• The Open 2026: Thursday, July 16 to Sunday, July 19 | 1.35am ET / 6.35am BST
• Stream on Peacock / NBC & USA Network via Sling TV (US)
• US free trials: YouTube TV (10-days) / DirecTV (5-days)
• Unlock your stream with NordVPN (save up to 75%)

Watch The Open 2026 live streams, as the oldest golf tournament in the world returns for its 154th staging, at the links of Royal Birkdale. Scottie Scheffler will defend his crown won 12 months ago, while Rory McIlroy and local favorite Tommy Fleetwood – born minutes away in nearby Southport – are also among the leading contender's for golf's original major.

After winning by four strokes at Royal Portrush in 2025, Scheffler is trying to become the first Open champion to successfully defend their crown since Padraig Harrington in 2008-09. Yet the world number one will be smarting from missing his first cut in 78 tournaments after failing to make the weekend at the Scottish Open a week ago. He'll tee it up with world number three Matt Fitzpatrick and 2024 champion Xander Schauffele.

Fleetwood is seeking to become the first English winner of the Claret Jug since Nick Faldo in 1992. He goes out in a stellar group with 2021 champion Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth, who won the last time the tournament was held at Royal Birkdale in 2017. Further home hopefuls include Aaron Rai, the reigning PGA Champion, and Justin Rose who exploded as an amateur here in 1998.

Rory McIlroy will also fancy his chances. The two-time reigning Masters champion finished strongly at the Scottish Open last weekend, with a final-round 64.

Blessed with a beautiful art deco clubhouse, the course is a cracker and conditions are set to be warm, which will bring its own challenge of controlling the ball on a links course by the sea.

Read on for our guide on where to watch The Open 2026 online, on TV and potentially for free wherever you are. Scroll down for the Round 1 tee times.

Can you watch The Open 2026 for free?

The Open coverage is predominantly locked behind a paywall, but there are a couple of ways to watch some free live streams from Royal Birkdale.

The Open app (available via the Apple Store and Google Play) will show coverage from Featured Groups over the course of the four days.

That will focus solely on those particular three or four groups, though, so for more exhaustive coverage, you'll have to look elsewhere. In the US there are free trials available that will let you tune in for nothing.

The tournament is being shown on NBC and USA Network, which are both carried by YouTube TV (10-day free trial), DirecTV Stream (5-day free trial) and Hulu+Live TV (3-day free trial).

Alternatively, you can live stream The Open 2026 on Peacock for next to nothing by taking advantage of the Walmart Plus 30-day trial for $1.

In Australia, Kayo Sports has a 7-day free trial to watch the tournament.

Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch the Open Championship 2026 for free as if you were right at home.

Use a VPN to watch The Open 2026 live streams

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with up to 75% off.

How to watch The Open 2026 live streams in the US

The Open 2026 coverage is shared between NBC, USA Network and Peacock in the US. All NBC coverage is being simulcasted on Peacock.

Rounds 1 and 2 air on NBC Sports Network/Peacock from 1.30am-4am, and on USA Network from 4am-3.30pm. Round 3 airs on USA from 5am-7am, and on NBC/Peacock from 7am-3pm. Round 4 airs on USA from 4am-7am, and on NBC/Peacock from 7am-finish. All times ET.

The Peacock price starts at $10.99/month or $109.99/year for a plan that carries live sports. However, you can access Peacock virtually for free with a Walmart Plus 30-day trial for $1.

NBC and USA Network, meanwhile, are available through Sling – specifically the Blue plan, which starts at $45.99/month. It includes NBC, ABC and Fox in select locations, plus FS1, USA Network, FX and more.

Alternatively, both channels are also carried by YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV, each of which offers a free trial to new users.

If you're traveling outside of the US, you can make use of NordVPN to catch the action.

How to watch The Open 2026 live streams in the UK

In the UK, The Open Championship 2026 is being shown on Sky Sports, via the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Golf channels.

Sky Sports plans start from £35/month, or £20 if you're an existing Sky subscriber. Alternatively, grab a Now Sports subscription from £14.99/day or £34.99/month.

Outside the UK right now? Use NordVPN to access your preferred coverage of The Open Championship.

How to watch The Open 2026 live streams in Australia

In Australia, The Open 2026 is being televised on Fox Sports via Foxtel, with live streaming available via Kayo Sports.

Kayo Sports starts at AU$30 per month after a 7-day free trial. Or you can get your first month for AU$1.

If you're currently out of Australia but want to watch your usual Open coverage, you'll need to get yourself a VPN, as per the instructions above.

How to watch The Open 2026 live streams in Canada

In Canada, The Open 2026 is exclusive to TSN.

If you don't have cable, the TSN Plus streaming service costs CA$29.99/month or CA$249.99/year. However, you can currently get three months for CA$59.99.

If you're out of Canada but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.

The Open 2026 FAQs

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.

• The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has bricked thousands of routers
• Flashing alternative firmware like OpenWRT is an option that the ACCC has ignored
• Disposed SamKnows SK-WB8 routers can pose a security risk if they’re not first wiped with a factory reset

The Australian government’s competition regulator, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), has initiated the bricking of some 4,000 routers, rolled out across the country in 2020 in order to collect information on broadband speeds.

Issued as part of the Measuring Broadband Australia (MBA) program, the routers were whiteboxes from SamKnows, a subsidiary of Cisco, and given a finite lifespan. That date was reached in June 2026, with the SamKnows SK-WB8 routers remotely disabled on June 30.

As a consequence, Australians are likely to toss the bricked routers, resulting in a sharp increase in e-waste. In doing so, they risk breaches of digital security if the routers are not first wiped. Worse, the ACCC’s position is further confused by the fact that these routers can be flashed, making their destruction quite pointless.

Data discarded, but the routers still work

Since the June 30 cut-off, the routers are known to power up, and while bricked for internet access, can seemingly be reused with custom router firmware. The nature of the data collected by the routers for the MBA program was for measurement and customer registration, and this has apparently been deleted, according to emails sent to volunteers of the program.

While accurate figures are unknown, by December 2020 over 2,600 of the SamKnows SK-WB8 routers had been distributed by the ACCC, with 4,000 planned for release across the lifespan of the MBA program.

Attempts to contact the ACCC and Cisco to learn more about why volunteers of the MBA program are being encouraged to dispose of perfectly usable routers have been met with stock, non-committal responses.

The ACCC gave ArsTechnica a potted history of the device and the MBA program, as well as stating that “volunteers are encouraged to unplug their disabled whitebox and dispose of it in an environmentally responsible manner via free e-waste recycling services.”

Should you ditch your ACCC router?

If there is no reason to keep your ACCC-supplied router and have a replacement ready, it is important to factory reset the device before disposal. This ensures that any administrator passwords, ISP details, and custom network settings are deleted, keeping them from falling into the wrong hands.

Finding a safe disposal option will help to ensure the router is correctly dismantled. The ACCC has emailed recipients of the SamKnows SK-WB8 routers informing them of the correct disposal procedure, with a link to a live list of e-waste services.

However, if you have the time and inclination to flash OpenWRT, a guide explaining how to do this is available on the OpenWRT page for the SamKnows SK-WB8.

OpenAI's debut of the new GPT-5.6 model prompted the usual ritual of benchmark charts and arguments over whether it is really smarter than the last version, but CEO Sam Altman asked for a little more this time. He publicly asked to see what people actually built with it.

That led to a much more interesting showcase. Developers responded with all kinds of ideas, pilot projects, and even complete services. It makes sense, since OpenAI claims GPT-5.6 is better at coding and more reliable for long tasks. Seeing them turn into real software says much more than a release blog ever could. Here are five that stood out among the deluge.

ChatGPT coworker

The demo from Kitsune Agent Lab almost makes the chat window feel old-fashioned. The AI agent is given a goal and gets on with the job, moving between different tools, making decisions, and keeping track of what it has already done.

The interesting part is how motivated the AI agent appears to keep going and how good it is at remembering what it's done before. Developers have been asking for something like this for a while. AI is far more useful when it can finish the work instead of simply suggesting how you might do it yourself.

Financial chatter

One of the most charming projects makes New York City look like it belonged inside an original Game Boy. It comes complete with chunky pixel graphics but runs on a live digital map of New York that pulls in real-time information, including subway trains, weather conditions, and ferry movements. Instead of wandering through a fictional RPG world, you're exploring a tiny, pixelated version of the city.

A project like this requires far more than generating a few lines of code. It brings together live data feeds, mapping, interface design, and plenty of problem-solving into something that feels polished rather than experimental. It's one reason developers are feeling excited about GPT-5.6

Wardrobe AI

This project uses GPT-5.6 to create a polished AI wardrobe assistant that organizes clothing, suggests outfits, and presents everything through an interface that feels more like a premium consumer app than an experimental AI demo.

It's an impressively complete experience. The application gives users a visual, interactive way to browse their clothes and receive recommendations based on what they already own. The demo also highlights GPT-5.6's strength in developers building entire applications instead of isolated features. It brings together interface design, image generation, organization, and intelligent recommendations that would normally require stitching together several complex systems. GPT-5.6 appears to handle much of that heavy lifting.

Pokémon Go, but for neighborhood cats

One developer made a whole real-world-based game called CatchCat. It's like a digital expansion to a scavenger hunt for cats. Point your phone at a real cat, let the app verify the sighting with its camera, and turn that encounter into a collectible digital cat card with its own personality, rarity, and place in your growing album. It is essentially a creature-collecting game in which the creatures are the neighborhood cats you meet.

Players can build collections, explore community sightings, compete with friends, and gradually fill a living scrapbook of feline encounters, all wrapped in a polished interface that would not look out of place on the App Store or Google Play. Building something like CatchCat means juggling computer vision, mobile development, backend services, and game design.

Tasteful travel

One of the most ambitious projects, Atlas Mode for Pearl, is an interactive globe that turns travel planning into something closer to exploring a living map. Instead of typing destination names into a search box, users can spin the globe, discover places visually, and receive recommendations for restaurants, hotels, and more matched to their personal tastes.

It has an impressive number of moving parts running behind the scenes. The app combines geographic data with an individual taste profile, then layers AI recommendations directly onto an interactive globe. It even has an audio aspect thanks to GPT Voice 2.1. You can talk through vacation ideas instead of endlessly tweaking search filters.

That is a recurring theme among the projects developers rushed to show Sam Altman. The AI is no longer the product itself. Increasingly, it is the engine quietly powering products that people might actually want to use.

• ETH Zurich quantum chip sees superconducting qubit act as CPU and the vibrational modes of a fingernail-width acoustic resonator serve as quantum RAM
• The approach borrows from classical computer architecture as it completely flips the script on how modern quantum computing might store short-term data
• The team demonstrated a universal gate set and ran small instances of the quantum Fourier transform and period finding

A guitar string essentially stores a note based on how it vibrates, and if one plucks it differently, an entirely different note plays.

A team of researchers at ETH Zurich has leveraged the same principle to build a quantum chip that stores information by replacing the string with microscopic acoustic resonators.

This allows the chip to increase its working memory significantly, essentially increasing the storage capacity, a prohibitively expensive commodity in quantum computing, significantly.

A vibrations-based quantum storage play

ETH Zurich's research is led by quantum physicist Yiwen Chu, who used tiny mechanical vibrations to both store and process information. The vibrations, however, go far beyond the range of human hearing, happening inside a quantum chip where they essentially replace or complement the working memory of a quantum computer.

The study, published by the Hybrid Quantum Systems group, lists Professor Yiwen Chu, along with doctoral students Yu Yang and Igor Kladarić, as lead authors and focuses on replicating the division of labor seen in a classical computer.

A superconducting transmon qubit serves as the CPU, while the working memory (the quantum equivalent of RAM) is a high-overtone bulk acoustic wave resonator, or HBAR, whose many vibrational modes each serve as a memory slot.

The Qubit essentially swaps a quantum state from a vibrational mode (reads it, in classical computer terms), manipulates it (modifies it), and swaps it back (writes it). This makes for a unique configuration that most modern quantum computers do not follow, in which processing and storage are two distinct segments; most designs treat both memory and compute similarly.

The approach has advantages, however: acoustic waves have wavelengths roughly a hundred thousand times shorter than electromagnetic ones, allowing an entire quantum chip to be extremely small, as the research team states, even if the actual computer will be many orders of magnitude larger.

The chip has passed stress tests, including a proof of feasibility, which also included testing using two of the most commonly used methods to benchmark a quantum computer: the quantum Fourier transform and a period-finding algorithm.

The endgame here, as noted by the research team, is quantum random-access memory (QRAM), which would allow modern quantum computers to access a much larger store of quantum memory than current specifications allow. Whether this pans out depends on both the scalability of the approach and the computational power in play.

• Skullcandy launches Crusher 1080 ANC, new premium over-ears
• They mark the debut of three Bose-made features in a non-Bose product
• Just launched and available right now, for $280 / AU$399.99 (about £210)

It is as I foretold: after we saw Skullcandy teases about new headphones, the brand has unveiled exactly the pair of cans I predicted. Meet the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC; they're the pair that skate legend (and brand ambassador) Tony Hawk is pointing at in the picture above — yes, it really is him.

These are, according to the brand, its "best-sounding product" (although interestingly, not the most expensive because Skullcandy's Aviator 900 cans are a little pricier) and in case you didn't know, a 1080 in skateboarding involves three complete skateboard and body rotations performed either frontside or backside.

As a new member of its Crusher line-up, part of the draw will be the adjustable bass (see the big dial on the ear cup), but there's a lot more to celebrate besides that.

You can buy the Crusher 1080 ANC right now; they cost $279.99 / AU$399.99 (about £210) so they're a little cheaper than the likes of the $449 / £449 / AU$699 Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Gen 2) which they borrow features from.

They come in black, gray, brown, and pink, as you can see modelled sans Tony Hawk below. I rate them in the following order: brown, pink, gray, black, though I'd love to see a camo or floral redesign as Skullcandy is wont to do.

Colors aren't why you'll buy the Crusher 1080 ANC, though. No, it'll be because they offer three new Sound by Bose features at a non-Bose price...

That which we call a Bose by any other name would smell as sweet

We've seen Skullcandy headphones with Bose features before, but the Crusher 1080 ANC are the first pair of cans not made by the brand which have three specific features. And these three features are a big selling point of the product.

The biggest will be Bose QuietControl ANC, which is a massive draw within Bose's own products (including the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen). The company's noise cancellation is best-in-class, and now that proprietary Bose technology is baked into Skullcandy's headphones too. To many, this could be a reason to buy the Crusher all on its own.

Bose's TrueSpatial audio with head-tracking (for surround sound profiles irrespective of source material) and WaveForm audio engine (for snappy digital signal processing) are also stepping foot off the Good Ship Bose for the first time with the 1080. These will be great little extras to refine and finesse what Skullcandy already offers.

And that's before we even mention the Sound by Bose tuning and SpeechClarity voice pickup, to improve the music you listen to and your call quality. The latter is new to Skullcandy, but we've seen the former on some earbuds like my beloved Method 360.

And what about the headphones themselves, beyond the Bose stuff? Skullcandy hasn't confirmed the drivers, but I'd guess they'll be 40mm and joined by woofer units.

The battery life is 60 hours with ANC off and 50 hours with it on, which is pretty impressive; there's a 5-band EQ and other features via the Skullcandy app (not Skull-IQ, which some of the firm's earbuds use). Pictures show a dial on the side of the headphones, amongst other physical controls; I'd wager this is a redesigned bass slider, and given how easy it is to miss this on my Crusher 540 Active, I appreciate the rethink.

Reading between the lines, and having tested the Method 540 earlier this year (a 540 is a one-and-a-half skateboard and body rotation performed either frontside or backside, which I cannot do), I get the impression that Skullcandy is undergoing a push to really level up.

The company doesn't seem to be abandoning the commitment to bass that's defined its products in the past (or its love of athletes as brand ambassadors), but seems to want to bring that into a better-rounded audio package with higher-fidelity music on offer. And if the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC is the culmination of this process, I'm really intrigued to know how they sound.

• Pentagon seeks an affordable drone capable of replacing many MQ-9 Reaper missions
• Reaper drones hit hard in Iran, and losses force demand for lower-cost unmanned combat aircraft
• New aircraft must combine long range with substantial payload capacity

The United States Air Force is examining a lower-cost unmanned aircraft concept after losing “dozens” of MQ-9 Reaper drones during the recent conflict involving Iran.

Those losses have intensified concerns about relying upon expensive aircraft in environments where increasingly affordable air defenses can destroy them.

With roughly 135 Reapers in service and each drone costing about $30 million, officials increasingly question whether existing loss rates remain sustainable.

Pentagon seeks a lower-cost drone with long range and heavy payload

Rather than pursuing a more advanced version of the MQ-9, defense planners are exploring a drone intended for larger-scale deployment.

The Defense Innovation Unit is seeking proposals for a Massed Modular Aircraft, or MMA, capable of performing many missions currently assigned to the Reaper.

According to the solicitation, the Pentagon believes dependence upon “exquisite” aircraft costing more than $30 million is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.

The concept favours quantity alongside capability, allowing forces to continue operating even after suffering substantial battlefield attrition.

Unlike many smaller drones commonly associated with swarm operations, the proposed aircraft would retain significant reach and carrying capacity.

The solicitation calls for a payload of at least 2,800 pounds, compared with roughly 3,800 pounds carried by the MQ-9.

Requirements also include an unrefueled combat radius of at least 2,300 nautical miles and a one-way transfer distance exceeding 8,000 nautical miles.

The drone must travel at speeds above 200 miles per hour while remaining capable of operating from 6,000-foot runways and improvised airstrips.

Defense planners also want enough onboard power and cooling capacity to support diverse internal and external mission equipment.

The specifications mention 25kW of available electrical power and 5kW of cooling capacity for future mission systems.

Ambitious timeline aims for operational capability by 2031

The proposal places considerable emphasis upon autonomy, allowing a single operator to supervise several aircraft simultaneously during complex missions.

While no specific dimensions were included, the performance requirements indicate an aircraft broadly comparable in size to the MQ-9.

Officials have also not disclosed a preferred procurement price, though expectations suggest a figure substantially below the Reaper's estimated $30 million cost.

The timeline remains aggressive, with full-scale prototype flight testing expected within 21 months following contract award.

Initial Operating Capability is planned for fiscal year 2031, with 20 mission-ready aircraft delivered to an operational unit.

Recent combat experiences appear to have influenced the concept's development, particularly situations where defenders exhausted interceptors before attackers exhausted drones.

The solicitation argues that maintaining continuous MMA operations could pressure opponents into consuming costly defensive missiles at unsustainable rates.

“Keeping a constant airborne MMA presence to launch weapons, gather intelligence, perform electronic warfare missions, or relay communications will force an adversary to stay on the defensive,” the Defense Innovation Unit stated.

Via Defense News

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #1 — Vowels

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1634) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1634, are…

• IGLOO
• PLAIT
• YEAST
• AROMA

This was a tricky game — mainly due to two words ending in vowels.

I thought I had exhausted all words ending in the letter O, before I finally got to one ending in two of them.

Daily Sequence today (game #1634) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1634, are…

• NEEDY
• GOOFY
• ABIDE
• VISIT

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1131) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• NEEDLE
• INK
• JET
• DOT MATRIX
• TONER
• POINT BREAK
• LASER
• CHARCOAL
• PEEL
• PITCH
• PERIOD PIECE
• BULLSEYE
• SPOT REMOVER
• EYE CREAM
• CLOCKWORK
• CLAY MASK

NYT Connections today (game #1131) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Cosmetics
• PURPLE: Small beginnings
• BLUE: Seeking perfection
• GREEN: The darkness

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1131) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: SKINCARE PRODUCTS
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH TINY MARKS
• BLUE: ASSOCIATED WITH PRECISION
• GREEN: SHADES OF BLACK

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1131) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1131, are…

• YELLOW: SKINCARE PRODUCTS: CLAY MASK, EYE CREAM, PEEL, TONER
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH TINY MARKS: DOT MATRIX, PERIOD PIECE, POINT BREAK, SPOT REMOVER
• BLUE: ASSOCIATED WITH PRECISION: BULLSEYE, CLOCKWORK, LASER, NEEDLE
• GREEN: SHADES OF BLACK: CHARCOAL, INK, JET, PITCH

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

Looking at today’s game after I completed it, I don’t understand why I failed to see SHADES OF BLACK as it is the only group that I could have actually got right.

The other three groups were the result of muddled game play and lucky guesses — particularly STARTING WITH TINY MARKS, which I didn’t get because I spotted dot, period, point and spot, but because all the tiles were made up of two words.

Before that, though, I made the mistake of putting together what I thought were four different types of printer. Hopefully I wasn't the only player to fall into that trap, but in truth it doesn't take much to catch me.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, July 15, 2026, game #1130)

• YELLOW: TERMS FOR THE LEGAL SYSTEM: BAR, BENCH, COURT, TRIBUNAL
• GREEN: THINGS WITH LACES: BASEBALL GLOVE, CORSET, FOOTBALL, SHOE
• BLUE: KINDS OF SPORTS: EXTREME, MOTOR, RACKET, WATER
• PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE "ROOM" TO INDICATE EXTRA SPACE: BREATHING, ELBOW, HEAD, WIGGLE

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #1 - today's theme

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• NOISE
• CHANCE
• VERSE
• TRUANT
• GIVE
• SKATE

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #3 - spangram letters

NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #4 - spangram position

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #865) - the answers

The answers to today's Strands, game #865, are…

• TACK
• ZIGZAG
• TURN
• VEER
• DEVIATE
• PIVOT
• SWERVE
• SPANGRAM: CHANGECOURSE

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

Rerouting… is a word I used to see a lot when I used a sat nav in my car, so this is exactly the theme I was expecting — but I still struggled over it.

It’s not until you play Strands that you realize how many different ways there are to say the same thing, in this case a change of direction.

I took a hint to get going, but TACK didn’t help much. Then, I connected the two Zs for ZIGZAG and finally got motoring.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, July 15, game #864)

• QUIXOTIC
• IDEALISTIC
• ROMANTIC
• IMPRACTICAL
• SPANGRAM: PIEINTHESKY

The AI buildout is well and truly underway with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman leading the charge, having made various deals with companies including Oracle and Nvidia to guarantee the infrastructure needed to train future AI models is installed. But as this ensues, the spotlight has been thrown on how much energy these models will need.

Eating machines

Altman was speaking during an AI summit in India earlier this year when making the remarks to The Indian Express.

The OpenAI chief was being questioned about the substantial amount of energy that AI has already been consuming – and will be projected to continue consuming – for both training and inference. Bringing these models online, after all, and keeping them running require a huge amount of resources, not only in terms of the energy to power the data centers, but the water for cooling, and the components and resources in building the hardware.

Altman's defence hinged on the idea that people, too, require plenty of energy in order to reach utility — while AI can be trained much quicker. This view, in essence, frames machine intelligence as a like-for-like competitor with human intelligence.

Energy efficiency

Altman argued that humans are deeply inefficient, and that you should compare the total energy spent to create a human expert versus a machine expert. There's also an argument that energy efficiency of AI could improve over time.

But detractors were scathing in their criticism of this entire point of view – saying this framing doesn't take into account the fact that the human brain operates on roughly 20 watts of power. This isn't to mention the ethically gray and dehumanizing nature of the remarks.

• Environmental groups seek broader review before massive satellite constellations receive approval
• More than one million proposed satellites face increased regulatory scrutiny
• FCC is reconsidering satellite environmental review rules

Environmental groups have petitioned federal regulators to pause approval of orbital data center satellite constellations pending a full environmental review process.

Earthjustice recently filed a petition on behalf of DarkSky International, Environment America, and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, known as PEER.

Combined proposals from SpaceX, Starcloud, Blue Origin, and Cowboy Space could place well over a million satellites into low Earth orbit.

Why regulators are being asked to slow down

The petition asks the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement before approving any pending applications currently under review.

Such a review, required under the National Environmental Policy Act, would examine risks, alternatives, costs, and cumulative impacts together across every proposal.

Environmental groups argue the agency's current approach treats satellite licenses as automatically excluded from any detailed environmental scrutiny under existing federal rules.

They say that framework no longer fits proposals measured in hundreds of thousands, or potentially millions, of individual spacecraft rather than dozens.

The filing lists specific concerns, including rocket emissions, reentry pollutants, ozone depletion, orbital debris, and disruption to astronomy research conducted worldwide.

The petition specifically challenges the FCC's default assumption that these projects individually and cumulatively carry no environmental impact whatsoever on nearby ecosystems.

It further warns that light pollution and wildlife disruption cannot be properly assessed through isolated regulatory reviews conducted individually rather than collectively.

The petition states that these proposals compound risk "synergistically and cumulatively" in ways single-project reviews cannot capture on their own.

Industry ambitions collide with regulatory uncertainty

Backers of orbital computing describe their projects in sweeping, civilization-changing language while offering few environmental details in return for regulatory approval.

Companies including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Starcloud, and Cowboy Space have not publicly detailed environmental mitigation plans for their satellites currently under regulatory review.

MOL and Hitachi have separately explored floating data center concepts, showing wider commercial interest beyond traditional orbital satellite proposals currently facing regulatory review.

The FCC is separately reconsidering its environmental review rules, acknowledging rapid growth across the broader commercial space industry over the past decade.

If the commission agrees, orbital data center operators could face considerable regulatory delay before launching any additional hardware skyward into low Earth orbit.

Some industry analysts have already questioned whether orbital data center economics make sense given high launch and maintenance costs involved in space deployment.

Analysts note that environmental reviews of this scope could take years, delaying deployment timelines.

This could delay deployment schedules and extend regulatory timelines if a comprehensive environmental review becomes mandatory.

Whether the FCC ultimately requires a full review remains uncertain, given ongoing industry pressure and competing national security interests tied to space dominance.

Until regulators decide, the fate of orbital computing may depend as much on environmental politics as on rocket technology or launch capacity itself.

Via The Register

OpenAI is building an AI-powered smart speaker nobody wants. That is, if you believe the Bloomberg report from Mark Gurman and you've read his description of said rumored device.

According to the report:

"OpenAI believes the product’s defining feature will be its personality and ability to connect on a humanlike level with users. The speaker incorporates mechanical elements that can move on their own, creating a sense that it is alive and not just an object responding to commands. The machine also will draw on personal information such as emails to better understand its owner."

The news sources, it appears, come from an insider who decided to spill all the juicy details mere hours after Apple dropped a blockbuster trade-secrets lawsuit on OpenAI's head. OpenAI claims it's done nothing of the sort, and recent reports say that Apple's claim that the AI giant has not even responded to Apple's earliest concerns was based on it potentially incorrectly identifying the former Apple employees who left to join OpenAI (allegedly with Apple trade secrets in tow).

Apple's concerns here are twofold: First, these former employees had access to many of Apple's secretive product development details and may even have asked recruits to share fresh details when they approached them to interview for jobs at OpenAI. The other concern is that Apple is already far behind in the AI race, and if Apple's plans for Siri, AI, and a potential robotic desktop home assistant were also leaked, it could harm its ability to catch up in multiple market sectors.

This latest news, which may or may not be accurate, should put Apple's fears to rest.

OpenAI is apparently not building something that could ably compete with any of Apple's key hardware or future hardware initiatives.

First of all, there's the smart-speaker-ness of the whole rumored OpenAI concept. There are already too many smart speakers on the market, many of them with their own smart assistants. Amazon, for instance, is smack in the middle of trying to convince millions of customers that not only do they need Echo devices throughout the home, but they need the AI-powered Alexa+ to guide them through their smart home experiences and, to some extent, their lives.

Apple has its own HomePod, Siri-infused speakers, which may get considerably more powerful with the Gemini foundation model-backed version arriving this Fall.

Put another way, smart speakers are a known quantity in the home consumer electronics space, and I think what most tech companies are realizing is that people like and use them, but mostly in limited ways: they want music, occasional answers to simple questions, and voice control of their smart home devices. That's it.

Why does my speaker think it's alive?

OpenAI appears to be prepared to offer something different: a personality-filled speaker that can watch you, move to engage, seem alive, and generally make you feel uncomfortable.

Obviously, that would not be the objective, but it could be the result. Who needs a speaker that quietly watches you as you walk from your kitchen to the den, waiting and hoping for you to say, "hey ChatGPT, what's up with the Strait of Hormuz today?"

In my home, we have a Psync smart security webcam with one oddball feature: it has a motorized body that can turn almost 360 degrees on its base and lift its thin, rectangular face and camera to keep track of people and alert me to intruders. However, most of the time, it's just watching us move around the house, and I can tell you that my family hates it. Sometimes I come home and find its face forced down so it can't pop up and track anything.

Now, imagine a larger and far smarter OpenAI AI smart speaker in your home, watching, waiting, chiming in when you don't want it to, and generally making people feel uncomfortable.

This will not be the breakout hardware hit OpenAI is hoping for.

Look, I was under the impression that OpenAI (really Jony Ive and Sam Altman) were working on an AI wearable. I didn't love that idea either, but it was a lot less creepy than this.

So, Apple, chill out. OpenAI's plans are no threat to you, even if they do allegedly have a bunch of insidery Apple information.

• AI hallucination can be weaponized, new report warns
• HalluSquatting is short for “adversarial hallucination squatting”
• GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, and OpenClaw are all affected

Your favorite AI service could be subverted to deploy code that turns your phone or PC into a botnet, according to researchers at Intuit, Technion, and Tel Aviv University.

The technique has been given the name HalluSquatting, a portmanteau of adversarial hallucination squatting, and is similar to typosquatting in that it relies on a mistake in order to distribute malicious code. While typosquatting might occur with the incorrect input of a website URL, HalluSquatting pivots on an LLM being unable to identify a resource or repository with 100% accuracy.

Relying on an LLM’s tendency to hallucinate repository resource identifiers, this weakness could be scaled up to conduct massive ransomware campaigns, botnets, and more.

Push-me-pull-you

Previous LLM-based malware operations have relied on pull-based attacks. In this scenario, a prompt designed to jailbreak or otherwise subvert the AI is (for example) placed on a website and the LLM encouraged to gather the information, thereby reducing its internal security.

What the researchers have shared in their paper, is that pull techniques are being combined with push attacks, which are traditionally executed as code injection.

The paper’s introduction summary states: “By preemptively registering hallucinated resources—a technique we call adversarial hallucination squatting (HalluSquatting)—we demonstrate remote tool execution and remote code execution at scale across a range of popular agentic LLM applications, which could be exploited to the establishment of a botnet.”

Once an attacker has identified the resource likely to be misnamed by an LLM, and squatted on it (to embed adversarial prompts), the work is done. All that remains is for a user to trigger the resource, the AI chatbot or agent to initiate the response, and the squatted resource will be accessed.

Promptware attack

Following this, the adversarial content held within the squatted resource is activated, triggering the tool invocation stage. This is the promptware attack, where attacker-controlled instructions are executed, with results potentially including turning the device you’re using into a botnet zombie.

LLMs such as the Cursor, Cursor CLI, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, Cline coding assistants have been used in the testing of this avenue of attack along with Gemini CLI, and the OpenClaw, ZeroClaw, and NanoClaw AI assistants. The researchers successfully achieved remote tool execution (essentially remotely accessing and controlling the LLMs) and remote code execution (RCE, where malicious code is executed remotely).

Some mitigation is available, including LLM developers blocking fetch operations in favor of a search tool, and resource owners enforcing strict naming, perhaps in favor of globally unique resource names. However, these are will require collaboration by disparate parties, and may take a while to implement.

The risk of LLM-based malware is increasing, and some has already been spotted in the wild. Of these, the JADEPUFFER attack is perhaps the most notable, as it isn’t simply AI-based malware – it is a full ransomware attack run entirely by an LLM.

• The three man team is known as “Slopfix”
• It claims to be able to reduce AI generated codebases by up to 65% in size
• They aim to "refactor vibecoded codebases back to maintainability"

Vibecoding has a lot to answer for, not least some excessively large codebases. A new team of software engineers are collaborating to reduce the size of these cumbersome projects… with a $10,000 per week bill.

Slopfix is the name of the team (comprising a trio: Maciej, Kuba, and Krzysztof), but its aim is efficiency and functionality, rather than code golf, where code is reduced to the shortest possible length.

However, while this might seem like a noble task and a service worth paying for, Slopfix isn’t taking a stand against the use of AI. In fact, it is employing AI tools to detect the AI flab in your codebases.

Use an AI to catch an AI

Challenges around vibecoded projects have increased in recent months, as the limitations of the technology become apparent.

While using an AI to program based on your prompts and requirements is straightforward, agents habitually begin to lose context and logic once the project reaches a certain size or age. Once that happens, you’re looking at duplication, features breaking, and of course, the dreaded hallucination.

Slopfix is targeting companies that have adopted vibecoding, built huge codebases, and found that they’re running into issues. To find the problematic AI code, however, Slopfix is employing AI.

They state that a full “screen by screen, endpoint by endpoint” evaluation of the vibecoded app is made, which aims to find the duplicated functions, broken logic, and other issues. There’s also the promise of a two-week warranty for anything they break.

All of this is aided by Claude Code “on a very short leash” which Slopfix uses find problems. They clearly state that “the agent doesn’t get a vote.” Instead, they’re relying on their experience as developers to improve your code.

$10,000 seem a bit steep?

While the price might seem high, $10,000 for one successful week’s work for three seasoned developers shouldn’t really be a budget breaker.

The fee covers successful work only, and as the Slopfix website states, payment is in proportion to how much of the reduction target the team hits, with $10,000 being the price for hitting the target – it’s not the default fee.

However, there is a lot of preparation involved, and the analysis of your codebase is conducted free of charge. If they can't fix your project's issues, they'll let you know and refuse the contract.

As software consultancies go, Slopfix is an unusual case. But as the problems with vibecoded projects begin to become apparent, competing consultancies may begin offering similar services.

• Vyriy 15 FPV with The Fourth Law's TFL-1 AI guidance reportedly struck Russian logistics 68 miles (110 KM) away
• Ever-innovating Ukrainian drone industry continues to achieve economies of scale even as it becomes a growing threat to Russian advances
• With a payload capacity of 8kg and the ability to be equipped with a thermal imaging module as well as electronic warfare deterrence, it offers an interesting alternative to comparable fixed-wing drones that cost thousands of dollars

Basic FPV drones are hardly a new thing in a market flooded with hundreds, if not thousands of options that can cost as little as $100 to 200, but the Russia-Ukraine conflict might have upped the ante on affordability for a different kind of UAV that leverages the same tech: attack drones.

The Vyriy 15 is a self-styled "kamikaze drone" by the company that offers a stated strike range of 40-70km with up to a 8kg payload in tow which can be retrofitted with a thermal imaging module as well as an extended band VTX module to make jamming it harder.

With a control range of up to 30KM and a flight duration of 20 minutes (with a payload) and a cruising speed of 60-100 km/h, its not the most technologically advanced drone out there, but at its purported price tag of $500, it doesn't need to be.

An FPV strike record backed by AI

On the 10th of July, Yaroslav Azhnyuk, the CEO of Ukrainian autonomy developer The Fourth Law, announced on X what he called "a new FPV strike record": a Vyriy 15 quadcopter, flown by Ukraine's 5th Border Guard Detachment and fitted with his company's AI terminal-guidance module, had flown 110 km (68 miles) to strike a Russian logistics target.

This is both a significant achievement for Ukraine's domestic drone industry and a key indicator of how fast the Russia-Ukraine war has turned into one of attrition, with supply lines becoming increasingly targeted to prevent significant advances in either direction.

It also showcases how AI on the battlefield is shaping the conflict: the Vyriy 15 is, by default, a manually controlled drone that would otherwise need an operator or a relay to be closer to the theater of war.

The competition is American-made Hornets, fixed-wing drones that can cost upwards of $5,000, a 10-fold increase in cost for an already cash-strapped Ukrainian military that is increasingly looking towards localized solutions.

The optional AI module used to set the record is The Fourth Law's TFL-1, a machine-vision terminal-guidance module that operates on a fire-and-forget principle: once the operator visually designates a target, an onboard computer takes over the final approach, essentially countering Russian jammers that would otherwise disrupt a video link.

If Ukraine manages to mainstream such warfare in the future while cutting costs down to a tenth of what they do right now, reliably striking as deep as 100km into enemy territory while proving difficult to jam or costly to intercept, drones like the Vyriy 15 could signal an evolution in the modern battlefield even as aggression with low-cost drone swarms is already being rewarded in other conflicts such as the US-Iran war.

Geopolitical tensions are mounting, and nation states are employing new types of strategies to gain intelligence. A recent Five Eyes warning, for example, accused Chinese military intelligence officers of using professional networking sites and online job platforms to target individuals of interest.

In this specific case, the agents pose as recruiters advertising seemingly legitimate work to build relationships and, ultimately, get their hands on non-public information. Popular sites like LinkedIn, Indeed and Upwork have all seen this new type of attack take place.

At the same time, a parallel threat sees operatives applying for jobs within trusted organizations with access to intelligence, creating insider threats that experts warn AI might be mostly responsible for.

Generative AI, for example, can create documents, write applications and even supply live answers during real-time remote interviews, meaning that a small group of fake applicants can extend their reach much more quickly.

Rather than attacking existing workers, nation states are creating their own job candidates

Once inside an organization and with access to company tools like PCs, emails and other internal systems, nation state spies can then move laterally to acquire the information they sought.

Security experts at Exabeam warn that, because this technique is still evolving, it might not always be so easy to spot. Additionally, motives can differ, with Chinese intelligence operations typically seeking military, political or economic information. North Korean agents, on the other hand, tend to be tied to stealing money, which could also come with the side effect of data and intelligence theft.

Exabeam even observed this type of attack first-hand, when a North Korean-affiliated applicant used a false identity to apply for a job at the company. After passing technical tests, a video interview and other standard checks, the suspect’s laptop was quickly flagged for unusual activity.

In the following Q&A with AI Strategy and Security Research VP Steve Povolny, I discuss these new types of attacks, who’s responsible for stamping them out and what we can do to prevent similar incidents from happening more commonly.

• The Five Eyes alliance recently warned that foreign intelligence groups are using job platforms to recruit insiders. How significant is this threat, and what is driving its growth?

This is among the most serious access-driven threats facing cleared workers, and it keeps growing because the economics now favor the attacker.

Foreign intelligence services no longer need handlers and dead drops when they can post a job ad on LinkedIn or Upwork and let candidates self-select based on the access listed in their own resumes. Generative AI lets them run thousands of these conversations at once, drafting outreach and scoring which applicants sit closest to sensitive information without a trained officer.

The Five Eyes alert describes a scaled, automated funnel, and that scale is what makes it dangerous.

• A parallel risk runs alongside that warning: adversaries who secure employment directly rather than recruiting an existing employee. Which scenario presents the greater defensive challenge, and why?

The infiltration model gives defenders less to work with, which makes it the harder problem. When an adversary recruits someone already on staff, most of the suspicious behavior happens outside the company on platforms the employer never sees, yet the insider remains a known person with a verified identity and a real history.

When the adversary becomes the employee, the company has onboarded a fabricated person and handed them a laptop and standing network access on day one. No behavioral baseline exists, since everything that account does counts as a first. The deception also clears the controls most organizations trust, so the failure lands before any security tool gets a vote.

• Exabeam identified a North Korea-affiliated individual who gained employment at the company. How did the operative clear Exabeam's hiring process, and what first signaled that something was wrong?

He cleared it by performing well on the parts we test and forging the parts we verify. Applying under the alias Trevor Rothluebber, he aced the technical interview and take-home assessment, passed the video interview and cleared our standard pre-employment process including the background check and I-9 validation.

Our hiring team flagged a suspicion that he leaned on generative AI for live help during the video call, the first soft signal. The hard signal arrived the moment he logged into his corporate account. Our threat intelligence feed matched his username to activity previously associated with North Korean operatives and rated it high risk, and that single match reframed how the team read everything that followed.

Simultaneously, Exabeam’s platform detected a number of anomalies inconsistent with a brand new employee’s first day, and escalating in severity within hours. Incident response quietly isolated and reimaged his laptop before any real damage could be done.

• The candidate completed applications, interviews and assigned work without raising alarm. In retrospect, what indicators were present, and why did standard screening miss them?

The indicators existed, but they lived in places our screening was never built to read. The driver's license he submitted was either AI-generated or very badly manually modified, and the tell was physical. The image had unique aberrations, such as the ears in the photo which had an unnatural and pixelated modification an artifact that image generators still produce, and a reviewer skims past.

The live AI assistance during the interview was another, since his answers carried a fluency that did not match the natural hesitation you expect when someone reasons through an unfamiliar problem. Standard screening missed all of it because background checks and identity validation confirm whether documents are internally consistent and whether a record exists, and they never ask whether the human attached to those documents is real.

Further fabrication of documents such as I-9 were missed by a 3rd party identity verification company, and validation of (fake) job references was not properly identified.

• How did AI contribute to the deception? What did the fraudulent documentation involve, and what capabilities does AI introduce that traditional forgery methods lack?

AI showed up at nearly every stage. The fraudulent documentation centered on a forged driver's license we believe was generated rather than physically produced, paired with a stolen identity that gave the paperwork a real history to rest on.

During the interview the candidate appeared to have run an AI copilot feeding him answers in real time, and many of these tools now stay invisible to everyone else on the call even while the candidate shares a screen. What AI adds over traditional forgery is volume and believability together. A skilled forger could always produce one convincing passport, but the craft capped how many operations could run at once.

Generative tools remove that ceiling, so a single actor can fabricate convincing documents and coach themselves through a live technical interview across dozens of applications at once, and the forgery stopped being the bottleneck it used to be.

• The Five Eyes warning focused on China, while the Exabeam case involved North Korea. Do these actors share tactics and objectives, or do they represent distinct operational models that overlap on method?

They overlap heavily on method while running on different motives, which defenders should sit with. The Chinese operation the Five Eyes described aims at intelligence collection, pulling government and military insight out of people who already hold access.

The North Korean program that hit us and so many others in this industry is funded differently, since much of its purpose is revenue for a sanctioned regime, with intrusion and theft riding alongside the paycheck. The objectives diverge, yet the tradecraft has converged on one toolkit of fabricated identities, AI-assisted documents, manufactured professional histories and the patient relationship-building that lets an operative stay quiet.

When two adversaries with separate goals reach the same playbook, that tells you the playbook works and other actors are already watching.

• Conventional insider threat programs are built to detect employees who become compromised over time. How should organizations identify a candidate who was an adversary from the point of hire?

Our mindset must shift toward treating the moment of hire as the start of the highest-risk window rather than the end of vetting. Traditional insider programs watch for drift, the employee who gradually turns after a financial shock or a grievance, so they depend on a baseline built over months.

A candidate who was hostile from day one never produces that baseline, which forces you to scrutinize the earliest behavior most closely. In our case, the catch came from putting new accounts under enhanced monitoring and letting an AI agent correlate scattered signals that no single alert would have justified escalating.

The working principle is to give hiring workflows and new-hire activity the same suspicion you already apply to production access.

• Where should accountability for this threat reside within an organization? Is it a security function, an HR function, or a gap that persists because ownership is unclear?

Accountability most often lives in the gap right now, and that gap is exactly why the threat works. Hiring sits with HR and talent acquisition, who are measured on filling roles quickly and are not equipped to run identity verification at an intelligence-grade level.

Detection sits with security, which usually gains no visibility into a candidate until that person already holds a badge and a laptop, and the adversary exploits the seam between the two.

The workable answer is shared ownership with a clean handoff, where security sets the identity and behavioral standards hiring must meet and stays involved through the first weeks of employment rather than inheriting the problem once onboarding closes.

• Many mid-sized companies lack dedicated threat intelligence resources. What practical measures can such organizations implement to reduce their exposure?

Useful defense does not require a dedicated threat intelligence team. The interview itself is the cheapest control available, and small changes make it far more revealing.

Underspecifying a problem on purpose shows whether a candidate asks clarifying questions like a real engineer or simply produces a confident answer and switching the problem partway through tests whether they adapt or whether something is feeding them responses.

Asking for an external webcam that shows the workspace instead of a shared screen removes one of the easiest hiding spots for an interview copilot. Beyond hiring, the highest-leverage move is placing every new employee on a watchlist for closer monitoring through their first weeks, which costs configuration time rather than budget.

Even a basic, low-cost threat intelligence feed would have surfaced the username match that broke our case open.

• What is the most contested prediction on this issue, one that many security leaders would currently dispute?

My contested prediction is that within a couple of years the verified human interview, run live and in person for any role with meaningful access, returns as a security requirement. Many security leaders will fight that because it breaks the remote-first hiring model they spent years optimizing.

The objection I expect is that it does not scale and shrinks the talent pool, and those concerns are legitimate. My counter is that the economics have already flipped for high-access roles, since the cost of onboarding a single fabricated adversary now dwarfs the friction of one in-person verification step.

The deeper claim underneath it is that remote identity verification as we practice it today is no longer reliable for sensitive positions, and AI is what made it unreliable. Most security leaders are not ready to say that out loud yet.

In the past year I've spent tens of hours streaming with VPNs, and one thing is consistently problematic for even the best VPNs — live events.

So, if you're traveling and keen to catch BBC's coverage of England vs Argentina later this evening instead, you might think you're stuck. Thankfully, NordVPN proved to be the one streaming VPN I tested that consistently performed well in these scenarios.

Over the past year, I've used NordVPN with Peacock, BBC iPlayer, TNT Sports, ITVX, and 7Plus. And compared to any other VPN, it's proved the most effective.

I experienced the least delayed streams, the least buffering, and, most importantly, the fewest complete connection dropouts when using NordVPN. So, while cheaper alternatives such as Norton VPN and Surfshark exist, if you want the most reliable performance, this is where I'd put my money.

If you don't want a long term commitment, you could always choose to pick a monthly plan. For $15, you can watch the rest of the tournament and gain all the additional security benefits that come with a VPN.

You don't need NordVPN's most advanced features to watch England with a VPN. That's a good thing, as right now its premium plans are considerably more expensive than many other providers.

With long term plans, Surfshark plans start at $2.49/month, a full dollar cheaper per month; the same goes for Norton VPN. If you're really budget-focused, both PIA and Cyberghost are less than $1.60 per month right now, too.

But, should you choose a NordVPN Plus plan or above, you do get some great perks. NordPass, the best password manager we've tested, cloud storage, dark web monitoring, and more are on offer.

It's worth mentioning that buying the more premium plans monthly will set you back at least $20, so I'd recommend signing up for a longer duration if you prefer these extra features.

• Group‑IB warns of scams exploiting Celine Dion’s concert comeback, with fraudsters selling duplicate Ticketmaster tickets and spoofing sites like AXS and Paris La Défense Arena
• Scammers embed themselves in Facebook fan groups and marketplaces, even using voice messages to build trust and make fake offers seem legitimate
• Fans are advised to only buy from official distributors, verify tickets in person if using resellers, and contact banks to dispute charges if scammed

Celine Dion is back, and hackers are already trying to exploit the fact for their own financial gain, experts have warned.

A report from security researchers Group-IB has claimed there are numerous scam campaigns all across the internet and social media, looking to exploit gullible fans and steal their money.

Its aptly named “The Scam Will Go On” report said it saw scammers lurking in Facebook Groups, Facebook Marketplace, and other fan-centric spaces, offering concert tickets for sale. The tickets themselves, hosted on Ticketmaster, are valid. However, the scammers only have a few tickets which can be redeemed by the first person who reaches the venue. Everyone else will be denied entry, since their tickets will already have been used.

How to avoid getting scammed

But that’s not the only scam. Some people don’t want to pay an unknown third person via wire, and would prefer to purchase the tickets directly from a service.

For those people, the scammers created entire websites, spoofing ticketing distributors such as AXS and Ticketmaster. Group-IB also saw fake websites spoofing Celine Dion and Paris La Défense Arena, the stadium where the concert will take place.

“We see that such an event generates excitement and provides scammers with another opportunity to make a fortune at the expense of unsuspecting fans,” Group-IB warned.

“Scammers are using increasingly sophisticated techniques, such as embedding themselves into social networking fan groups and speaking directly to their victims via voice messages to make the interaction more personal and gain their victims’ trust more easily. Furthermore, official ticketing platforms are being misused to make scams seem legitimate.”

The researchers recommend fans only visit official websites and those of official distributors, and if they absolutely must buy from a reseller, to make sure they’re purchasing a physical ticket, in person. Those that fell for the scam should call their bank and lodge an objection on their credit card.

Panasonic made quite a splash when it announced the Lumix L10 at its Lumix 25th anniversary event in May this year. I called it 'Panasonic's prettiest Lumix in years', and many tech journalists, myself included, have compared it to the viral Fujifilm X100VI.

These are two premium compact cameras with retro design and high-end features, but both take a different swing at the format. For example, the Lumix L10 packs a 20MP Micro Four Thirds sensor and 24-75mm f/1.7-2.8 lens, while the X100VI shoots 40MP stills with an APS-C sensor and fixed 35mm f/2 lens.

I've already compared the two based on specs and my extensive experience with each camera separately in my Lumix L10 vs X100 VI article. But I was keen to see which one I personally prefer based on using the cameras side by side — it had been a while since I last used the X100 VI.

So, with my loan samples in hand, I headed out, taking the same photos with each camera in a variety of scenarios, including travelling, commuting and weekends exploring. Objectively, each camera has its practical advantages over the other, but there was one camera that truly gave me the feels...

The head

If I'm to make a list of pros and cons based on features and specifications, then each model has distinct advantages over the other.

In favor of the X100VI: its 35mm f/2 prime lens quality, 40MP resolution (which is twice that of the Lumix L10), in-body image stabilization, quicker start-up time, fancier viewfinder, and its next-level retro aesthetics.

There's plenty going for the Lumix L10, mind you: its versatile 3.1x optical zoom lens, superior battery life, Real Time LUTs profiles (which for me outdo Fujifilm's film simulations), superior burst shooting speeds, snappier autofocus, vari-angle screen, plus its video performance has the edge. Oh, and it costs less — depending on which region you live in, the price difference can be pretty sizable.

Speaking objectively, I believe I'd get more use from the Lumix L10, especially the telephoto end of its 24-75mm f1.7 to f/2.8 lens. It is overall a more versatile camera. However, objectivity goes out the window when considering creative tools such as cameras for personal use.

We can talk features all day, but you really need to get a feel for a camera, and the only way to do that is to get properly hands-on, which is exactly what I did with the L10 and X100VI side by side. And in doing this direct comparison, a favorite quickly emerged.

The heart

Rather than getting bogged down in features and specifications, I'm going to articulate what it felt like to use each camera, because honestly that's more important in the long run, especially for this kind of premium compact camera designed for personal, daily use. (My workhorse mirrorless camera is another matter — it's there to do a job efficiently and reliably.)

I'm going to come right out and say it — I enjoyed the X100 VI more. Aesthetically, it has the edge: both cameras are retro, but the X100 VI is next-level with its manual exposure dials and hybrid viewfinder. With the two slung over my shoulder, it was the X100VI that I wanted to reach for first.

When I did, the X100 VI required more effort to master; there's more involvement in operating the exposure controls and such, which I actually preferred as a serious photographer. I liked how much more premium it felt in the hand too: the weightiness, the dampened shutter button...the X100VI just felt... better.

I also appreciated its quicker start-up time, and liked how much more compact its prime lens is. The hybrid viewfinder was more enjoyable too, especially since I'm in the small camp of photographers who genuinely enjoy the optical viewfinder.

Sure, I'd rather that autofocus was as good as the Lumix L10's. And for a variety of scenarios, wished that I could zoom the lens. And it's not like I didn't get any feeling with the Lumix L10 — how its lens handles in particular is a delight. But for feeling alone, and that sense of pursuing a craft, the X100VI captured my heart all over again.

Lumix L10 vs Fujfilm X100VI: the images

A collection of Panasonic Lumix L10 pictures. I have matched the Fujifilm X100VI's 35mm focal length in most of these samples, but I have also included some at different focal lengths to show how versatile it can be.

And the comparisons with the Fujifilm X100VI. For both cameras, I set the color profile to the standard setting, but in reality I would be playing around with various looks and making selective exposure adjustments.

How a camera handles is a major part of the equation — but the resulting images need to be easy on the eye too.

With wildly different sensor sizes, number of pixels, and types of lens, it's tough to pick one camera over the other, plus some assumptions about image quality need to go out the window.

For one, despite having the smaller sensor, the Lumix L10 actually has bigger pixels and light-gathering potential, so don't assume that the X100VI is better in low light. Also, beyond sensor size and pixels, the Lumix L10's autofocus is overall more reliable, so you're more likely to get a sharp image in the first place, depending on the scenario and camera settings.

But for direct comparisons, as in matching the X100VI's 35mm f/2 lens with the Lumix L10 as close as possible (35mm f/2.3), I think what pleased me the most overall is the X100VI's superior control over depth of field.

When I took street portraits at 35mm, the X100VI's images were easier on the eye. I also liked having 40MP to play with and the greater level of detail in the pictures. The X100VI was also less susceptible to lens flare.

That said, the Lumix L10 has that zoom lens versatility, and when set to 75mm and f/2.8, it is very capable of shallow depth of field portraiture too, with a greater compression effect that I prefer.

As for color, I didn't have a strong enough feeling scouring my images to recommend one camera over the other, though the Lumix L10 Real Time LUTs profiles are more versatile.

Conclusion

If you're considering the Lumix L10 or the Fujifilm X100VI, then the choice is tough, and, in truth, you'll be happy with either model! They are two of the best premium compact cameras, with a string of unique advantages over the other.

For me, however, the decision goes beyond specifications and features, and to an underlying feeling that I would get more joy in using the X100VI regularly than I would with the Lumix L10, even though the L10 is more practical. My head says Panasonic Lumix L10, my heart says Fujifilm X100VI.

It's England vs Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals as Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham look to end Lionel Messi's dream of retaining the trophy.

Both sides have had to work hard to reach this stage, but it's winner takes all now, with a place in Sunday's final against Spain at stake.

Keep up to date with all the action from England vs Argentina here, with live updates, free streams, and information on how you can watch the semi-final from anywhere.

England vs Argentina: The Essentials

• Kick-off: 8pm BST / 3pm ET / 12pm PT / 5am AEST (Thu.)
• Free Stream: BBC One (UK) / SBS (AUS)
• US Stream: Fox via Fubo / YouTube TV
• UK Stream: BBC One
• Watch Anywhere: Norton VPN (60-day money back guarantee)

England vs Argentina: World Cup semi-final

It doesn't get much bigger than this!

Here we go!

Welcome to Atlanta! It’s here in Georgia that we’ll see England’s biggest challenge so far (no offence, Panama): Argentina...

There’s history, big names and even bigger stakes. The winner will play Spain, who showed up for their semi final in a way that France definitely didn’t, in what promises to be an epic final.

So, who will emerge victorious? Keep tuned here to find out as we cover the game in the build up and every minute of action…

3/5 wins...to England?!

One of the other stats emerging to fill England fans with hope is that on the five occasions that England and Argentina have met the Three Lions have waked away victorious three times.

Albeit a few 1-0 victories aren’t the most thrilling wins but in knockout tournaments - as England have discovered - it doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you’re victorious at the end.

So will Argentina manage to chalk up a win to equalise the overall tally or will England lead 4-2?

How to watch the match

Leaving it a bit last minute when it comes to watching the game? No stress, we’ve got you sorted…

Free Stream: BBC One (UK) / SBS (AUS)

US Stream: Fox via Fubo / YouTube TV

UK Stream: BBC One

Watch Anywhere: Norton VPN (60-day money back guarantee)

So, get yourself a Norton VPN subscription to enjoy the game wherever you are!

One hour to go!

We’re nearly there!

Get comfy, grab yourself some refreshments and stick with us here - to keep tuned for more updates as they come in - as it’s not too long to the game...

Rogers starting, Henderson not

Morgan Rogers is starting in the big changeup to the normal Starting XI.

Quansah with his red card is missing his second game today and Henderson with his injury is also missing out on the action.

Otherwise everyone is able to come on, but who will?

45 minutes to go...

In 45 minutes time we’ll see the kickoff of the decisive game which will determine the final!

Most pundits have it as a 50/50 tossup but with England’s track record - the only World Cup final they’ve been in is 1966 - you’d have to put Argentina in front.

Let’s hope this World Cup semi final will be less like 1990 and 2018 and more like 1966.

A semifinal like no other...hopefully for the right reasons

Local police have been told to watch this game in particular - with the highest danger warning issued of any World Cup game - due to the perceived temperature (in both senses) of the game.

With no major stories of fans letting themselves down this tournament, you really hope this won’t be the main story from the game but with the chequered history of both countries playing each other (we’ll get on to that later), that’s not a guarantee.

Let’s keep the drama on the pitch, eh lads?

30 mins to the game!

Settle down, everyone...it's nearly time!

A colourful history

The Falklands War. Hand of God. Beckham Red Card.

These three phrases are synonymous with England and Argentina when it comes to World Cups, and for good reason. However at the end of the game it’s football and the best team will win regardless of how important or unimportant this colourful history is.

Will we see another iconic moment that will rival Maradona’s two goals - one a blatant act of cheating and the other considered one of the greatest goals of all time? Will we see another player get sent off in shame like Beckham?

We’ll find out soon…

10 mins to the game!

Nearly time!

Still time to get yourself a front row seat with a Norton VPN subscription...help yourself below!

Norton VPN (60-day money back guarantee)

Messi v Kane/Bellingham

The one fact everyone is reeling out for this match is that Messi has never played England before. I guess we’ve also brought it up now.

The prospect of facing our squad will hardly be living in his head rent free but a few players may give him pause for thought. Kane and Bellingham.

Also in contention for the Golden Boot, although a few behind him, these England players are a threat in the box when it comes to trying to keep a clean sheet and see Argentina through to the second World Cup final in a row.

Who will come out on top?

Kick off!

Here we go!

Argentina kick off, strap in everyone...

Bellingham and Anderson pushed early doors

Argentina give Bellingham a friendly push just to let him know they're there.

And then Anderson taken down more brutally. Both sides square up in a tense start already.

Could be a scrappy one...

England take a corner

Rice, Arsenal's corner taker extraordinaire, takes one which misses the mark.

It's a high octane match already in terms of scrappiness and opportunities but let's see how it plays out.

Anderson is seemingly getting fouled left, right and centre in other news.

Anderson can't catch a break

Anderson has spent more time lying on the pitch than running around it at this point.

How long has the ball actually been in play?

20 mins in...

For a change, England are on the front foot. In a way that they haven't really since their opening Croatia 4-2 victory.

Will this last or will Messi have something to say about it.

Hydration break = boos aplenty

As reliable as showing Infantino on the screen in the first 10 minutes of every game (he must have it in his vain contract), are the boos that follow the start of the hydration break. And to be fair Infantino gets the boos too.

You sense Tuchel will be giving England a big talking to.

30 mins of play...and still 0-0

It's been a tense game and a lot of heated moments, but no goals to show either side.

A few chances but no goals on target yet. Will that change as Bellingham goes down for a free kick outside Argentina's box?

No bookings at all!

The ref has set the tone by issuing no yellows at all yet and you sense that the challenges from Argentina are only going to get worse.

This will do nothing to quell the narrative of Argentina favouritism.

Soon we'll see a big injury if this doesn't change.

The first yellow goes to Anderson

Some beautiful weaving and feet from Messi but he goes down after a challenge from Anderson.

And England get the first yellow!

Messi certainly has the favour of the referees although admittedly it was a bad challenge from Anderson but incredible England pick up the first booking.

Let's see how this develops.

(Belated) Argentina yellow card

And finally Argentina pick up a booking after Rogers receives some rough shirt pulling.

Hopefully this will calm the game down after a yellow on each side...time will tell.

Halftime whistle blows

How can that only be three minutes stoppage time? The ball's only been in play for three minutes.

It's been an end to end game with England looking stronger before the hydration break and Argentina looking better after the hydration break.

Both sides will be getting a pep talk from their manager and we'll see if that makes a difference in the second half.

It's a game of two halves

It's a cliche but it really is a game of two halves.

Both teams so far have given it 110% but will one team triumph in the second half or will it be extra time?

Goals win games but will it be England or Argentina?

England kick off the second half

England kick off the proceedings...before it gets retaken for going too quickly.

Back to the start.

Some testy moments early doors

England are on the back foot early doors here.

Pickford makes a save as an on target shot comes his way and then a scramble in the box but England defend.

Less of that please.

Romero gets booked...cos it's Romero

It's a worthy yellow card but Romero - the baby faced Tottenham assassin - does seem to rack up the bookings with his reputation proceeding him.

Argentina on the attack now.

Gordon's alive...and scores!!!

Anthony Gordon scores!

A beautiful assist from Rogers and finished by Gordon.

Eng 1-0 Arg

Spence makes an incredible tackle!

Just as important as Gordon's goal is Spence clearing the ball thanks to a beautiful tackle from Spence.

He's been electric this game.

Gordon's long awaited goal

There were questions about Gordon's Barcelona signing but he's silenced the critics after that.

Surprisingly he's only the fourth England player to score a goal this tournament after Kane and Bellingham dominating and one goal by Rashford.

Partially a mistake from Argentina's defence but also an incredible opportunity from England, seized upon and beautifully delivered.

England are purring now.

Pickford's razor sharp reactions!

For England, Jordan Pickford rarely puts a foot wrong. Or dare I say a hand?

Argentina's best shot so far and thanks to England's number one they are forced to regroup this hydration break.

Could this be England in a World Cup final for the first time since '66...let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Pickford makes another incredible save

Ice in his veins! Pickford fears no one as he makes another beautiful save.

Will he be able to stop the inevitable Argentina tide? Time will tell.

Kane gets a free kick!

A very tense affair as the England box is swamped this half of the hydration break but Kane gets the Three Lions a much needed free kicks.

England's defence hasn't been tested this much since Mexico and it's holding...so far.

Pickford makes a great save but can't save the second one

After a hand to the ball which may well have gone over the England goal resulting in a corner, Pickford isn't quick enough to save a sucker punch of a goal from Argentina.

Fernandez scores and saves Argentina from an early exit tonight.

2-1 Argentina

Argentina were on a high after their first goal and looking dangerous.

And that's when they scored their second goal. After the goalpost stops the first shot, nothing can stop a great header from Martinez.

Two goals in quick succession, can England do anything to stop the inevitable?

So close but yet so far

Argentina win and go against Spain for the World Cup final.

85 minutes until full time, and then Argentina strike.

Too defensive? Too complacent? Too many memories of '66?

Full time. Arg 2-1 Eng.

Too defensive in the last 30 minutes?

Rice taken off, Burn sent on. Were England just too defensive?

Pickford made some incredible saves but you can't stop the tide forever.

Argentina seem to have a knack for being down and then triumphing. Cape Verde equalised with them twice and they overcame it, Egypt looked like they were going to take it home and they came back.

England fell into a self confidence trap. They played a blinder but maybe England should have put on Saka instead of Burn.

In the end, the better team won

Once England have woken up, probably slightly hungover tomorrow, they will admit that Argentina were the better team.

To come back after 1-0 down so close to the end is remarkable and they looked threatening for most of the game.

It's back to square one as to whether we can win a final, bear in mind that the Euros 2028 will see 10 years since Kane has been captain and a few of the OGs still in the squad: Pickford, Stones, Henderson, Rashford. Will England refresh? Will Tuchel honour his contract to stay till 2028?

Hopefully yes to all of the above. So close, but yet so far - seemingly the England mantra at this point. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

Messi celebrates reaching his third Argentina World Cup final

Third Argentina final. Won one, lost one...where will Messi lead his next one?

2014 saw Argentina lose to Germany, 2022 saw Argentina win an incredible game against France. Where will 2026 take them?

England are sore but spotlight is now on Argentina. Stay tuned here for the World Cup final.

Spain v Argentina, it'll be a belter. Both teams are playing on top form so everything is to play for.

We'll see you then.

That's all, folks :(

A rather somber note to bid farewell on but thanks for staying with us through the pain we've become accustomed to as England fans.

Not the result we wanted, but very much the result we expected.

Gordon did us proud, as did Pickford who had the weight of the country on his shoulders for the last half hour of the game and made some incredible saves until it was too much for him.

Maybe we didn't come together as a team as we quite hoped but it looked for a second like we could make a second World Cup final. Anyway, onwards and upwards.

Thanks for joining us, make sure you stay tuned here where we'll be reporting on the action from the third place play off on Saturday at 10pm BST as England take on France in a rematch of the World Cup 2022 quarterfinals (that we lost).

And then the big one: Spain v Argentina on Sunday at 8pm BST. I've been Dan, thanks for joining us (commiserations or congratulations) and until next time...

It's (not quite) coming home etc

• Viltrox has announced its new AF 26mm F2.8 EVO lens
• It's available in Sony E and Nikon Z-mount versions, and costs $299 / £279
• It measures 23.8mm thick and weighs 4.6oz / 130g

Chinese lens manufacturer Viltrox is having a prolific year, and it's now followed up a recent pair of medium-telephoto primes for APS-C cameras with a completely new 26mm f/2.8 pancake lens.

The AF 26mm F2.8 EVO is part of the same mid-range series as my recently tested AF 90mm F2.2 EVO, and is available for Sony E and Nikon Z-mount cameras at launch. It costs $299 / £279.

Compact size and light weight are the aim here — the 26mm F2.8 is just 23.8mm thick and tips the scales at 4.6oz / 130g. I can see it pairing nicely with a Sony A7C / A7C II or Nikon Zf as a casual, everyday lens offering surprisingly sharp image quality.

It's not the smallest autofocus full-frame lens in Viltrox's range, mind you — that accolade goes to the AF 28mm F4.5. However, given the bright f/2.8 aperture and the features on board, the new 26mm lens seems impossibly small.

Those features include a dust- and splash-resistant machined metal construction, dedicated aperture and focus rings, a metal rear mount with a USB-C port for firmware updates, and a STM focus motor for snappy autofocus.

And there's more: the AF 26mm F2.8 EVO ships with a magnetic lens cap that snaps into place, eliminating the fiddling that comes with traditional pinch-release lens caps.

It's part of a lens cap system which includes a magnetic lens hood, which also works with magnetic lens filters. Alternatively, traditional screw-on filters work too, via the 43mm thread.

I hope other lens manufacturers follow Viltrox's lead — lens caps can be a real pain to remove and re-attach, but a magnetic type simplifies the process.

Optically, we have a simple construction of eight elements in six groups, with a minimum focus distance of 0.2m which results in a 0.2x maximum magnification, for reasonable close-up photography.

The Viltrox AF 26mm F2.8 EVO is available immediately in Sony E and Nikon Z versions from Amazon US and Viltrox's official store. There's no word yet on whether L-mount or Fujifilm X-mount versions are on the way.

Yes, Fujifilm X is APS-C format, but I can see the full-frame Viltrox lens working well with these crop-sensor cameras, even for Sony and Nikon, on which it would offer an equivalent 39mm focal length.

It's yet another new Viltrox lens available for Nikon Z cameras, which suggests that the Nikon vs Viltrox lawsuit from earlier this year has quietly been resolved. I hope that's the case, because Viltrox has consistently produced excellent optics, and the AF 26mm F2.8 EVO looks like an impressive addition. Look out for my in-depth review, coming soon.

If you're looking for a reliable and cheap mini PC, the GMKtec G10 is our top choice. For general day-to-day work, with the scope to upgrade, there's plenty to like about the machine we called "a terrific little system" for the price.

Right now, the GMKtek G10 mini PC is $288 (was $400) at Amazon — a $112 saving on a genuinely capable budget mini PC. Meanwhile, in the UK, the G10 is now £260 (was £319) at Amazon.

Today's top mini PC deal

In our review, we found it well-balanced for light office tasks, web browsing, and streaming. If that's the goal for your setup, it's ideal. For more powerful machines designed for demanding graphical workloads, we've selected the top mini PC deals for video editing and gaming.

So, what's on offer here? The Ryzen 5 3500U isn't new silicon — it's a 2019-era Zen+ chip on a 12nm process that still holds up very well against the sluggish Intel N-series chips (N100, N150) that populate most budget mini PCs at this price. The four cores and eight threads, courtesy of AMD's multithreading implementation, give it a genuine edge in multitasking and anything that touches video decoding or light image processing.

Where the G10 stands out is memory and storage. 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 and a 512GB NVMe SSD is a generous starting configuration at this price, and GMKtec gives you real room to grow: two SO-DIMM slots support up to 64GB of RAM, and two M.2 2280 slots support up to 16TB of combined storage. Having two drive bays also makes cloning an existing installation onto a bigger drive simple if you outgrow the included SSD.

2.5GbE Ethernet is the other feature worth calling out, since most rivals in this price bracket still ship with a single Gigabit port. If you're setting this up as a home server, NAS front-end, or Proxmox node, that faster wired connection is a genuine practical upgrade over the competition, and the Ryzen 5 3500U's AMD-Vi support means virtualization software runs without issue.

The Radeon Vega 8 graphics are dated by 2026 standards and won't handle demanding modern games, but they're meaningfully more capable than Intel's UHD graphics for everyday tasks like 4K video playback, light photo editing, or older and indie titles at lower settings.

Good to know: this machine needs a bit of patience out of the box. We found the G10 performs noticeably better after a trip into the BIOS to switch from Balanced to Performance mode, and the fan does get audible under sustained load in that mode. It's not a plug-and-play polished experience — with around 30 minutes of setup, you'll get this chip at its best.

For a cheap mini PC with genuinely generous memory, storage headroom, and fast networking, the G10 is a solid budget pick that features in our guide to the best mini PCs.

• A Steam user has found a way to store games on SSDs with an auto-navigation and auto-start script
• These are effectively physical 'game cartridges' complete with key art
• However, costly SSDs means this is a pricey endeavor (the Steam gamer was lucky enough to pick up used drives on the cheap)

Physical copies of PlayStation games are coming to an end from January 2028, and as the backlash around that continues, a restoration of physical media on PC has been discovered — and it's novel to say the least.

A Steam user on Reddit has managed to store games on 'cheap 2.5-inch' SATA SSDs, effectively acting as old-school 'game cartridges' with key art, and a script that auto-navigates Steam to each game's page. The user also notes that automatically starting games from each drive is possible.

This comes amid a significant uproar from gamers following the revelation of Sony's plan to eradicate physical game discs, supposedly by the time its next PlayStation console arrives. It's a very controversial move that has united gamers across all platforms to fight to retain discs and to ensure game ownership remains intact.

With that said, physical media for PC has been dead for a long while, since a modern desktop PC doesn't come with a disc drive, and there are hardly any publishers selling physical copies for the platform.

With most games only accessible digitally on PC, in theory those titles can be taken away from buyers at any time. The trouble is that consumer-friendly figures like Gabe Newell, who leads Valve, the owner of Steam, won't be in charge forever.

So in the future, under new leadership, it's possible more anti-consumer measures might be introduced, or other aspects of PC gaming that consumers dislike, such as DRM (like Denuvo).

Steam Game Cartridges from r/pcmasterrace

Imagine if this 'game cartridge' system was adopted by PC game publishers? It's a smart idea, and a nice thought, but clearly not a realistic one. For starters, it'd be a prohibitively expensive method of reintroducing physical PC game copies.

Of course, platforms like Epic Games and Steam require users to be logged in and have their app installed to play games, so it's still a long way off true game copy ownership, anyway.

However, this concept would be paired perfectly with GOG, a platform that is DRM-free and doesn't require the launcher to play purchased games — in other words, you fully own purchased games on GOG.

Admittedly, publishers releasing PC game cartridges in the form of SSDs is a pipe dream, especially with the current state of the hardware market, and the RAM crisis, complete with skyrocketing SSD prices.

The idea comes at the wrong time, then, but if the RAM crisis ever settles down, then maybe this is something we'll see more PC hobbyists doing — and perhaps even the odd publisher.

• The Batman Part II has been delayed until February 2028
• Its director has shared new footage of Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader
• James Gunn's DC Universe could be severely impacted by this development

It's going to be another 18 months before we finally get to see The Batman Part II.

The long in development comic book movie, whose release date had already been pushed back twice, is now not set to land in theaters until February 18, 2028. Anyone who had hoped to see The Batman Part II on its previously revised release date on October 1, 2027, then, is going to be seriously disappointed.

News of The Batman sequel's latest launch date came by way of a new video that director Matt Reeves shared on his social media channels. The footage, which gives us our first look at the returning Robert Pattinson as the titular vigilante in Reeves' next Batman film, ends with the revelation of the adjusted release date.

By the time this DC comic book project lands on the big screen, then, almost six years will have passed since its predecessor made its own theatrical debut. That's a long time to make fans wait for the hotly-anticipated follow-up.

Why The Batman Part II's delayed release is bad news for James Gunn's DC Universe

It would be remiss of me not to say that movie delays happen all of the time, so word of The Batman Part II's latest launch setback is, especially for a film that's taken a long time to get off the ground for myriad reasons, to be expected.

Nevertheless, it's going to have a huge impact on James Gunn and Peter Safran's nascent DC Universe (DCU), which is already reeling from its first major dud in Supergirl.

Indeed, Gunn has said time and again that the DCU's Batman — and, by proxy, his DCU Chapter One solo film in The Brave and the Bold — won't see the light of day until The Batman Part II has premiered.

The reason? While Gunn says audiences are intelligent enough to understand that Reeves' Bat-Verse and the DCU are separate entities, he doesn't want two Batmans running amok in cinemas at the same time. Now that The Batman 2 won't come out until early 2028, though, we aren't likely to see the DCU's Dark Knight until 2029 at the very earliest.

That doesn't mean Gunn, Safran, and company won't be working on The Brave and The Bold in the meantime. What it does mean, though, is that the wait for one of DC Comics' so-called Holy Trinity will not only drag on for ever longer, but DC Studios' co-heads will have to continue fielding questions about the timeline for the Caped Crusader's unveiling in their cinematic franchise. In that regard, can't say I envy them.

Anyway, feel free to find out everything we know so far about The Batman Part II while you're here. Alternatively, vote in the poll above to let me know what you think of the movie's latest delay.

• EA Sports Madden NFL 27 is coming to Apple Arcade
• The exclusive Arcade Edition launches on August 6, 2026
• It offers full controller support and does not feature microtransactions

EA Sports Madden NFL 27, the next entry in the blockbuster football franchise, is just around the corner — but you won't need a pricey console to play it. That's because an exclusive version is coming to Apple Arcade that you'll be able to dive into right from your iPhone when it arrives on August 6.

Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition is an exclusive version of the game designed specifically for Apple Arcade with zero ads or microtransactions. It features a range of teams and the latest NFL player rosters, with 11-on-11 gameplay on the field that's intended to be as authentic as possible while offering streamlined controls for mobile play. There's also plenty of franchise management, putting you in charge of trades, free agents, and more.

As you play through each season, a newly introduced 'Narrative Messaging System' will challenge you with new events with decisions that can impact player performance and force you to adapt to the consequences.

Aside from the flagship Franchise mode, you'll also be able to dive into Quick Play or try a selection of custom-themed franchises with their own handcrafted narratives that are changed on a monthly basis.

Regarding the announcement, EA vice president of franchise strategy and marketing Evan Dexter argued that "Apple Arcade is the perfect home for Madden" and "matches the complete, no-compromise experience we’ve built." He added: "the future of football is now in your hands.”

In addition to iPhone, the game will also be available on iPad, Mac, and Apple TV if you prefer to slump on your couch while you play. This is the first mobile Madden NFL game to offer full mobile controller support as well, giving you a truly console-quality experience if you have the compatible hardware.

The title joins a number of other sports games that are already available on the service, including NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition and Football Manager 26 Touch — a selection that senior director of Apple Arcade Alex Rofman said means "Apple Arcade delivers an unmatched lineup of sports games for every kind of fan".

The service is available for $6.99 / £6.99 / AU$9.99 or $49.99 / £49.99 / AU$9.99 a year or as part of all tiers of the pricier Apple One bundle.

If you want home backup power without a bulky, heavy unit taking up a corner of the garage, this is a genuinely good price for it. Right now, the Anker Solix S2000 is $600 (was $1199) at Amazon — a massive 50% off on a 2kWh power station built specifically for keeping essentials running through an outage.

The headline feature here is the size-to-capacity ratio. At 35.7lbs and roughly the footprint of a large kitchen bin, the S2000 packs in 2,010Wh of LiFePO4 capacity in a chassis around 30% smaller and 25% lighter than typical 2kWh power stations. That matters if you're planning to keep this somewhere specific in the house rather than store it in a garage.

Today's top portable power station deal

Anker's OptiSave system is the other notable piece of engineering. It drops the unit's active idle power draw down to around 6W with the AC outlets enabled, and roughly 2W with everything switched off — well below the 14-20W idle draw typical of competing 2kWh stations. Since a backup power station mostly sits idle waiting for an outage, or cycles a fridge compressor on and off, that lower standby drain translates into meaningfully more real-world runtime rather than just a better spec sheet number.

Port placement is a small but genuinely useful design choice: two AC outlets sit on the back for always-on gear like a fridge or router, while three more AC outlets plus USB-C and USB-A ports sit on the front for everyday devices. That split keeps cables from getting tangled if you're running multiple things at once, and the 10ms UPS switchover means a connected computer or router won't even blink when the grid drops.

The 10,000-cycle LiFePO4 battery is rated for roughly 15 years of typical use, which is close to double the cycle rating most mainstream power stations in this capacity class advertise — a genuine long-term value argument if you're planning to keep this around rather than replace it after a few years.

Important notes: the S2000 caps out at 1,500W continuous output, so it's not the right choice if you need to run power tools, space heaters, or other high-draw appliances — Anker's own larger Solix units handle that heavier lifting. Solar input is also capped at 400W, lower than some rivals that accept 600-1,000W, so it's better suited to topping up with a single panel than building out a larger solar array. And with only two USB-C ports and one USB-A port, it's clearly built around AC backup duty first, device charging second.

For anyone who wants dependable home backup without the bulk of a typical 2kWh unit, the SOLIX S2000 at $599.99 is a strong buy.

Also consider: More portable power station deals

If you're anything like me, one of the biggest frustrations with printing is the cost of ink. Over time, it can easily cost more than the printer itself, making refillable ink tank models an increasingly popular choice. They're built to keep running costs down while reducing the hassle of replacing ink cartridges on a regular basis.

So this deal immediately stood out to me. The HP Smart Tank 5101 all-in-one printer is down to $190 (was $260) at Amazon, saving you $70.10. In the UK, it's known as the HP Smart Tank 5107, and it's discounted to £150 (was £210) at Amazon.

Instead of relying on traditional cartridges, this model uses ink tanks that hold enough ink to print thousands of pages before needing a refill. Best of all, it comes with up to two years of ink in the box, so it will be ages before you need to spend out.

Today's top HP Smart Tank printer deal

Refilling the ink is easy because the bottles slot directly into the tanks and empty automatically without needing a squeeze or creating a mess, removing one of the biggest frustrations people have with refillable printers.

Printing speeds reach up to 12ppm in black and 5ppm in color, while the built-in scanner and copier mean it can handle far more than simple printing tasks. Wireless connectivity over 2.4GHz Wi-Fi lets everyone in the house or small office send jobs without plugging into a computer.

HP also says the Smart Tank 5101 continues producing sharp text and rich colors without the complicated maintenance routines often associated with ink tank printers.

Auto Power On helps reduce waiting around by waking the printer the moment a job is received, while borderless printing adds extra flexibility for photos, invitations, and creative projects.

Another useful addition is HP AI formatting, which automatically cleans up web pages and emails before printing, removing unnecessary content and awkward page breaks, stopping you wasting paper on unwanted content.

For the price, the Smart Tank 5101 is not only much cheaper than normal, it also comes with enough ink to keep many households printing for a very long time.

If your current printer burns through ink far too quickly, or you're thinking of buying your first all-in-one model, this is a terrific choice to get you started.

For more options, check out our round up of the best ink tank printers you can buy, as well as the best home printers.

Also consider

• Shop ink tank printers at Amazon

• Squarerspace launches new limited-release tool
• Features include a limited-time cart, purchase quantity limits, and low inventory badges
• Available globally now, although limited to some subscription plans

From game consoles to toilet roll, there are countless examples of how scarcity can make a product more desirable. Whether a smart marketing tactic or a simple issue with supply, limited availability drives FOMO. Now, Squarespace, one of the biggest website builders on the market, has launched new tools to help users with limited releases and product "drops."

So, whether you want to drive anticipation behind a one-off t-shirt design or want to cap spaces in an exclusive yoga class, Squarespace aims to equip sellers with everything they need to turn a limited availability product or service into the hottest buy on the internet.

Driving urgency

Key features of Squarespace’s new tool include:

• A reserved cart feature that holds items during checkout for a limited time, with a countdown timer, helping drive urgency and replenishing stock if the user fails to check out
• Inventory management tools that allow merchants to set quantity limits, preventing individuals from sweeping inventory, whilst also driving a sense of exclusivity
• Seamless checkout, offering a shortcut to purchase, so customers don’t have to navigate away from the store page to view their cart and check out
• Hype generation tools, including low inventory badges and email campaigns, to help merchants build anticipation and signal scarcity.

"We're seeing entrepreneurs shifting away from always-on discount models and toward highly curated, exclusive releases that celebrate the value of their work," said Kevin Doerr, President of Squarespace. "With our new limited release selling tools, we are putting entrepreneurs in control of when and how they sell – reducing the operational burden and giving them everything they need to build hype, handle surges in demand, and deliver a seamless checkout experience.

According to a press release shared with TechRadar earlier this week, limited release tools are available globally, although availability does vary depending on your subscription plan.

• Attackers are spoofing LastPass and Bitwarden with phishing emails from fake newsletter domains, tricking users into signing bogus DocuSign documents
• Victims are redirected to malicious “compliance” domains flagged by Microsoft Defender and Cloudflare, already taken offline
• Neither password manager was breached; this is domain spoofing, and users are urged to verify sender addresses and domains before clicking links

Criminals have been found impersonating popular password managers LastPass and Bitwarden online in an attempt to trick users into sharing their login credentials, and thus access to a treasure trove of passwords and other secrets.

LastPass recently issued a warning to its customers, raising awareness of the ongoing phishing campaign.

However the scam also now seems to have spread to other password managers, with Bitwarden customers also apparently being targeted.

Passwords are safe

In the campaign, LastPass users received emails from the address “hello@lastpassnewsletter.com”.

This address does not belong to LastPass, and is in no way affiliated with the password manager. In the message, the victims are told that the company’s security policies have been updated, and that they should navigate to a specific landing page and sign a DocuSign document.

The email comes with a ‘Review & Access Terms’ button which, if clicked, redirects the victims to lastpasscompliance[dot]com, yet another domain unaffiliated with the password management platform.

BleepingComputer claims this domain has already been flagged as malicious by both Microsoft Defender for Office 365, and Cloudflare and is currently offline.

Digging deeper, the journalists uncovered another campaign, almost identical, but now targeting Bitwarden users. In this case, the victims were being mailed from the “hello@bitwardennewsletter.com” addresses and were being redirected to bitwardencompliance[dot]com. Identical methodology, just slightly personalized.

It is important to note that neither LastPass nor Bitwarden were compromised as part of this attack.

The companies’ infrastructure is intact, and the passwords are safe. This is a typical domain spoofing attack in which the crooks purchase a domain similar to the legitimate one, in hopes that the victims won’t spot the difference.

As usual, the best course of action is to always be skeptical of incoming emails, and to double-check the domains and email addresses from which they are sent. It is also good to cross-reference these emails with any older messages that are proven to be authentic, to see if the domains and addresses match.

• PrivadoVPN has added a built-in MCP server to its Windows, macOS apps
• It lets MCP-compatible AI tools manage your VPN connection
• The server is opt-in, runs entirely on the device, and is restricted to localhost

The latest update from PrivadoVPN hands the keys to your VPN over to your AI assistant.

The provider has built a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server into its Windows and macOS apps, letting compatible AI development tools connect to and control your connection directly from your coding environment.

MCP is the open standard Anthropic introduced in late 2024 to link AI systems with external tools and data. By adopting it, PrivadoVPN joins a growing list of providers wiring their apps into the agentic era, allowing the best VPN services to be driven by natural language rather than menus and toggles.

What PrivadoVPN's MCP server does

PrivadoVPN's server plugs into MCP-compatible tools including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, LM Studio, and Visual Studio Code.

Once it's running, an assistant can connect or disconnect the VPN, switch server locations, and check your current connection, IP address, and status. It can also list available locations, swap between WireGuard, IKEv2, and OpenVPN protocols, toggle the Kill Switch, and run basic network diagnostics.

Under the hood, the server is a local HTTP component embedded in the client. It listens on a fixed port (5801 by default) and is restricted to localhost, so it cannot be reached remotely. Commands run through the official PrivadoVPN app, and any change shows up instantly in the interface.

Security sits at the centre of the design. The server is off by default and has to be switched on by the user; it never leaves the device, and every action is executed by the PrivadoVPN client itself rather than handed to the AI.

The company pitches the feature to developers, QA teams, and power users who routinely run tests across different regions and VPN configurations.

You can see all the technical details on PrivadoVPN's support page.

How to use PrivadoVPN's MCP server

To turn it on, users need to open the PrivadoVPN app, head to Settings, then Application, and turn on the MCP Server option. Once saved, it runs quietly in the background.

From there, you point your AI tool at the endpoint, http://127.0.0.1:5801/mcp.

In Claude Code, for example, a single terminal command registers it, while Codex, Cursor, LM Studio, and VS Code each take a short JSON snippet in their MCP configuration.

The VPN and AI agents race

PrivadoVPN is only the first of a growing but still small list of VPN providers joining the AI agents race.

ExpressVPN, for example, claimed an industry first in March when it launched an MCP server in beta for its desktop apps. Siilarly to Privado, also ExpressVPN's tool is opt-in, local, and covered by its strict no-logs policy.

Norton VPN went further with its "VPN for Agents", an AI-native tool that spins up temporary, Docker-based tunnels so each agent and task gets its own separate connection.

Windscribe took a different route, releasing a skill that lets agents such as OpenClaw drive its command line interface (CLI) on a dedicated machine, while PureVPN turned ChatGPT into a conversational assistant that recommends servers and connects through deep links.

Festival season is well and truly upon us, and it's also turned into the summer of the heatwave. If you haven't got a tent sorted yet, or if you were planning on digging out that old, slightly musty bag of fabric that's been festering in your loft, might I suggest that now is a good time to invest in a blackout tent?

Over the years, I've camped in all kinds of conditions and in all kinds of tents — both for fun and in a previous role as an Outdoors editor — and the one thing I prioritize above all others is blackout fabric in the sleeping area. It makes such a difference, not just to the amount of light that gets in, but to the temperature inside too.

A few years ago some friends and I volunteered at Glastonbury, and part of the deal was that we'd work a night shift. Afterwards, those of us in blackout tents slept happily (okay, semi-happily) past midday; the one friend who came in a non-blackout teepee did not sleep at all. His tent was bright as the sun, and just as hot, from about 8am. Even if you're not required to stay up all night, good sleep is hard to come by at a festival, so don't make things even more difficult for yourself.

I've scouted around for the best blackout tents you can find right now, and you'll find my top picks below. I've focused on easy-to-pitch and not-too-pricey options, from brands I've personally tested and would happily buy from. Happy camping!

Snooze time

Mechanical hard drives (HDDs) still make the most sense when you need huge amounts of dependable storage, especially in a NAS that runs around the clock. If you're looking to expand your setup without overspending, I've found a terrific deal for you at Amazon.

The 8TB WD Red Plus NAS is currently down to $259 (was $355) at Amazon - a solid $96 off the usual asking price. Considering the 4TB version we tested is a little under $200 right now, that's a very welcome discount.

That's a great price, then, for a drive built specifically for always-on network storage, making it a great opportunity to add capacity to an existing NAS or form the basis of a brand new one.

Today's best WD NAS deal

Reviewing the 4TB WD Red Plus, our drive expert Mark even noted that the 8TB and 10TB models "offer the best value."

8TB of storage is plenty of room for family photos, videos, backups, documents, and media libraries.

Unlike desktop hard drives, this model is built for RAID-optimized NAS systems and uses NASware firmware to improve compatibility with supported enclosures.

It's intended for small and medium business environments, although it's just as useful for home users.

The drive spins at 5640RPM and combines SATA 6Gb/s connectivity with a generous 256MB cache to deliver dependable performance for file transfers, backups, and media streaming.

It also uses CMR recording technology, which many NAS owners prefer because it delivers more consistent write performance than SMR drives during heavier workloads.

Western Digital rates the drive for workloads of up to 180TB per year, making it suitable for systems that see regular activity not just occasional backups.

Support for NAS systems with up to eight drive bays also gives you flexibility if your storage needs is likely to grow over time.

Although SSDs dominate for operating systems and applications, traditional hard drives offer far better capacity for the money and saving almost $96 makes this one of the better prices I've seen recently.

For more picks, take a look at guides to the best NAS devices, best NAS hard drives (including the WD Red Pro) and best NAS and media server distros.

• England vs Argentina Kick-Off time: Wednesday, July 15 | 8pm BST / 3pm ET / 5am AEST (Thu)
• Watch free on BBC (UK) / SBS (AUS) / CazéTV's YouTube (Brazil)
• Unlock your free streams with Norton VPN (60-day money back guarantee)

Lionel Messi takes on England for the first time in his career as Argentina face their old rivals in a FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-final laced with history in Atlanta — and you can live stream the game around the world for free.

From a feisty encounter in 1966, to the 'Hand of God' 20 years later and David Beckham's kick out at Diego Simeone at France '98, this fixture has provided some unforgettable World Cup moments — but this is the first time England have faced Argentina in the semi-finals or later. In fact, they have not met at all since a friendly in November 2005, three months after Messi's international debut. The Albiceleste captain was not involved that day but he will look to produce another match-winning performance in Atlanta, having seen his team-mates make the difference in the 3-1 extra-time victory over Switzerland in the quarter-finals. With eight goals to his name, Messi has shown at this World Cup that he remains top-class, even aged 39. Manager Lionel Scaloni makes one change, as Giuliano Simeone replaces Rodrigo De Paul.

England have their own superstars capable of hauling their team to victory, which is exactly what Jude Bellingham did in the quarter-final against Norway. The Real Madrid midfielder scored twice in a 2-1 extra-time win, but manager Thomas Tuchel was far from happy with the Three Lions' performance. England are yet to play to their potential at this tournament but they find themselves in just their fourth World Cup semi-final as they look to reach the final for the first time since winning the trophy in 1966. Tuchel makes three changes as full-backs Reece James and Djed Spence replace Ezri Konsa and Nico O'Reilly, and Morgan Rogers comes in for Noni Madueke on the right wing. Jarell Quansah remains sidelined as he serves the second game of his two-match suspension.

So, read on as we show you exactly how to watch England vs Argentina for free from anywhere in the FIFA World Cup 2026.

England vs Argentina: Team News

England XI: Pickford; James, Stones, Guehi, Spence; Rice, Anderson; Rogers, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane.

Argentina XI: Emi Martinez; Molina, Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Tagliafico; Paredes; Simeone, Fernandez, Mac Allister; Messi, Alvarez.

How to watch England vs Argentina for free

England vs Argentina is available to watch for free in multiple countries, including the UK, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey.

• 🇬🇧 UK: BBC (English commentary)
• 🇦🇺 Australia: SBS On Demand (English commentary)
• 🇧🇷 Brazil: CazéTV's YouTube (no account required)
• 🇦🇷 Argentina: TV Publica
• 🇧🇪 Belgium: RTBF / VRT
• 🇨🇦 Canada: CTV (TV login required)
• 🇫🇷 France: M6
• 🇩🇪 Germany: Das Erste
• 🇮🇪 Ireland: RTE Player (English commentary)
• 🇮🇹 Italy: Rai
• 🇳🇱 Netherlands: NOS
• 🇳🇿 New Zealand: TVNZ
• 🇪🇸 Spain: RTVE
• 🇨🇭 Switzerland: SRF Play / RTS Play / RSI Play
• 🇹🇷 Turkey: TRT

Abroad? Can't access your free stream? Unblock your free World Cup stream with Norton VPN — more on that below.

Use a VPN to watch England vs Argentina live streams

It’s the World Cup, and if you’re traveling, you might discover your usual England vs Argentina stream is suddenly unavailable due to geo-restrictions.

Don’t worry, that’s exactly where a VPN can help. A virtual private network lets you connect to servers around the world so you can securely access your usual World Cup coverage as if you were back home.

We recommend Norton VPN. Here's why:

How to watch England vs Argentina in the US

US viewers can watch England vs Argentina on Fox (English commentary) or Telemundo (Spanish commentary).

Fox is available on cord-cutters like YouTube TV (free trial), Hulu+Live TV, Sling (select markets), Fubo or DirecTV.

We would recommend Sling TV:

Those looking for a streaming service instead can watch England vs Argentina on Fox One (3-day free trial). Telemundo is also available via Peacock ($10.99/month).

Visiting the US from the UK? You can still watch your World Cup stream for free thanks to Norton VPN (try for 60 days).

How to watch England vs Argentina in the UK

UK customers are in luck as they can stream England vs Argentina for free on BBC One. Live coverage is also available via BBC iPlayer.

You require a TV license and a valid UK postcode for an account (e.g. SE1 7PB).

Norton VPN can unlock your stream if you're abroad today.

How to watch England vs Argentina in Australia

England vs Argentina will be shown for free in Australia on SBS On Demand.

The streaming platform has every game of the tournament for free, making it the perfect place for your World Cup viewing.

Traveling for work or on holiday? A VPN like Norton VPN can help unlock your free stream.

How to watch England vs Argentina in Canada

In Canada, TSN and free-to-air channel CTV will be broadcasting England vs Argentina.

You can live stream via the TSN+ streaming platform, which costs CA$8 per month or CA$80 per year.

CTV will require TV provider login details for you to watch for free online.

Outside of Canada? Use Norton VPN whilst you're traveling away from home to unlock your stream.

How to watch England vs Argentina in New Zealand

In New Zealand, England vs Argentina will be broadcast for free on TVNZ+.

While some games require the tournament pass (NZ$44.95) this isn't one of them and New Zealand residents can stream at no cost.

England vs Argentina: Match Information

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.

I'm quite happy with my current Sonos speaker. Still, I've just seen that the manufacturer has once again launched its double upgrade credit campaign, meaning it could be a good time for some new tech, as you can save 30% on your next speaker or soundbar when you buy direct from the manufacturer.

• Claim your 30% Sonos discount

The whole process is very straightforward. Start by logging in to the upgrade page and checking that you own a product that's eligible for the program. If you do, you should see a button to activate your upgrade credit. After that, simply add the new product you want to buy to your basket, and then activate the discount at the checkout.

There's a good selection of products in the promotion, including the excellent Sonos Arc soundbar for $629 / £629, which we awarded four and a half stars out of five in our Sonos Arc review. Or there's the latest Sonos Roam 2 for $125 / £125 that we said was even better than the original version in our Sonos Roam 2 review.

Just a heads up that time is running out on the double credit promotion, as it's scheduled to end on July 17. After that, it reverts to the original 15% off.

Save 30% on Sonos speakers and soundbars

Is the Sonos upgrade program worth it?

The Sonos upgrade program is a no-brainer if you've got an eye on a new speaker or soundbar from the manufacturer.

The list of qualifying products nearly covers the entire catalogue, so chances are that, if you bought one in the last decade, you will have the discount available. Just make sure the product is registered in your account and then head to the upgrade program page to claim your discount.

You will also see that there's an option to print a shipping label to send your current item back. However, you don't actually need to do a trade-in to get the discount. That's only if you want to send it back so it's recycled or if you no longer need it.

Me? I would just hold onto any existing items, as they will continue working as normal, so you can use them in another room or give them away to someone else who will make use of them if you want.

Whether you're an office worker or a student, I always find now is a great time to pick up a laptop for work and study that's actually worth the money.

MacBooks might be expensive, Chromebooks can be underpowered, but there are plenty of big-brand Windows 11 machines under $600 right now that can handle productivity tasks, schoolwork, creative projects, and everyday use without issue, and will stay useful well beyond the next school year.

These are the three deals that stood out to me right now.

Today's best laptop deals

My top pick overall here is HP's OmniBook 3, which is currently $599.99 (was $949.99) at Best Buy. It runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processor with up to 32.25 hours of battery life, making it an excellent choice for office professionals and students planning to spend many hours away from a power outlet.

It comes with 16GB of memory alongside a 512GB SSD, making it far better equipped for multitasking and running Microsoft's growing collection of AI features. The laptop also features a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 touchscreen, Wi-Fi 6E, and HDMI 2.1 for hooking up an external monitor.

Another great choice is Asus' Vivobook 14. Also on sale at Best Buy, the model is priced at an even more affordable $548.

It combines the same Snapdragon X processor as the OmniBook 3 with 16GB of memory, a 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS display.

Although it skips the touchscreen, it does keep the Copilot+ PC AI features, 45 TOPS NPU, WiFi 6E, HDMI 2.1, USB4, and impressive 29-hour battery life.

At 3.28lb, it's also the lightest laptop here, making it a great fit for students carrying it between classes. If you don't need touch support, I'd say this is the best all-round buy of the three.

Finally, there's the Dell 15 Laptop for $550 (was $750) at Dell. Powered by a 13th Generation Intel Core i7-1355U processor, it comes with a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD, and 15.6-inch Full HD 120Hz IPS display which will make it useful for recording notes, writing essays, multitasking, and so on.

The laptop includes Wi-Fi 6, USB-A, USB-C and HDMI ports, as well as an SD card reader, and a headphone jack. My biggest reservation is that it only comes with 8GB of DDR5 memory, which really isn't enough in 2026. You can upgrade the laptop to 16GB of RAM if you want, but that will cause the price to skyrocket to $949.99.

For more top choices, we've also tested the best student laptops, best business laptops and the best laptops for engineering students.

• The UK government confirmed it will not limit VPNs
• Data reveals only 7-10% of teenagers use a VPN to bypass age checks
• Social media curfews, autoplay restrictions were also announced

The UK government has officially scrapped the idea of restricting virtual private networks (VPNs) to enforce its impending social media bans, delivering a massive victory for digital privacy advocates.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast today, the government confirmed a major U-turn on the subject, with Online Safety Minister Kanishka Narayan stating: "We decided not to limit VPNs."

This was further cemented in a written parliamentary statement by Technology Secretary Liz Kendall, who clarified that the government will not age-gate or ban the best VPN software because "VPNs have legitimate privacy and security uses."

The announcement ends fears that sweeping age verification laws could inadvertently break online privacy for millions of adults.

Cybersecurity experts and privacy groups previously warned that restricting these tools would be a disaster waiting to happen, prompting an open letter from the industry urging lawmakers to leave everyday privacy tools alone.

Privacy wins, but platforms face new rules

While VPNs are safe from a blanket government ban, the social media ban loophole hasn't been completely ignored.

Kendall confirmed the onus will now fall on social media platforms "to take robust steps to detect and prevent attempts by underage users to circumvent age assurance measures."

To achieve this, the government has tasked Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to report by October on how platforms can better detect and prevent VPN use for age-check circumvention. The government also plans to engage directly with VPN providers regarding voluntary actions.

This shift in responsibility aligns with newly released government research.

A Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) report revealed that while 26% of 11- to 17-year-olds use a VPN, findings show they do so primarily for privacy.

Only 7-10% use them to bypass age checks, whereas 45% simply enter a false date of birth.

Midnight curfews and AI limits

While everyday privacy tools have been spared, the government is pressing forward with strict new rules to combat digital addiction — that online commentators already deemed "ineffective and useless" — with the first regulations coming into effect in early 2027.

Following the upcoming blanket ban on social media for under-16s, new measures will ensure 16- and 17-year-olds don't face a sudden "cliff edge" of addictive features. Government consultation revealed that nearly one in three children actively want help managing their screen time.

Under the new rules, older teens will face default social media curfews from midnight to 6 am. Additionally, persuasive features like autoplaying videos and personalized infinite feeds will be switched off by default to make logging off easier.

"This is about giving these older children more choice and control over the feeds and reducing that sense that they can never switch off being online," Kendall stated.

The protections also extend to artificial intelligence.

The government will require mandatory breaks for under-18s using AI chatbots to prevent emotional dependency. Furthermore, lawmakers are working with health regulators, including the MHRA and DHSC, to consider banning therapy chatbots entirely if they provide dangerous or unverified mental health advice to minors.

• ArcticWolf uncovered 292 malicious GitHub repositories spoofing legitimate tools and products, delivering a new BoryptGrab infostealer variant
• Malware steals from 19 browsers, 32 crypto wallets, messaging apps, Steam, and Windows Credential Manager, and uniquely bypasses Chrome’s App‑Bound Encryption via code injection
• Most repos have been removed, but some remain active; GitHub’s popularity makes it a prime target, underscoring the need to vet code before use

Russian actors have reportedly created hundreds of malicious GitHub repositories masquerading as legitimate software but acting as a dangerous infostealer.

Cybersecurity researchers ArcticWolf discovered the campaign after finding their own products spoofed as part of the attack.

In total, the researchers found 292 fake repositories, spoofing things like security products, developer tools, macOS utilities, games, and more. Each repository contained a README file with the download URL.

Obviously malicious

Victims who download the program get a variant of the BoryptGrab infostealer family that grabs data from 19 browsers (passwords, cookies, payment information), 32 cryptocurrency wallets, Telegram, Discord, and Steam sessions, credentials for Meta’s Max, data from Windows Credential Manager, and more. It can also exfiltrate files from Desktop and Documents, and grab screenshots.

While most of the features can be found in other BoryptGrab variants, this one is unique in a sense that it can bypass Chrome’s App-Bound Encryption through direct code injection into the browser process.

While it hasn’t been specifically said that the threat actors are Russian, the compressed data is later sent to a Russia-based command-and-control (C2) infrastructure.

What’s also worth mentioning is that the malware is not designed to last. It has no anti-analysis layer, and doesn’t even try to hide itself in any specific manner. It does not establish persistence and simply tries to grab as much sensitive data as it can on the first attempt.

The attack, which seems to have started in the final days of June, is almost thwarted now, since most of the malicious repositories have been removed from GitHub. Citing “researchers”, BleepingComputer reported that several dozen still remain active, though.

Because of its importance and popularity in the open-source community, GitHub is currently one of the most targeted platforms on the internet, which is why it’s important to double-check and vet every piece of code before it’s applied to a project.

Denshattack! is undoubtedly one of 2026's best indie games, providing endless amounts of fun. It takes clear inspiration from several fast-paced platformer classics, from its splashy and colorful art style, bombastic and intense OST, to its high-speed and intense levels.

Instead of the conventional control of a character, developer Undercoders has you taking control of a train. You focus on style mixing skills and speed across multiple theme park-like levels, and aim for the highest scores possible throughout to beat rival gangs, and fight to wreck a 'shady megacorp', known as Miraidō, in a 'Japanese dystopia'.

Frankly, the story wasn't my focus going in, but rather how the developers could keep the experience feeling exciting as you progress — and fortunately, it managed to do just that with each stage feeling like it was ripped straight out of an action-packed comic book.

This is a game that I can certainly see others coming back to over and over again for challenges to obtain higher scores, and most importantly, enjoy the intense atmosphere each level provides.

Denshattack! borrows from three huge platformer classics

From the off, the inspiration behind Denshattack! was clear as day. The incredibly fast-paced and intense train adventure sequences reminded me very much of my experiences with Sonic games, notably Sonic Unleashed and its first Windmill Isle level.

In Denshattack!, you'll be overwhelmed with how many combinations you may have to remember at such high speeds, and you'll need fast hand-eye coordination to pull off tricks and dodge obstacles. You'll have several objectives to hit in each level, some being main objectives, but others standing as optional, with the latter contributing to the final score.

One example is what I call the brake-to-boost mechanic; Denshattack! allows players to break at any given moment during a level, but will give you a heads-up when turning a corner on a track for a drift. If you hold down the left trigger and let go at the right time (when the meter is centered in the middle and fully green), you'll get a big boost to speed, which is often one of the optional objectives in levels.

The intensity of Denshattack!'s gameplay is incredibly high; avoiding crashes into walls, jumping to change railway tracks, and even timing perfect landings to increase your score add to the game's difficulty. It even encourages you to avoid obstacles at the very last second, with one aspect of each level's final score labelled 'dares', effectively testing your daredevil skills.

Many of these mechanics play a significant role in boss battles, which require faster reaction speeds. That might sound straightforward, as most boss battles in games are more difficult and require better timing, but with how rapid Denshattack!'s gameplay flow is, leaving you very little time to settle, it's absolutely worth noting.

Sometimes, it can even feel like the game is moving just a tad bit too fast when you're attempting to keep track of objectives — arguably an issue with modern-day Sonic games too — but getting the hang of controls and timing doesn't take very long, and once you do, there's plenty of fun to be had.

Jet Set Radio is another Sega classic, and a simialrly big inspiration. The art style in Denshattack! is very similar, with its cartoonish and colorful nature, even down to the very font across the game's UI in-game and within menus.

The soundtrack is phenomenal, and also much like Jet Set Radio's, which shouldn't come as a huge surprise, since some of Jet Set Radio's composers, like Richard Jacques, have collaborated on Denshattack!'s funky, disco-like, bass-centric, and synthwave-infused OST.

Those inspirations are combined to make an intense adventure come to life, but what gives Denshattack! its own identity is the vast amount of unique maneuvers, tricks, and even attacks (during boss battles), giving players a push for higher scores.

Many of the tricks reminded me of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, like grinding across rails at high speeds and air spins, but not on a skateboard. Instead, you're quite literally using a train to provide a great spectacle, in what I originally thought was an odd move, but perfectly highlights the chaotic nature of riding in Denshattack!.

There's also a fair amount of customization available for the train car itself, and plenty of levels and collectable items to look out for throughout the game's runtime — and seeing a significant portion of what you can do in Denshattack!, I have no doubts this will be a 2026 sleeper hit.

• Lomography has released a new version of its ‘Simple Use’ disposable-style film camera
• It’s half-frame, meaning it exposes half a frame of 35mm film at a time to effectively double the shot count
• It comes pre-loaded with a roll of film, in a choice of color or black & white

Many people are put off trying out film photography because they perceive it to be too complicated. Lomography tries to take some of that mystique out with its disposable-style ‘Simple Use’ cameras — and today, the analog specialists have announced the new Half-frame Simple Use Reloadable Film Camera, which doubles your shot count from a standard roll of 35mm film.

The name ‘half-frame’ refers to the fact that the camera only exposes half a frame of 35mm film at a time, cutting the standard horizontal 36mm x 24mm frame into two shots with rough dimensions of 18 x 24mm. This means that while your shots are smaller, you get a heck of lot more of them — a standard 36-shot roll of film could produce around 72 discrete images when run through the Half-frame Simple Use Reloadable Film Camera.

Half-frame cameras aren’t new. In fact, they’ve been around since the 1960s, with Japanese manufacturers first offering them as a cost-saving alternative to standard 35mm film cameras. We’ve also seen more recent entries in the genre, such as the Kodak Ektar H35N. They tend to be small, cheap and straightforward.

However, the Lomography Half-frame Simple Use Reloadable Film Camera sets itself apart by taking all steps possible to be incredibly, mind-bogglingly easy to use. This is the definition of an idiot-proof camera, one that basically anyone could pick up and use, and for this reason it might just be the ideal gateway drug for anyone who’s been tempted to try film photography.

Couldn’t be simpler

The Simple Use cameras are often described as ‘disposable-style’. This means they operate just like the kinds of disposable cameras that everybody used to bring on trips and then drop off to get developed. There’s no means of setting shutter speed or aperture — both are fixed — and the lens is completely fixed focus. The only control other than the shutter release is the flash, which is activated via the unmistakable lightning-bolt button on the front.

The Half-frame Simple Use camera also comes pre-loaded, meaning it’s completely ready to go out of the box. You have a choice of two options — getting one pre-loaded with LomoChrome Classicolor, or with Lomography Lady Grey monochrome film. Both of these stocks have an ISO rating of 400, meaning they’re good all-rounders for most lighting situations. They do only come in rolls of 20 however, which is quite small for a roll of 35mm. But remember, on half-frame, that works out to about 40 shots.

Once you’ve rattled through your shots, you can rewind using the dial on top to extract your film. In another quite sweet bit of idiot-proofing, the camera body is covered in stickers and labels to remind you to rewind before opening the rear door — indeed, you have to physically remove two of these stickers before opening the door is even possible.

With a plastic lens and fixed settings, this isn’t a camera that’s going to create images of stunning quality — even before you factor in that your shots will be half the size of normal 35mm frames. However, I think its simplicity means it could be a fantastic choice for anyone who has always wanted to shoot film but has found the process intimidating. And with a low asking price of $29.90 / £21.90 / AU$37.90 for the B&W version, or $34.90 / £24.90 / AU$44.90 for the color, you don’t have a lot to lose by giving it a try.

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As Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey arrives in theaters worldwide on July 17, the demand for screenings in IMAX 70mm has never been higher.

According to Variety, demand is so high that "fans are taking cross-country trips, buying tickets in bulk and more to see the film, with one fan even delaying her pregnancy."

The new movie is the first feature film ever shot entirely on 1570 IMAX cameras, and you only have to look at the TikTok below to see how much of each shot standard cinemagoers will be missing out on.

Globally, there are only 30-40 theaters that can play Nolan's original 70mm film, with around 26 in the US and just three in the UK.

We know what cultural and economic impact The Odyssey is set to have in the industry this summer, with estimates predicting that the movie will gross $200 million at the international box office in its opening weekend alone.

So does this mean that we could see an increase in new IMAX theaters being built? IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond confirms that it's a definite company goal... but the reality isn't quite so straightforward.

'We haven't made new IMAX projectors in about 50 years'

"There's certainly more demand; the problem is they haven't made new IMAX film projectors in about 50 years," Gelfond told Variety.

"So we retrofit them, rebuild them, and part of our strategy is to see how far we can take it. But certainly, demand-driven, I'd like to see more."

Obviously, this would be a huge investment for the company. Commercial IMAX projectors range from $300,000 to over $1.2 million USD, depending on whether it is digital, laser, or traditional 70mm film. The latter is going to be at the top end of this range, given its complexity.

Then there's the risk involved with investing. Just because The Odyssey has such high demand doesn't mean that other movies that opt to film in the same format in the future will have the same retention level.

Cinemas are struggling enough as it is, which isn't helped by the fact that streaming services like Netflix are frequently pushing back on giving original movies a theatrical release.

“There is a group of filmmakers who still want theatrical,” Dan Lin, chairman of Netflix Film, told The Hollywood Reporter. “Those are filmmakers that we’ve accepted; we just won’t work with.”

In short, it's a leap of faith back to a new cinema, despite how much fans are desperate for them. However, if any film can set a new precedent — and bring back the forgotten ways of making projectors — it's The Odyssey.

I'm quietly keeping my fingers crossed that such passionate interest in returning to cinema in its biggest and best form will mark a turning point. Perhaps just because I can't get tickets for Nolan's latest at the BFI IMAX... but while I'm jealous, the fact that screenings are sold out until mid-August is nothing short of astonishing.

• AI PCs are emerging as a viable option to run local AI without unpredictable costs
• One-time PC cost alleviates the need to fork out for cloud token fees
• Broader research reaffirms rising popularity of smaller models

New Gartner data has claimed now could actually be a good time to buy AI PCs, as cloud computing faces numerous challenges in a rapidly-changing business world.

Data center construction is slipping behind demand as supple chains strain and local communities oppose new projects, meaning that metered compute could end up costing some companies more than they'd bargained for.

By shifting some of their AI processing locally, companies could be able to avoid some of those extra monthly costs with a one-time purchase of a more powerful PC as part of their regular refresh cycles.

AI PCs present an ideal hybrid compute model

While AI PC adoption started pretty slow with companies struggling to understand the benefits, they're now being seen as a cloud fallback option rather than a primary benefit in their own right.

With AI usage increasingly sharply and unpredictable token consumption hitting companies hard, forecasting monthly costs is a new major challenge that many face.

Small language and reasoning models, including specially trained models for individual business use cases, ultimately need fewer resources than leading frontier models, allowing them to be run locally as part of a broader hybrid approach.

Gartner predicts that speech and chat, text generation, image and audio generation and more could soon shift to workers' PCs, with only the most intensive tasks routed via hyperscaler data centers.

By as soon as 2029, the company's researchers anticipate that around one-third (30%) of enterprises could use AI PCs to reduce cloud AI token costs. By 2030, 70% of corporate PCs could be able to run some GenAI tasks locally.

Omdia researchers also noticed a shift in AI model usage, with smaller and medium models proving popular, with domain-specific tasks not needing the full breadth of compute.

"Older GPUs are retaining value and remaining in service, as they continue to offer a cost-effective option for small and midsized model inference and disaggregation," Senior Principal Analyst for Advanced Computing Alexander Harrowell said.

Via The Register

One of the biggest talking points around this year's World Cup has been the heat. Players from countries with very temperate, cool climates, like Norway and England, have had to play back-to-back games in hot and humid conditions, placing enormous stress on their bodies as they struggle to keep their core temperature down.

When core temperatures rise, fatigue isn't far behind. Research has shown that elevated internal body temperatures cause fatigue during prolonged exercise in hot environments, even for trained athletes. Staving off exhaustion by staying cool is therefore crucial.

Enter Therabody, maker of some of the best massage guns, which has supplied Thomas Tuchel's England squad with a novel new device: the Therabody CryoTherm Palm. It looks a little like a dumbbell, but it's not for lifting; instead, you simply place your hands on the nodes, and the CryoTherm Palm, Therabody says, uses these contact points to cool down your whole body using the company's 'Cryothermal technology'.

It sounds too good to be true — but the England players are reportedly making the most of it. We asked Therabody's Chief Science Officer, Tim Roberts, exactly how the technology works.

"Your palms are natural radiators — hairless skin packed with special vessels that bring a lot of blood right to the surface," says Roberts. "It’s why gloves keep your whole body warm in winter.

"CryoTherm Palm cools that surface, pulls heat out of the blood passing through, and that cooled blood circulates back to lower your core temperature faster than cooling almost anywhere else."

So, in theory, the cold blood passing through your hands works to regulate the rest of your body's internal temperature. Clever. According to Roberts, there's a psychological effect too, as "it also dampens the thermal signals your brain uses to judge effort", so exercising feels easier.

Roberts points to a study conducted at the IMG Academy in Florida, in which footballers using the device between sprints saw positive results.

"In our IMG Academy soccer study, players using CryoTherm Palm between sprints felt 60% cooler, held 2.45% higher top speed and preserved sprint velocity 4.7% better across repeated efforts," says Roberts. While he does concede that "none of this replaces basic heat sense — hydrate, respect genuinely dangerous conditions, and back off when you need to," those numbers suggest it can make a difference.

I wouldn't be doing my due diligence if I didn't point out that in a Therabody press release, the IMG Academy was referred to as a Therabody partner. However, the science seems sound, and the CryoTherm Palm might just be your secret weapon to keep cool during your next workout, especially in very hot weather.

The device is available now, priced at $399.99 / £349 / around AU$600. I'm looking forward to testing, especially if the heatwaves we're experiencing here in the UK continue.

• TCL CSOT is reportedly now mass producing the first inkjet-printed OLEDs for consumers
• MSI just revealed a new 27-inch monitor which seemingly uses this 4K panel
• Inkjet printing is a more affordable way of making OLEDs and it will usher in cheaper monitors and laptops, and eventually TVs further down the line

TCL CSOT has seemingly taken a big step towards putting inkjet-printed OLED panels in the homes of consumers, and mass production of these screens is now reportedly underway.

OLED-Info reports that the Chinese manufacturer has kicked off production with an initial 27-inch 4K panel with a refresh rate of 120Hz. It offers a brightness of up to 300 nits and 99% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut (meaning lifelike and accurate color representation).

This inkjet-printed screen is destined for monitors, but bigger panels for the likes of TVs are expected to be in the cards for the future. For starters, though, we're looking at production for monitors and also laptop OLEDs.

This is still the very early stages for TCL, and OLED-Info clarifies that we are only talking about 'low volume' production on the firm's Gen 5.5 inkjet line for now. Still, it's an important step to take, but producing the panels is one thing, and it'll take some time for these to be incorporated into monitors which are then shipped to retailers where consumers can buy them.

Note that the Gen 5.5 inkjet line has produced OLED panels before, just not displays destined for consumer products (they were screens for commercial use in the medical field).

It seems that the freshly announced MSI Pro Max OLED 271UPJW12 uses this TCL 4K panel, although that isn't explicitly stated in the press release for the new model published by TechPowerup. All the specs match up, though, and it couldn't really be any other screen anyway – and this revelation is another sign to back up OLED-Info's contention that mass production is now up and running.

MSI boasts of the monitor: "With a 164 PPI density and an optimized RGB Stripe sub-pixel layout that closely resembles the uniform RGB structure of traditional LCDs, this advanced design effectively eliminates color fringing, optimizing text and image clarity."

We don't get a price from MSI, but that's not surprising at this stage, because as noted, the release is likely still some way off yet.

Analysis: what's the big deal with inkjet-printed OLEDs anyway?

As we've covered in the past, there are some distinct advantages with using an OLED printed by an inkjet compared to traditional (Fine Metal Mask) OLED panels. They are more power-efficient, and the inkjet-printed (IJP) OLEDs will also have a longer lifespan, but most crucially, they're cheaper.

TCL has previously told us that these IJP panels are 20% cheaper than existing OLEDs (and they can be made 30% faster, too). Analyst firms believe that these printed panels could be up to 35% cheaper in the future, when production is higher volume and more refined (with less waste).

The upshot should be OLED monitors which are a good deal more affordable, not to mention laptops with OLED screens that hit cheaper price points – and as noted, TVs eventually, too. The lower power usage will also be a major benefit for notebooks in terms of extending battery life, given that the display is one of the biggest drains on the battery.

The overall affordability of OLED will also be helped by TCL's inkjet-based creations, because the dominant panel makers – LG Display and Samsung – will be forced to be more competitive with their pricing. Add to that the emergence of BOE's Generation 8.6 panels, which went into mass production last month – again offering a more economical way to produce OLEDs thanks to much larger substrates – and this poses yet more competition, meaning there'll be some distinct downward pressures on OLED pricing.

The catch is that it will take some time for this to happen, especially in the world of bigger screens for the likes of OLED TVs – but make no mistake, it is happening.

As the common phrase goes – ‘patience is a virtue’. The ability to endure, wait and yield to time without complaint is widely seen as a positive personality trait. Yet patience is situational, and everyone has a limit.

In a customer service context, people will wait longer when the stakes are high, or when they trust that delays will lead to better security, accuracy or care. If they’re dealing with another human, they also tend to be far more forgiving.

Alongside that limited patience, customers are also increasingly distracted. The average Brit now sits on over 1,000 unread emails in their inbox, according to recent research, alongside juggling around 25 non-work notifications a day.

People are not short of communication, but saturated. Attention is at a premium, and anything irrelevant is quickly deprioritized or disappears entirely.

This is particularly acute for the 36-55-year-old cohort, which boast the highest unread email counts, and the greatest pressure to stay online for work. Two-fifths of 36-50-year-olds say they feel more disconnected than ever, despite increased digital interactions.

Balancing careers, caregiving, mortgages and performance metrics, the attention and mental load on this group is significant. If brands are adding irrelevant noise and difficulty into these environments, tolerance is low.

This simultaneous feeling of burnout and impatience is heightened by the fact that the instant nature of the attention economy, and the incentives of digital platforms, has rewired expectations.

If there is no sense of progress or urgency conveyed with a digital service, then reassurance falls away and the chances someone will give up on the process rapidly increases. Clear, proactive explanations, combined with customer experience design that maintains continuity across every channel and interaction are vital.

Setting clear expectations

Digital saturation and the attention economy have also meant that first impressions are decisive. If in those initial moments of engagement there is any sense of delay or stalling, people will reconsider if they need the product or service in the first place.

These early moments are therefore a critical opportunity to build seamless customer journeys, closing these ‘patience deficits’ by finding and fixing areas that cause frustration. When there are unavoidable moments where waiting is required, brands must turn these into opportunities to strengthen loyalty and trust.

Customers want assurance that every click, confirmation or verification step serves a purpose. Uncertainty is the true enemy of patience, so give customers better visibility and control to help build trust.

Other industry research found that 25% of consumers there think ‘transparency about what’s happening and why’ is one of the most important things to them in a digital customer experience, with 45% valuing clear instructions and easy-to-follow steps. If there’s an action they don’t need to take or unnecessary duplication, remove it.

Poor design can lead to digital impatience, and exacerbate the overload of digital admin. Ensure that digital and automated channels are fast, reliable and transparent when it comes to waiting times. Competitive advantage will come from being the most considered, not the loudest.

Turning impatience into opportunity

At the same time, when customers know brands are protecting their data, there is an opportunity to earn patience through careful application of friction. Digital speed bumps like two-factor authentication, framed in the right way, can become symbols of care, not inconvenience – so in designing the customer journey, brands should take advantage.

The reality of digital patience is made more complex by the fact that more people are interacting with machines for customer service than ever before. AI agents, designed and used effectively, have raised expectations – but when AI gets stuck, misunderstands intent or is otherwise poorly designed, it backfires and becomes counterproductive. In those moments, many of us prefer to just talk to a human.

The purpose and context of interactions matter, so organizations must take care to match automation to the complexity and stakes of each task. Examine which tasks are best for AI agents to take on, and be clear about when AI is in use, explaining its role in plain language.

For those tasks which require more reassurance, empathy and accountability, human alternatives may be preferable. In these situations, we tend to be slightly more patient – 84% will stay patient on the phone with a real person, perhaps because we know we’re more likely to be able to connect on a human level, and get some understanding and reassurance in response to our enquiry.

If a service is too slow, however, then more than half of consumers say that delays lead them to think less of a brand, leave negative reviews, or warn others to steer clear.

Brands should provide the choice of human support and digital self-service tools in a way that reflects these dynamics. When switching between the two, brands should also carry context over, so that customers never need to repeat themselves.

Digital patience is a precious resource. Poor design which frustrates and builds impatience can see it easily lost, but with care, it is equally easy to earn. When brands anticipate frustration and design for reassurance, they convert fleeting attention into enduring trust, and find opportunities to strengthen relationships and loyalty.

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For the longest time, I thought that, despite their annoyances, iPhones had something big over the best Android phones: PC connectivity. I'd always seen iPhone and Mac-owning friends quickly send files between the two, and assumed it was an Apple-exclusive feature.

As it turns out, this isn't true. Android users can use a Windows app that brings loads of really useful features — and it's really underutilized, which is why a tech journalist like me hadn't heard of it.

This software is called Phone Link, and we've got a guide on how to connect your Android phone to a Windows PC using Phone Link elsewhere on TechRadar. I downloaded it about a year ago, largely out of duty to test every tool, appliance, and gadget I could get my hands on. I was expecting it to last a weekend.

A year on, though, and Phone Link has become such a useful part of my workflow that I'd forgotten it's something not everyone's heard about. It's such a natural part of the way I use my phone and computer that I'd totally forgotten it was something I initially downloaded to test!

Well, no longer: TechRadar has let me wax lyrical about Phone Link, and I'm going to give the tool its time in the sun.

Sending photos from phone to PC

For the most part, whenever I want to connect my phone to my PC, it's to move pictures between the two devices.

As a smartphone journalist, you can understand that I'm sending snaps from my phone to my computer a lot. Sometimes it's camera samples from a mobile I'm testing that I want to upload for a review. Occasionally, I want to back up pictures I really like before I wipe a phone and send it back to the company.

The most frequent use case, though, is to transfer to my PC pictures I've taken on one phone, of another. I use smartphones to do review photography, and it's a great way to test out a phone I'm reviewing.

Before Phone Link, I'd have to use a USB cable to connect my phone to my computer — approving the connection on my Android's end, because they're always annoyingly suspicious — and drag and drop all the relevant pictures into a folder on my computer. It's not an especially onerous process — it's a lot quicker than when I used to use Google Drive to transfer pictures, for instance — but it takes a little while of fiddling with my phone and digging out a cable to work.

Not so with Phone Link. Its Photos tab shows a big old list of all the pictures you've taken recently, giving you options to save them to your PC, open them in an editing app, and share them with others.

These pictures appear as soon as you take them, as long as your phone is on the same Wi-Fi as your computer. I've become used to taking photos in one room of my home, and entering my office, to see them linked up on Phone Link, ready for an edit. When I've got PC notifications turned on, I can even hear the 'bong' of my computer telling me they've arrived.

Phone Link also lets you browse the contents of your mobile in the Files tab, where it appears in the Devices and drives list alongside any cloud or local drives you have. I don't use my phone to handle non-photo files, but it's a nice touch that'd be really useful if I were in another line of work.

Apps on my PC

Ostensibly, one of the main uses for Phone Link is that it lets you open your smartphone apps on your computer. Its Apps page shows you a massive list of every one you have installed on your mobile, and clicking on it opens it in a window.

This doesn't override anything you have going on on your phone; if you're using it as a second screen to watch a YouTube video or act as a music player (one of many ways you can repurpose an old Android phone), the app will open in your PC window alone.

When I first started Phone Link, I tried using it for everything, but often bounced straight off. In many circumstances, using a smartphone is simply more intuitive than using a mouse and keyboard, given that phone apps are designed for thumbs. But over time, I've found a few uses of Phone Link's app windows that are genuinely handy.

As mentioned, one of those uses is as a music player. I can let Spotify hang around as a spare window, ready to skip tracks or change playlists when I want. It's also useful as a way to check apps that don't have PC equivalents, like Too Good To Go or Mubi Go, or ones that do have web functions but are easier on the phone, like my national health service's app.

There's one way that Phone Link saved me hours, though. When I used to work for a company that didn't let you use your work Gmail account on personal computers, Phone Link was my workaround to still see emails on my PC. This saved me ages each day; time that'd otherwise be taken up checking and replying to emails on my phone, or trying to get my decrepit work laptop to turn on.

Naturally, you can manage your calls and texts via Phone Link too. Personally, I don't think I've sent an SMS or made a non-WhatsApp voice call since the 2010s, but I'm sure there are some people who'd find this handy.

I also appreciate a notification list down the left side of Phone Link. This transforms it from being software solely for controlling your mobile to a veritable hub of information from your handset. I'll often keep it up on my second monitor; it makes good use of its space.

Controlling my phone from my computer

As mentioned, you can use your computer to control your mobile's apps via Phone Link, but you can also use it to change the actual settings of the device itself, which proves itself useful in an entirely different way.

Phone Link lets you monitor your phone status; I can see how it's connected to other devices, what battery it's on, and whether it's currently paired with Phone Link or not. I can even see a little representation of what my wallpaper currently is. All useful to a small degree, but the charge is the only one of those that's seriously useful.

What's more important are the status controls. You can toggle between vibrate, sound, and silent, turn Do Not Disturb on and off, and turn on the media player.

From a cursory mention of the tools, these might not sound that important, but I've found them really useful in a pinch. I'm constantly forgetting to mute my phone before I go on a video meeting, and a quick click of the Do Not Disturb button means I'm not going to have unexpected calls.

As a lazy person, I also love the fact that you can use Phone Link to play a sound from your phone; I'm always doing this instead of spending five seconds actually looking.

My one gripe with Phone Link is that I still need my phone with me to use it. When you start using it each session, you're required to unlock your device and approve the connection. But this is a small price to pay for the transformational effect it's had on my workflow — and I hope that you, too, consider giving it a try.

Every day, millions of people type a web address into their browser, usually in a flurry of rapid keystrokes, and arrive exactly where they intended.

However, a small but significant number of people don’t.

They might miss a letter, type an extra letter in their haste, or get some letters mixed up. Instead of hitting linkedin[.]com, they hit linkdein[.]com. Those mistakes gave way to one of the internet’s least glamorous destinations – the parked domain.

Most internet users have encountered them at some point, even if they didn't know what they were looking at. Typically, a parked domain would just be a sparse, messy page filled with adverts and a search bar with very little else.

They existed because someone, somewhere, recognized that in the early days of the internet a percentage of users would inevitably mistype a popular website – so they registered the most similar-looking domain names for themselves in a move known as “typosquatting” and earned advertising revenue from the resulting traffic.

If just 0.1% of the millions of people accessing amazon[.]com accidentally went to the amazn[.]com domain they’d bought, that’s still a worthwhile payday. It was a mundane corner of the digital economy, built on convenience, coincidence, and the occasional typo.

History can be a harsh teacher, but it can also sow complacency. In 2026, a lot of security teams still regard parked domains as little more than lazy digital billboards – inconvenient and annoying, but not a meaningful security concern.

However, the infrastructure surrounding parked domains has evolved considerably from the amateurish, pop-up-ridden advertising pages of the early internet. What was once a simple case of opportunistic domain monetization now sits inside a far more complex ecosystem of advertisers, brokers, and traffic distribution networks.

In many cases, a user's accidental visit no longer ends on a parked page at all. Instead, it triggers a journey through a chain of intermediaries operating largely out of sight. Somewhere along that journey, legitimate advertising can give way to fraud, scams, and malware distribution.

In other words, one of the web's most familiar and overlooked mechanisms has become one of the most lucrative and insidious vehicles for cybercrime.

From Mistype to Malware

The transformation of parked domains from digital curiosities into cybersecurity risks has been subtle, and that’s one of the reasons it’s so dangerous. For decades, the model followed the same patterns – a user would land on a parked domain, see a collection of banners, click on something accidental or otherwise, and generate a small amount of revenue for the domain owner.

It was cynical, but at least it was transparent because users could at least see where they had ended up and decide for themselves what to do next – usually just close the tab and go where they meant to. The only real danger here came from the occasional misleading or malicious ad rather than the mechanics of the domain itself.

Today things are different. Changes within the online advertising industry, including tighter policies around traditional domain monetization, have encouraged cybercriminals and fraudsters to try new approaches to keep the train of monetization moving.

Increasingly, users who arrive at a parked domain don't encounter a parked page at all. Instead, they’re immediately redirected elsewhere through a process known as “zero-click advertising”, sometimes referred to as direct search.

What appears to be a simple typo can trigger a rapid auction in which a user's visit is bought, sold, and passed between multiple advertising partners before they ever see a destination website. Most of this activity unfolds in fractions of a second and entirely beyond the user's view, and while many of those transactions remain legitimate, the sheer complexity of the ecosystem creates opportunities for abuse.

Somewhere within that chain, traffic can be acquired by actors whose interests extend far beyond advertising revenue, opening the door to scams, malware, fraudulent software, and a host of other malicious outcomes.

The Malvertising Economy

One of the reasons parked domain abuse is still underestimated and difficult to pin down is that the attack path rarely follows a straight line. When most people imagine a cyberattack, they picture a malicious website waiting at the end of a link, ready to ensnare an unsuspecting user.

But in this case, by the time a user reaches the content they're ultimately shown, their traffic may have already passed through a maze of advertising exchanges, brokers, redirectors, and cloaking services.

Each participant sees only a fragment of the overall journey, making it remarkably difficult for the “good guys” to determine which “bad guys” are responsible for what. It’s a little like trying to investigate a crime scene where the evidence constantly rearranges itself.

The cowardly threat actors involved in this type of cybercrime exploit this ambiguity. They use sophisticated cloaking techniques which allow them to examine visitors before deciding which content to serve up – where are they based? What kind of browser are they using? What operating system is their device running?

A security researcher in California might see a harmless landing page, while a finance broker in London might be served up a credential harvesting scam. This selective delivery makes malicious activity harder to detect and even harder to reproduce.

What’s worse, parked domain abuse is rarely aimed at a specific industry or organization. The actors deploying parked domains are usually financially motivated, and their primary interest is in acquiring traffic, so they’re not going to discriminate.

Once they’ve ensnared a victim, they become a commodity moving through an invisible marketplace where every click has value and every redirection creates another opportunity for exploitation.

The blind spot in traditional security

So where does all of this leave defenders? Parked domain abuse doesn’t behave like a conventional cyber threat. While security teams are used to investigating suspicious websites, malicious files, or compromised accounts that leave a relatively obvious trail, parked domain campaigns are different because the underlying traffic distribution is constantly changing.

The same typo domain can send one user down an entirely different path than the next. By the time an analyst attempts to recreate what a victim experienced, the route may no longer exist and any “evidence” has effectively evaporated. How do they defend against something they can't see or recreate?

One thing is guaranteed – regardless of how many redirects, intermediaries, cloaking systems, or advertising platforms sit between the initial typo and the final destination, every step in the journey depends on the domain name system (DNS). Often described as the internet's address book, DNS is responsible for translating domain names into the destinations users ultimately reach.

Put simply, each lookup leaves behind a breadcrumb that helps reveal relationships that would otherwise remain hidden, and that visibility has allowed researchers investigating typosquatted versions of well-known domains to follow the trail beyond the initial deception. Patterns start to emerge between seemingly unrelated cases of malware, involving the same parking providers, cloaking services, and traffic distribution infrastructure.

By examining historical DNS records and mapping the relationships between domains over time, it has become possible to connect incidents that appear to be unrelated and expose the networks operating behind them. Instead of playing “whack a mole” and chasing surface level domains, DNS mapping has allowed defenders to target the entire machine.

The greatest danger posed by parked domains isn't the typo itself, but the assumption that the infrastructure behind that typo is benign. For years, parked domains occupied a strange corner of the internet, largely ignored by security teams and rarely considered worthy of serious scrutiny.

But today, they offer cybercriminals something far more valuable than advertising revenue – access to legitimate systems, trusted business models, and vast streams of user traffic that can be manipulated and monetized at scale.

As threat actors continue to refine their use of cloaking, traffic distribution, and advertising networks, the distinction between legitimate online activity and malicious activity will become increasingly difficult to spot from the outside.

Protect yourself against malware with the best antivirus 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

• ESET discovers 11 vulnerable UEFI shim bootloaders signed by Microsoft, allowing attackers to bypass Secure Boot and deploy malicious bootkits
• Any UEFI system trusting Microsoft’s 2011 third‑party certificate could be exposed, potentially billions of devices; attackers can bring old trusted shims to new systems
• Microsoft has revoked the vulnerable shims, and users should apply the latest UEFI revocations (Windows auto‑updates, Linux via LVFS) to block exploitation

Cybersecurity experts from ESET have discovered 11 vulnerable UEFI shim bootloaders, all signed by Microsoft, which could allow threat actors to exploit ancient vulnerabilities and bypass UEFI Secure Boot, deploying all sorts of malicious bootkits.

A shim is a small, intermediary bootloader that works as a bridge between a computer's firmware (UEFI) and the operating system's bootloader. Its primary purpose is to allow operating systems to work with UEFI Secure Boot without having Microsoft sign every Linux bootloader individually.

Any UEFI-based machine that trusts the Microsoft Corporation UEFI CA 2011 third-party UEFI certificate authority (CE) certificate, regardless of the operating system, was said to be vulnerable to the shims (versions 0.9 and older). That would put the number of potentially vulnerable devices in the billions, since almost all modern x86 PCs use UEFI firmware, and most of them trust the Microsoft Corporation UEFI CA 2011 certificate out of the box.

Revoking the shims

However, ESET reported its findings to CERT/CC and the vulnerable UEFI applications were all revoked.

The shims come from different tools such as PC diagnostic software, Linux distribution, and other UEFI-based utilities, the researchers explained. They also added that, since the attackers can bring their own vulnerable shims to any UEFI system with the Microsoft third-party UEFI certificate enrolled, they can exploit systems that are, at first, not affected.

To block the vulnerable shims, users should apply the latest UEFI revocations from Microsoft, it was said. While Windows systems will most likely do it automatically, Linux systems users should do it through the Linux Vendor Firmware Service.

“What makes these old shims dangerous is not a novel vulnerability; it’s that no new vulnerability is needed to bypass UEFI Secure Boot,” says ESET researcher Martin Smolár, who discovered the vulnerable shims.

“An attacker needs no complicated exploitation primitives — only a copy of an old, still-trusted but unrevoked shim binary and a basic understanding of how UEFI shims work. That is enough to bypass such an essential security feature as UEFI Secure Boot."

• 'Managed' accounts let parents create a Spotify experience for their child
• Once reserved for Premium Family accounts, it is now rolling out to all
• Managed accounts are music-only with no messages, but do get Wrapped

Fed up with waiting for your Wrapped roundup only to find KPop Demon Hunters is claiming the top spot again — and it most certainly would not be down to you?

Great news: Spotify is expanding its Managed account service (which the big green streaming machine launched around two years ago, within its paid-for Family subscriptions) to the Free, ad-supported service.

This gives young listeners a chance to have their own personalized Spotify experience (including their own Wrapped summary), but within what Spotify calls a "focused, music-only experience".

With Managed accounts (which must be set up by an adult 'Account manager', usually a parent or guardian), young listeners can create their own playlists and receive tailored recommendations for new music. Yes, our favorite Daylist feature, plus a Wrapped summary at the end of each year, are both onboard.

The company tells me that while 90% of parents using Spotify agree that listening to music on the platform is a good use of their children's time (versus only a third of parents when asked the same question about gaming), parents don't really want their Wrapped playlists influenced by their nine-year-old.

Spotify also reports that more than 70% of kids now listen to music every week, but that children asking their parents to play a favorite track (often a lot) can cause family friction — especially when children might be fighting for airtime with a sibling, or just completely ignoring what mom might want to listen to in the car.

Managed accounts on Spotify: what you need to know (and why they're Golden)

As the image above shows, the process for creating a Managed account is straightforward using the 'Add account' tab. As any parent in the UK knows, plans are well underway for a social media ban for under-16s, so this can only be seen as a wise and welcome move from Spotify.

The basics are this: as well as Spotify's filters for explicit lyrics or content, parents and guardians can manually filter out content, and manage playback for specific artists or tracks.

Video and Canvas looping visuals are also always off by default for managed accounts. During its initial rollout, Spotify says 60% of parents chose to keep video content switched off, which is why in this wider rollout — it is coming to 17 markets globally today — it's off by default.

Additionally, the default features of Managed accounts mean that they are automatically set to private and are unsearchable, with no profile photos (just avatars), and young listeners will not have access to messages.

Spotify tells me that Managed accounts are typically for children aged 7-12, who are not yet ready for a full account but who want to establish their identity and explore a love of music themselves, via their own managed account.

Again, Managed accounts are music only right now, i.e., no podcasts, video or audiobooks. But Spotify says the experience will evolve as the company continues to work closely with parents as well as Spotify's team of six external partners, including the Spotify Safety Advisory Council.

Does your child need their own phone? No, there’s a device switching option, which locks the account holder’s content with a PIN, so the holder of the Managed account can start to stream away with both the default and added controls and filters deployed.

And when your children grow up (it happens so fast!), what then? Once a child reaches the minimum age for their respective market, they can put in a 'request’ to the main account holder to be upgraded to a full account. Once the owner of a Managed account turns 18, that young person can change their own account to a regular one — so no playlist gets left behind.

If you're looking to add more 4K Blu-rays to your collection, then Disney's Summer Days, Movie Nights 4K Blu-ray sale has arrived at the perfect time, where it's 2 for £30 on discs including titles from Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and 20th Century Studios. The same 2 for £30 sale is also live at HMV.

I regularly test 4K Blu-ray as part of our monthly Blu-ray Bounty feature, where we test the best new 4K releases. I've picked six discs from the sale that all featured as part of the Blu-ray Bounty, so I know just how good they look and sound.

First up is Alien: Romulus, one of my reference discs for testing contrast and black tones on the best TVs. Its also excellent Dolby Atmos soundtrack is immersive and spine-chilling too.

The Sound of Music is one of the best restorations I've seen, with spectacular colours and detail. Edward Scissorhands is another disc that delivers superb colour reproduction, surpassing my expectations completely.

If you want action-packed titles with brilliant Dolby Atmos soundtracks, Master and Commander delivers pinpoint-accurate sound, while Fantastic Four: First Steps delivers the power you'd want from a superhero flick. Finally, Tombstone looks crisp and offers a fantastic DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack that will show off your surround setup.

For my thoughts on each disc, scroll further down the page.

My picks from Amazon's 2 for £30 4K Blu-ray sale

Alien: Romulus

Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus follows a crew of scavengers who come across a derelict space station called Renaissance, where they encounter hostile aliens.

Alien: Romulus delivers a truly stunning picture in 4K. Its inky black levels and high-contrast scenes look superb on the best OLED TVs, and it's a real showcase for 4K detail. Textures are crisp, with impressive intricate detail in objects and environments that show just how good modern movies can look in 4K. When I want to test a TV's backlight and contrast, this is one of the first discs I reach for.

The Dolby Atmos soundtrack featured is incredible. While the more powerful moments, such as gunfire or the sound of engines igniting, have real impact, it's the detail that impresses. The sound of face-hugger feet is so precisely mapped, it had me looking around our testing lab when I first tested it, as their path came from the rear channels with astonishing accuracy. The movie's more visceral moments, as characters meet their demise, can be particularly realistic.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

The Sound of Music

One of cinema's most iconic musicals, The Sound of Music follows Maria (Julie Andrews), a nun who is sent to take over as the nanny of the Von Trapp family children, set in pre-WWII Austria.

The Sound of Music is one of the best examples of a 4K restoration I've seen. Textures have been cleaned up beautifully, and the breathtaking cinematography of the Austrian landscape has never looked more detailed. Really though, it's the colours that stand out the most here. Green fields and blue skies have serious pop, and other colours such as red, yellow and orange are delivered with real vibrancy. One of my reference discs, the market scene, in particular, is brilliant.

Never has the movie's legendary soundtrack sounded better than here. The Dolby Atmos mixes are all perfectly balanced between the score and vocals, and speech is crystal clear throughout. Songs like 'Do Re Mi' and 'My Favourite Things' sound clean, with superb depth and clarity.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands follows the story of Edward (Johnny Depp), an artificial humanoid with scissors for hands, who is taken in by a suburban family, where he falls for the family's daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder).

When I first tested Edward Scissorhands on 4K, I didn't expect to be wowed by the disc's colours as much as I was. The gothic nature of the movie is juxtaposed with the vibrant, often garish, colour scheme of the neighbourhood, and these colours are superb in 4K. The bright, multi-coloured houses are vivid, and if your TV has good colour reproduction, you'll be rewarded. Textures have also been refined here to give everything a lifelike look.

The disc's Dolby Atmos soundtrack is excellent. It shows real depth by accurately capturing subtle effects like the clicking of Edward's scissors. Danny Elfman's unmistakable score, with big horns balanced with delicate bells, is delivered with plenty of gusto and detail.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is the tale of the HMS Surprise, a British ship during the Napoleonic Wars in 1805, as they pursue the French ship Acheron. It stars Russel Crowe as Surprise's Captain Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Maturin, the ship's surgeon.

Where Master and Commander's 4K disc shines is with its Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Naval battles deliver room-shaking power as cannons fire, with intricate details such as splintering wood coming through clear in the mix. In several scenes, as cannonballs flew through the ship, I found myself looking around the room, following its trajectory as it was mapped with incredible accuracy.

The 4K presentation looks amazing, too. Night scenes deliver deep black tones with some strong contrast, as lamps balance with said dark tones. The crew looks lifelike, and the vast ocean looks stunning in 4K. Colour, while sparing, has some nice pop, whether it's the red of blood or the gold details on ships.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Set in a 1960's, futuristic world and based on the Marvel superhero family, The Fantastic Four: First Steps follows the Fantastic Four as they must protect Earth from Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Starring Pedro Pascal (Mr Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (The Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Thing).

The 4K disc of The Fantastic Four: First Steps has brilliant picture quality, accurately delivering the alt-1960s aesthetic. The bright blues and whites of the team's uniforms pop on screen, but the oranges and yellows of decor and civilian clothing look great too. A big-budget Marvel movie, textures are refined and 3D-like and look top-notch on 4K.

As you'd expect from a Marvel movie with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, this disc sounds fantastic. There are plenty of room-rattling explosions that deliver punchy bass and impact. Anytime the Human Torch flies overhead, height channels are utilised perfectly and will sound great through an Atmos system.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

Tombstone

Tombstone follows Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russel), a retired lawman who moves to the town of Tombstone and ends up as its de facto sheriff after a gang of outlaws wreaks havoc. The movie also stars Val Kilmer, Sam Elliot, and Bill Paxton.

Tombstone looks stunning in 4K. A fantastic restoration means textures are clean and crisp, demonstrating almost 3D-like levels of depth and detail. Colours are bold and punchy throughout, and black tones are rich, whether it's the night sky or the Earp group's clothes.

The disc's DTS-HD 5.1 MA soundtrack is excellent too. Gunfights deliver precise sound mapping, as bullets fly around and ricochet off buildings. Galloping horses offer plenty of rumble that will let your subwoofer flex its muscles, and even subtle sound effects like spurs on boots as people walk have nice detail.

• Check out the full Amazon 2 for £30 sale

• Microsoft’s July 2026 Patch Tuesday fixed a record 622 vulnerabilities, including 58 critical, two exploited in the wild, and one publicly disclosed, plus 428 Chromium bugs
• Actively abused flaws include CVE‑2026‑56155 (AD FS privilege escalation) and CVE‑2026‑56164 (SharePoint privilege escalation), alongside notable issues in BitLocker and Copilot
• Surge in fixes is linked to Microsoft’s use of Anthropic’s Mythos AI, with patch volumes rising sharply since its adoption

Microsoft has released its July 2026 Patch Tuesday download, marking another record-breaking update, addressing hundreds of flaws across the ecosystem.

The release, which is currently rolling out to Microsoft users, fixes a staggering 622 vulnerabilities, including 58 critical-severity ones, two that were observed as being abused in the wild, and one which has already been publicly disclosed.

On top of that, Microsoft shipped fixes for another 428 Chromium bugs, as well.

A jump in numbers

There are simply too many vulnerabilities to mention all of them, however two that are being exploited in the wild are CVE-2026-56155 and CVE-2026-56164. The former is described as an “Insufficient granularity of access control in Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS)” bug, which allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally. It carries a severity score of 7.8/10 (high).

The latter is a “Missing authentication for critical function in Microsoft Office SharePoint” bug that allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network. Microsoft assigned it a medium severity score (5.3/10), but the National Vulnerability Database gave it a 9.8/10 (critical).

Other notable mentions include CVE-2026-50661, a protection mechanism failure in Windows BitLocker that allows unauthorized attackers to bypass a security feature with a physical attack, and CVE-2026-48561, an improper neutralization of special elements used in a command in Microsoft Copilot, that allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.

If you think fixing 622 vulnerabilities in a month is a lot, you’re absolutely right. It’s well above what Microsoft is used to do, and this is most likely due to the company now using the fabled Mythos - Anthropic’s cybersecurity-oriented AI.

In June 2026, roughly a month and a half after the release of Mythos, Microsoft fixed 206 flaws, which raised eyebrows because it was significantly above the company’s usual amount of bugs fixed.

In May it fixed 120 flaws, in April 167, and in March - 79.

Philips Hue is widely known as the best smart bulb brand, but if you're looking to get yourself kitted out with a full Hue setup from the main range, it'll cost you. You might have spotted the brand's Essential range — which looks very similar to the main lineup but comes in at a much more affordable price — and wondered where the compromise is. You can see an Essential bulb on the left of the image above, next to a main range bulb on the right.

This article is here to help you figure out whether the Philips Hue Essential range is right for you, or whether it's better to splurge on the original lineup. We've tested both, and you can get the full low-down on what we thought of the budget-friendly bulbs in our Philips Hue Essential series review. For a quick summary, though — plus links to buy — read on.

Philips Hue Essential bulbs: reasons to buy

Let's start with the good bits about the Philips Hue Essentials range. Here are the main benefits to know about:

✅ The performance is excellent: In her side-by-side tests with the main range, our Homes Editor Cat Ellis found "both were equally responsive, and produced colors that were identical to my naked eye when [she] switched between scenes". The Essential bulbs are based on a different color-matching technology to regular Hue lights, but Cat "had a hard time telling the difference".

✅ They're compatible with the full Hue ecosystem: The Essential bulbs will play nicely with any Hue gadgets you already have, making them a great way to extend your existing smart light setup.

✅ They're much cheaper than the main range: While prices vary depending on exactly which bulb you're buying, generally the Essential models come in around half the price of the main range.

Philips Hue Essential bulbs: reasons to avoid

So what about the downsides? These are the main compromises you'll be making if you opt for an Essential bulb:

❌ The white shades don't match the main range: Essential bulbs have a narrower white light range, which is an issue if you were hoping to add them into a room that already has bulbs from the main lineup.

❌ They can't dim as low: Essential bulbs can only dim to 2%, whereas the main range can go right down to 0.2%. If you want seriously muted lighting, you'll need to shell out a bit more and stick to the main range.

❌ They can't get as bright: Essential bulbs have a lower maximum brightness capacity — they can reach 803 lumens, whereas some of the standard White & Color Ambiance bulbs can hit 1,600 lumens. It's worth nothing that this spec varies by bulb; not all standard bulbs have a higher max brightness than their Essential counterpart.

Philips Hue Essential Starter kits

Most people getting started with a Philips Hue lighting setup will begin by purchasing a 'Starter kit', which bundles some bulbs, a Philips Hue Bridge, and occasionally a bonus Philips Hue accessory. A Bridge isn't essential, but it is a good idea if you want to maximize the potential of your bulbs. There are a few variations available, with different numbers and kinds of bulbs included; I've listed a selection here.

US starter kits

UK starter kits

Philips Hue Essential bulbs

If you already have a Bridge and are looking to extend your setup, or are planning on going without (basic bulb functions can be controlled via Bluetooth), you can buy individual or multipack bulbs. There's a massive range — I've just included a selection here.

Whichever bulb lineup you choose, you'll have to decide between Hue's three light types. White and color ambiance bulbs can emit any one of millions of RGB colors, including a wide range of different white tones. White bulbs emit a warm light at a set color temperature, and White ambiance bulbs can be set to any one of a massive range of cool to warm white lights.

US bulbs

UK bulbs

• Microsoft deleted a user’s OneDrive account after it was compromised
• This resulted in the loss of 25 years’ worth of photos and games
• The incident is a reminder to use multiple backup solutions

How much do you have stored in your Microsoft account? Consider all the photos and documents backed up to OneDrive, the games and apps linked to your username, and all the rest. Many of us have a lot stored there, but as one Microsoft user recently found out, it can all be taken away in an instant — with Microsoft itself doing the deleting.

Posting on X, Joshua Khane related how a recent hack of their account led to Microsoft taking the nuclear option and removing 25 years’ worth of data, including photos of their infant son and “thousands of Euros spent on games.”

Khane shared an email from Microsoft explaining that, since “unauthorized access occurred” on their account — meaning a likely compromise by hackers — “we have permanently suspended the account.” Microsoft confirmed that “this action is irreversible … Additionally, if you had files stored in OneDrive, those files are no longer accessible. Due to encryption and privacy safeguards, even our engineers cannot retrieve them.”

The move left Khane incensed, with the disbelieving user condemning Microsoft’s decision not to restore their account: “One of the biggest companies ever couldn’t do that so they just deleted that sh*t like it was nothing??”

“Even though the security could be tighter from my side (lessons are learned),” they added, “it bothers me the most that Microsoft says that they cannot recover my account and suspended it … Thousands of Euros are gone down the drain as I’ve lost all my games also! Couldn’t back those up and I relied on Microsoft to keep that safe, even if I got compromised!”

How to keep your data safe

After the saga was posted on Reddit, other users chimed in with similar stories of their own. “Happened to me also,” said one user. “I had payment proof and everything going back 20 years. They said sorry, best we can do is lock your account for good.”

Another had a piece of advice for Khane: “When this happened to me, I created the new account and sent an email to them (on the same thread) with the new account info. They basically cloned the old account into the new one and I got everything back.” Elsewhere, many users recommended Khane take legal action against Microsoft.

If you want to avoid a similar fate, it’s important that you don’t just back up your important documents to one source — be that cloud storage like OneDrive or an external storage drive. If something goes wrong, your only copy has vanished into the ether.

Instead, build redundancy into your backups. Use a cloud backup service like Backblaze and a local NAS or offline archive drive. If possible, ensure your backups are in different physical locations, including one off the premises.

As Redditor Linesey rightly suggested, “Get a NAS, get an off-site location like a safe deposit box for cold storage, and then use the cloud if you really want to, as another layer.” That way, you’ve got at least one fallback option if a firm like Microsoft decides to delete your data without warning.

It’s also worth setting up passkeys and multi-factor authentication on your accounts and using one of the best password managers to strengthen and store all your logins. That way, you make it harder for bad actors to gain access to your account — and less tempting for Microsoft to hit the big red button, with irreversible consequences.

• Windows 11's July update has arrived
• It packs some smart features, including pausing updates at length and a new recovery option
• This patch also cures a nasty bug that slowly eats more and more drive space, but there's an issue to be aware of for Dell laptop owners

Microsoft has released its monthly patch for Windows 11 and the July update is a biggie, packing a feature that I've been awaiting for quite some time.

That would be the ability to pause updates on Windows 11 Home – beyond just a short period of time, which has been the only choice to date – and there are some other impressive additions from Microsoft here.

I'm going to pick out my top four features introduced by the July update, as well as rounding up some of the other more notable changes here. I'll also highlight an important bug fix that has been deployed for a nasty flaw that eats your drive space – along with a warning for some of those with a Dell laptop (who may not get this update for a good reason, as you'll see).

As ever, these changes were seen in the last optional update (June preview), and most of these features are being rolled out gradually, so you may not see them right away after installing this update (indeed, you may have to wait a while based on how the update winds blow regarding your exact PC configuration).

1. Pausing updates

Sometimes you want to hold off installing an update because of a bug that you're nervous about potentially affecting your system, and up until now, Windows 11 users have only been able to avoid any given update for five weeks.

Okay, so that's a fairly long time, but what if the bug is one of those persistent and niggly affairs that Microsoft takes an age to fix? You may want to delay the update beyond five weeks, and now you can. The catch is that you'll need to continually renew the delay for every 35-day period, but nonetheless, you can now keep an update at bay for as long as you want. (Well – until you're forced to update to a new version of Windows 11, that is, when support runs out for your current version).

2. Point-in-time restore

Another neat addition is point-in-time restore, a new recovery option that you can employ when something bad happens to your PC and you can no longer reach the desktop. Point-in-time restore lets you roll back a non-functioning system to a previous working state. It reverts to the "full system state" meaning that all your apps, files, and settings are recovered as captured at that previous time.

Hopefully this is a feature that you'll never need, but if you do, you'll be very glad of it. Note that the system backups obviously take up drive space, with older backups automatically deleted after 72 hours by default. Also, if you have a system drive that's smaller than 200GB, you'll have to enable this feature yourself (as it won't be turned on automatically due to potential space issues – note that you can specify a maximum amount of storage space used).

3. Fewer annoyances with widgets

The July update is making the widgets panel 'quieter' by which Microsoft means that it has cut out a lot of clutter. The main change is that by default the panel just displays your widgets and Microsoft has got rid of the promotional nonsense in terms of ads and the MSN feed. Notifications and taskbar badges are also minimized by default, and widgets no longer open when you hover over them.

There are some other streamlining moves here, and even if you don't use widgets, I think this is a noteworthy change as it shows the direction Microsoft is now heading in with Windows 11 – chilling out on the upselling as was previously promised (if not entirely banishing it).

4. Screen tint

Windows 11 has been graced with a number of accessibility improvements in the July update, first of which is a new screen tint ability. This does what it says on the tin, allowing you to tint the screen with a choice of colors to help reduce eye strain, or to make text more easily readable. You can adjust the tint intensity, and this is a very useful addition that'll save people from downloading a third-party app to get these kinds of color overlays.

Other features in the July update

There's quite a lot going on here aside from the above major moves, and that includes Microsoft boosting the speed at which File Explorer launches (helping Windows 11 to feel more performant overall).

There's a whole lot of work on the Bluetooth front, too, as Microsoft notes: "This update improves reliability and performance when connecting to and using Bluetooth devices." That includes better driver stability, improved audio routing for calls via Phone Link, and more.

File Explorer has also been honed to be more reliable, and Microsoft has implemented a performance tweak to the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) that means PCs will shut down more promptly. If you've ever sat staring at your computer while it takes 20 seconds to shut down, wondering what on earth it's doing, that kind of behavior will hopefully be a rarer occurrence going forward.

A major bug fix – and Dell laptop problems

There's some good news for those of you who have been suffering at the hands of a mysterious bug that eats storage space (due to an out-of-control database file). This is fixed with the July update (the cure was in the June preview before it), so you can grab this to resolve the issue (hopefully).

There's some bad news on the bug front, though, namely that you won't get this update on some Dell devices with Intel CPUs, as Microsoft has blocked it due to the July patch causing all sorts of weird issues. I say it's bad news, but at least Microsoft caught the problem and has prevented the update from being piped to those machines.

Microsoft informs us: "This update might not be available for a limited number of Dell devices with Intel processors due to an incompatibility reported by Dell that can potentially cause unexpected shutdowns, poor performance, increased heat, and battery drain. We are working together with Dell to prevent the affected models from experiencing the issue and plan to release a resolution for affected devices in the coming days."

So, if you were wondering why you couldn't get this patch on your Dell laptop, now you know. You'll just have to sit tight for now until Microsoft and Dell get this ironed out.

• The UK is proposing a social media curfew for ages 16 and 17
• Access would be blocked from midnight to 6am by default
• However, teens will be able to change these settings if they wish

Having already announced plans to ban under-16s from social media apps early next year, the UK government is now proposing a midnight social media curfew for young people aged 16 and 17 — though parents seem less impressed with this latest idea.

As reported by the BBC, the suggested curfew would run between midnight and 6am, and would be combined by certain "addictive" features being disabled in apps like Instagram and TikTok at any time of day. Those features would include infinite scroll, for example, and videos auto–playing when loaded.

The measures will be "crucial in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more quality time with family and friends," according to Technology Secretary Liz Kendall. They're also intended to provide a gentler 'on ramp' to these apps for kids turning 16, having previously not had any access.

Changes are also going to be enforced for AI chatbots, which will be required to encourage regular breaks for under-18s, and to have safeguards in place to prevent "dangerous, misleading, or unverified mental health advice" from appearing. The moves are being made after a pilot scheme involving more than 300 teenagers and their families.

Teens can opt out

Keir Starmer to announce midnight social media curfew for teenagers from r/ukpolitics

There's not much detail in the government's announcement, so questions around mechanisms and timing have yet to be answered. It's possible the target date for this is the same as the under-16s social media ban – springtime (March, April, May) in the UK.

What's different to the social media ban is that the curfew timings and the removal of addictive features are going to be optional. While app developers will be told by the government to have these restrictions in place by default, teenagers will have the option to disable them if they wish.

Reactions on Reddit suggest the measures will end up being "ineffective and useless", with one poster comparing it to speed limit warnings for cars — very easy to ignore. Commenters also point out that this may require more age verification, and that existing parental control tools already exist to block social media access for kids at certain times.

"How is it any of the government's business what time anyone uses social media?" reads one post, while another calls into question allowing 16-year-olds to join the army but not letting them on social media past midnight.

The prepaid carrier Mint Mobile has been making headlines recently with its huge discounts on the latest Android flagships. Last week, I was shouting out the carrier's $500 discount on the Samsung Galaxy S26 series, but I've just spotted another great option.

It's a record-breaking $650 upfront discount on the latest Google Pixel 10, which is just $150 at the carrier today without the need for trading in. While you'll still need a plan, Mint Mobile is also offering a full year of unlimited data for just $180. That means a device and plan for just $329 upfront.

Getting such a decent phone for so cheap isn't to be ignored, and these types of deals have been incredibly popular at Mint Mobile over the past few months. Just a few weeks ago, the Galaxy S26 series sold out at the carrier, so I wouldn't be surprised if this Pixel 10 series deal did too.

This particular deal is listed as exclusive to new customers, though, so you may be excluded if you already have a line with Mint Mobile. As always, these deals are very much aimed at people looking to bundle up one of the latest phones with a super-cheap plan that really undercuts the traditional big carriers.

Record-breaking Google Pixel 10 deal at Mint Mobile

• See more: check out all of today's deals at Mint Mobile

While you can technically get the Pixel 10 alongside any plan at Mint Mobile, the carrier has every plan listed at $180, so it makes sense to go for the option that's usually the priciest. And, it's a good plan, too. You get unlimited talk, text, and 50GB of high-speed 5G data per month for one of the most competitive prices on the market.

Note, if you're just interested in the plan and not the phone, then Mint Mobile also has some great 'bring your own device' summer specials currently. I've listed those out, alongside today's deal on the Galaxy S26 series, just below.

Also available at Mint Mobile this week...

A new customer booking system, a bespoke CRM, or an app that can be sold as a new revenue stream. Small businesses are rarely short of great ideas, but often lack the time, funding, or technical expertise to go from idea to functional app.

This is the gap that vibe coding aims to fill, helping small businesses launch apps by combining plain English prompts with AI.

I caught up with Yoav Orlev, Head of Product at Base44, to get some insight into how small businesses can get the most out of vibe coding platforms. We also discuss some of the common pitfalls and risks associated with vibe coding and how to overcome them.

Vibe Coding has a lot of buzz around it, but what does it actually mean for the small businesses that can benefit from it?

Instead of needing to know how to build an application, small business owners can just describe what they want and it gets built. They’re essentially having a conversation with AI instead of wrestling with tools, templates, or code. There are significant advantages to vibe-coding, including:

Removing the “gatekeepers"

Previously, a small business owner who wanted a professional website had two options: pay a developer (expensive) or spend hours learning code (time-consuming). Vibe coding collapses both into a single conversation. A florist, a personal trainer, a local accountant, anyone can now describe their business and get a professional application without any technical knowledge.

Speed to market changes everything

A small business can go from idea to functional application in minutes, not weeks. For a new business owner, that's the difference between launching now and launching never.

Iteration becomes effortless

Want to change your text? Swap your color scheme? Add an agent? Instead of digging through menus or calling a developer, you just type what you want changed via natural conversion. Small businesses can now move and adapt as fast as their ideas do.

The playing field levels out

Enterprise businesses have had dev teams, agencies, and big wallets for years. Vibe coding gives small businesses access to the same quality output without the same budget. This is a significant shift, letting smaller businesses compete with larger ones.

Vibe coding means that for the first time, the barrier to having a custom application is no longer technical skill or budget. That's a meaningful unlock for millions of small business owners who previously felt locked out of the growing digital economy.

For years, small businesses have benefited from drag-and-drop tools. How has vibe coding changed this approach? What new benefits does it bring to the table?

Drag-and-drop was a genuine breakthrough. It opened up web creation to anyone, regardless of technical skill or budget constraints. Users needed to know what they wanted, where to put it, and how to make it look right, but they had more access and guidance than ever before.

Vibe coding starts the create-and-build process with a conversation. Users describe their business and goals, and the platform builds around that. It's a fundamentally different kind of interaction than drag-and-drop. Users are now not operating a tool but collaborating with one.

Vibe coding isn't here to replace drag-and-drop, and that's an important distinction. Both have real advantages. Vibe coding wins on speed and ease of use. Drag-and-drop gives users precision and hands-on creative control. The real breakthrough for small businesses is having both working together seamlessly by describing what they need, letting AI get there fast, then fine-tuning the details manually without ever switching platforms or starting over.

That combination is what gives small businesses a truly holistic way to build and grow an online presence. Less time building and more time focusing on their business.

If an entrepreneur wanted to build a tool for their business today, where should they start? What does a good prompt look like?

The best place to start is with the problem, not the solution.

Before opening any tool or writing a single prompt, an entrepreneur should get specific about what's actually slowing their business down. Is it taking bookings manually over the phone? Chasing invoices? Answering the same customer questions over and over? The clearest prompts come from the clearest problems.

When it comes to writing a good prompt, specificity is everything.

A weak prompt sounds like "build me a website for my business." A strong prompt sounds like "I run a mobile dog grooming service in Chicago with three employees. I need a way for customers to book appointments online, see my pricing by dog size, and get automatic confirmation texts."

The more context users give, such as industry, customer, specific workflow, and the outcome that’s trying to be achieved, the more useful the result. Think of it less like a search query and more like briefing a new hire on their first day. The AI works best when it understands not just what you want, but why you need it.

From there, iteration is your best friend. A first prompt doesn't need to be perfect. Get something on the screen, react to it, and refine from there. The most effective builders treat it as a back-and-forth conversation rather than a one-shot request.

What are some common examples of small businesses using vibe coding to build internal tools? Which do you believe are the most valuable and why?

The range of tools small businesses are building with vibe coding is remarkable. We're seeing everything from custom booking and scheduling systems, to lightweight CRM and lead tracking tools, client-facing portals, invoice generators, staff onboarding wikis, loyalty program trackers, and more.

The most valuable apps tend to be the ones replacing a manual process that was quietly costing the business time or customers. Custom booking systems are one standout. For service-based businesses, time is the product, and a system built around their exact workflow has a direct and immediate impact on revenue. Lightweight CRM tools are another reason because most small businesses aren't losing customers due to bad service; they're losing them because follow-up falls through the cracks. A tool built around how they actually sell, rather than how generic software thinks they should, makes all the difference.

The common thread is fit. What makes vibe coding genuinely powerful for small businesses is that they can build exactly what they need and tailored for them, rather than settling for something “close enough.” That's a shift that levels the playing field in a very real way.

Can entrepreneurs also use vibe coding to build customer-facing tools and new revenue streams? What are some good examples of this?

Absolutely! This where vibe coding starts to look less like a productivity tool and more like a genuine business accelerator. The same technology that helps a small business automate internal processes can also help them build entirely new products, services, and revenue streams that simply weren't accessible before without a development budget.

The examples are wide-ranging. A personal trainer can go beyond selling sessions and build a branded fitness app where clients track workouts and access custom programs, turning a one-to-one service into a scalable product. A marketing consultant can build a self-serve audit tool that generates leads while they sleep. A local chef can launch a meal planning subscription with a custom interface rather than relying on a third-party platform that takes a cut of every transaction. A retailer can build a personalized product recommendation quiz that increases average order value without touching their core website.

What all of these have in common is that they were previously only realistic for businesses with developer resources and big pockets. Vibe coding changes that entirely. The barrier to launching a new revenue stream is no longer technical and costly. It's just having the idea and the ambition to act on it.

Some business owners (myself included) have found ourselves stuck in a loop where AI fixes one issue, but breaks several others. What are some golden rules users can apply to get back on track when the ‘vibe’ goes wrong?

1. If possible, try to break down your request into smaller pieces. Sometimes, when trying to add too many features at once, the agent makes a mistake.
2. If something doesn't work at first, be very specific and clear. In many cases, it can also be helpful to state what the AI shouldn't do. For example, tell AI to change the layout, but make sure not to change any colors in the app.
3. Almost all vibe coding platforms allow users to revert. So if you are failing to add something 3 or 4 times in a row, then revert to the last successful version and try in a slightly different way.
4. Search the tool documentation. There are usually many examples and “how tos” that can carry you over a certain hurdle.

What are some of the pitfalls and risks that entrepreneurs should be aware of when vibe coding internal tools and potential products? 

There are 2 main pitfalls we see.

1. Not giving your product to users. We talk to a lot of users who keep building more and more features, since it's so easy, yet they hold off releasing the product, fearing it's too early. Don't. AI is all about moving as fast as possible. If you have a working product that will help someone, put it in the hands of users and get feedback as quickly as possible. Worry less about the perfect product and more about usage.
2. Security is huge. Most tools nowadays offer security scans, but as a builder, make sure you take the time to really understand how the scan works, what it covers, and what issues you might face. Most tools will cover you, but only if you know how to leverage them. Take the time to learn it or consult someone who can walk you through it.

When a trusted friend recommends a product or service to you, it can alter the way you think about the potential purchase. You tend to lower your guard, with the knowledge that some of the filtering work has already been done on your behalf.

This is particularly true when that friend understands your tastes and priorities, and how much you’re looking to spend; the recommendation carries weight before you even visit the website or look at the product page. By the time you click, a large part of the decision has already been made.

Now there is evidence that AI recommendations can have a similar effect on consumers.

We recently analyzed web traffic and conversion data from more than 35,000 ecommerce brands using Shopify and it revealed something significant: referrals from AI tools such as ChatGPT are converting at an average rate of 3.6%, compared with 1.23% for traditional Google search traffic. AI referrals are also generating around 30% higher revenue per session.

For ecommerce businesses, these findings point to an important change in consumer behavior that presents both an opportunity and a challenge.

The buying journey is changing

For years, digital marketing strategies have been built around search engines. A user enters keywords, compares links, visits multiple sites and eventually makes a decision. Brands compete to win the click, then persuade the customer after they arrive.

AI is changing the sequence.

Consumers are no longer simply typing broad phrases like “best running shoes” or “cheap Bluetooth speaker”. Instead, they are asking the likes of ChatGPT highly detailed questions tailored to their exact needs.

Where previously the user might have received a list of product websites to explore, now they are being given a specific tailor-made recommendation.

In effect, AI platforms are compressing the consideration stage of the buying journey. Much of the evaluation happens before the consumer reaches the brand’s website. By the time they click through, they already have a degree of confidence in the recommendation they have been given – much like the case of the recommendation from a friend.

This creates a different type of visitor altogether.

Traditional search traffic can often be broad and exploratory. AI-referred visitors, however, increasingly resemble ‘pre-qualified’ leads. They arrive with clearer expectations and stronger buying intent, which helps explain the higher conversion rates.

Why visibility now means something different

For brands, the opportunity is clear: higher intent traffic generally means stronger revenue per visitor and more efficient acquisition.

The challenge, however, is that many ecommerce businesses are still measuring success using frameworks built for the ‘traditional’ approach.

A large proportion of marketing strategies remain heavily focused on traffic volumes, click-through rates and keyword rankings. Yet AI recommendation systems rely on different signals. Visibility inside AI-generated answers depends less on traditional advertising tactics and more on credibility, authority and contextual relevance across the wider web.

Brands are no longer only competing for search rankings. They are competing to become trusted sources within the information ecosystem AI tools rely upon.

That has major implications for how companies think about content and discoverability.

Reviews become more influential because AI systems frequently incorporate them into recommendations. Third-party editorial coverage matters more because it contributes to authority and trustworthiness. Community discussions on forums and social media also gain importance because they help establish credibility and context.

The businesses that perform well in AI-driven discovery are likely to be those with strong reputations spread consistently across multiple trusted sources, rather than those relying purely on aggressive performance marketing.

Rethinking marketing measurement

There is another important lesson in this data. Many businesses may currently have an incomplete understanding of which channels are genuinely driving growth.

One of the perennial challenges with digital advertising is ‘attribution distortion’. In simple terms, platforms optimize for conversions, often retargeting existing customers or users who were already close to purchasing. This can create inflated perceptions of acquisition performance.

At the same time, AI-referred traffic may still be under-measured inside many organizations because it remains a comparatively new source of inbound visitors.

The danger is that businesses continue over-investing in channels that appear successful according to legacy metrics while underestimating emerging forms of high-intent traffic.

This matters because AI-driven discovery is likely to become more important over time.

Consumer expectations are evolving rapidly. People increasingly want answers tailored to their exact circumstances rather than broad lists of generic options. AI interfaces are naturally suited to that type of interaction because they can process nuance and context in ways traditional search engines struggle to replicate.

What brands should do next

Brands therefore need to rethink not only where they advertise, but how they present their offer online altogether.

That starts with understanding how the business appears across the wider digital landscape. Are reviews consistent and trustworthy? Is the brand being referenced by credible publications and communities? Is product information clear, accurate and useful?

It also means creating content that answers real consumer questions in detailed and genuinely helpful ways, rather than simply targeting high-volume keywords.

None of this means traditional search is disappearing overnight. Search engines remain hugely important, and publishers continue to play a central role in shaping the information AI systems consume and reference.

What is changing is the path consumers take before making decisions.

The era of winning attention purely through visibility is gradually giving way to an era of winning trust before the click ever happens.

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AI took enterprises by storm, with many opting for integration as fast as possible in fear of falling behind the more ambitious tech adopters. But speed alone isn’t always an advantage and as a result, 95% of enterprise pilot programs still failed to deliver measurable financial returns just last year.

Now that we’re a few years past the initial AI explosion, the pressure is on to prove true ROI from these projects.

Businesses have most frequently poured resources into AI tools aimed at boosting productivity and automating workflow in hopes to target the most universal, longest standing business goal: doing more with less. But what leaders should be doing is identifying where the technology can solve the biggest issues specific to today’s business climate. One of those issues is cash flow forecasting.

This year, 52% of American CFOs named cost management as their most worrisome internal concern. While a well-oiled cost management strategy remains critical for creating a strong financial cushion and remaining resilient, balancing fixed operations with constantly shifting real world variables is never easy.

As companies increasingly look for ways to remain nimble and improve decision-making, those that can leverage AI to forecast trends in cash flow demand, churn risk, and spending pattern shifts will find themselves on a quicker path to ROI. Doing so requires harnessing the right data, and these financial signals are hidden in the transaction layer.

While businesses have long mined transaction data for traditional analytics and reporting, it’s far under-utilized in AI strategies. There needs to be a shift from viewing these insights as archival records of past performance to real time indicators of what’s to come.

Making revenue forecasting more adaptive

There are several revenue indicators that lie within bottom funnel operations that AI has the ability of turning into actionable insights. From frequently adjusted terms within contract renewals to the average time it’s taking customers to finalize transactions, purchase signals like these can help AI systems make smarter predictions about demand or accounts receivable.

To provide a more granular view into the value of this data layer, let’s look at upgrade or renewal activity for example. Customer retention is a key element to maintaining predictable cash flow and is among the first to go during an economic shakeup.

Tracking accounts that consistently upgrade a product or service on time to see that they suddenly miss a milestone could immediately flag eventual churn risk. These deviations should also be compared across similar accounts to segment risk based on geography, product lines, or size and industry.

From there, leaders can act proactively with strategies like targeted discounts or incentive measures to encourage retention. Alternatively, accounts that are expanding faster than expected could provide predictions into other customers who might be ready for higher value offerings.

Identifying cues like those that often precede cancellations, along with delayed payments, reduced usage, or smaller order size for instance, can equip finance or leadership teams with rolling forecasts. Whereas on the other hand, monthly or quarterly forecasts typically only rely on historical averages and don’t provide the real time guidance needed for a quickly shifting marketplace.

This can manifest into a powerful decision-making engine. One that is dynamic enough to support flexible cost management strategies. Seeing where cash-flow is moving allows leaders to make more informed decisions.

For example, if it’s consistently being found that these customers are upgrading at slower rates then it may be a good indicator to preemptively reduce inventory or relax timelines for product development teams. In turn, leaders can avoid allocating too many resources to demand that may not end up materializing.

This also gives teams more flexibility to adjust spending and production before any cash flow pressure sets in.

An important element to keep in mind is that these purchasing behavior insights often sit across separate systems. While sales teams may have insights into average order values, only legal or finance may know how payment terms are changing across clients.

First mapping where all of these metrics currently live is critical to then unify them into one place for predictive models to cross-analyze everything against each other and make stronger recommendations.

Connecting to ROI directly

Many businesses have revolved their AI projects around generative AI for efficiency gains in producing content or developing software for instance. But not only are these task-level initiatives harder to prove a measurable impact from, in some cases they end up hurting productivity in the long run with added time spent reviewing and editing AI outputs.

When it comes to analyzing data for forecasting and predictions, AI has shown immense value and is tied to more tangible business outcomes. Now, forecasting real time insights tied directly to revenue can help leaders remain adaptable in an increasingly unpredictable economy, offering a fast track to ROI on these projects.

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You know what Rick and Morty season 9 has been missing so far? Something marginally normal. Thankfully, Morty and Summer are off to summer camp (the season, that is — they didn't name the camp after her) in this week's episode.

Obviously, I'm being hopelessly naive in thinking that this is going to resemble anything like a routine summer-camp adventure, especially seeing as Beth and Rick are being left home alone in the meantime; I mean, what could go wrong — at either venue?

It's exhausting even trying to guess at what's coming, so I might as well stop trying, and answer the question you're here to have answered: when does Rick and Morty season 9 episode 9 arrive on Adult Swim, Hulu, and HBO Max?

What time can I watch Rick and Morty season 9 episode 9 on Adult Swim, Hulu, and HBO Max?

In the US, Rick and Morty season 9 episode 9 will debut on Adult Swim on Sunday, July 19 at 8pm PT / 11pm ET.

Viewers elsewhere, as well as in the US, have two streaming options: Hulu and HBO Max. Episodes should appear on these platforms 24 hours after they've aired on Adult Swim, meaning you can expect episode 9 to land on Monday, July 20.

These are the timings you need to take note of:

• US – 12am PT / 3am ET
• Canada – 12am PT / 3am ET
• UK – 8am BST
• India – 12:30pm IST
• Singapore – 3pm SGT
• Australia – 6pm AEST
• New Zealand – 8pm NZDT

When do new episodes of Rick and Morty season 9 come out?

Rick and Morty season 9 is set to have 10 episodes. As long as there are no unexpected delays, we can expect it to follow the following release schedule:

• Episode 1: out now
• Episode 2: out now
• Episode 3: out now
• Episode 4: out now
• Episode 5: out now
• Episode 6: out now
• Episode 7: out now
• Episode 8: out now
• Episode 9: July 19
• Episode 10: July 26

• New York State has temporarily banned new, large-scale data centers
• One-year moratorium affects new 50MW+ campuses
• NY wants to assess community, environmental and grid impacts

New York State has banned the construction of new hyperscaler data centers, marking the latest step as mounting local opposition against AI and cloud facilities builds, with communities citing concerns over rising electricity costs, water consumption and other environmental factors,

State Governor Kathy Hochul is responsible for introducing the first statewide moratorium on new campuses, which imposes a one-year pause while the state looks into the environment, energy supply and communities.

Projects that have already been permitted will still continue as expected, but new buildouts will face restrictions and delays until the moratorium is lifted.

Data centers banned in NY - for one year

The one-year ban buys the state time to evolve regulations to address some of the challenges presented by large hyperscaler data centers, including strained grid supplies, emissions and other environmental impacts, and stresses on local communities.

Under the new ban, campuses that require at least 50MW of electricity will be affected, which for an AI data center isn't all that much. Some of the largest measure power consumption in the hundreds of megawatts, or even gigawatts in the case of high-profile, flagship campuses like OpenAI's Stargate Project.

"[The moratorium] comes as the direct result of immense public pressure from people across the state demanding their elected leaders protect them from Big Tech's assault, which threatens the state's clean air and water and New Yorkers' financial security," New York State's Food & Water Watch Director Laura Shindell said.

"New York has always been at the forefront of innovation and change but we’ve also always guaranteed that New Yorkers benefit," Hochul noted.

Although New York represents the first statewide temporary ban, other regions have also been looking to pause buildouts as they assess the damages. Just last month, Seattle also voted to ban new projects for a year.

For years, the central question around AI was whether it really works the way much of the market’s hype says it does.

That debate is settled, and we’ve seen what AI can do. The more important question now – and one most organizations still aren’t asking – is whether we’re working alongside it the right way.

That shift in framing matters. Budgets have been allocated, tools deployed, and pilot programs have graduated into full-scale production.

And yet, something is still missing.

IBM’s Institute for Business Value found that only 25% of AI initiatives have delivered their expected ROI, and just 16% have successfully scaled across the business despite years of investment and genuine enthusiasm for what the technology can do.

The problem isn’t AI itself; the bottleneck stems from what organizations have or have not built around it.

That’s a leadership problem, and fixing it will require more than buying better tools or scheduling more trainings.

Stop Investing in the Wrong Places

The instinct for most organizations has been to buy the latest platforms, stand up a few pilot programs, and bring in a vendor to train their workers. That approach addresses the surface-level challenge, but misses the greater underlying issue. The truth is the greatest barrier to AI maturity is the lack of investment in the human infrastructure needed to support it.

The companies seeing the strongest AI outcomes are rarely those with the most sophisticated or expensive models. They’re the ones that have fundamentally rethought how their people work. Among organizations that Boston Consulting Group designated as AI leaders, roughly 70% of resources went towards people and process changes, 20% to IT infrastructure, and only 10% to the AI models themselves. Most organizations have that ratio backwards.

When leaders become hyper-focused on deploying the right tools and launching the right uses cases, they neglect the organizational muscles that are essential to using AI responsibly and consistently. All the tools in the world won’t close that gap without the right training, guardrails, and policies to back them up. And building that support structure must be a leadership priority, not an afterthought.

The Productivity Gains Are Real, But Fragile

None of this is to say AI isn’t creating real value. It absolutely is – at least, for the companies using it well. But those gains are more fragile that many leaders realize. They evaporate when companies lack support for their employees across their interactions with the technology, or when they fail to clearly communicate where human judgement and critical thinking are still essential.

The data here is hard to ignore. Among employees who use AI on the job, less than 8% report receiving extensive training with their tools. And that number has barely budged despite a sharp increase in daily usage. Moreover, 60% say it often takes them longer to figure out how to accomplish a task with an AI tool than it does to simply do it themselves.

Companies are deploying AI faster than they are enabling people to use it, and in doing so, may be creating exactly the friction and confusion they were trying to eliminate.

What Leaders Owe Their People

This is where leadership has to show up differently. The gap between AI potential and AI reality isn’t going to close through procurement decisions or new rollout announcements. It closes with deliberate, ongoing investment in people. That means three things:

Focus trainings on people, not just tools: AI is evolving faster than training curriculums can keep up. Invest in training role-specific judgements, helping people understand where AI makes them faster and where it introduces challenges or risks.

Move beyond adoption rate metrics: If 80% of your organization is using AI and productivity is still flat or declining, adoption is the wrong metric. Measure time-to-completion on real work tasks and be honest about what you find. Some use cases that are slowing people down simply shouldn’t be using AI.

Stop treating AI policy as a compliance checkbox: Companies getting this right have built AI governance into how they plan and execute work daily, not appended into and acceptable use document. That means leaders who model where they use AI and where they don’t, and who are willing to explain why.

Making AI Potential a Reality

The technology is ready. But leaders need to be able to do more than allocate budget and monitor usage.

They need to decide when AI should and should not be used, what to rebuild rather than automate, and how to support their teams throughout all of it.

Those are the questions most organizations are still failing to ask, and until they do, the ROI gap isn’t going anywhere.

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Reflecting on my time with Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis at Summer Game Fest 2026, I really can’t wait to fight more dinosaurs and solve more puzzles as Lara Croft once more — but I’m yearning to see more to get a better idea of the reimagining at work.

Playing one area complete with lush rainforest setting, puzzles, waterfalls, and dinosaurs, I, first and foremost, was instantly having a great time, and the experience scratched both my Tomb Raider and my Uncharted itch.

However, it was quite a self-contained preview, and my overwhelming emotion after finishing it — after basking in its beauty, at least — is that I really need to see more to get a better handle on the reimagining and the specifics of how that differs from a remake. I got a glimpse into Lara’s Peruvian adventure, but not much more.

Welcome to the jungle

What I can categorically say, however, is that this is a reimagination for the modern day, well and truly. The visuals are stunningly beautiful, and the rendition of the jungle that this iteration of Lara Croft finds herself in is exquisite.

The lush and verdant vegetation, beautifully detailed ruins, and fabulous water effects all combine to make for a really beautiful setting, and this may be the best-looking Lara Croft game ever once it comes out — which is saying something after the Survivor trilogy. Full of secret tunnels and routes, as well as overgrown passages to cut down and spectacular jumps to make across ruins and walkways, the game’s environments are set to be spectacular playgrounds.

The core of the segment I previewed involved Lara solving an ancient water and gear puzzle to progress past a giant gate, and presumably open a route to find treasure. The challenge itself was well done and featured a good mix of what I would call the b*****d-hard puzzles of older games, with some parts that were more intuitive. It felt well-balanced between giving you hints and giving you nothing.

Such was the attraction of the area and to explore all it had to offer, the inner looter in me took great glee in searching every nook and cranny for shiny ornaments, trinkets, and secrets, but I was left wondering whether these are just things to be found and stuffed away in a menu, or whether these, hopefully, are secrets that lead to something greater or play into side quests, or similar. One can only hope.

It’s got the moves

Lara herself is a joy to play again, and this version did not disappoint. Wonderfully voiced and acted by Alix Wilton Regan, I really felt like this version of the icon felt more ‘human’ than ever before.

Away from some gravity-defying jumps, this mainly came from a weightier, more realistic move set that felt more grounded. Even the flair moves and acrobatics felt believably human through my controller. She also feels more vulnerable, less of a video game behemoth with overpowered guns, and much more breakable, which adds a bit of peril too.

The modernization of Lara’s tools feels well done; gadgets are intuitive to use and helpful without spoon-feeding you too much, while they are also well implemented in terms of how they look on screen, with a scan’s net wrapping around ruins, for example.

Lara also has a new focus ability to add to her modern skillset that works a lot like bullet time from Max Payne and is satisfying to use — and to build up, by deploying well-timed dodges and acrobatic moves.

This all came to the fore toward the end of my preview when I encountered some iconic enemies: dinosaurs! Taking on three velociraptors with only Lara’s trusty handguns shone a light on how much skill you need to dodge and acrobatically move out of the way of attacks, but also how valuable it is to use the focus ability to gain an edge.

Finishing the preview with the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex chase scene was a thrill too, and in this new beautiful guise, the game managed to brilliantly capture the adrenaline-fueled, panic-ridden affair spectacularly. If this is a microcosm of the spectacle and adventure that’ll fill the entire game, then it’ll be a special ride; and as a result, it really does feel like the time is right to jump back into Lara's boots.

Having said all that, I really would like to see more to get a proper, meatier look at what this reimagining is going to look like on a grander scale. The mix of modern takes on gameplay, action, and combat mixed with some old-school approaches that hark back to the origins of one of gaming’s finest icons has got me incredibly keen and excited to see how more of it comes together.

Until we hear more, though, I’ll just have to wait until the game releases on February 12, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC.

• The US Treasury has sanctioned First VPN's administrator for aiding ransomware attacks on American infrastructure
• Another suspect was targeted for selling "cryptors" that cloak malware from security systems
• The move follows a May 2026 takedown by European law enforcement and the FBI that seized the VPN's infrastructure

The United States government has officially issued sanctions against the operators of a notorious free virtual private network, escalating a global crackdown on digital infrastructure used to facilitate ransomware attacks.

On Monday (July 13), the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated First VPN Service (also known as 1VPNS) and its Ukrainian administrator, Dmytro Rashevskyi, for abetting cybercriminals. The service, which has operated since 2014, was heavily favored by ransomware gangs targeting American hospitals, municipalities, and businesses.

While the best VPN services are designed to protect everyday consumer privacy, rogue networks like First VPN provided malicious actors with the tools to "hide the origins of their attacks, deploy malware, and manage exfiltrated data," according to a Treasury Department press release.

As part of the same action, the Treasury also sanctioned Yegeniy Vladimirovich Silayev, a Belarusian national accused of selling "cryptors" to ransomware operators.

While Silayev is not directly affiliated with First VPN, his inclusion in the sanctions package highlights a broader strategy of targeting the entire cybercriminal supply chain. Cryptors are tools specifically built to disguise ransomware as harmless files, preventing security systems from detecting or deactivating the malware.

A haven for cybercriminals

The US Treasury's latest move is an update to an ongoing international operation against First VPN.

In a massive May 2026 takedown, a coordinated effort led by European law enforcement agencies and the FBI successfully seized the service's website and server infrastructure.

Prior to the takedown, Rashevskyi aggressively marketed First VPN on dark web forums. To lure cybercriminals, he promised total anonymity and boasted that the network "does not keep logs of users' identities or activities, and that it refuses to cooperate with law enforcement investigations into illegal activity originating from the servers it rents to customers".

According to the US Treasury, Rashevskyi went to great lengths to keep the operation running. He utilized false identities, such as "Maksim Sorin" and "Roman Chabanenko," to "buy infrastructure from companies that might otherwise refuse to do business with him because of complaints of abuse from internet service providers about illegal activity originating from 1VPNS servers".

Disrupting the cybercriminal ecosystem

This latest wave of sanctions was coordinated alongside the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and carries severe consequences for the designated individuals.

Under the new sanctions, all property and interests belonging to Rashevskyi and Silayev within the US are blocked, and US citizens are strictly prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them. Beyond the immediate financial freeze, OFAC sanctions serve as a massive reputational blow designed to choke off future revenue streams.

By focusing on the service providers and tool suppliers who facilitate these attacks, rather than just the ransomware operators themselves, authorities are aiming to maximize their impact and disrupt multiple gangs at once.

"Under President Trump's leadership, Treasury is using every available tool to disrupt the cybercriminal ecosystem and protect the American people," said Gene Lange, who is performing the duties of the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. "We will continue targeting the actors who enable ransomware attacks against Americans and our critical infrastructure".

• The Mandalorian and Grogu's digital release date has been announced
• It'll be available to rent or buy in late July
• The new Star Wars movie won't come to Disney+ anytime soon

The Mandalorian and Grogu is heading to a TV screen near you very soon — but not via Disney+.

Yesterday (July 15), Lucasfilm and parent company Disney announced the latest Star Wars movie will be available to watch at home from Tuesday, July 21 onwards. If you didn't catch it in theaters or have been waiting to re-watch it from the comfort of your couch, then you'll be able to do so via numerous premium video on demand (PVOD) platforms in less than a week.

As for the services it'll land on, the usual suspects, such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango, should be your first ports of call. Right now, there's no indication that The Mandalorian and Grogu will be available to rent and/or buy, but I'd be shocked if viewers were only given the option to temporarily or permanently add one of 2026's many new movies to their digital film collection.

Want to know if the first Star Wars flick in over six years is worth seeing? Read my review of The Mandalorian and Grogu for more details.

Why han't The Mandalorian and Grogu arrived on Disney+ yet?

If you're wondering why The Mandalorian and Grogu isn't coming to Disney+, aka one of the world's best streaming services, yet, you're not alone. After all, it's been over two months since the Pedro Pascal-fronted sci-fi adventure not only landed in theaters, but subsequently failed to meet expectations from critical and commercial standpoints.

Wouldn't it make sense to just drop the movie on Disney's primary streamer, then? Simply put: no.

For one, releasing it on digital platforms first is a sure-fire way for Lucasfilm and Disney to continue making money from The Mandalorian's big-screen sequel.

Sure, adding it to Disney+'s movie library might persuade some to sign up for the streamer to watch it. However, Disney is far more likely to bring in extra cash through rentals or permanent purchases than new Disney+ subscriptions, especially if the cost of renting or buying The Mandalorian and Grogu is greater than the most expensive tier on Disney+ in your world region. For instance, US fans have to pay $18.99 every 30 days for an ad-free experience, so if Disney sets The Mandalorian and Grogu's digital price at $20, it's obviously going to earn more from the latter.

Regardless, the Jon Favreau-directed film will eventually come to Disney+, so you'll just have to be patient if you're waiting for it to its official streaming debut. While you wait, see if you agree with my Disney+ release date prediction for The Mandalorian and Grogu.

• SAS finds EU SMBs are seeing better results from real-world AI deployments
• Compliance is still a major headache for one in four leaders
• Preparing for the EU AI Act could have helped

A new AI readiness report from SAS has claimed European small businesses are among the most ready to achieve the most ROI from artificial intelligence compared with other global regions.

While North American SMBs perform better in planning, building and enabling, they fall short on actual deployment, indicating that European SMBs have progressed beyond pilots to actual implementation.

However, the number of businesses globally that are still in the earlier stages of AI readiness is much greater, with 37% considered 'experimental' and 33% considered 'opportunistic'. Nine in 10 of the stage-one (experimental) companies haven't even got a formal AI strategy in place, the report reveals.

AI deployment is higher in Europe, but overall deployment is still low

Compared with the number of businesses in the early stages of AI readiness, only 9% have fully embedded AI into strategy, operations and decision-making.

For many, it's the fundamental building blocks that are still holding them back. Nearly half say data is still scattered across systems (45%) and that AI tools operate independently from one another (46%). Compliance, security and risk management is still the biggest barrier for 24% of the survey's respondents.

"Organisations treating governance as a foundation rather than an obstacle are often the ones best positioned to execute," SAS Global Channels SVP John Carey wrote.

The report also implies that preparing for regulation like the EU AI Act could have positioned companies better to maximize their AI ROI, while other regions are seemingly lacking in this area.

IDC Research VP Daniel-Zoe Jimenez urged businesses to focus on aligning data, people and resources to avoid disconnected pilots. "Experimenting with the technology is one thing. Deploying it strategically and sustainably is quite another."

• White House, Treasury, DHS and DoW come together to launch Gold Eagle scheme
• The initiative will prevent duplicated work and prioritize vulnerability remediation
• Gold Eagle will also help to identify which systems could be at risk

The US Government has launched Gold Eagle, a new clearinghouse which looks to centralize vulnerability discovery and remediation against a backdrop of evolving AI-powered security threats.

Gold Eagle will serve as a central hub between federal agencies, AI developers, open-source software developers and critical infrastructure companies, in a bid to increase the speed of vulnerability discovery and prevent major incidents from occurring in the first place.

The scheme came about under President Trump's June 2 2026 executive order 'Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security' and represents collaboration between the Treasury, the DHS' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Department of War.

US Gold Eagle scheme addresses growing vulnerability exploitations

Under the scheme, vulnerabilities scanning will happen centrally to ensure multiple organizations aren't independently repeating the same work. Gold Eagle will also identify which software, networks and critical infrastructure could be at risk, before coordinating fixes. The White House described the scheme as a "force multiplier."

Although AI is largely to blame for the increase in attacks, Gold Eagle is set to fight fire with fire by employing AI to identify bugs too, using models like Anthropic's Mythos.

"Through this strategic partnership, we will expand existing security measures to safeguard software and networks in the 21st century and continue to promote advancements in artificial intelligence," DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin wrote.

The concept of a dedicated clearinghouse centralizes vulnerability management to ensure the right bugs are being prioritized and to cut through the noise of lower-quality reports. Its assistance will most likely be felt by the open-source community, which has limited resources and financial backing to identify and fix issues as effectively as enterprise software vendors.

"Under the leadership of President Trump, we are bringing a wartime footing to the cyber domain to relentlessly patch vulnerabilities," Secretary of War Pete Hegseth added.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)’s recent advisory detailing how the Russian cyber actor APT28’s exploited vulnerable routers to enable DNS hijacking highlights a dangerous blind spot in enterprise security today.

Traditional perimeter-based security models are increasingly failing at the edge, and this should be uncomfortable reading for any security leader still anchoring their strategy to perimeter defense.

This is the same story we saw play out in 2024, when Chinese state sponsored bad actors linked to Volt Typhoon exploited an unpatched, end-of-life FortiGate 300D firewall to compromise a domain admin account, escalate privileges, create a new user, and establish persistence deep enough to survive a device restart.

One unpatched edge device. One breach vector. Total access. The perimeter didn’t just fail; it handed attackers the keys. According to the FBI, this breach remained undetected for over 300 days, and the same exploit was used to gain access to over 100 separate utility companies across the US.

These two incidents aren’t outliers. They’re a pattern. And the pattern is telling us that the old model is finished. Add to this the recent news about the power and sophistication of the latest generation of agentic AI tools such as Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, and it really is time to act quickly.

The problem with perimeter thinking

Legacy security was built on a simple assumption: draw a line between trusted internal systems and untrusted external ones, defend the line, and you’re protected. It made sense when company data lived in on-premises data centers and employees showed up to the office. The boundary was real and defensible.

That world is gone. Edge nodes are now everywhere; in factories, retail stores, utility substations, and customer premises, and the clean network borders of the past have either blurred or disappeared entirely. Edge devices themselves rarely have dedicated security capabilities. IoT and OT systems in particular frequently lack the robust features needed to detect and resist advanced threats.

Worse, software-based management tends to fail precisely when it matters most. When the software layer is compromised or unresponsive, organizations lose visibility and control at the exact moment they can least afford to.

Then there’s credential theft. According to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, the human element is a factor in 60% of breaches and attackers have become highly effective at exploiting it. They don’t need to break in, they walk in, using legitimate credentials, through the front door.

Once inside, now often augmented by AI capabilities, they move laterally from a single-entry point across operational systems, compromising entire environments in minutes. A security architecture built around password authentication offers almost nothing against this type of attack.

What resilience actually looks like

The security conversation has shifted. For years the focus was on keeping attackers out. That is still necessary, but it’s no longer sufficient. What organizations are increasingly recognizing is that resilience depends just as much on what happens after a compromise; specifically, whether security teams retain visibility and control when it counts.

Lost visibility during an incident, even a contained breach, can quickly spiral and escalate. This is driving a serious rethink of how distributed infrastructure is managed, particularly as edge environments extend further across factories, retail locations, utilities and a myriad of remote sites.

Out-of-band management (OOBM) is one approach gaining real traction here. Rather than relying on the production network for management traffic, OOBM operates on an entirely separate, highly secure parallel path. That means that even when the main network is compromised or down, edge devices remain manageable, visible and controllable.

Crashed devices can be remotely rebooted, or even re-configured. Powered-off devices can still be reached. And critically, administrative access is separated from the primary production network targeted by attackers, thereby reducing exposure to the credential-based attacks that are now the most dominant breach vector.

The operational benefits are real too: fewer costly emergency site visits, faster data recovery times, and preserved control during high-pressure incidents when software management tools have gone dark.

The reckoning

What’s becoming clear is that perimeter security, on its own, is no longer a viable strategy. The edge has expanded too far, credentials are too easily stolen, and attackers are too fast once they’re in.

The organizations that will weather the next wave of incidents aren’t necessarily those with the most sophisticated perimeter defenses. They’re the ones that have accepted the compromise will happen and built the visibility, control and recovery capability to deal with it when it does.

Everyone else is building blind spots. And attackers, increasingly, know exactly where to look.

We've reviewed and ranked the best password managers.

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

In February 2026, the California Attorney General announced a $2.75 million settlement with Disney DTC and ABC Enterprises, the largest in the history of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Most of the noise has focused on the legal and interpretive dimensions: how the settlement reads against the statute, what it signals about enforcement posture, and what it adds to an enforcement record that has been building for more than three years.

Since the first major CCPA action against Sephora, in 2022, for failing to honor opt-out requests, settlements with DoorDash, Tilting Point, Healthline, Sling TV and Jam City have progressively expanded the technical specificity of what compliance has to look like in practice.

For privacy leaders trying to decide what to do on Monday morning, the most useful lessons from the Disney settlement are technical. In many enterprises, there is a gap between two initiatives that operate in parallel: a privacy tech layer focused on cookies, cookie banners, and webforms, and a data layer that runs on identity graphs, pseudonymous profiles and cross-system data flows.

The four technical claims leveled by the California Attorney General: gaps in how opt-outs reach logged-out users, disconnected opt-out tooling, missing cross-brand propagation, and absent opt-out functionality on apps and connected TV, are four symptoms of this misalignment

These challenges and claims are not unique to Disney, nor do they reflect negligence. They are consequences of timing. The privacy layer in most enterprises is built to satisfy a regulatory model that took shape between 2018 and 2022, when "consent management" largely meant deciding which cookies fired on a webpage.

The data layer it was bolted onto had been evolving for a decade by then, towards exactly the kind of cross-device, partner-dependent identity resolution that makes modern advertising and personalization possible. The two were never properly integrated in most enterprise environments because, for several years no one seemed to mind.

What the recent enforcement record establishes is that they do now.

One principle, four symptoms

The settlement's central principle is unusually direct: "If a business can associate a consumer's devices with the consumer for advertising purposes, it can and must associate those devices with the consumer for purposes of honoring the consumer's opt-out rights."

In other words, the scope of your opt-out obligation is defined by the scope of your data monetization, not by the scope of your consent management platform. If your advertising stack resolves an anonymous device signal to a known profile to target a consumer, you have, for the purposes of the law, identified that consumer.

The obligation follows the use of identity capabilities, not who built them. If identity is being used to target a consumer with ads, the same identity must be used to exclude them once they opt out.

That single principle unifies the four technical points of the settlement.

The first: identity parity concerns whether opt-outs cover consumers who aren't currently logged in. Many enterprise programs apply opt-outs only to authenticated users, on the reasoning that the business doesn't know who a logged-out user is. The settlement reframes that. If your advertising infrastructure uses pseudonymous profiles—the device-level identifiers that ad-tech systems use to recognize the same person across visits without a login - to target that user, then for the purposes of the law, you have identified them. The opt-out has to reach the same identity.

The second: architectural fragmentation concerns how opt-out requests travel through the systems meant to enforce them. Most enterprise privacy programs run two separate products: a consent management platform (CMP) that governs which trackers and tags fire on the website, and a data subject rights (DSR) tool that handles webform submissions like Do Not Sell or Share requests. When those products aren't integrated, a consumer who submits a webform may stop appearing in certain backend records, but the CMP keeps firing the same tags on every page they visit, and data sharing continues. The webform captured the request. The collection infrastructure never received it.

The third: cross-brand propagation concerns whether an opt-out submitted on one property reaches the others that share its data infrastructure. If a media company runs three streaming services on a single advertising stack, and a customer opts out on one, the law treats that as an opt-out across all three because the data is monetized across all three. The technical capability to propagate the signal usually exists; the compliance logic that ties opt-outs to it rarely does. The same point extends downstream: if ad-tech partners already hold a consumer's data, blocking tags on your own site doesn't reach what they have. They need to be actively notified, through a workflow that runs every time an opt-out is processed.

The fourth: non-browser surfaces concerns the consumer-facing channels that aren't a website. Cookie-based consent tools were built for browsers. They do not, by default, extend to mobile apps, connected TV environments, or any other surface where data is collected outside the browser. In Disney's case, consumers on a connected TV app could only opt out by going to a webform on a different device - a webform that had no effect on the code transmitting data from the TV app to its ad-tech partners. The mechanism existed; the obligation it was meant to satisfy went unmet.

The difficulty is structural

The four technical gaps above share a common root, and fixing them points to something more fundamental than patching individual systems. None of this is straightforward to operationalize.

Modern data infrastructure is genuinely complex and rebuilding how the privacy and data layers of an enterprise stack actually communicate is not the kind of project that gets completed in a quarter. But the structural difficulty points to something deeper than implementation effort: a flaw in how most organizations have framed the problem from the start.

Privacy as a data infrastructure question, not a regulatory one

Privacy programs built around regulations are, by design, reactive. A new law passes, a settlement lands, an enforcement sweep reveals an unexpected gap, and the program scrambles to respond. That cycle is the predictable outcome of treating privacy as a compliance checklist rather than a capability embedded in how data actually moves through the organization. Regulations will keep coming, and they will keep changing. No program designed around any single regulatory framework will stay current for long.

The more durable approach starts in the data infrastructure itself. When privacy controls are built into the data layer, tied to identity resolution and data flows rather than bolted onto individual regulatory requirements, they adapt. A new regulation adds a specific obligation, but the underlying framework for honoring consumer choices across identifiers and systems is already in place to absorb it. The work becomes configuration, not reconstruction.

The path forward is not another tool layered on top of existing infrastructure to satisfy the next regulation. It starts by embedding privacy controls into the data layer itself, tied to how data actually flows through the organization. That foundation does not need to be rebuilt every time the regulatory landscape shifts. It absorbs change. For privacy leaders looking to get off the reactive cycle for good, that is where the work begins.

The best business VPN helps you connect safely and securely online to your business.

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

• Affordable audiophile brand Sivga just unveiled new in-ear monitors
• Lyrebird use four drivers for versatile sound
• Sony's recently-released Pro rivals now have tough competition

Sivga, a Chinese head-fi brand which has wowed us in the past with wood-design headphones, including the Sivga Robin and Sivga Oriole, has a new pair of wired earbuds it wants you to hear.

The Sivga Lyrebird are its new in-ear monitors (IEMs), and they've just been released for $149 / £149 (about AU$300). This isn't the cheapest price we've ever seen on this kind wired offering (Sivga itself has also released cheaper, more EarPods-style earbuds called the M260), but since audiophile-adjacent IEMs can sometimes costs thousands, it's still fairly affordable.

Not sure what IEMs are? They're wired earbuds, but aimed at professionals or audiophiles focused on detailed and natural sound. They often house an intricate array of drivers within their headshells — so they're often more expensive than your average wired buds as a result.

With the continued resurgence of wired earbuds, IEMs are seeing a boost in profile. Just last week, Sony unveiled its own IER-M500 Pro option, for a little less than the Lyrebird. When you look at the specs, though, Sivga's new option could blow Sony's Pro IEMs out of the water, on paper at least, with larger and more plentiful drivers.

And this lyrebird you cannot change

Sivga has packed its Lyrebirds with four drivers (the Sonys have a single 5mm one). This is to offer a wide soundstage, while also allowing each driver to focus on a certain part of the frequency spectrum.

For the low-end there's a 10mm polymer composite dynamic driver, and it's joined by a balanced armature driver for vocals, micro planar for treble and 9.2mm piezoelectric ceramic driver for the higher frequencies.

The earbuds connect using a 120cm cable, which has silver- and gold-plated copper connectors and ends in a 4.4mm jack.

Sivga has continued its wooden design aesthetic with the Lyrebird, as you can see from the pictures. The earpieces are handcrafted, and coated in resin to ensure they're durable.

The announcement of the Sivga Lyrebirds coincides with CanJam London, which is bringing plenty of other audio announcements. So before the day is through, we may see many other IEMs to enjoy.

The disclosure-to-exploit window used to be measured in weeks; for weaponized vulnerabilities, it now runs in hours. Out-of-cycle patches that used to be exceptional have become routine across enterprise environments of meaningful size.

This pattern now has a name. You might have heard it already: the Patch Apocalypse. Sounds a bit dramatic, but the impact warrants the drama.

It describes something measurable — software flaws are being discovered, disclosed and weaponized faster than most patch management programs were built to handle.

Several factors are converging at once. Frontier AI models are accelerating vulnerability research — Anthropic's Project Glasswing and comparable initiatives have produced thousands of high-severity findings in compressed timeframes.

Attackers are using the same class of tooling to reverse-engineer patches far faster than previously thought possible. Public disclosures are arriving on shorter cycles.

For any team responsible for keeping production systems patched, this all translates to a backlog that grows faster than the available maintenance management windows can drain it. And “drain” is the right word here, because that’s also the impact on the team: it’s very, very draining.

This is far from an anecdotal observation. The workforce cost is already visible.

Recent UK data shows what’s happening at the personnel level: 42% of UK IT professionals report high levels of stress from their jobs, and 76% say that stress is affecting their physical and mental health. 30% report difficulty concentrating, 35% report trouble sleeping and 30% report increased anxiety and depression.

Why traditional patching is breaking down

Patch management was built around predictability. Vendor releases on a known schedule. A defined maintenance window. Manual testing in a staging environment. Communication, approval, deployment, verification.

The model worked when most enterprise software was released on predictable monthly or quarterly schedules, when threat actors needed weeks to weaponize a disclosed CVE, and when out-of-cycle patches were rare enough that a program could absorb them without restructuring. When those scenarios change, the model’s validity changes.

Two structural changes have done most of the work:

Volume is the first. When a single AI model can autonomously surface thousands of high-severity vulnerabilities across major operating systems and browsers — as Project Glasswing did within weeks of its April launch — the downstream effect is more CVEs arriving sooner, with public patches available, all flowing into the same backlog the IT team was already trying to clear.

Velocity has compounded that. Attackers have access to the same class of capability. Patches can be reverse-engineered in as little as 72 hours, sometimes far less. Any system unpatched in that window is exposed to working exploits.

Combine the two, and a patch program that was already running near capacity has to absorb a step change in volume, with shorter deadlines and less predictability about when the next critical disclosure will land. That’s a lot of pressure, and it’s what’s driving the stress data up.

Automation is taking center stage

As an operating model, automation is far better-equipped to survive a Patch Apocalypse than previous iterations. Three important principles underscore the model’s efficacy:

1. Continuous, risk-based triage. The CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list is the non-negotiable top tier. An Exploit Prediction Scoring System threshold appropriate to the environment can drive priority for everything else. Below that threshold, work waits for the maintenance ring.

2. Automated test and deployment rings. The test cycle has to compress to fit the exploit window. Even with top-tier skills and best intentions, a human checklist cannot move at that speed. The familiar sequence — test ring, early-adopter ring, broad production, mission-critical — has to be instrumented and capable of running without manual coordination at every stage.

3. Closed-loop verification. A patch isn’t deployed until the install is confirmed on every endpoint, and a CVE isn’t closed until a rescan confirms it. Compliance evidence is produced as a byproduct of the workflow, not assembled from a spreadsheet the week before an audit.

Industry data points in the same direction. 67% of IT professionals say AI tools and automation will free up their time for more interesting, fulfilling work. 66% say the same tools will help them provide better service to end users. Less than one in three organizations report having fully embedded automation in their IT workflows.

Who’s paying the cost

Any cost considerations regarding patch programs need to take the human cost into account. A patch program running on legacy assumptions will absorb the Patch Apocalypse by burning out the team running it. The stress figures are showing the early signs. The downstream cost includes attrition, error rates, lost productivity and the slow erosion of the institutional knowledge that holds a program together.

On the other hand, programs where automation runs the workflow have the potential to absorb the same volume without requiring the team to absorb it personally. Continuous prioritization, instrumented rings and verification embedded in the workflow take variable, manual work out of the critical path.

Two-thirds of IT professionals see AI and automation as a route to better work — fewer frantic escalations and more time on the problems that need human judgement.

The Patch Apocalypse is very much here, and is poised to reach every program. Is the workflow underneath built to absorb the impact? If not, consider the whole scope of what — and who — is at stake.

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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

• Marantz unveils replacements for the acclaimed PM6007 and CD6007 amp and CD player
• Amp has HDMI ARC and high-quality Bluetooth streaming, plus phono MM input
• From $750 / £499 / AU$1,000

One of the things I love about quality hi-fi is that it's often made to be a treat for your eyes as well as your ears. The new Marantz Model 70 integrated amp and CD 70 CD player definitely come into that category: I think they look stunning.

I'm probably a little bit biased because my CD player is a Marantz (the CD6007 that this one makes obsolete, no less) and I love it dearly. But both new models promise serious substance to match their style.

The Model 70 and CD 70 are the successors to the acclaimed PM6007 and the aforementioned CD6007, and Marantz promises that both deliver what the brand calls its signature "warm, detailed and deeply musical" sound.

But there are significant upgrades that should make this new generation an even more luxurious listen.

Marantz Model 70 and CD 70: key features and pricing

The Marantz Model 70 is an integrated amp with HDMI ARC and Bluetooth, with the latter offering transmission and reception via aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, AAC and SBC. In addition to the usual audio connections there are preamplifier and subwoofer outputs.

The 50-watt Class A/B amplifier features an upgraded topology with an enhanced power supply and larger toroidal transformer, which Marantz says delivers greater dynamic expression, improved speaker control and increased authority across all kinds of speakers. It includes a high-quality MM phono stage for your turntable and a high-performance ES Sabre DAC for digital audio sources.

The Marantz CD 70 features the same DAC as the Model 70 plus additional proprietary HDAM (High Definition Amplifier Module) circuitry to deliver "detailed, expressive and emotionally engaging reproduction of compact discs, extracting every nuance from treasured music collections," Marantz says. There's a USB-A port on the front for your digital files, and support for hi-res formats including FLAC HD, ALAC, AIFF and DSD.

As with the Model 70 amp, the circuitry has been optimized to reduce noise and preserve detail; there's an upgraded power supply, "strategically deployed" copper hardware and a double-layered chassis base with rigid isolation feet.

As with their predecessors, the Model 70 and CD 70 aren't terrifyingly expensive. The official price of the CD 70 compact disc player is $750 / £499 / AU$1,000, while the Model 70 integrated amp is £749 / AU$1,455. Sadly, the latter isn't available in North America.

Both models will be available on August 15th, 2026.

• UN Secretary General calls for a global ban on autonomous "killer robots”
• Guterres argues that delegating life-or-death decisions to machines is “morally repugnant”
• Governments should take a stance now – not wait for something catastrophic to happen

UN Secretary General António Guterres has called for lethal autonomous weapons, which he describes as ‘killer robots’ to be prohibited under international law following recent discussions at the first Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance in Geneva.

Guterres’ demand to ban these weapons focuses on those capable of identifying, selecting and attacking targets without human oversight, which leaves artificial intelligence and other computer systems in charge of a life-or-death decision.

He ultimately argued that certain decisions must remain exclusively human, and the decision to take a life is well into the boundary of requiring human oversight. Transferring the decision-making to killer robots would be “morally repugnant” and “politically unacceptable,” he argued.

AI requires global regulation as military AI poses major threats

Key to the Secretary General’s argument is that he urges governments to take action and ban such robots now, rather than waiting for an autonomous weapon to cause a major incident before rethinking their strategies.

“Let us not wait for atrocity to act,” Guterres said. “Some decisions must remain forever human – none more than taking a human life.”

The issue is becoming more urgent now that AI models and advanced chips are already being used within military intelligence, targeting and other battlefield systems.

More broadly, Guterres’ thoughts align with those of Anthropic, which recently had a dispute with the Pentagon after seeking guarantees that its models would not be used for autonomous weapons or surveillance.

While the Pentagon had rejected those limitations, arguing that it should be able to use Anthropic’s models for any lawful purpose, the case highlights how private companies are becoming increasingly intertwined with digital warfare.

Reporting by the Wall Street Journal cited a similar view by Pope Leo XIV, who warns that AI-controlled weapons could promote an “anti-human” view of warfare. He warned that the autonomy could reduce some dangers and distance political leaders from the human consequences of conflict.

There’s a need to balance the pros and cons of AI

However, artificial intelligence does promise several benefits to modern warfare, particularly in its ability to process huge amounts of information extremely quickly. With modern compute, militaries can respond to threats at lightning speed, improve their accuracy and precision, reduce soldier risk and potentially reduce civilian casualties, too.

Critics also question whether human oversight of AI systems is at all meaningful if the person in charge only has seconds to act on AI-generated information in the first place.

It’s also yet to be determined which party or group of parties should be held accountable for any incidents or mishaps – human operators, commanders, hardware manufacturers and software developers are just some of the parties up for judgment.

“We may be the last generation able to set the terms on which humanity and machines coexist,” Guterres warned separately in an X post, warning that AI must be governed, trusted and fair.

“It sounds like science fiction, but it's a real possibility, and it could change the world in ways that we don't understand yet, and it could change the power dynamics of our planet in ways that require our attention,” Independent International Scientific Panel on AI Co-Chair Yoshua Bengio added.

Ten Aussie survivalists are being taken well out of their comfort zone for Alone Australia 2026, which – in a series first – is set in the northern hemisphere. They'll be entirely self-reliant in the near-inhospitable region of Sápmi (known by some as Lapland) in the Arctic Circle, where even the indigenous Sámi people have only formed a small handful of settlements.

You can watch Alone Australia season 4 online from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for free.

Former Navy chef Trent is eyeing 101 days, which is ambitious considering the all-time franchise record is 100 days, and nobody in Alone Australia history has made it beyond 76 days in warm climes. Hunting is also forbidden this season.

On paper, wrecking yard manager Arash, permaculture practitioner Jasper, outdoor guide Lillian and ultramarathon runner Sia look as if they have potential. Arash, Jasper and Sia are accomplished at foraging and fishing, while Lillian – who grew up in nearby Sweden – has led remote wilderness tours in temperatures as extreme as -60 degrees Celsius.

Arash and Sia have especially fascinating backstories. Arash lost everything when war destroyed his hometown in Afghanistan, after which every minute of every day became about survival. Sia grew up in extreme poverty in Thailand, which taught her more than most about resilience and scratching out a living.

Read on as we explain how to watch Alone Australia S4 from anywhere.

How to watch Alone Australia season 4 from anywhere

If you're keen to watch Alone Australia but you're away from home and access to the show is geo-blocked, you can always use a VPN to access it (assuming you're not breaching any broadcaster T&Cs, of course). You may be surprised by how simple it is to do.

Use one of the best VPNs to watch Alone Australia 2026 from anywhere:

How to watch Alone Australia season 4 in the US

History is home to Alone Australia in the US, but at the time of publication the broadcaster's plans for season 4 are still under wraps.

The channel is included from many cable providers, but what if you've cut the cord? Philo has a 7-day free trial. With no-hassle setup, no hidden fees, and a 7-day free trial, it's perfect for Alone fans. You'll get access to History and ton of premium channels.

Alternatively, the History channel is also carried by Sling – specifically the Orange plan, which costs $4.99/day, $9.99 for three days, $14.99/week, $45.99/month or $115/quarter. It also includes ESPN, ESPN2, TNT and TBS. It's also on Hulu+Live TV.

For now, a VPN will help you tune in if you're spending time in the US from Australia. We recommend NordVPN above all others.

How to watch Alone Australia season 4 in Canada

In Canada, Alone Australia airs on Paramount Plus, but at the time of publication it isn't clear when season 4 will hit the streamer.

A Paramount Plus subscription costs CA$7.99/month.

Visiting Canada from Australia? Use NordVPN to watch Alone Australia S4 for free.

Can I watch Alone Australia season 4 in the UK?

Although free-to-air Channel 4 is home to the short-lived Alone UK, and the American version of the show airs on Sky History, the Australian iteration doesn't appear to have a broadcasting partner in the UK.

For now, a VPN will help you tune in if you're spending time in the UK from Australia. NordVPN is our recommended provider, and you can find out why with our in-depth NordVPN review.

How to watch Alone Australia season 4 in Australia

Viewers in Australia can watch Alone Australia season 4 for FREE on SBS and via the SBS on Demand streaming service.

Episodes air at 7.30pm AEST each Wednesday, starting with a double-header on July 15.

Traveling outside Australia? As detailed above, if you’re overseas you’ll struggle to connect to any of the streaming services you usually use. The solution? Try using a VPN.

Alone Australia season 4 – Need to Know

Alone Australia S4 trailer

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.

• Volkswagen and n+ have unveiled a premium new eBike range
• It features a rear-view camera and radar-based blind-spot warnings
• Smart glasses and a connected helmet complete the safety ecosystem

Volkswagen has taken some of the most advanced safety features from its passenger cars and squeezed them onto an electric bicycle, unveiling what is claimed to be the world's first eBike with an integrated rear-view camera and dashboard display.

Developed in partnership with premium eBike manufacturer n+, the new Volkswagen-licensed electric bicycles are designed around the same "safety-first" philosophy that has informed the German automaker's road cars for decades.

Rather than focusing solely on bigger batteries and more powerful motors, Volkswagen says the new range is engineered to make cyclists more visible to motorists and more aware of their surroundings.

At the heart of the system is Smart View, which combines an integrated high-definition rear-view camera with radar-assisted traffic monitoring.

Neatly integrated into the handlebars, the display takes a real-time feed from a high-definition camera mounted on the rear mudguard that allows riders to see what is happening behind them without having to turn their heads. At the same time, radar sensors, similar to those offered by Garmin, can also warn of approaching vehicles in a cyclist's blind spot.

The technology resembles the camera mirror systems increasingly found in modern passenger vehicles, and the company says it could represent one of the most significant safety advances to hit the eBike market in recent years.

Volkswagen and n+ have also developed a full-length illuminated LED strip that runs through the bike's top tube. The system acts like an automotive daytime running light but can also illuminate red when braking and amber when turning, signaling a rider's intentions to other road users.

An optional Smart Helmet can synchronize with the eBike via Bluetooth, mirroring the bicycle's lighting signals and incorporating a built-in accelerometer that can detect crashes and automatically send text messages to loved ones in the event of an emergency.

Then there are the Smart Glasses, which are perhaps the most futuristic of all. Inspired by automotive head-up displays and developed by engineers who previously worked on fighter pilot helmet displays, the glasses can project navigation instructions, blind-spot warnings and ride information directly into a rider's field of vision.

Peter Jost, CEO of Volkswagen Accessories, Lifestyle and Licensing Business, said that technologies like these are "most commonly known from the automotive world" and that seeing them arrive on an eBike demonstrates how safety systems can "evolve and be adapted in meaningful ways".

Despite the plethora of new technologies onboard, the innovative eBikes are priced to rival premium competitors, with Sport models starting at £3,999 in the UK (around $5,300/AU$7,700), which includes the Smart View rear-view monitor. The Smart Helmet and Smart Glasses cost an additional £499 (around $670AU$960) each.

Analysis: are automotive safety systems the next big thing in eBikes?

As cities become increasingly congested and more people turn to electric bicycles as an alternative to driving, safety is rapidly becoming one of the biggest battlegrounds in micromobility.

While innovations in recent years have largely centered on extending range and increasing power, there has been comparatively little focus on helping cyclists avoid accidents in the first place.

Many companies that specialize in cycling accessories have come up with safety solutions that help increase visibility and awareness of other vehicles, but this often requires cyclists to bolt on awkward pieces of technology.

Having it neatly integrated into the bicycle itself feels like a logical solution, and with commuters looking for ever-cheaper ways to get from A to B, these could very well be the sort of innovations that persuade motorists to ditch their cars in favor of something leaner and greener.

• PS5 user reports being locked out of Ghost of Yotei digital copy for 'half an hour' due to license verification
• License verification isn't new, but this case is important amid Sony's plans to axe physical game copies
• Once physical game copies are gone, access to games on PlayStation will be at Sony's disposal

Sony's plans to push for an all-digital future for games on PlayStation have come under major scrutiny since the announcement, and one case highlights just how dangerous those plans are to game access and ownership.

A Reddit user (in a now-removed post) reported being locked out of the digital copy of Ghost of Yotei on PS5 for half an hour, even after refreshing licenses. When attempting to open the game, the message reads: "Can't use this content. Your licenses are being verified. Try again later."

It's important to note that this type of scenario isn't exactly new; license refresh prompts can occur after a long period, especially when sharing a game with another user. However, this Ghost of Yotei license check example comes amid Sony's ongoing, controversial decision to end the production of physical game discs from January 2028.

Once the supposed digital-only PS6 arrives, this very example of a consumer being locked out of a game can happen at any time. Unlike physical game discs, access to digital PlayStation game copies is at Sony's discretion, and the same will soon apply to all game copies, which essentially means game ownership will be non-existent.

Comment from r/gaming

Comment from r/gaming

Since there has been no follow-up statement since the disc axe announcement, it seems Sony is waiting for the storm to subside so it can ultimately commit to its digital-only plans, despite pressure from consumers online.

Unlike Microsoft's decision to walk back on its 'always-online' Xbox One plans after backlash in 2013, it may take a tumultuous effort from consumers, game studios, and video game retail stores to make an impact.

It's also quite ironic that Sony, which previously mocked Microsoft for the ability to share physical game copies, is now responsible for eliminating physical game copies. In the same vein as the subscription-based PlayStation Plus, which is a requirement to play games online, if consumers don't continue to push back against digital-only plans, there will be no going back once the PS6 arrives.

Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Gen 2: Two-minute review

The Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 is built for fast 2560 x 1600 gaming, and it squeezes flagship-class hardware into a slimmer chassis than typical desktop-replacement machines.

The review unit tested here combines AMD’s Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU with a 175W Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, so it’s aimed at buyers who want top-tier performance without stepping up to a much larger 18-inch machine.

The 16-inch OLED display is one of the main reasons to consider it. It has a 2560 x 1600 resolution, 240Hz refresh rate, 100% DCI-P3 colour coverage, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and HDR 1000 support.

Text looks sharp, colour and contrast are excellent, and the finish isn’t so glossy that reflections become a major issue. It’s a very good fit for fast games, high-quality video and creative work, and the laptop itself is fast enough to make proper use of the panel’s resolution and refresh rate.

The Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 is also more portable than its spec suggests. It measures 35.7 x 25.5 x 1.9 to 2.4cm (14.1 x 10.0 x 0.7 to 0.9in) and weighs 2.39kg (5.27lb), so it’s heavy enough to notice in a bag, but still manageable if you need to carry it between home, work, university or when travelling.

The adapter adds another 750g (1.65lb), which matters if you’re trying to pack light, but the 330W charger is still fairly compact for its output.

Build quality is reasonable, but not as premium as the price suggests. The thin metal-backed screen is rigid, while the plastic shell on the main body has a little flex and feels less expensive.

The keyboard has decent travel and plenty of room, though it’s a little bouncy in vigorous use, while the touchpad is large, responsive and easy to use when you don’t have a mouse connected.

The Full HD infrared camera works well for Windows Hello facial recognition, though image quality is nothing special. The speakers are better than typical laptop audio, with excellent volume and little distortion at higher levels, though bass is still limited.

The port selection covers the basics well, with USB-C, USB4, USB-A, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, microSD and 3.5mm audio. The issue is the layout.

Because the cooling system takes up the rear section of the laptop, most cables need to plug in further forward on the sides, where they can crowd desk space and get in the way of a mouse.

It’s not a deal-breaker, but it makes the Aorus slightly less pleasant to use with a monitor, dock and other desk accessories connected.

Gigabyte’s GiMate software gives useful control over performance modes, fan behaviour and lighting. The laptop also has plenty of lighting to adjust, including the keyboard, rear light bar and desk glow from the underside.

The software itself can be laggy, though, and that makes quick customisation tweaks more frustrating than they should be on an expensive gaming laptop.

Performance is very good, and the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 has no issue running the RTX 5090 at up to 175W for extended periods. Compared with an RTX 5080 laptop, the Aorus is up to 35% faster for gaming, with the biggest gains in heavier ray-tracing scenarios where the extra GPU headroom and 24GB of VRAM help it sustain higher frame rates.

That makes it a very capable choice for demanding 1600p gaming, especially if you want high texture settings, ray tracing or very fast OLED refresh rates.

Raw CPU performance is also very good. The Ryzen 9 9955HX3D is a powerful processor, and the cooling system lets it work hard in multicore workloads without obvious throttling.

That matters outside games too, as the Aorus Master 16 is well suited to creator work, video editing and heavier productivity tasks.

The laptop can also charge and run from USB-C, and documents, browsing and calls remain snappy, but it’s limited to Balanced mode or lower and gaming performance drops to about 10% of maximum. So the 330W adapter is still needed for proper gaming performance.

The main trade-off is fan noise. While the cooling system works well, it also makes the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 one of the loudest laptops I’ve tested at full load. The sound also has a high-pitched note that’s somewhat unpleasant at both low and high speeds, and the fans ramp up quickly even with lighter workloads.

Even the power-saving quiet mode isn’t as quiet as I’d like, so this is not the right laptop if you need near-silent performance when not gaming.

Battery life is the other downside. Despite the large 99Wh battery, web browsing lasted under 2.5 hours, and video playback ran for 3 hours and 46 minutes using power-saving settings. That’s with the RTX 5090 completely off and only using the Radeon iGPU too, and it’s much more power hungry than comparable Intel based gaming laptops.

Gaming on battery is much shorter again, but that is normal and expected. Still, overall the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 is better treated as a desktop replacement you can move around than a laptop that you can use on the couch without a charger nearby. Hopefully a future driver update can reduce the idle and low load power use, but as tested, battery life is disappointing.

Overall the Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 delivers the speed its high-end hardware promises, and the OLED display is more than capable of showing off the higher frame rates that performance enables.

It’s a good fit if you want a powerful 16-inch gaming laptop that can also handle demanding creative work, and you don’t want to deal with a bulkier machine.

But that does come at a price, so while performance is excellent, the fan noise and battery life stop the Master 16 from feeling as premium as the price tag.

Gigabyte Aorus Master 16: Price & availability

• How much does it cost? The tested RTX 5090 model is priced at $4,299 / AU$6,599
• When is it available? It's available now
• Where can you get it? You can get it in the US and Australia

While it is just hitting shelves in the US and Australia, at the time of writing, we haven't yet seen the Gen 2 Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 for sale in the UK.

Now, the Master 16 Gen 2 is an expensive gaming laptop, and the tested RTX 5090 model sits near the top of the price range. Still, it needs to be judged against other slim but high-power RTX 50 series laptops, rather than chunkier desktop-replacement options.

The price is easier to justify if you want the specific mix of a 175W RTX 5090, Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU, 240Hz OLED display and a chassis that is still portable enough to carry around easily.

There are cheaper Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 configurations available, including RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti variants, but the exact CPU and GPU power limits vary by model.

• Value score: 3.5 / 5

Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Gen 2: Specs

The Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 range is available in a few configurations, so it's worth double checking the exact model before buying. The RTX 5090 version tested here sits at the top of the range with 24GB of VRAM and a 175W GPU power limit, while the RTX 5080 version keeps the same 175W limit but drops to 16GB of VRAM.

There's also an RTX 5070 Ti version, but the CPU and GPU power limits can vary by SKU and region.

The specs are very good overall, with Wi-Fi 7, USB4, a 99Wh battery and upgradeable DDR5 RAM. The main limitation for the models we have seen for sale so far is that they are limited to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, which is fair enough considering recent memory and storage price rises.

• Specs score: 4.5 / 5

Gigabyte Aorus Master 16: Design

• Slim for a high-power RTX 5090 laptop
• Customizable RGB lighting
• Useful ports but awkward placement

The Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 is slim for a laptop built around a 175W RTX 5090 and high-end AMD CPU, but it's still a large gaming machine. It measures 35.7 x 25.5 x 1.9 to 2.5cm (14.1 x 10.1 x 0.7 to 1.0in), and the 19mm thinnest point includes the rubber feet.

When picked up, that’s perfectly manageable for a 16-inch gaming laptop, and at 2.39kg (5.27lb), it's portable enough to carry on the go every day if needed.

Of course, the 330W adapter is also part of the portability equation. It weighs 750g (1.65lb) and measures 16.0 x 7.5 x 2.7cm (6.3 x 3.0 x 1.1in), which is compact for a charger with such a high output, but it still takes the total carry weight over 3kg.

USB-C charging is useful if you only need documents, browsing or calls away from your main desk, but the main adapter is still the practical choice for gaming.

Build quality is functional rather than feeling truly premium. The top of the lid is metal and is thin but rigid, while the main chassis is plastic and has a little flex. The laptop didn’t show wear during my testing, including when carried in a bag, but the dark finish picks up fingerprints, though they also cleans off relatively easily.

The rear of the chassis is mostly given over to cooling, with large vents across the back edge and exhausts on the sides. That cooling system is a key part of the design, as it helps the Aorus Master 16 run high-power hardware in a slimmer body. It also leads to some of the compromises, such as fan noise and port placement.

The port selection is useful, with USB4, a second USB-C port, two USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, 1Gb Ethernet, microSD and 3.5mm audio. The problem is where those ports sit. Because the rear of the laptop is reserved for cooling, cables plug in further forward on the sides, where they can crowd your desk and mouse space.

For those who value their desk space, the chunky side-mounted power connector can be especially bulky and annoying, so I found a powered USB-C dock is a good option if you use the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 with a monitor, Ethernet and other accessories. That way you can have just one cable plugged in, and only add the bigger power plug when gaming.

The keyboard has a reasonable 1.7mm of travel and plenty of room, so it works well for both typing and normal WASD gaming. It's a little bouncy in vigorous use, and overall doesn't feel as firm as I'd like for a flagship laptop, but the layout is pretty good overall.

The touchpad is large, responsive and pleasant enough to use when you don’t have a mouse connected.

The RGB lighting includes the keyboard and is pretty extensive overall. The Aorus logo on the rear of the screen is backlit by colour-changing LEDs, and there is front and rear underside lighting that creates a nice nonglare desk glow effect in a darker room.

There's also a small light that projects the Aorus symbol onto the desk behind the laptop. It's a fun idea, but the focus seemed a touch soft.

Gigabyte’s GiMate software controls lighting, performance modes and fan behaviour, but I find it can be slow to load and respond at times. That’s a mild frustration for anyone who may want to change modes often, especially if you are trying to reduce fan noise during lighter work.

There are also automatic ‘AI’ modes, but I found they left the laptop running hotter and noisier than I’d like when not gaming. Like the laptop itself, the software doesn't feel as slick as you’d hope for the price.

The Full HD infrared webcam works well for Windows Hello facial recognition, though image quality is nothing special and gets softer in darker rooms.

The speakers are better than what I’ve experienced on most other laptops I’ve tested, with great volume and very little distortion at high levels, but as expected, bass is still pretty limited. The speakers can overpower the fan noise when cranked right up, but I'd still recommend a headset for gaming.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Gigabyte Aorus Master 16: Performance

• High 1600p gaming frame rates
• Excellent CPU performance
• Loud fans under load

The Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 gives the cooling and power headroom needed to make a high end GPU worth paying extra for. The variant I tested uses a 175W Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU (and the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU), so it's not one of those slim gaming laptops with a premium GPU bottlenecked by a low wattage limit.

And just as importantly, the cooling system lets the hardware work hard for sustained loads, and that makes the Aorus a proper match for its 240Hz, 2560 x 1600 OLED display.

Compared with an RTX 5080 laptop, the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 is up to 35% faster for gaming. The biggest gains are in heavier ray-tracing scenarios, where the extra GPU headroom and 24GB of VRAM help sustain higher frame rates. That extra memory also helps if you want high-resolution textures, or play a lot of newer games that push beyond what lower-tier laptop GPUs can comfortably handle.

If you mostly play lighter esports titles, the hardware is overkill, but the 240Hz OLED display still gives it a clear use case for very fast gaming.

The RTX 5090 is also a powerful accelerator for creator work. GPU-heavy video effects, rendering workloads and AI-assisted tools can all use the extra graphics grunt, so the Aorus Master 16 makes more sense if you want one machine for both gaming and demanding creative work.

CPU performance is also very good. The Ryzen 9 9955HX3D is a powerful processor, especially in multicore workloads, and the Aorus cooling system lets it run full tilt without obvious throttling. That is important for gaming, but also for video editing, rendering, compiling code and other higher loads.

The cooling system also lets the CPU and GPU run hard at the same time. During demanding gaming sessions, the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 generates a lot of heat, but it doesn't make the keyboard or WASD area uncomfortable to use. Hot air exits from the rear and sides, so your exact desk setup will change the impact, but the thermal comfort is better than the fan noise might suggest.

The trade-off is that the cooling system is not subtle. At all. I love that the Aorus Master 16 can give high performance in a relatively slim 16-inch chassis, but it’s important to highlight that it does that by moving a lot of air, loudly.

The benchmark table below compares the Aorus Master 16 with the Alienware 16 Area-51 configuration I tested with an RTX 5080. The Alienware is another premium machine, so it makes a useful comparison for showing what the Aorus gains from the RTX 5090 and 24GB of VRAM.

If you are comparing the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 with other gaming laptops, pay close attention to GPU wattage as well as the GPU name. A lower-wattage RTX 5090 laptop can perform much closer to an RTX 5080 machine, while the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 has the cooling and wattage budget needed to make the 5090 worth the extra cost.

In real use, the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 is very capable at its native 2560 x 1600 resolution. Demanding games still need sensible settings if you want to push closer to the OLED screen's 240Hz limit, but this is a laptop where high detail, ray tracing and upscaling can all be used without dropping frame rates too low.

The 24GB of VRAM is a key long-term advantage over lower-tier GPUs. It gives the laptop more scope in the future for high-resolution textures and demanding ray-traced scenes, and it should also help the Aorus Master 16 age better as game requirements keep rising.

Fan noise is the major performance downside. At full load, the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 is one of the loudest laptops I’ve tested, and the sound has a high-pitched note that makes it more annoying than a lower rush of air.

A headset is already a typical choice for gaming, but the bigger problem is that even when not gaming, the fans ramp up quickly and can get loud even under light loads.

The quiet and power-saving modes help, but they don't make the laptop consistently quiet. Even in lighter use, the fans tend to spin up much more than seems necessary given the internal temperatures, and it becomes loud enough to notice.

Arguably this is the real-world cost of getting this much performance from a slimmer 16-inch design, but it still feels much less refined than it could be. Hopefully Gigabyte works on the fan control and smooths it out somewhat in future software updates.

Stability was good during testing. External display use worked well, including through a dock, and both Ethernet and Wi-Fi behaved reliably. I also didn't run into sleep, wake or lid-behaviour glitches that often plague Windows based machines. I did find Gigabyte's GiMate software slow at times, but on the plus side it gives good access to performance modes, fan settings and lighting controls.

USB-C charging on the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 is useful, but only if you understand and respect a few limits. The laptop does charge and run happily from USB-C, and in fact tends to be much quieter, which makes it a good option for a docked desk setup, travel or basic work without the big 330W adapter. Light single-core tasks were only 2% slower than full-adapter use in my testing, so web browsing and typical office tasks still feel snappy.

CPU-heavy loads show the limits, though, and were about 60% slower on USB-C than with the power brick, and gaming performance was about 92% lower. That doesn't make USB-C useless, but it does mean you should treat it as a convenience for productivity and top-ups rather than factor it in for gaming.

Still, overall the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 delivers the high-end performance its hardware promises. It's fast enough for demanding 1600p gaming and creative work, for those who don’t mind the fan noise.

If you want a powerful laptop that stays quiet when not gaming, it’s a harder machine to recommend.

• Performance score: 4.5 / 5

Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Gen 2: Battery life and Charging

• Under 2.5 hours of web browsing
• 3 hours and 46 minutes of video playback
• USB-C charging suits light work, not gaming

Battery life is not great, especially considering the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 has a larger 99Wh battery. The slim 16-inch chassis makes it easier to carry than a typical desktop-replacement laptop, but the short runtime unplugged means you'll still want the charger nearby for anything more than brief use.

In my web-browsing battery test, the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 lasted under 2.5 hours. Video playback ran for 3 hours and 46 minutes using power-saving settings.

Those results are disappointing and they do limit the usefulness of the Aorus when you want to work away from a desk for more than a short session.

The 330W adapter is needed for full gaming performance, and it's compact for a charger with that output. It still weighs 750g (1.65lb), though, so carrying the Aorus Master 16 with its charger pushes the total travel weight well over 3kg.

That’s manageable for a high-performance gaming laptop, but it's enough extra weight that I'd only pack the charger when I expected to game or run heavier workloads.

USB-C charging is useful when you want to work on documents, browse or take calls without carrying the 330W adapter. It also works well for a docked desk setup, and the laptop is much quieter when running from a smaller USB-C charger. The limit is performance: the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 drops to Balanced mode or lower on USB-C, and gaming performance falls far enough that the 330W adapter is still required for serious play.

That means USB-C is useful for light productivity and top-ups, not as a proper replacement for the main charger. A future driver update may improve battery life, but as tested, the Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 may be easy enough to transport, but it’s not a laptop that can be relied on away from a charger.

• Battery life and charging score: 2.5 / 5

Should you buy the Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Gen 2?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if...

Gigabyte Aorus Master 16: Also consider

If my Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 review has you considering other high-end gaming laptops, these are some other options that are worth a look:

How I tested

• I tested the Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 for two weeks
• I used it on a desk, with an external display and while travelling
• I used it for 2560 x 1600 gaming, productivity work, video editing and battery testing

I ran the Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 Gen 2 through the usual TechRadar benchmark suite, as well as using it for day-to-day work at a desk and on the go.

I tested gaming performance at the native 2560 x 1600 resolution, checked performance across the laptop's main power profiles and used it for office work, video editing, external display use and general media playback.

I used the TechRadar movie test for assessing battery life during video playback, plus web-browsing and productivity battery tests to see how long the Aorus lasted away from the charger.

I also tested USB-C charging with a dock and USB-C chargers, and checked how performance changed compared with the 330W adapter. Fan noise, thermal comfort, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, sleep behaviour and Gigabyte's GiMate software were also assessed during normal use.

Read more about how we test.

• First reviewed in July 2026

It all started with an email. Someone was reminding me about the fast-approaching National AI Day. I never finished the email but quickly wondered, "National AI Day, is that really a thing?" It is, and I found the man responsible for it.

"We have about 30,000 applications a year for new national days. From that, we have a committee of people look at them," said National Day Calendar.com founder Marlo Anderson when I reached him by phone just two days before the big July 16th event.

National AI Day, though, did not follow that traditional route when it was designated a day on their calendar in 2025. Anderson told me he does a lot of AI work with the business and has been using AI for 20 years, so he did something slightly unusual.

"We just figured having an AI day would be appropriate," he said and admitted he did the designating.

It is not the normal process, though Anderson believes, but could not specifically recall, that people had suggested the day in the past.

You made this list

It is a big deal to get added. After all, National Day Calendar only adds a handful each year and, as Anderson admitted, some already believe they have too many "National Days" (he noted that he might be among that cohort, too).

Still, Anderson, who founded National Calendar Day in 2013, believes AI warranted it. He explained that it's already responsible for much of the "mundane process" work they do, including uploading the National Day Calendar's daily videos to a platform called Video Elephant. They were uploading 100 clips as he spoke to me. Doing it by hand would take two weeks. With AI, "just one day or two."

As for which AI platforms Anderson uses, he seems to spread it around, telling me that Claude is used for app development and website maintenance, ChatGPT Voice for brainstorming projects, and Gemini in National Day Calendar offices in North Dakota.

Anderson is a firm believer in the power and potential of AI for both his own work and as an agent for good in the world. Locally, he told me, "If we have an agentic AI that can handle that workload for us, we should probably do it."

National Anti-AI Day

When I asked abotu the AI backlash — a recent study found 40% of surveyed peopel are limiting use of AI — Anderson told me, "We talk about it all the time," but added, "We get backlash on National Cheese Sandwich Day and French Fry Day," which is to say, he's not sure if the backlash is any greater than for other oddball National Days.

More seriously, Anderson is well aware of the debate about AI's impact on the environment but is also convinced the positives far outweigh the negatives.

"I also understand there’s a lot of benefit," like the ability to find medical cures. They're making, he told me, "remarkable progress right now" in medicine.

He then spun out an analogy about horses and cars. A million hours ago (in 1912), most people were still riding horses and, it turns out, they were pretty dangerous, too. Early cars, with the lack of traffic infrastructure, weren't much better, but "most people would agree a car is a better way to travel," he said, adding that we're currently "at the same crossroads with Artificial Intelligence."

Ultimately, Anderson's decision to create National AI Day was rooted in its current impact.

In 2025, "the conversation had heightened to a point where probably everyone knows about AI, at least in the US. Everyone is probably using it, whether they know it or not," he told me.

It's also about AI's long-term prospects.

When goat yoga was a big thing, Anderson explained, they had a lot of requests to make it a day. "There's no day because we assumed it would be a fad [he was quick to add he’s sure it’s wonderful]. 20 years from now, no one will know or talk about goat yoga, but 20 years from now, they will be talking about AI."

So happy National AI Day. Feel free to celebrate on July 16 by using it, deriding it, or ignoring it altogether.

• Kokuyo Energy Line replaces discrete sockets with one continuous slot that takes up to five two-prong plugs anywhere along its length
• It won a 2025 Good Design Award thanks to its accessibility, style, and attention to detail
• The Kokuyo Energy Line also offers an inclusive design that allows users with upper limb disabilities to easily use the product with just 1 hand

Kokuyo is a well-known Japanese furniture giant that focuses on both functionality and aesthetics across its furniture and interior design lines.

It regularly collects Good Design Awards even as it runs a public "live office" where users can test out hardware in a workplace setting, in addition to HOWS DESIGN, an inclusive-design program that has birthed multiple successes.

The Kokuyo Energy Line power strip is one such offering: it comes with a Good Design Award (2025) and is influenced by the HOWS DESIGN program.

A power strip that blends focus on design, functionality

Modern work desks are a far cry from their older, mundane alternatives at the workplace or at home, offering a degree of customizability that few could have foreseen.

Amid all the upgrades one sees in monitor arms, cable management, electric desks, and even headphone stands, one thing often remains an aesthetic (and often functional) outlier: the modern power strip.

The Kokuyo Energy Line aims to fix this by offering a single continuous power socket that can house up to 5 appliances, with a plug-anywhere design and wiring concealed under the table via a minimalist clamp.

It also leverages an inclusive design that allows users with limb disabilities to use it easily with one hand, as demonstrated during the company's inclusive design workshop at its "HOWS PARK" diversity office.

The Kokuyo Energy Line clocks in at about 7,000 Yen (~$50) and comes in both black and white colors to suit different themes. It aims to eliminate cable clutter on one's desk with a one-size-fits-all approach.

Despite the advances made, the Kokuyo Energy Line also comes with its limitations: the design means it does not accommodate heavy-duty appliances, with a 5-device limit and a 1500W power ceiling, which may leave users who use high-end computers or multi-monitor setups looking for something different.

Unlike competing power strips, it also lacks a surge protector or grounding support, which limits its use to electronics that use a 2-prong cable.

With no support for 230V power cables or sockets and no plans currently to incorporate them, the Kokuyo Energy Line is an impressive but geographically limited power strip offering that suits the company's target audience looking for an aesthetic upgrade, albeit with serious limitations that could see it not be in play for more demanding consumers in terms of sockets and/or power.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #1 — Vowels

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #2 — repeated letters

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #3 — uncommon letters

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1633) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1633) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1633, are…

• PROXY
• BRICK
• BROTH
• SURGE

As befits the appearance of a rare letter it took me a while to find the word PROXY.

Instead, I was trying every letter combination left to me, which is how I ended up with “grovy”.

Daily Sequence today (game #1633) — the answers

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1633, are…

• FUZZY
• THERE
• TEMPO
• CAUSE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #1130) - today's words

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• RACKET
• FOOTBALL
• WIGGLE
• BAR
• HEAD
• BENCH
• ELBOW
• SHOE
• EXTREME
• BREATHING
• MOTOR
• COURT
• CORSET
• WATER
• TRIBUNAL
• BASEBALL
• GLOVE

NYT Connections today (game #1130) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Tell it to the judge
• GREEN: All need to be tied
• BLUE: Types of competitive activity
• PURPLE: Add a word that rhymes with “boom”

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #1130) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: TERMS FOR THE LEGAL SYSTEM
• GREEN: THINGS WITH LACES
• BLUE: KINDS OF SPORTS
• PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE "ROOM" TO INDICATE EXTRA SPACE

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #1130) - the answers

The answers to today's Connections, game #1130, are…

• YELLOW: TERMS FOR THE LEGAL SYSTEM: BAR, BENCH, COURT, TRIBUNAL
• GREEN: THINGS WITH LACES: BASEBALL GLOVE, CORSET, FOOTBALL, SHOE
• BLUE: KINDS OF SPORTS: EXTREME, MOTOR, RACKET, WATER
• PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE "ROOM" TO INDICATE EXTRA SPACE: BREATHING, ELBOW, HEAD, WIGGLE

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

Despite not making any mistakes I am classifying this game as tricky, because I came close to an error in collecting four unrelated sporting things.

THINGS WITH LACES also favors anyone familiar with FOOTBALL, as my mind went to soccer balls — which haven’t had laces since the 1960s.

I also got lucky in spotting the purple group after thinking all of the things that WIGGLE could be connected to and saying “wiggle room” to myself. I hate the idea of being in tight, crowded spots, so wiggle room is always on my mind.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, July 14, 2026, game #1129)

• YELLOW: CONTRACT: AGREEMENT, BARGAIN, DEAL, UNDERSTANDING
• GREEN: EDIT MENU OPTIONS: COPY, CUT, DELETE, PASTE
• BLUE: KINDS OF BASKETS: EASTER, GROCERY, LAUNDRY, PICNIC
• PURPLE: SYMBOLIZED WITH ARROWS: RECYCLING, SHUFFLE, THIS SIDE UP, U-TURN