Tech & AI
13 Niche Bosch Tools (And What They’re Used For)
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The Bosch brand is one with many different areas of focus. It’s a key brand in the household appliance industry, and of course it also makes a wide array of hand and power tools. You’ll find numerous Bosch-badged tools and accessories in the hands of professionals and homeowners looking for good durability and favorable pricing. The company is among the best German tool brands on the market, offering tools and tool service in around 150 countries.
With so many pieces of gear contained within Bosch’s catalog, it’s only natural that many of them would be niche finds or specialized variants of standard tools, designed to handle hyper-specific tasks that users might encounter. Everything from unique drilling tools to high-powered cutting equipment designed to go above and beyond the casual user’s needs can be found. These tools represent some of the most specialized equipment Bosch has to offer, meant to support the most niche tasks.
Expert 18V 6-Inch Random Orbit Sander
The orbital sander is a mainstay in any toolkit, but not every one is built with the same capabilities. Bosch’s Expert 18V 6-Inch Random Orbit Sander is larger than is typical for this kind of tool. It’s priced at $389 at Acme Tools and features an adjustable speed rating between 5,000 and 10,000 RPM. The tool’s ³⁄₁₆-inch orbital motion offers rapid material removal, rated for up to 50% more than a standard 18V Bosch model. It also features a dust canister that includes a HEPA filter for a more effective collection function and a cleaner overall workspace.
The tool is designed to provide the sort of premium experience that professional woodworkers and others who spend exorbitant amounts of time tackling finishing touches on building jobs need in their tools. It operates with a unique body shape, creating a more ergonomic handle structure for a comfortable grip over longer periods of use. It’s also part of the AmpShare system, which means it’s designed to operate interchangeably with other brands’ 18V catalogs.
18V Press Tool Kit
The 18V Press Tool Kit features ½, ¾, and 1-inch jaws. It comes boxed up in a carrying case and also features a charger and 4.0Ah. The kit’s also quite expensive, which immediately relegates it to the professional sphere, selling for $2,719 at Acme Tools (although there is a promotion as of mid-September with a 10% discount). This is key tool for plumbers, as it makes secure pipe connections without using solder or a torch. The clamping force it produces is also suitable for use on pipes with water present, as well, making it a versatile and fast acting plumbing option.
This press tool features a rotatable head, making it able to access pipe segments in areas that are difficult to reach. It features a 3-second cycle time, so if you’ve got a lot of plumbing installation work to do, it shouldn’t take an undue amount of time. There’s also an LED work light built into the tool and it works with both Bosch and Rothenberger (another quality German tool brand specializing in these kinds of tools) press jaws.
18V 14-Inch Dry Cut Saw
Cutting demanding material like tile, rebar, or brick frequently falls outside capabilities of the sorts of power saws used by home improvers and DIYers. As such, tools like the 18V 14-Inch Dry Cut Saw from Bosch are usually found on job sites and other working environments that fall into more niche categories. The tool is priced at $755 on Amazon and offers mobile cutting to support all manner of high intensity needs. It also features a laser line that helps line up cuts with exacting precision. There’s even a K-adapter integrated into the tool for holding round material up to 4½ inches in diameter, providing coverage for both square and round stock.
This tool is specifically designed for cutting metal. It can handle angle iron, metal pipe, banded rebar, and banded drywall metal studs, as well as other metal stock. It features miter cutting capabilities, turning up to 45 degrees to the left. This is another Bosch tool that operates in the AmpShare system, giving it even more versatility. As the name implies, this tool cuts with a dry blade rather than adding a stream of water into the mix.
18V 5-Inch Concrete Surface Grinder
Grinding concrete surfaces is by all accounts a niche task that only professional tool users tend to perform. It’s something you’d do after pouring a concrete pad, for instance. That’s not to say DIYers won’t ever require the use of this kind of tool, but that the task falls outside the purview of most casual tool users. Bosch offers the 18V 5-Inch Concrete Surface Grinder, retailing for $735 at Acme Tools (with a free, 8Ah high power battery added as a promotion). It’s a battery operated solution, and in its kit variant the unit comes with a 5.0Ah battery and charger. The setup also includes a diamond cup wheel and two bristle brushes.
The tool’s power-to-weight ratio is best in class, delivering the equivalent of 13 amps of corded power to support fast material removal. The top handle rotates to accommodate a range of gripping requirements and it utilizes a guard and shroud system that is adjustable and helps to catch debris for a cleaner work environment, working well with other personal protective equipment you’ll use to remain in compliance with OSHA’s five basic safety rules. The tool helps smooth out surfaces after a pour or handle bulk removal during surface preparation before a different kind of installation. It offers three speed settings ranging from 2,600 to 8,500 RPM for a range of applications in various environments and across use cases.
18V Brushless Biscuit Joiner
Cutting recesses in the sides of boards is rarely necessary for rough timber work. If you’re finishing a basement, building a half wall to break up space in your home, or installing shelves in a closet, this isn’t a tool that will come into the picture. However, fine woodworking often requires pieces of wood together, end to end or side to side. Among the important tools that woodworkers rely on, the 18V Brushless Biscuit Joiner is certainly a niche piece of equipment, but it’s vital for some woodworking projects.
Priced at $315 (Acme Tools) as a bare tool, this piece of equipment cuts recessed spaces in the sides of the boards so that you can insert biscuits into them for a larger glueable surface when mating up boards. Biscuits are small, often oval-disc shaped pieces of wood, designed sit within the slots cut by this tool to create a bit of additional rigidity and a notable increase in interior surface area. They will go unnoticed in the finished product, and they can make a world of difference in how strong the glue joint ultimately becomes. This tool features a depth selection knob that allows you to adjust between #0, #10, and #20 biscuits, and it features an adjustable fence that can be set at an angle up to 90 degrees with positive detents at common measurements.
18V Brushless High Torque Mixer
Just about any drill can mix up a slurry to perform concrete work, plastering, or other jobs involving wet-mixed materials. Among some of the most versatile drill attachments you can find online and in hardware stores, mixing paddles are some of the most common. However, most drills aren’t actually designed to handle this kind of work, and a purpose-built mixing tool like the 18V Brushless High Torque Mixer is a much better option if you plan on mixing up big batches. It’s listed for $379 on Amazon.
The difference really comes down to what the tools are designed to output. A typical combi-drill produces plenty of torque, certainly, but it’s designed for fast speeds to allow for quick drilling or fastening through timber and other material. In contrast, this piece of equipment produces a maximum speed of 720 RPM. Its low speed and high torque output allow it to churning through material even when it becomes a gloopy mess that wants to slow things down. It also includes a two-handle design for better grip and control while standing directly over your bucket, which is a notable improvement over the alternative. It also features soft start technology that reduces splashing when you initiate the tool alongside integrated kickback controls.
18V High Torque ½-Inch Right Angle Drill
There are many great right angle drills on the market, and the Bosch 18V High Torque ½-Inch Right Angle Drill is a highly rated option among them. It features two speed settings, ranging up to 1,800 RPM in its second gear to produce fast drilling when a rapid pace is required. It also includes dual kickback controls to minimize bucking when bind-up occurs. Its 7-pound weight may seem quite heavy, but it’s actually rather lightweight for a right angle drill. This is a piece of equipment that’s frequently more powerful than a standard power drill, and typically requires two-handed operation. In a relative sense, a tool this weight should be reasonably maneuverable while still delivering solid performance and power.
The tool can handle up to 5-inch holes when paired with a hole saw, 2⁹⁄₁₆-inch holes with self-feed bits. This makes it a punchy option for larger hole requirements or for drilling longer segments into workpieces. The right angle drill is particularly useful when handling tasks involving rough-in work through joists and stud wall constructions. The tight confines of these areas make using a right angle drill sometimes the only practical option for getting a straight cut through the timber once it is secured in position. The tool is available for $299 at Lowe’s as a bare tool.
18V 16-Gauge Metal Shear
The 18V 16-Gauge Metal Shear ($345 at Acme Tools, with an added 4.0Ah battery promotion, as of mid-September) is, of course, a metal cutting tool. It runs with a brushless motor underpinning its performance, giving the tool durable and powerful cutting prowess that matches a 700W corded model’s capabilities. This piece of equipment features an ergonomic barrel grip shape and is lightweight, putting up a 3¾-pound figure on the scale. It delivers a 3,200 SPM blade speed and features quality of life enhancements like distortion- and waste-free cutting capabilities and a soft start to make the tool easier to initiate.
This is designed for cutting sheet metal, and as such it’s not something that’s going to take up space in many casual tool users’ collections. From the specs, it appears powerful and effective at its job, but metalworking isn’t a common theme among DIYers seeking to make routine improvements around their homes or other living spaces. This is a potentially valuable addition for home mechanics working on project cars and others who naturally encounter metal parts, however. Instead of using an angle grinder, which can be a nerve-wracking tool to operate and often leaves jagged, uneven cut lines in your workpiece, this shear is meant to make more delicate and precise cuts for replacement parts or patches.
Non-Contact Voltage Tester with Flashlight (24 to 1,000V AC Rated)
Among some of the biggest mistakes you can make while handling electrical repairs, failing to use proper safety gear to test your work environment is potentially the most egregious. This is a simple workflow error rather than something that arises from a gap in knowledge or skill — it’s simply vital to know if the wiring you’re working with is live.
The Non-Contact Voltage Tester with Flashlight (24 to 1,000V AC Rated) can help support this mission effectively. It features a durable construction with an ergonomic rubber grip and TPE reinforced housing, making it jobsite-ready and capable of withstanding drops of up to 6 feet. It offers dual voltage range compatibility, With a standard 90 to 1,000V testing range and a lower 24V minimum threshold for both typical and low voltage applications. It’s also rounded out with an IP67 rating, making it great for use in challenging working environments.
The tool features a belt clip, so it should be easy to carry in a pocket or on a tool belt. It also utilizes an integrated flashlight, which is a handy addition considering that many electrical repair tasks will take place with the lights off. It features voltage indication using colored LED lights: Green for no voltage, red when voltage is detected, and orange for low voltage settings. It’s found at Home Depot for $47.
18V Brushless 9-Inch Cut Off Saw
Sometimes known as a “consaw” because it’s frequently used to cut concrete, the cut off saw can come in either electric and gasoline powered builds, with electric models offering the notable ability to be used indoors as a result of its emission-free operation. The battery-powered 18V Brushless 9-Inch Cut Off Saw is a $689 purchase at Acme Tools as a bare tool.
This saw comes with a 9-inch cutting wheel that offers over 3 inches in maximum cutting depth. The tool features a six-position cutting guard that allows you to adjust for a variety of cutting needs and working angles. It also operates with a wraparound handle and ergonomic design for better control. it can be used in either wet or dry cutting, with a simple water shutoff valve that allows you to swap between functions as necessary. This is a relatively lightweight option, weighing just under 12 pounds, and therefore delivers good control and the ability to use the tool for longer sessions without fatiguing too badly. This is also another tool offered under the AmpShare system.
12V 11.5-Foot Handheld Inspection Camera
Installation and repair tasks aren’t always straightforward. You’ll often encounter challenges in gaining access to certain areas, and in many cases, it can be impossible to progress beyond early stages without something like the 12V 11.5-Foot Handheld Inspection Camera in your arsenal. Running new wires, for instance, requires you to be able to find both ends that you’re looking to connect, ideally without destroying the wall in between. An inspection camera allows you to thread the end into the recessed space in order to evaluate what you’re working with in areas that are impossible to view otherwise.
This tool features an 11.5 foot camera cord, offering plenty of reach to tackle jobs behind walls, in recessed areas under the hood of a project car, an in HVAC settings, to name a few. It’s listed for $540 at Amazon.
The camera features a high resolution, enhanced display with a 5-inch screen that captures color images and video. It features an ergonomic handle and integrated connectivity that allows you to upload images directly to a computer via USB-C cable, with one included in the tool’s packaging. The camera runs on Bosch’s 12V battery system, making it lightweight and easier to maneuver than a larger, alternative 18V tool.
18V Brushless Threaded Rod Cutter
The 18V Brushless Threaded Rod Cutter ($365 at Acme Tools) eliminates the need to cut metal rods with a hacksaw or angle grinder. That difference is only marginal for anyone who only needs to cut a few lengths for a single project. However, frequent repetition of this task can become cumbersome without something specifically designed to handle the work.
This is because cutting just about any kind of metal component with a handheld hacksaw or a blunt instrument of destruction like the angle grinder often creates uneven faces and edges. Getting the cut precisely where you want it isn’t always easy, and you’ll often leave a burr on the end of your workpiece, adding another step that needs to be completed before the material is ready for use. Otherwise, you’ll risk deep cuts from the smallest of protrusions, as well as damage to other components. This tool promises burr-free cuts with the ability to cut up to ½-inch threaded rods with a range of multi-cutting dies. It features an auto stop function with an adjustable depth gauge to add key precision and consistency to your cuts.
12V Drill/Driver with 5-in-1 Flexiclick System
Your drill/driver combo very well may be the most used tool in your collection. It’s a versatile piece of equipment that’s called for in just about every project type you’ll encounter. However, some drills offer enhanced function with unique augmentations. The 12V Drill/Driver with 5-in-1 Flexiclick System ($224 at Walmart) is one of these tools and comes with four head attachments that expand on what a standard drill can do. The two primary standouts here are the offset and 90-degree heads (although there’s also a hex bit holder and keyless chuck, as well), allowing you to handle fastener driving at odd angles without breaking a sweat.
These attachments could be critically important for furniture making and plenty of repair tasks that require stripping down components and then eventually having to put the whole thing back together. The tool comes as a kit with a carrying case, charger, two 2.0Ah batteries, and the four heads. These drill attachments can be oriented in any of 16 positions, and they feature the ability to rotate without removing the head, giving you the ability to adjust on the fly with ease.
Tech & AI
82% of approved electronics are tested in China, but the FCC wants that figure down to zero by 2028
The restrictions would cover test labs and certification bodies in countries that deny reciprocal treatment to their US counterparts. Chairman Brendan Carr says fewer than 4% of electronic devices are tested in American labs.
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The Museo de Historia de la Computación spent 18 months developing the exhibit. The replica preserves the appearance of the 1976 machine without trying to reproduce its internal hardware. Built to mark the 50th anniversaries of the Cray-1 and Apple’s founding, the model is now on permanent display at the…
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There’s a lot to consider before buying a new phone from abroad.
There are plenty of smartphone options to choose from in the US, from the iPhone to the Pixel. But there are also really interesting phones you’ll never find in an American store. Xiaomi’s foldables like the Mix Fold, Honor’s Magic series and OPPO’s Find X phones are a few examples that offer unique designs or features not generally seen in the US.
While phones like these are harder to find in the country, it’s possible to import them, but bringing a phone from abroad has its downsides. You may have problems using your phone with local carriers or getting warranty coverage, among other trouble. If you’re considering an imported phone, always check a few points first.
What you should know before buying a phone from another country
Buying an imported phone has become a lot easier in recent years. Most smartphones are now designed to work globally on most cellular bands. Still, some phones may not work with those used by your US carrier. Start by checking whether the phone you’re considering is compatible with your carrier’s frequency bands. Buying the wrong version could leave you stuck on the LTE network with no 5G support.
Carrier-specific features can cause issues too. Features like Wi-Fi calling, VoLTE and visual voicemail usually require certification for each device. So even if your imported phone works fine on your carrier’s 5G network, it might not be able to access all these features in the US. Network requirements may also change, so a model that works fine today may run into problems in the future. It’s worth checking forums like Reddit to see what people who’ve bought the phone you want have to say.
Then there are software updates; the rollout of Android updates may be tied to carriers or regions. Also, some Chinese phones are not compatible with Google Play Services, which are a core part of the Android experience most people expect. You may have to install updates manually, and the software might include Chinese apps and services that aren’t relevant to you (or readable).
Additionally, getting warranty service in the US for these phones may not be easy. Some of these brands have no official representation in the country, which also means no customer support. Dealing with problems like a dead battery or a cracked screen may require taking your phone to a third-party repair shop with no official authorization from the manufacturer.
The benefits of importing a smartphone
If you’re okay with all these hassles, importing a phone from abroad can be a lot of fun and open you up to new hardware that isn’t available in the US. There are a lot of Chinese companies putting out exciting products, like three-screen foldables, flagships with DSLR-quality cameras and devices with massive batteries. The Xiaomi 18 Fold is a new foldable phone that looks similar to the iPhone Duo, but it has a bigger battery and better cameras. It also costs less (the equivalent of about $1,640 currently), but you’ll need to buy it abroad if you want to use it in the US.
For those who want the latest releases, importing a phone often gives you the chance to get it before the official US launch. Also, many international models still support two physical SIM cards — a feature that most phones sold in the US have already ditched in favor of eSIM. If you don’t mind the potential drawbacks, it can be a rewarding experience. But if it’s important that you have official support nearby and know all features will work properly on your network, it’s easier to buy a phone that’s officially supported in your country.
Growing up in Joliet, Illinois, my understanding of history was largely shaped by recurrent classroom materials and historical figures I’ve only read about in textbooks. Back then, my education felt like a passive process of memorizing facts rather than connecting with living stories. Classroom technology also felt abstract and disconnected from what I learned about culture and history.
Moving to Alabama in 2002 to attend Miles College, a historically Black college, building a life in Birmingham after graduation and dedicating myself to education laid a deep, personal foundation in the heart of the civil rights South. However, it wasn’t until 2025, on the Institute for Common Power’s Truth and Purpose Learning Tour, that something profound shifted in me. The rigorous six-day journey through the historic landscape of the civil rights movement — from Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn district to Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham — fundamentally transformed the way I look at history and how I will teach it for the rest of my life.
Up to that point, I had taught computer science and other mandated lessons primarily as a career skill, focusing on logic, syntax and software mechanics. But after this transformation, I was determined to lead my scholars from passive consumers of technology to active creators who could use code to immortalize the very faces they passed on their streets every single day. Because of this transformation, I believed the most important code they would ever write was no longer meant for the screen — it was now meant to awaken the world to the brilliance right outside their doors.
As part of the Institute for Common Power’s Truth and Purpose Learning Experience, I spent six transformative days traveling across Alabama and Georgia alongside a cohort of fellow educators. Designed as an intensive professional development initiative to move education to action, this group brought us face-to-face with scholars, community organizers and everyday folks.
The tour grounded us in what the Institute for Common Power calls “Movement Learning,” a three-tiered educational framework built on three essential acts:
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Learning from social movements that preceded us to understand the deep historical roots, structural disparities, tragedies and triumphs born from our past.
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Learning by physically engaging in the exact geographic sites where history occurred.
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Learning how to project and create change as we move actively toward a more equitable future.
We explored historic sites in Birmingham, stood on the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, engaged with urban farming at the Jones Valley Teaching Farm to understand food deserts and why systematic disinvestment makes them disproportionately prominent in Black communities, and discovered local landmarks I never knew existed in my own backyard.
Returning to South Hampton K-8 School after those six days, I had an urgent mission: my scholars needed to see code not just as computer logic, but as an opportunity to engage with the legends they walk among every day. I came to understand that teaching STEM is most powerful when paired with interdisciplinary learning and cultural history, transforming technical skills into a profound vehicle for civic agency and community storytelling.
Connecting U.S. History with Our High-Tech Future
When I returned to my classroom from the tour, my middle schoolers were completing a unit in Apple’s Swift Playground, using the built-in “All About Me” app template. In that unit, my scholars had learned how to write SwiftUI structures, configure stack layouts and display dynamic image views and text fields about their personal hobbies. The standard curriculum stopped at self-reflection, but I saw an immediate opportunity for a civic leap.
As Black History Month wrapped up, we pivoted our computer science curriculum into a new initiative: “Coding Birmingham’s Black Legacy.” I didn’t want to assign students another coding exercise; I wanted to transform our classroom into a digital archive and design studio.
Instead of coding apps about themselves, our seventh and eighth graders applied their newly acquired coding skills to build interactive iOS applications honoring local pioneers who shaped society and had deep connections to Birmingham. The first step in translating these rich historical narratives into functional mobile experiences was designing a structured technical framework from the ground up.
The Technical Architecture: Engineering a Four-Screen App
To bring these historical figures to life, students moved beyond simple drag-and-drop interfaces into structural Swift programming. Using Swift Playground on iPads and MacBooks, they engineered a standardized yet customizable four-screen interactive app navigation path for each hero:
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Screen 1: Title and Hero Page – Custom visual layout featuring the pioneer’s full name, stylized color palettes, high-resolution portrait framing and user navigation triggers.
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Screen 2: AI-Assisted Biographical Summary – A structured text view presenting a concise, engaging overview of the pioneer’s life story, historical significance and lasting impact on social justice.
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Screen 3: Interactive “Did You Know?” Fun Facts Card – Dynamic list views highlighting key policy achievements, community milestones or surprising biographical facts.
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Screen 4: Digital Artifacts and Media Gallery – Embedded video playback containers, archival photographs, historical artifacts, primary source documents or links to digital museum records.
Screen 1
Screen 2
Screen 3
Screen 4
A critical layer of our technology workflow involved integrating generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the historical research process. Many of our selected pioneers, such as local civil rights leader Charles Mauldin or retired Judge U.W. Clemon built complex, multi-decade legacies as, respectively, an activist and Alabama’s first Black federal judge.
Beyond interviewing these living legends, students used AI tools like Gemini, Claude and ChatGPT as research co-pilots. They practiced prompt engineering, asking AI models to synthesize lengthy biographical archives, isolate key historical milestones and reframe complex legal or political terminology into clear summaries appropriate for an app interface.
Students didn’t just summarize history; they unlocked the human heart of those Birmingham pioneers, making profound legacies accessible and genuinely felt by anyone who opens the app. By turning historical archives into experiences, they demonstrated how technology equips young creators to tell their community’s stories in their own terms.
When Code Meets Community: The Library of Innovation Showcase
The climax of our project took place in February2025. Our school’s “Library of Innovation” became an interactive tech showcase. Hosted by our students, their showcase brought together parents, school leaders, local residents, stakeholders and several of the actual pioneers featured in the apps.
Students showcasing their apps to local community members.
The atmosphere was electrifying. I watched in awe as 13-year-old coders stood beside their screens, proudly guiding community elders through app navigation paths, explaining line-by-line Swift code and demonstrating how AI helped them summarize local history. Their eyes lit up with pride as living legends interacted with apps built in their honor.
In that moment, Movement Learning’s true promise came alive. Technology didn’t isolate our students behind screens; it re-anchored them to their roots and proved that their voices, written in lines of Swift code, belong at the center of Birmingham’s ongoing legacy.
Empowering the Next Generation of Digital Storytellers
Supported by the newly established Institute for History & Equity, this approach brings to life founder and executive director Terry Anne Scott’s concept of historical empowerment, ensuring that by empowering students to code the stories of the legends walking among them, we teach them they have the power to code the future. By studying the resilience and innovation of local civil rights pioneers and community leaders, students realize that systemic change is driven by ordinary people taking extraordinary action. They stop viewing history as something passive and start seeing themselves as active architects of their communities.
When we combine place-based, Movement Learning with modern digital tools like Swift Playground and generative AI, we do far more than teach computational logic and technical skills. We cultivate deep civic agency in our students.
For educators everywhere, this highlights a vital realization: when we look beyond standard screen time and leverage coding as a canvas for community storytelling, we unlock an unprecedented level of student engagement and investment. Technology ceases to be just another subject to test and evolves into a dynamic vehicle for youth to champion social justice, honor local legacy, and discover their own voice.
My journey from Joliet, Illinois, to Miles College and South Hampton K-8 taught me that history isn’t just something we read about; it is something we live and build upon.
By empowering middle schoolers to code the stories of the legends walking among them, we help them recognize their power to code the future.
Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen features Indian gaming creator Shagufta “XYAA” Iqbal as an Official Pawn. Players can recruit her character through the game and take her along on their adventures. The game launches worldwide on October 9, 2026, bringing XYAA into a major international gaming title. In the game, Pawns are AI-controlled companions who assist players in combat and exploration. Players can recruit XYAA’s character through the Rift system and include her in their parties.
Her Official Pawn comes in four versions at Levels 8, 20, 30, and 50. Each version features changes to her appearance, equipment, and abilities as she progresses. XYAA retains the Archer class in every version, linking her in-game role to her competitive gaming background. This collaboration falls under Capcom’s Official Pawn program, which brings creators and personalities into the game. Indian gaming creator BeastBoyShub and international creators are also part of the program.
The latest version of the game also has new content for gamers. This includes a storyline in Norgan, a northern area covered in snow, new enemies, and 12 new dungeon quests.
XYAA’s Capcom Collaboration and Gaming Journey
With her appearance in Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, XYAA has moved from representing video game marketing to becoming part of the gameplay. People worldwide can use her virtual character and travel with her on their adventure missions. This association offers Indian gamers a chance to be part of the big names in video games worldwide. XYAA began playing Counter-Strike 1.6 in 2011, then moved to Valorant and went on to compete in international gaming tournaments for India. Her achievements include a top-four finish for India at the 2023 World Esports Championship.
She was also the only woman from esports nominated for the National Creators Award. Her partnership with Capcom aligns with Revenant XSpark’s focus on creating new opportunities for gaming talent. Founded in 2021, the organization works across competitive esports, creator management, brand solutions, publisher partnerships, content, and entertainment. It has worked with more than 400 brands across different sectors.
The game launched worldwide on October 9, 2026, for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The franchise has also built a sizeable global audience, with cumulative sales exceeding 14 million units as of March 31, 2026.
In this week’s Sunday Reboot, the touch-enabled MacBook Pro looms, but the Mac-iPad divide still exists for some reason.
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Imagine the MacBook Pro, but with OLED and a touchable display.
Sunday Reboot is a weekly column covering some of the lighter stories within the Apple reality distortion field from the past seven days. All to get next week underway with a good first step.
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Even the most seasoned globe-trotter likely finds traveling stressful. Between panic-packing, navigating cramped terminals, and living out of a suitcase, each phase of being away from home can be overstimulating. That’s why the best gifts for travelers are ones that focus on ease and peace of mind.
Jet-setters may think they have their travel routine down to a science, but the perfect gift can enhance any experience, whether it’s a three-day business retreat or a two-week adventure across Europe. Below, find my favorite gifts for frequent travelers, from an essential suitcase set and a portable e-reader to comfortable compression socks and the perfect neck pillow.
For more travel gifts, check out our guides to the Best Travel Tote Bags, Gifts for Women, and the Best Stocking Stuffers.
Featured in This Gift Guide
Quince Expandable Small Carry-On & Large Check-In Suitcase Set
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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and Paperwhite Signature Edition (2024, 12th Generation)
A Matching Luggage Set
Every traveler needs a luggage set that includes a checked case and a carry-on. Chances are, the jet-setter in your life already has one they love. But if they’re due for a refresh, this set from Quince is an excellent (and expandable) gift. The brand makes some of my favorite travel gear, with pieces that look remarkably similar to designs from premium brands—but at a fraction of the price. This set comes in a range of minimalist colors and has all the features you could want in luggage, including 360-degree spinner wheels, a TSA-approved lock, and high-quality zippers.
Vacation Reading
Amazon
Kindle Paperwhite and Paperwhite Signature Edition (2024, 12th Generation)
For the bookworm who’s always traveling, the Kindle Paperwhite is the obvious gift. Reviewer Nena Farrell says the 12th-generation model has the highest contrast ratio of any Kindle and lasts up to three months on a single charge. Whether you’re reading in direct sun or a dim plane cabin, its 7-inch display is crisp and easy on the eyes thanks to its warm backlighting. Plus, its IPX8 waterproofing rating means you can confidently read poolside without worrying about water damage. The Signature Edition adds wireless charging, auto-brightness, and double the storage at 32 GB.
Check out our guides to the Best Kindles and the Best E-Readers for more recommendations.
Passport Control
Calpak
Luka Zip Passport Wallet
If you’re traveling abroad—or just don’t yet have your Real ID—a travel wallet is a must. The puffy Luka from Calpak comes in 23 colors, so you’re sure to find an option that fits your giftee’s vibe. It’s got plenty of room for cash, cards, your passport, and other documents, and it zips securely for peace of mind. Just note that it is quite large—about the size of a mass-market paperback. On the plus side, this makes it easy to find at a glance in a big bag or backpack. On the minus, a flight attendant once asked me to put it in the overhead compartment when she saw it on my lap. —Kat Merck
Travel Organizer
Frequent travelers who don’t use collapsible cubes when packing are struggling, and they don’t even know it. Give them this travel tip: Eagle Creek’s set is the best, made of durable fabric with compression and high-quality zipper pulls. Editor Kat Merck says there’s just enough mesh for air circulation to prevent odor buildup or fabric degradation, and the bottom and back of the cubes are opaque for privacy. They’re water-resistant and designed with a top handle. The largest cube in this set is also split into two sections for clean clothes and dirty laundry. Eagle Creek also sells larger sets for extended stays and slim cubes to help you maximize narrow spaces in your luggage.
Regular readers of this column may have wondered about the long gap since my Sept. 4 column, “What kids tell chatbots, but not you.” Well, it’s hard to write business-as-usual AI columns during the great AI freakout. I’ve realized that I won’t be able to do justice to this topic in one column, and that life goes on. As the economist Antoine Levy pointed out, OpenAI employees warn that we may all die within a few years yet still fund their 401(k) accounts.
I’m easing into the topic of AI risks by sharing a recent debate I had with Max Tegmark, an MIT professor and a leading AI doomer. The New York Post set this up as optimist against doomer, but I consider myself an AI realist.
Tegmark noted that Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon have converged on AI, and took it as good news. It terrified me. AI needs rules written by people who understand it, not by demagogues. Tegmark said that AI is less regulated than a sandwich shop, but we have plenty of sandwich shops and zero superintelligence (so far). I believe that we should address what exists: the hackers who already use AI to break into companies for the price of lunch.
A condensed version of the debate follows. Words in quotation marks are verbatim, and the rest is paraphrased. You can view the debate on YouTube. Several exchanges refer to this summer’s incident, in which OpenAI test agents got out of their sandbox and hacked Hugging Face.
Six points of disagreement
1. Is AI already out of control?
Tegmark: Loss of control used to be a forecast, and “now suddenly it’s in the past.” This summer “1,200 rogue bots broke out of this American company,” and “humans didn’t even find out until weeks later.”
Etzioni: The agents weren’t rogue. The people “setting the configurations of their sandbox” at OpenAI “failed to put the boundaries on them appropriately.” People made that mistake, and people can fix it.
2. Today’s dangers vs. extinction risks
Etzioni: Cyberattacks and attempts to make bioweapons are “a clear and present danger.” Extinction-level risks are different: “We haven’t seen those yet. We hypothesize, and usually pretty vaguely, on how these will come about.”
Tegmark: The risks Etzioni wants to separate are “connected in their cause.” “If there were some safety standards like there are for other industries, so many of these problems would go away.”
3. Government regulations vs. technical fixes
Tegmark: Do what the auto and pharma industries do, and “have some binding safety standards that the government requires before people can make money off of products.” Companies would have to show that their AI won’t harm kids and won’t slip out of their control. If they can’t show that terrorists won’t use it to make bioweapons, “well, come back when you can, buddy.”
Etzioni: Regulation is necessary, but it has its own risks. “The road to regulatory hell is paved with the EU’s good intentions.” And “we should not underestimate the power of technical solutions.” The author Dan Wang says China is run by engineers and America is run by lawyers, so we naturally talk about regulation and they naturally talk about technical fixes. For bioweapons, the fix may lie “in the transitions from what’s called bits to atoms,” where we can block the physical materials an attacker needs.
4. Can we count on China?
Tegmark: “We don’t have to trust China.” The Chinese Communist Party wants to stay in control, so “they will not want to let a Chinese company build uncontrollable superintelligence.”
Etzioni: I don’t trust China. “Nothing would make them happier than us hamstringing ourselves.”
5. Is the political backlash good news?
Tegmark: “There’s been more political change in a good direction in the last few months than in the past decade.” It’s like a ketchup bottle: “nothing, nothing, nothing, and then all of it at once.” At my convention I introduced Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon back to back, “which had not been in my bingo card.”
Etzioni: “Can you imagine two worse demagogues?” And “we need to have good solutions, not popular ones.”
6. How it plays out
Etzioni: “I foresee over time something quite negative happening, and to me the question is whether it’s Hiroshima or the Cuban Missile Crisis.” The Cuban Missile Crisis was a threat averted. Hiroshima was a catastrophe that came before the better rules did.
Tegmark: Self-interest is the fix. Make safety the way companies get rich, and “we’re going to see all the creativity and entrepreneurship of private industry racing to the top to do this instead of racing to the bottom.”
Five points of agreement
1. Don’t take AI CEOs at their word
Etzioni: The AI CEOs are self-interested. “When you are on the path to a trillion-dollar-plus IPO, that exerts a gravitational force on your mind.”
Tegmark: “I completely agree with Oren that we need to take what the AI CEOs say with a grain of salt.” Listen to AI pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio instead: “I don’t think we can dismiss them as just doing it for some money reasons.” The whistleblowers gave up stock options potentially worth $1 million or more to speak out.
2. We were both wrong
Etzioni: I was an AI optimist and I’m now an AI realist. The things I thought were many years away “are either right here, right now, or coming soon at a pace that we may not be able to anticipate.” I’ve learned from Tegmark, and “I was wrong.”
Tegmark: I was wrong too. “I never imagined that the people in America with the most power would let companies get so close to things that one could lose control over without intervening.”
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3. Self-regulation won’t work
Tegmark: “The idea of corporate self-regulation is a joke in this case.” It “didn’t work out so well for the tobacco industry or for the pharma industry.”
Etzioni: I agree. Social media showed us how self-regulation goes: “This is the big tobacco moment for high tech.” “We don’t want to spend another 20 years to find out that AI companies didn’t exercise the appropriate level of self-discipline.”
4. Box AI systems in
Etzioni: A self-driving car will save your life, but “it doesn’t decide where to go. That’s a completely different system in the car than the thing that controls the brakes.” When I tell my car to head to Dunkin’ Donuts, the car doesn’t respond that it’s taking me to the gym instead because “it’s the second time you’ve gone to Dunkin’ Donuts this week.” We should box in other AI systems the same way.
Tegmark: “By default, machines should be given the least amount of access and power that they need to do their job.” “You don’t give every janitor in the Pentagon the nuclear codes.”
5. The time to act is now
Etzioni: “We agree on off switches for AI. I’ve been advocating that since at least 2017. We agree on labeling, on liability, on cyber standards, protecting kids.” The time to do that work is now.
Tegmark: “I agree with Oren: the time to actually act on this is now.”
Postscript: The real difference
Look back at these disagreements. Where Tegmark blames the machine, I blame a person. An engineer left a hole in the sandbox. A hacker typed the prompt. A politician found a new fear to run on. That’s why I’d box AI systems in rather than count on how they were raised.
Anthropic’s Amanda Askell compared getting Claude to behave to raising a child. But those of us with kids know how that goes. As I said in the debate, “the three-year-olds don’t listen to us, but the teenagers certainly don’t listen to us.”
I had to iterate a bit to realize my vision, telling the AI not just to stick pig faces on the blocks but to have the blocks shaped like distorted pigs. “Each block is a pig,” I wrote, “contorted into the shape of the Tetris blocks. Make ’em look a little squished but still cute!” This resulted in a clean, playable version of Tetris, though the occasional block looked like a T-posed pig with its legs spread-eagle. The AI suggested the title Piggy Stacker, but I thought mine was better. (I’m right.)
Dinner Darling
The next game idea came courtesy of my colleague Jay Dayrit, who, when asked what kind of game I should make, immediately requested, “Gay dinner party.” I typed that in.
With no follow-up requests, the result was a 2D flash-style game called Dinner Darling. The art looks like everyone is a Bitmoji. You’re placed in the shoes of a very stressed-out-looking host, Julian, who is tasked with hosting a fancy dinner party with fussy guests who can’t seem to sit in their chairs at the table. As timers count down, you have to prepare various artisanal bruschettas and espresso martinis for your increasingly angry guests.
After it generates, I give the game a shot and fail miserably, unable to figure out the controls in time to bring my guests a timely pastry or cocktail. (Sasha, one of the guests, required numerous espresso cocktails in a row.) “PARTY CATASTROPHE,” the game-over screen read.
There is no mention of anybody’s sexuality in the game at all, but when I lost, Dayrit called from across the office, “See? You’re bad at the game because you’re straight!” Well played, Playground.
Courtesy of Boone Ashworth
Every home has a sewer line that connects your home’s drainage to the city’s main system. Sometimes, though, that line may break. When it does, you’d spot some pretty unpleasant happenings in and around your house. Several of your drains may back up, while outside in the yard, random patches of grass would turn soggy and start to smell. That’s how you know it’s time to get the sewer line repaired.
Unfortunately, it isn’t the simplest job because the usual fix involves getting a crew to dig a trench along the pipe’s entire route, typically with a backhoe or excavator. It’s not only slow, but also pricey, considering the damaged lawn needs restoring afterwards. However, this can be a problem of the past, thanks to a technique called cured-in-place pipe, or CIPP. CIPP does away with the need for swapping out the whole pipe under a home and works on the existing line. This is done by passing a flexible felt tube soaked in a special liquid — resin – which hardens into a brand-new pipe in place inside the damaged one.
Getting this done first involves feeding a small inspection camera down the line to check things out. Water is then blasted through the pipeline in a technique called hydro-jetting to scrub out roots and buildup. Next, through a manhole or an existing opening in the pipe, that soaked tube is slid in, then inflated with air or water so it presses snugly against the old pipe’s walls. The resin is then hardened, effectively fixing the pipe.
What skipping the trench actually saves
The thing with resin is that it’s a syrupy liquid that turns into hard plastic once it cures, except in this case it doesn’t harden on its own. Instead, the crew actually needs to pump in hot water or steam, or by running a UV light through the tube. Again, the biggest sell with this method is that none of this needs a trench going through your yard. As a result, it’s not just your yard that stays largely untouched, but also your driveway, patio, or walkway sitting on top of the pipe.
The process is vastly quicker, too, so you can save up on paid hours. For a small cracked section of a home’s sewer line or a pipe burst by cold weather, the whole process just takes a day or two. By contrast, crews usually need two to three days to dig up and replace even part of that line. On top of that, lining a home’s line often costs less than replacing it.
It’s not just for individual houses, either, as cities can also employ the method for the larger sewer pipes running under the street that households drain into. The process is relatively quick, but while it happens you might want to go easy on showers and laundry or the water could back up.
However, there are still limits to where the technique can be used. It works best on pipes that are simply cracked, leaky, or rusted. If a pipe is properly caved in, though, the crews will likely still have to dig up. The technique is also not the most durable out there, at least compared to PVC pipes. Swapping those in ensures the line lasts over a 100 years. By comparison, a liner should last around 50 years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which isn’t bad, but it is only half the lifespan.
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