TL;DR: Right now, it’s only $55 to get Microsoft Office Pro and Windows 11 Pro for life. This year, Microsoft raised the price for Microsoft 365 and ended support for Windows 10. If you want to avoid subscription fees and protect your computer, then get Microsoft Office Pro and Windows 11 Pro for life for only $54.97 (reg. $418.99). This sale will not last much longer. The Microsoft Office lifetime license comes with Word Excel PowerPoint Outlook Teams (free version) OneNote Publisher Access There are no recurring fees or renewals, and the software connects to your device rather than your Microsoft account. You can use it offline without losing access, and updates are included. Part two of this bundle is a lifetime license for Windows 11 Pro, which has a cleaner interface, faster performance, and stronger built-in security. It includes features like BitLocker drive encryption, Hyper-V virtualization, and Windows Sandbox for testing new apps in a safe environment. Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant, is integrated to help with tasks like changing settings or summarizing web content. Right now, it’s only $54.97 to get Microsoft Office and Windows 11 Pro for life. The Ultimate Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License + Windows 11 Pro BundleSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Headsets have few but specific requirements. They need to be comfortable for long periods of use, have good sound in different environment conditions and be reliable. The new Logitech G321 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Headset checks these boxes. Read...

Microsoft Copilot is tapping a key feature from Windows 11 Pro to enable Copilot’s AI to dig even further than it already has. It’s part of an update to Microsoft 365 Copilot called Researcher with Computer Use, debuting today for a limited subset of Microsoft 365 Copilot users. LLMs that engage in deep research, like Copilot, face a problem: some content is locked away behind an authentication process, like requiring a password. Researcher with Computer Use is adding a “secure virtual computer” with a virtual browser, terminal, and a text interface that will trigger when needed and also provide a visual “chain of thought” that can show you what’s happening and if you need to step in. All of this takes place within a “sandbox,” an optional virtual environment that has existed within Windows since the launch of Windows 10 Pro. Windows Sandbox is a powerful utility in Windows 10 and Windows 11 for surfing the web safely, since it creates a virtual OS within Windows that’s sealed off from your “main” Windows environment. It’s a much more secure way of visiting dodgy sites on the web or opening untrusted files—once you close the sandbox, the OS and everything within it vanishes. But you can still open files within it and read their contents, which is where Researcher steps in. Recently, Microsoft has also tip-toed into letting Copilot access a sandbox via Copilot Actions, an upcoming feature that would allow Copilot to take actions on the PC. In the near term, Microsoft also released a fall 2025 update for Copilot with long-term memory and integration into various services. In this case, Researcher with Computer Use isn’t designed for dodging malware, although that’s one benefit of it. The created sandbox is primarily designed as a test bed for code that Copilot creates, so it doesn’t put your machine at risk. The virtual browser can be used by Researcher to navigate the web and perform actions, Microsoft notes in a blog post, while the terminal interface is used for command-line-based code execution. “Deep research” LLMs typically come up with a plan, then execute it while keeping you abreast of what they’re doing and what’s going on. Researcher with Computer Use does this visually, snapping screenshots of the virtual sandbox as it works. While you can take over whenever you want, it’s also useful for when Researcher runs into roadblocks and needs a username and password to proceed further. That takes place via a “secure screen-sharing connection,” Microsoft says. Microsoft 365 Copilot Researcher with Computer Use will hand back control to the user to enter a password when needed.Microsoft Microsoft says that users at any given organization won’t have access to internal or proprietary information by default, though users and IT admins can choose to turn that on. The sources of data that Researcher sifts through can also be managed. “The user sees the actions of Researcher while it is accessing the web through the browser or using any computer use tools,” Microsoft added. “Researcher will always ask for explicit confirmation before taking any actions or request the user securely log in to any web sources in the browser when required to complete a task.” On BrowseComp—a benchmark focused on complex, multi-step browsing tasks—Researcher with Computer Use performed 44 percent better than the current version of Researcher, Microsoft said. Read...

Netball New Zealand boss Jennie Wyllie says there is still work to do to rebuild trust and reshape the Silver Ferns team environment. Read...

Residents in the area are worried about potential risks from fuel or oil leaks, debris, and damage to the surrounding marine environment. Read...

Anthropic recently launched Claude Code for the web and as an iOS preview, making it easier for developers to use the AI coding assistant without the need for a terminal or command line. Users can connect Claude to their GitHub projects and ask the AI agent to perform coding tasks, follow the work in real time, and provide new instructions during the coding process. Claude Code can handle multiple tasks simultaneously, and each session runs in an isolated sandbox environment with limited network and file system access to protect code and login credentials. Claude Code is offered to subscribers of Anthropic’s Pro plan, which costs $20/month (or $17/month if paid annually), and the Max plan, which costs $100+ per month depending on usage. Read...

Here’s an unsettling development in this episode of “everyday tech can do things you probably never imagined”: in the future, anyone who regularly walks past a café or restaurant with public Wi-Fi could be identified—even without a smartphone in their pocket. Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have discovered that commercially available Wi-Fi routers can recognize and identify individual people based on signal changes. All that’s required is for other devices in the vicinity to be connected to the router. Professor Thorsten Strufe from KASTEL—the Institute of Information Security and Dependability at KIT—explains that the propagation of Wi-Fi radio waves can be used to create an image of the router’s physical environment and the people in it. This works in a similar way to cameras, except radio waves are used instead of light waves. According to the cybersecurity expert, it doesn’t matter whether someone has their own Wi-Fi device on them or not. Switching off their devices also offers no protection, since the imaging is performed by other active Wi-Fi devices in the vicinity. How Wi-Fi signal imaging works Wi-Fi devices communicate with each other by exchanging so-called Beamforming Feedback Information (BFI). These feedback signals show how radio waves propagate throughout a room and are sent unencrypted from connected devices to the Wi-Fi router. If a person moves through this “Wi-Fi field”, their body causes measurable changes to the Wi-Fi signals. Artificial intelligence can then analyze the data and signal changes well enough to associate it with an individual—with a nearly 100 percent accuracy rate. In a study involving 197 test subjects, the researchers were able to reliably identify people regardless of their walking style or perspective. Even objects like bags and boxes had little influence on the results. Pervasive Wi-Fi networks could be employed as a surveillance trap The KIT researchers see this Wi-Fi signal imaging technique as a serious risk to personal privacy and data protection. Julian Todt, a PhD researcher at KASTEL, warns that “this technology turns every router into a potential means for surveillance.” Governments, companies, organizations, and even cyber criminals could identify people unnoticed, particularly in public places but also in the privacy of their own homes. The researchers emphasize that this is especially dangerous in authoritarian states where security authorities could use the technology to identify protesters and dissenters. Stricter Wi-Fi standards are needed Due to these findings, the research team is calling for data protection mechanisms to be integrated into the IEEE 802.11bf Wi-Fi standard that’s slated for the future. This is the only way to prevent feedback signals like the BFI from being read without encryption. “Wi-Fi networks are almost everywhere these days—in homes, offices, restaurants, and public spaces,” says Strufe. “If this technology is used without protective measures, ubiquitous wireless networks could become a nearly universal surveillance infrastructure.” The research was funded as part of the Helmholtz “Engineering Secure Systems” topic area. The results will be presented at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS) in Taipei. Further reading: Secure your home Wi-Fi router with these tweaks Read...

SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network has reached a new milestone. As of this past weekend, the company launched its 10,000th Starlink satellite into orbit, marking a new record in space history. 10,000 Starlink satellites in space Two Falcon 9 rockets were launched from California and Florida on Sunday, carrying a total of 56 new satellites into orbit, as SpaceX announced on social media. This means the company has officially passed the 10,000 mark for satellites launched. According to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, there have been 10,044 Starlink satellites launched since the project started in 2019. Around 8,680 of these are currently in active orbit above Earth, while approximately one to two satellites burn up every day in Earth’s atmosphere. Space internet… with side effects Starlink aims to bring broadband internet to pretty much every region of the world, but the project is controversial. Researchers warn that mega-constellations—such as Starlink, Amazon Kuiper, and Chinese systems—could increasingly clog up low-Earth orbit and generate dangerous space debris through collisions. Astronomers also criticize the fact that the bright satellites interfere with sky observations. According to US researchers, the growing number of satellites in low-Earth orbit could soon leave measurable traces in the atmosphere. Aluminium oxide is produced when old satellites burn up and is deposited in high layers of air. A recent study warns that if more than 60,000 satellites are in low orbit by 2040, up to 10,000 tons of aluminium oxide could be released every year. This would warm the top layer of the atmosphere by around 1.5 degrees Celsius and influence chemical processes that also affect the ozone layer. The researchers emphasize that further studies are urgently needed to better understand the exact effects. And while there’s still uncertainty about the exact extent, experts also agree that rapid satellite expansion also increases risks to the environment and climate. This is still just the beginning For SpaceX, the current record is just an interim step. While old satellites burn up every day, new ones are launched regularly. The average life span of a Starlink satellite is around five years, as reported by The Verge. If the expansion plans become reality, more than 30,000 Starlink satellites could be orbiting the earth in a few years—more than all other satellite programmes combined. Further reading: What I wish I knew before I got Starlink home internet Read...

Microsoft has responded to a serious problem with Windows 11, where installing update KB5066835 can break USB keyboards and mice, preventing them from working in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and leaving you unable to do anything. As of yesterday, Microsoft has released two emergency out-of-band updates to address the issue: KB5070762 and KB5070773, which are both for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. Keep reading for more details on the underlying issue and these hotfixes. USB input devices fail after update The issue affects systems running Windows 11 version 24H2 or 25H2 as well as Windows Server 2025. After installing the October update (KB5066835), USB keyboards and mice and other input devices no longer work properly in the recovery environment. This meant users were no longer able to repair PCs or reset Windows. The two updates that fix the issue Microsoft confirmed the bug and quickly announced an emergency update to correct the faulty driver initialization issue. KB5070762 is the so-called Safe OS Dynamic Update, which directly repairs the WinRE components of Windows 11. KB5070773 is a supplementary cumulative update (Builds 26100.6901 and 26200.6901) which addresses the same bug on systems where the Safe OS update doesn’t take effect automatically. Both updates address the same problem, ensuring that USB keyboards, mice, and dongles work again in the recovery environment. Microsoft emphasizes that no other changes are made to the system and no reboot is required with these updates. The emergency updates are distributed automatically via Windows Update, but can also be downloaded manually from the Microsoft Update Catalog if needed (KB5070762 and KB5070773). Microsoft recommends that companies promptly install these updates to avoid possible support failures during system recovery. Read...

In my work as a tech reviewer, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to test $300 keyboards with overly advanced tech inside and mice capable of tracking subtle movements so precisely they could almost surely be hacked to record my voice (thanks for the paranoia, Tom’s Hardware). But as much as I love the ultimate tech accessories—give me that 8,000Hz polling rate, adjustable actuation depth, plush wrist rest, heavy metal base—there are plenty of times when such gear isn’t necessary. That’s where this cheap Arteck keyboard-trackpad combo is a winner. Mark Knapp / Foundry The Arteck HW197 (catchy, right?) is a versatile device. It combines a trackpad and keyboard into one device. It supports wireless USB connections up to 33 feet away with a compact USB-A dongle, as well as Bluetooth connections. Three buttons at the top right of the keyboard make switching between connections quick and easy. The keyboard even has a metal top plate for extra durability and a nice splash of style.  I got the Arteck HW197 at the end of 2023 for $26—it’s now gone up to about $36, though you can snag discount codes at times—and it’s been a staple of my living room since. I use it with my smart TV because I hate typing on that thing using the remote’s arrow buttons to navigate an on-screen keyboard. And the built-in trackpad even comes in handy in certain smart TV apps that support cursors, like the web browser. It also works well with home theater PCs, streaming sticks, gaming consoles, and even Raspberry Pi and Arduino projects. Mark Knapp / Foundry That might seem like too cheap a price, but let’s be real: a simple TV keyboard doesn’t need all kinds of bells and whistles, nor does it need extra longevity or durability. While I’d happily splurge on a premium keyboard for my PC (where I’d be hitting millions of keystrokes per year), that just isn’t needed for a media center keyboard. For the most part, it’s just there for quick searches and the occasional logins. Get one of these for yourself Arteck HW197 Wireless Keyboard with Trackpad Best Prices Today: $35.99 at Amazon In that case, why buy this keyboard instead of any other cheap keyboard? Well, there’s a huge gulf between a good cheap keyboard and a bad one. The Arteck HW197 gets the balance right for the money. It has a simple membrane keyboard with scissor switches, and the keycaps have a helpful contour that avoid awkward binding and prove consistent enough to never become a nuisance. (Looking at you, Logitech K400 Plus.) In fact, I’m able to hit 116 words per minute with 98% accuracy in Monkeytype, which is a strong result for a “cheap” keyboard. Mark Knapp / Foundry The trackpad is less impressive, with soft physical buttons at the bottom and a far-from-smooth plastic surface. It can also struggle to track consistently when the keyboard is far from the wireless USB receiver. (Bluetooth surprisingly works a little better.) But in a home theater environment, mousing around is an infrequent activity—and it’s simply more convenient to have even a subpar trackpad than to also buy and keep track of a separate “cheap” mouse. Mark Knapp / Foundry To be frank, there’s a lot that isn’t great about the Arteck HW197. It has printed keycap legends that’ll fade, it charges via old-school Micro USB, and it lacks backlighting. But all of those are fine trade-offs for the convenience of a keyboard-trackpad combo, plus it hardly ever needs to be recharged. It’s versatile, effective, and affordable. If you’re after an all-in-one keyboard-and-mouse solution for your smart TV or home theater, the Arteck HW197 is precisely what I’d recommend. This all-in-one keyboard-and-mouse accessory is perfect for any smart TVBuy the Arteck HW197 on Amazon Read...