The reMarkable line is some of the best e-ink handwriting tablets we've ever tested - our hardware editor uses his collection every day for taking digital notes. And right now, the 11.8in reMarkable Paper Pro is down to $699 (was $799) and 7.3in reMarkable Paper Pro Move now $469 (was $569) at Best Buy,

The full-size reMarkable Paper Pro includes the Marker Plus and Premium Leather Book Folio. Its 11.8-inch color display gives you plenty of room for handwritten notes, PDFs, sketches and ebooks, making it the better choice if you mainly work at a desk or want the closest thing to a large digital notebook.

The reMarkable Paper Pro Move drops from $569 to $469 and also includes the Marker Plus, along with a Mosaic Weave Book Folio. Its 7.3-inch Canvas Color e-ink display fits into a device smaller than a paperback, so this is the one to choose if you want something you can easily carry with you.

Why we recommend it

Both devices solve the same problem in very different ways. In his four-star review of the Paper Pro, our expert Philip said: "This is a luxury tablet, so it’s the most expensive in its class, but it feels as premium as it looks, especially if you buy a nice Book Folio." He also called it an "incredibly well-built device, and it has a premium finish and design that is truly… impeccable."

In his five-star review of the Paper Pro Move, Philip said it was "the rare gadget that gives me exactly what I wished for, nothing more and nothing less." He went on to add that: "The reMarkable Paper Pro Move is a thin and very lightweight writing tablet that feels incredibly solid for its subtle heft. I had no trouble holding the tablet in the palm of my left hand and writing comfortably across the whole page with my right. Then I just tucked the tablet into the back pocket of my jeans."

Price context & historical value

Best Buy has slashed $100 off both models. The reMarkable Paper Pro drops from $799 to $699, while the Paper Pro Move falls from $569 to $469. We haven't seen either of these exact bundles sell for less.

The identical saving doesn't make them equally expensive, of course. The Move remains $230 cheaper and is the more accessible option if you mainly want handwritten notes on the go. The full-size Paper Pro costs considerably more, but you're paying for its much larger 11.8-inch display and much larger working area.

Which should you buy?

✅ Buy the reMarkable Paper Pro if...

You want the larger canvas. The 11.8-inch display gives you far more room for handwritten notes, detailed sketches and full-page PDFs, so it makes the most sense for creators, students and professionals who expect to spend long periods working on the device.

It's also the better option if you're trying to replace a conventional notebook or pad on your desk. The larger screen makes it easier to see more of a document at once.

✅ Buy the reMarkable Paper Pro Move if...

Portability matters more than screen size. At 7.3 inches and 8.16 ounces, the Paper Pro Move is much easier to carry around and is small enough to slip into a bag or even a large jacket pocket.

It still gives you handwriting-to-text conversion, searchable handwritten notes, cloud syncing and a paper-like color display and a two-week battery life.

The Catch: What to know before you buy

Neither of these should be treated as a conventional Android or iPad-style tablet. Their lack of apps and distractions is central to the appeal, but it also means they can't be used for tasks like video streaming, games, social media or apps.

The choice between them really comes down to screen size versus portability. If PDFs, sketches and large pages are important, the Paper Pro's bigger display is worth having. If you primarily take notes in meetings or while on the go, the Paper Pro Move is a better choice and much easier to carry.

• Shop the full 60th anniversary sale at Best Buy

• Hostinger launches AI Builder, moving beyond initial web design to help users set up and run backends, ecommerce, and marketing automatically
• AI Builder was driven by demand, with non-traditional builds like SaaS, apps, and internal tools growing fivefold in the last 12 months
• The new tool benefits from Hostinger’s infrastructure, with no third-party setup needed for many projects.

Top web hosting Hostinger has announced the launch of its new AI Builder platform, which aims to move beyond AI-generated websites by combining AI-led creation and visual control with backend infrastructure, ecommerce, embedded AI, and marketing.

The company says taking this approach aims to shift AI’s involvement from generating a first version to setting up and operating the systems behind a project.

The new tool was launched following a noticeable change in what Hostinger customers are building, highlighting research which found a year ago fewer than 4% of projects created on its platform fell outside of the traditional website category. More recently, nearly one-in-five projects are software-as-a-service (SaaS) products, learning platforms, and internal tools, a fivefold increase in the past 12 months.

More than a traditional website

SaaS projects of this type require more than a traditional website. Hostinger’s new tool will help users deal with everything from authentication and data to infrastructure. It will also help businesses find, reach, and keep new customers.

Where many AI platforms help you build a tool, then leave it to the user to assemble the components and deal with the infrastructure themselves, Hostinger benefits from built-in backend, marketing, and ecommerce systems.

"The next battle in online presence is not about who can generate a homepage in 30 seconds," said Auksė Žirgulė, Vice President of Product at Hostinger.

"It is about what happens next. Can the AI open the store, create the user management system, help attract customers, and keep improving the project? That's the direction we're taking with AI Builder."

AI Builder goes beyond the usual ‘prompt to build’ approach, allowing users to upload a whole range of content as a starting point. For example, a restaurant may upload a menu PDF, a designer may upload a screenshot or reference image, and a business owner can paste the link to an outdated website they want to modernize.

Hostinger’s AI Builder is now available globally to new and existing customers. For more information and to get started, you can visit the AI Builder page.

• Geekom has admitted a software driver contained malware
• A LAN driver on a legacy page was hosting the Asruex backdoor
• The malware can track keystrokes, steal passwords, and intercept data

Hardware maker Geekom has admitted that a network driver for multiple mini PC variants hosted Asruex backdoor malware, potentially putting users at risk

The LAN driver for Geekom’s range of A7, A8, AE7, AE8, AX7 Pro and AX8 Pro mini-PCs hosted the malicious package with administrator-level permissions that allowed it to monitor everything you type, steal data, and even swipe passwords from your machine. The malicious software also connects to a command and control (C2) network to send and receive information from hackers.

Geekom has issued an apology and removed the software package in question, but if you have a Geekom mini PC from the aforementioned range and have installed the LAN driver, I’d definitely recommend doing a full system virus scan, with a wipe and reset just to be sure.

Geekom ships malware-riddled LAN driver

Videocardz first broke the story after investigating claims from a Reddit user who reported finding a malicious executable file contained within the LAN driver.

Videocardz then independently investigated the claim using FileScan.IO, MetaDefender VirusTotal, and YARAify. Each antivirus engine detected the executable as malicious.

In Geekom’s statement about the malicious file, the company said that the driver was hosted on a “legacy page [that] had already been replaced and was no longer accessible through the normal Support navigation, although it remained indexed by search engines.”

So when users searched for the LAN driver using Google, the result that came up was the malicious file. I always recommend users install drivers and other software from the official distributor rather than using Google listings as hackers can use tactics such as SEO poisoning or promoted pages to offer dodgy software. But in this case the legacy page was official.

Geekom has confirmed that none of its mini PC range were shipped with the malicious driver preinstalled, so if you haven’t directly downloaded the malicious software from the legacy page, you should be okay. But consider running a Windows Defender scan to be sure.

In order to guarantee that your mini PC is free of the malicious driver, perform a complete wipe and reset of Windows, and install a new Windows image direct from Microsoft’s official page. Going forward, only install software and drivers from the official support pages of the manufacturer.

It's been a while since the last one, so Amazon is back with another sale on a handful of top Garmin smartwatches. We rate several of these devices for their stunning displays, excellent tracking, and slick designs — with many of them our top picks for various health and fitness needs at a range of different budgets. My top eight picks from the latest Garmin sale at Amazon are below.

• See all Garmin deals at Amazon

I've picked out entry-level fitness trackers for those just starting out, dedicated running watches for those working up to everything from a first 5k to a first marathon, and hardy all-purpose wearables that will guide you on more challenging outdoor adventures.

Our expert health and fitness testers have tried many Garmin devices and these are the ones they would recommend as the best Garmin watches you can buy. For example, there's the classic Garmin Forerunner 265 for $349.99 for runners, a more affordable Garmin Vívoactive 5 at $189.99 for the gym-goer, and this Garmin Fenix 8 for $749.99 for multisport enthusiasts.

Even though summer is drawing to a close, there's still time to get your exercise regimen in place and one of these smartwatches could offer just the extra incentive you need to get your routine in place for the cooler months ahead and start tracking your progress.

8 best Garmin deals for Memorial Day

As I wrote my latest message to ChatGPT today something inside me broke. I hit Send, then looked back at what I’d written, and noticed that the message was once again littered with typos.

“Sorry, it’s very har ld to type on an iPhone keyboard.” I typed next, as if to prove my point. Sigh.

At this point I decided that this couldn't go on. I’d had it with the iPhone keyboard, and I was going to experiment with its settings until I found a way to make it better. In the end it didn’t take me long to identify the main culprit — Predictive Text.

If your messages to ChatGPT, or even just friends on text, are equally strewn with bizarre mistakes and words, then one of Apple's supposedly helpful keyboard features could be making things worse.

Turning off Predictive Text is a revelation

You’ll find the off switch inside Settings > General > Keyboard > Predictive Text. Just slide it to off. I noticed the difference almost immediately. The keyboard suddenly felt calmer, and I stopped finding so many bizarre words in my ChatGPT prompts.

Here’s the thing I hadn’t appreciated: Predictive Text and Auto-Correction aren't the same feature. You can turn off Apple's attempts to guess what you're going to say next without losing the spelling corrections you actually want.

Predictive Text uses the words you've already typed, the context of the sentence and patterns it's learned from your writing to suggest the word or phrase it thinks is coming next. The suggestions appear above the text and inline as grey text. Tapping the spacebar will accept the suggestion.

The problem is that when you’re writing prompts in ChatGPT you're usually writing unusual, specific sentences, not generic text messages, in which it can more accurately predict what words are likely to come next, so the predictions can be less useful.

With Predictive Text enabled, my iPhone is constantly offering words and completions as I type. Auto-Correction is also working in the background, so the overall experience feels like I'm fighting the keyboard: I type something, hit the spacebar, and suddenly the text isn't quite what I thought I'd written. With Predictive Text turned off, all of that visual noise disappears, while Auto-Correction can continue fixing obvious spelling mistakes.

Try it for a day and see how you get on. There are a couple of other keyboard tricks that are well worth trying too, which I'll share below.

Reset your Keyboard Dictionary

Another thing you can try is resetting the Keyboard Dictionary. Years of typos, names, jargon and accidentally accepted corrections have polluted your learned dictionary, leading to bad suggestions in Auto-Correction. What you need is a fresh start.

Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Keyboard Dictionary. This wipes the custom words your keyboard has learned and returns it to its default state. Just be very careful not to accidentally choose to reset your whole iPhone!

Set up Text Replacements for ChatGPT

If you want another handy tip for using AI on your iPhone, check out the Text Replacement feature. This is for things like “omw” which turn into “On my way!” when typed. The full text appears, and you can insert it by tapping the space bar.

If there are things you type a lot of the time in ChatGPT then you can create Text Replacement features for them. For example ;short could expand to “Keep your answer concise and don't repeat my question”, or ;spoiler could become “Don't reveal anything beyond the episode I've told you I've watched.”

This is a genuinely useful ChatGPT power-user trick. To enable this feature go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement, then tap the + button. Enter the full instruction in the Phrase box and the short version you want to type in Shortcut.

One bonus trick

My last favorite keyboard feature is the spacebar cursor. You probably know this, but if you don’t then it’s another revelation for making text edits to things you’ve typed on an iPhone. Hold down the spacebar and the entire keyboard becomes a trackpad, so you can precisely reposition the cursor when ChatGPT prompts get long.

Turning Predictive Text off still remains the best thing I've done on my iPhone for a while. I think the original idea behind Predictive Text was good, and if I’m only ever typing a few text messages a day on my iPhone then I can live with it. But in the age of AI, where I’m continually writing long prompts into ChatGPT, I'm better off without it. Let me know how you get on if you disable it too.

• Heights Finance breach exposed sensitive customer data via a compromised third‑party cloud platform
• Stolen records included contact details, financial info, and government identifiers
• Over 700,000 Texans affected; company offers credit monitoring and identity protection

US loan company Heights Finance has revealed it suffered a cyberattack earlier in 2026 in which it lost sensitive data on hundreds of thousands of its customers.

The company published a data breach notification on its website, disclosing that on May 7 2026, it saw an “unauthorized actor” gaining access to a cloud-based platform, hosted by a third party, which the company uses to store certain customer data.

The breach was limited to that cloud platform only and did not affect its loan management system, or other systems and networks.

At least 700,000 victims

As is standard practice in these incidents, Heights Finance notified the relevant authorities and brought in outside cybersecurity help.

The subsequent investigation determined that the attackers - which were not named - stole contact details (names, postal addresses, phone numbers, email addresses), financial information (account details, bank account information such as bank name, account number, routing number), government identifiers (Social Security numbers, tax IDs, driver’s license numbers), and other miscellaneous data.

“Your information may be involved if you received a loan through Heights, or if you inquired about or applied for a loan product (including through a third party),” the company said. “Your information may also be involved if you were a former borrower of Curo Management or any of its former or current related brands.”

The exact number of affected individuals is not known at this time. Heights Finance told regulators in Texas that the breach affected more than 730,000 of its residents, and added that it affected those living in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas and South Carolina.

We don’t know which cloud-based platform Heights Finance is using, and the threat actors are yet to claim responsibility for the attack. In the meantime, the company is offering affected customers credit monitoring and identity protection services through Epiq.

Via The Record

• Windows 11's right-click menu has some big changes in testing
• This context menu is being streamlined and is now more responsive
• You can also customize the entries in the menu, or even switch it to be like Windows 10's version

Microsoft is finally streamlining Windows 11's context menu — the one which pops up when you right click something on the desktop — as well as bringing in more customization choices.

In a blog post for a new preview build in the Experimental channel, Microsoft announced that it's rolling out a redesigned context menu for File Explorer (meaning the files and folders on your desktop).

It's "designed to feel faster, cleaner, and easier to tailor to the way you work", and Microsoft has made two major improvements here.

Firstly, the right-click menu is a lot less cluttered, with far fewer options now appearing in the list by default (building on some previous work along these lines). On top of that, there's new functionality in Windows 11's settings, enabling you to customize what appears in the context menu.

Windows Central reports that it has tried this revamped right-click menu, and that it's not just trimmed down, but also faster to load (no doubt reducing the bloat has helped to improve performance).

You can also choose to have a Windows 10-style context menu, where the elements at the top in the horizontal panel (cut, copy, rename and so forth) are integrated into the vertical menu list (removing the top panel, essentially).

It's possible to ditch any entry you don't want from the menu, too, so gone are the days when you installed a third-party app and it annoyed you by placing itself in the context menu when you didn't want that to happen. You can now simply banish the offender.

Analysis: it's about time

In my opinion, you should have been able to tailor the right-click menu to your own preferences right from the very off in Windows 11. Or at least you should have been able to remove the likes of third-party additions to the menu, even if Microsoft kept the core defaults set in stone.

Still, Microsoft has improved the context menu immeasurably here, and the more responsive performance is great to hear about. Windows 11 users have long complained that it's ridiculous that right-clicking on something could mean a delay of a few seconds before the menu actually appears. This is a basic piece of interface functionality, and not one that should be running slowly on an average PC.

Bear in mind that this is just in testing for now, so this new layout and options may take some time to arrive in the full version of Windows 11. That'll likely happen later this year, although you can't be sure whether Microsoft will keep everything as it is now (some choices could be scrapped, changed, or more might be added, even).

For now, a good many Windows 11 users are impressed by this work, but there are some who, like me, are still a bit sore about it taking so long to happen. One Redditor said: "They had 5 years to do that. Better late than never I guess."

There are others who have already left Windows 11 behind and can't resist making it clear that they won't be coming back, no matter how far Microsoft takes its drive to fix Windows 11. This Redditor observed: "Too little too late, I will refuse to ever go back to MS," adding that: "They've lost me and everyone who listens to me for IT advice."

Others point out that the performance work to fix Windows 11's sluggishness is a decision driven by necessity and the RAM crisis. Someone else on Reddit pointed out: "Probably has a lot more to do with having to figure out how to get Windows 11 working on 8GB of memory since they can't control the price of memory."

And another Redditor replying to that agreed, saying, "This is exactly why this is happening. All the 'fixes' started after they announced 8GB Surfaces."

It's easy to be overly negative on Windows 11, yes, but responses like these are ultimately Microsoft's fault, and a result of the attitude it has shown with the development of the operating system through the years.

With that said, it does very much feel like a fresh leaf has been turned over, and I'm very happy that this is the case. Hopefully Microsoft can apply changes to Windows 11 that'll continue to surprise us, and make this desktop OS a more enticing prospect — although it's unlikely those more disgruntled Linux defectors out there will ever be tempted back.

Enterprise AI is reaching an important economic turning point.

For the past two years, organizations have largely evaluated AI through the lens of token pricing and model capability.

As AI moves from experimentation into business-critical operations, that approach is becoming increasingly incomplete.

The question is no longer simply what each token costs, but what it costs to deliver AI capability that is affordable, sustainable and commercially predictable at enterprise scale.

Every AI interaction ultimately depends upon physical IT infrastructure, consuming compute, memory, networking, electricity and cooling regardless of how those costs are presented to the customer.

Understanding the economics of that infrastructure is becoming just as important as understanding the capabilities of the models themselves.

Organizations that focus only on the price of a token risk overlooking the factors that will ultimately determine the long-term cost, resilience and sustainability of enterprise AI.

Why the price on the invoice isn't the whole story

Organizations naturally focus on the invoice because it represents the visible cost of AI. Consumption-based pricing appears straightforward, transparent and easy to compare. Yet every token reflects far more than access to a language model. Behind every AI interaction sits physical infrastructure consuming compute, memory, networking, electricity and cooling.

Those infrastructure costs remain largely invisible to the customer despite having a direct influence on the economics of enterprise AI. As AI moves from isolated pilots into production workloads, infrastructure decisions are repeated across millions of inference requests, making their long-term commercial impact increasingly significant.

Understanding enterprise AI therefore requires organizations to look beyond the invoice. The efficiency, resilience and operating characteristics of the infrastructure delivering AI capability increasingly determine what AI will cost over its operational lifetime.

Infrastructure efficiency is becoming a competitive advantage

The architecture underpinning an AI platform has a significant influence on its economics over time. Purpose-built inference infrastructure can significantly improve energy efficiency compared with architectures optimized primarily for AI training workloads, often without requiring complex liquid cooling.

Those efficiency gains have important commercial consequences. Lower energy demand reduces cooling requirements, simplifies facility design and lowers operating costs throughout the lifetime of the infrastructure. At enterprise scale, even relatively small efficiency improvements become commercially significant when repeated across millions of inference requests.

Consumption-based, token-metered AI remains an appropriate deployment model for organizations with variable or exploratory workloads. As AI becomes embedded within everyday business operations, however, many organizations are finding that continually increasing token consumption creates an operational cost model that becomes progressively harder to forecast and control.

Token volumes measure the level of AI activity, but they do not measure the business value created by that activity. Enterprise leaders are therefore becoming increasingly focused not simply on the cost of consuming AI, but on the long-term economics of delivering AI capability in a commercially sustainable way.

Dedicated inference infrastructure represents a different economic model. Rather than paying for every interaction, organizations invest in AI capability with predictable operating costs, greater control over performance, data location and operational resilience. The discussion therefore shifts from purchasing tokens to building sustainable AI capability.

Where that infrastructure is combined with on-site renewable generation and long- duration energy storage, organizations can further improve cost predictability while strengthening operational resilience and supporting long-term sustainability objectives.

A broader conversation about enterprise AI economics

Enterprise AI is entering a more mature phase of adoption. The discussion is no longer centered solely on model capability or the cost of individual tokens. Increasingly, organizations are asking how AI can create measurable business value while remaining commercially sustainable over the long term.

That changes the conversation in the boardroom. Success is no longer measured simply by the volume of AI consumed, but by the outcomes it delivers. Token usage may indicate the level of AI activity, but it does not measure the value created for the organization. The focus therefore shifts towards deploying AI capability that delivers predictable commercial returns, operational resilience and strategic advantage.

As organizations become increasingly dependent upon AI, they must also recognize that the underlying models are not static. Foundation models continue to evolve through incremental updates and refinements, many of which may be difficult for users to detect but can nonetheless influence behavior and outputs. Enterprise AI therefore requires governance that extends beyond monitoring consumption.

Organizations need confidence that they understand not only what AI costs to operate, but also how the capability itself is changing over time and what those changes mean for business performance, compliance and risk. The ability to govern both the economics and the evolution of AI is becoming a strategic capability in its own right.

Infrastructure remains the foundation that enables those outcomes, but it is no longer the destination of the discussion. The real objective is to create AI capability that delivers measurable business value, remains commercially sustainable and can be governed with confidence as technologies continue to evolve.

Organizations that understand the relationship between infrastructure, operating economics, governance and business value will be better placed to realize the long-term benefits of enterprise AI.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

• Watch The Great ADHD Myth? free on Channel 4 (UK restricted)
• Use NordVPN to watch Channel 4 from abroad
• Premieres August 18, 2026

Channel 4 is wading into one of the fiercest medialkrishi debates with The Great ADHD Myth?, a provocative 60-minute documentary hosted by NHS psychiatrist Dr. Max Pemberton, airing August 18.

With ADHD referrals soaring 200% between 2020 and 2025, Pemberton questions whether ADHD is fundamentally a neurodevelopmental disorder, a social construct, or something shaped by both biology and modern life.

The doc is already igniting a firestorm online and several ADHD charities have criticized the film's title as misleading and harmful.

Want to judge for yourself? We'll show you how watch The Great ADHD Myth? online for free – from anywhere.

How to watch The Great ADHD Myth? for free

You can watch The Great ADHD Myth? for free on Channel 4 – the UK streaming service – with a valid TV licence.

Outside the UK? Use a VPN to access your usual streaming services from abroad and watch the new ADHD doc free from anywhere.

How to watch The Great ADHD Myth from abroad

For those away from home looking to watch The Great ADHD Myth? Downloading a good VPN app allows you to stream geo-blocked services no matter where you are.

Our favorite is NordVPN – it's one of the best VPNs on the market and we have an exclusive deal for your below.

How to watch The Great ADHD Myth? online in the UK

Can I watch The Great ADHD Myth in the US?

As yet, there is no US release date for Channel 4's latest ADHD documentary, The Great ADHD Myth (2026).

Brit in the US? Anyone from the UK who wants to watch their usual free streaming service from abroad can do so by using this VPN (try risk-free).

Can you watch The Great ADHD Myth in Canada?

There's no sign of The Great ADHD Myth airing in Canada - but Brits on holiday in Canada can still watch the documentary with this handy trick.

UK viewer in Canada? Use a VPN to gain access to all the content you'd normally stream at home.

Can I stream The Great ADHD Myth in Australia?

In Australia, Brits visiting the country can only watch The Great ADHD Myth? using a VPN set to their usual UK location.

Traveling from the UK to Oz? Try using this VPN (save 75%) to watch The Great ADHD Myth doc when on vacation.

Five things to know about The Great ADHD Myth? (2026)

1. Dr Max Pemberton fronts the documentary. He is a full-time NHS psychiatrist and in 2013 appeared as an investigative reporter for the Channel 4 television series How Not To Get Old.

2. Channel 4 says it is not aiming prove that ADHD is a myth – but cites NHS data showing a 200% increase in people being referred for an ADHD diagnosis between 2020 and 2025. (Pemberton even undergoes a private assessment himself, which results in an ADHD diagnosis.)

3. Pemberton claims ADHD has gone from an occasional diagnosis to one that is increasingly “demanded and dispensed.” He meets a a family whose son spends several weeks replacing ADHD medication with sport and creative activities, to investigate whether the lifestyle changes allow him to remain off medication.

4. The doc features senior doctors who dispute conventional thinking about ADHD, including former Royal College of GPs president Dr Iona Heath (see below), who tells Channel 4: “It is certainly not a medical condition as far as I’m concerned.”

5. Tim Hancock, Channel 4’s commissioning editor, says the filmmakers took a “science-led approach” to the subject. BAFTA-winning director Xavier Alford directs the one-hour documentary.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• A 19-year-old resident of Kurgan, Russia, is facing charges for searching for and listening to a banned song online
• Authorities allege the teenager used a VPN to deliberately bypass local internet restrictions
• The charge falls under a controversial administrative law penalizing the search for "knowingly extremist" materials

The Russian government’s ongoing war against digital privacy has reached a chilling new milestone. A 19-year-old resident of the city of Kurgan is currently facing administrative charges for allegedly using a virtual private network (VPN) to search for and listen to a banned music track online.

According to reports from Novaya Gazeta Europe and The Moscow Times, the young man is being prosecuted under Article 13.53 of the country's Code of Administrative Offences. This law specifically penalizes the act of searching the web for "knowingly extremist materials."

The regional directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) formally claimed that the teenager "searched the internet for an audio track recognized as extremist and banned on the territory of the Russian Federation, and listened to it."

To bypass the state's stringent internet censorship, the teenager reportedly utilized what local law enforcement described as a "special program that provides access to restricted information resources." This is a thinly veiled reference to circumvention tools like the best VPN services on the market, which encrypt user traffic and mask IP addresses to unlock restricted content.

As a result of the charges, the young man now faces a fine of between 3,000 and 5,000 rubles.

A tightening grip on internet freedom

This latest incident highlights the aggressive nature of the ongoing VPN crackdown across Russia. The enforcement of Article 13.53, which introduced punishments for citizens seeking out banned materials using VPN services on September 1, 2025, has fostered a culture of fear among internet users.

The Kurgan teenager is not the first to fall victim to this legislation. The initial charge under this article was previously issued to a 20-year-old medical worker from Kamensk-Uralsky. His legal defense argued that he had accidentally stumbled upon materials related to military groups designated as extremist by the Russian government and had immediately deleted the content.

In response to the Kurgan teenager's arrest, local police issued a public warning, urging regional residents not to seek out or publish "prohibited information" online, and advising them against joining "informal associations and movements of an illegal nature."

The mechanics of how the teenager was caught remain a point of concern for digital privacy advocates. The MVD stated that the alleged offense was discovered "during operational and investigative measures by officers of the Center for Countering Extremism of the Regional Ministry of Internal Affairs." It is currently unclear exactly how authorities intercepted his specific internet queries while he was using a VPN.

This individual prosecution is part of a much broader, systemic campaign of digital isolation. In recent months, authorities have blocked over 20 popular VPNs in a major internet crackdown, heavily restricting the public's ability to access independent journalism and global social media platforms.

The disruption has been so severe that Russians need a VPN to access Google and Apple as unexplained nationwide outages hit the nation's digital infrastructure. While the Kremlin recently altered course on some bureaucratic VPN fees, its willingness to prosecute a teenager merely for listening to a song proves that the government’s war against censorship circumvention tools has only intensified.

• A new 'It Happens on PS5' ad features Grand Theft Auto 6 footage
• Fans are excited about a newly added trunk sound effect
• Fans are eagerly awaiting the 'Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look'

Sony has released a new PlayStation 5 ad featuring Grand Theft Auto 6, and fans are getting excited over a new sound effect.

If you're out of the loop, the 'It Happens on PS5' physical ad campaign has just launched around the world, which highlights PlayStation's "biggest moments of play."

A new commercial also dropped and was swiftly brigaded by fans still angry with Sony's plan to end physical game disc production, and features games such as Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and 007 First Light, as well as upcoming titles like Marvel’s Wolverine and God of War Laufey.

GTA 6 is also featured, showing a live-action shot from Miami, clips from previous trailers, and a billboard in Poland. The thing is, the ad doesn't even feature new GTA 6 footage, but it's the shot of Lucia and Jason from inside a car trunk that has fans excited.

The same scene, which appears to be running at 60 frames per second (fps), first appeared in Trailer 2, but this version includes a sound effect of the car trunk closing. Yeah, that's it.

"GTA 6 appears in a new PlayStation commercial. Previously seen footage features new audio, including the sound of the trunk closing," a viral X post reads.

Rockstar Games plans to treat us to an extended look, premiering on Netflix on August 27, but it seems fans can't seem to hold out much longer.

"Rockstar Games is watching people get excited for the sound of trunk closing and probably thinking to themselves that maybe they overdid it with the silent treatment. Anyway, the sound of that trunk closing is extremely realistic I LOVE IT," one user replied.

"We’re so desperate for GTA 6 marketing that a trunk closing sound is exciting," a fan said, as another wrote, "Yup, that sounds like a trunk closing alright."

Someone also pointed out that the sound effect could have been edited on top of the footage by Sony for its ad, but either way, the upcoming extended look can't come soon enough.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5, Xbox Series X, and Series S.

• Star Wars: Galactic Racer has call-backs that span the whole film series
• Iconic locations and recognizable characters will appear in the upcoming racing game
• The game's set to launch on October 6, 2026

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is shaping up to be the ultimate racing experience for Star Wars fans, letting you speed through a mix of new beloved locations (including the iconic Boonta Eve Classic course) as legendary characters like Sebulba and Ben Quadinaros.

It's not all based on The Phantom Menace, though, and in my recent couple of hours hands-on with the game, I spent plenty of time in the sandy starship-strewn desert of Jakku, seen in The Force Awakens, and other recognizable planets that haven't been revealed quite yet.

The game takes place in the Outer Rim, the perilous outskirts of the galaxy, in the New Republic Era right after the events of Return of the Jedi. According to Lucasfilm Games executive producer Craig Derrick, the setting was chosen because the game is "about telling a local story" rather than a grand intergalactic conflict.

"Sometimes putting a story in the Outer Rim helps distance it a little bit from all the bigger stakes that you see sometimes in our films," he says. "And it shows that these characters have a real life."

The team also says the decision was inspired by real-world history. "We wanted to tell a story of the beginning of this league and how it's put together," begins Kieran Crimmins, creative director at developer Fuse Games.

"And there was a kind of mirroring there of real life. The empire has just fallen, so a little bit like the end of World War Two. Here, there was a big rise in racing with all the ex-pilots, and ex-military people who were still very capable behind the wheel, becoming pilots."

This is best exemplified by Griff Halloran (who some might recognize from the Star Wars Resistance animated series), an ex-Tie fighter pilot who still wears his battered old armor in-game.

The chosen time period also gives the team plenty of license to draw on all the Star Wars movies in some way. "There's a great thing where you can pull from all the different time periods," adds Crimmins. "Particularly the kind of original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, and there is an absolute plethora of depth, not only in lore and character, but also the machines used and the design language used."

Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches for Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5, and PC on October 6, 2026.

The demo that convinced me happened at an art exhibition I'd built myself.

We couldn't afford a team of docents, so I put together a side project to stand in for one. There was no prompt box and nothing to type. You pointed your phone at something and it told you what you were looking at. Then the show closed, and people kept using it anyway.

They pointed it at buildings, flowers, their kids' toys, posters on the street, none of which had anything to do with the exhibition.

Without anyone asking them to, they had decided a camera should be able to explain the world back to them.

That expectation is now the industry's to deliver on, and it arrives just as AI shifts from a training problem to an inference one, with more of the real work happening on-device while someone points a phone at an uncooperative real world.

A model needs different things from a frame than your eye does: edges to lock onto, and structure it can recover when the shot is full of glare or blur. The color and contrast that make a photo look good are, to the model, mostly in the way.

The sensor you'd want for a human viewer and the one you'd want for a model call for different designs.

The sensor has become a perception problem, and the people building real-time vision systems now care about it the way photographers once did.

Where the sensor came from

Eric Fossum's CMOS active-pixel sensor, developed in the early 1990s, is why a capable camera now sits in nearly every pocket.

His later work heads somewhere else entirely: the Quanta Image Sensor, which counts individual photons. That arc previews what is happening to AI now: it runs from capturing a frame a person will like toward capturing the cleanest signal for a machine to reason over.

The sensor is turning into an instrument of perception, and photography is becoming only one of the things it is for.

Why inference changes the job

Inference is what makes the problem urgent. Back when AI was mostly about training, the camera's role was indirect: it produced data to be labeled and learned from later, at leisure. Inference is not leisurely. It happens live, on a device short on power and already running warm.

When a system has to recognize something while you're still pointing at it and answer before the moment passes, the weakest link is whatever reaches the model, and it sets the ceiling on everything the product can do.

Part of the industry is still betting on the wrong thing. The assumption is that a big enough model will clean up whatever the camera hands it. I've watched this hold up product roadmaps for two years running, and I don't think it survives contact with physics.

No amount of model size recovers detail that motion blur or glare already destroyed, or that a beauty-first pipeline discarded before the model ever saw the frame. The bottleneck is moving upstream, toward the sensor and what sits between it and the model.

What the hardware is already doing

Some sensors now do part of the processing on-chip, so the first computations happen before data leaves the pixel array. Event-based sensors, sometimes called neuromorphic, register only the parts of a scene that change, which suits real-time perception far better than streaming whole frames. Global shutters help too, by cutting the motion artifacts that wreck machine reading.

Even high dynamic range, long tuned to make skies dramatic, is being retuned around what a model can read cleanly in high contrast. Different as these are, they point the same way, toward a version of the world a model can work with.

From recognition to reasoning

The obvious thing to build is visual search: you point at something and get a label back. Point your phone at a menu, though, and what you want is help deciding what to eat; point it at a poster, and the useful move might be saving the event to your calendar. Recognizing the object is only the starting condition. The product lives in knowing what should happen next. That move is where the sensor becomes the first link in a longer chain of interpretation, beyond simple capture.

I never meant to build a camera product at all; it began as a cheap way to avoid hiring docents for one exhibition. But that small project taught me the instinct is already out there. The next camera race will run across the entire stack: the sensor, the image pipeline, the edge compute, the model orchestration, and what the system does with an answer.

Device makers have spent years perfecting image quality, and they will have to take inference quality just as seriously. And whoever writes the software can't treat capture as someone else's problem: how a signal is grabbed and routed shapes the result long before a user sees it. The old boundary between hardware and software matters less the further you push into real-time perception.

Startups still have room here. Their advantage is speed of definition: framing a problem before the larger players finish arguing about it. Generic model capability, on its own, is getting harder to defend. The open question is what happens once a single system can see, reason about what's in front of it, and act on the same event, and who gets there first with a product that holds together.

Human eyes vs machine minds

My bet is that the next few years will sort companies into two camps: the ones optimizing for human eyes and the ones optimizing for what a machine has to read. Inside a flagship phone, those goals still overlap enough to ignore the difference.

As a strategy, they are already diverging. The more durable position belongs to whoever can turn the messy real world into the cleanest signal for a machine to reason over.

And that starts at the sensor.

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• Star Wars: Galactic Racer lets players pilot vehicles as iconic characters from the movie series like Sebulba and Ben Quadinaros
• Lucasfilm Games executive producer Craig Derrick says "it's important to have some returning characters"
• Creative director Kieran Crimmins would "absolutely love" to see players try and emulate Sebulba's iconic podracing stance by playing with their feet

The upcoming arcade racing game Star Wars: Galactic Racer finally lets every Star Wars fan live out their ultimate fantasy: piloting a pod racer as legendary The Phantom Menace character Sebulba.

In just a few hours of hands-on at a recent preview event, I spotted the now grey-haired alien in both the game's Scenario mode and its intense online player-versus-player battles, where he appears alongside other movie favorites including the only marginally less iconic Ben Quadinaros. There are also plenty of newcomers, like the story mode protagonist Shade or their unapologetically Scouse-sounding companion Hibi.

"I think it's important to have some returning characters if they're important, if they're meaningful," explains Lucasfilm Games executive producer Craig Derrick. "I don't think we want to move to cameos for the sake of cameos; it feels cheap. But in the case of Sebulba and some of the other characters you may meet in this game, they actually have a real point and real presence in the story.

"It drives that story forward in a way that feels not only connected to the larger film franchise in the way that you've seen those characters before, but they actually have a real point. They have a real reason for being there, and so the fans get that instant flush of familiarity."

Although his presence in the game seems to follow his "mischievous" characterization in the film, Derrick teases that there might be some surprises in store for fans that play with their expectations.

"His mischievousness is [a huge part of his character]. It's an immediate read," he explains. "

"I hope our players come in and know the character before maybe the characters in our game do. Maybe some of his reputation precedes him a little bit in this, and then we get to play with that. We get to play with it both in terms of like 'how do we lean into what you already know?' and 'how do you subvert it?' Maybe the character changes his stripes a little bit... Or not."

Personality aside, one of the most memorable aspects of Sebulba is his unique pod racing position that involves piloting his craft with his feet. Asked whether players should try and emulate this for the most authentic experience, Kieran Crimmins, creative director at Galactic Racer developer Fuse Games, appears eager to see it tried.

"I think if they're not controlling it with their feet, then are they really playing the game properly?" he asks. "I would absolutely love to see someone try and do that. [...] Please send me the footage."

If you fancy getting your grippers out and giving it a go, Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches for Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5, and PC on October 6, 2026.

• Polaroid and Pokémon have jointly announced a range of Pokémon-themed instant cameras and accessories
• Cameras include a version of the Polaroid Now Gen 3 styled after a Poké Ball, and versions of the Go Gen 3 styled after Pikachu and Sylveon
• All the releases, including Pokémon-styled film and accessories, will be limited edition

I’m on the record as being a huge Polaroid fan — but this latest unexpected collab from the brand has me wishing I’d waited a little longer before buying my Polaroid Go Gen 3.

Polaroid has teamed up with Pokémon to help celebrate 30 years of the pocket-monster mega-franchise (the first Pokémon games were released for the Game Boy in 1996) and has produced a range of limited-edition Pokémon-themed cameras and accessories.

As you probably agree from the images above, the most eye-catching of the bunch is the Pikachu-styled version of the Polaroid Go Gen 3, colored in the character’s iconic shade of electric yellow, complete with a yellow hand-strap in the lightning-bolt shade of Pikachu’s tail and a drawing of the little guy on the camera body.

There's also the Sylveon-styled version of the same camera, with a strap in the Fairy-type Pokémon’s colors of pink, white and blue. Alternatively, you could pick up a version of the larger Polaroid Now Gen 3, which takes full-size I-Type film, in the classic red, white and black colors of a Poké Ball. Although, in a small touch that I absolutely adore, all three cameras have Poké Ball-shaped shutter buttons.

If you, like me, already own your Polaroid cameras, there are still ways you can get in on the Pokémon fun. The collab also includes Polaroid Go and I-Type film in Pokémon styling, with frames themed after iconic monsters like Charmander, Clefairy and Squirtle in addition to Pikachu and Sylveon, and a Pokémon-themed camera strap. And — I just love these — you can also get a camera case and photo album for your Polaroid Go in the shape and style of a Poké Ball!

The special-edition Go Gen 3 versions in Pikachu and Sylveon styles can be picked up for $99.99 / £89.99 (around AU$140), while the Poké Ball-themed version of the Now Gen 3 starts at $139.99 / £129.99 (around AU$198).

Special editions of I-Type film will be priced at $22.99 USD / £21.99 (around AU$32) while the Go film will be $24.99 / £21.99 (around AU$35). Basically, a couple of dollars over regular Polaroid film.

The whole lot will be available for pre-order from Polaroid and the Pokémon Center in the US, UK and Canada from August 25, and will go on general sale from October 6. And it’s all going to be in limited quantities — so if you’re a die-hard Pokémon fan who wants to get in on the instant-photography fun, you might not want to wait!

• Hacker “TheHatman” claims to have stolen millions of Azure/Entra employee records from major firms
• Data includes names, emails, job titles, privileged accounts; risks include impersonation and fraud
• Victims dispute scope, but researchers say infostealer‑based theft makes the leaks likely authentic

A cybercriminal is selling millions of user records on the dark web, which they claim to have stolen from large organizations such as McDonalds, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wyndham Hotels.

A hacker going by the alias “TheHatman” posted multiple threads on dark web forums, claiming to have stolen information from Azure and Entra environments.

TheHatman said they broke in using compromised login credentials, targeting almost a dozen organizations.

What was stolen and from whom?

Among the victims and the number of records exposed, are:

McDonald’s Corporation: 1,700,000 records
TCS (Tata Consultancy Services): 800,000 records
Vodafone: 425,000 records
HCL Technologies: 250,000 records
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG): 185,000 records
Kyndryl: 170,000 records
Gap Inc.: 80,000 records
Hexaware Technologies: 20,000 records
Wyndham Hotels: 9,000 records

They are now looking for a buyer: “I’m selling McDonald’s Corporation internal employee dump downloaded directly from Azure Tenant using compromised credentials,” TheHatman said in one of the posts.

In their writeup, security researchers from Cybernews said they analyzed one of the samples posted on the dark web and said the entries were “consistent with Azure directory exports”.

They contained employee names, emails, phone numbers, job titles, workplace addresses, IDs, the departments they work in, user group memberships, service accounts, and highly privileged account records.

What are the risks?

Stealing information such as names, email addresses, and workplace details might not sound like a worrisome breach of privacy, but the implications are rather big. Cybercriminals can use it to impersonate a business partner or a major client, and try to trick their employees into installing ransomware, or making a fraudulent wire transaction. That way, they can escalate what seems like a relatively benign breach, into a full-blown cyberattack with material and legal consequences.

For example, a criminal might discover a Vodafone employee that regularly handles payments to a particular supplier. They might impersonate that supplier’s finance director, engage in conversation and, while requesting a new payment, warn that the company changed their bank account. This is not a purely theoretical scenario - it’s been documented time and time again.

What did the victims say?

Most organizations are yet to give an official statement about these claims. Gap told BleepingComputer that it found no evidence of the breach and suggested that the attackers merely repackaged data from an older incident.

“Our preliminary investigation indicates that the data in question is limited in scope, non-sensitive and dated back to several years ago. Notably, there is no evidence to suggest that our corporate systems have been compromised,” Gap told the publication.

Tata Consultancy Services notified the Indian National Stock Exchange about the breach last week, also suggesting that this was a resurfacing of an older incident.

“The Company has investigated the matter and has not found any credible evidence of a breach of TCS systems or customer environments,” TCS said in the filing. “The information referenced appears to be more than four years old and limited to basic employee information. There is no indication that customer data, customer systems, or TCS operational systems have been impacted.”

TCS said the attackers broke in using credential stuffing, something that could have only been done years ago: “The attacker claims to have used password spray and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) fatigue as the attack vector. The Company has had strong safeguards in place against such techniques for more than two years.”

Not everyone agrees with that assessment, though. Security researchers Hudson Rock believe the attackers stole login credentials with an infostealer, rather than through password spraying.

“Judging by the massive size of the organizations impacted, it appears highly likely that this campaign originates from targeted exploitation of Infostealer infections rather than a systemic zero-day vulnerability in Azure,” the researchers said in their report. “If this were a widespread vulnerability, we would likely see a much broader spectrum of organizations impacted, including smaller businesses, rather than just these massive Fortune 500-level enterprises.”

Hudson Rock also described the stolen data as “likely highly authentic”, hinting that just because it’s older, it doesn’t mean it’s not useful.

• Spotify's Playlist Notes tool allows you to add background to the songs in your personal playlists
• It's also coming to editorial playlist, allowing Spotify's editors to give context behind their recommendations
• The best part is that it's not powered by AI

Spotify is enriching its personalization features once again, and this time, the best music streaming service is allowing you to add your thoughts in note-form to the playlists you make.

Playlist Notes lets you add short 250-character entries to the songs, podcast episodes, and audiobooks you add to your playlists, giving you a way to add context and background to your choices — because the personal stories behind your favorite songs deserve to be heard.

The tool builds on Spotify’s User Notes feature, which rolled out a short while ago, but only allowed you to add notes to songs and not other audio formats. Now, if for example a song or podcast episode reminds you of a specific date, a fun trip, or evokes a sense of nostalgia, you can keep a record of that memory and display it front and center in your playlists, kind of like a diary entry.

It’s also very easy to add notes. All you need to do is go to a playlist you’ve created or collaborated on, and tap the three-dot icon next to a track and select ‘Add note’. From there you can type your short entry, hit ‘Save’, and your note will appear under the track in a similar way to Prompted Playlists — except you’re the author, not AI.

It’s not just users who’ll be able to use Playlist Notes; Spotify is also encouraging its editorial curators to use it, giving you a glimpse into the context behind the team’s recommendations. This started with New Music Friday’s recent upgrade, and now Playlist Notes are being expanded to a roster of other editorial playlists.

From today, Free and Premium users aged 16 and over in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand will be able to read Playlist Notes in Spotify-curated playlists. This includes the following: Today’s Top Hits, RapCaviar, Hot Country, All New Pop, mint, and Fresh Finds Hip-Hop.

Savor and relive the good times

Listening to music is so much more than a leisurely activity — it connects us to our good memories, bad moments, and everything in between. Regardless of how much or how little you engage with music, everyone has auditory connections to specific moments in their lives, and Playlist Notes reinforces this.

Granted, Spotify’s existing roster of playlist tools and options is quite dense, and there’s also a focus on AI-powered ones, but Playlist Notes might be one of the platform’s most valuable additions yet — especially for those who like to get personal when making playlists.

For the past four years, I’ve been rounding up my favorite songs into annual playlists, starting a new one at the beginning of each year. It’s been my go-to way of keeping track of my favorite releases each year, but having a tool like Playlist Notes back then would have been even more helpful for keeping tabs on where I was when I first heard a particular song, or if a friend recommended it to me.

But it’s not just that. What appeals to me the most about Playlist Notes is that, for once, it’s not an AI tool. Every note you enter is written by you. There are no text prompts or suggestions getting in the way, it’s 100% your thoughts. It’s also a useful addition to Spotify’s editorial playlists.

I’m always on the hunt for new music recommendations, and navigating Spotify’s own playlists is just one part of my discovery regime. But I also have a thirst for knowledge, and reading the background of editors’ recommendations is oh so quenching. Luckily, not every song in these playlists have notes so it’s not overpowered with text, and you can easily toggle them off so they disappear.

Out of all the personalization features for playlists, Playlist Notes is one I think I could integrate into my listening habits. Perhaps not as much for my own, but there’s a whole world full of music out there that I’m dying to learn more about.

• Researchers have created a wearable patch that detects poisons
• It sends a haptic buzz to your arm whenever toxins are sensed
• Each poison type has its own haptic feedback pattern

There are many professions that regularly put people in contact with dangerous substances — bacteria, toxic gases, you name it. What if there was a way to quickly and easily detect these hazardous compounds before they damage your health?

Well, new research suggests there might be just such a method. A paper published in the journal Device (via North Carolina State University) details how a wearable skin patch could warn you if a range of hazardous elements are found. If that happens, it delivers “target-specific vibrations to alert the wearer” of the risk to their health.

That means you can tell in an instant what the patch is trying to tell you — a certain vibration might mean one toxin has been identified, while a different form of haptic feedback may correspond to a different poison. The user can then take appropriate action without a delay or the need for additional tests.

This approach has the advantage of being highly direct. Other patches exist that can also sense environmental contaminants, but many of these send warnings to your smartphone. That’s impractical if you don’t have your phone or if you’re trying to use it while wearing protective gear. A vibration-based skin patch, on the other hand, can tell you what’s happening without you even needing to look at it.

Life-saving tech

The patch is currently able to detect six contaminants: heavy metals, particulate matter, high or low temperatures, humidity, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen oxide gases. It’s also rechargeable and uses a solar-powered battery to stay topped up in use.

A key facet of the patch is its modularity. According to Amay Bandodkar, a corresponding author of the paper, the modularity means “you can add or remove sensors that monitor for whichever hazards are most relevant to the application,” a feature that makes the device “extremely flexible.”

The patch isn’t just useful for humans, as the developers have created a version that can be applied to robots. This harnesses an “e-skin” made from piezoelectric material that can then be attached to a robot. When it detects toxins, it sends an electrical signal to the robot warning it of the danger.

It’s an interesting example of wearable technology moving beyond simple health analysis into something more serious. Who knows — maybe one day it could save your life.

Nioh 3 is one of the best soulslike games I've played in quite some time, and now that I've completed and reviewed the new Hell Rising expansion, it's only gone up in my estimations. Hell Rising is an excellent start to Nioh 3's two-part downloadable content series, and I can't wait for its follow-up.

Before playing Hell Rising for myself, though, I had the chance to interview key development staff at Team Ninja about the expansion — namely, game directors Masaki Fujita and Atsushi Takahashi as well as producer Kohei Shibata.

The three discussed various aspects of Nioh 3: Hell Rising, including its plot following on from the base game, its new weapon types, and some collectible additions making their debut in the expansion. Read on if you want to learn more from the developers themselves before you dive into the hellish Edo-Keian period for yourself.

Bloody succession

In terms of story, Hell Rising picks up right after the events of Nioh 3.

"The DLC takes place after the main story," said game director Masaki Fujita, "and much of its content assumes that players have already cleared the base game." As such, you do need to have beaten Nioh 3's base game to access the DLC in the first place.

"At the end of the main game, the protagonist became shogun," Fujita continued, "and the events and incidents that unfold during the shogun's reign involve key figures and instigators, as well as people on the shogunate side who worked to resolve them—in other words, the shogun's retainers. Many of the characters appearing in the DLC fill one of those roles."

One character Fujita is referring to here is Yagyu Jubei, a popular historical figure who has been portrayed in countless media. You might know the name from Capcom's Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny, in which the main protagonist is named as such. He makes an appearance in Nioh 3: Hell Rising, donning the iconic eyepatch he's often portrayed with.

Curiously, Hell Rising takes place in 1651 — a year after the real Yagyu Jubei's death.

On Hell Rising's premise and setting of the Keian period, Fujita added: "The Keian era comes right after Takechiyo’s [Nioh 3's player character] reign as the third shogun. The events that unfold in that period are heavily shaped by the influence of his rule. In this title, by leaping through time into the future, you come to witness both the light and dark sides of your own reign. We’d like you to see how that experience is reflected in the conclusion across both DLC Vol. 1 and Vol. 2."

Fujita also commented on what Hell Rising's new setting allowed Team Ninja to achieve beyond its efforts with the base game, saying: "In the base game, the Edo period was only represented by a small part of Edo Castle, and Bakumatsu [Nioh 3's final major area and time period] was so devastated that it couldn’t really convey the culture and customs of the Edo period.

"So this is the first time in the series we’ve had a stage that truly feels like the Edo period. We’ve scattered little Edo-period details throughout, and I’m most looking forward to seeing how players react to them."

Shields up

Before playing Hell Rising, I was curious to learn more about its new weapon type: the Hoko and Shield. This versatile weapon pairs a short spear with a large shield, and my feelings of its in-game mechanics seem to reflect Team Ninja's plan for this new archetype.

"There are actually two weapon types: Hoko and Shield and Ninja Hoko and Shield," explained game director Atsushi Takahashi.

"Their defining trait is that they combine offense and defense into one. Normally, you'd deal with an enemy attack by guarding or evading, then strike during the opening that follows.

"With these weapons, however, you can read the timing of an enemy's attack and, by parrying at just the right moment, deflect it and immediately counter with your own attack."

Personally, I found it not to be a parry in the traditional sense; that's something Nioh 3's Samurai style actually already has built into its guarding via the Deflect skill. The Hoko and Shield, meanwhile, more so negate the enemy's attack, allowing you to power through it without taking damage.

"In Samurai style," Takahashi added, "the Hoko and Shield lets you time strong attacks and certain Martial Arts to knock away enemy blows with your shield while driving in with the hoko spear.

"Meanwhile, the Ninja Hoko and Shield is a more versatile weapon. It doesn't just deflect attacks with the shield — it can also be thrown, ridden, and woven together with spear attacks. You can launch techniques, leap into the air, and even hurl the shield from above, letting you move freely and keep enemies off balance."

Takahashi seemed especially proud of this new weapon type, noting that it had "been designed as a high-risk, high-reward weapon, where you throw yourself into enemy attacks and earn a big payoff by deflecting them at just the right moment. I'd love for players to take it up against the tougher enemies in Hell Rising."

Raising hell

I questioned the team on miscellaneous additions and new features players can expect with the release of Nioh 3: Hell Rising. Fujita noted that while there aren't any dedicated new game modes coming with the DLC, "we are adding 'Enlightened One's Journey' for the game's third playthrough, as well as 'Hundred Demon Realms Picture Scroll,' an expanded piece of content built on the idea of the picture scroll mode from previous titles."

Takahashi added: "We haven't added any new traversal options, but the DLC does expand the content through collectible story pieces such as notes and letters in [the form of] 'Nioh Story Fragments'. These not only reveal more about the characters' inner lives, but also let you feel the culture of Edo's townspeople and the reign of Takechiyo."

I also asked if players can expect any improvements to performance, namely with the game's PC port. My experience at launch (and since) has been largely fine, but I know that's not the case for everyone. Fujita said: "We don't have a specific timeline, but we are currently looking into performance improvements to make the game even more comfortable to play. Once we have a clearer path forward, we plan to address them as appropriate."

Finally, given publisher Koei Tecmo's staunch support of the Nintendo Switch 2 platform — including the release of quality ports like Dynasty Warriors Origins, Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening, and Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake — I couldn't help but quiz the team on if they thought Nioh 3 would be a good fit for the handheld platform.

This is where game producer Kohei Shibata chimed in, saying: "I can't comment on Nioh 3, but the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Complete Edition, also developed by Team Ninja, is scheduled to launch on September 3. Please look forward to that as well!"

I reviewed Nioh 3 back in January of this year, and it quickly cemented itself as one of the best soulslike games in my eyes.

Changes it made to the series' formula, including a clear distinction between Samurai and Ninja styles, as well as a shift to vast explorable open maps, really helped it to stand out from the pack.

Now the game's first of two major expansions, Hell Rising, has arrived. It's not as expansive as Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree or Lies of P: Overture (it took me around 8-10 hours to complete all main missions and a handful of side quests), but it is more Nioh 3 in the best way possible.

Long story short, if you enjoyed Nioh 3 and played it all the way to completion, you'll find a lot more to love about Hell Rising. You can expect all-new enemy types, challenging boss encounters, a new weapon archetype, as well as a sprinkling of added skills, ninjutsu, and onmyo magic.

You will need to be caught up in order to properly access the DLC, though. Hell Rising requires you to have beaten the base game, and you'll want to be rocking a competent endgame build to face its higher difficulty and level recommendations. Enemies hit harder than ever, and bosses are among the toughest in Nioh 3 as a whole. So be sure to kit yourself in Divine tier gear (ideally with your preferred set bonuses) before jumping in.

Beyond the grave

Nioh 3: Hell Rising takes place in 1651 during Japan's short-lived Keian era.

After being appointed Shogun at the end of the base game, protagonist Takechiyo learns of a resurgence of the Crucible and the demonic forces brought on by it. So, they travel to the Keian era with their spirit allies in order to quell the threat for good.

It's a simple setup, but I enjoyed Hell Rising's narrative. New allies join the fight alongside Takechiyo, including Yagyu Jubei and Rodrigo—a swordsman and politician hailing from Spain. New cutscenes typically bookend major boss fights, and I must say a late-game twist has beautifully set up the upcoming second expansion (a release date for which has yet to be revealed).

You do have kind of a test to pass in order to access the DLC proper, and that comes in the form of Yagyu Jubei.

He's essentially the gatekeeper boss for Hell Rising; the game's way of checking if you're truly ready for the challenges ahead. I actually found him to be among the hardest of the new bosses. He's fast, and commands wind and water elemental attacks. Oh, he's also really good at dodging through your ninjutsu techniques, so building up status effects on him is a challenge in and of itself.

Before the fight, though, the DLC almost immediately introduces you to the new Hoko and Shield weapon archetype. I think they're a fantastic addition to Nioh 3's roster of armaments, and there are versions for both Samurai and Ninja styles.

Your gameplan with the Hoko and Shield is to time your strong attacks (and certain Martial Art skills) to negate incoming enemy attacks. They're a more defensive weapon by nature, and its skill tree includes abilities to both engage and disengage enemies at a distance, as well as ranged attacks such as tossing the shield in various ways. It's a high-risk, high-reward weapon type that I ended up using for a decent chunk of the DLC's runtime.

I loved my time with Nioh 3: Hell Rising, and I'm now eagerly anticipating the second expansion and all the additions and new bosses that brings. I do have a couple of issues with Hell Rising, though, that I hope get addressed in future content.

For one, bosses from the base game get reused quite frequently. You'll see many of the base game's yokai bosses at least once in Hell Rising (one particularly annoying one actually appeared twice).

I found it a shame because the DLC's new bosses are all wonderful, engaging challenges. Recycling these older bosses with no noticeable changes felt like padding, and weren't much of a challenge beyond their larger health pools and higher attack power.

There were also some particularly mean enemy ambushes late on in the DLC, particularly in the Crucible zone that acts as its capstone. You'll be shoved into tight corridors and tiny rooms fairly frequently here, as mobs of yokai swarm in. It was the only time during the DLC that I felt the game was being just a touch unfair.

Should I play Nioh 3: Hell Rising?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Nioh 3: Hell Rising's accessibility features remain the same as they were in the base game. For more information, check out our full Nioh 3 review in order to get a brief overview of what's on offer.

How I reviewed Nioh 3: Hell Rising

Nioh 3: Hell Rising took me approximately 8-10 hours to finish on my first playthrough of it. That included all main missions and bosses, exploring most of the new map, and completing a handful of side quests.

I played the expansion on PC, carrying my base game character from my original Nioh 3 review into the DLC. I played through Hell Rising with the Valve Steam Controller (2026), and used my RIG 900 Max HS gaming headset for more immersive audio.

First reviewed August 2026

• Fans have descended on Sony's new 'It Happens on PS5' ad featuring Grand Theft Auto 6
• They're protesting the decision to end physical disc production in January 2028
• The ad campaign also highlights other upcoming games like Marvel's Wolverine and God of War Laufey

PlayStation fans still angry with Sony's plan to end physical game disc production have brigaded yet another video comment section, this time a PS5 ad featuring Grand Theft Auto 6.

Sony has just launched the 'It Happens on PS5' physical ad campaign across the world, which highlights "the biggest moments of play" featuring games such as Marvel’s Wolverine, 007 First Light, and God of War Laufey.

"Today, we’re launching a new It Happens on PS5 hero advert highlighting what’s available on PS5 as well as what’s ahead for players in the coming months," the accompanying PS blog reads.

"The advert invites players to discover what PS5 makes possible, taking viewers on a fast-paced journey through bold and unexpected moments, featuring larger-than-life scenes, from Giannis Antetokounmpo’s elite basketball skills that get the streets bouncing to a high-speed jet ski chase."

GTA 6 is also featured ahead of the game's November 19 launch, and while some fans are feeling the excitement, many are continuing to voice their disappointment with Sony and its decision to kill game discs in January 2028.

After previously swarming the comment section of the most recent Marvel's Wolverine cinematic trailer, as well as several other PlayStation videos, fans have now descended on the 'It Happens on PS5' ad to make their thoughts known.

"Discs used to happen on PS5," the top comment reads, as another user wrote, "It happens that there used to be discs."

If you continue scrolling through the comments, it's difficult to pinpoint any positive mention of the ad, with the majority either urging Sony to backtrack on its decision or criticising the company.

"I used to buy PS products for more than 30 years. It won't happen again," a fan said.

Despite the ongoing pushback, and after remaining silent on the matter for weeks, Sony CFO Lin Tao recently addressed the situation during the company's Q1 2026 earnings announcement, confirming that it is "cautiously" moving forward with its decision (via IGN).

While we know upcoming games like Marvel's Wolverine and God of War Laufey will have physical discs at launch, GTA 6's physical edition won't, and will instead offer a digital code in a box, which has also added to the controversy.

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick recently explained the reasoning for this decision, saying, "Our business is well over 90% digitally distributed. It's already a digital business."

• Casio has another step-counting smartwatch for your consideration
• The Casio F-B100W is now going on sale outside of Japan
• Daily steps can be monitored on your phone or the watch itself

Casio's commitment to adding modern fitness tracking features to its classic retro-style smartwatches, is continuing apace, with a new watch model that's now widely available outside of its home country of Japan.

The Casio F-B100W (via Phandroid) is very much in the traditional Casio style when it comes to aesthetics, with the familiar LCD screen and rubber-like resin band, but there are some smarts built into the device too.

It'll link with an app on your phone for a start, which lets you control various watch settings from Android or iOS. It also acts as a phone finder, so you can use your timepiece to get your phone to make a sound, should you misplace it.

There's also step counting included here, so you can set goals when it comes to getting your steps in, and see your progress through the day — either through the connected mobile app or on the screen of the F-B100W itself.

Features and pricing

Other features worth noting are calendar, timer, and stopwatch tools, plus a dual world time zone display option that lets you pick from around 300 cities across the globe. The replaceable battery should last you a couple of years.

Casio is certainly leaning into the retro-meets-modern angle, as you can see from one of the promotional images at the top of this article: newspaper cuttings (remember those?) announcing the watch features, alongside an image of the device itself.

If Reddit is anything to go by, the new model could be a hit: "A watch I'd actually buy," writes one commenter who loves "the retro aesthetic", while another simply says "oh man that's absolutely beautiful".

The Casio F-B100W is now available in the UK in black or green for £55. It hasn't made its way to the Casio US store yet, but based on similar models, is likely to be priced at around $95. It doesn't look as though the watch will be available directly in Australia.

• The Sonos app on iOS now works with Live Activities and Dynamic Island
• Controls remain on screen for 15 minutes after playback stops
• Album art and full Watch/CarPlay support will arrive soon

Sonos has updated its iPhone app to support Live Activities and the Dynamic Island. Posting on the r/sonos subreddit, Liz from Sonos says that "We’re excited to finally bring back Sonos control from the iOS lock screen, but in an all-new way with iOS Live Activities. We know this is a much requested, anticipated, and needed feature, and we can’t wait for you to try it out."

The feature is off by default but you can enable it in the latest version of the app by going into Account > App Preferences > Live Activity.

Once you've enabled the feature, simply start playback and close the app. The Live Activity will show the current speaker group or room you last played audio on, and it gives you volume and transport controls. Those controls will be visible when your phone is locked, but you'll need to use Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode to unlock the device to change playback.

To make the Live Activity go away, just swipe it off the screen.

What's missing from the Sonos Live Activities support

Some features haven't been implemented yet. Sonos' app doesn't yet support album art in the Live Activity, although Liz says that "alternative ways to enhance the lock screen experience are being explored."

Live Activities are also used by the Apple Watch and with CarPlay, but Sonos hasn't implemented the feature for those platforms yet. That means the Live Activity will appear on your Apple Watch or on your Car's displays, but the on-screen controls won't do anything.

If you'd rather not use the Sonos app to control your audio, for example because you use Direct Control from a compatible service, AirPlay or Bluetooth) Sonos says that "you can still use the local playback controls that appear on screen or the Live Activity. You can choose which you prefer to use."

Live Activities were introduced in iOS 16.2, and Sonos's version is rolling out just weeks before the next version of iOS, iOS 27, drops. The feature will work just as well in the next iOS, and Sonos says that while there's no news to share right now "the teams have been exploring the new capabilities [iOS 27] has in Beta."

Thinking of buying a new TV?

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.

Shokz makes some of the best open-ear headphones for exercise and fitness enthusiasts. With the unique bone conduction tech, solid audio quality and comfortable designs, I'm always going to give them a shoutout when they're on sale. And that's what's happening right now, with several top-rated models reduced in both the US and the UK.

To start, in the US, you can pick up the Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 at Amazon for $139.95 (was $179.95). That's a return to the lowest price we've seen this year and only slightly more expensive than the previous record low on Black Friday. If you don't want to wait until November for the chance to get that price again, now's a great time to pick up a pair.

We said that the OpenRun Pro 2 are "the ideal runner’s headphones" in our 4.5-star review, praising the improvements to audio quality in the latest model, the excellent battery life, and stable fit. That's why we've picked them as the best running headphones you can buy right now.

Meanwhile, there's a much bigger Shokz sale at Amazon UK, which features the Shokz OpenRun for £94 (was £129.95), as well as savings of up to 30% on several other models, including the OpenFit 2+, OpenFit Air, and OpenDots.

I've picked out the OpenRun, in particular, because even though they are an older model, they are still a great buy — especially if you're unsure about the bone conduction tech and want to try a more budget-friendly model. Again, these received an impressive 4.5-stars in our Shokz OpenRun review.

Today's best Shokz deals

Whether you're looking for a cheap printer for back-to-school or upgrading your office setup, now is a great time to buy. I'm tracking all the best printer deals on some of our top-performing inkjet, ink tank, and laser printers.

For most home, dorm room, and home office use, I recommend ink tank printers. They work the same as inkjet models, sspraying liquid ink on the page, but the bottled ink refills are much cheaper than cartridges, and companies like Epson, HP, and Canon tend to include free ink in the box to save you even more money.

For business use, a laser printer is the best pick for fast, high-volume document printing where the text is sharp and detailed. However, some higher-grade ink tank printers come close for small businesses. You'll find my favorite printer deals below, including some of the best home printers and best ink tank printers we've tested.

Best printer deals: Editor's picks

Best printer deals: Quick links

• Best Buy: Save on printers, ink, and toners
• Walmart: Deals on HP, Epson, Canon and more
• Newegg: Savings on printers, scanners, and printing supplies
• Brother: Printer deals for the home, office, and business
• Canon: Discount inkjet and ink tank printers
• Epson: Over 40% off Epson printers
• HP: Weekly deals on home and office printers

Best printer deals: Inkjets

Best printer deals: Ink tanks

Best printer deals: Laser

• Chinese government moves ahead with Windows 10 replacement
• Heavily customized Windows edition will be replaced by domestic alternative
• Windows 10 official end of life was October 14, 2024

The Chinese government has revealed plans to finally remove Windows 10 from its systems as it looks to move towards home-made alternatives.

A report from Bloomberg claims the Chinese Ministry of State Security has told some state-linked entities to start uninstalling the software as part of a multi-year plan to remove dependence on Western technology.

The version of Windows 10 is developed by C&M Information Technologies Co (CMIT) which was formed in 2016 as a joint venture between Microsoft and the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corp in a bid to make sure Windows 10 was compliant with the government's security requirements.

A welcome change?

There's no official confirmation as to why the decision has been made now, with CMIT reportedly planning to retire the software in February 2027, in line with a government campaign to curb the use of foreign technology.

Bloomberg notes the move comes just weeks before US President Donald Trump is set to meet with Chinese premier Xi Jinping, where security concerns will no doubt be high.

“Microsoft is not aware of a security incident affecting this product, which continues to receive regular security updates,” a spokesperson for the US company told Bloomberg. “We have nothing further to share.”

Windows 10 famously saw its end of life in October 2024, as Microsoft retired the software in order to focus on newer editions.

However some users were initially able to get extra support until 2026, a deadline which was surprisingly extended even further recently, with Microsoft's Extended Security Updates (ESU) scheme now indicating support will run through to October 2027.

The move was slow to catch on, as a study in July 2026 found one in six PCs still ran the older software as opposed to 78.8% for Windows 11 - with healthcare and pharmaceuticals (23%), consumer and retails (23%) and manufacturing (18%) among the industries most likely to still be running Windows 10, with SMBs (21.4%) more likely to be running the outgoing OS compared with enterprises (16.6%).

This is especially concerning as the average Windows 10 device has around three times as many active CVEs (1,903) as a Windows 11 devices (652).

Software security was built around human development.

People wrote, reviewed and deployed code. Now machines are taking over.

In a recent paper, Anthropic reports that more than 80% of the code merged into its production codebase is authored by their AI model, Claude.

The same capabilities that make developers more productive are changing the economics of cyberattacks.

While adversaries still define the objective, machines can generate the payloads, test variants, adapt code to different environments and repeat the process at a velocity that security programs can’t match.

Speed is Marginalizing Security Controls

Most enterprise software security workflows assume there is time for review. Code is written, scanned, tested, approved and deployed. If something suspicious happens later, security teams investigate and respond.

That model breaks down when software moves from prompt to execution in minutes.

AI-generated code can become a script, dependency, automation job or infrastructure change almost immediately. While development agents can modify files, resolve packages and run commands.

Human reviewers are no longer in the loop.

Attackers can use the same mechanics to generate exploits, test evasion techniques and adjust payload behavior for different targets. This creates more variation with fewer stable indicators for defenders to recognize.

While AI-assisted analysis can improve triage, it still often produces probability, not policy. At machine speed, “probably suspicious” is not good enough.

Machines Change The Attack Model

Human attackers are not disappearing. But more of the attack chain is becoming machine-executed.

AI can automate reconnaissance, accelerate vulnerability discovery, generate exploit code, rewrite payloads and adapt command sequences to the target environment. But most defensive measures are designed around human constraints: reused infrastructure, shortcuts and trackable patterns. These don’t apply to machine attacks.

A machine-generated payload may not match a known signature or have an established reputation. It may be created, used briefly and discarded. But AI malware must still interact with the target environment to achieve its objective. Its behavior cannot conceal its intent, since it must access resources and change the environment in ways that advance the attack.

What malicious code is capable of doing is the more durable security signal.

Security Needs to Ask A Different Question

Software supply chain security has improved, but much of it still validates the artifact’s properties before execution rather than governing execution itself.

SBOMs, signing and provenance give security teams greater confidence in a code's composition, origin and build history. But knowing where software came from does not reveal what it will do when it runs.

Software can pass each of those checks and still create risk. Even an artifact produced through a legitimate build process may violate policy at runtime, while an AI-generated script may complete its intended task in a way that exposes data or systems. As a result, a clean dependency list is not proof of safe behavior.

Post-Execution Detection Is Too Late

Detection and response remain essential, but they intervene after risk has entered the environment. By the time suspicious behavior is visible, software may have accessed secrets, changed system state, opened network connections or created persistence.

AI compresses that window. Code can be generated, modified and deployed faster than humans can review it. Waiting for post-execution evidence gives attackers too much room to operate.

We need to shift the decision point left. Instead of asking, “Can we contain this software if it behaves badly?” the question should be, “Should this behavior be permitted to execute in the first place?”

That does not mean replacing existing controls, but rather changing where the decisive security gate sits.

Zero Trust for Code

Zero Trust changed enterprise security by rejecting implicit trust. Users, devices, sessions and access requests are not trusted simply because they appear familiar. They must be verified against policy.

Software execution needs the same level of verification.

Code should not be trusted solely because it came from a known repository, was signed by a recognized publisher, passed through a build pipeline or has not been seen exhibiting malicious behavior before. Those are useful indicators, but they are not conclusive.

Zero Trust for Code addresses this problem. Before software runs, its expected behavior should be evaluated against policy. If the behavior is acceptable, execution can proceed. If not, the artifact should be blocked, restricted, isolated or escalated for review.

Organizations can start by mapping every path through which code enters the environment or executes with meaningful privilege. This includes formal development channels such as repositories, open-source packages, containers and CI/CD pipelines, as well as email attachments, downloaded files, macros, browser extensions, endpoint installers, third-party integrations and scripts introduced through AI or automation tools.

Then identify where those paths rely on inherited trust. If execution is allowed because software came from an approved source, was signed, passed through a build process or has no malicious history, the control is incomplete. Behavior still has to be evaluated before the artifact is allowed to run.

As AI takes on more of the work of creating legitimate and malicious code, enterprises can no longer assume that code which clears existing checks should be allowed to run. Execution must become a deliberate security decision.

We've listed the best internet security suites for PCs, Macs and mobile devices.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

• Pokémon Center UK orders disrupted after CEVA Logistics cyberattack on July 30 2026
• Customer names, addresses, emails, and order details likely exposed, but accounts and payments safe
• Around a dozen organizations confirmed affected; no group has claimed responsibility yet

Customers who recently ordered their favorite Pikachu toy from Pokémon Center might have to do it all over again, since the company suffered a third-party cyberattack which disrupted its operations.

The official store for Pokémon merchandise in the UK has reached out to its customers via email to warn them about a recent cyberattack and its consequences.

According to BleepingComputer, which has seen a copy of the email, the company told its customers they had to “cancel your recent order due to an unforeseen fulfilment issue”.

CEVA Logistics

The company’s website is also showing a notification saying the company is “currently experiencing delays affecting some orders for our UK customers.”

“These orders may take longer than usual to process, dispatch, and deliver. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.”

The company said the attack struck its logistics provider, CEVA Logistics.

"CEVA Logistics, the vendor Pokémon Center utilizes to ship products from PokemonCenter.com for customers in the United Kingdom and Germany, has informed us that unfortunately they were a victim of a cyber attack commencing on 30 July, 2026."

Last week, one of the biggest shipping and logistics companies in the world disclosed an incident that forced it to shut down parts of its IT infrastructure and affected eight warehouses. At the time, a handful of its customers reported being affected by the breach, including Dutch retailers Bol and De Bijenkorf, and PC gaming powerhouse Valve.

Pokémon Center said the data most likely exposed in this incident includes people’s full names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and details about what they previously ordered on the site. User accounts are apparently safe, and so are payment details.

So far, around a dozen organizations are confirmed as having been affected. No threat actors have claimed responsibility yet.

For years, cybersecurity has become increasingly measurable. Security leaders can often tell you how long it takes to detect an intrusion, contain an attack and restore normal operation. Those figures have given boards a straightforward way to judge progress, offering reassurance that investment in security is delivering real improvements.

Metrics such as Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Respond (MTTR) have earned their place at the table. They both provide a clear picture of how effectively security teams perform when something goes wrong and have helped drive better incident response across the industry.

The problem is not that these metrics are wrong. They were designed for a different era, when technology changed more slowly, attack methods evolved over longer timescales and AI wasn't yet part of the equation.

Today's businesses are introducing new technologies at an extraordinary pace. AI is becoming embedded across organizations, cloud environments continue to expand and businesses are more interconnected than ever before. At the same time, attackers are constantly adapting their own techniques, taking advantage of new tactics and tools almost as quickly as they emerge.

CISO’s and boards need to dynamically review the changing threat landscape and risk posture and ask themselves whether the metrics relied on for years still tell us everything we need to know.

Mind the gap

Every business wants to detect attacks sooner, contain them faster and recover with minimal disruption. That’s why MTTD and MTTR remain valuable operational measures. They tell us how effectively a security team performed once an incident was underway.

What they don't tell us is whether the business is becoming better prepared for what comes next, more resilient, more agile in recovery. That matters because cyber risk continues to evolve long after an incident has been contained.

The UK Government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/2026 found that 43% of UK businesses experienced a cyber breach or attack during the previous year.

This reinforces how security teams are operating in an environment where incidents are a regular reality, whether it's in their own environment, or that of one of their supply chain. Responding well is important, but resilience is shaped by everything that happens before incidents.

A business may recover quickly from an attack but still take months to review its security policies, reassess supplier risk or strengthen controls in response to what it has learned. By the time those changes are made, the threat landscape will have moved on.

Traditional metrics tell us how quickly a business responds to an incident. They don't tell us how quickly it learns from one, or how quickly it adapts.

Closing the gap

If we're going to close that gap of preparedness, our metrics need to evolve as well. Resilience is no longer defined solely by how well a business responds to isolated incidents, but by how quickly it keeps pace with continuous change.

I believe organizations should start thinking about another benchmark alongside the ones we already know: Mean Time to Adapt (MTTA).

MTTA considers how long it takes to recognize a meaningful change in the threat landscape and turn that knowledge into action.

Sometimes that action will be technical. It could mean updating the rules security tools used to detect emerging attack techniques. Or it might involve tightening access to critical systems after a serious vulnerability is discovered. It may also be a proactive lessons learned view of an attack on another organization or sector to understand how vulnerable the organization would be.

In other cases, the response will be organizational rather than technical. It may involve reviewing governance, changing how cyber risk is reported to the board or refreshing employee awareness programs to reflect the latest tactics being used by attackers.

Either way, resilience depends on both. The strongest security programs combine technical improvements with organizational change, ensuring businesses can recognize change and act on it quickly.

That’s why closing this gap is not only a technology challenge. It relies on decision-making, leadership and a willingness to keep questioning whether existing assumptions still hold true. Businesses that adapt well rarely assume their current security program is finished. They expect it to evolve because the environment around them is evolving too.

That thinking is increasingly reflected across the wider industry. For example, the National Cyber Security Centre's Cyber Assessment Framework places governance, risk management and continual improvement at the heart of cyber resilience. It recognizes that security is an ongoing organizational capability, not a one-time achievement.

A different conversation in the boardroom

If preparedness and adaptation becomes a more meaningful measure of resilience, it will change the conversations taking place in the boardroom.

Most directors already receive regular updates covering incidents, phishing activity and response times. Those reports remain important, but they won’t always show how well the business is responding to change itself.

The discussion must now move beyond operational reporting and give greater prominence to MTTA. This would give boards a way to measure how quickly an organization responds to change, rather than simply how efficiently it handles incidents.

In practice, that means asking a different set of questions. How quickly does the business reassess risk when a significant new threat emerges? How long does it take for new intelligence to shape security policies? Have lessons from recent attacks fundamentally changed the way the organization operates, or have they simply been recorded and filed away?

By measuring adaptation, rather than response alone, organizations can answer these questions with greater confidence and build a broader picture of resilience.

And this isn't solely a question for security teams. It depends on leadership, governance and how prepared the wider business is to make decisions as risks continue to evolve.

Measuring what matters

MTTD and MTTR will remain valuable measures of operational performance. But if organizations want to understand how resilient they really are, they also need to know how quickly they adapt.

MTTA fills that gap. It won't replace today's cyber metrics, but it will enhance them by measuring a capability that is becoming increasingly important as technology, AI and cyber threats continue to evolve.

It’s now MTTA time to shine.

We've featured the best endpoint protection software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

• Sony CEO Hiroko Totoki says a release date for the PS6 has yet to be decided
• The global component shortage and trade wars have impacted Sony's decision-making
• Totoki says, "We need to take some action. Otherwise, we cannot survive in this landscape"

Sony CEO Hiroko Totoki has confirmed that the PlayStation 6 release date remains undecided due to the ongoing manufacturing component crisis and trade wars.

During an interview with The Wall Street Journal (via VGC), in which Totoki primarily discussed the company's television and movie business, the CEO briefly touched on the PS6 and the challenges of developing the next-generation PlayStation console.

Namely, the global RAM crisis, driven primarily by the rapid demand for AI data centers and seeing prices skyrocket, and the ongoing trade wars.

"Considering that importance, we need to take some action. Otherwise, we cannot survive in this landscape," Totoki said.

Analysts have previously predicted that the PS6 could launch in 2027, which The Wall Street Journal also mentioned in its interview; however, due to the component shortage, Sony hasn't decided the launch date internally.

"Totoki said the company still hasn’t fixed a date for PS6’s launch," The Wall Street Journal states.

Totoki last spoke about the PS6 in May but was hesitant to share anything about the console, saying that the current circumstances regarding the RAM crisis, "memory price is also expected to be very high [in] FY 2027."

"We have not yet decided on at what timing we will launch the new console, or at what prices," Totoki said at the time. "So we would like to really observe and follow the situation.

"Looking at the current circumstances, the memory price is also expected to be very high [in] FY 2027, because there will still be a shortage of supply. So under that assumption, we must think carefully what we will do."

There have also been numerous claims from industry insiders, such as Moore's Law is Dead, who have suggested a 2027 launch date as well, and even claimed that Sony will launch its next-generation PlayStation with three devices in 2027, including two consoles and a companion handheld.

Recent comments from Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino also seem to suggest that the next-generation PlayStation console could be a handheld.

However, Following Sony's announcement that it will end the production of physical game discs in January 2028, analysts have determined that the next-gen PS6 console will launch in 2028.

According to Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls, the all-digital plan telegraphs Sony's upcoming plans, and the "current expectation is that the console will launch at the end of 2028."

The analyst also suggested that "at a minimum," the standard version of the PS6 won't have a physical media disc drive since Sony will be looking for ways to reduce the cost of its next-gen hardware, and "this is an easy win."

• We've heard countless rumors about camera-toting AirPods
• Now, a leaked video reportedly from MacOS build shows how they'd work
• Public opinion on this kind of tech is poor, and getting worse

We've been hearing countless rumors that Apple is working on AirPods with cameras — last news was that they could come in 2027 — and now we have an idea as to how they could work.

Website MacRumors has uncovered a video found in pre-release code for MacOS Tahoe 26.7, an upcoming update to Macs' operating system.

The video shows an AirPods-wearing man pick up a book and look at it, while a female voice says: "With visual intelligence, your world becomes saveable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later."

Finally, we have a way to remember things! How has humanity got to this point without that...

Visual Intelligence is an Apple feature, which uses an iPhone camera to see what's going on around you. And apparently, it's coming to AirPods, when they get cameras.

This video doesn't look like leaked marketing material for the new AirPods; the production value doesn't match other Apple material. It looks like it was shot on an iPhone, with exposure that's all over the place. But it could be a placeholder, or perhaps an internal video.

It's also unlikely that the AirPods used in the video are the new camera-toting ones; again, these are probably just placeholder buds. Instead, this news shows us what Apple thinks these new buds will do: act as extensions of AI tools like Visual Intelligence. And that might be their downfall.

A bad time for all-seeing tech

Some journalists have written that always-watching smart tech, especially smart glasses, are facing a reckoning. That's no longer quite true: they've faced said reckoning, the great privacy revolt has reached its conclusion, and opinion now couldn't be sourer on this kind of surveillance gadget.

In the UK, smart glasses have been banned from courts, restaurants, theaters, and even the pub chain Wetherspoons (there's nowhere lower to go than being kicked out of a 'Spoons'). Their disparaging moniker, "pervert glasses", is now used more commonly than their actual name, and they're frowned upon even more in the court of social opinion than in actual courts.

The reason for this low public opinion — well, one of many — is smart glasses' use of cameras. Since the user could be recording video or taking pictures, without anyone else knowing, they're a privacy nightmare. And since legislation can take an age to come into effect, it's easier just to socially ostracise people who might be recording you without your knowledge.

And so, AirPods coming with cameras would be a truly awful look, as it'd get them lumped in with smart glasses. Even if the buds don't actually let you capture footage, and only use their cameras for object recognition, the very presence of visible cameras will get them lumped in with smart glasses: "pervert earbuds".

And that's notwithstanding the real chance — as has been demonstrated with those glasses — of Apple's earbuds being appropriated by tech-savvy individuals, to somehow get the cameras working (despite the buds' presumed low-res quality that Apple doesn't mean for video capture).

Disregarding the scant use cases of camera-toting smart glasses, camera-toting AirPods would launch amid a storm of negative attitudes to this kind of tech. It's a risk and could even be seen as a potential lose-lose situation for Apple: either release a product that's dead on arrival, or one that is popular but helps to distribute and normalize "pervert" tech.

Maybe the sentiment one X user posted, "I hate to be that guy but… who's asking for this?" sums it up nicely. It could be that at this point, we don't need these AirPods, guys. And perhaps Apple could instead put its R&D efforts towards earbuds with a competitive battery life…

As global supply chains remain exposed to geopolitical and climate uncertainty, retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) businesses face challenges of fluctuating prices and demand. In the United Kingdom, supply chain volatility is adding to uncertainty in raw material and packaging costs to impact CPG companies’ production economics.

Research has found that a huge majority of British retailers were not confident of scaling up their supply chain operations to meet the expected increase in consumer demand. In fact, 43% of retail leaders ranked supply chain issues among their top three business challenges in 2025, highlighting widespread concern over operational capacity in the face of rising demand and cost uncertainty.

Retail and CPG businesses can address these problems by modernizing fragmented and often inflexible systems to improve data visibility, analysis and automation across their supply chains.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies are imperative to this agenda: packing powerful capabilities - including data integration, automation, demand sensing and intelligence - AI and ML are redefining retail and CPG operations by enabling seamless, autonomous ecosystems.

Connected platform to satisfied customer

Connected supply chains provide transparency to allow organizations to manage operations and inventories in real-time to improve stock allocation and ordering efficiency.

Intelligent algorithms also analyze vast and varied data – from historical sales and seasonality to weather, social media trends and local events – to accurately forecast demand, preparing supply chains for changing ordering patterns.

Forewarned, businesses can rapidly adapt production and distribution strategies in case of a surge in demand or supply disruption. AI and ML automate a variety of supply chain tasks to speed up processes, reduce errors and save costs. Ensuring product availability at all times, retailers and CPG companies in the U.K. can look forward to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Real-time, for responsiveness and resilience

Real-time insights are critical to supply chain operations. Live data from Point of Sale systems, ecommerce platforms, etc. provide up-to-date insights into customer preferences and behaviors to improve demand forecasting and also allow companies to dynamically adjust stock levels across warehouses and stores to meet sudden demand.

Real-time analytics solutions highlight product performance by region, channel and even outlet, enabling retailers to optimize assortments and launch targeted promotions. By providing continuous visibility into the supply chain, AI allows CPG companies to anticipate demand shifts and disruptions to curtail risk and maintain supply chain resilience.

Precise prediction drives product fulfilment

AI and ML platforms have superior predictive capabilities: they go beyond general demand forecasting to predict exactly what customers want, and when, and can even proactively trigger replenishment orders before stocks run out. Algorithms are not only more efficient at spotting patterns and making projections than traditional analysis, but are even capable of adjusting forecasts based on micro-trends.

By enabling CPG and retail companies to ensure that the right product is at the right place at the right time, AI and ML mitigate loss of sales due to stockout; save labor, warehousing and other costs; and improve product availability across physical and digital channels, leading to superior customer experience.

The future is autonomous

Agentic AI-powered autonomous supply chains are taking operational efficiency and customer engagement to new heights by anticipating demand, optimizing inventory, and orchestrating various tasks with little or no human intervention.

Autonomous systems meet the digital consumer’s expectation of frictionless, enjoyable experiences by personalizing product and delivery options and continuously optimizing logistics and transportation routes to allow faster/ on-time delivery.

Upon anticipating a delay, AI agents can take proactive measures – rerouting a shipment or suggesting an alternative supplier, and updating customers about the status of their orders to avoid frustration. By enabling full traceability to allow customers to track their orders any time, autonomous supply chains build trust and engagement.

Last but not least, by optimizing inventory and logistics operations, autonomous supply chains reduce waste and energy consumption, and support ethical sourcing through clear visibility. Agile, proactive, and sustainable – that is what the future of retail and CPG supply chains looks like.

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The prospect of bringing more of Britain's critical national infrastructure into public ownership has prompted plenty of debate about investment, governance and accountability.

Far less attention has been paid to what it could mean for cybersecurity.

Regardless of where you stand politically, one thing is clear. Public ownership does not make cyber risk disappear.

If anything, it raises expectations that essential services will be more resilient, more coordinated and better prepared to withstand disruption.

That expectation reflects the reality of the threat landscape. Energy providers, water companies, transport operators and healthcare organizations all sit at the center of complex digital ecosystems. Their ability to deliver essential services depends on thousands of suppliers, technology vendors and third parties.

When one organization is compromised, the effects can spread well beyond its own network. Resilience therefore depends on far more than protecting individual organizations. It depends on understanding and managing the relationships between them.

If the government is serious about strengthening national infrastructure, cybersecurity must become part of that conversation from day one. That means moving beyond isolated security programs and towards a model where organizations share intelligence, understand common risks and coordinate their response before disruption spreads.

Critical infrastructure extends beyond organizational boundaries

Some of the defining cyber attacks of recent years have demonstrated that attackers are rarely interested in a single target. They look for opportunities to compromise one organization in order to reach many others.

The SolarWinds attack remains one of the clearest examples. By compromising trusted software updates, attackers gained access to thousands of organizations around the world. More recently, the ransomware attack on Synnovis disrupted pathology services across several NHS trusts, leading to cancelled operations, delayed appointments and widespread disruption to patient care.

Neither incident remained confined to the organization that was initially compromised. Both exposed the reality that critical infrastructure now depends on interconnected supply chains as much as physical assets.

That presents a challenge for every operator of critical national infrastructure. Security can no longer be viewed solely through the lens of protecting your own estate. Organizations also need visibility into the threats affecting suppliers, partners and the wider ecosystem. A vulnerability within a software provider or outsourced service can quickly become a problem for every organization that depends on it.

This is where many existing security programs begin to show their limitations. Organizations have invested heavily in detection technologies, vulnerability management platforms and threat intelligence feeds. They are collecting more information than ever before. Yet many still struggle to translate that information into confident operational decisions.

Better decisions start with better intelligence

The cybersecurity industry has spent years focusing on visibility. The assumption has been that if organizations can discover every vulnerability, identify every asset and collect every threat feed, they will naturally become more secure.

The evidence suggests otherwise.

Filigran's recent State of Threat Management report found that organizations consume an average of fourteen different threat intelligence feeds, yet fewer than half have fully operationalized that intelligence across their security programs.

At the same time, 84% of respondents said the attacks they experience exploit risks that were already known but had not been prioritized. Almost every organization surveyed also reported difficulty determining whether identified exposures were genuinely exploitable.

Those findings illustrate a wider industry problem. The challenge is no longer discovering risk. It is deciding which risks deserve immediate attention.

Security teams are surrounded by alerts, vulnerability reports and intelligence updates. Every tool claims to identify another critical issue demanding urgent action. Without context, everything starts to look important. Analysts spend valuable time investigating vulnerabilities that may never be exploited while genuinely dangerous attack paths remain hidden among the noise.

That has consequences beyond operational efficiency. Every hour spent investigating a low priority issue is an hour that cannot be spent reducing real business risk. Organizations are not simply overwhelmed by the volume of information. They are overwhelmed by the number of decisions they are expected to make every day.

Threat intelligence should shape decisions long before an incident

One reason this happens is that threat intelligence is still too often treated as a function of the Security Operations Centre. Intelligence is gathered, analyzed and used to help detect or investigate malicious activity once attackers have already reached the network.

Yet, threat intelligence has far greater value when it informs decisions much earlier in the security lifecycle.

Used effectively, it should help organizations understand which vulnerabilities are actively being targeted, which attack paths present the greatest business risk and which remediation activities will deliver the greatest reduction in exposure. Rather than treating every vulnerability as equally urgent, security teams can focus on the threats that genuinely matter to their environment.

This is also where Continuous Threat Exposure Management, or CTEM, has an important role to play. CTEM should not be viewed as another technology category or another security acronym. It provides a structured framework for connecting threat intelligence, exposure management, validation and remediation into a continuous process. Instead of relying on assumptions or theoretical risk scores, organizations can validate whether a vulnerability is genuinely exploitable before committing time and resources to fixing it.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle is not technical at all. Many organizations still operate with threat intelligence, vulnerability management, penetration testing and governance teams working independently, each with different priorities, processes and tooling. Breaking down those silos often delivers greater improvements than introducing another security platform.

Building a national capability

If critical infrastructure is expected to become more resilient, collaboration has to become part of everyday operations rather than something that only happens during a major incident. That thinking is already beginning to take shape.

Earlier this month, the National Cyber Security Centre and GCHQ issued a call for industry, academia and critical infrastructure operators to help define Cyber Shield, a proposed national cyber defense capability designed to combine AI, shared intelligence and coordinated defense at national scale.

Significantly, the initiative recognizes that the government cannot build this capability alone. It will depend on close collaboration with the organizations responsible for protecting the UK's essential services.

Additionally, the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill provides an opportunity to strengthen that approach by encouraging greater consistency across essential sectors. Frameworks such as the National Cyber Security Centre's Cyber Assessment Framework already give organizations a common language for measuring resilience.

They become even more valuable when they encourage organizations to learn from one another instead of tackling similar challenges in isolation.

Open standards have an important role to play as well. The Dutch National Cyber Security Centre recently made STIX and TAXII 2.1 the mandatory standard for sharing cyber threat intelligence across government.

While technical on the surface, the decision reflects a broader principle. When organizations exchange intelligence using common standards, they remove friction from collaboration and can respond to threats more quickly.

Technology alone will not deliver that outcome. Artificial intelligence, automation and modern security platforms can help organizations process more information and reduce manual effort, but they still depend on good intelligence, sound governance and trusted relationships.

For the simple reason that fast decisions only become good decisions when they are supported by the right context.

Resilience is a shared responsibility

Whether more of Britain's critical national infrastructure ultimately moves into public ownership is only part of the story. Cyber attackers do not distinguish between public and private organizations. They target weak links, trusted suppliers and interconnected systems wherever they find them.

The organizations that will be best prepared for the years ahead will be those that treat resilience as a collective responsibility. They will operationalize threat intelligence before incidents occur, validate real-world risk rather than relying on assumptions, and collaborate across organizational boundaries as readily as attackers do.

Protecting critical infrastructure has never been solely about defending individual organizations. It is about strengthening the entire ecosystem that keeps essential services running. If the UK wants to build genuinely resilient national infrastructure, that is where the conversation needs to begin.

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• UK workers could unlock more than three weeks of unproductive time a year by embracing flexible working
• However many say they aren't confident in their mobile networks
• Boosting connectivity could lead to a potential £115 billion productivity boost to the UK economy

Embracing flexible working could help give the British economy a major boost, and unlock productivity across the nation, new research has claimed.

A report from VodafoneThree says boosting "connectivity confidence" to work on the go could help unlock more than three weeks of unproductive time a year, leading to a potential £115 billion productivity boost to the UK economy.

However, the report noted this all depends on being more confident in such mobile working, which can only happen if the UK's mobile networks are resilient and reliable enough.

No more wasted time

The study, which surveyed 2,000 adults across the UK, found a third of Brits feel they are unable to leave their home or office Wi-Fi to get things done on-the-go, while almost half (46%) spend most of their working day at a desk.

Nearly half (43%) of those with a job said they would prioritise working on the move if they felt more confident in the quality of the UK’s mobile networks, with accessing and collaborating on work documents, taking calls on commutes and joining remote NHS consultations from phones all named as big tame savers.

British workers said they wasted almost two hours a week being unproductive on the commute, and over an hour sitting in waiting rooms and waiting to pick up children or dependents - wasted time which totals more than 10 hours a week, more than France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Hungary and South Korea.

The lack of flexibility even extend into the weekend, as more than a third (34%) said their weekend to do list would be shorter if they could be more productive on the go, with booking all GP appointments through apps or their phones (23%), pay utility bills (27%) and book tickets on-the-go (16%) also named as tasks which could benefit from better connectivity.

“Boosting the UK’s productivity doesn’t have to mean spending more hours behind our desks," noted Andrea Donà, Chief Network Officer at VodafoneThree. "But to change the way the nation works, we need mobile networks that keep us connected to colleagues, technology and essential services on the move."

“The UK Government is rightly taking this issue seriously. With improvements to the planning system and regulations fit for the digital economy, our networks can help to make public services more accessible, close digital divides and lay the foundations for growth.”

The survey comes as VodafoneThree looks to continue its rollout of a UK-wide £11 billion investment programme to help raise the speed and quality of connectivity across the country following its merger with Three in 2025.

The company hopes this expansion will bring 5G Standalone coverage to 99% of the UK population by 2030, and 99.96% by 2034, helping millions of people to work, shop and access public services seamlessly.

The reality for many organizations is that their employees are already being deceived. So, probably are their customers, their investors, and their board.

For years, the warnings have focused on the impact of deepfakes, such as fake CEOs on video calls, cloned voices authorizing payments, and fraudulent emails.

The tactics themselves are not new, but over the past few years, AI has made them cheaper to produce, harder to spot, and far more convincing within the ordinary flow of business.

It’s this trend that means that the principle of Zero Trust is becoming as relevant to how information is treated as it has been to access.

In cybersecurity, Zero Trust starts from a simple assumption: no user, device, application or request should be trusted by default.

In the age of AI-generated misinformation, businesses need to apply that same mindset to the information that moves throughout their organization.

The new trust crisis

Employees, customers, investors and partners are all making decisions based on what they see, read and hear. If that information is false, manipulated or stripped of context, the consequences can move quickly from confusion to commercial damage. Which is why misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation need to be treated as business risks.

Misinformation – the false content that spreads without deliberate intent – has always been an issue. Disinformation, constructed specifically to deceive, is now easier to manufacture at scale than ever before. And malinformation – true information, often deliberately stripped of context and weaponized – might be the most insidious of the three. A competitor, a criminal group, or an activist campaign no longer needs to breach a network to cause serious damage. They can influence those associated and concerned with an organization simply by shaping what those people see and believe.

What makes this particularly difficult for businesses is that it mirrors something individuals are already struggling with. In an environment saturated with AI-generated content, the habits that people must employ to protect themselves – pause before reacting, questioning the source, verifying before acting – are the same habits that organizations must build into how they operate.

Essentially, the instinct to trust has become a vulnerability. And addressing that requires something closer to a structural response than an awareness campaign.

The importance of verified trust

This is where Zero Trust becomes the strategy. Traditionally, organizations have thought about Zero Trust through the lens of least privilege, ensuring that the right users have access to the right applications, and nothing more. But in an AI-driven information environment, that principle needs to evolve. Businesses can no longer focus just on who is requesting access. They also need to interrogate what information is being used, what action is being taken, and whether the intent behind the action can be trusted.

The next stage is going beyond authentication and investigating authenticity, and asking questions such as “Is this information verified?”, “Is this image real or AI-generated?”, and “Has this content been edited?”. Zero Trust gives businesses a framework for answering those questions. It forces organizations to verify before they act, limit exposure where they can, and reduce the risk of false, manipulated, or decontextualised information moving unchecked through the business.

Standards bodies such as the C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) show the direction that this is heading: a future where provenance and integrity are embedded in digital content itself, the same way a padlock in a browser indicates that the connection is secure. Essentially trust won’t be something that businesses need to check for, rather it will be something that travels with the information as provenance feeds verifications. Every piece of content therefore becomes a signal in a continuous trust decision.

Developing Trust in the agentic era

The need to trust intent has become even more pressing as AI agents enter the workplace. These agents will increasingly operate like another person working alongside us, mirroring our behaviors, such as reading documents, interpreting data, making decisions, and acting. The difference, however, is that these non-human identities are moving at machine speed, where human-speed verification has no hope of keeping up.

That means AI agents must be governed through a Zero Trust model from the outset. An agent should not be trusted just because it sits inside the enterprise, has been approved by a user, or is connected to corporate systems. Its identity, permissions, behavior and outputs all need to be continuously validated. Just as importantly, agents should be governed by least privilege, the principle of least information, and least function, granting only the minimum access, data, and capability required for a specific task.

However, these agents create a trust challenge that identity management alone can’t solve. Businesses will need to know whether they are dealing with a human or a machine, whether an agent is behaving responsibly, and whether its actions reflect an organization’s values and boundaries. Effectively, businesses will need to adopt an operating constitution that agents are continuously measured against.

And in this AI era, enterprises must interrogate information, content, intent, behavior, and action in realtime and continuously as identity is generally just checked as front door access. However, given the scale of the task at hand, it will take AI to audit, flag, and govern as needed and keep the chain of trust intact.

Engineering trust into the business

The organizations that succeed will be those that treat trust as something to be engineered, rather than assumed. Misinformation, disinformation, malinformation are security, resilience, and leadership challenges, and AI is making them harder to ignore.

As technology continues to shape how information is created, shared, and acted upon, businesses need to build the same discipline around authenticity that they’ve always applied to access. That means verifying content, questioning intent, and limiting what AI systems can do to what they actually need to do.

Trust can no longer be the default setting. Instead, in today’s operating environment, it must be a decision that’s made continuously, at machine speed, across information, intent, behavior, and action. The good news is that the framework already exists in Zero Trust. What needs to change however is how organizations apply it, broadening the scope to include information, intent, behavior, and action.

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Artificial intelligence is entering a new phase, one defined not by experimentation, but by operational deployment in environments where the stakes are high and the margin for error is narrow.

Nowhere is this shift more visible than in critical services such as healthcare, where organizations are beginning to rely on AI not just for efficiency gains, but for decisions that directly affect lives, outcomes and public trust.

As a result, the conversation around AI capability is expanding, and there’s a real need for AI systems to be sovereign, trusted and aligned to the legal, ethical and operational frameworks of the jurisdictions they serve.

Sovereign AI is emerging as a response to this need.

It is not a marketing term or a technical preference; it is a structural requirement for organizations that operate under strict regulatory oversight and handle sensitive citizen data.

For these sectors, sovereignty is the mechanism that ensures AI systems remain under the control of the people and institutions accountable for their outcomes.

Data residency

The distinction between data residency and true sovereignty is central to this shift. Data residency simply describes where data is stored or processed. It is a geographical statement, not a legal one. Data sovereignty, by contrast, defines who controls the data, who can access it and which laws apply. It is a statement of legal authority and operational control.

Sovereign AI goes further still. A sovereign by design AI system ensures that every stage of the AI lifecycle, from training and fine tuning to inference, deployment and monitoring, sits entirely within the sovereign perimeter. This includes the IT infrastructure, the data pipelines, the model governance processes and the personnel who operate and maintain the system. Nothing crosses borders, and nothing falls under the jurisdiction of external authorities.

For critical services such as national healthcare systems, this level of assurance is not optional. These organizations must protect patient confidentiality, maintain public trust and comply with regulatory frameworks that are among the most stringent in the world. They cannot rely on AI systems whose training data is opaque, whose operational footprint spans multiple jurisdictions or whose governance structures are not aligned to local laws.

They need systems that are transparent, explainable and auditable, systems that can demonstrate not only what they do, but how and why they do it.

Regulated sectors

This is one of the reasons why organizations in regulated sectors are increasingly looking beyond general purpose AI models. These models have driven much of the recent excitement around AI, but they are not always suitable for environments where accuracy, safety and accountability are paramount.

Their training data is broad and often scraped from the open internet. Their provenance is difficult to verify. Their operational controls vary widely. And their governance frameworks are not always designed with regulatory compliance in mind. In contrast, domain specific AI models built on trusted, curated datasets offer a level of precision and contextual understanding that general purpose models struggle to match.

They can be aligned to clinical workflows, diagnostic pathways and sector specific terminology. They can be governed with the level of transparency and auditability that regulators increasingly expect. And when built within a sovereign architecture, they can operate entirely within the legal and ethical boundaries required by critical services.

The rise of sovereign AI signals a broader transformation in how regulated sectors will adopt and govern AI over the next decade. AI architectures will become more localized, with sovereign cloud regions, isolated compute environments and jurisdiction specific MLOps pipelines becoming the norm. Governance will become as important as model performance, with explainability, auditability and lifecycle control treated as first class requirements.

Regulators will demand greater transparency around model provenance, training data lineage and operational controls. And AI supply chains, from data ingestion to model deployment, will be scrutinized with the same rigor applied to other critical infrastructure.

What this future looks like

Healthcare offers a clear illustration of what this future looks like. When deployed responsibly, sovereign AI can automate clinical workflows while maintaining strict data protection, support diagnostic decision making with transparent and explainable models, improve patient flow through predictive analytics and optimize resource allocation across hospitals and care pathways.

By reducing administrative burden and helping ensure patients are directed to the most appropriate care pathway more efficiently, it also has the potential to improve productivity and support better use of constrained healthcare resources.

It can also enable population level insights without compromising privacy, allowing healthcare systems to plan more effectively and respond more rapidly to emerging challenges. These benefits are only achievable when the underlying AI systems are trusted, transparent and sovereign.

Sovereign AI represents a turning point in how critical services approach digital transformation. It acknowledges that trust, governance and domain expertise are just as important as model capability.

It recognizes that AI must be built to serve the needs, values and legal frameworks of the communities it supports. And it reflects a broader truth: as AI becomes more deeply embedded in essential services, sovereignty will not be a niche requirement. It will be the standard.

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Marshall Stockwell III review

Seven years after its predecessor came to market, the Marshall Stockwell III is here — and wow, what a beauty.

From the moment I unboxed the Stockwell III, I was struck by its quality. Its striking amp-inspired aesthetic, complimented by luxurious PU leather, golden detailing, and a red velvet-infused handle made it likeable from the off. But could its sound live up to its enticing looks?

Well, I’ve spent hours upon hours listening to music and messing around with various features on Marshall’s new speaker, and I’ve got a fair few thoughts. So here’s whether it can compare with some of the best Bluetooth speakers around.

Let’s start with sound quality, an area where the Stockwell III is aiming to make quite the leap from its predecessor. Under the hood, you’ll find one three-inch woofer with 65W class D amplification alongside two 1.75-inch wide-band drivers, which both have 31W of class D amplification. This means that the Stockwell III is incredibly mighty for a speaker of its size, and offers considerably meatier audio than its predecessor could.

The Stockwell III’s impressive power really shines through in its performance — it displays a striking level of confidence with regimented, intent-filled bass, driven mids, and expressive highs that make it an incredibly enjoyable speaker to use.

In Home Meeting by Sadao Watanabe, I was impressed with the fluent and colorful leading sax, which played alongside substantial and weighty funky bass and accurate, precise drums in the treble range. As the track built towards its climax, the Stockwell III managed the swathe of instruments with ease, and backing vocals, guitars, horns, and bass all came together in a cohesive yet nuanced ensemble.

With a deeper track, like Vision of Love by Lewis Taylor, the Stockwell III proved that its power goes a long way. Pumping deep bass pounded through our music testing room with intensity, yet remained controlled and clean. Energetic drums high up in the frequency range also came through with plenty of bite, although neither end of the spectrum overshadowed the finer electronic details in the mid-range.

The Stockwell III can extend down to 54Hz, and although it wasn’t capable of the most full-sounding, consuming sub-bass, I still found that it coped decently with ultra-low frequencies. More generally, the speaker does have a bit of a bass preference, and although this may not be to everyone’s taste, a swift turn of the bass dial can easily get you the sound you’re after.

One thing I will say is that although vocals come through clearly on the Stanmore III, they perhaps lack the warmth and texture that you’ll find from some other premium speakers. To be clear, I still found that vocal-focused tracks sounded great on the Stockwell III, but audiophiles may wish for a bit more detail and depth.

As you’d expect with a recent Marshall release, there's USB-C audio onboard for lossless playback, and the speaker sounds great with a wired connection. There’s also a 3.5mm port if you’d prefer. Unfortunately though, there’s no LDAC for higher-res Bluetooth playback — something we recently saw on the Marshall Acton IV and Marshall Stanmore IV — which would’ve been nice to see.

But a couple of features really help the Stockwell III perform at an excellent level. For example, Dynamic Loudness helps the speaker maintain clarity, even at higher volumes, and I found that the Stockwell III still sounded excellent even when pushing volume up to 90% and beyond. Marshall has also implemented its True Stereophonic 360 sound, intended to make sure it sounds excellent from every angle, and this felt effective to me, resulting in the speaker having no true ‘sweet spot’ — ideal for a party situation, say.

One final thing worth pointing out about sound, is that the Stockwell III technically outputs in stereo. However, the stereo effects aren’t particularly convincing — in part due to the Stockwell III’s limited confines.

So the Stockwell III is a hit in the sound quality department. But how does it fare elsewhere?

Well, when it comes to features, there are quite a few options to uncover. For the moment, the Stockwell III is using the older Marshall Bluetooth app, unlike the newer Marshall software harnessed by the Acton IV, Stanmore IV, and Heston soundbars. This means that you only get a five-band EQ, though this still works well — and the speaker does sound great out of the box.

The app also enables you to use a soundstage mode to reduce or expand the width of sound, you can toggle on Source Mix to play media via wired and Bluetooth connections simultaneously, and you can map a specific EQ configuration to the speaker’s M button. In addition, there’s a placement compensation feature that genuinely makes a difference, as well as USB-C port configuration settings (you can make it charge other devices, play media, or both), and battery preservation options.

Speaking of battery, the Stockwell III is capable of providing 40 hours of playback — double what its predecessor could manage. That’s a phenomenal amount of playtime for a speaker of this size, and a seismic technological advancement, proving that Marshall are still one of the leading audio manufacturers when it comes to battery life.

I’ve spoken a bit about design already, but the Stockwell III is a true joy to behold. It’s also a lot lighter than Marshall’s alternate mid-weight speaker, the Marshall Middleton II, making it feel way more portable. It's also got more amplification power than the Middleton II and in my view, looks more premium — it’s the better mid-weight option overall in my view.

However, this does come at the expense of weaker waterproofing — the Middleton II is IP67 rated, whereas the Stockwell III is only IP55. That's still an improvement on its IPX4-rated predecessor and keeps it protected against splashes and dust ingress, but a lot of competitors shield their devices against full underwater submersion.

But let’s wrap up now. At $249.99 / £199.99 / AU$379, the Stockwell III isn’t the cheapest option on the market, but for its power, and its sound and build quality, it's an excellent value for money choice. At launch, the Stockwell II was priced the same as this new model in the US, but it's actually cheaper in the UK and Australia than its predecessor was at the point of release. With the improvements in acoustics, build, and waterproofing, that’s amazing to see.

Although the Stockwell III leaves out LDAC and is using the older Marshall Bluetooth app at the moment, I still think it’s a brilliant speaker. With confident yet elegant sound, amazing looks, and a fantastic feature-set, it's the best mid-weight Marshall speaker you can buy, and stands as a stellar upgrade over the Stockwell II.

Marshall Stockwell III review: price & release date

• Priced at $249.99 / £199.99 / AU$379
• Released in August 2026

The Marshall Stockwell III was released in August 2026, seven years after the Marshall Stockwell II came to market. It's priced at $249.99 / £199.99 / AU$379, meaning that in the US it costs the same as the Stockwell II did at launch, and it's actually cheaper in the UK and Australia. Considering the vast improvements it provides, that makes it a phenomenal value for money option. It’s available in Black and Brass or in Cream.

Marshall Stockwell III review: specs

Should I buy the Marshall Stockwell III?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Marshall Stockwell III review: also consider

How I tested the Marshall Stockwell III

• Tested over a week-long period
• Mainly streamed tracks over Tidal
• Predominantly made use of Bluetooth and USB-C connectivity

I tested the Marshall Stockwell III over the course of a week, spending hours listening to music and exhausting its various features. I mainly had it connected to my Xiaomi 17 phone, where I streamed tunes over Tidal — predominantly using Bluetooth and USB-C connectivity.

When listening to music, I made sure to play tracks from a wide variety of genres — both from the TechRadar reference playlist and from my own personal library.

More generally, I’ve spent years testing audio gear here at TechRadar, where I serve as our in-house Senior Reviews Writer. I’ve tested all kinds of gadgets, from premium wireless headphones like the Sony 1000X The Collexion through to Dolby Atmos soundbars like the LG Sound Suite Immersive Suite 7 Pro. I’ve also reviewed countless Marshall speakers, including its recent Homeline releases, so I know exactly what to look for when putting the audio specialist’s tech to the test.

• Read TechRadar’s reviews guarantee
• First reviewed: August 2026

Over the weekend, we were treated to Disney’s annual D23 showcase, and while many will be soaking up the major Marvel Cinematic Universe reveals (including the X-Men cast announcement), I was far more interested in the brand-new Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer.

Not only was the Late 2027 release date set in stone, but it revealed the arrival of Coco to the series and gave us plenty of juicy details about the wider story while still keeping plenty a secret — such as which other worlds we’ll be visiting.

However, I’ve gone through every detail of the trailers we have so far, as well as comments made by series creator Tetsuya Nomura during a D23 Kingdom Hearts Deep Dive panel, to pick out six worlds I believe are shoo-ins for Kingdom Hearts 4.

Think I’m right or completely disagree? Vote in my poll at the bottom of the page, or comment below which world you most want to see when Kingdom Hearts 4 releases next year.

1. Onward

Based on Coco’s inclusion and the plot details trailers have revealed so far, it is seemingly safe to assume that several Kingdom Hearts 4 worlds will have an afterlife or otherworldly theme. We also know that Donald and Goofy are on a quest to find and contact Sora — and a Disney Pixar film that combines both of these ideas is Onward.

The 2020 animated adventure follows brothers Ian and Barley Lightfoot (played by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, respectively) as they set out on a mission to cast a visitation spell so they can speak to their deceased father one last time. A quest I’m sure Sora’s friends would want to join to talk to their lost friend.

It’s a fantastical setting with plenty of space for magic and combat to suit Kingdom Hearts’ gameplay, and based on its story alone, it makes perfect sense as a world for Sora’s friends to visit. Its release date would also fit well within KH4’s development timeline, which leads me to believe we’ll see Onward as a world in the next game.

2. Star Wars

According to fans, Star Wars has already been revealed in Kingdom Hearts 4’s very first teaser trailer. A forest scene looks exactly like a view from the forest moon of Endor, and there’s also an object that looks distinctly like an AT-ST foot at the edge of a shot. In the most recent trailer, Donald and Goofy are also briefly seen as blue projections that look a lot like Force ghosts.

I don’t think any more confirmation is needed, frankly. My question is, how does this world fit into Kingdom Hearts 4? Besides just being a cool inclusion fans have been begging for since Disney bought the franchise, that is. Well, I have two theories.

Perhaps after failing to bring Sora to them in Onward’s world, his friends instead try to reach out to him using the help of someone like Luke Skywalker or Yoda to project a manifestation of themselves to wherever their friend is.

Alternatively, perhaps knowing that Sora is stuck in Unreality — a realm beyond the regular universe — his friends may try venturing in the Gummi Ship far beyond anywhere they have traveled before; i.e., to a galaxy far, far away

Regardless of the reason why it appears, I think many safely assume Star Wars will feature in Kingdom Hearts, and I’ll be certain they’re on the money until I’m proven otherwise.

3. Moana

There’s one other teaser fans have spotted in previous Kingdom Hearts 4 trailers, but the community is divided over whether it’s for Moana or Elemental. That’s because all we’ve seen is a Keyblade design blending fire/lava and water, which could fit with either of these stories.

I was previously on the Elemental side of the aisle, but I’m changing my tune. Admittedly, my actual belief is we’ll see both, but if it must be either/or, I’m now leaning towards Moana.

The driving factor is the theme of the underworld/afterlife. While one character does seemingly sacrifice themself in Elemental the afterlife isn’t a core part of the movie — but in Moana we do visit the underworld in the form of Lalotai.

It’s more a realm of monsters than a place of the undead, but it still makes sense as a place for Sora’s friends to look to find him, and the neon underwater fluorescence would be a beautiful environment to explore with interesting, unique Heartless designs to battle against.

Tamatoa would also be the perfect final boss.

Admittedly this theory butts up against the keyblade’s design as it would maybe look more like treasure from Tamatoa’s horde than of the fiery aspect of Te Fiti -– Te Kā — creating havoc for the watery world above, but as I said before I believe we’ll see both Elemental and Moana; Moana for its underworld, and Elemental as a palette cleanser that suits KH’s wider themes but isn’t directly associated with the otherworldliness we’re assuming will be present in most worlds.

4. Bambi

During D23’s Kingdom Hearts panel, series creator Tetsuya Nomura let slip that another Kingdom Hearts 4 world will be one he has always wanted to include. In fact, it was almost in Kingdom Hearts 3 but was cut because of development issues.

Now, the internet has pointed to Cars as this secret world. KH3 leaks from a few years ago seem to prove the Pixar franchise was in consideration for long enough to be referenced in a demo version of the game.

However, despite this evidence, I have a different pick based on Nomura’s “always” comment — if taken literally, it would need to be a Disney franchise older than 2002 (when KH1 was released), which 2006’s Cars isn’t.

But Bambi is.

Besides its age, Bambi ticks a few boxes that make it a prime candidate for inclusion in the series, KH4 specifically. It’s a story about friendship (a core Kingdom Hearts theme), but also the loss of loved ones, which is a key aspect in this next installment of the Disney meets Square Enix franchise.

Bambi has also appeared in Kingdom Hearts before: as a Summon in the very first game. Clearly, the source material was on Nomura’s mind during development of the first title.

It’s also one of only two of those Summons to never appear again in Kingdom Hearts (ignoring remakes and Chain of Memories, which has you re-experience the first game’s events). All the others have since appeared in their own KH world except for Bambi and Dumbo — who may be tricky to add given his story’s reliance on racist stereotypes.

Given the other part of Nomura’s statement, a Bambi setting would also likely cause development issues. The team would need to create forest animal models for Sora (and his companions) to don in this space — and work out how Sora’s critter form would wield a Keyblade.

In the same panel, Nomura apparently said he likes to try and include curveball picks in his games, starting with The Nightmare Before Christmas all the way back in KH1. Perhaps I’m merely high on my own supply, but I don't think anything would be more of a curveball than this.

5. Wreck-it Ralph

Rounding things off with two picks that are a little more sensible, I suspect we’ll see Wreck-It Ralph in Kingdom Hearts 4 — specifically Ralph Breaks the Internet.

This Disney series has appeared in Kingdom Hearts twice before, once as a Summon in Kingdom Hearts 3, and as a collection of worlds visitable in the mobile spin-off title Unchained-X. So a more full-on inclusion in a mainline entry would fit.

My belief, however, mostly centers on Yozora: a video game character we see in Verum Rex in the Toy Story world who also appears in KH3’s DLC as a boss you fight in Quadratum — the otherworldly space Sora now finds himself trapped in. The Kingdom Hearts series has played with the idea of digital worlds before, and so perhaps Verum Rex contains a digital version of Quadratum.

Wreck-It Ralph comes in as the series sees its characters hopping between digital worlds, and could perhaps be a way for Sora’s friends to either find an original ‘true’ copy of Verum Rex, or to somehow locate the real world it is based on. I feel this idea fits better with the internet-hopping second movie, which has its characters hunting down a game as I’ve pitched, and we’ve already seen the first movie recreated in Kingdom Hearts (even if it was via a spin-off).

6. The Princess and the Frog

Lastly, I think we’ll visit New Orleans from The Princess and the Frog.

The Kingdom Hearts franchise puts special emphasis on Disney’s princesses as so-called Princesses of Heart, and Tiana is a notable example we have yet to see represented in the series. Though my belief yet again comes down to how Sora’s allies need help contacting a friend on the other side, something this movie’s antagonist, Dr. Facilier, is an expert in.

His use of the power of darkness, even being called the Shadow Man in the movie itself, also feels so superbly Kingdom Hearts that I’m surprised Facillier has yet to feature in the game series — and if Kingdom Hearts 4 sees us playing more as characters other than Sora (which the trailer suggests) this land could be one that’s perfect for Riku to visit given his history.

I’d also love to see Riku’s reaction to being turned into a frog, or some other Bayou critter, and needing to battle swampy Heartless after a deal he makes with Facillier goes wrong.

So am I on the money or trapped in the Realm of Sleep? Vote in my poll, or comment below which world you think is most likely to appear in Kingdom Hearts 4.

We're halfway through The Big Bang Theory spinoff Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, and I still maintain the opinion that it's better than the original CBS sitcom.

But that hasn't stopped the two from being heavily intertwined. Over the last four episodes, we've seen cameo appearances from Raj (Kunal Nayyar), Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) and Amy (Mayim Bialik). Could this week add a fifth member to the growing party?

Judging by the trailer, things are set to feel a little more primitive instead. So, when does Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 4 arrive on HBO Max?

What time can I watch Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 5 on HBO Max?

For US viewers, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 5 will drop on Thursday, August 20 at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET.

Internationally, you're looking out for these timings:

• US – Thursday, August 20 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Thursday, August 20 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• UK – Friday, August 21 at 2am BST
• India – Friday, August 21 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Friday, August 21 at 9am SGT
• Australia – Friday, August 21 at 11am AEDT
• New Zealand – Friday, August 21 at 12pm NZDT

When do new episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe come out?

New episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe will make landfall every Thursday in the US and on Fridays everywhere else. Here are the all-important dates you need to know about:

• Episode 1: out now
• Episode 2: out now
• Episode 3: out now
• Episode 4: out now
• Episode 5: August 20
• Episode 6: August 27
• Episode 7: September 3
• Episode 8: September 10
• Episode 9: September 17
• Episode 10: September 24

You might be looking at the Apple Watch Ultra 3 or Garmin Fenix 8 and balking at the cost of fitness watches these days, but tracking your health doesn't have to empty your wallet. There are plenty of terrific budget options, and below we've listed six of the best, all of which you can find for under $100.

There's the Xiaomi Smart Band 10, which tops our general guide to the best cheap fitness trackers and offers plenty of fitness modes and handy lifestyle features, all for a very affordable price. You'll also find the new-for-2026 Google Fitbit Air — a trending AI-powered screenless device and Whoop competitor worthy of inclusion. If you bought into its optional premium subscription, that would take it over the $100 mark, but it serves just fine as a basic, discreet wellness tracker without it and the option to subscribe is always there should you want more. On the other hand, its rival the Amazfit Helio Strap doesn't actually need a subscription at all.

Staying with Amazfit, the Amazfit Active 2 got a massive five stars when we reviewed it last year, and you can pick it up on Amazon for just $99 now. If you're looking for a cheap fitness watch, it doesn't get much better.

Found one you like, but not sure how best to use your new toy? Check out our list of 5 ways to use a cheap fitness tracker to supercharge your gym workout.

Today's best cheap fitness tracker deals

Considering that in 2024 the Disney Experiences panel at D23 delivered the news that Disney would be bringing new lands to parks across the globe, expansions on the high seas, attraction updates, and entirely new attractions, the bar was set high for D23 2026's Horizons: A Carousel of Progress keynote.

Even more so, many of these projects already have shovels in the ground. At Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, construction is well underway for Piston Peak — a new Cars-focused area — and Villains Land. Nearby, at Hollywood Studios, there's Monstropolis, while Animal Kingdom has Tropical Americas being built. Across the coast at Disneyland, work is underway on the expansion of Avengers Campus.

With many of these projects already in motion, the question heading into this year's showcase wasn't necessarily whether Disney would deliver more announcements, but what updates we'd get on the already-announced projects and whether there would be a few surprises.

It was a wide-ranging, two-hour-plus show hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and featuring many of Walt Disney Imagineering's brass, along with Thomas Mazloum, head of Disney Experiences. Here are some of my favorites from the night.

Piston Peak will bring two new Cars attractions to Magic Kingdom

I'm a pretty big fan of Cars, and it's likely no surprise that Piston Peak was the highlight for me.

The main off-road racing attraction will be called Cars: Ridge Run Rally, and like Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure, guests will race against other ride vehicles, each with its own personality. Disney is also introducing a brand-new ride system designed to give guests a stronger sense of the bumps, dips, and other road elements as they race through Piston Peak.

It also won't be the open road of Route 66. Since Piston Peak is a national park, guests will encounter a variety of landscapes throughout the race. At one point, you'll race toward the top of the mountain for a snow-filled scene before heading back down through bumps and high-speed moments in the desert. Eventually, you'll encounter geysers before reaching two familiar faces at the end of the track: Lightning McQueen and Mater.

Because it will be outdoors in Orlando, Disney says the attraction will be designed to operate in both sun and rain. Of course, lightning will likely shut it down.

There will also be a second attraction, Miss Fritter's Daredevil Spin-Along, which takes its name from the character from Cars 3. Guests will board a vehicle and spin around as they make their way through the attraction, making it suitable for a wide range of ages.

There's still no timeframe for when Piston Peak will open. If we had to guess, 2028 seems like a reasonable target, but construction is already well underway.

Monstropolis will open in 2027 with a show, food, and shops

I've already been behind the walls of the Monsters, Inc. land being built at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and even a few months ago, I noted that construction in the former Muppets area seemed to be moving quickly.

D23 brought confirmation that a portion of Monstropolis will open in 2027. It will include the Glob Theater show, Welcome to Monstropolis, Harryhausen's restaurant, and a pizza eatery named Archie's Scare Pig Pizza.

Those will be the main components when the area first opens, with the much-anticipated Door Coaster arriving later. It appears Disney wants to open the rest of the land as quickly as possible while the signature attraction continues development. At D23, Disney did tease that the suspended Door Coaster will lift you 40 feet in just four seconds right before you venture into the iconic door vault.

We're still waiting for more details on the theater, but the concept art gives us a few hints. A laugh canister appears to jet out into the audience, while monsters can be seen on the main stage, in the crowd, and on elevated stages on either side. It also appears there will be a live monster band, potentially playing the new original song, Welcome to Monstropolis, written by Randy Newman.

Then there's Harryhausen's, which will likely be a dream come true for many Monsters, Inc. fans. Guests will actually be able to step inside the restaurant from the film, complete with an impressive animatronic of Roz.

While we still have plenty more to learn, Disney has now given us a much clearer picture of what will be ready when Monstropolis first opens in 2027 — and what will keep us waiting.

Tropical Americas brings Indiana Jones and Encanto to Animal Kingdom

Next up was Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom, where we got new details on both the Indiana Jones and Encanto attractions.

The Indiana Jones attraction now has an official name: Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent. Perhaps the biggest news here is that, for the first time, Harrison Ford himself is being used as the model for the Indiana Jones Audio-Animatronic.

The ride will use the same ride system as the popular Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland, but with a completely new story, scenes, and animatronics.

Disney also revealed the name of the Encanto attraction: Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto. The ride will take place on Antonio's gift day, with you invited into Casita to celebrate his new ability.

We got to see the moment guests enter Casita, as well as the ride vehicles, which are designed to feel like pieces of furniture brought to life by the house.

One of the more interesting elements shown was how the attraction will handle elevation changes. Disney appears to be using a new ride system that makes it feel as though the vehicle is moving up or down without the track physically raising or lowering.

The ride will eventually take guests upstairs into Antonio's room, which has been transformed into a rainforest filled with a bevy of animals including a capybara, a toucan, and a donkey.

Interestingly enough, Disney didn't announce an opening date during the panel. The company has already announced that Tropical Americas is expected to arrive in 2027, so for now, that remains the target.

Fans of Expedition Everest will be thrilled with this news — the Yeti will finally be returning to its original form on the rollercoaster after years of the legendary creature being stuck in its B mode. Simply, the Yeti won't be frozen for much longer.

Villains Land will bring Disney's biggest villains together

The other active construction site in Magic Kingdom right now — or should we say just outside the current edges of the park — is Villains Land. While D23 2024 confirmed that the land was coming, we finally got more details at D23 2026.

The land will actually be named Villains Land, and Imagineering is touting it as something unlike any other land Disney has developed. The focus will be squarely on the characters, bringing together some of Disney's most infamous villains, including Dr. Facilier, Maleficent, and Cruella de Vil.

The main attraction will be a Maleficent-themed coaster that sends guests racing around her mountain fortress before eventually coming face-to-face with the villain herself. The ride will feature tight turns, potentially some tipping-track elements, and a very energetic feel throughout.

The other attraction will be a dark ride themed around the Magic Mirror. Guests will travel into the Mirror Realm and encounter several of Disney's villains along the way. Among those shown so far are Cruella de Vil, Ursula, Jafar, and Mufasa, but Disney is keeping the specific details of the story under wraps for now.

With two attractions on this scale, Villains Land could end up being one of the most ambitious additions ever made to Magic Kingdom.

EPCOT's Spaceship Earth and Figment will get reimagined

Over at EPCOT, Disney also gave us a look at two projects that have been in the works for some time: the reimagining of Spaceship Earth and the return of Figment and Dreamfinder to the Imagination pavilion.

Spaceship Earth will be receiving a major update, expanding the attraction's story while retaining the optimism and wonder that have defined it for generations.

Figment and Dreamfinder, meanwhile, are getting ready to embark on a new journey into imagination at EPCOT. Disney didn't reveal too many details about the new experience, but just the return of Dreamfinder alongside Figment is enough to get plenty of EPCOT fans excited.

Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab will open in 2028

At Disneyland, the biggest update came from Avengers Campus, which is undergoing a massive expansion that will ultimately double its size. Disney confirmed that both Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab will open in 2028.

Avengers Infinity Defense will put guests in the role of new recruits tasked with helping reassemble the Avengers to take on King Thanos. The attraction will travel across locations including Asgard, Wakanda, and New York City, blending massive physical sets with large-scale media.

Perhaps the biggest casting news is that several heroes will be portrayed by their original on-screen actors, including Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, and Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man.

Downey Jr. will also appear in Stark Flight Lab, alongside Mackie and Brie Larson. Guests will board two-person pods, then be grabbed by a giant robotic arm and thrown into a simulated flight experience inspired by Iron Man and the other Avengers.

More details for Coco at Disney California Adventure

Disney also shared more about the upcoming Coco attraction, the first ride based on the Pixar film at a Disney park. The story will take place one year after the original film, beginning in a "casa museo" dedicated to Héctor's music before guests board a boat and travel with Miguel through his memories of the Land of the Dead.

The attraction will feature Miguel, Dante, Héctor, and plenty of other familiar characters, with Disney and Pixar working together to ensure the ride celebrates both the original film and the upcoming Coco 2. There will also be no height requirement, which will make this a family-friendly option at California Adventure.

Disneyland's Tomorrowland set for a major change

Finally, Disney announced that Disneyland's Tomorrowland is set for a major reimagining. There aren't many specifics yet, but Imagineering says the transformation will honor the legacy of the original land while introducing new attractions, more open spaces, and new places for guests to experience the future.

Looking at the updates coming to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, there's more happening across the parks than we've seen in quite some time. With so many of the projects announced in 2024 now actively under construction, it's clear that Disney wanted to use this year's showcase to give fans a much closer look at what's actually being built.

Could we have gotten a few more details on Tropical Americas, Coco, or even more on Avatar at Disneyland? Absolutely. But overall, Horizons: A Carousel of Progress gave us plenty to be excited about, while showing just how much detail Imagineering is putting into these new lands and attractions.

And perhaps most importantly, there was a sense that Disney is recommitting to some of its longtime fans. The return of Dreamfinder and Figment at EPCOT, the reimagining of Tomorrowland at Disneyland, and even the return of the Yeti to Expedition Everest show that Disney isn't only looking toward what's next. It's also looking back at some of what made these parks special in the first place.

• Schenker Element 16 (E26) is on sale now, pairing Intel Panther Lake processors with a 120 Hz 1600p display and a 72 Wh battery in a 1.9 kg chassis, shipping in late August
• The laptop's screwless quick-release chassis and a firmly planned next-generation mainboard swap make it a potential contender to other semi-modular Framework-built laptops rivals
• Its 72 GB RAM ceiling is an interesting configuration, thanks to 8 GB of soldered memory plus a single SODIMM slot that accepts a module with up to 64GB of memory

Schenker has put its long-teased Element 16 on sale worldwide, and the spec sheet leads with a number you will not find on any other laptop this year: up to 72 GB of DDR5 memory.

The 16-inch machine, sold under the model code E26 through the company's Bestware store, starts at 1,499 euros, with orders expected to ship in late August 2026.

Buyers can also get a 5% early-bird discount, available until the end of the month, plus a 20-euro discount voucher if they sign up for the store's newsletter.

A Framework competitor with an interesting RAM configuration

The Schenker Element 16's potential 72GB of RAM deserves scrutiny for a few reasons: how it is configured to get there and whether it's available. The Element 16 pairs 8 GB of soldered DDR5 with a single SODIMM slot, and filling that slot with a 64 GB module produces the magic number (72 GB) in an 8G+64G configuration.

This may not have been intentional; ComputerBase, a German news outlet, reported (DE) that Schenker originally planned a replaceable LPCAMM2 module for this design before settling on the soldered-plus-SODIMM arrangement that shipped.

The silicon is Intel's new Panther Lake generation, marketed as Core Ultra 300. Buyers choose between the eight-core Core Ultra 5 325 in the base configuration and the 16-core Core Ultra 7 356H for a 150 euro premium. Both chips include an NPU for local AI workloads, and both rely on integrated Intel graphics with four Xe3 cores rather than a discrete GPU.

By the standards of a 1.9 kg machine with all-day battery ambitions, the Element 16 is genuinely quick, and 72 GB of memory will happily swallow the virtual machines, containers, and outsized datasets that justify a configuration like this. Getting the memory configuration, however, might be easier said than done, however.

While the laptop can be configured with up to 72 GB, the configurator says the memory configuration is "currently not available." Users can still opt for a Kingston Fury or Crucial memory module that currently offers a 40 GB SKU.

If you are willing to wait, however, the Schenker Element 16 is a compelling alternative to the popular, modular Framework lineup that's been all the rage lately for its upgrade-friendly designs.

The 16-inch IPS panel runs at 2560 x 1600 with a 120 Hz refresh rate, 400 nits of brightness, full sRGB coverage, an anti-glare finish, and a 180-degree hinge. Storage sits in an M.2 slot with PCIe 5.0 connectivity, configurable up to 8 TB, which Schenker's technical FAQ notes is a first for its thin-and-light lineup, since Panther Lake supplies the PCIe 5.0 lanes directly from the processor.

The laptop also meets MIL-STD-810H durability standards and offers solid connectivity, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports with DisplayPort and Power Delivery, Wi-Fi 7, HDMI, two USB-A ports, a microSD reader, and an audio jack.

What distinguishes the Element 16 in a crowded 16-inch market is the promise behind its quick-release bottom panel: a mainstream-looking laptop whose maker has publicly committed to at least one more generation of drop-in mainboards. Whether that commitment holds, is financially viable compared with buying a new laptop, and offers multiple trims based on consumer needs remains unanswered for now, even if you are willing to wait an unstated amount of time to get it in a 72 GB trim.

Keychron K8 Ultra 8K: One-minute review

The Keychron K8 Ultra 8K is a wireless mechanical keyboard with an impressive spec that hopes to compete with the more premium offerings in the space.

It exhibits the brand’s typical design language, with its sizable keycaps and retro looks. The whole unit is black, save for some grey and green keycaps. To liven things up, it features some bright backlighting with plenty of customization options, although the keycap legends aren’t transparent, so it doesn’t illuminate them. This makes them harder to see in dark environments, which somewhat defeats the backlight’s purpose.

The board base is very thick, which means you have to angle your wrists considerably to reach the tall keys. It’s in dire need of wrist support, which is an oversight since a lot of the best keyboards come with a rest. It’s also quite heavy, thanks to its metal construction. This does help to keep it planted, though, and it’s as solid as you would expect it to be.

To customize the inputs of the K8 Ultra 8K, you’ll have to use Keychron’s Web Launcher. Here you’ll find a reasonable selection of rebinding options, and there’s also a basic but functional SOCD function for altering key priority. It’s a relatively easy app to use, and despite being web-based, it’s quick and responsive; I didn’t encounter any disruptive loading times during my time with it.

In action, the K8 Ultra 8K performs well. The keys are sufficiently damped, although some clickiness remains, which can be a little harsh at times, but mostly they’re satisfying to use. They’re snappy and responsive, too, while being forgiving of accidental nudges. The indents and shape of the keycaps are comfortable and offer a secure hold.

However, the switches of my review unit didn’t have the smoothest of motions. The keys are also spaced quite far apart, which can make reaching certain inputs a stretch. What’s more, the aforementioned angle your wrists are forced to adopt can lead to strain after short periods. I had no issues with connecting the K8 Ultra 8K via 2.4GHz or Bluetooth, and switching between them was quick and easy.

The K8 Ultra 8K is a reasonable price when you consider all that it offers. There are certainly much dearer mechanical keyboards, such as the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%, but there are also cheaper ones, such as the MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra. However, the K8 Ultra 8K remains a solid choice if you like a substantial board — just pair it with a wrist rest.

Keychron K8 Ultra 8K review: Price & availability

• $119.99 (about £90 / AU$170)
• Available now in three switch types
• Good price for a wireless mechanical keyboard

The K8 Ultra 8K costs $119.99 (about £90 / AU$170) and is available now from Keychron’s website, with shipping rates varying according to region. It can be had with a choice of three switch types: Red, Brown, or Banana. It comes with a braided USB cable, several spare keycaps, and a keycap puller.

This is a good price for a wireless mechanical keyboard with hot-swappable switches. Similar models from bigger names can cost considerably more, such as the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%. However, the performance of that board is far superior, being perhaps the best mechanical keyboard I’ve ever tested. Its switches are a joy to press, while the companion software offers more customizations and tweaks.

If you’re after a more budget-friendly gaming keyboard, the MonsGeek FUN60 Ultra is hard to beat for value. It has a surprisingly high-quality design, while its analog switches feel almost as good as mechanical ones, with added actuation adjustments.

Keychron K8 Ultra 8K review: Specs

Keychron K8 Ultra 8K review: Design & features

• Retro look
• Solid, thick, and heavy
• Reasonable web app for customizations

The K8 Ultra 8K adopts Keychron's signature aesthetics, which is to say it has a thick base, tall keycaps, and a black colorway. However, there are a few grey peripheral keys, as well as a green Escape key, to add some contrast.

Allied to its thick chassis is a substantial weight. This helps the K8 Ultra 8K to stay planted, but makes it a chore to move around frequently. Build quality is also impressive, with its metal frame feeling as solid as you would expect it to feel, while the keycaps have only a hint of play.

What’s disappointing about them, though, is their opaque symbols. This means the vivid RGB backlighting doesn’t get a chance to shine through them; in fact, it can actively obscure them in dark environments, which defeats at least part of the backlighting’s purpose. Fortunately, it still shines through the spaces between the keys, and there are plenty of customizable patterns for it.

Like some other Keychron models, the K8 Ultra 8K’s USB port is located on the left side of the unit, rather than at the back. This is an interesting location and can help to reduce the cable interfering with deskspace, depending on your particular setup. The included cable’s jack protrudes slightly from the side, but since it’s L-shaped, it's actually quite discreet. This shape also helps the cable to naturally follow a path less intrusive to deskspace.

Keychron doesn’t offer a downloadable app for the K8 Ultra 8K; instead, you’ll have to use the Keychron Web Launcher via a browser. Quite often, such web apps can be slow and awkward, with frequent loading times and connectivity issues. However, I found Keychron’s fast and easy to use.

What’s more, it offers a reasonable amount of customization. Besides standard key assignments, there are quite a few shortcuts for various system commands and media controls. There’s also a SOCD feature with three different modes, as well as a section for altering the bounce (more commonly referred to as debounce) times of key presses and resets, with sliders for each ranging from 10ms to 50ms, with single millisecond increments selectable.

Keychron K8 Ultra 8K review: Performance

• Tactile and damped switches
• Snappy yet forgiving
• Uncomfortable thickness

True to its mechanical nature, the K8 Ultra 8K is quite a satisfying board to use. The Brown Tactile switches in my review unit were sufficiently damped, though there was some clickiness to them. For the most part I liked this aspect, although hard presses can feel a little harsh. Worse is the roughness of their motion as they travel, which doesn’t feel particularly pleasant. Fortunately, this doesn't completely sap the joy out of presses, and it didn’t affect my performance in any significant way.

The switches are also quite snappy, requiring only a light touch to actuate. Better yet, they’re forgiving at the same time: whenever I accidentally grazed a key I didn’t intend to hit, often it wouldn’t register. This combination makes it ideal for fast typing.

The keycaps themselves are comfortable, thanks to their ergonomic indents, which also provide security. This comfort extends to the space bar, which I could easily hit flush when in the WASD position. That’s not something I can say about every space bar I’ve experienced.

Less comfortable, however, is the wide spacing of the keys. I often welcome this aspect, but I found it too great on the K8 Ultra 8K. Reaching certain keys was a stretch, especially when touch typing, or when trying to reach certain peripheral keys such as R and T when gaming in the WASD position.

The aforementioned thickness of the chassis also creates issues. Combined with the tall keycaps, this means you have to angle your wrists to a large degree, and what’s more I frequently caught my fingers on the edges of keys as I glided around them when typing. I’m not sure I’ve come across a keyboard in more desperate need of wrist support.

On the issue of connectivity, I had no qualms with the K8 Ultra 8K. It connected to my Windows PCs with ease via both Bluetooth and the 2.4GHz dongle. Hot-switching between these devices was also quick and easy, merely requiring the flick of switch on the side of the unit.

Should I buy the Keychron K8 Ultra 8K?

Scorecard

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

Keychron K8 Ultra 8K review: Also consider

How I tested the Keychron K8 Ultra 8K

• Tested for a few days
• Used for a variety of tasks
• Plentiful keyboard experience

I tested the K8 Ultra 8K for a few days, during which time I used it for gaming, working, and general browsing.

One of the games I played was Counter-Strike 2, as it serves as the ideal test for peripherals, since it demands fast and precise inputs.

I’ve been using gaming keyboards for years, and reviewed a great number of them, including other Keychron models as well as those from well-known brands like Razer, SteelSeries, and Corsair.

• First reviewed: August 2026
• Read more about how we test

• Chinese researchers built an AI targeting infrared traces from F-22 and F-35 engines
• Flare decoys reportedly fail to fool this heat-based recognition model
• Lab tests show recognition accuracy above 90 percent for simulated targets

Chinese researchers have claimed a lightweight AI system can identify heat signatures resembling those of F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters.

The F-22 and F-35 are designed to make enemy detection and tracking more difficult, particularly by reducing their visibility to radar and other sensors.

That makes any technology capable of recognizing their remaining infrared signatures potentially important for detecting aircraft built around stealth.

AI recognition focuses on aircraft heat

Unlike radar-based detection, infrared systems look for heat produced by an aircraft's engines, exhaust, and heated surfaces during flight.

The researchers claim that AI can analyze those patterns and distinguish simulated F-22 and F-35 signatures from other airborne objects.

Pilots often use flares to confuse conventional heat-seeking sensors during an engagement.

However, the researchers say that aircraft-generated heat differs from flare emissions, giving an AI system another basis for separating an aircraft from decoys.

The researchers tested their recognition model using simulated targets representing the thermal characteristics associated with F-22 and F-35 aircraft.

According to the study's lead author, the approach is intended to combine rapid processing with sufficient recognition capability for missile applications.

“Lightweight recognition models could become widely used in future air-to-air missiles because they can provide high-speed recognition while maintaining strong identification capabilities,” said An Jiangshan, first author of the study.

Laboratory testing reportedly produced recognition accuracy exceeding 90%, although operational performance against real aircraft remains unverified.

That distinction matters because real aircraft generate changing thermal patterns under different speeds, altitudes, maneuvering conditions, and environmental circumstances.

The researchers also describe the system as lightweight, suggesting that its computing requirements could be suitable for missile-mounted hardware with limited space and processing capacity.

Limits remain around real-world performance

Stealth aircraft are designed primarily to reduce radar visibility, but infrared emissions remain an important consideration for infrared-guided weapons.

Heat-seeking missiles already use infrared sensors, while machine-learning systems could potentially assist those sensors with identifying complex thermal patterns.

However, the reported research does not establish that the system can reliably track operational F-22 or F-35 aircraft under combat conditions.

Actual engagements would introduce atmospheric conditions, changing viewing angles, aircraft maneuvers, background temperatures, and electronic countermeasures that laboratory testing may not fully reproduce.

Even without proving the system can defeat operational aircraft, the research points toward a growing challenge for American stealth platforms.

The United States cannot assume that reducing radar visibility will remain sufficient as AI systems become better at recognizing infrared patterns.

Future F-22 and F-35 upgrades could therefore require greater attention to heat management, exhaust signatures and other infrared characteristics.

The same concern applies to future stealth bombers, which could face increasingly capable AI-assisted infrared sensors.

Stealth designs may need to consider how machine-learning systems interpret heat patterns rather than simply minimizing the strength of those emissions.

That could become increasingly important as lightweight AI processors become easier to integrate into missiles and other airborne weapons.

American defence planners have little reason to wait until such systems demonstrate their capabilities during actual combat.

Via SCMP

• Iran has destroyed dozens of Reapers, exposing America's costly drone vulnerability
• Forty-five Reapers lost represents roughly one-quarter of America's pre-war fleet
• Washington is buying replacement Reapers as battlefield losses continue mounting

The United States has lost roughly a quarter of its entire MQ-9 Reaper drone fleet during its war with Iran, new reports have claimed.

The Washington Post notes approximately 45 of these unmanned aircraft were destroyed in the conflict - which represents about 25% of the fleet, which numbered approximately 185 units before fighting began.

The report comes as the US slowly realizes how Iran's air defense network became the central challenge facing the Reaper throughout sustained operations near its territory.

Why Iran's defenses inflicted huge losses on the US

The MQ-9 Reaper is a remotely operated aircraft built by General Atomics for surveillance and precision strike missions - it can remain airborne for approximately 24 hours and operate at altitudes reaching around 13,000 metres.

Its weapons include AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and Mark 82 guided bombs, allowing one aircraft to conduct reconnaissance and strikes.

These drones fly at relatively low speeds and altitudes, leaving them exposed to ground-based interception systems.

Some aircraft were lost not in flight but while sitting on U.S. military bases during Iranian strikes.

Intensive Reaper use over Iran and near the Strait of Hormuz drove much of the attrition.

Replacing these losses quickly has proven difficult, since building new Reapers requires considerable time and resources.

A single MQ-9 Reaper system can cost up to $30 million, pushing total losses past $1.3 billion.

The US military must also continue supplying drones for other ongoing operations happening elsewhere simultaneously.

Because of this strain, Washington has already resorted to purchasing remaining Reapers from General Atomics' existing stockpiles.

The MQ-9 Reaper serves reconnaissance and strike roles for several allied nations.

Current operators include Belgium, the United Kingdom, Denmark, India, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, France, and Japan.

Wider pressure on America's weapons stockpiles

These drone losses form part of a broader pattern affecting U.S. ammunition and interceptor stockpiles during the conflict.

Iran has used the 358 air-defense missiles, which have an estimated cost of $20,000 to $90,000 per missile.

Even if Iran fired 100 of these missiles at one MQ-9 Reaper, the total expenditure would reach only $2 million to $9 million.

With each Reaper costing tens of millions of dollars, such an exchange would still leave Iran with a substantial financial advantage.

Washington appears to have underestimated how quickly prolonged confrontation with Iran could consume its air-defense interceptors.

The Pentagon declined to comment specifically on Reaper losses and consistently denies that its stockpiles are running low.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disputed recent reports claiming military commanders had flagged critically low interceptor stockpiles.

Regardless of that dispute, the Pentagon has pressed defense contractors to accelerate production of critical weapons systems.

Amid mounting losses, the United States has also begun searching for cheaper drones deployable in far larger numbers.

Such alternatives could reduce the financial and strategic cost of losing individual, expensive aircraft during future engagements.

Whether these cheaper alternatives can match the Reaper's endurance and weapons capacity remains an open, unresolved question.

The ideas that we take for granted in today's computing landscape were once all original thoughts that somebody had to devise and implement out of nothing. Both Apple and Microsoft were pioneering companies in this space, but not all great ideas that stuck necessarily came from either company.

Best of frenemies

When word got out that Bill Gates had announced Windows for the first time at the Comdex trade show, Steve Jobs was furious and asked for a face-to-face meeting.

According to an account from Apple's designer of Macintosh system software, Andy Hertzfeld, Jobs "went ballistic" upon learning that Microsoft's new mouse-based system had made its debut.

The two companies had agreed a staggered release – with Windows only allowed to launch in 1983, a year after Mac. Because Mac had been delayed, and that possibility was never defined in their 1981 agreement, Microsoft was still within its rights to launch Windows.

Jobs felt this was a stolen idea anyway and that it represented a betrayal of a fragile partnership. In this meeting, Hertzfeld wrote, Gates simply pointed out the fundamental idea wasn't either of theirs – and that the terms of a 1981 agreement still held up.

North star

Gates' witty quote underlines the frosty relationship that he shared with Jobs throughout their careers, until they buried the hatchet a couple of decades later.

This conflict originated when Jobs recruited Microsoft to be the first software developer for the Macintosh. Both companies, at this point, had exposure to the ideas being developed at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) – especially the mouse-based system the company's engineers had refined. For instance, Xerox Star was a highly influential predecessor operating system.

Microsoft didn't shift a working version of Windows until almost two years later, and, according to Hertzfeld, it was just as crude as Jobs had predicted. When Microsoft launched a version of Windows in 1988 that Jobs deemed good enough, he sued Microsoft for copyright infringement but lost on a technicality.