Donline's Blog

29 June 2026

The era of cheap AI is ending – what comes next?

Organisations are becoming increasingly concerned about the rising cost of AI. With many projects yet to demonstrate a positive return on investment and expenses continuing to climb, IT leaders are looking for ways to optimise their spend.

In recent Computing research among 107 UK IT leaders, 60% said they were either concerned (30%) or very concerned (30%) about rising AI subscription costs, compared with just 8% who said they were not concerned.

Cost increases were also by far respondents’ biggest beef with AI vendors - cited by 43% - with compliance and data handling issues a distant second at 25%.

As you sow - so shall you reap. Go for the cheap option: sack / de-skill your workforce. Then realise the cheap option - is no longer cheap! What are you going to do then?...

www.computing.co.uk

26 June 2026

The 10 Commandments: words of wisdom leading to life

This collection walks you through the 10 Commandments as God’s wisdom for true life and flourishing, one commandment at a time.

We invite you to meditate on each command by watching the video, reflecting on the questions, and listening to the expanded conversation in each podcast episode. You’ll also find group study resources for going deeper in community.

1st Commandment: No Other Gods

2nd Commandment: No Idols

3rd Commandment: Do Not Carry the Name in Vain

4th Commandment: Remember the Sabbath

5th Commandment: Honor Your Father and Mother

6th Commandment: Do Not Kill

7th Commandment: Do Not Commit Adultery

8th Commandment: Do Not Steal

9th Commandment: Do Not Bear False Witness

10th Commandment: Do Not Desire Your Neighbor’s Possessions

www.bibleproject.com

Great news: Microsoft adds another year to Windows 10 extended update program!

Microsoft ended official support for Windows 10 in 2025, but the company may have a harder time than expected putting the operating system out to pasture. After promising a year of optional extended update support, Microsoft has changed its policy, tacking on another year to its Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. If you are still clinging to Windows 10, you don’t have to do anything but enjoy that extra year.

The last regular updates rolled out to Windows 10 in October of last year, but the Internet can be a dangerous place for unpatched Windows machines. That was a problem for Microsoft, as Windows 11 usage had only barely surpassed Windows 10 when support ended. Microsoft’s solution was to give everyone on the old OS a free year of extended updates.

That program was set to end on October 12, 2026, but Microsoft has updated its policy with hardly a whisper, pushing back the end of extended updates to October 12, 2027. The ESU support page was updated with that date, and Microsoft’s blog post on the program has a new editor’s note confirming the change.

www.arstechnica.com

Apple Just Increased Prices on MacBooks, iPads, and More

After temporarily taking it down earlier today, Apple's online store is back up with a series of product price increases.

The average price increase is $246.67. The iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, Studio Display, and accessories such as the Apple Pencil are seemingly the only unaffected product lines.

It is also of note that the 256GB Mac mini is now available again, but for $799. This is a $200 increase over when it was available before temporarily disappearing from the lineup earlier this year.

Last week, Apple announced that it was preparing to raise prices across its product lineup, with CEO Tim Cook confirming that that the move was inevitable. Cook made the announcement in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, citing the soaring cost of memory and storage chips. "Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable," he said. "We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we've been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable." Cook described the scale of the memory shortage as a "hundred-year flood," adding, "I've never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years."

www.macrumors.com

25 June 2026

Windows 11 turns five, leaving some important lessons for Microsoft

On June 24, 2021, Microsoft announced Windows 11, unveiling a new and controversial operating system. Five years on, how has that worked out for you, Redmond?

Windows 11 has always been a problem child for Microsoft. It was announced in June 2021 and became generally available on October 5 that year, while much of its customer base was still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, The Register called it pointless rather than a point release of Microsoft's flagship operating system.

Why? Because Windows 10 was more than adequate. Microsoft's apology for the Windows 8.x era was… fine. It mostly worked without difficulty. It lacked the user-experience missteps of its predecessors and was an architectural step up from Windows 7. And, most importantly, the operating system didn't trip up a user's workflow.

There is an old adage: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," but Microsoft set to work fixing Windows 10 regardless, and the result was Windows 11. The user experience has irked users ever since. Did you like being able to move the taskbar around in Windows 10? Tough – in Windows 11, you'll have to learn to love where Microsoft stuck it. How about the Start Menu? Again, Microsoft knew best and redesigned it. READ MORE...

www.theregister.com