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Aoostar WTR Max supports triple 4K 240Hz displays for enhanced productivity and visualsDual-channel DDR5-5600 RAM with ECC ensures fast and reliable performanceWith 11 drives supporting SSDs and HDDs, users have a wide array of choices

The Aoostar WTR Max mini PC is a compact NAS drive powered by the AMD R7 Pro 8845HSv Enterprise processor, which runs at speeds ranging from 3.8GHz and 5.1GHz.The system supports up to 11 storage drives, including five M.2 2280 NVMe slots - three at PCIe 4.0 x2 and two at PCIe 4.0 x1 - and six 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA slots, for up to 500TB of storage capacity.While the Aoostar WTR Max is primarily designed as a NAS, it offers the potential to serve as a powerful workstation with support for dual-channel DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM RAM, expandable up to 128GB with ECC support.

Real-time monitoring

The WTR Max offers a wide range of connectivity options, including dual USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, a USB4 port, and an OCuLink (PCIe 4.0 x4) that can be used to boost graphics performance with an external GPU or expand storage further through a hard drive enclosure.Networking features include dual 2.5G LAN ports and two Intel X710 10Gb LAN (SFP+) ports. For multimedia or multitasking needs, the HDMI 2.1 and Type-C ports support triple 4K 240Hz display output.Thermal management is handled by Aoostar’s Glacier Pro 1.0 cooling system, which combines a large vapor chamber heat spreader for the APU and dual rear fans for regulating drive temperatures.For real-time monitoring, Aoostar includes a built-in display paired with its proprietary NAS control software, providing handy system stats like CPU, GPU, and RAM usage.The Aoostar WTR Max is now available for pre-order, with the barebone version priced at $699.00. Shipping is expected to begin in May 2025.

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Players are gearing up for the arrival of the Switch 2 this summer, and we've been piecing together details about how game ownership and sharing will work. The picture is coming together, and in true Nintendo fashion, it's a bit odd.

Developers who release projects on the Switch 2 will have the option to sell their work as a "Game-Key card," which looks like a traditional physical game cartridge, but has no game data stored on it. Instead, when slotted into a Switch 2, game-key cards will automatically present instructions on how to download the title in question. The hardware will need an Internet connection and enough space for the game files on its system memory or microSD Express card. Once the download is complete, that Switch 2 can run the game whenever the game-key card is inserted into the system. The Switch no longer needs an Internet connection once the title has been downloaded, unless the game separately requires you to be online to play. We've now learned via GameSpot that game-key cards won't be automatically connected to a single console or to a user's Nintendo account.

It's an unusual hybrid approach, and with many hybrid concepts, you get the best and worst of both worlds. For instance, storage is going to be at a premium in the Switch 2 and game-key card downloads will eat into that limited space. And unfortunately, game-key cards don't future-proof customers against the day when Nintendo might decide to shut down the servers for the Switch 2, as it did with other sunsetted hardware like the Wii U and 3DS in 2024. If and when that happens, the game-key cards will be essentially useless.

But there are some upsides, particularly when it comes to sharing or reselling games. We already knew that Nintendo would have an option called GameShare that supports local multiplayer with only a single purchased copy of the title, while Virtual Game Cards offer digital sharing (if in a convoluted way). The addition of game-key cards that aren't tied to a single person's Nintendo account makes it easier to pass a game off to a friend once you've finished with it, or to resell it and recoup some of the $80 price tag of major releases.

And in case you were wondering: yes, the game cartridges will still taste terrible.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/switch-2-game-key-cards-wont-be-tied-to-your-nintendo-account-204735286.html?src=rss

After an internal investigation, The White House has come up with a likely explanation for how Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was included in a Signal chat filled with Trump officials planning to bomb the Houthis. The Guardian reports that the issue came down to National Security Advisor Mike Waltz not understanding how his iPhone works.

Apparently, after Goldberg attempted to contact the Trump campaign about a separate issue in 2024, Brian Hughes, a Trump spokesperson, shared Goldberg's contact information and email signature with Waltz. It only took a few wrong taps after that to lay the groundwork for "Signalgate," The Guardian writes:

Waltz did not ultimately call Goldberg, the people said, but in an extraordinary twist, inadvertently ended up saving Goldberg’s number in his iPhone – under the contact card for Hughes, now the spokesperson for the national security council.

So Waltz didn't realize his iPhone was updating a contact rather than creating a new one, and meant to add Hughes to the group chat rather than Goldberg. This explanation doesn't change the fact that the kind of planning happening in the "Houthi PC small group" probably shouldn't have taken place on an encrypted messaging app — and especially without Congress weighing in. But this discovery does add a new flavor of grim stupidity to the whole affair.

Not long after Signalgate, the Pentagon warned against using Signal because it's vulnerable to Russian phishing attacks, but clearly the Trump administration likes the app's security and the instantaneous communication it allows. Having a more secure option reportedly hasn't stopped Waltz from using Gmail, though.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/the-white-house-has-reportedly-settled-on-an-explanation-for-how-signalgate-happened-212107380.html?src=rss

Midjourney has released a new AI model for producing images, Midjourney V7The model features improved image quality, prompt understanding, and personalizationThe new Draft Mode generates lower-quality images far faster and cheaper to allow testing

Midjourney has a new model to show off to fans of the AI image generator. Midjourney V7 is the company's first new AI image model in nearly a year, and it comes with some significant upgrades and additional features.The company claims the new model is much smarter at turning your words into the images you envision, with higher-quality results that evade many of the telltale signs of artificial origins. The new model is also very focused on adapting to your personal taste.So much so that you can't even use it before you first-rate about 200 images to teach the model your aesthetic unless, of course, you've already done so.

We're now beginning the alpha-test phase of our new V7 image Model. It's our smartest, most beautiful, most coherent model yet. Give it a shot and expect updates every week or two for the next two months. pic.twitter.com/Ogqt0fgiY7April 4, 2025

Once you've navigated through your own uncanny valley, the images Midjourney V7 serves up should appeal to you without as much massaging of your prompts.This is the first Midjourney model to have this feature on by default, as well."[Midjourney V7 is] much smarter with text prompts, image prompts look fantastic, image quality is noticeably higher with beautiful textures, and bodies, hands and objects of all kinds have significantly better coherence on all details," Midjourney founder David Holz wrote on Discord. "We think personalization raises the bar for how well we can interpret what you want and what you find beautiful."

Draft the future

The new Draft Mode is Midjourney’s version of rough sketches on a napkin. The feature promises results fast, cheap, and just good enough to get your idea down without burning through your credits.It works like this: You type a prompt, and Midjourney will have an image for you in seconds. The image might be a bit lower-res or slightly less polished, but you can enhance it later with one click. It’s AI for impatient people.Notably, Draft Mode positions Midjourney as a viable tool for professionals who need speed and the option to iterate on their ideas. This kind of flexibility could make Midjourney appealing well beyond its Discord silo.V7’s boost in prompt understanding, improved anatomy, and Draft Mode all suggest that Midjourney plans to increase its efforts to compete with other AI image generators as well.It won't be as fast as Draft Mode image creation, though. OpenAI’s DALL·E has deep integrations with ChatGPT and Microsoft tools, as Google's Gemini does with its ecosystem.Even so, Midjourney has always had a certain cult appeal that could mesh with its speedier model to entice many more users. If Midjourney can keep improving its speed, clarity, and output quality while keeping its signature flair, it might go mainstream without losing its indie cred.The new model has two main versions: Turbo and Relax. Turbo costs more but delivers results much faster. Relax mode, meanwhile, takes its time but is cheaper.Some features haven’t made the jump to V7 just yet. There’s no upscaling, inpainting, or retexturing. Holz says those will return soon, maybe within a couple of months.

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Consumer electronics brand Framework announced today on X that it will temporarily suspend US sales of select laptop models as a result of the global tariffs enacted for the country last week. The company said it will remove the Ultra 5 125H and Ryzen 5 7640U versions of its Laptop 13 systems from its website. At the time of publish, that Ultra 5 Intel model is not listed, but the Ryzen 5 one with the AMD chip appears to still be available for purchase.

In a follow-up post, the company said that it originally priced its laptops based on a 0 percent tariff for goods from Taiwan. With the current 10 percent tariff, the products would be sold at a loss. "Other consumer goods makers have performed the same calculations and taken the same actions, though most have not been open about it," Framework said.

Given the language of the initial post, this doesn't seem to be the end of US customers' chances to buy Laptop 13 models. But the sweeping tariffs on imports enacted by President Donald Trump last week have already sparked other industries to rethink their US sales and pricing. UK-based Jaguar Land Rover also paused shipments to the US as a result of the tariffs, while Japan's Nintendo has delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2 gaming console, although the launch date appears unchanged.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/framework-pauses-some-us-laptop-sales-due-to-tariffs-221115971.html?src=rss

Rumors circulated today that robotaxi company Waymo might use data from vehicles' interior cameras to train AI and sell targeted ads to riders. However, the company has tried to quell concerns, insisting that it won't be targeting ads to passengers.

The situation arose after researcher and engineer Jane Manchun Wong discovered an unreleased version of Waymo's privacy policy that suggested the robotaxi company could start using data from its vehicles to train generative AI. The draft policy has language allowing customers to opt out of Waymo "using your personal information (including interior camera data associated with your identity) for training GAI." Wong's discovery also suggested that Waymo could use that camera footage to sell personalized ads to riders.

Later in the day, The Verge obtained comments on this unreleased privacy policy from Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina. "Waymo's [machine learning] systems are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads," she said. Ilina said the version found by Wong featured "placeholder text that doesn’t accurately reflect the feature’s purpose" and noted that the feature was still in development. It "will not introduce any changes to Waymo’s Privacy Policy, but rather will offer riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection for ML training purposes."

Hopefully Waymo holds to those statements. Privacy and security are huge concerns as AI companies try to feed their models as much information as possible. Waymo is owned by Alphabet and Google is developing its own AI assistant, Gemini, as well as other AI projects with its DeepMind division.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo-has-no-plans-to-sell-ads-to-riders-based-on-camera-data-225340265.html?src=rss

Google’s AI Mode now lets users upload images and photos to go with text queriesThe feature combines Google Gemini and LensAI Mode can understand entire scenes, not just objects

Google is adding a new dimension to its experimental AI Mode by connecting Google Lens's visual abilities with Gemini.AI Mode is a part of Google Search that can break down complex topics, compare options, and suggest follow-ups. Now, that search includes uploaded images and photos taken on your smartphone.The result is a way to search through images the way you would text but with much more complex and detailed answers than just putting a picture into reverse image search.You can literally snap a photo of a weird-looking kitchen tool and ask, “What is this, and how do I use it?” and get a helpful answer, complete with shopping links and YouTube demos.

AI Eyes

If you take a picture of a bookshelf, a plate of food, or the chaotic interior of your junk drawer, the AI won’t just recognize individual objects; it will also explain their relationship to each other.You might get a suggestion of other dishes you can make with the same ingredients, whether your old phone charger is in the drawer or what order you should read those books on the shelf. You can see how it works above.Essenitally, the feature fires off multiple related questions in the background about the entire scene and each individual object. So when you upload a picture of your living room and ask how to redecorate it, you’re not just getting one generic answer. You’re getting a group of responses from mini AI agents asking about everything in the room.Google isn't unique in this pursuit. ChatGPT includes image recognition, for instance. However, Google’s advantage is decades of search data, visual indexing, and other data storage and organization.If you're a Google One AI Premium subscriber or are approved to test it through Search Labs, you can test out the feature on the Google mobile app.

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Quiet PC’s configurator allows complete customization of the UltraNUC Pro 14Choose between SSDs or HDDs for tailored storage options and speedDual-monitor support maximizes productivity with versatile display connectivity options

There are a number of silent mini PCs on the market, and the Quiet PC UltraNUC Pro 14 Fanless is the very latest.The device looks to break away from the typical, generic design of fanless mini PCs thanks to its premium Akasa Turing RC Pro chassis, which doesn't only eliminate noise, but also makes the workstation look more like a high-end Hi-Fi unit than a traditional mini PC.The UltraNUC Pro 14 Fanless is powered by Intel’s 14th gen mobile processors, and users can configure the system with options including Core 3 100U, Ultra 5 125H or Ultra 7 155H, all of which offer Turbo Frequency to boost performance.

SSDs and HDDs

You can buy the mini PC without storage, or select options including SSDs from brands like Kingston, Corsair, and Samsung, as well as 2.5-inch drives from Seagate and Samsung.This device supports up to 64GB (2x 32GB) of dual-channel DDR5 SO-DIMM RAM, with speeds up to 5600MT/s for Ultra 5 and 7 models and 5200MT/s for Core 3, and users can pick from up to 16TB of storage in total (8TB SSD and 8TB HDD).The SSDs offer silent operation and rapid boot times, so are ideal for users who prioritize speed and quiet, while the HDDs are better suited for users needing larger storage capacities.The Ultra 7 and 5 NUCs feature Intel’s latest Iris Arc Graphics, which provides a notable boost in graphics performance, while the Core 3 version comes with the standard Intel Graphics.In terms of connectivity, this device has one USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C port (20Gbps), three USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports, one USB 2.0 Type-A port, two HDMI 2.1 (TMDS) ports, and two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports, so users can connect two additional monitors or external devices. There's also one RJ45 LAN port, DC-in, and a Kensington Lock.Quiet PC has a handy configurator system that allows customers to customize the UltraNUC Pro 14 Fanless as required. The default configuration costs £955, but the price can range from £787.40 to £3,834.04 depending on your preference.

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Headline-making mass outages—think 2024’s CrowdStrike event and 2023’s Google Cloud services disruptions—can bring multinational corporations and small businesses to their knees. But smaller technical events are far more common and can shut down business functions with equally devastating effects.Cybersecurity attacks like Change Healthcare and Snowflake data breaches that impacted millions wreak even greater havoc, especially for small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) that rarely have strong protections in place to fend off potentially business-ending attacks.Security and cybersecurity threats are inevitable in today’s high-risk security environment, and they don’t discriminate by company size, industry, or geographic footprint. This is why every business needs to plan to evaluate its network and security status to identify and address areas of weakness.For SMBs, this may seem like a financially and technically infeasible expectation. It doesn’t have to be. Properly focused self-audits can reveal vulnerabilities, many of which can be corrected without blowing up the IT budget.

Today’s High-Risk Landscape

The 2024 Observability Forecast from New Relic found that the median number of annual outages among respondents was 232, with more than half experiencing weekly low-impact disruptions. IT teams spend 30% of their time, equivalent to 12 hours per 40-hour workweek, addressing interruptions ranging from network failures and third-party service issues to human error. For high-impact outages like Crowdstrike, the median annual downtime is 77 hours and carries an hourly cost of up to $1.9 million.Cyberattacks are also surging, with SMBs an increasingly favorite target. According to The State of SMB Cybersecurity in 2024, 94% of SMBs reported suffering from at least one cyberattack, and 89% are concerned they will be targeted within six months. Moreover, The State of IT Security in SMBs in 2023-2024 found that the average monetary cost of a cyberattack can range from $120,000 to $1.24 million per strike—a cost from which many don’t recover as 60% of SMBs fail just six months after an incident.While 90% indicated that cybersecurity is very important or critical to their business, more than three-quarters of Observability Forecast respondents (76%) also agree that their organization lacks the in-house skills to deal with an attack properly. Further, just 8% of SMBs with fewer than 50 employees have a dedicated cybersecurity budget. Most typically spend less than $500 annually on cybersecurity, and 72% lack necessary insurance coverage, leaving them highly vulnerable.These numbers tell the story of a high-risk environment where no SMB is safe from outages and attacks. As such, the lack of investment in protection is an oversight that can have business-ending repercussions.

Taking Proactive Measures

There are steps SMBs can take to mitigate their risk, starting with a self-assessment to determine areas of vulnerability. No IT expertise is required. Just responses to a handful of questions in the following five areas:Staff training: is your team trained in cybersecurity best practices, including recognizing phishing attempts and the need for strong passwords, and is this training updated regularly?Security safeguards: Are security measures in place that minimize human errors (e.g., email filters, browsing restrictions, multi-factor authentication, etc.), particularly around personally identifiable information (PII) access? Are they kept current?Software patches and updates: Are procedures in place for patch management to apply the latest updates to software and systems, to protect against emerging threats and harden existing vulnerabilities? Are they followed?Vendor security profiles: Do vendors, partners, and any other entity that may access the company’s systems have proper cybersecurity and security protocols to prevent a breach on their end from impacting your operations?Business continuity: Is a business recovery and continuity plan in place to get operations back up and running after a breach? Is it regularly reviewed and updated? Are staff aware of the plan and trained in its deployment?This information will help determine if broader protections are required and if engaging an IT service provider is warranted. If it is, look for a provider with security and cybersecurity experience that offers, at minimum, proactive monitoring, regular security assessments, and staff training.Prospective partners should also deeply understand industry-specific compliance requirements and offer comprehensive services to ensure any issue can be addressed—a feature made more critical by the rapid pace at which threats evolve. They should also have advanced technological expertise and the willingness and ability to leverage cutting-edge tools and processes capable of outperforming older or less adaptive technology.SMBs should also look for an IT partner that offers personalized customer support, emphasizes long-term relationships, and provides flexibility and scale in its service approach. Transparent price structures, clear and fair service terms, and simple contracts are also helpful.Finally, during the evaluation process, ask prospects about their response times and disaster recovery capabilities and obtain and check references.

An Investment in Longevity

Determining security and cybersecurity gaps and establishing protocols to close them need not break the bank but must be a budget priority. Much of the work can be done via an internal audit, even with limited technical know-how.In cases where audits reveal deeper issues than can be handled internally, customer-forward IT partners can apply experience, skills, and flexibility to resolve problems and harden systems within the organization’s budget to lower its risk profile and help ensure longevity.

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