Technologies

The New Tesla Model Y Performance Upgrades My Favorite Electric SUV to Supercar Speeds

Tesla’s new Model Y is the best electric car I’ve driven, but this new Performance spec takes the family SUV and gives it the power of a supercar.

It’s hard to overstate how much I already liked the new Tesla Model Y. I drove it earlier this year, and it struck me as Tesla’s most complete car yet. It’s sharper to look at, smoother to drive, and smarter inside without trying too hard to be clever. In fact, I’d go as far as saying its the best electric car I’ve ever driven.

But today Tesla unveiled the Model Y Performance. It’s the power-packed specification of this already great electric SUV — and it has the potential to be the best car Tesla’s ever made.

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The new Model Y Performance isn’t just the regular Model Y with a faster 0 to 60 mph time — although, it’ll do that in a ridiculous 3.3 seconds. It’s a reworked machine, top to bottom, which takes the family-friendly EV and injects a dose of sports car mischief into every corner of it.

Aesthetically, it’s clear something’s different. The redesigned fascias on both the front and rear aren’t just for show. Together with a carbon-fiber spoiler and a new rear diffuser, they give the Performance variant a more aggressive stance, not to mention actual aerodynamic improvements. It achieves 10% less drag and a 27% improvement in front-to-rear lift balance. The 21-inch forged Arachnid 2.0 wheels are staggered for better grip and show off some seriously good-looking red brake calipers.

Inside, the upgrades are more than skin deep. Tesla’s fitted bolstered performance seats with powered thigh extenders that promise to make long drives feel like less of a compromise between comfort and support. They’re both heated and ventilated, so you’re set for any weather. There’s a new carbon-fiber dash trim too, so you can really make it look the part. The 16-inch center screen is now sharper and more pixel-packed than before — 80% more, to be exact — which adds a bit more polish to an already slick interface.

Performance, though, is the headline. The Model Y Performance inherits the beefy new drive unit introduced in last year’s Model 3 Performance, offering 460 horsepower, 32% more peak power, and 22% more sustained grunt than the last-gen Performance variant. Top speed is now 155 mph. Supercar numbers in a car that still has space for strollers, groceries, and whatever else life throws in the trunk.

Tesla has thrown in adaptive suspension that was tuned in-house and validated at the Nürburgring. It adjusts in real time to match your driving and the road conditions. In practice, that should mean buttery comfort when you want it, and spine-tingling sharpness when you don’t.

You get all of the excellent additions from the non-performance version of the new Model Y, which is the first major design change since the Model Y was unveiled in 2019 and made available in 2020. This includes the new rear touchscreen to keep passengers entertained, the new light bars on the front and area, an updated panoramic roof, electric folding rear seats, and LED styling throughout the interior.

In terms of range, Tesla promises 360 miles WLTP, which is nothing to scoff at. Thanks to a new high-density battery pack, it’s achieved without adding weight. Charging via Tesla’s ever-expanding Supercharger network remains about as easy as it gets for EVs.

Put simply, this new Model Y Performance is Tesla’s electric SUV turned up to 11. It still has the everyday usability I loved in the regular version, but adds track-tested speed and suspension tuning that would be at home in a supercar.

Orders are open now on Tesla’s website. Deliveries begin in Europe this September, with the UK and Ireland following in October. Pricing starts at £61,990 in the UK and 61,990 euros in Ireland. US pricing is yet to be announced, but will follow shortly, with deliveries slightly later this year.

Technologies

Google Discover Gains Follow Button and Expands Content Sources

Google’s personalized news feed will feature a wider variety of content in the coming weeks.

Google Discover, Google’s personalized news feed, has largely remained the same since its introduction in 2018, but it’s now receiving some new and helpful features.

On Wednesday, Google announced that Discover will soon expand the type of content found within the feed and allow you to follow publications and creators. You can find Google Discover in the Google app, and it will be built into the home screens of some Android phones.

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Instead of just seeing a list of web pages to visit on your feed, you’ll soon see a mix of web articles, YouTube videos and social media posts from X and Instagram, effectively widening the net of content shown in Discover.

Along with expanding content from more sources, Google Discover is allowing users to follow specific publishers and content creators using a «follow» button at the top right of each content card.

Google says that tapping the publication’s or creator’s name will open a new page previewing the content that’s typically shared before you choose to follow the outlet. From our testing across multiple phones so far, it appears the feature is still rolling out.

Your Google Discover feed should now allow you to follow content creators. A more diversified mix of content will roll out over the coming weeks.

Technologies

New Bill Aims to Block Both Online Adult Content and VPNs: How Your VPN Could Be Affected

A proposed bill in Michigan has a broad reach that covers everything from adult AI content to manga and even depictions of transgender people. It includes a VPN ban to avoid workarounds.

If you live in Michigan, you might not be able to legally use a VPN soon if a new bill is passed into law. On Sept. 11, Michigan Republican representatives proposed far-reaching legislation banning adult internet content.

The bill, called the Anticorruption of Public Morals Act and advanced by six Republican representatives, would ban a wide variety of adult content online, ranging from ASMR and adult manga to AI content and any depiction of transgender people. It also seeks to ban all use of VPNs, foreign or US-produced.

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VPNs, or virtual private networks, are software suites often used as workarounds to avoid similar content bans that have passed in states like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and the UK. VPNs can be purchased with subscriptions or downloaded and are also built into some browsers and Wi-Fi routers.

But Michigan’s bill would charge internet service providers with detecting and blocking VPN use, as well as banning the sale of VPNs in the state. Associated fines would be up to $500,000.

What the ban could mean for VPNs

Unlike some laws banning access to adult content, this Michigan bill is comprehensive. It applies to all residents of Michigan, adults or children, targets an extensive range of content and includes language that could ban not only VPNs but any method of bypassing internet filters or restrictions.

That could spell trouble for VPN owners and other internet users who leverage these tools to improve their privacy, protect their identities online, prevent ISPs from gathering data about them or increase their device safety when browsing on public Wi-Fi.

Read more: CNET Survey: 47% of Americans Use VPNs for Privacy. That Number Could Rise. Here’s Why

Bills like these could have unintended side effects. John Perrino, Senior Policy and Advocacy Expert for the nonprofit Internet Society, mentioned to CNET that adult content laws like this could interfere with what kind of music people can stream, the sexual health forums and articles they can access and even important news involving sexual topics that they may want to read.

«Additionally, state age verification laws are difficult for smaller services to comply with, hurting competition and an open internet,» Perrino said.

The Anticorruption of Public Morals Act has not passed the Michigan House of Representatives committee or been voted on by the Michigan Senate, and it’s not clear how much support the bill has beyond the six Republican representatives who have proposed it. As we’ve seen with state legislation in the past, sometimes bills like these can serve as templates for other representatives who may want to propose similar laws in their own states.

Could VPNs still get around bans like these?

Could VPNs still get around this type of ban? That’s a complex question that this bill doesn’t really address.

«From a technical standpoint, ISPs can attempt to distinguish VPN traffic using deep packet inspection, or they can block known VPN IP addresses,» said NordVPN privacy advocate Laura Tyrylyte. «However, deploying them effectively requires big investments and ongoing maintenance, making large-scale VPN blocking both costly and complex.»

Also, VPNs have ways around deep packet inspection and other methods.

«Some VPNs offer obfuscation — which tries to disguise VPN traffic as standard web traffic — using dedicated servers or custom VPN protocols, like NordVPN’s NordWhisper or Proton VPN’s Stealth,» said CNET senior editor Moe Long. «But note that obfuscation isn’t foolproof.»

There are also no-log features offered by many VPNs to guarantee they don’t keep a record of your activity, and no-log audits from third parties like Deloitte that — well, try to guarantee the guarantee. VPNs can even use server tricks, such as RAM-only servers that automatically reboot to erase data after every browsing session.

If you’re seriously concerned about your data privacy, you can look for features like these in a VPN and see if they are right for you. Changes like these, even on the state level, are one reason we pay close attention to how specific VPNs work during our testing, and recommend the right VPNs for the job, from speedy browsing to privacy while traveling.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 19 #565

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sept. 19, No. 565.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Do you drink your coffee black? If so, today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be a puzzler. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Pour it on.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Wow, no cow.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

NONE, CONE, RICER, SHEW, FAIR, FAIRY, DRAY, YARD, MILK, CASH, DONE, DRAM, MADAM

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: