• A new Apple smart display and tablet are rumored
• Previous predictions have also pointed towards 2025
• Both devices could launch late in the year

We've already heard several rumors pointing towards a 2025 launch for an M5-powered iPad Pro and an Apple smart home display – potentially mashing together an iPad and a HomePod – and now a leading Apple analyst has added to the prediction pile.

According to Ming-chi Kuo, who is more reliable than most when it comes to supply chain information and Apple product launches, the launch of the smart home display has been pushed back to the second half of 2025 – a little later than previous predictions.

The latest delay to the "display-equipped HomePod" is down to software development, Kuo says. It's apparently going to arrive with an Apple A18 processor (as seen in the iPhone 16), a 6-7 inch display, and (of course) support for Apple Intelligence.

It represents a "strategic repositioning" of the HomePod line-up, in Kuo's words, and will be joined by an Apple smart home security camera in 2026 – something that the analyst has already gone on record as saying is on the way.

And another iPad Pro

Kuo predicts that Apple is going to rebrand the HomePod as a smart home device in the same way the Apple Watch was rebranded from a fashion accessory to a fitness tracker – a switch that has been very successful for Apple.

In a separate post, Ming-chi Kuo has also said he expects the next iPad Pro – complete with an as-yet-unannounced M5 chipset – to enter mass production in the second half of 2025, which would mean a launch before the end of next year.

It's a prediction that's in line with other Apple tipsters, so it seems a good bet that we'll get an iPad Pro refresh next year. As our iPad Pro 13-inch (2024) review will tell you, the M4-powered 2024 version is a very capable tablet, and the upgrade will be even better.

Add in the iPhone 17, iPhone SE 4, Apple Watch 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and whatever else Apple has been working on, and it's fair to say the next 12 months are going to be huge in terms of new Apple products – and with a smart display, one new product category.

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• 80% of workers use their own devices to access workplace applications
• Two-thirds break policies by forwarding emails and using personal hotspots
• CyberArk is calling for the implementation and enforcement of AI policies

According to cybersecurity firm CyberArk, Britain’s workers are exposing their employers to security risks by not following simple principles that could prevent many breaches.

The study found that four in five employees use personal devices to access workplace applications, which it blames on the rise of hybrid work.

This is especially problematic for companies because, although their systems may have strong protection, personal accounts tend to have weaker security and can often act as an entry for attackers.

Workers are exposing their companies to cyberattacks

Apart from accessing workplace applications on their own devices, two in five (39%) employees admitted to downloading customer information on their own devices, and nearly a third say they have the ability to approve significant financial transactions.

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of workers also confess to 'only sometimes' or 'never' following their organization's cybersecurity policies by forwarding work emails to personal accounts and using their own devices as Wi-Fi hotspots.

Additionally, two in five (42%) workers say that they either 'only sometimes' or 'never' following information handling guidelines when it comes to using AI tools at work.

Besides taking a more proactive approach to protecting sensitive and confidential data, workers should also consider using strong passwords. Nearly half (49%) admit to reusing passwords across multiple work applications, with more than a third (36%) using the same passwords for personal and work accounts.

CyberArk CEO Matt Cohen said: “These findings show that high-risk access is scattered throughout every job role and bad behaviors abound, creating serious security issues for organisations and highlighting the pressing need to reimagine workforce identity security by securing every user with the right level of privilege controls.”

Looking ahead, CyberArk's report calls for enhanced employee education and training initiatives, and clearer and enforced guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence.

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• Walmart has completed its acquisition of Vizio
• Vizio makes more money from ads than from selling TVs
• Walmart plans to watch what you watch

Earlier this year we reported that Walmart was buying Vizio's TV business, and that purchase has now cleared all the regulatory hurdles. That means Walmart is about to go big in the affordable TV space, where it currently competes via its own Onn brand. Vizio is a much bigger player than Onn, though, which is possibly proven by you reading that sentence and thinking "What the heck is Onn?"

This isn't just about TVs, though. It's about ads. Vizio's financial results in 2021 made it clear that the firm was making twice as much money from ads, subscriptions and data than it was bringing in from actual TV sales. And that's the business Walmart is really interested in.

Walmart watches the watchers

Walmart will be tracking what you watch on your Vizio TV. According to FlatpanelsHD, Walmart will be collecting viewing data via a system called ACR, short for Automated Content Recognition. That scans the content you watch to help target ads more effectively.

That means the prize here isn't so much the TV business as the SmartCast operating system: as Walmart says, the acquisition "will also bring to market new and differentiated ways for advertisers to meaningfully connect with customers at scale and boost product discovery, helping brands achieve greater impact from their advertising investments with Walmart Connect". And if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's wanting our TVs to help brands achieve greater impact from their advertising investments.

The potential upside? In this case, Walmart will want as many people buying Vizio TVs as possible, and since these TVs wont have to split their price between the manufacturer and the retailer (since they'll be the same company), Walmart might get very aggressive with pricing.

As we reported a few weeks back, many TV firms are embracing advertising as a way of subsidising the price of their TVs – and that's both good news and bad news for buyers. Good news, because of course it keeps prices low. But as we've seen many times before, the more ad-dependent a sector becomes the more ads you'll see – often to the point where the service you're trying to use becomes deeply unpleasant unless you pony up for an ad-free experience. Even the more expensive options among the best TVs aren't free of this intrusion – and the cheaper TVs are largely designed around it. It's one reason why the rumored return of Apple's plans to make its own TV set might actually work, given the company's privacy focus.

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• Leaked photos of SIM card trays for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra show off four possible shades
• These appear to be black, blue, silver, and gold
• Previous leaks mention similar colors

We’re starting to have a very clear idea of what colors the Samsung Galaxy S25 series might be available in, as following a leak of some SIM card trays for the Samsung Galaxy S25, we’ve now seen images of trays for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – in four different colors, no less.

These images were found by SamMobile, and while the site hasn’t revealed where it found them, it claims that these are “original spare parts” for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, so they may well be genuine. We hope they’re not, though, because the colors shown here are largely underwhelming.

The shades in question are black, blue, silver, and what appears to be a gold color. That largely matches with previous leaks, which suggested the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra would be available in Titanium Black, Titanium Blue, Titanium Silver, and Titanium Gray. So, it’s possible the gold shade will be marketed as Titanium Gray, or that we’ll get a Titanium Gold instead.

Either way, it’s not the most inspiring selection. Black, silver, and to some extent gold and gray are extremely common smartphone colors, and indeed you can already get the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in Titanium Black and Titanium Gray.

Blue is a bit more interesting and unusual, but that's also an option for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, so it’s nothing new.

Sadly, since all these shades have leaked before (with the possible exception of gold, if it really is gold rather than gray), it’s likely that these are the colors we’ll get.

There could be other options

However, there’s still hope for some more interesting colors, as while these four are believed to be the shades that Samsung will make widely available, there will probably also be some colors that you can only get from Samsung’s online store.

This is an approach the company typically takes, and we’ve previously heard that these Samsung store exclusives might include Titanium Jade Green, Titanium Blue/Black, and Titanium Pink Gold. So, with those in the mi,x there should be a few unusual options.

In any case, we’re expecting the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra to land in January, so we should get an official look at all the colors soon.

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• AMD announced its CES 2025 event will happen on Monday January 6
• Jack Huynh, SVP of Computing and Graphics, will helm the press event
• Huynh dropped a heavy hint on X that we’ll see RDNA 4 graphics cards

AMD has revealed when its press event is happening at CES 2025, and dropped a heavy hint that we will indeed see RDNA 4 desktop graphics cards at the show.

Notably, the event, which is scheduled for Monday January 6, 2025, at 11am PT (2pm EST, 7pm in the UK), is not referred to as a keynote. Also, rather than being delivered by CEO Lisa Su, it’s Jack Huynh, SVP and GM, Computing and Graphics at AMD, who will be presenting Team Red’s latest goodies.

The official AMD web page for the event just went live (as VideoCardz noticed), but that doesn’t give us anything beyond the date, and the teaser that we’ll get to “hear how AMD is expanding its leadership across PCs and gaming.”

However, in a post on X, Huynh specifically mentions AMD’s “next generation of innovation across gaming” which surely refers to the firm’s RDNA 4 GPUs, and likely new APUs too.

As we’ve heard before, RDNA 4 GPUs are rumored for CES 2025, as well as a bunch of Ryzen processors that’ll be of interest to gamers – including Strix Halo laptop APUs and Ryzen Z2 flavors for handhelds.

On top of that, we should see other mobile APUs and the Ryzen 9950X3D plus 9900X3D processors, and more besides. It’s going to be an event jam-packed with product launches if the grapevine is correct.

Analysis: Exciting times, especially if latest RDNA 4 rumors are right

Earlier this year, the hope was very much that AMD would push out new RDNA 4 graphics cards – which will purportedly only land in the mid-range this time around, with no challenger for Nvidia’s next-gen flagship – late in 2024.

Obviously that didn’t happen, and as noted, rumors have been saying for some time now that we’ll see these graphics cards at CES 2025. If there’s one key piece of AMD’s next generation of gaming, it’s RDNA 4, so Huynh’s comment pretty much solidifies all the evidence around the launch of what could be the RX 8800 XT (and likely a partner GPU, such as the 8700 XT perhaps).

In theory, the 8800 XT could turn out to be a big leap in ray tracing performance for AMD – if fresh speculation is right – and a good upgrade for rasterized (non-ray tracing) frame rates, too. As ever, a lot will ride on the price tag Team Red pins on the GPU, and whatever else RDNA 4 might have to offer.

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• Microsoft accused of raising software prices when customers use alternative clouds
• The company could have to pay out more than £1 billion in compensation
• British SMBs were said to have been disproportionately affected

As 2024 draws to a close, Microsoft’s streak with antitrust regulators continues as the company faces a class action lawsuit in the UK over the prices of its software.

If successful, thousands of British businesses could be eligible for a slice of a fine exceeding £1 billion (via Reuters).

The complaint accuses Microsoft of overcharging companies for its Windows Server software, which is used in cloud computing operations.

Microsoft could be fined over £1 billion

Dr Maria Luisa Stasi, Head of Law and Policy for Digital Markets at ARTICLE 19, and the person responsible for filing the case, claims that Microsoft exploited its dominant position by imposing high licensing fees for customers using cloud services from rival companies like Amazon, Google and Alibaba.

She summarized: “Microsoft is punishing UK businesses and organisations for using Google, Amazon and Alibaba for cloud computing by forcing them to pay more money for Windows Server.”

Stasi accused Microsoft of “trying to force customers into using its cloud computing service Azure and restricting competition in the sector.”

The case also indicates that Microsoft’s unfair software pricing affects small businesses more than established ones, citing ONS figures highlighting that more SMBs closed than started in 2022.

Stasi added: “This lawsuit aims to challenge Microsoft’s anti-competitive behaviour, push them to reveal exactly how much businesses in the UK have been illegally penalised, and return the money to organisations that have been unfairly overcharged.”

This isn’t the first time that Microsoft has been criticized over its software pricing strategy – the company has also been slated for imposing technical limitations designed to make it challenging (and expensive) to switch providers. Microsoft has been on the lips of American, European and British regulators for these reasons for months.

TechRadar Pro asked Microsoft to comment on the legal action it now faces in the UK, but the company did not immediately respond.

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With AWS re:Invent underway, the company has already unveiled a whole host of news, updates, upgrades and other announcements.

Given everyone's busy schedules, you may have missed some of the more niche or interesting announcements - but don't worry, we've got you covered.

If you want to track all the news and updates as they happen - follow our AWS re:Invent 2024 live blog for the breaking news - and don't worry, we'll keep this piece updated with anything else we spot that we don't have time for a full article on!

Amazon Nova is here

Our special guest in the day one keynote was a familiar face for AWS fans - former CEO, and now Amazon boss Andy Jassy.

He revealed Nova, a new family of foundation models, which is hoped will push Amazon to the forefront of the AI arms race.

We've covered the image and video generation models Canvas and Reel in our news story - but Nova is actually four tiers of model, available on Amazon Bedrock now.

The full line-up is Amazon Nova Micro (a very fast, text-to-text model); and Amazon Nova Lite , Amazon Nova Pro , and Amazon Nova Premier (multi-modal models that can process text, images, and videos to generate text).

A new generation of SageMaker

Amazon's analytics platform SageMaker has long been one of the company's biggest success stories, and it got a host of upgrades at re:Invent 2024.

AWS CEO unveiled "a new generation of SageMaker", which the company says will bring together the capabilities customers need for fast SQL analytics, petabyte-scale big data processing, data exploration and integration, model development and training, and generative artificial intelligence into one integrated platform.

And a place to experiment in SageMaker too

Another part of this new generation was SageMaker Unified Studio - a new, single environment to access all of your organization's data, and act on it in new ways.

SageMaker Lakehouse

The last bit of the SageMaker triple-header was SageMaker Lakehouse - a new way to simplify analytics and AI with an open, unified and secure data lake house - providing easy access right across all of your data.

Amazon Q for Developers

AI is becoming an indispensible tool for developers everywhere, and Amazon Q for Developers is getting a host of new tools.

This includes generating end-to-end user tests, accurate documentation, and code reviews - all of which should cut down on developer workloads immensely.

Q Developer is also getting transformation support for transforming .NET apps, a great help for modernizing legacy Windows applications, allowing a quick way to transform apps from Windows to Linux.

There's also a new elastic service, moving VMware subscriptions to AWS, but also a new tool allowing transforming VMware workloads to cloud native architectures.

Amazon Q for Business

Trying to get all the information you need from your company's can be tricky to track down, especially if you're a big organization with multiple data siloes.

To make this less painful, AWS revealed Amazon Q Business integration with Amazon QuickSight, bringing together structured and unstructured data out of their siloes.

Amazon Q Business is also now offering more than 50 new actions for some of the most popualr third-party apps it uses, like creating a task in Asana or sending a private message in Teams. There's also even a new capability that uses agents to execute complex workflows, helping employees automate both simple and complex tasks.

GitLab partnership

Another launch aimed at helping developers - a new integrated offering bringing together GitLab Duo with Amazon Q.

The two firms say the launch will combine DevSecOps workflows with Amazon Q autonomous agents to help organizations deliver secure software faster, all providing a seamless AI-powered developer experience.

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #542) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• PAN
• PINE TREE
• LEAD
• CANDLE
• COMPASS
• LOOFAH
• TURNTABLE
• SHEPHERD
• ATLAS
• TOILETRIES
• ECHO
• GUIDE
• SEWING KIT
• HELEN
• DIRECT
• JOHNSON

NYT Connections today (game #542) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• Yellow: Follow
• Green: Get the point
• Blue: Ancient figures
• Purple: Bathroom slang

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #542) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: STEER
• GREEN: THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S
• BLUE: FIGURES IN GREEK MYTH
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR LAVATORY

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #542) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #542, are…

• YELLOW: STEER DIRECT, GUIDE, LEAD, SHEPHERD
• GREEN: THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S COMPASS, PINE TREE, SEWING KIT, TURNTABLE
• BLUE: FIGURES IN GREEK MYTH ATLAS, ECHO, HELEN, PAN
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR LAVATORY CANDLE, JOHNSON, LOOFAH, TOILETRIES

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 mistakes

Hi, Johnny here, taking over Connections duties from Marc for a little while (he'll be back occasionally, I'm sure – and he's still looking after the daily Wordle today page, don't worry about that!).

Being a very easily LEAD person the Yellow group appeared before my eyes instantly. The same could not be said about the rest of today’s words, which – as is very often the case at close to midnight – appeared to be a random jumble of letters.

I attempted a second group that seemed to be about getting somewhere using very ancient tech – COMPASS, CANDLE, ATLAS and err ECHO which is nature’s GPS (if you’re in a cave or Alpine valley with someone who can yodel).

Getting this one wrong I used up another mistake guessing that CANDLE, SEWING KIT, LOOFAH, TOILETRIES were all presents you’d buy your Grandmother.

Then sense took hold and grasping at some threadbare knowledge of Greek mythology I bundled together ATLAS, HELEN and PAN and took a gamble on ECHO. This made finding THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S to be much easier, after which the final four revealed themselves, making me feel slightly defeated. Oh, dear Connections, you destroyer of souls...

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 3 December, game #541)

• YELLOW: SOPRANOS CARMELA, JUNIOR, MEADOW, TONY
• GREEN: FAMILIAL NICKNAMES CUZ, GRAMMY, MUMMY, POP
• BLUE: “SESAME STREET” CHARACTERS COOKIE, COUNT, OSCAR, SNUFFY
• PURPLE: NAMES THAT SOUND LIKE TWO LETTERS CECE, EDIE, EMMY, KATIE

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1045) - hint #1 - Vowels

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1045) - hint #2 - repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1045) - hint #3 - uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1045) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1045) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1045) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1045, are…

• JUDGE
• GIVER
• GNASH
• CLOAK

Hi, Johnny here, taking over Quordle duties from Marc (who'll still be looking after the daily Wordle today page, if you also play that game).

This is my first attempt at Quordle in a while and I’m not too displeased that I actually got there, but it was a struggle — even after I nailed my first word fairly quickly. For the newcomer, it’s multi-brained, plate-spinning stuff for sure.

In my defense, GNASH is not the first word that springs to mind, but once I’d deduced that the first two letters were GN, there were no other possibilities. A gnarly one for sure.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #1045) - the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1045, are…

• MOOSE
• POSIT
• PLUCK
• STAKE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1044, Tuesday 3 December: FUDGE, THICK, CRANK, STASH
• Quordle #1043, Monday 2 December: TROPE, HOVER, SAUNA, SHAPE
• Quordle #1042, Sunday 1 December: NAIVE, CIRCA, STEAD, MICRO
• Quordle #1041, Saturday 30 November: MAMMA, SNUCK, CRYPT, TAROT
• Quordle #1040, Friday 29 November: JOIST, DROOL, DUSKY, GLIDE
• Quordle #1039, Thursday 28 November: GRADE, WORRY, NOISE, DAISY
• Quordle #1038, Wednesday 27 November: HEART, ROGUE, INEPT, UTILE
• Quordle #1037, Tuesday 26 November: PRIED, FAINT, HURRY, WOOER
• Quordle #1036, Monday 25 November: NUDGE, SNOOP, SHACK, DRYLY
• Quordle #1035, Sunday 24 November: CLOTH, CLAMP, PETTY, CHEST
• Quordle #1034, Saturday 23 November: AVOID, PLANT, FILET, TWIRL
• Quordle #1033, Friday 22 November: CUTIE, ALOOF, ETUDE, SILLY
• Quordle #1032, Thursday 21 November: RABBI, EAGER, COUGH, BRASH
• Quordle #1031, Wednesday 20 November: MINTY, TOPAZ, BRUSH, LAPEL
• Quordle #1030, Tuesday 19 November: NINJA, PENCE, PAINT, FOIST
• Quordle #1029, Monday 18 November: ASCOT, BRINK, WEIRD, HOMER
• Quordle #1028, Sunday 17 November: STATE, BRAWN, SWORE, URBAN
• Quordle #1027, Saturday 16 November: NOTCH, BENCH, BUSED, FOUND
• Quordle #1026, Friday 15 November: PURER, TRUSS, TORCH, FORUM
• Quordle #1025, Thursday 14 November: EXALT, TASTE, CRONY, CLOUT