Monday, September 28
Author: Caitlin Rooney
Caitlin Rooney
Caitlin Rooney has been covering Greater Manchester for the best part of a decade. She started at a local paper in Salford, moved to digital, and spent three years on the housing and planning beat before going independent. She has sat through more council cabinet meetings than she cares to count and still reads the planning portal on her phone. She writes about transport, housing, devolution, policing, and the daily grind of how a city actually runs. She has a particular interest in who benefits from regeneration and who gets moved along by it. Caitlin lives in Chorlton. She thinks the Metrolink is both Manchester's best and worst infrastructure, and does not trust anyone who calls the city centre "town".
There is a new British sitcom to stream this week and it costs nothing to watch. No Big Deal is set inside a venture capital firm with a gift for backing the wrong idea, and its pilot episode landed on 14 September. You can watch it on YouTube here. What you are watching The firm is Janus and the job is finding the next billion-pound business idea, which almost never goes to plan. Derek Tudor is the one with the real investing talent, except that nothing he thinks stays unsaid and nobody can predict what he will do next. Lydia…
If you use OverDrive’s Libby app tips and tricks are well worth knowing, because the platform does considerably more than it lets on at first glance. From juggling multiple library cards to wrangling your holds queue, here’s what’s actually available once you dig into the settings.Libby App Tips and Tricks for Borrowing SmarterThe first thing most people don’t realise: you’re not limited to one library system. Libby lets you connect multiple libraries to a single account, so you can browse larger catalogues and take advantage of shorter wait times elsewhere. You still need to be eligible for a card at…
Apple’s iPhone Duo arrives as the company’s first foldable, but the iPhone Duo missing features found on the iPhone 18 Pro is a longer list than the price tag might suggest. Starting at $1,999 and climbing to $3,199 for the 2TB variant, this is not a cheap compromise device. Yet compared with the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, the Duo skips a surprising amount.That tension is worth spelling out clearly before you part with the money. The Duo does things neither Pro model can match, including a display that Apple says is 50 per cent larger than the iPhone…
The Wonderboom 4 price drop currently live on Amazon brings Ultimate Ears’ compact 360-degree speaker down to $59.99, reduced from $99.99, a saving of $40 and, according to price trackers, its lowest price yet. All five colour options (sand, black, blue, pink, and grey) carry the same discount, so there’s no penalty for having a preference.It’s the kind of deal that works out well for anyone who’s been holding off. The Wonderboom 4 is a small, rounded speaker built for portability, and the rounded shape is functional rather than decorative: it spreads audio across 360 degrees, which means you can…
The Linksys RE7000 Wi-Fi extender is currently listed at $27.99 as an open-box unit on StackSocial, and if your upstairs landing has been a dead zone since the router went in, it might be worth a look. Open-box in this context means the packaging has been handled or the unit returned, but it has been checked and is said to work like new.What the Linksys RE7000 Wi-Fi Extender Actually DoesOfficially called the Linksys Support-listed Linksys RE7000 Max-Stream AC1900+ WiFi Extender, this is a wall-plug unit that pulls in your existing Wi-Fi signal and pushes it further into areas that struggle…
Microsoft’s September Patch Tuesday zero-days are the headline concern in a colossal monthly update that addresses 966 flaws, including two vulnerabilities that were already being actively exploited in the wild before the fixes landed. It is the kind of number that makes you want to run Windows Update right now, if you have not already.The sheer scale of this month’s release is largely attributed to AI, which is making it easier for attackers to develop exploitation tools while simultaneously allowing developers to find and patch flaws faster. The net effect: bigger updates, arriving more often.What the September Patch Tuesday zero-days…
The JBL Charge 6 discount currently doing the rounds puts the portable Bluetooth speaker at $119.95 on Woot, down from its usual $199.95. Price-trackers are calling it a record low, and the deal runs for two weeks or until stock runs out. Amazon, for comparison, has a new unit listed at $149.95.Not a bad time to pick one up, if you’ve been sitting on the fence. The Charge 6 has been around long enough now to have a proper reputation, and the specs hold up.What You’re Actually Getting with the JBL Charge 6 DiscountThe Charge 6 carries an IP68 rating,…
Justin Bieber has shared a rare set of Justin Bieber son Jack photos on Instagram, giving fans an unusually close look at the pair together just a fortnight after his son’s second birthday.The singer posted a carousel featuring himself with Jack Blues Bieber, along with some shots of himself and Hailey Bieber. No caption. He let the pictures do the talking, which, fair enough.Justin Bieber Son Jack Photos: What the Post ShowedThe carousel marks a departure from Justin’s usual approach. He does post photos of Jack regularly, but tends to share the toddler solo rather than the two of them…
The Apple iPhone Duo announcement on Wednesday, 9 September has confirmed the company’s first foldable iPhone, settling weeks of leaks and rumours with an official name that differed from almost every prediction. Apple had been widely expected to call the device the iPhone Ultra, but Apple Newsroom confirmed the handset is the iPhone Duo. Not a small distinction, that.The Duo joins several other products revealed at the same event, including the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. A busy Wednesday by any measure.iPhone Duo: Apple’s foldable finally landsThe iPhone Duo…
If you’re among the Reacher fans deciding what to watch next after burning through Prime Video’s hit series, The Equalizer is the answer, and it’s not even close. The blueprint is almost identical: a former military man, quietly living on society’s margins, who cannot stand by when the vulnerable get crushed underfoot.Alan Ritchson’s Jack Reacher has become one of those rare TV characters people genuinely miss between seasons. According to Wikipedia, the second season, with Nick Santora as showrunner, rolled out from 15 December 2023 with three episodes, then dropped one per week through to 19 January 2024. Filming had…
The Labor Day sales 2026 are in full swing, and if you have not started looking yet, the window is narrowing fast. Most of the action wraps up on 8 September, the day after the holiday itself, so the next few days are where the actual opportunity sits.There is a reasonable amount of genuine value buried in here, alongside the usual retail theatre. Price-tracking tools help separate the two. The short version: if you need tech, home goods, appliances, or school supplies, this is a legitimate moment to move.Where the Labor Day Sales 2026 Are Actually Worth Your TimeAccording to…
The Venice Film Festival 2026 fashion parade is well underway, with the 83rd edition of the world’s oldest film festival delivering exactly the kind of considered glamour the Lido does better than anywhere else. Water taxis, grand palazzos, and a lineup of stars who clearly regard the red carpet as seriously as the films they’re there to promote: it’s Venice, so naturally. Who Is at the 83rd Venice Film Festival The headliners this year include Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Dakota Johnson, Alicia Vikander, and Robert Pattinson. George Clooney, whose appearances on the Lido with his wife, international human rights lawyer…
