Lord Hermer told the BBC that politicians using the phrase needed to think about the `dangers` they were posing to Britain`s `essential institutions`. Read...

A few months ago, I kicked off an experiment to replace the Apple TV in my living room with a cheap mini PC, and I’m ashamed to report it hasn’t gone well. The fault lies entirely with me, because after picking up a Beelink S12 Pro Mini PC and writing that story, I never got around to solving a fundamental remote-control problem. I didn’t want a full-sized keyboard and mouse on my coffee table, but I kept waffling on what to use instead. In the meantime I drifted back to my old streaming setup for the convenience. But during a recent attempt to watch Mr. Robot on Tubi, in which a single episode was broken up by a half-dozen commercial breaks, I knew I had to take this experiment more seriously. Being able to skip those ads was one of my main reasons for bringing a mini PC into the living room, and I needed a proper remote control to make it all work. I think I’ve finally found the answer. The weird world of PC mini remotes Search on Amazon for “PC remote,” and you’ll find options in all shapes and sizes, from air mouses with gyroscopic controls to full-sized keyboard/trackpad combos that sit on your lap. But I didn’t want anything too bulky, and waving a remote at the TV to control it doesn’t sound very relaxing. Jared Newman / Foundry Ultimately, I settled on a $32 mini remote from a brand called Fosmon. It has a little trackpad on the right-hand side, and mouse buttons along its top edges. The idea is to grip it in both hands like a game controller, moving the cursor with your right thumb and clicking with your index fingers. (You can also tap the trackpad to click or use the additional mouse buttons at the bottom edge.) Compared to a standard streaming remote, the Fosmon remote is a lot thinner and only a little taller, so it doesn’t look out of place in the living room. It uses Bluetooth to connect wirelessly with the PC, and it has a USB-C port to charge its built-in battery. As for the keyboard, it’s reminiscent of the landscape keys on old Android phones, such as the Motorola Droid. I wouldn’t want to write a lengthy email on it, but it’s a huge step up from the on-screen keyboards you must deal with on smart TVs and streaming players. The arrow keys beneath the trackpad are also helpful for scrolling through pages and advancing through videos, and unlike most streaming remotes, the keys are backlit (you can this off if you don’t need or want it). Controlling your TV this way is obviously less convenient than using a traditional remote, but that’s the inherent trade-off with a living-room PC setup, where you’re navigating streaming sites that were made with cursor control in mind. I did need to dial down the mouse sensitivity settings in Windows to keep the cursor from jumping all over the screen, but I’d gotten pretty used to it within a few minutes. Room for improvement Jared Newman / Foundry While I like this type of remote for living-room PC use, I’ve also identified some issues with the Fosmon remote that have me looking at other options. For one thing, the Bluetooth connection isn’t ideal. Unlike USB peripherals, the Fosmon remote is unable to wake my mini PC from standby, which means I must set the PC to only turn its screen off instead of going to sleep when idle. The Beelink S12 Mini PC I’m using doesn’t consume much power to begin with, but I’d still rather not have it running at all times. My living room also seems to be somewhat hostile to Bluetooth controllers in general. If I sit on the couch and lean back, the remote connection gets a little finicky. I’ve had similar issues with Bluetooth game controllers both in the living room and in the basement directly below, so your mileage may vary. Lastly, the Fosmon can’t directly control my TV or soundbar. It does have built-in volume keys for adjusting the sound level in Windows, but that only works up to the maximum volume set by my TV remote, which I need to keep handy for TV power and input switching anyway. Looking around on Amazon, I’ve yet to find any remotes that solve all the above problems while preserving the Fosmon remote’s design, which I really like. There are a bunch of remotes with similar layouts—including ones with wireless USB connectivity and a programmable IR emitter for TV control—but none with Fosmon’s convenient shoulder buttons for triggering mouse clicks. iPazzPort So far, the closest alternative I’ve found is a $22 remote from iPazzPort. It has a bulkier design that puts the keyboard underneath the trackpad, but it offers wireless USB connectivity, programmable IR controls, a trackpad you can reach with your right thumb, and shoulder-mounted mouse buttons. I’ll play around with that one next, and keep whichever option performs best. In the meantime, at least I have a way to start using my living-room PC in earnest, complete with the ad-skipping tools and streaming guide apps I’ve been wanting to use for months. Next, I’ll start looking for software refinements to make the experience even more couch-friendly. Stay tuned. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice. Read...

Warmer weather often means travel—a fact that scammers know very well. You just want to plan your vacation, so they flood the internet with fake booking sites, phony emails, and bogus deal links to take advantage of the unsuspecting. To avoid losing your money to fraud, it pays to stay sharp when making reservations or buying gear for your trip. Fortunately, you can do so pretty easily if you ask yourself the questions below. Is the booking site you’re on legitimate? Whether booking direct on a carrier website or through a third-party online travel agency, make sure the website you’re on is legit.PCWorld You can save a lot of headache by double-checking the reservation website you’re on before committing to plans. For direct bookings, make sure the URL matches the known address. Scammers can buy a search engine sponsored link to promote false websites that look like the real ones. Or they can display copies of real websites when you enter the wrong address into your browser. For third-party travel sites, run a search to see if the online travel agency (OTA) is well-known, as well as what the reviews say about the booking process and customer support. Travel forums and Reddit are good sources for opinions, good and bad. Is that email deal real? The first Travelzoo email I ever got was a forward from a friend—and I spent some time checking out the source before clicking on any links.Travelzoo / PCWorld You should only be getting travel deal emails from sites you signed up for—and those messages should be easily traced back to legit senders. A first clue that an email is fishy: The sender email address doesn’t match the official URL. (e.g., deals@expedia.com)  To be more sure, you can dig into the message headers to see if the email was sent from a server owned by an official travel agency. In Gmail, you can click on the three-dot icon in the far right of a message, then choose Show original. Is the deal reasonable? ravel sites gush about this $275 suitcase—and it sells quickly whenever it goes on sale.Even before I looked up historical data, that tells me I’d still pay at least $200+ after the best discounts. (Research on Slickdeals bears that out.)Away / PCWorld Maybe you saw a deal shared on social media, or a friend forwards you a link. Whether shopping for a flight or hotel, or a new suitcase or power bank, go into your purchase knowing what a reasonable discount price is. For flights, hotels, car rentals, and cruises, you can compare costs against the big online travel agencies (Expedia, etc.) or find recent reports from people who’ve visited your destination. If a price seems absurdly low, you can gauge from online discussions if it’s reasonable. (e.g., I saw nonstop flights between San Francisco and Tokyo for under $600 on ZipAir, but didn’t recognize the airline. A little searching showed it was a new budget airline, and people had already tried it out.) For gear like power banks, suitcases, and the like, you can look up past deal prices for that model (or at least general style of the item) with a quick online search. You can also look up reviews—maybe a discount is unusually high due to a new version having released, or there’s a flaw that caused the product to be unpopular. Travel booking resources I like to use Current fares for SFO-JFK on Google Travel—September looks like a good time to visit.Google / PCWorld Deal hunting is one of my side hobbies, and for travel, I have a few sites that help me find good discounts with very little fuss. Google Travel’s flight search engine helps me see which dates have the cheapest prices for a particular route (e.g., SFO to JFK). I like this data because it’s the prices on the airlines’ direct sites, which I can then compare against online travel agency offers. Usually I book direct for better customer support, should something go wrong with my flight. Google Travel also offers a hotel search feature that lets you scout hotels and their prices near a given location (e.g., 6th and Canal in Manhattan). It gives a list of various third-party booking sites (some I think of as less established than others). I use that info to get an idea of what’s reasonable, and then I look directly on a hotel’s website for equal or better deals. (Booking direct sometimes works out more in my favor.) Costco comes through strong for its members, especially on car rentals. A second driver is included, and you can cancel your reservation any time before pickup without penalty. Depending on how good a deal you get on a vacation package or car rental, the savings can end up covering the cost of a yearly Costco membership for access. Finally, searching on Slickdeals.net helps me see historical data for previous deals on a given product. Sometimes none exists though, so then I turn to the Keepa.com extension to see if price history exists for the item on Amazon. Read...

General Capital, the NZX listed Financial Services Group, has today released its Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2025 Read...

If you’re still using an older model monitor, it’s high time you upgrade because 1080p just doesn’t cut it anymore. Especially not when you can get this 27-inch Samsung 4K monitor for a mere $235, which is a whopping 48% off its original $450 price. At 27 inches, Samsung’s ViewFinity S8 monitor is sized just right for the usual home office—not too large to hurt your neck, not too small to feel cramped. You can also easily put two of these next to each other on your desk to create a massive workspace in 4K without paying over $1,000 like you would with an ultrawide option. With its 3940×2160 resolution and IPS panel, you’ll enjoy crisp 4K visuals that are color accurate, with a wide viewing angle and overall great image quality. It’s not the best choice for gaming with its 60Hz refresh rate, unless you’re okay with low-capped frame rates. Otherwise, it’s great for office work, creative work, and general leisure. The ViewFinity S8 monitor features a USB-C port with 90W of power delivery, so it’s great to use with a laptop. That same USB-C port serves triple duty, also handling the video output to the monitor itself, plus also able to handle data transfer needs. There are other USB ports available too, plus HDMI and DisplayPort, as well as an audio jack. It’s a fantastic monitor for everyday use, and it’s currently available at a fantastic price. Get it now for just $235 while this limited-time deal lasts on Amazon! This is the lowest price it’s ever been, after all. Samsung`s 27-inch 4K monitor has never been cheaperBuy now at Amazon Read...

The meeting on Thursday is also likely to mark the end of the involvement of former New Zealand governor-general Sir Jerry Mateparae. Read...

Christopher Luxon and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte both worked at at Unilever. Now, instead of talking about consumer goods, they’re talking of war. Read...

Auditor General says there are opportunities to `further strengthen conflict management`. Read...

Voters of Maori descent can change between the Maori roll or general roll at any time except in the three months before an election. Read...

Downer EDI Limited (Downer, Company) (ASX:DOW) announced today that after nine years of service, Teresa Handicott will retire as a Non-Executive Director at the November 2025 Annual General Meeting Read...