Have you ever wanted to build your own custom application but didn't want to take the time to do any of the pesky learning that software development requires? If so, a new experimental project from GitHub might just make your dreams come true. GitHub Spark lets you build what the company calls "micro apps" or "sparks." These are very limited custom applications that perform one or two basic tasks. You create them through a chatbot interface, and when you're done, you get a spark you can (someday) share with all your friends.

On Thursday, the Financial Times reported that OpenAI has dramatically minimized its safety testing timeline. Also: The top 20 AI tools of 2025 - and the No. 1 thing to remember when you use them Eight people who are either staff at the company or third-party testers told FT that they had "just days" to complete evaluations on new models -- a process they say they would normally be given "several months" for. Evaluations are what can surface model risks and other harms, such as whether a user could jailbreak a model to provide instructions for creating a bioweapon. For comparison, sources told FT that OpenAI gave them six months to review GPT-4 before it was released -- and that they only found concerning capabilities after two months. Sources added that OpenAI's tests are not as thorough as they used to be and lack the necessary time and resources to properly catch and mitigate risks.

Nowadays, you can find lots of great daily driver laptops that pack more than enough power to floor you at surprisingly affordable prices--like this Acer Swift 16 AI, now available for 800 at Best Buy (was 1,250). That's a hefty 450 discount for a laptop we recently gave a positive review. Running on an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor and 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, this sleek and sturdy Intel Lunar Lake laptop is AI-ready and supports all the Copilot AI features that are coming and part of Windows 11. The 1TB SSD offers plenty of storage for work, photos, apps, and even running local LLMs directly on the laptop. In our review of the Acer Swift 16 AI, we praised the laptop's sharp 16-inch OLED screen and great battery life.

Hugging Face, a company that hosts open source artificial intelligence models and software, announced today that it has acquired Pollen Robotics, the French startup behind the bug-eyed, two-armed, humanoid robot called Reachy 2. Hugging Face plans to sell the robot and will also allow developers to download, modify, and suggest improvements to its code. "It's really important for robotics to be as open source as possible," says Clément Delangue, chief executive of Hugging Face. "When you think about physical objects doing physical things at work and at home, the level of trust and transparency I need is much higher than for something I chat with on my laptop." Simon Alibert and Rémi Cadene are research engineers in AI and robotics at Hugging Face. In videos shared by Pollen Robotics, Reachy 2 can be seen performing tricks like tidying coffee mugs and picking up fruit.

No matter who you are, the ability to manage documents efficiently while on the move is invaluable--an idea that is not lost on app developers. And right now, it is on sale, big time. For a limited time, new users can secure a lifetime subscription for just 24.99 (regularly 199.99) by using the code SCAN at checkout through April 27. The app allows you to digitize a variety of documents, including contracts, receipts, ID cards, books, and handwritten notes, directly from your iOS device. This eliminates the need for bulky scanning equipment and enables you to work or study from virtually anywhere.

Out of all the episodes in the excellent seventh season of Black Mirror, it's Plaything that sticks out to me and I suspect to anyone else who played video games in the 1990s. It's the story of socially awkward freelance games journalist, Cameron Walker, who steals the code to a new virtual pet sim named Thronglets from the developer he's meant to be interviewing. When he gets the game home, he realises the cute, intelligent little critters he's caring for on the screen have a darker ambition than simply to perform for his amusement – cue nightmarish exploration of AI and our complicity in its rise. The episode is interesting to me because … well, I was a socially awkward games journalist in the mid-1990s. But more importantly, so was Charlie Brooker.

SAVE 10: As of April 14, the Amazon Echo Pop is on sale for 29.99. If you're looking for a smart home device that won't take up space or stand out, the Echo Pop is what you've been looking for. The smallest of the Alexa devices, this nifty model boasts all the usual benefits of an Alexa, but without taking up lots of room. And as of April 14, you can buy it on sale, now just 29.99. Choose from charcoal, glacier white, lavender bloom, and midnight teal.

TL;DR: Thoroughly enjoy all that Windows 11 Pro has to offer with this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro and The Essential Windows 11 Pro Course bundle for just 24.99 (reg. Been a while since you updated your operating system? If you've got a PC that could use a refresh, the Microsoft Windows 11 Pro and The Essential Windows 11 Pro Course provides that and more. Get a license for Microsoft Windows 11 Pro and a course to help you master the new features for just 24.99 (reg. Whether you're upgrading from an older version of Windows or setting up a new device, this bundle makes the transition easy.

I've always had an interest in programming, because I've always had an interest in computers. I put together websites in HTML as a teenager (which, yes, were hosted on GeoCities) and have been occasionally dabbling in Python since. Yet none of my projects got very far and, apart from my early websites, I never made anything useful. My efforts all followed a familiar pattern: I'd fixate on a particular resource--like an O'Reilly book or an online course--and get started with great enthusiasm, but as I'd realize I was months or years away from creating anything remotely useful, I'd give up. That changed in late 2024 when my general frustration with WordPress, which I was using for my personal website, got the better of me. In a fit, I threw my website's content plus a screenshot of it into Claude 3.5 Sonnet and asked the AI to replicate my site with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

While President Donald Trump has revealed a tariff exemption for some electronics, video game consoles are not thought to be among them. Christopher Dring, who writes about the gaming industry in The Game Business newsletter, said while Sony did not directly mention tariffs in its decision, their "knock-on effect" could have an impact on pricing worldwide. "The US is the biggest market for video game consoles, and rather than simply increase prices there, it's possible the likes of PlayStation could increase pricing globally in an effort to protect, as best they can, the US market," he told the BBC. "Ultimately, the era when game consoles went down in price over time is certainly over." The price increase comes as Nintendo's launch of its rival Switch 2 console was marred by the impact of US tariffs on markets worldwide.