Feed aggregator

Apple’s M4 Mac mini has already garnered plenty of attention thanks to its brand-new and innovative design. Still, there’s another reason why it deserves your praise according to the tech giant.

The M4 Mac mini is now the second Apple product and the first Mac device to receive the “carbon neutral” label. In order to reduce the carbon footprint of the Mac mini, Apple invested in enough renewable energy to offset the emissions created by consumer use of the product.

This all started in 2023 with the Apple Watch Series 9’s production, in which it decided to eliminate emissions by purchasing renewable energy sources. While the energy needed to power a smartwatch is relatively small compared to the footprint of the device’s components, a Mac mini requires far more energy to function, which makes the latter a much more sustainable option for this method of carbon reduction.

While its reduced size likely reduced its carbon footprint, Apple tends to be tight-lipped about the specifics regarding materials and production for its environmental initiatives, which makes it hard to determine to extend of this.

Will this initiative really work?

While this does sound nice, and it really does, these renewable energy source purchases beg an important question — does any of this matter in the end?

Of course, any bit of reduction helps, and establishing a carbon-neutral footprint is certainly commendable. However, how carbon-neutral are these footprints when looking at the ecological impact of the semiconductor industry? Not only is it incredibly energy intensive but it also uses chemicals that pose a significantly higher global warming risk than carbon dioxide.

According to TechCrunch, manufacturing the base model for the Mac mini “generates 32 kg of carbon pollution” even after subtracting from Apple’s carbon-reduction investments, and the top-spec model “nearly quadruples the carbon footprint to 121 kg.”

It goes to show you how much — even with all these initiatives tech companies have been investing in for years — carbon emissions, chemical waste production, and overall contribution to ecological damage (not to mention the unethical labor practices that go into resource mining) are embedded in the tech industry.

The only real way to truly reduce carbon emissions is to reduce the production of tech products in the first place, while developing more sustainable materials and manufacturing practices. Otherwise, all the renewable energy sources in the world won’t offset the permanent damage being dealt to the planet.

You might also like...

• Apple, I'm not ready to move on from USB-A yet - so why the heck does the new M4 Mac mini only have USB-C ports?
• Apple's M4 Mac mini is the smallest Mac ever and, with a new M4 Pro option, possibly the most powerful too
• These M4 Mac mini specs could be good news for the imminent M4 MacBook Pro

A major Brazilian driving school appears to have exposed the sensitive information of up to 400,000 individuals after failing to properly secure a cloud database.

Researchers from Cybernews claim to have found an unprotected Google Cloud Storage bucket containing information about Brazilian Learner’s Driving permits - Licença De Aprendizagem De Direção Veicular.

The learner permit is a document that the Brazilian government issues to people currently attending driving lessons, allowing them to drive a vehicle during lessons. Cybernews says the archive is most likely owned by a driving school from Sao Paulo, called Centro de Formação de Condutores Free Alda.

Still available

Most of the exposed data carries a Detran insignia - which stands for State Department of Traffic (Departamento Estadual de Trânsito).

The researchers believe that up to 400,000 individuals have had sensitive data exposed this way, including full names, photographs, postal addresses, government ID numbers, taxpayers’ numbers, details about the driving permit, including issue date and validity period, signatures, IP addresses, and user phone models. This is more than enough to run all sorts of cybercrime, from identity theft to wire fraud.

The pros think the archive was either misconfigured, or not properly secured. It is impossible to determine for how long it remained open, or if anyone accessed it before they found it. The Cybernews team says they made the discovery on June 2, and that the school was subsequently contacted by Brazil’s CERT. However, as late as September 19, the archive was still open to anyone who knew where to look.

“The exposed data could be exploited by malicious actors for identity theft, fraud, or other illegal activities. Moreover, a breach of this type can undermine public trust in governmental agencies responsible for managing and protecting sensitive personal information,” Cybernews researchers said.

More from TechRadar Pro

• Mystery database containing sensitive info on 762,000 car-owners discovered by researchers
• Here's a list of the best firewalls today
• These are the best endpoint protection tools right now

For a limited time, you can get the Keurig K-Express coffee maker in four different colors at 33% off.

Target has announced the official dates for its Black Friday sale, and it has tons of deals already available.

These exclusive previews will be up your alley if you like creature tokens, treasures or storming off.

Rest easy with these high-quality earplugs that completely block out external noise for better sleep.

Depending on who wins the presidential election and the Senate, the conservative supermajority could remain the same, be trimmed or expand to an even larger and more lopsided conservative majority.

(Image credit: Saul Loeb)

The region drained by the Amazon River, including the Amazon Rainforest, is in the second year of a punishing drought. That has lead to the lowest water levels in more than 100 years for the Amazon and its major tributaries. Millions of people and an array of wildlife depend on those quickly disappearing waters. We travel to the region to see the effects.

A mysterious AI image generator known as Red Panda shot up the ranks of the Artificial Analysis Image Arena this week, cementing itself at the top of the charts. While we had no idea who developed Red Panda, or even what, exactly, it was, we now know who makes one of the best AI image generators and where you can try it… enter Recraft V3.

Recraft V3 is an AI tool for professional designers and its developer, also called Recraft, has just released its new image generation model ‘red_panda’. As we reported yesterday (October 29), the leaderboard king Red Panda was indeed a new model in testing, and it looks like it could be one of the best out there.

Recraft V3 secured the number 1 spot on Artificial Analysis' Text-to-Image Model Leaderboard, a crowdsourced research tool that is created by giving users the choice between images created using two different models and asking them which one they prefer.

The new model has a lot going for it, including improved image generation compared to Recraft's previous model. Recraft V3 is the first model of its kind to offer image generation of any size and length of text. Recraft says, "This feature sets it apart from others – while very few models can offer similar capabilities, they still can’t match Recraft’s ability to generate long texts within an image."

Anna Veronika Dorogush, Founder and CEO of Recraft says, "We don't just want users to just enter a prompt and see what comes out. Our goal is to help designers realize the exact result they have in mind. Recraft gives designers enhanced control over their work, enabling them to deliver projects that align perfectly with their creative vision. We are committed to making Recraft the essential, daily tool for every designer.”

The king is revealed

Recraft V3 took part in Artificial Analysis' test for four days, and currently has a 1172 ELO – ELO is a skill-based system found in online gaming and chess, which compares performance based on how many times something wins or loses. The image generator has an arena win rate of 72%, meaning users are more often than not picking the new model over its competitors. Recraft V3 topped the leaderboard, beating Black Forest Labs' FLUX1.1 and Midjourney, TechRadar's current pick for the best AI Image generator.

The new model is available from Recraft's website and the company offers a range of subscription plans ranging from free to $48 per month (about £37 or AU$73). Users can access all of Recraft V3's capabilities from the website, or via the iOS / Android app.

You might also like...

• Midjourney ends discord over Discord requirements for AI image generation
• A new AI wearable to supplement your memory is happy to tread where other AI hardware failed
• Turn your napkin doodles into high art with this AI image generator

Madison offers a range of broadband providers with speeds up to 5,000Mbps. CNET’s team selected the fastest and most affordable options.

Bandwidth limitations have become a significant bottleneck in AI and high-performance computing (HPC), as GPUs are underutilized due to bandwidth constraints, with nearly half of their computational power going to waste.

Nvidia is not expected to release optical interconnects for its NVLink protocol until the "Rubin Ultra" GPU compute engine launches in 2027.

This delay has led hyperscalers and cloud builders to explore ways to leapfrog Nvidia’s technology by adopting optical interconnects earlier.

Introducing ChromX

Xscape Photonics, an optical interconnect company spun out of research at Columbia University, is using photonics to realize scalable, high-bandwidth, energy-sustainable, and cost-effective solutions to enable the next generation of AI, ML, and simulation hardware.

This could help the AI industry save billions of dollars in wasted GPU capacity while also offering a path to greener, more sustainable AI infrastructures.

The Next Platform recently took a closer look at Xscape Photonics and spoke with the team behind it, including CEO Vivek Raghunathan, a former MIT researcher and Intel engineer.

Raghunathan highlighted the inefficiencies of current GPU systems, explaining that as scaling continues, the problem shifts "from GPU device-level performance to a system-level networking problem."

This is where Xscape’s technology comes into play. By converting electrical signals into optical ones directly within the GPU, Xscape can dramatically increase bandwidth while simultaneously reducing power consumption.

The startup’s solution, called the "ChromX" platform, uses a laser that can transmit multiple wavelengths of light simultaneously through a single optical fiber - up to 128 different wavelengths (or "colors"). This enables a 32-fold increase in bandwidth compared to lasers that use only four wavelengths.

The ChromX platform also relies on simpler modulation schemes like NRZ (Non-Return-to-Zero), which reduce latency compared to higher-order schemes like PAM-4 used in other systems such as InfiniBand and Ethernet. The ChromX platform is programmable, allowing it to adjust the number of wavelengths to match the specific needs of an AI workload, whether for training or inference tasks.

Raghunathan told The Next Platform’s Timothy Prickett Morgan, “The vision is to match in-package communication bandwidth to off-package communication escape bandwidth. And we think when we use our multicolor approach, we can match that so that giant datacenters - or multiple datacenters - behave as one big GPU.”

The potential impact of this technology is enormous. AI workloads consume vast amounts of energy, and with data center demand projected to triple by 2035, power grids may struggle to keep up. Xscape Photonics’ innovations could offer a vital solution, enabling AI systems to operate more efficiently and sustainably.

More from TechRadar Pro

• Researchers design tech that could 'potentially replace solar cells'
• Intel debuts crucial optical tech that will boost AI performance
• Humble plastic could become key material in race to conquer AI data center market

Homeowners can get access to a large sum of cash at a fixed rate by borrowing against their property's value with a home equity loan.

Even as mortgage rates fall, experts say they won't return their 2021 lows.

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8% in the third quarter, led by strong consumer spending. The news comes days before a presidential election in which the economy has been top of mind for many voters.

(Image credit: Spencer Platt)

If you think the United States is politically divided now, just wait for the AI culture wars.

Robot vacuums were supposed to make cleaning our homes easier than ever. The set-it-and-forget-it nature meant we could easily program a cleaning routine and path into our little robot, then kick back with our feet up while it did all the work. And for the most part, that’s been true. In fact, Eureka’s E10s has been the most popular robot vacuum on Amazon for a while now – and for good reason. In the TechRadar review of the E10s, the robot vacuum was dubbed “a faithful friend that will get the daily clean done.” Eureka’s E10s robot vacuum is manufactured by a trusted brand with a century of cleaning solution innovation under its belt and offers powerful suction and obstacle avoidance at an affordable price point. What more could you ask for in an automated vacuum cleaner?

Eureka has managed to think of a few things, and now proudly introduces the Eureka E20 Plus – a smart robot vacuum built upon the strong foundation of the E10s but with significant improvements in all aspects. Improved cleaning performance? Check. Anti-tangle capability? Check. Obstacle avoidance? Yeah, check that one, too!

Hands-free cleaning you can count on 

(Image credit: Eureka)

The Eureka E20 Plus comes out of the gate with a 100% improvement over its predecessor with its powerful, self-developed motor capable of 8000 Pa of suction power. That’s double the already popular E10s’ 4000 Pa, meaning the E20 Plus can easily and effortlessly pick up heavier debris. Even those chocolate chips you spilled during your last attempt at baking are no match for the E20 Plus. Carpets are no trouble for the E20 Plus, which manages to pick up even the most embedded dirt and debris. 

Robot vacuums are excellent for cleaning a variety of flooring types, but many often struggle with wetting and soiling carpets, which can lead to foul odors over time. Eureka has implemented mop-lifting technology into the E20 Plus to avoid this issue, raising the mop 10 mm to help your carpets stay clean and dry. The E20 Plus is not just designed to protect your carpets. The rubber roller brush is also engineered to reduce hair tangling and is 14% more effective at preventing hair wraps from pets (or humans who shed a lot) from clogging up your robot vacuum.

(Image credit: Eureka)

How does the E20 Plus know it's over carpet or move around other obstacles, anyway? DuoDetect AI 3D Obstacle Avoidance is an advanced navigation function that works similarly to human eyes, allowing the Eureka E20 to utilize a dual-line laser on the front to dynamically sense obstacles and navigate accordingly. This technology is dual-purpose, giving you the freedom to delegate home cleaning tasks without needing to stay close by and intervene if the E20 Plus becomes stuck. Advanced 3D Obstacle Avoidance even improves the E20 Plus’ navigation in low-light environments. Whether you’re away from home or scheduling cleanings while you’re asleep, the E20 Plus works to ensure that your cleaning routine is handled autonomously. 

(Image credit: Eureka)

Once your cleaning routine is taken care of, the E20 Plus returns to its base station, where you can easily empty the dust tank with a press of a button. There are no messy dustbags or cumbersome systems at play here. The E20 Plus features a transparent bag-free base station that lets you see exactly what kind of debris your robot vacuum has been handling. The system’s multi-cyclonic dust collection features a 13-cone structure utilizing the suction during dust collection that separates 98% of dust and dirt before it even makes it to the filter. This extends your vacuum filter’s lifespan and helps the system maintain its powerful suction over time. 

The Eureka E10s earned its spot as the most popular robot vacuum on Amazon, having been developed by a known brand with a century of trust and innovation in home vacuum cleaning solutions. The E20 Plus, building on that foundation, is gearing up to be a powerful successor that brings hands-free, worry-free cleaning to your life at a reasonable price. The Eureka E20 Plus is available now.

Vizio has announced a new soundbar that doubles as a karaoke machine, offering singalong fanatics a sound system, two microphones, and access to 80,000 songs in a sleek and affordable package.

The Vizio MicMe will ship with two wireless dynamic microphones that automatically activate the soundbar’s custom karaoke mode when removed from the included charging dock. Users will also be able to connect to other karaoke apps, such as Stingray.

Users will also have the option of just singing over whatever’s playing on their smart TV, or streaming audio to sing along to over Bluetooth.

And you can, of course, just use the MicMe as a typical soundbar for music, TV, and movies – the soundbar itself is a 30-inch 2.1 system that connects to an included wireless subwoofer, which we expect will offer more than enough fidelity and volume for a late-night ABBA sesh or two.

(Image credit: Vizio)

And the MicMe system even supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, so it's actually pretty well-specced alongside the rest of the best soundbars.

For further sound tuning, the MicMe system will integrate with the Vizio app – this app can also enable six vocal effects and nine ambient light colors for each of the microphones, adding a touch of personal flair to your living room performances.

In terms of setup, the MicMe is compatible with Vizio’s own QuickFit system which allows for easy and tool-free attachment to Vizio TVs when wall-mounted. HDMI eARC handles the duties of connecting to your TV.

The Vizio MicMe will be available from Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart among other retailers at a price of $349.99 (about £269 / AU$530), and the first units will ship from the end of November – at the time of writing, no specific release date has been confirmed, and we expect it to be a US and Canada launch only for now.

We’re not quite sure if the Vizio MicMe will make it to our list of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars, but it certainly looks like a lot of fun, and the whole mic setup is a new one on us. And the price is impressive for something with this many features. We look forward to giving it a test. Well, some of us are looking forward to it more than others, admittedly.

You might also like

• Earfun UBoom X review: your neighbors will hate how mighty this Bluetooth speaker’s bass sounds (and feels)
• Some people got Sonos Arc Ultra early – here's what they think of the next-gen soundbar
• Audio-Technica’s hand-crafted 50th anniversary headphones are a a serious audio celebration

Nothing has revealed a glow-in-the-dark version of its most recent smartphone, the Nothing Phone 2a Plus, designed in collaboration with contest-winning fans.

The Nothing Phone 2a Plus Community Edition comes replete with green-tinted phosphorescent glow-in-the-dark decorations – that’s the kind that “charges” with light and doesn’t require power.

The Community Edition was, as the name suggests, designed with input from the public as part of a project that garnered 900 entries from Nothing fans in 47 countries.

As we previously reported, five winners were selected to help develop the final design of the phone, with their ideas influencing multiple stages of production from concept to completion.

(Image credit: Nothing)

Astrid Vanhuyse and Kenta Akasaki worked with Nothing on the phosphorescence design concept; Andrés Mateos used AI tools and digital design to produce six wallpapers; Ian Henry Simmonds designed the packaging using glow-in-the-dark and reflective materials; and Sonya Palma worked with Nothing on the marketing campaign, producing related video and digital assets.

The Nothing Phone 2a Plus was originally released in August, and is effectively a slightly more powerful version of the Nothing Phone 2a, which hit shelves back in March. Both phones are in turn pared-down versions of the flagship Nothing Phone 2.

The Community Edition comes equipped with the same 6.7-inch AMOLED display, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage that impressed us when testing the phone for our Nothing Phone 2a Plus review.

The phone also boasts dual 50MP wide and ultra-wide rear cameras, an exclusive MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro chipset, and a 5000mAh battery; a rather impressive spec sheet for its lower-mid-range price tag.

(Image credit: Nothing)

The Nothing Phone 2a Plus Community Edition starts at £399 – the same as the regular 2a Plus – with the first of only 1,000 limited-edition units available on November 12 from Nothing’s official website and select retailers. The flagship Nothing store in London will also stock the phone from November 16.

Nothing phones are only available in the US through the company’s US Beta program, and as such, no pricing has yet been given for this region. We’re waiting to hear back from Nothing regarding whether the Community Edition will receive a proper launch in the US.

Nothing is calling this launch the “first major pilot to co-create hardware, software, and content with its community," suggesting more community involvement could be on the cards for the company in the future.

If you’re interested in entering the next Nothing contest, or just want to keep up with the latest updates, be sure to check out our Nothing phones coverage and more general Android coverage.

You might also like

• Samsung's One UI 7 could feel as smooth as iOS 18, and this video proves it
• Almost every OnePlus 13 spec just leaked, a day ahead of the official announcement
• The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE could launch with an Exynos chip - and it might be here sooner than expected

Own a Google TV device and are a fan of its 'apps-only' mode that simplifies the smart TV menu? Then you may be about to see more ads where there were none before.

As reported by FlatpanelsHD, there have been reports of Google TV devices in a number of European countries, including Germany, Sweden, Netherlands and more, that have noticed large banner ads appearing in the 'apps-only' view of the home screen – a previously ad-free screen.

It's worth noting that these banner ads have been in the 'apps-only' mode for some time in North America, but have now made their way to Google TV devices, which include some of the best TVs such as the Sony Bravia 8, TCL C855 and Philips OLED809, to devices in Europe.

FlatpanelsHD reports that the introduction of ads actually pushes the app icons in the 'app-only' mode almost off the screen, despite no sign of recommendations like you'd find on Google TV's standard home menu.

It's another instance of ads invading Google TV, with unskippable ads appearing on Google TV's free streaming channels in the summer. But it's not just Google TV that has jumped on the ad bandwagon.

LG recently introduced screensaver ads to its OLED TVs, such as the LG G4, and then weeks later followed this up with screensaver ads on older OLED models as well, such as the LG C3. Thankfully, there were are ways to turn these ads off, but just how long will that last?

Ads, ads, ads

Ads outrage has become a regular feature here at TechRadar, especially in the world of streaming and TVs. in 2024 alone, Roku TV has had plans to introduce video ads to its home screen, Amazon Fire TV has tested full-screen screensaver ads and on the streaming side, the best streaming services have raised prices for ad-free tiers or placed ads into more standard tiers, with Amazon announcing its Prime Video service will feature more ads in movies and TV shows in 2025.

The point is that ads are everywhere. With broadcast TV, we expected them at different intervals throughout TV shows, but I don't think we expected them to feature quite as heavily as they do on devices that we pay for, be that TVs, streaming devices like Amazon Fire Sticks or Roku TV sticks, or streaming services – especially when we'd initially paid not to have them.

The fact that these ads are now on what was once an ad-free section of Google TV shows that ads are here to stay and we're likely to see more of them infiltrating more devices soon. It's just a matter of how intrusive they'll be.

You might also like

• Roku's ad director wants to bring Instagram-style shoppable ads to your smart TV
• Get ready for AI to serve Google Search-style ads
• Youtube's pesky new pause screen ads are its latest attempt to push you to Premium

Users of this best VPN app can now secure their online identity with a new suite of protection tools – and it can be yours without spending a penny.

ExpressVPN has just launched Identity Defender, a security bundle that includes three distinct solutions: an identity theft alert, cyber insurance, and data removal service. These tools are only available for the US market at the time of writing.

As of today, October 30, 2024, the ID suite comes free of charge alongside the feature-packed VPN for all new customers signing up for ExpressVPN's new 2-year plan. More availability is expected to follow suit.

The need for better Identity protection

With digital threats increasingly more widespread and sophisticated, a standalone VPN isn't enough anymore to protect your privacy when browsing the web.

Do you know?

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

A VPN, short for virtual private network, is security software that encrypts all your internet connections to prevent third parties from spying on your online activities. At the same time, it spoofs your real IP address location for better anonymity while granting you access to otherwise geo-restricted content.

VPN providers, ExpressVPN included, have known this for a while. This is exactly why VPN solutions have evolved over time.

From malware and ad-blocker systems (see ExpressVPN's Threat Manager) to password manager tools (ExpressVPN Keys), now the focus seems to be on better identity protection.

Data coming from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shows, in fact, that the number of identity theft incidents reported in the first half of 2024 (552,000 cases) is set to exceed all reports throughout the 12 months in 2023.

Hence, there's a growing need for users to take control of their digital identities with easy-to-use tools that both prevent and recover any losses or damages.

How to use ExpressVPN Identity Defender

"Discovering that your personal information has been compromised is stressful enough, but figuring out what to do next can be an even bigger challenge," said Lauren Hendry Parsons, Digital Privacy Advocate at ExpressVPN.

"With Identity Defender, we aim to provide users with a one-stop solution that not only helps them quickly determine if their information is at risk but also guides them through effective steps to address any issues."

To do that, the provider has launched three distinctive products that, together, provide a comprehensive solution against all the issues related to identity theft.

ExpressVPN’s Identity Defender includes three distinctive products: ID Alerts, ID Theft Insurance, and Data Removal (Image credit: ExpressVPN)

• ID Alerts is a personal information monitoring tool. It regularly carries out dark web scans, checking for your data, alongside Social Security number (SSN) real-time monitoring to protect you against potential financial fraud. Alerts also include any changes to your address and mail redirection.
• ID Theft is a cyber insurance plan powered by Assurant, providing coverage of up to $1 million for identity theft and assistance with restoring stolen accounts. Data breaches, stolen identity, check forgery, and embezzlement are some of the incidents it covers. For more info, visit the Express website.
• Data removal regularly scans the web to let you know which data brokers and people-search websites hold information about you. It then helps you to ask for the removal of all your collected data.

How to get ExpressVPN Identity Defender

As mentioned earlier, Express has launched its new Identity Defender suite for US users only at this time.

Parsons told me that's mainly because of the nature of the product – the United States is one of the countries with the biggest number of victims, according to Statista – coupled with the fact that the US is the provider's biggest market.

At the time of writing, Identity Defender is also limited to new US users before progressively being rolled out to all subscribers based in the United States. Currently, the provider doesn't have an exact date for when this is due to take place.

Despite being a security bundle, availability differs between the different tools.

ID Alerts comes free of charge with all new subscription plans, while ID Theft Insurance and Data Removal are included only with ExpressVPN's new 2-year plan – which TechRadar's readers can grab with 3 months of extra protection for free. Other subscribers need to pay an extra fee to add these products, starting from $4.39 per month.

Platform availability is also limited to its iOS and Android VPN apps at the time of writing, with more coming soon.