Prime Day 2026 is coming to a close and although many noteworthy deals have sold out, but there are still some deep discounts that you absolutely shouldn’t miss.
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I’ve covered every single Amazon Prime Day sale for TechRadar since the online retail giant debuted in Australia in 2017, and let me tell you: I haven’t been this impressed by the deals in a few years.
I’ve highlighted over 200 excellent Prime Day deals since the sale started on Tuesday, July 7, and they’ve now been whittled down to 140+ offers — that’s mainly due to prices either going back or stocks having run out.
The list of no-longer-available deals even includes big-ticket items that were down to record-low Aussie prices and were absolutely worth picking up. I hope you did because it could be some months before we see anything similar.
Not to add to anyone’s FOMO, but I’ve put together a short list of some of the standout Prime Day 2026 deals that you missed out on (see below). However, there is some good (well, good-ish) news: sometimes stocks come back up and the discount can be reinstated, or an item is still discounted but at a slightly higher price. Either way, if any of the below products appeal, we’d suggest rechecking them periodically between now and when Prime Day 2026 ends at 11:59pm AEST on Monday, July 13 — you could get lucky.
Ninja Café Premier: the popular coffee machine was AU$799 AU$497.99; it’s now a still-tempting AU$558
The above gadgets might be popular and typically bestsellers (even at full price), but Prime Day is always prodigious when it comes to deals — meaning there’s still loads of worthwhile discounts on offer. Below, I’ve picked 10 of the best that I think are worth your consideration. They’re all at record-low prices and represent exceptional value across a range of price points.
Note, however, that all the prices below are Prime exclusive, so you will need to be an Amazon subscriber to shop these deals.
Exceptional Prime Day 2026 deals in Australia
This ergonomic vertical mouse is perfect for small hands and it encourages better posture, thus helping reduce aches along the wrist, shoulder and shoulder blade. I use it myself (I have the white colourway) and can’t recommend it highly enough, even at full price. Even if you miss this deal, this pointer can typically be had for AU$79 and I would still say pick it up at that price.View Deal
While the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus is slightly cheaper at AU$56, I think for a touch more money, this is the better streaming stick, as there are no compromises at this higher price point. You get the most powerful Fire TV Stick to vamp up your old telly, with fast performance thanks to the best processor in any of Amazon’s streaming devices.View Deal
The 2024 Paperwhite remains one of the best Kindles you can get. Its E Ink Carta 1300 screen is fantastic, page turns are quick and we gave it 4 stars in our review. My only complaint with it is that a significant chunk of its 16GB storage is taken up by the OS, which isn’t really a deal breaker when the price has dropped to a record low.View Deal
Securing a spot on our list of the best air fryers, our reviewer said this innovative model from Ninja was the “air fryer of my dreams”. It takes a familiar double drawer design, but stacks them on top of each other, resulting in a smaller footprint. Performance is exemplary, but just make sure the food you put in isn’t that big, as the drawers themselves are 4.75L each.View Deal
These Sony cans might now be two generations old, but damn are they still glorious. And at this price, they absolutely are the best Prime Day headphone bargain in my humble opinion. Beautiful sound, good ANC and very comfy too.View Deal
It may have been succeeded by the Dreame X50 Ultra (also now at an all-time low price of AU$1,479) and then by the X60 Ultra this year, the X40 remains a competitive premium robovac with good cleaning performance, especially at this discounted price. If you want an all-in-one robot vacuum this Prime Day, let it be this one.View Deal
This entry-level bean-to-cup coffee maker is our favourite espresso machine release this year. It’s simple to use, taking care of the grinding, tamping and pouring for you. The porta filter will even automatically slide into position for you. Do note there’s no milk frothing here, but a matching milk frother is available separately. Also available in black. View Deal
This compact air fryer packs 1,700W of power into a portable design, with two borosilicate glassware containers that serve as both frying baskets and serving dishes. The borosilicate means they can withstand extreme temperatures, making it easy to take your favourite foods from frozen to crispy, and it’s arguably safer to use than any non-stick basket. The Crispi also comes with two removable crisping grates and two snap-on container lids for easy post-feast food-storage.View Deal
Fitted with a flexible head, this shaver is designed to glide against the shape of your face, while onboard sensors will allow it to adapt the cutting power to your beard’s length. Speaking of which, it’s got five length settings to suit different needs and waterproofing means it can even be used while in the shower too. View Deal
While I think the iO 6 is the smarter brush (now AU$181.13), you can save some cash by opting for the iO 5 instead. You don’t really miss out on much — the more expensive iO 6 has an interactive display, an extra gum-care mode and slightly faster charger. Other than that, the iO 5 is just as good an oscillating toothbrush as any of its more expensive siblings.View Deal
Warframe finally goes to Tau, with developer Digital Extremes aiming to take its universe in a bold new direction.
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Warframe’s upcoming Tau update was showcased today at TennoCon in London, Ontario
The update will take the game in a bold new direction, introducing a noir detective story
A smaller Fall update is scheduled before Tau lands later this year
So, it’s finally happening: Warframe is going to the Tau system later this year, in a hotly anticipated major update that has been repeatedly teased for years.
Having just watched the reveal live at TennoCon 2026, I have to say… any predictions I had about this update could not have been more wrong.
Last year’s The Old Peace update gave us a glimpse of Tau’s distant past, showing glittering orbital academies and futuristic humans living in harmony with the robotic Sentient race. As it turns out, the ‘present-day’ Tau is absolutely nothing like that.
The undercity of Fornax is a grim, addiction-wracked settting. (Image credit: Digital Extremes)
Instead, today’s event introduced us to a grimy neo-noir dystopia, a Sentient city named Fornax inside a gigantic ring-shaped superstructure orbiting one of Tau’s dead worlds. The live demo at TennoCon is seen through the eyes of a new upcoming warframe, Brysko, who is so obviously a frameified version of Blade Runner protagonist Rick Deckard that it almost borders on parody, right down to his long jacket and beefy signature pistol. Oh, and did I mention that he’s voiced by Matt Mercer?
Dark city
The narrative of the new update leaps between plotlines at a breakneck pace (as has become common for Warframe‘s frankly wild storytelling), first showing us flashbacks featuring the Lotus and the player characters finally figuring out how to get to Tau. Meanwhile, sometimes-hero-sometimes-villain Albrecht Entrati is already in Tau, sending Brysko on an investigation into Fornax’s seedy underworld in a story that clearly draws heavy inspiration from 40s noir detective films.
Fornax is not a great place to live. It evokes Blade Runner‘s rain-soaked Los Angeles or Cyberpunk 2077‘s Night City, blended with the crumbling architecture and utter hopelessness of Warhammer 40,000‘s multi-layered hive cities. “Addiction is the theme of this update,” said Warframe Creative Director Rebecca Ford at the press preview event I attended on Thursday night, and that’s immediately evident in the city’s inhabitants.
Tau introduces a whole new cast of characters in Brysko’s detective storyline. (Image credit: Digital Extremes)
Brysko himself chain-smokes cigars, the undercity slums are filled with drug-addled Sentients begging for scraps and pissing in the streets (yes, these robots can urinate… no, developer Digital Extremes did not explain how or why), and a large part of the live demo focuses on a casino seemingly run by presumed-dead Sentient character Adis, all grown up and now a cold, calculating mob boss named ‘the Hunra’.
The neo-noir stylings extend here, too. Unlike most of the playable warframes in game (or the mutated human protoframes), Brysko is what Ford calls a “chimeraframe” - in other words, a frame who retains his own personality and individuality. He narrates his investigation in classic jaded detective fashion, and seemingly has an ongoing romance with a Sentient blues singer who performs in the Hunra’s club.
A twisting tale
In true Warframe fashion, it’s a staggeringly unusual twist for the overarching story. This is a game where you don’t reach the character creation screen until after at least a dozen hours of gameplay; the plot dances between genres, a space opera one minute and a 1990s time-travel adventure the next. It’s dipped its toes into cosmic horror, military shooters, and tales of anticapitalist rebellion.
Yes, we’re getting playable Lotus before GTA 6. (Image credit: Digital Extremes)
Swordfights, gunfights, ghost pirates, hoverboards, cats, mechs, and worlds to explore inside children’s fantasy storybooks. Perhaps it was inevitable that Digital Extremes might eventually settle on a dark detective thriller in its writing team’s roving adventure through the annals of genre fiction. But I certainly didn’t see it coming, and I’d be amazed if anyone else did too.
A small slice of the TennoCon live demo showed the arrival of one of the Vessels: titanic bio-mechanical humanoids built for the coming war against Warframe‘s big bad, but until now left inert in the old labs beneath the surface of Deimos. We briefly saw a customization screen that let you choose a body type and tweak the colors of the Vessel, implying that we’ll probably be playing as one directly in the near future, but the context for this has largely been left unanswered thus far.
New stars, new worlds
Setting aside the bizarre new narrative direction for a moment, let’s break down what we can actually expect from the Tau update when it drops in late 2026.
As many fans have hoped, it looks like the Tau system will contain its own new star chart to navigate (essentially the ‘world map’ of Warframe), separate from the Origin System chart that currently forms the basis for the game’s setting. Ford confirmed that players will be able to move between the two systems at will once Tau is unlocked, adding: “This is just growth - we’re not replacing anything.” I have to wonder if this particular statement was prompted by a certain other sci-fi live-service game and its controversial habit of routinely hacking out older content…
The Tau system brings multiple new worlds to explore, but only two regions will be available this year. (Image credit: Digital Extremes)
At launch, Tau will feature two explorable planets, with the megacity of Fornax being one of them. Fornax itself will be broken into three ‘hubs’, the first of which is the casino setting shown in the live demo. From there, Digital Extremes has plans to further flesh out the system in future updates; one part of the demo shows at least three other planets in orbit around Tau’s binary suns, one of which appears to have been shattered by some ancient conflict.
Different challenges
Gameplay-wise, it’s largely the same fast-paced parkour-combat Warframe fans have come to love, just expanded. The demo showcases multiple new Sentient enemy types, new guns, a grappling hook mechanic, and a boss fight against a fantastically designed pair of Sentient twins who can amalgamate their bodies into a single large monster.
There are some spins on the usual formula coming too, though, specifically to reflect the wildly different setting of Tau. Gone is the Steel Path, Warframe‘s ‘hard mode’ overseen by mentor character Teshin - instead, a new endgame difficulty will be implemented for missions in Tau, with the Steel Path’s Acolyte minibosses also replaced by something Digital Extremes was not yet ready to reveal.
Tau makes liberal use of Warframe‘s Mature rating, with more swearing and the introduction of gambling minigames. (Image credit: Digital Extremes)
Ford also teased at least one new mode with “a twist on the core Warframe mission structure, to make it feel more fresh.” Oh, and you can gamble via a selection of minigames in the Hunra’s club, with Ford immediately comparing it to Final Fantasy VII‘s beloved Gold Saucer amusement park.
And that’s about everything we know so far. The Tau update is slated for late 2026 (most likely December, from the cadence of major updates), with a smaller content drop - named ‘Iceblade of Narin’ - coming in the Fall. I’ll wrap it up here, but needless to say, I’m very excited now.
Flipper Devices keeps firmware development alive through community contributions while shifting internal resources toward new hardware projects and products.
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Flipper Zero firmware continues as community developers gain greater influence
Company reduces direct support while opening development to users
Over one million users force Flipper to rethink communication
Flipper Devices has confirmed that firmware development for its popular pen-testing gadget will continue.
The company clarified that a smaller internal team will now oversee the project, relying more heavily on contributions from its user base.
This shift follows weeks of backlash after interviews and online discussions gave the impression that active development had effectively stopped altogether.
A new structure for community involvement
The company explained that more than one million Flipper Zero users now generate a volume of requests its small team simply cannot manage through direct channels.
As a result, all communication will move to GitHub Discussions, where community members can submit and vote on proposed changes.
Requests will be evaluated weekly, giving contributors a clearer sense of how proposals move through the pipeline over time.
Pull requests from the community remain welcome, though they will face stricter review standards before acceptance into the official firmware.
Any firmware change will require mandatory integration and regression testing, processes that will themselves be open to community participation.
The development team says it will maintain particular oversight over AI-generated code affecting low-level functions, since such contributions are often difficult to verify.
Interface changes and updates requiring new documentation will also receive close attention from the remaining internal staff.
Shifting focus toward new hardware
Flipper Zero Firmware 1.0 arrived in September 2024, following roughly three years of active development work by the company.
The most recent stable release, version 1.4.3, has been available since December 2025 without major updates since.
At that stage, the team reportedly considered the firmware mature, citing a stable SDK and fully implemented promised features.
Attention has since turned toward newer hardware projects, including the Flipper One open Linux platform built with community assistance.
The company also introduced the Busy Bar device, aimed at helping people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder reduce daily distractions.
That product is scheduled for open sale beginning July 14 2026 across the US, UK, Europe, and Canada.
Flipper Devices says disabling direct messages across social media channels was necessary to redirect the growing volume of user requests.
Whether this restructured, community-driven model can sustain meaningful firmware progress remains uncertain given the reduced internal resources.
Amazon Prime Day has discounted a wide range of security cameras, but while the ultra-cheap Ring and Blink are tempting, there are great deals for subscription-free options, too.
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While the TechRadar Australia team has been knee-deep in covering this week’s Amazon Prime Day sale, we were rocked by the news of my colleague, Max Langridge, recording a break-in attempt at his home with a Ring security camera. It was enough for him to bolster security further by picking up some extra Blink cameras while they’re discounted.
But there’s a catch with these Amazon-made security cameras — you have to sign up for a monthly subscription to access some of their most useful features, like cloud video storage and movement detection . There are some workarounds with Blink cameras, such as the flash storage-supporting Sync Module 2, but on the whole, you need to pay extra to use the cameras to their full potential.
Fortunately, there are plenty of other compelling Prime Day deals on security cameras that don’t require a monthly subscription to access essential features.
I’ve pulled together five such subscription-free security camera discounts below, including offerings from reputable brands like TP-Link, Reolink, Wyze and more:
The Wyze Cam v3 is an affordable security camera with a microSD slot for video storage and playback, and it can be placed either indoors or outdoors. It ‘only’ supports 1080p resolution (some newer models support 2K or even 4K recording), but it still has good colour and infrared night vision for the price. It is wired, which may be limiting for those who can’t go down this install route, and person detection is, admittedly, still locked behind a subscription. However, our reviewer found the camera is perfectly usable without it, meaning the Cam v3 earns a spot on this list.View Deal
Moving up to 2K resolution, Imou’s Ranger 2C also has a microSD slot for video storage and playback, and still provides both motion detection and alerts without the need for the Imou Protect subscription service. It also has two-way audio to allow you to communicate with the person (or pet) on the other side, as well as alerting you to unusual sounds, like a baby crying or a barking dog. We’ve reviewed an older version of the Ranger 2C here for more information.View Deal
For an extra deterrent, this camera comes with some big, bright spotlights on either side of the unit to illuminate any potential intruders once they trip the motion detection sensor. There’s also a fixed solar panel for additional power so you won’t have to take it down to recharge every few months. It also comes with microSD storage and, while there is a subscription service available, it mainly relates to cloud storage options — something that’s not essential due to that microSD slot. Read our Reolink Solar Floodlight Cam review.View Deal
I’m in the process of testing and reviewing this security camera and so far it’s proving to be a great value option if you want 4K video and local storage via microSD card. This kit comes with a solar panel to keep it powered, and in my experience so far it works a charm — I’ve never had to charge it myself. Plus, the built-in spotlight helps retain colour while capturing footage at night. My only real complaint is with the limited smart home compatibility, although Alexa is fully supported.View Deal
Our review praised the crisp 4K video recordings, pan-and-tilt functionality to cover an extra-wide area, and local 64GB storage. The Altas PT Ultra works well enough during the day, but its night-time performance is where it excels, thanks to the Reolink ColorX technology capturing impressive colour footage without needing a spotlight. The battery is a large 20,000mAh unit, and the included solar panel also means you generally shouldn’t need to manually recharge it.View Deal
UFC 329 hits our screens today, and octagon fans don’t have to worry about paying extortionate PPV fees to catch the sensational return of Conor McGregor. Walmart+ members get Paramount+ included with their subscription at no extra cost, meaning you can watch every kick, punch and takedown for next to nothing.
No complicated sign-ups, no additional fees — just fork out $1 for a Walmart+ trial and you can stream McGregor vs Holloway and Saint Denis vs Pimblett.
But what if you’re outside the US on vacation this weekend? Luckily, at TechRadar we’ve found a smart solution so you don’t miss any of the action available on Paramount+.
📺 When prompted to choose a streaming benefit, select Paramount+
💻 Log in to your Paramount+ account.
🤼 Watch UFC 329.
‼️ Outside America? You’ll need a VPN - we recommend NordVPN
Use a VPN to access UFC 329 from anywhere
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 a 75% discount, and three months for free.
Not having a VPN is like leaving your front door wide open in a busy city – anyone can walk right in and take a peek.
TechRadar regularly reviews all the biggest and best VPN providers and NordVPN is our #1 choice.
✅ 75% off today ✅ 3 extra months for free ✅ Unlocks Walmart’s 30-day trial
Get NordVPN and live stream UFC 329 from anywhere.View Deal
Using a VPN is incredibly simple:
1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we’ve said, NordVPN is our favourite.
2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you’re visiting Canada and want to view your usual US service, you’d select ‘United States’ in the app.
3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to Walmart, grab your Walmart Plus 30-day trial, and watch UFC 329 live streams on Paramount Plus.
UFC 329 full card
🤼♂️ Main card (9pm ET / 2am BST)
Conor McGregor vs Max Holloway 2
Paddy Pimblett vs Benoît Saint Denis
Cory Sandhagen vs Mario Bautista 2
Robert Whittaker vs Nikita Krylov
Leon Edwards vs Daniel Rodriguez
🔥 Prelims (7pm ET / 12am BST)
Cody Garbrandt vs Adrian Yanez
Gable Steveson vs TBA
César Almeida vs Damian Pinas
Zachary Reese vs Ryan Gandra
👀 Early prelims (5pm ET / 10pm BST)
Gillian Robertson vs Polyana Viana
Daniel Zellhuber vs Michael Johnson
Azamat Bekoev vs Sedriques Dumas
André Lima vs Felipe Bunes
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.
MeetingTV sues Koi Security over alleged AI-generated false claims linking its software to Chinese cybercrime, causing reputational and business damage.
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AI security report sparks lawsuit after startup denies cybercrime accusations
MeetingTV challenges Koi over allegedly inaccurate automated threat analysis
Missing evidence becomes central issue in cybersecurity report dispute
MeetingTV has filed a lawsuit against Palo Alto Networks and its subsidiary Koi Security over a recent blog post which alleges the latter’s AI system generated false claims connecting the video conferencing startup to a Chinese espionage campaign.
Court documents describe the publication as reckless reliance on an automated analytical tool without adequate human verification.
The lawsuit alleges that Koi relied heavily on its proprietary Wings analytical platform, which generated false links between MeetingTV and a cybercrime group called DarkSpectre, and according to court documents, the startup claims the system created unsupported connections that were presented as evidence of criminal activity.
AI-generated findings become the centre of legal dispute
MeetingTV founder Michael Robertson said the report relied on information that appeared to come from an AI tool without sufficient human verification.
“The false attributions were the direct product of Koi’s unsupervised reliance,” the lawsuit stated, referring to the alleged dependence on automated analysis.
The disputed report connected MeetingTV’s Zoomcorder service to a campaign involving a browser extension named Twitter X Video Downloader.
However, the lawsuit claims the extension did not exist and that Koi failed to provide evidence supporting its technical connection.
MeetingTV alleges that this missing component formed the foundation of Koi’s argument linking the company to the wider malware campaign.
The startup also claims Koi did not contact the company before publishing the report or provide an opportunity for clarification.
After the report appeared online, multiple security companies and service providers blocked MeetingTV’s domains, classifying them as malicious infrastructure.
The company claims these actions affected access to its services and damaged its reputation among customers and partners.
The wider concerns around AI-driven cybersecurity reports
Koi Security later removed references to MeetingTV’s Zoomcorder product from the report, though the startup argues the damage continued afterward.
Palo Alto Networks, which acquired Koi Security in April, acknowledged awareness of the lawsuit while defending Koi’s cybersecurity research process.
The company said Koi’s work reflects efforts to identify threats and expects the dispute to follow the legal process.
However, MeetingTV argues that automated security analysis requires stronger oversight before conclusions are shared publicly.
AI systems already produce incorrect information and many even warn users of this possibility, so their outputs should never be presented as verified fact.
Security researchers increasingly rely on automated tools to process large volumes of data, yet verifying those conclusions remains a persistent and unresolved challenge.
Should MeetingTV’s claims hold up under judicial scrutiny, the dispute could prompt closer examination of how AI-generated threat reports are produced and reviewed.
The advice therefore is simple: conclusions from AI-assisted analysis should be painstakingly verified, especially when errors could cause serious harm to an individual or company.
Looking for NYT Strands answers and hints? Here’s all you need to know to solve today’s game, including the spangram.
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Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Saturday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, July 11 (game #860).
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 #861) - hint #1 - today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… In the Big Apple
NYT Strands today (game #861) - hint #2 - clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
GABLE
WAXY
GRIP
TILED
DATA
HUGGER
NYT Strands today (game #861) - hint #3 - spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 11 letters
NYT Strands today (game #861) - hint #4 - spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
• First side: bottom, 3rd column
• Last side: top, 3rd column
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #861) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today’s Strands, game #861, are…
STOOP
BOROUGH
BODEGA
SUBWAY
TAXI
BAGEL
DELI
SPANGRAM: EMPIRESTATE
My rating: Easy
My score: Perfect
It took me a while to see BAGEL and DELI, possibly because I don’t associate them uniquely with New York, but this slight delay aside today’s game was a breeze.
I even managed to spot the spangram before any game words — EMPIRESTATE towering from the top to the bottom of the board, much like the magnificent building — earning myself the Spangram First 100 times badge.
As Alicia Keys sang, “concrete jungle where dreams are made of” — although this possibly doesn’t apply if your dream is acing word searches.
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Saturday, July 11, game #860)
CHEESE
SOUP
MILK
TUNA
PEPPER
SALT
NOODLES
SPANGRAM: CASSEROLE
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT’s not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I’ve got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you’re struggling to beat it each day.
Looking for NYT Connections answers and hints? Here’s all you need to know to solve today’s game, plus my commentary on the puzzles.
Read more
Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Saturday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, July 11 (game #1126).
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 #1127) - today’s words
(Image credit: New York Times)
Today’s NYT Connections words are…
PARTY
NERD
MAD
STONE
DOT
DEN
PIP
STUDY
PHO
SPREE
SLEEP
PIT
RUNT
SAC
SEED
REPEAT
NYT Connections today (game #1127) - hint #1 - group hints
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: Vital part of plants
GREEN: Singular confections
BLUE: Campus motto
PURPLE: City syllables
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 #1127) - hint #2 - group answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
YELLOW: REPRODUCTIVE PART OF FRUIT
GREEN: BIT OF FRUIT FLAVORED CANDY
BLUE: VERBS IN A COLLEGE LIFE SLOGAN
PURPLE: STARTS OF U.S. CAPITALS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #1127) - the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today’s Connections, game #1127, are…
YELLOW: REPRODUCTIVE PART OF FRUIT: PIP, PIT, SEED, STONE
GREEN: BIT OF FRUIT FLAVORED CANDY: DOT, NERD, RUNT, SPREE
BLUE: VERBS IN A COLLEGE LIFE SLOGAN: PARTY, REPEAT, SLEEP, STUDY
PURPLE: STARTS OF U.S. CAPITALS: DEN, MAD, PHO, SAC
My rating: Hard
My score: 2 mistakes
For anyone based outside of the US, like me in the UK, this game had an added layer of difficulty thanks to Connections’ fondness for candy brands and state capitals.
By now, of course, I should be fully aware of the many varieties of candies — some of which admittedly have travelled beyond the US to cause dental issues around the world — but compressed dextrose delight SPREE is not one I have heard of.
Somehow, though, I floundered my way through with just two mistakes.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Saturday, July 11, 2026, game #1126)
GREEN: UNDISTURBED, AS WATER: CALM, FLAT, GLASSY, STILL
BLUE: “TOY STORY” CHARACTERS: BO PEEP, JESSIE, SLINKY, WOODY
PURPLE: DOUBLE LETTERS APPEARING IN THAT LETTER’S ALPHABETICAL:
POSITION AARDVARK, BOCCE, EBBING, TWIDDLE
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It’s playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
Looking for Quordle clues? We can help. Plus get the answers to Quordle today and past solutions.
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Looking for a different day?
A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Saturday’s puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Saturday, July 11 (game #1629).
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 #1630) — hint #1 — Vowels
How many different vowels are in Quordle today?
• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.
* 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 #1630) — hint #2 — repeated letters
Do any of today’s Quordle answers contain repeated letters?
• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.
Quordle today (game #1630) — hint #3 — uncommon letters
Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?
• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today’s Quordle answers.
What letters do today’s Quordle answers start with?
• S
• B
• L
• D
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Quordle today (game #1630) — the answers
(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)
The answers to today’s Quordle, game #1630, are…
STAIN
BINGO
LARVA
DICEY
There was only one word that contained two of the same letter — LARVA — and realizing that was a probability with L, A, and R in incorrect positions helped me finish without any stress.
That said, this was a particularly charmed game for me, with my starter words giving me two simple anagrams.
Hope it was easy like Sunday morning for you, too.
Daily Sequence today (game #1630) — the answers
(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)
The answers to today’s Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1630, are…
Expect a fast and furious start to UFC 329’s headline act this Saturday, as Conor McGregor looks to overcome five years of professional inactivity marked by a long and shameful list of misdemeanours, and beat Max Holloway on his comeback.
“Blessed” lost their only previous encounter way back in 2013, but the former featherweight and BMF champion has fought eight times since “Notorious” last set foot in the Octagon. On five of those occasions, a belt was on the line.
McGregor was 24 and Holloway 21 on that night. 13 years later, it’s safe to say that much has changed. McGregor, now 37, went on to conquer the featherwright and lightweight divisions, becoming the UFC’s biggest star in the process. It earned him a mind-bogglingly lucrative fight with Floyd Mayweather, and everything has gone rapidly downhill ever since. Holloway, meanwhile, has been a virtual ever-present on the UFC circuit.
However, what McGregor lacks in fitness he might well make up for with sheer brute physicality. He has five fights under his belt at welterweight, which is five more than Holloway, who was at his fighting best at featherweight – two weight classes down.
This week, he’s spoken of wanting to put on a show by prolonging the action. McGregor, however, knows that his best chance of victory comes from hitting Holloway as hard as possible straight out of the gates.
Here’s where to watch UFC 329 live streams online and from anywhere with a VPN – including a clever way to watch UFC 329 for just $1.
How to watch UFC 329 live stream in the US
Exclusive US coverage of the full UFC 329 event is on Paramount Plus. It’s being headlined by Conor McGregor vs Max Holloway 2, which is expected to start at around 11pm ET / 8pm PT.
Plans start from only $8.99/month with the Paramount Plus Essential Plan, or you can upgrade to Premium for $13.99/month (see below for more details). You can also get a Paramount Plus trial with Walmart+ for $1 using this sneaky trick we found.
While Paramount Plus will show UFC 329 in its entirety, you can also watch the Early Prelims via UFC Fight Pass.
A VPN is a handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it’s back in your home country, thereby letting you unlock your usual streaming services. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with a 76% discount.
Not having a VPN is like leaving your front door wide open in a busy city – anyone can walk right in and take a peek.
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Using a VPN is incredibly simple:
1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we’ve said, NordVPN is our favorite.
2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you’re visiting the UK and want to view your usual US service, you’d select a United States server from the list.
3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to your usual local streaming service and watch the UFC.
How to watch UFC 329 live stream in the UK
The UFC 329 main card is available on a pay-per-view basis from TNT Sports Box Office in the UK, costing £19.99. It’s set to begin at 2am BST in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The rest of the event is being shown on TNT Sports 1. You can get it by adding TNT Sports to your Sky, Virgin Media or EE TV package, or pay from £25.99 per month for a HBO Max plan that includes TNT Sports.
UFC Fight Pass subscribers can also watch the Prelims and Early Prelims.
If you’re abroad whilst the MMA live stream is on, a VPN like NordVPN can help you to access your home streaming services from anywhere.
How to watch UFC 329 live stream in Canada
There are a host of pay-per-view providers offering a UFC 329 live stream in Canada.
You can head to the likes of Sportsnet, Bell or the UFC Fight Pass to watch the whole event, where the PPV price is set at $69.99. Prelims will also be shown on Sportsnet and TVA Sports, with Early Prelims also on UFC Fight Pass.
North of the border from the US? You can use NordVPN to watch your Paramount Plus subscription like you were back at home.
That means you can live stream UFC 329 via your web browser and devices like Android, iOS, Samsung TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Telstra TV and Chromecast.
You can also catch all the Prelims (but not the McGregor vs Holloway 2 main event) via Paramount+ and free-to-air Network 10.
Downloading a VPN will help you access your subscriptions from anywhere if you’re abroad when the fight is on.
Can I watch UFC 329 for free?
Not quite. Other than the sneaky little Walmart+ for $1 trick described above in the US, there doesn’t seem to be any way to watch UFC 329 for free. It’s on Paramount Plus in the US, which no longer carries a free trial. And it’s a PPV in many other countries around the world.
TVNZ+ will also broadcast the early prelims for free in New Zealand if you are looking to catch the full card.
When does UFC 329 start?
The UFC 329 Main Card is scheduled to begin at 9pm ET / 6pm ET on Saturday, July 11. That’s 2am BST or 11am AEST in the UK and Australia on Sunday, July 12.
Before that, the Early Prelims start at 5pm ET / 2pm PT / 10pm BST / 7am AEST (Sun) and the Prelims at 7pm PT / 4pm PT / 12am BST (Sun) / 9am AEST (Sun).
Can I watch UFC 329 on my mobile?
Yes. Most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser – Paramount Plus, HBO Max and Kayo Sports all have mobile apps, for example.
You can also stay up-to-date with the latest UFC news and plays on the official social media channels on X (@ufc), Instagram (@ufc), Facebook (UFC) TikTok (@ufc) and YouTube (@ufc).
UFC 329 full card
Main card Conor McGregor vs Max Holloway (Welterweight) Benoît Saint Denis vs Paddy Pimblett (Lightweight) Cory Sandhagen vs Mario Bautista (Bantamweight) Brandon Royval vs Lone’er Kavanagh (Flyweight) King Green vs Terrance McKinney (Lightweight)
Prelims Robert Whittaker vs Nikita Krylov (Light Heavyweight) Gable Steveson vs Elisha Ellison (Heavyweight) Cody Garbrandt vs Adrian Yañez (Bantamweight) Luke Riley vs Kai Kamaka III (Featherweight)
Early prelims Tracy Cortezvs Wang Cong (Women’s Flyweight) Damian Pinas vs César Almeida (Middleweight) Farid Basharat vs John Garza (Bantamweight) Ryan Gandra vs Zachary Reese (Middleweight) Alessandro Costa vs Cody Durden (Flyweight)
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.
Open Tools develops a repairable open source printer using Raspberry Pi hardware, challenging DRM restrictions while facing cartridge and production challenges.
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Open Printer challenges traditional printers with a repairable open hardware design
Raspberry Pi powers a printer built around user control
The project rejects DRM restrictions through open firmware and designs
Printers have earned a reputation for frustrating owners through DRM chips, subscription ink schemes, and firmware that blocks non-branded cartridges entirely.
Paris-based Open Tools now wants to challenge that model with a repairable, open-hardware inkjet called Open Printer.
The printer runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero W, which handles the print server, while a separate STMicroelectronics STM32 microcontroller independently manages the cartridge board.
Hardware built for repair, not restriction
Users can interact with it through a 1.47-inch TFT LCD screen paired with a jog wheel, alongside USB-C, USB-A, Bluetooth 4.1, and a 24V DC input.
Printing runs through CUPS, the open source Common Unix Printing System, letting the device work across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS without vendor-specific drivers.
The printing resolution reaches 600 dpi for black and white output and 1200 dpi when printing in colour.
The prototype accepts HP 63 cartridges in the U.S., HP 302 in Europe, and HP 803 in Asia, with black and colour tanks operating independently.
Open Tools licenses its electronics, firmware, mechanical files, and bill of materials under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 agreement.
This non-commercial license allows owners to repair, modify, and share the design, but it explicitly bars anyone from manufacturing and selling the printer commercially.
Relying on HP cartridge bodies raises an odd contradiction, given HP’s long association with cartridge lockouts through its HP+ and Instant Ink programs.
This means that Open Printer’s refill freedom depends entirely on HP continuing to sell those cartridges in a form that accepts third-party ink.
Progress continues, but key details remain unresolved
Beyond the cartridge and licensing questions, Open Tools continues refining several technical aspects of the machine’s core function.
Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity are still being integrated, according to the company’s latest development update shared with supporters.
Engineers are also refining ink drying, printhead cleaning cycles, paper insertion mechanics, and dithering algorithms used for colour rendering.
The specification sheet lists Wi-Fi 5 support, which exceeds the older 802.11n radio built into the Raspberry Pi Zero W.
This suggests that networking will likely depend on an additional module, though final implementation details remain unconfirmed.
Open Tools has not published a funding goal, stating that final pricing depends on production volume and component costs.
Certification requirements and remaining engineering work will also affect the final price once crowdfunding formally begins.
Nearly nine months after first appearing on Crowd Supply, the project still has no confirmed price, release date, or print speed.
In a recent video, the company shared a working prototype of this device and revealed that it has earned two French Design Award nominations.
However, prototypes and design award nominations do not guarantee a shipped product, and open-hardware crowdfunding projects frequently stall before reaching customers.
Whether Open Printer ever reaches buyers at all remains the real question hanging over its DRM-free promise.
Here’s how to watch Argentina vs Switzerland for free online and from anywhere as Lionel Messi leads his side in this FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-final.
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Argentina vs Switzerland Kick-Off time: 2am BST (Sun) / 9pm ET (Sat) / 11am AEST (Sun)
Lionel Messi’s Argentina will aim to make the most of their FIFA World Cup 2026 lifeline when they face Switzerland in Kansas City — and you can live stream the quarter-final around the world for free.
The reigning champions were on the brink of a shock exit when they trailed Egypt 2-0 with 11 minutes of their last-16 clash to go, but Messi stepped up to lead an extraordinary comeback. The Albiceleste skipper delivered an assist and a goal to restore parity, before Enzo Fernandez headed home a stoppage-time winner to snatch a 3-2 victory. Having also survived a scare in the last 32 against Cape Verde, Lionel Scaloni’s men will hope for a more straightforward assignment at Arrowhead Stadium, where they beat Algeria 3-0 in their opening game.
Switzerland have already made history just by reaching this stage, becoming their country’s first World Cup quarter-finalists since 1954 and winning a first knockout game since 1938. Murat Yakin’s side edged past Colombia on penalties in the last 16 following an uneventful 0-0 draw, the Nati’s second clean sheet in a row. They suffered the considerable blow of losing influential attacking midfielder Johan Manzambi to injury before the last-16 victory, putting the 20-year-old’s chances of playing any further part in the tournament in doubt.
Whoever takes the win today will set up a tie against England after they overcame Norway after extra time.
So, read on as we show you exactly how to watch Argentina vs Switzerland for free from anywhere in the FIFA World Cup 2026.
How to watch Argentina vs Switzerland for free
Argentina vs Switzerland is available to watch for free in multiple countries, including the UK, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey.
Abroad? Can’t access your free stream? Unblock your free World Cup stream with Norton VPN — more on that below.
Argentina vs Switzerland Team News
Argentina XI: Emiliano Martínez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martínez, Nicolás Tagliafico; Leandro Paredes, Enzo Fernández; Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister, Lionel Messi; Julián Alvarez
Switzerland XI: Gregor Kobel; Manuel Akanji, Nico Elvedi, Ricardo Rodríguez; Fabian Rieder, Granit Xhaka, Remo Freuler, Denis Zakaria; Breel Embolo, Djibril Sow, Dan Ndoye
Use a VPN to watch Argentina vs Switzerland live streams
It’s the World Cup, and if you’re traveling, you might discover your usual Argentina vs Switzerland 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.
Watch your free World Cup stream without limits. Norton VPN delivers fast, secure connections with global servers, so you can stream from anywhere with ease.
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How to watch Argentina vs Switzerland in the US
US viewers can watch Argentina vs Switzerland on Fox (English commentary) or Telemundo (Spanish commentary).
Argentina vs Switzerland: Road to the quarter-finals
Stage
Argentina
Switzerland
Group stage
Group J: 1st, 9 points
Group B: 1st, 7 points
Last 32
Beat Cape Verde (3-2 AET)
Beat Algeria (2-0)
Last 16
Beat Egypt (3-2)
Beat Colombia (0-0 AET; 4-3 pens)
Can I watch Argentina vs Switzerland on my mobile?
Of course, most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser.
You can also stay up-to-date with all of the key World Cup moments on the official social media channels on X/Twitter (@FIFAWorldCup), Instagram (@FIFAWorldCup), TikTok (@FIFAWorldCup) and YouTube (@FIFA).
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 rise of AI threatens the arts just as much as any industry – with large language models able to generate all kinds of media
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Generative AI has given rise to a new breed of business that can generate synthetic content, be it video or music, and Suno AI is among the biggest names in this category.
The startup’s CEO, Mikey Shulman, however, landed himself in hot water when he made comments about the joy and fulfilment that musicians get from practising their craft.
Making music ‘enjoyable’ again
Shulman was speaking on the 20VC podcast in January 2025 when he remarked that making music isn’t something that most people enjoy doing.
Quote of the day
This article is part of TechRadar Pro’s QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. Read the full series here.
He framed his words in such a way that would suggest that his platform, Suno, cuts out a lot of these steps – largely centered around mastering the skills that you need – which would, in turn, lower the barrier to entry for those who aren’t naturally gifted or have the time to ‘get good’ at making music.
In his words, he wanted to “[give] everybody the joys of creating music” which he deemed a huge departure from the status quo. His remarks, however, drew the ire of countless working within the music industry as well as regular people on social media.
Struggling artists
The threat of AI to the lives and livelihoods of those working in the music industry is very worrisome, according to research, with workers standing to lose 25% of their income over the next four years. It’s no surprise, then, that Shulman’s comments instigated such a fierce and violent backlash – forcing the CEO to row back and apologize a couple of months later.
His critics also suggested that the comments fundamentally misunderstood the nature of art and working in a medium such as music, where the hours of toil, practice and refinement are, in and of itself, part of what makes it such a fulfilling endeavor.
However, generative AI is still a new phenomenon and companies like Suno have only just entered the arena. Although the nature of the existential threat to the creative industries is clear, the specific economic impact on artists in the years to come remains unclear – especially in an uncertain landscape in which a strong backlash against AI art is brewing.
Last year, Apple completely reinvented multitasking on the iPad, with the introduction of windowing in iPadOS 26. At first, this meant the removal of the simpler version of multitasking, Split View and Slide Over. Those features did eventually return, but at a cost – they required you to use the clunky new windowing system. I was hoping iPadOS 27…
China seems to have solved one of the biggest logistics challenges of using larger drones across various environments by using trucks to form a launch system.
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Video showcases China’s road-mobile electromagnetic catapult launching an aircraft for the first time
The footage comes from a now-deleted social media post from the Beijing Institute of Technology’s School of Mechanical Engineering
Leverages China’s existing EMALS tech by miniaturizing what it already uses on its aircraft carrier
China seems to have solved one of the biggest challenges modern drones face: deploying without a runway anywhere on the planet, thanks to a miniaturized version of the EMALS catapults found on its newest aircraft carrier.
A short video clip that surfaced towards the tail end of last month, from a social media post by the Beijing Institute of Technology’s School of Mechanical Engineering, shows three eight-wheeled trucks linked together in a Lego-like fashion to form a runway that allows a propeller-driven drone to take flight.
The footage also shows all three trucks detached, coupling with each other, and exhibiting all-wheel steering that, in principle, enables them, if given enough space, to launch drones or small aircraft in any direction.
Replacing a runway in the modern battlefield?
China’s move is not one that occurred in a vacuum: the United States was the first country in the world to deploy an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), sparking an arms race when it launched its first aircraft in 2017 aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford.
China followed suit with its own aircraft carrier, the Fujian, which sports three EMALS catapults to the US’s four, possibly accounting for the Chinese carrier’s smaller size relative to its principal naval rival’s largest.
China has, however, beaten the US to the punch when it comes to demonstrating a portable EMALS, it seems, with its three-truck solution essentially marking a first for either country.
Chinese state-owned giants account for a significant share of the 70+ organizations directly involved in an impressive achievement that sets the stage for the next generation of drone-based combat.
Despite the video making its way across social media, it was taken down by the Beijing Institute of Technology’s School of Mechanical Engineering, which originally posted it. The move, however, has not stopped defense forums and Chinese analysts from offering insights into what is clearly a major technological achievement for the country.
With France and India both committed to launching EMALS (albeit on future aircraft carriers for now), only two countries currently have the tech deployed on a ship, and only one of them has a land-based, portable option in play for now: China.
The next generation of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Flip phones is likely just around the corner — here’s everything we know about deals and pricing so far.
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Big news for foldable phone fans this week. Reservations for the next generation of Galaxy Z Fold and Flip series phones have just arrived at the official Samsung Store ahead of the next Galaxy Unpacked keynote event.
The event will take place on July 22, 2026, at 9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. BST, which means preorders are likely just a few weeks away. If you’re interested in picking up a new device, then you’ll find everything we know so far right here, including speculation on pricing and potential preorder deals.
While we’re expecting the next generation of the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip, Samsung has already suggested there’s something more in store. In its first teaser for the event last week, the company said that “after seven generations of pushing the boundaries of foldables, Samsung is taking a different approach to how it builds anticipation this year.”
That message, coupled with months of rumours about a wider foldable design, has sparked speculation that Samsung could finally be ready to introduce an entirely new type of foldable smartphone. With that said, details are still pretty scant as of writing, so take any speculation here as an educated prediction, rather than the gospel.
You can already reserve a device now
You can sign up to reserve the next Galaxy at Samsung directly at no cost and unlock $30 Samsung Credit towards the preorder of the next device and up to $1,230 off with an eligible device trade-in.
Right now, we don’t even know what these devices will be called, let alone official pricing, so any speculation here is an educated guess. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 debuted at $1,999 / $1,299 respectively, so that’s a rough ballpark of what to expect. Over in the UK, the last-gen devices debuted at £1,799 / £1,049.
I have a suspicion that Samsung might increase the price for this year’s devices, however. RAM shortages and inflation are potential contributing factors here, and I think the brand could potentially increase the price anyway if the upgrades are big enough. If there’s a new form factor, for example, I could see Samsung leaning heavily into that as a justification for a price increase.
How much can we expect to save?
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
Trade-in rebates of up to $1,100 to $1,200
Additional store credit at Samsung
Major carriers matching discounts
Samsung itself has confirmed that there will be discounts of up to $1,230 with a trade-in rebate once preorders open. That will most likely cover both unlocked and carrier devices, so that gives you an idea of how premium these devices are likely to be.
Up until now, we’ve usually seen discounts of up to $1,100 on the latest Galaxy S26 and iPhone 17 series, so it looks like Samsung is being particularly aggressive with its discounts at launch.
Breaking that deal down, it could potentially resemble something like a trade-in rebate of up to $1,100, $100 of bonus credit to spend at Samsung (usually on accessories), and the $30 bonus for reserving a device. That’s roughly in line with what the brand has offered over previous launches.
In terms of major carriers, you can definitely expect Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T to match those trade-in rebates on their sites. We could potentially see these major carriers waive the trade-in criteria altogether, but they usually only do this when you pair up the device with one of their super high-end plans. We’re talking about plans that cost over $60 to $80 a month over a three-year duration, so they’re usually pretty damn pricey in their own regard.
What about over in the UK?
You can already reserve a device if you’re in the UK too, but annoyingly, Samsung hasn’t confirmed any of the opening deals with its reservation page in this region. All we know is that you’ll be able to get an extra £100 with your trade-in rebate, plus £30 in store credit if you reserve a device right now.
We’ve seen trade-in rebates of up to £700 with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in recent months, so I suspect a rebate of anywhere between £650 and £850 is likely to be the maximum saving on the next-gen device when it arrives. Major networks like EE, Three, and O2 might have higher discounts than this, but those won’t be for unlocked devices — you’ll probably need a pretty substantial contract to get big savings.
After setting the music gear corner of the internet on fire back in 2023 with the first glimpse at the Nopia, creators Martin Grieco and Rocío Gal are almost ready to bring it to market. The duo brought it to the MusicRadar offices for an in-depth first look and revealed that it will be launching […]
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More mint green synths please. | Image: Nopia
After setting the music gear corner of the internet on fire back in 2023 with the first glimpse at the Nopia, creators Martin Grieco and Rocío Gal are almost ready to bring it to market. The duo brought it to theMusicRadar offices for an in-depth first look and revealed that it will be launching in “a couple of months” for around £550.
Nopia is built around harmonic interplay in a unique way. Rather than a few knobs and a keyboard controlling a single synth patch, it blends multiple modules - keys, bass, arp, and pad - into a single performance, not unlike a drumless groovebox. There’s a one-octave keyboard called the Chord Builder, a 12-b …
Your watch can become an unexpected lifeline at a festival: here’s how.
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Your smartwatch is probably not the first bit of festival kit you pack. Tent, charger, waterproof jacket, earplugs, decanted booze, possibly a slightly optimistic number of outfits – all of those usually come first.
Still, the right watch and some tweaked settings can make a big difference once you’re through the gates.
A smartwatch can help you pay for food without digging out your phone, find your way back to your tent, track down a missing device, contact help in an emergency, and keep basic features running long after your phone is dead.
The slight catch is that most of this needs setting up before you arrive. Patchy signal, crowded fields, low battery, and tiny on-watch menus are a poor combination when you’re trying to fix something in the moment.
So before you head to your next festival, spend a few minutes getting your watch ready. These are the five settings and features I’d check first.
Download offline maps and save locations
(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)
A festival map in the official app is useful, but it won’t help much if your phone battery is limping along or the signal has vanished at exactly the wrong moment. Your smartwatch can give you a small but handy backup.
On Apple Watch, you can sync offline Apple Maps from your iPhone to your watch, so saved areas are still available when your phone isn’t nearby. Wear OS watches, including Pixel Watch and Galaxy Watch models, can also use offline Google Maps, provided you download the relevant area before you leave. Some Garmin users may have a proper mapping setup, depending whether your model has full-color maps such as the Garmin Fenix 8.
The best move is to save more than just the festival site. Download the surrounding town, the route to your accommodation, the nearest station, and any pick-up or drop-off points you might use at the end of the night.
If your watch lets you save favorite locations, mark your tent, your car, or a meeting spot with friends as soon as you arrive. For example, you could set your tent up as a Waypoint if you’re using an Apple Watch, and always know the direction via the Compass complication.
Yes, this sounds a bit boring, but you’ll be glad of the simple directions when you’re stumbling back in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Set up contactless payments and travel cards
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Arsenii Palivoda)
Festival bars and food stalls are not the place to discover your watch wallet is still half set up. Add your usual payment card before you leave, then test it somewhere first, like your local coffee shop.
Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet, and Garmin Pay can all turn a compatible smartwatch into a wrist-based payment card, though support varies by watch, bank, country, and card provider.
Add a backup card if you can, especially if you’re travelling abroad, and check whether your watch can handle transport cards, IDs, or passes for the journey to and from the site. This is still a backup, rather than a reason to leave everything else behind. A physical card and a bit of cash are worth keeping somewhere safe, because small vendors, patchy terminals, and dead batteries still exist.
But once your watch payments are ready, you’ve got one fewer reason to pull your phone out in a crowd. In the UK, most festivals are now completely cash-less, so you could feasibly do a whole weekend paying only with your wrist.
Turn on Find My and other alerts
(Image credit: Apple / Future)
A festival is basically a stress test for your phone, earbuds, keys, and bag.
You’re moving between stages, sitting on the grass, squeezing through crowds, and handing things between friends, so it’s very easy for something to end up in the wrong pocket or under a camping chair.
Before you go, make sure Apple’s Find My, Google’s Find Hub, or Samsung’s SmartThings Find is properly enabled for the devices you’re taking.
On an Apple Watch, for example, you can ping your iPhone from your wrist, check the location of devices, and use left-behind alerts for some items.
Android users can get similar help through Google or Samsung’s tracking tools, depending on their phone and watch setup.
This is also where trackers earn their keep. An AirTag or similar tracker on your keys, bag, or tent pouch can be a lot less annoying than retracing your steps through a field at midnight.
It still pays to be realistic – location tools can struggle in dense crowds or low-signal areas – but switching them on before the chaos starts gives you a much better chance of finding things quickly.
Configure SOS, Medical ID, and satellite safety features carefully
(Image credit: Garmin / Future)
Smartwatch safety features are easy to ignore until you need them, so take a few minutes to set them up before you leave. Add your emergency contacts, fill in your Medical ID or health information, and learn the shortcut for Emergency SOS on your watch.
If you’re using a newer Apple Watch Ultra or Pixel Watch with satellite SOS support, it’s also worth checking how the feature works before you’re somewhere with no signal.
The slightly awkward festival wrinkle is that watches can sometimes get a bit overexcited. Fall detection, crash detection, or collision alerts are useful in the right situation, but a mosh pit, packed crowd, or particularly enthusiastic dance tent can look dramatic to a wrist sensor. For most people, the sensible setup is: keep Emergency SOS, Medical ID, and emergency contacts ready, then learn how to cancel a false alert if one starts.
If you know you’re heading into a big crowd, consider temporarily switching off crash or collision detection. Your watch should be a safety net, not the reason you accidentally phone the emergency services during a guitar solo.
(Image credit: Future / Shutterstock / Primakov)
Learn to enable a battery-saving festival mode
A smartwatch is only useful if it still has charge when you need it, so give yourself a battery setup before the day gets going. Turn on Low Power Mode or Battery Saver earlier than you think you need to, especially if you’re using GPS and mobile data.
The display is usually the easiest win. Always-On Display looks great, but it’s not essential when you’re trying to stretch a watch through a long festival day. Auto-brightness can help outdoors, while Theater Mode, Sleep Mode, or a low manual brightness setting can stop the screen lighting up constantly at night.
For multi-day festivals, pack the smallest charger or power bank that works with your watch, then make charging part of the routine rather than a panic job.
A quick top-up while you shower can keep the useful stuff running without turning your watch into another thing to worry about.
Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Many apps make it easy to track your Pokémon card collection. Route 25 takes that a step further by bringing a social experience…
Even the fastest VPNs can struggle with 4K video streams – but this risk-free option could offer a fix
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We always caveat our VPN speed tests by saying something like “but you only need around a 30 Mbps connection to stream 4K video”. The trouble is that it’s not always as simple as that when you’re watching a UHD stream – particularly for an event as popular as the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The best VPNs offer ultra-fast network speeds that can handle ultra-high definition 4K video streaming – but network traffic spikes can bring this to a standstill.
Events like the World Cup cause traffic surging with some popular ISPs, VPNs, and the streaming services themselves struggling under the capacity stresses of having so many users demanding bandwidth at once. The results are often buffering or a reduction in video resolution at the least. Hence why your 4K football match might look a lot rougher than it should.
Server congestion can also cause packet loss, where packets of data sent through a network are unable to reach their destination, resulting in dropped frames or stuttering.
The solution is a two-parter. Firstly, you want to find a VPN with support for high-speed WireGuard connections that can remain stable under pressure from congestion. Secondly, switch your stream to 1080p, rather than 4K, in order to reduce the bandwidth you require. This should keep frame rates high and buffering to a minimum.
If you’re looking for a new VPN to keep up with the World Cup or watch other major events in 4K, our Norton VPN review found a solid choice with average Wireguard speeds of 1010mbps. What’s more, Norton VPN is currently available for up to 60 per cent off:
Norton VPN boasts a high-speed Wireguard protocol, averaging 1010mbps in our in-depth review testing. That means it’s a great pick for streaming high-definition video, even at times of increased demand. With 116 server locations in 74 countries, you’ve got plenty of options to choose from if one specific server is overwhelmed.
And with a discounted price of $3.33 per month for the first year, the Standard plan will let you add up to three devices – stepping up to the Deluxe plan will get you five devices at once for $4.17 per month, while the Ultimate plan covers 10 devices for the equivalent of $5 per month. All three plans come with a 60 day money-back guarantee, twice the standard for VPN services. View Deal
If you’re just not willing to step down to 1080p, you might want to look into using a Smart DNS service instead of a VPN. This will allow you to spoof your location on a less crowded server (i.e your home network), but won’t encrypt your data or hide your IP address.
And if Norton VPN just doesn’t float your boat, there are other options on the market. Norton is still slower than many of the best VPNs: ExpressVPN (1177mbps), NordVPN (1249mbps), and Proton VPN (1475mbps) all boast faster speeds. And for those on a budget, Surfshark still reigns as our pick for the best cheap VPN.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield had been seeking documents from Paramount related to its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Rayfield also asked a state circuit court judge to delay the closing of the deal by 60 days so that his office could review the documents. But according to Deadline and Variety, he’s now dropped his […]
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Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield had been seeking documents from Paramount related to its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Rayfield also asked a state circuit court judge to delay the closing of the deal by 60 days so that his office could review the documents. But according to Deadline andVariety, he’s now dropped his civil investigative demand for the records.
Obviously, Paramount is pleased with Rayfield’s decision to withdraw his request, but the AG’s office isn’t exactly satisfied with the outcome.
Jenny Hansson, communications director for Rayfield, toldDeadline that, “Paramount made it clear that they weren’t going to compl …
Samsung, Google, and partners create TP4193, moving SSD virtualization into hardware while increasing AI data center efficiency and hardware demands.
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Samsung helps move SSD virtualization from software workarounds into hardware design
New NVMe standard could transform storage management inside AI data centers
AI infrastructure demands are driving a major shift in SSD architecture
Samsung Semiconductor has confirmed its role in ratifying TP4193, a new NVMe technical standard called PCIe Exported NVM Subsystem Migration.
The company developed this specification alongside Google and other major infrastructure players within the NVM Express organization.
It fundamentally changes how NVMe solid state drives handle virtualization inside large, AI-driven data centers.
A shift from software tricks to hardware-native design
Storage virtualization has traditionally lived above the SSD itself, managed by hypervisor software running on the host server.
That software had to intercept every command from a virtual machine, disguise the drive’s true identity, and pass modified instructions along, a method known as trap-and-emulate.
This approach worked reliably but consumed significant processing cycles and introduced latency into every input and output path.
As AI workloads tied to GPU clusters grew more dynamic, these inefficiencies became far more noticeable across large-scale deployments.
TP4193 moves that entire process into the SSD hardware itself, letting drives present virtualized, isolated storage constructs natively.
The host server now functions as an orchestrator rather than an implementer forced to constantly intercept and rewrite commands.
This shift slims down hypervisor complexity considerably while giving virtual machines direct access to administrative queues, cutting latency in the process.
Why this likely keeps SSD prices elevated for AI buyers
The standard introduces two core capabilities: standardized creation of virtual storage objects and controlled masking of a drive’s underlying attributes and capabilities.
Together, these functions let a virtual machine migrate between physical SSDs without noticing any change to its underlying hardware environment.
That capability matters enormously for hyperscale data centers running constantly shifting AI training and inference workloads across GPU-heavy infrastructure.
Since TP4193-compliant drives require new hardware capabilities built directly into the SSD controller, older inventory cannot simply receive a software update to comply.
Companies like Google, already named as collaborators on the standard, have clear incentive to refresh storage fleets to gain these efficiency and migration benefits.
Combined with existing NAND supply constraints and rising demand tied to generative AI infrastructure, that refresh cycle adds fresh upward pressure on enterprise SSD pricing.
Multi-tenant environments benefit from secure isolation across multiple GPU attach points, a feature increasingly demanded by AI infrastructure operators managing shared hardware.
Hyperscalers rarely delay adopting standards that reduce hypervisor overhead and simplify live migration across thousands of virtual machines simultaneously.
Whether this translates into an immediate wave of hardware purchases remains uncertain, since standard ratification and actual product rollout rarely happen on the same timeline.
What seems more predictable is that any near-term drop in enterprise SSD prices looks increasingly unlikely, given how directly this standard ties new capability to new hardware.
Here’s how to watch Norway vs England replay for free online and from anywhere at the FIFA World Cup 2026, as two of the world’s best strikers meet in the last eight.
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Norway vs England full replay free on BBC Two(6:05am, Sunday)
Two world-class strikers go head to head in the FIFA World Cup 2026 as Erling Haaland’s Norway meets Harry Kane’s England in the quarter-finals — and you can live stream the game for free.
Norway’s 2-1 win over Brazil in the last 16 transformed them from dark horses to genuine title contenders. Though the Vikings have quality players in several positions, Haaland is absolutely crucial to their hopes and the striker showed exactly why against the five-time winners, the Man City man’s deadly brace taking his tournament tally to seven. Left-back David Moller Wolfe is an injury doubt after coming off against Brazil, while manager Stale Solbakken revealed this week that some of his players have been struggling with illness.
If Haaland’s tally of 58 goals for club and country in 2025/26 is astonishing, Kane’s numbers are simply absurd. The England captain scored his 73rd goal of the season in the epic 3-2 win over Mexico in the last 16, with Jude Bellingham claiming a quick-fire first-half double. Manager Thomas Tuchel must decide what to do at right-back against Norway, with Jarell Quansah suspended following his red card at Estadio Azteca and Reece James facing a race to be fit. Jordan Henderson’s World Cup is over after the midfielder suffered a freak wrist injury falling over the advertising hoardings as he celebrated the win over Mexico.
So, read on as we show you exactly how to watch Norway vs England for free from anywhere in the FIFA World Cup 2026.
How to watch Norway vs England for free (REPLAY)
Norway vs England is available to watch for free in multiple countries, including the UK, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey.
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 Norway vs England REPLAY
It’s the World Cup, and if you’re traveling, you might discover your usual Norway vs England 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.
Watch your free World Cup stream without limits. Norton VPN delivers fast, secure connections with global servers, so you can stream from anywhere with ease.
💰 60-day money-back guarantee 🔓 Unlocks World Cup streams
Don’t miss a second. Stream the World Cup from anywhere with total confidence.View Deal
How to watch Norway vs England in the US
US viewers can watch Norway vs England on Fox (English commentary) or Telemundo (Spanish commentary).
Defenders: Kristoffer Ajer (Brentford), Julian Ryerson (Borussia Dortmund), Leo Ostigard (Genoa), Marcus Holmgren Pedersen (Torino), David Moller Wolfe (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Fredrik Andre Bjorkan (Bodo/Glimt), Torbjorn Heggem (Bologna), Sondre Langas (Derby County), Henrik Falchener (Viking).
Midfielders: Martin Odegaard (Arsenal), Sander Berge (Fulham), Patrick Berg (Bodo/Glimt), Kristian Thorstvedt (Sassuolo), Morten Thorsby (Cremonese), Antonio Nusa (RB Leipzig), Fredrik Aursnes (Benfica), Oscar Bobb (Fulham), Jens Petter Hauge (Bodo/Glimt), Andreas Schjelderup (Benfica), Thelo Aasgaard (Rangers).
Forwards: Anthony Gordon (Barcelona), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Noni Madueke (Arsenal), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ivan Toney (Al-Ahli), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).
Norway vs England: Road to the quarter-finals
Stage
Norway
England
Group stage
Group I: 2nd, 6 points
Group L: 1st, 7 points
Last 32
Beat Ivory Coast (2-1)
Beat DR Congo (2-1)
Last 16
Beat Brazil (2-1)
Beat Mexico (3-2)
Can I watch Norway vs England on my mobile?
Of course, most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser.
You can also stay up-to-date with all of the key World Cup moments on the official social media channels on X/Twitter (@FIFAWorldCup), Instagram (@FIFAWorldCup), TikTok (@FIFAWorldCup) and YouTube (@FIFA).
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.
As TechRadar’s TV tester, I’m always on the look out for new 4K Blu-rays to use for testing and right now, there’s none better than Speed Racer.
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Here at TechRadar, I test some of the best 4K Blu-rays each month as part of the Blu-ray Bounty. This is where we look at the latest 4K releases from that month and judge whether they’d be a worthy addition to your collection, focusing solely on the video and audio quality of each disc.
Every so often, a disc wows me so much that I add it to my rotation for testing the best TVs and best soundbars. 4K Blu-ray is my go-to source for AV testing, as it delivers a higher video bit rate, resulting in better picture quality than streaming, and uncompressed soundtracks for the best audio.
Some of the discs from the near-100 discs I’ve tested as part of the Blu-ray Bounty that have joined over the years include Wicked, The Mask, The Sound of Music and Dark City, to name just a few.
As part of the most recent June 2026 Blu-ray Bounty, there’s another disc that will definitely be joining the testing rotation, as it performs at a reference-quality level. And that disc is Speed Racer.
Breathtaking color
Speed Racer‘s bold red colors proved an interesting test for the Samsung S95H/S99H (left) and LG G6 (right) (Image credit: Warner Bros / Future )
My go-to 4K Blu-rays for color testing have been Wicked and The Sound of Music. Wicked features an oversaturated, candy-color style that really generates a lot of pop on the right screen, while The Sound of Music delivers still-vibrant but more authentic and realistic colors.
Speed Racer falls in Wicked’s camp, but takes it to another level. Throughout the movie, there are some seriously vivid colors. Red is a prominent feature throughout the movie, as it’s the color of Speed Racer’s ‘M’ logo and the interior of his car, both of which are often front and center on screen. It’s also the color of the Racer garage at home and Papa Racer’s shirt, which he wears throughout the movie.
When I tested the Samsung S95H/S99H and LG G6 side-by-side, both TVs interpreted the red differently: the G6 gave it a much deeper red hue, while the S95H/S99H made it look paler, almost orange in some places. Both of these TVs, likely to be two of the best OLED TVs I’ll test in 2026, captured the visual punch of this red, but it was useful to see how each TV interpreted the color.
Both the S95H/S99H (left) and G6 (right) do a great job delivering the vibrant purples of Royalton Industries accurately. (Image credit: Warner Bros. / Future )
There are plenty of scenes where a single color dominates. As the Racer family arrived at Royalton Industries, there were a lot of bold purples, including the airship’s color, the walls, and even the transport. On the OLEDs I tested the disc on, these purples had a beautiful richness to them that again was displayed in different ways by the S95H/S99H and the G6, with the latter again adding that bit more depth.
This trend continued throughout the movie, whether it was the neon greens of a grass field in a flashback, the fantastic pink/purple/orange gradients in the sky during sunset or the lush blues of the sky during daytime race sequences (or Speed’s iconic blue and white shirt.) Even the white of the Mach 5 / 6 and Speed’s helmet had a glorious clarity to them, really dazzling on the S95H/S99H and G6.
The use of color is fantastic in Speed Racer, and if you have a TV with Dolby Vision, you’ll be rewarded with the most breathtaking colors, some of the best I’ve ever seen on a 4K Blu-ray. But it’s not just color reproduction where this disc is useful.
A Dolby Atmos showcase
Speed Racer‘s races sequences are fantastic for sound testing, particularly Dolby Atmos (Image credit: Warner Bros. / Future)
When it comes to testing soundbars and TV audio, my go-to 4K Blu-rays have been The Batman, namely the Batmobile/Penguin car chase scene for its detail and bass, and Top Gun: Maverick, for its all-around expansive Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
Speed Racer has proved to be a far more compelling disc, audibly, than I ever thought. While I anticipated some hefty bass from the car’s engines, I didn’t anticipate the level of detail and sound mapping I would hear.
During the opening race, there are plenty of demonstrations of pinpoint accuracy as cars swerve wildly through the corners of the winding track. The sound of squealing tires demonstrates excellent directionality and is fully connected with the action on screen. As a car moves from side to side on screen, you can be sure to hear it in the front channels.
One moment in this scene, in particular, really grabbed my attention, though. As Speed makes his way around the track, he has to grind the rear axle of the Mach 5 against the edge of the track and as I was watching, I heard the sound of a grind come through crystal clear in the left rear speaker of the Samsung HW-Q990C soundbar I was using (an 11.1.4 channel Dolby Atmos system comprising of a soundbar, subwoofer and two rear speakers). This was the moment that made me realize just how precise and detailed the Dolby Atmos mix of this disc is.
Speed Racer‘s Dolby Atmos soundtrack is truly immersive and exceptionally detailed (Image credit: Warner Bros. / Future )
There’s good use of Atmos effects and height channels too. As Speed uses his spring-loaded chassis to jump over a rival racer, a cut to said rival’s cockpit reveals a burst of not only bass but also the sound of the wind from the Mach 5 as Speed flips over. This sounded immersive, clean, and incredibly precise. There are plenty of helicopter sequences too, which are great for showing what Atmos can do.
There were plenty of highlight moments throughout the movie, but it is the race sequences that showcase the clarity and depth of this Dolby Atmos soundtrack. But there’s one final area where this disc is a perfect testing disc.
Always in motion
Fast-paced race sequences are frequent throughout Speed Racer, and are a great ‘stress test’ for a TV (Image credit: Warner Bros / Future )
Motion handling is a key component of any TV. If a TV can’t accurately handle fast-moving images, then action movies and sports won’t look good. While motion interpolation settings, such as judder and blur reduction, can reduce these, they can introduce unwanted side effects, such as the ‘ghosting’ of a ball in a soccer game (where a trail of the ball appears as it travels across the screen).
I anticipate that Speed Racer is going to act as somewhat of a ‘torture test’ for some TVs (like The Batman can be due to its low brightness), as there are not only plenty of fast-paced driving sequences with plenty of quick shifts in direction, but one other real challenge: slow panning shots.
Frequently throughout the movie, commentators from various countries slowly track across the screen from side to side, and even on the S95H/S99H and G6, which have proven to have great motion handling with the right settings, these shots still struggled at times. The commentators sometimes showed judder as the TV’s tried to interpolate the motion, meaning this is something I’ll be using in future tests. With these panning shots, however, there is sometimes natural judder.
(Image credit: Warner Bros. / Future )
Again, though, it’s the fast-paced race sequences that can make or break a TV’s motion. Chaotic driving as cars swerve to avoid debris, smash into one another, or pull a tight turn can look unnatural if a TV’s motion isn’t right. Too much blur and judder reduction, and it’ll look artificial; not enough, and it’ll look like a juddery mess.
Speed Racer really is one of the best Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos 4K Blu-rays I’ve ever tested and is a triple threat disc for color, motion and sound, so if you’re a regular reader of our TV and soundbar reviews and comparisons here at TechRadar, expect to see Speed Racer appear very soon.
Leaked specifications reveal 7,150 MB/s speeds from Samsung’s mystery SSD
Samsung appears to be preparing a budget PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD which removes the onboard DRAM cache found in traditional drive designs.
The unannounced model surfaced briefly on Samsung’s website recently, before the listing was taken down without any official confirmation from the company.
Listed specifications describe a 1TB drive with sequential read speeds reaching 7,150 MB/s and write speeds reaching 6,450 MB/s.
How Samsung plans to compensate for missing DRAM
Traditional SSDs rely on dedicated DRAM to store the flash translation layer, letting the controller locate data across NAND flash quickly and efficiently.
However, as the global “RAMpocalypse” continues to worsen, even the largest vendors are looking for ways to reduce their dependence on DRAM.
Without that DRAM, drives can suffer higher latency and weaker performance during sustained workloads or heavy multitasking sessions.
To offset this gap, Samsung is using NVMe’s Host Memory Buffer (HMB) feature, which reserves a small portion of system memory over PCI Express instead.
That borrowed memory holds mapping metadata rather than user files, connecting logical addresses to their physical NAND locations directly.
HMB generally cannot match the responsiveness of dedicated DRAM, though it improves performance compared to drives with no caching mechanism at all.
The drive carries a 400 TBW endurance rating, a modest figure for a 1TB SSD by current industry standards.
That number hints at Quad-Level Cell (QLC) NAND flash, which stores four bits per memory cell and lowers both cost and durability.
Samsung has not disclosed publicly which specific NAND flash technology sits inside this particular unannounced drive model.
Rising component costs are reshaping SSD design choices
Samsung’s move comes as NAND flash and DRAMpricing continue climbing sharply across the broader global storage industry this year.
Removing the DRAM package cuts component costs directly, simplifies PCB design, and helps maintain competitive pricing within the mainstream SSD segment overall.
QLC NAND increases storage density and lowers manufacturing costs, though it trails Triple-Level Cell NAND in sustained write performance and long-term endurance ratings.
It also remains considerably less durable than older Multi-Level Cell (MLC) and Single-Level Cell (SLC) NAND technologies still found in some enterprise storage products.
Despite those trade-offs, the listed sequential speeds of 7,150 MB/s and 6,450 MB/s place the drive alongside many mainstream PCIe 4.0 SSDs with dedicated DRAM caches.
Samsung has not announced pricing, availability, the official product name, or the specific NAND technology used in the drive.
Until those details emerge, the leaked specifications point toward a lower-cost PCIe 4.0 SSD designed to balance competitive performance with reduced manufacturing costs as memory prices continue rising.
Why upcoming action game Blood Message should be on your radar.
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If you love cinematic action games like The Last of Us, then there’s one upcoming release that should be on your radar. Summer Game Fest 2026 gave me the opportunity to go hands-on with Blood Message, which seems set to deliver a killer mix of gripping stealth, visceral melee combat, and intense set-piece moments.
Under the Radar
Under the Radar is our way of highlighting great games that might have passed you by. Through a regular mix of news stories and features, we’ll cover great experiences that we feel haven’t found the audience they deserve. Read the full series here.
Set in Ancient China, it follows a nameless hero and his son on an epic 1,000-mile journey through the scorching deserts of East Asia towards the historical city of Chang’an to deliver a vital message. The pair must survive against impossible odds, navigating vast sieges and escaping the clutches of relentless enemy forces.
An epic journey
(Image credit: NetEase Games)
Because this is the first single-player title by Naraka: Bladepoint developer 24 Entertainment, I had no idea what to expect when I sat down for my demo.
Showcasing an early segment of the game, the demo opens with our protagonist searching a house, desperate to recover an important letter as hostile soldiers comb through the surrounding town. The high production values are immediately apparent: everything here is rich in detail, with plenty of high-fidelity objects for you to pick up and pore over. The architectural style of the building around you is striking as well, with clay walls, sandy floors, and thatched reed roofs.
While Ancient China is certainly becoming a more common setting in games, I can’t think of the last time I saw its arid desert regions depicted. I’m desperate to explore more of its tantalizingly exotic environments and soak in the unique aesthetic.
Playing with a DualSense Wireless Controller, I also quickly appreciate how the movement feels very fluid and benefits from some impressive animation that, like The Last of Us Part 2, looks seriously cinematic and realistic without sacrificing responsiveness.
(Image credit: NetEase Games)
It’s not long until I find myself in combat against a group of foes, and it’s just as excellent. You have a heavy attack and a light attack, plus the ability to parry. This is by no means a unique formula, but the impeccably slick way that the protagonist interacts with the environment leads to some of the most gripping encounters that I’ve ever experienced. There’s a real meatiness in your swings, which realistically causes enemies to trip and stagger.
Attacking a foe next to a stacked wooden shelf will send them tumbling into it, knocking objects onto the floor and stunning them for a moment. Launch a heavy kick while your opponent is standing in front of a table, and they’ll be pushed right over it onto the floor, creating vital distance when you’re surrounded. Fail to deflect an incoming strike yourself, and you’ll often be forced onto your knees, tapping a button to pelt anything heavy that’s within arm’s reach to give you a few moments to escape.
Although my combat time was limited, I was still impressed by the variety of ways in which fights could unfold, particularly when there was an allied companion in the mix. There were definitely some moments that felt scripted, like when two enemies locked swords with me at the same time near the end of a brawl to trigger a climactic struggle. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it helps introduce unexpected and exciting moments.
(Image credit: NetEase Games)
I really enjoyed going in with my sword drawn, but most of the time, combat is entirely optional thanks to a robust stealth system. This is another area where Blood Message feels similar to The Last of Us Part 2, forcing you to scurry through long grass and crouch in cover to avoid patrols. Get behind one of your quarries undetected, and you can initiate a brutal takedown, though be warned that any wrong move risks thrusting you straight into open combat.
At certain points, getting seen is inevitable, triggering bombastic chase sequences that have you sprinting away from barrages of arrow fire, scrambling up ledges, and leaping over perilous gaps. The path you need to take always feels very intuitive, though there are a few little alternative routes sprinkled throughout if you want to experiment.
Everything I played could easily rival the output of a developer like Naughty Dog, and with Blood Message set to release on consoles and PC, this should be at the top of gamers’ wishlists.
All the ways to watch Argentina vs Wales live streams – including for FREE – for Nations Championship 2026 Round 2 at Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario.
Argentina vs Wales kick-off: Saturday, July 11 at 3.10pm ET / 8.10pm BST / 5.10am AEST (Sun)
Argentina’s clash with Wales in Matchday 2 of Nations Championship 2026 is poised beautifully, with the teams having experienced contrasting fortunes on the opening weekend of the tournament.
Los Pumas approach Saturday’s home clash at Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario as favourites, but they’re coming off a bruising 38-47 defeat by Scotland that would have looked much worse if the visitors hadn’t eased off in the final few minutes to allow Argentina to cross the whitewash twice.
Wales’ rebuild, meanwhile, continues to show promise. Their hard-fought 24-39 victory over Fiji was their third straight win, and that it came against the run of play only serves to illustrate the resilience that Steve Tandy has managed to foster.
Argentina, however, bring back bad memories. Felipe Contepomi’s men hammered Wales by 52-28 in Cardiff last November, in what was Tandy’s first game in charge, and Jac Morgan suffered a dislocated shoulder during the game.
Wales’ talismanic skipper, however, showed that he’s keen to make up for lost time by scoring twice on his return to the fold last weekend. Louis Rees-Zammit’s form, however, remains a concern. He’s been dropped to bench in favour of Ellis Mee, while Tandy has also brought Sam Costelow in for Dan Edwards at fly-half.
Read on as we explain how to watch Argentina vs Wales for free in the 2026 Nations Championship.
Can you watch Argentina vs Wales for free?
Yes. Argentina vs Wales is being shown on free-to-air Rugbypass TV in the US, on ITVX in the UK, and on Virgin Media Play in Ireland.
Free-to-air Welsh-language coverage is also available from S4C via BBC iPlayer.
Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch Argentina vs Wales for free as if you were right at home.
Use a VPN to watch Argentina vs Wales 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.
Not having a VPN is like leaving your front door wide open in a busy city – anyone can walk right in and take a peek.
TechRadar regularly reviews all the biggest and best VPN providers and NordVPN is our #1 choice.
✅ Up to 75% off today ✅ 3 extra months free ✅ Unlocks Rugbypass TV, ITVX, BBC iPlayer & Virgin Media Play
Get NordVPN and stream Argentina vs Wales from anywhere.View Deal
How to watch Argentina vs Wales live streams in the US
Argentina vs Wales, along with all 42 Nations Championship games, is available to live stream for FREE on Rugbypass TV in the US.
You can tune in via the Rugbypass TV website or app, and it works with Chromecast, Airplay, Apple TV and Android TV.
Outside of the US? Use a VPN while you’re traveling away from home to unlock your stream.
How to watch Argentina vs Wales live streams in the UK
In the UK, Argentina vs Wales is free-to-air on ITV1, with live streaming available via ITVX.
All you need is an account, a TV license and a UK postcode (e.g.HA9 0WS). Sign up here!
Fans who’d prefer to watch Argentina vs Wales with Welsh commentary can tune in for free on S4C via BBC iPlayer.
If you’re out of the UK but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.
How to watch Argentina vs Wales live streams in Ireland
Argentina vs Wales is free-to-air on Virgin Media One in Ireland, with live streaming available via the Virgin Media Play platform.
Outside Ireland? You’ll need to download a VPN, as detailed above, to tap into your free Nations Championship stream from abroad.
How to watch Argentina vs Wales live streams in Australia
In Australia, Argentina vs Wales is exclusive to Stan Sport.
Stan Sport costs AU$20/month on top of a Stan subscription, which itself starts at AU$12/month.
Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch the action as if you were back home.
How to watch Argentina vs Wales live streams in New Zealand
In New Zealand, Sky Sport NZis showing the Argentina vs Wales game.
You can access Sky Sport through satellite TV or get a live stream, with the Sky Sport Now subscription service starting at NZ$29.99 per day or NZ$59.99 per month.
Those outside of New Zealand for any part of the Nations Championship can use NordVPN to gain access to their home streaming service.
How to watch Argentina vs Wales live streams in South Africa
The Argentina vs Wales game is being shown on Supersport in South Africa.
You’ll need a DStv access package to watch the Nations Championship, with prices starting at Rs99/month for the streaming version.
Abroad right now? Just use a VPN and tell your device that you’re back home and you’ll be good to go.
How to watch Argentina vs Wales live streams in Canada
(Image credit: Other)
In Canada, Argentina vs Wales is being shown on Premier Sports.
A monthly pass costs CA$29.99. You’ll need either the CA$79.99 six-month pass or the CA$139.99/year annual subscription to tune into the whole tournament.
If you’re out of Canada but still want to catch the action, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.
What is the Argentina vs Wales start time?
The scheduled Argentina vs Wales kick-off time on Saturday, July 11 is 4.10pm ART local time in San Juan, which is 12.10pm PT / 3.10pm ET / 8.10pm BST.
That’s 5.10am AEST on Sunday, July 12 in Australia.
What is the Argentina vs Wales head-to-head?
Argentina have won eight of their 23 previous encounters with Wales. Wales have won 14 and the other ended in a draw.
In Argentina, the head-to-head stands at 3-5.
Can I watch Argentina vs Wales on my mobile?
Of course, most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser. For example, Rugbypass TV, ITVX, BBC iPlayer and Virgin Media Play all have dedicated apps.
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.
How to watch Married at First Sight US season 20, as 14 Seattle singletons put their fate in the hands of matchmaking experts Dr. Lisa Paz and Paul C. Brunson.
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This time set in Seattle, Married at First Sight US has been overhauled for season 20 to align it more closely with the wildly popular Aussie version of the show (the less said about the British incarnation, the better). Sleepless in Seattle has rather less romantic connotations for one of the MAFS US S20 husbands, though, as he ends up relegated to the couch early on.
You can watch Married at First Sight US season 20online from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for free.
The premise of the social experiment makes Tinder dating look measured by comparison. Some 14 singles put their fate in the hands of matchmaking experts Dr. Lisa Paz and Paul C. Brunson – both new arrivals for season 20 – who pair them up based on dossiers compiled by the show’s researchers. The couples meet, then immediately get married. Faintly atrocious matchups often ensue.
The entertainment is twofold. Their initial reactions upon meeting at the end of the wedding aisle can doom a duo right from the off… and then comes eight weeks of living together at close quarters as husband and wife! Perhaps even better, however, is the way the experts skilfully manipulate the participants at each Commitment Ceremony.
“There’s no physical attraction and you have no shared values?” tends to be the gist of it. “We’re really disappointed that you haven’t looked past these minor hiccups.”
The last season produced a pregnancy and a clean sweep of positive affirmations on Decision Day. By the time of the reunion, however, they’d all gone their separate ways.
Read on as we explain how to watch Married at First Sight US season 20 from anywhere.
How to watch Married at First Sight US season 20 in the US
In the US, Married at First Sight US season 20 premieres on Sunday, July 12, streaming exclusively on Peacock.
Episodes will then come out every Thursday, with up to three new instalments set to arrive each week. The season finale and reunion will air on August 27.
You’ll need the $10.99/month or $109.99/year plan to tune in. However, you can access Peacock via the Walmart Plus trial for just $1. Peacock Premium is included as part of the deal.
Traveling outside the US?Try using a VPN – read our guide below to find out more.
Watch Married at First Sight US season 20 from anywhere
If you’re keen to watch Married at First Sight US season 20but 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 MAFS US S20 from anywhere:
Not having a VPN is like leaving your front door wide open in a busy city – anyone can walk right in and take a peek.
TechRadar regularly reviews all the biggest and best VPN providers and NordVPN is our #1 choice.
✅ 75% Off Today ✅ Try risk-free for 30 days ✅ Unlocks Peacock
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How to watch Married at First Sight US season 20 in Canada
In Canada, Married at First Sight US season 20 airs on Slice. Following the premiere at 10pm ET/PT on Monday, July 13, episodes will air in batches on Fridays, from 9pm ET/PT.
Three episodes in total will come out each week, until the season finale and reunion air on August 28.
Cord cutters can tune in via Stack TV, which also carries Global TV, History, Adult Swim and National Geographic, and is available via Prime Video, Fubo and more. It’s free to Prime Video subscribers for the first seven days and CA$12.99/month thereafter. Episodes are available to watch via the GlobalTV app and website too.
Away from Canada right now? Use NordVPN to watch your usual streaming service when overseas.
Can I watch Married at First Sight US season 20 in the UK?
(Image credit: Other)
In the UK, free-to-air Channel 4 is home to Married at First Sight US, but at the time of writing the broadcaster’s plans for season 20 are firmly under wraps.
You can catch up on past seasons on Channel 4 while you wait, though.
For now, a VPN will help you tune in if you’re an American or a Canadian traveling across the pond. NordVPN is our recommended provider, and you can find out why with our in-depth NordVPN review.
How to watch Married at First Sight US season 20 in Australia
(Image credit: free)
In Australia, MAFS US season 20 premieres on Stan on Monday, July 13. Episodes will then come out each Friday, with three coming out in total per week until the finale on August 28.
A subscription starts at AU$12 a month.
The entire season will likely be available to stream for free on 9Now at a later date, but probably not for a while.
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.
Married at First Sight US season 20 – Need to KnowMAFS US season 20 trailer
Can I watch MAFS US S20 for free?
MAFS US S8 should be free-to-air on Channel 4 and 9Now at a later date, but at the time of publication you’ll need a subscription to either Peacock in the US, Slice in Canada, or Stan in Australia to tune in.
Who is in the MAFS US S20 cast?
Adam, 31
BelleJolie, 28
Caitlin, 27
Cameron, 37
Courteney, 28
Devin, 26
Felipe, 29
Marissa, 30
Mecca, 28
Michelle, 28
Nick, 31
Nikki, 46
Shawn, 47
Tori, 32
How many episodes of MAFS US S20 are there?
MAFS US S20 comprises 20 episodes, including a reunion.
When is the MAFS US S20 finale?
The MAFS US S20 finale and subsequent reunion will both premiere on Thursday, August 27 in the US.
MAFS US S20 episode guide
MAFS US S20 will air in the US on the following schedule:
Episode 1 – Sunday, July 1
Episode 2 – Thursday, July 16
Episode 3 – Thursday, July 16
Episode 4 – Thursday, July 23
Episode 5 – Thursday, July 23
Episode 6 – Thursday, July 23
Episode 7 – Thursday, July 30
Episode 8 – Thursday, July 30
Episode 9 – Thursday, July 30
Episode 10 – Thursday, August 6
Episode 11 – Thursday, August 6
Episode 12 – Thursday, August 6
Episode 13 – Thursday, August 13
Episode 14 – Thursday, August 13
Episode 15 – Thursday, August 13
Episode 16 – Thursday, August 20
Episode 17 – Thursday, August 20
Episode 18 – Thursday, August 20
Episode 19 – Thursday, August 27
Episode 20 – Thursday, August 37
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.
Ever wondered why you reach for your phone in the morning? I spoke to two psychology experts to get to the bottom of the morning scroll.
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Whether rain or shine, weekday or weekend, my morning starts with a scroll.
It’s one of my most enduring habits. I’ll start by checking the time, before allowing myself a few texts or emails in the name of ‘productivity’, and before long, I’m lying there watching people throwing bowling balls at TVs or reading ragebait in the comments section.
I’ve long suspected that this isn’t the optimal way to start the day, but it was only after a recent moment of mid-scroll lucidity that I began to wonder why I reach for my phone first thing in the morning.
As it happens, research on early-morning phone habits suggests that it’s not just me diving into social media as soon as the alarm goes off.
The Independent reports that 81% of Brits reach for their phone as soon as they wake up, while a 2025 YouGov report found that the majority of US adults under 30 often use their phone right before sleeping and right after waking up.
These figures could suggest that most of us shared a mental tendency to pick up the phone right after waking up, but without additional context, they can’t tell the whole story.
So, to find out more about why I and so many others scroll first thing in the morning, I spoke to two psychology experts to connect the dots between ancient human behaviour and the supercomputers we keep in our pockets, and indeed our beds.
Information vs stimulation
Social media offers much more information that we evolved to handle early in the morning (Image credit: Getty Images)
“To boil it down as simply as possible, it’s a combination of our natural dopamine reward system and the fact that we are communal people,” says psychotherapist and addiction specialist John Puls.
Puls tells me that long-standing psychological drivers are pushing us to use our devices in the mornings, where in the past we might’ve sought different kinds of connection
“We are pleasure-seeking people, and one of the ways we do that is through engagement with our smartphones, particularly social media,” he explains, “and we want to know what’s going on in the world.”
Puls continues: “Previously, in closer communities with less technology, it wouldn’t be uncommon to just spend some time with your neighbours or your family in the morning. In the absence of that, people are looking for immediate connection, and the easiest way to do that is through the smartphone. You have to take into account the changes that have come with the smartphone, but these are natural impulses that social media is fulfilling.”
For clinical psychologist Dr. Ari Lakritz, the smartphone and all the news it connects us to fulfil an evolutionary impulse to detect threats: “The brain is somewhat hardwired to look for pertinent information, especially the more threatening information. The part of the brain that deals with that is called the amygdala — it’s one of the most ancient parts of the brain, one that’s most responsible for the fear response.”
“News sites, with their slant towards negative news, are hacking into an inborn part of ourselves,” he adds, “and when you’re looking at your phone as the first thing you’re doing, it may not be all that different from one of our ancestors scanning the horizon for threats.”
People are looking for immediate connection, and the easiest way to do that is through the smartphone.
John Puls
“We develop very early on to be aware of possible threats to ourselves, and to scan the environment for those [threats],” Lakritz continues, adding that the availability of information that may not be relevant to phone and social platform users could be increasing stress levels: “The existence of something we feel is negative or threatening in a far off country has no direct relevance to us, but we do find ourselves psychologically pulled to that.”
“It’s really assaulting people with a great deal of information that is not directly relevant to them, and definitely doing more harm than good… there’s this whole other aspect of life, which is positive news and uplifting stories that people are either not drawn to or simply not sent as much.”
Social media algorithms are blackboxed — meaning users aren’t privy to the decisions and equations that decide the content they see. With that said, it’s generally accepted that algorithms are designed to maximize engagement of any kind, and, as The Conversation reports, anger spreads more quickly through social media networks than other emotions.
As John Puls notes, this has a physical effect as well as an emotional one: “When you immediately go into your smartphone [in the morning] and start doomscrolling, so to speak, you’re releasing cortisol, a stress hormone, and your brain is getting overstimulated.”
“We’re basically in the middle of a giant experiment,” Puls continues, “our brains were not necessarily meant to be this stimulated first thing in the morning and then consistently throughout the day. Where it becomes problematic is with the risk of overstimulation — there’s a risk of constant pleasure-seeking that dulls the senses.”
Effects of the morning scroll
(Image credit: Getty Images / Cristina Quicler)
According to Dr. Ari Lakritz, beginning the day with an intake of highly charged, negative information can have major effects on one’s mood and focus. He describes social media as “unlimited scrolling” of “dramatic news that can get our fight or flight response very worked up.”
“It’s really not good,” he explains, “and it very much sets the tone of one’s cognitive framing. It’s very fast, intense stimulation, whether that’s YouTube Shorts, TikTok style videos, or even just Reddit-style scrolling through very short, snappy comments or news stories.”
Lakritz continues: “If my baseline is very fast, short, intense bursts of entertainment, when confronted with something that takes more focus or deeper thinking it’ll be hard to move on from that set point.”
When asked whether early morning phone use is always problematic, Dr. Lakritz makes few exceptions: “Aside from more extreme circumstances, it’s hard to think of a good advantage one is getting with the phone right there that couldn’t be gotten in a non-technological way.”
John Puls tells me that he’s noticed that several of his clients experience discomfort when away from their phones for even short periods of time: “It almost becomes an emotional support phone — if anything happens in our life, an interpersonal problem, a problem with our relationship, we could experience that discomfort until we scroll on Instagram.”
And for young people, even higher stakes could influence phone use from dawn till dusk.
‘If they don’t exist online, they don’t exist socially’
For those born in the digital era, connection to social media can feel absolutely essential (Image credit: Getty Images)
It’s worth noting at this point that I interviewed John Puls and Dr. Ari Lakritz separately, and without either knowing of the other’s involvement in this article. With that said, both professionals agreed that early morning phone use has a tighter hold — and greater impact — on young people.
“The teens that I’m working with that struggle with this, I have them check their screen time, and on average it’s between 14 and 15 hours,” says Puls, “that’s the majority of time that they’re awake.”
“Naturally, what comes with that is being pretty disconnected from people in real life […] so there’s this pressure to constantly be online. Teens want to psychologically individuate from their families and feel part of a community, particularly with their friends. So they often feel the pressure that they can’t be part of that unless they’re on their phones.”
“For younger people, they feel that if they don’t exist online, they don’t exist socially.”
Dr. Ari Lakritz says that phone use in general has a huge impact on young people’s psychological growth: “It touches child development in a profound way. It’s a huge compound for something like ADHD, and makes assessment of ADHD very complicated — you have to piece apart how much of this is inattention issues, or developmental, and how much is very, very high exposure to electronic entertainment.”
Taking back time
Apple’s Screen Time feature helps you keep track of your device usage. (Image credit: Future / Thomas Deehan)
Olivia Yokubonis, known online as Olivia Unplugged, is a digital wellness strategist for Opal, one of the best-known screen time limiter apps. She tells me that she “meets people where they are” with a message of digital balance and wellbeing, sharing tips and tricks to a combined social media audience of 600,000 followers.
“I was an Opal user before I even started working here,” Yokubonis explains, “the goal is to help people stop feeling like they’re the victim of their phones, and actually feel like they’re in control again.”
“I’m not anti-technology, I’m pro agency,” she adds, “you have to focus on awareness. I’m a big advocate of the idea that we can’t change what we don’t notice. And the morning scroll is very often unconscious.”
At the time of writing, Opal boasts more than a million daily users, and in 2026 announced that the app had saved its user base a total of 500 million hours — but Yokubonis’ strategies go further than just using the app: “Something I’ve implemented with my family is no-phone zones. The bedroom is one of those places — we put our phones in the other room, our alarms go off, and we have to get up and go get it.”
She adds: “Digital wellness means your attention is not constantly being fragmented, that you can think in complete thoughts and sentences, and that you don’t lose hours of your day, especially the first few hours of the day, without realising it […] We need the ability to choose to go on a social media app rather than have it be a habit, or something that’s just automatically happening because my nervous system is reaching for something.”
“We have a finite amount of willpower, and these apps have an unlimited amount of resources. They are designed to use up that willpower.”
On a similar note, Dr Ari Lakritz explains that even a marginal reduction in screen time can make a big difference: “Check your screen time, add up how much you do per week, and try to cut it down by 10%. If it’s 60 hours a week, just cut off six, see what you can do. You don’t have to be a digital hermit to improve.”
Though high screen time correlates to higher revenues for many phone makers and mobile software developers, a rising tide of social media legislation and backlash against big tech could push some brands to recognise its problematic potential.
Indeed, some smartphone manufacturers arebeginning to acknowledge the issue of excessive phone use, and are developing software-based features to help users curb their screen time.
Each time we buy a phone, we have to decide which storage tier to go for, and that requires a judgment call – not just about how much storage we need today, but how much we are likely to need for however long we end up keeping the phone.
There are times when we’ll get this wrong, but fortunately there’s…
You looked at the processor, checked how much RAM and storage it had, considered a few screen size options, and tried to work out whether the battery claim sounded even vaguely realistic.
Fast forward to 2026, however, and most PC spec sheets look much busier and lot more focused on AI.
Alongside the usual phalanx of numbers and brand names, you’ll now find labels such as AI PC, Copilot+ PC, Snapdragon X Elite or X2, AMD Ryzen AI, NPU, and TOPS, among many others.
Some of these terms are definitely useful and relatively easy to understand, others are easy to misread, and a few sound more important than they are.
The good news is that the fundamentals have not disappeared.
The best laptop still depends on your apps, workload, budget, and the parts of the machine you’ll notice every day, such as CPU speed, memory, battery life, screen quality, ports, and weight.
The newer AI specs can help, especially if you want the latest on-device Windows features, but they are only one part of the picture.
To help demystify the laptop buying process, let’s take a look at how to read a laptop spec sheet in 2026 – from AI PC to TOPS – and what actually deserves your attention before you buy.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
AI PC vs Copilot+ PC: what’s the difference?
“AI PC” is the broadest label on the spec sheet. In most cases, it means the laptop has some form of dedicated AI hardware, usually a neural processing unit, or NPU, built into the chip.
While AI PC can be a useful shorthand, especially if you’re comparing newer laptops against older models, it is still a flexible term; different manufacturers use it in slightly different ways.
In 2026, that means a compatible processor or system-on-chip with an NPU capable of at least 40 TOPS, 16GB of DDR5 or LPDDR5 RAM, and at least 256GB of SSD storage. (Basically, a powerful set of specs.)
A Copilot+ PC should be ready for Microsoft’s latest on-device AI features, like smarter search and Live Captions, but it does not automatically tell you whether the laptop has enough storage or enough graphics heft.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
NPU and TOPS: the new numbers in town
The NPU is the new spec most likely to trip people up. Short for neural processing unit, it is a dedicated part of the chip designed to handle AI tasks more efficiently than the CPU alone.
TOPS is the number usually attached to the NPU, and it stands for “trillions of operations per second”, giving you a rough sense of how much AI work an NPU can handle.
For a Copilot+ PC, the important number is 40 TOPS or higher. Once a laptop clears that bar, it should be able to run Microsoft’s current on-device AI features.
A higher TOPS number may help with some local AI features, especially as software catches up, but it does not tell you how fast the laptop will feel when you open a big Photoshop file or fill Chrome with tabs.
For most people, NPU performance is worth checking, but it shouldn’t take precedence over the specs you’ll feel every day, like battery life or screen size.
(Image credit: Qualcomm)
Snapdragon X, Intel Core Ultra, and AMD Ryzen AI explained
Processor (or CPU) names have quietly become one of the easiest parts of the spec sheet to misread.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips brought Windows on Arm laptops into the mainstream, focusing on battery life and thin-and-light designs, which had often been Apple’s main advantage.
Newer Snapdragon X2 laptops push that further with more powerful NPUs and improved graphics, but the basic buying question remains the same: will your apps run properly on Arm?
For most everyday tools, the answer is now likely to be yes.
Browsers, Microsoft 365, video calls, media apps, and many creative tools either run natively or work well through Windows’ translation layer. The areas to check are usually more specific, like older Windows software or specialist work apps.
Intel Core Ultra and AMD Ryzen AI laptops take a more familiar x86 route, while still adding NPUs for newer AI features.
One thing to note: the exact model wording is important. A laptop with “Core Ultra” on the box is not automatically a Copilot+ PC, and the same goes for older Ryzen laptops without the right AI hardware.
(Image credit: Unsplash / Liam Briese)
RAM still matters more than most AI labels
RAM is likely to be one of the specs most familiar to many Windows laptop buyers, and with good reason: it’s still one of the clearest signs of how a laptop will feel in daily use.
For a mainstream laptop in 2026, 16GB should be treated as the baseline – especially if the machine is being sold as an AI PC or Copilot+ PC – giving you enough headroom for normal work, video calls, web apps, and so on.
Anyone buying for heavier work like photo editing or coding should look at 32GB if the budget allows. As the AI boom takes hold, though, RAM is getting extremely expensive, so make sure you do really need it.
One benefit of buying a laptop with more RAM is that, in general, it will make the laptop eel useful for longer, especially on machines where the RAM is soldered and cannot be upgraded later.
(Image credit: Getty / Deagreez)
Storage: 256GB is the minimum in 2026
Storage is another spec where the minimum and the sensible choice are not the same thing. A Copilot+ PC only needs 256GB of storage to meet Microsoft’s hardware requirements, but that can start to feel tight in everyday use.
For most people, 512GB is the better starting point, and leaves more breathing room over the lifetime of the laptop.
A 1TB drive is worth considering if you work with large files or want more local storage for games, video, or AI tools. However, as mentioned in the RAM section, AI companies are rapidly driving up prices for higher-storage SSDs.
External drives and cloud storage can help, but they are not a complete substitute for having enough fast storage inside the laptop you use every day.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Battery life: look for real-world testing
Battery life is one of the biggest promises behind the latest AI PCs, especially newer Arm-based Windows laptops.
More efficient chips and dedicated NPUs can help away from the charger, but battery life is still one of the easiest specs to oversell. A claim such as “up to 20 hours” may be based on video playback or controlled test conditions, rather than a normal day of usage.
Reviews are much more useful here, and TechRadar puts every laptop through a series of real-world battery tests to really dig into the real endurance.
Look for tested battery life that reflects mixed use, rather than assuming the biggest number on the box will match your working day.
(Image credit: Getty / Deagreez)
The boring specs still matter
While AI labels are useful, they obviously don’t make the rest of the laptop disappear. The screen, keyboard, trackpad, ports, weight, heat, and fan noise will shape your experience far more often than a fancy Copilot+ badge.
The best way to read a laptop spec sheet in 2026 is to start with your own needs: enough RAM, enough storage, tested battery life, and a screen and keyboard you’ll be happy to use for hours at a time.
After that, the NPU and TOPS figure can help you understand how ready the machine is for newer on-device AI features.
Windows laptop spec sheets have not become meaningless, just easier to misread. The best laptop is still the one that gets the fundamentals right first, then uses its AI hardware to add something useful on top.
If you’re the type of person who could always use a little extra positive affirmation, or you have a weakness for weird gadgets, the Talking Flower might be of interest. I’m only kind of serious. The toy is based on a character from Super Mario Bros. Wonder that guides Mario through levels with quippy, whimsical […]
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If you’re the type of person who could always use a little extra positive affirmation, or you have a weakness for weird gadgets, the Talking Flower might be of interest. I’m only kind of serious. The toy is based on a character from Super Mario Bros. Wonder that guides Mario through levels with quippy, whimsical remarks. It’s a little weird that it even exists, but, then again, this is the company that made Alarmo.
The Talking Flower debuted for $34.99, but it got a small price reduction at Amazon and Walmart. It’ll instead cost you $29.99 to buy the cute talking toy.
The Talking Flower doesn’t have much utility. Unlike the $110 Alarmo, it can’t serve as an alarm even though it asks when you go to bed and wake up (so that it knows when to keep quiet). It’s there to call out every passing hour when you’re awake, and to say random stuff unprompted. It can make comments about the general time of day, as well as the temperature thanks to its built-in thermometer. The Talking Flower lacks a microphone, and it doesn’t connect to the internet. However, it has a button that’ll make it say things, if you don’t want to wait for it to randomly blurt out its pre-programmed thoughts. Like in the video game, you can select the language it speaks.
My colleague Andrew Webster went hands-on with the Talking Flower, and his takeaway was that it’s a drip feed of whimsy. However, it would occasionally say something that reminded Andrew to take care of himself, whether it be to slow down and relax or to take a lunch break. I’m entertained by many reviews on Amazon, which highlight that buyers are split on being annoyed with the Talking Flower, but loving it anyway — just like the character in Wonder.
If you’re a music maker of a certain age, then you probably once dabbled with a pirated copy of a little app called Fruity Loops. These days it’s called FL Studio, and Constantin Koehncke, is the man responsible for shepherding the pioneering digital audio workstation (DAW) through the modern age. As CEO of Image Line, […]
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If you’re a music maker of a certain age, then you probably once dabbled with a pirated copy of a little app called Fruity Loops. These days it’s called FL Studio, and Constantin Koehncke, is the man responsible for shepherding the pioneering digital audio workstation (DAW) through the modern age. As CEO of Image Line, the company behind FL Studio, Constantin has overseen the introduction of a number of AI-powered features like stem separation and its Gopher chatbot.
Before taking the reins of Image Line in 2022, Constantin was the head of Native Instruments, where he spearheaded the shift towards digital services, did a stint in marketing, …
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb will head the UAP Science Advisory Council established by the White House, the Pentagon, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and “the intelligence community.” The Council will provide scientific reports and advice to the UAP Governing Board, in an effort to “resolve the nature of UAP,” or […]
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Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb will head the UAP Science Advisory Council established by the White House, the Pentagon, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and “the intelligence community.” The Council will provide scientific reports and advice to the UAP Governing Board, in an effort to “resolve the nature of UAP,” or unidentified anomalous phenomena.
On paper, Loeb’s qualifications seem strong. And he’s surrounded himself with a team from a variety of backgrounds. The Council includes not only physicists, but a pathologist, a computer scientist, a philosopher, a psychologist, and even the founding publisher of S …
How many ads would you be prepared to put up with if it meant you could access some Disney+ content for free?
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Disney+ is reportedly mulling over a completely free tier with ads
The cheapest tier already includes some adverts
We’re seeing streaming platforms become more like traditional TV
The line between streaming platforms and traditional TV continues to blur: there’s a fresh report that Disney+ is considering adding a free tier to its platform, completely supported by ads, so some shows and movies could be watched without paying anything.
This comes from Business Insider, which says that “people familiar with the matter” have revealed that Disney+ product and tech chief Adam Smith mentioned the possibility of a free tier during a town hall meeting inside the company on Thursday (July 9).
Those are all the details we have, for now — so it’s just a possibility. Smith didn’t give any indication of when the free tier might be offered to consumers, or how much of the Disney+ library might be available without paying anything.
There is some indication from Business Insider that Disney+ is worried about YouTube and its continued growth. While you can opt to pay for YouTube Premium, all of the content on the platform is available for free, with opts.
While streaming platforms like Netflix and Apple TV don’t have a completely free tier, there are of course services such as Pluto TV and Tubi that are built entirely around free, ad-supported streaming television (known as FAST).
Statistics from Nielsen, quoted by Business Insider, say that the three largest free streamers accounted for 18.7% of watch time in the US in April 2026, up from 16.8% a year earlier, and 12.7% the year before that — figures Disney+ will have noticed.
Reactions to the rumors on Reddit have been mixed, with the observation that “we’re so close to the streamers inventing television” and a quip that “we’re just getting TV again huh” summing up the general sentiment among users.
One poster suggests the new tier would be “unwatchable” given how many ads already appear on the cheapest Disney+ tier, while another airs concerns that a completely free tier would eventually come with a monthly cost as time goes on.
Proton’s Lumo 2.0 finally looks like a real ChatGPT rival with reasoning, image generation, web search, and memory baked in.
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Lumo 2.0 release rebuilds Proton’s privacy-first assistant with reasoning modes, image generation/recognition, cited live web search, and persistent memory
The privacy stack mixes cryptography and policy: zero-access encryption protects stored chats and images, while inference-time protection relies on Proton’s no-logs/no-training promises that have held in the past
Proton’s Lumo 2.0 Lite and Lumo 2.0 Max score 127% and 240% higher than Lumo 1.4 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, making them close in on last-generation frontier AI models
Proton has revealed Lumo 2.0, its updated AI alternative to ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, focusing on privacy first and foremost, a distinctly different approach from most of its competition.
The new update is not only smarter than its predecessor at what it does, but also brings a host of new capabilities: reasoning modes, image generation and recognition, live web search with citations, persistent memory, and customizable assistants.
Lumo 2.0 looks to do all of this while leveraging zero-access encryption, no-logs, no-training, a pitch that makes it appealing to privacy-focused consumers, many of whom are already customers for its VPN product lineup.
Upgrades, multiple models and faster performance
The biggest upgrade to Lumo 2.0 is that it is now multimodal, allowing it to glean information and cross-check a variety of sources without often forcing the user to defer to other AI engines for most tasks.
Proton cites a 76% faster speed for ‘everyday queries’ while conceding that complex tasks still take a considerable amount of time.
Users can also leverage “Custom Lumos” or purpose-built assistants that retain instructions in memory while still maintaining the encryption promise that Lumo offers, allowing users to avoid starting from scratch each time they have a query to address.
Users can use either the fast, general-purpose Lite model for everyday queries and defer to the more complex Max model for demanding work, or use Fast and Thinking modes, which offer twice the context window of its predecessor for larger workloads and greater coherence with more complex asks.
Pricing spans a free tier for what Proton calls everyday private use, a $12.99-per-month Lumo Plus plan with unlimited chats, Projects, advanced image generation and access to the most capable models, and a $14.99-per-user Lumo Professional tier for teams.
It is important to note that while Lumo 2.0 is a huge upgrade versus its older 1.4 version, it does not come as close to frontier models as Proton might want to make it appear: its model scores a 51 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index which sees current frontier models clock in as high as 59 (GPT 5.6 Sol Max) or 60 (Claude Fable 5) versus its own comparisions that show it much closer to older frontier models such as GPT 5.5 and Claude Opus 4.8.
This is not entirely surprising, given that one can find the underlying tech Lumo uses in its privacy policy. Proton states that it uses a mix of Qwen 3.5, GLM 5.2, Image-Turbo, and FireRed-Image-Edit-1.1, with GLM 5.2’s scores roughly identical to the numbers it cites currently.
Despite its limitations versus newer frontier AI models, Lumo 2.0 arguably remains the most privacy-focused approach to AI available to most end users currently, and it comes considerably closer than its predecessor at what is an increasingly uphill task of late: offering a competitive privacy-centric alternative to billion-dollar proprietary AI models built by the likes of Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI.
All the ways to watch South Africa vs Scotland live streams online – including for FREE – as the Scots try to shock the Springboks in the Nations Championship.
Saturday’s South Africa vs Scotland live stream in the 2026 Nations Championship sees two sides that picked up wins on the inaugural weekend of the competition go head-to-head at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria. And all the signs point to the Springboks as big favorites.
World number one. Back-to-back world champions. Back-to-back Rugby Championship winners. Rassie Erasmus’s Springboks are an intimidating prospect for any side, and they showed how dominant they can be at home with their dismantling of England last weekend even without the likes of Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth, both forced out by injury hours before kick-off. Only New Zealand have beaten them at Loftus in the last 30 years and Scotland haven’t taken their scalp in 16 years. Advantage South Africa.
Scotland, however, really impressed against Argentina in Cordoba, scoring seven tries in a 47-38 victory. Gregor Townsend’s teams are rarely described as boring, but they’ll need to bring discipline into the mix, too, if captain Sione Tuipulotu and co are to topple the Springboks for only the sixth time in the 130 years that the teams have been playing competitive rugby union.
Read on below for our guide on where to watch South Africa vs Scotland on TV and get Nations Championship 2026 free streams online.
Watch South Africa vs Scotland for FREE
This game – along with every other match of the 2026 Nations Championship – will be streamed live and free across the US, UK and Ireland. The South Africa vs Scotland live stream is set to be shown on:
How to watch any South Africa vs Scotland stream using a VPN
A VPN is a 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 streaming services. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and currently comes with a 75% discount.
Get NordVPN and stream South Africa vs Scotland from anywhere.View Deal
Using a VPN is incredibly simple:
1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we’ve said, NordVPN is our favorite.
2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you’re visiting South Africa and want to view your usual US service, you’d select a United States server from the list.
3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to your usual local streaming service and watch the rugby.
How to watch South Africa vs Scotland live streams in the US
South Africa vs Scotland and all 2026 Nations Championship matches will be live streamed for FREE on Rugbypass TV in the US.
The dedicated rugby streaming platform can be watched on its website or mobile app, and through Chromecast, Airplay, AppleTV and Android TV.
Outside the US for South Africa vs Scotland? Use NordVPN to access your usual streams.
How to watch South Africa vs Scotland live streams in the UK
Rugby fans in the UK can watch South Africa vs Scotland for free on ITV.
TV coverage for South Africa vs Scotland is on ITV1 while you can also stream it live and on demand via the free ITVX website and mobile app.
Up in Scotland? Online coverage is provided by STV Player.
If you’re outside the UK but want to tap into your usual coverage, check out NordVPN and follow the instructions above.
ITVX is a free service, though you need to be in possession of a valid UK TV Licence to watch its live streams, as this covers digital content consumption, too.
How to watch Springboks vs Scotland live streams in South Africa
The Springboks vs Scotland game is being shown on Supersport in South Africa.
You’ll need to get a DStv access package to watch the Nations Championship, with prices starting at Rs99/month for the streaming version.
Abroad right now? Just use a VPN and tell your device that you’re back home and you’ll be good to go.
How to watch South Africa vs Scotland live streams in Ireland
As mentioned above, all Nations Championship 2026 games will be on free-to-air TV in Ireland.
Virgin Media One is showing South Africa vs Scotland, which means it will also be available to stream on the Virgin Media Play platform.
How to watch South Africa vs Scotland live streams in New Zealand
Sky Sport is the Nations Championship 2026 TV rights holder in New Zealand.
You can access Sky Sport through satellite TV or get a live stream with the Sky Sport Now subscription service starting at NZ$29.99 per day or NZ$59.99 per month to watch South Africa vs Scotland.
Missing the South Africa vs Scotland game because you’re overseas?NordVPN will give you access to your home streaming service.
What is the South Africa vs Scotland start time?
The scheduled South Africa vs Scotland kick-off time on Saturday, July 11 is 5.40pm local time in Pretoria, South Africa.
That’s 4.40pm BST in the UK and 11.40am ET / 8.40am PT in the US. It’s 1.40am AEST on Sunday morning in Australia.
Can I watch South Africa vs Scotland on my mobile?
Of course, most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser. For example, ITVX, Rugbypass TV and VM Play all have dedicated apps.
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.
Can Sony’s new RX10 V replace pro Sony mirrorless camera gear? Here are the real-world differences
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Sony surprised the camera community this week with the launch of the new RX10 V, reviving its best-in-class series of bridge cameras.
The mark V comes nine years after the now-discontinued Cyber-shot RX10 IV. It has the same versatile 24-600mm F2.4-4 lens and 20-megapixel 1-inch stacked sensor, but with a refreshed design and Sony’s latest processor and autofocus. It takes the best bridge camera available today crown.
The RX10 V gained a recommended award in my in-depth review. I was able to bag some impressive sample photos, including macro closeups of insects and distant birdlife, thanks to the camera’s 0.49x maximum magnification and 600mm f/4 lens.
In the process, I got thinking about the RX10 V’s performance, especially when using its telephoto settings, and what alternatives there are for the same money — after all, some of Sony’s older full-frame mirrorless cameras cost less. Can the RX10 rival a Sony full-frame mirrorless camera with telephoto lens?
One similarly priced alternative is Sony’s longest lens, the FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 OSS — at least if you already own a Sony Alpha camera to pair it with. Can the RX10 V compete?
I took the Sony RX10 V and the Sony 400-800mm lens attached to a pro A7R V mirrorless camera to my local nature reserve for a bird-photography shoot, and the following is my honest reflection on the experience.
Size and weight
Tim ColemanTim ColemanI have previously used the 400-800mm lens with Sony’s A7R VI, the successor to the A7R VTim Coleman
Let’s begin with how each setup is in use. As you can see in the images above, there is a big difference in size and, therefore, weight.
The RX10 V is hardly compact, but when you compare it to a Sony full-frame mirrorless camera with telephoto lens like the 400-800mm, or alternatives that reach the same 600mm focal length as the RX10 V, such as the Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3, it is positively tiny. It very much feels like an Alpha camera, with excellent ergonomics and a decent control layout.
It’s also a much lighter all-in-one camera, weighing 1,111g. Compare that with the combined weight of the A7R V (723g) and the 400-800mm lens (2,475g)at 3,198g – approximately three times the weight. And the Sigma lens is just a fraction lighter than Sony’s lens.
For casual travel photography, the RX10 V is an excellent pick, with its ability to capture everything from landscapes to macro and distant wildlife subjects. You’ll need to be much more serious and focused about wildlife photography to lug around the mirrorless body and 400-800mm lens.
Viewfinder and LCD
The RX10 V has a higher-specced, larger and more pronounced viewfinder than the Cyber-shot RX10 IVTim ColemanTim ColemanHowever the viewfinder in the A7R V is even betterTim Coleman
For telephoto wildlife photography, I find a viewfinder invaluable for composing shots and ensuring autofocus is on the money, so how do the displays compare?
The RX10 V’s viewfinder is bigger and more detailed than the Cyber-shot RX10 IV’s — it’s a 0.5-inch 3.68m-dot display. However, the A7R V’s viewfinder is in another league altogether, measuring 0.64 inches and being a brighter 9.44m-dot unit with 0.9x magnification. Put simply, it’s way more immersive. However, there’s less of a difference in viewfinder quality with an older, similarly priced Sony mirrorless camera, such as the A7 IV.
I was less concerned about the LCD displays for this comparison, but in case you’d like to know, the RX10 V has a 3-inch tilt touchscreen, while cameras at the RX10 V price point and above typically have a multi-angle display.
Autofocus
Tiny subject? No problem, the RX10 V was able to latch onto this stonechat when I used its bird detection autofocusTim ColemanThe same shot with the A7R V and 400-800mm lens set to 600mm. See how the background is dreamier in the mirrorless camera shot, despite me using a smaller apertureTim Coleman
I was majorly impressed with the RX10 V’s autofocus skills. After all, it inherits the Bionz XR processor and AI chip with real-time subject detection autofocus from the recent Sony A7 V.
Bird detection autofocus was on the money, even when the isolated subjects were only taking up a small portion of the frame. It takes a little experimentation to figure out which autofocus area option yields the best results in any given situation, but with the right subject detection tracking and the best AF area option selected, you’ll struggle to find more reliable autofocus performance in another camera.
I can safely say that autofocus performance is an attribute where the RX10 V matches mirrorless camera capabilities.
Burst shooting
RX10 V photos made possible with the high-speed burst shooting drive modeTim ColemanTim Coleman
The numbers for the RX10 V are impressive: up to 30fps using the electronic shutter, or 10fps with the mechanical shutter. It also has the option for an instant speed boost from a slower rate to the max 30fps when the action strikes — a feature that can be assigned to one of the custom buttons.
I played around customizing various buttons for this feature, but annoyingly couldn’t find one that felt like it was logically placed, whereas Sony’s recent mirrorless bodies have a custom button on the front, to the side of the lens mount, which works best. I found the RX10 V button placement awkward for this memory-saving feature.
Neither camera had the pre-capture feature, which is super handy in wildlife photography for when your reactions aren’t up to speed. Sony’s pre-capture can buffer for up to a second before you fully press the shutter, say in the case of a bird taking flight. For the A7R V, the lack of pre-capture is understandable — the A9 III, which came later, was the first Sony camera to have this feature. However, for the RX10 V, it’s unfortunate, since other recent Sony cameras, including the A1 II, A7V and A7R VI, have it, so it feels like an oversight.
Image quality
RX10 V at 600mmTim ColemanAnd here’s the 400-800mm at the 600mm focal length. Dreamier results, but the RX10 V effort is still excellentTim ColemanHere I’ve pushed the 400-800mm lens to its maximum 800mm setting, ideal for this situationTim ColemanThe RX10 VTim ColemanThe 400-800mm lensTim ColemanRX10 VTim Coleman400-800mmTim ColemanRX10 VTim Coleman400-800mm Tim ColemanRX10 VTim Coleman400-800mmTim Coleman
Image quality is where you might expect a real gulf to start opening up. The RX10 V shoots 20MP stills with a telephoto reach up to 600mm and a maximum f/4 aperture at this setting. Meanwhile, the mirrorless setup delivered 61MP stills (a more affordable mid-range model like the A7 IV is 33MP), and that extra 800mm reach.
Of any bridge camera, the RX10 V yields the sharpest results at 600mm and a pleasant subject separation thanks to that f/4 aperture. Compare the like-for-like mirrorless camera shots, and the RX10 V’s look soft by comparison, but only when you look closely. The mirrorless camera has way more pixels to play with, meaning you can crop more severely into photos and still have high-quality output.
The 400-800mm lens is indeed sharper, and even though its maximum aperture is f/6.3 (400mm) to f/8 (800mm), which minimizes its light-gathering advantage, there’s greater subject separation and dreamier results. Bokeh in foreground objects has a softer fall-off.
Another major difference is low light quality. In comparison shots taken at dawn (and nighttime photos I took later of the moon), the RX10 V images look muddier; less punchy, less sharp, just overall lesser quality. They still pass, but I would go for the mirrorless camera setup every time when the available light is minimal.
Conclusion
(Image credit: Tim Coleman)
The Sony RX10 V is a truly excellent casual wildlife photography camera, with reliable subject detection autofocus and a decent telephoto reach combined with a bright f/4 maximum aperture. You can get pleasant subject separation and punchy images, when the light is good, though less impressive results when the light is dim. Overall, I’m really pleased with the quality of several photos I was able to take.
For wildlife photography, however, it was the mirrorless camera system that I enjoyed the most in the hand, and the one I wanted to use more of the two, helped by the superior end results (even with the smaller f/8 maximum aperture at 600mm). The brighter viewfinder and better button placement enhanced the experience, even if it was a weightier setup.
Yes, the RX10V is an excellent all-in-one camera — the best of its kind — but if you already own a mirrorless body and are serious about wildlife photography, picking up a supertelephoto lens like Sony’s 400-800mm instead will yield better results and likely be a more enjoyable user experience — if you’re willing to carry the extra weight.
The coolest electric cars and concepts from Goodwood Festival of Speed 2026
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Another year, another swelteringly hot Goodwood Festival of Speed, as the 11th Duke of Richmond’s garden becomes one of the busiest — and noisiest — moving motor shows on the automotive calendar.
While it is an excuse to thrash all manner of new supercars and historical racing machines up 1.16 miles of haystack-lined driveway, it is also a destination for fans to get a glimpse at upcoming vehicles from the world’s most recognized automakers.
In recent years, legacy brands have largely been pushed aside to make room for new players in town, with the likes of BYD and MG sporting some of the largest and most impressive stands at this year’s event.
It wasn’t exactly a bumper year for new reveals and dazzling concept cars, but there were several EVs and electric concepts to get excited about. These are my picks from the show.
1. Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 4MATIC+
(Image credit: Future/Leon Poultney)
Ignore the ridiculously long name, as Mercedes’ impressively efficient CLA has been given the AMG treatment. The figures are nothing short of astonishing: 671 bhp from the tweaked electric powertrain, a 0-62 mph sprint time of just 2.7 seconds and a 177 mph top speed with the AMG Driver’s Package option selected.
All of this performance comes courtesy of three high-performance axial-flux e-motors, with one on the front axle and two on the rear providing the monumental shove. Interestingly, there’s also simulated engine noise and the option to play around with virtual gear changes.
Naturally, it comes packing more aggressive bodywork and distinctive AMG badging throughout, with prices expected to start at around £65,000 in the UK — or around $87,000/AU$125,000.
2. MG GO Concept
(Image credit: Future/Leon Poultney)
We have been waiting a long time to see what British brand MG, which is now owned by Chinese automotive giant SAIC, will do with its all-electric supermini, which is destined to do battle with the Renault 5, Kia EV2 and an ever-growing number of quirky small cars.
The MG GO Concept gives us our best look yet, although the overly aggressive body kit, diffusers and trunk-lid spoilers likely won’t make it into final production. Still, it looks like it could be a lot of fun, doesn’t it?
What’s more, the MG4 X Power caught most people by surprise when it first hit the market in 2023, offering hot hatch thrills and a supercar-baiting 0-62 mph sprint time of just 3.8 seconds at bargain prices — proof that the revitalized MG is capable of embracing its silly side when it wants to.
3. BYD Shark
(Image credit: Future/Leon Poultney)
BYD’s stand was, once again, extremely impressive this year, taking up one of the largest footprints of all exhibitors. Outside, showgoers could register to take a passenger ride as the company’s latest pickup tackled a purpose-built off-road course.
The hulking truck, which comes to Europe for the first time this year, delivers a total of 430 bhp from its ‘Super Hybrid’ drivetrain, while the massive 32.2 kWh battery pack is good for a claimed 56 miles of pure EV range.
The Chinese automaker says it offers an impressive WLTP combined fuel efficiency of 81 mpg, can tow up to 2,500 kg, and features the latest technology, such as vehicle-to-load capabilities, so owners can power everything from tools to camping essentials.
In the UK, the BYD Shark will start at £47,290, which is roughly the same as the Ford Ranger PHEV — its only real plug-in pickup rival for the time being.
4. Alpine A110 Future
(Image credit: Future/Leon Poultney)
Since Porsche has placed its all-electric sports car dreams on hold, it is now up to French manufacturer Alpine to pick up the mantle.
Packing an all-new Alpine Performance Platform, this pure-EV version is low, wide, and suitably punchy in the performance department, with two electric motors on its rear axle that will make it ‘even better’ than the petrol version, according to Alpine boss Philippe Krief.
Further details are being kept tightly under wraps, but it looked menacing as it silently wafted up the famous Goodwood hillclimb. Electric sports cars clearly aren’t dead and if you want proof, check out the…
5. Denza Z
(Image credit: Future/Leon Poultney)
BYD’s upmarket offshoot wants to take the fight to Porsche, McLaren and Bentley with its swooping performance EV.
The Denza Z offers an eye-watering 1,604 hp from three powerful electric motors, priced at just under £143,000 (around $192,000/AU$276,000) for the standard Coupe version. There will also be a more expensive droptop convertible and a potent Racing version that gets masses of aero kit.
That car manages the 0-62 mph sprint in a mind-bending 1.96 seconds and a top speed of 217 mph. It can be used every day, too, with second-generation 76 kWh Blade battery tech delivering around 245 miles of range and 1,500 kW Flash charging compatibility for ten-minute top-ups.
Watch Karolina Muchova vs Linda Nosková at Wimbledon 2026 live streams in what should be a tightly contested final at the All England Club. Both players entered Wimbledon having claimed a title on grass, have saved match points en route to the final and beaten Grand Slam champions along the way.
Through to her second Grand Slam final, having finished as runner-up at the 2023 French Open, Muchova has been in sensational form on grass all summer long. She warmed up for Wimbledon with victory in Hamburg and has defeated three major champions - Barbora Krejcikova, Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff - on her way to the final.
The more experienced of the two Czech players, she also triumphed on the only previous occasion they met, claiming a three-set win at the 2025 US Open. However, she will be wary of her younger opponent, especially as Nosková has an impressive record on grass courts.
The 21-year-old has now won 19 matches on the surface in the last two years, more than any other player on the WTA Tour. That includes five wins in Berlin as she claimed the second WTA title of her career just weeks before Wimbledon got underway.
One of the major keys to this success has been her serve. In her semi-final, Marta Kostyuk struggled to make inroads and after the match declared “it doesn’t get better than this”. If Nosková’s serve is firing from the get-go in the final, she will be hard to stop.
Here’s how to watch Muchova vs Nosková in the Wimbledon final 2026 from anywhere in the world and potentially for FREE.
Can you watch Muchova vs Nosková for free?
Yes. The Wimbledon 2026 women’s final between Muchova and Nosková is being shown on free-to-air BBC One in the UK, with live streaming available through BBC iPlayer.
In Australia Channel 9 are also showing it free, with live streaming available via 9Now.
Traveling abroad today? You can use a VPN to watch this Wimbledon women’s final for free as if you were right at home.
Use a VPN to watch Muchova vs Nosková 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.
Not having a VPN is like leaving your front door wide open in a busy city – anyone can walk right in and take a peek.
TechRadar regularly reviews all the biggest and best VPN providers and NordVPN is our #1 choice.
✅ Up to 75% off today ✅ 3 extra months free ✅ Unlocks BBC iPlayer
Get NordVPN and stream Muchova vs Nosková from anywhere.View Deal
How to watch Muchova vs Nosková live streams in the US
In the US, you can watch Muchova vs Nosková thanks to ESPN with coverage across their main channel.
ESPN Select, which is live streaming every match on every court, costs $12.99/month or $129.99/year, but you can bundle it with Disney Plus and Hulu for $19.99/month.
If you don’t have ESPN on cable, they’re available through Sling – specifically the Orange, which starts at $4.99/day and has weekly and monthly plans available as well.
Alternatively, ESPN channels are also carried by Fubo, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV, each of which offers a free trial to new users.
Outside of the US? Use a VPN whilst you’re traveling away from home to unlock your stream.
How to watch Muchova vs Nosková live streams in the UK
(Image credit: Other)
In the UK, Muchova vs Nosková will be shown on free-to-air on BBC One, as well as via the BBC iPlayer streaming service.
All you need is an account, a TV Licence and a UK postcode (e.g.HA9 0WS). Sign up here!
If you’re out of the UK but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.
How to watch Muchova vs Nosková live streams in Australia
(Image credit: free)
Wimbledon 2026, including Muchova vs Nosková, is free-to-air on Channel 9 and 9Now in Australia, with live streaming available via the 9Now platform.
Stan Sport will also have all the action from Centre Court and costs AU$20/month on top of a Stan subscription, which itself starts at AU$12/month.
Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch all the action as if you were back home.
How to watch Muchova vs Nosková in Canada
(Image credit: Other)
In Canada, Wimbledon 2026, including Muchova vs Nosková, 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.
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.
Donald Trump’s Homeland Security regime has been at the center of two critical stories in the past two weeks. In the first, federal agents shot and killed a man and quickly got to work justifying the use of force under the flimsiest of pretenses. In the other, it made house calls to people who said […]
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Federal agents patrol the halls of immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in December 2025. | Photo by Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Donald Trump’s Homeland Security regime has been at the center of two critical stories in the past two weeks. In the first, federal agents shot and killed a man and quickly got to work justifying the use of force under the flimsiest of pretenses. In the other, it made house calls to people who said mean things to them online.
Since taking office last year, the Trump administration has been telling us that fighting the good fight of white supremacy will make you look cool and noble. The DHS under former Secretary Kristi Noem spent $220 million to help her cosplay as a cowboy and call up ICE recruits as if we’re fighting a new World War, this …
We are touching down today with the weekend edition of 9to5Toys Lunch Break to uncover all of the best deals on Apple gear, accessories, and more.
Alongside the ongoing Amazon Anker summer sale loaded with notable deals on power banks, 25W MagSafe charging stations, and more from $8, we also have some ongoing deals on Apple Watch Ultra 3, nearly…
With the awkwardly named ‘The Arranger’, Austrian Audio wants to try and bridge the gap between its excellent entry-level models and its excellent high-end products…
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Austrian Audio The Arranger: Two-minute review
The Arranger by Austrian Audio are an attempt to at least begin to fill the gap that exists between the company’s highest-end headphones and its wildly successful entry-level stuff. In case that isn’t a big enough ask by itself, Austrian Audio wants this new gap-filler to be just as convincing as a pro monitoring tool as they are a domestic pair of headphones.
So the brand has come up with a light, comfortable and slightly oddly colored pair of (semi) open-backed headphones that are easy to drive, fold smaller than the norm and are fitted with mildly exotic DLC-coated dynamic drivers that deliver a prodigious 5Hz - 30kHz frequency response. About the only misstep (apart from the finish) is the lack of a balanced cable option — or, more accurately, the lack of a no-cost balanced cable option.
When it comes to performance, though, complaints like this become irrelevant. Without sacrificing anything where detail retrieval, organization or soundstaging are concerned, Austrian Audio has served up a pair of energetic, entertaining and thoroughly engaging headphones that are just as happy to deliver the excitement of a recording as they are to peer deep into the mix and examine it on a microscopic level. As a combination of analysis and enjoyment, The Arranger are very hard to lay a glove on.
Which is not to say they have the field clear, of course. Similarly specified, similarly priced products from brands with similarly credible reputations are, naturally, available among the best wired headphones — and when you’re talking about companies like Beyerdynamic and Meze Audio, you know the alternatives to The Arranger are going to be compelling.
(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)
Austrian Audio The Arranger review: Price & release date
Released June 2026
Priced $1,299 / £899 / AU$1,899
The Arranger by Austrian Audio are on sale now, and in the United States they sell for $1,299 per pair. They’re £899 in the United Kingdom, and AU$1,899 in Australia. They’re intended to fill a gap, but it means they come up against some pretty stiff competition, too.
(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)
Austrian Audio The Arranger review: Specs
Type
Wired, over-ear, semi-open back headphones
Drivers
44mm DLC-coated dynamic
Weight
320g (without cable)
Cable length
3m
Impedence
25ohms
Sensitivity
110dB
Frequency response
5Hz - 30kHz frequency response
(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)
Austrian Audio The Arranger review: Features
44mm DLC-coated dynamic drivers
3m cable with 3.5mm/6.3mm termination
25ohms impedance, 110dB sensitivity
Passive, hard-wired headphones are seldom groaning under the weight of all their features, and The Arranger are not in any way unusual. The feature-count is short but in this instance, at least, the few features here are all entirely fit for purpose.
The Austrian Audio are supplied with a 3m length of quite sturdily rubberized cable. It fits using the ‘click and turn’ method into the left ear cup, and at the other end there’s a 3.5mm termination that will happily accept the 6.3mm adapter that’s supplied. A 2m 4.4mm balanced cable and a 3m cable with an XLR termination are both available and, rather annoyingly, both will cost you additional money.
The information that travels along the cable is delivered to a couple of 44mm dynamic drivers. They have a diamond-like carbon coating on the diaphragm and also feature a proprietary ring magnet — the aim is superior impulse response, super-low distortion and significant bass extension. Austrian Audio suggests frequency response is 5Hz - 30kHz, which would seem to make ‘significant bass extension’ something of an understatement.
The Arranger are very forgiving headphones — impedance of 25ohms and 110dB sensitivity means they’re not even remotely difficult to drive. A dedicated headphone amp is always a good idea, of course, but even the 3.5mm socket on your laptop should have sufficient oomph to get the Austrian Audio up to speed.
Features score: 5 / 5
(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)
Austrian Audio The Arranger review: Sound quality
Significant low-frequency substance and variation
Open, organized and detailed sound
Tremendous powers of analysis
Austrian Audio, it turns out, was not just talking. The Arranger really do function almost as well as a pair of monitors as they do when asked to simply entertain. In either circumstance, this is a very accomplished pair of headphones.
The (almost) open-backed arrangement means the presentation is spacious and airy, and the soundstage the headphones present is quite expansive, but not at the cost of unity or singularity. Despite being able to open up a recording like Natural Magic’s Galaxy Builder to the point that its constituent parts are individualized and easy to inspect, there’s a togetherness to the way The Arranger present the recording that makes it sound like a performance rather than simply a collection of discrete occurrences.
It helps that frequency response is nice and even, from the deep and almost extravagantly varied low end to the bright, substantial top end. The midrange projects well without forcing the overall response into any kind of ‘V’ shape, and the lack of coloration to the tonality allows every point of the frequency range to sound natural and unforced. Detail levels are high at every stage, and the amount of insight the Austrian Audio have into even quite complex recordings is never less than fully impressive.
As well as body and insight at the bottom end, there’s also unarguable control. The Arranger take a lot of care in expressing the attack and decay of individual bass events, and consequently have no problem in describing rhythms with absolute conviction. This sense of confidence and positivity is, in fact, apparent throughout the frequency range.
As well as being alert to the finest, most transient details that both build a complete picture of a recording and allow an engineer to understand a recording on a sort of ‘building block’ level, The Arranger are more than willing to handle the broader dynamics of changes in volume, intensity and attack. The distance they’re able to put between the quietest and most contemplative passages in a recording and the final all-out crescendo is significant.
It’s by no means an easy trick to entertain with the vigorous and engaging nature of your sound while simultaneously serving as a forensic tool of insight and analysis — it’s so difficult, in fact, that most headphone manufacturers don’t even bother trying. But it’s a trick Austrian Audio manages to pull off with something very much like aplomb.
Sound quality score: 5 / 5
(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)
Austrian Audio The Arranger review: Design
(Semi-) open-backed configuration
320g without cable
Just one, rather single-minded, option for finish
In many meaningful ways, the design of The Arranger is wholly successful. This is, at 320g without the length of cable attached, a light and comfortable pair of headphones, and thanks to come judicious choices where hanger arrangement, clamping force and padding of the contact points are concerned, it’s a pair of headphones that stays comfortable for hours on end.
The inside of the headband and the ear cups are of medium-density memory foam with a faux-suede covering. It’s soft, and it resists returning your own body heat longer after some alternative designs have started to warm your ears. Some sturdy articulation in the yokes means not only will the ear cups fold flat, but the frame folds in on itself too. This makes The Arranger much more compact in transit, and a far better proposition where portability is concerned.
To my eyes, though, there’s something quite inelegant and rather rustic about the width of the headband and the point where the headband chunkily meets the ear cups. The one available finish — a combination of black, something that thinks it’s gold and something that is unarguably beige — doesn’t exactly shout ‘premium product!’ either. The slats on the ear cups that result in the Austrian Audio being a quasi-open-backed design are a little more successful but, again, the color isn’t helping the headphones look as expensive as they actually are.
There’s absolutely no arguing with the standard of build and finish on display here but, then again, this is no more than you’re entitled to expect when paying over $1,000 for some headphones. The problem for The Arranger, I think, is about perceived value — and it comes up slightly short.
Design score: 4 / 5
(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)
Austrian Audio The Arranger review: Value
Headphones for every occasion
Light, comfortable and easy to wear…
…although not quite as easy to look at
No, $1,299 / £899 / AU$1,899 is not an insignificant sum for a pair of headphones, even a pair from a company with the track record of Austrian Audio.
But when you consider their potency as a tool of analysis, factor in their energetic and enthusiastic attitude when you’re simply listening for pleasure, and then add in the build quality and the comfort that’s a by-product, they become pretty difficult to argue with on a value-for-money basis.
One or two options where finish is concerned wouldn’t go amiss, mind you — in fact, they might help The Arranger to become an even easier sell.
Value score: 4.5 / 5
(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)
Should I buy the Austrian Audio The Arranger?
Section
Notes
Score
Features
Entirely fit for purpose; 44mm DLC-coated dynamic drivers, with 25ohms impedance, 110dB sensitivity
5 / 5
Sound quality
Open, organized and detailed, with tremendous powers of analysis
5 / 5
Design
Ear cups fold flat for compact transit; very comfortable; but the finish is a little inelegant
4 / 5
Value
Value for the not insignificant money, but 4.4mm or XLR connection cable would be nice
4.5 / 5
(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)Buy them if…
You listen for long periods The light weight and all-around comfort of The Arranger make them the perfect headphones for longer listening sessions.
You need an all-rounder The Arranger are just as happy to examine the minutiae of a mix as they are to entertain you with the whole-hearted approach to music.
You need a degree of portability Thanks to a clever yoke arrangement and some reassuringly sturdy hinges, The Arranger fold far smaller than the majority of their price-comparable rivals.
Don’t buy them if…
You feel you’ve spent enough You’d have thought a balanced cable was a no-brainer for headphones costing this much money, but you’ll have to fork out for a 4.4mm or XLR connection here.
You’re after a premium look Your money has almost all gone on the sound The Arranger make, which is fair enough, but some people will think $1,299 should buy a premium feel too.
You don’t get on with beige It’s a strange choice of finish, no two ways about it — and it gets even stranger when you realize it’s your only option.
(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)
Austrian Audio The Arranger review: Also consider
Meze Audio Strada These closed-back headphones sound admirably un-closed — if you have a larger-than-average head, and like the color green, then you can’t go far wrong. Read our Meze Audio Strada review for more
Grado Signature S750 Yes, you’ll need deep pockets in you’re going to go down this $1,695 / £1,695 (about AU$3,400) route, but the Grado will reward you in spades. The delightfully brutalist handmade open-back construction stands out, along with an exceptional soundstage and excellent clarity. See our in-depth Grado Signature S750 review for more
How I tested the Austrian Audio The Arranger
Connected to a FiiO M15S DAP
Connected to a full-size system via Eversolo DAC-Z10 pre-amp
Using music from many formats and of many styles
The FiiO digital audio player features lots of hi-res FLAC and DSD files, and lots of different styles and genres of music within those digital files. The Eversolo DAC-Z10, meanwhile, is the preamplifier for an Arcan ST25 network streamer, a Technics SL-1300G turntable and a Rega Apollo CD player.
Which means that content from internet radio stations, vinyl and compact disc are all available too - which, by extension, means The Arranger by Austrian Audio got about as thorough a work-out as a pair of headphones at this sort of money demands.
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 135, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, crank the AC, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about cold plunges and Colson Whitehead and the food truck mafia, […]
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Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 135, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, crank the AC, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
Roleplaying games are often defined by excess. Storylines that span dozens of hours, side quests so big they could be their own game, massive worlds that require complex maps to explore, and casts so big you start forgetting character names. That’s part of what makes these games feel like epic adventures, but it can also […]
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Roleplaying games are often defined by excess. Storylines that span dozens of hours, side quests so big they could be their own game, massive worlds that require complex maps to explore, and casts so big you start forgetting character names. That’s part of what makes these games feel like epic adventures, but it can also make them intimidating, particularly if you have limited spare time. Dosa Divas, on the other hand, manages to capture much of that same feeling in a package that spans less than 10 hours. And it does it with a bold sense of style and a story that seamlessly flits between big themes and personal drama. There’s just one big d …
Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage, and protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and…
Audi’s latest RS 5 blends 639hp with some of the smartest hybrid tech I’ve tested.
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For decades, Audi’s RS division has built its reputation on extracting astonishing performance from combustion engines, pairing muscular powerplants with the brand’s legendary quattro all-wheel-drive system to create machines that could embarrass exotic supercars while carrying an entire family… and their pets.
But times have changed. Stringent emissions regulations, the soaring cost of fuel and the industry’s rapid shift towards electrification all mean that even Audi’s most revered performance badge can no longer ignore battery packs.
Rather than resisting the inevitable, the Ingolstadt-based company has embraced it, introducing a plug-in hybrid powertrain to the RS 5 for the very first time. If that sounds like sacrilege, bear with me.
Because after spending time behind the wheel of the new RS 5 Avant, it’s clear Audi hasn’t simply bolted on some battery cells to appease legislators. Instead, it has used electrification to build its most technologically advanced RS model yet.
(Image credit: Audi)
Audi hasn’t simply bolted on some battery cells to appease legislators.
The numbers certainly make a compelling argument. A 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V6 now works alongside a 130kW electric motor to produce a combined 639hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. That’s enough to launch the angry-looking estate from 0-62mph in just 3.6 seconds before continuing on to a top speed of 178mph.
More surprisingly, the 25.9kWh battery (22kWh usable) also allows for up to 50 miles of all-electric driving, meaning many daily commutes can be completed without the V6 ever barking into life.
It’s a remarkable breadth of ability for a car that wears one of Audi’s most performance-focused badges. There is, however, one unavoidable downside.
At 2,370kg in Avant form, this is also by far the heaviest RS 5 ever produced. Physics hasn’t suddenly stopped applying just because there’s a charging socket hidden beneath the bodywork.
Fortunately, Audi’s engineers have spent years developing an arsenal of clever chassis technologies designed to disguise that weight.
Lightening the load
(Image credit: Audi)
Spend a few miles behind the wheel and it’s immediately obvious that the biggest engineering challenge wasn’t adding more power. It was making sure you couldn’t feel the additional mass the big Audi is carting around.
The latest RS 5 rides on revised five-link suspension at both ends, complete with new bushings, refreshed suspension links and adaptive twin-valve dampers that can independently control compression and rebound.
Even rolling across broken urban streets, the ride quality is noticeably more compliant than you’d expect from a car wearing enormous alloy wheels and packing the sort of performance stats that should be reserved for a race circuit.
Audi says it specifically tuned the suspension for the scarred road surfaces found across Northern Europe, rather than focusing purely on track performance, and that effort shows.
(Image credit: Audi)
Select Comfort mode and the RS 5 settles into an effortless grand tourer, cruising silently on electric power while cruising the congested streets with ease.
Select Comfort mode and the RS 5 settles into an effortless grand tourer, cruising silently on electric power while cruising the congested streets with ease. It’s no more difficult than piloting any one of today’s two-pedal electric vehicles. One pedal makes it go, the other makes it stop.
But switch into Dynamic or one of the dedicated RS modes, however, and the car transforms into a snarling beast.
Throttle response sharpens, steering gains weight and the drivetrain becomes noticeably more aggressive, but the biggest difference comes from a piece of technology most drivers will never actually see.
Audi’s legendary quattro system has always been synonymous with enormous grip, but the latest RS 5 introduces one of the most significant changes in its history.
(Image credit: Audi)
The optional passenger display feels even more out of place here than it does on other Audi and Porsche products.
Instead of relying purely on mechanical differentials, Audi now employs an electromechanical torque-vectoring system capable of distributing power between individual wheels in less than 15 milliseconds. Have I lost you yet?
No? Good. Because an 8kW water-cooled electric motor continuously adjusts torque delivery under both acceleration and braking, helping rotate the car into corners before maximizing traction on the exit.
The effect is mightily impressive. Despite carrying more than two tonnes, the RS 5 changes direction like a hatchback, masking much of its weight and inspiring huge confidence through faster bends.
For the first time in an RS 5, Audi has also introduced a much stronger rear torque bias in its most aggressive driving mode, allowing owners to bypass the unrelenting grip of all-wheel-drive and light up the rear tires.
Not one to be tried on public roads, this ‘hooligan’ mode also includes a drift analyzer within the infotainment system that measures drift angle and G-forces for drivers taking the car onto a circuit. It’s not essential, but undeniably cool nonetheless.
Hybrid power done properly
(Image credit: Audi)
This ‘hooligan’ mode also includes a drift analyzer within the infotainment system that measures drift angle and G-forces for drivers taking the car onto a circuit.
Performance plug-in hybrids often suffer from a split personality.
Some deliver effortless electric commuting but feel detached once the road becomes interesting. Others prioritize outright performance but offer such limited electric range that the charging port feels little more than a tax-saving exercise.
The RS 5 largely avoids both traps. The electric motor fills the torque gap before the twin turbochargers are fully lit up, making acceleration feel relentless regardless of engine speed.
The transition between electric and combustion power is impressively smooth, while the eight-speed transmission delivers satisfyingly aggressive shifts that kick you in the gut when the more focussed drive modes are selected. It feels gloriously old-school.
(Image credit: Audi)
Audi has also completely redesigned the exhaust system, allowing the active valves to open to almost any position depending on the selected driving mode. In EV mode the car slips through traffic in near silence, but switch into the sportier settings and the V6 develops a deep, burbling soundtrack.
Equally impressive is the braking system. Like many modern hybrids, regenerative braking works alongside traditional friction brakes to recover energy, but the calibration here is excellent.
The transition between regenerative and hydraulic braking is almost impossible to detect, while the optional carbon-ceramic discs deliver extraordinary stopping power once speeds begin to climb.
At 17 inches in diameter, the front brake discs are almost as large as the wheels fitted to many city cars, and the stopping performance reflects that. Most importantly, none of these systems feel as though they’re competing with one another.
For tech’s sake
(Image credit: Audi)
If the RS 5’s chassis is a masterclass in using technology to enhance the driving experience, the cabin is a more mixed affair.
Like the latest A5 range, the RS 5 adopts Audi’s new MMI Panorama digital cockpit, replacing the beautifully simple, driver-focused interiors of previous generations with an array of displays that dominate the dashboard.
There’s no shortage of screen real estate. A crisp 11.9-inch digital driver’s display sits behind the steering wheel, joined by a 14.5-inch central infotainment touchscreen running Audi’s latest software. Buyers can also specify a 10.9-inch passenger display, allowing the co-driver to access navigation, entertainment and selected vehicle functions independently.
(Image credit: Audi)
Graphics are sharp, processing is quick and the interface feels considerably more responsive than older Audi infotainment systems. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both included, while configurable RS-specific displays provide quick access to performance data, power distribution and hybrid energy flow.
But the optional passenger display feels even more out of place here than it does on other Audi and Porsche products. During ‘spirited’ driving, it’s difficult to imagine anyone wanting to spend much time interacting with yet another touchscreen for fear of losing their lunch.
Likewise, Audi’s ever-growing collection of configurable driving modes, suspension settings, steering weights and drivetrain options offers huge flexibility, but also introduces a level of complexity that borders on overwhelming.
The everyday supercar
(Image credit: Audi)
Performance estates have always been about delivering supercar pace without sacrificing practicality, and despite the additional battery hardware, the RS 5 Avant still performs that role admirably.
The sports seats strike an excellent balance between support and long-distance comfort, making it easy to imagine covering hundreds of motorway miles without complaint.
Rear passenger space remains adequate rather than generous, although adults will still fit comfortably enough for longer journeys. There’s also an RS 6 on the horizon if you need something even bigger.
The plug-in hybrid system inevitably eats into luggage capacity compared to previous generations, with the Avant offering 361 liters of boot space or 1,302 liters with the rear seats folded.
That’s less than key rivals, like the BMW M3 wagon, but still more than enough for family duties or a weekend away. More importantly, the plug-in hybrid powertrain transforms the way the RS 5 can be used every day.
(Image credit: Audi)
With up to 50 miles of electric-only driving available, many owners could complete their weekday commute without using a drop of petrol.
With up to 50 miles of electric-only driving available, many owners could complete their weekday commute without using a drop of petrol, only unleashing the full 639hp when the road — or the mood — demands it.
Charging isn’t class-leading, with DC rapid charging capped at 40kW, meaning replenishing the battery takes longer than newer EVs. But most owners will charge on a driveway or in a garage home, where the battery will be fully brimmed each morning.
Audi’s decision to electrify the RS 5 was always going to divide opinion. But after spending time behind the wheel, it’s difficult to argue that the technology hasn’t made the RS 5 objectively more capable.
The plug-in hybrid system isn’t just there to reduce emissions or improve fleet averages. It genuinely enhances the driving experience, delivering instant electric torque, meaningful zero-emission range and seamless integration with one of Audi’s most sophisticated chassis packages to date.
(Image credit: Audi)
What’s more impressive is the sheer breadth of its ability. Few performance cars can creep silently through city traffic on electric power before transforming into a 639hp all-wheel-drive monster capable of embarrassing dedicated sports cars on a twisting road.
The suspension is superb, the torque-vectoring system is nothing short of remarkable and the way Audi blends regenerative braking with enormous carbon-ceramic stopping power demonstrates just how refined modern performance hybrids have become.
Hardcore driving fans will still bemoan the sheer amount of weight here, but this is the reality of modern super saloons and estates. If you want to avoid eye-watering tax sums and fuel bills, a hybrid system is the only way.
But Audi has shown that plugging in doesn’t ruin the fun. The RS 5 still feels like a very special car.
Fiji vs England kick-off: Saturday, July 11 at 9.10am ET / 2.10pm BST / 11.10pm AEST
A real clash of styles is in store at Hill Dickinson Stadium, as Fiji and England meet in Matchday 2 of Nations Championship 2026, with both sides reeling in the aftermath of harrowing defeats.
Once more, England leaned heavily on their kicking game to no avail in a 45-21 beatdown by South Africa last weekend. The final score flattered Steve Borthwick’s men, who were 17-0 down within minutes of kick-off and ended the game with 13 men. With 58 metres gained off 21 carries, Ben Earl was the team’s sole bright spark.
They’re on an abject run of five straight defeats, and stuck in a trap of the RFU’s own making. England have consistently underperformed right the way through Borthwick’s near-four-year reign, yet he’s clung onto the job and results have dropped off a cliff just as the Rugby World Cup has appeared on the horizon. He’s only made two changes for Saturday’s clash, bringing in Henry Slade for the injured Cadan Murley, and Guy Pepper for Tom Curry.
The chairman of the FRU board tore into Fiji after their disappointing 24-39 defeat by Wales, and Mick Byrne has responded by making wholesale changes for the Round 2 clash. In comes Caleb Muntz, the Provence fly-half who engineered the Flying Fijians’ famous 30-22 victory over England three years ago. Semi Radradra’s injury, however, is a blow.
In contrast to Saturday’s opponents, Fiji carried the ball the most as a team last weekend and broke 39 tackles, the impressive Jiuta Wainiqolo accounting for 17 of those. However, their discipline let them down and they didn’t score anywhere near as many points as they should have.
Read on as we explain how to watch Fiji vs England for free in the 2026 Nations Championship.
Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch Fiji vs England for free as if you were right at home.
Use a VPN to watch Fiji vs England live streams
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How to watch Fiji vs England live streams in the US
Fiji vs England, along with all 42 Nations Championship games, is available to live stream for FREE on Rugbypass TV in the US.
You can tune in via the Rugbypass TV website or app, and it works with Chromecast, Airplay, Apple TV and Android TV.
Outside of the US? Use a VPN while you’re traveling away from home to unlock your stream.
How to watch Fiji vs England live streams in the UK
In the UK, Fiji vs England is free-to-air on ITV1, with live streaming available via ITVX.
All you need is an account, a TV license and a UK postcode (e.g.HA9 0WS). Sign up here!
If you’re out of the UK but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.
How to watch Fiji vs England live streams in Ireland
Fiji vs England is free-to-air on Virgin Media One in Ireland, with live streaming available via the Virgin Media Play platform.
Outside Ireland? You’ll need to download a VPN, as detailed above, to tap into your free Nations Championship stream from abroad.
How to watch Fiji vs England live streams in Australia
In Australia, Fiji vs England is exclusive to Stan Sport.
Stan Sport costs AU$20/month on top of a Stan subscription, which itself starts at AU$12/month.
Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch the action as if you were back home.
How to watch Fiji vs England live streams in New Zealand
In New Zealand, Sky Sport NZis showing the Fiji vs England game.
You can access Sky Sport through satellite TV or get a live stream, with the Sky Sport Now subscription service starting at NZ$29.99 per day or NZ$59.99 per month.
Those outside of New Zealand for any part of the Nations Championship can use NordVPN to gain access to their home streaming service.
How to watch Fiji vs England live streams in South Africa
The Fiji vs England game is being shown on Supersport in South Africa.
You’ll need to get a DStv access package to watch the Nations Championship, with prices starting at Rs99/month for the streaming version.
Abroad right now? Just use a VPN and tell your device that you’re back home and you’ll be good to go.
How to watch Fiji vs England live streams in Canada
(Image credit: Other)
In Canada, Fiji vs England is being shown on Premier Sports.
A monthly pass costs CA$29.99. You’ll need either the CA$79.99 six-month pass or the CA$139.99/year annual subscription to tune in for the whole tournament.
If you’re out of Canada but still want to catch the action, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.
What is the Fiji vs England start time?
The scheduled Fiji vs England kick-off time on Saturday, July 11 is 2.10pm BST local time in Liverpool, which is 6.10am PT / 9.10am ET / 11.10pm AEST.
What is the Fiji vs England head-to-head?
Fiji have won one of their 10 previous encounters with England. England have won nine.
In England, the head-to-head stands at 6-1.
Can I watch Fiji vs England on my mobile?
Of course, most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser. For example, Rugbypass TV, ITVX and Virgin Media Play all have dedicated apps.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
A Ukraine-linked online campaign reportedly alters Russian fuel station map data, creating confusion among drivers through coordinated digital participation.
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Ukrainians reportedly manipulate Russian fuel maps through coordinated online participation
Over a million users visit the website behind the fuel map campaign
Digital platforms become another battlefield during ongoing geopolitical conflicts worldwide
A coordinated online campaign has reportedly encouraged users to alter fuel station information on digital maps across Russia, creating confusion among drivers.
The activity involves changing station statuses by marking locations with available fuel as empty or showing closed stations as operational.
Supporters of the campaign claim the effort is designed to disrupt travel decisions, increase uncertainty, and create additional pressure around fuel availability.
Map manipulation campaign spreads through online communities
The campaign reportedly centres around a website known as “GdeBenz,” which has attracted more than one million visitors since its launch.
Participants are encouraged to use VPN services while accessing mapping platforms, allowing them to contribute altered information from outside locations.
Some users have reportedly relied on free VPN services to access the campaign tools and participate without revealing their actual network locations.
The changes reportedly affect fuel station details seen by drivers relying on online navigation tools when searching for available supplies.
Some participants have shared instructions through social media platforms, encouraging others to join the activity and modify fuel station information in different Russian cities.
The campaign has been described by supporters as an online operation aimed at creating confusion rather than directly affecting fuel infrastructure itself.
Reports surrounding the activity have not independently verified the full scale of the disruptions or confirmed how many fuel stations were affected by altered map information.
However, the campaign shows how digital platforms can become another area of competition during ongoing geopolitical tensions, where information accuracy can influence everyday decisions.
Digital disruption creates uncertainty around fuel searches
The reported campaign relies on crowd participation rather than technical attacks against fuel companies or mapping providers, making it different from conventional cyber operations.
By changing publicly visible location data, participants attempt to influence how drivers interpret fuel availability before travelling to specific stations.
Such changes could potentially cause unnecessary journeys, increased fuel consumption, longer queues, and frustration among motorists if users encounter inaccurate information.
The activity has also drawn attention to how Russia VPN searches and related privacy tools can become part of wider online campaigns where participants attempt to bypass regional restrictions or conceal their locations.
Supporters have celebrated the effort as an example of collective online action, while independent assessments of its practical impact remain limited.
Whether altered map information can create significant disruption over time depends on how quickly platforms detect inaccurate updates and restore correct information.
The incident also shows how digital services used for routine tasks can become vulnerable to manipulation when large groups coordinate around a shared objective.
We rated the original Galaxy Ring highly, but the next version will enter an even more competitive market.
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Samsung has officially confirmed that the Galaxy Ring 2 is in development. Dr. Hon Pak, Senior Vice President and Head of Samsung’s Digital Health Team, recently told Forbes that the company is “working on the next generation” of its smart ring.
Beyond confirming that a successor ring is on the way, Pak offered only a few hints about what we might expect. But the smart ring market looks different than it did when the original Galaxy Ring launched in 2024.
Competition is growing rapidly, with new smart rings appearing almost every month. While many still struggle to match the devices in our best smart rings guide, the bar has been raised considerably. The original Samsung Galaxy Ring remains our top overall pick, while the newly launched Oura Ring 5 is one of its strongest rivals.
I’ve tested many of the latest smart rings, and if Samsung wants its next ring to remain at the top, these are the upgrades I’d most like to see.
1. Resist the temptation to add a subscription
Even though interest in smart rings has surged over the past few years, I think we can still say they’re a relatively niche category. And I think one of the biggest barriers to entry is the ongoing subscription fee some brands charge.
For example, Oura requires a monthly membership of $5.99/£5.99 per month to unlock its full experience, and subscriptions — optional or otherwise — are on the up with fitness apps. Meanwhile, rivals like Ringconn have built some of their appeal around offering a similar health tracking experience without that additional fee.
Samsung certainly got this right with the original Galaxy Ring. And there are currently no signs a subscription is coming. But maintaining that approach feels increasingly important. We’ve already seen some companies introduce subscription-free products only to later place some features behind a paywall.
If Samsung wants to keep the Galaxy Ring truly competitive, it must make core health insights available without a monthly fee.
2. A slimmer and lighter design
(Image credit: Future)
Designing a smart ring has always been a challenge. Manufacturers need to pack in sensors, batteries and processing power all while making the ring feel as comfortable and jewellery-like as possible.
That’s one reason the new Oura Ring 5 has generated so much attention. It’s managed to become smaller and lighter while still adding some new capabilities.
Now, the Galaxy Ring 2 doesn’t necessarily need to be the smallest ring on the market. But even a slight reduction in size and weight would demonstrate that Samsung understands just how important comfort is when you’re asking people to wear something 24 hours a day.
3. Better battery life
Battery life is such an important part of the smart ring experience. The more I take off a ring, the less likely wearing it everyday will become a habit. And the more likely I become to forget about it. It also makes monitoring for trends and average vitals more tricky and less accurate.
The original Galaxy Ring already offers a good battery life, but expectations are rising fast. And again, Samsung doesn’t necessary need to beat every rival. But if competing rings continue pushing to longer runtimes, the Ring 2 will need to remain competitive.
4. iOS support
(Image credit: Apple/US Patent and Trademark Office)
I think we can safely say this one feels less like something I’d like to see in the next generation of Samsung Galaxy Ring and more like something that must be a necessity.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring was only for Android users. Now, reports already suggest Samsung is working towards iPhone compatibility. If that’s true it could dramatically increase the Galaxy Ring’s appeal.
Because at the moment, limiting the ring to Samsung’s ecosystem excludes loads of potential buyers. Sure, Samsung users will continue to benefit from deeper integrated and additional features. But core functionality across both Android and iOS feels like a necessity.
However, we know Apple’s already filed a patent for ring technology — see the above diagram — so even if it never comes to fruition, it’s certainly a form factor Apple is mulling over.
5. Add a compelling new health feature
Most smart rings track the same core metrics, like sleep, heart rate, activity, stress and recovery. That means Samsung may need to offer something genuinely distinctive to stand out.
I say that because I’ve been testing the RingConn Gen 3 over the past few weeks, which adds features like vascular health insights and sleep apnea monitoring. Now, whether those features prove valuable to most users over the long term remains to be seen. But, they give the ring a clear point of differentiation.
I don’t think Samsung needs to copy those exact features. But offering something beyond the standard collection of health metrics could help the Galaxy Ring 2 feel like a meaningful upgrade over the original and a solid choice in a sea of similar offerings.
6. AI that isn’t annoying
I’m generally sceptical about AI chatbots in wearables because most implementations I’ve tested simply repeat the same information that’s visible in the app or provide really generic recommendations.
That said, some of Pak’s comments to Forbes do suggest Samsung is thinking beyond a basic execution of AI. Explaining that people have different motivational styles, so the approach needs to be tailored accordingly: “Over the next two to three years, the AI will be able to say, based on this person’s characteristics, I’m going to nudge them this way, and 70 or 80 per cent of the time I can predict that person is going to exercise more or sleep more.”
I’m still cautious, especially as Samsung has already added some AI features to Samsung Health. But many wearable brands underestimate how much language matters when it comes to behavior change. The best implementation isn’t just telling users to sleep more, it might identify useful patterns, changes or spot warning signs and deliver advice in a way that’s genuinely personalized.
If Samsung can achieve that, AI could become one of the Galaxy Ring 2’s most compelling features rather than another box-ticking exercise.
There’s a good chance we’ll learn more at Samsung’s next Galaxy Unpacked event, which is scheduled to take place in London on July 22, 2026.
The Westies arrives on MGM+ this weekend, bringing the mean streets of 1980s New York with it. However, no AI has been used to bring the past to life.
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If you’re going to invest in a crime drama this summer, make it The Westies on MGM+. With its two-episode premiere dropping on the streamer this weekend, the new TV show is set to follow the real-life Irish-American crime family of the same name.
Basically, it’s the perfect warm-up act for MobLand season 2 andThe Gentleman season 2, which are both set to return in September. Led by J.K. Simmons as patriarch Eamonn Sweeney, expect fist fights, a cat-and-mouse chase with the FBI, and an ongoing standoff with the Italian-American mob.
While their story has never been adapted for film or TV, the Westies ran the streets of Hell’s Kitchen for decades from the 1960s. When we meet them in the new crime drama, it’s the peak of the 1980s, and their reputation is well-known.
This means that we’re transported back to how the Big Apple looked some 40 years ago, and no matter what you think of the storyline, the setting is jaw-dropping. But according to the show’s creators, no AI was used in the process of getting there.
‘The look is absolutely authentic to the time period’
“It was analogue… we built the set,” Chris Brancato tells me. “We didn’t use AI. What we did was build a street in Toronto that replicated 1980s New York, that Hell’s Kitchen street. It had blue screens where we could project a VFX background.
“The way we created that look was absolutely authentic to the time period… we achieved that because we built it,” Michael Panes adds. “So we never left our stage space very much. We shot interior scenes in the interior set, then we’d walk outside and shoot on our New York Street. It was an attempt to put you, the viewer, in this time capsule environment that brought you back to the 1980s.”
As far as I’m concerned, the effort has easily paid off. In the opening moments of episode 1, our core group figures out how to best exploit the Jacob Javits Convention Center construction, which is beginning to be built as the season kicks off.
While there, we get a breathtaking view of the Manhattan skyline that completely sets the tone for the artistry that we’re about to see next. If anything, I think that the set is actually the strongest character of the bunch.
But even so, do mob stories like The Westies still pack a punch like they did in The Sopranos days?
“It seems to me that it shows like MobLand and others are very, very popular,” Brancato responds. “So we think that the genre is alive and kicking. We hope that our show is going to enter the pantheon of the gangster shows that already exist… but I don’t think an audience ever loses interest in watching criminals go after each other.”
A revealing new Future survey suggests users are cooling on the idea of AI, for a variety of different reasons.
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It’s hard to get away from AI these days, with the technology finding its way into our apps, devices, and entertainment — but according to a survey carried out by TechRadar’s parent company Future, heavy use of chatbots such as Gemini and ChatGPT has actually fallen over the past year.
The reasons behind the shift are interesting too: users are mentioning concerns over privacy, a preference for human interaction, and worries about becoming too dependent on the tech when it comes to why they’re avoiding AI.
While AI is clearly reshaping our world in significant and myriad ways, there’s also now a noticeable trend of anti-AI sentiment that’s worth paying attention to — whether it’s to do with protests against data center expansion or worries about AI slop content.
These results are based on questionnaires filled out by 1,008 respondents, and they make for interesting reading — especially when you compare them to the statistics from the same Future survey conducted last year. Here’s what the latest responses tell us.
Privacy worries
There are many reasons why people aren’t so sure of AI at the moment. Topping the list for our respondents are concerns over privacy, which were cited by 32% of those who completed our survey — that’s actually unchanged from last year, so no matter which chatbot is being used, many of us are wary about what it’s doing with our data.
Second in the list, mentioned by 31% of survey participants, is a preference for human interaction (this is a new response option, so we don’t have anything to compare it to from last year). While AI is certainly now more than capable of holding a conversation on just about any topic imaginable, it seems we’re still seeking out flesh-and-blood relationships.
In third place we’ve got those who are happy without AI, which accounts for 29% of people surveyed — that’s actually a drop of 18% over the previous survey, perhaps a sign that a significant chunk of people have realized they are happy chatting to AI on a daily basis (it’s certainly getting more ubiquitous by the day).
There are plenty of people holding out on AI apps like ChatGPT (Image credit: Getty Images / NurPhoto)
Next on the list are fears around becoming too dependent on the tech, and concerns over AI misrepresenting a ‘voice’ or personality (in emails, for example), which account for 26% and 24% of respondents respectively. It seems a lot of us are worried we’ll get to the stage where we can’t do without AI for even basic tasks — not good when there’s an outage — and that our communications will turn into generic, bland AI averageness.
Neither of those two responses were available last year, but the next two came in at exactly the same level as in the previous survey: a lack of awareness of AI’s capabilities (19% of respondents) and a lack of interest in what AI could do (17% of respondents). It seems the AI hype hasn’t quite reached everyone yet.
Rounding out our respondents’ list of barriers to AI usage, we’ve got technical complexity (15%, down 24%), skepticism over whether AI can be helpful (14%, down 21%), environmental and energy impact concerns (11%, a new category), and being philosophically opposed to AI as a concept 10%, down 24%).
Regular AI usage
When answering the question of how often chatbots like Gemini or ChatGPT are used, 17% of those quizzed said “daily or almost daily”, while 14% said several times a day. That’s nearly 1 in 3 people using generative AI at least once a day or so, though that’s actually fewer people than last year — could the novelty of the tech be wearing off?
The 14% figure for the most enthusiastic users has actually dropped by 31% over the course of the past 12 months, so while usage is exploding in areas such as coding, it seems as though the overall trend is in the opposite direction (perhaps influenced by the increasing amount of AI stuffed into our apps).
As for the less frequent users, 21% of respondents said they were using AI chatbots once a week or a few times a week, 11% ranked their usage as being a few times each month, and 8% said they used generative AI less than once a month — apparently dipping in and out for occasional chats.
AI chatbots like Claude have faced questions over security and privacy (Image credit: Anthropic)
When it comes to complete refuseniks, 30% of the survey participants said they don’t use AI chatbots at all, which is a hefty 24% jump from last year. That suggests more and more people are taking against the very idea of AI, or finding it completely useless for day-to-day life and work.
There is a divide in the respondents worth mentioning between those who read Future publications and those who don’t: more than 42% of Future readers use generative AI on a daily basis, with 21% using it multiple times a day, which overall is around double the figure for non-readers.
So that’s the state of play for consumers and AI at the moment then, according to the people we surveyed. With generative AI advancements showing no signs of slowing down, it’s going to be very interesting to see how these figures might have changed again in another 12 months.
The week’s biggest tech news from Nokia, Samsung, Sony, and more for July 11, 2026.
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This week we unveiled the all-new, all-different — well, not all that different — TechRadar Awards, but plenty more happened in the worlds of tech.
Samsung announced that its next Unpacked event is taking place in a little over a week, and it’s teasing a big foldables announcement. However, based on its usual schedule, we’d be more surprised if it didn’t have any foldables to showcase this year.
Before you catch up with this week’s tech news, why not test yourself on last week’s seven biggest tech stories to see how good your memory is? Take the quiz below, or scroll on for the biggest tech news of the week… (and see if you can best last week’s ICYMI quiz when you’re done here).
7. The TechRadar Awards returned for 2026
(Image credit: Future)
The TechRadar Awards are back in 2026, and we’re making a radical change: we’re holding two sets of awards back-to-back this year! We’re introducing the TechRadar Product of the Year Awards and the TechRadar Readers’ Choice Awards. In the past, we combined reader votes on which products should win with our expert judges’ opinions to determine an overall winner. But now we’re splitting those two elements into two different awards.
The Product of the Year Awards will be chosen solely by our editors and writers, based on their experience of using the products. The Readers’ Choice Awards will give all the power to you, our readers, though — you’ll be able to vote on a shortlist of the most popular and highly rated releases of the year, and the winner will be decided 100% by those votes.
We’re accepting nominations for products that you’d like to see shortlisted, and anyone can nominate something — so make sure that the products you love most are in with a chance!
6. ChatGPT rolled out its ‘smartest voice model ever’
(Image credit: Getty Images / VCG / d3sign)
This week, OpenAI has delivered an upgrade to ChatGPT’s voice mode for all users thanks to the rollout of two new models. The smaller GPT-Live-1 mini model will be the default for Free users, while paid users get the full GPT-Live-1 model.
GPT-Live-1 promises to sound more natural, be less interruptive when you pause while talking, and be smarter — as there previously seemed to be a knowledge gap between the written and spoken ChatGPT models.
To get around that last part, GPT-Live-1 actually delegates tasks to ChatGPT-5.5, then comes back with an answer.
There are also impressive new simultaneous translation tools that will translate what you hear live and what you say as you say it.
You can also give the chatbot a name to make conversing easier, though OpenAI’s go-to is ‘Chat’ — letting you live out your dreams of being a Twitch streamer.
This week, Nokia’s parent company, HMD, debuted a quartet of retro-style phones with one anachronistic addition — a big ol’ AI button.
They still offer a full suite of legacy features — if you miss the 3.5 mm headphone jack, a microSD for bigger storage capacity, and (on three of the models) an FM radio, you’ll find them here — it’s just that you’ll also have a little digital assistant too.
Details are thin, though it sounds like this won’t be quite on Gemini’s level. Instead, the AI is mostly there to help with on-device tasks like setting alarms, opening the camera, and creating reminders. The biggest issue, however, is the AI assistant is only free for 180 days — after that it’s $3.99 (about £3 / AU$5.75) a year if you’re in the EU and $2.99 (about £2.25 / AU$4.30) a year everywhere else.
The Amazfit Active 3 Premium is the sequel to last year’s five-star Amazfit Active 2, and it’s another knockout of a budget watch (despite the Premium name). A terrific fitness tracker costing just $169 / £169 / AU$239, it boasts features you normally get on watches twice the price, such as full-color maps and a sapphire glass screen.
Its metrics were accurate during testing, and it looks great to boot. It’s the budget watch to get - even perhaps over popular choices such as the Apple Watch SE 3 or the Garmin Forerunner 70. It’s a real win for Amazfit, which has quietly spent the last few years improving its Zepp App ecosystem and building well-priced fitness trackers for every category.
Sony surprised the camera community and us this week when it revived its best-in-class series of bridge cameras, with the launch of the new RX10 V. The Mark V superzoom arrived nine years after the now-discontinued Cyber-shot RX10 IV, with the same versatile 24-600mm F2.4-4 lens and 20 megapixel 1-inch stacked sensor, but with a welcome redesign and Sony’s latest processor and autofocus.
We had already tested the all-in-one camera ahead of its announcement, taking over 1,000 photos across a school sports day, bird photography trip, macro garden life and more, and were thoroughly won over, even if we were less impressed by the steeper asking price. That being said, the RX10 IV still took the crown of the best bridge camera available today, and with its predecessor being a rare secondhand find, we expect the latest model to be a popular camera indeed.
Samsung isn’t the only tech giant preparing to launch flagship phones soon — this week, Google announced that its Pixels will get a refresh next month.
The “next generation of Pixel” will be revealed on August 12, just three weeks after Samsung’s Unpacked event. Google didn’t mention any specific models, but we’re expecting to see a Pixel 11 (with fancy ‘Pixel Glow’ lights for notifications), plus new Pro models and a Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
Unfortunately, we’re also likely to see higher prices across the board, according to recent rumors. That wouldn’t be a huge surprise in these fun ‘RAMpocalypse’ days, but the expected arrival of the Pixel Watch 5 could at least help lighten the mood.
After months of rumors, as well as an official tease or two, Samsung has finally made its next Galaxy Unpacked event officially official. Pencil in July 22, 2026, at 9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. BST (11 p.m. AEDT) for Samsung’s second Unpacked event of the year. Keeping with tradition, we’re expecting the next-generation Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip, as well as an accessory or two.
It likely won’t just be the successors to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7. Samsung’s invitation for the event teases “A New Shape Unfolds,” likely hinting that a shorter, wider—more passport-like—foldable is on the way. The video invite also features a ticket being printed in a shape that further hints at the new design, as it simply doesn’t line up with the current Fold or Flip.
So why introduce a new folding phone design this many generations in? Well, it’s likely that Samsung wants to get ahead of Apple’s rumored entry into the category, which, according to leaks, will take on a similar form factor. For Samsung, it’s also about expanding its foldable lineup, and if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll see more diverse price points as well.
We don’t have long to wait now. TechRadar will be on the ground at Galaxy Unpacked in London, UK, and, as usual, Samsung will livestream the event while we’ll be live-blogging it.
Episode 1 premieres in the UK on July 11, 2026 at 9pm BST
The Sentinels is a much-acclaimed eight-part French sci-fi drama series that debuted on Canal+ in France and SBS On Demand in Australia last year. Good news for fans in the UK: it has now been picked up by the BBC. The series has garnered widespread praise from viewers, with all eight episodes rated 7.2 or higher on IMDb.
Created by Guillaume Lemans and Xabi Molia, the series is based on the acclaimed French graphic novel Les Sentinelles, written by Xavier Dorison. The story imagines an alternate First World War, set in 1915, in which the European powers have developed biotechnological weapons and enhanced humans.
It follows Gabriel Ferraud (played by Louis Peres), a critically injured French soldier who is inducted into the Sentinel program. He’s given a serum that grants him extraordinary strength, remarkable resilience, enhanced speed, accelerated healing, and greater endurance. Captain America-esque, no?
However, over the course of his association with the Sentinels, Gabriel uncovers shocking French secrets that could change the course of the war. .
Abroad? Here’s where to watch The Sentinels online and on TV from anywhere in the world, potentially for free.
How to watch The Sentinels in the UK for free
In the UK, BBC has acquired the rights to show The Sentinels, which first aired on Canal+ last year. You can stream the show on BBC iPlayer FREE of charge.
It features a total of 8 episodes, with the first one arriving on BBC Four.
To watch BBC iPlayer: Visit the BBC iPlayer website or download the apps (iOS/Android).
BBC iPlayer is FREE,but you will need to create an account, have a valid U.K. postcode (e.g. SE1 7PB) and a TV license.
If you’re keen to watch The Sentinels but you’re away from the UK and access to the show is geo-blocked, then you could 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. Plus, we have a great 75% discount on our #1 VPN…
Not having a VPN is like leaving your front door wide open in a busy city – anyone can walk right in and take a peek.
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How to watch BBC iPlayer with a VPN
Using a VPN to unblock The Sentinels is very straightforward. Just follow these steps:
1. Download and install a VPN: As we say, our top choice is NordVPN.
2. Connect to the appropriate server location: Open the VPN app, hit ‘choose location’ and select your home geographical location (anywhere in the UK).
3. Go to the broadcaster’s live stream: In this case, just head to BBC iPlayer.
What devices can I watch BBC iPlayer on?
Amazon Fire (Tablets, Cube, Stick, TVs)
Android TV (please note: some models aren’t supported)
Android (Mobile & Tablet) - Android 7.0 and above
Apple TV (tvOS 14 or later)
Google TV (Chromecast with Google TV and NVIDIA Shield)
Freely
Freesat (please note: some models aren’t supported)
Freeview Play (TVs and set-top boxes) (some models aren’t supported)
iOS (iPhone & iPad) - iOS 14 and above
LG Smart TVs (2016-2024)
NOW Smart Sticks and Boxes (minimum firmware v11.5.0)
PlayStation (PS4 and PS5)
Roku (Stick & Roku-OS powered TVs, minimum firmware v11.5.0)
Samsung Smart TVs (2017 and above)
Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream puck
Virgin Media (360, Stream, TiVo)
YouView (BT, Humax, Sony, TalkTalk)
Xbox (One, Series X, Series S)
The Sentinels: FAQsCan I watch The Sentinels online in the US, Canada, Australia, and worldwide?
The Sentinels aired in Australia last year, and all eight episodes are still available to stream for FREE on SBS On Demand.
Unfortunately for sci-fi fans in North America, there are currently no streaming options for The Sentinels in the US or Canada.
In the meantime, if you’re an Australian or UK resident traveling abroad, you can usethis VPN to watch your usual streaming services from anywhere in the world.
Note: Not all VPNs work for this, but NordVPN does. It’s also great for privacy and comes with a 30-day risk-free trial.
The Sentinels trailer
The Sentinels cast
Louis Peres as Gabriel Ferraud
Thibaut Évrard as Djibouti
Kacey Mottet Klein as De Clermont
Carl Malapa as Armand
Olivia Ross as Irène Ferraud
Pauline Étienne as Marthe
Ouassini Embarek as Le Baron
Sergej Onopko as Übermensch
Jochen Hägele as Gruber
Nastya Golubeva Carax as Gisèle
Noam Morgensztern as Colonel Mirreau
Jean-Michel Rucheton as Salomon
Nadir Legrand as Mazauric
Maxime Bailleul as Étienne
Jonas Bachan as Neuer
Manon Elezaar as Diane
The Sentinels episode guide
Episode 1, “The Experiment Begins” – In 1915, French soldier Gabriel Ferraud is seriously wounded on the battlefield and recruited for a top-secret military project called the Sentinelles program, where scientists develop a serum to create a new breed of super-soldiers.
Episode 2, “Shadows of War” – As Gabriel recovers, the effects of the experimental serum begin to emerge. He struggles between his loyalty to the army and the haunting realization that he’s becoming something beyond human.
Episode 3, “The Awakening” – Gabriel’s powers intensify, revealing both their potential and their danger. His comrades begin to question his humanity as he becomes a weapon the army can no longer fully control.
Episode 4, “Behind Enemy Lines” – Sent on a dangerous mission deep into enemy territory, Gabriel faces the horror of war and the reality of his transformation. His fight for survival becomes a test of morality and strength.
Episode 5, “Secrets and Lies” – Gabriel uncovers shocking truths about the Sentinelles program and its dark experiments. The line between hero and monster fades as betrayal and secrecy threaten to destroy him.
Episode 6, “The Reckoning” – The program spirals out of control, forcing Gabriel to confront the scientists who created him. His rebellion ignites a violent confrontation that pushes him to his limits.
Episode 7, “The Last Stand” – In the dramatic finale, Gabriel takes a stand against his creators to prevent further destruction. His final battle defines the legacy of the Sentinelles and the price of tampering with humanity.
Episode 8, “Endgame” – Gabriel confronts his creators in a final act of rebellion to reclaim his soul.
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.
Saturday’s Japan vs Ireland live stream in the 2026 Nations Championship sees two winning sides from the opening weekend go head-to-head in the neutral venue of the Newcastle International Sports Centre in Australia.
Despite featuring no fewer than four debutants in their side against Italy last Saturday, the Brave Blossoms were the dominant force in a convincing 27-10 win. Coach Eddie Jones really seems to know how to bring out the best in this side and, under his leadership, they always feel like a potential banana skin for more fancied teams. They’ve only beaten the Men in Green once before, but that was a huge upset in front of a home crowd during the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Can they produce an overdue second?
Ireland were but minutes away from heading into this game with one ‘L’ against their name after their opening game against Australia. A 76th minute converted try from unlikely scorer Tom Clarkson was followed up by a nerves-of-steel Sam Prendergast penalty to take a 2-point advantage into the last couple of minutes. They then watched in relief as the Wallabies’ Ben Donaldson missed one of his own.
Despite four other tries from Cian Prendergast, Josh van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan, Ireland looked far from comfortable and Andy Farrell will be looking for a more galvanized display this time around.
Read on below for our guide on where to watch Japan vs Ireland on TV, and get Nations Championship 2026 free streams online.
Watch Japan vs Ireland for FREE
This game – along with every other match of the 2026 Nations Championship – will be streamed live and free across the US, UK and Ireland. The Japan vs Ireland live stream is set to be shown on:
How to watch any Japan vs Ireland stream using a VPN
A VPN is a 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 streaming services. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with a 75% discount now.
Get NordVPN and stream Japan vs Ireland from anywhere.View Deal
Using a VPN is incredibly simple:
1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we’ve said, NordVPN is our favorite.
2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you’re visiting New Zealand and want to view your usual US service, you’d select a United States server from the list.
3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to your usual local streaming service and watch the rugby.
How to watch Japan vs Ireland live streams in the US
Japan vs Ireland and all 2026 Nations Championship matches will be live streamed for FREE on Rugbypass TV in the US.
The dedicated rugby streaming platform can be watched on its website or mobile app, and through Chromecast, Airplay, AppleTV and Android TV.
Outside the US for Japan vs Ireland? Use NordVPN to access your usual streams.
How to watch Japan vs Ireland live streams in the UK
Rugby fans in the UK can watch Japan vs Ireland for free on ITV.
TV coverage for Japan vs Ireland is on ITV1 while you can also stream it live and on demand via the free ITVX website and mobile app.
If you’re outside the UK but want to tap into your usual coverage, check out NordVPN and follow the instructions above.
ITVX is a free service, though you need to be in possession of a valid UK TV Licence to watch its live streams, as this covers digital content consumption, too.
How to watch Japan vs Ireland live streams in Ireland
As mentioned above, all Nations Championship 2026 games will be on free-to-air TV in Ireland.
Virgin Media One is showing Japan vs Ireland, which means it will also be available to stream on the Virgin Media Play platform.
How to watch Japan vs Ireland live streams in New Zealand
Sky Sport is the Nations Championship 2026 TV rights holder in New Zealand.
You can access Sky Sport through satellite TV or get a live stream with the Sky Sport Now subscription service starting at NZ$29.99 per day or NZ$59.99 per month and watch Japan vs Ireland.
Missing the Japan vs Ireland game?NordVPN will give you access to your home streaming service.
What is the Japan vs Ireland start time?
The scheduled Japan vs Ireland kick-off time on Saturday, July 11 is 8.10pm AEST local time in Newcastle, Australia.
That’s 11.10am BST in the UK and 6.10am ET / 3.10am PT in the US.
Can I watch Japan vs Ireland on my mobile?
Of course, most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser. For example, ITVX, Rugbypass TV and Virgin Media Play all have dedicated apps.
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.
We’re constantly told AI is inevitable and resisting it means falling behind. But after a year of talking to people about AI, I think something else is going on.
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Lately, I’ve noticed a growing number of celebrities and influencers are talking about AI. Some seem to be partnering with tech companies. Others have positioned themselves as AI evangelists, encouraging their audiences to embrace the technology before they get left behind.
Among those who have generated significant attention are Reese Witherspoon, Mel Robbins, Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey. Their messages do all differ, but they tend to orbit the same idea, which is that AI is here, it’s important and you’d better get on board fast.
The thing is, the more a celebrity tells me I need to use AI, the less I want to. And judging by public sentiment, I’m really not alone.
I don’t think everyone talking positively about AI is acting in bad faith. Some may genuinely believe it will improve people’s lives. Others may have investments, partnerships or financial incentives tied to the industry’s success. (And that’s hardly unusual — celebrity endorsements have always existed.) Some may simply be repeating the dominant narrative without stopping to consider how influential they are.
But rather than try to understand their personal motivations, what interests me more is the growing gap between the way AI is being promoted and the way many people actually feel about it.
Because while some public figures seem convinced that widespread AI adoption is inevitable, public trust in the technology remains surprisingly low. Survey after survey finds that many people are cautious, sceptical or actively worried about AI. And it’s not difficult to understand why.
A growing disconnect
Conversations about AI have moved really quickly over the past year. We now find ourselves debating copyright, creative labor, deepfakes, misinformation, surveillance, environmental costs, job displacement and the growing concern that outsourcing too much thinking to machines may come with cognitive consequences of its own. On the morning I’m writing this, there are fresh headlines about the grim realities of data centre expansion.
At this point, there are so many legitimate concerns surrounding AI that it’s difficult to keep track of them all.
Meanwhile, some of the companies that initially appeared determined to replace workers with AI have been rowing back their plans. We’ve seen reports of AI-generated content requiring extensive human correction, customer service experiments failing to meet expectations and organizations discovering that replacing people is a lot harder than they first imagined.
That’s why I find the celebrity enthusiasm so fascinating. Because while some public figures are urging people to embrace AI before they get left behind, many people seem to be moving in the opposite direction.
The comments beneath posts promoting AI are often filled with scepticism. Articles about AI backlash are becoming increasingly common. And when I asked my own social media audience how they felt about celebrity AI endorsements, many expressed similar concerns.
Becky Hughes told me: “All of this makes me more reticent than ever to use social media or adopt new technologies, because the safest option seems to be not to engage at all.”
Jay Vera Summer said: “When I see celebrities do things like this, I wish I knew more about their stock portfolio. Especially when it’s coming from people who usually don’t give financial or career advice.”
Whether or not all of our suspicions are fair, I think they suggest something really important is happening here, which is a growing trust gap.
At least from where I’m sitting, it seems people no longer automatically assume that enthusiasm for AI is neutral. They’re increasingly wanting to know who benefits from the pro-AI messages, who profits and whose interests are being served when the technology is being promoted so aggressively.
(Image credit: Getty Images / OKrasyuk)Fear over specificity
If you actually look at what much of the celebrity messaging amounts to, it’s surprisingly hollow. Learn AI. Use AI. Don’t get left behind. It’s inevitable.
And what fascinates me is how little specificity there tends to be alongside it. What exactly should people be using AI for? Which tools? In what contexts? For what benefit? What are the trade-offs? What are the risks?
I haven’t seen many celebrities get into any of that. To be fair, even many of the people building, investing in and advocating for AI rarely spend much time on the details. Instead, the conversation often just gravitates towards fear.
The fear of becoming obsolete. The fear of missing out. The fear of being left behind by a future that everyone else supposedly understands. As someone who has spent years covering technology, that kind of rhetoric always makes me uneasy.
And that’s not because I think AI won’t have a place in the future. I think it almost certainly will, for better and for worse. But because “you’ll get left behind” isn’t really an argument. It’s an appeal to our anxieties so that you’ll act fast without thinking. And it’s encouraging adoption without fully engaging with the reasons people might be hesitant in the first place.
AI as a feminist issue
I find this particularly interesting when AI is framed as a feminist issue. Earlier this year, The Cut described this phenomenon as the “girlbossification“ of AI, giving a name to the growing trend of influential women encouraging other women to embrace the technology or risk falling behind.
Several prominent women have made versions of this argument. And they’re sort of right. In some studies, women have adopted generative AI more slowly than men. But the gap appears to be driven partly by risk, ethics, and workplace factors, not just technical ability. And women have plenty of reason to be concerned about the risks.
We know that women and girls have been disproportionately affected by some of AI’s most disturbing uses, including deepfake pornography, AI-generated image abuse, and sextortion. In one UN estimate, up to 95% of online deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic images and 99% of those targeted are women. I know this isn’t theoretical because I’ve experienced a version of it myself.
Against that backdrop, telling women they simply need to embrace AI can feel completely disconnected from reality. It risks treating healthy scepticism as ignorance when, in many cases, it seems to me that it’s a response to genuine concerns and lived experience.
The recent partnership between Kylie Jenner and Meta feels particularly relevant here. The campaign positions AI-powered glasses as fashionable, desirable and aspirational. And in some ways that’s exactly what celebrity endorsements have always done, take a technology and make it feel culturally normal.
But that’s exactly why these messages deserve scrutiny. At the same time women are being encouraged to embrace AI-powered devices, there have already been multiple stories of women being unknowingly recorded by smart glasses. Which to me highlights the very real concerns around privacy, consent and surveillance that often get overlooked in conversations about the latest cool new tech on the block.
A close-up of the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer (Gen 2) smart glasses in Shiny Black. (Image credit: Getty Images / NurPhoto)More informed than you think
I’ve seen some people online brush all of this conversation off and argue that we shouldn’t be taking celebrities seriously anyway. But like it or not, they do help shape public narratives. They influence what people pay attention to, which questions get asked and which concerns get ignored.
And right now, many of those narratives seem to be built around this strange assumption that resistance to AI exists because people don’t understand it. Well, I’ve spent the past year talking to people about AI, and I suspect the opposite is often true.
Many people understand enough to have concerns. They’ve tried the tools. They’ve seen both the benefits and the downsides. They’re making conscious decisions about how much of their work, creativity, relationships and attention they’re willing to hand over to AI systems.
That’s why I find so much of the celebrity messaging unconvincing. The more people tell me I have to use AI, the more I want to pause and ask: okay why? And I know I’m not alone.
And that’s not because people are afraid of the technology. If anything, that framing completely misses the point. What I see instead is caution, scepticism and a willingness to actually ask the difficult questions about where this technology is taking us.
Because I think whenever someone insists a certain future is inevitable, our alarm bells should start ringing. That’s when we need to ask: okay, whose version of the future are you trying to sell?
Hot showers, like electricity, are a luxury that’s easy to take for granted. That all changes after a few nights camping at a music festival, a week toiling at a backcountry job site, or overlanding all summer in the great unknown. An itchy scalp and the vague smell of warm clams suddenly make the idea […]
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A luxurious hot shower anywhere you go.
Hot showers, like electricity, are a luxury that’s easy to take for granted. That all changes after a few nights camping at a music festival, a week toiling at a backcountry job site, or overlanding all summer in the great unknown. An itchy scalp and the vague smell of warm clams suddenly make the idea of spending hundreds on a portable shower seem less absurd.
I’ve been testing the Hottap Go from Australia-based Joolca while vanlifing to shower after surfing and to wash up after cooking. It features a 12L integrated water tank which is an improvement on other portable showers that require an external container and long, cumbersome hose th …
We’re about to wave goodbye to some absolute classics.
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Lego is adding new sets all the time, and often I’ve been so excited to see what’s new on the roster that I haven’t given any thought to what might be being shunted into the great Lego brick bin in the sky, to make room for the new arrivals. Browsing the Lego website, I came across the ‘Retiring soon’ section and was appalled to see some of what I would consider absolutely classic sets there.
Firstly, Lego Gringotts. The brick version of the Harry Potter wizarding bank has everything I’d ever want from a Lego set. The two-part kit includes the haphazard above-ground building — complete with goblins and Galleons — as well as the meandering and magical underground vaults, accessed via a rollercoaster train track. Oh, there’s a dragon down there, too. This set is already sold out in the US.
My second big surprise is that the Lego Mona Lisa is set to retire. If a bona fide masterpiece is up for the chop, then what is truly safe? Scroll down for 8 more sets that are on their way out — they’re already disappearing from Amazon, but there’s still time to pick one up directly from Lego before it disappears forever.
The Oukitel WP68 Air lands as the accessible end of the WP68 family. Where the WP68 Pro chases a slim, cyber-styled design, the Air keeps things simple and in some ways more elegant.
Oukitel pitches this as a phone for anyone who wants rugged durability without the price tag of a flagship, and to that end, a 6.88-inch HD+ screen and an 8000mAh battery to do the heavy lifting.
On paper, its specifications undercut most of the rugged pack. The 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage look generous for the money, and the 64MP main camera promises more than a token effort in daylight. Android 16 also puts it ahead of several rivals still shipping on older builds.
This is a classic rugged phone able to withstand what the environment can throw at it, and the owner being clumsy, but it tries to have a foot also in the practical camp for those who need a daily driver.
The screen is 6.88 inches, making it easy to read, but the resolution isn’t great, and the 450-nit brightness isn’t ideal for working in sunlight. Another limitation is that video capture is only 1440p, not 4K.
If you don’t do much photography, these aspects might not be an issue for you, but it’s useful to be aware of these things before purchasing.
However, the biggest issue with the WP68 Air is that, compared to some previous Oukitel phones with better SoCs and cameras, its asking price doesn’t make it a bargain. And a few other annoyances stop this from joining our hallowed collection of best rugged phones.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Oukitel WP68 Air: price and availability
The asking price direct from Oukitel is $419.99, which doesn’t sound excessive for a phone with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. For UK customers, that translates into £268.99, and for Europeans it’s €359.99. But, at the time of writing, it’s out of stock for the UK.
Also, this phone isn’t available on Amazon or AliExpress, as far as I can see.
But an even greater problem for the WP68 Air is that it’s priced in some regions higher than the WP210, a phone from the same stable with better specifications.
On the German Oukitel outlet, the WP210 is priced at €319,99, a full forty euros less than the WP68 Air, a phone it crushes in every respect. On the UK site, the WP68 Air is £16 cheaper, but the more powerful SoC, better screen and cameras are easily worth the difference. And even with US pricing, the WP210 is only $30 more, and that’s still a better deal than the WP68 Air.
I’m sure there are equally competitive phones from other brands, but when a phone from the same brand undermines its own value, the WP68 Air is obviously in trouble.
There is a better phone for this money, or close, and it’s also from Oukitel.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Value score: 3.5/5
Oukitel WP68 Air: Specs
Item
Spec
CPU:
MediaTek Dimensity 7025 (Octa-core, up to 2.5GHz)
GPU:
IMG BXM-8-256 (PowerVR IMG GPU)
NPU:
MediaTek NPU 550
RAM:
12GB uMCP LPDDR5x+UFS3.1
Storage:
512GB
Screen:
6.8” IPS 450nit 120Hz
Resolution:
720 x 1640
SIM:
2x Nano SIM, or 1x Nano +TF
Weight:
314g or 328g with bumper
Dimensions:
178.4 x 83.2 x 11.9mm
Rugged Spec:
IP68 IP69K dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 min), MIL-STD-810H Certification
Rear cameras:
64MP, 8MP and 2MP
Front camera:
32MP
Networking:
WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.2
OS:
Android 16
Battery:
8,000 mAh battery (Max 45 charge wired)
Colours:
Orange, Black, Green
Oukitel WP68 Air: Design
Conservative design
Standard button layout
No wireless charging
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
From the official images, the WP68 Air follows the familiar rugged phone formula. A reinforced frame surrounds the display, with a textured rear panel and a camera module set into a raised block on the back. It is offered in three colourways: orange, black and green.
I’m really pleased that rugged phone makers aren’t making devices that look like props from a cancelled-after-one-season sci-fi show, and for the most part, the WP68 Air looks like a large ordinary phone.
What dictates the size of this design is the headline 6.88-inch panel at HD+ resolution. That’s plenty of glass for the price, though HD+ on a screen this size will look softer than the FHD+ panels found on some competitors’ phones.
The layout is strictly by-the-numbers, with the power button and volume controls on the right, the custom button and SIM tray on the left. That’s what most people expect from an Android phone these days, and unless makers have a good reason to do something different, it seems the sensible choice
While I’m not 100% certain of this, without dismantling the phone, I’m confident that the primary camera sensor is on the centerline of the phone, with the nightvision sensor to the left and the IR lights and flash to the right.
With the camera cluster all in a horizontal line, it would have been easy to see damage to the sensor projections if Oukitel had not foreseen the issue. Counterbalancing the projections along the top, the WP68 Air has a ‘heel’ at the bottom that lets the phone lie almost flat on a table.
I assumed, then I saw this arrangement, that it was done to leave the majority of the back flat for wireless charging, but this phone doesn’t have this feature, so it’s purely aesthetic.
Not sure why so many rugged phone makers don’t like wireless charging, but apparently, they don’t.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Another feature Oukitel added to this phone was a hard plastic bumper, and this is the second phone I’ve seen with one recently. Not only are these difficult to remove, but by their nature, any impact on them will be transmitted to the phone, not dissipated like they are by soft TPU-made bumpers.
For those thinking, why would you remove it? The answer is the SIM tray, which can’t be accessed with the bumper in place.
Getting it off is a challenge, due to the lack of flexibility, and I would expect some people will invariably break theirs in their attempt. I’m not a fan of this trend.
In many ways, this phone feels like a toned-down version of the WP66. While the WP66 was a heavier, thicker design, the WP68 Air is slimmer, has a larger display, a smaller battery, and a more modest primary camera sensor.
That makes the Air more ergonomic, but it reduces runtime and lowers screen resolution, even though it’s physically larger.
From a potential customer’s viewpoint, the WP69 Air is aimed at someone who wants a rugged phone as a daily driver, not a special piece of hardware for working outdoors.
Design score: 4/5
Oukitel WP68 Air: Hardware
MediaTek Dimensity 7025
512GB of storage
8000 mAh battery
I’ve given my assessment of the Dimensity 7025 too many times, since it’s a remarkably popular choice for phone makers.
Looking back at my records, I saw this SoC in the Oukitel WP300, WP66, WP61 Plus, WP60 and WP55 Pro, and also the RugOne Xever 7 Pro.
The problem with the Dimensity 7025 is that it’s not a current-generation chip, as it’s based on 6nm technology first deployed in 2022 in the Dimensity 930.
Currently, MediaTek has 4nm and 3nm SoCs, and shortly, it will be moving to 2nm, which puts the Dimensity 7025 in perspective.
Where this is most evident in this design is the integrated PowerVR IMG BXM-8-256 GPU, a component that can’t handle all the functions of OpenGL or Vulkan, making this phone unsuitable for hardcore gamers and VR users.
What makes that GPU look slightly better to the user is the curiously low resolution of the display, being just 720 x 1640. That’s a much smaller display in pixel terms than most phones with 6.6-inch or larger displays will need to drive.
However, even with this slight advantage, the IMG BXM-8-256 is the Achilles heel of this SoC.
Where Oukitel spent the money it saved on the SoC was in the RAM and storage, which seems to contradict the current trend to reduce those to save money.
12GB of RAM is a useful amount, easily enough to ignore Oukitel trying to oversell it as 36GB using storage-mapped memory. And 512GB is also a decent amount of storage, making this phone good for 4K video capture, where file sizes can grow.
The storage capacity is also useful, because the SIM tray is dual SIM only if you don’t use a MicroSD card, which might negate that extra storage for those who need a work and home phone number.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
The final jigsaw piece in the hardware of the WP68 Air is the battery, which, at 8000 mAh, is modest by rugged-phone standards. It’s more than an ordinary phone, but less than many rugged phones that often start at 10000 mAh and go up to 20000 mAh in some models.
Is it enough? That depends entirely on how you intend to use the WP68 Air, because it doesn’t sound ideal for a camping adventure away from civilisation for a week.
Due to the smaller battery capacity, this phone’s marketing materials don’t mention reverse charging, as it doesn’t support that technology.
The flip side of the smaller battery is that the phone’s overall weight is much closer to that of a standard smartphone, and it charges reasonably quickly with the provided 45W charger.
What gives me pause for thought is how this phone compares with the WP210 that Oukitel still sells. It weighs about the same, has 10% more battery, the same memory and storage, but a much more powerful SoC, an AMOLED screen, 108MP camera and reverse charging.
And, you get all that for $30 more from Oukitel. Based on the WP210, I’m not sure where those who set the price of the WP68 Air came from, but it’s a mismatch even compared to other Oukitel products.
Hardware score: 3.5/5
Oukitel WP68 Air: Cameras
64MP, 8MP and 2MP on the rear
32MP on the front
Four cameras in total
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
The Oukitel WP68 Air Ultra has four cameras:
Rear camera: 64MPOmniVision OV64B, 8MP Hynix Hi-846 nightvision , 2MP GalaxyCore GC02M1 macro Front camera: 32MP Sony IMX616
Oukitel WP68 Air Camera samplesMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark PickavanceMark Pickavance
The best bit of the photo capture part of this phone is undoubtedly the 64MPOmniVision OV64B, since its pixel-binning solution for still images works remarkably well.
However, its limitation is that there are only two digital zoom levels selectable on the phone app, 1.0x and 2.0x, but 0.5x increments are possible, going all the way up to 10.0x. At least the camera doesn’t expect you to move around to create framing, if you are aware of what pinching the screen does in picture mode. It also has autofocus, which works well.
The 8MP Hynix Hi-846 Night-Vision sensor is one that’s new to this reviewer, and the results seem decent. And, it can zoom in 1.0x increments from 1.0x to 4.0x. The only limitation of this device is how far the IR illumination goes from the phone in darkness, which isn’t much more than four or five metres.
Easily the worst option is the 2MP Macro, partly because the resolution is poor, but also because it has a fixed focus lens that’s set at about 4cm. Getting that to convert into a focus-accurate image is extremely difficult, and I’d suggest using the standard lens in 64MP mode and cropping the image for better results.
As I’ve commented before, the 32MP Sony IMX616 is overkill for a selfie camera role, but it does what you expect, and the quality of the capture is good.
The big disappointment of this camera arrangement is that the highest resolution video it will capture is 1440p, or 2560 x 1400 at 30 fps. The OmniVision OV64B is rated for 4K at up to 60 fps or 4K at 30 fps with Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS). So this limitation is entirely down to the Dimensity 7025, which does not support 4K video processing, only 1440p at 30fps. On this basis, it makes little sense that Oukitel use the OmniVision OV64B over a 32MP or even 16MP sensor.
And, if you hadn’t already guessed, this phone doesn’t support Widevine L1 encryption, so most big-name streaming services will only offer you 480p video. But since the screen is only 720 pixels high in landscape, it would only support 720p if it did have L1.
In short, the sensors are decent other than the Macro, but the SoC doesn’t allow them to be fully exploited.
Camera score: 3.5/5
Oukitel WP68 Air: Performance
6nm SoC
Mid-tier performance
Phone
Oukitel WP68 Air
Oukitel WP210
SoC
MediaTek Dimensity 7025
Mediatek Dimensity 8200
GPU
IMG BXM-8-256
Mali-G610 MC6
NPU
N/A
MediaTek NPU 580
Memory
12GB/512GB
12GB/512GB
Weight
314g
311g
Battery
8000
8800
Geekbench
Single
915
1246
Multi
2173
3968
OpenCL
156
4310
Vulkan
137
4736
PCMark
3.0 Score
12111
13970
Battery
19h 58m (19%)
22h 44m (19%)
Charge 30
%
33
26
Passmark
Score
5200
16455
CPU
4241
8490
3DMark
Slingshot OGL
3663
Maxed Out
Slingshot Ex. OGL
2582
Maxed Out
Slingshot Ex. Vulkan
2368
Maxed Out
Wildlife
1373
6023
Nomad Lite
125
625
Having another brand create a similar device that’s better is one thing, but having the same brand steal the limelight seems unfortunate.
Due to their similarities in the market that they were both designed to succeed, I’ve matched the WP68 Air against its WP210 brother, and this picture isn’t pretty.
Performance-wise, the Dimensity 8200 eats the 7024 for breakfast. But then, since it’s a 4nm chip, and not a 6nm one, that’s to be expected.
But where the WP68 Air truly gets kicked to the kerb is when the tests involve graphics, since the Mali-G610 MC6 is superior in every respect to the IMG BXM-8-256.
The IMG chip can’t run some of the tests properly due to support issues with both OpenGL and Vulkan, which is why the GeekBench graphics scores are so abysmal.
Of all the tests, the only ones where the WP68 Air holds its own are in the PCMark Score and battery tests. Not sure why PCMark thinks it’s nearly as good, but based on the battery capacity, it performs almost exactly the same as the WP210 when adjusted.
Though I have to wonder if the Dimensity 8200 did much more work in its 22 hours and 44 minutes than the 7025 managed over 19 hours and 58 minutes.
But the bottom line is that the WP210 is lighter, has more battery capacity, and lasts longer. The WP68 Air does charge a little faster, but with less battery to fill, that’s to be expected.
Overall, the WP68 is a shadow of the WP210, a phone that costs only a little more.
Performance score: 3/5
(Image credit: Oukitel)Oukitel WP68 Air: Final verdict
With the price of everything that uses memory and flash storage increasing, for a casual observer, the $420 asking price for the WP68 Air seems reasonable. It’s a lightweight, rugged design that would be fine as a daily driver for many. The cameras are fine, and the amount of RAM and storage keeps it moving along quite smoothly.
However, there are a number of alternatives on the market, at least one of which is made by Oukitel itself, that seem to offer better performance and greater potential for around the same price.
I’ve concluded that Oukitel launches too many phones, and that makes the chance of them missing the obvious overlaps in their own range significantly more likely.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much about the WP68 Air that the WP210 didn’t do significantly better, so I’d recommend you get one of those instead.
Should I buy a Oukitel WP68 Air?Oukitel WP66 Score Card
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Value
Not unreasonably priced, but equally not great value.
3.5/5
Design
A clean design where everything is where you would expect
4/5
Hardware
Lots of memory and storage, but the SoC is showing its age
3.5/5
Camera
Decent sensors, but only 2K video capture
3.5/5
Performance
Outclassed by newer Dimensity SoCs
3/5
Overall
A nice phone, but not as good as a previous design
3.5/5
Buy it if…
You need a phone for outdoors The water and dust resistance on the Oukitel WP68 AIr is enough to handle submersion and drops. And, it’s not too large to fit in a pocket, or too heavy to carry. Compared with some rugged designs, this one is decidedly practical.
You carry lots of data or apps With 512GB of storage and 12GB of RAM, this phone is ideal for those who like to carry data and install numerous apps. And, if you give up a SIM card slot, you can add a MicroSD card for even more space.
Don’t buy it if…
You need the best video The sensors on this phone aren’t bad, but they’re not exploited fully by the phone. With a 64MP sensor, video capture is capped at only 2K resolution. If you record video, you will want a design that can capture 4K.
You use demanding apps Hardcore gamers and VR users will find the GPU in the WP68 Air is underpowered. There isn’t any way to fix this with 2022 SoC technology under the skin. Other Oukitel phones have better GPUs, and don’t cost much more.
Also Consider
Oukitel WP210 A similar design with a better SoC, larger battery and 108MP camera. This device outclasses the WP68 Air in almost every way, and it doesn’t cost much more to own.
RugOne Xever 7 Pro A RugOne design with swappable battery technology, but smaller batteries. The one critical advantage of this design is its thermal imaging camera. However, it costs more than the WP68 Air because of that feature.
Intel in the U.S. is expected to make at least some upcoming Mac and iPhone chips for Apple. That recent development may have been the key to a major tariff exemption on semiconductors Apple received almost a year ago.
Chinese supply chains help civilian components reach military applications
Trade networks make tracking dual-use technology increasingly difficult worldwide
A Swiss-designed microcontroller keeps surfacing inside weapons that Russia launches against Ukraine.
Ukrainian military intelligence recovered an STM32 chip made by STMicroelectronics from a downed Geran-4 drone in May 2026.
As of that month, Ukraine’s database had logged STMicroelectronics parts 270 times across recovered drones, missiles, and warfare systems — a figure that stands more than twice as high as any other European manufacturer’s chip count in the same database.
How a European chip reaches Chinese drone makers
STMicroelectronics names Avnet, a Phoenix-based distributor, as a key partner for its STM32 microcontroller line.
Avnet’s Hong Kong subsidiary sold rising volumes of these chips to Shenzhen Hobbywing Technology, a Chinese drone propulsion manufacturer.
Hobbywing’s purchases from that subsidiary grew from roughly $400,000 in 2024 to $1.95 million in 2025.
Hobbywing then sells electronic speed controllers built with those chips to Nanchang Sanrui Intelligence Technology, maker of the T-Motor brand.
Sanrui disclosed purchasing more than $7 million worth of controllers from Hobbywing during just the first half of 2025.
Sanrui’s subsidiary, Jiangxi Xintuo, was later blacklisted by Washington for exporting drone technology supporting Russia’s military.
Trade records show Xintuo shipped T-Motor products to at least six Russian buyers later placed under sanctions.
Samuel Bendett, a researcher focused on Russian military technology, said Beijing plays a major role in helping Moscow evade sanctions restrictions.
“There is no straightforward way to stop it,” he said, describing how dual-use components move through civilian trade networks.
Analysts note that once a chip enters China’s manufacturing chain, tracing its exact origin becomes far more difficult.
Legal experts call this process substantial transformation, since components get built into new products before reaching their destination.
Records reviewed do not confirm that any single recovered chip followed this precise documented route.
Sanctions have done little to slow the flow
Western governments have imposed export restrictions against Xintuo and Sanrui, yet both companies appear to have adapted quickly.
Sanrui’s recent filings identified new trading partners and now exports through what it called the Eastern European networks.
A website tied to sanctioned Xintuo continued selling T-Motor products globally, and as of this month, it still accepts major credit cards.
The supply chain of these companies appears to be deeply rooted, and a single ban may slow them down but not stop them completely.
“The goal is not simply to build Chinese drones…It is to ensure scale and to strengthen a system that can absorb real-world battlefield feedback,” said Lilly Lee, a researcher at Taiwan’s DSET think tank who studies China’s drone industry.
She argued that a massive civilian drone industry, inherently dual-use, proves harder to dismantle through sanctions or war.
This dynamic reveals why cutting off a single supply route rarely stops chips from reaching battlefields.
Even robust civilian trade between China and Russia can sustain military applications without any explicit government cooperation.
All the ways to watch Australia vs France live streams – including for FREE – as the Wallabies host Les Bleus in the Nations Championship at Lang Park.
Australia vs France kick-off: Saturday, July 11 at 3.40am ET / 8.40am BST / 5.40pm AEST
After each putting up a tremendous fight in the face of less than favourable odds last weekend, Australia and France face off at Lang Park in Matchday 2 of Nations Championship 2026. But while the outlook is decidedly rosier for Les Bleus this time around, the Wallabies’ injury crisis has somehow deepened even further.
With Australia now on a five-game losing streak, the last thing they needed was for first choice fly-half Carter Gordon to be ruled out with a calf issue… and for backup Ben Donaldson to come down with a similar issue straight after.
In comes uncapped Declan Meredith – becoming the eighth fly-half to feature for Joe Schmidt in a little over a year. The silver lining is that the Brumbies man is joined in the team by his club teammates Len Ikitau, Tom Wright and Ryan Lonergan.
Despite having to play a second-string lineup, France came within a whisker of toppling the All Blacks in their own backyard. Antoine Dupont aside, Fabien Galthie has almost all of his heavy artillery back for this clash in Brisbane, and he hasn’t been shy about ringing in the changes.
Most of the contingent who played in the Top 14 final have come stright into the team, including Romain Ntamack, Peato Mauvaka, Emmanuel Meafou and Lenni Nouchi. However, the back-to-back Six Nations champions have also thrown in a curveball by naming injured fly-half Matthieu Jalibert at full-back, a role he’s rarely played.
Wing Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, who won Olympic gold with France’s sevens team two years ago, is in line to make his debut off the bench.
Read on as we explain how to watch Australia vs France for free in the 2026 Nations Championship.
Can you watch Australia vs France for free?
Yes. Australia vs France is being shown on free-to-air Rugbypass TV in the US, on ITVX in the UK, on Virgin Media Play in Ireland and on 9Now in Australia.
Traveling abroad right now? You can use a VPN to watch Australia vs France for free as if you were right at home.
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How to watch Australia vs France live streams in the US
Australia vs France is available to live stream for FREE on Rugbypass TV in the US.
You can tune in via the Rugbypass TV website or app, and it works with Chromecast, Airplay, AppleTV and Android TV.
Outside of the US? Use a VPN while you’re traveling away from home to unlock your stream.
How to watch Australia vs France live streams in the UK
In the UK, Australia vs France is free-to-air on ITV1, with live streaming available via ITVX.
All you need is an account, a TV license and a UK postcode (e.g.HA9 0WS). Sign up here!
If you’re out of the UK but still want to tune in, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.
How to watch Australia vs France live streams in Ireland
Australia vs France is free-to-air on Virgin Media One in Ireland, with live streaming available via the Virgin Media Play platform.
Outside Ireland? You’ll need to download a VPN, as detailed above, to tap into your free Nations Championship stream from abroad.
How to watch Australia vs France live streams in Australia
In Australia, Wallabies vs France is free-to-air on Channel 9, with live streaming available via 9Now.
Stan Sport, meanwhile, is providing coverage of every Nations Championship game. Stan Sport costs AU$20/month on top of a Stan subscription, which itself starts at AU$12/month.
Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch the action as if you were back home.
How to watch Australia vs France live streams in New Zealand
In New Zealand, Sky Sport NZis showing the Australia vs France game.
You can access Sky Sport through satellite TV or get a live stream, with the Sky Sport Now subscription service starting at NZ$29.99 per day or NZ$59.99 per month.
Those outside of New Zealand for any part of the Nations Championship can use NordVPN to gain access to their home streaming service.
How to watch Australia vs France live streams in South Africa
The Australia vs France game is being shown on Supersport in South Africa.
You’ll need to get a DStv access package to watch the Nations Championship 2026, with prices starting at Rs99/month for the streaming version.
Abroad right now? Just use a VPN and tell your device that you’re back home and you’ll be good to go.
How to watch Australia vs France live streams in Canada
(Image credit: Other)
In Canada, Australia vs France is being shown on Premier Sports.
You’ll need either the monthly CA$29.99 pass to watch this game. Or to catch the whole tournament, there’s the CA$79.99 six-month pass or the CA$139.99/year annual subscription.
If you’re out of Canada but still want to catch the action, explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your accounts from anywhere.
What is the Australia vs France start time?
The scheduled Australia vs France kick-off time on Saturday, July 11 is 5.40pm AEST local time in Brisbane, which is 12.40am PT / 3.40am ET / 8.40am BST.
What is the Australia vs France head-to-head?
The Wallabies have won 29 of their 53 previous encounters with France. Les Bleus have won 22, and the other two ended in draws.
In Australia, the head-to-head stands at 19-5-1.
Can I watch Australia vs France on my mobile?
Of course, most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser. For example, Rugbypass TV, ITVX, Virgin Media Play and 9Now all have dedicated apps.
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.
All the ways to watch New Zealand vs Italy live streams online – including for FREE – as the Azzurri take on the All Blacks in the Nations Championship 2026.
Saturday, July 11 at 1.10am ET / 6.10am BST / 5.10pm NZT
Saturday’s New Zealand vs Italy live stream in the 2026 Nations Championship sees the visitors attempt to make history as they seek to upset the hosts. Victory at the Hnry Stadium in Wellington would be their first ever over the All Blacks.
This fixture has so often been a mismatch in years gone by, with New Zealand putting 50 points or more on the board in 11 of the 17 times they’ve met. That includes a 96-17 thumping at the Rugby World Cup three years ago. But new head coach Dave Rennie’s men are far from a vintage All Blacks side, and they got a big scare from France in Christchurch last weekend – tries from Will Jordan (twice), Peter Lakai and Cam Roigard helped them squeeze a 2-point win over Les Bleus.
Then again, this Italy side is only ranked 10th in the world. Yes, they managed a fourth-place finish in the Six Nations, but that only required two wins out of five. And, despite a fast start with a 4th minute try from Ignacio Brex last Saturday, they were ultimately well beaten 27-10 by Japan in Tokyo. In the likes of Brex, Tommaso Menoncello and Paolo Garbisi they doubtlessly have the smarts to test the best defences in the world, so can they challenge the All Blacks in their own backyard?
Read on below for our guide on where to watch New Zealand vs Italy on TV and get Nations Championship 2026 free streams online.
Watch New Zealand vs Italy for FREE
This game – along with every other match of the 2026 Nations Championship – will be streamed live and free across the US, UK and Ireland. The New Zealand vs Italy live stream is set to be shown on:
How to watch any New Zealand vs Italy stream using a VPN
A VPN is a 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 streaming services. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with a 75% discount now.
Get NordVPN and stream New Zealand vs Italy from anywhere.View Deal
Using a VPN is incredibly simple:
1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we’ve said, NordVPN is our favorite.
2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you’re visiting Australia and want to view your usual US service, you’d select a United States server from the list.
3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to your usual local streaming service and watch the rugby.
How to watch New Zealand vs Italy live streams in the US
New Zealand vs Italy and all 2026 Nations Championship matches will be live streamed for FREE on Rugbypass TV in the US.
The dedicated rugby streaming platform can be watched on its website or mobile app, and through Chromecast, Airplay, AppleTV and Android TV.
Outside the US for New Zealand vs Italy? Use NordVPN to access your usual streams.
How to watch All Blacks vs Italy live streams in New Zealand
Sky Sport is the Nations Championship 2026 TV rights holder in New Zealand.
You can access Sky Sport through satellite TV or get a live stream with the Sky Sport Now subscription service starting at NZ$29.99 per day or NZ$59.99 per month and watch New Zealand vs Italy.
Missing the All Blacks vs Italy game?NordVPN will give you access to your home streaming service.
How to watch New Zealand vs Italy live streams in the UK
Rugby fans in the UK can watch New Zealand vs Italy for free on ITV.
TV coverage for New Zealand vs Italy is on ITV1 while you can also stream it live and on demand via the free ITVX website and mobile app.
If you’re outside the UK but want to tap into your usual coverage, check out NordVPN and follow the instructions above.
ITVX is a free service, though you need to be in possession of a valid UK TV Licence to watch its live streams, as this covers digital content consumption, too.
How to watch New Zealand vs Italy live streams in Ireland
As mentioned above, all Nations Championship 2026 games will be on free-to-air TV in Ireland.
Virgin Media One is showing New Zealand vs Italy, which means it will also be available to stream on the Virgin Media Play platform.
The scheduled New Zealand vs Italy kick-off time on Saturday, July 11 is 5.10pm local time in Wellington, New Zealand.
That’s 6.10am BST in the UK and 1.10am ET / 10.40pm PT (Friday) in the US. It’s 3.10pm AEST in Australia.
Can I watch New Zealand vs Italy on my mobile?
Of course, most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser. For example, ITVX, Rugbypass TV and Sky Sport Now all have dedicated apps.
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 Dreame X50 Ultra robot vacuum and mop is down to AU$1,479 for Prime Day, making this premium self-cleaning robovac much easier to recommend.
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Amazon’s Prime Day sale has delivered another very tempting robot vacuum deal, with the Dreame X50 Ultra dropping to just AU$1,479. That’s a huge discount from its AU$2,999 launch price last year, and well below the usual AU$2,000 price we’ve seen it discounted to in recent months.
It isn’t a budget buy, even at AU$1,479, but this is the lowest price we’ve seen for this robovac so far and, given it scored an impressive 4.5 stars in our Dreame X50 Ultra Complete review, we think it’s worth considering at this price.
This is the Prime Day robot vacuum deal to check out if you want a premium cleaner that can handle vacuuming, mopping and most of its own maintenance. In our Dreame X50 Ultra Complete review, our reviewer praised its edge cleaning, smart design and hands-off dock.View Deal
This isn’t just another robot vacuum with a mop attached to the rear. The Dreame X50 Ultra is built to be a proper hands-off floor cleaner, with a self-emptying, self-refilling and self-cleaning dock, 20,000Pa suction, extendable mop pads and a side brush designed to reach into edges and corners.
In our review, the Dreame X50 Ultra was described as setting “a new standard” for the best robot vacuums, with the reviewer praising its cleaning results and low-maintenance design.
The model reviewed was the Complete version, which means it comes with an accessory bundle, but the core robovac and dock is the same X50 Ultra you’ll find in this Amazon Prime Day deal.
(Image credit: Future)
The X50 has a lot of clever features that make it more capable than previous models. Its navigation puck can retract so the robovac can clean under lower furniture, while its small threshold-hopping legs help it clear raised room dividers and other tricky transitions around the home.
Our review also highlights its mopping and vacuuming performance — especially its ability to make use of its extending side brush and mop pads.
(Image credit: Future)
However, our reviewer found the X50 Ultra’s object avoidance wasn’t always as reliable as expected, and its pet-waste detection needed the right settings to work properly in testing. Despits these shortcomings, it still scored very well in our tests, which is saying something.
If you’ve been waiting for Dreame’s top model to fall to a more tempting price, Prime Day has delivered exactly that.
On Thursday, the Instagram account for a lecture series in Newport Beach, CA posted a photo of what appeared to be a cease and desist letter from the surveillance technology company Flock Safety. Flock has received significant backlash over its technology and work with law enforcement agencies, and this letter kicked off yet another wave […]
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On Thursday, the Instagram account for a lecture series in Newport Beach, CA posted a photo of what appeared to be a cease and desist letter from the surveillance technology company Flock Safety. Flock has received significant backlash over its technology and work with law enforcement agencies, and this letter kicked off yet another wave of criticism against the company for allegedly trying to shut down discussions of its work.
“WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED,” the group, The Saturday Salon, wrote in the Instagram post, which has more than 3,000 likes. A separate post about the letter on Bluesky has more than 360 reposts. The text of the letter de …
Castelion’s Blackbeard hypersonic missile now costs under $300,000 per round, prompting the Navy to order 50 production units.
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Navy orders first 50 Blackbeard hypersonic missiles for $23.4 million total
Each Blackbeard missile reportedly costs under $300,000 once full production begins
Castelion has received three separate Navy funding rounds since February 2026
A California defense startup is now selling hypersonic missiles priced like a luxury vehicle rather than a mansion, marking a shift in weapons pricing.
Castelion’s Blackbeard missile travels in excess of Mach 5 and reportedly costs under $300,000 per completed round, a fraction of typical hypersonic pricing.
The pricing became real on June 16 2026, when the US Navy ordered the first 50 production rounds for $23.4 million.
The Navy’s first real purchase
The order also covers 50 shipping and storage containers, running primarily through Castelion’s sprawling New Mexico factory campus.
It is the third Navy payment in five months, following $50 million in February to push Blackbeard from prototype toward operational use.
In April 2026, the Navy committed a further $105 million specifically to integrate Blackbeard onto the F/A-18 and to run the carrier-suitability testing required before any missile can operate safely from a carrier deck.
According to Bryon Hargis, CEO and co-founder of Castelion, the funding reflects the Navy’s commitment to “advancing affordable, manufacturable long-range strike capability.”
Castelion was founded by former SpaceX engineers and has already completed more than two dozen flight tests within three years.
One of those flight tests took place at the Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah during the latter part of 2025.
Castelion has also partnered with uncrewed-boat maker Saronic to demonstrate launching Blackbeard missiles from a robotic surface vessel at sea.
If testing continues to succeed, the eventual plan is to purchase Blackbeard missiles by the thousand rather than by the dozen.
In May 2026, the company signed a framework agreement with the Department of War covering multi-year production of roughly 500 weapons annually.
Cheaper parts from unrelated industries
The affordability behind Blackbeard rests heavily on components borrowed from several industries far removed from traditional aerospace manufacturing methods and vendors.
Chief Operating Officer Sean Pitt said the company uses automotive-grade Field-Programmable Gate Arrays originally built for driver assistance systems and electric vehicles.
These automotive processors cost roughly one-tenth as much as aerospace equivalents and arrive about six times faster, Pitt said.
Castelion has also replaced aerospace-grade metal tubing with precision-machined tubes originally designed for fracking operations in the oil and gas sector.
These tubes withstand heat and pressure levels comparable to rocket motor requirements, yet come from many more vendors at lower prices.
Rival startup Anduril has adopted a similar approach, using pharmaceutical-industry mixing technology to process rocket motor propellant far faster than legacy methods.
Castelion, recently valued at nearly $3 billion, has secured Pentagon contracts covering more than 500 hypersonic weapons under current agreements.
Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI today, accusing the company of trade secret theft. Specifically, Apple alleges that its former employees have stolen trade secrets “for the benefit of OpenAI.”
“This case is about Apple’s former employees stealing Apple’s trade secrets for the benefit of OpenAI. Apple brings this suit to put a stop to it,” the lawsuit says.
Apple is among eight U.S. companies now able to bring covered advanced-computing chips, servers, and other controlled technology into the UAE without applying for individual export licenses. Here’s what that means.
My top feature for a smart lock for any Apple smart home person is Apple Home Key support. The ability to tap your iPhone or Apple Watch against your front door and walk right inside is incredibly convenient. The problem is that most locks that support this feature are expensive, often costing $ 200 or more. That is where the…
Spotify announced today a series of updates to Release Radar, giving listeners more control over the music recommendations they receive every Friday. Here are the details.
Letterboxd, the popular hybrid movie tracking and social media app, is exploring a sale. A new report this week from Matt Belloni at Puck outlines the many companies that have shown interest in acquiring the service, including Netflix, Sony Pictures, and more.
I think if we are honest with ourselves, most of us would admit that smart home tech falls into one of two categories. First, there is the genuinely useful. Second, there’s the stuff we do just because we can, and it is to some degree cool.
I think I’ve now discovered a third category: things that really aren’t worth all…
If you were to just look at the Messages app in iOS 27, you might not think much has changed, but that is far from the truth. Under the hood, Apple has completely revamped the Messages experience, making it faster, smarter, and much less frustrating. From simple little setting toggles for dictation or voice memos to the amazing Siri integrations,…
OpenAI is pulling the plug on its dedicated web browser, ChatGPT Atlas. Instead of investing in an AI browser with a small user base, the company is improving agentic web use features inside the new ChatGPT desktop app.
While ChatGPT Atlas may not have gained much traction, AI browsers can be useful for automating tasks like research, browser tidiness, and…
As we approach the official announcement of Apple’s iPhone Ultra in September, more specs continue to leak. A new rumor today claims to reveal exactly how big the foldable iPhone’s battery will be.
9to5Mac Security Bite is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform.Making Apple devices work-ready and enterprise-safe is all we do. Our unique integrated approach to management and security combines state-of-the-art Apple-specific security solutions for fully automated Hardening & Compliance, Next Generation EDR, AI-powered Zero Trust, and exclusive Privilege Management with the most powerful and…
GymKit has been one of Apple Watch’s smartest fitness features since it launched in 2017. Tap your watch to compatible gym equipment, and Apple Watch shares your heart rate while the machine sends back metrics like distance, incline, pace, and calories.
With iOS 27, Apple is expanding that idea beyond Apple Watch. I tested the new GymKit on iPhone and…
Apple and Major League Baseball have announced the August schedule for Friday Night Baseball, with Apple TV set to stream another month of weekly doubleheaders featuring the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Mariners, Cubs, Cardinals, and more. Here are the details.
For the majority of people, CarPlay is a must-have. Apple’s in-car experience provides a vastly superior infotainment experience than most options from carmakers. There’s quick access to your favorite apps, integration with Siri, seamless connectivity, and more.
Here are all of my favorite tips and tricks for making sure you’re getting the most out of your CarPlay experience…
Netflix is reportedly struggling with a decline in engagement. Live TV and content bundles may be the solution, executives believe, according to a new report.
Benjamin and Chance talk about all the changes in iOS 27 beta 3, and Mayo’s first experience with Siri AI on Apple Watch. Also, we dive in to the details of what’s new in macOS Golden Gate, Apple tries to lobby to use Chinese memory components, signs a new deal with Broadcom, and likely supply constraints for the iPhone Fold.
I have used plenty of docking stations over the years, and it seems the desktop dock market is as crowded as ever. I have tested smaller portable docks, to larger stationary docks that give you all the ports you would ever need. But the new iVANKY FusionDock takes a different approach. Instead of just adding more ports, this Thunderbolt 5…
Update July 9, 3:28 p.m. ET: As Aaron Perris noted on X, Apple has resumed signing the iOS versions listed in this article. As a result, owners of the affected legacy iPhone and iPad models can once again restore to those software versions, most of which are the latest releases compatible with their respective devices. The original story follows…
We’re just two months away from Apple announcing the iPhone 18 Pro. Rumors suggest Apple could have three design changes in store that could be unpopular among some iPhone 18 Pro buyers …
Starting today, Strava users will have a new way to discover races, group runs, rides, and other local events directly in the app. Here are the details.
Deadline reports that Apple TV will take over Hall H for the first time at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International, with panels, screenings, and a Silo experience. Here are the details.
OpenAI held its second livestream this week today at 10 am PT. The video teased that the company was “introducing the next chapter for ChatGPT” today. OpenAI has openly discussed bringing Codex workflows into the main ChatGPT app for some time now.
Today’s release includes a new ChatGPT Work agent, an upgraded ChatGPT desktop app with Codex included, and a…
TV Time users looking for a new movie and show-tracking app can now migrate their data to JustWatch ahead of next week’s shutdown. Here are the details.
Counterpoint Research has published a new estimate of the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s bill of materials, suggesting that Apple’s next flagship could cost significantly more to build than the current model. Here are the details.
Apple TV has published the first trailer of Snoopy’s next adventure, where he finds his doghouse after it is accidentally sold at a yard sale. Watch it below.
Alongside an ongoing deal on AirPods 4 and the rare discount on the black Apple Magic Mouse, today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break is headlined by this Apple Watch Ultra 3 model dropping to one of its best prices to date at nearly $140 off (stock is running low). We also have iPhone 17 Pro/Max units at up to $449 off,…
Overuse of smartphones is now a widely recognised problem, but we’re also starting to see people perhaps get overly dependent on chatbots like Claude AI and ChatGPT.
Claude creator Anthropic is currently testing a beta feature intended to allow users to reflect on how they are using the AI and be prompted to perhaps use it less …
The Information reports that Apple may be interested in PrismML’s technology. The firm is focused on shrinking AI models that generally require servers to function, offering on-device functionality with comparable intelligence.
As reported by Reuters, India continued its push to become a larger electronics manufacturing hub today by removing import duties on select parts used in smartphones and other devices. Here are the details.
Luxshare is one of the ultimate rags-to-riches stories, founded by a woman who started out as a Foxconn assembly-line worker and growing into a multi-billion dollar company and key Apple supplier.
It’s been a publicly traded company in China since 2010, but has now added a second listing in Hong Kong, making it more accessible to overseas investors. Its latest…
Meta this week launched its own AI image model integrated into the Instagram app. While this might sound useful, it comes with rather a big privacy issue: by default, anyone can use your profile photo and posts as prompts for generative images.
You can fix this by flipping two toggles, but they’re pretty well hidden …
Apple recently increased the prices of most of its products, from the Apple TV and HomePods through iPads and Macs to the Vision Pro. iPhones have so far escaped the increases, but that will likely change in September.
You’d think that would be bad news for the company, reducing demand – but ironically, increasing memory costs might actually end up…
In addition to bringing new keyboard and typing improvements across multiple languages, iOS 27 will also add several languages and accents to Apple Translate. Here are the details.
Just a few days after releasing Halide Mark III, the folks at Lux are already getting ready to roll out Halide 3.1: Scarlet Edition. Here’s what’s coming.
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences just announced the contenders for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, and Apple just scored 89 nominations across all major categories. Here’s the full list of nominees.
Apple’s AirPods lineup is stronger than ever, but there are already rumors about what’s coming next. Here’s everything we know so far about when Apple will release new AirPods.
A shiny new model isn’t the only upgrade coming to ChatGPT this week. In addition to GPT-5.6’s release tomorrow, OpenAI is announcing an all-new ChatGPT voice mode experience as well.
Because ChatGPT works with CarPlay, today’s release also is a major upgrade to the CarPlay voice mode experience as well.
According to code in the latest iOS 27 beta, Apple is preparing to launch car key support for two new automakers: Xiaomi and Lucid Motors. Here’s what we know right now.
According to The Elec, Samsung Display has fully scrapped the development project of a component tied to the rumored lower-cost Apple Vision Pro. Here are the details.
New data from IDC shows that Apple was the only major PC vendor to post significant shipment growth in Q2 2026, with the broader market declining for the first time in more than two years. Here are the details.
After Apple started lobbying the US government for approval to use memory chips from CXMT, The Financial Times now reports that the company is actively testing the components for devices sold in China. Here are the details.
OpenAI unveiled GPT-5.6 at the end of June, but the public release was held back while the U.S. government reviewed the new AI models. Now the company has shared an update on when customers will be able to use the upgraded model: this week.
Fresh off its polarizing disco ball icon fix, Spotify is continuing to listen to users with easy-win changes. Starting today, the company is giving users a highly requested feature that has sparked feedback for years: vastly expanded pinning.
Apple has announced that starting with macOS 28, users will need to decrypt or reformat certain storage volumes to keep using them. Here are the details.
One of the things tucked away in the small print of macOS 27 beta 3 is the news that you’ll need a 2TB iCloud+ subscription in order to use the new AI features for home security cameras in the Apple Home app.
While some are suggesting that we shouldn’t be too surprised by this, I do find it a somewhat…
My new favorite Apple Watch and Apple Health metric is one that has been quietly working in the background for years. Specifically, it’s a bit of a hidden Apple Watch feature for tracking a great healthy habit: Time in Daylight.
A little under a year ago, Apple promised to invest $600 billion in the U.S. over a four-year period through an American Manufacturing Program (AMP). The company has today announced its largest single AMP commitment to date: a $30 billion Broadcom chip contract.
The iPhone maker says that the deal will help Broadcom expand its Colorado plant, and lead to…
Italian carmaker Lamborghini released an Apple Vision Pro app today, offering an immersive look at its latest models inside and out. Here are the details.
Earlier today, Apple CEO Tim Cook and his successor, John Ternus held a virtual meeting with Minister-President of Bavaria, Markus Söder. Here are the details.
Notion Mail is out, Notion Agents is in. Last month, Notion announced that it’s discontinuing its year-old email app. Today, the company released a brand-new iPhone app called Agents.
Earlier this year, Meta replaced its Llama AI models with Muse Spark, part of its newly built Meta Superintelligence Labs effort.
Today Meta is releasing its first image generation tool from Superintelligence Labs as part of the Meta AI app. The company says its new image-gen tools also power creative experiences in Instagram and WhatsApp with more to come.
There are many different charging accessories to choose from today. There is something for everyone, from fast chargers, multiport chargers, travel-oriented chargers, MagSafe charging accessories, and so much more. I have tested a ton of chargers through the first half of 2026, but only a select few get a permanent spot in my day-to-day. I like to have a good…
A big update to Flighty, the popular flight-tracking app, is available on the App Store today. The latest version of Flighty makes the app even more powerful, headlined by a powerful new Connection Assistant feature. Here’s how it works.
Days after materials from Apple supplier Tata surfaced online, prominent Weibo leaker “Fixed Focus Digital” doubled down on his earlier claim that the iPhone 18 Pro will be thicker than the iPhone 17 Pro. Here are the details.
A vote by the Federal Communications Commission scheduled for later this month could allow internet providers to disclose fewer details about the fees added to customers’ bills. Here are the details.
There’s a new version of Pocket Casts out for podcast listeners today, and it includes three new features. One in particular will be of interest to drivers with CarPlay.
Brooklyn federal judge Orelia E. Merchant has dismissed most claims in a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that Apple’s AirPods Max suffer from a condensation defect. Here are the details.
In a new note to investors, J.P. Morgan maintained its Buy rating on Apple while raising its price target for the company’s stock. Here are the details.
Apple TV has confirmed the premiere date of Nocturne, an upcoming drama series starring Liev Schreiber (Spotlight), Zazie Beetz (They Will Kill You), and Stephen Graham (Adolescence). Here are the details.
Beats is expanding its popular lineup of USB-C cables today with an all-new “Power Pink” color. “Because your charging cable deserves to be just as expressive as your playlist,” Beats says.
Apple is no longer signing iOS 26.5 and iOS 26.5.1, preventing downgrades to these software versions from newer releases. The move comes after a critical security fix was issued for iPhone last week.
In a report released today, Counterpoint Research says that despite the discounts seen during China’s 618 shopping period, smartphone sales declined 13% from the year-ago period. Here are the details.
Apple has submitted a request to pause further proceedings in its legal battle with Epic Games in the Northern District of California while the Supreme Court reviews part of the case. Here are the details.
We’ve been looking out for new features in iOS 27 beta 3, and we’ve now found an additional one: the latest developer beta allows Siri AI to access information from third-party apps.
The only examples seen so far are pulling in the remaining battery from electric car apps, but it’s likely that other capabilities will be found …
“Father of the iPod” Tony Fadell has written a lengthy column in which he argues that our choice of AI assistant really matters, but also raises some huge questions that need to be addressed.
He says the reason the iPhone has stood the test of time is because Apple understood the behavioral shifts it would create, not just the…
Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and…
If you look around all the normal wbesites for a 3-in-1 MagSafe charger for iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods, you will find hundreds of options made of plastic. They all work well, but sometimes you might want something that is more of a premium feels. The NOCO XGrid XDS3 is one of those options. It is certainly not the most…
A new Listening Mode setting lets users more easily adjust how much ambient noise their AirPods can allow through in Adaptive mode. Here are the details.
With iOS 27 and its companion systems, Apple is introducing a new version of its system-level RAW image processing engine. It uses machine learning to greatly improve detail and reduce noise, including when reprocessing older RAW photos. Here are the details.
According to a new Counterpoint Research report, global shipments of Edge AI-capable smartwatches grew 70% year over year in Q1 2026, with Apple accounting for roughly 90% of the total. Here are the details.
