‘The Hobbit’ introduced us to The Shire, second breakfast and Gandalf in his gray era — but how much do you remember?

You shall not pass until you complete this Middle Earth-themed quiz for International Hobbit Day

Read the full story at Tom's Guide ↗

Acer releases new 16-inch gaming laptop with Intel Panther Lake and up to 20 hours battery life

Acer has released a new 16-inch gaming laptop featuring Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 series laptop GPUs. Also packing a 180 Hz display, the new Nitro V 16S combines Intel's Panther Lake architecture with a 76 Wh battery for up to 20 hours of battery life in official…

Read the full story at Notebookcheck ↗

Rivian’s R2 beat its own climate goals four years early

Rivian always planned for its all-important R2 vehicle to be less expensive than its pricey R1 predecessors, but also less polluting. The production process for the R2 would rely on more renewable energy, and the vehicle itself would feature more recycled and…

Read the full story at The Verge ↗

I tested ChatGPT against Copilot in Microsoft Word

I tried ChatGPT and Copilot side by side in Microsoft Word, and I was surprised by what I found.

Read the full story at TechRadar ↗

I ran DLSS 5 on my Radeon GPU, and it's actually more playable than you think

My RX 9070 XT could handle DLSS 5 at 1080p, but any higher is asking far too much

Read the full story at XDA ↗

Trump says the US is officially renaming AI to ‘super intelligence’

In a speech Tuesday morning at the UN General Assembly, Donald Trump railed against Iran, "globalists," climate change, and transgender people while also claiming that the US is now "officially" renaming artificial intelligence to "super intelligence." Oddly…

Read the full story at The Verge ↗

VPN Deal of the Week: NymVPN drops low-commitment price plans – a cheaper way to try out its class-leading mixnet security

Extreme security technology with a new price

Read the full story at TechRadar ↗

European neocloud Verda raises $189M to build the AI infrastructure of tomorrow

Helsinki, Finland-based neocloud outfit Verda Cloud Oy, formerly DataCrunch, today announced it raised $189 million in early-stage funding to expand its artificial intelligence cloud infrastructure, from AI compute capacity to platform services. Emergence…

Read the full story at SiliconANGLE ↗

Stardock announces roguelike deckbuilder Empire in Decay

Stardock has announced Empire in Decay, an upcoming deckbuilder set in a dark fantasy universe developed by Siesta Games.

Read the full story at Neowin ↗

What I learned after 30 days with the Pixel 11 [Video]

It has been almost 30 days since Google officially launched the Pixel 11 lineup, and the 11 might be the most sensible device of the bunch. Here’s what I have learned, having used it for the full month post-launch.…

Read the full story at 9to5Google ↗

Rabbit Is Back, This Time With an AI Agent App

Two years after trying to sidestep mobile apps with dedicated AI hardware, Rabbit is launching OS3, a cross-platform agent that lives on the screens you already use.

Read the full story at Wired ↗

Improve your Roku TV's image quality by changing these settings

Your Roku TV has lots of settings to make the picture quality look more detailed and clearer, but you have to know where to look.

Read the full story at Engadget ↗

'We want to restart the franchise' — Rayman Legends Retold dev on future of the beloved series

How the team is approaching the upcoming Rayman Legends remake.

Read the full story at TechRadar ↗

An A.I. Image of Trump Kissing a Woman Was Fake. It Spread Anyway.

Advances in artificial intelligence and the myriad ways content is shared online have made establishing authenticity even more difficult for users of social media.

Read the full story at NYT Technology ↗

Z.ai says sorry for slurping up your code, open sources ZCode

China’s AI darling goes on the defense after engineer highlighted Grok-esque security flaws

Read the full story at The Register ↗

25 best camping deals at Amazon and REI — save up to 50% on outdoor gear and apparel for fall

Camping gear is now up to 50% off on Amazon, REI and more. Shop my favorite deals from the sale including tents, coolers, sleeping bags and more.

Read the full story at Tom's Guide ↗

Deals: Nothing Headphone (a) 30% off, Google Pixel 10a from under $400, up to $1,000 off NVIDIA RTX 50 PCs, more

Today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break is headlined by Nothing’s 2026 Headphone (a) now at 30% off via Amazon (one of the best prices yet), alongside the ongoing return lows on Nothing Ear (3a). You can also score Google Pixel 10a from under $400 today, and the lowest…

Read the full story at 9to5Google ↗

Amazon drone delivery test community complains about constant noise

A community in Texas has been terrorized by the incessant noise made by low-flying Amazon delivery drones.

Read the full story at Mashable Tech ↗

Meta’s Muse reportedly has zero-day vulnerability that lets attackers take over your Mac

Met's popular AI assistant Muse has a concerning zero-day vulnerability, a new report claims.

Read the full story at Mashable Tech ↗

The fastest-adopted model on Vercel this year cannot write a word

We have lightning in a bottle, and yet it is not useful. Diogo Almeida helped build ChatGPT. He worked on the instruction-following research behind it at OpenAI, and the four years since have left him disappointed by what it became, as he told TechCrunch last…

Read the full story at The Next Web ↗

I Gave My Life Over to Meta’s A.I. Agent and Was Blown Away

Muse, Meta’s A.I. agent, helped handle my dental insurance, booked dinner reservations and created a podcast for me. It also required my most personal data, and trust.

Read the full story at NYT Technology ↗

Amazon drops the UGREEN MagFlow Qi2 25W power bank below $55

This UGREEN MagFlow deal cuts 39% off the $89.99 RRP, bringing fast Qi2 25W magnetic charging to MagSafe phones for less.

Read the full story at Android Authority ↗

Apple's Smart Glasses to Enter a Rapidly Growing Market

Apple's first smart glasses could arrive in a rapidly expanding market, with worldwide AI glasses shipments increasing 263% year-over-year during the first half of 2026, according to Counterpoint Research . The figures are particularly relevant for Apple…

Read the full story at MacRumors ↗

A faster connection won’t necessarily make your internet feel faster, and latency is the culprit

A new doctoral thesis reveals that upgrading your internet speed often won't fix stuttering video calls, since the real bottleneck usually lives in your home network's last mile.

Read the full story at Digital Trends ↗

Stolen passwords are exposing America’s water providers to hackers

Researchers say another looming threat hangs over some of America's most important critical infrastructure.

Read the full story at TechCrunch ↗

Xbox lays off more than 250 employees amid studio restructurings

Microsoft's bloody year continues with even more Xbox layoffs and a serious pivot for games like 'Halo.'

Read the full story at Mashable Tech ↗

We got Googlebook’s text editor app to run on Android, and it looks great

The app includes all common text editor features, including extensive syntax-highlighting options.

Read the full story at Android Authority ↗

How to vibe code your first website

A step-by-step guide to vibe coding your first website. We’ll also talk about how these tools work, offer tips on platform selection, and cover some security basics you will need to know.

Read the full story at TechRadar ↗

Apple Event This October? These 7 New Products Expected Next Month

As usual, September has been a very busy month for Apple, with the company unveiling the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone Duo, AirPods 5, Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4 , Beats 360 , and more. Nevertheless, Apple reportedly still has many more products to…

Read the full story at MacRumors ↗

Amazfit put two solar panels in its new smartwatch. Now I want Apple to do the same

Amazfit's newest adventure watch doesn't have one solar charging surface — it has two, including one hiding underneath.

Read the full story at Digital Trends ↗