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More than 3 million Floridians were without power after Milton. In some areas like Siesta Key, damage was severe. In Sarasota, many residents were thankful things were not worse.

(Image credit: Sergio Martínez-Beltrán)

Sudan's war has displaced more than 10 million people and half the country faces starvations. The country's medical services have collapsed leaving a patchwork of charities, local groups and the Sudanese diaspora to try to provide what health care they can. NPR's Africa correspondent takes us to one of the few remaining hospitals, near the Sudanese capital.

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Never miss a note of your favorite artist with these impressive noise-canceling, over-ear headphones that are now on sale for $530 past Amazon Prime Day.

Crew-8 has been on the International Space Station since March.

The show is a celebratory release and the last project from the late Akira Toriyama.

The BioLite Alpenglow Mini lantern is the perfect size for camping and emergency bags, and a bundle deal is 10% off on Amazon.

Have Social Security and SSDI questions? This cheat sheet will give you the answers.

The housing market these days isn't easy. We want to hear from you about what it's like to buy or sell a home right now.

Netgear Orbi 770: One-minute review

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

We were pleasantly surprised by the Nighthawk RS300 router that Netgear released recently as it marked a move towards slightly more affordable pricing than we’d seen from the company in the past. It looks like that trend is continuing, as Netgear has now launched a new addition to its range of mesh Wi-Fi systems in the form of the Orbi 770, which is considerably less expensive than previous models in the Orbi range.

It’s still not exactly cheap – after all, Wi-Fi 7 is still the current state-of-the-art for Wi-Fi technology – but the Orbi 770 provides tri-band Wi-Fi 7 with a top speed of 11Gbps, which should be more than fast enough for most homes and small businesses. And, more importantly, it’s a lot less expensive than previous Orbi models, and can even compete with mesh systems from rivals such as Linksys and TP-Link as well. The only sting in the tail, as always, is Netgear’s fondness for selling subscription services that provide additional parental controls and security features.

Netgear Orbi 770: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? $999.99/£899.99/AU$1499.00
• When is it available?: Available now
• Where can you get it?: Available in the US, EU, UK and Australia

There are two options for the Orbi 770 series, with prices starting at £649.99/$699.99 for a two-piece system that consists of one primary router and one secondary ‘satellite’. Netgear states that this two-piece system is capable of covering areas of up to 5,500sq.ft, although regions such as the UK and EU may quote slightly lower coverage areas due to differences in local regulations. However, we tested the top-of-the-range three-piece system that includes a router and two satellites, covering up to 8,000sq.ft, for a total price of £899.99/$999.99. That three-piece system is the only option currently available in Australia, where it is priced at AU$1499.00.

That’s a fraction of the price of Netgear’s high-end Orbi 9700, but also compares well with rivals such as the Linksys Velop Pro 7, which provides similar speeds and features. However, people who need parental controls or more advanced security features may want to shop around to see how much rival manufacturers charge for those features and services.

Value: 4 / 5

Netgear Orbi 770: Specs Netgear Orbi 770: Design

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

• Upright design boosts Wi-Fi signal
• Primary router with two ‘satellite’ units
• 2.5GB Ethernet for WAN/LAN connections

Many mesh Wi-Fi systems simply provide you with two or three routers that are completely identical, but the Orbi 770 – like all of Netgear’s Orbi range – consists of a primary router and two additional ‘satellites’. The router and satellites do look very similar, with a tall, upright design that helps them transmit the Wi-Fi signal through a full 360-degrees all around, but there are a number of differences between them. The primary router – which has a helpful sticker on the front that says ‘ROUTER’ in capital letters – has a 2.5Gb Ethernet port (WAN) port for connecting to your existing broadband router or modem, along with three additional 2.5Gb ports to provide wired (LAN) connections for devices such as a games console or set-top box that might work better with a wired network.

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

In contrast, the satellite units each have just two 2.5Gb port for wired connections. It’s also a little disappointing that there are no USB ports at all, which would allow you to connect a hard drive or other storage device that you could share with other people on your network. The white plastic casing of all three units also feels a little lighter and less sturdy than it does with some of the more expensive Orbi models, so parents with young children should probably place them out of reach of eager little hands.

Design: 4 / 5

Netgear Orbi 770: Features

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

• Good app with simple set-up
• Can create guest and IoT networks
• Some features require subscriptions

Netgear’s Orbi app has always been easy to use, so getting started is very straightforward – apart from the fact that the router and satellites take a rather leisurely few minutes to warm up before their status lights announce that they’re ready for action.

The app starts by telling you to set up the main router on its own, and you can simply scan a QR code on the router to connect to the new Orbi network. You can use the default network name and password if you want, but you’re also given the option of creating new login details for improved security. You are then prompted to set up the satellites in different locations around your home, and the app automatically connects the three units together to complete your new network.

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(Image credit: Netgear)

The Orbi 770 is a tri-band router that can transmit a Wi-Fi signal on the 2.4GHz, 5.0GHz, and 6.0GHz frequency bands, with a top speed of 11Gbps (strictly speaking it’s actually 10.8Gbps but Netgear’s marketing info tends to round the numbers up).

To keep things simple for home users, the Orbi app combines all three bands to create a single network, but there are other options as well. Like most routers and mesh systems, the Orbi 770 allows you to create an additional guest network, but it also introduces a third ‘IoT’ network – or ‘Internet Of Things’ – that sets aside the 2.4GHz frequency band specifically for use with smart devices such as lights and security cameras.

It also supports Wi-Fi 7 features such as MLO – multi-link operation – that allow it to use the 5.0GHz and 6.0GHz bands together to improve performance (although your computers and other devices will also need to support Wi-Fi 7 in order to use MLO).

But while the Orbi app is easy to use, it’s not exactly overflowing with additional features, and more advanced users might prefer an app that provides more detailed control over your network settings. That rather barebones approach also allows Netgear to try and sell you additional subscriptions that provide more advanced parental controls and security features.

The basic parental controls that are available within the app merely allow you to pause internet access for individual devices, but there are no scheduling features that can limit Internet access to specific times, or content filters for blocking unsuitable websites.

If you want those features then you’ll need to sign up for Netgear’s Smart Parental Controls service, which costs £6.99/$7.99/AU$10.99 per month, or £49.99/$69.99/AU$99.99 per year. You do get a 30-day free trial with Netgear’s Armor security service, but after that you’ll need to pay for an annual subscription starting at £84.99/$99.99/AU$145.00.

As we’ve noted on many occasions in the past, there are rival routers and mesh systems that provide some of these features free of charge, so parents in particular might want to consider some of the alternatives in our list of best mesh systems.

Features: 4 / 5

Netgear Orbi 770: Performance

• 11Gbps, tri-band Wi-Fi 6
• 2.5Gb Ethernet ports
• Supports MLO and other Wi-Fi 7 features

It might be far less expensive than other models in the Orbi range, but the Orbi 770 doesn’t cut any corners when it comes to performance. Its 11Gbps speed is more than fast enough to cope with most domestic broadband services, and even many business networks as well, and it’s not even slightly bothered by the troublesome Wi-Fi ‘deadspot’ that we have in an office located towards the back of our building.

Netgear Orbi 770 Benchmarks

Ookla Speed Test - Single merged network (download/upload)

Within 5ft, no obstructions: 150Mbps/150Mbps

Within 30ft, three partition walls: 150Mbps/150Mbps

20GB Steam Download - Single merged network

Within 5ft, no obstructions: 150Mbps

Within 30ft, three partition walls: 150Mbps

Our normal office router can provide the full 150Mbps provided by our office network when connecting to devices that are close by. However, its Wi-Fi signal struggles to reach that back office, which means that we normally have to rely on a set of PowerLine adaptors to provide a more reliable wired network connection. As expected, the Orbi 770 doesn’t provide any real improvement for devices that are close to its primary router, simply matching the 150Mbps that we normally get when running the Ookla Speed Test or downloading games from Steam.

However, the Orbi satellites do a great job of extending our new Wi-Fi network into that back office, allowing us to maintain that 150Mbps speed for both Ookla and Steam with no trouble at all.

Admittedly, the Orbi 770 may still be overkill if you’re using older devices that only support Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-fi 6, but it provides a competitively priced Wi-Fi upgrade for owners of newer devices that have Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7.

Performance: 5 / 5

Should you buy the Netgear Orbi 770? Buy it if...

You have lots of bedrooms (or offices)

Most homes and offices will be fine with a single, conventional router, but the Orbi 770 provides far-reaching wi-fi for larger homes and offices.

View Deal

You’re an early adopter

It’s still early days, but there are now lots of computers and mobile devices available that support Wi-Fi 7, making the Orbi 770 a good option for upgrading your Wi-Fi network.

View Deal

Don't buy it if...

You’re still on Wi-Fi 5 or 6

A Wi-Fi 7 upgrade will be complete overkill for millions of people who are still using older computers and mobile devices that only support Wi-Fi 5 or 6.View Deal

You’re on a budget

The 11Gbps speed of the Orbi 770 is far faster than most domestic broadband services, so cash-strapped customers can still get good performance from last-generation routers that use Wi-Fi 6 or 6E.View Deal

Also Consider

TP-Link Deco BE63

It’s not quite as fast as its Netgear rival, but the Deco’s 10Gbps Wi-Fi is still more than fast enough for most homes. It’s less expensive too, and also provides better parental controls.

Read our full TP-Link Deco BE63 reviewView Deal

Netgear Nighthawk RS300

Not everyone needs an expensive mesh wi-fi system. Owners of more modest homes will get a fast and affordable Wi-Fi 7 upgrade from a conventional router such as Netgear’s Nighthawk RS300.

Read our full Netgear Nighthawk RS300 reviewView Deal

Researchers at Cornell University, in collaboration with the Polish Academy of Sciences, have made a major breakthrough in semiconductor technology by developing the first-ever dual-sided chip - referred to as a "dualtronic" chip - that integrates both photonic and electronic devices on a single Gallium Nitride (GaN) wafer.

This innovation could shrink device sizes, improve energy efficiency, and reduce manufacturing costs.

The GaN wafer’s unique crystal structure is key to its dual functionality. Each side of the wafer has different properties, similar to how the poles of a magnet differ. The team utilized the metal-polar (Ga-polar) side to create light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the nitrogen-polar (N-polar) side to construct high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). By doing so, they were able to achieve a configuration where the HEMT on one side powers the LED on the other - an accomplishment never before realized in any semiconductor material.

Limited only by the imagination

The research, led by Cornell professors Debdeep Jena and Huili Grace Xing, along with co-lead authors Len van Deurzen and Eungkyun Kim, has been published in the Nature journal.

"To our knowledge, nobody has made active devices on both sides, not even for silicon," noted co-lead author Len van Deurzen, emphasizing how this feat was possible only because of GaN's polarity-dependent properties. Traditional silicon wafers are cubic, making both sides nearly identical, which prevents such a design.

According to the researchers, this dualtronic approach could have immediate applications in making microLED displays more affordable and energy-efficient. By integrating photonic and electronic functions into a single chip, fewer components would be needed, leading to lower production costs and a smaller device footprint. This advancement could significantly impact display manufacturing, potentially making LED displays cheaper and more compact.

The technology’s potential goes even further. With the ability to use the same wafer for different functions, dualtronics could enable smartphone screens to be repurposed as antennas, supporting wireless communications directly through the display. The polarization properties of GaN and the dualtronic chip’s multifunctionality could transform not only displays but also radio frequency devices, lasers, and future 5G/6G technologies.

“A good analogy is the iPhone,” explained Debdeep Jena. “It is, of course, a phone, but it is so many other things. It’s a calculator, it’s a map, it lets you check the internet. So there’s a bit of a convergence aspect of it. I would say our first demonstration of ‘dualtronics’ in this paper is convergence of maybe two or three functionalities, but really it’s bigger than that.”

This breakthrough could reshape how semiconductor devices are designed and utilized. By eliminating the need for separate chips to handle different functions, dualtronics promises to optimize both performance and resource utilization across a variety of technologies. As the researchers point out, this development marks a significant step forward, and the potential applications are "limited only by the imagination."

More from TechRadar Pro

• How GaN is changing the future of semiconductors
• Bill Gates-backed company is building a nuclear power station
• Your iPhone 15 charger contains material with quasi super-powers — gallium nitride

Rumors about AMD’s Radeon GRE graphics cards aren’t anything new, but the latest whisperings on the tech grapevine may be revealing something big for the upcoming CES 2025 event.

According to the latest leak from well-known hardware leaker Hoang Anh Phu (reported on by PCGamesN), we could be seeing an AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE graphics card reveal during the tech trade show next year. The post leak in question lists the model name of the card with the hashtag #CES2025.

Judging from previous RX 7000-series cards, the RX 7650 GRE model name could mean that it’ll be between the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT in terms of performance. The former is in competition with the Nvidia RTX 4070 and tends to retail for $449, while the latter competes with the RTX 4060 and is usually priced at $329.

Most likely then, the RX 7650 GRE will retail between $300-$400 if it does end up being confirmed. This would put it above the Radeon RX 7600 - easily the best cheap graphics card since the RTX 3060 - in terms of price but the tradeoff would be assumed superior performance and VRAM.

The AMD RX 7650 GRE and other 2025 launches could make for a great PC gaming year

There’s a good point to be made that the GRE branding tends to be given to cards that are released in China exclusively or first. However, with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE going global after a Chinese-exclusive launch and subsequently upending the mid-range cards market, the chances of us seeing the worldwide release of the 7650 GRE (if this card really does exist) would be rather solid.

There’s also the chance that Team Red is planning on using the GRE label for new variants of its graphics cards, which lines up with the part of the leak that this particular card will debut during a Western tech trade show and not at a Chinese one. If this does end up being true, it would probably be the last of the RDNA 3 cards before RDNA 4 makes its debut.

In general, it seems like a good plan for gamers to wait until at least January 2025 before investing in a new graphics card, since not only is there this rumor but the fact that Team Red will also be launching said RDNA 4 cards next year. Team Green’s next-gen 5000-series cards are expected to launch in January as well, giving gamers even more options.

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The new doll is being scrutinized for the color of her skin, her facial features and her garb. Early reviews are Barbie-tastic.

(Image credit: Rafael Ortega / Mattel Inc.)

Your unusual chance to see a comet in the sky is here. C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was discovered by astronomers in 2023 — and will appear to the naked eye over the next couple weeks.

(Image credit: Mariana Suarez)

It’s only been 10 days since Verizon’s major network outage took out service across the United States, but it seems that the big-red-themed carrier is having yet another service disruption, potentially another major outage.

We’ve been tracking reported outages via Down Detector, which have also been fluctuating over the past 24 hours. However, for about the last hour, dating back to 1PM ET, there has been a steady increase, hitting over 1,500 reported outages. This means that Verizon customers are noticing no connectivity bars, trouble making or receiving calls, and even spotting SOS at the top of their phones. 

Ahead, we’ll be reporting live on this outage and its potential impact of us, so stick with TechRadar for the latest on what might be Verizon’s second major outage in less than two weeks. We’ve also reached out to Verizon to ask for a comment and to see if this is an official outage.

As of 2:01PM ET, Down Detector's outage map for Verizon is showing the most reports within New York, Washington DC, Dallas, Kansas, and Los Angeles. I'm based out of New Jersey, right across the river from New York, and still see a full four bars and 5G on Verizon as of now. 

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

Regarding current reported outages on Down Detector, as 1:56PM ET the site is showing 1,277. That's less than the peak of 1,500 reported outages at 1PM, and less than Verizon's September 30, 2024 outage.

Impacted customers are leaving comments on Down Detector and taking to social as well, though this does not seem as far-reaching of an outage as the previous one.

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

AMD has announced the AMD Ryzen AI Pro 300, an enterprise-focused lineup that will bring more powerful AI chips to businesses and organizations to improve collaboration, security, and more.

The new lineup will feature three chips for Copilot+ PCs, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 375, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 370, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 Pro 360.

These new chips are a significant step up from the previous Pro generation, the AMD Ryzen Pro 8040 series, and are the first processor series explicitly designed for enterprise users to be Copilot+ compliant.

In addition to a much more powerful NPU (up to 55 TOPS for the Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 375), AMD says the underlying Zen 5 cores in the CPU offer substantially more multithreaded performance compared to Intel’s competing Core Ultra 7 vPro chips, based on the Intel Meteor Lake architecture.

Intel Lunar Lake processors launched last month, and at the moment there are no vPro versions of these chips, so a more direct comparison isn’t possible yet, but these new Lunar Lake vPro chips are expected to launch before too long.

In addition to the claims of improved performance, AMD says laptops running its new Ryzen AI Pro 300 series chips will get up to 23 hours of battery life, a substantial increase over previous generations of chips, and that the NPU in these new Ryzen AI Pro 300 chips will empower new multi-layer security features for the kind of protection that enterprise devices need.

Can AMD make headway in Intel’s backyard?

While Intel has undoubtedly been on the ropes lately, one area where it retains an absolutely dominant position is with its laptop chips. While the numbers fluctuate every quarter, Intel’s laptop market share currently sits at just below 72%, so it is a crucial revenue source for Team Blue when it is facing strong headwinds elsewhere.

That said, it has already lost substantial market share to AMD over the past five years, and given the nature of enterprise procurement channels, AMD making headway among businesses with laptops powered by its chips could further erode Intel’s position.

It remains to be seen what Intel Lunar Lake vPro chips will do when they launch in the months ahead, but any advantage that AMD can gain now with Ryzen AI Pro 300 will help it claw its way to parity with Intel, while also providing customers with more options and better innovation through competition.

More from TechRadar Pro

• AMD's latest Ryzen Pro chips are bringing AI to your next business laptop
• Is AMD planning a face-off with Apple and Nvidia with its most powerful APU ever?
• "We're probably the only company that has all the pieces" — AMD on why it is ahead of rivals Nvidia and Intel when it comes to AI PCs

AMD has revealed an upgraded data processing unit (DPU) as it looks to stake its claim to power the next generation of AI.

The new Pensando Salina DPU is the company's third-generation release, promises 2x performance, bandwidth and scale compared to the previous generation.

AMD says it can support 400G throughput, meaning faster data transfer rates than ever before, a huge advantage as companies around the world look for quicker and more efficient infrastructure to keep up with AI demands.

Pensando Salina DPU

As with previous generations, AMD's latest DPU is split into two parts: the front-end, which delivers data and information to an AI cluster, and the backend, which manages data transfer between accelerators and clusters.

Alongside the Pensando Salina DPU (which governs the front-end), the company has also announced the AMD Pensando Pollara 400 to manage the back-end.

The industry’s first Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) ready AI NIC, the Pensando Pollara 400 supports the next-gen RDMA software and is backed by an open ecosystem of networking, offering customers the flexibility needed to embrace the new AI age.

The AMD Pensando Salina DPU and AMD Pensando Pollara 400 are sampling with customers now, with a public release scheduled for the first half of 2025.

More from TechRadar Pro

• ‘Future servers could have a shared DPU’: Could the next decade see a rise in socket heterogeneity?
• Are hyper-specialized processing units the future of computing? Meet the company who wants to be the Nvidia of data queries
• DPUs set to offer new lease of life for Dell PowerEdge servers

We already knew a lot about AMD’s next generation accelerator, the Instinct MI325X, from an earlier event in June 2024 - but the company has now revealed more at its AMD Advancing AI event.

First, we knew the Instinct MI325X was a minor upgrade from the MI300X, with the same CDNA 3 architecture, but just enough oomph to make it a viable alternative to the H200, Nvidia’s AI powerhouse.

Eagle-eyed readers will also notice that AMD has cut the onboard HBM3e memory capacity from 288GB to 256GB with the memory capacity now only 80% more than Nvidia’s flagship rather than the more enviable 2x improvement.

Preparing the grounds for the MI355X

To make things a bit more murkier, AMD also mentioned another SKU, the MI325X OAM which will have, wait for it, 288GB memory - we have asked for clarification and will update this article in due course.

AMD provided some carefully selected performance comparisons against Nvidia’s H200:

• 1.3X the inference performance on Mistral 7B at FP16
• 1.2X the inference performance on Llama 3.1 70B at FP8
• 1.4X the inference performance on Mixtral 8x7B at FP16

The company also revealed the accelerator has 153 billion transistors, which is the same as the MI300X. The H200 has only 80 billion transistors while Blackwell GPUs will top the scale at more than 200 billion transistors.

The star of the show though had to be the MI355X accelerator, which was also announced at the event with an H2 2025 launch date. Manufactured on TSMC’s 3nm node and featuring AMD’s new CDNA 4 architecture, it introduces FP6 and FP4 formats and is expected to deliver improvements on 80% on FP16 and FP8, compared to the current MI325X accelerator.

Elsewhere, the Instinct MI355X will offer 288GB HBM3E and 8TB/s memory bandwidth, a 12.5% and 33.3% improvement on its immediate predecessor. An 8-unit OXM platform, which will also be launched in H2 2025, will offer a staggering 18.5 petaflops in FP16, 37PF in FP8, 74PF in FP6 and FP4 (or 9.3PF per OXM).

The MI355x will compete against Nvidia’s Blackwell B100 and B200 when it launches in 2025, and will be instrumental in Lisa Su’s attempt to supercharge AMD’s aspirations to catch up with its rival.

Nvidia remains firmly in the driving seat, with more than 90% of the world’s AI accelerator market, making it the world’s most valuable company at the time of writing, with its share price at its all time high and a market capitalization of $3.3 trillion.

AMD also unveiled its new family of EPYC 9005 series CPU with a 192-core model that costs nearly $15,000.

More from TechRadar Pro

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