Borderlands 4 is here, and it's pretty great! That is, unless you're looking for great performance.

I'm always slightly suspicious when games restrict reviews to a single platform, and it emerged a little telling when Borderlands 4's review program was only offering PC code. The game runs decently enough on Xbox Series X, but its claustrophobic field of view and awful stutter-prone quality mode leave a lot to be desired. But the problems run deeper on PC.

Crashes and middling performance, even on 1-2 year old hardware, despite its "cartoony" appearance, haven't ingratiated the game with its core audience. PC gamers have rewarded Borderlands 4 with a "mixed" review score as a result, but Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford seems to think the criticisms aren't warranted.

In a barrage of posts on X, Randy Pitchford responded to one user saying "code your own engine and show us how it's done please," while claiming less than 0.01% of Borderlands 4 users are reporting "legitimate" performance issues.

"Code your own engine and show us how it’s done, please," Pitchford said in response to a user criticising the game's AI upscaling recommendation. "We will be your customer when you pull it off. The people doing it now are clearly dumb and don’t know what they’re doing and all the support and recommendations and code and architecture from the world’s greatest hardware companies and tech companies working with the world’s greatest real time graphics engine coders don’t know what you seem to know. /sarcasm"

Over the weekend, Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford made several comments about this performance backlash, and most of it involved him calling out complainers, saying that "the game is pretty damn optimal."

"Every PC gamer must accept the reality of the relationship between their hardware and what the software they are running is doing," said Pitchford in his latest string of social media posts. "For a campaign shooter looter, it is absolutely reasonable for developers to focus on default settings achieving 30fps on minimum specification and 60fps on recommended specification."

The CEO asked players to either lower graphics to get more performance or simply enjoy the eye candy, saying the title has the tools to make those tradeoffs happen. "There are a few real issues, but they are affecting a very, very small percentage of users," he said.

Per Pitchford's customer service reports data for Borderlands 4, about 0.04% of PC customers have been sending complaints about performance issues to the company, and only 0.009% had been deemed as valid reports. "This reality is dramatically different than what you would expect if your only sources of information were, say, certain internet threads," explained the Gearbox CEO.

"Use DLSS. It’s great," adds Pitchford. "The game was built to take advantage of it. This is not a competitive FPS. And, I have been led to believe that in a blind test that humans cannot detect any input lag. In my own demonstrates and experiments, I believe this is true."

Earlier, a user had also asked Pitchford to make the game look good "without relying on AI upscale," and to that, he replied, "Code your own engine and show us how it’s done, please."

As expected, the fan reactions to these social media posts haven't been very positive. The CEO went on to confirm that the development team is still doing "significant work" on improving PC performance and thanked the community for its passion surrounding the game.

Borderlands 4 is now available across PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 with a $69.99 price tag for the standard edition, with $99.99 and $129.99 versions also available.

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Posted Tuesday 16 September 2025 at 2:40 am AEST (my time).

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Quick links:

1. Windows 10 and 11
2. Windows Insider Program
3. Updates are available
4. Reviews are in
5. Gaming news

Windows 11 and Windows 10

Here, we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And, of course, you may find a word or two about older versions.

The September 2025 Patch Tuesday updates are now available. Windows 10 received KB5065429, while Windows 11 received KB5065426 for version 24H2 and KB5065431 for versions 22H2 and 23H2. This month's Patch Tuesday updates brought back a long-requested feature that lets you have a clock in the calendar flyout, and many users are very happy to get this feature back. They also fixed the bug impacting NDI streaming performance and app installs.

Additionally, Microsoft announced that legacy web components are being discontinued. Those include Legacy Web View, Windows 8/8.1/UWP HTML/JavaScript apps (also known as Hosted Web Applications and Windows Web Applications, Legacy Progressive Web Apps (PWA), and Legacy Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML) DevTools. Besides that, Microsoft is phasing out VBScript, and to help you move, the company published details about what you should do with your legacy VBA projects.

Finally, Microsoft lifted an upgrade block preventing users from installing Windows 11 version 24H2 due to bugs with Dirac Audio.

The saga about broken SSDs continues, and we have more information about what is going on. Phison revealed that troubles were caused by the preview firmware, and systems with consumer firmware were not affected by the problem.

If you want to install Windows 11 on an unsupported PC, check out the updated hardware requirement bypass app, Flyoobe, which received a big update with better AI blocks, new extensions, and more. Interestingly, the app briefly disappeared from GitHub after that update, but then it was brought back with a new version and additional improvements.

Speaking of unsupported PCs, there is a new tool for debloating Windows 11 to some extreme levels. A new version of nano11 is out, and this thing can get you a Windows 11 installation that takes less than 3GB of disk space.

On the trivia side, check out an interesting story by a Microsoft veteran, Raymond Chen, that detailed why Windows 95 did not have instructions for energy saving back in the day.

Windows Insider Program

Here is what Microsoft released for Windows Insiders this week:

If you have a Copilot+ PC with an external camera, you will soon be able to apply Windows Studio Effects to it. Microsoft is testing a new feature in the latest preview builds, which allows Windows Studio Effects on rear-facing cameras and USB webcams in Windows 11. Keep in mind that Windows Studio Effects are still exclusive to Copilot+ PCs with Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm processors.

Additionally, Microsoft is further improving copy/paste dialogs in Windows 11. In addition to giving them the long-requested dark mode support, Microsoft dropped the green status bar in favor of a more fitting blue one. Improvements are also coming to the taskbar, which should be more reliable and display smoother animations. As for not-so-welcome changes, the Start menu will soon display Copilot recommendations, and the operating system itself will show you full-screen Microsoft 365 ads.

A new Microsoft Store update is also available for Windows Insiders, offering them an easier way to launch downloaded apps and an overview of available Microsoft 365 Copilot agents in the AI Hub.

Finally, Microsoft released the long-promised ISOs for Windows 11 version 25H2.

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

Google recently released Chrome 140, and with it, the company made it harder to install Manifest V2-based extensions, such as the popular content blocker uBlock Origin. However, it is still possible to make the beloved extension run, so check out this guide if you are not ready to bid it adieu.

Microsoft is making it easier to write formulas in Excel using AI. Copilot no longer uses state-of-the-art models to complete your formulas, suggest improvements, and auto-fill formulas as soon as you type =.

For Word Online, Microsoft is introducing new grammar features. You can now ask Copilot to fix all grammar and spelling mistakes in one click. Simply highlight some text that you want to proofread and press Alt + I.

The Microsoft Store received a few important updates this week. For one, individual developers can finally submit apps without paying Microsoft a $19 fee. Also, Microsoft updated the Store policies to clarify important topics, such as child safety and generative AI use.

Here are other updates and releases you may find interesting:

• VirtualBox 7.2.2 arrived with fixes for TPM, Windows on ARM, and more
• Rufus 4.10 beta is out with dark mode and Windows 11 25H2 support
• Senator blames Microsoft for weak security in Windows despite having an enterprise monopoly

• Microsoft is simplifying its Copilot offerings with reduced prices

• Microsoft unveiled the breakthrough Live Interpreter API for instant, multilingual communication

• Microsoft committed to European interoperability in a groundbreaking agreement

   

Here are the latest drivers and firmware updates released this week:

• AMD Radeon Software 25.9.1 with FSR 4 support for over 85 games
• Nvidia 581.29 with optimizations for Borderlands 4 and Dying Light: The Beast
• Intel 32.0.101.7029 non-WHQL with optimizations for Borderlands 4, Dying Light: The Beast, FC 26, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and more

Reviews are in

Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week

Steven Parker reviewed the GEEKOM A9 Max, a mini PC with an affordable price tag, which also qualifies as a Copilot+ PC, thanks to having the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor. It is a fantastic compact computer with only a couple of minor issues, such as the lack of front-facing USB-C ports and a more challenging way to get to the memory and SSD ports.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts, and more.

Microsoft is changing how the Xbox button on controllers works on Windows 11. The company is introducing a new long-press that lets you open Task View. Now, the button supports three features: single press to open Game Bar, long press to open Task View (should be handy on handhelds), and press-and-hold to turn off the controller.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to more devices. This week, Microsoft announced a new partnership with LG, which will bring cloud streaming to cars so that your passengers can play Xbox games on rear seats.

Nvidia GeForce NOW received a big update this week. Nvidia started rolling out RTX 5080-class servers, giving users access to much more powerful cloud PCs. However, this caused a tidal wave of users who wanted to try it out, resulting in the service going down big time.

Deals and freebies

The Epic Games Store is giving away three games this week. They include Ghostrunner, Monument Valley 2, and The Battle of Polytopia. All three games are available for free until next Thursday. You can always find more deals and specials in our Weekend PC Game Deals article.

Other gaming news includes the following:

• MachineGames isn't done with Wolfenstein just yet

• Valve updated the Steam client with better performance, a new customization tab, and more

• Ara: History Untold v2.0 update will introduce culture and influence systems to the 4X game

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Posted Monday 15 September 2025 at 4:23 am AEST (my time).

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Paul's Hardware (1.53M subscribers)

Disappearing RTX 50 GPUs

September 14, 2025

Video length: 11m 26s

0:00 Welcome to Paul’s Tech News - Sept 14, 2025 

1:18 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 SUPER “delayed” - launch unlikely before CES 2026 

2:35 The 128GB RTX 5090 “Prototype” 

4:19 Intel Arc B770 soon? Shipping Manifests discovered 

5:40 Intel Launches 14nm LGA 1200 CPU in 2025 

TECH BRIEFS 

7:01 AMD’s latest driver enables FSR4 for most FSR 3.1 games 

7:55 Borderlands 4 'mostly negative' launch reviews on Steam; poor performance and crashes 

9:08 Hyte warns Thicc Q80 Trio customers should uninstall AIO immediately 

9:49 Turns out a Windows 11 Update wasn’t what killed all those SSDs

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Posted Sunday 14 September 2025 at 5:49 pm AEST (my time).

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New high-quality zombie games tend to come few and far between these days, which is why their arrivals are looked forward to passionately by fans of the genre — especially if they're major AAA releases that bring hours and hours of gameplay content.

Such is why excitement is high for Dying Light: The Beast, the third entry in Techland's long-running, fan-favorite Dying Light franchise, a follow-up to 2022's Dying Light 2: Stay Human, and a direct sequel to the original 2015 title. It puts players back in the shoes of the first game's protagonist Kyle Crane 13 years later as he hungers for revenge against the Baron, a scientist that experimented on him for years with the Harran Virus.

The new game is now just a week away from its scheduled release, and unsurprisingly, the hype surrounding it has reached a fever pitch. And as a result of that, tons of fans are curious about when specifically they'll be able to jump into its ultra-violent zombie carnage on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5 (and on Xbox One and PS4, when the last-gen versions of the game come out later in 2025).

Luckily, the developers have announced Dying Light: The Beast's exact release dates and launch times well ahead of its arrival — and surprisingly, Techland is actually releasing it a day early to celebrate one million preorders. Officially, Dying Light: The Beast is scheduled to launch on September 18, 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET, instead of on September 19 as it was originally going to.

The graphic and table below both list all of the game's global release times across various time zones; if you don't see yours, you can use this converter to determine when it will unlock in your region. Note that Dying Light: The Beast's launch times are the same across all of its platforms, also.

Before the day was over, the new entry's concurrent peak had already passed 200,000 players, and it's not even the weekend yet.

Despite the massive success on the platform, the Steam user review score has been continuously trending downward, with it sitting at 62% 'Mixed' at the time of writing this.

Almost all the negative reviews seem to be stemming from the horrendous performance that players are experiencing in Borderlands 4. It looks like even users with high-end cards are struggling to reach 60FPS using upscaling, with many reviewers going on to blame Unreal Engine 5 for the mess.

Per the developer, the minimum system requirements were aiming for 1080p at 30FPS gameplay, while the recommended set was targeting 1440p at 60FPS.

Gearbox has also published an Nvidia-specific settings guide for players to look over when tweaking the game's graphics options. Even with the 1080p optimization guide for the RTX 5090, the studio recommends using Very High settings and DLSS to play at "60+ FPS". Installing the latest graphics driver from Nvidia, AMD, or Intel, depending on what hardware is present, is recommended.

"It's a big, bold, new, seamless world and I'm sorry to say that older hardware may not provide buttery smooth performance for the latest gen AAA games, as has always been the case since the dawn of PC gaming," said Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford in a social media post a few days ago.

Borderlands 4 is now available across PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. A Nintendo Switch 2 release is also planned to land later in 2025.

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Posted Saturday 13 September 2025 at 3:16 am AEST (my time).

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For seven years, the discussion around Hollow Knight: Silksong focused on the cult-like levels of devotion among fans patiently waiting for the sequel. Now that Silksong has been available for about a week, though, that discussion has turned decisively toward seemingly endless takes on the game's relative difficulty (or lack thereof). The discussion has gotten so loud that the developers at Team Cherry have vowed to implement a "slight difficulty reduction in early game bosses Moorwing and Sister Splinter" in a coming patch.

So is Silksong too difficult for its own good? Or do players just have to "get good" and stop whining?

To help answer those questions, we felt it was a good time to bust out the Ars Difficulty Matrix (ADM™), which we first used to analyze Elden Ring's difficulty in 2022. By breaking down the various ways a game can be "difficult," the ADM™ can more precisely critique the ways Silksong is and is not designed to challenge players, both for good and for ill.

Each section of the ADM™ starts with a broad definition of the specific questions we're attempting to answer, followed by an analysis of how Silksong fits into that paradigm of the long history of video game difficulty.

Note: The remainder of this piece has very minor spoilers for some of the earlier portions of Silksong.

Mechanical difficulty

Does the game require players to hit a specific sequence of buttons in a certain tight timing window to succeed? Also sometimes referred to as a "reflex test."

Hollow Knight Silksong requires pretty good gaming reflexes. There's no way around it.

This is especially true when facing the game's many bosses, who often only briefly telegraph their intentions before unleashing attacks that can fill a huge portion of the screen. Players need to keep a careful eye on the sometimes small animation cues that presage an attack, move quickly and precisely to avoid that specific attack, and then dart back in during a quick counterattack window to do some damage before starting the cycle over again.

Unlike many Souls-like games, Silksong doesn't have a spammable dodge button that offers the player brief invulnerability to almost every attack, regardless of location. That means players must actually carefully plan and execute quick movements to a safe region of the screen, which can be exceedingly difficult in tight timing windows.

The diagonal downward slash makes some of the early game platforming challenges all the more difficult.

Credit: Team Cherry

Bosses aside, Silksong's platforming often requires players to bounce off of aerial enemies or objects using a series of mid-air downward attacks. These precisely timed bounces are especially difficult early in the game, when the downward attack launches diagonally forward in an arc that can be challenging to aim precisely.

Later upgrades that allow you to float and/or dash in mid-air help reduce the challenge of these multi-bounce strings, as do optional upgrades that straighten out your downward slash. Even so, Silksong's platforming challenges will likely trip up a lot of players without extensive run-and-jump gaming experience.

Punishing difficulty

How much of a penalty does the game extract for mistakes? How many mistakes can you make before "dying"? And when you do die, how much progress do you lose?

On the plus side, Silksong never extracts the ultimate punishment by sending you all the way back to the start of the game. You have effectively infinite lives, and death never pushes back farther than your last save point.

On the downside, those save points are often spaced quite far apart, meaning death can require a good deal of backtracking through treacherous areas to get back to where you were (and to recover the crucial rosaries you collected in your previous life). This can be especially punishing when you reach a new region of the game and are forced to search for a convenient save point without the aid of a map, which makes retracing your steps all the more fraught and confounding.

It might be a while until you find the next resting place to save your game in Silksong.

Credit: Team Cherry

The individual enemies in Silksong aren't very forgiving, either—just a few false moves can allow even random scrubs to get in enough damage to lead to a premature death. Bosses can do even more damage with a single attack and can also absorb a lot more damage than your poor avatar. Getting in five or 10 hits against a boss might be relatively simple, but getting in 50 or so before dying yourself often requires near-perfect levels of focus and execution across multiple challenging attack phases.

Like its predecessor, Silksong allows players to refill some of their health after gathering enough silk by hitting enemies. But even this nod to forgiveness is relatively punishing, since the health refill freezes your character in a defenseless pose for a few seconds. There's nothing quite so deflating as seeing an attempted health recharge get thwarted by an enemy lunging in for an inopportune attack.

Arcane difficulty

How well does the game explain its inner workings? Are there detailed tutorials explaining the basic controls and deeper strategies? Or do you have to figure it all out on your own? Are there signposts showing you what to do next?

The most difficult part of Silksong, for me, is often figuring out where I should be going. Before I find a map in a new region, I often find myself flummoxed trying to remember which paths I've already explored and which I still need to work through. And even with an in-game map in hand, it's difficult for me to remember which previously inaccessible corners might now be opened thanks to a new ability.

Even buying maps from Shakra won't help you find all of Silksong's secrets.

Credit: Team Cherry

I'm willing to allow that this might be a personal problem with my sense of direction. Still, I'd imagine I'm not the only one who finds navigating Silksong's labyrinthine halls to be unexpectedly difficult.

The in-game map also purposefully obscures some of the game's secret nooks and crannies, which can only be found with careful observation (or a handy walkthrough). Many players could miss some of the game's most useful abilities if they're not observant. And while the game gives some basic tutorials for new abilities, a few mechanics seem intentionally obscured. I didn't know until hearing about the move in a YouTube video that you could dash downward to quickly reach the ground, for instance.

Grindable difficulty

Does the game give a patient player enough additional power, upgrades, tools, or knowledge to defeat difficult challenges? Or are you pretty much stuck with the techniques and abilities given to you at the outset?

For players willing to do a little optional exploring, Silksong can actually be pretty generous with the power upgrades. Hidden paths and missions can often lead directly to improvements for your health, weaponry, and move set that can pay huge dividends for later challenges in the game. And the required upgrades that you receive after certain bosses (see "Gated Difficulty," below) can often make earlier challenges in the game that much simpler if and when you backtrack a bit.

Some of the many obtainable items that can make Silksong a little easier.

Credit: Team Cherry

That said, there are limits to how much this additional power can help Silksong players. This isn't like some old-school RPGs where dozens of hours of grinding can lead to a Level 99 character that can take out the final boss in a single attack. Even with all the extra upgrades you can muster, you still have to struggle through the same basic dodge-and-counterattack repetition to get through some extremely difficult and unavoidable bosses.

Gated difficulty

Are large portions of the game hidden behind in-game challenges that need to be bested before you can move on? Or does the game offer alternative options for getting around what might be impassable progression walls?

Like any Metroidvania worth the genre name, large portions of Silksong require finding and unlocking new movement or attack capabilities. And in Silksong, those required abilities are usually gated behind major bosses that you'll need to take down before accessing massive chunks of the expansive in-game map.

If and when you do get stuck on one of these bosses, you're not necessarily trapped. You'll usually be able to backtrack a bit to explore a few optional side paths and missions, which can offer power boosts that can make the boss a bit easier (see "Grindable Difficulty" above). Speedrunners have also found some arcane sequence skips to get around certain bosses or methods for putting off some boss fights until later than the developers intended.

If you don't obtain the ability to open this door, your Silksong journey may end before you want it to.

Credit: Team Cherry

These will be of little use to many casual players, though, who may well give up on Silksong after banging their head against a progress-blocking boss for an hour or two.

Tunable difficulty

Does the game offer explicit options for players to change the difficulty level or make the game generally more accessible? If not, does the game tune its difficulty automatically based on a player's performance?

The lack of any difficulty-tuning options seems like a major omission for a modern title like Silksong. The game's options menu includes toggles for screen shake and HUD size, but nothing in the way of difficulty adjustments.

Celeste was designed to be difficult, but it also gave the player options to make it easier.

Credit: Maddy Makes Games

Here, the developers at Team Cherry would have done well to take a few lessons from Celeste. While the default Celeste experience requires extremely precise jumps and split-second reflexes, designer Maddy Thorson also felt it was important to offer an extremely forgiving "Assist Mode" for players who want or need a little boost.

“From my perspective as the game’s designer, Assist Mode breaks the game,” Celeste's Thorson said in an interview with Vice. "I spent many hours fine-tuning the difficulty of Celeste, so it’s easy for me to feel precious about my designs. But ultimately, we want to empower the player and give them a good experience, and sometimes that means letting go.”

A similar Assist Mode in Silksong would be easy for "serious" players to ignore while still allowing all players to at least have some access to the full breadth of Silksong's intriguing world. Even a Nintendo-style "invincibility" mode that appears after a couple-dozen failed boss encounters could give frustrated players an option to unstick themselves from the game's toughest sticking points.

ADM™ roundup

From a holistic point of view, Silksong is definitely on the tougher side of most dimensions on the Ars Difficulty Matrix™. The game requires good reflexes—especially for bosses and platform challenges—that can punish even small mistakes with relatively large penalties and hides large chunks of the game behind difficulty gates with no tuning options that might offer some relief. Plenty of players are going to be forced to give up long before they fight their way through some of the game's most difficult bits, and that's a shame.

But I think the passage of time has obscured just how much most of these critiques also applied to the original (and beloved) Hollow Knight. While Silksong's bosses might be a little tougher, and its jumping challenges a little more precise, its predecessor was also often unforgiving and gated in almost the exact same ways (though some of this difficulty was eventually rebalanced). Only 22 percent of Hollow Knight's Steam players have obtained the "Hollow Knight" achievement for reaching the first of the game's multiple endings, and I'm willing to bet most of the remainder gave up out of frustration rather than boredom [the original version of this story cited the incorrect Achievement. Ars regrets the error].

There's definitely room in the world of popular gaming for titles like Silksong that push even experienced players to their limits. But it's still a shame that this extreme level of challenge is going to prevent a large portion of the player base from ever directly experiencing everything Silksong has to offer.

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Posted Friday 12 September 2025 at 6:41 pm AEST (my time).

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Verdict 4 / 5

Borderlands 4 delivers the ultimate Vault Hunter experience, a dazzling gem where every system from gunplay to movement to loot shines with obsessive care. I’m struggling to find faults beyond some lackluster performance hiccups that don't really dampen the chaos. Honestly, writing this review pulls me away from blasting Slitters and chasing legendaries, and I’m dying to dive back into Kairos.

Pros

+ Combat has never felt better 

+ An endgame that will keep even dedicated players occupied.

+ Open world done right

Cons

- Performance is not what I'd expect from a AAA game.

After years of waiting, the long-awaited sequel, Borderlands 4, is here. Hundreds, if not thousands, of hours have been spent toiling away at a controller. Starting back in the Xbox 360 days, I'd grind General Knoxx over and over again, never stopping for a moment until Borderlands 2 dropped.

I'm a Psycho when it comes to Borderlands (thanks for the joke, Kevin). While I don't necessarily obsess over min-maxing the best traits on every weapon, I definitely follow guides while also tinkering with my own builds here and there.

Every legendary drop leads to the question, "Does this fit my build?" If it doesn't, I ask, "Can I make a build for this weapon?"

Apple's most famous chips are the A- and M-series processors that power its iPhones, iPads, and Macs, but this year, its effort to build its own wireless chips is starting to bear fruit. Earlier this spring, the iPhone 16e included Apple's C1 modem, furthering Apple's ambitions to shed its dependence on Qualcomm, and today's iPhone Air brought a faster Apple C1X variant, plus something new: the Apple N1, a chip that provides Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread support for all of today's new iPhones.

Apple didn't dive deep into the capabilities of the N1, or why it had switched from using third-party suppliers (historically, Apple has mostly leaned on Broadcom for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth). However, the company's press releases say that it should make Continuity features like Personal Hotspot and AirDrop more reliable—these features use Bluetooth for initial communication and then Wi-Fi to establish a high-speed local link between two devices. Other features that use a similar combination of wireless technologies, like using an iPad as an extended Mac display, should also benefit.

These aren't Apple's first chips to integrate Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technology. The Apple Watches rely on W-series chips to provide their Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity; the Apple H1 and H2 chips also provide Bluetooth connectivity for many of Apple's wireless headphones. But this is the first time that Apple has switched to its own Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip in one of its iPhones, suggesting that the chips have matured enough to provide higher connectivity speeds for more demanding devices.

Apple will likely expand the use of the N1 (and other N-series chips) beyond the iPhone soon enough. Macs and iPads are obvious candidates, but the presence of Thread support also suggests that we'll see it in new smart home devices like the Apple TV or HomePod.

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Posted Wednesday 10 September 2025 at 1:02 pm AEST (my time).

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It’s official, Microsoft is asking employees to return to the office three days per week. Amy Coleman, executive vice president and Microsoft’s chief people officer, revealed the news to Microsoft employees in a memo this morning.

“We’ve looked at how our teams work best, and the data is clear: when people work together in person more often, they thrive,” says Coleman. “With that in mind, we’re updating our flexible work expectations to three days a week in the office.”

Microsoft will start rolling out this return to the office policy in three phases, starting with employees in the Puget Sound area in late February before expanding to other US locations and then eventually international offices. Like I reported last month, the policy will initially apply to those who live within 50 miles of Microsoft’s Redmond campus. “If you live within 50 miles of a Microsoft office, you’ll be expected to work onsite three days a week by the end of February 2026,” says Coleman.

Some roles, like account management, consulting, and field marketing will be exempt because “they require flexibility to meet with customers or partners,” according to an FAQ seen by The Verge. Other employees will be able to apply for an exception by September 19th, and employees may qualify for an exception if they don’t have teammates, stakeholders, or clients at their assigned office or if their commute is “unusually long or complex, such as involving multiple transit modes.”

Some parts of Microsoft may even go beyond the minimum three-day policy. “Each business will do what is best for their team, which means some groups will deviate from our company-wide expectations,” says Coleman. I had heard last week that some teams may even return for four or five days.

Microsoft employees I spoke to last month agreed that this policy could be seen as a type of stealth layoffs, months after around 15,000 roles were cut. “Importantly, this update is not about reducing headcount,” claims Coleman. “It’s about working together in a way that enables us to meet our customers’ needs.”

Coleman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella plan to discuss the return to office policy at Microsoft’s internal Employee Town Hall on Thursday.

Here’s Coleman’s memo in full:

In the AI era, we are moving faster than ever, building world-class technology that changes how people live and work, and how organizations everywhere operate. If you reflect on our history, the most meaningful breakthroughs happen when we build on each other’s ideas together, in real time.

 

We’ve looked at how our teams work best, and the data is clear: when people work together in person more often, they thrive — they are more energized, empowered, and they deliver stronger results. As we build the AI products that will define this era, we need the kind of energy and momentum that comes from smart people working side by side, solving challenging problems together.

 

With that in mind, we’re updating our flexible work expectations to three days a week in the office.

 

We’ll roll this out in three phases: 1) starting in Puget Sound at the end of February; 2) expanding to other US locations; 3) and then launching outside the US.

 

Our goal with this change is to provide more clarity and consistency in how we come together, while maintaining the flexibility we know you value. We want you to continue to shape your schedule in ways that work best for you, making in-person time intentional and impactful. Importantly, this update is not about reducing headcount. It’s about working together in a way that enables us to meet our customers’ needs.

 

For some of you, this is not a change. For others this may be a bigger adjustment, which is exactly why we’re providing time to plan thoughtfully. As part of these updates, we’re also enhancing our workplace safety and security measures so we can continue to provide a workplace where every employee can do their best work.

 

What you need to know:

 

Puget Sound-area employees: If you live within 50 miles of a Microsoft office, you’ll be expected to work onsite three days a week by the end of February 2026. You’ll receive a personalized email today with more details. Please connect with your manager and team to understand your organization’s plans. If needed, you can request an exception by Friday, September 19.

 

Managers: You’ll find actions to take, and the resources to support both you and your team on the Managers@Microsoft SharePoint.

 

All employees: You’ll hear from your EVP or organizational leadership today with specific guidance. Each business will do what is best for their team, which means some groups will deviate from our company-wide expectations. If you are outside of the Puget Sound area, you do not need to take any action at this time unless your EVP communicates otherwise.

 

Timelines and details for additional US office locations will be announced soon. For employees outside the United States, we will begin planning in 2026. More information is available on the Flexible Work at Microsoft SharePoint.

 

As always, we’ll keep learning together to ensure Microsoft is the best place for you to grow and have a great career. Let’s keep moving forward together.

 

Satya and I will talk more about this announcement at the Employee Town Hall on September 11 at 9:30 a.m. PT. I look forward to sharing more then.

 

Thank you,Amy

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Posted Wednesday 10 September 2025 at 4:00 am AEST (my time).

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Later this week, one of the year's biggest and most highly anticipated games, Borderlands 4, is scheduled to release across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5 on September 12. It's the newest mainline entry in the beloved co-op looter shooter franchise since 2019's Borderlands 3, and the first one to come since 2022's Tiny Tina's Wonderlands spinoff.

With four new Vault Hunters to play as, an ocean of character skills to learn and master, billions of loot drops to collect and experiment with, a fresh story campaign set on the newly introduced world of Kairos, and more, it looks to be the most ambitious Borderlands yet. But for PC players, there's a bit of a problem to be concerned about.

When Borderlands 4's official PC system requirements and specs were announced in June, they were revealed to be surprisingly demanding — the biggest surprise being that, at minimum, you'll need an 8-core CPU, despite the vast majority of other games only requiring processors with six. The need for NVIDIA's RTX 2070 or AMD's RX 5700 XT is noteworthy, too, as is the 100GB storage requirement.

Steam's May hardware survey showed over half of Steam's users would need to upgrade their CPU to play Borderlands 4, and based on data from August's survey, that hasn't changed.

Notably, some are hopeful that the game will still be playable even if it's run on a system that doesn't meet its requirements. New comments from Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford, however, have all but dashed those hopes completely.

It's been quite a long time since we've had a new mainline Borderlands game on our hands (2022's spinoff Tiny Tina's Wonderlands was a great time, though), as the last title, Borderlands 3, released six years ago in 2019. Very soon, though, that's going to change thanks to the imminent release of Gearbox Software's latest entry in the series: Borderlands 4.

Featuring four new Vault Hunter characters to play as, a new campaign set on the world of Kairos in which you'll fight to free the planet from its tyrannical ruler, the Timekeeper, "billions of weapons, deadly enemies, and intense co-op action," Borderlands 4 stands poised to become one of this year's grandest and best new games once it launches.

Given how popular the looter-shooter franchise is in FPS, co-op, and RPG circles, there's tons of excitement surrounding this latest title — meaning that, as a result, tons of passionate fans are wondering when they can start playing it on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, Nintendo Switch 2, and PS5.

Thankfully, in advance of its arrival, Gearbox and publisher 2K have announced the game's specific release dates and launch times. Officially, Borderlands 4 is scheduled to launch on September 11, 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET on PC, and on September 11, 9 p.m. PT / September 12, midnight on consoles.

Both the graphic and table below show the complete list of Borderlands 4's global release times across various time zones; note that while most located in Europe or west of it will be able to play on PC on September 11, access for everyone on all platforms will be open once September 12 rolls around.

Also, if you don't see your time zone here, you can use a converter like this one to figure out when the game is launching in your region.

AMD’s FSR 4 AI upscaling and frame-generation technology can now be enabled for “most games that support FSR 3.1 with DirectX 12,” the company says in the patch notes for its newest 25.9.1 driver. This support has been a big promise from AMD, but it’s taken awhile to come to fruition; FSR 4 first launched alongside the company’s RX 9000-series graphics cards back in March.

AMD touts FSR 4, its competitor to Nvidia’s DLSS 4, as a “significant leap forward” over FSR 3. “By utilizing ML algorithms, FSR 4 can intelligently predict and compensate for lost pixels during low-resolution rendering, thereby providing gamers with high performance and crisp, high-definition visuals that are just as good as native,” AMD says.

The new driver brings official FSR 4 support to cover more than 85 titles. But for FSR 3.1 games, you can force FSR 4 by flipping a toggle in the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition app. “This last step allows the driver to override the FSR 3.1 game implementation with the latest version of FSR 4,” according to AMD.

FSR 4 support has slowly been trickling out to games since its release, including being added to titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Ghost of Tsushima, and F1 25.

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Posted Tuesday 9 September 2025 at 2:01 pm AEST (my time).

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Summer has come and gone, but the fun has just begun as September is bringing a ton of highly anticipated titles for the PC gaming community. The month has already started off strong with the much-anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong, which finally launched on September 4, 2025, after several years of development, to much applause.

This dark, atmospheric "Metroidvania" (an affectionate genre label inspired by Metroid and Castlevania), with superb art direction and brutal combat, has been so well received that it broke Battlefield 6's Open Beta concurrent player record on Steam, with no signs of slowing down. However, Hollow Knight: Silksong isn't the only major title coming in September 2025, not by a long shot.

We have all kinds from remasters, sequels, original titles, spin-offs, and more to whet your gaming appetite for the Fall season.

Borderlands 4 (September 11-12)

One such upcoming PC title is Borderlands 4, the fourth major entry in the iconic looter shooter franchise, which is set to release between September 11 and 12, 2025. In this game, you play as a band of galaxy-faring mercenaries called Vault Hunters, and you have been tasked with helping a group of rebels free their world of Kairos from the tyrannical rule of the evil Timekeeper.

This game aims to fix the mistakes made in Borderlands 3, while improving upon the overall Borderlands experience with mountains of more guns to loot and bigger bad guys to blow up. In addition, Borderlands 4 will have new combat mechanics, a cast of powerful Vault Hunters with extensive abilities to customize, and quality-of-life improvements to make combat more exciting than ever before.

It's been a long time since I played a Borderlands game, the last being Tales from the Borderlands, which gave a final send-off to the greatest thing to have happened in this series – Handsome Jack.

This new title definitely feels like a proper evolution of the franchise, with all the new movement mechanics and crazy new powers the Vault Hunters get this time around, so I will be keeping this on my wishlist for sure.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles (September 30)

One title I'm looking forward to playing the most in September 2025 is Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, the long-awaited remaster of one of the most critically acclaimed titles in the Final Fantasy franchise — Final Fantasy Tactics.

This game is a turn-based strategy RPG that takes place in Ivalice, a land in the midst of a bloody civil war with two noble houses vying for power, with you caught in the middle. It is a complex tale of war, betrayal, and drama, where you must find a way to survive this bitter conflict, even if it means coming to blows with friends.

The original Final Fantasy Tactics, released on the PlayStation One in 1997, was considered one of the greatest JRPGs Final Fantasy has ever produced alongside the likes of Final Fantasy VII for its deep story and complex combat system.

Now, modern and old-school fans alike will get to relive this classic game when it releases on September 30, 2025, for PC via Steam. This new version of Final Fantasy Tactics will include remastered graphics, full voice acting, quality-of-life improvements to make combat and levelling up characters smoother, and a new "Squire" difficulty level to help players new to turn-based strategy games enjoy the story.

I admit, I missed out on Final Fantasy Tactics when it first came out in the 1990s, as I was too young to understand turn-based strategy games at the time.

However, thanks to years of experience playing games with tactical turn-based combat like Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, Persona 5: Tactica, Disgaea, Wasteland 3, Baldur's Gate 3, and more, I am now ready to go back to the game that helped popularize Strategy-RPGs and see if Final Fantasy Tactics lives up to the hype.

Silent Hill f (September 25)

Other standout upcoming PC titles for September 2025 include Silent Hill f, a spin-off of the iconic Silent Hill franchise set in Japan, which is scheduled to release on September 25, 2025.

Plus, there's Dying Light: The Beast, a new entry in the zombie-killing Dying Light franchise set to launch on September 19, 2025, which sees the return of fan-favorite protagonist Kyle Crane.

If you want to know what else you can look forward to, here's a list of the biggest PC titles coming in September 2025.

Firefighting Simulator: Ignite (September 9, 2025, Steam): "Face unpredictable dangers, fight perilous fires with your crew, and save lives in Firefighting Simulator: Ignite. Step into the boots of a U.S. firefighter and play with up to 3 friends or with the help of your NPC controlled crew members."

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Posted Tuesday 9 September 2025 at 3:12 am AEST (my time).

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Quick links:

1. Windows 10 and 11
2. Windows Insider Program
3. Updates are available
4. Reviews are in
5. Gaming news

Windows 11 and Windows 10

Here, we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And, of course, you may find a word or two about older versions.

Earlier this week, new stats emerged about the Windows market, browsers, and gaming on Steam. Statcounter reports that nearly half of all Windows PCs run Windows 11, while Chrome keeps on increasing its overwhelming market share. As for gamers, Windows 11 is already past the 60% mark on Steam.

Speaking of Windows 11, check out our monthly recap of everything new for Windows 11 in August 2025. There are a bunch of interesting developments, removed features, known bugs, and other updates. Speaking of bugs, the biggest story of August 2025 was undoubtedly the one about Windows updates breaking SSDs. At long last, the root cause might have been found. Other known bugs from this week include issues with KB5063878.

If you have Windows on your PC and you want to try Linux, chances are that Microsoft's operating system will flag the downloaded file as a virus. If you are curious why and what to do in such cases, check out this article here.

tiny11builder, a popular tool for de-bloating Windows 11 using only official tools from Microsoft, has been updated to a new version. It introduced version 25H2 support, the ability to remove Copilot and the new Outlook app, and more persistent changes, which means you are unlikely to see the removed apps after future updates. tiny11builder can play well with ExplorerPatcher, another utility for fixing Windows 11, which also received a new update. You can also try a new version of Flyoobe, which now lets you disable all of Windows 11's AI features.

Finally, Microsoft released a bunch of servicing updates for OOBE, WinRE, and detailed TLS 1.3 compatibility issues in Windows 11.

Windows Insider Program

Here is what Microsoft released for Windows Insiders this week:

Microsoft delayed the release of Windows 11 version 25H2 images for clean installation. The official Windows Insider Program X account announced that the promised ISOs would be available at a later date.

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

Our favorite file manager for Windows 11, Files, has been updated to version 4.0. The update introduced a hefty list of various changes and new features, including a redesigned search bar, a new icon, more features for the Properties dialog, and more.

Another big update arrived for PowerToys. Version 0.94 is now available for download with a search bar, shortcuts improvements, and a new accessibility feature that introduced the so-called "gliding cursor." The next PowerToys update, version 0.95, will finally bring the ability to switch Windows themes on schedule, a long-missing Windows feature.

If you use NanaZIP to work with compressed files on your PC, you will be glad to know that version 6.0 is now in preview, and it introduces more XAML-based UI elements (basically, the app now looks more native on Windows 11), new features, security improvements, and more.

Microsoft issued a warning that some of its Office apps will soon run out of support. Access 2016 and 2019 will receive final updates on October 14, 2025, alongside Windows 10 and a bunch of other products.

Mozilla has some good news for those still using Firefox on Windows 7. Developers decided to extend Firefox 115 ESR support once again, this time, until March 2026. They added that the new date could be re-evaluated in the future.

Here are other updates and releases you may find interesting:

• Microsoft is making Teams on Amazon Workspaces a lot better
• Everything you need to know about the end of Project Online

• You can now listen to audio recaps of your meetings in Microsoft Teams

• Microsoft 365 now offers deeper integration with OneDrive in Windows

• Microsoft is killing the Microsoft Editor extension and Outlook Lite.

• Microsoft is improving Windows 11 update download and install management in 2026 for office PCs

• Microsoft finds a new way to quietly get you on New Outlook for Windows without "forcing"

• Microsoft reveals plans for SQL Server Management Studio

• Microsoft open-sources 6502 BASIC after almost 50 years

   

Reviews are in

Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week

This week's review section kicks off with an FSR 4 test in Mafia: The Old Country. Check it out here to learn how the demanding game performs on systems with AMD's latest Radeon graphics cards.

Steven Parker published a hands-on article with the HONOR Magic V5, an impressively thin foldable with a big camera island and flagship specs to rival the likes of the Galaxy Z Fold7 and other modern foldable smartphones.

Pradeep Viswanathan published another hands-on, this time with the 50th Anniversary Surface Laptop. Check out this unique-looking design and its accessories in our article here.

Another review from Steven Parker this week is about the Eureka J15 Max Ultra, an AI-powered robo vacuum that can tackle stains, climb ramps, and suck (in a good way). There are some nitpicks here and there, but overall, this vacuum is great.

Robbie Khan reviewed the Hexgaming Phantom controller, an excellent gamepad with great stick response and precision, adaptive triggers, advanced haptics, and more. Just be ready to spend a lot on this gamepad, as its price is very high.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts, and more.

Some of the upcoming games have their system requirements finally revealed. Those who want to play Anno 117: Pax Romana and Dying Light: The Beast can now check whether their PCs can run those games at comfortable frame rates.

Microsoft announced new titles for Game Pass. The latest additions include Hollow Knight: Silksong, Cataclismo, I am your Beast, Nine Sols, and more. Notice that certain games will be leaving the service this month, so check out the complete list here.

Microsoft also announced some new gaming hardware. The Xbox Wireless Controller Breaker Series is now official, offering gamers three new unique designs. You can now preorder them for $79.99 each.

Amazon also dropped some new games for Prime Gaming subscribers. In September, you can play Dungeons & Dragons: Revenloft Series, Into the Breach, Afterimage, Tower of Time, Residual, FATE: The Cursed King, and more.

Finally, we have several new games that can now work on GeForce NOW. They include Hollow Knight: Silksong, Dying Light: The Beast, and more.

Deals and freebies

Monument Valley, a critically acclaimed puzzle game, is currently available for free in the Epic Games Store (until next Thursday). You can find more deals and specials in this week's Weekend PC Game Deals article with its LEGO bundles, cheap swords, and more.

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Posted Monday 8 September 2025 at 3:49 am AEST (my time).

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Gamers Nexus (2.5M subscribers)

September 8, 2025

Video length: 27m 09s

Hardware news has been busy for the last few weeks! We have an update on the Bloomberg situation and YouTube's copyright strike (and reinstatement) system, NVIDIA's market share growing to 94%, Lenovo's Legion Go Gen 2, a potential for SteamOS on the GPD Win 5 handheld, and more.

00:00 - Recap for the Week 

01:35 - GN Update: Bloomberg Update and Timelines 

06:37 - Valve Steam Frame Trademark 

09:41 - NVIDIA Market Share Grows to 94 Percent 

15:17 - Lenovo Legion Go Gen 2 

18:42 - Intel Launches Arc Pro B50 GPU 

20:34 - Rumor: NVIDIA Cutting 8GB Supply 

21:39 - Intel 52-Core Nova Lake CPUs 

24:13 - US Suggests Chip Tariffs Again, Without Details Again 

25:28 - GPD Win 5 SteamOS Handheld

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Posted Monday 8 September 2025 at 3:45 am AEST (my time).

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Paul's Hardware (1.53M subscribers)

September 7, 2025

Video length: 8m 20s

Nvidia is already reducing RTX 50 GPU production? - Tech News Sept 7

0:00 Welcome to Paul’s Tech News - Sept 7, 2025 

1:26 Nvidia reportedly reduces RTX 5060 / 5060 Ti 8GB supply 

2:28 Steam Hardware Survey reveals 32GB RAM surge, Nvidia dominance 

3:17 AMD RDNA5 GPUs get Transformer codenames 

4:06 Intel Nova Lake-S desktop platform shows up in shipping data with up to 52 cores 

5:17 US delays gaming GPU tariffs (again) — three more months 

6:02 Nvidia N1X CPU leak unveils RTX 5070-sized integrated GPU 

7:00 LaserWeeder G2 uses dozens of Nvidia GPUs to fry weeds with lasers

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Posted Sunday 7 September 2025 at 6:41 pm AEST (my time).

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"We’re rolling out a new wave of Intel APO game profiles. In our testing, games like Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition showed up to 14% higher FPS and up to 21% better 1% lows on games like Dyson Sphere Program when gaming on the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K paired with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090," Intel said in a community blog post.

Here's a list of the 15 new Intel APO games added to its list of supported titles:

• 7 Days to Die
• Assetto Corsa
• Cities: Skylines
• Delta Force: Black Hawk Down
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
• Dyson Sphere Program
• EA Sports FC 24
• God of War
• Kerbal Space Program 2
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition
• The Callisto Protocol
• Wolfenstein Youngblood
• World of Warships
• 蜀山初章 (pronounced Shǔ Shān Chū Zhāng)

Intel APO works in the background to manage how a game uses the different cores of a modern Intel processor (Performance-cores and Efficient-cores). Its primary job is to boost performance by assigning threads based on the game's real-time demands.

This could lead to better thread scheduling, reduced thread contention, and lower latency, according to Intel, adding that APO also helps achieve better 1% lows in games like Dyson Sphere Program. However, configuration differences and factors such as CPU/GPU model could affect APO performance gains.

The chipmaker has shared APO's FPS and 1% lows improvement scores for several titles from the list, tested on Intel Core Ultra 9 285K coupled with NVIDIA GeForce TTX 5090:

Intel APO currently supports 20 different processors across desktop and mobile. It supports a broader range of CPUs through Advanced Mode, including 12th, 13th, and 14th Intel Core processors (with 6 P-cores or more) that are not on the list of officially verified processors.

Intel APO updates are applied automatically if you're running a supported processor with the latest versions of DTT (Dynamic Tuning Technology), BIOS, and chipset drivers. You can install its optional app to manage game-specific settings.

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Posted Sunday 7 September 2025 at 2:19 pm AEST (my time).

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Apple's next product event is happening on September 9, and while the company hasn't technically dropped any hints about what's coming, anyone with a working memory and a sense of object permanence can tell you that an Apple event in the month of September means next-generation iPhones.

Apple's flagship phones have changed in mostly subtle ways since 2022's iPhone 14 Pro added the Dynamic Island and 2023's refreshes switched from Lightning to USB-C. Chips get gradually faster, cameras get gradually better, but Apple hasn't done a seismic iPhone X-style rethinking of its phones since, well, 2017's iPhone X.

The rumor mill thinks that Apple is working on a foldable iPhone—and such a device would certainly benefit from years of investment in the iPad—but if it's coming, it probably won't be this year. That doesn't mean Apple is totally done iterating on the iPhone X-style design, though. Let's run down what the most reliable rumors have said we're getting.

The iPhone 17

Apple's vanilla one-size-fits-most iPhone is always the centerpiece of the lineup, and this year's iteration is expected to bring the typical batch of gradual iterative upgrades.

The screen will supposedly be the biggest beneficiary, upgrading from 6.1 inches to 6.3 inches (the same size as the current iPhone 16 Pro) and adding a high-refresh-rate ProMotion screen that has typically been reserved for the Pro phones. Apple is always careful not to add too many "Pro"-level features to the entry-level iPhones, but this one is probably overdue—even less-expensive Android phones like the Pixel 9a ship often ship with 90 Hz or 120 Hz screens at this point. It's not clear whether that will also enable the always-on display feature that has also historically been exclusive to the iPhone Pro, but the fluidity upgrade will be nice regardless.

Aside from that, there aren't many specific improvements we've seen reported on, but there are plenty we can comfortably guess at. Improved front- and rear-facing cameras and a new Apple A19-series chip with at least the 8GB of RAM needed to support Apple Intelligence are both pretty safe bets.

But there's one thing we supposedly won't get, which is a new large-sized iPhone Plus. That brings us to our next rumor.

The “iPhone Air”

For the last few years, every new iPhone launch has actually brought us four iPhones—a regular iPhone in two different sizes and an iPhone Pro with a better camera, better screen, faster chip, and other improvements in a regular size and a large size.

It's the second size of the regular iPhone that has apparently given Apple some trouble. It made a couple of generations of "iPhone mini," an attempt to address a small-but-vocal contingent of Phones Are Just Too Big These Days people that apparently didn't sell well enough to continue making. That was replaced by the iPhone Plus, aimed at people who wanted a bigger screen but who weren't ready to pay for an iPhone Pro Max.

The Plus phones at least gave the iPhone lineup a nice symmetry—two tiers of phone, with a regular one and a big one at each tier—but rumors suggest that the Plus phone is also going away this year. Like the iPhone mini before it, it apparently just wasn't selling well enough to be worth the continued effort.

That brings us to this year's fourth iPhone: Apple is supposedly planning to release an "iPhone Air," which will weigh less than the regular iPhone and is said to be 5.5 or 6 mm thick, depending on who you ask (the iPhone 16 is 7.8 mm).

A 6.3-inch ProMotion display and A19-series chip are also expected to be a part of the iPhone Air, but rather than try to squeeze every feature of the iPhone 17 into a thinner phone, it sounds like the iPhone 17 Air will cater to people who are willing to give a few things up in the interest of getting a thinner and lighter device. It will reportedly have worse battery life than the regular iPhone and just a single-lens camera setup (though the 48 MP sensors Apple has switched to in recent iPhones do make it easier to "fake" optical zoom features than it used to be).

We don't know anything about the pricing for any of these phones, but Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggests that the iPhone Air will be positioned between the regular iPhone and the iPhone Pro—more like the iPad lineup, where the Air is the mid-tier choice, and less like the Mac, where the Air is the entry-level laptop.

iPhone 17 Pro

Apple's Pro iPhones are generally "the regular iPhone, but more," and sometimes they're "what all iPhones will look like in a couple of years, but available right now for people who will pay more for it." The new ones seem set to continue in that vein.

The most radical change will apparently be on the back—Apple is said to be switching to an even larger camera array that stretches across the entire top-rear section of the phone, an arrangement you'll occasionally see in some high-end Android phones (Google's Pixel 10 is one). That larger camera bump will likely enable a few upgrades, including a switch from a 12 MP sensor for the telephoto zoom lens to a 48 MP sensor. And it will also be part of a more comprehensive metal-and-glass body that's more of a departure from the glass-backed-slab design Apple has been using since the iPhone 12.

A 48MP telephoto sensor could increase the amount of pseudo-optical zoom that the iPhone can offer. The main iPhones will condense a 48 MP photo down to 12 MP when you're in the regular shooting mode, binning pixels to improve image quality. For zoomed-in photos, it can just take a 12 MP section out of the middle of the 48 MP image—you lose the benefit of pixel binning, but you're still getting a "native resolution" photo without blurry digital zoom. With a better sensor, Apple could do exactly the same thing with the telephoto lens.

Apple reportedly isn't planning any changes to screen size this year—still 6.3 inches for the regular Pro and 6.9 inches for the Max. But they are said to be getting new "A19 Pro" series chips that are superior to the regular A19 processors (though in what way, exactly, we don't yet know). But it could shrink the amount of screen space dedicated to the Dynamic Island.

New Apple Watches

New iPhone announcements are usually paired with new Apple Watch announcements, though if anything, the Watch has changed even less than the iPhone has over the last few years.

The Apple Watch Series 11 won't be getting a screen size increase—the Series 10 bumped things up a smidge just last year, from 41 and 45 mm to 42 and 46 mm. But the screen will apparently have a higher maximum brightness—always useful for outdoor visibility—and there will be a modestly improved Apple S11 chip on the inside.

The entry-level Apple Watch SE is also apparently due for an upgrade. The current second-generation SE still uses an Apple S8 chip, and Apple Watch Series 4-era 40 and 44 mm screens that don't support always-on operation. In other words, there's plenty that Apple could upgrade here without cannibalizing sales of the mainstream Series 11 watch.

Finally, after missing out on an update last year, Apple also reportedly plans to deliver a new Apple Watch Ultra, with the larger 46 mm screen from the Series 10/11 watches and the same updated S11 chip as the regular Apple Watch. The current Apple Watch Ultra 2 already has a brighter screen than the Series 10—3,000 nits, up from 2,000—so it's not clear whether the Apple Watch Ultra 3's screen would also get brighter or if the Series 11's screen is just getting a brightness boost to match what the Ultra can do.

Smart home, TV, and audio

Though iPhones and Apple Watches are usually a lock for a September event, other products and accessory updates are also possible.

Of these, the most high-profile is probably a refresh for the Apple TV 4K streaming box, which would be its first update in three years. Rumors suggest that the main upgrade for a new model would be an Apple A17 Pro chip, introduced for the iPhone 15 Pro and also used in the iPad mini 7. The A17 Pro is paired with 8GB of RAM, which makes it Apple's smallest and cheapest chip that's capable of Apple Intelligence. Apple hasn't done anything with Apple Intelligence on the Apple TV directly, but to date, that has been partly because none of the hardware is capable of it.

Also in the "possible but not guaranteed" column: new high-end AirPods Pro, the first-ever internal update to 2020's HomePod Mini speaker, a new AirTag location tracker, and a straightforward internals-only refresh of the Vision Pro headset. Any, all, or none of these could break cover at the event next week, but Gurman claims they're all "coming soon."

New software updates

We know most of what there is to know about iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and Apple's other software updates this year, thanks to a three-month-old WWDC presentation and months of public beta testing. There might be a feature or two exclusive to the newest iPhones, but that sort of thing is usually camera-related and usually pretty minor.

The main thing to expect will be release dates for the final versions of all of the updates. Apple usually releases a near-final release candidate build on the day of the presentation, gives developers a week or so to finalize and submit their updated apps for App Review, and then releases the updates after that. Expect to see them rolled out to everyone sometime the week of September 15th (though an earlier release is always a possibility).

What’s probably not happening

We'd be surprised to see anything related to the Mac or the iPad at the event next week, even though several models are in a window where the timing is about right for an Apple M5 refresh.

Macs and iPads have shared the stage with the iPhone before, but in more recent years, Apple has held these refreshes back for another, smaller event later in October or November. If Apple has new MacBook Pro or iPad Pro models slated for 2025, we'd expect to see them in a month or two.

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Posted Saturday 6 September 2025 at 1:18 pm AEST (my time).

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OpenAI is set to produce its own artificial intelligence chip for the first time next year, as the ChatGPT maker attempts to address insatiable demand for computing power and reduce its reliance on chip giant Nvidia.

The chip, co-designed with US semiconductor giant Broadcom, would ship next year, according to multiple people familiar with the partnership.

Broadcom’s chief executive Hock Tan on Thursday referred to a mystery new customer committing to $10 billion in orders.

OpenAI’s move follows the strategy of tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Meta, which have designed their own specialised chips to run AI workloads. The industry has seen huge demand for the computing power to train and run AI models.

OpenAI planned to put the chip to use internally, according to one person close to the project, rather than make them available to external customers.

Last year it began an initial collaboration with Broadcom, according to reports at the time, but the timeline for mass production of a successful chip design had previously been unclear.

On a call with analysts, Tan announced that Broadcom had secured a fourth major customer for its custom AI chip business, as it reported earnings that topped Wall Street estimates.

Broadcom does not disclose the names of these customers, but people familiar with the matter confirmed OpenAI was the new client. Broadcom and OpenAI declined to comment.

Tan said the deal had lifted the company’s growth prospects by bringing “immediate and fairly substantial demand,” shipping chips for that customer “pretty strongly” from next year.

The prospect that custom AI chips will take a growing share of the booming AI infrastructure market has helped propel Broadcom’s shares more than 30 percent higher this year. They rallied almost 9 percent in pre-market trading in New York on Friday.

HSBC analysts have recently noted that they expect to see a much higher growth rate from Broadcom’s custom chip business compared with Nvidia’s chip business in 2026.

Nvidia continues to dominate the AI hardware space, with the Big Tech “hyperscalers” still representing a significant share of its customer base. But its growth has slowed relative to the astronomical figures it saw at the start of the AI investment boom.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has been vocal about the demand for more computing power to serve the number of businesses and consumers using products such as ChatGPT, as well as to train and run AI models.

The company was one of the earliest customers for Nvidia’s AI chips and has since proven to be a voracious consumer of its hardware.

Last month, Altman said the company was prioritising compute “in light of the increased demand from [OpenAI’s latest model] GPT-5” and planned to double its compute fleet “over the next 5 months.”

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Posted Saturday 6 September 2025 at 3:37 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

Every September, hundreds of thousands of visitors descend upon Berlin for IFA, one of the largest trade tech conferences in Europe. IFA heralds the unofficial start of Techtember, when companies launch products in anticipation of the holiday shopping season. For over 100 years, companies, financiers, and journalists have crossed the Spree and eaten cold liver sausage for breakfast, just to check out the latest innovations in consumer electronics.

This year, those attendees include me and Gear editor Verity Burns. Here are some of the new gadgets and trends, and the funniest things we’ve found.

Table of Contents

• Samsung's Flagship Tablet Eyes the iPad Pro
• Lenovo's Twisty Laptop
• Technics Unveils Its First Bluetooth Turntable
• Fresh New Android Features
• TCL's Gargantuan Phone Is Easy on the Eyes
• The Vacuums Are Inside and Out
• RGB LED TVs Are Getting Smaller
• Dolby Vision 2 Arrives
• AI-Powered Wearables Are Here to Stay
• Philips Hue Partnered With Sonos
• Anker’s Merges a Projector and Party Speaker
• Anker Has a Crazy Docking Station
• Tado and Panasonic Help People Switch to Heat Pumps
• Scosche Thinks You Lose Your Car Charger
• Reolink Uses AI to Find Red Cars and Black Hoodies

Samsung's Flagship Tablet Eyes the iPad Pro

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

 

Don’t let your tablet dreams die—if you’re an Android user, there’s now an iPad Pro for you. At IFA 2025, Samsung launched the next-gen Galaxy Tab S11 and Tab S11 Ultra, which match Apple's iPad Pro in one regard: thinness. Both Apple and Samsung’s top-tier tablets are a mere 0.20 inches thick. That's sort of been the theme for 2025, especially with the upcoming iPhone 17 Air. The Tab S11 and S11 Ultra Android 16 out of the box, have 120-Hz AMOLED displays, and can hit a peak brightness of 1,600 nits. The company also announced a fifth Galaxy S25 phone, the Galaxy S25 FE. This $650 Android phone offers similar specs to the Galaxy S25+, but cuts some corners here and there to bring the price down.

 

You can read more about Samsung’s new tablets and phones here. —Adrienne So

Lenovo's Twisty Laptop

Lenovo debuted a concept laptop that can manually swivel from the standard landscape mode to portrait mode; it’s called the ThinkBook VertiFlex, and it’s perfect for when you need to switch from browsing the web in landscape mode to writing in a document or responding to coworkers in Slack in portrait mode. It’s not currently on sale, but it could be.

 

Lenovo had several announcements at IFA, like new Android tablets, fresh spec bumps and colors for existing laptops, and even a new gaming PC. But the most notable, outside of the twisty laptop, is pricing and availability news for the hyped up Legion Go 2. Originally teased at CES 2025, this Windows-powered gaming handheld is larger than its predecessor, sports an OLED panel with a 144-Hz refresh rate, has a bigger battery, and Hall effect joysticks. It'll be available in October for $1,049, a $449 price bump from the original.

 

You can read more about Lenovo’s IFA announcements here. —Julian Chokkattu

Technics Unveils Its First Bluetooth Turntable

Photograph: Verity Burns

 

Technics has been producing turntables for decades, but it has generally catered them towards audiophiles and DJs. However, as the popularity of vinyl among a much broader audience shows no sign of stopping, the company has decided to incorporate convenience into its decks: The SL-40CBT is its first turntable with built-in Bluetooth.

 

Technics hasn't said what Bluetooth codec is supported in the turntable, but did acknowledge the compression that would take place by listening in this way. It's clearly not the best way to listen to your records, but it does add some flexibility to existing setups, or those with limited space to place speakers close to their turntable.

 

The SL-40CBT is also beginner-friendly thanks to a built-in phono stage, making it ready to connect with active speakers right out of the box. This can be bypassed if you prefer, giving buyers an upgrade path to add a separate phono stage or use the one included in their amplifier. The new turntable features an S-shaped aluminum tone arm, Audio-Technica AT-VM95C cartridge, aluminum platter, and minimalistic MDF chassis. It'll launch this month in a choice of black, gray and terracotta for $899. —Verity Burns

Fresh New Android Features

Courtesy of Google

 

Android users, you're getting a few new AI-powered features. First up is AI writing tools baked into Gboard, Google's default keyboard on many Android devices, including Pixel phones. AI-assisted writing features are fairly common now, and now it's a button on your virtual keyboard, ready to revise your tone, improve your grammar, or proofread your copy before you hit send. Google says this data remains on device and is private.

 

Another cool addition is Audio Sharing, allowing you to pair two LE Audio devices, which use the next-gen Bluetooth standard, to your phone so you and a friend can listen to the same music (or watch the same movie) together via one screen. Sharing audio in general is going to be easier thanks to a new QR code system. You can create a private broadcast, and folks can join by scanning your code.

 

Google is also deploying its Material 3 Expressive user interface to Pixel 6 phones and newer, now that it's been available on the latest Pixel 10 phones for the past week. (You can read more about it here.) Finally, Google has a fun new tool called Androidify that lets you build your own Android robot by using a selfie and a prompt. It's powered by a mix of Gemini 2.5 Flash, Imagen, and Veo 3 to understand the prompt and caption the photo, generate the bot image, and animate it. Every Friday in September, Google will let you animate your bot into an 8-second video. You can use Androidify via the web or an app. —Julian Chokkattu

TCL's Gargantuan Phone Is Easy on the Eyes

Courtesy of TCL

 

The biggest phones today top out around 6.9 inches, but TCL thinks that's child's play. Its new Nxtpaper 60 Ultra smartphone has a gargantuan 7.2-inch display. Remember phablets? Yeah, this is basically a phablet; it even comes with a stylus!

 

The highlight of this phone is TCL's Nxtpaper 4.0 technology. The company has been on a crusade for several years, prioritizing a display technology that's easier on the eyes. Nxtpaper screens are matte, anti-glare, and paper-like—I had a pleasant experience with the recent 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G. The 60 Ultra is the first deployment of Nxtpaper 4.0, and it ups the ante. The company claims that the light waves emitted from the phone rotate in a circular motion to mimic natural light, and it's anti-glare, doesn't show reflections, has zero flicker, and reduces blue light. The brightness of the screen can drop as low as 2 nits if it detects dim lighting, and the screen tone will shift to warmer hues as night arrives. All of this is meant to help reduce eye strain and potentially improve sleep.

 

The 60 Ultra costs €499 (around $582) and will eventually make its way to the US. It's an upper midrange phone, and one of the few at this price with a triple-camera system where one of the cameras is a 50-megapixel 3X zoom telephoto. Also a part of TCL Mobile's announcements was the Nxtpaper 5G Junior, a phone for teens that uses similar Nxtpaper display technology with a Digital Detox Mode to cut out distractions. It costs €249 and goes on sale in Europe this October. —Julian Chokkattu

The Vacuums Are Inside and Out

Photograph: Adrienne So

 

Roborock, makers of our favorite robot vacuum, launched a few new products under the theme “Rocking Life, Inside and Out.” Roborock’s craziest new robot vacuum, the Saros Z70 with an automated, extendable robotic arm, debuted earlier this year, but the latest is an iteration on one of my personal favorite robot vacuums in the QRevo line. The QRevo Curv 2 Pro's dock has a distinctive curved dome that belies its powerful 25,000 Pa suction, and the vac has a new lifting chassis that helps it get over small obstacles and adapt to different carpet pile heights. (I also appreciate that it’s one of the slimmest robot vacuums on the market.)

 

The new F25 Ultra is Roborock’s first handheld vacuum that features both steam and hot water cleaning modes, and the company also launched a line of new robotic lawn mowers—the RockMow Z1, RockMow S1, and RockNeo Q1. All three navigate with Roborock’s AI-enabled Sentisphere system, which uses both real-time satellites as well as localized VSLAM (which takes into account relational navigational data, like how many times the wheels have spun) to get under trees and power lines when satellites fail. In my testing, I’ve found Roborock’s navigational systems to be top-tier, and I’m excited to see how they work in a more complicated environment involving trees, power lines, and pet toys. US pricing and availability are still unconfirmed as of the time of launch.

 

 

Eufy and Ecovacs, which also make some of WIRED’s favorite robot vacuums, also launched new models, but the most startling one is not currently available. Every year, we say there’s a new robot vacuum that can climb stairs, but the Eufy MarsWalker can actually do it. Well, it's not really a robot vacuum, more like a stairlift for your existing robot vac. Let's say you pair it with the new Eufy Omni S2 vacuum; when it's time to go upstairs, the Omni S2 climbs aboard the MarsWalker, which unfolds its skinny legs for balance and uses its wheels to motor up the stairs, like a mobile, miniature car ramp. We don't have many other details, but it's slated to arrive next year. Expect to learn more at CES 2026.

 

Photograph: Adrienne So

 

Neither my colleague Simon Hill nor I have had very much luck with testing the Switchbot as a robot vacuum—Hill found that while the robot vacuum is compact and adorable, it flings itself downstairs, and my tester dragged dog poop all over my house—so it makes sense that the company would try to pivot into a positively bizarre set of product launches. In addition to a new, soft-bodied AI robot pet that recognizes your family members and shows emotions, it also announced the AceMate Tennis Robot. It uses dual cameras, advanced algorithms, and AI to simulate rally play and coach you with performance insights.

 

Finally, Sir James Dyson was at IFA to announce a new, updated Dyson lineup at IFA 2025. The PencilVac came out earlier this year, but for 2026, Dyson will also have the AI-powered Spot+Scrub robot vacuum that will also mop, a new air purifier, and updates to its flagship line of handheld stick vacuums. The new V16 Piston Animal can detect what type of flooring it is on and has a swappable wet roller head with a wipe-clean mechanism, similar to technologies that we’ve seen before in the Wash G1 and the Dyson Submarine. You can read more about Dyson's new launches here. —Adrienne So

RGB LED TVs Are Getting Smaller

Photograph: Verity Burns

 

RGB LED, RGB Mini LED, even Micro RGB TV … whatever you call it, the latest TV tech that was announced by numerous brands at CES has been very much the talk of IFA too, as it creeps closer to a more mainstream launch. In a behind-closed-doors demo, Sony showed us more of the impressive prototype that we got to see in Japan earlier this year. Once again, it showed off the huge proposed benefits—much higher peak brightness, a wider color gamut, reduced blooming, and improved viewing angles. We saw it up against W-OLED, QD-OLED, and Mini LED, and it certainly appeared to blow them out of the water.

 

While Sony wasn’t ready to talk numbers, sizes, or very much at all outside of a 2026 launch date, it was keen to highlight the scalability of the tech—and not just to the huge screen sizes we’ve seen demoed so far, but hopefully to something the majority of people can actually imagine having in our homes.

 

Hisense was ready to show off the start of that, with an 85-inch RGB LED TV on display—the smallest screen we’ve seen yet demoing the tech. We were told to expect a 2026 launch for that one, but if you can squeeze a 100-inch screen into your living room, that now has a release date of October and a price of $20,000, to complement the already available 116UX.

 

Although announced a couple of weeks ago, Samsung’s 115-inch Micro RGB screen officially launched at the show, and is set to join the current lineup of Samsung TVs before the year is out—just expect prices of around $30,000 when it does. Its big claim is to cover 100 percent of the BT.2020 color space, a huge claim and a world first if true. —Verity Burns

Dolby Vision 2 Arrives

High Dynamic Range (“HDR”) standards aren’t probably what you lie awake at night thinking of, but they have been important stepping stones to the ability for TVs, cell phones, and computer screens to display vivid modern color gamuts in a way that isn’t constantly wonky.

 

Dolby Vision has been a popular standard when it comes to helping TVs in particular (except Samsung models, which inexplicably never embraced it) look better than ever when showing premium content. Announced earlier this week, Dolby Vision 2 aims to also include motion handling in addition to color, as well as employ what Dolby calls “Content Intelligence” to tweak settings based on content. It can utilize ambient light detection sensors in supported TVs to, say, up the brightness when you’re watching dark shows in the daytime. Not to remind folks of a show they’ll probably never rewatch, but standards like this mean we may never have a “Battle of Winterfell is too dark” problem again. —Parker Hall

AI-Powered Wearables Are Here to Stay

Photograph: Adrienne So

 

Everyone in the wearables space is acutely aware that Apple’s hardware event is in just a few days. There’s a palpable rush to launch new wearables before the next iteration of the category-defining Apple Watch. Earlier this week, Polar announced the Polar Loop, a screen-free fitness tracker wearable that looks remarkably (and unfortunately) like the Whoop MG. Unlike the Whoop, it doesn’t require a pricey monthly subscription, but the health metrics are quite limited (no Afib, no blood pressure monitoring). Garmin also announced the new Fenix 8 Pro, which is the first Garmin watch with satellite communication (that also costs a cool $2,000).

 

At IFA, Withings launched the next version of the ScanWatch 2, a long-time WIRED favorite for its long battery life, classy analog good looks, and comprehensive health tracking. The upgraded ScanWatch 2 has a new operating system, HealthSense 4, with advanced algorithms that will use predictive AI to anticipate health events, like getting sick or when your period is coming. The best of these new features will be paywalled behind the monthly Withings+ subscription, which also includes the AI-powered, personalized Health Assistant and Cardio Checkup. Budget brand

 

Amazfit also announced a new fitness tracker, the T-Rex 3 Pro, which is now on sale for $399. The latest iteration of the company’s outdoor sports watch now has, in addition to dual-band GPS and a sapphire glass screen, a Garmin-like flashlight, and a built-in speaker and mic. —Adrienne So

Philips Hue Partners With Sonos

Courtesy of Philips

 

Philips Hue, makers of some of our favorite smart lighting, had a host of announcements at IFA this year. The long-awaited Philips Hue Bridge Pro has arrived to deliver faster performance, more device support, and Hue MotionAware to enable existing Hue lights (95 percent of the range) to work as motion sensors. (You need at least three lights for this feature to work.) The Bridge Pro supports Ethernet but can now operate over Wi-Fi, and you can migrate your existing devices and settings from an old bridge.

 

The new Philips Hue Essential range is simpler and more affordable, and the refreshed Ambiance range includes A19 bulbs with Matter and Thread support (though Hue remains committed to Zigbee), several new lightstrips for indoors and outdoors, and the headlining Philips Hue OmniGlow Strip Light, which goes up to 900 lumens per meter and features a spot-free gradient with densely packed LEDs.

 

Photograph: Verity Burns

 

The Hue Secure range gets a new Hue Secure Video Doorbell, Smart Chime, and a new 2K wired camera. The doorbell offers 2K video, can act as a motion sensor to trigger Hue lights, and has two-way audio. The Smart Chime plugs into any outlet and offers a siren to scare intruders away. Most significantly for loyal Sonos fans—and hot on the heels of Sonos parting ways with Ikea—Philips Hue announced a partnership with the home audio brand, so you can now use Sonos Voice Control to turn lights on and off and adjust brightness.

 

Photograph: Verity Burns

 

Another favorite smart light maker, Govee, has recently launched a new line of outdoor smart lighting. The IP68-rated Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights Prism is designed to be permanently fixed to your home, ideally under the eaves, and features three LEDs on each point, empowering you to light up your home with the exact color, gradient, or animated lighting effect you want. You can remote control them from the feature-packed Govee app on your phone, and they can be cut, spliced, and extended to cover your roofline precisely. We loved the original version of these, and they are ideal for the holidays, saving you from the peril of climbing that ladder to hang your Christmas or Halloween lighting. —Simon Hill

Anker’s Merges a Projector and Party Speaker

Photograph: Verity Burns

 

Anker’s Nebula X1 Pro has to be one of the most fun things I've laid my eyes on at the show. It converts the superb portable Nebula X1 projector into a 30-inch-tall party speaker, with removable surround sound speakers and a 160-watt subwoofer.

 

Those satellites come in two pairings—a pair of 80W speakers that fold out to the left and right of the speaker in a “soundbar” mode, but can also be removed and placed where you want around the room, while a pair of 40W speakers work as rears. The placement of these can all be configured and perfected in the Anker app, and when you’re done, they store away in the speaker itself—as does a remote and two karaoke mics.

 

The Nebula X1 Pro will launch on Kickstarter at the end of this month, with an expected launch date of March 2026. Prices haven't been confirmed, but expect it to cost around $5,000. —Verity Burns

Anker Has a Crazy Docking Station

Photograph: Adrienne So

 

Many of the best power banks are made by Anker, but the company is not resting on its laurels. The new Prime Power Bank offers a total maximum output of 300 watts, with a whopping 26,250-mAh capacity that brings it in just under the limit for flights. This power bank can also recharge fast with a dual port input, enabling it to hit 80 percent in just 35 minutes. There’s also a crazy Prime Docking Station that has 14 ports in one and can connect three displays at up to 8K, 4K, and 4K resolution. Anker also showed off a 160W charger that’s perfect for a MacBook, iPad, and iPhone, and a new 3-in-1 that supports Qi 2.2 for up to 25-watt wireless charging, and has spots for an Apple Watch and AirPods. —Adrienne So

Tado and Panasonic Help People Switch to Heat Pumps

Courtesy of Tado

 

With many European governments pushing for a switch to heat pumps instead of fossil fuel heating, anything that makes them easier to install, cheaper to run, and longer-lasting is a boon for adopters. Tado’s partnership with Panasonic aims to do exactly that by offering Panasonic Aquarea customers potential savings on their bills, room-by-room control, and a hydraulic balancing system that doesn’t require valve replacement or plumbing work.

 

Tado makes a heating control system that allows you to set schedules and heat individual rooms by fitting radiator thermostats and a central hub to heating systems. I tested its previous system, Tado Wireless Smart Thermostat V3+, with my gas central heating and found it very handy. The new and improved Tado X system brings more to the table.

 

The new optimization feature, Aquarea Sync, is free for Panasonic customers and allows for up to 10 percent reduction in flow temperatures, a decrease in short cycling, and the ability to boost heat in the rooms that need it. It’s available now for folks with a Tado Heat Pump Optimiser X connected to a Panasonic heat pump.

 

From November, Tado is also rolling out hydraulic balancing, which aims to ensure that heat reaches every room that requires it by dynamically adjusting radiator valves. Currently, many large heating systems have radiators that heat up quickly, and some at the end of the piping system that never get particularly warm because the water has already cooled down by the time it gets there. Hydraulic balancing combats this and is a mandatory requirement for folks to claim government subsidies in countries like Germany, though not in the UK. It will also be free for Panasonic Aquarea and Tado X customers and available as part of Tado’s Auto Assist subscription (£4 or 4 euros per month) for everyone else. —Simon Hill

Scosche Thinks You Lose Your Car Charger

Accessory maker Scosche had a few nifty releases. The new Scosche MagicMount supports the very latest Qi2.2 standard, enabling phones like Google’s Pixel 10 Pro XL to connect magnetically and charge wirelessly at a faster 25-watt rate (the previous limit was 15 watts), and the unlosable FoundIT Car Charger has built-in tracking functionality by supporting both Apple Find My and Google Find Hub. It plugs into your car charging port and sports a three-month battery, alongside USB-A (12W) and USB-C (20W) ports. —Simon Hill

Reolink Uses AI to Find Red Cars and Black Hoodies

Reolink makes some of the best outdoor security cameras, and the Reolink TrackFlex Floodlight WiFi Camera packs tons of features. This is a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera that must be hardwired, and it boasts adjustable dual floodlights that can go up to 3,000 lumens, with a white light temperature of 3,000K to 6,000K.

 

The dual-lens camera combines a wide-angle lens that goes up to 4K with a telephoto lens offering 6X hybrid zoom. It can also track subjects 360 degrees and boasts a passive infrared (PIR) sensor with a 270-degree detection zone, enabling it to rotate to track any action even when it’s not in frame. You can insert a microSD card (up to 512 GB) for local recording, use Reolink’s NVR or Home Hub, or configure your own NAS server (RTSP and ONVIF are supported).

 

The company also unveiled new features for its recently announced ReoNeura AI engine, which enables AI video search for your recorded footage, so you can search terms like “man in black hoodie” or “red car,” potentially saving time. Smart detection can identify people, animals, vehicles, bikes, and parcels, and enables you to track deliveries. There’s also video captioning to offer natural-language summaries of your videos, so you don’t always have to watch them. —Simon Hill

 

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Posted Saturday 6 September 2025 at 3:16 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

I’ve been following the development of Borderlands since the series was revealed as a realistic-looking looter-shooter in Game Informer almost 20 years ago. Long before the cel-shaded look we’ve come to know and love. Needless to say, I’m a fanatic.

I absolutely love this franchise. So, imagine my surprise when I played Borderlands 3; I felt a growing emptiness inside me the longer I played.

I wouldn’t even say it started strong; it was more or less mid. The humor was overdone, the pace felt weird, and the mechanics didn’t evolve into something over anything I hadn’t seen before.

Enter Borderlands 4

Reuters reports that Google has been slapped with a $425 million fine in a class-action lawsuit that was opened back in 2020. Although the lawsuit covered 98 million people using 174 million Android devices, and was seeking $31 billion in damages, the fine is still a win for the plaintiffs of the class-action lawsuit. The reduced fine is due to the jury's verdict which indicated that Google had not intentionally acted maliciously.

The lawsuit alleged that Google collected data across third-party partner apps like Uber and Venmo for over eight years, even when customers had disabled the "Web & App Activity" feature. Google's argument was that this data was "nonpersonal, pseudonymous, and stored in segregated, secured, and encrypted locations", and was primarily utilized for better and more personalized user experiences.

The jury clearly found this to be a weak defense, and found Google liable on two of the three counts presented in the lawsuit. Google is obviously not pleased with the verdict, with a spokesperson telling the media outlet that users knew what they were agreeing to and knowingly consented to have their data collected:

This decision misunderstands how our products work. Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs expressed their pleasure at the outcome, but Google plans to appeal the verdict at some point.

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Posted Friday 5 September 2025 at 3:23 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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Borderlands 4 is just around the corner, and there's been a wave of exciting new updates. Today, I want to share something especially cool: the inclusion of what Gearbox is calling "Dynamic Events." I had the pleasure of sitting down with Associate Creative Director Grant Kao. In just half an hour, his enthusiasm for the feature was infectious, which only added to my own admiration for the team.

Adding to the excitement in the room, a newly minted edition of Game Informer's first new issue featured Borderlands 4 on the cover. I made sure Grant could see it, reinforcing my fandom of the studio he represented. After numerous fan-driven off-topic questions that I'll cover later, I asked him if there was anything he was especially eager to share about the new system.

"I love the dynamic events because it's a feature that helps augment all the things about the seamless world that we want, from storytelling to the reactive gameplay whenever a player does things to [Borderlands 4] and also just providing emergent things for players to do on the fly."

In Borderlands 4, variety will matter

This is only the second piece of DLC to hit the game since its launch last year, with the Paths to Power scenario pack landing in March. This upcoming release is focused on adding a brand-new command ship class, bringing one unique vessel for each faction available. At the same time, the DLC introduces faction-specific win conditions, offering players new options when they plan out their endgame scenarios.

The new ships are described by the developer below:

• TEC Enclave – Takadaran Command Fortress: A massive support platform doubling as a mobile cruiser-scale shipyard, capable of producing TEC cruisers in the field.
• TEC Primacy – Khevarkov Modular Battleship: A high-speed strike vessel with customizable hardpoints for railguns, missiles, or hangar bays.
• Vasari Alliance – Sularkon Tyrant: A city-ship fortress with an integrated Phase Gate, designed to lock down entire sectors.
• Vasari Exodus – Anarkrul Wanderer: A colossal refugee-carrier turned warship, bristling with defenses and heavy strikecraft support.
• Advent Wrath – Oblivia Dreadnought: A heavily armored frontline warship wielding a devastating Super Heavy PsiKinetic Lance.
• Advent Reborn – Justicia Dreadnought: A vertical dreadnought that grows deadlier as allies fall, culminating in catastrophic retaliation.

"The Reinforcements DLC isn’t just about adding bigger ships—it’s about giving players entirely new ways to think about victory," said Brian Clair, Executive Producer at Stardock. "From unleashing faction-defining command ships to achieving lore-driven win conditions, every match can now end in a way that feels true to your chosen empire."

The new win condition for the Vasari has them building Arkships before escaping the sector through a star. The Advent can deploy a mass conversion wave using planetary structures to bring in more territory. Lastly, the Trader Emergency Coalition can build a Novalith cannon that can destroy planets to enforce peace throughout systems.

Sins of a Solar Empire II Reinforcements DLC launches on September 25 across Steam and Epic Games Store with a $14.99 standalone price tag. Owners of the game's Premium Edition or the Content Pass will gain access to the DLC for no extra charge. Following this, Stardock has the Harbinger and Times of War expansions planned for the title as well.

Disclaimer: Neowin's relationship to Stardock

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Posted Thursday 4 September 2025 at 4:32 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix