Harmony Evans's Blog
November 29, 2025
OpenAI faces rising pressure from rivals three years after ChatGPT’s debut; Similarweb says Gemini users chat longer per visit than ChatGPT and Claude users (Financial Times)
Big Technology Podcast:
NVIDIA Panic Mode?, OpenAI’s Funding Hole, Ilya’s Mystery Revenue Plan
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Hard Fork:
Hard Fork’s 50 Most Iconic Technologies of 2025
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Great Chat:
Thankful for the unexpected
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
What Happens To Media When The Web Goes Away, with Tony Haile
Media and tech aren’t just intersecting – they’re fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
[trading places]:
Emily Zheng of Pitchbook
| VC Secondaries Hit $95B 
| Ramp $32B 
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Mel Williams from TrueBridge
Conversations with people I admire about things I’m genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Taiwan raises its 2025 GDP growth forecast to 7.37%, up from 4.45% forecasted in August, the fastest in 15 years, as AI demand boosts its electronics exports (Kathrin Hille/Financial Times)
Big Technology Podcast:
NVIDIA Panic Mode?, OpenAI’s Funding Hole, Ilya’s Mystery Revenue Plan
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Hard Fork’s 50 Most Iconic Technologies of 2025
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Great Chat:
Thankful for the unexpected
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
What Happens To Media When The Web Goes Away, with Tony Haile
Media and tech aren’t just intersecting – they’re fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
[trading places]:
Emily Zheng of Pitchbook
| VC Secondaries Hit $95B | Ramp $32B
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Mel Williams from TrueBridge
Conversations with people I admire about things I’m genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
India’s Department of Telecommunications directs WhatsApp and other messaging apps to implement SIM binding to ensure each account remains tied to an active SIM (Kamya Pandey/MediaNama)
Big Technology Podcast:
NVIDIA Panic Mode?, OpenAI’s Funding Hole, Ilya’s Mystery Revenue Plan
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Hard Fork’s 50 Most Iconic Technologies of 2025
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Great Chat:
Thankful for the unexpected
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
What Happens To Media When The Web Goes Away, with Tony Haile
Media and tech aren’t just intersecting – they’re fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
[trading places]:
Emily Zheng of Pitchbook
| VC Secondaries Hit $95B | Ramp $32B
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Mel Williams from TrueBridge
Conversations with people I admire about things I’m genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
An interview with Google DeepMind Nobel laureate John Jumper on the creative “off-label” uses for AlphaFold, combining AlphaFold’s power with LLMs, and more (Will Douglas Heaven/MIT Technology Review)
Big Technology Podcast:
NVIDIA Panic Mode?, OpenAI’s Funding Hole, Ilya’s Mystery Revenue Plan
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Hard Fork’s 50 Most Iconic Technologies of 2025
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Great Chat:
Thankful for the unexpected
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
What Happens To Media When The Web Goes Away, with Tony Haile
Media and tech aren’t just intersecting – they’re fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
[trading places]:
Emily Zheng of Pitchbook
| VC Secondaries Hit $95B | Ramp $32B
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Mel Williams from TrueBridge
Conversations with people I admire about things I’m genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
A profile of Klay, whose app will let users remake songs using AI; Klay has raised ~$10M and is the first AI startup to close deals with the three major labels (Abram Brown/The Information)
Big Technology Podcast:
NVIDIA Panic Mode?, OpenAI’s Funding Hole, Ilya’s Mystery Revenue Plan
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Hard Fork’s 50 Most Iconic Technologies of 2025
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Great Chat:
Thankful for the unexpected
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
What Happens To Media When The Web Goes Away, with Tony Haile
Media and tech aren’t just intersecting – they’re fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
[trading places]:
Emily Zheng of Pitchbook
| VC Secondaries Hit $95B | Ramp $32B
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Mel Williams from TrueBridge
Conversations with people I admire about things I’m genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Democrats Are On The Cusp Of An Earthquake House Win In Tennessee
Republicans are hanging on to their majority in the House by a thread. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s abrupt resignation means that a reliable red House seat will remain unfilled for months.
However, it is what is happening in a special House election in Tennessee that should be terrifying Republicans. Tennessee’s Seventh US House district is not a race that, in a normal year, anyone would consider to be ripe for flipping.
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Republicans have heavily gerrymandered the district. Trump carried it in 2024 by 22 points.
Hakeem Jeffries and House Democrats have been consistently widening their map of potential 2026 pickups. The Democrats have been telling anyone who would listen for months that districts Republicans carried by 20 points or more are in play for 2026.
Experts and Republicans scoffed because if seats that Republicans carried by more than twenty points were in play, it could result in a historic midterm election win for Democrats.
What is happening in the Tennessee special election is making it look like Democrats are right.
The special election is on Tuesday, and what happens in Tennessee could be a strong indicator of where the 2026 midterm election is heading.
Keep reading below
9 Ultimate Bucket List Experiences for the Luxury Explorer
Some trips change the way you see the world. They stay with you, not because of the luxury or the logistics, but because they make you feel alive.
These are the journeys you remember long after you have unpacked, places that challenge you, reward you and remind you why you travel in the first place.
This list brings together nine of those experiences.
Each one offers something rare, from the desert silence of Namibia to the sunlit stillness of the Amalfi Coast.
They combine comfort with curiosity, and every single one earns its place on any serious bucket list.
1. Namibia: Sleep Among Shifting SandsNamibia wraps you in a lingering, peaceful silence. Begin at Sossusvlei, where dawn breaks over dunes the colour of rust and the first glow stretches across the sand.
Climb Big Daddy dune for one of the most dramatic views in Africa, or walk through Deadvlei, where ancient camel thorn trees rise from the white clay pan-like sculptures.
You will love how the desert changes colour every hour, shifting from gold to deep red as the sunlight moves across the sand.
Base yourself at Little Kulala Lodge, where mornings start with coffee on the veranda and nights are spent watching constellations that seem close enough to touch.
Venture north to Twyfelfontein, home to rock engravings left by early hunter-gatherers, and visit Kolmanskop, the desert ghost town being reclaimed by the sand.
The best time to explore is between April and September, when cooler air keeps the light crisp and the desert more temperate.
2. Japan: Find Stillness in the Snow CountryWinter changes the rhythm of Japan; in Nagano and Niigata, villages disappear beneath layers of snow, with steam drifting from natural hot springs.
Stay in a ryokan, a traditional inn where tatami mats, sliding screens and quiet hospitality create a rare calm.
February is the best month to visit, when snow blankets everything and the pace of life slows to a whisper.
Days are spent skiing through cedar forests or wandering narrow streets where paper lanterns glow in the cold.
Evenings bring the warmth of sukiyaki, shared at the table as beef and vegetables simmer in a sweet, fragrant broth, while locals pour sake as snow falls outside.
3. French Polynesia: Drift into Island TimeScattered across the South Pacific, French Polynesia’s islands feel both remote and welcoming, and life moves gently here.
On Tetiaroa, stay at The Brando, a private island resort known for coral reef conservation and calm sophistication. Each villa opens to its own strip of beach lined with coconut palms.
You will relish how simple things feel with mornings spent snorkelling among bright fish, afternoons paddling across calm lagoons, and evenings listening to the waves from your terrace.
Visit a pearl farm on Rangiroa or join locals for a Polynesian dance performance.
The best time to visit is from May to October, when the sea is clear, the humidity is low, and the evenings are cool.
Meals centre on the island’s natural bounty, from grilled fish with lime to coconut sorbet enjoyed by lantern light on the sand.
4. The British Virgin Islands: Sail Your Own Route
The Caribbean rewards those who travel by water, and similarly, in the British Virgin Islands, the best journey is often the one you chart yourself.
Hire a small yacht in Tortola and set sail across the Sir Francis Drake Channel, where short hops link islands of white sand and coral reefs.
There’s nothing quite like waking up to a new horizon every morning!
Drop anchor off Virgin Gorda to swim at The Baths, a maze of giant boulders forming secret pools.
Stop in Anegada for grilled lobster served right on the beach, or snorkel among reefs that ring the island.
Evenings unfold on deck with local rum and the sound of waves against the hull. Sailing here is about freedom, pure and simple.
5. Rajasthan, India: Travel by Train Through Living History
Rajasthan moves at its own rhythm, filled with colour and sound that promises to sweep you up in its irresistible magic.
The Palace on Wheels beautifully captures that magic, taking travellers from Delhi to Jaipur, Udaipur and Jodhpur in wood-panelled comfort.
Every stop brings another layer of India’s story.
You can’t help but get caught up in the way life spills onto the streets, with markets alive with silver jewellery, handwoven textiles, and the aroma of spices in the air.
In Jaipur, explore the Amber Fort, an enormous sandstone fortress that glows at sunset. In Udaipur, float across Lake Pichola to dine at the white marble Lake Palace Hotel, once the home of a maharaja.
Meals on board tell their own tale, fragrant with biryani, slow-cooked lentils and warm naan fresh from the oven.
6. Greenland: Follow Ice and Light
Greenland is as remote as it is unforgettable, with vast ice fields stretching to the horizon, carved by glaciers that move silently toward the sea.
In summer, the sun barely sets, and the light turns gold around midnight.
Base yourself in Ilulissat, a small coastal town renowned for its UNESCO World Heritage-listed ice fjord.
Local guides take travellers by boat among drifting icebergs or by kayak along mirror-flat water.
Try Arctic char, caught that morning and grilled simply with herbs. Villages along the coast remain connected by small aircraft, but the fastest way to reach this wild corner of the Arctic is by private jet, which allows access to remote airstrips and lands you closer to the ice itself.
Spend an evening at the Ilulissat Icefjord Centre, where you can learn how the glacier shapes the land and hear stories from those who live beside it.
Immerse yourself in the experience of the midnight sun, stretching the day into something that feels endless.
7. Italy: Live Slowly on the Amalfi Coast
The Amalfi Coast feels like it was built to be savoured.
Roads twist between lemon groves and sea views, leading from Sorrento to Ravello and Positano, towns that seem suspended between cliff and water.
Stay at a villa overlooking the bay, where balconies catch the scent of citrus and the distant hum of vespas.
It is easy to fall into the rhythm of life here. Mornings are spent walking the Path of the Gods, afternoons are spent at cafés overlooking the sea, and evenings are spent when locals gather for music in the piazzas.
Stop for espresso or a slice of lemon cake made with fruit from the trees outside.
Lunches stretch into the afternoon with fresh pasta, olive oil and crisp white wine.
The best months to visit are May and September, when the crowds thin but the sea still glimmers with summer light.
8. Patagonia, Chile: Stand Among Peaks Shaped by Wind and Time
Patagonia, in Chile’s far south, feels like the edge of the world where the landscape transitions from rolling grasslands to granite towers and bright blue lakes, carved by centuries of wind.
The scale is enormous and humbling, the kind of place where you stop speaking without meaning to.
Base yourself in the Torres del Paine region at Explora Patagonia or Awasi Patagonia, where guides tailor each day to your energy.
Mornings often begin with hikes to the base of the Torres, where the peaks rise sharply above the glacial water.
On quieter days, ride horseback across open plains and watch guanacos scatter in the distance, or take a boat across Lake Pehoé for views that seem almost unreal.
You will love the clarity of the air here. Evenings are slow and simple, often spent beside a fire with a glass of Chilean red wine.
The best season runs from November to March, when daylight stretches late into the night and the weather, although still unpredictable, is at its most welcoming.
9. The Maldives: Float Between Sky and Sea
The Maldives comprises over a thousand islands that stretch across the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, each one a small world of its own.
Arrive by seaplane and watch as reefs and sandbars appear beneath you like shades of turquoise and jade.
Stay at a private island resort such as Soneva Jani or Gili Lankanfushi, where overwater villas lead straight into calm, clear lagoons.
You will love how easy the days feel. Swim before breakfast, snorkel with reef sharks and turtles, then return to your villa for lunch beneath a canopy of palm leaves.
In the evenings, dine on freshly caught seafood prepared with coconut, lime and chilli.
Many resorts offer stargazing platforms far from any light pollution, where the night sky feels impossibly wide.
The ideal time to visit is from December to April, when the sea is at its calmest and the days stay bright.
Final Say – Each of these journeys earns its place on any serious bucket list!
They combine the spirit of exploration with the ease of comfort, offering experiences that feel both rare and deeply personal.
From Greenland’s endless light to the stillness of Japan’s mountains and the warmth of Italy’s coast, each destination shows how luxury and adventure can coexist on the same path.
Travel with curiosity, travel with care, and let the memories stay long after you return home.
Dreame’s five-star robot vacuum is nearly 50% off for Black Friday
As Cyber Weekend is starting to come to an end, time is running out to nab this mighty robot vacuum and mop hybrid with an impressive price cut.
Get the Dreame X50 Ultra Complete for just £699 in Amazon’s Black Friday sale. That’s a massive £500 off its usual RRP and is the lowest we’ve ever seen the robot vacuum get to on Amazon.
Take 42% off our favourite robot vacuum this Black FridayEnjoy hands-free cleaning with the powerful Dreame X50 Ultra Complete. With a five-star rating, the title of “best robot vacuum” and 42% off, it’s easier than ever to recommend.
Put simply, we were seriously impressed by the Dreame X50 Ultra Complete. Not only did it score a brilliant five-star rating, but it also earned the title of “best robot vacuum” in our annual awards.
But what makes the Dreame X50 Ultra Complete so impressive? Firstly, the robot itself is seriously versatile, as it not only vacuums and mop floors, but it can even cross 6cm high barriers and lower its height down to just 89mm in order to clean under furniture.
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If you’ve ever used a robot vacuum before, you know they have a tendency to struggle reaching under low-lying furniture and crossing raised platforms, so this is really an impressive feat.
Then, there’s its performance. When vacuuming, we found the Dreame X50 Ultra Complete offered “very powerful suction” for tackling both day-to-day messes and bigger jobs alike. The robot is also fitted with Dreame’s CleanGenius technology which means it can detect when a floor area needs more attention. It’s impressive and genuinely works.
While the X50 Ultra Complete does struggle with tougher mopping jobs, so might not be the best choice if you have lots of hard floors at home, it’s brilliant for dealing with lighter and more everyday messes.
Equipped with the Dreame X50 Ultra Complete is the all-in-one PowerDock which is fitted with heaps of features to help keep your home clean, without you needing to lift a finger. Not only does it automatically empty, refill and drain the robot, but it’s also fitted with bacteria removal technology too.
This means the mops benefit from both an 80°C hot water clean and a UV light to help eliminate any lingering bacteria.
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As the Dreame X50 Ultra Complete was hailed by us as being the best robot vacuum currently available, if you’re tired of manually floor cleaning then we couldn’t recommend this more – especially at this price.
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Micron plans to invest $9.6B in Japan to build a production facility for next-gen HBM memory chips beginning in 2026, with shipments expected in 2028 (Ryo Mukano/Nikkei Asia)
Big Technology Podcast:
NVIDIA Panic Mode?, OpenAI’s Funding Hole, Ilya’s Mystery Revenue Plan
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Hard Fork’s 50 Most Iconic Technologies of 2025
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Great Chat:
Thankful for the unexpected
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
What Happens To Media When The Web Goes Away, with Tony Haile
Media and tech aren’t just intersecting – they’re fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
[trading places]:
Emily Zheng of Pitchbook
| VC Secondaries Hit $95B | Ramp $32B
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Mel Williams from TrueBridge
Conversations with people I admire about things I’m genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Ulike’s at-home IPL tool is down to its lowest ever price for Black Friday
Intrigued by the thought of at-home laser hair removal but haven’t wanted to splurge on an expensive device? Ulike has a Black Friday deal just for you.
You can currently get the Ulike Air 10 IPL device for just £269 in Amazon’s Black Friday sale. That’s a massive £130 off its usual RRP.
Save £130 on this luxury, time-saving beauty toolEmbrace the convenience of at-home laser hair removal, with the Ulike Air 10. First revealed at IFA 2025, the tool promises results in as little as two weeks.
Promising salon results in the comfort of your own home, the Ulike air 10 is perfect for anyone who’s sick of splurging on expensive waxing or laser appointments.
Essentially, IPL treatments slow the growth rate of hair. While at first you’ll notice finer, softer hairs, eventually you’ll notice an almost complete reduction in hairs too. In fact, Ulike promises that in some cases you’ll notice hair reduction in as little as two weeks – however we’d be wary to trust such a bold claim.
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Plus who can compete with the convenience of an at-home application compared to trekking to a salon, especially as the nights are drawing in.
The Air 10 is fitted with Ulike’s patented Sapphire Ice Cooling technology which ensures the contact temperature between the device and your skin is just 15.6°C. This ensures skin remains comfortable during use and shouldn’t overheat.
To get started, you can either choose from four power levels or use auto glide mode and let the Air 10’s skin sensor detect your skin tone and adjust the settings automatically to best suit what will work for you.
Just note that, much like in-salon lasers, the Ulike Air 10 is not suitable for dark skin tones, nor on blonde, grey or red hair either. We hope to see this change in the future, but for now you’re better off avoiding the tool.
If you’ve been tempted to invest in an at-home IPL tool but have been put off by the high cost, then this deal on the Ulike Air 10 is seriously tempting. We’d recommend acting fast, as this is the lowest we’ve seen the beauty tool drop on Amazon.
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