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President-elect Donald Trump picks Pam Bondi as attorney general after Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration. And, Putin says Russia tested a new intermediate-range ballistic missile on Ukraine.

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan)

Commentary: A mini audio player and lightweight travel stroller were just a few of the things that saved us (parents included) from untimely meltdowns.

We're expecting big things from Apple, Samsung and other phone makers next year.

Commentary: I rediscovered the joy of small social networks and now Bluesky is exploding. I hope it keeps its soul.

The current value of a phone isn't the only thing that matters. Here's how to make the most of your purchase.

Apple products don't often go on sale, so CNET's Bridget Carey goes over what Black Friday deals might be worth the savings -- and which you might want to pass on.

From pulling pet hair off mats and seats to dusting dashboards, these are the best portable vacuums for cleaning your car in 2024.

• Earlier this week, EnergyWeaponUser shares a database, claiming it was stolen from Ford
• Ford responds by launching an investigation
• The investigation concluded that the data belonged to a third party, Ford said

Ford has denied suffering a data breach frecently, saying the information circulating around the web belongs to a third party and is, for the most part, publicly available.

A known leaker with the alias EnergyWeaponUser recently posted a new thread on BreachForums, claiming to be sharing Ford’s data for free. “Today, I have uploaded the Ford Motor Company internal database for you to download, thanks for reading and enjoy!,” the hacker said at the time.

“In November 2024, Ford Motor Company, an American multinational automobile company suffered a data breach,” the post further added. “It exposes 44k records of customer names, physical locations, bought product.”

No breach

A small sample was shared, in which hackers could find people’s names, postal addresses, country codes, customer type codes, city information, sales types, account codes, last update timestamps, and other records.

After the thread surfaced, the company confirmed looking into the allegations of data theft.

"Ford is aware and is actively investigating the allegations there has been a breach of Ford data," spokesperson Richard Binhammer told the press at the time. "Our investigation is active and ongoing."

Now, a few days later, Ford told the media that its data was secure. In a statement to BleepingComputer, the company said: “Ford’s investigation has determined that there was no breach of Ford’s systems or customer data. The matter involved a third-party supplier and a small batch of publicly available dealers’ business addresses. It is our understanding that the matter has now been resolved.”

We now wait to see EnergyWeaponUser’s response. However, given the fact that they were willing to give away such a database, lends credence to Ford’s claims. After all, all registered BreachForums members could grab the archives for eight forum credits, which is roughly two dollars.

Via BleepingComputer

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• New turntable has the stiffest Planar 3 plinth ever created
• It also has an upgraded PSU and moving magnet cartridge
• It's cheaper than configuring the equivalent Planar spec

The Rega Planar 3 turntable is an audio legend, and it's been delighting listeners since the 1970s. It's been updated a few times since then to take advantage of technological and engineering advances, and now there's a brand new version of the best-seller.

The new Rega Planar 3 RS Edition isn't just the same turntable given a lick of paint. There are some important upgrades to what was already a winning formula.

The new RS Edition, aka the Rega Special, is made with a brand new plinth that uses aluminum metal skin HPL laminate, usually reserved for the Planar 6, 8 and 10, to create what Rega says is the stiffest Planar 3 plinth it's ever made.

The dark, brushed metallic finish and high-gloss black edges certainly look stunning, but there's substance as well as style here.

What's so special about the Rega Special?

(Image credit: Rega)

The RS Edition comes with a custom-matched Neo MK2 PSU, each motor vibration circuit tuned to each individual motor, and that motor drives the sub platter via Rega's Reference EBLT drive belt.

The familiar RB330 tonearm is now supplied with an award-winning Nd5 moving magnet cartridge. To spec an existing Planar 3 with the same cartridge and PSU would be considerably more expensive than the RS Edition.

The changes promise to further reduce unwanted distortion and noise to deliver an even more accurate sonic performance, and Rega goes into great detail about the engineering achievements and design decisions on its product page .

The short version is that this is the Planar 3, but even better. You can buy the Rega Planar 3 RS Edition now for $1,795 / £999 (around AU$1.900).

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Whether you’re climbing peaks or taking the family to the local park, we’ve found the best sleeping bags for every temperature, budget, and camping expedition.

Amnesty International has issued a report charting the supply chains and human rights due diligence policies of 13 major EV manufacturers. The results are a world away from the clean, safe future that electric vehicles promise.

• Some TV firms are losing money on hardware in order to profit from ads
• The trend is particularly prominent in North America
• We can't see the future because it's stuck behind an unskippable ad

If you've been thinking that your smart TV is awfully keen on showing you ads, you're not imagining it. The TV market is changing, and that's both good news and bad news for buyers.

As recently highlighted by market research firm Omdia (via FlatpanelsHD), the good news is that TVs are getting cheaper – so much so that some firms are actually losing money on the sets they sell.

The bad news is that they need to get that money back from somewhere or something. And increasingly, that somewhere is your living room and the something is you.

As Omdia notes, the business model for many TV firms is shifting away from making profit from physical sales and towards making money from ads (and while they didn't mention it specifically, from user data) instead.

The research firm's consumer electronics research director Paul Gray says that "People are happy to sell TVs below cost. You just have to look at the finances of Vizio or Roku to see they’re selling TVs at somewhere between -3 and -7% margin, just in that scramble for users."

Ads entertainment

In 2023, tech startup Telly (above) 'gave away' 500,000 4K TVs in the US – with the catch being a second screen for ads. (Image credit: Telly)

Those manufacturers aren't doing what Telly did in 2023, which was giving away dual-screen TVs completely free in the hope of making money back from very visible ads. But in North America especially, ads are an increasingly important part of the money mix for TV manufacturers.

That could mean US buyers in particular will increasingly have to make a choice: get the TV for a low price and put up with more ads, or pay more for a comparatively ad-free experience.

I'm not against ads; I'm writing this for an ad-supported website, of course. But the problem with firms betting the farm on ad income is that the more of them who do it, the less lucrative the payouts become – and that can cause an arms race where lower and lower per-ad revenues are compensated by higher and higher numbers of ads.

You can get around that to some extent by using a dongle or box such as a Google TV Streamer or Apple TV 4K instead of the manufacturer's own interface, but perhaps not for long.

And of course, that doesn't affect the ads that appear on the streaming services themselves. But I think we can already predict the next step: paying more for an ad-light or ad-free experience. What we save on the up-front cost may be repaid many times during the life of our TVs.

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In a first, Russia's APT28 hacking group appears to have remotely breached the Wi-Fi of an espionage target by hijacking a laptop in another building across the street.

• Microsoft Store apps can’t be updated or uninstalled due to a bug
• Thankfully Microsoft has now fixed the problem related to WinAppSDK
• The cure is in a Windows 10 optional update, so you may want to wait

Some Windows 10 users have been experiencing an odd bug with the operating system having problems running updates for apps from the Microsoft Store – but this issue has now been sorted.

Neowin reports that Windows 10 22H2 had a bug which meant that in some cases, apps from the Microsoft Store couldn’t be updated – or uninstalled, either – but a resolution for this has now been applied (as of November 21).

Microsoft explains that this wasn’t an issue with Windows 10 itself, but rather with the latest version of WinAppSDK. Those who received version 1.6.2, on November 12, or later – which may have been installed by an app that requires WinAppSDK, as it’ll pull down the latest version – may have been hit by the bug.

Those who’ve seen the issue will have noticed that updates fail with an unhelpful error message (‘Something happened on our end’) displayed in the downloads panel of the Microsoft Store.

Microsoft clarified that “this issue is not caused by a Windows security or preview monthly update,” while informing users that the fix for this is in the new Windows 10 update, KB5046714, which has just been released.

(Image credit: Worawee Meepian / Shutterstock) Analysis: Something happened… or not

Note that KB5046714 is an optional update for Windows 10, so it could have some bugs itself. If you’re worried about installing a preview release, you can always wait for the full version of the patch, which will be here next month (on December 10, to be precise).

Still, in this case, if you’re hit by the Microsoft Store bug and you aren’t getting any updates for your software from the store, grabbing the optional patch may be worth the risk (find it under Windows Updates, as ever).

Elsewhere, KB5046714 provides some other fixes for issues including a bug where dragging and dropping a file from a cloud provider’s folder (like OneDrive) may result in that file being moved over, rather than copied as it should be by default. Also, there’s an important solution for a problem where Windows 10 fails to activate after the PC’s motherboard has been replaced.

While you’re fixing bugs, Microsoft, you might want to do a bit of tweaking to that error message as well: ‘Something happened on our end’ is not very useful, and indeed nonsensical, really. The problem here being an update failing to apply, so in fact, the correct message should be ‘Something didn’t happen on our end,’ namely the app patch that should’ve gone through. Or ‘Nothing happened on our end,’ perhaps?

How about a simple rewording to ‘Something went wrong on our end’ – that fits better, right, Microsoft? That’s this month’s visit to ‘Pedantry Corner’ over, stay tuned for December’s ever-so-thrilling nitpicking observation.

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• Fitbit has replaced Google Fit on the Oppo Find X8 series
• It's a first for a non-Pixel Google handset
• This could be the norm for Android phones from here

The end is nigh for the Google Fit app on Android phones, it would seem: It looks as though the Fitbit app is going to replace it on these devices going forward, with Google making the most of its 2021 acquisition of the fitness company.

As spotted by 9to5Google, the newly-unveiled Oppo Find X8 comes with Fitbit installed rather than Google Fit. It's the first time we've seen that on a non-Google Android phone, and could well be the norm in the future.

If you've bought one of the Google Pixel 9 phones you'll notice Fitbit has replaced Google Fit here as well. If it's happening on handsets made by Google's manufacturing partners as well, the transition from one app to the other is just about complete.

Should you have a lot of data already in Google Fit, Google's Health Connect service can sync it to Fitbit, if needed: Tap Profile then the gear icon in the Google Fit app to set this up. You can also export your Google Fit data from inside the app by tapping your Google account avatar (top right), then Fit data and privacy.

Fitbit (and AI) is the future

The Pixel Watch 3 is Fitbit-focused (Image credit: Future)

While it's disappointing to see yet another Google app killed off, Google does at least seem to be investing in new features and upgrades for the Fitbit app – even if it did recently abandon the web interface for your Fitbit data.

Google has previously announced an AI health coach that's now in testing and is likely to soon make an appearance in the Fitbit app proper. It's not clear when everyone will get it, but it could show up before the end of the year.

The Gemini-powered feature can answer questions about your health and give you personalized insights into your activity patterns and workouts. We'll have to wait until we can test it out for ourselves to see just how accurate it is.

In recent weeks we've also heard that an AI-driven Sleep Journal is also on the way for the Fitbit app, which will give you detailed feedback on your sleep health and ways in which you might try and improve it. Whether or not these extras will be exclusive to Fitbit Premium subscribers remains to be seen.

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Bluesky will never be Twitter. YouTube is no longer about funny videos made with your friends. The old internet is gone, but it can be remade. The website IMG_0001 proves it.

• The new Kia EV9 GT will sprint from 0-60mph in 4.3 seconds
• GT button unleashes full power, firms suspension and makes noises happen
• It's the first Kia SUV to receive electronically-controlled adaptive suspension

While this year's LA Auto Show has been disappointingly bereft of exciting new launches, Kia chose it as the platform to showcase the upcoming EV 9 GT – a model that will delivers 501hp from twin electric motors and a 0-60mph sprint time of just 4.3 seconds… despite weighing 5,886lbs (or 2.6-tonnes for imperial fans).

Based on the enormous, three-row electric SUV that was released late last year in some markets, the GT version, which will go on sale in 2025, sees a 160kW motor drive the front wheels and a 270kW motor bolted to the rear.

It’s tipped to use the same 100kWh battery as the Long Range model, which can manage around 300 miles on a single charge when driven sensibly.

But driving sensibly won’t exactly be the order of the day, as Kia has introduced a very tempting and very shiny GT button to the steering wheel that firms up the suspension, thanks to the introduction of electronically-adjustable dampers, sharpens the steering and throttle response, while adding more heft to the brake feel.

(Image credit: Kia)

Not purely a straight-line drag champion, Kia says the EV9 GT will be able to handle the twistier routes and disguise some of its planet-like mass with clever calibration of the suspension and steering. Customers are also treated to heavily bolstered sports seats and flashes of ‘GT’ throughout the cabin.

The brake calipers have also been sprayed in a fetching neon green, similar to the Kia EV6 GT, while the electronic Limited Slip Differential (e-LSD) from that model, which senses a loss of traction at each wheel and reduces torque for improved handling, has also been borrowed and implemented.

The final party piece is what Kia refers to as Virtual Gear Shift (VGS), which simulates the thumps of a traditional step-shift automatic transmission and is operated by paddles mounted to the steering wheel.

To compliment this, Kia has also been inspired by the Ioniq 5 N from sister company Hyundai and has seen fit to kit the EV9 GT out with similar fake engine noises (electric Active Sound Design) that are mapped to the accelerator pedal and virtual gear shifts, with the resulting soundtrack pumped in to the cabin.

Analysis: Fast, fun but probably very juicy

(Image credit: Kia)

Efficiency was never the big EV9’s strong point, as a potent cocktail of massive kerb weight and its blunt, un-aerodynamic styling means the electric range gets eaten into fast, especially when driving at constant motorway speeds or like a bit of a hooligan.

This hot GT version is only going to tempt the inner driving devil further, which will inevitably mean more time spent charging. Thankfully, the EV9’s 800V fast charging architecture means a 10-80 percent top up takes less than 25 minutes from a DC fast charger.

Plus, as of May or June next year (there is no firm date yet), Kia has also stated that all EV9 models sold in the US will come fitted as standard with Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) port, with CCS adaptors available as an optional extra for those who want the widest possible network coverage.

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• Norton has unveiled its Small Business Premium plan
• Provides SMB teams with antivirus, firewall, VPN, password manager, and cloud backup
• Plan also offers 24/7 support, and financial and social media monitoring

Norton, one of the best antivirus providers around today, has launched a new offering for small businesses looking to protect themselves.

Recent government statistics have claimed small businesses account for 36% of the UKs economic turnover, but are being increasingly targeted by cyber attacks, with 58% reporting an attack or breach in the last year.

Norton’s new Small Business Premium plan is built to help weather the storm while also keeping them running in the event of a breach.

Small Business Premium from Norton

The plan provides a suite of security solutions to help protect businesses from a wide range of threats, while also offering support in financial and social media monitoring. Beyond this, the plan also offers 24/7 business tech support not only for security issues, but also for your devices, network, and software.

Small Business Premium is primarily an antivirus, as may be expected, but also includes a firewall, a VPN to keep your networks secure, along with a password manager for encrypted credential storage, and a 500GB cloud backup to keep your data safe in the event of a ransomware attack or system crash.

Suspicious transactions and unauthorized logins to social media are constantly monitored and immediately alerted to prevent fraud, scams and account takeovers. It doesn’t require any security expertise to install and quietly protects devices in the background.

The plan can be customized to support 10 or 20 devices, with the 10 device plan at £149.99 for the first year, and the 20 device plan at £199.99 for the first year. For entrepreneurs or smaller teams, the standard Small Business tier can cater to 6, 10, or 20 devices, and is £ £54.99, £69.99, and £99.99 respectively for the first year.

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• Apple’s Siri virtual assistant is currently bested by competitors like ChatGPT
• Apple wants to change that by developing an “LLM Siri” chatbot
• It might not launch until 2026, though

Siri has long lagged behind rivals like Google Assistant, and with the introduction of ChatGPT and other chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs), that gap has widened. But when Apple Intelligence appeared on the scene, it looked like Siri was finally turning a corner – and a new report claims Apple is planning its own LLM upgrade for Siri. Before we get too excited, though, there might be a while to wait until it arrives.

The rumor comes from Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, who has earned a reputation for accuracy when it comes to Apple leaks and rumors. In a new report, Gurman claims that Apple has been internally tested a version of Siri infused with LLM powers (predictably, it’s been dubbed “LLM Siri”), and the result is a more conversational, powerful version of Apple’s virtual assistant.

This new Siri will be able to conduct natural-feeling back-and-forth conversations, Gurman says, and it can also “handle more sophisticated requests in a quicker fashion” compared to the current Siri iteration.

Other new features will include the ability to “interact more like a human and handle tasks in a way that’s closer to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini,” and it will make extensive use of Apple’s App Intents feature to precisely control third-party apps. It will also be able to use Apple Intelligence features, such as generating and summarizing text.

Coming in iOS 19?

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple will announce the upgraded Siri in 2025 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16, the report predicts.

However, as with the current slow implementation of Apple Intelligence, the new Siri won’t immediately be ready to use. Instead, it will be rolled out in spring 2026, according to Gurman.

Will that be too late for Apple, considering rivals like ChatGPT are already far ahead of Apple’s best efforts? Time will tell, but LLM Siri will need to be a monumental effort to close the gap. If Apple can pull it off, the firm’s fans will have a lot to look forward to.

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The Trump administration is likely to make big changes to US federal electric vehicle incentive programs. Buy or lease now, probably.