Labor Day marks the unofficial end to summer as the weather starts to get crisper and students head back to school for the new semester. It also marks a good time to check out the tech deals available across the web. While seasonal holidays like Memorial Day and Labor Day are not the boon for tech sales that shopping events like Amazon Prime Day are, they can present good opportunities to save on things like laptops, tablets, smart home gear and more.Here, we've curated the best Labor Day sales on tech we could find this year. Since this time of year does overlap with the back-to-school season, students should be first in line to check out these deals. If you need some new gadgets for college, or refreshed tech to help you out in your first job after graduating, now's the time to see if you can get it for less. Student discounts are handy and exclusive to those who can prove their student status, but the good thing about Labor Day sales is that anyone can take advantage of them — student ID not required.

Best Labor Day sales: Engadget's top picks

Apple AirPods Pro 2 for $169 (32 percent off): The AirPods Pro 2 are Apple’s best set of wireless earbuds for now, as they offer the full set of Apple-focused features, strong ANC, onboard volume controls, a comfy in-ear design and a warm sound profile that most should find agreeable. They can even work as a hearing aid, though their six-hour battery life still isn’t the best, and you should only get them if you’re all-in on Apple hardware. But if that’s the case, we consider them the best wireless earbuds for iPhone owners.

Apple iPad (11-inch, A16) for $299 ($50 off): Apple's entry-level iPad is, unsurprisingly, the best iPad option for those on a budget. It has solid performance thanks to the A16 chipset, 128GB of storage in the base model and good battery life.

Apple Mac mini M4 for $499 ($100 off): The newest version of Apple’s tiny desktop PC has a smaller overall footprint, a faster M4 chip, 16GB of RAM as standard, two front-facing USB-C ports, an extra Thunderbolt 4 port and the ability to drive three external displays. We gave the M4 Pro model a review score of 90.

Google Pixel 10 smartphone + $100 Amazon gift card for $799 ($100 off): More of a pre-order deal than a Labor Day deal, this bundle includes a free gift card when you order the latest Google Pixel phone in advance. You'll find different gift card deals at Amazon depending on which phone you go with: the Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL have a $200 gift cards included, while the Pixel 10 Pro Fold comes with a free $300 gift card.

Eufy 11S Max robot vacuum for $150 (46 percent off): This model is one of our favorite budget robot vacuums thanks to its slim design that lets you get underneath furniture more easily and strong suction power for its size. Note that it does not have Wi-Fi connectivity, but it comes with a remote that lets you control the robot to your liking.

Shark AI Ultra robot vacuum for $298 (50 percent off): This Shark robot vacuum is a version of one of our favorites and it comes with a auto-empty base that can hold up to 60 days worth of debris. It has strong suction power and home mapping capabilities, so you can tailor cleaning jobs to your liking in addition to putting the robot on a cleaning schedule.

Blink Outdoor 4 security cameras (3 camera system) for $100 (47 percent off): Some of our favorite security cameras, Blink Outdoor 4 devices support 1080p video, two-way talk, motion alerts and night vision. The most convenient thing about these is that they're totally wireless and run on AA batteries that can last up to two years before you need to replace them. That combined with their weather-proof design allows you to place them both inside and outside.

Cosori 9-in-1 air fryer for $90 (25 percent off): One of our picks for the best air fryers, this Cosori model has a spacious six-quart cooking basket and nine prep modes to choose from. In our testing, it consistently crisped up all kinds of foods, from frozen appetizers to raw proteins, and it has a nifty safety feature with its built-in basket release button.

HORI Piranha Plant camera for Switch 2 for $40 (33 percent off): If you plan on taking advantage of the Switch 2's video and group chat feature, there's no cuter way to do it than with this Piranha Plant camera. In addition to using it with the pot as a stand, the plant itself detaches from the pot so you can use the camera in portable mode with the USB port on the new console.

ESPN Unlimited with Disney+ and Hulu (with ads) for $30/month ($6/month off): ESPN’s new streaming service is officially available now, and new subscribers can get Disney+ and Hulu included for one year when they sign up. The regular price of the new ESPN Unlimited plan is $30 per month, but this bundle offer throws in Disney+ and Hulu (with ads) for one year at no extra cost. If you want to break it down, you’re essentially getting each of the three services for $10 monthly with this offer.

NordVPN deal — Get up to 77 percent off two-year plans: Most of NordVPN's two-year plans are on sale right now. You'll get 77 percent off the Prime tier, bringing the price down to $189 for 27 months of service (Nord throws in an extra three months for free). Arguably the best plan for most people is the Plus tier, which is 73 percent off and down to $108 for the 27-month term.

MasterClass deal — Get 50 percent off one-year subscriptions: You can sign up for one year of MasterClass access for as low as $5 per month thanks to this sale that runs through September 1. A subscription lets you watch hundreds of online video classes taught by experts in their fields, and subject matter ranges from writing to cooking to sports.

Best Labor Day sales on tech

Beats Studio Pro headphones for $180 (49 percent off)

8Bitdo Ultimate 2C Wired Controller for $15 (25 percent off)

Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones for $198 (43 percent off)

Anker 621 5K magnetic power bank for $28 (30 percent off)

Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet for $175 (24 percent off)

Nothing Headphones (1) for $269 ($30 off)

Amazon Labor Day sale: Get up to 40 percent off headphones, earbuds, tech accessories and more

Sonos back-to-school sale: Save up to 25 percent on headphones and speakers

Ooni Labor Day sale: Get 20 percent off the Koda 2 Max and save on other pizza ovens

Solo Stove Labor Day sale: Get 20 percent off fire pits and 15 percent off select accessories

Meater Labor Day sale: Get up to 27 percent off smart meat thermometers

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-labor-day-sales-for-2025-get-up-to-50-percent-off-tech-from-apple-anker-shark-and-others-120049434.html?src=rss

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is known for his sometimes ridiculously honest tweets, but one of his recent tweets has got a lot of people scratching their heads.Last week, Altman tweeted, “I think this is gonna be more like the Renaissance than the Industrial Revolution.” Nobody is quite sure what he means, so let's break down what I think he's getting at.

i think this is gonna be more like the renaissance than the industrial revolutionApril 18, 2025

Rollercoaster ride

ChatGPT has been on a heck of a rollercoaster ride recently. OpenAI just released new o3 and o4-mini models which are available to all users and a new ChatGPT-4.5 model that is available to Plus and Pro subscribers.These new models see some significant improvements over previous ChatGPT models, particularly regarding speed and their ability to solve multifaceted problems.But the thing that has really boosted ChatGPT’s user base significantly over the last few weeks is its new native image generation. That’s the feature I’ve noticed my own friends, who don’t normally dabble in AI, starting to use ChatGPT for, particularly the trends for producing Studio Ghibli-like images and the action figure trend.OpenAI estimates ChatGPT has crossed the 400 million weekly active users barrier since February. People are using ChatGPT in hugely creative ways because of it, and on the surface, that could be what Altman is referring to.But I think there's more to it. I think Sam Altman sees AI as the thing that is going to usher in a new Golden Age for humanity. Let me explain why.

The pace of change

The Renaissance was a gradual unfolding of new ideas in art, architecture, science, and philosophy that happened in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, providing us with some of mankind's greatest works of art, like The Birth of Venus by Botticelli.In contrast, the Industrial Revolution, which happened in the mid-18th century starting in Britain, saw a sudden shift in productivity, which transformed the entire country in favour of manufacturing goods, leading to rapid economic growth. It wasn't associated with any intellectual blossoming, and could quite easily be caricatured as having a negative effect on the lives of everyday people.By comparing AI to the Renaissance, Altman could be saying that its effects will be gradual, rather than revolutionary; however, to me, it seems that there is nothing gradual about the pace of change that AI is leading.What I think he’s getting at is that the change is more subtle and philosophical. AI is shaking things up rapidly, but it's leading to changes in how people think and how they see the world, rather than just new ways to do what we’ve already done more effectively.

A Messiah complex?

Like many incredibly successful tech leaders, it’s possible that Altman has a bit of a Messiah complex, but it's impossible to deny that he is shaping our future right now.Reading his blog, you can see the same themes emerging, of AI leading to us having to reimagine what a human being is, particularly in his most recent entry called Three Observations.“The world will not change all at once; it never does. Life will go on mostly the same in the short run, and people in 2025 will mostly spend their time in the same way they did in 2024. We will still fall in love, create families, get in fights online, hike in nature, etc.”, writes Altman.But he realises that there are going to be human casualties in terms of jobs in his new AI future, and he wants us to start thinking about what it is that humans actually do, or can do, right now.“But the future will be coming at us in a way that is impossible to ignore, and the long-term changes to our society and economy will be huge. We will find new things to do, new ways to be useful to each other, and new ways to compete, but they may not look very much like the jobs of today. “

(Image credit: Shutterstock / NicoElNino)

A new Golden Age of AGI

After a long period of cultural decline and stagnation, which are perhaps unfairly referred to as the Dark Ages by various historians, the Renaissance ushered in a new Golden Age of cultural flourishing.AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) remains the goal for OpenAI, and Altman could very well be right that a new Golden Age is on the way because of it. Perhaps we will look back at this era of AI evolution leading to AGI as more of a Renaissance than a revolution.Today’s problems with social media and fake news could be looked at as our own digital Dark Ages, and I’d love Altman to be right and that the progress of AI towards AGI will lead to a new Golden Age of peace, prosperity and stability for mankind, but I think it's still too early to call it.Many are convinced that AGI could even lead to the end of humanity.Of course, time will tell. Let's just hope we are still here in a decade to look back and decide if Sam Altman was right or wrong.

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with Donald Trump and criticized the proposed GAIN AI Act's chip export restrictionsLawmakers have now dropped the chip export proposal from the annual defense billHuang also warned that state-level AI laws would harm U.S. innovation and national securityNvidia CEO Jensen Huang isn’t known for wading into the political fray, but this week, he made an exception with some quality time in Washington, DC. He met with President Trump to argue against the GAIN AI Act and its proposed rule requiring U.S. chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD to prioritize domestic buyers before selling advanced AI chips abroad.The act was pitched as a way to keep America ahead of China in the AI race, but it was not long after he met with the president that lawmakers removed it from the National Defense Authorization Act. Huang hastened to proclaim his support for export controls, just not this one.“The GAIN AI Act is even more detrimental to the United States than the AI Diffusion Act,” Huang said in a press conference after the meeting. He called it “wise” that lawmakers are backing away from the plan.For Nvidia, which is the undisputed global heavyweight in AI hardware, that kind of disruption would be like asking Boeing to fly with half an engine. Their chips already dominate cloud computing and generative AI development worldwide. Losing the freedom to sell to vetted international customers without a government-imposed queue would erode their edge in a business built on speed and scale.Though Huang gave his corporate lobbying a patriotic veneer, he did point to more than just Nvidia’s bottom line as a reason to oppose the GAIN AI Act. The law would have forced companies like Nvidia to delay foreign chip orders while confirming there was no outstanding demand in the U.S. But giving American institutions and companies a fair shot at high-end AI chips ahead of foreign markets would, he claimed, slow innovation for rivals as well, complicate global logistics, and damage America’s ability to stay competitive in AI.For most people, the impact of these legislative debates is indirect, but very real. If Huange is right, the regulatory bottleneck would slow the pace of AI improvements for everyone. Although if he's wrong, it will make it harder for American businesses to compete if foreign groups can nab all of the most powerful chips.Patchwork AI rulesThat wasn't Huang's only legislative foe this week. He met with lawmakers to criticize a separate idea gaining traction among U.S. states: local AI regulation. “State-by-state AI regulation would drag this industry into a halt,” Huang warned. “It would create a national security concern.”If AI laws start diverging wildly across California, Texas, New York, and every other state, it could create a compliance nightmare for developers. Imagine needing to tweak your chatbot’s features depending on which zip code your user lives in. Bills are circulating in at least 30 states that propose different standards for disclosure, bias, transparency, and safety in AI systems.Trump reportedly echoed Huang’s concern during their meeting and has publicly backed the idea of a national standard that would override state laws. So far, the NDAA doesn't have that kind of rule, but if it becomes a real problem, it might end up in the bill next year.To tech critics, this is familiar territory: Big Tech pushing for a single federal rule to avoid dealing with 50 regulatory headaches. And it's not as though the regulatory friction might not annoy the average AI user. It would be like 50 different versions of the GDPR, but without any way to fully comply.The shelving of the GAIN AI Act is, depending on your point of view, a signal that lawmakers aren’t ready to clip the wings of America’s most important chip company, or that they are in thrall to powerful and rich corporate interests. Or both. And while the future of AI regulation at every level is still in flux, Huang has outlined what tech’s most powerful players envision as the ideal solution.If you use AI tools, or will soon, this matters. It’s not just about export forms and legal frameworks. It’s about who gets to move fast, who gets slowed down, and how much trust we’re placing in a handful of companies to shape the technological infrastructure of the next decade.Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.

Logitech has launched a new solar-powered keyboardThe Logitech Signature Slim Solar+ K980 retails at $99.99It's charged either by sunlight or artificial light and comes with a swappable batteryLogitech has released a new solar-powered keyboard which is charged purely by light - either sunlight, or the artificial variety - and can last for a surprising amount of time when juiced up.The Logitech Signature Slim Solar+ K980 retails at $99.99 in the US, as The Verge reports, and it doesn't offer a USB port for a charging alternative. You can either power it up in the sun or by using indoor lighting (if it's at least 200 lux), but once it's fully charged, the K980 will last for a rather incredible four months before it needs to see the light again.The battery is claimed to be good for (up to) 10 years, and even if it does fail, this device has a power pack that can be swapped out for a new one.(Image credit: Logitech)Logitech spokesperson Melvin Dilanchian made it clear to The Verge that the battery sits in a plastic case to make it "safely user-replaceable" with a spare (that's supplied by iFixit).The K980 is a full-size wireless keyboard with a charging panel that runs along the top, and a full set of function keys underneath, plus a full number pad to the right.(Image credit: Logitech side view)You also get media keys, and keys for video chat (mic mute, camera off), and there's a dedicated AI key which will function as a Copilot or Gemini summon in Windows or ChromeOS, respectively - or you can customize it (and other keys) to do something else.You can pair the K980 with up to three different devices via Bluetooth and switch between them all with the press of a key.Analysis: solar resurgence is good to seeThe K980 is a smart idea for several reasons. It offers plenty of longevity when charged, and being able to swap out the battery for a new one when it's spent is clearly a nice, eco-friendly idea. There are also plenty of options in terms of keys and customization, which is good to see.The design of the keyboard looks a bit basic, and there are no folding feet (to adjust the angle and tilt of the peripheral) – but still, it looks pretty nifty overall. And there are certainly some people out there who've missed Logitech's solar-powered keyboards – there hasn't been one made for a long time (over a decade) – who have been clamoring for the company to make another model. So, it's good to see the manufacturer has duly obliged.Lenovo has also recently launched its Self-Charging Bluetooth keyboard at the same price point in the US, and Logitech's effort looks a bit more pleasing and streamlined to my eye. Furthermore, the Lenovo effort only lasts for a month on a full charge, which makes the Logitech rival keyboard's (claimed) capacity all the more impressive. However, you do get a USB-C port for charging the Lenovo device (in the absence of any strong enough light).You may also like... The best gaming keyboard in 2025: our top picks for mechanical, optical, wireless, and moreThe best mouse in 2025: our top picks for work, gaming, and moreWindows 11 fully streamlined in just two clicks? Talon utility promises to rip all the bloatware out of Microsoft’s OS in a hassle-free way

New malware uses AI to analyze stolen data, rank victims, and identify the most profitable targetsVOLTA-AUTODOXER steals credentials, crypto wallets, tokens, and personal information before generating AI dossiersResearchers warn the malware could commoditize AI-powered victim profiling for ransomware and cybercrime operatorsStealing sensitive data from a lot of people is one thing, but determining whether or not that data is worth anything to anyone - that’s an entirely different ball game. Now, it seems cybercriminals found a way to easily profile their victims’ information and they’re using - you guessed it - Artificial Intelligence (AI).Cybersecurity researchers Cisco Talos uncovered a new malware strain through Cognitive Artificial Intelligence Research Network (CAIRN) - an open source cybersecurity research kit built to identify and track AI-powered malware. The strain is called VOLTA-AUTODOXER and its operation is split into four key steps: 1) steal as much information as possible; 2) share it with an AI for assessment; 3) exfiltrate the data to attacker-controlled infrastructure; and 4) remove yourself from the victim’s system. Analyzing the dataCisco Talos did not say where exactly the malware was found, how many devices it infected, or how it is being disseminated. It said that, on surface level, it looks just like any other infostealer. It grabs browser passwords, cookies, payment cards, cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases, Discord, Telegram, Steam, and Roblox sessions, Microsoft OAuth tokens, SSH and cloud-provider keys, Wi-Fi profiles, and screenshots.But this is where it splits from the industry standard, by building a structured evidence bundle about the person behind the system. It pulls the device’s geographical location, home address, employer and employer domain, inferred birth year, the last 4 digits of their credit cards, Slack workspaces, document authorship metadata, iPhone backup indicators, and even a live Roblox account valuation. Then it moves to Gmail, looking for mails from UberEats and DoorDash in order to confirm the home address. VOLTA then bundles and serializes the bundle, before POSTing it to OpenRouter, an AI infrastructure platform where users can access hundreds of LLMs through a single API. There, the AI gives a model a prompt to behave as a “forensic intelligence analyst drafting a target assessment”. In other words, the AI is tasked with assessing whether or not the data pulled is worth any trouble, and if so - how much. Victims are ranked by value, giving the attackers more time to do what seems to be the end goal here - ransomware. The default model is Claude, but if it refuses to comply for any reason, the malware is instructed to fall back to Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2 and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash. If neither of the models end up working, the malware will just send raw data back to the attacker. This is usually done via a Telegram channel. Running awayAfter the work has been completed, VOLTA is instructed to delete itself from the system, likely to cover its tracks. A separate file, named volta_debug.txt apparently remains on the system, showing what was collected and whether or not the AI-powered assessment was a success. The researchers believe VOLTA is designed to be sold on the black market. Elements such as the Telegram channel, or API keys, are not hardcoded, and the malware comes as a template with six swappable slots that are filed in at build time. “This suggests it’s a builder model: The author sells access, the customer provides their values, and the builder compiles a custom binary for each order,” Cisco Talos explains. “If VOLTA is indeed a commoditized malware, then the AI dossier capability isn't something the author invented for their own operations. It is a feature which enables a customer of any level of sophistication to point it at victims and start receiving ranked target assessments in their Telegram inbox.”If you suspect an infection, revoke or rotate all API keys and tokens, and change all of your passwords. Also, double-check your crypto wallets and move all funds to a new wallet with a fresh seed.

Oura Ring is moving 'Oura Advisor' out of betaThe AI-powered wellness advisor launched in beta in July of 2024It works alongside the classic Oura tracking experience by letting you ask about data points and get more context

I’ve worn an Oura Ring daily for well over three years at this point, and one of the best parts of the experience that keeps me coming back is excellent, accurate data that’s always contextualized.Thanks to my sleep score, I know how well I slept the night before, how I’m looking forward to the day ahead, and how I can track my activity throughout the day. It’s quite handy and helps to make the whole health and activity tracking experience a bit more actionable.That’s why I was so intrigued when Oura announced a beta AI-powered wellness chatbot, Oura Advisor, in July 2024. I’ve used it plenty since it launched in beta, and evidently, many other Oura users have too. It’s now ready for primetime, as the wellness brand is making it a full-fledged feature in the app for paying members.I’ve used it quite a bit during its beta testing period – the company has dubbed its beta program Oura Labs – and I like how it can complement the regular Oura experience. Do you have a question about your readiness score, or want to provide more context for why you were a little less active? The AI Advisor can tell you.

You can chat with Oura Advisor by typing things out, and it can even make recommendations for activities to help. Though, of course, with any software or AI-powered health feature, it’s not a doctor.It is designed, however, to be a conversation, controlled at your directive, about your health – combining the data tracked within Oura and the company's scientific models with generative AI.

(Image credit: Oura)

In the full release, Oura’s upping the experience, which makes me more excited to give it even more of a try. For one, rather than just referring to a trend it might have picked up on – more active on a given day – it can also pull up visuals and provide them as answers. Beyond just pulling up a chart, Oura says that Advisor now has ‘Trend Detection,’ allowing it to quickly pull data and access metric baselines or learned detected trends.Oura’s expanding Advisor's memory function promises that beyond remembering something, you expressly tell it, say that you’re recovering from an injury, and it will better weave in information from previous chats into the current one. While echoing a film or a Disney theme park ride, Oura promises it will be a more coherent storyline or conversation.When you set up Oura Advisor, you will still have three styles to choose from – supportive, mentoring, or goal-oriented – but it’s now dynamic, allowing the generated responses to be more empathetic, joyous, or even determined on the fly. It will be interesting to see how much improvement this offers to the service I tested in beta.Just like during the Oura Labs testing period, you can set notifications to remind you to interact with Advisor or pull it up on-demand when in the Oura app for iOS or Android. In its full-launch mode, Advisor is available globally in English.While the feature was in beta under Oura Labs, the company says that 60% of folks who enrolled in Advisor used it several times a week, and 20% used it daily. I’m in the former of that group, but these changes could have me calling on the Advisor for a conversation more.

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Elon Musk wanted to prove that AI could make a better adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey than Christopher Nolan. After months of complaining about Nolan's film, he promised that Grok Imagine would produce a more faithful version of the ancient Greek epic. The first seven minutes have debuted, effectively arguing for leaving filmmaking to people who actually care about telling stories, not pursuing petty bigotries.The project also has an ugly origin that's worth remembering. Musk's objections to Nolan's adaptation centered heavily on its casting, particularly Black actress Lupita Nyong'o and transgender actor Elliot Page. He accused Nolan of sacrificing historical accuracy to satisfy Hollywood sensibilities, and described the director's casting choices in explicitly racist terms. Ignoring the historical and textual incoherence of his arguments, he promised a full-length AI-generated alternative.The seven-minute opening episode, produced using Grok Imagine in collaboration with Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker, showcases an astonishing marriage of bad ideas and poor execution, backed by bottomless resources and prejudice. 7 minutes wandering the uncanny valleyWatch Episode 1 of our Odyssey series made with Grok Imagine.Let us know in the comments if you'd like a full breakdown of how it was done! Creative collaboration with @WonderStudiosX and director Dev Walker @glumlot_ https://t.co/xpgpkqSCpqOctober 23, 2026The one positive comment that doesn't ring false is that some of the landscapes look nice and atmospheric, and some shots of ships sailing across the water could pass for outdated video game cutscenes that would have been impressive at the time. Otherwise, Grok's Odyssey resembles a collection of trailer clips from someone who watched Gladiator half-asleep 20 years ago and has looked at the covers of some Greek mythology books. The dead-eyed Odysseus sounds like someone trying to pretend they are angry the whole time, even when he's talking to the family he supposedly loves. The events that should establish the story's emotional foundation have less emotional depth than a pop-up book. A human filmmaker and actor could turn Odysseus's departure from his wife Penelope into a moment that haunts the whole film. Grok simply presents the event and moves along, apparently satisfied that the relevant plot point has been included.That's what makes the comparison with Nolan so embarrassing. Whatever anyone thinks of his films, Nolan understands that cinema depends on controlling an audience's attention and emotions. His movies are constructed around deliberate creative decisions, with performances and editing working together to give individual moments significance. Grok can imitate the appearance of those moments, but the imitation has little weight. Grok's not winning an OscarAI keeps getting better, and future models may eliminate many of the visual inconsistencies that currently make AI footage so recognizable. But technical improvement alone won't give a machine the personal experiences or creative intentions that shape meaningful art.A great film reflects the choices of people who have something they want to communicate. Directors bring their own understanding of the world to a story, while actors draw on human experience to make fictional emotions believable. The best scenes work because somebody understands exactly what the audience should feel and has carefully shaped the experience to produce that response.That said, a talented human director might use AI to enhance or augment a scene that would otherwise be impossible on a limited budget. But any artistic value would come from the filmmaker's decisions.But regardless of the intent of Wonder Studios and its team, Grok's Odyssey looks terrible, and the blatant bigotry fueling Musk's comments would make for queasy viewing even if it were somehow comparable to Nolan's epic. Producing seven dull minutes for a fraction of a Hollywood budget doesn't automatically make those minutes an artistic achievement.The Odyssey and all of its best interpretations have endured partly for what they impart about the very human experience of longing for our loved ones. Those emotions have kept audiences interested for thousands of years. Grok has managed to reproduce some of the costumes and scenery while making the characters feel almost entirely irrelevant.The AI Odyssey has become a seven-minute reminder of why human creativity matters. For all the technology involved, the most revealing thing about this experiment is how little artistic imagination it contains.

When I moved to Utah as a student a decade ago, I was alarmed to be handed a survival pack upon reaching my dorm. These were supplies to help me, should 'The Big One' strike. This cataclysmic confluence of earthquakes and tsunamis across the San Andreas fault was, I was told, long overdue, and could plunge half of the country into a Fallout-like situationship for a little while.Well, now I'm back living in the UK, and apparently the apocalypse is coming for us here too: the government in Blighty has told us to stock up on tinned beans and survival supplies, and has even put out an emergency checklist of kit we should have prepared.Among the obvious items on the list (tinned food to last three days; three liters of bottled water per person for each day we're stuck; blankets), the government advises you to own an FM radio, ideally a battery-powered or wind-up (see also: hand-crank) one. And retailers are reporting that many such models are selling out. For people confused about this: an FM radio is an old gadget from before Spotify and podcasts existed, which lets you tune into broadcasts put out by various companies (you could choose between dry BBC talk shows or countless playlists of awful music, punctuated by the most annoying ads).I guess the government thinks people will start listening to the radio again if a 28 Days Later situation does arise; maybe they'll give you important broadcasts on the news, a droll hour-long report on a book from 50 years ago, or the same three pop songs on repeat. Either way, you're going to need a wind-up radio so you're not dependent on mains power, so here are three options worth going for. Philips TAR1609/00(Image credit: Philips)The web is full of cheap Amazon wind-up radios that look like they'd break after three uses, so I've tried to keep it to known companies on this list. Case in point: Philips has its own model, and at £29.99 it's pretty cheap too. You can find it on Argos' website here.The catchily-named Philips TAR1609/00 has 32 hours of listening, and charges via a USB-C port, a solar panel or, of course, a hand crank. It functions as a power bank, with a USB-A plug to connect devices (a capacity isn't stated though), and also has a giant built-in torch and SOS alarm system. To me, it looks like a giant camcorder. But if the future presents challenging times, a retro aesthetic might be of some comfort… Mesqool DAB+/DAB/FM Wind Up Radio with 12000mAh Rechargeable Battery(Image credit: Mesqool)Immediately after saying I'm not going to recommend some cheap option from a random brand, I'm doing just that... sort of. The Mesqool radio (which you can find on Amazon here) may not be from a known brand, but it's not cheap either (the MSRP is $59 / £56, but it's about 10% off at the time of writing).I'm picking this one because it's a contrast to the other options in that it's big. This isn't as much a hand-held option as the others, but something a bit chunkier. This is useful: it means its hand crank is bigger, its solar panel is bigger and its battery capacity is larger (12,000mAh, as much as a mid-sized power bank). It even has space for a little screen.It has Bluetooth, as well as both a torch and a smaller reading light. As well as solar or kinetic energy, it can be plugged in to power or uses AAA batteries. It's more of an industrial-sized option for if you've got a larger family sheltering from the storm together.Midland ER100 (or slightly pricier ER310)(Image credit: Midland)For my third suggestion, I did some research via online prepper communities and stores: the Midland ER100 was recommended quite frequently. It's looking a little bit hard to buy, likely because of the current rush on demand, but its UK Amazon listing is here for when stock returns. It seems to sell generally for £50, so ignore the current third-party stores on Amazon pushing it for £100.In the US? The Midland ER40 is available, for $59. Like the other options mentioned on this list, the Midland has a hand-crank as well as a small solar strip, and you can charge up your own device with it too. Of course it plays radio, with some simple buttons making it easier to manage than the other options. The appeal of the Midland ER100 seems to be the brand: it's a known name in the survival equipment field, so you can rely on the Midland better than any old gadget made by a cheapie manufacturer.I'll also add a link to the slightly larger and more feature-packed ER310 — again, slightly bigger and powerful, but also a little pricier. Now, stay safe out there!