Our language shapes and defines us, makes us who we really are, but we are responsible for it too, says Joel Maxwell. Read...

Ka whawhatia tatou e te reo, a, e tautuhitia ana tatou e a ia, ka whakaatu te reo hoki i to tatou tino iho. Read...

He kawhe koa? The food truck handing out free hot drinks if you order in te reo Maori. Read...

Officials powerless to block zoning requirement at crucial meeting next week. Read...

Ministry agrees with council that the building is being run as a commercial accommodation provider Read...

Opinion: Gen Xers are now most definitely in their middle age life, not that we’d like you to notice it. Read...

Nvidia’s Founders Edition graphics cards are supposed to be the reference design, shorn of any extras and, crucially, sold at retail prices without any markups. So it was alarming when the Founders Edition of the RTX 5090 and 5080 disappeared from Nvidia’s official store over the weekend. Some wondered if they were gone for good. Turns out, no. When pressed on the lack of availability for the most expensive consumer graphics cards on the market at their standard prices, an Nvidia spokesperson said that they’re just out of stock temporarily due to high demand. They gave the statement to WCCFtech, which posted the reply on Sunday. “GeForce RTX 50 series Founders Editions continue to be in production. They are limited edition products so, from time to time, go out of stock on our website and return when back in stock.” There are all kinds of issues causing a squeeze on graphics cards at the moment, Nvidia’s cards most of all. High demand from gamers (and scalpers, though that appears to be winding down), output supply problems as Nvidia also supplies GPUs to AI-hungry industrial clients, general economic turmoil. But it looks like those sought-after Founders Edition cards aren’t disappearing anytime soon, even if they will remain elusive to anyone hoping to get them at the MSRP. Read...

Power users reach for a connection test whenever their ping goes over 25 milliseconds. So it’s a good thing they won’t have to reach very far, at least if the latest feature of Windows 11 makes it to release. An online sleuth has found an internet speed test hiding in the latest preview builds, and it’s right on the taskbar. How ’bout that. PhantomofEarth on Twitter found it, cheekily hiding in the right-click context menu of the network icon. You can also get it in the networking sub-menu (as pictured above) as its own dedicated icon. According to Windows Central, following either link will take you to Bing’s internet speed test. Which probably isn’t anyone ‘s favorite, but it’s just a re-skinned version of Ookla’s venerable Speedtest.net, and it’s plenty functional if all you need is a quick look at the connection between you and a nearby server. Microsoft hasn’t officially announced the feature as something in the 25H2 update, despite it being live in the latest Windows Insider builds, so who knows when or if it’ll actually show up. That said, it’s a very small change and it’s handy, so I don’t see any reason that it wouldn’t pop up fairly soon. Read...

Do you even remember when you purchased that old power strip you’re still using? It’s probably been quite some time, and I’m 99% sure it isn’t as fast or as versatile as the one I’m about to show you. Right now, this Anker 10-in-1 USB power strip is only $19.99 on Amazon, matching its best-ever sale price. Now that’s a deal! For starters, this power strip has six AC outlets, much like any conventional power strip. But they’re arranged three on each side, making it easier to fit large plugs and adapters without covering up outlets and wasting space. On top of that, you get two USB-A and two USB-C charging ports, allowing you to charge your phone, tablet, laptop, Nintendo Switch, and everything else without clogging up the outlets. (The USB-C ports deliver up to 20W, the USB-A ports up to 12W.) I like that this power-strip-charging-station-thing comes with a 5-foot cable with a flat plug, making it easy to plug into your wall even when it’s behind furniture. The Anker strip has a built-in 8-point safety system that will protect your gear from overloads, overcurrent, overvoltage, and short circuits. In short, it’s as good as what you have, but better. This might be the easiest $20 you spend to organize your cables and chargers and free up space. Get Anker’s 10-in-1 USB power strip for $19.99 before this limited-time deal expires! Save 33% on this awesome 10-in-1 power strip with built-in USB portsBuy now at Amazon Read...

Get ready for a parade of new Amazon devices—including Echo speakers powered by the new AI Alexa—at showcase in New York City later this month.  The event is slated for September 30, and the timing puts Amazon back on track for its usual fall preview of its latest wares. Amazon skipped its typical fall event last year in favor of a smaller Kindle-only unveiling.  The Amazon invitation shows what appears to be Alexa’s telltale blue light ring, along with the famous Kindle logo, so it seems like new Echo devices and Kindle tablets are safe bets.  The upcoming event will mark the first full-on Amazon Devices fall showcase since the arrival of Alexa+, the AI-supercharged version of Alexa. Alexa+ made its splashy debut back in February following a lengthy delay, and it’s been rolling out ever so slowly over the past several months.  Amazon’s big fall hardware event will also be the first to feature Panos Panay, the former Microsoft executive who took over Amazon’s Alexa and Echo divisions. Panay, who succeed outgoing Amazon exec David Limp back in September 2023, hosted a scaled-down Kindle event last fall, as well as the Alexa+ reveal earlier this year.  Several of Amazon’s most popular Echo devices are due for a refresh, including the ever-popular Echo Dot. The fifth-generation Echo Dot made its debut back in 2022, most notably with the new ability to act as an extender for Amazon’s Eero mesh Wi-Fi routers.  The four-year-old Amazon Echo Show 10 with its swiveling display is also ripe for a re-do, as is the Echo Studio, the Dolby Atmos-capable Echo speaker that came out way back in 2020. The Echo Studio has long been unavailable for purchase, and no Echo speaker with similar audio quality has come along to replace it.  Besides Echo speaker and displays, Amazon will likely unveil new Kindle hardware at the event. Ring cameras are also stables of Amazon’s fall event, including (somewhat infamously) the Always Home Cam, the flying Ring drone camera that never made it out of its early-access status.  Amazon’s fall event will come just a day before Google shows off the latest Google Home devices, including (very probably) new Nest cams and a new smart speaker powered by Gemini. Read...