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28 Aug 2025

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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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.