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Tech News
Apple has updated the Mac Mini for the first time in nearly two years, introducing an M6 base model and an M5 Pro configuration that skips the M5 generation entirely for the standard chip. The base M6 Mini starts at $899, while a maxed-out M5 Pro version with 48GB of memory and 1TB storage reaches $2,899, edging into Mac Studio pricing territory.
Apple's latest Mac Mini refresh retains its familiar compact design, port layout, and the awkwardly placed rear power button, while introducing the new M6 chip built on a 2-nanometer process. The chip packs 46 billion transistors, roughly 35 percent denser than its predecessor, and the new model adds two extra CPU cores compared to the M4 version.
Apple has updated the Mac mini with its new M6 chip, promising a performance boost over the previous M5 model. The refresh comes with a higher starting price than its predecessor, reflecting the upgraded silicon inside the compact desktop.
Apple has refreshed the Mac Mini with its new M6 chip, alongside an upgraded M5 Pro tier replacing the previous M4 Pro option. The base model now starts at $899, though comparing it to the last actually-available M4 Mini (which cost $799 after Apple discontinued the cheaper $599 configuration) shows the real increase is closer to $300. Despite the higher price, reviewers still consider it the best value in Apple's current Mac lineup given broader price increases across the industry.
A hobbyist project called Mini-AGI has been shared on Hacker News as a byte-level language model that builds its own architecture and trains from scratch on a single consumer GPU with 8GB of VRAM. Rather than keeping all parameters in memory, it stores weights as disk files and loads them as needed, letting it expand or prune capacity while it continuously reads and learns from a text corpus without forgetting prior knowledge. The creator says it's currently a toy-scale demonstration, not a competitive model, and weights won't be released until the current training pass over its corpus finishes in a few weeks.
Satechi has released a Thunderbolt 5 dock called CubeDock, styled to match Apple's newly launched Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro chips. The dock adds eight ports, an internal M.2 NVMe SSD bay supporting drives up to 8TB, and can deliver up to 140W of charging power to a connected laptop.
FunnyPlaying has released the FPGB Mini, a handheld barely bigger than a Game Boy cartridge that uses FPGA hardware to emulate Game Boy games with near-perfect accuracy. It supports both physical cartridges and ROMs via microSD, features a 2.98-inch 800x720 IPS screen, and runs on an 1800 mAh battery for four to six hours of play. The standard price is $89, though early units sold for $69.
CNET released its daily hint and answer breakdown for the Sept. 20 edition of NYT Connections: Sports Edition, puzzle number 727. The four categories covered Maryland teams, former NHL cities, NFL rookie wide receivers, and sports terms drawn from the NATO phonetic alphabet.
A new round of weekend discounts on Apple products includes up to $100 off AirPods Max 2 and $50 off AirPods Pro 3, alongside price cuts on Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4. Pre-order savings have also returned for the new M6 Mac mini and Mac Studio, plus $150 reductions on M5 MacBook Air models and other accessories like AirTag 2 and MagSafe battery packs.
CNET's daily coverage of the New York Times Connections puzzle offers hints and answers for game #1196, which the writer describes as trickier than usual. The four categories are organized by difficulty, from an easy yellow group to a challenging purple group that plays on math terminology.
CNET's daily puzzle guide published hints and the solution for the Sept. 19 Wordle, puzzle number 1,918. The word, WAKEN, has no repeated letters, contains two vowels, starts with W and ends with N. The previous day's answer, Sept. 18, was SNOWY.
Amazon has discounted the Mammotion LUBA Mini 2 AWD 1500H robot lawn mower with garage by $300, bringing its price to $1,699 from a $1,999 list price. This marks the mower's lowest price in roughly six months, a 15% reduction.