Wayne Williams

NordVPN has added a new tool to its security suite for macOS and Windows, introducing email protection for users facing growing phishing and malware threats. The feature checks links inside emails as you open them in a browser and displays visual alerts when it identifies unsafe destinations. It then gives users real time guidance before they click anything risky.

Email protection checks each visible link in an open message and compares it with threat intelligence data. If a link leads to a site tied to phishing, malware, or other harmful activity, the system alerts users immediately so that they can take the relevant steps to avoid it.

Tuxedo Computers has launched its latest Linux laptop, the Gemini 17 Gen4. The new 17.3 inch notebook is designed as as a desktop replacement and combines an Intel Core i9 processor, Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti graphics and a 2560 x 1440 240Hz display. It's aimed at users who want workstation performance in a portable form.

The Gemini 17 Gen4 is built around on Intel’s Core i9 14900HX, a 24 core chip with eight performance cores and sixteen efficiency cores. It supports up to 32 threads with Hyperthreading and can reach up to 5.8GHz on single core loads. Tuxedo allows the CPU to draw up to 115W in this chassis. Under lighter workloads, the efficiency cores handle most tasks so the system can keep fan speeds low.

It’s that time of year again when the big “best of” round-ups start to land. Spotify Wrapped has already taken over social feeds with people comparing their listening ages, Apple just revealed its 2025 App Store Award winners, and now Google is spotlighting its favorite Chrome extensions of 2025.

This year’s apps list makes one thing very clear -- AI has become the browser’s default companion.

Apple has announced the winners of its 2025 App Store Awards. The editors selected this year’s 17 winning apps and games from a long list of 45 finalists, focusing on innovation, user experience, and thoughtful design across Apple’s ecosystem.

“Every year, we’re inspired by the ways developers turn their best ideas into innovative experiences that enrich people’s lives,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This year’s winners represent the creativity and excellence that define the App Store, and they demonstrate the meaningful impact that world-class apps and games have on people everywhere.”

FrostWire, the long-running open-source BitTorrent client, has announced the arrival of FrostWire 7, a major update that replaces the app’s entire engine and changes how the desktop client handles peer-to-peer downloads. The new version focuses on speed, reliability, and cleaner packaging across Windows, macOS, and Linux, while removing older components that were slowing down the project.

One of the biggest changes in the new version is a move to the jlibtorrent 2.0 engine. This was the result of two years of engineering work that saw hundreds of internal improvements. The upgrade supports BitTorrent v2, improves data integrity, boosts swarm performance, and allows the software to handle larger torrents better on modern hardware.

Opera has been adding artificial intelligence features to a number of its browsers recently, starting with the AI powered Opera Neon which it rolled out in invite only form in October, and then across Opera One and Opera GX.

Inevitably, the browser maker is now bringing artificial intelligence features to its Android app. The update, available today, adds contextual AI, which lets people use their current tab or webpage as part of a prompt, and visual intelligence, which allows them to attach images and files directly in the search bar for AI analysis.

Hack The Box has announced HTB AI Range, a new, controlled 'AI cyber range' built to test how AI security agents behave under pressure, as well as how well they work alongside human teams.

The platform recreates real attack and defense scenarios so organizations can see how well (or if) the models cope with complex, high stakes environments. It can also flag where human oversight is still needed.

TeamGroup has launched a new portable storage option for users who want fast transfers in a small, pocketable format, and don't want to rely on the cloud for large or sensitive files. The PD40 Mini External SSD is a USB4 drive capable of read speeds up to 4,000MB/s and write speeds up to 3,500MB/s, making it far faster than most everyday portable SSDs.

The PD40, which shares its look with the previously released PD20, is just 75mm in length and weighs 22g, making it one of the smallest high speed USB4 drives available. The drive is built with a rubberized, textured shell to improve grip, and it comes in a smart black and red finish.

Near AI has introduced two privacy focused tools that let people use artificial intelligence while keeping control of their information. Near AI Cloud and Near Private Chat handle sensitive data in secure environments, giving users and developers a way to work with AI without giving up their privacy.

Illia Polosukhin, founder and CEO of Near AI, said: “Everyone should own their AI. Today Near AI is taking a major step towards the vision of user-owned AI with the launch of private, verifiable AI products.” He added, “Privacy and verifiability are required to maximize available AI context for users and businesses, with confidentiality and compliance thanks to hardware- and cryptography-based guarantees.”

Micron has announced that it’s shutting down its Crucial consumer business, ending one of the most recognizable names in SSDs and RAM upgrades. The memory giant says it will stop shipping Crucial branded consumer products by the end of February 2026, but support and warranties will continue for a while after then.

Micron says the decision reflects the shift toward data center demand, which is growing rapidly as AI drives a surge in orders for high performance memory and storage. The company will continue selling Micron branded enterprise hardware and focus its manufacturing and engineering resources on commercial clients.

Anyone who spends time on YouTube knows low quality AI generated videos are flooding the platform. A new global study by Kapwing looked at just how this slop and brainrot content (as it's known) is spreading across different countries and, perhaps more interestingly, how the biggest AI channels compare with traditional creators for both reach and earnings.

The report, which looked at more than fifteen thousand YouTube channels, arrives at a time when people are still arguing over the creative and ethical value of AI in video production. Film schools now teach classes on the use and ethics of generative tools, and brands are experimenting with AI in their creative work -- with mixed results.

Fire TV users can now jump directly to specific movie scenes by describing them to Amazon's generative AI powered Alexa+. The new feature lets viewers start playback from an exact moment in a film, cutting out manual searching or repetitive fast forwarding. It works on thousands of Prime Video titles and is already available for subscribers to try.

Alexa+ is a more conversational version of Amazon's digital assistant and is capable of handling broader and more involved tasks. It was announced in February 2025 at Amazon’s Devices and Services event and first launched in the United States priced at $19.99 a month, although Prime members get it at no extra cost. It’s now available in Canada and is expected to roll out to more countries next year.

Extracting data from intricate, awkwardly structured PDF files can be tricky. Tables don’t always line up, text can be weirdly formatted with odd spacing, and it can take ages to copy, check and fix all the various problems by hand.

NE2NE has announced PDFFlex, a new AI assisted tool designed to convert complex PDF content into structured formats such as Excel, XML or JSON. The program brings together several parsing methods and machine learning recognition to handle documents that might previously have been hard to reliably extract data from.

Visa has released the findings of a new survey that show how AI and digital tools are beginning to have an impact on holiday spending habits across the United States. The company says that it is seeing clear differences across generations, with younger consumers moving towards AI assisted shopping, digital currencies and other emerging payment trends.

"The data tells a fascinating story about the spending shift we're witnessing: shoppers are embracing AI and digital tools at remarkable speed, with nearly half of Americans now using AI to enhance their shopping experience," said Bruce Cundiff, vice president, Consumer Insights at Visa.

The way you move money in your daily life has likely changed faster than your old habits have. Cash used to be king, but the pandemic changed things, and accelerated the move to digital. You can now pay friends instantly, subscribe to half your world through your phone and check cryptocurrency prices live the same way you check for the weather.

As 2026 approaches, the financial world is shifting beneath your feet, whether you have adapted or not.