A screenshot shows the mayor`s curt email reply to the Auckland Ratepayers` Alliance, with the subject heading - `Is Wayne Brown planning a rates blow-out?`. Read...

The UK is a shining example of everything that has gone wrong with the world in recent times. Read...

Mini PCs are great for fitting into a tight desktop workspace, that’s why a lot of them can be mounted to the rear of a monitor on a VESA plate. But in order to turn it on, you still have to, well, turn it on. What if you could do that like a modern TV with a console or sound bar, just by pressing the monitor’s power button? This little MSI mini PC does just that. Adam Patrick Murray has the MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG in the PCWorld Labs, and like he’s done with the last few mini PCs, he’s taking it apart in our latest PCWorld YouTube video. The outside has a few interesting features, including a fingerprint scanner on the power button and a header port so you can run a secondary power button on a cable. The inside is a little funny, because there’s an internal speaker mounted to the bottom tray, something you don’t always see. With an Intel Lunar Lake laptop chipset (Ultra 7 258V in this case), you get memory that’s included on the CPU itself, so the only things the user can service are the SSD (standard M.2 2280) and the Wi-Fi card. The rear of the device holds its unique selling point: an HDMI port with CEC functionality. “Consumer Electronics Control” just means that a few things can be done over HDMI, including a full power on and off for either component. With a compatible monitor that can handle HDMI 2.1 and CEC, you can press the monitor’s power button and the PC will start. With the Cubi mounted to the rear of said monitor, you’ve basically just rolled your own all-in-one desktop PC, like the iMac or similar designs. Neat! This is definitely focused on the business market, possibly for use in an area with multiple users who won’t need to reach around to adjust things. (The integrated speaker makes a little more sense in that regard.) The MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG doesn’t appear to be on sale in the US just yet, but it should be coming before too long. For more looks at the latest mini PCs, be sure to subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube and check out our weekly podcast The Full Nerd. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Beginner-friendly setup (when its GPS works correctly) Traction Mode mapping is a great innovation Impressive obstacle avoidance Cons Very low maximum cutting height (for U.S. grasses) Persistent GPS issues Unrealistic advertised LoRa communication range (LoRa depends on line-of-sight) Our Verdict Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: UBHome M10 Retailer Price $1,299 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices We’ve seen our share of robot mowers from large companies and well-capitalized startups, but very few crowd-funded ones. UBHome is an exception, raising HK $1.6 million (~$200,000 USD) this spring to bring its M10 robot lawn mower to market. The UBHome M10 features artificial intelligence combined with RTK (real-time kinetics) positioning, which reminds me of the Segway X3 series mowers, albeit with a different price tag and maximum yard size. The M10 costs just $1,499, which makes it one of the lower-priced robot mowers we’ve tested. The M10 uses a reference station and a LoRa (Long Range) gateway to determine position and communicate with the mower. In theory, no mower should have any problems maintaining a connection anywhere in my yard, but its unusual shape and plethora of obstructions make it a good test location. Mapping my entire yard with the UBHome M10 was so user friendly I was able to do it for the first time in many reviews. Installation and setup My yard quickly looked well-manicured thanks to the UBHome M10’s attention to detail. It spent extra time on the faster-growing portions.Ed Oswald/Foundry Getting the UBHome M10 set up wasn’t easy, not because the hardware was difficult to deal with or that the robot’s mapping controls were deficient—in fact, I loved the latter and will discuss them in more detail later—but because the M10 had persistent issues acquiring GPS signals. This occurred even in areas where the robot has a clear view of the sky. The M10 is super-reliant on GPS positioning, requiring 20 satellites just to install. That is a very high number of satellites to expect—I was maxing out at 15 to 17 at my location in Pennsylvania, which initially meant I couldn’t move forward with the review. I encountered a similar issue with a Yarbo mower, an issue that has plagued that platform for years: a refusal to connect to GPS satellites that are reliably in view. A view of the sky from the UBHome M10’s reference station, looking due south and tilted approximately 120 degrees. As you can see, apart from the horizon and a portion of the southwestern sky, there is a reasonably clear view at this location.Ed Oswald/Foundry The good news? Yarbo’s problems came down to a software issue, and I highly suspect the same thing is happening here. I eventually found another five or so satellites (although this part of the install was done a day later) and was therefore able to map my yard using the M10’s excellent in-app controls. Unlike many other mowers I’ve tested, the UBHome M10 doesn’t lurch with the slightest tap of its in-app controls. In areas where I wasn’t experiencing issues with GPS connectivity, I was able to map the terrain relatively quickly. It also has a slightly bizarre yet novel mapping method it calls Traction Mode, which involves looping a rope around the front grille of the M10 and pulling it behind you to create a map. If you struggle with remote control operation, this might be an attractive alternative (and it really works). UBHome deserves credit for thinking out of the box here. Mapping was so user friendly that I was able to use it to map my entire property for the first time in many reviews. I was also curious to see how well the LoRa technology could handle the more distant parts of our yard. UBHome says LoRa support endows its mower with a communication range of 576,000 square yards (138,000 square meters), a claim I was rightly skeptical of. What the company’s marketing materials don’t point out is that LoRa networks are heavily dependent on line of sight. So, that range might be achievable if you’re mowing a pasture, but having buildings in the picture quickly changes things. The UBHome app has a great user interface, and the ultra-precise positioning can tell you exactly where your mower has been. The barebones scheduling options, on the other hand, need a makeover.Ed Oswald/Foundry UBHome’s infrastructure consists of a gateway, an antenna, and a base station, which isn’t all that beginner friendly, but the company’s instructional materials clearly show all the steps you need to get started. While the production value of its video won’t earn an Emmy, it makes it abundantly clear what you need to do. UBHome’s app will also walk you through the process with helpful text directions. Using the UBHome M10 The UBHome M10 is a daytime-only mower due to the absence of LiDAR navigation or any headlamps. I assume most people reading this review aren’t likely to mow their lawns in the middle of the night, like I do, so I don’t see this as a negative. What’s most important is the cut, and even with all the installation difficulty, the UBHome redeemed itself in that regard. The M10 has a very low maximum cutting height of just 2.36 inches (6cm). That might be too low for the types of grass commonly found in American lawns. I generally keep our grass at 2.5 inches or higher, as anything lower tends to expose brown patches. I’ve noticed this quirk in many mowers that initially launched overseas. The M10’s front wheels move freely, so its rear wheels try to compensate, causing the mower to “waddle” slightly on open straightaways.Ed Oswald/Foundry It’s also because the U.S. itself is an aberration: The grasses that make up most of our lawns are a result of homesick American colonists favoring European grass species—and importing their seeds—instead of planting native North American grasses. The M10 does have a high-grass mode for when you need to cut grass that is significantly above the mower’s maximum cutting height, but UBHome warns that this setting could impair the mower’s obstacle avoidance. That said, I saw no substantial effects, even when the mower got close to the slope in my yard. That slope has been proven to be the Achilles’ Heel of so many rear-wheel drive mowers I’ve tested here. The mower has three mowing methods, the last of which is optional. The first is your traditional mow, where the mower takes long passes to cover as much ground as possible. In oddly shaped or narrow areas, you can use “spot mowing,” where the mower moves in a manner that covers spots close to the edge of the mowing area or where it may have missed. Finally, the optional “perimeter mowing” rides the edge of the mowing area to provide that finished look. You can monitor all of this in the app in real time. LoRa helps to ensure that the app’s positioning is exact, and it also results in a significantly longer mowing time than most robot mowers, but the results are worth it. There are two situations where you’ll encounter trouble with the M10: Roughly 2 to 3 hours before sundown, and in low-light conditions. To avoid this, I recommend mowing in the late morning or early afternoon.Ed Oswald/Foundry I experienced issues with sun blindness being misinterpreted as an obstruction when the sun was low in the sky. This is typical of robot mowers that aren’t equipped with LiDAR navigation. To get around the problem, program the mower to cut any portions of the lawn that will have the mower moving directly into the sun at least three hours before sunset. Mowing the easiest part of my yard went so well that I decided to tackle the more problematic areas next. I tempered my expectations given the amount of trouble I’ve had with other rear-wheel drive (RWD) mowers. Things went well, for the most part. I set the M10 to its slowest setting while cutting narrow strips of grass, which kept it on the median rather than in the street, where so many other mowers have ended up (the mower did fall off the curb while running at its standard speed). On slopes, the M10 seemed to correct the drift of its front wheels to either side much faster than any other RWD mower I’ve tested. The M10, however, lost its connection to the Reference Station about 300 feet through my detached garage. This wasn’t entirely surprising, given LoRa’s dependence on line-of-sight communication; in fact, it performed better than most of its competitors in this area. That said, it didn’t come anywhere close to the 138,000 square meters of communication range that’s advertised. The mower also had difficulty staying within its assigned boundaries while it was in that section, confusing a small strip down the alley as an edge, likely due to connectivity issues. Using the UBHome app UBHome’s app has an excellent user interface; it’s well-organized and clean, and I appreciate how the most critical actions are assigned to buttons at the bottom of the screen, so I can use the app with one hand. The scheduling portion of the app, on the other hand, is too barebones; it shows scheduled mow days and times, but not the areas to be mowed. The UBHome M10 is an AI+RTK mower that uses a trio of cameras and seven sensors to navigate your yard and avoid obstacles.Ed Oswald/Foundry A log show displays all recent actions and alerts, and there’s a remote control feature if you feel like driving the mower yourself. I experienced sporadic connectivity problems from time to time, which were usually remedied by restarting the app. While you can set mowing direction within the app, there doesn’t appear to be any type of automatic adjustment for each successive mow. That said, it might not be necessary, as the M10 will switch between modes based on the height of the grass and if it spots areas where grass is growing faster than others. Should you buy a UBHome M10 robot mower? With a price tag of less than $1,500, the UBHome M10 punches above its weight. Its dependence on GPS for navigation, however, comes with risks. The mower’s sporadic inability to find satellites in areas where it had a clear view of the sky is disappointing. Apart from that, the mower is surprisingly flawless and fun to use. I initially thought such out-of-the-box ideas as Traction Mode were silly, but when I used them, I discovered they’re an innovative way to speed up the most irritating part of robot mower setup. The Ml10 delivers outstanding cut quality, and its obstacle avoidance works well even in high-grass mode. This rear-wheel drive mower’s ability to successfully mow my lawn without falling down its slope is also notable. And for the most part, it stayed within its assigned boundaries, something many other mowers have failed to do, especially on my yard’s median strips. If you’re in the market for a robot lawn mower, most of your yard has a clear view of the sky, and you have a limited budget, the UBHome M10 is an option to consder. I do hope UBHome solves this machine’s GPS issues with a firmware update, because that’s holding back an otherwise excellent robot lawn mower. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best robot lawn mowers. Read...

Would you like a browser that browses the web for you? Presumably excluding malware or other nasty stuff that’s been a concern for decades? Then Perplexity’s Comet “AI” browser might be for you…though the $200-a-month price tag for the company’s “Max” plan might not. But now it’s free, with some big limits. The Comet browser was always intended to be a free competitor to Chrome and other browsers, though it started out locked behind that massive “AI” paywall. (In fact, Perplexity is so committed to the browser bit that it briefly entertained buying Chrome from Google, before the U.S. government decided that antitrust laws are more like guidelines.) As of today it’s free for anyone to use, along with its LLM-powered Sidecar feature, according to TechCrunch. Though the download site still indicates you either need a subscription or an invitation to use it, I was able to download and install it without logging in. But in order to get the full powers of the browser, you’ll still need that $200-a-month subscription. Without it you’re rate-limited for its various tools, including text generation, shopping, and even logging in and “browsing” using your identity. Just be careful — like many LLM tools it has some rather glaring security issues. Chris Hoffman tried out Comet in an extended test, and found it interesting but pretty barebones once you get beyond the “agentic AI” features. “Comet doesn’t feel designed to be your day-to-day browser—as it is right now, it’s more of a flashy demo,” he says. Read...

You know, a good laptop doesn’t have to cost a fortune. As long as you’re not too picky and all you really need is a decent daily driver, you can get one for pretty cheap. But every once in a while, you can nab a fantastic laptop at a budget-friendly price. Today, this Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 laptop is down to just $599.99 at Best Buy with a crazy $400 discount! Performance-wise, it offers just the right specs to handle Windows 11 and all your everyday apps and all your web browsing needs without slowing to a crawl. That includes an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor, 16GB of LPDDR5X memory, and a 512GB SSD that could be bigger but isn’t terrible at this price. That right there is already decent. Then there’s the 16-inch IPS screen for color accurate images at a crisp 1920×1200 resolution and touch capabilities. With this being a 2-in-1, you can fold the screen back 360 degrees and use it like a tablet, or tent it so the screen is propped up for comfortable reading of documents and watching of videos. The Intel Arc integrated graphics can handle basic gaming, and the CPU qualifies this as a Copilot+ PC, meaning you get access to all the AI features in Windows 11. For longevity, you’re looking at a 65-watt-hour battery that lasts up to 15 hours (depending on what you’re doing). For connectivity, you get dual Thunderbolt 4, an HDMI, a USB-A, a microSD card slot, 3.5mm audio, plus Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3. Other niceties include 1080p webcam, backlit keyboard, fingerprint reader, and built-in GPS. That’s a hefty configuration for just $599.99, so get this from Best Buy at this price while you still can! Copilot+ PCs don’t come this cheap, and the ones that do aren’t this good. If you aren’t happy with this one, though, go ahead and check out our favorite laptops for every type of user. Save $400 on this AI-ready touchscreen laptopBuy now from Best Buy Read...

If you’re in need of a high-performance PC but you’re unwilling to spend a fortune, you can skip the bulky desktops and pricey laptops. Get a mini PC instead! They’re affordable yet powerful, and they often have good sales—like this Beelink SER8 mini PC for $498 on Amazon (was $618), which is a great price for what you get inside. This awesome home office PC is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS processor and a hefty 32GB of fast DDR5 RAM, a combo that makes it perfect for multitasking, work projects, watching content online, keeping a gazillion tabs open, and more. Throw in the fast 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and you have ample storage for all your files and media, plus quick system startups and app launches and data transfers. Want to do some light gaming? This mini PC has integrated Radeon 780M graphics, which can handle modest settings at modest frame rates. It can also power up to three 4K monitors (via HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C video), which is perfect for any home workstation. Other connections include a fast USB-C data port, four USB-A ports, 2.5G LAN, two 3.5mm audio (one front, one back), Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.2. It’s a winner that packs lots of performance into a great price, so what are you waiting for? Snag the Beelink SER8 mini PC for $498! Save over $100 on this Ryzen-powered mini PC with 32GB RAMBuy now at Amazon Read...

Google recently published a support page that explains how it’s going to reorganize Gmail by removing two features in January 2026. Many users have been relying on these two features: first, the Gmailify extension, and second, the retrieval of emails via the POP protocol. The end of Gmailify benefits Gmailify was introduced in 2016 and made it possible to upgrade external email accounts—from Yahoo! or Outlook, for example—with certain Gmail extras, including a reliable spam filter, automatic sorting of the inbox into categories, better push notifications on smartphones, and an extended search function with special operators. These benefits will no longer be available come January 2026. Anyone using third-party email accounts in Gmail will therefore have to do without these additional benefits starting next year. The end of POP support in Gmail The retrieval of emails via the POP protocol will also be discontinued. Previously, Gmail users were able to integrate messages from other email accounts directly into Gmail. This option to “retrieve messages from other accounts” will no longer be available come January. Instead, Google will refer to IMAP, which is already supported by most email providers and is considered the modern standard. Users should check the settings of their email provider(s) to see whether IMAP is activated and switch from POP to IMAP as soon as possible. What will stay the same? These changes only affect future emails. Emails that have already been synchronized in the Gmail account will remain the same. External accounts can still be used in the Gmail app, but only via IMAP. Google also recommends that users with work or education accounts contact their administrators if a Google Workspace migration is needed. For many Gmail users, these changes will likely mean getting used to the new system. Anyone who previously upgraded their external email accounts with Gmailify or integrated them via POP will have to switch to IMAP by January 2026 at the latest and do without some convenient functions, like spam filters and automatic sorting. Further reading: I switched from Gmail to Proton Mail and prefer it Read...

Every month, Statcounter publishes market share figures for the various Windows versions, but this month’s figures are something special. In September 2025, an ancient Windows version that hasn’t been updated in years saw a non-trivial bump in users. We’re talking about Windows 7. Yup, you read that right. Windows 7 was very popular with users during its time, much like Windows XP before it and Windows 10 after it, but it came to an end with its final security update in January 2020. Since then, Windows 7 has been unprotected against newly discovered security vulnerabilities. And yet, for some reason, Statcounter now shows that the global market share of Windows 7 rose sharply from 3.59 percent in August to 9.61 percent in September. During that same period, Windows 11 lost a negligible amount (from 49.08 to 48.94 percent) while Windows 10 lost a lot more (from 45.53 percent to 40.5 percent). So, what’s behind the huge jump in Windows 7 users? It’s mainly due to Asia, where Windows 7 market share shot up from 5.64 percent in August to 18.67 percent in September! Before that, it was even lower at 2.32 percent in July. How’s that for a comeback? One caveat here: Statcounter provides no explanation for this unusual surge, so these figures should be treated with a certain amount of skepticism. Could there be a measurement error involved? Further reading: I’m sticking with Windows 10 even after it dies in October. Here’s how I’m doing it Read...

Xbox Game Pass is getting a lot more expensive—up to 50 percent more expensive for the all-you-can-eat Ultimate tier—which is a problem for a service that appeals to players based on its relative affordability. It looks like Brad Chacos isn’t the only one cancelling before the higher prices hit, as the Game Pass website is straining under increased traffic. Yesterday, posters on the Xbox subreddit noticed that when they tried to cancel their Game Pass subscriptions, they were met with errors on the Microsoft My Access website where you manage your various Microsoft-associated accounts. Apparently, a considerable number of users found themselves unable to cancel Game Pass, met with this message: “We couldn’t load your subscriptions. Refresh and we’ll try again.” The Reddit post (spotted by Windows Central) implies that Microsoft is blocking people from cancelling their subscriptions. That seems unlikely to me. With Hanlon’s Razor in full effect, I’d say it’s more likely that the news of the price increase just nudged a lot of people to do some quick budgeting match and drop the sub. (Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, et al. are probably used to the same dips by now.) Perhaps it’s unsurprising that a 50 percent jump—from $20/month to $30/month for the most popular tier—would cause a rush to leave the service… but the idea that it would overload Microsoft of all companies is a bit telling. The increase in price isn’t without some added benefits. Game Pass Ultimate now includes more classic Ubisoft games and the Fortnite Crew subscription for the mega-popular Fortnite, and the lower tiers (some of which are also getting more expensive) get some extra games and features. Microsoft is pushing its streaming options especially hard, in combination with its “This is an Xbox” campaign. But Game Pass is Microsoft’s push to create a new and dominant platform for gaming everywhere, as the Xbox console now lags far behind Sony and Nintendo. Game Pass is supposed to be the crowning feature of the new Asus ROG Xbox Ally, and it’ll be front and center when the new gaming-focused Windows 11 interface arrives for other PC gaming handhelds. Prices are going up everywhere, including for the unpopular Xbox itself (oh wait, that was the first increase in Xbox prices this year, it happened again) but kneecapping your value proposition just as you’re teaming up to sell new hardware seems less than wise to me. Read...