Two Elon Musk companies are reportedly planning to merge. On Thursday, Reuters reported that SpaceX and xAI are holding merger talks ahead of a planned IPO. Part of their plan is to launch AI data centers into space (but unfortunately, only as far as Earth's orbit).

Last week, it was reported that Musk planned to take SpaceX public despite having once said it wouldn't happen until the company had a presence on Mars. Now, the IPO could happen as early as this year. Shares of xAI would reportedly be exchanged for shares in SpaceX under the merger. Reuters reports that two entities were set up in Nevada on January 21 to facilitate the deal.

If the idea of two Musk companies becoming one sounds familiar, that's because it happened less than a year ago. In March 2025, xAI bought X, putting Grok (known for nonconsensual "nudifying" images) and X (infamous for being a far-right hellscape) together under one unholy roof.

The latest idea Musk is pitching is blasting AI data centers off into space. At last week's gathering of the rich and powerful in Davos, Switzerland, he said, "The lowest cost place to put AI will be in space. And that will be true within two years, maybe three at the latest." The idea is that data centers in orbit could harness solar power and reduce cooling costs. However, industry analysts and executives consider it a risky bet, questioning whether the savings would warrant the massive investment. If or when the AI bubble bursts, the plan could go down in flames — if not literally, then figuratively.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/elon-musks-spacex-and-xai-are-reportedly-holding-merger-talks-211740150.html?src=rss

The Internet Archive has often been a valuable resource for journalists, from it's finding records of deleted tweets or providing academic texts for background research. However, the advent of AI has created a new tension between the parties. A few major publications have begun blocking the nonprofit digital library's access to their content based on concerns that AI companies' bots are using the Internet Archive's collections to indirectly scrape their articles.

"A lot of these AI businesses are looking for readily available, structured databases of content," Robert Hahn, head of business affairs and licensing for The Guardian, told Nieman Lab. "The Internet Archive's API would have been an obvious place to plug their own machines into and suck out the IP."

The New York Times took a similar step. "We are blocking the Internet Archive's bot from accessing the Times because the Wayback Machine provides unfettered access to Times content — including by AI companies — without authorization," a representative from the newspaper confirmed to Nieman Lab. Subscription-focused publication the Financial Times and social forum Reddit have also made moves to selectively block how the Internet Archive catalogs their material.

Many publishers have attempted to sue AI businesses for how they access content used to train large language models. To name a few just from the realm of journalism:

• The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft

• The Center for Investigative Reporting sued OpenAI and Microsoft

• The Wall Street Journal and New York Post sued Perplexity

• A group of publishers including The Atlantic, The Guardian and Politico sued Cohere

• Penske Media sued Google

• The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune sued Perplexity

Other media outlets have sought financial deals before offering up their libraries as training material, although those arrangements seem to provide compensation to the publishing companies rather than the writers. And that's not even delving into the copyright and piracy issues also being fought against AI tools by other creative fields, from fiction writers to visual artists to musicians. The whole Nieman Lab story is well worth a read for anyone who has been following any of these creative industries' responses to artificial intelligence.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/publishers-are-blocking-the-internet-archive-for-fear-ai-scrapers-can-use-it-as-a-workaround-204001754.html?src=rss

As fans and media prepare to descend on the Bay Area for Super Bowl LX, what does a high-tech city like San Francisco do? Why, call in the robotaxis, of course. On Thursday, Alphabet's Waymo began offering fully autonomous rides at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

There are some limits. For now, SFO access is restricted to "a select number of riders." However, access will gradually expand over the coming months. The service is also limited to the SFO Rental Car Center (pickups and drop-offs) at launch. Waymo says it will expand to other airport locations, including terminals, "in the future."

The San Francisco Standard notes that SFO is now the third airport in Waymo's repertoire. The San Francisco launch follows the company's service at Phoenix Sky Harbor and San Jose Mineta. As for the Bay Area, Waymo now serves more than 260 square miles in the region.

Unfortunately, this isn't Waymo's only appearance in the news this week. On Wednesday, the company said one of its robotaxis struck a child, who sustained minor injuries. The incident took place on January 23 in Santa Monica. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/waymo-begins-service-at-san-francisco-international-airport-192913050.html?src=rss

This week, a major trial kicked off in Los Angeles in which hundreds of families sued Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, accusing the companies of intentionally designing their products to be addictive (though Snap and TikTok both settled on the eve of the trial) . From the Guardian:

For the first time, a huge group of parents, teens and school districts is taking on the world's most powerful social media companies in open court, accusing the tech giants of intentionally designing their products to be addictive. The blockbuster legal proceedings may see multiple CEOs, including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, face harsh questioning.

A long-awaited series of trials kicks off in Los Angeles superior court on Tuesday, in which hundreds of US families will allege that Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube's platforms harm children. Once young people are hooked, the plaintiffs allege, they fall prey to depression, eating disorders, self-harm and other mental health issues. Approximately 1,600 plaintiffs are included in the proceedings, involving more than 350 families and 250 school districts.

The lawyers involved are explicitly using the tobacco playbook, comparing social media to cigarettes. But there's an important point here: "social media addiction" isn't actually a recognized clinical addiction. And a fascinating new study in Nature's Scientific Reports suggests that our collective insistence on using addiction language might actually be making things worse for users who want to change their behavior.

The researchers conducted two studies. In the first, they surveyed a nationally representative sample of adult Instagram users and found something striking: only about 2% of users showed symptoms that would put them at risk for addiction based on the clinical criteria in the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale. But when asked directly if they felt addicted, 18% of users agreed at least somewhat. In other words, people are dramatically overestimating whether they're actually addicted.

This matters a lot, because calling yourself addicted can have serious consequences. The study found that users who perceived themselves as more addicted (but not necessarily more habitual) reported feeling less control over their use and had made more unsuccessful attempts to change their behavior. From the study:

Self-labeling of clinical conditions (e.g., I think I'm depressed) has proved to be associated with maladaptive responses, including lowered self-efficacy and perceived control over the pathology

To test whether the addiction framing actually causes these problems rather than just correlating with them, the researchers ran a second study. They had some participants reflect on their own "addictive" Instagram use after reading language from the U.S. Surgeon General's somewhat questionable report warning that "frequent, excessive social media use is addictive." The control group answered the same questions but without the addiction framing first.

The results were clear and somewhat striking: simply priming people to think about their social media use as an addiction reduced their perceived control, increased both self-blame and blaming the app, and made them recall more failed attempts to cut back. The addiction framing itself creates a feeling of helplessness! The addiction to "addiction framing" may be a big part of the problem!

It is impressive that even the two-minute exposure to addiction framing in our research was sufficient to produce a statistically significant negative impact on users. This effect is aligned with past literature showing that merely seeing addiction scales can negatively impact feelings of well-being. Presumably, continued exposure to the broader media narrative around social media addiction has even larger and more profound effects. In conclusion, the addiction label does not empower users to regain control over their use. Instead, it hinders users by reducing feelings of control, increasing self-blame, and making the experience slightly less positive.

Perhaps one could argue that everyone screaming about social media addiction is doing more real harm than any actual social media product itself.

This matters because for the vast majority of heavy social media users, the problem isn't addiction in any clinical sense. It's habit. Habits and addictions are different psychological phenomena requiring different interventions. As the researchers note:

For the majority of social media users, however, curbing excessive use involves primarily controlling habits. Like any other habit, social media habits can become misaligned with the original motivations for use (e.g., to obtain social rewards), or conflict with other goals (e.g., sharing true information). Strong habits are notoriously difficult to control with willpower alone. For habitual social media users, the narrative of addiction and willpower-based attempts to control behavior could profitably be replaced with habit change strategies to realign their social media use with their current preferences.

Habits are context-triggered automatic behaviors. You pick up your phone in certain situations because you've done it a thousand times before, not because you're experiencing withdrawal symptoms or uncontrollable cravings, like an addiction. And habit change strategies—like removing triggers, changing your environment, or practicing substitute activities—are fundamentally different from addiction treatment.

But you wouldn't know any of this from the media coverage. The researchers analyzed three years of news articles and found that stories about "social media addiction" vastly outnumber stories about "social media habits." The addiction framing is everywhere. And every time the Surgeon General warns about addiction, every time a lawsuit alleges platforms are designed to be addictive, every time a news story describes teens as hooked, it reinforces the idea that users are powerless victims.

Indeed, the study found that the very lawsuits that went to trial this week are likely contributing to the problem.

In addition, over the 36 assessment months, the number of articles discussing "social media habits" never approached the number of articles including the term "social media addiction" (see Fig. 2). The stories driving these effects were often lawsuits. For example, the May 2022 and October 2024 peaks for "social media addiction" related to news reporting on multiple lawsuits against Meta (owners of Instagram). In addition, the May 2023 Surgeon General's warning about social media addiction seems to have contributed to the steady drumbeat of new articles during the April-June 2023 period for "social media addiction."

To be clear: most social media companies absolutely design their products with increasing engagement in mind. There are plenty of corporate incentives to keep you using the app longer. And some people genuinely do use social media in ways that harm their lives. Both things can be true while "addiction" remains the wrong frame. The question is whether calling it an addiction actually helps anyone, or whether it just makes people feel powerless.

But there's a meaningful difference between "this product is designed to form habits" and "this product is chemically addictive like heroin." A chemical addiction involves tolerance, withdrawal, and physiological dependence. The study found that only about 4% of users reported experiencing anything akin to withdrawal symptoms (restlessness or trouble when prohibited from using) often or very often. The most common "symptom" was simply thinking about Instagram a lot—which probably describes anyone who uses any service frequently.

I think about Techdirt a lot. Am I "addicted" to it?

The addiction framing removes human agency from the equation. It treats users as helpless victims who can't possibly resist the siren song of the infinite scroll. But the same study that found 2% of users at risk for addiction also found that 50% of frequent users recognized they had habits around Instagram use. Those users aren't powerless. They can change their environment, their cues, their routines. But first they have to believe that's possible—and the addiction narrative tells them it isn't.

Misclassifying frequent social media and technology use as addictive has muddled public understanding of the psychology behind these behaviors and likely inhibits users' understanding of the ways to effectively control their own behavior.

It also makes the technology appear inherently harmful, when (as pretty much every study keeps showing) only a very small percentage of people seem to have truly negative experiences with it. That should be cause to create targeted solutions for those who are genuinely struggling, not to declare an entire category of technology dangerous for everyone.

So here we are: lawsuits claiming to protect users from social media's harms may themselves be contributing to those harms by amplifying the addiction narrative. The lawyers will get paid either way. But if we actually want to help people develop healthier relationships with technology, we could start by not telling them they're powerless addicts—and instead give them the tools to change their habits.

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Apple has acquired Israel-based startup Q.ai, a move that could provide a much-needed boost to the tech giant's capabilities in artificial intelligence. Although Apple has not disclosed terms of the deal, sources told Financial Times that the arrangement is reportedly valued at nearly $2 billion. If that figure is accurate, the Q.ai acquisition marks Apple's second largest acquisition to date, followed by its purchase of Beats for $3 billion back in 2014.

Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, said in a statement that Q.ai "is a remarkable company that is pioneering new and creative ways to use imaging and machine learning." Apple hasn't shared any specifics about how it plans to leverage the startup, but its past work indicates the possibility of Apple moving deeper into AI-powered wearables. "Patents filed by Q.ai show its technology being used in headphones or glasses, using 'facial skin micro movements' to communicate without talking," the Times reported. 

The startup's founding team, including CEO Aviad Maizels, will join Apple as part of the deal. This acquisition marks Maizels' second sale to Apple; he previously founded a three-dimensional hearing business called PrimeSense that Apple bought back in 2013.

For several months, many tech insiders have speculated that an acquisition might be Apple's best path forward to catching up in the AI race. In the company's Q3 earnings call in July 2025, CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that "We're open to M&A that accelerates our roadmap." A deal like this one could eventually lead to Apple developing its own fully in-house AI chatbot rather than relying on a competitor like Google to power artificial intelligence in its Siri assistant.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-acquires-qai-for-a-reported-2-billion-190017949.html?src=rss

A group of music publishers led by Concord Music Group and Universal Music Group are suing Anthropic, according to a report by Reuters. The suit accuses the AI company of illegally downloading more than 20,000 copyrighted songs, including sheet music, lyrics and compositions.

These songs were then allegedly fed into the chatbot Claude for training purposes. There are some iconic tunes named by Universal in the suit, including tracks by The Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond and Elton John, among many others. Concord is an independent publisher that handles artists like Common, Killer Mike and Korn.

The publishers issued a statement saying that the damages could amount to more than $3 billion. This would make it one of the largest non-class action copyright cases in US history.

"While Anthropic misleadingly claims to be an AI 'safety and research' company, its record of illegal torrenting of copyrighted works makes clear that its multibillion-dollar business empire has in fact been built on piracy," the lawsuit says.

The suit was filed by the same legal team as last year's Bartz v. Anthropic case. The music publishers say they found that Anthropic had been illegally downloading thousands of songs during the discovery process of that suit.

For the unfamiliar, the Bartz v. Anthropic case ended with an award of $1.5 billion to impacted writers after it was found that the company had illegally downloaded their published works for similar training purposes. The terms of that agreement dictated that the 500,000 authors involved in the case would get $3,000 per work. The $1.5 billion looks like a big number, but not so much when broken down like that. Also, Anthropic is worth around $350 billion.

In the Bartz case, Judge William Alsup ruled that it was legal for Anthropic to train its models on copyrighted content but not legal to acquire that content via piracy. We'll have to wait and see how this new suit shakes out. The legal precedent here seems to suggest that if Anthropic would have just spent a buck on each copyrighted song, then they'd be in the clear. That's an odd distinction when it comes to building an entire company around snatching up copyrighted content, but whatever.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/music-publishers-sue-anthropic-for-3-billion-over-flagrant-piracy-185459358.html?src=rss

Since its hostile takeover by the pro-Israel Ellison billionaires, the US version of the TikTok app has begun an immediate war on pro-Palestine, anti-genocide, anti-Trump and anti-ICE speech. The platform had claimed that the sudden and complete 'shadow-banning' of left-wing and anti-Zionist content last weekend was a technical issue. However, reality suggests that users should immediately delete the app if they want to be able to find out real news, talk freely — or even keep their health data confidential.

It's not just TikTok shadow banning content critical of ICE. Instagram users are reporting that they cannot share content around the proposed Jan. 30th Minnesota solidarity strike and strike content won't show up in their feeds. This is mass censorship.

— Lee Fang (@lhfang) January 28, 2026

Users are now reporting even more specific targeting of content that might be construed as negative towards Israel and its supporters. The firm's new CEO has also admitted boasted that the app now treats any negative use of the word 'Zionist' as hate speech:

Just a technical glitch

Experts quickly rubbished the platform's claim that its blocking of videos related to Israel's genocide, murders by Trump's ICE thugs and even the mention of the name 'Epstein' was a technical glitch. For example, technology professor Ioana Literat told technology website Ars Technica that users were "absolutely right" to "fear" the changes:

users' fears are absolutely justified … Even if these are technical glitches, the pattern of what's being suppressed reveals something significant. When your 'bug' consistently affects anti-Trump content, Epstein references, and anti-ICE videos, you're looking at either spectacular coincidence or systems that have been designed—whether intentionally or through embedded biases—to flag and suppress specific political content… [users'] pattern recognition isn't paranoia, but rather digital literacy.

The app is not just blocking content supportive of Palestinians or critical of Trump or Israel. It is also forcing Israel to the top of searches within the app. Some of the videos and screenshots show Israel appearing at the top of searches for Oracle, the Ellisons' company — which might be explained away. But others show Israel being listed at or near the top of searches for completely unrelated words:

Even more sinisterly, searching for the word "Palestine" brings up Israel first:

TikTok also appears to be censoring UpScrolled, the Palestinian-designed app that has hit the top of app charts since the TikTok Zionisation:

NEW: TikTok is censoring @realUpScrolled account now. pic.twitter.com/1y4as8QRAH

— YourFavoriteGuy (@guychristensen_) January 28, 2026

And the app is reading direct messages to block even the mention of the word 'Epstein', the name of the serial child-rapist, Israeli intelligence asset and "closest friend" of Donald Trump whose records the Trump regime continues to block:

https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/SnapInsta-Ai_3819425581906332925.mp4 Tiktok US new terms and conditions

The app's new terms and conditions also now allow its owner to access even private direct messages to harvest information on users' physical and mental health:

TikTok has also hired, to senior posts, a host of members of Israel's notorious and murderous cyberspy outfit Unit 8200:

The message to readers is simple: human beings with a conscience cannot afford to use, let alone trust, the US version of TikTok. They no longer can use it to spread the word on the actions of the genocidal ethnostate, the fascist Trump regime or any other political topic that might inconvenience the powerful.

If you live in the US, delete it immediately and switch to one of the very short list of non-corporate alternatives.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

President Donald Trump's military occupations of American cities have already cost taxpayers half a billion dollars, according to a new report released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.  This unprecedented militarization of America could cost more than $1 billion this year if current domestic deployments continue.

During his second term, Trump has deployed active-duty troops and National Guard members to occupy six Democratic-led cities to quell dissent, assist anti-immigration efforts, protect federal buildings and personnel, or address crime. After repeated setbacks in federal courts and the Supreme Court's refusal to allow a military occupation of Chicago, the Trump administration withdrew forces from California, Oregon, and Illinois earlier this month. Troops are still deployed in D.C., Memphis, and New Orleans. Two hundred members of the Texas National Guard also remain on standby for deployment. These ongoing operations will cost $93 million per month in 2026, according to the CBO.

The cost of the D.C. occupation, alone, is projected to exceed $660 million this year if it runs through December, as is expected by the CBO. While that deployment was supposed to address supposed surging crime, troops were repeatedly tasked with rousting the homeless, cleaning up parks, and painting over graffiti. Trump even advanced baseless claims that U.S. forces battled members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua on the streets of the capital.  

"Our military budget is not a slush fund for the President to carry out his political stunts," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told The Intercept. "Our National Guard and Marines are needed to respond to natural disasters and national security threats. Ripping them away from their homes, jobs, and families in pursuit of a cruel immigration agenda is a disrespect to their service."

Related Trump's War on America

Trump has previously threatened to surge troops into Baltimore, New York City, Oakland, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Seattle to put down supposed rebellions and to aid law enforcement agencies, despite falling crime numbers and pushback by local officials. More recently, he threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, again — a rarely used federal law which allows the president to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement — to put down protests in Minneapolis.

Despite the Trump administration's unprecedented use of the military within the U.S., it has kept even basic details about domestic troop deployments, including the costs, secret.

According to the CBO, Trump's urban occupations cost about $496 million in 2025. That total includes $223 million for the D.C. deployment and $193 million for Los Angeles.

"They are spending billions to militarize our streets while cutting food aid, healthcare, social services, and labor and environmental protections — at a time of unparalleled wealth inequality."

Throughout 2025, The Intercept repeatedly provided cost estimates of deployments from the National Priorities Project, a nonpartisan research group. The $473 million price tag derived from open-source information and costs-per-day estimates supplied to The Intercept by the office of Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, offered in November, closely aligns with the analysis provided on Wednesday by the CBO.

"The CBO numbers confirm what invaded and over-policed communities have always known — the U.S. government is invested in control and domination, not caring for people," said Hanna Homestead of the National Priorities Project, who provided the estimates on the deployment costs. "They are spending billions to militarize our streets while cutting food aid, healthcare, social services, and labor and environmental protections - at a time of unparalleled wealth inequality."

The CBO's report was issued in response to an October 17 request from a group of senators, including Warren and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. "If Donald Trump is burning through hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on his authoritarian campaign of intimidation, the American people deserve to know about it," Duckworth told The Intercept at the time. "Trump's continued abuse of our military to intimidate Americans in their own neighborhoods — the very same Americans he expects to foot the bill for these deployments — must end immediately."

Neither the White House nor the War Department returned repeated requests for comment on the CBO report.

The post Trump Has Already Spent $500 Million Deploying Troops to U.S. Cities appeared first on The Intercept.

This past summer, Google DeepMind debuted Genie 3. It's what's known as a world world, an AI system capable of generating images and reacting as the user moves through the environment the software is simulating. At the time, DeepMind positioned Genie 3 as a tool for training AI agents. Now, it's making the model available to people outside of Google to try with Project Genie.

To start, you'll need Google's $250 per month AI Ultra plan to check out Project Genie. You'll also need to live in the US and be 18 years or older. At launch, Project Genie offers three different modes of interaction: World Sketching, exploration and remixing. The first sees Google's Nano Banana Pro model generating the source image Genie 3 will use to create the world you will later explore. At this stage, you can describe your character, define the camera perspective — be it first-person, third-person or isometric — and how you want to explore the world Genie 3 is about to generate. Before you can jump into the model's creation, Nano Banana Pro will "sketch" what you're about to see so you can make tweaks. It's also possible to write your own prompts for worlds others have used Genie to generate.

One thing to keep in mind is that Genie 3 is not a game engine. While its outputs can look game-like, and it can simulate physical interactions, there aren't traditional game mechanics here. Generations are also limited to 60 seconds, as is the presentation, which is capped at 24 frames per second and 720p. Still, if you're an AI Ultra subscriber, this is a cool opportunity to see the bleeding edge of what DeepMind has been working over the past couple of years.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-project-genie-lets-you-generate-your-own-interactive-worlds-183646186.html?src=rss

G2, the Chicago-based software insights platform, agreed today to acquire three prominent software review and discovery properties from Gartner: Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp. The deal brings four of the largest B2B review sites under a single roof and signals a shift toward unified, AI-driven software recommendation and buying experiences.   According to the announcement, the combined business will include roughly six million verified customer reviews and tap into an audience of more than 200 million annual software buyers. G2 said it expects the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2026, subject to standard regulatory and closing conditions.   G2's…

This story continues at The Next Web

'We're letting thousands of interns run around in our production environment'

Corporate use of AI agents in 2026 looks like the Wild West, with bots running amok and no one quite knowing what to do about it - especially when it comes to managing and securing their identities.…

The 129 year old chemical company uses Palantir-rival C3's AI as its software of choice.

ai-pocalypse The jury is still out when it comes to determining how much job loss AI is causing. However, we now have another case study. Dow Chemical blames AI automation for its plans to cut 4,500 jobs, about 12.5 percent of its work force.…

Let's open with a joke:

Mr. Bovino said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents were probably more experienced at handling young people than "any domestic law enforcement agency."

"I will say unequivocally that we are experts in dealing with children," he said. "Not because we want to be, but because we have to be."

Granted, the punchline is weak and the person delivering it is even weaker, but for ex-Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino — he of the routine violation of court orders and a predilection for Nazi-esque outerwear — to suggest that any part of the anti-migrant hate train is good with children is laughable. That's some gallows ass humor right there.

Trump didn't invent separating children from parents when detaining and deporting migrants, but he was the first to turn it into the rule, rather than the tragic exception. His second administration is definitely the one filled with people whose eyes absolutely light up every time they destroy the life of an immigrant.

Here's what Bovino was defending, while doing his best to talk around the issue. This photo is courtesy of the school that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos attended before being arrested (along with his father) and sent to a detention center more than 1,000 miles away from their home.

That's a federal officer holding onto the child's backpack, as if the frightened child might make a run for freedom at any point.

Since that moment went viral, tons of conflicting narratives have been sent out into the public domain. The government has said the usual moronic, hateful stuff about the father being an illegal immigrant who abandoned his child at school when officers closed in on him. The father's lawyer claims the father has a pending asylum claim, which doesn't actually make him an illegal immigrant. In fact, it means he can't be detained or deported until his case is heard.

Stumbling onto the scene following the second execution of a Minneapolis resident in the past three weeks is JD Vance, who was apparently sent out by the president to charm their critics into submission. But being charming or empathetic or otherwise projecting something resembling "normal human being" has never been one of Vance's skills. So, while he opened up with something approaching respecting the humanity of others — that being that he has a five-year-old of his own — he soon veered in the direction of MAGA incantations to claim the child got everything that was coming to him.

In Minneapolis, Vance sought to appear empathetic toward the child. He declared that he too has a 5-year-old, and said he'd been moved by the story. However, he said he'd done "follow-up research" and discovered that the father was an "illegal alien."

"Are they not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?" asked Vance, speaking of ICE. He then scoffed: "If the argument is that you can't arrest people who have violated our laws because they have children, then every single parent is going to be completely given immunity."

"Follow up research" of course means "handed DHS talking points." And referring to the father as an illegal alien (repeatedly) is just a lie of convenience. And it's probably not even an intentional lie, as Greg Sargent points out in The New Republic. It's just Vance's worldview — one shared by plenty of people in the administration — getting out ahead of his pathetic attempt to calm the Minnesota waters.

But an even more grotesque Trump-Vance stance here is going unnoticed. Vance simply doesn't think it's a misnomer to call the father an "illegal alien," despite his asylum claim. That's because Vance plainly doesn't believe those awaiting asylum adjudication are here legitimately at all. He and Trump have adopted the position that legal loopholes allow them to deport asylum-seekers before their claims are heard.

Everyone Trump wants gone can be labeled an illegal immigrant. All federal officers and prosecutors need to do is strip them of their protected status, revoke their visas, void asylum applications, or dismiss pending immigration cases to convert people following legal pathways towards permanent residence into "illegals" who are supposedly "invading" our country.

And it will do this even though there are vulnerable people — children, the elderly, parents with newborns, people who are likely to be tortured or killed if deported to the countries they fled — in the mix. And then they'll send someone who's not quite as abrasive as Trump, Noem, Bovino, Bondi, etc. to soft-sell the horrors the administration will continue to inflict on this nation for the rest of whatever. It's callous, malicious, and above all, evil for its own sake. It does nothing to make America greater or safer. All it does is make it whiter.

The New England Patriots are headed to the 2026 Super Bowl. (Lauren Leigh Bacho via Getty Images) Lauren Leigh Bacho via Getty Images

Drake Maye and the New England Patriots face Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks at Super Bowl LX, which will be held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA this year. For those of you who don't have your calendars blocked off already, the game is on February 8, with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET. 

Like all other Sunday Night Football games this season, the championship game will be broadcast on NBC, and will stream live on Peacock. (Oh, and in case the Super Bowl isn't enough for you, you can catch coverage of the Winter Olympics all morning and after the football game on NBC, too!) Here's everything you need to know to tune in to Super Bowl LX on February 8, including the game channel, where to stream, and who's performing at halftime.

How to watch Super Bowl LX

Date: Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

TV channel: NBC, Telemundo

Streaming: Peacock, DirecTV, NFL+ and more

2026 Super Bowl game time

The 2026 Super Bowl is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT on Feb. 8, 2026.

2026 Super Bowl game channel

The 2026 Super Bowl will air on NBC, with a Spanish-language broadcast available on Telemundo. 

2026 Super Bowl teams:

The New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks will play in the 2026 Super Bowl.

Where is the 2026 Super Bowl being played?

The 2026 Super Bowl will be held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA, home of the San Francisco 49ers.

What teams are playing in the 2026 Super Bowl?

The teams for the 2026 Super Bowl will be determined after the AFC and NFC Championship games are played on Sunday, Jan. 25. You can keep tabs on the post-season playoff bracket here.

How to watch the 2026 Super Bowl without cable

You can stream NBC and Telemundo on platforms like DirecTV and Hulu + Live TV, both of which are among Engadget's choices for best streaming services for live TV. (Note that Fubo and NBC are currently in the midst of a contract dispute and NBC channels are not available on the platform.) The game will also be streaming on Peacock and on NFL+, though with an NFL+ subscription, you're limited to watching the game on mobile devices. 

Who is performing at the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show?

Bad Bunny, who holds the title as the most-streamed artist in the world, will be headlining the 2026 Super Bowl halftime performance. You can expect that show to begin after the second quarter, likely between 8-8:30 p.m. ET. Singer Charlie Puth will also be at the game to perform the National Anthem, Brandi Carlile is scheduled to sing "America The Beautiful," and Coco Jones will perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing."

Where to buy tickets to the 2026 Super Bowl: 

Tickets to the 2026 Super Bowl are available on third-party resale platforms like StubHub and Gametime. 

Find tickets on Stubhub Find tickets on Gametime More ways to watch Super Bowl LX

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/how-to-watch-the-2026-super-bowl-patriots-vs-seahawks-channel-start-time-where-to-stream-and-more-175759610.html?src=rss

Maingear is back with another nostalgia-fueled gaming PC. The Retro98 may look like it's made for playing Quake while you wait for The Phantom Menace trailer to drop. But on the inside, the beige box is powerful enough to slay today's most demanding AAA games. "You're not going to find this PC at your local Radio Shack," Maingear promises.

If you're at least middle-aged, the Retro98's exterior is instantly familiar. The hand-built tower includes an LED fan-speed display, a working turbo button and a power-lockout key. Sticking with the nostalgic motif, its front I/O is hidden behind the Maingear logo. I can already hear The Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic" playing in the background.

Fortunately, you won't be limited to 1998 games. (Dope as they are.) It has up to a Ryzen 9 9950X3D processor, GeForce RTX 5090 graphics, 64GB Kingston Fury RAM and 4TB Kingston FURY Renegade NVMe Gen5 SSD. The maxed-out version (described by Maingear as "unapologetically overkill") even includes open-loop liquid cooling.

The Retro98 starts at $2,500 and goes all the way up to $9,799.Maingear

Now for the bad news. As you might expect from a retro novelty PC like this, you'll have to pay a pretty penny. The base model (Intel Core Ultra 7 265K / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070) costs $2,499. There are two other standard tiers, priced at $3,499 and $4,999. Finally, the open-loop-cooled "Alpha" build is a whopping $9,799. Hey, those aren't 1998 prices!

The Retro98 also has an extremely limited run. Maingear is producing only 32 standard units and six alpha units. The company says it won't bring this build back once those sell out. However, there is a workaround for tinkerers: Since it's based on the SilverStone FLP02 tower PC case, you could grab one of those and build your own.

Those wealthy and nostalgic enough to take the plunge can order the Retro98 today from Maingear's website.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/maingears-latest-retro-gaming-desktop-takes-you-back-to-the-quake-era-174958445.html?src=rss

On 30 January, six Italian coastguard and customs officials will go on trial for failing to launch rescue operations which could have prevented a shipwreck. The incident killed more than 90 people near the town of Cutro in southern Italy in February 2023.

The shipwreck of the "Summer Love"

At least 94 people, including 34 children, drowned in Italian territorial waters near Steccato di Cutro, Calabria. The vessel "Summer Love" sank just metres from the Italian shoreline. An unknown number of people also went missing at sea.

More than 50 survivors and relatives of victims will be civil parties in the proceedings, as well as numerous NGOs. Amnesty International will observe the hearing, with Serena Chiodo, Amnesty Italy's Campaign specialist on migration, present at the Crotone courthouse.

Serena Chiodo, Amnesty Italy's Campaign Specialist on Migration, said:

This trial will try to establish any individual criminal responsibility for the deaths of dozens of people - including many children - which is fundamental to uphold the right of survivors and victims' families to truth, justice and reparation.

Crucially, it will also be an opportunity to shine a light on systemic failures and reckless decisions by the Italian authorities that may have contributed to the enormous loss of life.

As recent days have once again shown, deadly shipwrecks in the Mediterranean are a brutal and ongoing reality. The Central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world's most dangerous migration routes, exacerbated by European states' failure to ensure adequate search and rescue operations and the ongoing crackdown on NGO rescue vessels by the Italian government.

Those who drowned at Cutro could still be alive had authorities acted in line with their search and rescue obligations. Fewer people would be forced to make life-threatening journeys if European governments significantly increased access to safe and regular pathways for people fleeing desperate situations.

In the aftermath of the Cutro shipwreck, according to leaked documents, it emerged that the government had unduly restricted the response to maritime distress calls regarding refugees and migrants. This could have contributed to the disaster.

The trial comes amid a spate of deadly shipwrecks over the past week. UN agencies estimate that hundreds of people may have drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean.

Italian authorities could have prevented the disaster

Between 25 and 26 February 2023, a wooden boat carrying about 200 people sank metres from the shore in the Italian region of Calabria. Local fishermen volunteered in rescue efforts, but for many people on board it was already too late. Under international law, states are required to rescue people in distress at sea and ensure prompt coordination of rescue operations.

An investigation by Lighthouse Reports revealed information was available to European border agency Frontex and the Italian authorities several hours before the shipwreck which could have prevented drownings, including in relation to bad weather conditions and the likely presence of refugees and migrants below deck.

Amnesty highlighted shortcomings in relation to the authorities' response to the incident. It made recommendations for the Italian authorities in its calls for an urgent review of search and rescue procedures and visa policies.

On 24 January, the International Organization for Migration reported that the Central Mediterranean remains the world's deadliest migration route. At least 1,340 people have lost their lives there in the last year alone.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

Donald Trump's aircraft carrier strike group looks poised to strike Iran. But this would be no butcher-and-bolt Venezuelan kidnap operation. The balance of power in the region is delicate and complicated. And an attack could set the region and the world alight.

Lebanon's Hezbollah is a staunch Iranian ally. On January 28, a Hezbollah official delivered a warning that strikes could "trigger a volcano in the region". Nawaf al Moussawi said:

what holds the United States back is its inability to predict the aftermath of the strike.

The story in Iran in recent months is one of rebellion and repression as protests over the costs of living were met with brutal state violence. A media and internet black-out makes verification perilously difficult, but estimates of the death toll range from 6,000 to 30,000.

Lofty (and, again, unverified) claims from Israeli and US actors that their intelligence agencies are among the protestors have further confused matters. Yet Iran is not a weak power in the region. And her allies in Lebanon and Iraq may yet influence the outcome of any attack.

Al Moussawi said:

Washington has been seeking to topple the political system in Iran ever since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Asked how Hezbollah could respond, Moussawi said:

We will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Israeli press carried comments from Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem:

when Trump threatens Imam Khamenei, he threatens tens of millions who follow his leadership, and it's our duty to confront this threat by any means.

Credible force

The presence of a credible military force, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, tells its own story. The Lincoln - with her gigantic airpower and accompanying warships — was rerouted on short notice from the Indo-Pacific to the Arabian sea for whatever task Trump envisions.

Trump insists on referring to the fleet as his "beautiful armada" and has pulled US troops out of Qatar. He has talked about protecting protestors as part of his rationale, but also about forcing Iran into submission over a nuclear deal.

Even insiders are unsure what Trump will do. Ex-Pentagon and US Special Forces official Seth Jones told the Financial Times:

This looks like the US is planning to use military force. What is less clear [are] the objectives.

There is nothing simple about an operation against Iran. As former US defence official Dana Stroul told the paper:

There's nothing about the Venezuela playbook that could be applied to Iran.

And there are other powerful regional actors who could shape events.

Iraq, Trump, and Maliki

Former Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki — whose premiership is mired in allegations of despotism, sectarian violence, and corruption — has been put forward by the governing coalition of Shia-parties (known as the Coordination Framework) as their nominee to become prime minister.

Inside Iraq, Maliki is widely viewed as an Iranian lackey and by Washington as Iran's right hand man. Maliki previously served as PM from 2006 to 2014 during a period of intense violence under US occupation.

Trump is not enamoured with the idea. He said the US would stop supporting Iraq if Maliki returned to power:

The US president wrote on Truth Social that Maliki would be a "very bad choice", adding: "Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos."

It appears that Iran, behind closed doors, is desperately reshuffling the political deck in Baghdad — a country which for years provided it with illicit access to liquid dollars.

Maliki responded bluntly, according to the BBC:

Maliki rejected US interference in Iraq's internal affairs and said he considered the comments a "violation" of the country's sovereignty and its democratic order.

But Maliki has been a strong proponent of Iranian interference in Iraq. But Iraq may not be a strong card for Iran to play.

Next steps

Trump has taken a belligerent posture in 2026.

His attack on Venezuela and threats against Greenland, Mexico, Colombia, Cuba and other states suggest he is increasingly inclined to threaten and cajole his way through international affairs.

He faces internal crises too in the wake of a series of apparent street executions of US citizens by federal officers in Minneapolis.

It's unclear whether he will strike Iran, but could that pave the way for imminent negotiations to forge a new nuclear deal?

What is clear is that the US president is increasingly unpredictable on both the world and domestic stages.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

'Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey' found a colourful way to tell US vice-president JD Vance what he thinks of him. Sadly, the account is a parody.

Vance, like his boss and other Trump lackeys, has been lying that Frey and Minnesota governor Tim Walz have banned police from helping ICE thugs. Frey (the real one) had in fact said that the police's job is to protect citizens, not enforce federal immigration:

If only the real Minneapolis mayor was like this…

Vance's nonsense raises the question: if armed and murderous ICE thugs need police protection, what use are they except to terrorise ordinary people? But the parody Frey's response was far pithier:

This is a lie.

Even if I had ordered this, the MPLS police department would never follow an order from me.

Do better. Go fuck a couch. https://t.co/Z1taurbB3E

— Mayor of Minneapolis Jacob Frey (Parody) (@Mayor_Frey_) January 28, 2026

This would be an entirely appropriate level of contempt - in fact, quite restrained. The thousands of 'likes', shares and positive comments the X post received suggest many agree, though it's unclear how many respondents thought it was the real Fry.

How much better would US (and UK) politics be if politicians spoke like real people to the fools running (read: ruining) our countries?

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

Spotify is adding group chats to the messaging service it premiered last year. In an addendum to the original blog post introducing Messages, the company announced that users can initiate chats with up to 10 of their friends to share the podcasts, playlists and songs they are listening to.

The in-app messaging feature, which was released last August, works to keep users on the app instead of navigating to another platform to share content with friends. Since its introduction, Spotify has added functionality bit by bit. Earlier this month, the company added the ability to share what you're listening to in real-time. Users can also invite chat participants to join a Jam, the app's collaborative listening tool.

Spotify isn't the only content platform trying to make in-app messaging a thing. Late last year, YouTube said it would be testing DMs, after originally adding the feature in 2017 before removing it in 2019.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/spotify-has-a-group-messaging-feature-now-173734450.html?src=rss

Reduce emissions? Screw that - we have money to lose and memes to generate

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In the latest war of words between Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer, the Manchester mayor has claimed he received zero support from Labour:

Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden today - 29 January - announced that the government would not alter its decision not to compensate thousands of women affected by changes to the state pension age - the so-called WASPI women.

The decision comes after months of back-and-forth on the issue - and marks yet another instance of Labour going back on its word.

Parliament had recently undertaken to review its decision in light of evidence it previously overlooked. Today, though, McFadden stated in front of the Commons that:

There are legitimate and sincerely held views about whether it was wise to increase the state pension age, in particular, whether the decision taken in 2011 by the coalition government to accelerate equalisation and the rise to the age of 66 was the right thing to do or not.

However, the pensions secretary held that the policy decision was a separate matter from the DWP's failure to send letters out in time. He went on to say that:

We accept that individual letters about changes to the state pension age could have been sent earlier.

For this, I want to repeat the apology that (former work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall) gave on behalf of the Government.

And I am sorry that those letters were not sent sooner.

We also agree with the (Parliamentary and Health Service) ombudsman that women did not suffer any direct financial loss from the delay.

WASPI

Campaign group WASPI - Women Against State Pension Inequality - represents millions of women born in the 1950s whose retirement plans were suddenly dashed. This was a result of the 2011 coalition government's decision to raise the state pension age from 60 to 66.

Whilst the original 1995 legislation stated that the WASPI women should have received at least 10 years notice of the change, they instead received just 18 months.

Last week, on 23 January, WASPI issued an update ahead of McFadden's decision. It stated that:

The injustice we continue to experience as WASPI women is not news, but each and every day it impacts on huge numbers of us who were not told that our State Pension age was increasing soon enough for us to do anything about it. Most of the general public agree with us. Most Labour MPs agreed when in opposition - including Kier Starmer and Angela Rayner.

WASPI also pointed out that the injustice they faced wasn't simply a matter of personal (or even public) opinion. Rather, it was also verified by the "the most time-consuming and resource-intensive" investigation ever carried out by parliamentary ombudsman.

'Logical flaw'

The ombudsman found that:

• DWP research showed many 1950s-born women were unaware of our own increased State Pension age, even if they knew pension ages were changing generally;

• DWP research further established that direct, personalised letters were the most effective means of informing this demographic - who relied on written communication - of our own increased State Pension ages, after other methods had proved ineffective; and

• having decided a direct mailing campaign was needed, the DWP maladministratively delayed its launch by years.

As a result, the ombudsman then recommended that compensation should be paid to the 1950s-born women for the injustice of "lost opportunities and distress". However, the government dismissed the decision out of hand, claiming that it:

contained a "logical flaw" and it failed to take into account the fact that sending letters was "often not an effective way to change levels of awareness".

Then, in November 2025, the government announced that a new document had come to light. At the time of the initial decision, then-work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall hadn't seen a survey from 2007 which may have altered the government's choice.

McFadden stated that the government would undertake a reconsideration of its WASPI decision, and ensure that no other evidence was missing. However, today (29 January) we learned that this reconsideration has come to nothing. Parliament remains firm in its decision that the women affected will receive no compensation.

Another broken promise

Back in 2019, the Labour manifesto contained the following statement:

A generation of women born in the 1950s have had their pension age changed without fair notification. This betrayal left millions of women with no time to make alternative plans - with sometimes devastating personal consequences. Labour recognises this injustice, and will work with these women to design a system of recompense for the losses and insecurity they have suffered. We will ensure that such an injustice can never happen again by legislating to prevent accrued rights to the state pension from being changed.

Then, in 2022, then-leader of the opposition Kier Starmer called for "fair and fast" compensation for WASPI women. However, the 2024 Labour manifesto - immediately before their election - was mysteriously silent on the subject.

When, in 2024, Liz Kendall finally announced that the women affected would not receive the planned compensation of £1,000 and £2,950 each, it prompted uproar from both campaigners and Labour MPs themselves.

Even when McFadden undertook to reconsider, he warned that the scheme could cost some £10bn in all.

'Disgraceful political choice' against the WASPI women

Angela Madden, the WASPI chair, stated that McFadden's decision today demonstrated "utter contempt" for the women affected. She also added that:

The government has kicked the can down the road for months, only to arrive at exactly the same conclusion it has always wanted to.

This is a disgraceful political choice by a small group of very powerful people who have decided the harm and injustice suffered by millions of ordinary women simply does not matter.

Today's announcement was not a surprise - it's merely another disappointment. It's become routine at this point for Labour to renege on its promises in the name of its coffers.

This party is happy to recognise and name a clear injustice when it's in opposition, but when it comes time to put its money where its mouth is, they'll opt to keep the money every time.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alex/Rose Cocker

Yesterday, 28 January, industry body Water UK announced its annual bills hike for 2026. This year, from April onwards, water bills will rise by £2.70 a month — that's £33 across the year. That's an average increase of 5.4%, more than 2% above the most recent inflation figures.

Water UK claims that this will fund "record levels on investment" in the UK's failing water infrastructure, including a £104bn programme stretching up to 2030.

The problem? We already paid to fix the infrastructure with our past bills. The water companies simply failed to do their job. Now, they have the bloody nerve to come demanding more money to do the work they should have been doing from the start.

'End sewage entering our rivers'

Water UK stated that companies will begin the infrastructure investment by spending £20bn over 2026-27. According to the trade body, this comes as part of the current £104 billion investment programme to:

secure our water supplies, support economic growth and end sewage entering our rivers and seas.

Now, it's undeniable that the UK's water infrastructure is in a sorry state. However, the passive "sewing entering our rivers" language here is deeply disingenuous from the companies dumping the sewage.

In the latest pollution figures, for 2024, show that serious pollution incidents increased by an eye-watering 60% compared to the previous year. The Environment Agency (EA) specifically highlighted the government's persistent under-investment in new infrastructure and poor asset maintenance as reasons for these massive failures.

Water UK also stated that:

The money raised by water bills can only be used to fund infrastructure that is independently determined to be new, necessary and value for money. There is a money-back guarantee which means that if improvements are not delivered, customer bills will automatically be refunded by the regulator.

Though, it must be said, it's much easier to deliver tangible improvements when you've spent years under-performing.

'Never welcome'

The amount that water companies can raise their prices is controlled by the Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales.

Between 2025 and 2030, Ofwat will allow suppliers to hike bills by 36%. Most of that total was front-loaded onto last year's staggering price increases. Water bills in England and Wales increased by an around £10 a month in 2025, for an average total of over £600.

Given that it's hiking bills at over-inflation levels yet again, Water UK was also quick to signpost support options for customers to pay their bills.

Over two million households already receive help paying for water through social tariffs, the WaterSure scheme, and other aid measures. Now, for 2026-27, Water UK expects that another 300,000 will add to that total, bringing it to almost 2.5 million households.

Water UK chief executive David Henderson said:

We understand increasing bills is never welcome, but the money is needed to fund vital upgrades to secure our water supplies, support economic growth and end sewage entering our rivers and seas.

While we urgently need investment in our water and sewage infrastructure, we know that for many this increase will be difficult. That is why we will help around 2.5 million households - more than ever before - with average discounts of around 40% off their water bill.

Repeated, massive failures

Whilst this 'help' with bills sounds terribly benevolent, it's hiding a very simple truth. Private water in the UK is a monopoly — customers have no choice in their provider, and they have to buy water in order to stay alive. And the water companies that have a stranglehold on our lives just aren't doing their jobs.

As we mentioned above, serious pollution incidents actually rose in the Environment Agency's latest report. In fact, the EA found that: 

81% of these serious incidents were the responsibility of just three water companies - Thames Water (33 incidents), Southern Water (15 incidents) and Yorkshire Water (13 incidents). All pollution incidents (category 1 to 3) have increased by 29%: last year water companies recorded 2,801 incidents, up from 2,174 in 2023.

Even outside of their environmental failures, some water companies are even failing in the task of delivering water to our homes. Earlier this month, 30,000 homes across Kent and Sussex were left without water, some for four days or more.

South East Water issued multiple apologies, and blamed Storm Goretti causing burst pipes and power cuts. However, Parliamentary Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee chairman Alistair Carmichael stated that he was "deeply skeptical" of SEW's explanation.

Paying twice

This led nationalisation campaign group We Own It, to call for Ofwat to withdraw South East Water's licence and bring it back into public ownership. The campaigners have also made similar calls regarding Thames Water, which remains locked in talks between the regulator and its creditors over the company's massive levels of debt.

We Own It stated that:

The way to fix our broken water system is to genuinely regulate the water companies until they deliver what is needed. If and when they become unprofitable through the process of delivering on their duties, it is your responsibility to allow this to happen, let companies fail as the consequence of appropriate regulation. Then take them into permanent public ownership.

Meanwhile, environmental pressure group River Action has taken Ofwat to High Court over its lax attitude to water bills. The group argued that:

Ofwat's current methods could allow water companies to charge billpayers again for environmental improvement works that they have already paid for, despite its promise that customers should not pay twice. We challenged Ofwat's failure to require water companies to demonstrate compliance with environmental regulations as part of its price control exercise, as it said it would.

Water companies plead that they have to hike their prices to fix their infrastructure. However, our past bills were already meant to fund infrastructure investment. Instead, the private water companies have spent years letting our infrastructure crumble, dumping sewage into the environment and pocketing the money themselves.

River Action are still awaiting the results of their lawsuit. However, now that Water UK has again - with Ofwat's permission - announced that it's putting up water bills in 2026, the River Action verdict couldn't come sooner.

Featured image via Unsplash/the Canary

By Alex/Rose Cocker

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Waymo said one of its robotaxis struck a child, who sustained minor injuries. The incident took place in Santa Monica, California, on January 23. The company reported it to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has opened an investigation. 

The agency said the incident occurred close to a school within regular drop-off hours, with other children and a crossing guard nearby. The child ran from behind a double-parked SUV into the path of a Waymo Driver. Waymo said its vehicle detected the child immediately as they emerged and that the robotaxi braked hard to lower its speed from around 17 mph to under 6 mph at the time of impact. 

Waymo said the child stood up immediately and moved to the sidewalk. The company contacted emergency services and the vehicle remained stationary at the side of the road until law enforcement allowed it to leave.

The NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation will examine whether the Waymo Driver used appropriate caution given that it was close to a school during drop-off hours and children were close by. The probe is expected to look at the intended behavior of the vehicle's automated driving systems around schools (particularly during regular pick-up and drop-off times) and Waymo's response to the incident.

On the day that the incident took place, the National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation into Waymo over its vehicles improperly passing school buses in Austin, Texas. Last month, the company carried out a voluntary software recall (i.e. it updated its systems) after the NHTSA opened an investigation into Waymo vehicles allegedly driving past stationary school buses in both Austin and Atlanta.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/a-waymo-robotaxi-struck-a-child-near-a-school-152446302.html?src=rss

Honda and DriveOhio have teamed up on a new road safety initiative in which Honda vehicles are being used to collect real-time data that can advise about potential issues and road deficiencies before they become a problem. Honda's Proactive Roadway Maintenance System, which has been in prototyping since 2021, uses "advanced vision and LiDAR sensors" to identify issues such as worn or obstructed road signs, damaged guardrails, rough roads and emerging potholes.

During the pilot, members of the Ohio Department of Transportation's smart mobility hub drove the test vehicles on around 3,000 miles of road in central and southeastern Ohio. They covered a mix of urban and rural environments, in varying weather conditions and at different times of the day. 

ODOT operators were able to review any flagged road or infrastructure deficiencies in real time using smart dashboards developed by Honda and tech firm Parsons. The University of Cincinnati helped Honda fit the sensors to its vehicles, led the development of the damage detection feature and assisted ODOT during the pilot.

The data collected by the vehicles was processed by Edge AI models and then passed on to Honda's own cloud platform. The system then automatically generated work orders for ODOT's maintenance teams in order of priority.

While a relatively small pilot in scope, the Proactive Roadway Maintenance System performed well in the trial across a number of metrics, delivering as high as 99 percent accuracy at highlighting damaged or obstructed signs. Accuracy was 93 percent for damaged guardrails and a slightly lower 89 percent for spotting potholes.

Honda says its technology could also detect high-severity shoulder drop-offs that were easy to miss in a routine visual inspection, while the system also proved reliable at measuring road roughness. The team that worked on the project estimated that if implemented on a larger scale, the automated system could save ODOT over $4.5 million a year.

Honda and its partners are now looking at ways to scale up the prototype Proactive Roadway Maintenance System for real-world use. The manufacturer also says it aims to eventually have similar technology in the vehicles of its customers, who will be able to share their own detection data anonymously and help create safer roads.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/honda-vehicles-used-to-proactively-report-road-safety-issues-in-nation-first-pilot-151629967.html?src=rss

Writing in the Metro, Zack Polanski argues it's imperative that the Green Party beats Reform in Gorton & Denton.

My article in the Metro.

Why the Green Party must beat the Reform extremists in Gorton & Denton.https://t.co/bnZ1d979og

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) January 29, 2026

Extremism

In the article above, Polanski notes:

We believe Goodwin is a dangerous extremist with views on race that the vast majority of us find absolutely abhorrent.

This is a man who says that being born and brought up in the UK doesn't mean that people from black, Asian or other immigrant backgrounds are necessarily British.

He has discussed acts of horrifying violence, including people trying to set alight a hotel with asylum seekers inside, as merely a reaction to 'mass immigration.' He's a vocal supporter of Viktor Orban's authoritarian Hungary.

According to the 2021 Census, 29% of the Gorton and Denton population are Muslim, and 44% come from a black or minority ethnic background. Speaking on such people, Goodwin has said:

It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody 'British'.

It's going to be pretty awkward for Goodwin if he doesn't think his constituents are British; it would mean he's 56% a British MP and 44% non-British.

Polanski also said:

What's not clear is how much Goodwin actually believes what he's saying, or whether he's just espousing whatever beliefs he thinks will further his career. Not long ago he was critical of people like Tommy Robinson, and praising migration - now he sounds like merely a more articulate version of Robinson.

What is clear though is that whatever his motivation, time and time again Goodwin has sought to whip up divisions in our communities, using exaggerations and falsehoods to try and pit people against each other.

Polanski best watch himself with Reform candidate Matt Goodwin. After all, he's already called the police on the Labour Party over a tweet he didn't like:

Reform's self-styled hard man couldn't handle a tweet. Instead of answering critics, the party's Matthew Goodwin ran straight to the police — writes @skwawkbox https://t.co/zDFMBLDjDl

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) January 29, 2026

We thought that Reform were against criminalising people over tweets, but we guess not!

We know Goodwin is against it, anyway, because he literally said the following:

If anyone is "insane," it's Matt Goodwin.

Yarwood posted "Head for the hotels housing them [asylum seekers] and burn them to the ground" and "violence and murder is the only way, start with migrant hotels, the MPs homes and take parliament by force".

It was a crystal clear case… https://t.co/eTsoTrkCos pic.twitter.com/WlCEdalPSI

— GET A GRIP (@docrussjackson) December 18, 2025

Labour sidelined

While Reform and the Greens duke it out, a befuddled Labour is left floundering:

This Labour chud is absolutely baffled at finding out the Green members elect their own candidates as opposed to have some briefcase wielding personality void foisted on them from above. https://t.co/uKfV75t4rR

— Dr Iain Darcy

Responding to Owen Jones, Matt Goodwin has sought to establish his Manchester credentials. Primarily what he's done, however, is confirm that he has never lived in the constituency where he's standing for Reform:

You know nothing about me Owen

My parents divorced when I was 5

My dad moved to Manchester when I was 12 and led the local NHS

I spent my weekends and holidays in Manchester

I went to Salford uni

I studied next to the steel factory where my grandfather worked his whole… https://t.co/iF0vY5FF5f

— Matt Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) January 28, 2026

Like Goodwin, I'm also an on-again, off-again migrant to Manchester, so I'm ideally placed to run you through what he's saying here.

Gorton and Denton

For reference, Gorton and Denton is one of the poorer areas of Manchester. As you can see from the following statistics, it's above the national averages in terms of the poverty people experience:

• Estimated households in fuel poverty: 33.4% (17.9% national average).
• Estimated child poverty: 47.2% (29.3% national average).
• Worried about not being able to pay their energy bills in the next year: 56.2% (53.5% national average).

Like Goodwin, I've never lived or worked in Gorton and Denton. I have worked in Ashton-under-Lyne, however, which is right next door. It's so next door, in fact, that Reform MP Lee Anderson took a picture there the other day when he was supposed to be canvassing in Gorton and Denton.

Lee, oh 30p Lee, Lee Anderson by-election campaigning in the wrong constituency

Apple's AirPods 4 have a ton of improvements over the previous generation, but the version with active noise cancellation takes things up a notch. With them, you can get noise-cancelling power without the in-ear design of the AirPods Pro 3 that may bother some folks.

They're even more enticing when they're on sale, like right now. The AirPods 4 with ANC are down to $119 at the moment, or $60 less than their usual price. While we've seen the ANC model as low as $99, the $119 price tag is the best deal we've seen so far this year.

Apple released its fourth-generation AirPods in late 2024 and they're still our pick for best budget AirPods on the market. We gave the ANC model an 86 in our review thanks to their effective noise canceling, better sound quality and features like adaptive audio. Overall, at $60 off, they're a great option to pick up. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-airpods-4-with-anc-are-on-sale-for-119-153239333.html?src=rss

MicroSD Express cards are still a little hard to find, considering they're pretty new and only really started becoming popular last year once the Switch 2 came out. These upgraded versions of microSD cards are the only ones compatible with the Switch 2 for expanding its storage, os if you're already starting to feel the crunch on your console, it's worth picking one up. Samsung's P9 microSD Express card is on sale right now — you can grab the 512GB version of $80, which is 33 percent off and one of the best prices we've seen.

The P9 boasts transfer speeds of up to 800MB/s, making moving games to the card that much faster. As for load times, in our testing we found that any microSD Express, the standard the Switch 2 requires, will offer roughly the same performance. This format is pretty new, so there aren't a ton of cards on the market. As such, the P9 makes our list of best microSD cards for the Nintendo Switch 2.

The P9 microSD Express is also compatible with the Steam Deck or any other gaming console that accepts the format, as well as cameras and more. If you were hoping to spend a bit less, the 256GB version of Samsung's card is on sale for $40, while this 256GB Lexar microSD Express card is on sale for $50.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-512gb-samsung-p9-microsd-express-card-is-40-off-right-now-143849385.html?src=rss

Google has agreed to a preliminary $135 million settlement in a class action lawsuit brought by Android users who accused it of harvesting their data without consent. The suit alleged that since November 12, 2017, Google has been illegally collecting cellular data from phones purchased through carriers, even when apps were closed or location features were disabled.

As reported by Reuters, the affected users believed Google using their data for marketing and product development meant it was guilty of "conversion." In US law, conversion occurs when one party takes the property of another with "the intent to deprive them of it" or "exert property rights over it."

Subject to approval from a judge, a settlement of $135 million was filed in a San Jose federal court earlier this week. The payout would be one of, if not the largest ever in a case of this nature, according to Glen Summers, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Each user involved in the lawsuit would be entitled to up to $100 from Google, which denies any wrongdoing and has agreed to seek consent during the setup process of a new phone from now on. A toggle will be added to enable users to easily disable data transfer, while the Alphabet-owned company will also adjust its terms of service accordingly. A trial is scheduled for August 5.

This is the second settlement this week for Google. On January 26, the company also agreed to a $68 million settlement regarding claims that Google Assistant had been spying on users after being triggered by what it had misheard as wake words. Again, Google denied any wrongdoing in the class action suit.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-will-pay-135-million-to-settle-illegal-data-collection-lawsuit-133012112.html?src=rss

It's the year 2026 and the hottest game in my living room is Fruit Ninja. No, I'm not in the midst of an ill-advised retro mobile gaming kick. Instead, my family and I have been jumping around and slicing flying fruit in our living room using the Nex Playground. It's a tiny gaming system built entirely around Kinect-like games. With its camera and onboard computer vision processing, the $249 Nex Playground can track up to four players as effectively as Microsoft's clunky old Xbox motion tracker. Simply put, the dream of the Kinect, as well as Nintendo's Wii, lives on in the Nex Playground.

I'll admit, I was skeptical about Nex making a dent in the console arena. It's tough for new companies with no hardware experience to steal any limelight away from entrenched competitors like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. But the Nex Playground's simplicity, accurate motion tracking and library of kid-friendly titles (including the likes of Peppa Pig and Bluey) has made it a hit among families. The company says it sold 650,000 units last year, which might not sound like much, but it was enough to beat the beleagured Xbox last November.

Honestly, I'm just happy it gets my kids off the couch. I do my best to limit screen time with them, but as someone who has fond memories planted in front of my TV playing endless hours of SNES games, I also leave some room for my kids to explore tech and media on their own. I love the way Minecraft's near-limitless creative potential has unleashed my daughter's imagination, but I also want her to move more, especially in these winter months when we can't easily go outside. 

Even though the Nex Playground is another screen-based activity, the sheer variety of games to play keeps my kids entertained and it helps them break a sweat. The console's version of Fruit Ninja is similar to that game's VR forays, where you have to stand up and make an effort to swipe your arms. You're not just dragging your fingers across a screen. Go Keeper gamifies the role of a soccer goalkeeper, which leads to my kids jumping all over our family room to block and catch stray balls. And we all love having mini-dance parties with Starri, which has you swinging your arms and dodging obstacles, similar to VR titles like Beat Saber and Synth Riders.

In addition to those three games, the Nex Playground comes with Party Fowl, a collection of mini games, as well as its own spin on Whack-a-mole. If you want more games, you have to subscribe to the Nex Play Pass for $89 a year or $49 for three months. The company also offers a $29 Sports Pack at Target stores, which includes tennis, basketball and bowling games. Beyond those options, though, there's no other way to add new titles to the Playground. You can't buy anything individually, and since the entire platform is digital, there's also no market for cheap used games like you'd find for consoles.

Nex's subscription model is undoubtedly the Playground's biggest flaw, especially given the system's $249 price. Instead of being an expensive console that you buy once (like an Xbox), and then occasionally purchase new titles for, the Playground is an ongoing commitment constantly calling for your wallet. To the company's credit, the device doesn't feature any ads or in-app purchases.

Nex Playground Nex

"Ultimately, we would like to establish that long-term relationship ... we want to serve your family consistently with new content, and new updates all year round," Nex CEO David Lee said in an interview on the Engadget Podcast. He noted that the company added twenty new games to its subscription over the last two years, as well as 40 game updates over the last year. Similar to Xbox's Game Pass, the goal is to maintain the Nex Play Pass's value over time. 

You could argue the Nex Play Pass's steep price isn't as bad as the $15 to $30 per child that indoor activity centers charge. Those godforsaken places only distract kids for a few hours at a time, and visiting one also comes with the risk of contracting exotic childhood illnesses. Theoretically, the Nex Playground could be something you turn to whenever you need to work out restless energy from your kids. And if that means parents could get a bit more sleep on the weekend, or just a few minutes to themselves for a cup of coffee, all of a sudden $89 a year doesn't seem so bad.

I'm also impressed by the Nex Playground's hardware and software, both of which are far more polished than I'd expect from a new hardware company. The device itself is a pastel-colored plastic box with a camera on the front (and a cute lens cover). You just have to plug it into power and an HDMI port, slap some batteries in the remote (which looks like an elongated Roku remote) and connect to Wi-Fi. It took a few minutes for the Playground to update the first time I turned it on, and I also had to create a Nex account using my phone. 

Once that initial setup phase was over, it took another five minutes to download the initial batch of five games to the Playground via my gigabit connection. That timing entirely depends on your internet setup — I've seen reports of it taking up to 30 minutes to install the Nex's core games. I was also able to download the entire Play Pass library of titles in 35 minutes, but it could take a few hours on slower connections. Thankfully, those downloads happen in the background, so you can play other titles while waiting for new ones to install. 

Another plus? Once you've downloaded the games, you can play them entirely offline. That makes it easier to grab the Playground and bring it on vacation, or to a friend's house, than it is to travel with other consoles. As long as you can reach a TV's inputs, have nearby power and clear out around six feet of space, you can play the Playground.

Nex Playground Nex

Nex's long experience developing motion-tracked games and experiences is a major reason why the Playground is so successful. The company previously created Homecourt, an app for tracking your basketball skills, as well as Active Arcade, a collection of Playground-like minigames for iOS devices. Lee admitted that it's tough to get parents to use their phones for things like Active Arcade. That led him to develop the Playground as a closed ecosystem, where the company could build a suite of games around a device where it could control every aspect of the hardware. 

Now that Nex Playground features games from well-known kids brands like Peppa Pig, it's clear that Lee's intuition has paid off. While I have some concerns about the company's subscription model, Nex has accomplished a rare feat: It developed a simple box that makes it easy for your entire family to jump into genuinely innovative games and experiences. You don't need to set up a clunky console or any additional accessories. Just plug in the Nex Playground, and you too could be hand-slicing virtual fruit on your TV in no time.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-nex-playground-is-everything-xbox-kinect-wanted-to-be-133000397.html?src=rss

AirPods Pro 3 have returned to an all-time-low price. You can pick them up for $199 right now, which is $50 off and the best discount we've seen since the earbuds came out at the end of last year.

We gave these AirPods a score of 90 out of 100 in our review and we consider them the best wireless earbuds for iPhone users. The third generation model is a substantial update to an already impressive product, bringing new features like live translation to the table.

The AirPods Pro 3 also offer heart-rate tracking, allowing them to stream live data to Apple Fitness and other third-party workout apps. This lets you track your fitness and close activity rings similarly to when using an Apple Watch.

Apple also improved the sound quality of this generation thanks in large part to a redesigned acoustic architecture that improves how air is delivered into the ear canal. Additionally, the company changed the angle of the drivers to help more sound get where it needs to go instead of bouncing off the sides of your ear. We felt the jump in audio quality from the last generation to this one was substantial.

The ANC on the AirPods Pro 3 has also been improved. Apple claims this model filters out twice as much noise as the AirPods Pro 2 and four times as much as the original AirPods Pro. We found the noise cancellation to be top-notch.

Live Translation is as neat as it sounds, leveraging the AirPods' noise cancellation tech, Apple's AI and beam-forming mics to help you understand a speaker in a different language. Right now, this is limited to a handful of languages with more being added over time.

It's not often you see one of Apple's best and most recent products on sale for 20 percent off, so if you're in the market for an upgrade or your first set of AirPods, consider taking advantage of this deal. If you're looking to spend a little less, the AirPods 4 with ANC are on sale right now, too, for $119.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/pick-up-airpods-pro-3-while-theyre-down-to-199-right-now-140752986.html?src=rss

Brandon Sanderson, a popular author of high-fantasy and science fiction books, has signed a deal with Apple TV to adapt his works set in the Cosmere fictional universe into films and TV shows. Sanderson said last year at Celsius 232, Spain's annual sci-fi and fantasy convention, that his ultimate dream project is a "really good Mistborn film." Apple TV is making that come true: Some of the first projects to come out of the deal are feature film adaptations of the Mistborn books and a TV show based on series.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sanderson's deal with the streaming service is unprecedented, because he will have major creative control over the adaptations. He will write, produce and consult for the projects under development, and he will have the power to sign off on various aspects of the adaptations. That's a level of control other famous authors such as George R. R. Martin don't enjoy. In fact, Martin recently talked about how House of the Dragon's showrunner, Ryan Condal, has stopped taking his notes and suggestions into account.

Sanderson's Cosmere universe encompasses dozens of books set in various but interconnected worlds and timelines. They're all bound by a single creation myth, which explains where the universe's different types of magic come from. Apple TV has yet to announce timelines and release dates for the projects based on Sanderson's work, but The Stormlight Archive TV adaptation already has a producer (Blue Marble) attached to it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/apple-tv-signs-tv-and-movie-deal-for-brandon-sandersons-fantasy-books-130000797.html?src=rss

Virtual private networks (VPNs) have been household technology for a while now, but there's still a lot of uncertainty around them. This is partly due to the fact that they can conceal online activity that local or national governments deem illegal — up to and including, say, circumventing ID checks for age verification. Consumers aren't helped by the sheer amount of duds sold in app stores right next to the best VPNs, especially when they're purposefully exploiting moments that have people rushing to shore up their online anonymity. If you've almost decided to start using a VPN, you may be wondering if the services you're looking at are actually safe.

Unfortunately, the answer is a hard "it depends." VPNs are technology that can work well or poorly, just like they can be used for good or evil. There's nothing intrinsically dangerous about using a VPN — whether or not one is safe comes down to who built it and how they're running it. The good news is that there are easy ways to tell whether you're using one of the good ones.

The question "Are VPNs really safe?" can also mean something else — "Is using a VPN enough to keep me safe online?" I'll get into that too, but to spoil the ending: VPNs are important security tools, but they aren't enough to protect against all digital threats by themselves. Also, to be clear, I'm talking here about commercial VPNs like Proton VPN and ExpressVPN, not commercial VPNs like NordLayer or Cisco AnyConnect.

What makes a VPN unsafe?

There are two main things that can make me call a VPN unsafe: negligence and malice. A negligent VPN doesn't protect against the dangers it's supposed to ward off, leaving you more exposed than if you weren't using a VPN at all. A malicious VPN is designed to make you less safe so the people behind it can profit.

Some ways a negligent VPN might endanger its users:

• Using outdated protocols with cracked encryption, like PPTP, or homebrewed protocols with insufficient security. A weakly secured protocol might expose your search activity.

• Allowing leaks by using public DNS servers rather than setting up their own system to resolve requests. This risks revealing what websites the VPN's users are visiting.

• Leaking the user's real location by failing to block or properly manage IPv6.

• Leaving its servers in the hands of unvetted third parties, who might let them get hacked.

• Failing to include a kill switch, which puts users at risk of connecting to false servers.

Some ways a VPN can be malicious:

• Making its money from in-app ads, especially if those ads contain trackers.

• Harvesting the user's residential IP address and selling it as a proxy.

• Tracking the user's activity and selling it to advertisers.

• Planting malware on the user's device.

I want to stress again that none of these risks are inherent to how a VPN works. VPNs aren't required to be dangerous in any way. There are plenty of good ones, which makes it all the more important to pick the bad ones out of the lineup. In the next section, I'll discuss how to do that.

How to tell if a VPN is safe

The process of checking up on a VPN starts before you buy it. Before you consider downloading any VPN app, do your research and learn as much as you can. Read review sites like Engadget, but also try to get reports from regular users on social media and app stores. Be suspicious of five-star reviews that are light on specifics — the more positive reviews from actual users, the better.

While researching, look for any cases in which the VPN failed in its mission to protect customers. Did it ever turn information over to police, despite having a no-logs policy? Were any of its servers ever breached by hackers in ways that put other users in danger? Is it cagey about key information, like where it's based or who its parent company is?

You can also close-read the VPN's privacy policy, like I do in my VPN reviews. A privacy policy is a legal document that can invite lawsuits if the provider ignores it outright, so most companies prefer to plant vague loopholes instead. Read the policy and decide for yourself if it makes any unacceptable exceptions to "no logs ever."

If the answer to all those questions is no, your next step is to download the VPN and test it. Every worthwhile VPN has a guaranteed refund within a certain period, so you can use that time to test the factors below. If you like the results, you can subscribe for longer; if not, you can cancel and get your money back. Here's what to look for during the refund period:

• Check which VPN protocols are available. The best expert-verified protocols are OpenVPN, IKEv2 and WireGuard. If the VPN uses a protocol other than these three, make sure it's using an unbreakable encryption cipher like AES-256 or ChaCha20.

• Test for leaks. You can run a simple leak test using a website like ipleak.net or whatismyipaddress.com. Just check your normal IP address, connect to a VPN server, then check again. If the IP address you see is the same as before, the VPN is leaking.

• Find the kill switch. A kill switch prevents you from accessing the internet while you're not connected to its associated VPN. This is critical to prevent certain types of hack that rely on fake servers to work. Most top VPNs have a kill switch or a similar feature with a different name (such as Windscribe's Firewall).

• See if the apps are open-source. A VPN making its services available for viewing on Github states powerfully that it has nothing to hide. Anonymity is an inalienable right for individuals, but VPN apps aren't people — the more transparent the code, the better.

• Test its other security features. If the VPN has a blocker for ads, malware or trackers, see if it prevents banner ads from loading. Try connecting to a test malware site like www.ianfette.org or httpforever.com and check if the VPN blocks it.

There's one more factor that generally denotes a safe VPN: paid subscriptions. I'm not going to claim that all free VPNs are dangerous, but if a service claims to be always free with no need whatsoever to pay, you have to ask how it makes money. VPNs that don't charge for subscriptions usually turn their users into the product, selling their data to advertisers or for use as residential proxies.

Is a VPN enough to keep you safe online?

Another way in which VPNs aren't totally safe is that they aren't, by themselves, a total solution for cybersecurity. A VPN does one specific task: it replaces your IP address with an anonymous server and encrypts communication with that server so your real device can't be seen. This means you won't reveal your identity or location in the normal course of using the internet.

However, if you reveal information another way, then all bets are off. If you click a sketchy link that downloads malware onto your computer, that malware doesn't care that your IP address is concealed — it's already where it needs to be. Similarly, if you leak critical information in a social post, or privately give it up to a phishing scammer, a VPN won't help.

I put together a list of 12 cybersecurity habits that'll keep you safe from nearly all threats online. Getting a VPN is one of them, but there are 11 others, including strengthening your passwords, immediately installing updates and conditioning yourself to spot social engineering hacks. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you're untouchable just because you use a VPN.

The safest VPNs

It can be a lot of work to figure out whether a VPN is safe and trustworthy. If you just want to pick one you can use without having to open a federal case, check out my best VPN roundup or best free VPN list — or just use one of the suggestions in this section.

Proton VPN, my favorite VPN, is majority-owned by the nonprofit Proton foundation, has open-sourced its entire product family and has never suffered a serious hack or breach. Despite some controversy around its parent company, ExpressVPN remains secure; its servers have been confiscated at least once and found to hold no information.

NordVPN suffered a hack in 2018 and learned the right lessons from it, doubling down on security at its server locations. Similarly, Surfshark was criticized for using a weak authentication method and deprecated it entirely in 2022. Often, a VPN responding correctly to a security breach looks better than one which has never been attacked at all — sometimes strength can only be known in adversity.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/are-vpns-really-safe-the-security-factors-to-consider-before-using-one-130000539.html?src=rss

DJI just revealed the RS 5 camera gimbal, a new entry in its long-standing Ronan Series. The RS 5 is lightweight, at around three pounds, with a maximum payload of nearly seven pounds.

This gimbal offers what DJI calls "enhanced intelligent subject tracking." The tracking was already impressive with some of the company's older offerings, so any improvement will be icing on the cake. A new tracking module lets videographers frame live footage and follow subjects directly from an included touchscreen, all without having to fiddle with the actual camera.

DJI

The tracking module also offers the ability to follow more than people. It can track pets, vehicles or just about any other object. It can also help maintain a locked focus on a human subject up to 10 meters away.

The RS 5 includes the company's latest stabilization algorithm, which DJI says lets videographers "effortlessly achieve complicated camera movements, such as surround shots, reverse tracking or single-person fixed-camera tracking." It's also great for when the cameraperson is capturing footage while walking or running.

It's been designed to carry a wide range of mainstream mirrorless cameras and lens combinations and can switch to vertical shooting without additional accessories. There's a nifty little briefcase handle for capturing footage from above or below.

The RS 5 delivers up to 14 hours of use per charge and can be fully charged in just an hour. Video shoots can take forever, so this is a welcome bit of news. For true marathons, there's a separate enhanced battery grip accessory that extends the runtime to 30 hours.

DJI

The standard DJI RS 5 includes the gimbal, a quick-open tripod, quick-release plates, a regular battery grip and some other useful accessories. That pack costs around $680. The combo pack includes all of the above, plus the enhanced tracking module, a carrying case and an electronic briefcase handle. That costs around $859.

Now for the bad news. We don't have a US release date or even any information as to if it will be available here. Engadget has reached out to DJI for more information. The company's drones were recently banned from being imported to the US. This only impacts newly-released models and shouldn't impact gimbals or anything like that.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/dji-launches-the-lightweight-rs-5-camera-gimbal-for-video-creators-120056173.html?src=rss