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Brace yourselves, Veo 3 just became mobile-friendly.

Google's AI video model now supports the vertical video format in the Gemini API. Now, developers can create Veo 3 videos with the 9:16 aspect ratio, which is the vertical frame size for TikTok and Reels.

SEE ALSO: I tested Grok Imagine, and it's no match for Google Veo 3 or Sora

The update is for developers working with Veo 3 directly within the API. But Google has steadily introduced more Veo 3 features throughout various apps and products. Users can now turn images into videos with Veo 3 on the Gemini app and in Google Photos. Unlike other AI video generators, Veo 3 also generates audio, which has made it a popular choice for sharing hyperrealistic AI-generated street interviews and videos of AI creators.

All of these videos have been generated in a horizontal video format, or edited into vertical format with some other tool or extension. It's unclear whether vertical video support is coming to consumer-friendly tools like Gemini. If Veo 3-generated videos can be optimized for social by just about anyone, our feeds might explode with AI slop.

Mashable has contacted Google and will update this story with a response. For developers at least, they'll now be able to generate vertical videos directly within the prompt. In addition to vertical video support, Google also announced 1080p HD output and lower price per second on Veo 3 (now $0.40 per second) and Veo 3 Fast (now $0.15 per second) models.

LineageOS is (probably) the most popular Android custom ROM, bringing a stock-like experience and longer support to many phones and tablets. The project has recently added official support for 10 more phones, including the OnePlus 12 and original Moto G Stylus 5G.

SAVE $150: On Sept. 9, the Dyson Supersonic Nural is down to just $399.99 (reg. $549.99) as one of Best Buy's deals of the day. That means you have to act quick, as the savings will disappear at the day's end.

Opens in a new window Credit: Dyson Dyson Supersonic Nural $399.99 at Best Buy
$549.99 Save $150 Get Deal

The Dyson Supersonic is the crown jewel of hair dryers — and its price tag certainly reflects that. While we do think the iconic hair dryer lives up to the hype, we often recommend dupes that can offer a similar experience without the steep price tag. Not everyone has $500+ to drop on a hair tool, after all. When it goes on sale, though, the dupes go out the window.

As of Sept. 9, the Dyson Supersonic Nural — the brand's newest and most superior dryer — is on sale for just $399.99 as one of Best Buy's deals of the day. That's $150 off its current list price of $549.99 and $100 cheaper than it is currently listed at Amazon. FWIW, it's also just $10 away from its best price ever.

There's a few essential things to note about this promotion. First, the $150 savings is only available on the strawberry bronze and blush pink model. All other color options are either sitting at full price or have a lesser discount. Second, as a deal of the day, this discount is here today, gone tomorrow. If you're interested in the Dyson Supersonic Nural, now's the time to grab it.

Dyson launched the Supersonic Nural in early 2024 with even more premium features than the original Supersonic. It comes with a scalp protect mode, upgraded attachments (including an excellent and unique diffuser), memory for preferred settings with said attachments, and pause detection. Mashable's Bethany Allard tested it out and said, "It certainly feels more intelligent, but not quite like a smart hair dryer."

At $399.99, the Supersonic Nural is in the same price bracket as some of the dupes we recommend. In other words, at this price, you can actually opt for the real thing. But hurry — the deal will expire at 1 a.m. ET.

Apple is set to release a substantial new iOS version soon, but like always, some iPhones will be unable to run the operating system and will be functionally left behind by the Apple ecosystem.

Tim Cook and friends are expected to reveal the iOS 26 release date during the September Apple Event on Tuesday. The new version of iOS brings a host of new features, such as the new "Liquid Glass" design language, improved live translation, and a sorely needed reorganization of the Camera and Photos apps. As you may have noticed, we also jumped from iOS 18 to iOS 26, as Apple has adopted a new OS naming scheme that focuses on years rather than version numbers.

SEE ALSO: Apple Event 2025 live blog: Every 'awe-dropping' announcement, including iPhone 17

However, this news comes with a bit of disappointment for some iPhone owners. Each new version of iOS represents a new group of older iPhones that will be effectively cut off from major software updates, thus incentivizing their owners to spend money on a newer iPhone instead. Here is the list of iPhones that support iOS 26, for those who are curious about the status of their older iPhones.

SEE ALSO: The iPhone 17 arrives today: See rumored specs, cameras, colors, and release date Every iPhone that supports iOS 26

The list of iOS 26-compatible iPhones is as follows:

• iPhone SE (second generation and beyond only)

• iPhone 11, Pro, and Pro Max

• iPhone 12, Mini, Pro, and Pro Max

• iPhone 13, Mini, Pro, and Pro Max

• iPhone 14, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max

• iPhone 15, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max

• iPhone 16, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max

• iPhone 16e

You can go ahead and pencil in the as-yet-unannounced iPhone 17, too. That means every iPhone model older than iPhone 11 is out of luck here. iPhone X line owners who got iOS 18 last year will have to upgrade at some point if they want to take advantage of the new features iOS 26 brings to the table. It's also worth noting that any Apple Intelligence features will be limited even further to iPhone 15 and 16 models (until the 17 is inevitably announced, too).

SEE ALSO: How to watch the Apple Event 2025: Don't miss the iPhone 17 launch

The release date for iOS 26 is fast approaching. Get ready for Liquid Glass.

For more Apple event coverage, follow Mashable's live blog and get real-time updates on the iPhone 17, Apple Watch Series 11, and AirPods Pro 3 launch.

Are you ready to embrace the all-digital life? I am. In the digital world we live in, sometimes it can be nice to go back to physical mediums. That’s not for me. Instead, I’m an all-digital, all-the-time kinda guy, and these are the five things I refuse to go back to physical on.

TL;DR: Live stream South Africa vs. Nigeria in World Cup qualifiers for free on FIFA+. Access this free streaming site from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

There are a number of really important World Cup qualifiers taking place this week, but South Africa vs. Nigeria might be the biggest matchup on the schedule. Only the top team in each qualification group will automatically qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and South Africa are currently sitting pretty at the top of the standings with a five-point cushion over Benin in second. Nigeria desperately need a win here.

If you want to watch South Africa vs. Nigeria in World Cup qualifiers for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is South Africa vs. Nigeria?

South Africa vs. Nigeria in World Cup qualifiers kicks off at 12 p.m. ET on Sept. 9. This fixture takes place at the Free State Stadium.

How to watch South Africa vs. Nigeria for free

South Africa vs. Nigeria in World Cup qualifiers is available to live stream for free on FIFA+.

FIFA+ is geo-restricted to these locations, but anyone can access this free streaming service with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in another location, meaning you can access free live streams on FIFA+ from anywhere in the world.

Lve stream South Africa vs. Nigeria for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in another location

4. Visit FIFA+

5. Stream South Africa vs. Nigeria for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch South Africa vs. Nigeria in World Cup qualifiers without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream select World Cup qualifiers before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming sites from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for FIFA+?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on FIFA+, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.95 (including money-back guarantee).

Live stream South Africa vs. Nigeria in World Cup qualifiers for free with ExpressVPN.

For Apple lovers, the biggest date on the tech calendar has arrived. On Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET), you can watch the Apple Event 2025 live, where Apple is all but certain to reveal the new iPhone 17 lineup, new Apple watches, and plenty more.

Every year, Apple has two huge events. First, there's the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in the summer, which shows off all the software and artificial intelligence upgrades the company has to offer. Then, the fall iPhone launch is the big event for consumer tech lovers.

For the 2024 Apple event, the company announced the Apple Watch Series 10, updated AirPods, the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, and iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, among other announcements. This year, in addition to the new iPhone 17, we're also anticipating an ultra-thin iPhone, the AirPods Pro 3, the Apple Watch Ultra 3, and a release date for iOS 26 and Liquid Glass.

How to watch the Apple Event 2025

You can find the Apple Event at all the usual spots — on Apple's YouTube channel, the Apple website, or the Apple TV app. Through the company's website, you can set up a calendar reminder, and on YouTube, you can be reminded when the event actually gets started. Again, it's slated to kick off at 10 a.m. PT on Tuesday.

For more coverage before and after the livestream, you can also check out the CNET and Mashable Apple event live show on YouTube, where our tech experts will break down all the announcements.

For more Apple event updates, follow Mashable's live blog and get real-time insights on the iPhone 17, Apple Watch Series 11, and AirPods Pro 3 launch.

SAVE UP TO 29%: As of Sept. 9, three 2025 Lego advent calendars — Lego Star Wars, Lego City, and Lego Friends — are on sale at Amazon for $38, $25, and $29.99, respectively.

Lego advent calendars on sale at Amazon Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar 2025 $38 (save $6.99) Get Deal Lego City Advent Calendar 2025 $25 (save $9.99) Get Deal Lego Friends Advent Calendar 2025 $29.99 (save $5) Get Deal

All of the new 2025 Lego advent calendars just came out on Sept. 1 — and three of the most highly-coveted sets are already on sale at Amazon. Grab the 2025 Lego Star Wars set for $38 (regularly $44.99), the 2025 Lego City set for $25 (regularly $34.99), and 2025 Lego Friends set for $29.99 (regularly $34.99).

SEE ALSO: Our 15 favorite Lego sets, sourced from actual Lego fans

Lego advent calendars may not create quite the pandemonium that a new Pokémon card pack drop does, but they definitely sell out — often, only to be restocked and discounted on, like, December 20. While many Lego lovers probably aren't complaining about getting to open 20 days' worth of mini figures in one sitting, imagine having one of these advent calendars ready to go before December starts.

Our favorite advent calendar on sale has to be the Star Wars one. The Lego Star Wars hype is as real in 2025 as it's ever been, and honestly, we're just surprised to see any of the new Star Wars sets on sale so soon after release. It's not the $999.99 Death Star set that's coming out in October, but it'll tide the younglings over for now — or anyone who has a soft spot for mini figs, really. Everyone needs a BB-8 dressed as a snowman.

SAVE $50: As of Sept. 9, the DJI Osmo Action 4 is on sale for just $249. That's a 17% discount from its usual list price of $299.

Opens in a new window Credit: DJI DJI Osmo Action 4 $249 at Amazon
$299 Save $50 Get Deal

Sure, you always have a high-quality camera in your pocket, thanks to your smart phone. But it's not always the most practical way to snap photos and videos on the go. That's where a dedicated action camera comes in.

As of Sept. 9, the DJI Osmo Action 4 standard combo is down to just $249 at Amazon. While that's not the cheapest it's ever been, it still saves you 17% or $50 on the usual list price of $299. The standard combo comes with the waterproof action camera itself, plus one extreme battery, a horizontal-vertical protective frame, a quick-release adapter mount, a curved adhesive base, and more.

GoPro may be the gold standard when it comes to action cameras, but the DJI Osmo Action 4 "makes a good argument for buying an action camera that's not a GoPro," our friends at PCMag (also owned by Ziff Davis) said in their review. It can take on the elements (freeze resistant, waterproof up to 59 feet), has a clean and intuitive interface, lasts up to 2.5 hours per charge, has excellent digital stabilization, and excels in low light situations.

PCMag's reviewer adds that it would particularly suit content creators and vloggers over GoPro's Hero11 Black, thanks to its longer-lasting battery and better performance in dim settings. Even at full price, we think the DJI Osmo Action 4 is a worthy action camera; at $50 off, it's a steal.

With his upcoming film Nouvelle Vague, director Richard Linklater (Hit Man, Boyhood) transports viewers to Paris in 1959, amid the beginnings of the French New Wave film movement. Major figures in the movement included Cahiers du Cinéma film critics-turned-directors François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, and Jean-Luc Godard.

While Linklater's Nouvelle Vague is an ode to the entire French New Wave, he's focused on one film in particular: Godard's first feature, 1960's Breathless. Nouvelle Vague reimagines the making of this iconic film from Godard's (Guillaume Marbeck) initial aspirations to direct to the casting of American actor Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch).

SEE ALSO: 2025 fall movie preview: Every upcoming film you ought to know about

Written by Holly Gent and Vincent Palmo, with French adaptation by Michèle Halberstadt and Laetitia Masson, Nouvelle Vague had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in May. It received positive reactions from critics, who praised Linklater's earnest homage to the French New Wave.

Nouvelle Vague is not Linklater's only project to be coming out in 2025. In addition to his ode to Godard, Linklater is also releasing Blue Moon, which reunites him with frequent collaborator Ethan Hawke. Hawke plays Lorenz Hart, songwriter and former creative partner of Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame. The biopic, which premiered at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival and went on to play at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, received critical acclaim. However, Mashable's Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko felt differently, calling the film "insufferable" in her review, while also noting that "Andrew Scott is the best part."

How will Linklater's Nouvelle Vague measure up to his other 2025 film?

Nouvelle Vague hits select theaters Oct. 31 before coming to Netflix Nov. 14.

Rack-mount servers seem like the best solution for a powerful homelab, right? That’s what I thought—but I was so wrong. I recently decommissioned two of my rack-mount servers in favor of a single desktop-based server, and it was the best change I’ve made to my homelab in years.

Claude can now do the tedious grunt work of creating files for you.

On Tuesday, Anthropic shared a new feature for Claude where users can ask it to create Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoints, Word documents, and PDFs directly within the chat. The new capability is available as a preview for Claude Max, Team, and Enterprise subscribers, and Anthropic said it would be rolling out to Claude Pro users in the coming weeks.

Claude's ability to create and edit files on the user's behalf is an example of agentic AI, a term that the industry is buzzing about. AI models with so-called reasoning skills are able to break down multi-step tasks, and when connected to other apps and software, they can accomplish tasks outside of their app restraints. Anthropic's new feature works by giving Claude "access to a private computer environment where it can write code and run programs to produce the files and analyses you need."

Competitors have introduced similar agentic features. OpenAI's ChatGPT has an agent that can browse the web and similarly compile reports through accessing your calendar and files. Google's Project Mariner is a prototype exploring agentic web browsing, and then there are web browsers like Arc Dia and Perplexity Comet that can shop and add items to your cart.

But Anthropic's new feature is a little more straightforward in that you feed it data or instructions and it puts it all together in the desired format. In that sense, the closest comparison is a tool called Shortcut AI, which replicates an Excel spreadsheet page and automates all of the data input from a sidebar chatbot. Anthropic says users can ask Claude to perform tasks like creating a financial model in a spreadsheet from their raw data, turning a PDF into a PowerPoint, or generating reports with visual charts and written analysis.

To get started with the feature, go to Settings > Features > Experimental and enable the toggle that says "Upgraded file creation and analysis." From there can start asking Claude to make files using uploaded files or written prompts.

A note of caution to keep in mind with any chatbot: Be wary about sensitive information you're sharing. That's particularly important with Claude because Anthropic just updated its terms of use, saying it will use conversations for model training unless the user opts out. Users have until Sept. 28 to opt out, which they can do in their privacy settings by toggling off "Help improve Claude."

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

The past few weeks haven't been the best for Plex. After the company disclosed a catastrophic vulnerability in its client, it has now suffered a breach. Surprisingly, the two things are not related.

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson embrace their inner Neil Diamond in the upcoming musical film Song Sung Blue.

Written and directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Dolemite Is My Name), the film is based on the 2008 documentary of the same name (which, in turn, shares a name with a 1972 Diamond song). It followed musicians Mike and Claire Sardina, who rose to fame as the Neil Diamond/Patsy Cline tribute act Lightning & Thunder. (He's Lightning, she's Thunder.)

SEE ALSO: 2025 fall movie preview: Every upcoming film you ought to know about

Jackman and Hudson take on the roles of Mike and Claire in Brewer's Song Sung Blue, charting their journey from struggling musicians to local icons. Along the way, the two fall in love, get married, and sing a ton of Neil Diamond songs. The film's first trailer features Hudson and Jackman singing snippets of Diamond's "Cherry, Cherry" and, of course, "Sweet Caroline" — "bah, bah, bah" and all.

Neither Jackman nor Hudson are strangers to musicals: Jackman earned an Academy Award nomination for his role as Jean Valjean in 2012's Les Misérables, led 2017's hit The Greatest Showman, and has amassed an impressive array of stage credits, including his Tony-winning role in The Boy from Oz. Meanwhile, Hudson starred in Rob Marshall's 2009 film adaptation of Nine and absolutely devoured her role as NYADA instructor Cassandra July in Season 4 of Glee. Check out the full trailer above to see how their musical chops translate to their performances as the Sardinas.

Song Sung Blue also stars Michal Imperioli, Ella Anderson, King Princess, Mustafa Shakir, Hudson Hensley, Fisher Stevens, and Jim Belushi.

Song Sung Blue hits theaters Dec. 25.

The best Apple deals this week, at a glance: Best MacBook deal Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $1,199 (Save $200) Shop Now Best iPad deal Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M4, WiFi, 512GB) $1,049 (save $150) Shop Now Best AirPods deal AirPods Pro 2 $199 (save $50) Shop Now

Apple's "Awe Dropping" event kicks off on Sept. 9 and we're expecting to see a slew of new products. From yet another new iPhone to a much-needed AirPods Pro upgrade, there's sure to be a lot of buzz this week from the fruit company.

Typically, when Apple drops new products, it drops prices on older products. We're starting to see discounts pop up a day ahead of the event — and we'll keep an eye out for more throughout the week. So far, we've rounded up a few of the best Apple deals you can shop as of Sept. 8, including the M4 MacBook Air, M4 iPad Pro, and more.

Best MacBook deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $1,199 at Amazon
$1,399 Save $200 Get Deal Why we like it

Check out our full review of the M4 Apple MacBook Air.

The M4 MacBook Air earned a top spot on our list of the best laptops for 2025. It also happens to be our favorite MacBook for most people, even at full price. But we obviously won't argue with a $200 discount. While most options have jumped back up in price since Labor Day, the 15-inch model with 16GB RAM and 512GB of storage is still chilling at its best-ever price of $1,199. If you don't need the heavier specs of the MacBook Pro for advanced video editing or graphic design, the M4 Air will treat you just fine. If you want to save even more, you can grab the still-great previous-generation M3 model for just $999.

More Mac and MacBook deals

MacBook Air

• Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M2, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $699 $799 (save $100)

• Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M3, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,099 $1,299 (save $200)

• Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M3, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $999 $1,299 (save $300)

• Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M3, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,199 $1,499 (save $300)

• Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $897.50 $999 (save $101.50)

• Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,068 $1,199 (save $131)

• Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M4, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,248.55 $1,399 (save $150.45)

• Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $1,079.88 $1,199 (save $119.12)

• Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M4, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,431.09 $1,599 (save $167.91)

MacBook Pro

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M3, 8GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,199 $1,599 (save $400)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,426.21 $1,599 (save $172.79)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,620.57 $1,799 (save $178.43)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,779.69 $1,999 (save $219.31)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4 Pro, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,792.46 $1,999 (save $206.54)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 16-inch (M4 Pro, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $2,249 $2,499 (save $250)

iMac

• Apple iMac (M3, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,299 $1,799 (save $500)

• Apple iMac (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $1,347.50 $1,499 (save $151.50)

Best iPad deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M4, WiFi, 512GB) $1,049 at Amazon
$1,199 Save $150 Get Deal Why we like it

Check out our full review of the M4 iPad Pro.

Looking for a tablet that can not only double as a laptop, but actually rival it? The M4 iPad Pro is a beast. It "blew us away with its power efficiency, striking display, and breakneck performance," Mashable's reviewer writes. It packs an ultra-long battery life for creative tasks on the go. It's razor-thin and light as a feather. And its performance is pretty much unmatchable. It's not for everyone, given its steep price tag, but professionals wanting the best of the best can save $150 on the 11-inch M4 iPad Pro with 512GB at Amazon. While not quite its best price ever, it's the biggest discount you'll find on the M4 Pro as of Sept. 8.

More iPad deals

iPad

• Apple iPad, 11-inch (A16, WiFi, 128GB) — $299 $349 (save $50)

• Apple iPad, 11-inch (A16, WiFi, 256GB) — $399 $449 (save $50)

iPad Air

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M3, WiFi, 128GB) — $549 $599 (save $50)

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M3, WiFi, 256GB) — $629 $699 (save $70)

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M3, WiFi + cellular, 128GB) — $679 $749 (save $70)

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M3, WiFi, 128GB) — $733.65 $799 (save $65.35)

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M3, WiFi + cellular, 128GB) — $869 $949 (save $80)

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M3, WiFi, 512GB) — $999 $1,099 (save $100)

iPad Pro

• Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M4, WiFi, 256GB) — $899 $999 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 256GB) — $1,195 $1,299 (save $104)

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 512GB) — $1,381.42 $1,499 (save $117.58)

Best AirPods deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirPods Pro 2 $199 at Amazon
$249 Save $50 Get Deal Why we like it

Check out our full review of the AirPods Pro 2.

It's no secret that we love the AirPods Pro. They're our favorite earbuds for Apple users, thanks to their excellent ANC, impressive sound quality, and seamless Apple device connectivity. That being said, there's rumors of a new pair dropping at Apple's September event. If you want the latest and greatest earbuds, you may want to hold off on purchasing. If you'd rather save some money, snag the second-generation AirPods Pro while they're under $200.

More deals on AirPods

• Apple AirPods 4 (without noise cancellation) — $116.99 $129 (save $12.01)

• Apple AirPods 4 (with noise cancellation) — $168.99 $179 (save $10.01)

• Apple AirPods Max — $504.62 $549 (save $44.38)

Best Apple accessory deals

• Apple AirTag — $24 $29 (save $5)

• Apple AirTag (4-pack) — $74.99 $99 (save $24.01)

• Apple Pencil USB-C — $71 $79 (save $8)

• Apple Pencil Pro — $110.87 $129 (save $18.13)

When was the last time you bartered for something? Last week? Last month? Never? You should totally start bartering. I recently used the barter system to get a new Kindle and a photo printer, and it inspired me to barter more. Here’s why you should use the barter system more (and why I wish more people used it in general)

Memory and network bottlenecks are increasingly limiting AI system performance by reducing GPU utilization and overall efficiency, ultimately preventing infrastructure from reaching its full potential despite enormous investments. At the core of this challenge is a fundamental trade-off in the communication technologies used for memory and network interconnects.

Datacenters typically deploy two types of physical cables for communication between GPUs. Traditional copper links are power-efficient and reliable, but limited to very short distances (< 2 meters) that restrict their use to within a single GPU rack. Optical fiber links can reach tens of meters, but they consume far more power and fail up to 100 times as often as copper. A team working across Microsoft aims to resolve this trade-off by developing MOSAIC, a novel optical link technology that can provide low power and cost, high reliability, and long reach (up to 50 meters) simultaneously. This approach leverages a hardware-system co-design and adopts a wide-and-slow design with hundreds of parallel low-speed channels using microLEDs. 

The fundamental trade-off among power, reliability, and reach stems from the narrow-and-fast architecture deployed in today’s copper and optical links, comprising a few channels operating at very high data rates. For example, an 800 Gbps link consists of eight 100 Gbps channels. With copper links, higher channel speeds lead to greater signal integrity challenges, which limits their reach. With optical links, high-speed transmission is inherently inefficient, requiring power-hungry laser drivers and complex electronics to compensate for transmission impairments. These challenges grow as speeds increase with every generation of networks. Transmitting at high speeds also pushes the limits of optical components, reducing systems margins and increasing failure rates. 

These limitations force systems designers to make unpleasant choices, limiting the scalability of AI infrastructure. For example, scale-up networks connecting AI accelerators at multi-Tbps bandwidth typically must rely on copper links to meet the power budget, requiring ultra-dense racks that consume hundreds of kilowatts per rack. This creates significant challenges in cooling and mechanical design, which constrain the practical scale of these networks and end-to-end performance. This imbalance ultimately erects a networking wall akin to the memory wall, in which CPU speeds have outstripped memory speeds, creating performance bottlenecks.

A technology offering copper-like power efficiency and reliability over long distances can overcome this networking wall, enabling multi-rack scale-up domains and unlocking new architectures. This is a highly active R&D area, with many candidate technologies currently being developed across the industry. In our recent paper, “MOSAIC: Breaking the Optics versus Copper Trade-off with a Wide-and-Slow Architecture and MicroLEDs”, which received the Best Paper award at ACM SIGCOMM (opens in new tab), we present one such promising approach that is the result of a multi-year collaboration between Microsoft Research, Azure, and M365. This work is centered around an optical wide-and-slow architecture, shifting from a small number of high-speed serial channels towards hundreds of parallel low-speed channels. This would be impractical to realize with today’s copper and optical technologies because of i) electromagnetic interference challenges in high-density copper cables and ii) the high cost and power consumption of lasers in optical links, as well as the increase in packaging complexity. MOSAIC overcomes these issues by leveraging directly modulated microLEDs, a technology originally developed for screen displays. 

MicroLEDs are significantly smaller than traditional LEDs (ranging from a few to tens of microns) and, due to their small size, they can be modulated at several Gbps. They are manufactured in large arrays, with over half a million in a small physical footprint for high-resolution displays like head-mounted devices or smartwatches. For example, assuming 2 Gbps per microLED channel, an 800 Gbps MOSAIC link can be realized by using a 20×20 microLED array, which can fit in less than 1 mm×1 mm silicon die. 

MOSAIC’s wide-and-slow design provides four core benefits.

• Operating at low speed improves power efficiency by eliminating the need for complex electronics and reducing optical power requirements.
• By leveraging optical transmission (via microLEDs), MOSAIC sidesteps copper’s reach issues, supporting distances up to 50 meters, or > 10x further than copper.
• MicroLEDs’ simpler structure and temperature insensitivity make them more reliable than lasers. The parallel nature of wide-and-slow also makes it easy to add redundant channels, further increasing reliability, up to two orders of magnitude higher than optical links. 
• The approach is also scalable, as higher aggregate speeds (e.g., 1.6 Tbps or 3.2 Tbps) can be achieved by increasing the number of channels and/or raising per-channel speed (e.g., to 4-8 Gbps). 

Further, MOSAIC is fully compatible with today’s pluggable transceivers’ form factor and it provides a drop-in replacement for today’s copper and optical cables, without requiring any changes to existing server and network infrastructure. MOSAIC is protocol-agnostic, as it simply relays bits from one endpoint to another without terminating or inspecting the connection and, hence, it’s fully compatible with today’s protocols (e.g., Ethernet, PCIe, CXL). We are currently working with our suppliers to productize this technology and scale to mass production. 

While conceptually simple, realizing this architecture posed a few key challenges across the stack, which required a multi-disciplinary team with expertise spanning across integrated photonics, lens design, optical transmission, and analog and digital design. For example, using individual fibers per channel would be prohibitively complex and costly due to the large number of channels. We addressed this by employing imaging fibers, which are typically used for medical applications (e.g., endoscopy). They can support thousands of cores per fiber, enabling multiplexing of many channels within a single fiber. Also, microLEDs are a less pure light source than lasers, with a larger beam shape (which complicates fiber coupling) and a broader spectrum (which degrades fiber transmission due to chromatic dispersion). We tackled these issues through a novel microLED and optical lens design, and a power-efficient analog-only electronic back end, which does not require any expensive digital signal processing.  

Based on our current estimates, this approach can save up to 68% of power, i.e., more than 10W per cable while reducing failure rates by up to 100x. With global annual shipments of optical cables reaching into the tens of millions, this translates to over 100MW of power savings per year, enough to power more than 300,000 homes. While these immediate gains are already significant, the unique combination of low power consumption, reduced cost, high reliability, and long reach opens up exciting new opportunities to rethink AI infrastructure from network and cluster architectures to compute and memory designs.

For example, by supporting low-power, high-bandwidth connectivity at long reach, MOSAIC removes the need for ultra-dense racks and enables novel network topologies, which would be impractical today. The resulting redesign could reduce resource fragmentation and simplify collective optimization. Similarly, on the compute front, the ability to connect silicon dies at low power over long distances could enable resource disaggregation, shifting from today’s large, multi-die packages to smaller, more cost-effective, ones. Bypassing packaging area constraints would also make it possible to drastically increase GPU memory capacity and bandwidth, while facilitating adoption of novel memory technologies. 

Historically, step changes in network technology have unlocked entirely new classes of applications and workloads. While our SIGCOMM paper provides possible future directions, we hope this work sparks broader discussion and collaboration across the research and industry communities.

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The post Breaking the networking wall in AI infrastructure  appeared first on Microsoft Research.

Google's fancy new Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro are finally available, and users are taking advantage of its many new features, from a powerful Pro Res Zoom and Magic Cue to Google's new Daily Hub. Unfortunately, the latter feature isn't all that great, and Google's removed it from phones until further notice.

In a sign of things to come, the Apple Store was down Tuesday morning.

Don't worry, however, it didn't crash. The Apple Store typically goes down the morning of a big Apple Event as it updates for the new products set to be announced.

And Tuesday is going to be a big day for Apple fans. It's a near certainty the tech giant will announce the new iPhone 17, in various iterations, at its big "Awe Dropping" event scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. (Follow Mashable's live blog for all the latest developments throughout the day.)

If you fire up the Apple Store site, it reads: "Be right back. We’re making updates to the Apple Store. Check back soon." You can also click on an interactive Apple logo, if you're feeling antsy.

Credit: Apple

Rumors have swirled about the exact specs, colors, and details of the iPhone 17 lineup. Mashable has the latest updates ahead of the rapidly approaching event. But whatever the iPhone 17 actually looks like, you'll at least be able to check them out on the Apple Store site when it relaunches later Tuesday.

For more Apple event coverage, follow Mashable's live blog and get real-time updates on the iPhone 17, Apple Watch Series 11, and AirPods Pro 3 launch.

If you’ve been thinking about getting an electric vehicle (EV) or plug-in hybrid (PHEV), this is a gentle reminder that the federal tax credit of up to $7,500 is set to expire on September 30, 2025.