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Gaming Gear

PlayStation launches new app for parental controls

by admin September 10, 2025

PlayStation is launching a new PlayStation Family app for iOS and Android to help parents manage their child’s playtime on PS5 and PS4. Parents can already set parental control features directly on a console, but this app gives parents another way to set limits and keep track of what their kid is playing.

“The app includes a number of new customizable features for parents to manage their children’s playtime, including an activity report, more visibility into what their children are playing, and approving extra playtime requests,” according to a blog post. The app also has an onboarding experience to help parents set up a child account, lets parents manage a child’s spending on the PlayStation Store, and gives parents the ability to customize privacy settings for their children.

Nintendo and Microsoft also offer dedicated parental control apps for iOS and Android that lets parents manage playtime on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

In tribute to a player’s departed baby son, Old School RuneScape players turn out in ‘hundreds’ to pay respects to his namesake: ‘It was so overwhelming seeing so many people at Zeke’s shop’

by admin September 10, 2025

MMOs tend to function, more or less, as enormous mechanisms for competition. PvP, being the first to a particular raid, pulling off troubling works of deception in EVE Online—this is what I associate with the phrase ‘massively multiplayer’. But sometimes, the stars align and players come together to do something truly nice for each other.

A Reddit user and Old School RuneScape player going by Gr3g1n4t0r posted to the game’s community subreddit yesterday that it had “been a year since my son, Zeke, has passed away.” The player’s son had been born prematurely, but “held on for almost 4 months until he sadly passed away.”

To pay tribute and mark a year since their son’s passing, the player announced they would be making a trip to see Zeke, owner of the store Zeke’s Superior Scimitars, in World 388 shortly after the post went up.

And then, well, you can probably guess what happened next: players turned out in impromptu throngs to join Gr3g1n4t0r in their tribute to their child.

Numerous screenshots posted to Reddit show great crowds of people gathered around Zeke’s store using the Redemption prayer—which triggers a large green heart to manifest above your avatar’s head. Meanwhile, chat abounded with messages like “Hell yeah Zeke lives on,” and “Here for you and Zeke <3”. Even a Jagex staff member—Mod Sarnie—turned up.

Thank you guys for honoring our Zeke from r/2007scape

“Thank you for hosting,” wrote another player on Reddit. “Hundreds of people came to support your beautiful tribute. My condolences, and I hope this community brought you some happiness.”

In a post after the event, Gr3g1n4t0r wrote their thanks: “Thank you to everyone who saw the post and paid their respect. It was so overwhelming seeing so many people at Zeke’s shop. It was so nice to hear your stories as well. We have such an incredible community with the biggest hearts.”

In a separate post, they wrote “The community is the best in the world. Love you Zeke ❤️”.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

California’s High-Speed Rail Fiasco Keeps Getting Worse

by admin September 10, 2025

Seventeen years ago, Californians bet on a grand vision of the future. They narrowly approved a $10 billion bond issue to build a high-speed rail line that would zip between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours. This technological marvel would slash emissions, revitalize the state’s Central Valley, and, with some financial help from the feds and private sector, provide the fast, efficient, and convenient travel Asia and Europe have long enjoyed.

State officials promised to deliver this transit utopia by 2020. Instead, costs have more than doubled, little track has been laid, and service isn’t expected to begin before 2030—and only between Bakersfield and Merced, two cities far from the line’s ultimate destinations.

It’s little wonder the project finds itself in a precarious financial position, fighting political headwinds, and deemed a boondoggle by everyone from federal Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to Abundance authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. “In the time California has spent failing to complete its 500-mile high-speed rail system,” they wrote, “China has built more than 23,000 miles of high speed rail.”

The reasons for this vary with who’s being asked, but people with expertise often cite three fundamental missteps: creating a new agency to lead the effort, failing to secure adequate funding from the start, and choosing a route through California’s agricultural heartland. The state’s strict environmental review process hasn’t helped, either.

Such struggles are not unique to the Golden State, where support for the project remains strong. Although the private sector venture Brightline has seen some success, publicly funded high-speed rail efforts in Texas, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and beyond have stalled. Regulatory complexity, a political environment that favors cars and highways, and constant funding challenges stymie America’s aspirations even as other countries have spent big on tens of thousands of miles of track. Governor Gavin Newsom promises to see the nation’s most ambitious rail project through despite recently losing all federal support, but its troubled path underscores the systemic challenges of building big in America.

California has always been a car-crazy place, and by the early 1990s, transportation studies made clear that its highways would not keep pace with the growth to come. Policymakers saw an answer in bullet trains. The Legislature established the California High-Speed Rail Authority in 1996 and gave it the tough job of planning, designing, building, and running the system.

Some consider that a mistake because the agency lacked experience managing so big a project and navigating complex bureaucracy. Even some rail supporters concede it would have been better to let the authority provide oversight and leave the heavy lifting to the state Department of Transportation, or CalTrans. “It’s building a lot of overpasses and right-of-way, which Caltrans does all the time,” said Ethan Elkind, director of the University of California, Berkeley climate program in its Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment.

Without that experience, the authority’s 10 employees relied heavily on consultants like engineering firm WSP, running up expenses. “We paid WSP and their predecessor more than $800 million in consulting fees,” said Lou Thompson. He chaired the High Speed Rail Peer Review Group, established in 2008 to provide project oversight, from 2012 until 2024. The authority has in recent years eased its reliance on consultants, who reportedly have gone from 70 percent of its workforce to 45 percent over the past seven years.

Once the High-Speed Rail Authority set up shop, work proceeded in fits and starts. Even as it considered routes and started the myriad bureaucratic tasks the project required, political interest waxed and waned with the state’s fiscal health. Skeptics lamented the cost and questioned whether bullet trains would attract enough riders to be worthwhile. But rail advocates, environmentalists, unions, and others kept pushing forward and in 2008 convinced voters to approve Proposition 1A, securing $10 billion to finance construction.

It was never going to be enough—at the time, the cost was pegged at $45 billion, a figure that did not account for inflation—and funding has been a challenge from the start.

Still, the Obama administration saw an opportunity to show that the economy was bouncing back from the Great Recession. The federal American Reinvestment Recovery Act provided $3.5 billion to help get things started. The authority, which had already mapped a route through the Central Valley, soon began grading land, moving utilities, and taking other steps toward construction of the first leg, a 119-mile stretch from Bakersfield to Madera.

Things chugged along until 2013, when a state judge blocked the use of Prop 1A funds, ruling that some of the work did not meet the rules for bond expenditures. With federal support contingent upon the state’s cash, the federal grants had to be renegotiated—before they expired in 2017. “We were literally sitting there saying, ‘Well, if we don’t start going, we could lose $700 or $800 million of the federal money,” said Dan Richard, who was the High-Speed Rail Authority’s board chair from 2011 until 2019. That prompted the agency to do something no one wanted to do: Move forward without having acquired all of the necessary land. So it did.

Then President Donald Trump took office. He seemed interested in what California was attempting to build, having lamented that China and Japan “have fast trains all over the place” while the U.S. relies upon “obsolete technology.” His opinion soured when Gavin Newsom became governor in 2019 and the two sparred over the president’s policies. Trump later canceled nearly $1 billion in federal funds for the rail project.

The Biden administration restored it and provided another $3.1 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The infusion was to help build a station in Fresno and acquire trains for testing. Even with the windfall California remained at least $7 billion short of what it needed for the first short run through the Valley. The situation grew worse in July when Trump rescinded the entire amount after the Federal Railroad Administration said it saw no way of covering that shortfall and no path to completion by 2033.

Newsom said the move “reeks of politics” and the state is suing. But the impact goes beyond California by establishing a precedent to cancel projects at will. “How do you go to your voters and say, ‘Put up the money. We expect 50 percent federal share,’ without knowing that the next administration could turn around and say, ‘I don’t like that project,’” Richard said.

The High-Speed Rail Authority initially planned to rely upon state, federal, and private sector funding in equal measure, but California has provided 75 percent of the $14.6 billion spent so far. The authority wrote in a letter to the Railroad Administration that Newsom’s plan to allocate $1 billion, pulled from the state’s cap-and-trade program, toward the project each year for 20 years will be enough to finish the Central Valley segment. The governor also recently signed a bill requiring the authority to update its estimate on the funding gap for that leg of the journey.

With California seemingly on its own, Thompson said the project needs an income stream approaching $5 billion per year to build everything. That is one reason the authority in June asked the private sector and financial institutions to weigh in on the chance of public-private partnerships. Its CEO Ian Choudri said private investors have shown “extreme interest.”

Thompson isn’t buying it. “My opinion is that that is hot air,” he said. The way he sees it, no one’s going to invest until they can see that there is demand for the rail line.

One of the reasons Brightline is held up as an example of how to bring high-speed rail to the United States is its strategy includes building on public land. Part of its 235-mile line between Miami and Orlando stands on land owned by Florida East Coast Railway. The company’s planned run between Las Vegas and L.A. will largely follow Interstate 15.

California could have done the same and built along I-5, which bisects the Central Valley, but chose to go through major population centers 20 to 50 miles to the east. That pivotal decision increased the project’s cost and complexity. Following the freeway would have been straighter and flatter, without the elevated track, tunnels, and other infrastructure needed to traverse cities. The route also turned a state effort into a regional development project beset by local politics.

The High-Speed Rail Authority had good intentions, however. It hopes that bringing rail to places like Merced and Bakersfield might entice Silicon Valley and Los Angeles firms to open offices in the Central Valley, which would be a 90-minute ride from their headquarters. It also would boost local economies left behind by the state’s boom—and it has, to some extent. The project has added 11,000 construction jobs to the region. But that exacted its own toll.

“Those economic benefits have been really substantial, so that sort of worked, but it came at potentially the cost of not being able to build the system at all, because by starting it in the Central Valley they’ve basically blown all the money there,” said Elkind of the UC Berkeley Climate Program. Should the state once again ask voters for money, it would have had a stronger case if initial construction had occurred in major population centers, he said.

The route also created additional hurdles as the project navigated California’s environmental oversight rules. Going through several cities and all that farmland increased the number of stakeholders who had to be consulted, ballooning the environmental review process.

To be fair, the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, has long protected the state’s rich biodiversity. But some rail proponents argue it has been used to stymie progress. High-Speed Rail Authority data shows it has spent more than $765 million on environmental review. Lawsuits stemming from CEQA can be particularly expensive. “If you have a $100 billion project, and let’s say that interest rates are 3% a year, every year’s delay costs you $3 billion,” Thompson said. “A $50,000 lawsuit can delay you for a year, and so there’s an enormous pressure on you to try to bargain your way out of these kinds of situations.”

California recently loosened CEQA requirements for the rail system’s maintenance facilities and stations, a move Newsom cheered. “These are very targeted exemptions that will help cut red tape and deliver on California’s vision of high-speed rail without compromising environmental protections,” gubernatorial spokesperson Daniel Villaseñor wrote in an email.

Whether that reform has an impact remains to be seen, because most of the environmental review is already completed. And regulation was never the project’s biggest problem. “It just seems like the easy, obvious answer,” said Hana Creger, associate director of climate equity at The Greenlining Institute. “But I think these things are a lot more complex.”

Given all of this, it can be easy to lose sight of what progress has been made. The authority is quick to note that 463 miles of the 494-mile system has cleared the environmental review process and is “construction ready.” It also boasts of having laid 70 miles of guideway—meaning track, elevated structures, or other riding surface—and erected 57 structures. All told, the project has created more than 15,500 jobs since its inception.

Despite the challenges, Newsom remains steadfast in his determination to see Californians one day riding the trains they were promised so many years ago. “I want to get it done,” he said in May. “That’s our commitment.” That will surely resonate with his constituents; recent polling shows 62 percent of voters believe the state should continue financing the project, though opinions split sharply along partisan lines. Still, experts caution that support isn’t enough. Tangible progress and credible funding streams are essential to maintain momentum.

The High-Speed Rail Authority seems to understand this and is pressing ahead to connect Bakersfield to either Merced or Gilroy. There’s a lot to do before crews start laying track, but the goal is to finish that run by 2032 and the authority recently opened the bidding process to begin installing track next year. Looking further ahead, its latest plan, released late last month, calls for extending the line south to Palmdale by 2038, putting it within 80 miles of San Francisco and 40 miles of L.A. at a cost of $87 billion. “While challenges remain, so too does the potential to deliver a modern transportation system worthy of the state’s ambitions—one that reflects the scale, complexity, and promise of California itself,” Choudri wrote in the plan. “Let’s go build it.”

Assuming the project retains its $4 billion federal grants, the project has $29 billion available, with an additional $15 billion from Newsom’s proposal, according to the CHSRA. Thompson said the governor’s proposal, which would set aside $1 billion every year for the project, should keep it alive for the next four years. Beyond that, it will need an infusion of cash, likely from voters but possibly from a future presidential administration. “I think the path forward is that they could show some first segment success and then go back to the voters,” Elkind said. “You just got to get through this first era here, and get something built that they can show to the voters.”

Ultimately, California’s high-speed rail is more than a train line; it is a test of the nation’s ability to deliver transformative infrastructure. Its path forward remains uncertain, but every mile of track laid could lead to a turning point—not just for the state, but for the broader goal of building the kind of transportation network other countries take for granted.

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/transportation/billions-spent-miles-to-go-the-story-of-californias-failure-to-build-high-speed-rail/. Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

I Tried Apple’s New AirPods Pro 3 and They Feel Surprisingly Different

by admin September 10, 2025

Apple was widely expected to release the next generation of its AirPods Pro noise-canceling earbuds this fall, and now it has. As part of its September “awe-dropping” event, the company debuted the AirPods Pro 3. The new buds are upgraded in several ways, including better noise canceling and sound quality, and they have heart-rate sensors like the Beats PowerBeats Pro 2. You can preorder them today for $249 and they ship on Sept. 19.

Watch this: I Tried Apple AirPods 3: First Impressions of New Features

05:00

Here are some of their key upgrades. It’s worth noting that the AirPods Pro 3 still use Apple’s H2 chip, not the rumored even more powerful H3 chip some people thought they might get. (It apparently doesn’t exist yet.) Also, the case uses a new U2 chip for advanced precision in the Find My location system.

Refined design for better fit (the buds are slightly smaller)
New heart-rate sensors
New 10.7mm drivers with new multiport acoustic architecture
2x better noise canceling compared to AirPods Pro 2
Upgraded microphones
Improved sound quality with better bass
More natural sounding transparency mode
New ear tips with upgraded foam on the inside (now available in five sizes)
New live translation feature
Up to 8 hours of battery with noise canceling on (up to 10 hours with transparency and hearing aid modes)
IP57 water-resistant and dust-resistant (AirPods Pro 2 are IPX4 splashproof)
Price: $249, £219, AU$429
Shipping: Sept. 19

The AirPods Pro 3 have heart-rate sensors like the Beats PowerBeats Pro 2.

Apple/Screenshot by CNET

I got a chance to try the AirPods Pro 3 in Apple’s demo room at the event. While they look very similar to the AirPods Pro 2, they’ve been redesigned and are slightly smaller. The angle of the buds has been altered slightly so the eartips point more directly into your ear canals. The tips themselves have also been redesigned, with new memory foam in the tips, though the exterior of the tips is still silicone. The tips now come in five sizes, including a new extra, extra small tip. While there’s no extra large tip (which I was hoping for), the large tips now fit more like XL tips. Alas, the new tips aren’t compatible with the original AirPods Pro or AirPods Pro 2.

The buds definitely felt different in my ears than the AirPods Pro 2, and overall they seemed to fit more snugly and securely. I suspect more people will be able to get a secure, tight seal with these new AirPods, which is crucial for noise-canceling performance and sound quality.

Enlarge Image

The case is the same size, but has a new U2 chip that enhances the precision of Apple’s Find My system.

David Carnoy/CNET

The noise canceling seemed excellent, but it was hard to tell whether it was really two times better than the noise canceling of the AirPods Pro 2, as Apple says. But the buds are supposed to do a better job across all frequencies with noise canceling, including mids and higher frequencies that can be challenging to muffle. I’ll see how they stack up to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd gen) when I get my review sample. Those $299 Bose buds currently offer the best noise canceling in a set of earbuds.

It was hard to judge sound quality in the noisy demo room, even with the noise canceling on, but I got a chance to try them briefly in a quieter area and came away impressed. The bass seemed slightly deeper and better defined and the treble clarity seemed slightly improved. The new multiport acoustic architecture allows for more airflow in the buds (the vent on the bud is significantly larger), which is important to improving sound quality and bass performance.

Watch this: AirPods Pro 3: Everything Apple Just Announced

03:42

I wasn’t able to make any calls, but supposedly voice-calling performance is improved with even better noise reduction and voice clarity. Transparency mode is also supposed to sound even more natural and Apple has enhanced the hearing aid feature — battery life is improved to 10 hours when in hearing aid mode.

Heart-rate monitoring is new to the AirPods, though, as noted, it’s already available with the PowerBeats Pro 2. I’ll be testing that feature as soon as I get my hands on a review sample along with Apple’s new live translation feature, which will also be coming to the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 series (it’s coming to any AirPods with the H2 chip). Note that live translation only works with iPhones that support Apple Intelligence, including iPhone 15 Pro models, as well as all iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 models.

While we didn’t get a new H3 chip or a touchscreen LCD in the charging case, we got a lot of what we were expecting with the AirPods Pro 3, and the buds do seem like a nice upgrade over their predecessor for the same price. That wasn’t a given, as the Trump administration’s tariffs seem to be affecting the prices of premium Bose and Sony headphones. Look out for my full review in the coming weeks with comparisons to other premium earbuds in this price range.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Philips Norelco i9000 Shaver Review (2025): A Close Shave

by admin September 10, 2025

You never really expect your shaver to have an opinion about you. And yet here I was, receiving a failing grade from Philips Norelco’s new i9000 Prestige Ultra shaver, released this spring.

According to a phone app paired to the device, I had apparently been using my shaver wrong. I’d pressed too daintily, whispering along my skin too lightly for an optimal shave. My stats were, in fact, downright abysmal. I had applied optimal pressure just 30 percent of the time. By extension, I had probably been using any number of shavers wrong for years, without knowing.

“Let’s try again!” the app admonished me, with hope in its robot heart.

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

The i9000 Prestige Ultra is, on the face of it, something I would not have expected. It is an AI-trained shaver, offering real-time feedback to guide each user to their ideal shave—both through an app and via a light-ring collar that glows orange, green, or purple depending on how well you’re doing. Just as a great book teaches you how to read it, this shaver apparently teaches you how to shave with it.

My editor was skeptical. ”No shaver even needs an app, let alone one with metrics and judgment,” she wrote when I described it.

Except, the funny thing is, I apparently needed the help. Within a few days, I hadn’t just received a hearty congratulations from my shaver for my “perfect” motion and pressure. I also had achieved some of the closest shaves I’ve ever gotten from an electric device.

I’m not even sure whether I want to be in a relationship with a human barber, let alone an AI shaver. But to paraphrase the immortal Rasheed Wallace, skin don’t lie. And mine was unbothered and smooth to the touch.

The Head Philips

Courtesy of Philips

The i9000 Prestige Ultra, as its lengthy name implies, is Philips Norelco’s current premium shaver. It offers the grip, heft, and balance of any well-made tool, and combines every bit of technology Philips can throw at it. It’s priced accordingly, north of $300.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

The best keyboards for 2025

by admin September 10, 2025

The right computer keyboard can make a big difference to how you work or play. Whether you’re typing reports, programming with complex macros or spending hours on a mechanical gaming keyboard, the right model can boost both comfort and efficiency. Some people prefer a compact layout for portability, while others want a full-size QWERTY board with a Numpad for data entry and spreadsheets.

From wireless options that keep your desk tidy to wired models built for low latency, there’s a wide range of designs, switches and features to choose from. In this guide, we’ve tested and rounded up the best keyboards for different needs so you can find the one that best fits your setup.

What to look for in a keyboard

Best keyboards for 2025

Logitech

Logitech knows how to make a solid keyboard, and the Master series has been an excellent one over the past few years. The MX Keys S is the latest full-sized edition and it combines a low-profile design with comfortable keys and handy customization tools. It looks quite sleek in black, white or graphite, measuring just under 17 inches in width and only 0.8 inches high off your desk. Its spherically-dished keys cradle your fingertips every time you press, and while I wouldn’t go so far to say they totally prevented me from putting any typos in this guide, the shape definitely helps more than other, flatter keycaps I’ve used.

This is a backlit keyboard with “smart illumination,” which just means the backlight will kick on when your hands approach the board and adjust depending on the lighting in your environment. I have a decent amount of natural light in my home office during regular working hours, so I opted to turn the backlight off — if you do the same, you can get up to five months of battery life out of the MX Keys S (Logitech estimates 10 days with smart illumination on). The keyboard has a built-in USB-C port for charging as well.

In addition to the low-profile design that still includes a number pad, the biggest kickers for the MX Keys S are its wide compatibility and customizable features with Logi Options+. This peripheral works with Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Linux and iPadOS, and it has three device pairing buttons so you can connect it to up to three devices at once and switch between them as necessary. Logi Options+ is free software that many Logitech accessories use, and for the MX Keys S, it allows you to customize brightness levels and duration, set smart actions (one-key shortcuts you program to your liking) and more.

The Master Series also includes a “mini” version of this keyboard that nixes the number pad and $10 from the price tag. I’ve used that and enjoy it as well, but when you’re only saving $10, the full-sized version feels like a better value. Can you find cheaper wireless keyboards than either of these? Of course. But Logitech’s expertise in this space really shines in the Master series, and with the MX Keys S in particular as it stands out as a high-quality wireless keyboard with a bunch of extra features at a decent price. — Valentina Palladino, Deputy Editor

Pros

Good build quality
Comfortable typing experience
Logi Options+ provides a ton of customization options
Works across all major OSes

Cons

Not the cheapest keyboard out there
Not a big price difference between the full-sized version and the mini model without the number pad

$119 at Amazon

Logitech

Logitech’s Pop Icon Keys takes a lot of notes from the Master series and translates them into a more fun (and cheaper) package. The $50 keyboard doesn’t include a number pad, but instead has a row on the right side that includes four buttons that you can customize using Logi Options+. I have mine programmed to activate macOS’ mission control, open the emoji keyboard and to move page up and down, respectively. But those aren’t the only buttons you can customize — 11 of the top function keys can also be programmed to your liking as well.

The Pop Icon keycaps have a slight indentation to them, though not as dramatic as those on the Master series keys, and the typing experience is a comfortable and quiet one overall. While this isn’t billed as a travel keyboard, it’s small enough to fit into a standard work bag or backpack, so you could take it with you without much hassle.

You can connect the Pop Icon keys to up to three devices at once and switch between them easily, and the keyboard supports macOS, Windows, Linux, Chrome, iPadOS, iOS and Android devices. Besides there being no option for a number pad configuration, arguably the biggest downside to this keyboard is the fact that it runs on two AAA batteries. Logitech estimates it will last up to three years before you need to replace them, so maybe that’s a pro for some rather than a con. I also appreciate that, when connected to a Mac computer over Bluetooth, you can still monitor the Pop Icon Keys’ battery life from the Bluetooth menu.

This is also a great price for a solid wireless keyboard. Logitech itself makes even cheaper ones, but the Pop Icon Keys strikes a good balance between design and capabilities at this price point. The biggest question, if you choose this keyboard, is which colorway you fancy the most out of the five options. — V.P.

Pros

Cheap!
Compact design with a low profile
Comfortable typing experience
Programmable keys with Logi Options+
Works across all major OSes

Cons

Key travel could be better
No number pad

$50 at Amazon

Logitech

Read our full guide to the best ergonomic keyboards

The Ergo K860 from Logitech combines four helpful ergonomic features in a keyboard that operates much like any standard board. The Alice split shifts your elbows apart while keeping your forearms and wrists lined up. The tenting raises the keys upward in the middle, rotating your palms subtly toward one another. The optional negative tilt slopes the bottom edge above the top edge to keep the backs of your hands straighter. And there’s a palm rest built in, which some find more comfortable during long typing sessions.

Unlike other more aggressively ergonomic boards, there’s no learning curve here. Typing on the Ergo K860 feels a lot like typing on a standard set of keys. The low profile, scissor-switch keys are springy and easy to hit. You even get a ten-key number pad, navigation keys and arrow buttons, all of which make it a full-featured and familiar accessory. You can program the keys with Logitech’s software, but this will likely appeal most to those who just want a plug-and-play board for a Mac or PC setup. — Amy Skorheim, Senior Reporter

Pros

Rotated, tented keys make typing comfortable
An ergonomic board with no learning curve
Wirelessly connects quickly to three devices
Hotkeys work with MacOS and Windows

Cons

Wrist rest is not removable
Takes up a lot of space

$150 at Amazon

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Read our full guide to the best ergonomic keyboards

If you’re ready to make a serious commitment to increasing your ergonomics, I recommend the ZSA Voyager. I use it every day and, even though it’s not super portable, I brought it with me when I worked away from my home office for a week. But at first, it took me at least three weeks before I was comfortable typing on it. Not only will you need to reprogram the keys (and remember what they do), you’ll need to use your fingers in a different way than you’re used to. For one, your thumbs will do far more than just hit the spacebar. They’ll operate the return, shift, control and even layer buttons, depending on how you program the board.

But the ergonomic benefits are equally significant. The fully split board lets me open up my arms and chest. On days when I’m feeling particularly tight, I’ll put the two halves a full foot apart. Relocating the return, command and forward-delete key to the thumbclusters saves me from shifting my hands around the board and the layers function allows for far more functionality than a standard keyboard.

That said, it also adds to the security of my computer, making it all but impossible for other people to type with the Voyager. It comes with magnetic knobs for the center tenting feature, but I wish it came with the option to lift the middle a little higher. I created extra lift by adding rubber bumpers to the board, but for the price, it’d be nice not to have to MacGuyver it. Still, whenever I’m forced to use a regular keyboard, I feel like I’m toiling in the typing pool at Sterling Cooper. — A.S.

Pros

Ergonomic, fully split board
Programmable thumb cluster minimizes hand travel
Low profile, mechanical keys make typing easy
Compact size and clever key mapping keep your hands in the home position

Cons

Takes a couple weeks to relearn how to type
Center tenting could be higher

$365 at ZSA

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Read our full guide to the best mechanical keyboards

The Keychron Q Max series doesn’t come cheap, but it has just about everything we want out of a high-end mechanical keyboard. Its full aluminum case is exceedingly sturdy, hefty and cool to the touch. While its PBT-coated keycaps are on the taller side, they have a lovely texture and are sculpted in a way that gently hugs your fingertips. There are multiple switch options available, all of which are hot-swappable, while a double gasket-mount design inside the keyboard gives each press a cushioned yet springy feel by default. Combined with several layers of foam, those presses have a delightfully poppy and even sound.

We tested the tenkeyless Q3 Max, but Keychron offers several other size and layout options as well. Each can connect over a wireless dongle, Bluetooth or USB-C and includes extra Windows- and Mac-specific keycaps in the box. There are still things to nitpick — there’s a faint bit of rattle to a couple of the larger keys; you can’t adjust the keyboard’s height; and Keychron’s one-year warranty is pretty short — but if you just want to buy a mechanical keyboard that delivers a premium experience from the jump, this will get you there. – Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter

Pros

Superb typing feel and sound
Premium aluminum case
Crisp PBT keycaps
Hot-swappable
Reliable wireless performance
Tons of layout options
Knob!

Cons

A bit pricey
Keycaps aren’t shine-through and may be too tall for some
Heavy
Slight rattling with some stabilizers

$189+ at Keychron

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Read our full guide to the best mechanical keyboards

We recommend the Keychron C3 Pro if you want to spend as little as possible for a delightful mechanical keyboard. It’s a stellar value at just under $50, with factory-lubricated switches, a gasket mount, multiple layers of internal foam and other touches we don’t usually see in this price range. The stabilizers avoid any aggressive rattling, and there’s none of the pinging noise you get from many cheaper cases. All of this helps feel comfortable for typing, while the tactile Brown switches in our test unit sound pleasantly clacky.

As with any budget keyboard, you have to make some sacrifices. It only works wired, for one, and the ABS keycaps feel slicker and cheaper than the best PBT caps. While the case doesn’t exhibit any serious flexing, it’s still made of plastic. You also need to pay $10 extra to get a version with RGB backlighting and hot-swappable switches — the base model is still a great buy for those looking to get into the hobby on the cheap, but it saddles you with a red-only backlight and prevents you from easily popping in new switches down the road. – J.D.

Pros

Inexpensive
Tremendous typing experience for the money
Programmable with software
Shine-through keycaps

Cons

ABS keycaps are a bit slick
Wired only
RGB lighting and hot-swappable switch cost a little bit extra

$45 at Amazon

Jeff Dunn for Engadget

Read our full guide to the best gaming keyboards

The Wooting 80HE is our favorite keyboard for gamers thanks to its magnetic Hall effect switches, which can respond to varying levels of pressure. This lets you customize the actuation point of each individual key, so you could make them more sensitive during quick-twitch shooting games or more deliberate when you just want to type. Another feature called rapid trigger lets you repeat inputs faster, without having to wait for a given key to return to a fixed reset point. That can be a real boon for, say, strafing back and forth more precisely during a 1v1 shootout in Overwatch. You can also tie multiple commands to one key: In Halo Infinite, for example, you could make it so lightly pressing W makes you walk more stealthily, while pressing it all the way down makes you run at full speed.

Does everyone need all of this? Of course not. Any keyboard can be a “gaming keyboard,” and nothing here will magically make you good at games. But for more hardcore types looking for any extra bit of granular control, they can make a tangible difference.

The 80HE isn’t the only keyboard to offer this set of tricks, but it stands out for getting the rest of the package right as well. Wooting’s Wootility software is best-in-class, making it particularly easy to tweak settings and customize the RGB lighting. You can save multiple control profiles directly to the device. And while the all-plastic case isn’t the highest-quality thing out there for $200, the stock hardware still feels and sounds pleasant, with crisp PBT keycaps, smooth pre-lubed switches and a pleasingly thocky tone. – J.D.

Pros

Magnetic switches are deeply versatile for gaming
Easy-to-use software
Sturdily built
Comfortable for typing and sounds pleasant

Cons

Wired-only
A bit expensive
80 percent design is somewhat awkward
Only available to buy in batches

$200 at Wooting

Jeff Dunn for Engadget

Read our full guide to the best gaming keyboards

If you want the Wooting 80HE’s gaming-friendly features in a wireless keyboard, we like the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless (Gen 3). It offers most of the same adjustable actuation and rapid trigger tools as the 80HE, plus a “protection mode” that makes it harder to hit nearby keys by accident and preset profiles for some popular games. The typing experience is a plus as well, with crisp and easy-to-reach PBT keycaps, a sturdy aluminum top plate and smooth-feeling switches that are sufficiently muffled. There’s a magnetic wrist rest in the box, and the whole thing can connect over a wireless dongle, Bluetooth or USB-C.

Our main issues with the Apex Pro involve SteelSeries’ GG app. So much of the experience with these analog-style keyboards comes down to software, and GG is a bit less refined than Wootility across the board. At $270, the Apex Pro is definitely on the higher end of the price spectrum, too. Still, the app is easy enough to grok over time — especially compared to other gaming models we’ve used — and the board as a whole gets much more right than wrong. – J.D.

Pros

Fast and deeply versatile magnetic switches
Useful OLED display
Pleasant typing experience
Multiple connection modes

Cons

Pricey
Software isn’t always intuitive
Battery life could be better

$280 at Amazon

What to look for in a keyboard

Design

Size

The first thing you’ll want to consider when it comes to your next computer keyboard’s design is size. There are a number of different keyboard layouts to choose from, but the most common are full-sized, tenkeyless and those smaller than tenkeyless.

Full-sized keyboards, or 100 percent, include a function row at the top and a complete numpad with arrow keys on the right side, along with all of the rest of the alphanumeric keys you’d expect on a standard QWERTY layout. Tenkeyless, or 80 percent, removes the number pad but keeps the arrow keys and the function row, reducing the overall width measurement of the board by a decent amount. Compact keyboards keep things ultra simple by including only the alphanumeric keys and modifiers like Alt, Shift, Ctrl and others and they come in different sizes like 60 percent, 65 percent and more. These are the most popular sizes out there, but you can find plenty of other designs that include different mixes of keys along with the standard letters and numbers all should have.

Aside from size, there are two other big categories that you could use to define a keyboard: ergonomic and mechanical. Ergonomic keyboards are designed with, you guessed it, better ergonomics in mind, taking into account where you should position your fingers, hands and forearms to maintain proper posture. Separately, mechanical keyboards use mechanical switches (of which there are many types) that differ greatly from the membrane or scissor-switch keyboards you’ll find dominating most wired and wireless options widely available today. We have guides to the best ergonomic keyboards and best mechanical keyboards, but we’ll summarize what you need to know about both here.

Ergonomic keyboards

If you deal with discomfort from working at a computer all day, ergonomic keyboards can help. These specially designed boards re-orient the keys, allowing you to hold your elbows farther apart and maintain a straighter line from your forearms to hands. Some people find this subtle change more comfortable.

Ergonomic keyboards typically fall into two categories: Alice and split keyboards. The former is a single unit with an A-shaped gap in the center of the keys. Split models come in two separate pieces which you can arrange as you like on your desk. Additional ergonomic features like tenting and negative tilt can make typing feel even more comfortable, and are often available on both Alice and split boards. Tenting raises the middle of the keys up so your hands take on more of a “handshake” position. Negative tilting lowers the top of the keyboard to keep your wrists angled downward instead of back towards your forearms.

The way the keys are arranged on the keyboard may make typing easier as well. Traditionally, keyboards are staggered, with one row of letters slightly offset from the row beneath it. Columnar keyboards arrange the keys in a grid of rows and columns. This style takes a little getting used to, but some people find it allows them to type faster. You can also make the keys of some keyboards do more than just produce letters. Programmable boards let you map shortcuts and other functions, including macros, which may keep you from reaching for the mouse quite so often, saving you time and possibly strain as well.

Mechanical keyboards

Mechanical keyboards have blown up in popularity as more people have been thrust into creating their own workspaces at home. It’s easy to see why: Compared to a traditional membrane keyboard, a good mechanical board is more durable, more satisfying to press and, most importantly, infinitely more customizable. The best of them usually come with a price premium, but even some cheaper models let you “hot-swap” between keycaps, switches and other materials, letting you tinker with different typing sensations and sound profiles until you find a combination that best expresses your preferences.

Do you want each press to feel deep and full or fast and light? Do you need them to sound loud and clacky or almost totally muffled? Do you prefer your keycaps to look subdued and professional, stuffed with RGB lights or written in an Elvish language from The Lord of the Rings for some reason? With the right new keyboard, it’s all up to you — the only things really holding you back are your imagination and your wallet.

We have a dedicated buying guide that digs deeper into the key aspects to consider when buying a mechanical gaming keyboard, so we encourage you to look at that for a full rundown. To keep things high-level, the most influential part of your purchase is your keyboard’s switch type. These little mechanisms slot underneath the keycaps and generally have the biggest effect on how your keyboard feels and sounds as you type away.

You can broadly separate mechanical switches into three buckets: linear, tactile and clicky. Linear switches feel smooth all the way down; they’re often popular with gamers since they tend to be light and fast to actuate. Tactile switches create a tangible “bump” sensation partway through a press; many people who spend all day typing prefer them because they clearly confirm each press without (always) being all that loud. Clicky switches are functionally similar to tactiles but make an audible “click” sound to match the bump; your coworkers may hate them, but others love the full-throated sense of feedback they provide. To be clear, just because two switches fall within the same bucket doesn’t mean they feel or sound exactly the same. The only way to figure out which switch works best for you is to do your research and, preferably, try some out for yourself.

Other keyboards have a mechanical-style feel but are built on different mechanisms entirely. The hot new trend in gaming-focused keyboards, for example, is Hall effect switches, which use tiny magnets to register keystrokes and let you customize the sensitivity of each press. Optical switches, meanwhile, offer similar functionality by replacing the physical contact point of a typical mechanical switch with a beam of infrared light. More recently, we’ve seen a couple keyboards launch with inductive switches, which can work like magnetic switches but use inductive coils in the keyboard’s printed circuit board (PCB) to cater to all switches collectively and don’t require a sensor for each individual switch. We touch on a couple of magnetic-switch keyboards in our picks below, but for a fuller breakdown of this sort of tech, we recommend you check out our dedicated buying guide to the best gaming keyboards.

Connectivity

You’ve got two options here: wired or wireless. Wired keyboards typically have an attached cable that plugs into a USB-A or USB-C port on your computer (or docking station), although some come with cables that can be removed. Wireless mechanical keyboards connect to your machine either via Bluetooth or a wireless receiver dongle. There’s always the chance of some latency with wireless keyboards, so keep that in mind if you’re picking one up to use primarily with a gaming PC. Of course, you’ll only have to worry about battery life with Bluetooth keyboards.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Apple is giving iPhone 14 and 15 users another free year of satellite features

by admin September 10, 2025

iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users are getting another year of free access to satellite connectivity features, according to a footnote on Apple’s newsroom posts for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro. “The free trial will be extended for iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 users who have activated their device in a country that supports Apple’s satellite features prior to 12 a.m. PT on September 9, 2025,” Apple says.

Apple originally launched its Emergency SOS service via satellite shortly after it released the iPhone 14 lineup, in November 2022, and at the time, Apple said the feature would be free for the first two years. (The feature is still free for two years after activation on iPhone 14 models and newer.) But in 2023, Apple added an additional free year for existing iPhone 14 users, meaning that the deadline to potentially start paying for the earliest adopters would be November 2025. Now, it appears that deadline has been bumped to November 2026.

With iOS 18 last year, Apple expanded its satellite messaging features to let you text friends or family when you’re off the grid. Today, Apple also announced that the new Apple Watch Ultra 3 will have satellite connectivity features.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

This cloud storage doesn’t hand over your data to AI – and costs less than a coffee a month

by admin September 10, 2025

Keeping your files and photos safe is more important than ever, but secure storage can be expensive. So, we’ve found this fantastic deal by Proton Drive for a huge 50% discount on their storage plan – helping you backup photos, videos, and files for less.

Although this deal comes just in time for the new school year, it’s not only students who could benefit from this offer. If you have precious family photos or important documents like medical or financial information worth securing, then this plan offers end-to-end encryption to keep them private.

For a 1 year plan, Proton Drive has lowered the price from $47.88 ($4.99 per month) to just $28.88 (or $2.49 per month) -which is a lot less than most of the best cloud storage providers.

But, this offer is only available until the 24th of September, so make sure you take a look while you can.

Top end-of-summer cloud storage deal

Why you can trust TechRadar

We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Proton is an excellent choice for the privacy conscious among us. Proton Drive has a host of features that big tech companies don’t offer, and it doesn’t use your data to train and AI models.

Proton argues users shouldn’t have to hand over their personal data just to use the internet, and to uphold this, it prevents the use of your data for targeted ads, as well as stopping companies from selling your data – something many of the best cloud storage providers can’t promise.

Proton drive is based in Switzerland, a country with one of the strongest privacy laws in the world – and thanks to the end-to-end encryption, even Proton can’t access your data.

You can upload files of any type or size, and Drive Plus plans include recovery for overwritten or altered files going back up to ten years – so you never have to worry about losing your files again.

The plan comes with 200GB of storage, as well as all the basic Proton VPN, Proton Mail, and Proton Calendar, as well as online document editor and the 10-year file version history for recovery.

If all of this isn’t enough, it has a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if you find it isn’t your style, you can switch it out for a free cloud storage option or a paid alternative.

Take a look at our choices for best backup software of 2025

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

A phone playing Wordle set on top of a dictionary

Gaming Gear

Today’s Wordle clues, hints and answer for September 10 #1544

by admin September 10, 2025

Our hints for the September 10 (1544) Wordle are here to offer you a helpful range of no-nonsense tips and nudges for Wednesday’s game. Just want one letter to get you started? A general idea of what to look for (or not look for)? Then that’s what you’ll get. Adjustable help in every key area, as well as the answer to today’s Wordle if you find yourself needing that last little push. Perfect.

A clue for today’s Wordle

Stuck on today’s Wordle? Here’s a clue that pertains to the meaning of the word.

If you’re still just as stuck after our clue, scroll down for further hints.

Hints for the September 10 (#1544) Wordle

Our Wordle hints will start vague so as to just give you a bit of a nudge in the right direction at first.

As you scroll down, they’ll offer more and more help towards figuring out today’s word without fully giving it away.

Are there any repeated letters in today’s Wordle?

Every spot is going to need a fresh letter this Wednesday.

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

You’ve got to find two different vowels this time around.

What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?

Open today’s guesses with a “P”.

No clue and no rows left to try? Stand back, we’ve got this.

The September 10 (#1544) Wordle answer is…

(Image credit: Future)

This is it. No turning back now!

The solution to today’s Wordle puzzle is…

The meaning behind today’s Wordle answer

This is the sort of sulking that often sees someone sticking their lips out. Do not point this out to someone who is pouting.

Previous Wordle answers

Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated.

Here are the last 10 Wordle answers:

August 31: PETAL
September 1: LEAST
September 2: MIGHT
September 3: FETCH
September 4: BLEND
September 5: DRIFT
September 6: BULGE
September 7: TENOR
September 8: CHIRP
September 9: TRICK

Learn more about Wordle

(Image credit: Future)

How to play Wordle

Wordle’s a daily guessing game, where the goal is to correctly uncover today’s five letter word in six goes or less. An incorrect letter shows up as a grey box. A correct letter in the wrong space turns up yellow. And the correct letter in the right place shows up as green. There’s no time limit to worry about, and don’t forget that some letters might be used more than once.

Get better at Wordle!

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Generally you want to pick something with a good mix of common consonants and vowels in it as your Wordle opener, as this is most likely to return some early green and yellow letters. Words like SLATE, CHIME, and REACT all work, but feel free to find your own favourite.

Is Wordle getting harder?

(Image credit: Valve)

Wordle is not getting harder!

There will always be the occasional day where the answer is the name of a body part, has a sneaky double vowel, or a word obscure enough to send everyone rushing off to a dictionary. But the daily answers, edited by Tracy Bennett, are still a good mix of common terms and tougher challenges.

Remember that if you’re craving more of a challenge, you can enable Hard Mode under the ⚙️ options menu. This option doesn’t make the words themselves harder, but it requires that “any revealed hints must be used in subsequent guesses.”

How did Wordle begin?

Wordle is the creation of Josh Wardle, and began life as a small personal project before its public release in 2021. From there it’s gone on to become a global phenomenon, attracting a dedicated daily audience, billions of plays, a whole host of competitors, and even a seven-figure sale to the New York Times where it’s become a mainstay of daily games alongside the crosswords and Connections.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Apple debuts A19 and A19 Pro processors for iPhone 17, iPhone Air, and iPhone 17 Pro

by admin September 10, 2025

Apple announced a suite of four new iPhones today, and with them, new processors to power the devices. Additionally, the company also has new networking and cellular chips.

The phones include the iPhone 17, iPhone Air (a new 5.6-mm thin design), iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The base iPhone 17 will be powered by the A19 system on a chip, while the rest of the lineup relies on the more powerful A19 Pro. These chips are likely built on TSMC’s latest N3P process node, which is also expected to be used for Apple’s upcoming M5 chips for iPads and Macs.

A19

Image 1 of 4

(Image credit: Apple)(Image credit: Apple)(Image credit: Apple)(Image credit: Apple)

The A19 boasts six CPU cores and five GPU cores. The processor has four efficiency cores and two performance cores, while the GPU continues advancements in hardware-accelerated ray tracing, mesh shading, and MetalFX upscaling.

A19 Pro

Image 1 of 3

(Image credit: Apple)(Image credit: Apple)(Image credit: Apple)

The A19 Pro will power the new iPhone Air alongside the iPhone 17 Pro line. Like the A19, its six-core CPU utilizes two performance and four efficiency cores. The performance cores have better branch prediction and increased front-end bandwidth, while the new efficiency cores have a 50% increase in last-level cache.

N1 and C1X

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(Image credit: Apple)(Image credit: Apple)(Image credit: Apple)

Apple is continuing its expansion into all of the chips in its phones. On the iPhone Air, Apple has built its own networking chip, N1. This chip will allow for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth connections, and Thread. The new N1 chip is found on all of Apple’s latest iPhones.

Complementing the iPhone Air’s new A19 Pro is a new Apple-designed N1 chip. This chip takes over wireless duties, including Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread support. Apple states that this integrated chip design will yield performance and efficiency benefits for functions such as AirDrop and Personal Hotspot.

Apple also announced an update to its in-house C1 modem, which was first introduced with the iPhone 16e. The new C1X modem promises up to a 2x boost in performance, but it still doesn’t include high-bandwidth, high-capacity mmWave technology. The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models still feature Qualcomm 5G modems, so they retain mmWave support. Apple also boasts of an improvement in efficiency with the C1X.

iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro pricing and availability

(Image credit: Apple)

All of the iPhones will see pre-orders on Friday, with availability beginning on September 19. The iPhone 17 will start at $799, while the iPhone Air will begin at $999. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max will start at $1,099 and $1,199, respectively. All of the phones will start with 256GB of storage. For the first time, the 17 Pro Max will also offer a 2TB option.

In addition to the iPhones, Apple today also announced the AirPods Pro 3, Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch SE 3, And Apple Watch Ultra 3.

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(Image credit: Apple)(Image credit: Apple)(Image credit: Apple)

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

The Head Philips

Table of contents

Best keyboards for 2025

What to look for in a keyboard

Design

Size

Ergonomic keyboards

Connectivity

Top end-of-summer cloud storage deal

Why do I recommend Proton Drive?

A clue for today’s Wordle

Hints for the September 10 (#1544) Wordle

Are there any repeated letters in today’s Wordle?

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?

The September 10 (#1544) Wordle answer is…

The meaning behind today’s Wordle answer

Previous Wordle answers

Learn more about Wordle

How to play Wordle

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Is Wordle getting harder?

How did Wordle begin?

A19

A19 Pro

N1 and C1X

iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro pricing and availability