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10 Jan 2025

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Ring of fire tightens around Los Angeles as Hollywood Hills burn
At least five people are dead and more than 100,000 people were forced to evacuate as the Hollywood Hills burn.

Hundreds pack into Washington cathedral for Jimmy Carter funeral
US president Joe Biden will deliver the eulogy, Donald and Melania Trump, Barack Obama, Laura and George W. Bush and Hillary and Bill Clinton were also present.

Movies we can't wait to see in 2025
Queer, Alien Weaponry: Kua Tupu Te Ara, and Superman - the flicks we can't wait to see in 2025.

More parents get bills for thousands after accidentally not declaring partners
The problem has arisen because the woman missed a tick box on an IRD form declaring she had a partner.

MSI’s newest ‘invisible cable’ desktop PC goes too far
One of my favorite trends in desktop PC design for the last couple of years has been what we call “The War on Cables,” wherein all the interior power and data cables are hidden on the backside of a case. It makes a desktop look oh-so-clean, and that’s great when PC builders these days are all about presentation. But at CES 2025, the latest incarnation of MSI’s Project Zero takes things too far. Spy out the new build MSI is showing off on the CES floor. Upon first glance, it’s exactly what builders dream of for this kind of “hide everything around the back” approach — all the better to show off those gleaming white and aluminum components with a curved glass (or polycarbonate) enclosure. But look a little closer and you might notice that things are a little… off. 90 degrees off, that is. MSI See, this Project Zero X motherboard has its I/O board pointed straight down, out of a recessed hollow in the bottom of the case. Ditto for the graphics card (custom mounted via a PCI extender cable). That means that all the power, video, and data cables will need to be routed out of the bottom of the case, too. I think this design might have been inspired by the Power Mac G4 Cube desktop from way back in 2000. And that thing was infamous for several reasons, not least of which was that you had to connect all the cables to the bottom of the machine. MSI I have a few other notes. If you use a blower-style GPU with the Project Zero X, it’s not going to be a great setup for the graphics card, shooting hot air down to that bottom chamber only to let the heat rise across all those components. (But I suppose it at least doesn’t require a specific compatible card, like some Asus designs.) It’s also a massive case, dedicating what looks like more than half its total volume to extra space for the hidden power supply and space for cables, internal and external. But to be fair to MSI, this doesn’t look like it’s ready for a retail release yet. The CES demonstration doesn’t even list out the parts hiding under all those shrouds. So chalk this up as an experimental showpiece. We’ll probably see some more refinement on the idea (maybe at Computex later in the year?) before we see it in any form that’s ready for buyers. In the meantime, you can try something a little less extreme with MSI’s current Project Zero parts and cases.

'Still a lot of pain' even as rising cost of building a house slows
The increase in the cost of building a house has slowed, along with activity in the sector.

Wellington summer school hosts piper, drummers from around the world
Pipers and drummers have descended on the capital this week for the Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands' Association annual summer school.

Five days to sort your finances: Day 5 - Get the most out of your KiwiSaver
Money Correspondent Susan Edmunds guides you through the basics of getting the most out of your KiwiSaver.

On the road with Melanie Bracewell
This is award-winning Kiwi comedian Melanie Bracewell's first summer away from New Zealand, so she joined RNZ for a virtual NZ roadie.

Samsung’s huge 49-inch ultrawide OLED gaming monitor is $753 off
Among the biggest OLED gaming monitors we’ve ever seen, the enormous 49-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 ultrawide is currently a jaw-dropping 42 percent off. That means this $1,700 monitor can be had for just $1,047 on Amazon right now. This massive ultrawide OLED got a 4.5-star rating in our review, with our expert raving about the vivid colors and perfect contrast, spacious viewing area, high refresh rate, and fast response time. “The 240Hz refresh rate and support for Adaptive Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro make it easy to get a smooth and beautiful image, even when a computer struggles to keep the image rendering smooth. I didn’t experience any screen tearing, even with fast movements and camera sweeps.” The OLED G9 ultrawide is perfect if you spend hours upon hours in front of your computer because it offers tons of screen real estate, both for gaming and productivity, and the curved display gently wraps around your eyes for comfort. The 5120×1440 resolution isn’t just sharp, but basically acts like two 1440p monitors side-by-side in one. For connectivity, the OLED G9 has an HDMI 2.1 port, a Micro HDMI 2.1 port, a DisplayPort 1.4 port, and three USB-C 3.0 ports. The smart TV features make this a good fit if you love streaming content. And while the monitor has built-in speakers, I wouldn’t recommend you rely on those. Want to upgrade your PC setup with a banger of an OLED monitor that has a mind-blowing ultrawide stretch and a fast 240Hz refresh? Get the Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 for $1,047 on Amazon while you can! Save 42% on Samsung's massive ultrawide OLED gaming monitorBuy now at Amazon