Gadgets News: 27 August 2025 - 4 September 2025

October 11, 2025, 11:28 PM EDT. Ars reports that certificates issued to the 1.1.1.1 domain could enable man-in-the-middle attacks against Cloudflare's DNS service. The incident underscores how a compromised or mis-issued TLS certificate by a Certificate Authority erodes trust in TLS and the PKI. With access to a TLS certificate, an attacker could impersonate the domain and decrypt or tamper with traffic between users and 1.1.1.1. Experts note that Certificate Transparency logs should help detect mis-issuance, but this case shows gaps in timely visibility and proactive review. Cloudflare warns that the CA ecosystem is a castle with many doors, and a single mis-issued cert can threaten the security of the entire internet. The story also critiques Microsoft for lagging in proactive checks, underscoring the need for stronger transparency and faster remediation.

October 11, 2025, 11:25 PM EDT. SpaceX slashed the Starlink Mini dish price to $299, down from $499, expanding access to mobile internet. The compact terminal weighs 2.56 pounds and measures roughly 12 by 10 inches, delivering broadband speeds of up to 100 Mbps with latency under 100 ms in clear-sky locations. Built-in Wi‑Fi 6 makes basic setup easier, with SpaceX recommending a power bank for true mobility. Available immediately through the official Starlink site and retailers like Best Buy and Walmart, the deal targets digital nomads, RVers, remote workers, and emergency responders, and could accelerate growth beyond the current ~3 million subscribers. The price cut also sharpens competition with HughesNet and Viasat as Starlink aims to broaden global coverage, especially during fall migrations and hurricane season.

October 11, 2025, 11:24 PM EDT. DJI's Osmo Nano is a truly pocketable, motion-ready camera that weighs just 52 grams and feels solid in hand. The matte finish and a protective case make it durable enough for travel, from Hong Kong to Shenzhen and Zhengzhou. Clip it on a shirt or cap, and it disappears from the scene while you film authentic moments. Paired with the Multifunctional Vision Dock, it becomes a complete ecosystem: power, tripod, remote, and high-speed data hub in one aluminum block. It charges to 80% in 20 minutes, records up to 200 minutes, and transfers at up to 600 MB/s, with the dock doubling as a preview display. The DJI Mimo app ties everything together, syncing footage automatically and turning the Nano into a seamless part of any mobile workflow. A true portable professional tool.

October 11, 2025, 11:10 PM EDT. Quest v81 rolls out Horizon OS v81 to all supported Quest headsets, introducing Immersive Home built on the Horizon Engine, with four background options (Horizon Central, Midnight, Valley, Oceanarium). Users can freely move instead of teleporting, and a new system-level World Movement tab unifies locomotion settings. A persistent 2D window anchoring feature arrives, plus the Instagram Window object for wall-mounted photos (alongside Avatar Mirror and Horizon Central Portal). QuickPlay makes launching content easier. Note that some features may arrive later as Meta staggers the rollout, and third-party apps cannot yet read the new World Movement settings.

October 11, 2025, 10:54 PM EDT. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have unveiled a system called State of Mission (SOM) that could virtually erase range anxiety for EV owners. Rather than a simple percentage, SOM estimates whether the battery can complete a given trip by combining physics-based electrochemical and thermodynamic principles with machine learning. By considering factors like elevation, temperature, traffic and driving style, SOM predicts the battery’s remaining life for a specific route. In tests with NASA and Oxford, the approach reduced errors in battery metrics such as voltage, temperature and state of charge. The team aims to optimize performance and reduce processing demands, with potential applications beyond cars, including other battery-operated devices like drones.