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28 Aug 2025

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Overcrowding, poor facilities undermine PNG education, study finds
A researcher in Papua New Guinea says the government has to urgently rethink how education is provided in the country.

Predator again accused of targeting schoolgirls shouldn't have been released - victim
Leo Darin Goodwin has been recalled to prison after police charged him with breaching conditions by approaching teenagers.

Is it fair to stop KiwiSaver contributions at 65?
Employers opting to stop contributing to their staff's KiwiSaver accounts when they turn 65 may be costing them thousands of dollars.

Predator who again targeted schoolgirls shouldn't have been released - victim
Leo Darin Goodwin has been recalled to prison after police charged him with breaching conditions by approaching teenagers.

Wellington brewery Fortune Favours closes pub, blaming the cost of living
The brewery has blamed the pub closure on the cost of living crisis, saying it’s just not sustainable.

Fewer jobs on offer in July, little change in job advertisement numbers
But some regions and sectors aren't faring as badly.

New Zealand's free-trade deal with United Arab Emirates kicks off
The agriculture, trade and investment minister says the deal is estimated to deliver $42 million in tariff savings per year.

Principals urge halt to NCEA change plans
A group of 89 secondary school principals said the plan lacked a clear rationale and posed huge risks for disadvantaged students, including Maori and Pacific teenagers.

Anthropic’s auto-clicking AI Chrome extension raises browser-hijacking concerns
Malicious websites can embed invisible commands that AI agents will follow blindly.

Microsoft adds PC, cloud gaming to Xbox Core, Standard subscriptions
While Xbox Game Pass Ultimate represents the premium gaming subscription that Microsoft offers, the $19.99/mo fee can be prohibitive for some people. Microsoft’s Game Pass Core and Standard tiers are more affordable, and there’s good news for subscribers today: Microsoft is making PC and cloud streaming games available to those tiers. Game Pass Core and Standard subscribers will now have access to cloud gaming, both on games that they do and don’t own. Even better, Microsoft is testing giving them access to local versions of select PC titles, widening the Core and Standard tiers — which were tied to the Xbox console — and making them accessible to PC and/or handheld players, too. All this makes sense, as Microsoft has expanded its concept of what an Xbox is to both the PC, handheld, and streaming television platforms. It’s also good news for existing PC gamers who may have struggled to game on a productivity PC and now can take advantage of Microsoft’s GPU-powered servers in the cloud. Microsoft’s Core subscription already gives console users access to a small library of between 25 and 30 games. Standard subscribers gain access to a vastly expanded library of several hundred games — but solely on the Xbox console, until now. Microsoft isn’t saying how many games on each tier will be playable in the cloud. But the nice touch is that if you already own the game, you should be able to stream it from the Xbox cloud, giving those low-end PC players an immediate boost. There is a small catch. For now, Microsoft is testing this capability with its Insider program, which means that you’ll simply need to download the Xbox Insider Hub app for the Xbox or the PC, as well as the corresponding app for the Xbox. If you are part of the Windows Insider program and play games on a PC or a handheld, open the Xbox PC app and then simply navigate to the Game Pass tab to see the catalog of expanded and cloud-accessible games. Of course, there are other options like Nvidia’s GeForce Now plan, but Microsoft’s expansion of its already paid-for plans is a nice bonus.

Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo says infrastructure key to island's future
Feleti Teo told the Pacific Infrastructure Conference in Brisbane last week that infrastructure is the backbone of Tuvalu's development.

Ministry at halfway point of 114,000 student growth
The Education Ministry has added less than half the extra classrooms it said would be needed in high-growth areas, but more in other parts of the country.

Fewer people getting Covid-19 boosters
Some experts warn it could put the population at risk from future strains of the virus.

Te reo Maori celebrated on world stage at Indigenous Summit in Canada
Aotearoa's language journey was showcased as a "blueprint" for revitalisation at Canada's first-ever Indigenous Languages Summit.

Dunedin comes alive to the sound of The Big Sing
Fine-voiced high school students will be singing their hearts out in Aotearoa's largest choral contest this weekend.

4chan launches legal action against Ofcom in US
It wants the court to prohibit Ofcom from enforcing the Online Safety Act against it in the US.

World Rugby accused of having ‘blood on hands’ after Shane Christie’s death
Former Welsh player Alix Popham has lashed out at World Rugby.

Average time to save a house deposit down to 10 years
That's lower than the almost-14 years required in 2021, but still above the long-term average of 9.1 years.

MSI’s new mini PC includes a Copilot button and fingerprint reader
MSI’s latest Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG mini PC is as much smart speaker or laptop as it is a small, compact, desktop NUC: It boasts a dedicated hardware Copilot button as well as a dedicated fingerprint reader, and you can talk to it, too. Starting at $899, MSI’s little mini PC is also Copilot+ qualified, with either a Core Ultra 9 288V or Core Ultra 7 258V chip inside. Both are Core Ultra Series 2 “Lunar Lake” chips. The hardware design, however, is something special. This isn’t the first mini PC with a dedicated Copilot button — that was the Asus NUC 14 Pro AI, launched at the 2025 edition of CES. However, this is the first mini PC that I can recall with a dedicated fingerprint reader underneath the power button, a feature normally associated with laptops like the Samsung Galaxy series. Naturally, the dedicated Copilot button unlocks voice capabilities, as well. The Cubi NUC AI+ includes both a speaker and built-in mic, so you should be able to wake Copilot with a trigger word (or, alternatively, have a voice chat with Claude or ChatGPT.) Based on my own experiences, I don’t think users will want to talk to their PCs in a public environment, but MSI obviously thinks differently. All told, there’s a lot of power packed inside this mini PC, which measures 5.3 x 5.2 x 2.0 inches and weighs about 1.5 pounds without the power brick. As you might expect, the NUC lacks a dedicated GPU, leaving Intel’s very good integrated Lunar Lake GPU to shoulder the load. Naturally, the CPU also includes a 48 TOPS NPU that’s ready to run Microsoft’s AI applications like Windows Studio Effects. Users can configure the Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG with up to 32GB LPDD5X memory as well as a single M.2 2280 SSD. However, the $899 starting price reflects a bare-bones config available at B&H; a configured version of the NUC with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD sells for $1,256.99 at CDW. Otherwise, the port lineup looks like a traditional laptop: two Thunderbolt 4 ports (one accepts power), two 10Gbps USB-A ports, two 480Mbps USB-A ports, a microSD slot, two RJ-45 Ethernet ports capable of 2.5Gbps speeds, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm jack. There’s also a Kensington lock port. All in all, this is a mini PC that doubles as a new breed of smart speaker. Mini PCs have quietly emerged as one of the hottest tech products of 2025, for consumers who want a small, compact PC without the need for a laptop screen. MSI certainly has one of the more interesting offerings.