Tech

The Roomba Was a Disappointment

The best-known manufacturer of autonomous vacuums declared bankruptcy this week, and no one should be surprised.

Rosa von Praunheim, provocative pioneer of gay cinema, dies aged 83

The film-maker, whose 1971 feature about queer life has been described as Germany’s ‘Stonewall moment’, married his long-term partner on Friday

Day 17 of the 2025 Space Telescope Advent Calendar: Distant Starbursts

Day 17 of the 2025 Space Telescope Advent Calendar: Distant Starbursts. Last year, the James Webb Space Telescope made this observation of a dwarf irregular galaxy named I Zwicky 18, some 59 million light-years away from Earth. At the heart of the galaxy are two major star-forming regions surrounded by clouds of gas that have been sculpted by the stellar winds of the hot, young stars.

OpenAI and Amazon discussing possible $10 billion investment

OpenAI, the developer for ChatGPT, and Amazon are in talks over a possible $10 billion investment. Mark DeCambre, editor-in-chief for MarketWatch, joins with more.

Even Happy Birthday has a dark side: my quest to tell the history of the world in 50 pieces of music

The Nazis adopted Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Happy Birthday hides a tale of corporate greed. And Putin uses Shostakovich’s Leningrad symphony as a call to arms. That’s why I put them in my soundtrack to the complexities of human existence

Melania: first trailer released for Amazon’s documentary on the first lady

The $40m film – directed by Brett Ratner, who has been accused of sexual misconduct – follows Melania Trump in the days before the 2025 inauguration

Walmart impersonation scam targets hundreds of thousands of consumers each week

Updated on: December 17, 2025 / 10:51 AM EST / CBS News

‘A cave complex worthy of Batman!’ Mind-boggling buildings that showed the world a new China

Canadian Centre for Architecture, MontrealThe birth of the People’s Republic is seen as a time of drab buildings. But this dazzling show, featuring a factory in a cave and a denounced roof, tells a wildly different story

Inside Fallout, gaming’s most surprising TV hit

With ​a blend of retro-futurism, moral ambiguity and monster-filled wastelands, Fallout became an unlikely prestige television favourite. Now there is something a bigger, stranger and funnier journey ahead

Hackers access Pornhub’s premium users’ viewing habits and search history

ShinyHunters group reportedly behind the hack affecting data of 200m users thought to be from before 2021

In a middling year for television, Pluribus is ending things on a high

Apple’s smash hit sci-fi drama has confounded and compelled in equal measure and provided hope for small screen innovation at an underwhelming time

‘Don’t be disheartened by mistakes’: 10 lessons my artist father taught me

David Gentleman’s brilliant career spans eight decades, from watercolour painting to tube station murals to drawing the Tottenham riots. Here his daughter, the Guardian journalist Amelia Gentleman, dispenses his invaluable advice