Human beings have a hard time dealing with numbers that get really big. The speed of light, the number of atoms in apparently small amounts of matter, the energy being burned every time you ask ChatGPT how many days there are in July. It doesn’t really fit into our meat brains. Take, for example, Seagate’s latest industrial hard drive, which holds 30 terabytes of data. Oof. The new Exos M and IronWolf Pro are the most dense drives single I’ve ever seen in the standard form factor, narrowly beating out existing 28TB models by leveraging Seagate’s innovative Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology. But these hard drives aren’t really designed for regular PC users — they’re being made for the data center market, as demand for scalable storage spikes in the AI industry. That said, there’s nothing stopping you from just rolling up to Seagate’s digital storefront and putting your money down. The new drives, in the standard 3.5-inch form factor, cost $600. (Editorial note: It’s entirely possible that 30TB drives have been available before in the 3.5-inch form factor, and I know NAS systems with more than that spread over multiple drives are a thing. This is the first time I’m seeing it with a regular link to buy, as far as I’m aware.) Again, it’s hard for me to imagine what I’d do with that much storage. My first desktop PC that I didn’t have to share with my sister had a 40GB drive, and my parents thought that was beyond the dreams of avarice. I have hundreds and hundreds of games in my Steam account, some of which teeter beyond the 100GB mark, and I still don’t think I could fill up a 30TB hard drive with all of them. In college a friend of mine who definitely, absolutely was not me, allegedly, once shared a little over 2TB of video files on the local campus network, and that was the top score in a student population of over 40,000. But these things aren’t meant for individual users, unless those individual users are hosting some rather impressive websites from a home server or doing some other exotic stuff. These drives are meant to be bought dozens or hundreds at a time, and installed in data centers that cost billions of dollars to set up. I haven’t seen a new laptop with a spinning hard drive in years, and even desktop users with space to spare are now transitioning to full solid state storage more often than not. Still, I can’t deny that there’s something tempting about buying one and seeing if I could fill it up. I wonder how many hi-res Skyrim textures it would take… Further reading: The best SSDs for any budget Read...

Copilot Vision’s vision is improving. Microsoft said Monday that it’s beginning to allow Copilot Vision to “see” your desktop, as well as specific applications. Microsoft calls this “Desktop Share,” and it’s a part of a new Copilot app update, version 1.25071.125. Microsoft introduced Copilot Vision in April with the ability to see a single app; when Copilot Vision formally debuted, it could see two. Now, it can see your entire desktop in one fell swoop. I’m not sure what the difference is, to be honest. Presumably, Copilot Vision was limited to one or two apps before. Now, I suppose, you can have several applications open on your desktop, and Copilot Vision can now see and understand all of them at once. Or maybe it can give advice toward tidying up a Windows desktop with a couple dozen app icons scattered about? In any event, Desktop Share for Copilot Vision is now complemented by a Microsoft test of turning on Vision from an existing Voice conversation. If you’re already orally chatting with Copilot, you can now flip on Copilot Vision by clicking the “glasses” icon in the conversation. I wasn’t too impressed when I tried Copilot Vision earlier this year. when I tried out Copilot Vision earlier this year, but I’d expect the technology to improve. It needs to better understand what it sees, not just see more. Read...

Western Institute of Technology is planning to scrap its agriculture courses as part of its plan to prove its financial viability amid restructuring within the polytech sector. Read...

Beef + Lamb NZ has asked Government to `slow down` and `consult properly` with farmers. Read...

Melbourne`s Rippl teams with Onpack to offer custom-branded mineral water cans using fast, eco-friendly digital direct-to-can printing technology. Read...

AI leaders emphasise the urgent need for ethics, governance and sustainability as the technology increasingly transforms industries and raises complex risks. Read...

The Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki - known as WITT - is one of four polytechs that have been given a year to shape-up financially, or face a shake-up. Read...

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Japan has set a groundbreaking record: a data transmission rate of 1.02 petabits per second (around 127,500 GB/s) over 1,802 kilometers (about 1,120 miles), reports CNET. That’s around 350,000 times faster than the average US fixed broadband internet connection, which was around 289 Mbps according to Speedtest as of May 2025. At this new record-breaking speed, you could download the entire Netflix library in under a second. Fiber optics with 19 cores The key to the record is a new optical fiber with 19 cores, which are installed in a cable with a diameter of just 0.125 millimeters (the standard size for existing networks). Compared to conventional cables with one core, this fiber transmits 19 times more data with minimal data loss due to uniform light conduction. For transmission over the 1,120-mile distance—comparable to New York to Chicago—the signal was amplified 21 times. The new record more than doubles the previous year’s figure of 50,250 GB/s. In 2023, the NICT team achieved similar speeds but only over a third of the distance. Advances in signal amplification and reduction of data loss are what made this new range possible. Compatible with existing fiber optic cables The technology could meet the growing demand for data worldwide, as data volumes have been increasing by about 50 percent annually according to Nielsen’s Law. In general, the new technology is exciting and also interesting for countries where fiber optic expansion is stagnating, primarily because these new cables fit into existing infrastructures. The record has not yet been independently verified, but it shows how fiber optics could further shape the future of the internet. Read...

In another testament to how risky lifetime VPN subscriptions are, BulletVPN has announced that it is shutting down. The service unexpectedly ceased operations last week, canceling lifetime subscriptions for all users who had previously purchased the plans. The service was based in Estonia and had been in operation since 2015. Up until last month, it had been offering lifetime VPN subscriptions to users for only $39. However, in a message on its homepage titled, “BulletVPN End of Life,” the company announced that the VPN service would no longer be available. This adds to a growing number of controversies surrounding lifetime subscriptions in the ever-changing VPN market. Just in May of this year, VPNSecure suddenly cut all lifetime subscriptions after being sold to new owners. To stand out in a crowded market, many smaller VPN providers, such as BulletVPN, offer lifetime subscriptions with cheap prices in order to attract new customers. Unfortunately, these deals can often turn sour if the VPN service goes out of business—which is often the case for smaller VPN providers in the cut-throat industry. In a statement on its website the company wrote, “This decision was made after careful consideration of various factors, including shifts in market demand, evolving technology requirements, and sustainability of operations.” Windscribe Pro Read our review Needless to say, affected users aren’t happy. Thankfully, rival VPN Windscribe has stepped in to help. Users who previously had lifetime subscriptions to BulletVPN, are now eligible for a complimentary 6-month subscription to Windscribe, along with a discounted long-term plan. As stated in the End of Life notice, BulletVPN users who qualify can contact support@bulletvpn.com to claim the offer. Read...

Te Tukohu Ngawha - a science fair based in Rotorua - is hoping to attract more young women into the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Read...