Gaming Hardware · Monday, October 26, 2026 · 3 sources

Microsoft’s Project Helix may move beyond the Windows 11 desktop

Reports cited by Windows Central say an Xbox leader threatened to cancel a gaming handheld rather than run Windows 11 on it, amid tensions with Microsoft’s Windows team. Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet disputes the account, saying Helix OS is being built on Windows and that the report misrepresents the technical work and teams’ relationship; the system’s design remains unclear.

Bottom line — Project Helix is reportedly delayed until 2028, while Microsoft has not explained how its operating system will differ from Windows 11.

Go deeper 5

Windows Central and Yahoo Tech carry the same report, which they attribute to Fortune.
Van Vliet said Helix OS is “being built on Windows”; he did not say it is Windows.
Earlier reports said the next Xbox would use a customised version of Windows 11, similar to the Xbox Ally.
Microsoft’s consoles already use operating systems based on Windows, according to Windows Central.
Windows Central says gaming handhelds running Windows 11 can involve several rounds of updates during setup.

Read the reporting 3

Windows Central windowscentral.com Windows 11 is apparently so bad that XBOX would rather cancel hardware than be forced to use the OS Yahoo Tech tech.yahoo.com Even XBOX doesn't think Windows 11 is the answer Insider Gaming insider-gaming.com XBOX COO Helen Chiang Departs Microsoft After 21 Years

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Europe · Mon, Oct 26

Spain’s house prices have risen three times faster than wages since 2015

Housing prices in Spain rose 84.6% between 2015 and 2025, while average gross wages increased 27.85%, according to figures cited by Euronews. Oxfam Intermón says housing costs have pushed in-work poverty to 15.49%, with one in three workers renting at market rates left in poverty after paying rent.

Bottom line — The Bank of Spain estimates a housing shortfall of around 750,000 homes built up between 2021 and 2025.

Sources Euronews English CityAM Deadline News

Europe · Mon, Oct 26

Thousands protest Czech plan to cut public media funding by 15%

Thousands protested in Prague after the Czech lower house fast-tracked a bill to replace public television and radio licence fees with state-budget funding. The proposal would cut their budgets by about 15%; critics say the change risks political influence, while Prime Minister Andrej Babiš says funding would be guaranteed by law and editorial independence would be unaffected. The bill still needs approval from the upper house.

Bottom line — Czech public media workers have announced a strike for 3 November as the bill moves through parliament.

Sources Al Jazeera Free Malaysia Today … www.bloomberg.com +5 more

TV/Movies · Mon, Oct 26

Marvel’s new Avengers: Doomsday teaser reunites Steve Rogers with the Avengers

Marvel’s latest teaser for Avengers: Doomsday brings Chris Evans back as Steve Rogers, alongside Thor and a gathering of heroes from across the franchise. WDW News Today and Bam Smack Pow report a scene in which Scott Lang struggles to distinguish Steve, Sam Wilson and John Walker as “Cap”; the film is due in December 2026.

Bottom line — Steve Rogers returns as Avengers: Doomsday heads for cinemas in December 2026.

Sources www.marvel.com WDW News Today Bam Smack Pow +1 more

Health · Mon, Oct 26

Creatinine tests missed kidney disease in nearly half of 1,200 cancer patients

In a study of 1,200 people with solid tumours in São Paulo, measured kidney function identified chronic kidney disease in 18.9%, compared with 10.2% using creatinine-based estimates. MDMagazine reports that adding cystatin C raised the estimate to 15.7%, but still left a gap; the researchers warn that inaccurate readings near treatment thresholds may affect chemotherapy eligibility and dosing.

Bottom line — Measured GFR is the more direct check when kidney function determines a chemotherapy decision.

Sources MDMagazine PubMed Central (PMC) www.sciencedirect.co… +4 more

Science · Mon, Oct 26

A 30,000-year-old genome traces Ice Age links between Europe’s east and west

A woman buried at Isturitz Cave in southwestern France carried mostly western European ancestry, alongside a component linked to central and eastern European populations, according to research led by the University of Vienna and published in Science Advances. The team also found evidence that western ancestry persisted in southwestern Europe through the Last Glacial Maximum, including in DNA recovered from cave sediment.

Bottom line — The Isturitz genome points to east-west gene flow around 32,500 to 31,500 years ago, alongside regional continuity.

Sources The Brighter Side of… Knowridge Science Re… www.sott.net

Apple · Mon, Oct 26

Apple’s touchscreen MacBook Pro pairs touch input with its traditional laptop design

Apple is expected to unveil its first touchscreen MacBook Pro at its 28 October event, according to Macworld and The Mac Observer. Bloomberg reporting cited by both outlets says executives supported adding touch as customer expectations shifted, while Apple’s industrial design team objected; the reported compromise keeps the keyboard-and-trackpad experience and adds touch as another input.

Bottom line — The reported redesign brings touch to Apple’s premium laptops while keeping the familiar Mac layout.

Sources The Mac Observer Cult of Mac Macworld +1 more

Football · Mon, Oct 26

Harry Kane leads a tight Ballon d’Or race as London hosts the 2026 ceremony

Bookmakers have Harry Kane as the favourite after he scored 73 goals for Bayern Munich and England, won the German league and cup, and helped England reach the World Cup semi-finals, according to Sky Sports and the BBC. Lamine Yamal, who won La Liga and the World Cup with Spain, and Kylian Mbappé are also in contention. The ceremony is being held in London to mark 70 years since the first award, presented to Stanley Matthews in Blackpool.

Bottom line — Kane could become the first English Ballon d’Or winner since Michael Owen in 2001.

Sources SkySports Evening Standard Evening Standard +7 more

Games · Mon, Oct 26

Phantom Blade Zero wins top reviews for martial-arts combat, with critics split on its design

S-Game’s Phantom Blade Zero has drawn strong reviews from PCGamesN and Wccftech, which praised its combat, weapon variety and boss fights. Polygon and ScreenRant also admired its martial-arts spectacle, but criticised repetitive combat or lore-heavy storytelling; Wccftech found the story difficult to follow at first.

Bottom line — S-Game’s first major console and PC release has critics praising its spectacle while disagreeing on how well its systems hold up.

Sources PCGamesN NoSmokeSport store.playstation.co… +5 more

Health · Mon, Oct 26

Amgen’s Imdelltra–Imfinzi combination cut lung cancer death risk by 58%

In a 563-patient trial of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer, Amgen’s Imdelltra combined with AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi reduced the risk of death by 58% compared with Imfinzi alone, according to results presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Madrid. Median survival was 21.1 months with the combination and 12.7 months with Imfinzi alone; serious side effects were also more frequent with the combination.

Bottom line — Amgen reported that 20.9% of combination patients had serious side effects, versus 10.8% on Imfinzi alone.

Sources The Independent

AI · Mon, Oct 26

LlamaChat Local brings private AI chat and image generation to iPhone

LlamaChat Local, an iPhone app by developer Jimil Burkhart, runs language models and generates images on-device, with no account required. Apple’s App Store listing says inference works offline after installation, while model downloads and purchases require an internet connection.

Bottom line — LlamaChat Local offers five free image generations; a monthly Pro subscription removes that limit.

Sources apps.apple.com DEV Community github +3 more

Technology · Mon, Oct 26

RigBase’s 117 local AI builds show used RTX 3090s deliver more tokens per euro

RigBase’s dataset covers 117 home AI builds and 298 measured results, with each result linked to its public source. Its analysis finds that used RTX 3090s produce 3.1–3.2 times more tokens per euro than RTX 5090s across four models, while the 5090 is about 1.8 times faster. RigBase says the results are collected and normalised from public sources, not independently re-measured.

Bottom line — RigBase’s comparison puts the used RTX 3090 ahead on value, while the RTX 5090 remains the faster card.

Sources DEV Community getrigbase.com Llama Builds +3 more

Cyber Security · Mon, Oct 26

Tailworm report says Tailscale SSH flaws could turn one compromised device into root access

Security researcher Erica Windisch’s Tailworm report says flaws in Tailscale SSH and headscale could let an attacker with access to one permitted device gain root privileges on reachable servers. The demonstrations were conducted in a lab, not on real networks; Tailscale has not confirmed the specific findings, and no bulletin or fixed version had been issued at publication.

Bottom line — Windisch’s lab tests found spread in under a second per hop, but source-to-destination access rules limited how far it could reach.

Sources The Hacker News Cyber Security News Anti Spier +2 more

Space · Mon, Oct 26

Astronomers find possible Jupiter-mass moon orbiting a brown dwarf

Researchers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope report evidence of an object at least as massive as Jupiter orbiting a brown dwarf in the CD-35 2722 system. The study, published in Nature, describes it as a possible first exosatellite, though the object’s mass and unusual orbit complicate whether it should be called a moon or a planet.

Bottom line — The candidate is at least as massive as Jupiter; confirmation would establish the first detected exosatellite.

Sources ScienceDaily The Business Standar…

Technology · Mon, Oct 26

Redmi K100 pairs a 10,000mAh battery with a 165Hz display

Redmi will unveil the K100 in China on 28 October, with a 10,000mAh battery and a 6.83-inch AMOLED display running at 165Hz. Geekbench 7 listings for a device identified as Xiaomi M786BC show a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, 16GB of RAM and scores of 2,705 single-core and 9,885 multi-core; Redmi says the phone will run HyperOS 4.

Bottom line — The K100’s 10,000mAh battery exceeds the 8,580mAh and 9,070mAh cells in the K100 Pro and Pro Max, according to EOTO Tech.

Sources Notebookcheck EOTO Tech My Mobile +1 more

Gaming Hardware · Mon, Oct 26

Playden brings Steam games to jailbroken PS5s, but remains experimental

Playden lets owners of jailbroken PS5s sign in to Steam, download Windows games from their library and launch each as a separate tile on the console’s home screen. The project’s GitHub page says the games run through Wine and other compatibility tools; its developer labels the software alpha and says it is not supported by Valve.

Bottom line — Playden is an unofficial alpha, and it requires a jailbroken PS5.

Sources Tom github Latest in Tech

Europe · Mon, Oct 26

Portuguese police clear Lisbon and Porto housing camps, arresting 31

Police cleared more than 100 tents in Lisbon and about 50 in Porto before dawn on Sunday, arresting 31 people, according to the Portuguese police. The police called the operation proportionate; campaign group Casa Para Viver said more than 20 people were injured, while police reported 11 injuries. Protesters oppose a bill that would make evictions easier and end rent caps on new leases.

Bottom line — Portugal’s housing bill has passed its first parliamentary reading, and campaigners have called another protest for Wednesday.

Sources the Guardian euronews Al Jazeera +2 more

Technology · Mon, Oct 26

Samsung’s Exynos 2700 reportedly leads Snapdragon by 20% in internal tests

Samsung’s Exynos 2700 reportedly scored about 13,000 in Geekbench 6.5 multicore tests, against roughly 11,000 for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, according to reports from South Korea. The results come from Samsung’s internal testing and have not been independently verified; separate GPU claims vary by workload, and real-world performance remains unclear.

Bottom line — Independent testing will determine whether the reported 20% lead holds in Galaxy S27 devices.

Sources Notebookcheck Beebom Gadgets SamMobile +1 more

World · Mon, Oct 26

Myanmar disguised Iranian jet-fuel imports as $14.6 million of South African diesel

Reuters found that Myanmar-based broker Dynamic Wave arranged a December 2025 shipment of about 18,000 tonnes of Iranian jet fuel aboard the tanker Reef, using paperwork that described it as South African diesel. A letter from Myanmar’s foreign exchange regulator authorised the fuel to be labelled diesel and approved payment to the Thai seller, Tawan-Oil Trading; the shipment’s contract was worth €13.6 million ($15.8 million).

Bottom line — Reuters says Iranian fuel continued reaching Myanmar despite US sanctions, with the disguised December cargo worth €13.6 million ($15.8 million).

Sources Reuters

Cyber Security · Mon, Oct 26

Gheist plants 13,500 secret-stealing workflows across 850 compromised GitHub accounts

Wiz says the Gheist campaign has planted more than 13,500 branches across more than 850 compromised GitHub accounts, using stolen tokens to add workflows that encode repository secrets and print them in logs. GitHub’s approval control held every public-repository run Wiz checked, but the researchers found successful executions in private repositories and GitHub Enterprise environments, including AWS role assumptions.

Bottom line — Wiz says deleting a run does not undo exposure: affected teams should rotate accessible secrets and revoke the tokens that pushed the workflows.

Sources DEV Community wiz.io www.saasrise.com +10 more

Space · Mon, Oct 26

JWST finds three actively feeding black holes in an ancient galaxy

An international team led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics has identified three actively feeding supermassive black holes in galaxy J0148-4214, seen as it was 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. The researchers say the two black holes near the galaxy’s centre are expected to merge within a few hundred million years.

Bottom line — The two central black holes are expected to merge within a few hundred million years.

Sources ScienceDaily

Space · Mon, Oct 26

NASA plans a €17.5bn Moon base, with Blue Origin leading the first mission

NASA has announced plans to build a base at the Moon’s south pole by 2032, with infrastructure planned from 2029. Blue Origin’s Endurance lander is expected to carry scientific payloads to the south pole as early as this autumn; NASA says the wider project will be funded mostly by private companies.

Bottom line — NASA plans to begin building south-pole infrastructure by 2029, ahead of its targeted 2032 base.

Sources dongascience.com

Technology · Mon, Oct 26

Vivo launches Y600 in China with a 10,000mAh battery and Guinness record

Vivo has launched the Y600 in China, with pre-orders open and sales due to start on October 30. GSMArena reports that the phone’s 10,000mAh battery powered a continuous livestream lasting 32 hours and 37 minutes, earning a Guinness World Records title; the handset also has a 120Hz AMOLED display and supports 44W wired charging.

Bottom line — The Y600 starts at about €260 (CNY 1,999), with four configurations priced up to about €325 (CNY 2,499).

Sources Notebookcheck GSMArena.com Unbox Diaries +2 more

Global Economy · Mon, Oct 26

Australian Retirement Trust Buys French Bonds as Yields Reach 5%

Australian Retirement Trust, Australia’s second-largest pension fund, began buying 10-year French government bonds in September and increased purchases during October’s sell-off, Bloomberg reports. Senior portfolio manager Jimmy Louca said the fund sees market concerns about France’s public finances and possible ECB rate rises as overstated; yields reached 5%, their highest since 2002.

Bottom line — The fund increased its French bond purchases as yields reached 5%, betting that market fears have gone too far.

Sources www.bloomberg.com guavy.com singlinkbot.com +6 more

World · Mon, Oct 26

Israeli forces displace hundreds of families in Hebron after soldiers are killed

Israeli forces have demolished buildings and ordered Palestinian families from neighbourhoods in Hebron after two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint; the attackers were also killed. Palestinian officials gave differing displacement estimates, from at least 200 families to 373 families, while Israel’s defence minister said about 2,000 residents had been displaced. The army said its West Bank operations would continue for several days.

Bottom line — Hebron municipality reported 373 families displaced by Sunday, as Israeli forces kept the city’s entrances closed.

Sources www.bbc.com BBC News The New Arab +5 more

World · Mon, Oct 26

Lula wins Brazil’s fourth term with 51.8%

Brazil’s electoral court declared Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the winner of the presidential runoff, with 51.8% of the vote against Flávio Bolsonaro’s 48.2%, according to CNBC. Bolsonaro refused to concede and said he would challenge the result over a last-minute, two-hour extension of polling hours; both campaigns had requested extra time, citing transport problems and severe weather.

Bottom line — Lula takes office on 5 January 2027, while Flávio Bolsonaro’s annulment bid faces a high legal bar.

Sources dw.com The_Hindu SFGate +8 more

AI · Mon, Oct 26

Moonshot trims Kimi K3.1 Pro’s hacking score before open-weight release

Moonshot AI says it removed cyber-related material from Kimi K3.1 Pro’s training and reinforcement-learning environments while retaining general coding skills. The company reports that the model scored 81.0% on its internal vulnerability-finding test, against 90.5% for an unfiltered version; the results have not been independently verified. Moonshot plans to publish the model’s weights by 4 November.

Bottom line — The 4 November release will put Moonshot’s safeguards to a wider test, but distributed weights are harder for their developer to monitor or restrict.

Sources Reuters The Hindu Investing.com +6 more

Global Economy · Mon, Oct 26

Brent stays near €99 a barrel as tanker attacks mount in the Strait of Hormuz

Brent crude traded at $114.42 (€105.80) a barrel on Monday, down from above $116 (€107.26) last week but nearly double its level at the end of 2025, according to Oilprice.com. UK Maritime Trade Operations and the International Maritime Organization data cited by Oilprice.com recorded at least 28 vessel attacks in the Strait of Hormuz this month, including damage to at least 11 supertankers; Houthi strikes on Saudi infrastructure and Iranian attacks on tankers are also cited as factors keeping prices elevated.

Bottom line — At least 11 damaged supertankers add to supply concerns as Brent remains above €100 a barrel.

Sources oilandenergy www.noorsada.com global-energy-flow.c… +3 more

Global Economy · Mon, Oct 26

France would back Klaas Knot for ECB president in exchange for chief economist role

France would support Dutch central banker Klaas Knot to succeed Christine Lagarde as ECB president if a French candidate gets the chief economist post, Reuters reports, citing people familiar with the discussions. The informal proposal, backed by President Emmanuel Macron, could face resistance from Germany as the ECB’s top jobs come into play amid speculation that Lagarde and board member Isabel Schnabel may leave early.

Bottom line — The informal deal would give France the chief economist role, but Germany is also seeking the post.

Sources POLITICO US News & World Repo…

Gaming Hardware · Mon, Oct 26

Sony’s rumoured PlayStation handheld may get a custom AMD RDNA 5 chip

Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter says behind-the-scenes discussions suggest Sony has “an exclusive of sorts” on RDNA 5 for its rumoured handheld. The reports point to AMD prioritising custom chip projects with large production commitments, but neither Sony nor AMD has confirmed an agreement or the device.

Bottom line — Sony’s rumoured Canis handheld has no confirmed chip, specifications or release date.

Sources www.notebookcheck.ne… TwistedVoxel vgtimes.com +2 more

Games · Mon, Oct 26

Call of Duty’s North Korean invasion turns into a South Korean political fight

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, released on 23 October, depicts a North Korean invasion of South Korea and has topped Steam sales charts in South Korea and globally, according to AFP. South Korean opposition lawmakers have urged President Lee Jae Myung to play it as a warning about military preparedness, while Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said games are not subject to prior censorship.

Bottom line — The game has put South Korea’s security policy and creative freedom on the parliamentary agenda.

Sources The Express Tribune EconoTimes The Korea Herald +7 more

TV/Movies · Mon, Oct 26

DC’s Clayface opens with €22 million, below projections but ahead of A24’s rival

DC Studios’ body-horror film Clayface opened with $24 million (€22 million), slightly below forecasts of $25 million to $30 million (€23 million to €28 million), according to IndieWire. It beat A24’s You Can See Everything, which took $19.5 million (€18 million) in its second weekend; Clayface cost $44 million (€41 million) to make.

Bottom line — Clayface’s €41 million budget makes its modest opening less risky than Supergirl’s estimated €74 million to €111 million loss.

Sources IndieWire

Football · Mon, Oct 26

Mbappé reaches 100 Real Madrid goals with decisive Clásico brace

Kylian Mbappé scored twice as Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2–1 at Camp Nou, reaching 100 goals for the club in his 116th match, according to Real Madrid and ESPN. His late winner left Madrid three points behind Barcelona in La Liga, ESPN reported.

Bottom line — Mbappé’s 100th goal came in a win that cut Barcelona’s La Liga lead to three points.

Sources realmadrid goal World Soccer Talk +5 more

AI · Mon, Oct 26

Texas sues OpenAI, seeking a ChatGPT ban for minors and reviews of new models

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued OpenAI and chief executive Sam Altman, alleging ChatGPT harmed users and failed to protect children. The lawsuit cites alleged advice to a teenager who later died and asks a Collin County court to bar minors from ChatGPT and require outside evaluators to approve new models before release, according to the Texas Tribune as cited by The Jolt Journal.

Bottom line — The court will decide whether Texas can impose restrictions reaching beyond OpenAI’s existing parental controls.

Sources www.theepochtimes.co… The Jolt Journal

Apple · Mon, Oct 26

Apple's iPhone Duo screen cracks draw scrutiny to its hinge

Early iPhone Duo owners have reported cracks and display faults near the folding hinge, including one Australian customer whose screen reportedly broke after fewer than 20 openings. A teardown by YouTuber CuriousHagi found a broken hinge component in a phone damaged during testing, but the reports do not establish that it caused other failures or indicate how widespread the problem is.

Bottom line — CuriousHagi's teardown offers a possible hinge-related explanation, but Apple has not confirmed a common cause.

Sources VietNamNet News Firstpost gulfbusiness.com +7 more

Gaming Hardware · Mon, Oct 26

Microsoft’s Project Helix may move beyond the Windows 11 desktop

Bottom line — Project Helix is reportedly delayed until 2028, while Microsoft has not explained how its operating system will differ from Windows 11.

Sources Windows Central Yahoo Tech Insider Gaming

World · Mon, Oct 26

Serbia’s student-backed list wins projected majority as Vučić concedes defeat

Serbia’s student-backed list is projected to win 139 of 250 parliamentary seats, against 104 for Aleksandar Vučić’s coalition, according to Ipsos and CeSID; the figures are preliminary. Vučić conceded defeat after nearly two years of protests sparked by the 2024 Novi Sad station-canopy collapse, which killed 16 people. The movement has pledged to fight corruption, but has yet to say who would lead a new government.

Bottom line — The projected 139 seats give the Student List a majority; Serbia’s election commission still has to confirm the results.

Sources www.Bluewin.ch Haberler.com Haberler.com +7 more

Science · Mon, Oct 26

Brookhaven’s oxygen collisions show 20% jet-energy suppression

The STAR experiment at Brookhaven’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider found a 20% suppression of high-energy particles in oxygen collisions recorded in 2021, a signal of jet quenching. Brookhaven says the result is strong evidence that these small collisions formed quark-gluon plasma, though physicists are still investigating the minimum conditions needed to create it.

Bottom line — The Large Hadron Collider’s higher-energy oxygen data offer a comparison; Brookhaven researchers expect its quenching signal to be stronger.

Sources Nature World News BrookhavenLab Ireland +1 more