This digest compiles the latest from Tech Radar.
Today’s Tech Radar Roundup
Today I learned what a social media bot farm looks like — and it made me delete my Reddit account
I’ve been a Reddit user for 13 years — and one video of a social media bot farm was all it took for me to delete my account.
Amazon bricking classic Kindles is a sign it learned nothing from Sonos' biggest mistake
Amazon is about to kill off almost a dozen Kindles, and it might be making the same mistake that tripped up Sonos for years.
Could AMD's former foundry be quietly building up to become a major Arm — and AMD — rival?
Could AMD’s former foundry be assembling a RISC-V lineup to challenge Arm licensing?
Russian censors target Google in VPN takedown push
As Russia doubles down against VPN usage, Google seems to be resisting removal requests so far, despite a popular app, ZoogVPN, having reportedly been removed from Google Play. Here’s all we know.
Meta's smart glasses are getting a major AI boost, but it doesn't address its biggest problem
Meta has said its new Muse Spark AI is coming to Meta glasses, and you should expect a big boost.
VPN deal of the week: Protect your WhatsApp messages beyond the username with this $40 lifetime VPN deal
WhatsApp might be improving its privacy options, but there’s still more to be done.
Did your Xbox controller recently ship without a battery included? Microsoft has finally acknowledged the issue and is compensating players with a 'one-time offer' — here's how you can claim yours
Xbox users who recently received a shipped Xbox wireless controller without a battery can now receive compensation by claiming a free Rechargeable Battery + USB‑C cable.
'These new numbers are extremely concerning and I will say they’re unsustainable': Texas faces questions over giving data centers over $1 billion in tax breaks
Texas Senator calls data center tax incentives “unsustainable” – numerous states begin to question missing tax revenue.
Nvidia RTX 5090 owner practices soldering skills on a $5,000 GPU — and the result is predictably disastrous
Want to practice your soldering skills? Don’t do it on a $5,000 graphics card (in case you were tempted).
Home Depot's Spring Black Friday sale is better than I expected — here are the best deals on appliances, patio furniture, tools, and more
Home Depot just launched its Spring Black Friday sale, and it’s better than I expected, including up to 40% off appliances, patio furniture, grills, and more.
I'm glad I had this powerful and silent fan ready to go for this week's unnaturally hot weather
I’m so glad I invested in this Shark FlexBreeze last year, as it came in extremely handy with this week’s hot weather, and it’s now on sale at Amazon.
Microsoft's baffling account ban blocks security patches for Windscribe, WireGuard VPN, VeraCrypt
Without the ability to sign kernel-level drivers, millions of people using these privacy tools could be left waiting for critical security fixes. Microsoft has now publicly acknowledged the issue, stating it is actively working to reinstate the accounts.
Now that's different – hackers use miniature SVG images to try and hide credit card stealer
Card skimmers were found in 1×1 pixel SVG images, apparently deployed through PolyShell.
"A future-proof powerhouse for demanding tasks": MSI's RTX5090 creative laptop gets a $300 price cut — Stealth A16 packs workstation-level power
MSI’s Stealth A16 pairs a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor with 64GB of DDR5 and a 2TB NVMe SSD for demanding creative projects and heavy multitasking.
Huge changes are coming to Xbox Achievements, including new visuals, 'more control over how your accomplishments are presented', and the ability to highlight your 100% completed games
Microsoft has announced a huge visual overhaul to Xbox Achievements that will make it easier for players to spotlight their games and accomplishments.
IKEA just launched a tiny motion-sensitive light that you can stick anywhere — and you can get two for $5 right now
You can stick the IKEA Gömpyssling lights anywhere, and they’re so versatile you’ll want a set for every room.
Undertone's director Ian Tuason reveals why the horror movie's set felt haunted: 'There was a lot of unexpected things happening'
Undertone’s director revealed the set felt like it was haunted as strange things kept happening.
Some TV fans aren’t happy about Samsung dropping QD-OLED from its mid-range OLED TVs — but our early measurements of the LG C6 show why it probably makes sense
Some TV fans don’t like the change, but with the performance difference cut, wouldn’t you choose the cheaper panel?
Even with the RAM crisis, there are still great value gaming laptop deals — these 5 hand-picked options are up to $400 off
These are your best bets if you’re on a budget today
Closing the implementation gap in America's cyber strategy
National defense shifts from soft power to hard power through aggressive public-private collaboration and AI.
UK NHS chief champions Palantir’s 'outstanding results’ in England, pushes for deeper rollout despite growing staff concerns
NHS staff are concerned about Palantir access to database containing details on 1.5 million staff, but NHS Data Chief Ming Tang says her team needs to ‘maintain our focus’ in the face of staff concerns over Palantir’s reputation
'Go from prototype to launch in days rather than months': Anthropic reveals Claude Managed Agents, promises to make agent building '10x faster'
Anthropic has introduced its own centralized AI agent management platform, which can make building them 10 times faster.
Samsung has rolled out the One UI 8.5 beta to more phones — complete with a sharing feature we've been waiting for
The One UI 8.5 beta has now landed on more phones, and also adds AirDrop support.
‘Just flat-out fun’ — I was a Nothing-design skeptic, but 3 things I found when reviewing the Phone (4a) Pro turned me into a believer
The look of early Nothing phones left me lukewarm, but here’s how its latest handset totally won me over.
Netflix reveals first-look images of The Incredibles director's new movie Ray Gunn — and its starry cast and plot details have instantly caught my eye
Billed as a 1940s-era sci-fi detective story, Ray Gunn will premiere on Netflix sometime later this year.
Crimson Desert is finally playable on Intel Arc GPUs after driver update — but there's still plenty of work to be done
Official Intel GPU support in Crimson Desert is still on the way via Pearl Abyss, but the latest driver has made the game playable for Arc GPU users.
There's a huge Brooks running shoe sale at Amazon — I found the 12 best deals that I'd buy with up to 30% off
Brooks makes some of the best running shoes on the market, and I’ve hand-picked the 12 best deals at Amazon, with up to 30% off and prices from just $86.
There's a sneaky way to watch the Masters 2026 for *FREE*
We’ve found a way that you can stream Masters 2026 golf from the Augusta National for free from anywhere in the world.
MSI's RTX3050 AutoCAD-capable laptop gets a huge $200 price cut — 15.6 inch Thin A15 is under $700, but it won't be this price for long
MSI’s Thin A15 pairs a Ryzen 5 7535HS processor with 16GB of DDR4 memory and a 512GB NVMe SSD for AutoCAD projects and technical multitasking.
“We want Surfshark to be the Revolut of cybersecurity.”: How Surfshark's new CEO is looking to shape accessible privacy
Surfshark’s new CEO is looking to create one app to rule them all, but how?
End of today’s Tech Radar roundup.
