Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the controversial topics on our YouTube show or hot news from across the web? You’re in the right place. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website!  I like owning things. The recent AMD driver kerfuffle has me wondering what that really means these days. I’m old enough to remember when buying a physical item meant you had it for life. It would run as advertised until it could no longer—perhaps a part would break, a motor would burn out. Even then, things were mechanical enough that you could open them up and tinker, in an effort to fix them. Now with so much software required to make hardware perform intended function, that line has become blurry. We depend on companies to keep products functional. We are expected to trust that a company will support a product for a reasonable amount of time. AMD’s confused messaging around driver support for RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 graphics cards shook that trust. At first, it seemed that GPUs just three years old were already getting the axe—Team Red would no longer provide updated drivers for new game optimizations. Then, after this stance was seemingly confirmed by AMD statements to the press (causing more furor), AMD finally issued a clarification via a blog post. The drivers would branch, but baseline support for first- and second-generation RDNA wouldn’t end yet. The Full Nerd crew and I discuss the whole episode in more depth in the show, including the nuances of the situation. The reputation of AMD Radeon’s division obviously plays a role in all this, as does the current environment of GPU prices and availability. But even with the resolution of this PR hiccup, the fundamental issue remains. Chromebook lifespans have improved, but that’s only for newer models. Own an older one and it’s likely EOL now. That sucks.IDG / Matthew Smith Companies can now kill their products at any time—even when you have them in your hands. Once software support gets dropped, it’s over. I have a drawer full of phones that Google and Apple no longer provide security patches for. Older Chromebooks got a similarly raw deal. You can argue that you can still technically use these products, and sure, that’s true. But in today’s environment, a lack of security patches is asking for a headache. No driver support for new games means you won’t get to play them. Etc. I’m grateful that people donate their time to alternative software, like LineageOS and Linux, to help keep perfectly usable hardware still chugging along. (I’m about to try this to breathe new life into a beloved, now-unsupported Chromebook.) But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re at the mercy of companies’ willingness to maintain a product or even whole product line. And I hate that. I’m willing to sign up for software-as-service. I think of it as renting tools. But my hardware? I bought it for its known properties. I bought it for its specific features. I bought it so it would keep doing what I needed it for. If it stops working because the software is gone, what did I actually own, then? In this episode of The Full Nerd  In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Will Smith hash out their feelings about the weekend’s RDNA 1 and 2 driver support debacle and how many Windows PC games run Linux now. On the AMD front, Brad pulls out what he thinks AMD meant to say, but can’t. Meanwhile, I get fussy about chart interpretations and headlines. Not hatin’ on Linux, just the implied takeaway in the coverage. Oh, and I get to show everyone my latest fashion acquisition. Is it fashionable? No. Am I pleased that I had a good reason to own AMD-branded socks? Kind of yes. (Very yes.)(Full disclosure: The socks were a gift from one Adam Patrick Murray. I have a whole collection of various tech-branded ones from him, possibly because I’ve talked about buying socks during Black Friday so often over the years.) Willis Lai / Foundry Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time! Don’t miss out on our NEW shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries and The Full Nerd: Extra Edition now! And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds.  This week’s stirring nerd news Might have to start handling memory with this much care, given how expensive it is to replace any that goes bad or dies.IDG Thanks to the AMD Radeon hullabaloo, everything else feels relatively quiet—despite being noteworthy. AMD CPUs helped the company hit new records, for starters. And I got pretty invested in not one, but two different robot vacuum stories. Also, I realized I’ve failed to adequately sound the alarm when giving buying advice in the last week or so. Some component prices already hurt, and it got bad so fast. (Hopefully you don’t need more memory any time soon.) Proving a point: In stark contrast to the Radeon side of things, AMD’s Ryzen CPUs remain steady, propelling Team Red to loftier and loftier heights—desktop CPU share has climbed almost 10 percentage points since 2024, according to CEO Dr. Lisa Su. This is some bull$*(%: Not the engineering to bring the robot vacuum back online, but the manufacturer’s decision to remotely brick the device. (Also, this is why we use guest networks for IoT devices.) Filed under “Asked if they could, not if they should”: Look, I’m just as guilty of doing things just to see if it’s possible. I still snort-laughed about squeezing an operating system so small, it becomes unusable. Science + efficiency = I click: Humans creating better ways to deal (and reuse) the materials they create? Sounds good to me. How far the Internet’s come: From data dropouts that cause typos to memes that load in bare seconds. (Can’t say we’ve used the improvements for best impact, but that’s a thought for another day.) Venus’s mysteries will remain so to us for a while longer.Planet Volumes / Unsplash Enjoy your privacy, fair Venus: The loss of the last remaining satellite is sad for us. I’m telling myself a planet named for the goddess of love probably needs a break from prying eyes for a bit, though. I really want to know about the 5% of humans who failed: Were they distracted during Butter Bench? Was their native language different than how the benchmark was administered? Did they just not care? And yes, I did feel kind of bad about this robo vacuum’s internal meltdown. We’ve all been there, buddy. I needed this 15 years ago: A black & white mode for Google Maps to eke out that much more battery life from a dying phone? Better late than never, I guess. (Though it’s not officially real yet.) Ouch, that hurt faster than expected: Memory prices have shot up abruptly—and it’s not just DDR4 affected. If you need more RAM right now, gird yourself for as much as 100 percent (or more) price increases. I don’t think Black Friday will save us from this. I have a secret—I’m apparently one of the lone people who likes the “fall back” to Standard Time in the U.S. The early dark evenings make stew and soups feel perfect. (Definitely come share your favorite recipes with me in The Full Nerd Discord’s #food-chat channel.) Catch you all next week! ~Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld. Read...

Ho ho ho, is it Christmas already? In Battlefield 6, the snow is falling on the brand new Manhattan map Empire State, jingle bells are blaring from the speakers and it feels like a nice flashback to The Division. It was snowing in New York there too — and it was utilized in a smart way. In Battlefield‘s version, we can anticipate enemy movements better because we can see footprints in the snow. And there is an ice axe. I wonder if we can use it to climb up the icy Brooklyn Bridge? Or what has DICE come up with here? We’ll find out from 9 December, but Season 1 is already in full swing! Here are 10 pro tips for staying at the top of the leaderboard in Battlefield 6 . Like Bruce Willis, we’re celebrating Christmas in the Big Apple this year with Battlefield 6 and DICE is promising a whole host of new gameplay features. Cold and heat are set to play a major role..Foundry 10 pro tips for Battlefield 6 Season 1 Glistening HDR sunshine and the royal blue pool invite you to relax in this magnificent villa neighbourhood. It’s just a shame that Bradley armoured personnel carriers are already starting to blow down the palm trees and redecorate the roofs. Foundry The Golden State Eastwood map is reminiscent of Beverly Hills: finely manicured gardens, huge mansions, the main house of which is connected to guest houses on the left and right and really big. The vehicle fleet includes 2 helicopters, 3 tanks, 3 troop transporters and 12 golf carts. Pro Tip 1: Golf carts are the ultimate tank killers The Hollywood map introduces golf carts, which are amazingly efficient. Because they have four seats: One drives, one shoots forwards, at the back two soldiers can hedge to the sides or repair the vehicle with a soldering iron. It’s not armored and offers no protection, but it’s pretty fast. We can really speed around with it. If an Apache chases us, the two squad members in the back each unpack their rocket launchers and try their luck with the unguided rockets. This works even better with the FIM 92 Stinger, which fires heat-guided missiles. Experienced squads even transform their golf cart into a real tank killer: if we speed towards a Leopard battle tank or M1 Abrams M4 from the side, the machine gunner usually needs a few seconds to aim at us. Meanwhile, we already land the first RPG hit. If we now race past the tank at full speed, the two soldiers behind can also fire a rocket. Three RPG hits will blow up any armored vehicle and score a lot of points. A tank kill like this earns 400 XP. Pro Tip 2: The new Traverser APC is a mobile fortress with 3 MG guns and perfect for capturing flags The Traverser Mark 2 is the new APC (Armoured Personal Carrier) and has some of the best armour in all of Battlefield. It is significantly faster than a main battle tank, but also needs three direct RPG hits. The driver and three passengers are also protected by thick armoured glass. You can kill the driver with a sniper, but assault rifles have little effect. As the Traverser has a remote-controlled machine gun turret, which the Gunner operates from the safe protection of the armored SUV, machine gunners are much better protected than in the Bradley or main battle tank. As two additional gunners with mini-guns can also cover the flanks on the left and right, there is currently no better vehicle in Battlefield 6 for capturing and guarding flags. We simply smash through the walls of the large main villa and can use the three MG guns to provide 360-degree cover. Pro Tip 3: Season 1 brings Smart Rockets that can be steered around corners with the mouse Golden Eastwood should make everyone happy who longs for larger city maps: The villas are arranged along a long street and are each separated by golf courses, tennis courts or smaller hills. Foundry Golden State Eastwood is one of the largest maps in Battlefield 6 and winds its way through a complete residential area on the outskirts of Los Angeles, including tennis courts, a golf course and plenty of pools. There is a mountain range at the edges, helicopter pilots can hide from the many RPG units here, because rockets are zooming towards us from virtually every balcony on Eastwood and the skybox is relatively low. So we can’t avoid the high ground. However, we can fly low and use the new Smart Rockets – laser-guided missiles that we can aim with the mouse. This also works behind houses or mountain ranges. DICE has probably added this function because helicopter pilots have complained about the very limited types of attack. With Apaches, for example, you had to dive to launch in order to land missile hits. An Apache is not really a dive bomber and the low overflights make it difficult to defend the helicopter from the many RPG units everywhere. Los Angeles will most likely be the Battle Royale map, and we’re looking forward to it: Battlefield 6 needs more variety in architecture, colour palette and how terrain is used. Foundry Pro Tip 4: The new DMR Mini Scout is surprisingly effective against helicopters The new DMR will come as quite a surprise to some: It can be used to pluck helicopters out of the sky with just a few hits. Foundry Quite exciting: the new DMR Sniper Mini Scout is surprisingly efficient against helicopters: three direct hits and the Black Hawk crashes. Apart from that, it is optimized for quick-scoping, i.e. aiming is particularly fast and we don’t have to leave the scope when reloading. A surprising bonus from DICE, because the BF6 maps are heaven for snipers anyway. There’s no need to make it any easier for snipers. Tip 5: The Traverser APC serves as a mobile spawn point for the whole squad The new APC (Armoured Personal Carrier) can be upgraded to a mobile command station. This allows us to capture points more quickly. Extremely practical, because the Traverser can withstand 3 RPGs or several frontal hits with a tank. Foundry The new Traverser APC is not only heavily armored, DICE has also come up with a number of upgrade paths. For example, we can install a medbay, i.e. a mobile infirmary. This is extremely exciting because it not only replenishes the health of all soldiers in the MRAP relatively quickly, but also in our immediate vicinity. If other units use our armored troop carrier as cover, for example to fend off an enemy assault on a flag, their health is continuously replenished. Not as fast as if they were in the vehicle, but it works. Pro tip 6: The B flag at the golf course has enough space to capture it quickly with a helicopter Right at the starting point, the best helicopter pilot in the squad should grab the Black Hawk and fly it to the B flag at the golf course. The Eastwood map is quite densely built up overall, so helicopter pilots must be able to fly very low. However, the B flag is too far away for the enemy squad at the beginning, so you can take it quite easily with a short landing. One of the squad should definitely pack the Stinger, as the only danger is from the enemy Tiger helicopter on the Pax Armata side. A landed Black Hawk is sitting on a platter and cannot shoot down any Flairs. Pro tip 7: Golf carts are the new C4 buggies and brilliant for Battlefield moments Although golf carts offer no protection, they are very maneuverable. With good timing, for example, we can race over a hill, grab the C4, jump out – press the button and boom goes the Leopard.Foundry In our Battlefield 6 guide, we already mentioned that the Traverser Mark 2 is one of the biggest threats to infantry. It is significantly more maneuverable and faster than a main battle tank, but has similar firepower and almost as strong armor. Accordingly, DICE has built in the ultimate counter: the C4 golf cart. The ingenious thing about it is that C4 only activates when we press the button. So we can stick C4 packs to the front, shoot over a hill, fly towards a tank, jump out and only then press the button to turn every armored vehicle into a wall of fire. Ideally, we should crash into the rear of the Traverser, as this is where it is least heavily armored. Pro Tip 8: Fly like in Top Gun Maverick: fighter jets win dogfights with rollovers There’s that iconic scene in Top Gun Maverick where Tom Cruise brakes his F18E Super Hornet in mid-air, pulls the bird up and sits behind his opponent with a rollover. We can also do this in Battlefield 6 by braking and firing the afterburner at the same time – this is called Thrust Vectoring. We can use this to fly very tight turns, for example to keep a flag point under fire for a longer period of time. And also to win dogfights. However, the whole thing also has a disadvantage, because this maneuver puts the entire width of the jet in the air for a short time – for experienced RPG gunners, this means we offer a maximum attack surface. Pro tip 9: Whoever fires their flares first loses This pro tip isn’t the most polite, but this is Battlefield after all. As soon as we lock on to an enemy fighter jet or helicopter, it receives a missile warning. Most pilots fire their flares straight away. So if we wait until they fire their flares and then send the missile on its way, the enemy has no time to react. Pro tip 10: Did someone say C4 drone? Okay, we still have one slightly dirty trick: up to four C4 packets can be placed on the drone. That’s pretty nasty when we use them to crash into the flag point on the Hollywood map in the villa. These have enough explosive power to cause the upper floor to collapse. Depending on how many opponents are guarding this point, several squads can be eliminated with one attack. Incidentally, this also works wonderfully when the enemy uses the new Traverser APC as a mobile fortress: simply land on the roof while driving, press the button – BOOM. Read...

According to flood maps released by Earth Sciences NZ last week, one in seven Kiwis live in a flood zone. Read...

If you’re looking for some websites to cure boredom, two that will do that are City Guesser and GeoGuesser. They’re geographical guessing games. Let’s take a look at them below. City Guesser This website lets you play a game whereby you get to watch a video of a city somewhere in the world and you have to guess where it is by looking at your screen. You can choose the starting country. The videos are good quality so if you know your locations you have a good chance of guessing the correct city. The game will show you how close you were to your guess. Dominic Bayley / Foundry GeoGuesser If you go to this website and login and play the free daily game, you’ll be dropped in a random part of the world in Google Maps. You then have to work out where you are from moving around and reading the street signs. When you think you know where you are, click on the country and location you think you’re in on the world map. The game will show you how close you were to your guess—the closer you are the more points you score. Dominic Bayley / Foundry That’s a wrap for this edition of Try This. For more recommendations like these be sure to subscribe to our Try This newsletter. Read...

TL;DR: Get a lifetime license to Microsoft Visio Professional 2021 for Windows for just $14.97 (MSRP $249.99) and bring clarity to complex data with powerful templates, shapes, and collaboration tools designed for professionals. If you’ve ever tried explaining a process using just bullet points, you know how fast people tune out. Microsoft Visio Professional 2021 aims to change that — helping you turn data into visuals that actually make sense. And right now, it’s yours for a one-time price of $14.97 (MSRP: $249.99). From org charts and floor plans to technical diagrams and brainstorming maps, Visio gives you dozens of templates and thousands of customizable shapes to transform any workflow into a visual masterpiece. It’s especially handy for project managers, engineers, IT pros, designers, or business owners who need to share information quickly and clearly. With collaboration features, touch-screen drawing support, and live data linking from Excel or Microsoft 365, Visio makes it easy to keep your team on the same page. You can go from explaining your ideas to showing them, and that’s the difference between being heard and being understood. Get lifetime access to MS Visio Pro 2021 while it’s just $14.97 (MSRP $249.99). Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional: Lifetime License for WindowsSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

The robotic vacuum market is crowded with devices that promise automation but often fall short when it comes to true adaptability and long-term hygiene. Dreame’s Aqua10 Ultra Roller stands out by addressing both challenges head-on: smarter navigation powered by NVIDIA’s AI stack and a re-engineered mop system designed to keep itself as clean as the floors it scrubs. Looking at its features in depth, it’s clear this isn’t just an incremental update but one of the most ambitious robotic cleaners yet. Navigation: NVIDIA-powered AstroVision™ Most robots rely on simple LiDAR or front cameras for navigation. The Aqua10 Ultra Roller upgrades this with AstroVision™ obstacle intelligence, combining dual HD AI cameras with NVIDIA Isaac Sim training. The cameras capture depth to form 3D maps with 1mm precision, and reinforcement learning helps the robot recognize and adapt to dynamic environments. In practice, this translates into fewer collisions and smoother routing around furniture. Dreame highlights support for 240+ object categories, with features like Active Pet Avoidance and Chaos-Proof Routing—ideal in homes where toys, pet bowls, and clutter shift constantly. The Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller MSRP is $1,599.99. From October 13 to October 31, U.S. and Canadian consumers can get an extra 5% off with code DMPWAQUANA on Amazon and the Dreame website. Dreame Carpet strategy: flexible and customizable Vacuum-mop hybrids typically struggle with carpets. Dreame addresses this with a multi-layered carpet strategy that feels more like a system than a patch: Carpet identification: Users can mark all carpeted zones—even irregular ones—in the app for accurate detection. Suction boost: The main brush, roller mop, and side brush all lift when crossing carpets, while suction power intensifies for a deeper clean. Carpet cleaning first: A scheduling option lets the robot vacuum carpets before moving to wet cleaning tasks. The combination works well for mixed-floor homes, especially those with both wall-to-wall carpets and small rugs. Dreame’s AutoSeal™ Roller Guard also prevents mop water from seeping into carpet fibers—a rare feature that directly solves a common frustration. Dreame Low-space cleaning: VersaLift™ LDS sensor One standout innovation is VersaLift™, a retractable LiDAR system that allows the robot to maintain spatial awareness in both open and low-clearance environments. Raised, it scans wide areas efficiently. Retracted, it relies on its dual AI cameras with LED lighting to continue mapping under beds and sofas. This approach makes the Aqua10 Ultra Roller one of the few robots that can reliably clean under low furniture without losing its bearings. Dreame claims 100% accuracy in positioning and obstacle avoidance in these scenarios, which, based on early testing, isn’t far-fetched. Dreame Mop technology: clean mop, clean floor Where Dreame really differentiates itself is mop hygiene. Many hybrid robots simply drag a damp cloth until it’s dirty, effectively spreading grime. The Aqua10 Ultra Roller introduces a real-time fresh water circulation system combined with industry-first mop technologies. Continuous fresh water: A 12-nozzle system sprays clean water onto the roller while a scraper removes dirty water, which is pumped into a separate tank. FluffRoll™ module: A counter-rotating roller running at 1000rpm keeps mop fibers loose and effective at lifting dried-on dirt. ThermoHub™ 212°F self-cleaning: At the dock, the mop undergoes high-temperature washing to dissolve grease and sanitize fibers, followed by 158°F hot-air drying to prevent mildew. This is safe for everyone as after cleaning the washboard’s PTC system temperature automatically drops to a safe level before the robot leaves the base station. AutoSeal™ Roller Guard: Automatically prevents dripping when moving onto carpets. In effect, the robot is always mopping with a clean surface. This not only improves stain removal but also reduces odors and contamination—a major upgrade for hygiene-focused users. Mixed-flooring and mobility: AgiLift™ and ProLeap™ Mobility is another area where Dreame has gone further than most competitors. The Triple-Wheel AgiLift™ chassis dynamically adjusts wheel height for smoother transitions between tiles, hardwood, and rugs. For more complex terrain like door sills, the ProLeap™ retractable leg system lifts the chassis, with sensors calculating the safest ascent and descent angles. These systems reduce the chances of the robot getting stuck mid-task, a frequent frustration with lower-end models. The integration of shock absorption also helps it run more quietly despite its 30,000Pa Vormax™ suction, which is near the top of the industry. Dreame Edge and corner cleaning Corners and edges remain tricky for many robotic vacuums, but Dreame takes a two-pronged approach: MopExtend™: Extends the roller mop by 40mm to cover wall edges. SideReach™ Brush: Extends and retracts over 10mm to sweep into corners while avoiding contamination of freshly mopped areas. Combined with StereoEdge™ obstacle recognition, the robot is noticeably better at navigating cables, books, or pens that often derail less capable bots. Lifestyle and ecosystem features On top of cleaning, Dreame has layered in features that reflect modern smart-home expectations. Matter protocol support ensures compatibility across ecosystems, while direct voice control simplifies operation. Pet owners also benefit from real-time monitoring, automatic pet activity hotspot cleaning, and even pet vlogs, which use the robot’s cameras to capture and compile clips. Intelligent home cleaning The Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller isn’t just an iterative update—it rethinks the fundamentals of robotic vacuum-mop design. AstroVision™ AI navigation handles cluttered and dynamic environments with precision, while its multi-stage mop self-cleaning system sets a new standard for hygiene. Add in intelligent carpet care, under-furniture cleaning, and obstacle-crossing agility, and you get one of the most comprehensive solutions available. The Aqua10 Ultra Roller delivers genuine value where it matters: true adaptability and consistently clean results. For homes with mixed flooring, pets, or high traffic, it’s one of the most compelling robot cleaners on the market today. 5% Dreame discount with code DMPWAQUANA View Discount Read...

TL;DR: Hurry — Microsoft Visio Professional 2021 for Windows is now only $9.97 (reg. $249.99), but this deal won’t last long.We have all struggled to map out a new process in PowerPoint or wasted hours piecing together visuals manually. Visio is the solution. This Microsoft tool is built specifically for creating professional-grade diagrams, with minimal effort. Visio provides access to a wide selection of templates and thousands of shapes, enabling you to quickly create flowcharts, organizational charts, network maps, floor plans, and more. You can even connect diagrams directly to data sources, generate visuals from Excel, and annotate with a stylus or touchscreen for faster collaboration. Engineers, analysts, project managers, and IT professionals can also leverage Visio’s support for standards such as BPMN 2.0 and UML 2.5, making it an integral part of many technical workflows. Get Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional for $9.97 (MSRP $249.99). This 96% markdown is only available until October 19. Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional: Lifetime License for WindowsSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Achieving that perfectly manicured lawn is a whole lot less time-consuming now that a robot can do the job for you. Over the long term, a robot lawn mower will cost a whole lot less than hiring a landscaper—and it won’t expect a tip every week and during the winter holidays. Top-of-the-line robot mowers cost a pretty penny, but they can climb slopes and handle very large yards (we’re talking acres of grass). While early robot lawn mowers required you to lay down a boundary wire to prevent them from wandering out of your yard, each of the mowers listed here uses advanced navigation technology to eliminate the need for any wires. We’ve already spotted some terrific robot lawn mowers deals ahead of next week’s Amazon Prime Big Deal Days, and we expect plenty more as Amazon’s two-day shopping event gets underway. Just remember that the sale runs for just two days–Tuesday October 8 and Wednesday October 9–so don’t wait too long to scoop up the best discounts. Another choice for smaller yards, the Ecovacs GOAT O1000 RTKcan handle up to 1/4 acres of lawn, and it’s on sale for just $785, a 22% discount. We recommend you take advantage of this deal, especially if you own other Ecovacs products. Anthbot says its Genie 600 robot lawn mower uses AI to avoid obstacles as it mows lawns up to .22 acres (9,583 sq ft). And since it relies on GPS technology for navigation, it doesn’t require a boundary wire. You can clip a coupon at Amazon to get a $200 discount on the mower, bringing its final price down to $789. You’ll need a robot mower with a powerful motor and all-wheel drive–the Mowrator S1 is shown here–to tackle a sloped yard.Ed Oswald/Foundry We’re in the midst of testing the UBHome M10, just in time for a significant sale on Amazon. While this mower’s GPS has somewhat finicky at times, it mows as well, if not better, than some robots priced much higher. Right now, you can score this mower for $1,099, a 27% discount after clipping a $200 coupon. That’s the best deal we’ve seen on Amazon this year. The Eufy Robot Lawn Mower E15 can handle lawns up to .2 acres in size (8,712 sq ft) and is getting a generous 39% discount on Prime Day, dropping its price tag to $1,400. Need more coverage? The Eufy Robot Lawn Mower E18 can tackle lawns up to .3 acres (13,068 sq ft), and it can climb up to an 18-degree incline. You can pick one up for $1,700–a 35% discount off its $2,600 MSRP. Segway’s H-series mowers are also on sale. Launched in 2023, these predecessors to the Segway i-series mowers (we tested the i110n) are still very capable. They’re rated to handle larger yards and have slightly better slope capabilities, although with slightly less accurate navigation. The .38-acre Segway Navimow H1500N-VF is on sale for $1,599, a 27% discount, while the .74-acre Navimow H3000N-VF is gets a 23% discount to $1,999. While any of the above options would be more than sufficient for most yards and uses, there are those of us who might find these options a little pedestrian. Well, we’ve spotted a few deals for you, too. The Mowrator immediately comes to mind. Since we tested the original all-wheel drive model, a 2WD model, the S1 AWD was launched. While stock is limited, a $370 coupon is available on Amazon, reducing its price to $2,129–a 15% discount. If that’s not enough for you, select configurations of the Yarbo multi-purpose yard robot also have special promotional coupons available through Amazon. The Yarbo Core + Snowblower Module bundle is available with a $300 coupon, bringing its price down to $4,699. A $300 coupon is also available for the Yarbo Core + Snowblower + Lawn Mower bundle, which reduces the price for the robot and two accessories to $5,829. If you already own the Yarbo Core, the Snowblower Module is on sale for $1,199 after you clip a $100 coupon during Prime Big Deal Days. That’s not much more than most equally sized push snowblowers at your local home improvement store. We’ll update this list as we find new deals during Amazon’s October Prime Day 2025 sale. And if you’re looking to save money on more of the latest technology, visit PCWorld’s Amazon Prime Day Tech Deals 2025 hub. Frequently asked questions about buying a robot lawn mower 1. I’ve seen numerous acronyms in robot mower product descriptions. What do they mean? AWD and RWD are the most obvious. Most mowers will be rear-wheel-drive (RWD), but more expensive mowers come in all-wheel-drive (AWD) models. RTK stands for Real-Time Kinematic Positioning. This technology helps correct for errors present in GPS, due to the movement of the mower itself. RTK mowers will be more accurate in positioning than those that rely on GPS alone. LiDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging, and uses laser pulses to detect obstructions and reference points by measuring the amount of reflection back. Mowers with LiDAR will have superior low-light and nighttime mowing capabilities. AI, or artificial intelligence, is also increasingly found in robot mowers. The application will vary. While some mowers use it to better detect obstacles, some mowers take it even further and learn and adjust over time using ML, or machine learning. 2. What does the yard capacity really mean? Manufacturers measure the maximum capacity by the amount of yard a robot mower can cover over 24 hours, including idle time from charging. In other words, if you had your robot in operation continuously, the maximum capacity is the amount of mowing it could do. There are a few key points to keep in mind. First, your property acreage includes land occupied by other structures and obstructions (such as your house, trees, garden, pavement, etc.). Additionally, you do not want your robot mower to work continuously, as it will shorten its usable life significantly. The trick is to find the happy medium between the actual acreage of the grass on your lawn and the capacity of your robot mower. Using tools like Google Maps can also help you estimate your yard space better. 3. I have a lot of trees or obstructions in my yard. Is a robot mower going to work? Not if your mower is based primarily or entirely on GPS positioning, unless you have a place to put the GPS antenna above those obstructions. In this case, we’d recommend a mower like the Eufy E15, Eufy E18, or Ecovacs GOAT A3000 (or any mower that uses vision for navigation). 4. Do I need to lay down boundary wire? Not anymore. Robot mower technology has advanced far enough that even the most affordable mowers are now boundary-wire-free. We’ve removed boundary-wire mowers from our recommendations based on our experience. You should keep in mind that not all boundary-wire-free mowers are equal: we recommend models that use more than just GPS to navigate your yard for the best (and most problem-free) results. 5. I like the idea of controlling my mower, versus letting it run around autonomously, but the price of the Mowrator series is nuts. Are there any other remote-controlled options? We’re not sure if Mowrator was the catalyst, but such a feature has become quite common in mowers we’ve tested in the past year or two. Mammotion and UBHome both offer this feature at about half the price. You should bear in mind, however, that the Mowrator is controlled by an RF remote. These other options are controlled through your Wi-Fi network, which will not be as responsive. 6. I hear robot mowers are temperamental. Is that true? Yes, but nowhere near the degree as we’ve seen in previous years. Of all the mowers we tested this season, only one has had serious issues. In previous years, there were multiple. To minimize this, we recommend following the manufacturer’s instructions and not pushing the limits of your mower until you understand how it handles your yard. While we’ve moved out of the “early adopter” phase, the state of the art is not yet perfect. We’ll update this list as we find new deals during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days. And if you’re looking to save money on more of the latest technology, visit PCWorld’s Amazon Prime Big Deal Days hub. Remember, you need to have an Amazon Prime membership to score Prime Big Deal Days deals, but you can sign up for a free trial if you’re not. This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best robot lawn mowers. Read...

Perplexity’s Comet is the most advanced AI browser right now, and it’s actually pretty cool. You can watch the browser’s built-in AI perform actions in real time, like clicking buttons on web pages and navigating between links. Yet while Comet might be a foretaste of the future of web browsing, it’s not quite what it’s hyped up to be. I’ve been playing around with Comet on Windows for a few weeks now… and it leaves me wanting. You can use Comet right now with a Perplexity Pro subscription for $20/month, but read this before you spend cash on it. Comet’s AI can browse the web for you Comet’s hallmark feature is unique among AI browsers right now. Yes, it does have “standard AI browser” features like an AI sidebar that summarizes content, a voice mode that lets you speak with Perplexity’s LLMs, and a Perplexity chat box on the New Tab page. But the core feature here is that you can open Comet’s chat experience and then say something like: “Hey, control my web browser and do something.” Research flights, plan travel, find products to buy—nearly anything is possible, and Comet will actually do it for you. Chris Hoffman / Foundry There’s something weirdly magical about opening Google Maps, telling Comet to research and plan a route for you, and watching in real time as it reasons through the process of clicking buttons, typing text, and interacting with the web page. You can see it all happen right before your eyes—and when the AI is controlling a page, you’ll see a blue border around it to let you know. You’ll see how the AI reasoning model talks to itself as it walks through the task, and you can interrupt it at any time. I may have gripes with Comet, but none of them take away from how cool it is to see this agentic AI browser in action the first time. This is a glimpse of the future. Nearly every web browser—apart from Vivaldi—will be following in Comet’s footsteps, whether we like it or not. Comet’s AI browsing can be pretty slow Once you get over how magical the technology seems, the limitations quickly become apparent. This is true for large language models in general, but it’s especially true with Comet. As I watch every task completed by the agentic AI, I realize how much faster it would be to just do all the clicking and navigating myself. Watching the AI use Google Maps is fun, but it quickly loses its luster when you’re one minute into a task and get outputs like: “Oops, I entered the address, but I didn’t hit backspace first to clear the box. I’ll need to erase the text in the box, and then type the address again.” It can be surprisingly slow. You’d save time by doing the browsing yourself, or even just using a more traditional AI chatbot that isn’t built into your web browser. Prompting ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, or even Perplexity itself for information can be faster—it’s just smoother to let the AI focus on compiling and synthesizing data instead of commandeering the browser and navigating user interfaces. In a nutshell, agentic AI is cool but not quite as useful as it sounds. The typical AI chatbot experience still comes out ahead. The AI can access your websites… as you Many websites block access to AI tools, so the conventional AI chatbot search experience can’t always get the job done. But when the AI model has access to your browser, it can use those websites on your behalf. Even if a website requires you to sign in, Comet can use it—as long as you’re sign in to the site before Comet starts navigating it. That’s a huge advantage over the classic AI chatbot search experience. An AI browser can do a lot more with the web, and you can see exactly what it’s doing and take over whenever you like. But it also means that any exploit could directly affect your browser and your data. Comet is vulnerable to LLM exploits Large language models are vulnerable to something called “prompt injections,” which can happen whenever the LLM is made to process and interpret text. The problem is that when text is fed into an LLM, it isn’t always clear whether that text is from you or elsewhere. For example, an LLM might process and analyze the source code of a web page to perform some kind of task. But the source code of a web page could potentially include hidden prompt instructions designed to hijack an AI that’s analyzing the source code. The LLM can’t distinguish the hidden prompt in the source code from the source code itself. In other words, that hidden prompt was injected into the source code, and the AI will be none the wiser. Hence, prompt injection attack. Chris Hoffman / Foundry Security researchers at Guardio found that Comet was vulnerable to attacks like this, and that it could be tricked into falling for phishing scams while online shopping. Security researchers from Brave also found that Comet was vulnerable to indirect prompt injection attacks. Here’s the wildest part from Brave’s blog post: “The vulnerability we’re discussing in this post lies in how Comet processes webpage content: when users ask it to ‘Summarize this webpage,’ Comet feeds a part of the webpage directly to its LLM without distinguishing between the user’s instructions and untrusted content from the webpage. This allows attackers to embed indirect prompt injection payloads that the AI will execute as commands.” Did you catch that? It’s not that Comet’s protections against prompt injection were bypassed, but rather that Comet (in its initial release) didn’t even have prompt injection protections that tried to distinguish between trusted user instructions and untrusted web page data sent to the AI model (at least with the summarization function). This sort of thing is a known problem with large language models. While Comet now has better protections against this, it’s unclear how good those safeguards are. Comet hasn’t been properly battle-tested. Other agentic AI browsing solutions—like ChatGPT’s agent mode—interact with websites by loading those websites in their own browser in the cloud apart from your data. Even when those LLMs are exploited by prompt injection attacks, at least the damage is somewhat limited. But when the AI has access to everything in your browser—as is the case with Perplexity’s Comet—the risk goes up by quite a bit. From what I can tell, it seems like Perplexity is “moving fast and breaking things” while competitors are at least paying attention to security before launching. Comet is minimal and uncluttered… Comet is focused on AI browsing—and that’s it. You’re getting a clean, uncluttered Chromium browser. It has AI integration, yes, but aside from that it’s stripped down and doesn’t get in your way. Chris Hoffman / Foundry It’s not like using Microsoft Edge, for example. Microsoft’s Edge browser is built on the same Chromium codebase that powers Google Chrome and Comet, but Edge packs in a lot of its own bloat: a New Tab page cluttered with viral junk, a sidebar with links to MSN web games, various shopping tools, and so many other features that I personally can’t stand it. I greatly enjoy the lightweight, stripped-down Chromium experience presented by Comet. Apart from the AI, it’s pretty sleek. …but maybe too minimal? Right off the bat, you’ll notice that Comet doesn’t come in mobile app form. Want to use the same browser on your PC and your phone? With Comet, you can’t—at least not yet. But the problem goes further than that. Even with Comet installed on multiple PCs, it doesn’t yet offer the ability to sync data between multiple PCs. For someone like myself, who regularly switches between desktop PC and laptop while also reviewing many laptops for PCWorld, this is a huge shortcoming and obstacle for daily use. It’s 2025. I need my web browsers (and AI tools) to sync my data between devices, and I can’t be bothered to manually copy or migrate data. I don’t want to be asking myself “Wait, which PC did I have that conversation on?” if I need to dig up an AI chat log. Is that too much to ask for? I mean, I don’t think so… Even if I thought Comet was perfect aside from this—and I don’t—the lack of cross-device sync means Comet just isn’t an option as a day-to-day driver for me yet. Perplexity is working on it, but if sync is important to you, save your $20 until they eventually get it rolled out. Here’s my current verdict on Comet Comet doesn’t feel designed to be your day-to-day browser—as it is right now, it’s more of a flashy demo. Whether it’s the animated video intro or the way Comet was vulnerable to known LLM exploits at launch, it feels like it was primarily made to position Perplexity for acquisition by an even bigger company (like Apple, maybe?). Even the $5-per-month Comet Plus subscription that gives revenue back to publishers who are affected by AI feels more like a PR move to warm up feelings around Perplexity’s brand than a serious long-term solution. (That might sound overly cynical, but I stand by the statement.) Comet is incredibly cool, don’t get me wrong. It’s the first time you can experience agentic AI browsing in action on your PC. But it just isn’t ready to replace the web browser you already trust with everything you do online. It’s a gimmick and it wears off quickly. If you’re interested in Comet, you should give it a try—as no more than a secondary browser. It may be the future, but it isn’t there yet. Subscribe to Chris Hoffman’s newsletter, The Windows Readme, for more Windows PC tips, tricks, and experiments. Read...

TL;DR: Organize your tasks, notes, and projects with Pagico, on sale now for $40. Trying to stay on top of tasks, deadlines, notes, and files is frustrating, and it doesn’t get easier when you have to use a different app for each one. Pagico puts all your work into one place so you can finally organize your projects, stay focused, and actually finish what you start. It’s also on sale right now. A lifetime subscription to Pagico is normally $137, but now it’s only $39.99. Pagico combines task tracking, note-taking, document storage, and project planning in a single workspace. You can create task lists, write detailed notes, attach files, set deadlines, and track progress across all your projects. Everything lives in one clean, connected dashboard, so you’re not digging through folders or bouncing between tools. Instead of showing tasks as a plain list, Pagico gives you a visual timeline. You can see what’s due, what’s coming up, and how everything fits together. There’s also a built-in day planner that helps you focus on a few important tasks each day, so your to-do list actually feels manageable. You can add extra tools like Pomodoro timers, world clocks, quotes, or maps directly into your project views. Your data is stored locally for privacy and speed, but you also get 4GB of personal cloud storage to sync your work across multiple devices. All transfers are encrypted, and unused cloud data is automatically deleted. Time to get organized. Right now, it’s only $39.99 to get a Pagico Personal Premium Lifetime Subscription. Pagico Personal Premium Plan: Lifetime SubscriptionSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...