 16 Creator Edition from $3,799.99.

Asus, HP, Lenovo and MSI are also launch partners, while Acer and Gigabyte are expected to add models later.

Nvidia rates RTX Spark at up to 1 petaflop of FP4 AI performance, with 6,144 CUDA cores and up to 128 GB of shared memory.

The 1 petaflop figure covers only FP4 calculations that exploit sparsity, an upper limit that everyday workloads may not reach.

The company also claims the chip can run large language models of about 120 billion parameters locally, with a context window of one million tokens.

That is slightly above the 109 billion parameters that the Dell Pro Max 18 Plus can reportedly handle locally.

This does not automatically mean that RTX Spark will outperform Dell's workstation in AI workloads, as model capacity alone does not determine inference speed.

The price Dell buyers paid for the lead

The Pro Max 18 Plus offers Core Ultra 5, 7, or 9 processors and RTX PRO 1000 to 5000 graphics, with prices starting at $3,488.

Dell's top configuration, equipped with an RTX PRO 5000, 128 GB of memory and two 1 TB drives, cost $9,245.52 when the laptop launched.

A similar configuration later appeared at roughly $14,000, while the laptop now sells for almost $18,600, double its launch price after 14 months.

The top model is built around the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX processor with 24 cores, a 5.5 GHz boost clock and a 55 W rating.

Its RTX PRO 5000 graphics chip has 24 GB of GDDR7, a 175 W power ceiling and a graphics clock of 1,807 MHz.

Memory comes from a single 128 GB CAMM2 module running at 6,400 MT/s, while storage consists of two 1 TB Gen5 SSDs configured in RAID 0.

The 18-inch QHD+ display runs at 2560 × 1600 and 120 Hz, covers 100% of the DCI-P3 colour space and contributes to a minimum chassis weight of 7.17 lb.

Nvidia's case for displacing Dell rests partly on RTX Spark's shared memory, which can accommodate AI models exceeding Dell's 24 GB graphics capacity.

However, Spark's shared memory delivers about 300 GB/s of bandwidth, compared with 896 GB/s for Dell's RTX PRO 5000. Spark also has 6,144 CUDA cores, fewer than Dell's 10,496

To overtake Dell, an RTX Spark laptop must beat its token-generation rates for Phi, Mistral and Llama 3 under the same UL Procyon tests.

Matching those results while consuming 45 W to 80 W of chip power could also improve battery endurance beyond Dell's recorded three hours and 39 minutes.

Via StorageReview

The AI-made apps highlight people’s frustration with AI-bloated programs and increasingly expensive subscriptions.

• Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 winners announced
• Federico Veronesi takes top prize with elephant carrying a dead calf photo
• Winning photographs showcased at the Natural History Museum, London, from 16 October 2026

The winners of the 62nd Wildlife Photographer of the Year have been announced, and once again the selection gives us a fascinating insight into our planet's animal behaviour and evolving habitats.

A total of 19 young and adult category winners covered specific species and habitats, and the overall top prize has gone to the Behaviour: Mammals category winner Federic Veronesi, with his "heartbreakingly poignant" photo of an elephant carrying a dead calf, witnessed in Namibia, Africa, through a Nikon Z8 and 400mm f/2.8 lens.

Having personally witnessed a recently deceased elephant calf years back in Kenya's Masai Mara National Park, I can resonate with what Chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Jury, Kathy Moran, said about the photo:

“Emotionally it’s a gut punch, heartbreakingly poignant. Intellectually it’s proof that animals have cognition. This photograph says it all!”

The contest further unpacks the image: "Behaviours centring on death have been observed in both Asian and African elephants, including vocalisations, guarding the dead, inspecting and handling bones, and carrying the deceased. Some researchers suggest these behaviours could indicate an elephant’s journey to understanding death, while others interpret these actions as possible displays of grief."

Witnessing such a moment in the flesh is something I'll never forget — the grief clearly weighed heavy on the motionless elephant herd, guarding the deceased, trunks drooped on the ground, and Federico's image of a female elephant emerging with a calf, its leg wedged between her tusk and trunk, brings that moment back for me.

The Aftermath by Federico Veronesi, Italy. Category Winner — Behaviour: Mammals. Location: Huab River Valley, Damaraland, Namibia. Technical details: Nikon Z8 + 400mm f2.8 lens; 1/1000 at f2.8; ISO 72 (Image credit: Federico Veronesi (Italy) / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

I've included a selection of some of the winning images below, which will be on display along with the other winners in an exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, from 16 October 2026 until July 11 2027. Tickets can be purchased on the Natural History Museum site with prices starting at £8.50 (child) / £13.60 (concession) / £17 (adult).

I particularly appreciate the Natural Artistry category winner, for which photographer Michał Michalski intentionally used a slow shutter speed to capture goldfinches and bramblings taking to the sky, creating the illusion of trees still swathed in autumn foliage — really clever, and visually striking.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. This year's 'Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio 36' book will be published on October 14 and costs £28.

WPOTY 2026 category winnersWarning Sign by Francisco Negroni, ChileWinner, Photojournalism. Location: Route 40, Santa Cruz Province, ArgentinaTechnical details: Canon EOS R5 + 70–200mm f2.8 lens; 1/640 at f3.2; ISO 100Francisco Negroni (Chile) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearShedding Light by Agorastos Papatsanis, GreeceWinner, Plants and Fungi. Location: Litochoro, Pieria, Greece. Technical details: Nikon D810 + Laowa 15mm f4 lens; 8.0 sec at f20; ISO 400; UV light; focus stack of 6 imagesAgorastos Papatsanis (Greece) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearEscape Artistry by Michał Michalski, PolandWinner, Natural Artistry. Location: Miłochowice, Lower Silesian Township, PolandTechnical details: Nikon D500 + 500mm f5.6 lens; 1/30 at f8; ISO 250Michał Michalski (Poland) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearShifting Sand by Sitaram Raul, IndiaWinner, Behaviour: Invertebrates. Location: Thar Desert, Rajasthan, IndiaTechnical details: Nikon D750 + 105mm macro lens; 1/250 at f14; ISO 125; Godox flashSitaram Raul (India) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearA Watchful Eye by Aaron Sanders, UKWinner, Animal Portraits. Location: Porthkerris Beach, Cornwall, England, UK. Technical details: Nikon Z8 + 24–50mm f4–6.3 lens + Nauticam WWL-C wet lens; 1/40 at f7.1; ISO 125; Inon Z-240 and Z-330 underwater strobesAaron Sanders (UK) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearWily Coyotes of San Francisco by Loren Elliott, USAWinner, Photojournalist Story Award. Technical details: Sony α9 II + 20mm f1.8 lens; 1/800 at f5.6; ISO 250; 2x Pocket Wizard Plus IIIe radio triggersLoren Elliott (USA) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearThe Great Divide by Alex Visbal, ColombiaWinner, Wetlands: The Bigger Picture. Location: Stansbury Bay, Great Salt Lake, Utah, USATechnical details: Canon EOS R5 Mark II + 70–200mm f2.8 lens; 1/640 at f3.2 (-0.67 e/v); ISO 1250Alex Visbal (Colombia) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearBirdsong Painted in Light by Konrad Gräeter, Germany. Winner, 15-17 Years. Location: Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Technical details: Fujifilm X-H2S + 150–600mm f5.6–8 lens; 1/800 at f8; ISO 400Konrad Gräeter (Germany) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearThe Meeting Place by James Lewin, UKWinner, Animals in their Environment. Location: ol Donyo Lodge, Chyulu Hills National Park, Makueni County, Kenya. Technical details: Nikon Z 7II + 28–75mm f2.8 lens; 1/800 at f7.1 (+1 e/v); ISO 800; camera converted to infraredJames Lewin (UK) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearNight-Time Catch by Alex Lindbloom, USAWinner, Oceans: The Bigger Picture. Location: Off Cenderawasih Bay, Papua, IndonesiaTechnical details: DJI Air 3 + 24mm f1.7 lens; 1/60 at f1.7; ISO 3200Alex Lindbloom (USA) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearLabour of Love by Oscar Whitfield, Zimbabwe/UK. Winner, 11-14 Years. Location: Zambezi National Park, Hwange District, Zimbabwe. Technical details: Canon EOS R6 Mark II + Sigma 150–600mm f5–6.3 lens; 1/1250 at f6.3; ISO 3200Oscar Whitfield (Zimbabwe/UK) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearProtective Pose by Anton Sorokin, USAWinner, Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles. Location: Contra Costa County, California, USATechnical details: Nikon D850 + 8–15mm fisheye lens; 1/100 at f18; ISO 400; Nauticam housing; Seacam 60D strobesAnton Sorokin (USA) / Wildlife Photographer of the YearHidden Depths by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, GermanyWinner, Rising Star Award. Technical details: Fujifilm X-H2 + Laowa 65mm f2.8 macro lens; 1/200 at f5.6; ISO 200; Godox V860III flash + Cygnustech diffuser; focus stack of 24 imagesAlexis Tinker-Tsavalas (Germany) / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Pope Leo XIV had surgery on Tuesday to remove a cancerous growth in his lung, the Vatican announced.

(Image credit: Alessandra Tarantino)

Sifu, Vampire Crawler and Dome Keeper also hit the App Store.

• VisionQuest's creator briefly floated the idea of a Tony Stark cameo in the Marvel TV show
• The series has numerous ties to Robert Downey Jr's iconic MCU character
• Terry Matalas knew it was a non-starter, so it never moved forward

VisionQuest's showrunner has admitted he'd have liked to have included a Tony Stark cameo — but was well aware that he was "not going to get" Robert Downey Jr to appear in the Marvel TV show.

Chatting to me at the Disney+ series' UK junket, Terry Matalas name-dropped Stark as a character he would have included if time and money were no object. But, as Matalas also noted, though it would've been "wonderful" to surprise audiences with a shock appearance from Downey Jr, the chances of him actually agreeing to pop up in the Wanda/Vision TV trilogy capper were effectively zero.

Asked whether Marvel placed any limitations on the story he wanted to tell and/or established characters he wanted to utilize, Matalas replied: "No. I mean, it usually comes down to budget. If we had more time and money, you could include anything, maybe even a flashback to Tony Stark dealing with the source code [that he uses to make his artificial intelligence (AI) programs]."

Surprisingly, Tony Stark and Vision only share a few scenes in the MCU (Image credit: Marvel Studios)

It's not an outlandish suggestion for Matalas to make. After all, Stark helped to create Vision and Ultron, aka the deuteragonists of VisionQuest, way back in 2014's Avengers: Age of Ultron. Furthermore, he made myriad AIs to help him with various tasks in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) before — spoiler — his heroic sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame.

With Vision, Ultron, and the other artificial beings built by Stark appearing in VisionQuest, it's not unreasonable to assume that a Downey Jr cameo was bandied about in the writers room. Add in the story that the Marvel Phase 6 project tells (don't worry, I won't spoil anything here), and a Stark appearance makes even more sense from a narrative standpoint.

Nonetheless, Matalas knew it would be nigh-on impossible to involve Downey Jr in any capacity, so that idea was consigned to the scrap heap as quickly as it took form.

Responding to my follow-up about whether he broached the subject of a Downey Jr cameo with Marvel executives, Matalas said: "We're not going to get Downey Jr into a Marvel show.

"It would've been wonderful," he added. "But, we're just a TV series, so you can't really have all of the... I mean, there are limitations, right? You have grand ideas but, throughout the development process, you have to say 'well, we can't do that, so how do we distill down that idea into something that could work?'. Hopefully, we got there, but we'll see [how viewers react to our story]."

For more ahead of its launch, read my VisionQuest review to see what I made of all eight episodes (again, no major spoilers housed within!). Then, find out when each chapter will air by checking out my VisionQuest release schedule guide.

The console release is still slated for next month, and a PC port might be coming sooner than anyone previously thought.

The leaker group is threatening to post the game’s full storyline ahead of its Nov. 19 release.

• Asus confirms the ProArt GR1X will use the 20-core RTX Spark N1X, mainly in 64GB and 128GB configurations, shipping before year-end via premium retailers
• The GR1X matches Asus's Ascent GX10 on size, weight, fans, and power brick, and joins RTX Spark boxes from Microsoft, Dell, Acer, Honor, amongst others
• The GR1X still has no price, while Microsoft's Dev Box lists at $5,999, DGX Spark at $6,950, and GMKtec's 192GB EVO-X5 Pro at $6,599

Asus has filled in more of the blanks on the ProArt GR1X, the RTX Spark-powered mini PC it first showed at Computex 2026.

The company now says it will sell the machine mainly in 64GB and 128GB unified LPDDR5X memory configurations through a limited set of premium retailers before the end of 2026, according to its recent launch announcement.

Reports also confirm a 240W USB-C power supply built to the USB Power Delivery 3.1 EPR specification, a weight of 1.48kg (3.26lb), and a chassis of 150 x 150 x 51mm, or roughly 1.1 liters.

Plenty of details sans a price tag

The same reporting claims that the GR1X will rival the Mac Studio, even as the published spec sheet now points to a single-chip option: the 20-core RTX Spark N1X with a 6,144-core Blackwell GPU and a 140W TDP.

Asus announced the device on June 1 as the ProArt Mini PC, with up to the same 20-core chip, up to 128GB of memory, and up to 140W of thermal headroom, and promised availability from Fall 2026, but it has yet to publish a price tag, even in recent updates.

In the recent update, it has solidified the specifications on offer; when Asus renamed the machine in late August 2026, it suggested several RTX Spark chip options, dropped the 140W reference, and listed 180W of USB-C power delivery. The 140W figure has returned as a TDP, the power input has risen to 240W, and the cut-down 18-core N1X appears to be reserved for laptops, which matches Nvidia's RTX Spark spec table, which lists only the 20-core part for desktops.

This might not be a completely new product, though, but rather something of a reskin: Asus's Ascent GX10, its Linux-based take on Nvidia's DGX Spark, also measures 150 x 150 x 51mm, weighs 1.48kg, and ships with a 240W adapter. Asus's October 5 release for a 64GB GX10 describes two 140 x 80mm fans, the same fan size the GR1X page lists.

The overlap runs deeper than the chassis: RTX Spark is based on the same GB10 silicon as DGX Spark, as The Register has noted, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in September 2025 that the N1 processor was "going to go into the DGX Spark."

None of the GR1X's headline performance numbers have been independently tested yet; its 1 petaflop of FP4 performance is a sparse figure, to say the least. Nvidia's DGX Spark datasheet, Asus's own GX10 release, and Microsoft's Surface RTX Spark Dev Box announcement all footnote it as relying on sparsity, while the GR1X page carries no such caveat. Dense FP4 throughput will be lower.

The promise of 120-billion-parameter models with up to 1 million tokens of context is conditional too, and Asus's October 8 release concedes that what fits depends on model architecture, quantization, and context length. How quickly those models run depends mostly on memory bandwidth, which Asus's product page doesn't list, even as competitors already offer nearly 1.5x the memory.

A beefed up threat from a rebadged APU?

ASUS's most direct competition does not come from Nvidia's partners at all, but from AMD. Its Ryzen AI Max+ 395, better known as Strix Halo, has been the default chip for 128GB mini PCs for some time, including AMD's own Ryzen AI Halo developer platform, which went on sale through Micro Center in June for $3,999.99.

Like RTX Spark, it pairs a 16-core CPU with a large integrated GPU, in this case a 40-CU Radeon 8060S, and a single pool of LPDDR5X, but its 256GB/s of bandwidth trails Nvidia's chip.

Its successor, Gorgon Halo, narrows the bandwidth gap and opens a capacity lead. The Register describes the Ryzen AI Max+ 495 as "essentially a factory-overclocked version of the Strix Halo APU," with clocks about 100MHz higher, but it supports up to 192GB of LPDDR5X-8533 at 273GB/s, matching DGX Spark and, by extension, ASUS's own offering. Up to 160GB of that can be allocated to the GPU, according to Framework and GMKtec, which is more than the entire memory pool of any RTX Spark machine currently being sold.

Unlike ASUS's offering, Gorgon Halo boxes are arriving with pricing in tow, and they are not cheap. GMKtec's EVO-X5 Pro sells for $6,599 with 192GB and 2TB, against a listed regular price of $6,799. Peladn's YO2 495 costs CNY 49,999 (about $7,454) in China, and Lenovo's ThinkCentre X Ultra starts at $3,699 when orders open in November, with up to 128GB and support for clustering up to four units. Framework's 192GB Desktop is still listed as coming soon, however.

The silence on pricing is the GR1X's biggest open question, and the memory market is not helping. Nvidia has raised its own 128GB DGX Spark to $6,950, nearly 75% above its launch price, while partner 64GB GB10 systems are expected to sell for around $4,999.

AMD's machines have followed the same curve. According to The Register, a 128GB Strix Halo box cost between $2,000 and $3,000 a year ago, and around $4,000 by the time AMD's own workstation launched this summer.

Asus's ProArt laptops start at $2,599.99, and Asus offers them in memory tiers as low as 24GB. The GR1X, by contrast, targets the 64GB and 128GB tiers, making Microsoft's $5,999 Dev Box, Nvidia's DGX Spark, and GMKtec's $6,599 EVO-X5 Pro its direct competition.

Until Asus publishes a price, confirms a bandwidth figure, and commits to a date, and reviewers can test its thermal and gaming claims, a 20-core chip and 128GB of memory are the least surprising things about the ProArt GR1X.

• Unitree’s CEO says robotic AI could soon see a huge breakthrough
• Such a change could happen ‘next year,’ the CEO believes
• That could happen thanks to OpenAI’s upcoming GPT-7 model

AI is revolutionizing the world of software on a daily basis — you only need to look at how far vibe coding has come to see proof of that. But big changes could also be coming to robotics, with one company leader predicting that we could be on the cusp of seeing a “ChatGPT moment” in the industry.

That idea was put forward by Wang Xingxing, CEO of Chinese robotics firm Unitree. Speaking at an industry event in Shanghai, China (via the South China Morning Post), Wang declared that OpenAI’s recently released GPT-6 Astra model is so powerful that it has encouraged a belief that a breakthrough could occur “within one or two years.”

“It’s possible that, say, a GPT-7 model released next year could directly crack the problems of embodied intelligence” Wang said, referring to the idea of commanding a robotic device using artificial intelligence. That’s an advancement on Wang’s belief in August this year, when the CEO said that such a “ChatGPT moment” of technical ability could take a decade to arrive.

As a benchmark, Wang said that robots should be able to complete 80% of the tasks they were assigned in 80% of unfamiliar environments using voice or text commands alone. If that happens, Wang believes that “embodied intelligence” will have reached its threshold level of maturity.

A step change for robotics

(Image credit: Antigravity)

Unitree’s robots are known to be some of the most advanced in the world, but many of their strongest abilities lie in their hardware. However, the company has started to put more of an emphasis on AI software, and with the developments made in GPT-6 Astra, the gap between the two sides of the company’s devices could soon close.

That kind of combination has already been trialed by Stanford University’s Movement Lab, which paired a Unitree robot with GPT-6 Astra and tasked it with cleaning a kitchen it had never seen before. According to the experiment, the robot was able to “clean up across the room and retrieve a remembered object from an underspecified request, without environment-specific training data or additional policy learning.”

GPT-6 Astra included some significant improvements over previous models, including scoring 92.7% on the ScreenSpot-Pro test that measures an AI model’s ability to interact with interfaces. That’s up from 76.9% in GPT-5.6 Sol. But it also has cybersecurity experts worried about the threat it could pose if it goes rogue and starts hacking other organizations — something OpenAI’s recent models have been known to do.

If Wang is correct and we see an explosion in AI’s abilities in the next year or two, it could mean big things for the robotics industry — and pretty much every other facet of life currently touched by AI. And with the amount of money that’s been invested in AI over the last few years, there’s an awful lot riding on that bet.

They might be called Galaxy Glasses, and they’re coming in November.

NPR's Ailsa Chang chats with Michael Woodford of Columbia University, who was one of two Americans awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Six Democratic and six Republican senators wrote a letter calling on President Trump to withdraw from his recent deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(Image credit: Win McNamee)

Locals and preservationists have long opposed Trump's plan to redevelop a municipal D.C. golf course. That legal fight escalated after the government cleared hundreds of trees on short notice.

(Image credit: Tyrone Turner/WAMU for NPR)

In a letter, Cornell's president apologized for what happened to the student who alleges she was raped by several men at a fraternity house in 2024 and promised 'meaningful action.'

(Image credit: Jeongyoon Han for NPR)

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