Category: 4. Technology

Star Wars Outlaws™, the open-world Star Wars™ game where you play as cunning scoundrel Kay Vess (Humberly González) and her loyal companion, Nix (Dee Bradley Baker) as they fight, steal, and outwit their way through the galaxy’s criminal underworld, is now available on Nintendo Switch 2. Star Wars Outlaws is also available on Ubisoft+ Premium, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Pro, Amazon Luna, and PC through the Ubisoft Store, Epic Games Store, and Steam.  

In Star Wars Outlaws, Kay and Nix seek the means to start a new life. To free herself from the bounty that follows her, Kay needs to assemble a crew to pull off one of the greatest heists the Outer Rim has ever seen. In this open world, you will visit new and familiar locations across the Star Wars™ galaxy, from the windswept savannah of Toshara, to the sandy dunes of Tatooine, into the wilds of space, and more. 

Nintendo Switch 2 gives players new ways to play Star Wars Outlaws at home or on the go with intuitive touch controls for menu navigation and select minigames, gyroscope-assisted aiming, an optimized handheld mode, and immersive motion controls for key gameplay features. 

Purchasing Star Wars Outlaws on Nintendo Switch 2 gives owners access to the base game and the Season Pass. The Season Pass includes:  

Players can purchase the Ultimate Pack for even more stylish gear for Kay and Nix, which includes the Sabacc Shark Cosmetic Bundle, Rogue Infiltrator Cosmetic Bundle, Naboo Nobility Cosmetic Bundle, Desert Nomad Cosmetic Bundle, and Forest Commando Character Pack. 

For more on Star Wars Outlaws, check out our accessibility spotlight, and visit starwarsoutlaws.com.

New research examining 16 million URLs aligns with Google’s predictions that hallucinated links will become an issue across AI platforms.

An Ahrefs study shows that AI assistants send users to broken web pages nearly three times more often than Google Search.

The data arrives six months after Google’s John Mueller raised awareness about this issue.

ChatGPT Leads In URL Hallucination Rates

ChatGPT creates the most fake URLs among all AI assistants tested. The study found that 1% of URLs people clicked led to 404 pages. Google’s rate is just 0.15%.

The problem gets worse when looking at all URLs ChatGPT mentions, not just clicked ones. Here, 2.38% lead to error pages. Compare this to Google’s top search results, where only 0.84% are broken links.

Claude came in second with 0.58% broken links for clicked URLs. Copilot had 0.34%, Perplexity 0.31%, and Gemini 0.21%. Mistral had the best rate at 0.12%, but it also sends the least traffic to websites.

Why Does This Happen?

The research found two main reasons why AI creates fake links.

First, some URLs used to exist but don’t anymore. When AI relies on old information instead of searching the web in real-time, it might suggest pages that have been deleted or moved.

Second, AI sometimes invents URLs that sound right but never existed.

Ryan Law from Ahrefs shared examples from their own site. AI assistants created fake URLs like “/blog/internal-links/” and “/blog/newsletter/” because these sound like pages Ahrefs might have. But they don’t actually exist.

Limited Impact on Overall Traffic

The problem may seem significant, but most websites won’t notice much impact. AI assistants only bring in about 0.25% of website traffic. Google, by comparison, drives 39.35% of traffic.

This means fake URLs affect a tiny portion of an already small traffic source. Still, the issue might grow as more people use AI for research and information.

The study also found that 74% of new web pages contain AI-generated content. When this content includes fake links, web crawlers might index them, spreading the problem further.

Mueller’s Prediction Proves Accurate

These findings match what Google’s John Mueller predicted in March. He forecasted a “slight uptick of these hallucinated links being clicked” over the next 6-12 months.

Mueller suggested focusing on better 404 pages rather than chasing accidental traffic.

His advice to collect data before making big changes looks smart now, given the small traffic impact Ahrefs found.

Mueller also predicted the problem would fade as AI services improve how they handle URLs. Time will tell if he’s right about this, too.

Looking Forward

For now, most websites should focus on two things. Create helpful 404 pages for users who hit broken links. Then, set up redirects only for fake URLs that get meaningful traffic.

This allows you to handle the problem without overreacting to what remains a minor issue for most sites.

Less than a week before Apple officially unveils all the details on its iPhone 17 lineup, the rumor mill is buzzing with estimates of what each of the four predicted model types will cost. For those who are anticipating purchasing an iPhone 17 Pro or Pro Max, there may be an increase in price over last year’s model.

Citing a report from Trendforce, the website Macrumors reports that the base iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models will cost $1,199, $200 more than the iPhone 16 Pro, but will include twice as much memory: 256GB instead of the standard 128GB. The iPhone 17 Pro Max will ship with the same base memory, 256GB, but the price will increase $100 to $1,299, according to the report.

The site also reports that the iPhone 17 Air, a new slimmer model expected to be introduced, will start at $1,099 with 256GB of storage. The iPhone 17 is expected to start at $799 with 128GB storage, the same pricing and capacity as the iPhone 16.

The Trendforce report also predicts a bump in RAM from 8GB to 12GB for all models except the regular iPhone 17. The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air are expected to use a new Apple A19 processor while the Pro models will use an A19 Pro chip.

According to Trendforce, all four models will use the same type of screen, a flexible AMOLED display running at 120Hz. Screen sizes vary from 6.2 inches for the iPhone 17 and Pro, 6.6 inches for the Air and 6.8 inches for the Pro Max.

Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The new Horizon 20 lineup of 4K Google TV projectors from Xgimi targets gamers who want to play day and night on the biggest screen possible. In addition to promising an incredibly bright image from the flagship model, Xgimi is at IFA 2025 saying the entire lineup supports low-latency gaming with an input lag of just 1ms — that’s very responsive for a projector that will likely be able to produce a large image in rooms where you can’t control the ambient lighting.

The Horizon 20 lineup — compromised of the base Horizon 20 model, the 20 Pro, and 20 Max — is built around an RGB triple laser architecture. The flagship Horizon 20 Max projector can produce an astounding 5700 ISO lumens of brightness, according to Xgimi, which is “perfect for viewers who want immersive visuals even in daylight or high-ambient light environments.” That puts it just behind Dangbei’s 6200 ISO lumen claim for its S7 Ultra Max projector. The Horizon 20 Pro model can still produce a very respectable 4200 ISO lumens while the base model drops it down to 3100 ISO lumens, according to Xgimi.

Chinese projector makers have gotten into trouble for misleading customers on brightness in the past, but that was before they started measuring brightness in ISO lumens — a legitimate measurement that often yields a number slightly smaller than tests conducted using the ANSI standard. 5,700 ISO lumens is so high that it’s in the range associated with projectors meant for large spaces that cost well over $10,000. Nevertheless, Xgimi tells me that it’s confident that reviewers and users will see this performance reflected in practice.

Xgimi’s projectors also support Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and IMAX Enhanced modes, with the inclusion of optical zoom and lens shifting tech. Lens shift works by physically adjusting the position of the lens relative to the DMD chip, allowing the image to move up, down, left, or right without distorting or scaling it digitally.

These projectors support a 240Hz refresh and VRR to match the output of a gaming console or PC. However, that 1ms response is only at 1080/240fps — lag increases to 2.2ms at 1080p/120Hz or 3ms at 4K/60Hz. Xgimi also claims a 10,000:1 contrast ratio when a dynamic black level enhancement mode is turned on. Netflix works out of the box which isn’t guaranteed with all-in-one projectors, and you get 24W of built-in Harman Kardon Speakers for 360-degree sound.

The Horizon 20 lineup can be preordered in the UK and US starting on September 5th with shipments expected in October. Retail pricing will range between $1,699 for the base model and $2,999 for the Horizon 20 Max. However, temporary early bird pricing at launch drops that range down to $1,189 to $2,399, and you also get a floor stand and an Assassin’s Creed game code.

Google is adding Veo 3 software capabilities to its video generation feature for Google Photos. US-based users can turn static images into four-second videos by clicking either the “Subtle movements” or, for the more adventurous, the “I’m feeling lucky” options under the Create tab in Google Photos. According to Google spokesperson Michael Marconi, you can get your photo subjects to dance or shower them with confetti.

Veo 3 replaces Veo 2 in Photos, which was rolled out beginning in July. The upgrade to the video generation software will improve the resolution and fidelity of the clips made from static images, Marconi said.

This is the latest release in Google’s push to bring video generation software to its users. At the May I/O event, Google launched the AI video generation model Veo 3 alongside the text-to-video software Flow. In August, users got access to a limited version of the AI-powered video editor Vids, which included an AI-generated avatar that could deliver a message on their behalf.

Veo 3’s most important feature, according to Google’s VP of Gemini Josh Woodward at the I/O event, was the “incredibly realistic” sound generation. At the time, Veo 3 was available under the $250 per month “AI Ultra” plan. Now, free Photos users can bring Veo 3-powered video generation — but not sound — to a limited, unspecified number of their own pictures each day. Ultra and Pro subscribers have access to more generations.

The AI tool is now in the Photos Create tab. In addition to adding motion to still images, users can restyle a photo into a 3D animation, which can then be turned into a video. The highlights feature creates a video montage of photos based on keywords typed into your gallery.

Google’s latest video-generation model, Veo 3, is coming to Google Photos. The new model, available on the mobile app’s Create tab, will allow users in the U.S. to turn their still images into video clips.

Google Photos already offers video generation through its recently added “Photo to video” feature, but the company says the addition of Veo 3 enhances that functionality with higher-quality video. The launch also represents how the company is working to bring its latest AI tech to consumers through its products — Google Photos, for instance, had over 1.5 billion monthly active users as of May 2025.

Introduced in May at its I/O developer conference, Google brought Veo 3, which added image-to-video generation, to its Gemini app in July, making it available on its AI Ultra and AI Pro subscription plans. On those plans, users could generate three videos per day, which would carry both visible and invisible watermarks to identify the videos as being AI generated.

In Google Photos, the company imagines users bringing memories to life, or even animating older photos. The existing image-to-video feature is powered by Veo 2 and lets users select a photo from their gallery and choose one of two prompts for either “subtle movements” or a surprise animation by tapping an “I’m feeling lucky” button. The model then generates a six-second clip you could share with others.

With Veo 3, the feature will remain free with a limited number of generations available, says Google. AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers will have access to more generations. However, it won’t support audio and its videos will be four seconds long.

The new photo-to-video feature is available within the Create hub, a new section in the Google Photos app where users can explore creative tools and features powered by AI. In addition to Veo 3, these include a remix option to change a photo’s style; make a collage; put together montages from your galleries; create moving, 3D photos called “cinematic” photos; and a tool to make GIFs from pics.

Security researchers from Google on Wednesday warned of a zero-day vulnerability they discovered in the SiteCore content management system platform in connection with a ViewState deserialization attack they successfully disrupted.

The attack involved leveraging exposed ASP.NET keys to perform remote code execution, according to a blog post by Google’s Mandiant Threat Defense. A sample machine key had been exposed in SiteCore deployment guides from 2017 and prior, according to the blog.

Researchers did not provide any details on the organization targeted in the attack.  

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-53690, is linked to deserialization of untrusted data in SiteCore Experience Manager and SiteCore Experience Platform. 

SiteCore urged users to immediately update their accounts via its security patches and to take additional steps to check their environments for potential compromise, according to a bulletin released Tuesday by the company. The bulletin has since been updated.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Thursday added the CVE to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. 

Insecure configuration

Mandiant researchers said in their blog post that while they were not able to observe the entire attack life cycle, the attacker demonstrated “deep understanding of the compromised product.” 

The attacker behind the exploit was “using a static ASP.NET machine key” that was previously released in product documentation in order to target exposed instances of SiteCore, Caitlin Condon, VP of security research at VulnCheck told Cybersecurity Dive.

“The zero-day vulnerability arises from both the insecure configuration itself (i.e., use of the static machine key) and the public exposure,” Condon said, “and as we’ve seen plenty of times before, threat actors definitely read documentation.”

Editor’s note: Updates with additional information from CISA.

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Today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break awaits below with the best early deals on the brand new Galaxy Tab S11 and Galaxy S25 FE deals – save up to $800 with trade-ins +  as much $150 in FREE storage upgrades. We also spotted Lenovo’s super-affordable 2025 Tab One Android tablet starting at just $95 shipped today as well as TCL’s 85-inch 144Hz QM7 Google Smart TV at $1,000 off the 2025 launch price. Everything is waiting for you down below.

Samsung launches new Galaxy Tab S11 with FREE $150 storage upgrade, up to $800 off with trade, more

At today’s Galaxy Event, Samsung unleashed the new Galaxy Tab S11 series alongside the new, more affordable Galaxy S25 FE. All of the details on both of the new devices are, of course, waiting for you over at 9to5Google, but we are also tracking some notable early deals on both, including FREE double storage upgrades, up to $800 in trade-in credit, and some serious bundle opportunities too. All of this will also stack with your $50 reserve credit if you happened to take advantage there.

Best Galaxy Tab S11 deals

The Galaxy Tab comes in two forms/sizes once again: the 11-inch S11 and the 14.6-inch S11 Ultra. Both of models are now available for purchase on the official Samsung site with up to $800 in bonus trade-in value on top double storage upgrades for FREE and as much as $150 in free storage upgrades on the Ultra.

You’ll just need to hit up the listing pages above, and scroll down to the trade-in and “Exclusive offers for the full Galaxy experience” sections to access the bonus savings and bundle options.

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Galaxy Tab S11 revives 11-inch size as S Pen ditches Bluetooth, copies iPad placement

Samsung Galaxy S25 FE deals

The new, more affordable Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is also seeing some early adopter deals here today including a FREE double storage upgrade from the base 128GB model up to the 256GB variant $60 value. This can optionally also be paired up with the as much as $400 in savings with a trade-in.

On top of that, Samsung also unleashed its new Galaxy Buds 3 FE – you can score these at 30% off when bundled with the new Galaxy S25 FE smartphone purchase as well. They will drop from $150 down to $104.99 shipped when purchased at the same time.

Samsung’s slimmer, lighter Galaxy S25 FE goes official for $650, available today

Lenovo’s super-affordable 2025 Tab One Android tablet is down to $95 today, $110 with folio case

We just spotted a deal at Lenovo that drops it’s latest 2025 Tab One Android tablet down to $94.99 shipped. Don’t forget to enter promo code EXTRAFIVE during checkout to see the discounted price. This particular model hit the scene in May carrying a $130 price tag after debuting at CES earlier this year. Today’s deal shaves $35 off its usual going rate to mark the lowest price we have tracked for it to date. Amazon also the same tablet with a folio case for $109.99 shipped, which is worth grabbing for just an additional $15. We saw this listing with a folio case go for $105 during the recent Prime Day sale, and it’s now within just $5 of that price. Head below for more details.

Lenovo’s Tab One is among the more budget-friendly Android tablets, making it a solid pick for anyone who just needs a straightforward device for daily use – or even as a starter tablet for kids. It sports an 8.7-inch HD screen and is powered by by the same MediaTek Dimensity G85 octa-core processor as some of its pricier siblings. This tablet comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, plus a microSD slot in case you need extra space. Rounding out the package are a 5,100 mAh battery, a USB-C port, and a few other handy features.

If you’re looking for something more powerful, Lenovo’s 2025 Yoga Tab Plus model is also discounted down to $468 today. This one comes bundled with a keyboard and Tab Pro pen, and it’s down from its usual price of $740.

Today’s accessories and charging deals:

Captions, an AI-powered video creation and editing app for content creators that has secured over $100 million in venture capital to date at a valuation of $500 million, is rebranding to Mirage, the company announced on Thursday. 

The new name reflects the company’s broader ambitions to become an AI research lab focused on multimodal foundational models specifically designed for short-form video content for platforms like TikTok, Reels, and Shorts. The company believes this approach will distinguish it from traditional AI models and competitors such as D-ID, Synthesia, and Hour One.

The rebranding will also unify the company’s offerings under one umbrella, bringing together the flagship creator-focused AI video platform, Captions, and the recently launched Mirage Studio, which caters to brands and ad production.

“The way we see it, the real race for AI video hasn’t begun. Our new identity, Mirage, reflects our expanded vision and commitment to redefining the video category, starting with short-form video, through frontier AI research and models,” CEO Gaurav Misra told TechCrunch.

The sales pitch behind Mirage Studio, which launched in June, focuses on enabling brands to create short advertisements without relying on human talent or large budgets. By simply submitting an audio file, the AI generates video content from scratch, with an AI-generated background and custom AI avatars. Users can also upload selfies to create an avatar using their likeness.

What sets the platform apart, according to the company, is its ability to produce AI avatars that have natural-looking speech, movements, and facial expressions. Additionally, Mirage says it doesn’t rely on existing stock footage, voice cloning, or lip-syncing. 

Mirage Studio is available under the business plan, which costs $399 per month for 8,000 credits. New users receive 50% off the first month. 

While these tools will likely benefit brands wanting to streamline video production and save some money, they also spark concerns around the potential impact on the creative workforce. The growing use of AI in advertisements has prompted backlash, as seen in a recent Guess ad in Vogue’s July print edition that featured an AI-generated model.

Additionally, as this technology becomes more advanced, distinguishing between real and deepfake videos becomes increasingly difficult. It’s a difficult pill to swallow for many people, especially given how quickly misinformation can spread these days.

Mirage recently addressed its role in deepfake technology in a blog post. The company acknowledged the genuine risks of misinformation while also expressing optimism about the positive potential of AI video. It mentioned that it has put moderation measures in place to limit misuse, such as preventing impersonation and requiring consent for likeness use. 

However, the company emphasized that “design isn’t a catch-all” and that the real solution lies in fostering a “new kind of media literacy” where people approach video content with the same critical eye as they do news headlines.