G’day. This one’s a little later than usual, so here’s the weekend in one go. Five releases, why each one matters, and how to try it. About a five-minute read.

On Saturday DeepSeek released DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017, an update to its smallest model. DeepSeek says it scores higher on coding and agent benchmarks, finishes tasks faster and gives shorter answers. On its own DeepSWE chart it hits 77.0% at roughly US$0.20 a task. The weights are on Hugging Face under the MIT licence, with a 1M-token context window, and the same model now runs DeepSeek’s website, app and API. DeepSeek also opened its in-house web search to developers as Search and Fetch APIs, at US$0.75 (about A$1.08) per 1,000 calls each.

Why it matters: a cheap, open model that DeepSeek says beats much bigger rivals on agentic coding. The benchmarks are DeepSeek’s own, so test it on your own work before you switch.

TRY IT → set the model to deepseek-flash in the DeepSeek API, which is OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible. Peak price is US$0.30 per million input tokens and US$1.20 per million output tokens (about A$0.43 and A$1.73), and off-peak is half that. Off-peak covers all weekend and, in Sydney time, weekdays outside roughly 12–3pm and 5–9pm. DeepSeek API change log · Models & pricing · Hugging Face: DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017

NVIDIA’s RTX Spark laptops went on sale on Friday from ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft and MSI. Each has a single chip that combines a Blackwell RTX GPU with a Grace CPU, with up to 128GB of shared memory and, NVIDIA says, up to 1 petaflop of AI compute. NVIDIA pitches them at running AI models and agents on the laptop itself, with guided installers for agents such as GitHub Copilot, Hermes, OpenClaw, Perplexity, Pi and WorkBuddy.

Why it matters: local AI without a desk-sized box. Big models and agents run on the laptop, so your files and code stay on your machine and there’s no per-prompt bill.

TRY IT → NVIDIA’s US starting price is US$2,599 (about A$3,740), and local prices vary. In Australia, ASUS lists the ProArt P14 from A$6,499 (32GB), on sale from 17 October. The ProArt P16 starts at A$5,999 (24GB), but that model isn’t due until December. Buy only as much memory as your models need. NVIDIA newsroom: RTX Spark PCs available today · NVIDIA Australia: RTX Spark

OpenAI has upgraded its ChatGPT extension for Chrome. In Chat, ChatGPT can look across your open tabs to answer questions, such as comparing three couches by size, delivery time and returns policy. In Work, it can act on those tabs for you: sending messages, filling in forms, downloading files and grouping tabs. The side panel now has your full ChatGPT history. OpenAI’s help page says ChatGPT asks before it uses each new website, and you can allow or block sites by domain.

Why it matters: this puts a computer-use agent in the browser most people already use, signed in to the sites where your work actually is.

TRY IT → free to install, and OpenAI says it’s available on all ChatGPT plans. Leave “Allow for all sites” off, and don’t let it loose on banking or admin tabs. ChatGPT on X: the announcement · ChatGPT Learn: browser extension

Beyond These Stars is out now on PC, from Balancing Monkey Games in Dunedin, New Zealand, the studio behind Before We Leave. It’s published by Hooded Horse (Manor Lords). You rebuild a civilisation on the back of Kewa, a giant space whale, and have to balance supply chains, alien trade and outposts against keeping your host happy. Hooded Horse says it reached 250,000 wishlists before launch.

Why it matters: a calm, non-violent builder from a team just across the Tasman, and a good weekend game if you liked Before We Leave.

TRY IT → A$31.96 on Steam with the 20% launch discount, which ends 30 October (normally A$39.95). It’s also on GOG, the Epic Games Store and the Microsoft Store, and it’s included in PC Game Pass. Steam: Beyond These Stars · Hooded Horse press release

Nine years after it was first teased, Tesla showed its next-generation Roadster on Friday at 11:55am Sydney time, in a livestream from SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas. The demos included the car leaving a ramp. It’s an unveiling, not a release: Tesla hasn’t announced a price, and Reuters and CNBC report production is pencilled in for 2028. Tesla lists three versions. Performance is a two-seater with active aero and a fan-driven suction system that Tesla says can hold the car upside down, even standing still. Thrust adds cold-gas thrusters at the rear, and Tesla Australia quotes 0 to 100 km/h in under a second. Rocket is invite-only, seats one and has thrusters all around the body (“So yes, it can fly,” says Tesla), and it isn’t approved for public roads. Tesla Australia’s page also lists the Roadster as left-hand drive only.

Why it matters: it’s genuine SpaceX hardware on a road car, but it has no price, a 2028 target and a long run of missed dates since 2017. Watch the show, but don’t plan around it yet.

TRY IT → watch the free 23-minute replay on Tesla’s YouTube channel, then look through the three versions on Tesla’s Australian site. Tesla on YouTube: Roadster Event replay · Tesla Australia: Roadster

Also shipped

Skip this: vendor-made benchmark tables. This week’s DeepSeek chart is DeepSeek’s own. Wait for independent results, or better still, run one of your own real tasks.

Five to Try is curated with AI help and checked by a human. Hit reply and tell us what you tried.

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