Haunga ano nga whakakata, he wa taumaha tenei i Poneke. I tera wiki tonu, ka ki mai tetahi tangata e noho tata ana ki Lyall Bay ki a au, ka karamuimui mai nga rango i te takutai. Read...

A councillor who put tape over his mouth before being removed from a meeting, is unrepentant and believes he is owed an apology. Read...

When you’re getting a new monitor, there are quite a few things to take into consideration, starting with the price but also its size, panel, and overall viewing experience. If you’re ready to level up from 21, 24, or even 27 inches, then here’s a deal for you: Samsung’s 34-inch ultrawide is only $230 right now (was $330) on Amazon. This isn’t some dinky monitor from an unknown brand. It’s a tried-and-true Samsung display with a spacious-but-not-too-large 34-inch diagonal, offering plenty of screen real estate to be productive in every way. The 3440×1440 ultrawide 21:9 resolution is almost like having two 1440p monitor side-by-side (but no annoying bezel down the middle), which is great whether you’re working, streaming, or gaming. Save 30% on this Samsung 1440p ultrawide Samsung 34-inch ViewFinity S50GC Ultrawide Monitor Best Prices Today: $229.99 at Amazon To be fair, this isn’t the best monitor for avid gamers. The 100Hz refresh rate will be limiting if you have a powerful PC and the 5ms response time is slow if you play a lot of competitive multiplayer games. But it’s perfectly fine for casual gaming and it’s superb as a productivity display, especially with Picture-by-Picture and Picture-in-Picture modes (allowing input from two sources simultaneously). Other specs worth noting include 300 nits of brightness, HDR10 support for deeper contrast and vivid highlights, AMD FreeSync support for reduced image tearing while gaming, and three video inputs (dual HDMI 2.2 plus DisplayPort 1.2). It’s a solid option if you’re ready to step up to 34 inches of ultrawide goodness and don’t need tip-top gaming performance. Get it now for $230 while you can and save a hefty chunk of cash! If you need something more suitable for high-end gaming, check out our roundup of the best gaming monitors. Save $100 on Samsung`s awesome 34-inch 1440p ultrawide monitorBuy now at Amazon Read...

Microsoft has been promoting Edge Secure Network as of late, a built-in “VPN” solution for the Edge browser that’s intended to improve privacy and security while browsing the web. No extra apps, no subscriptions. Just free VPN support built right into Microsoft Edge. Turn on Secure Network VPN and browse with more confidence.  Learn more:https://t.co/lfkkWJJpJG… pic.twitter.com/sMVmy7hAp7— Microsoft Edge (@MicrosoftEdge) February 11, 2026 According to Microsoft, it “uses VPN technology to stop third parties and bad actors from accessing your sensitive information, so you can make purchases online, fill out forms, and keep your browsing activity away from prying eyes.” But that description of the feature was recently lambasted by Sooraj Sathyanarayanan on social media: I did a comprehensive security analysis of Microsoft Edge`s `Secure Network VPN.` Here`s what`s actually going on under the hood.Edge Secure Network is NOT a VPN. It`s an HTTP CONNECT proxy built on Cloudflare`s Privacy Proxy Platform. It only tunnels traffic inside the Edge… https://t.co/YkW0YE22bc— Sooraj (@iAnonymous3000) February 18, 2026 Sathyanarayanan, a cybersecurity and privacy researcher who works at Brave Software, writes: “Edge Secure Network is NOT a VPN. It’s an HTTP CONNECT proxy built on Cloudflare’s Privacy Proxy Platform. It only tunnels traffic inside the Edge browser. Every other application on your system, DNS queries, email clients, background services, OS updates, everything outside Edge is completely exposed.” To use Edge Secure Network, users must also be logged in with their Microsoft accounts, which could pose a threat to personal privacy. However, according to Microsoft, Cloudflare does not have access to users’ identities despite traffic flowing through its platform, nor will the partner inspect the traffic itself, reports Windows Latest. Read...

If ChatGPT’s $20-a-month Plus plan is cramping your style but the $200-a-month Pro plan sounds like overkill, there’s growing evidence of a cheaper ChatGPT Pro tier that would split the difference. An AI developer poking around ChatGPT’s web app code recently found a “checkout page” string that references a “ChatGPT Pro Lite” plan, with the price pegged at $100 a month. The checkout string has yet to be activated. The plan description on a subsequent checkout page merely details the existing ChatGPT Pro plan but is “likely still a work in progress,” developer Tibor Blaho noted on X. Checking the ChatGPT web app code for myself on Monday, I too found several references to “PROLITE” and “chatgptprolite” on ChatGPT’s plan pricing page. Blaho, a lead engineer for prompt management tool AIPRM, had previously found hidden code suggesting that ads were coming to ChatGPT, which turned out to be true. I’ve reached out to ChatGPT parent OpenAI for comment. OpenAI currently offers four personal ChatGPT tiers, including a $20-a-month Plus plan and ChatGPT Pro for a much pricier $200 a month. There’s also the recently-launched $8-a-month Go plan and a free tier, both of which may serve ads along with ChatGPT’s responses. ChatGPT Plus typically gives regular users enought headroom for everyday tasks and chats, including image and video generation, memory of past conversations, and the ability to create custom GPTs. But more ambitious users and Codex-using vibe coders may quickly find themselves hitting ChatGPT’s usage limits. For them, the only option is a massive jump to the far pricier ChatGPT Pro tier. A $100 ChatGPT Lite would offer some much-needed middle ground between the $20-a-month ChatGPT Plus plan and the $200/month ChatGPT Pro tier. Gemini users are in a similar boat with Google’s AI plans, with a wide gulf between Google AI Pro for $20 a month and Google AI Ultra for a whopping $250 a month. Google also offers a paired-back AI Plus plan for $8/month and a free tier, similar for ChatGPT’s cheaper options. In contrast, Anthropic’s Claude does boast a middle ground for its pricier plans, with Claude Max offering a Max 5x tier (with roughly five times the limits of the $20-a-month Claude Pro plan) for $100 a month, while a Max x20 plan goes for $200 a month. Read...

If you’ve been following the chip market, you probably know that Nvidia has been working on Arm-based CPUs for a while, and it’s just about ready to hit the market. According to a new report, Nvidia-designed and MediaTek-fabricated chips will land in laptops from both Dell and Lenovo sometime in the first half of this year. So sayeth the Wall Street Journal, citing industry sources. While PCWorld can’t currently confirm that news, it lines up with Nvidia’s move into Arm-based chips for its self-branded DGX Spark industrial mini PCs and derivatives, plus leaks from Lenovo earlier this year that indicated Nvidia-powered variants for some of its Legion gaming laptops. We hadn’t heard that Nvidia was partnering with MediaTek for the fabrication of consumer-grade chips, but that also makes sense. Arm-based Windows laptops with their integrated graphics aren’t known for gaming prowess—in fact, it’s the Achilles heel of that particular market segment, with gaming support being a particular low point in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon laptop chips. But between Nvidia’s place in the gaming market (or at least the place it had before it became an all-AI, all-the-time company) and the Legion branding on those Lenovo leaks, it seems likely that gaming will at least be a component of the new marketing push. Microsoft has also been making some moves to get gaming on Arm-based hardware in a more comfortable position. The WSJ report indicates that these laptops will be launching very soon, though I wouldn’t be surprised if that “first half of the year” date slips a bit. Securing affordable RAM and storage isn’t easy for anyone right now, even Dell and Lenovo, so it’s a bad time for a big consumer hardware push. (Just ask Valve, who’s also working on Arm-based gaming hardware in the Steam Frame.) If I can put on my analyst hat, I’d say a big glitzy reveal should come around Computex in early June. Read...

Stuff went looking and found that just 14 of 75 main government departments are still on X. Read...

Microsoft has confirmed that Copilot can use data from other Microsoft services—such as Edge, Bing, and MSN—to customizn its responses and improve its memory feature, reports Windows Latest. There’s a new setting called “Microsoft usage data” under the Memory tab in Copilot’s web settings. The feature appears to be enabled by default and allows Copilot to use information from other Microsoft products to build a more personalized user profile. Microsoft states that the data is used solely for personalization and not for training the company’s AI models. Users who don’t want to share this type of data with Copilot can manually disable the feature. To delete information that has already been shared, you must also select the “Delete all memory” option. Read...

For many years, Windows has included built-in tools to help users manage their computer’s energy consumption. While these features were once mainly associated with laptops, recent updates to Windows 11 have expanded their usefulness to desktop PCs as well. Originally, these power options allowed laptop users to reduce energy consumption and extend battery life. When power-saving mode was activated, Windows lowered the CPU clock speed, reduced screen brightness, and limited certain background activities. On laptops, users could even enable the energy-saving mode permanently to maximize battery life. get windows 11 pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro With one of the latest Windows 11 updates, Microsoft has extended this feature to desktop PCs without batteries. These systems can now also be configured to permanently reduce energy consumption. You can find the corresponding option in the Settings menu via Start > Settings > System > Performance. Under Power Saving Mode, simply set the switch for “Always use power saving mode” to On. Read...

It’s time to move away from laptops and desktop PCs and look into getting a mini PC! Because these things are powerful, affordable, and take up so little space on your desk. Today, the GMKtec M6 is down to $350 on Amazon, a stunning 36% discount for solid specs. At the core of this tiny PC is an AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS CPU paired with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD. That’s a reliably powerful combination that can adequately handle Windows 11 Pro (included) as well as your day-to-day workload, apps, and browser tabs. That SSD is great because it’ll make quick work of system bootups, app launches, and file transfers. But the best part is that it’s user-upgradeable. Later on down the road, if you ever feel like you’ve outgrown this machine, you can install extra memory and storage, cranking it up to a maximum of 128GB of RAM and 8TB of storage. Save $200 on this mini PC today GMKtec M6 mini PC Best Prices Today: $367.99 at Amazon You’ll also appreciate that this mini PC comes with triple 4K display support, made possible through its HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB4 ports. In fact, that USB4 can even support a single 8K/60Hz monitor! Connectivity won’t be an issue either as there are multiple USB-A ports, dual 2.5G LAN ports, as well as Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. The GMKtec M6 is a really solid mini PC for home office use and as a media PC to use in your living room. Normally $550, it’s an amazing value with this discount down to $350, so get it cheap while you can! Save $200 on this Ryzen mini PC with 16GB RAM and Windows 11 ProBuy now at Amazon Read...