october

This October 2026 we challenge you to abstain from LLM based tools entirely. Think of this as a fast for your mind! This is not a judgement of others, but a personal challenge to you.

This October 2026 we challenge you to abstain from LLM based tools entirely. Think of this as a fast for your mind! This is not a judgement of others, but a personal challenge to you.

Hacktoberfest dropped the old '4 PRs for a shirt' model entirely in 2026, and the new version is genuinely more welcoming to newcomers. I checked the live event API to find out what changed, whether there's a Fest anywhere near me, and how to actually get involved this October.

Buses, taxis, bikes and other vehicles, will be banned from Orchard Street to Great Portland Street.

Short story about ‘The Institute of September the Thirtieth’, dedicated to the study of a single day in 1​939, in the form of a review of a fictional book.

Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026

Fly.io pricing from October 1, 2026: lower Sprites CPU and memory rates, Fly Machines memory at $6.00 per GB per month, and everything else unchanged.

Googlebooks offer premium hardware and deep smartphone integration, but you may not like the price.

Manage clients, invoices, projects, contracts, and more — all in one calm, premium toolkit built for freelancers.

A roundup of events for bootstrappers in October 2026. There are eight events this month to help entrepreneurs move their business forward.

On October 23rd every iPhone app becomes a foldable app. What earlier transitions and Android's foldables teach, and what the iPhone Duo simulator did to my Big Sky Field Guide.

#TheSocialReckoning - Only In Cinemas October 8

Meta CPMs rise through Q4 and collapse after Christmas. What third-party datasets report about the curve, how to convert it into a budget decision, and the mistake that wastes the cheapest inventory of the year.

Apple's long-rumored smart home hub will reportedly be revealed on October 13th. Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman reports that the smart home device will be revealed alongside a new HomePod mini and an upgraded Apple TV device. All three products are set to showcase Siri AI, Apple's overhauled AI-powered assistant. The smart home hub, a new product category for Apple, will be the centerpiece. It will reportedly feature a 6-inch display which can be mounted on a wall or sit on a countertop. The hub is "about as thick as an iPhone," according to Gurman, and has bezels similar to older iPads. It sounds like the hub will look a little similar to Apple' … Read the full story at The Verge.

It’s not even October yet and Amazon is already offering some Prime Big Deal Day discounts on its own hardware, along with plenty of other popular products. It’s all to hype up October Prime Day , which starts October 6th at 3AM ET and lasts through 3AM ET on the 8th if you’re on the East Coast (12AM PT). October Prime Day offers a glimpse of deals that will likely be available again during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. So, with the holiday shopping season officially underway, you can get some of your shopping out of the way before things get busier as we approach the holidays. This post will be updated multiple times ahead of October 6th as new deals become available. Ring Battery Doorbell 2K At more than half-off, the second-gen version is a good deal if you want 2K video and easy installation. However, its battery is built-in, so you’ll need to disconnect the doorbell to charge via USB-C. Where to Buy: $99.99 $39.99 at Amazon $99.99 $39.99 at Best Buy Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro Plus carpet cleaner Bissell’s Little Green is handy, but doesn’t cut it for big jobs. If you have pets and a lot of carpet to clean, this is one of the most powerful upright carpet cleaners in its price range. Where to Buy: $279.99 $209.99 at Amazon $279.99 $209.99 at Bissell Ring Floodlight Cam 2K This model requires wired power, and provides 2K resolution (with AI tuning) and 6x digital zoom. It’s bright (2,000 lumens), and provides a loud alarm if you need to use it. Where to Buy: $199.99 $99.99 at Amazon Ring Battery Doorbell 4K Pro The highest-end battery-powered option of the lineup. It can record in 4K with 10x digital zoom, and its battery can be swapped for another as it recharges. Where to Buy: $249.99 $149.99 at Amazon $249.99 $149.99 at Best Buy Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet The eight-inch tablet with lockscreen ads has 4GB RAM (respectable for streaming apps and mobile games), plus 64GB of storage and a microSD slot for viewing locally-stored media. This model doesn’t support Google Play Store, though it’s easy to sideload it. Where to Buy: $129.99 $79.99 at Amazon (4GB RAM, 64GB) $99.99 $54.99 at Best Buy (3GB RAM, 32GB) Ecovacs Deebot X12 OmniCyclone The X12 OmniCyclone uses AI to identify and blast stains to help ensure they’re properly cleaned with minimal passes. It includes a dock, which empties the vac, washes its rolling mop with heated, pressurized water, and refills its reservoirs. Where to Buy: $1499.99 $799 at Amazon $1499.99 $841.99 at Best Buy $1499.99 $842 at Ecovacs Blink Mini pan and tilt camera The panning and tilting accessory gives the Blink Mini some new powers, including 360-degree control via the Blink app. Also included is the camera, which is usually $25 by itself. Where to Buy: $39.99 $23.99 at Amazon $39.99 $23.99 at Best Buy Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus The latest version of Amazon’s zippy Fire TV Stick 4K streams in 4K resolution, as its name suggests, and features support for Wi-Fi 6, Dolby Atmos / Vision, and HDR10 Plus. Where to Buy: $69.99 $37.99 at Amazon $69.99 $37.99 at Best Buy Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023, latest model) Amazon’s highest-end streaming stick supports Wi-Fi 6E and offers double the storage of its predecessor. It also displays widgets and artwork when idle, while continuing to offer a terrific selection of streaming apps. Plus, it runs on the new and improved Fire TV OS, which makes it easier to find something to watch. Where to Buy: $84.99 $44.99 at Amazon $84.99 $44.99 at Best Buy Amazon Fire TV Cube (2022, latest model) The hybrid Echo and Fire TV is faster than its predecessor with extensive hands-free voice control capabilities, support for Wi-Fi 6E, and excellent performance. Read our review . Where to Buy: $199.99 $89.99 at Amazon $199.99 $89.99 at Best Buy Amazon Echo Spot Amazon’s smart speaker-meets-alarm clock has a 2.83-inch squared-off display for showing the time, weather, album art, and other bits of info you may want at your bedside. Unlike the original, there’s no camera to worry about having in your bedroom — though it does have a mutable mic for Alexa voice controls. Read our review. Where to Buy: $109.99 $54.99 at Amazon $109.99 $54.99 at Best Buy $109.99 $54.99 at Target Amazon Echo Dot Max The Echo Dot Max is an elegant redesign of Amazon’s orb-shaped smart speaker, with high-quality knit fabric, a flat face, a new LED ring, and touch controls. It’s the first Echo Dot with Amazon’s improved two-way speaker system and support for its new AI-powered assistant, Alexa Plus, which is enabled out of the box. Where to Buy: $119.99 $79.99 at Amazon $119.99 $79.99 at Best Buy $119.99 $79.99 at Target Amazon Echo Dot (Fifth-Gen) Amazon’s Echo Dot is an affordable way to add a smart speaker to your space. The small, powerful speaker offers surprisingly robust sound, and it’s great for controlling smart home devices, including those compatible with Matter. The Dot also offers faster response times than its predecessor, and it can act as an extender for an Eero Wi-Fi system. Read our review . Where to Buy: $79.99 $39.99 at Amazon $79.99 $39.99 at Best Buy $79.99 $39.99 at Target Amazon Echo Show 11 (2025) The Echo Show 11 features an 11-inch screen and 1080p resolution. It includes Alexa Plus and can be used as a smart home hub with support Thread, Matter, and Zigbee smart home protocols. Read our review. Where to Buy: $249.99 $149.99 at Amazon $249.99 $149.99 at Best Buy $249.99 $149.99 at Target Amazon Echo Show 15 The new year is the perfect time to reset your routines and get organized, and the Echo Show 15 is a great tool for doing just that. Designed to function as a shared household hub, it keeps calendars, schedules, reminders, to-do lists, and notes visible at a glance, making it easier to keep on top of things. As an Alexa-enabled smart display, you can also add events by voice and control compatible smart home devices. Where to Buy: $349.99 $249.99 at Amazon $349.99 $249.99 at Best Buy $349.99 $249.99 at Target Eero Pro 6E tri-band router Eero’s Pro 6E mesh router is the Amazon-owned company’s last-gen model. It supports the 6GHz Wi-Fi band with speeds of up to 1.3Gbps and covers up to 2,000 square feet with one unit. Wired speeds can go up to 2.5Gbps. Read our review . Where to Buy: $199.99 $149.99 at Amazon (single pack) $499.99 $374.99 at Best Buy (three-pack) $499.99 $374.99 at Amazon (three-pack) Samsung 32-inch Movingstyle smart display Similar to LG’s rollable StanbyME display, the Movingstyle Essential is a 32-inch 4K display on a base that’s height-adjustable (and supports swiveling, pivoting and tilting). Unlike LG’s model, though, this one has no built-in battery. Where to Buy: $699.99 $499.99 at Amazon Dreame X50 Ultra With high suction power, an improved brush system, and the ability to scale thresholds up to 6cm, the X50 Ultra stands out as a great robot vacuum and mop hybrid. Where to Buy: $1099.99 $899.99 at Amazon (for Prime members) $1099.99 $849.99 at Dreame (with free account)

The original Fairphone Fairbuds were some of the first wireless earbuds with replaceable parts. | Image: Fairphone Following leaks revealing a major redesign earlier this month and an official teaser posted to X yesterday , Fairphone has shared some exclusive details with The Verge about the first follow-up to its Fairbuds wireless earbuds that debuted over two years ago. A full reveal of the Fairbuds 2 is planned for October 14th, but we can confirm the new version will carry forward the same focus on repairability that made the original Fairbuds so unique with "seven fully replaceable and modular parts." The new Fairbuds 2 will also expand their Bluetooth capabilities with added support for Sony's high-resolution and adaptive LDAC codec. The original F … Read the full story at The Verge.

Google is ready to take a swing at laptops... again. The company has had a lot of success in phones, but it has struggled to parlay that into an effective strategy for larger screens. Chromebooks have been fine as a budget option, but it seems like Google has accepted they'll never compete with macOS or Windows. That's where Googlebooks come in. These new Android-powered laptops are intended to be "real" computers, featuring premium hardware, on-device apps, and powerful development tools. After the Googlebook reveal at I/O this year , Google's partners are now ready to sell you one. The first Googlebooks are available from several OEMs that have been making Chromebooks over the years, but don't expect Chromebook pricing. There's only one model under a grand, and the rest are well above that. Familiar hardware The bulk of Chromebooks have been budget machines, and they looked the part. Googlebooks, however, feature bright OLED screens, metal builds, big haptic trackpads, and the Glowbar. All the machines have this illuminated bar on the lid, but it doesn't do much for now. It lights up when the device boots and can display battery level, but Google says it's going to release an API for developers to add more features. Read full article Comments