When you’re finished with work and you need something to do, where do you turn your attention? Some folks build models, others do some coloring. Some relax and watch TV. But if you’re looking for something to pour your free time and attention into, it can be difficult to settle on one thing, or even multiple. 

Model trains, running clubs, robotics and coding classes all sound fun — until you realize you’d rather fly, running shoes cost far more than they should and you’re less of a front-end/back-end person and more of a “no end in sight for how boring Java can be” person.

I asked three different AI systems — Claude AI, Google Gemini and ChatGPT — about what my spouse’s next hobby should be using the exact same prompt, and the results were surprising.

Claude: Getting a clue

Here’s the prompt I wrote: “I am a 39-year-old man in the United States of British origin. I live in Los Angeles, California, and am married with a dog and a cat. I live in a house with some backyard space. I enjoy travel, reading, playing video games and am looking to add a new hobby to my list of activities. I also enjoy getting deals, as that’s what my career deals with. Can you suggest three hobbies that I should look into for my review? Please give me information on the financial and time commitments needed, as well as what you would consider to be the plusses and minuses of each one. I work a regular 9-5 job so would need to be done around that constraint as well.”

Gardening is a hobby many people only come to appreciate in their golden years, but all three AI systems recommended it as an easy way to pass the time with minimal effort and expense.

The second suggestion was reselling and thrifting vintage finds, followed by homebrewing beer, cider or mead. It gave a lot of detail into the time and financial commitments, pros and cons as well as why it assumed those hobbies would suit my husband based on that short prompt.

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Claude AI was particularly thoughtful in appealing to the prompter’s needs and personality, pointing out that gardening could be a great way to save money — perhaps recognizing that finding a good deal is a deeply entrenched personality trait of my little cheapskate husband.

Gemini: Combining interests

Gemini suggested hunting for and reselling vintage video games, books and other old media as a pastime that could pair well with traveling on points. It also recommended brewing beer as a way to spend time in a backyard already full of plants (in addition to “high-yield urban orchard gardening”).

Gemini was adept at using my spouse’s prompt details to guide its suggestions, creating a nicely packaged, holistic approach to how he might spend his off-hours between a demanding 9-to-5 job.

ChatGPT: Making a night of it

Along with backyard gardening (again), ChatGPT was the only AI system to suggest an evening hobby: amateur astronomy. Most of the other systems focused on ways to pass the weekend hours at estate sales or at home.

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Stargazing could be a fun way to spend a Friday night, but we live in Los Angeles. Many of the “stars” overhead might actually be satellites, and finding a decent vantage point would likely mean braving traffic and crowds taking selfies over the city skyline.

ChatGPT’s other suggestion was using our backyard for beekeeping:

Beekeeping seemed pretty out of left field, considering the original prompt mentioned nothing about an interest in food, insects or anything remotely related to the complex caretaking involved with bees — or bee law. According to ChatGPT, the time commitment is only two to four hours per month (though local beekeepers might dispute that).

Overall, ChatGPT’s recommendations were the least relevant to the prompter’s real interests, and the logic the tool used to explain why it had made the recommendations was very thin.

I just can’t buy that “many full-time professionals” who enjoy playing video games also do a little beekeeping on the side.

Here’s hoping AI can offer some creative ideas for spending your time that don’t involve buying a full-body suit.

OPINION: The UK government has finally opened the doors to plug-in solar panels in the UK, saying that they’ll be available in shops ‘within months’. Self-installed, and just requiring a simple 13A plug socket, will plug-in solar start a revolution and will the savings stack up?

As of April 1, the price cap has come down, and electricity and gas bills have just got a bit cheaper. Well, until you look at what’s going on in the Middle East and know that this reduction in price is a false dawn, and, unless things change dramatically, energy prices could soar upwards. 

No wonder, then, that the demand for solar power has risen dramatically. As I learned from my BOXT Solar review, solar panels are well worth it in the UK, provided you have the right conditions: the right type of roof, facing the right way, and you’re planning to stay in the home that you own for long enough to see the benefits.

That leaves an awful lot of people who aren’t in the optimal situation, including those in flats, those who rent and those who are only going to stay in a place temporarily. It’s for these kinds of people that plug-in solar offers a lifeline.

What is plug-in solar?

With a fixed solar installation, the idea is to fit as many solar panels as possible onto your roof to generate as much electricity as possible. To use this DC current, you need a high-power solar inverter, which converts the incoming power into the AC power you use around your home. All this specialised equipment costs a fair amount, and then there’s professional installation on top of that.

Plug-in solar aims to make life easier, with self-install solar panels that you can hang over a balcony, put on a shed roof or even place in a small terrace or other outdoor space.

These then connect to a microinverter, which plugs into a standard three-pin socket, with no additional installation required. Under the new government legislation, systems that generate up to 800W can be plugged in without needing an electrician. 

How much will plug-in solar cost?

The size of the system you buy and the types of fixing the solar panels buy all make a difference to the price. As you can’t buy many such systems yet, there’s not much to go on, but we do have some initial reports on the types of systems that will be available, and there’s European pricing, as plug-in solar is already available in a lot of other countries.

Initial reports suggest that plug-in solar systems will cost around the £400 mark, but smaller systems could be available at around £200, with the largest system with a battery maxing out at over £ 1000.

How much will plug-in solar save, and will it be worth buying?

Savings depend on the size of system you have and other factors. Most importantly, you still need to have an area suitable for solar panels: south-facing is ideal, with as much sun exposure as possible throughout the day. Essentially, you need direct sunlight; if you have a north-facing balcony, for example, or there’s a lot of shade where you want to put your plug-in system, you won’t generate a lot of power.

With those kinds of variables, typical energy savings could be from £70 a year, although EcoFlow says that you can save up to £115 per year with its STREAM Microinverter. This system is currently offered as a package with two 450W solar panels and a STREAM AC Pro battery (1.92kWh capacity) for £1049, marking a nine-year payback period (note that the current package requires an electrician to install, due to current legislation). 

As we get more packages and I’m able to run some reviews, it will be possible to get a better idea of what these kinds of systems can do. The short version is that plug-in solar can’t generate the same kinds of power as rooftop panels, but you’ll still generate free power that will knock your electricity bills down.

It will be worth doing some sums to work out whether it’s worth buying a battery, too. As with a full rooftop solar, whether a battery is worth it will depend on how much power you generate and whether you can use it while it’s being generated or not. This is the kind of information I plan to cover in reviews once samples are available.

Provided you have the right place to mount panels, plug-in solar is a simple way to get started with free electricity generation, and with prices looking like they’re going up, any saving is good.

• Reliable technology now rivals pay as a core workplace expectation
• Meeting failures continue disrupting workflows across both hybrid and office environments
• Time loss from technical issues steadily erodes productivity during routine meetings

The modern British workplace has arrived at an uncomfortable crossroads where employees now rank reliable technology almost as highly as their monthly pay, new research has claimed.

A report from Owl Labs found good technology access is important to 89% of UK workers, placing it just behind compensation at 92% and a supportive manager at 91%.

Anthropic is no longer offering a free ride for third-party apps using its Claude AI. Boris Cherny, Anthropic’s creator and head of Claude Code, posted on X that Claude subscriptions will no longer cover using the AI agent for third-party tools, like OpenClaw, for free. As of 3PM ET on April 4, anyone using Claude through third-party apps or software will have to do so with an extra usage bundle or with a Claude API key, according to Cherny.

Most of Claude’s workload may come from simple user questions, but there are those who use the AI chatbot through OpenClaw, a free and open-source AI assistant from the same developer as Moltbook. Unlike more general AI solutions, OpenClaw is designed to automate personal workflows, like clearing inboxes, sending emails or organizing calendars, but leans on external large language models, including Claude, ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

Cherny replied to X users that this change is about engineering constraints and optimization. “We’ve been working hard to meet the increase in demand for Claude, and our subscriptions weren’t built for the usage patterns of these third-party tools,” Cherny explained on X. “Capacity is a resource we manage thoughtfully and we are prioritizing our customers using our products and API.”

If OpenClaw users still want to use Anthropic as its LLM, they will have to buy a usage bundle, which are currently discounted, or switch to another AI integration like xAI, Perplexity or even DeepSeek. Of course, Anthropic has its own alternative, which tackles some similar tasks as OpenClaw, called Claude Cowork.

LinkedIn might be doing a lot more than just showing you job posts and connection requests. If the latest reports are anything to go by, it’s also quietly peeking into your browser setup.

A new investigation is raising serious privacy concerns, claiming the platform is scanning thousands of Chrome extensions and collecting device-level data in the background. And yeah, it’s as uncomfortable as it sounds.

LinkedIn may be scanning thousands of your browser extensions

According to findings from the BrowserGate report, LinkedIn allegedly injects hidden JavaScript into its website that scans users’ browsers for installed extensions, over 6,000 of them. The way it works is surprisingly simple (and a bit sneaky). The script checks for known extension IDs by attempting to access specific files tied to those extensions. If the file responds, LinkedIn knows the extension is installed, all happening silently in the background without any visible prompt.

But it doesn’t stop there. Independent testing by BleepingComputer further confirmed that the platform is also collecting detailed device information like CPU specs, memory, screen resolution, language settings, and even battery status; essentially building a unique “fingerprint” of your device. And here’s the kicker: because LinkedIn profiles are tied to real identities such as your name, job, and company, this data could potentially be linked back to you directly, making it far more sensitive than typical anonymous tracking.

Why is this raising serious red flags?

The biggest concern isn’t just the data collection, but how quietly it’s happening. Users aren’t clearly informed, and there’s no explicit consent before the scanning begins. There’s also the issue of what this data reveals. Installed extensions can hint at sensitive details like job hunting, finances, or personal interests, making this kind of tracking far more intrusive than it sounds.

LinkedIn says it’s for security, but critics argue it goes too far. And honestly, it leaves you wondering how private your “professional” life online really is.

Apple might be responsible for some of the most famous and successful products in human history, but not everything the company touches turns to gold.

While billions of iPhones and millions of iPods and iPads have been sold, there’s a rogues’ gallery of Apple creations that had far less impact and ended up being consigned to the footnotes of tech history.