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If you grew up around some of the earlier models of televisions and computers, you may have received at least one sternly-worded warning to never place a magnet near them. These warnings still persist into the modern day, with the notion of placing a magnet near any electronic device generally considered a bad idea because it could damage the electronics. In actuality, while magnets can be mildly hazardous for some devices, the lion’s share of concern is a myth rooted in outdated technology.

The primary worry regarding magnets and electronics is that placing a magnet near a device could shift its components around or erase vital data. This was certainly true at a time when electronics like TVs and hard drives used magnetized components, but in today’s world, such components are rarely used, if ever. The technology used in modern devices today is much more resistant to the mild magnetic fields you’d find on a typical consumer-grade magnet, so it’s not nearly as much of a concern. That’s not to say there’s no concern whatsoever, as an extremely powerful magnet could still damage modern electronics, but the odds of the average person owning or even encountering such a magnet are low.

Magnets used to be a bigger concern for CRT TVs and hard drives

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In the olden days of cathode ray tube (CRT) television sets and traditional disc-based hard drives, magnets were certainly more of a valid concern. That’s because these types of electronics made use of magnetized components to store data and display pictures. A CRT TV, for example, uses a cathode ray to beam electrons onto a phospor-covered glass surface. The singular beam is moved rapidly via a process known as electromagnetic deflection, which uses internal magnets. The phosphor then glows to create a solid picture. Similarly, a hard drive also uses magnets to write and overwrite data on the metal platter hard disc drive (HDD).

Placing a magnet near either of these devices could, in theory, damage them, distorting the screen or corrupting the data, as placing one magnet near another magnet can mess with its magnetic field. Before you throw away all of your hard drives, though, it’s worth noting that you would need a particularly powerful magnet applied directly to the most vulnerable point to do damage. In general, you would need to place a very strong magnet magnet right on top of a cathode ray tube or a hard drive’s platter to permanently damage them. Just leaving a fridge magnet beside a modern TV or computer won’t have a significant affect on either device because such a low-grade magnetic field isn’t strong enough to alter an established electromagnetic current.

Modern tech is more resistant to magnets, though not completely

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Modern TVs and PCs, alongside similar electronic devices like phones, make far less use of those heavily magnetized components than they used to, if they even still use them at all. Flat screen TVs, for example, now use liquid-crystal displays (LCD) and LEDs, with no magnets or cathode rays involved. While hard disc drives still exist, today’s newest computers have more reliable solid-state drives (SSDs) that don’t use magnetic platters to write data. Without these magnetic components, there’s even less risk of an errant fridge magnet damaging your electronics when the odds were already low.

For the sake of being thorough, however, we should clarify that it is possible for certain kinds of magnets to still be hazardous to modern electronic devices. Specifically, we’re talking about scientific-grade neodymium magnets with a pulling force of at least 450 pounds. This kind of magnet could absolutely damage any kind of electronic device – even the flash chips in a solid-state drive wouldn’t be immune to that kind of powerful magnetic scrambling. Don’t panic, though, because the odds of a neodymium magnet ever coming near your electronics are extremely low. You’ll typically only find these kinds of magnets in professional-grade equipment, like MRI machines, magnetic cranes, or the massive superconductive magnets in a fusion reactor. Unless you happen to walk into a hospital’s MRI screening room, it’s probably not something you need to worry about.

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The Mac Mini is one of Apple’s most appealing computers, particularly for those who want the benefits of a desktop computer without the premium pricing of Apple’s more professionally minded Mac Studio. The Mac Mini is Apple’s smallest desktop option, after all, and with the latest models featuring the M4 or M4 Pro chip, it delivers plenty of performance for most people’s computing needs. Starting at $599 for the base model, the Mac Mini even costs significantly less than a new iMac.

But the Mac Mini is a little different than other Apple computers. In order to achieve that $599 price point, Apple has left some things out of the package that you would typically get when purchasing another Apple computer. The Mac Mini itself also requires a little knowledge in order to ensure you’re getting your money’s worth, and these are important considerations when making a purchase.

Understanding what comes in the box, what doesn’t, and which hardware configurations are best for your needs will be imperative as you go through the process of purchasing a Mac Mini. These considerations can be the difference between a great value purchase and an expensive mistake. So let’s explore some of the things you need to know before making the purchase a new Mac Mini.

You’ll need peripherals

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Unlike many of Apple’s other computers, the purchase of a Mac Mini only includes a power cord and the Mac Mini. That means no keyboard, no mouse, and no display. This is important to know when making a purchase, as it will help you nail down the true cost of going with a Mac Mini as your desktop computer. Staying within Apple’s hardware ecosystem will set you back $79 for a Magic Mouse or $129 for a Magic Trackpad, as well as $99 for a Magic Keyboard. And getting an Apple-made display for the Mac Mini will add to its cost substantially, as the Apple Studio Display goes for $1,599.

Of course, if you’re switching from another desktop computer you likely already have all of the peripherals you’ll need to make the Mac Mini a true value play. It will work with non-proprietary Bluetooth accessories such as keyboards and mice, and it includes USB-C ports and an HDMI port for connecting a monitor. Brands such as Dell, BenQ, and LG make more affordable monitor options than Apple if you don’t already have a monitor you can pair with a Mac Mini. Third-party keyboards and mice will also be much more affordable than Apple’s offerings if you just need some entry-level equipment to get up and running with a new Mac Mini.

It has port limitations

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Apple has equipped the Mac Mini with some speedy connectivity options. On the back you’ll find three USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support, each capable of transmitting data at high speeds. These are ideal for connecting hard drives, solid state drives, and card readers for the transfer of large media files. With the M4 chip onboard, the Mac Mini can even power up to three external displays using these ports. Also on the back of the Mac Mini are an HDMI port and an ethernet port, with the front side of the computer sporting two USB-C ports and a headphone jack.

But Apple’s all USB-C approach presents a limitation for some users. If you’re bringing older equipment from a previous desktop computer to your Mac Mini setup, you’ll be just fine if those happen to be wireless peripherals that connect via Bluetooth. But it’s important to recognize that the Mac Mini has no USB-A ports, which means any of your older equipment that utilizes a USB-A connection will need an adapter. The Mac Mini also lacks a built-in SD card reader, so if you do creative work that relies on media captured by external devices, you’ll need to track down an external USB-C card reader.

Pick the right processor

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The base Mac Mini comes with Apple’s M4 chip. This is the same processor Apple uses across its Mac lineup, and it’s designed to be both powerful and power efficient. Power efficiency isn’t particularly important with a desktop computer, but ensuring you aren’t spending money on performance capabilities you don’t need is imperative. The M4 processor is going to offer plenty of power for users who only have basic computing needs, but it’s also capable of handling tasks such as photo editing, 4K video playback, and multitasking across software. The cheapest M4 Mac Mini is the only model most users will need, especially if your daily tasks are limited to emails, word processing, spreadsheets, and web browsing.

Apple does have professionals in mind with the Mac Mini, however. The M4 Pro chip is a significant upgrade over the base M4, and it’s available as an upgrade option in the Mac Mini. The M4 Pro’s GPU is nearly twice as powerful as the M4’s, and its Neural Engine contributes to speedy AI-based workflows. With the M4 Pro onboard a Mac Mini, professional video editors can take on multiple streams of 8K video, and coders can compile millions of lines of code at a time. The price of the Mac Mini jumps from $599 to $1,399 when upgrading to the M4 Pro chip, so be sure it’s something you can fully put to use before spending that extra money.

Nail down your RAM and storage

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Older versions of the Mac Mini had a design that allowed you to access the hardware and make upgrades on your own, but that’s not the case with the current Mac Mini. Through its unified memory architecture, Apple has integrated the RAM directly with the M4 chip. This delivers faster performance and better power efficiency, but it means you have to get your Mac Mini’s RAM selection correct at checkout. Apple includes 16GB of RAM in its $599 base model, and for an additional $200 you can upgrade to 24GB. A Mac Mini with 32GB RAM will cost $999.

Nailing down the proper amount of internal storage for a Mac Mini isn’t as drastic getting the RAM right, because you can always connect an external SSD through one of the USB-C ports. But upgrading the internal SSD on a Mac Mini is not an easy process, and Apple doesn’t officially support such a move. Despite Apple’s markup on internal components, it will be easiest to simply upgrade the internal storage when purchasing a Mac Mini. The base model comes with 256GB of storage, which will be plenty for users who don’t plan to load the machine up with bulky applications or large media libraries.

There’s savings in buying refurbished

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If you’ve looked at MacBooks, iMacs, and Apple’s lineup of professional desktop Macs and you’ve decided on a Mac Mini purely for financial reasons, shopping refurbished Mac Minis is also an option. Apple often discounts the refurbished base model Mac Mini to $509, which is $90 less than purchasing it brand new. Upgraded Mac Minis are also available in Apple’s refurbished inventory, and they can come with even more savings. Apple doesn’t have a definitive price drop for its refurbished products, but often the price of a refurbished Mac Mini with upgraded hardware can amount to some of that hardware being free compared to a new model with the same specs.

The advantage of buying from Apple’s refurbished store rather than hunting for used Mac Minis on third-party marketplaces is that Apple backs refurbished products with the same one-year warranty it provides new models. They’re also eligible for AppleCare+ extended coverage, and Apple will package the refurbished Mac Mini in a new box with its included power cable. The biggest limitation of shopping Apple’s refurbished Macs is inventory. Refurbished Macs can sell quickly without any guarantee of which models are coming in next. If you find a refurbished Mac Mini that suits your needs, be sure to make a purchase while you know it’s in stock.

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A good deal is great, but a good deal that’s going to help you or a loved one stay active can be even better. It can be incredibly easy to overindulge around the holidays, so having a device that’s going to help you stay on track with your fitness goals can be extremely handy to have around. Fortunately, Amazon has an offer that’s right in time for the season.

Currently, Amazon is offering the Fitbit Versa 4 smartwatch for $119.95, knocking a substantial 40% off the typical $199.95 price tag. There’s even a few different color options on this offer: Black/Graphite, Pink Sand/Copper Rose, and Waterfall Blue/Platinum. Additional bands are even included for those with larger or smaller wrists, making this an ideal gift for yourself or for anyone that likes to stay active.

Even if it often feels like time can slow down while you’re exercising, having a smartwatch with such an extensive focus on your fitness can really be a big influence. While there are plenty of cheap Android smartwatches that users swear by, the Fitbit Versa 4 is also going to be a solid choice for Apple users –- just make sure your iPhone is running iOS 16.4 or higher, whereas Android users will need Android 10 or higher.

Save 40% on the Fitbit Versa 4 Fitness Smartwatch

If you’re unsure whether the Fitbit Versa 4 or the Apple Watch is right for you, then Amazon’s current offerings may just sway you. Packed with features that will help you stay moving, the Fitbit Versa 4 has a lot to offer for those that wake up early just to get a run in, and it’s currently at a price that’s hard to beat.

Built for those that love to get a workout in every day, the Fitbit Versa 4 includes a Daily Readiness score, which factors your heart rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate (RHR), and your recent sleep to see how well you’re going to handle being active for the day. Additionally, the Versa 4 also features GPS, all-day exercise tracking, personalized Sleep Profiles, daily Stress Management, and more. You’ll also get a 6-month subscription to Fitbit’s premium features, which include more personalized insights and analytics. This is in addition to many of the features you would expect from a smartwatch, including Bluetooth calls and texts, built-in Amazon Alexa, and more.

With over 10,000 sales in just the past month on Amazon, the Fitbit Versa 4 has a 4.3-star rating and over 17,200 reviews. Customers give high marks to the smartwatch for its durability, excellent battery life, and impressive health tracking features. If you’re looking for a smartwatch with a 6-day average battery life, water resistance up to 50 meters, and support for iOS or Android, the Fitbit Versa 4 at this price is worth a look.

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Analyst IDC has reported that the IT market has grown by 14%, which represents the largest increase in almost 30 years.

According to IDC, the emergence of a massive artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investment wave is driving tech spending around the world, at a rate that has not been seen since the introduction of Windows 95 in 1995.

When Microsoft debuted the reworked operating system and graphical user interface in 1995, its availability aligned with the availability of affordable internet connectivity for the masses, resulting in a spike in demand for PCs at the time. With almost every organisation wanting to invest in AI, IDC forecasts that IT spending is set to reach $4.25tn this year, driven mainly by demand for IT infrastructure to support AI workloads. 

IDC’s monthly Worldwide black book shows that this year’s IT spending forecast was increased for a seventh consecutive month in November, which it said reflects continued over-performance and aggressive investments by service providers in AI infrastructure. This month, the forecast also showed strong enterprise software spending, with many organisations continuing with digital transformation and cloud migration projects. IDC expects software spending to increase by 14% this year, with AI deployments adding to investments in security, optimisation and analytics.

IDC’s forecast shows that service provider spending on datacentre infrastructure, which includes server, storage and network equipment, is set to increase by 86% in 2025, reaching almost half a trillion dollars this year.

“AI is the headline of IT market performance in 2025, but most of the actual AI investment this year is concentrated in service provider infrastructure,” said Stephen Minton, group vice-president at IDC.

“This AI investment is partly supported by enterprise spending on core IT products and services, which make up the strong revenue streams of the service providers investing heavily in AI deployment,” he added. “In turn, this AI investment is supporting economic growth and stability, which in turn is supporting the ability of businesses to maintain their investments in cloud services and enterprise software. As a result, we’re currently experiencing a virtuous cycle of tech-driven macroeconomic growth.”

Minton also warned of expected headwinds and downside risks in the 2026 outlook, due to an expected memory component shortage, which he said may drive up PC prices next year. But he was confident there would be no downturn in IT spending.

IDC noted that IT spending increased by 16% in the first quarter or 2025, partly due to the front-loading of PC shipments ahead of anticipated tariffs in Q2. While service providers were responsible for driving some of the IT market growth, IDC noted that enterprise IT spending increased by 11% in Q1 and 10% in Q2.

Discussing the impact of tariffs, Minton said: “Technology demand has been resilient this year in the face of uncertainty around tariffs and a sluggish global economy, but our baseline forecast calls for a stable economy, supported in part by ongoing AI investment. Even in a moderate recession, most IT spending would continue. The likelihood of a ‘perfect storm’ similar to the IT market crash of 2001 remains low.”

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“/Paper dendrite solid state battery.” 

That was all the text that I entered in the search field of the Comet browser by Perplexity. Within three minutes, the program pulled a list of over two dozen research papers, in chronological order, that discussed the risks and solutions for the lithium plating. A task like that would ordinarily take me about half an hour or so, complete with the regular goose-chase on Google. With a “/combine” command, all the findings from the research papers opened across 20 tabs were collected, summarized, and served as a well-curated list for me in just about two minutes. Needless to say, I am never returning to Chrome, Safari, or any other non-AI browser for that matter.

It would sound out of character, but Safari — a mainstay on my Mac for years — now feels like a relic of the past. Safari’s spot has now been taken by Edge, and beyond that, an entirely new crop of “AI browsers.” One of the first names to dive deep into the AI-fication of browsers was Dia, and it was soon followed by the likes of Opera and Brave. Lately, the big guns have also entered the fray. OpenAI introduced ChatGPT; Perplexity made early waves with Comet; Microsoft put Copilot in Edge, and Google integrated Gemini within the Chrome browsing experience.

I have used at least five of these AI browsers extensively, and their impact on my productivity has been profound. Yet, at the same time, some of the stunts these browsers pull off in the name of automating and speeding up mundane tasks have spooked me. I’m not alone. Researchers have also warned that as AI browsers start acting more like agents, the risk vectors will go through the roof.

Skills and shortcuts

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Think of skills and shortcuts in AI browsers in the same vein as a custom Gem you create with Gemini or a custom GPT created using ChatGPT. You just need to train the AI to perform a specific task or a series of steps that would otherwise require a human user to perform way too many clicks and eat up minutes. And here’s the best part: You don’t need any technical knowledge to create these skills. All you need is the task at hand, and you just have to describe it.

Let’s think of shopping. I am on the hunt for distressed gray jeans by Levi’s. But the task of opening half a dozen websites, comparing prices, and filling in the size requirements and delivery priorities would be too time-consuming. What you can do is simply describe the task into existence. A natural language description of the purpose does the job, like this: “When I give the URL, model name, or a model number of a product, look it up across all the online stores selling it in the US, and create a table comparing the prices and delivery estimates.

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That’s all it takes to create a “Skill” in Dia or a “Shortcut” in Perplexity’s Comet. You can give it any name of your choice. I preferred “shopping.” And this is how it works. You simply summon the Skill or Shortcut with the backlash operator and custom name in the universal search bar, followed by the name of the item. So, the whole flow should look something like this: “/skill Nike Dunk Low.” In the image above, you can see just how the shortcut provided the requisite results with the desired format.

Agent mode

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Agent mode is one of the most valuable capabilities that you will find in an AI browser. This feature is designed for repetitive tasks that requires a lot of clicking and typing. Think of tedious and time-consuming chores such as finding items across different websites, researching and finding booking availabilities for a stay, or researching through databases. Just a few days ago, I was looking for a homestay in a scenic hill station. When I went to a state tourism website, I saw a list of 130 options. I wanted to make the booking only in a specific area of the town.

Sifting through such a long list, saving the contact information of each owner, and messaging them with my specific query would have taken me hours of manual work. I simply launched ChatGPT Atlas, opened the WhatsApp tab, enabled “Agent Mode,” and gave the following command: “Shortlist all the homestays in the Nungrah region, save their number with the same name as listed on this website (URL), and then message them, asking for a month-long stay for a solo traveler who needs kitchen access and a round-the-clock Wi-Fi network.“

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In roughly 11 minutes, the AI agent in ChatGPT saved the contact details of each homestay owner, crafted a message with all my requirements, and then texted them all. I did not even have to touch my phone once. It was almost surreal to witness, and when I told my host that an AI agent had reached out to her, she simply wouldn’t believe it. Likewise, I often use the built-in agent in Perplexity’s Comet browser. In the image above, you can see just how easily it helped me find a government recall notice by simply describing it.

The mighty side panel

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One of the biggest benefits of AI browsers is the integration of side panels for the built-in chatbot. With Atlas, you have access to ChatGPT; Edge browser puts Copilot in the collapsible side panel on the right edge, and you get a similar facility in Dia, Comet, and Opera Neon. This dedicated slot for an AI chatbot doesn’t sound like much until you start using it. The biggest use you can get out of the side panel is pushing it as a segment for background research. The core idea is you don’t have to open another tab to get work done.

As you can see in the image above, I was reading an article about the new Steam Machine and wanted to check how its internal hardware compares against an entry-level PC. All I had to do was write “compare the specs against an entry-level PC,” and ChatGPT handled the rest. It automatically included all the core system requirements, such as CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, connectivity, and port selection. I subsequently tasked ChatGPT with presenting all the information as a table with a natural language statement: “create a table with the comparison.” The AI chatbot obliged.  

The chatbot made a few small missteps, though. Instead of picking the latest Nvidia GPUs, it used the GeForce RTX 4000 series graphics cards for the comparison. On the positive side, if you specify your needs, the AI living in the side panel does a fine job. The best part is that the AI side panel is aware of page contents whenever you open it in the browser. This means whatever you enter in the text field is processed contextually. Additionally, the side panel always remembers the context of prior conversations, so whenever you return to the chat, you can simply go ahead with the follow-up question.

Tab Intelligence

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Tab intelligence is another superpower you can access in the likes of Dia and Comet. The whole concept behind tab intelligence is that the built-in AI can take collective action across them. Let’s say you have opened listings for a GaN charger across ten different tabs and websites, and now you want to create a clean table where you can compare the prices, specs, and delivery estimates for each one. With a regular browser, you would have to do it manually or feed each URL to an AI chatbot so it could extract all the information and compile it as a table. With tab intelligence, you avoid that time-consuming hassle.

With a simple “@” command in the browser side panel, you can type the title of any open tab (or pull it from the list that opens underneath the text field), and then input your task. So, for the scenario described above, you can use a command like “@amazon @walmart compare the power banks, create a specs sheet table with the price.” To get a better idea of how it looks and works, take a look at the image below:

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Tab intelligence comes in handy not just with shopping and booking-related tasks but also background research. I often use it for sifting through lengthy government notices, combing through multiple patent papers, and discovering useful data scattered across different tabs. And once the AI has finished the multi-tab action, all the information can be exported into the desired format without tedious back-and-forth clicks, and in one go. It’s like deploying an agent across multiple tabs and then talking with the pages to get the desired answers.

Personalized search with memory recall

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Recovering tabs that have been deleted from the browser memory or wiped from the history section is a hassle. And even if you have those tabs lingering in the history section, finding them can be a drag because the search function often requires an exact keyword match with the URL text or headline. This is where AI browsers come to the rescue. Compared to a regular web browser, next-gen alternatives such as Dia or ChatGPT Atlas work as an AI brain that saves your browsing history with context. Or in technical terms, as a memory. 

Let’s say I was recently reading an article about how top-tier Hollywood actors like Michael Caine are now lending their voices to AI companies. I couldn’t quite recall the website or the headline, so I could have searched on Google. Instead of going on that wild goose chase, I simply pulled up the universal Search bar in ChatGPT Atlas and typed my vague query without any specific names, which went something like: “I recently read an article about famous actors lending their voices to an AI company. Find the story.” 

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In a few seconds, ChatGPT pulled up the exact story I was looking for, complete with a brief summary and its coverage in a few other publications. Given the right context, ChatGPT can search for information across multiple tabs. Take, for instance, a broad command like: “show me the GaN chargers I was recently looking at.” After giving ChatGPT those instructions, the AI pulled up the names of over half a dozen chargers I recently checked out on Amazon and Walmart. And when I asked it to provide the URL of each charger, the AI didn’t fail me.

Convenience comes at a serious cost

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AI browsers and tools such as agent mode, Skills, custom GPTs, and Shortcuts have made it dramatically easier to get work done. Last night, I asked Perplexity’s Comet browser to order high-quality ingredients for chicken fajitas, and it got the job done in roughly four minutes. However, when I got the Amazon notification, I realized the AI had ordered the right items but only enough for one person. The Comet browser didn’t even ask about my brand preferences or the quantity. That’s a drawback of these AI browser tools, but it’s only the surface of the problem; it’s the security situation that worries me.

Remember that side-panel in AI browsers, where you can talk with ChatGPT or Copilot about the page contents or do background research without opening another tab? That’s an attack vector. A recent research paper published by Cornell University described how agentic browsers are vulnerable to prompt injection attacks. Based on the results obtained with this tool, the current crop of AI browsers that come with an agentic browsing mode are ripe for being exploited by bad actors. The paper also stated that “The ‘summarize page’ feature is ubiquitous in AI browsers and represents one of the most exploitable attack surfaces.”

Likewise, malicious actors can inject a webpage with hidden instructions (that are not visible to the human eye or the rendering engine in the browser) that can prompt an AI agent to spill sensitive information such as login details, personal data, or even banking information. Experts at MalwareBytes Labs noted, “What sets prompt injection apart from old-school hacking is that the weapon here is language, not code. Attackers don’t need to break into servers or look for traditional software bugs; they just need to be clever with words.”

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If you have hard drives that no longer serve you, maybe due to limited storage or finicky operation, it might be time to finally get rid of them. First, if it does still work, consider ways you can use an old hard drive so you don’t regret throwing the gadget away. It could be used as a backup drive, to move files between systems, or as a portable boot drive. But if it won’t work in these ways, or you’d rather reduce clutter, it’s time to safely dispose of it. 

Don’t just toss it in the trash, nor drop it off at a local recycling depot without taking care to ensure your private information remains as such. To properly dispose of a hard drive, you need to wipe it of any software, files, and data. Then, physically destroy it to ensure there’s no possible way anyone can access your files. 

Even if they’re seemingly innocuous, like backups of old photos you’ve now moved to the cloud or old copies of archived work, it’s surprising how much can be gleaned about a person from the simplest of information. From there, it’s time to take it in for safe recycling.

Wipe and destroy data

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Just like with a phone, wiping a hard drive is simply a matter of erasing data and resetting it, options you can find within the Settings menu of the drive. First, ensure that if the hard drive is still functional, you back up important files before they’re gone for good. Once ready, don’t just delete files – this only frees up space to add more. The files still technically exist until the available space is overwritten.

You can use data sanitization software that overwrites the drive with zeros or random information, so that your files are completely gone. Such software can usually be loaded onto a flash drive that you can connect to the computer or hard drive to begin the process. You can also use tools like this military-grade USB gadget from Destruct that can wipe drives, making data unrecoverable, before you recycle them. Follow this up with a reformat of the drive, which will make sure that any data that somehow survived cannot be recovered.

Reduce, destroy, recycle

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Once you’re confident that the drive is completely wiped clean, go the extra mile and physically destroy it. Don’t try to do what you see in the movies and microwave it: that’s really dangerous. 

If it’s a hard disk drive (HDD) inside a computer, first remove it and remove the casing. Then take a drill to it, making several holes through the platters so it can’t be read. But believe it or not, there are still ways for skilled people to extract data from a partially damaged drive. You can also degauss it, which is a method using a powerful magnet. But this doesn’t work on solid-state drives (SSDs), and chances are you don’t have the right gear to do this at home.

For both HDDs and SSDs, grab a hammer, take it outside, and go to town. It can even double as a great stress reliever. Once it’s in pieces, take the segments to a safe recycling depot for disposal. If you know a trusted recycler that destroys technology in accordance with regulations, you can take the drive directly to them after erasing it. But if there’s especially sensitive data on it, you’re best to take matters into your own hands first.

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Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S26 series in late February. Rumors say Galaxy AI will be a focal point of the show, which is expected of any new smartphone flagship, particularly from Samsung. Samsung unveiled its Galaxy AI platform even before Apple came out with Apple Intelligence. Ironically, while Samsung may want to impress consumers with new AI features, like a Bixby-Perplexity assistant alternative to Gemini, artificial intelligence might also hurt Samsung directly. Following previous reports that memory and storage price hikes will impact the cost of smartphones next year, including flagships like the Galaxy S26 series, a new report from Korea points out an unexpected development for Samsung, which may impact the Galaxy S26 price.

According to SEDaily, Samsung’s semiconductor division (Samsung DS) and the Mobile Experience division (Samsung MX) are at odds concerning a key smartphone component — the low-power DRAM (LPDDR) that goes into phones like the Galaxy S26 models and other Galaxy-branded devices. Samsung MX has been looking to sign a long-term contract with Samsung DS, but the latter wants to prioritize what seem to be guaranteed profits from the AI industry rather than ensure that its sibling has access to reasonably priced RAM.

Samsung DS is reportedly focusing on reorganizing its production line to make the most of high-profit products, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and the mobile memory chips Samsung MX needs. AI firms also seek the same type of mobile memory from suppliers. The semiconductor division wants to make the most of the memory “super cycle” the AI industry created.

How much will the Galaxy S26 cost?

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The mobile division is struggling with rising component costs ahead of the Galaxy S26 release. Samsung MX wanted a contract for more than a year, something Samsung DS reportedly refused. The two parties agreed on a three-month contract, which appears to have been the norm between the two Samsung subsidiaries. A longer contract may have helped Samsung MX avoid other memory price hikes. The report notes a silver lining in this complicated dynamic — the two companies agreed on a minimum supply volume for 2026, which should ensure that Samsung MX has access to enough memory chips, even if prices may continue to rise in the coming quarters.

SEDaily explains that a 12GB LPDDR5X module, which can be found in Galaxy phones, cost around $70 at the end of November. The same component cost around $33 in early 2025. Samsung MX has also been dealing with increased chip prices, spending 25% more on processors in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the same period a year prior. The mobile chip usually accounts for 20% of the cost of a smartphone. The memory semiconductors account for 15%. The price hikes impacting the chip and memory business will raise those percentages by about 5% each, according to the report. In turn, Samsung’s price strategy for the Galaxy S26 series may change.

The report doesn’t offer details about the Galaxy S26 price points. Previous leaks from Korea said that Samsung was shocked to see Apple keep the $799 price point unchanged for the base iPhone 17 model. Samsung wants to hit the same entry price for the cheapest Galaxy S26 model, but price increases are in the cards for the Galaxy S26 Plus and Galaxy S26 Ultra models.

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An initiative by a UK-based charity, supported by technology companies and universities, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital twin that allows people with communications disabilities to speak in a natural way.

The technology, known as VoxAI, represents a step-change from the computer-assisted voice used by late physicist Stephen Hawking, one of the first well-known public figures with motor neurone disease (MND).

The Scott-Morgan Foundation was set up by its founder, roboticist Peter Scott-Morgan, to apply engineering principles to disability after he was diagnosed with MND.

A five-year project led by the trust has developed an AI-powered platform that is helping people with MND, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), to communicate in a natural way despite their disabilities.

It was developed by the foundation’s chief technologist, Bernard Muller, who is paralysed with MND and has learned to write code using eye-tracking technology.

The platform brings together AI technologies to create photo-realistic avatars that move in a natural way, with natural facial expressions, and can reproduce the voice of the person using it. It is able to listen to the conversation and offer disabled people a choice of three answers that they could select based on its understanding of the person.

One of the people testing the technology, Leah Stavenhagen, for example, worked as a consultant at McKinsey before she developed MND. The AI she uses has been trained on a book she wrote, along with 30 interviews in English and French.

ALS ambassador Leah Stavenhagen

LaVonne Roberts, CEO of the Scott-Morgan Foundation, told Computer Weekly that while people did not mind waiting to hear what Stephen Hawking had to say, delays in communication usually cause problems for both the speaker and the listener.

“When you have someone that is having to spell something out laboriously, they are fatiguing their eyes, which has been shown to further progression of MND, so we are trying to protect from that,” she said.

“The other thing that happens is people start giving much shorter answers because they don’t have the time to stay in a conversation,” added Roberts. “And, honestly, you end up with awkward pauses.”

The Scott-Morgan Foundation, which demonstrated the technology today at an AI Summit in New York, plans to make the software available free of charge, so that it can be used by as many people as possible. It will also offer a subscription version for more advanced features.

Many off-the-shelf computers and tablets now come with workable eye-tracking, and tracking devices provided by the NHS may also be able to use the technology, said Roberts.

“The idea was to democratise the technology by putting it on the web, giving the license keys, so that people have their voice back again,” she said.

More than 100 million people in the world who live with conditions that severely limit speech – including people recovering from a stroke, or living with cerebral palsy, a traumatic brain injury or non-verbal autism – could benefit from the technology.

The foundation plans to start a two-year trial of the platform, which will track some 20 participants using the technology, led by Mexican university Tecnológico de Monterrey, which will evaluate its impact.

It is also developing a simplified platform that could be used by people who do not have access to Wi-Fi.

Gil Perry, CEO of D-ID, which creates digital avatars for businesses, contributed to the project after the company helped a few people with MND/ALS in ways they found life-changing.

His company joined the project with the Scott-Morgan Foundation about two years ago, after meeting with Roberts. “I saw that LaVonne has the vision and can connect all the dots together, because she has a group of people who just sleep and dream that vision day and night,” said Perry.

The company has improved its technology so that it can create an avatar that shows facial expressions, even for someone whose condition means they are at an advanced stage of immobility.

Roberts said that one of the breakthrough moments came after a mother told the foundation that, although the technology was good, “You just didn’t capture my daughter’s smile”. That sparked work to make the avatars more lifelike. “I remember Erin’s mother crying when she saw Erin on a video, and she was like, ‘That’s her smile’,” she said. “And I knew we were onto something.”

Muller, who architected the platform, said that his avatar not only makes him visible, but also “present”. “When someone sees my avatar smile or shows concern, they are seeing me, not a disability,” he added. “That changes everything about how I connect with the world.”

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The UK government has committed to wiping thousands of pounds off the outstanding settlements of everyone who remains in scope of the Loan Charge, in response to the latest independent review into the controversial disguised remuneration policy.

The retroactive tax policy has left thousands of IT contractors living under the shadow of life-changing tax bills since it came into force in April 2019, who previously participated in loan-based remuneration schemes between December 2010 and April 2019.

Scheme participants are typically paid in part for the work they do in the form of non-taxable loans, allowing those involved to bolster their take-home pay. The Loan Charge policy was introduced to recoup the tax that scheme participants avoided paying. However, the policy’s critics claim it fails to take into account that, before and during the time period the Loan Charge covers, many of these schemes were mis-sold to participants as being an “HM Revenue & Customs compliant” means for contractors to boost income.

As previously reported by Computer Weekly, the government set out plans in the Autumn Budget 2024 to commission an independent review of the policy to “help bring the matter to a close for those affected, whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers”. This was the second independent review carried out into the policy, with former HMRC assistant director Ray McCann appointed by HM Treasury to oversee the process, starting with a call for evidence in March 2025.

On the same day as the Autumn Budget 2025 took place, the content of McCann’s review was published, where he made nine recommendations that he said would “create a means whereby everyone who wants to settle their tax position through agreement with HMRC, can settle”.

As stated in the McCann review: “Its method, as part of a structured approach to settlement, is to use a series of standard adjustments to suspend a portion of an individual’s current liability which, if the terms of the suspension and payment plan are met, would in time be written off.”

This approach is, he continued, intended to incentivise people to reach a settlement with HMRC and deter them from any further involvement in tax avoidance schemes.

“The review recommends a new approach to settlement which suspends (subject to conditions) part of the overall tax owed to make allowance for the proportion of the income taken by the [loan scheme] promoters and further suspends part of the overall liability equivalent to late payment interest and penalties,” said the McCann review.

Some of the McCann review’s recommendations include:

• Individuals work with HMRC to agree a reduced settlement amount, with the difference to their current Loan Charge liability suspended and eventually written off provided the terms of the suspension are met.
• Late payment interest on outstanding Loan Charge settlements should be suspended, and so should up to 10% of the gross scheme income per tax year to account for fees paid.
• Payment plans of up to five years should be offered by HMRC by default, but HMRC also has the option to approve repayment plans of 10 years.

In its response to McCann’s review, the government said it “accepts all but one” of McCann’s recommendations, and “in several cases, will go further” by offering to write off the first £5,000 of each individual’s outstanding Loan Charge liabilities.

The one recommendation in McCann’s report that the government said it would not carry forward says the time to repay Loan Charge settlements can be extended by up to 10 years, with HMRC’s approval. This recommendation further states that if the person is unable to settle their liabilities within this timeframe “as a backstop – the remainder could be suspended”.

In response, the government said it would be willing to give those in scope of the policy longer than 10 years to settle their liabilities, but does not accept the recommendation that the remaining liabilities should be suspended if people cannot pay within 10 years.

“The government believes that this recommendation would lead to unnecessary, potentially protracted, engagement between HMRC and taxpayers over payment plans and would not support the objective to draw a line under the issue,” said the government response. “However, the government commits to ensuring the existing process for taxpayers who cannot afford to pay is made clearer.”

Overall, the settlement recommendations put forward by McCann would “substantially reduce the outstanding liabilities of those yet to settle with HMRC”, said the government, in its response, adding: “Most individuals could see reductions of at least 50% in their outstanding loan charge liabilities, and an estimated 30% of individuals could have these liabilities written off entirely.”

It also stated that it would push through legislation in the forthcoming Finance Bill to allow McCann’s recommendations to be put in force.

However, despite the positive impact the government said the settlement reforms will have on those in scope of the Loan Charge, a group of cross-party MPs – operating as the Loan Charge and Taxpayer Fairness All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) – have hit out at the contents of McCann’s review, describing its recommendations as “discriminatory and unfair”.

Greg Smith, co-chair of the Loan Charge and Taxpayer Fairness APPG, said the review also fails to “adequately recognise the industrial mis-selling” that contributed to so many people falling foul of the policy in the first place.

“The chancellor [Rachel Reeves] herself acknowledged last year that instead of pursuing victims of mis-selling, HMRC should go after the perpetrators. Yet instead, the government then commissioned a highly restricted review that didn’t even consider this,” said Smith.

“While concessions are a step forward and will help some of those involved, it will not end the nightmare for others and it fails to hold HMRC to account for its clear failures and its decision to discriminate so ruthlessly against people shown to be victims of mis-selling, which has led to 10, possibly now 11 suicides.”

Smith added: “There still needs to be a proper independent inquiry, which unlike the McCann Review, must actually be independent of HMRC and not led by someone who used to work there”.

Meanwhile, campaigners from the Loan Charge Action Group (LCAG) also outlined their disappointment at the contents of the review, which they described as being too narrow in scope and “clearly not independent” due to McCann’s former role working for HMRC.

LCAG spokesperson Steve Packham said the recommendations will help to reduce the size of the liabilities people are facing, but will not resolve the “thousands of cases” that remain open for a long time to come.

“There are many people [in scope of the Loan Charge] who now have lost income due to Covid, IR35 changes and the mental distress caused by the Loan Charge. There are many people who will still face unaffordable bills, which is likely to mean further bankruptcies and more distress,” he said.

“Despite the fact ministers have acknowledged that those affected are victims of mis-selling, the report does nothing to pursue the perpetrators of the industrial mis-selling – including chartered accountants, recruitment agencies and scheme promoters. This is despite Rachel Reeves herself calling for HMRC to pursue the perpetrators, not the victims, just last year.

“The review also excludes those who were pushed to settle under duress from HMRC, which means they will have ended up paying more than those who didn’t, which is grossly unfair when HMRC told them to settle and threatened them with far greater demands if they did not. There still needs to be a proper and genuinely independent inquiry into the whole thing. Only that can resolve the Loan Charge scandal and expose the truth about this whole fiasco.”  

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Software development is associated with the idea of not reinventing the wheel, which means developers often select components or software libraries with pre-built functionality, rather than write code to achieve the same result.

There are many benefits of this approach. For example, a software component that is widely deployed is likely to have undergone extensive testing and debugging. It is considered tried and trusted, mature technology, unlike brand-new code, which has not been thoroughly debugged and may inadvertently introduce unknown cyber security issues into the business.

The Lego analogy is often used to describe how these components can be put together to build enterprise applications. Developers can draw on functionality made available through application programming interfaces (APIs), which provide programmatic access to software libraries and components.

Increasingly, in the age of data-driven applications and greater use of artificial intelligence (AI), API access to data sources is another Lego brick that developers can use to create new software applications. And just as is the case with a set of old-school Lego bricks, constructing the application from the numerous software components available is left to the creativity of the software developer. 

A Lego template for application development

To take the Lego analogy a bit further, there are instructions, templates and pathways developers can be encouraged to follow to build enterprise software that complies with corporate policies.

A developer self-service platform provides a way for organisations to offer their developers almost pre-authorised assets, artefacts and tools that they can use to develop code Roy Illsley, Omdia

Roy Illsley, chief analyst, IT operations, at Omdia, defines an internal developer platform (IDP) as a developer self-service portal to access the tools and environments that the IT strategy has defined the organisation should standardise on. “A developer self-service platform provides a way for organisations to offer their developers almost pre-authorised assets, artefacts and tools that they can use to develop code,” he says.

The basic idea is to provide a governance framework with a suite of compliant tools. Bola Rotibi, chief of enterprise research at CCS Insight, says: “A developer self-service platform is really about trying to get a governance path.”

Rotibi regards the platform as “a golden path”, which provides developers who are not as skilled as more experienced colleagues a way to fast-track their work within a governance structure that allows them a certain degree of flexibility and creativity.

As to why offering flexibility to developers is an important consideration falls under the umbrella of developer experience and productivity. SnapLogic effectively provides modern middleware. It is used in digital transformation projects to connect disparate systems, and is now being repositioned for the age of agentic AI.

SnapLogic’s chief technology officer, Jeremiah Stone, says quite a few of the companies it has spoken to that identify as leaders in business transformation regard a developer portal offering self-service as something that goes hand-in-hand with digital infrastructure and AI-powered initiatives.

SnapLogic’s platform offers API management and service management, which manages the lifecycle of services, version control and documentation through a developer portal called the Dev Hub.

Stone says the capabilities of this platform extend from software developers to business technologists, and now AI users, who, he says, may be looking for a Model Context Protocol (MCP) endpoint.

Such know-how captured in a self-service developer portal enables users – whether they are software developers, or business users using low-code or no-code tooling – to connect AI with existing enterprise IT systems.

Enter Backstage

One platform that seems to have captured the minds of the developer community when it comes to developer self-service is Backstage. Having begun life internally at audio streaming site Spotify, Backstage is now an open source project managed by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF).

While many teams that implemented Backstage assumed that it would be an easy, free addition to their DevOps practices, that isn’t always the case. Backstage can be complex and requires engineering expertise to assemble, build and deploy Christopher Condo and Lauren Alexander, Forrester

Pia Nilsson, senior director of engineering at the streaming service, says: “At Spotify, we’ve learned that enabling developer self-service begins with standardisation. Traditional centralised processes create bottlenecks, but complete decentralisation can lead to chaos. The key is finding the middle ground – standardisation through design, where automation and clear workflows replace manual oversight.”

Used by two million developers, Backstage is an open source framework for building internal developer portals. Nilsson says Backstage provides a single, consistent entry point for all development activities – tools, services, documentation and data. She says this means “developers can move quickly while staying aligned with organisational standards”.

Nilsson points out that standardising the fleet of components that comprise an enterprise technology stack is sometimes regarded as a large migration effort, moving everyone onto a single version or consolidating products into one. However, she says: “While that’s a critical part of standardising the fleet, it’s even more important to figure out the intrinsic motivator for the organisation to keep it streamlined and learn to ‘self-heal’ tech fragmentation.”

According to Nilsson, this is why it is important to integrate all in-house-built tools, as well as all the developer tools the business has purchased, in the same IDP. Doing so, she notes, makes it very easy to spot duplication. “Engineers will only use what they enjoy using, and we usually enjoy using the stuff we built ourselves because it’s exactly what we need,” she says.

The fact that Backstage is a framework is something IT leaders need to consider. In a recent blog post, Forrester analysts Christopher Condo and Lauren Alexander warned that most IDPs are frameworks that require assembly: “While many teams that implemented Backstage assumed that it would be an easy, free addition to their DevOps practices, that isn’t always the case. Backstage can be complex and requires engineering expertise to assemble, build and deploy.”

However, Forrester also notes that commercial IDP options are now available that include an orchestration layer on top of Backstage. These offer another option that may be a better fit for some organisations.

AI in an IDP

As well as the assembly organisations will need to carry out if they do not buy a commercial IDP, AI is revolutionising software development, and its impact needs to be taken into account in any decisions made around developer self-service and IDP.

Spotify’s Nilsson believes it is important for IT leaders to figure out how to support AI tooling usage in the most impactful way for their company.

“Today, there is both a risk to not leveraging enough AI tools or having it very unevenly spread across the company, as well as the risk that some teams give in to the vibes and release low-quality code to production,” she says.

According to Nilsson, this is why the IT team responsible for the IDP needs to drive up the adoption of these tools and evaluate the impact over time. “At Spotify, we drive broad AI adoption through education and hack weeks, which we promote through our product Skill Exchange. We also help engineers use context-aware agentic tools,” she adds.

Looking ahead

In terms of AI tooling, an example of how developer self-service could evolve is the direction of travel SAP looks to be taking with its Joule AI copilot tool.

When structure, automation and visibility are built into the developer experience, you replace bottlenecks with flow and create an environment where teams can innovate quickly, confidently and responsibly Pia Nilsson, Spotify

CCS Insights’ Rotibi believes the trend to integrate AI into developer tools and platforms is an area of opportunity for developer self-service platforms. Among the interesting topics Rotibi saw at the recent SAP TechEd conference in Berlin was the use of AI in SAP Joule.

SAP announced new AI assistants in Joule, which it said are able to coordinate multiple agents across workflows, departments and applications. According to SAP, these assistants plan, initiate and complete complex tasks spanning finance, supply chain, HR and beyond. 

“SAP Joule is an AI interface. It’s a bit more than just a chatbot. It is also a workbench,” says Rotibi. Given that Joule has access to the SAP product suite, she notes that, as well as providing access, Joule understands the products. “It knows all the features and functions SAP has worked on, and, behind the scenes, uses the best data model to get the data points the user wants,” she says.

Recognising that enterprise software developers will want to build their own applications and create their own integration between different pieces of software, she says SAP Joule effectively plays the role of a developer self-service portal for the SAP product suite.

Besides what comes next with AI-powered functionality, there are numerous benefits in offering developer self-service to improve the overall developer experience, but there needs to be structure and standards.

Nilsson says: “When structure, automation and visibility are built into the developer experience, you replace bottlenecks with flow and create an environment where teams can innovate quickly, confidently and responsibly.”

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